City of Smoke // Brian 'Otis' Zvonecek ✔️

18 || UNO

Rory eyed Otis carefully, unsure where to go from here. Trying to get a read on him wasn't easy as his face remained emotionless as he stared back at her, waiting for her to make her move. The one that could change everything.

It was intense, the world surrounding them seemed to have stopped spinning as Rory chewed anxiously on her lip before finally, she went for it. Extending her arm, she set the card atop the deck, a small grin rising on her face when she saw Otis's fall.

"Plus four."

"Oh come on!" Otis groaned in annoyance, the singular card in his hand would have given him the win had Rory not been so hard to read. "This is unfair."

"Shouldn't have became a firefighter if you couldn't handle the heat, Otis." Rory teased, her words coming out a little more flirtatious than she meant them to, but Otis hadn't even noticed. He was too busy scowling as he had to add four extra cards to his pile.

"You two are playing a dangerous game." Mouch called over from his spot on the couch, not bothering to look up from his newspaper as he remembered the Uno incident of 2010.

"Hey." Herrmann muttered quietly, nudging Mouch's arm to get him to look at him, his eyes widening in a way that told Mouch to keep quiet otherwise he'd suffer the consequences. "Shut your trap... They're bonding."

"Right, sorry." Mouch mumbled, glancing back over at Otis and Rory who were too busy staring lovingly into each other's eyes to have heard the two of them talking.

Those within fifty-one had made a pact to keep their noses out of Rory and Otis's business as the last thing any of them wanted to do was push the couple apart any more than they'd already been. They were finally friends again, after a long few weeks of blatantly avoiding each other, so whatever the others could do to make sure it stayed that way then you could bet that they'd do it.

"Uno." Otis said smugly, watching with mild amusement as Rory squinted at him, as though trying to read his mind as to what card he held in his hand. She had three, each of them the same number as the one of the top of the deck, however all of them were different colours.

Rory had two options, she could either take a fourth card, keeping the colour the same which could potentially give Otis the win, or she could pick one of her cards, change the colour and still potentially give Otis the win. It was a fifty-fifty chance either way, so after a second of internal deliberation over whether to choose red or yellow, Rory chose the yellow eight she held in her hands and reluctantly set it atop the pile, unaware of the way Otis's eyes widened just a touch.

"Oh, Rory, Rory, Rory..." Otis sighed out, shaking his head in a way that had Rory know too well that she'd just given him the win. "...You make it too easy." He added, basking in his win as he set his final, yellow, card atop the deck, making Rory throw hers down in defeat.

"Are you kidding?" She exclaimed, folding her arms as she sulked to herself. Out of all the chances she had, she'd just had to go and pick the wrong one. "I knew I should have played red."

"That you should." Otis chuckled, unable to help but find her ridiculously cute with that small pout on her face, the one that made his win feel that much better as then he got to see it. He held out his hand, his palm facing upwards as he raised his eyebrow, hearing Rory sigh before she reluctantly handed him the Milky Way chocolate bar that they'd been betting over. "Why thank you."

A soft 'hmfph' left Rory's lips as she slid down in her chair a little, having been looking forward to eating that Milky Way all morning. Why did she have to go and make a bet with Otis when she knew how good he was at games? That was just asking for a loss.

"This isn't over." She hissed, glaring at him a little before she stood up and went to make herself a cup of coffee, knowing fully well that Otis was laughing quietly to himself as her back was turned. Only, he wasn't actually, he was too busy gazing at her to bother laughing and part of him even wanted to give her the Milky Way back, but fifty-one rules state that a bet is a bet, therefore he would be eating it, but that doesn't mean he'd feel all too happy about it. Well, maybe a little... But still, he felt for her.