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Game night starts because someone spills the dice.
They scatter everywhere, clacking across the floor like they’re trying to escape. Alice gasps like it’s a crime. Penny immediately drops to her knees to gather them up, counting under her breath. Austin dives after one that rolls under the couch, getting stuck halfway and declaring, very seriously, that he lives there now. Davey watches all of this from the table, holding the Dungeon Master screen upright like it’s the most important job in the world.
“Okay,” Davey says, calm and firm, like a grown-up but smaller. “Everyone sit. We haven’t even started yet.”
Alice scrambles into her chair, spinning it once before settling. Penny climbs back up carefully, lining her dice into neat little rows. Austin wiggles free from the couch with lint on his shirt and plops down last, already grinning.
The table is too big and the chairs are a little wobbly, but that’s fine. There are snacks everywhere – crackers, gummy bears, juice boxes with bendy straws. Davey taps the table twice. That means quiet. Mostly.
“I’m the Dungeon Master,” he says, even though everyone already knows. He lifts the screen like it’s magic. “You are all in a town.”
“What town?” Alice asks immediately.
“A normal one,” Davey says. “With buildings.”
“Are there horses?” Austin asks.
“Yes.”
“Are they evil?” Alice asks.
Davey pauses. “Not yet.”
That makes Alice smile.
Penny raises her hand, even though no one said she had to. “Do we know why we’re there?”
Davey nods. He likes that question. “You’re heroes.”
Austin sits up straighter. “I have a sword.”
Alice squints at her paper. “I have magic.”
Penny points to her notes. “I have a plan.”
Davey takes a breath. “You’re standing in the middle of the town. There’s a fountain. There’s a bakery. And there’s a big dark door that looks spooky.”
Alice slaps the table. “The door. I go to the door.”
“I think we should get snacks first,” Austin says.
“The bakery might be a trap,” Penny says seriously.
Davey considers this. “The bakery smells like bread.”
Austin nods. “Okay I go there.”
Everything happens at once after that. Alice insists on knocking on the spooky door “just a little.” Penny argues that they need information. Austin says his character is hungry and that matters. Davey tries to keep up, flipping pages, rolling dice, explaining things slowly even when Alice interrupts him halfway through a sentence.
Alice rolls badly and groans dramatically, slumping over the table like she’s been wounded. Penny rolls very well and looks quietly pleased, writing something down. Austin rolls and doesn’t look at the number, just says, “I win.”
Soon they’re all talking at once again. The man in the bakery becomes a spy. The fountain is probably cursed. The horses might still be evil, actually. Davey lets things get a little silly before tapping the table again.
“Okay,” he says. “You hear a noise.”
Everyone freezes.
“What kind of noise,” Penny asks.
“A scary one,” Davey says.
Alice grins. “I knew it.”
They creep toward the spooky door together, even though Austin wanted bread and Penny wanted more information. Davey describes the hallway behind it, dark and echoey. Alice leans so far forward her chair almost tips. Penny clutches her pencil. Austin kicks his feet against the table leg, nervous but excited.
Then the monster appears.
It’s big. It’s loud. Davey uses his hands to show how big. Alice gasps. Penny’s eyes go wide. Austin laughs because laughing feels safer.
“I attack it,” Alice says immediately.
“We don’t know what it does yet,” Penny protests.
“I hit it anyway,” Alice insists.
Davey sighs, but he’s smiling. “Roll.”
The dice bounce. Alice cheers. Penny groans. Austin claps even though he doesn’t know why.
The fight is messy. Davey keeps having to remind them whose turn it is. Alice keeps trying to do backflips. Penny keeps checking her notes. Austin forgets what he’s doing halfway through and then remembers very dramatically.
At one point, Austin knocks over his juice. It spills everywhere.
“Oh no,” Penny says, alarmed.
Davey grabs a napkin. “It’s okay,” he says, still talking about the monster at the same time. “The monster roars.”
Alice roars louder.
They defeat it eventually, because Davey makes sure they do. When it falls, Alice jumps up from her chair. Penny exhales like she’s been holding her breath for an hour. Austin throws his hands up and yells, “We’re the best.”
Davey smiles so hard his face hurts.
They don’t stop right away. They keep playing, even when the story starts to wobble. They invent new things. Penny decides there’s a map. Alice decides the map is haunted. Austin decides the haunted map is his best friend.
The room gets quieter as they get tired. Alice leans sideways in her chair. Penny’s writing gets messier. Austin rests his chin on the table, still rolling his dice just to hear the sound.
Davey notices, but he keeps going gently, like he doesn’t want to end it yet.
Finally, Alice yawns so big it looks like her face might split in half.
“That’s it,” Davey says softly. “We’ll stop here.”
“No,” Austin says, very serious. “One more thing.”
Davey thinks. “Okay. One more thing.”
He tells them their characters are safe. He tells them they found treasure. He tells them they’re heroes.
Penny smiles, small and satisfied. Alice nods like she knew it all along. Austin grins at Davey, warm and trusting.
They clean up slowly. Dice go back into bags. Papers get folded. Snacks disappear. No one wants to be the first to leave the table.
The world they made lingers, just a little, glowing in the air between them.
Game night ends, but not really.