Topic: Games

Genre: Humor, supposedly

Canon: Yep

Rating: PG13 for conversation, if not action

Length: 1,420 words
Requirements: Must have at least 2 characters play a game, any game except Truth or Dare.  There must be a penalty for losing or a prize for victory. 

Tease:  Eriol-kun and his descendent get together for a game, and Li learns more than just new words.  (not like that, Tam, don't get excited)

'word of advice'

"S-U-N-N-Y," Eriol spelled out carefully.  "There.  I added an N, and a Y on the double letter box, so that makes 13 points."  He scribbled on the small pad.  "I'm still winning."

Across the board, his opponent's expression was anything but sunny.  "I know you're winning, it's your native language.  Do you have to remind me at every turn?"

"All's fair!" Eriol said brightly.  "Still, you have to admit it's more fun than conjugating verbs."

"Oh yeah," Li sighed, "I'm on one big thrill ride here."  His dark eyes scanned the board and his own tiles as he spoke, and finally he settled on the Y as a starting point.  "Y-E-A-R.  There, 7 points."

"Nicely done," Eriol praised.  "Only 24 points behind me now."

With difficulty Li swallowed an exasperated groan, along with a gulp of Coke.  "Should've just let Mother ship me to England," he muttered in Cantonese.  What in hell was he thinking, coming up with this as a compromise?

"English please, Li-kun, or you'll never learn."  He laid four tiles around the R as he spoke, spelling T-R-A-C-E.

"What's that mean?"

"To seek out, like a detective might follow a clue," he explained, and was answered with another scowl.

"How am I supposed to win when I don't even know all the words that you do?" Li complained.

"It's not about winning, Li-kun, it's about learning." 

"That would be more convincing if the loser didn't have to pay for lunch." 

"Makes you try harder, or that was the plan." 

"I am trying," Li huffed, and glared at the board with a resentful air.  He really did hate to lose.  "And I wanted to use that R, too."

"Adaptability is a necessary skill for this game, much like life."

Li laid H-U-T-U-P under the S in S-U-N-N-Y, then directed a pointed look in Eriol's direction.

Unruffled, Eriol smiled in his typically benign manner.  "I'm afraid I can only accept the first word, multi-word phrases are not allowed."

"Pity."

Eriol's turn again, and he arranged W-I over the first N in S-U-N-N-Y. 

"You don't even try to be subtle anymore, do you?"

"It's pointless with you."

Li drummed his fingers against the table, struggling to ignore that mocking gloat.  Must – not – kill – evil – ancestor.

His mood improved when he spotted a word and laid E-N-T under the C of T-R-A-C-E.

"Six points."

"Very well."  Eriol studied the board and then his own tiles, and Li got a chill down his spine when those blue eyes lit up.  "Oh my, Li-kun, you've presented me with a very interesting opportunity."  Carefully he placed I-N-D-E over Li's C-E-N-T.  "Eleven points, plus it's on a double word box.  That's 22 for me."

Li rolled his eyes and read over the unfamiliar word.

"And what does that mean?"

"Like what you and Sakura-san were doing in your car last night."

Li, who had chosen that exact moment to take another sip, promptly spat out his drink and frantically coughed up what he'd inhaled, nose burning with the carbonated fluid.  Eriol wiped off the board without comment.

"H-how did you -"

"Do you really have to ask?"

Li tried to get control over his breathing and follow Eriol's meaning.  "I'm gonna kill that girl."

"Please don't."

"I'm gonna kill you."

"Please don't do that either."

"Can't we do anything without the two of you getting involved?"

"It doesn't seem so."

Li fumed, but Eriol was one of the only two males in the world unintimidated by his glare.  At least Kinomoto glared back.  Eriol only rested his chin on his hands, looking amused.

"It's your turn."

Li selected H-A and E and arranged them around the T.

"Li-kun, you wound me."

"Not enough."

"Such a temper.  Why always so hostile?"  He spelled F-U-R-Y using the U in S-H-U-T, and Li didn't bother to ask what it meant.

"I asked for English lessons, Hiiragizawa, not a therapy session.  And I really don't think hostility is unreasonable, given the cause."  He was too distracted to come up with a really good word, so he settled on H-O-T using the H from H-A-T-E. 

Eriol studied his defiant glower for a moment, for once without a smile.  "It's going to happen soon, isn't it?"

"What?"

