Work Text:
The week for Jude and Cardan had been busy for them to decide to partake in the mortal world as a form of rest.
No crown on their heads and no kingdom to rule.
They were free for the weekend.
And when Vivienne invited the two to spend the week at their new place, they couldn't refuse.
Jude longed to see her family together after the months of not being able to leave the palace for more than a night.
Their weekend had been extremely uneventful. Using the afternoons for wandering at the mall and their nights watching movies that caught their eyes.
During the mornings, as Cardan slept, Jude took it upon herself to train with Oak, who was slowly becoming as skilled as her with a wooden sword.
Vivi and Heather let them do what they wanted, but usually joined them when they went to the mall.
It had been the same as the other day.
Jude and Cardan were sitting at the couch, watching a movie together while eating some candies from their visit to the mall, while Heather and Oak sat at the dining table, playing a board game while Vivi watched the match closely. But most of the time she was distracted with her phone in her hands.
Cardan had been sneaking glances at them from time to time, Jude tried to ignore it and pay attention to the movie as much as she could, but he finally spoke.
"What are they doing?"
"Playing chess." She answered with a bored expression as she placed a gummy worm in her mouth.
"And what is that exactly?"
"A game." Cardan rolled his eyes, even when he knew his wife was acting like that on purpose.
"That much I figured."
"Then why are you asking?" He buffed, arms crossing over his chest as he stared at the TV. Jude sighed, turning her attention to him and dropping a kiss to his cheek. "I'll show you how to play it later if you stop looking like that and pay attention to the movie."
He kept his face the same, trying to hide the satisfied smile his lips wanted to show so much. Jude saw right through him, shaking her head before she turned her attention back to the movie, just as the character stabbed the other's eye. Cardan flinched, which made Jude chuckle.
"You've seen worse than this in real life and a movie is what makes you uneasy?" He only shrugged, his head dropping to her shoulder as he grabbed a gummy from the packet in her hand, popping it into his mouth.
"It's too realistic."
"Ha! I won! I'm the best at chess, you sucker!" Oak's shout made both Jude and Cardan look at the table.
He had gotten up and had his arm raised above his head as he continued to chant how amazing he was at chess, all the while, Heather tried to reprimand him for his words, which was to no use.
°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°
They sat in the chairs where Oak and Heather first occupied, placed closer together as Jude's leg splayed on top of his lap.
The new game was set. Each piece in its correct place. The white side was turned to Jude while the black was to Cardan.
The first piece Jude grabbed was the smallest one, showing it off to him.
"This one is the Pawn. They're the less important pieces in the game, but as you can see, it also has a lot. You have to remember that they can only walk to the front, and one square at a time. Unless it's their first move, then you can walk two squares for the first time."
"Why?" Jude shrugged, placing the piece back on the board.
"Not sure, it's just the rules. Now, to capture your opponent's pieces, you can only do it diagonally. So if I have my piece in front of yours, you're not gonna be able to capture mine with one of those, only if my piece is diagonally positioned to yours."
"It sounds stupid."
"It is. But that's how you play with it." She grabbed a different piece from the board, showing it to him, who grabbed the same one from his side of the board. "This one is the Rook. They walk as many squares as they can, as long as it's vertical or horizontal. And they can go back, unlike the Pawns that can only walk to the front."
"It looks like a tiny tower."
"It is a tiny tower." She placed it back on the board, lifting the next one. "This is the Knight. They walk in an L form, so basically two horizontal and one vertical square or two vertical and one horizontal. They can only capture at the square they land on last, at the tip of the L."
"But that's dumb. Knight should do more than that." A smile tugged at her lips.
"They're the only pieces that can skip over other pieces. Is that fair enough for you?"
"Better." She put the Knight down, grabbing the one on its side.
"The Bishop can only walk diagonally, but as many squares as he can." As she placed the piece back down, Cardan grabbed the one on his side of the board, inspecting it closer, smiling as he came to a conclusion.
