A/N: Yay! New oneshot! *happy dance* So, in honor of me getting ready for the chess tournament at my school, (yes, I play chess…its fun…) I'm doing a Maybeck/Philby friendship, a little bit (very tiny) of Charbeck, and Wilby. I know, lots of people don't like chess, so if you don't like it, just don't read it and leave a bad review! I'm not making you read this…ON TO THE STORY! For manspiderman, for teaching me chess. :)
Philby was pumped. The chess tournament was tomorrow! Yes, Philby, we all know your unhealthy obsession with this so-called "sport." As challenging as it is, no, it is not a sport. But Philby liked to pretend otherwise.
He had previously Googled some opening moves that would assure a win, so he thought he had a pretty good chance.
But there was something nagging at his mind that kept him from concentrating—Willa. She was the one who actually taught him how to play chess. Hopefully, they wouldn't have to play against each other. But first, I shall tell you the story of Philby learning chess…
*Flashback*
There she was, sitting in Study Hall, last hour on a Friday. Willa loved Fridays. Even back then, something told him, "Ask her out. Do it! Do it NOW! …But not drugs…don't do drugs…" Of course, he wanted to, (ask her out, not drugs, just to be clear…) but he always became tongue-tied whenever he came near Willa. You know that moment in those cheesy movies where the guy looks at the girl, and everything but her goes white and that angelic music with harps and choirs starts playing? Well, that's what was going on in Philby's mind. She sat there, engrossed in Catching Fire, where at some points while she was reading, her eyes would get wide in surprise, or she had to hold in a gasp. She was so cute when she did that. Anyways, Philby mustered up his courage, and walked over to her.
"H-Hey Willa!"
She looked up from her book (something very rare…she read 24/7). Seeing Philby instead of one of the jerks who just talked to her because she was a DHI, she smiled and said, "Hey Philby! What's up?"
"Oh…nothing much…"
"Cool…"
"So…um…do you—uhm—wanna walk?"
"Sure."
They walked out of the classroom, saying goodbye to their teacher on the way out. Small talk occupied their conversation while they walked over to Willa's locker.
"So, are we crossing over tonight? Finn and I are patrolling base, right?"
"Yeah. It's probably gonna be cold tonight, so wear something warm."
Awwe! He cares about me! Willa thought.
She traded her school books for her sheet music and a chess board, and continued walking with Philby.
Ask her out, Philby! Something told him.
They walked down the hall, and then Willa made a sudden turn to her left.
"Hey, where are you going?" Philby asked with concern.
"I've got chess club."
"Oh…cool."
Willa, seeing the disappointed look on his face, asked, "Wanna come with?"
A smile formed on his face as he nodded.
There was only one problem—Philby had no clue how to play chess.
Chess club was held outside. Being early November, it felt good out—not too hot, not too cold.
Philby and Willa sat down at a picnic table and she started setting up the board.
Being kind, she let Philby play white, she played black. (For non-chess people, white goes first.)
After a while, she said, "Go ahead. Your move."
"That's the thing…I don't know how to play chess," he said in a whisper.
She giggled.
"Here, let me show you."
She showed him how to set up the board, which pieces do what, and so on.
That was the moment he fell in love with chess.
And with Willa.
*End Flashback*
Philby was currently playing against himself, and the game would take forever to complete.
Randomly, Maybeck showed up.
"What's up, dude?" Maybeck asked, seeing Philby's troubled look.
Deciding he needed a break, he decided to unglue his eyes from the chess board.
"Girl troubles?" Maybeck tried. "Oh, I get it. You're deciding where to take your calculator on your date tonight?"
Receiving an angry look from Philby, he decided to back off.
"Is it Willa?" He tried again.
Philby's jaw visibly clenched, and Maybeck knew he'd gotten it right.
"You know, you need to ask her out," Maybeck said.
Philby scoffed.
"As if! I can barely get a word out because I'm so nervous!"
"Well, don't be!"
"I'll ask her out as soon as you ask Charlie out."
"Already done. We're going to the Frozen Marble tomorrow."
Philby groaned in frustration.
"Ooh! Chess!" Maybeck said as he swiped all the pieces off the board.
"NO! What's wrong with you?! I was in the middle of a game!"
"Well, I wanna play!"
"Do you even know how?"
"Possibly."
Philby started to set up the pieces.
"You're playing white. You go first," Philby told Maybeck.
He moved his pawn.
After about thirty seconds, Philby was in mid-conniption.
"No! You can't move your rook diagonally!"
"But if I don't, you'll take it!"
"THAT'S THE POINT!"
"I don't like this game anymore!" Maybeck said as he put a bubble in his cheeks and crossed his arms.
"Oh. My. Goodness. I can't do this anymore!"
"Hey! I've had it with you and your emotional constipation!"
"It's consternation¸ smart one!"
They continued to argue for too long, causing Maybeck to say a few inappropriate four-letter words that would have gotten him kicked out of class.
"Maybe I just need an incentive," Maybeck said.
"Did you have a vocabulary test today?" Philby said sarcastically.
"Actually, Yes. Yes, I did."
"And what would you like this incentive to be?"
After thinking for a moment, Maybeck had this face that indicated a light bulb went off in his head.
"If I win the game, you have to ask Willa out—not in a note! It has to be in person with a witness!"
Philby wanted to ask Willa out, but he was just too nervous!
"Deal!"
Seeing how badly Maybeck played last game, this was just too easy! He'd have him in check (Non-chess people—when you have someone in check, it means you can win the game next move if they don't move their king.) in three moves!
Philby was shamed. Maybeck was doing Fantasmic! LOL, get it? But Maybeck had lined up his bishop with Philby's king and proclaimed, "Check."
Philby squealed like a little girl. He looked for a way out.
Crud.
He couldn't move anywhere else.
Maybeck smiled and said, "Oops! I'm sorry! I think I meant, 'Checkmate!'"
"No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no! How did this happen?!"
"I have legit-ness DHI powers!"
"No! You cheated, didn't you?"
"Actually, no. How do you cheat in chess?"
"Beats me."
Maybeck shrugged.
Philby stared at the board in horror as Maybeck took Philby's king and replaced it with his bishop.
"How did this happen?" Philby asked. "When did you learn to do this?!"
Maybeck chuckled to himself.
"Willa taught me."
A/N: Ok, I'm sorry. This was completely random. Kind of OOC for Maybeck, wasn't it? Meh, anyways…
REVIEW! :)