Just a little fic I wrote, because Jyou and Gomamon need more love.

Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon.

King Me

"… And then if you reach the end of the board, your piece becomes a king, and you can move backwards or forwards," Jyou explained.

"Okay, okay, I got it the first time you told me. So let's play!" Gomamon said with a mock sigh.

A checkers table was on the table between the two of them. Jyou was teaching Gomamon to play, saying that the Digimon needed more brain exercise.

---

"You watch that TV too much," Jyou had told him one day. Once Gomamon had been introduced to the television, he decided few other things in life were worthwhile.

"But Jyou!" He pleaded. "I have to know if Gigantron X will defeat the evil Zylen Empire!"

"I need to study," Jyou said with a sigh, "so please. You can watch it next week."

"But! But!" Gomamon looked at him with watery eyes.

"… All right, all right. But after my test tomorrow, we're going to play checkers. You need to exercise your brain more."

"Deal!" Gomamon said, grabbing the remote and diving into cliché mecha goodness.

---

"Well, I'll go first," Jyou moved his first piece. "Okay Gomamon, it's your move."

Gomamon struggled to reach the pieces from his chair, but his flippers were too short. He leaped up onto the table. "Okay… I'll move this one… here!"

Jyou started at the board for a minute before moving another of his pieces.

In return, Gomamon moved one of his pieces without hesitation. "You like this game, don't you?" He asked.

"I've been playing checkers with my brothers ever since I was a kid. I never could beat them, though. Shuu and Shin would have matches lasting hours. It was really exciting to watch. Then they moved on to chess, which I never really got the hang of."

Gomamon didn't really understand what could be exciting about watching two people stare at a board for hours when they could spend their time playing games or watching TV. "Jyou seemed so happy when he talked about it, though," he thought to himself. "He must have found something interesting in it."

"Are you sure you want to move there? I'll be able to jump you," Jyou warned.

"Huh? Oh, yeah, it's fine," Gomamon shrugged.

"Your loss," Jyou moved his piece to jump.

"You take the game too seriously, Jyou. It's not about winning or losing, it's about the fun!"

"It's fun when your opponent carefully considers his moves," Jyou replied, staring at the board. "That way, you really feel challenged."

Gomamon shrugged again, "Eh. Oh, I got to the end of your board. That means I can be kinged, right?"

Jyou stared at the board in disbelief, "How did you get that all the way there?!"

"I don't know. I just did. Pretty cool, huh?" Gomamon laughed, rubbing his neck with his claw.

Gomamon felt like Jyou waited hours to make his next move. When he finally did, Gomamon immediately made another move.

"Are you sure? I'll be able to jump you. Are you even trying?" Jyou asked.

"Of course I am!" Gomamon protested. Jyou moved his piece to jump, and Gomamon gave a small smirk. "You said that a king can move both backwards and forwards, right?"

"Yeah, but you can still only move one space at a ti-" Jyou went silent as Gomamon moved his king and jumped all of Jyou's remaining pieces in a single move.

"I guess I win?" Gomamon laughed.

"Wow. I can't even beat him at checkers. I guess I really am horrible at the game," Jyou said, still in shock at his partner's move.

Gomamon hopped over to him and patted him on the back, "That was a good game. I can see why you like it so much."

Jyou gave him a small smile, "Yeah, it was fun. Do you want to play again?"

"Well, we could… Buuuuuuuuuuuuuuuut…" Gomamon began, "There's a new episode of Omega Ultra Hyper Rangers on! How about we watch that instead?"

Jyou glanced over to the stack of notes he needed to study for another test tomorrow. He pushed them out of his mind as he sat down on a chair next to Gomamon, "Let's watch," he said. "You know Gomamon, you're a really good friend."

"You're not so bad yourself," He grinned and turned on the television.