Chapter Text
It was a rainy afternoon. Claudine and Alexis decided to stay at Leo's house for a bit, after a tiresome day of school.
The three sat by Leo's couch, looking soulless as boredom slowly took over their bodies.
Leo's mom had gone out to buy groceries a few hours earlier, before the rain began pouring, and she had taken Gabby with her. It became apparent to Leo that he was the man of the house, for now.
She hadn’t come back yet, perhaps staying over at a friend’s house, waiting for the rain to pass.
"Hey, uhh... What are we gonna do now while we wait until the rain's over?" Alexis broke the silence.
Leo thought for a moment. Claudine watched him, just as lost in thought.
"How about we play games?" Claudine suggested. "Like... Board games?"
"Huh... That's a good idea!" Leo agreed. "Actually, I have a few board games in my closet. Haven't touched them since me and Mattheo last played them in 7th Grade."
"Let's get 'em then Leo!" Alexis demanded.
The three of them rushed to Leo's bedroom, where the closet containing those foregone treasures were located.
Leo opened gently, and he once again unearthed artifacts of the past.
A complete chess board, a set of snake and ladders, an empty sungka board, monopoly and additionally, a full deck of Uno Leo didn't mention earlier.
"Let's set them up, while I go get drinks!" Leo said to both Claudine and Alexis as he went to pick any beverages he could find from the kitchen.
"Dang, look at all these good stuff! They've been in the closet for some time now, and they are finally out like us." Alexis said as they began taking each items out one by one.
As everything was sat back up, Leo came back with two glass of cold palamig from the fridge.
"My mom bought these this morning. It's still good, I promise." Leo said as he brought the beverages to the duo.
"So what we're playing first?" He continued, urging his friends to choose between the games.
Claudine pointed at one particular board set. "Um, wait a sec. Why is the sungka board empty? Where are the shells?" She asked. "Ah, that one belongs to Gabby. They played with it alot back then with their friends around the neighborhood, heh. Sometimes I joined too, but that was a long ago."
"I didn't know you played chess!" Alexis began noticing the chess board they just took out of the closet a few moments earlier. Claudine looked over to Leo's direction in excitement.
"Well haha. You guys wanna play this one?" Leo challenged, pointing to either two of them. Claudine raised their hand, taking on his offer of chess. Thus, the game just begun. Alexis watched intensely from the other side of the room.
Leo took white's side of the board, while Claudine took black's. Leo moved his first pawn. Then Claudine moved hers forward, threatening Leo's pawn. It was as simple as it gets. Leo knew his way around since he often played it with Mattheo years ago, but he felt like Claudine was way ahead of him in this field.
Leo moved another pawn forward, next to the previously placed one. Both of his pieces were just adjacent to the center point of the board. His king was exposed.
Alexis, curious were they, had dragged their chair right up to the table now. Elbows on the edge, watching like it was the season finale of something.
It was Claudine's turn, and Alexis anticipated for the both of them. Claudine, however, just looked at the board for a few seconds, head tilted slightly. Leo looked at her with a confused look. Upon realizing she already made a way for her queen, she moved it to the open path to Leo's vulnerable king. Checkmated, in just a few moves.
"Wait… where’d that come from?"
Leo looked for a second in disbelief. He just realized a blunder he made in the opening. A fool's mate. How could he fell for it?
Claudine’s voice was super chill. "Don't mind her, she's just saying hi."
Leo stared at the Queen piece now. He wanted to kick it out, but it was pointless, for he already lost. He let out a long breath that sounded half like a laugh, half like defeat. "Okay! You won, Claudine. Geez. I don't know if I am being a dumbass today or you are just a few dimensions ahead of me."
Alexis was still sitting by the table, trying their best to hold their laughter while their previous expression was a lot more identical to Leo's initial confusion.
"ᴬʸ, ᴸᵉᵒ, ᵃⁿᵍ ᵇᵒᵇᵒ"
Claudine just smiled at this exchange. "Well, wanna keep going? Or end it here?" She asked gently, with a bit of reassurance in her voice.
Leo looked at the board one more time, then gently tipped his king over with his fingertip like he was putting it to sleep.
"Nah. You got me in like… two moves? That’s embarrassing... How about we just play MLBB?"
Claudine and Alexis looked at each other, nodding. "Deal!" They both synched.
Hours already passed by then. After countless rematch of the mobile game, the three eventually fell asleep on Leo's bedroom floors. Between breaks, they would occasionally switch to some of the other board games that were once in Leo's closet. However, they didn't bother tidying everything up. A half-empty glass that once fully held a fridge-cold palamig was even knocked down, spilling some of it unto the cold floors.
The rain already passed long before they became drowsy. Leo's mother and little sibling Gab finally returned home after the rain had settled. To see that no one was apparently present in the living room, she called out to Leo, but no answers laid on her ears.
"Leo... Leo! Geez. Where are you? Are your friends coming over? There are shoes that didn't belong to us outside."
She walked over to just outside of the boy's bedroom. To her surprise, the three kids slept by the cold floor, phones in hands. Alexis was in an embarrassing position to say the least. Leo looked like he had tucked Claudine in and she laid on his chest. It looked adorable for the last two, but the woman was more focused on how messy the room was.
She turned to Leo and slowly walked to him. "Ahem. Wake up sleepyhead. Are you gonna clean this mess up?"
She ushered. Leo woke up to an headache. Turns out his mother had smacked his head with a previously-never-to-be-seen broom.
"Give me a minute."