"It has a nose and mouth." Jude snorted as she grabbed the piece back again, looking at it with new eyes.
"You know what, you're right." Cardan's smile grew bigger while he placed the piece back down, his hands resting on her legs that were still on his lap.
"Okay, this other one," she grabbed the other piece, one of the tallest ones with a cross on top of it, "it's the King." One of his eyebrows raised curiously as he listened to her. "He's the most important piece in the game."
"Much like me then." Jude fake glared at him, setting the piece down.
"He can walk whatever way he wants, but only one square at a time."
"See? Already the best one so far."
"You have to protect this piece at all costs. Without it, the game is over. If you're able to corner it, but there's still some ways in which he can escape, it's check. If not, it's checkmate and the game is over." He nodded, grabbing the last piece on the board.
"I'm guessing this one must be the Queen."
"You guessed correctly."
"So? How does she move?" Jude smirked, knowing the satisfaction she would feel about this piece.
"She walks whatever way she likes. And as many squares as she can."
"She's the most powerful then." Jude nodded. "It sounds like you. You are the most powerful of us, after all." She felt cheeks redden, but shook the compliment off before she removed her legs from his lap, sitting straighter in the chair.
"Do you have any more questions?" He shook his head, saying no, "Then we shall play."
And so they started.
°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°
A few short games later for Cardan to get the hang of it, and they were finally playing for real.
It had been hours since the match. They had eaten pizza with Vivi, Heather and Oak while still playing. They all watched the heated game before the three went off to bed.
Now it was only the two of them, still in the match, uttering no words besides the occasional teasing Cardan did. It was dark, the only light on was the dim TV light Jude had left on on mute so she would be able to see the board properly. Even with its light on, it was still hard for her to see much with her mortal eyes.
She had placed her hair up in a bun at some point, claiming her hair kept getting in her eyes, but it had been becoming looser and looser when she moved her neck back in an attempt to sooth the stiffness in it.
Cardan wore that stupid smirk she hated but loved so much at the same time. He was one step from beating her and the bastard knew it and wasn't letting it down easily.
"You know, you can give up now."
"In your dreams." It did nothing to erase the smirk across his face.
She moved another piece, trying desperately to protect her king, but Cardan moved another one of his, and his smirk only growed.
"Check. Are you ready to give up now, wife?" Jude growled, moving her king away, only for Cardan to corner him again. "Check. Come on now, Jude. You lost a third of your pieces. You have no queen. You already lost the game, admit it."
"Shut up." She moved the last rook she had, positioning it so she would be able to capture his queen if he moved her, but Cardan saw the movement and placed her away.
"What is a King without his Queen, Jude? Could you answer that for me?" She knew if she looked in the mirror right now she would see her eyes red from the lack of sleep. But she refused to give up unless he won in a fair fight.
She didn't answer. Continued to stare at the board and plan her next moves. If only she could get rid of his own Queen she would have a chance against him. But that would mean sacrificing at least one of her last pieces, and she didn't have enough to do that.
As she thought it over, something fuzzy started rubbing on the back of her knee. She didn't need to look down to know exactly what it was.
"You're distracting me."
"That's exactly the plan, my darling." She glared at him, cursing under her breath before she moved her rook again. She knew it would be a lost cause.
What she hadn't seen was his knight close to where she stopped her rook. Exactly where the L ended, making her lose another one of her pieces.
"What are you gonna do next? There's nowhere for you to run now, is there?"
Jude sighed frustratedly, hands rubbing at her face as she moved her King, only for Cardan to corner him again with his Queen.
"Check. Or is it a Checkmate? I don't see any way out of this one, do you?" Jude studied the board, her face angry as she shook her head and knocked her King over.
She didn't want to look at him as she crossed her arms over her chest. His tail had left her leg, but wrapped around the chair leg to pull her close to him.
"Aren't you happy I beated you in something? Even if it's a stupid mortal game?" His hands rested on each side of her chair, locking her in place.
