Given
"Checkmate."
Ed stared down at the board. "How...? You can't possibly have done a checkmate so quickly"
"It's easy when I'm playing against a novice" Havoc said cheerfully, returning Ed's pieces.
"You had a handicap" Ed said accusingly.
"It's easy to win even with a handicap. I've been playing since I was a sprat."
Ed had noticed that when Havoc was relaxed, cheerful, playful, and on leave (each one conducive to the last), his voice dropped out of the sharp urban accent that he had picked up in the military and relaxed into a lazier, gentler, more country-ish sound. Ed found it to be more pleasant.
"Hmph" he grumbled for form's sake. "I still think you're cheating."
"Jealous, are we"
"Shut up."
Havoc removed his pieces from their places, setting up his line. "I just can't see how someone as logical and intelligent as you can keep screwing up so royally in what's basically your trademark game. Coffee"
"I'd love some."
