IX: King
(One of the four playing cards in a deck bearing the picture of a king.)

"…I call you," Kenny said, throwing pieces of marked paper onto their bed.

Kyle grumbled, chasing after their makeshift chips. "Ken, seriously, if we're going to play this, try keeping the chips from falling off the bed."

"Ah, don't worry about it, Ken," Kenny replied, shrugging the warning off. "Deal the cards, already."

Kyle sighed, reaching for the makeshift cards they had spent a good thirty minutes making. Granted they would probably have never done something like this at their own home, but blizzards called for such extremes. He placed one face down in a pile, and then placed three more afterward, face up.

Queen of Clubs. Nine of Spades. Jack of Diamonds.

"I barely know how to play," Kyle muttered, looking back at his own cards. An eight of Spades and four of Hearts? What could he do with that?

"Even after I taught you the rules?" Kenny sighed, shaking his head. "Fine, I'll just check it, then."

"Check?"

"When you call zero… when you don't bet anything. Seriously, Kyle, were you paying attention at all when I explained all of this to you?"

"Not really." Not at all in fact, as he had been busy wallowing over the loss of a day in the mountains…. Hopefully that blizzard outside wouldn't last forever. "Then I check, too… I guess."

"Good call," said Kenny, nodding as Kyle placed another card in the burn pile; the next face up card was a six of Diamonds.

"What the hell am I doing…" muttered Kyle, shaking his head as he turned to Kenny. "You check, then?"

"Sure…." Kyle placed the last card—ten of Diamonds. "Kyle…" began Kenny, a look of triumph on his face. "Kyle, you know you don't have to check me each time, right? You can raise me if you want."

"Oh… so are you checking, then?"

Kenny shook his head. "I'll raise you by five," he said, throwing the flimsy paper atop the Jackpot Pillow. "Gotta put five in to keep going."

"Yeah, I know…." Kyle sighed; why was he even playing this game?—after all, Kenny had won five hundred dollars playing this game. There was no way he'd beat him, anyway.

It was all for fun, anyway. But… what did he do with that money, anyway?

"Well?" asked Kenny, eyeing Kyle carefully. "Risk five tokens?"

"Uh, I—"

And then he saw it. It had been one of the easier hands to remember, especially since Kenny had tried teaching him so many hands at the same time. It was there, he was growing excited—a straight! Eight, nine, ten, jack, queen! He would win!

"How about this," Kyle said, his excitement washing over him. "If I win this hand, I get to sleep on the bed tonight. If you win—"

"It's mine," finished Kenny, looking at his cards carefully one last time. "Okay, deal. Now show you cards."

"Show my cards…?" Kyle asked, frowning. "Why?"

"Well… it's the end of the round. All the betting's done, Kyle. So we show our cards to see who won."

"Oh, right…." He peeked one last time at his cards before flipping them over. "Straight," Kyle said, a smile beaming on his face. "Eight, nine, ten, jack, queen! I got a straight!"

"Good job," Kenny replied glumly, looking at his cards yet again. "At least you remember what a straight is."

"So, do I win?" Kyle asked eagerly. "And why aren't you showing your cards?"

Kenny raised an eyebrow, smirking moments after. "Well… fine."

And he flipped his cards. Six of clubs. King of diamonds.

"Straight to king," Kenny said, jumping gleefully onto the only bed in the hotel room. "Thanks for the bed, Kyle!"

Thanks to Chainlinks, milkshakehobo, Noir est Monte, and Angel Reid . Tobias Dominik for reviewing!