"No." He chuckled, a hand running up her arm to her face, stopping at her chin as he pulled her face up to look at him.
"Don't look so pouty. You win at every other thing we do. Let me have at least this, my sweet wife." He pulled her arms free, letting them fall on her lap while Jude rolled her eyes.
"Shut up." His smile was wicked as his tail wrapped around her thighs, hands falling into her hips as he pulled her to his lap. Her hands gripped his black shirt tightly.
"Why don't you shut me up?"
She crashed her lips into his with enough force that their teeth clashed together. Her hand traveled towards his face, his skin soft against her fingertips as she led them to tangle around his hair, pulling them hard enough to earn a groan from him.
"This is one of the only sounds I want to hear you make. No talking." Her voice was muffled as she traced kisses along his jaw and neck, biting into the skin there.
Cardan had his eyes closed, his hands finding their way inside her shirt, where he dug his nails into the soft skin of her with enough force that Jude gasped, mouth leaving his neck to go back to his lips.
Jude moved against his lap, a moan escaped both their lips with the friction they were feeling. One of her hands left his hair to move to his torso, tugging the end of his shirt up, which he helped her remove.
His hands traveled to her thigh, moving beneath her shorts to grasp her ass in his hands.
"Are you two still playing? It's late?"
Jude pushed him away, looking at the corridor where a sleepy Heather stood rubbing her eyes with the back of her hands. No glasses to be found, which Jude took as a sign that she wasn't seeing anything. That and the darkness the whole room was.
"No, we actually just finished it."
"Ah, that's good. You should get some sleep. You have a long way to Faerie tomorrow." Heather moved towards the kitchen, opening the fridge and getting a water bottle, which she gulped down in seconds.
Jude took the opportunity to get up from Cardan's lap, which was met by a frustrated groan from his mouth before she sat in the chair from before.
"But seriously, you guys should rest. That's what you came here for, right?" Jude only mumbled an affirmation as she watched Heather walk back to her room with a soft goodnight.
Cardan waited for the click of the door before placing his hands back on her thigh, trying to pull her close but being met only with a slap across his arm.
"We should sleep. She's right." Cardan groaned, but followed as she got up from the chair, turned the TV off and walked towards the guest bedroom they were sleeping at.
Cardan sat on the edge of the bed, watching Jude fumbling in the dark to change into her pajamas before she walked to the bed.
He grabbed her by the hips, making her stand in front of him as his hands traveled inside her shirt again, softly grasping into the nail marks he left on her back.
"There are more entertaining things to do than sleep." Her hand was caressing his hair, her other tracing the shapes of his scars on his bare back, a smile across her lips.
"And what would that be?" He lowered her sleeping shorts enough that her skin would be exposed, where he dropped tiny kisses around her hips.
"I'm sure you can think of something." Her skin felt hot against his mouth, and she knew she wouldn't be able to stop if he went any further, so she pulled him away by his hair, hearing his groan of frustration for being interrupted with something.
"There'll be plenty of time for that later. Now we should rest for tomorrow's journey. We have a meeting as soon as we're back in Elfhame." She sat next to him on the bed, her lips touching the skin of his jaw, leaving soft kisses there before she pulled away and laid on the bed, pulling him to her.
"I'm the King. We can do this meeting another time."
"And I'm the Queen and I say no. We've been rescheduling this for far too long. Tomorrow we deal with it."
Cardan shifted on the bed, adjusting himself so he laid looking at her, one of his hands sneaking underneath her body as the other played with her hair and traced the form of her ear. His legs tangled with hers before Jude pulled the covers on top of them, his tail wrapped around both their ankles, locking them together.
"You're a difficult thing, Jude."
"Yes, but you love that." Cardan sighed as she snuggled closer to him, her face buried against his chest.
He left a kiss on the top of her head, closing his eyes and hugging her closer to him. The two soon fell into a deep sleep where not even the rays of sunshine that peaked through the curtains seemed to be able to wake them up.