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The four of them are gathered around a small coffee table in Dimitri’s dorm room, Monopoly in front of them. Ingrid counts out the colorful, fake bills and passes each player their $1500. It’s game night, and this is the game they had decided on. It was the last game Felix wanted to play, because it took entirely too long and he was too cautious with his faux money, leading to his inevitable demise. But Dimitri had vetoed Uno because it caused too many arguments among the four, and Ingrid liked to be the banker, and so here they were.
Felix positions his metal, boot-shaped game piece on GO and looks up at his friends and opponents. They place their pieces next to his— the battleship for Ingrid, the thimble for Dimitri, and Sylvain as the dog— and Dimitri smiles at them around the table. “Shall we begin?” he asks the group, and Felix huffs through his nose.
They begin. Dimitri immediately starts off by rolling two sixes and snatches up the Electric Company. Damnit, Felix thinks. This is already going in Dimitri’s favor, the lucky bastard. Why do they even have game night anyway? Aren’t most college students out partying in the hallways and playing beer pong?
Not that Felix knows how to play beer pong.
“Wipe that sour look off your face, Felix,” Ingrid says, picking up the dice. They clatter against the wooden table as she enthusiastically rolls. When they stop, they reveal a five and a two, and Ingrid moves her ship and picks up a Chance card. “Second place in the beauty contest,” she reads. “Collect $10.” She smiles at them with a hint of smugness.
“Oh, shut up,” Felix says. Next to him, Sylvain laughs, literally throwing his head back.
“Relax, Felix.” He wraps an arm around Felix’s shoulder and pulls him close, their cheeks squishing together. “It’s just a game.”
Felix grumbles and pushes away.
It doesn’t take long for his three childhood friends to start buying up the entire board and making him pay rent. He almost fist pumps in triumph when he lands on Boardwalk before anyone else and is able to buy it, but gets increasingly angry as his opponents roll over it everytime. He exhales through his teeth as his boot stops walking on the “Go to Jail” space and relinquishes his purple $50 for bail. Why is he so bad at this game?
“Why are you so bad at this game?” Sylvain asks, echoing his thoughts.
“Excuse me for not throwing my money away,” Felix grumbles as he flicks his game piece out of jail.
“Felix,” Dimitri says, his voice irritatingly soothing, “that’s how the game is played.”
His money dwindles quicker and quicker, and he takes solace in the three times someone lands on Broadwalk so he can regain the smallest portion. Sylvain is winning this time— hotels constructed in his name every few spaces. It’s killing Felix, but it’s also killing Dimitri and Ingrid, as well. They hand over their money to Sylvain as he grins like the idiot he is and he adds it to his unorganized pile.
He has so much colorful money, would he really know if a few bills were missing? Felix looks down at his own money, a small collection of 500s and a few 50s, maybe ten 20s. Next time he lands on a property it’s game over for him. Again his eyes slide over to Sylvain’s stack.
As Dimitri picks up the dice to start the rotation over again, Felix slides his fingers up Sylvain’s neck, pulling him close to him. When Sylvain looks at Felix in surprise, Felix captures his lips in a kiss, using his hold on the back of his neck to pull Sylvain in deeper.
His free hand snatches a small handful of Monopoly money, pulling it off the table and hiding it under his leg.
When he pulls back, Sylvain’s cheeks are flushed and his eyes are wide with surprise. Though Felix doesn’t know why— it isn’t like they haven’t kissed before. In fact, they kiss for many, many hours almost every night. “What?” Felix asks, and Sylvain sputters a reply.
“N… nothing! I just wasn’t expecting that.” And then he smiles and bonks his forehead against Felix’s.
Felix chances a glance at his other two friends. The dice are still cupped in Dimitri’s palm, his mouth agape as he looks at the display in front of him. Ingrid is shaking her head slowly, knowingly, her eyes shifting to Sylvain’s money pile and then back to Felix. But she doesn’t say anything except, “It’s your turn, Dimitri.”
Perhaps Felix will stay in the game for a couple more rounds.