ADJOURNMENT || benny watts x reader

chapter five

It was a few days later, Saturday night, when Beth Harmon knocked on the door to your apartment. "Beth—," You said, as she let herself in.

"I refuse to get ready for a night out in his grotty little basement. There's simply no light to see what the hell I'm doing," She waltzed into your apartment, hair tied with a scarf, shoes clicking across the wooden floor. You let out an accepting chuckle as you shut the door. You faced her awkwardly, stuffing your hands in your jean pockets.

"This is a cute apartment," Beth said, eyes skimming the room like she was window shopping, before turning to you expectantly.

"Drink?" You burst out, not used to playing hostess.

"Anything non-alcoholic, if you have it," You sprang into action, fast walking to the kitchen.

Never in your life did you think Beth Harmon would one day show up at your apartment unexpectedly. You'd moved to New York to distance yourself from chess, yet this was the most active within the community that you'd ever been—

It boggled your mind to the point where you often chose not to even think about it.

You grabbed a beer and a Diet Coke can from the fridge, the latter for Beth.

"I can see why you'd need to get out of Benny's place," You began, amusement on your lips. "It's all too... Benny,"

"I think you mean it's all too freakish. The first time he brought me here I thought he—,"

"Was going to kidnap you," You finished her sentence, handing her the coke can and taking a seat on the couch in the middle of your studio. "Matt told me about your reaction to the basement. Understandable really," You smiled with your eyes as you took a gulp of beer. Beth joined you on the couch, slipping off her shoes and bringing her knees up to her chest.

"I misjudged him, back then," Beth began, her voice sounding some-what distant. "He's a good guy. Arguably one of the best, albeit a bit egotistical... and annoying... and cocky..." Laugher sprang from her mouth as she kept talking. You rested your cheek on your hand, propped up on the couch back.

It was then that the possibility of you becoming friends with Beth Harmon came to your mind. This was what friends did; sat on the couch, drank, gossiped, laughed. It was just odd to think that she was literally a chess World Champion, fully integrated into a world you'd tried so hard to get out of.

"You don't have a chess board?" She brought up, suddenly. You watched as she scanned the room for any sign of the classic black and white squares. When she looked back at you, you silently pointed to the closet next to your bed. "It's in there?" She added, turning and giving the door a staring contest. "Why?" She muttered, and you got the sense she'd meant to ask that to herself.

"He left it to me. It's his," Your father's.

Beth flicked her gaze to you like lightning. "He left it to you?" You let out a shaky breath.

"I was going to donate it to the Chess Federation, but I haven't got round to it," Beth's face softened. It was as if her eyes were staring into your soul—like she was trying to tell you what a sad thing that would be.

"Is it beautiful?" She asked, which took you by surprise. You'd never heard of anyone asking if a chess board was beautiful. It caused something to grow inside you—a memory. One that didn't make your throat close—

A chess associate had come to the house when you were nine or ten. You'd stayed clung to the hallway wall, watching as they drank whiskey and laughed about past tournaments. That's when your father grabbed the board from the sideboard—