The Bits in Between

By Lumendea

Chapter Nineteen: No Winner

AN: This takes place during Child of Earth after Chess Match. This one is dedicated to Kayfoxtrot, who put this into my head.

…..

"Black, there is no way to win tic-tac-toe," Rose said. Her patience was running thin, and Black was glaring at the sheet of paper. Honestly, it was amazing that it hadn't burst into flame. "Really, you can only win if the other player makes a mistake."

"It is not impossible to win, Miss Tyler," Black growled. "It is a question of the right starting position. The belief that it is impossible to win is a false one."

"Fine, okay, maybe that's true." Rose sighed and rubbed between her eyes. She couldn't quite remember how this had started, but now she was stuck at her flat table across from the Black Guardian. "But do you really think that I'm going to mess up?"

"We have been playing for over an hour," Black smirked a little. "Eventually, you will slip. You are only human."

"You're betting on my boredom to make me lose?" Rose narrowed her eyes at him. "Seriously Black? All this over a chess match."

"I dislike losing."

"I'm aware of that." Rose rolled her eyes. She stood up from the kitchen table and stretched. "I need more tea if you're going to be stubborn about this." Rose paused and looked at Black, who was now looking at her with a hint of disapproval over the interruption. "Would you like some tea?"

Black looked surprised at the question, which only made Rose smile. She chalked it up to missing the Doctor. Ever since her future self had presumably returned home, she didn't have him as a visitor. It just made her flat feel too big and empty. Then Black nodded even as he eyed her suspiciously.

"Relax," Rose said. "I don't keep poison in my flat."

"It takes more than that to kill a Guardian anyway," Black replied. There was something in his tone that was almost sad, but Rose didn't ask. The Black Guardian wouldn't answer questions like that. Instead, she turned on her kettle and pulled down another mug. "Three sugars."

"You like it sweet then." Turning, Rose smiled back at him, properly amused now. "Interesting."

"Don't read too much into it," Black said.

Rose returned to the table with the tea, setting down in front of the Black Guardian. He took a sip and nodded in what may have actually been approval. Holding in her amusement, Rose was silent as Black cleared the tic tac toe grid once again. Surely that was a waste of his Guardian abilities, but then Rose didn't know what rules there were. And this was the Black Guardian she was dealing with; rules weren't exactly his thing. She was probably lucky he was fixated on winning legitimately and hadn't turned gravity around in her flat or something like that. Chaos was unpredictable.

They played another game. It was a tie once again, with neither able to achieve three in a row. Rose wondered what the rest of the universe would think of this. The Black Guardian locked in tic tac toe combat with a human barely in her twenties.

"This is a silly game Black," Rose said. "We could play something else if you're really that bored."

"I'm not leaving until I win."

"I have work to do!" Rose protested. "And I need to eat and sleep! Unlike some people!"

"Guardians do eat and sleep," Black informed her. He rolled his eyes. "Just not as much as you humans."

Rose blinked in surprise at the offered information. It wasn't often the Guardian actually really told her anything, but she recovered quickly. "Fine then, but you can't stay out of stubbornness!"

"Yes, I can." Black gave her an odd dark smile that was unpleasant to look at. "You will just have to swallow your pride if you want me to leave anytime soon."

"It's tic-tac-toe!"

"And I'm going to win."

Glaring at him, Rose picked her pencil back up as the Black Guardian waved his hand over the paper. The earlier marks vanished, leaving a blank grid for them to work with. She took a deep breath and tried not to think about the homework she needed to do. Instead, she marked an X in the upper left-hand corner. Black put an O directly below, so Rose took the middle. Smirking, Black put another O on the far right column bottom to block her. Rose looked at the paper for a moment and then grinned.

Writing an X in the top right-hand corner, she grinned. It took Black a moment, and then his eyes narrowed up at her. She had two ways to win: across the top and a diagonal from top right to bottom left.

"Come on, Black," Rose said. "Finish the game and go. I have got to get some homework done." He glared at her and then vanished from the flat. "Quitting before the end? Coward!" Rose called out to the emptiness with a deep sense of satisfaction.