Note: For Rinnakun (why, Rinna, I think you have converted me? Maybeperhapsjustalittle?) B/Near really is a nice guilty pleasures pairing. Uhm, this is my first time writing B, so OOC, I know. -is shot-
He can see it, sometimes. He can see it in the way B comes upon things, the way he speaks and carries himself. "N is not L," he says to Near one day. Near looks up from his chess board. "N is not as smart as L."
"What is it you're going on about?" Near replies quietly, picking up a queen in his nimble fingers. He sets it down and takes a knight instead.
B chuckles, slouches in his chair. "Why don't you play something else?" he suggests. "Play something with dice."
Near glances at him. "And why is that?"
"Because chess has no numbers," B says.
Near blinks and looks back to the board. "Numbers don't always matter," he says, and knocks over a pawn. He puts the knight in its place and relaxes his shoulders. "It all depends on strategy."
"And strength," B adds.
"Strength isn't everything."
B shakes his head. "I did not say that. You weren't listening," he chirps. "N really is not as smart as L."
Near says nothing.
"But oh- N is truly great, really he is. I think N could be dice if he wanted to." He grins. "I think N has numbers just like the dice."
Near takes the queen once again and moves it. B crouches beside the board. "See, that should not have been done. If you were smart you wouldn't have moved that piece, surely."
"Perhaps I was testing you," Near says calmly.
"Oh, N would never do that," B says. He giggles childishly and closes his eyes. He hums softly. "No, N would not risk losing. N does not like losing. N is like L- he does not like losing." His smile stretches, and he brushes a piece of hair out of Near's face. "But N is not as smart as L. N will lose it all."
Near sighs, thinks for a moment. "You seem so certain."
"But I am," B says. "Why can't you play something with dice? N, I want to play something with dice."
"Then do it," Near says, and brushes B off with a hand gesture.
"No fun," B whispers, and takes a pair of die from a desk drawer. The red cubes are tossed into the air, and they land softly in B's hands. "These are fun," he says, keeping his smile.
He throws the die onto the chess board, and many of Near's pieces fall. They land on the floor with a soft thud. Near looks up at him, then at the board and the pieces, and he sighs.
"See, N? Snake eyes." B picks up the pieces and stuffs them in his pocket. "No, no, N is not as smart as L."