Author's Note: This story takes place in the Underground hideout during Jak 2 sometime after the mission "Escort Kid to Power Station," but before going to the Tomb of Mar to face the Tests of Manhood. I hope you all like it! And reviews and constructive criticisms are always appreciated :)

Disclaimer: I do not own Jak and Daxter.

Slapjack!

Jak stared up at the bottom of the top bunk with his arms folded beneath his head. His boots, eco ring, and goggles lay on the ground next to the bed where he had tiredly purged them. He closed his eyes again. He could hear the rustle of papers as Torn started getting information ready for the next mission.

He must have drifted off. By the nauseous feeling in his stomach, and the sweat pasting his hair to his temples, he must have been having a nightmare. Involuntarily, he started to think back about his time in the prison. The chair...the Dark Eco experiments...the pain. Jak grunted and turned on his side. He didn't see Daxter, who seemed to be reading his mind, looking up at him with his eyebrows arched in concern.

"Hey, Jak, look at these," Daxter said, tearing Jak from the memories. Jak peeked one eye open at the ottsel. Daxter was pulling a small, cardboard box out of Jak's bag.

"Is that what you just had to buy earlier at the Bazaar?" Jak asked.

"Yeah. But don't you worry that handsome little head of yours, Blondie. It was well worth the ten Precursor Orbs." Daxter hopped up onto the bunk bed and slid a stack of thick, palm-sized papers out of the box. They were a deep russet color, the same as Precursor metal, and Precursor letters fringed the edges in gold. On the other side were numbers and symbols and strange, mirrored pictures written in black and red ink.

Jak sat up, one eyebrow peaked in question.

"They're cards. People play games with 'em. Wanna try?"

Jak shrugged, rubbing his eyes. "Sure. How do you play?" Daxter sat back, laying the cards in front of them. Jak pulled his legs up and crossed them together to give Daxter room before picking up the first card and flipping it around curiously.

"You can play tons of games with these things. I learned about one called Egyptian Ratscrew from Ximon a while back. Here." Daxter split the deck in half, handing one pile to Jak and keeping the other for himself. "Okay, put down three cards if I put down a king, two cards for a queen, and one card for a jack. Ha, ha. Jack."

"You made that up."

"Nuh-uh! Anyway, these are all called 'face cards.' If you don't put down a face card by the time you've put down three cards, two cards, or one card, I get all of them. Slap the pile if say, we see a wild card. A sandwich is where you put down say a seven, then a face card, then a seven again. You can slap that. Or if you see a double. That's where two cards are put down with the same number. Or if two cards add up to ten. Oh! And if there are three that go in a row, like seven, eight, nine. Got it?"

Jak stared blankly at him for a moment before offering a smile that said, Um, no. Not really.

"Weeell, let's just try it, and I'll teach ya as we go, 'kay?"

Jak and Daxter took turns putting cards down. Queen. What was that...one chance? No, two. Jak put down a seven of spades, then a six of hearts.

"Awww, too bad, buddy boy. Those are mine." Daxter swept them up and put them at the back of his deck, then put down a five of clubs.

Eight of diamonds..

three of clubs.

Ten of spades...

King of diamonds.

Three chances? Ace of diamonds, nine of hearts, and...

Wild card!

"Aaaah!" Daxter shouted. Jak slapped his hand down on the stack of cards just seconds before Daxter did. "Huh. Fine, it's yours. See? You're getting the hang of it," Daxter acknowledged. Jak offered him a complacent grin.

Torn peered over a stack of papers at them from the table in the middle of the Underground hideout, scowling. "What are you two doing over there?" he growled. "You're going to wake up the..." Torn's voice faded as two blue eyes peeked at them all curiously from the bunk across from Jak and Daxter's. "...kid." Torn finished with a sigh. The kid clambered down and shyly scooted up to Jak and Daxter, staring at the strange cards in their hands. Jak chuckled to himself and handed the kid his stack of cards.

Daxter fanned his cards out and peered over them at the kid. "Got any threes?" he asked, his voice low with mock seriousness.

The kid tilted his head and raised an eyebrow at the ottsel, but fanned his own cards out and started searching through them. He slipped a three of spades out and set it on the bed.

"Huh. Smart kid," Daxter mused as he took up the card.

"I've got the next mission for you, so quit screwing around and get over here," Torn suddenly called. Jak rolled his eyes before sliding out of the bunk and strapping his shoes on as Daxter gathered up the cards. With a groan, Jak stood and went over to Torn as he slipped the leather straps of his eco ring on, along with his gun and jetboard. Daxter started after him, then skidded to a stop and spun back around to face the kid.

"Hey, uh, Kid?" Daxter said. He held out the box of cards to him. "Why don't you hang on to 'em? Seems kinda boring in here all by yourself. Maybe I'll show ya solitaire or somethin' later, 'kay?" The kid took the box, his eyes wide with admiration.

Daxter scrambled after Jak as he walked up the narrow hallway to the exit, his voice loudly echoing back to Torn and the kid. "So, uh, what're we doing? Going out to the ruins to get killed by Metal Heads? Or maybe paying a visit to old Jellybag..."

Torn listened as the Ottsel's voice faded behind the door. Thank the Precursors. He looked down at the papers in his hand and attempted to return to his work. But suddenly, a little hand was tugging at his pants. Torn looked down to see the kid with some cards fanned out in his hand. The kid lifted the cards up so that his eyes just peeked over them before holding up three fingers with his free hand, silently mimicking Daxter.

"I can't play with you right now, Kid," Torn said. But the kid reached up and set the rest of the deck on the table and nudged it toward him. Torn sighed, fighting a smile. "Persistent, aren't you?" He heaved the boy up and sat him on the table. He took up the cards and started splitting them. "Fine. This game's called 'Go Fish.' I used to play it all the time with my brother when I was a kid."

"Torn?" someone called. Torn froze with the cards in his hands as Jak and Daxter stalked in. Jak folded his arms across his chest, smirking.

"Awww! Torn's just a big softie after all!" Daxter sang.

Torn growled. "What the he...ck," Torn caught with a temporary glance at the kid, "are you both doing back here?"

"Forgot my goggles," Jak shrugged. He stooped down and snatched them up from the ground, swinging them around his index finger for Torn to see before turning to leave. "Have fun," he called back over his shoulder.