Chapter Text
It was something of an unusual setup for a card game. The room was long and narrow, dominated by a bed at one end and a table ten feet away at the other. The poker chips all had holes punched through the center, and were ferried back and forth between the bed and the table as needed by magical threads so that the bed's occupant could bet. Cards were handled similarly.
The whole thing was a bit weird, and it didn't work at all on days when Henry wasn't feeling well enough to sit up. Not to mention his mana drain occasionally snapping Vanessa's threads. But Finral and Vanessa could manage the effects for a while so long as Yami was in the room getting the worst of it. And since cards were a common enough pastime for the three of them, they'd taught Henry.
Magna was a more recent addition. He'd sworn he'd avenge his absolutely horrific loss to Henry the night of the ball. Not that he'd made any progress in six months; the guy was way too open to master any kind of poker face.
As Yami handed the cards to Magna, Yami twitched and took another bite of the bowl of Charmy's chowder sitting at his other elbow. Finral glanced over to the left at him. Yami's mana didn't feel like he needed to tap out yet, but he was definitely feeling the proximity to Henry. Given that Yami was the most experienced player at the table, though, Finral considered it a bonus that the mana drain killed a chunk of his concentration.
On Finral's right, Vanessa grinned as Magna shuffled. “It's lucky it's your deal, Magna. You won't have to start betting your clothes again until next round!” She looked pointedly at the three lonely chips sitting in front of him.
Bristling, Magna snapped, “Shut up! That was a one time thing!” Jabbing a finger in Henry's direction, he added accusingly, “You told me he was a new player!”
Vanessa giggled as Henry replied, “Compared... to them... I am.”
“Like that means anything! I'm gonna win next time!” Magna declared, shuffling the cards with quick, sharp movements. That part he was a natural at; like Finral, Magna's magic was largely controlled by precise finger motions. The rest...
Thoughtfully, Finral asked, “Has Magna won yet at all?” Magna sputtered, probably about to make another vow of future victory, but Yami chuckled.
“Nope,” he said, taking another bite of the chowder.
That took some of the wind out of Magna's sails; he settled for glaring around the table as he dealt the cards. The two he dealt to the empty place at his left were snatched by Vanessa's threads and dropped across the room in Henry's lap. One of the threads grabbed a red five point chip to take back to the table for the small blind.
As Vanessa set out two of her own red chips for the big blind, Finral glanced at his cards. Certainly not anything exciting; then again, Finral didn't rely on luck to win card games. He looked up to see Yami watching him.
Finral eyed Yami's smirk, eyes narrowing. Yami didn't rely on luck either. Finral sighed. “I can tell when you're cheating, you know...”
“Tch. I don't cheat.” Under the table and out of sight, Finral deliberately flexed his right leg. Yami's eyes flicked to the right. Finral pointed an accusing finger at him.
“See! Like that. Reading people's ki to tell if they're bluffing is absolutely cheating.” Because if he was noticing movements like that, Yami was definitely paying too much attention. Unfortunately, rather than looking remotely abashed at being caught out, Yami shrugged.
“So is your weird math thing. Who got kicked out of a gambling den for card counting?”
“Wait, what?” Magna interjected. He looked like he couldn't decide if he was more startled that Finral had been in a gambling den for a reason other than being Yami's ride, or that he'd actually gotten into trouble. Despite himself, Finral went a bit pink. That had been embarrassing. Not that Yami knew the meaning of the word. Of course, Yami had conveniently left out the important part.
“And whose fault was it I was there to begin with?”
“No idea,” Yami replied, voice matter-of-fact like he hadn't been the one who'd goaded Finral into sitting at the blackjack table. Finral opened his mouth to argue when Henry coughed. All four players at the table looked over at the bed.
“You... both... cheat,” Henry said. Vanessa smiled at him.
“See, Henry gets it.” Looking back at Finral- who wasn't going to forget this base betrayal of their friendship anytime soon- she grinned. “Place your bet already, Finral. Stalling isn't going to save you.”
“His... hand's... probably... awful.”
Yami laughed. “And Henry can't read ki. Your poker face just sucks, Finral. Gonna fold?”
Finral looked at his hand again.
Okay, so it was an awful hand. Yami was still cheating, and Magna, Henry and Vanessa were just letting him get away with it. Finral had terrible friends, honestly.
Still. Finral took another bite of his own chowder and hid a smile. There were worse things in the world than terrible friends you could lose to at poker. And maybe Magna would give him some respect after this. If Magna got kicked out a someplace like that, he'd probably brag about it.
“No, I'm going to call, because I know what the odds are,” he said, putting as much confidence into his voice as possible. Pushing forward a small pile of chips to match Vanessa's bet, he smiled at Yami like he'd already won.
What Yami doesn't need to know are that the odds are awful.
Yami frowned, and glanced over at Vanessa, who was still grinning. He rolled his eyes.
“Pair of loons...” he muttered. “Call.”
From the bed, Henry said, “I'll... raise... because... I think...both... of you... have... bad... hands.”
Yami looked over at Henry with narrowed eyes, as if suspicious that he was using his powers to see anywhere in the base to cheat. Vanessa burst out laughing. “Call!” she said cheerfully, adding another couple of chips to her own bet as her threads added Henry's.
Finral glanced at his own pile of chips and decided he might as well go for it; they were only up to twenty points and Magna hadn't even dealt the flop yet. “Call,” he said.
Yami hesitated, still eyeing Finral like he knew what his hand was and was considering raising again just to push Finral out of the round. Which, rude. But he finally called. Magna burned a card and dealt the flop, and Finral hid a wince at the three revealed cards. Well. That took the odds from awful to nearly impossible. Joy.