"S-C-E-N-T," Eriol spelled aloud, using the T from H-O-T.  "How a wolf hunts for his prey."

"Okay," Li said uncertainly, a little thrown.  Eriol's expression was inscrutable, and after a second's hesitation he started picking out letters.

"Are you nervous?"

"What the hell are you talking about?" Li snapped irritably, but Eriol didn't blink.

"You know exactly what I'm talking about, you just don't want to admit it.  You are scared."

"The day I tell you that I'm scared of anything will be the same day you have to pry my sword from my cold and lifeless hands."  Triumphantly he finished spelling C-L-A-S-S from the C in S-C-E-N-T.  But Eriol looked pained and clucked his tongue in exasperation.

"Now look at what you've done, Li-kun, you've spelled a word right down to the bottom row, just 2 boxes away from the triple word box.  You left it wide open for me instead of taking it for yourself."

"But I didn't have -"

"Then you should have gone for another word somewhere else!  It's always like that with you.  Only one move at a time, never thinking ahead, never taking the time to design a strategy."

"It's called focus."

"No, it's tunnel vision and it's time you learned to look around you before you act.  Don't you scowl at me like that, I know what I'm talking about."  Looking as close to annoyed as Li had ever seen, Eriol brandished a tile in his direction.  "Do you see this X?  It's worth 8 points.  I can put it with my E and the S from C-L-A-S-S and that will be 30 points right there.  Are you ready for that to happen?"

Li's cheeks turned the color of the triple word square.  "I don't know what you're talking about," he repeated stubbornly.

"Yes, you do.  And it's really important.  We need to talk about it."

"I don't want to talk about it!  And definitely not with you!"

"Who else are you going to talk to?  Your mother?  Sisters?"

"God no."  Li's skin got even hotter with embarrassment.  His uniformly female family was out of the question, and so was Wei.  Even if he was still in Japan, which he wasn't, their formal sensei-student relationship didn't allow for topics like this.  "Why are you doing this?"

"Because I know it's coming, we both do.  And since you don't have a father to talk to, I'm it."

"We're the same age, Hiiragizawa."

"My memories are older."  Eriol propped his elbows on the game board and leaned forward.  "Are you going to be careful?"

"Of course!"

"I was talking about making sure her brother can't find out."

"So was I."

"Are you nervous?"

Li dropped his eyes.  "Yeah."

"It's normal.  There isn't any other way around it, not for the first time.  But there's two very important things to think about."  He held up a finger.  "One.  Are you sure she wants to?"

Li considered the question very seriously before he nodded once. 

"Two.  The future, and where you're going.  I know you can't see it, even I can't, but you can't treat this like the game, Li-kun.  You can't just make one move at a time and figure out the rest later, not once you've crossed that bridge.  She trusts you, she loves you, and you have to know that you're going to be there for her.  So do you?"

"Yes, always."

"Sakura-san is very important to me.  If you hurt her somehow, I promise I'll deal with you myself."

"I mean it, Hiiragizawa.  I'm playing for keeps."

Eriol examined his determined face for a long moment, before his lips turned up in a quirky grin and he ruffled Li's hair.

"You're cute when you're about to grow up, did you know that?"

Li knocked the hand away.  "Watch it, Hiiragizawa.  This doesn't make us friends."

"No.  I'd say it makes us family." 

He swept the tiles off the board and into their bag, neatly boxing up the game.  "We'll play again next week.  Remember what I told you, and you'll be all right.  But in the meantime…" 

He hauled a nonplussed Li to his feet and draped his arm around his shoulders in a friendly gesture.

"You're buying.  Let's eat."

Maybe sometimes losing the game was worth it.

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Disclaimer: I do not own these characters.

My family's played Scrabble at gatherings ever since I can remember, and I love it even if Mom usually wins.  God knows from where, but we've got one in our teacher's office here.  I'm such a loser, I actually brought it home to lay out the tiles while I wrote this, so the score counts and word arrangements are true right down to the letter.  I let my more advanced Thai students play it to practice their English, and they love it.  The idea of English lessons immediately popped into my head when I read the challenge, and who would make a better teacher than our smug favorite ancestor?

I've never featured an Eriol/Syaoran scene that I can remember, but it was fun.  I do enjoy their chemistry, just in a brotherly, very non-romantic way.  Poor Li has no male role models, so I thought it would be sweet of Eriol to volunteer for the position – even if he is a bit condescending about it.  We just can't have him any other way.