Good Game

• fandom: DANNYHO PARŤÁCI 
• jednorázovka
• anglicky
• 1835 slov 
• Danny Ocean & Terry Benedict
• dialogue heavy, (monologue heavy), alternate scene, improbable friendship

“When push comes to shove, and you can’t have both, what are you gonna choose? And remember, Tess does not split eleven ways.”

“If everything goes to plan, then I won’t be the one who has to make that choice.” 

 -----

Benedict smiled. Danny did not like that smile. It didn’t reach the eyes, it wasn’t polite, and it wasn’t exactly false either. It was diabolical. 

“Is she watching, listening?” Terry whispered, still faintly amused. Danny frowned, but only faintly. He had his shit-eating grin on, as always. Confident and maddening for anyone who didn’t know him, who didn’t know how much it was supposed to hide. “Are you trying to make me tell you that I prefer the money over her?” If Terry already knew, why not play ignorant? Why not say “fuck you and your offer, I would lose all my casinos for Tess” and play it off? She was a bleeding heart; she would fall for it.

Reuben’s words slapped him over his face: “There is a reason he is genuinely liked by some, you know. He is an asshole, but a fair one. He will treat a beggar or a high player the same, the moment they behave in a way he doesn’t like. He is pleasant and civil and polite, but he can afford to not be. For an asshole, he is surprisingly honest with his… feelings, for lack of a better word.”

They stared at each other, the casino owner hard and cold, calculating, with a hint of disgust and perhaps genuine confusion. Danny was never as good at reading people as Rusty was. 

“What makes you think of yourself as some kind of Robin Hood, Mr. Ocean? Do you think I stole the money I have? Do you think I stole your wife? You have no money because you are a thief who works hard only if it costs someone their living. You have no wife because you never told her who you were. And yet you decide to attack me personally for your failings, trying to make me admit to your sins.”

Benedict lost the look of mild confusion now. He must have been genuinely wondering about something, and now he figured out the answer, or he thought that he did. Danny would kill to have Rusty in his ear right now.

“She doesn’t deserve another liar in her life, Mr. Ocean,” Benedict said, his hands clasped behind his back. His casinos were falling apart, and he was standing here, acting as if everything was in the highest order. “So I can tell you this: if you truly offered me all the stolen money in exchange for Tess, for me to leave her alone, as you say, I would have said yes. Who am I to stand in the way of true love, after all?” He even spoke like a machine. Not a single emotion in those dark eyes. “But do you expect me to believe you? That you did this all to get your wife back, that you didn’t do it for the money at all?”

He took a few steps closer, closer to Danny and closer to the camera, closer to Tess, closer to something he’d wanted to say from the moment he laid his eyes on Danny. 

“You are offering this to make me say the same thing you would have said in my shoes. You think you can afford to take the higher ground because you have nothing to lose. I have no evidence that you played any part in this robbery. Yet. But let me assure you, Mr. Ocean, that I will find it. And once I do, I will make sure you won’t have time to enjoy the money you took from me.”

Oh, there it was. The infamous fire in Benedict’s eyes, the promise of vengeance. Danny shifted his weight from one foot to another, his grin growing wider, and his heart beating faster in response.

“You choose money every single time you have the smallest opportunity. You always choose money over her, Mr. Ocean, even when the amount is insignificant. The last time you did it, you ended up in prison, and she served you divorce papers. When all this was happening, I was here, minding my own business. I had no idea either of you existed.” A flash of something in the eyes. Something genuinely hurt, perhaps, if a man like Benedict could ever feel such. And he was right, after all, as much as Danny hated to admit it. Terry was no saint; no businessman in the world could possibly be one. But he got on Danny’s shit list just for asking a beautiful woman on a date. Danny wished for it to be personal, yearned for the feeling of satisfaction when he’d see Benedict lose money along with his woman. He couldn’t wait to feel vindicated and righteous. “That’s what you get for…” For what? Dating a divorced girl - a single, willing, flirting girl, for leading casinos and hotels, and minding his own business? Danny hated him for the fact that Terry wasn’t targeting him personally, that this couldn’t be considered sweet revenge. 

Danny narrowed his eyes. He’d lost control over this dialogue long ago. Like an amateur. He feared Tess was watching this now. But he dreaded if Rusty was, too. There was truly nothing like a look of disappointment from Rusty. Not even his (ex)wife could compare. 

“You think you are in a position where you can preach about either means of earning money, or treating one’s woman?” Benedict continued. Danny was certain that he was the only one who ever had the misfortune to hear as many words at once from the man.

The smile was back, and Danny felt Death running down his spine with a scythe rattling against all his vertebrae. They were standing even closer now. 

Reuben’s memory was standing right in between. He kept flicking Danny’s nose and saying, very clear and articulate, as if talking to a particularly slow child: “Eye for an eye with this one, Danny. You try to kill him, and he kills you. You try to rob him, and he makes you go bankrupt. You try to make him look like a piece of shit in front of his woman…” 

Danny watched the man like a hawk. Now that they were so close, he could tell that Terry Benedict felt just like any other man, that he was far from a machine (if one wanted to abstain from calling a machine every soul that simply liked their habits). He just had the best predisposition for being a casino owner. The angrier he got, the calmer he acted. Danny only ever heard of people like that. Those who didn’t go red when furious, but white like a ghost. Whose heart calmed down almost to no beat, the more upset they became. Who looked like everything was alright, until they went for your neck without a single warning. There was no huff, no quickening breath, no gritted teeth, only brutal attack. 

“The difference between us is that I don’t think I have a right to own everything I want,” Terry hissed, so quiet now, so calm that he was probably pissed off like never before. “ I earn my money and don’t think to rob someone who has more. I earn a woman’s fondness, and don’t think that she doesn’t have the right to decide to leave me if she sees fit. She is free to go if she doesn’t feel loved enough, and I will respect that.” He looked up at the camera. “I simply wouldn’t want her to run back to the arms of someone who made her cry all the time, and who will do it again. And who just chose all the stolen money over her, and is trying to get both, making me choose instead. As if there was a choice in the first place.” He looked back at Danny. He was only slightly shorter, and Danny hated how perfect he looked, even while losing all his money and his girlfriend. Losing it all as if he did it every day. “ I can accept when I am not accepted for who I am.” 

And for a very short moment, the shortest possible, they were equals, they were the same card, the sides of the same coin. An absurd wave of connection washed over Danny, and he shivered at the feeling. We would have to change ourselves too much to give her as much love as she wants and deserves, and none of us is willing to do so, Benedict didn’t have to add. Danny heard it all. During that impossibly short moment, they watched each other, and Benedict raised an eyebrow. It looked like a “get out of here”, it looked like “a drink later?”, it looked like both, it looked like none of these. 

And for a longer moment, Danny felt like punching this another side of the coin of his. For calling out his bullshit, for not losing his mind, but for losing everything else like a pro. For making Danny feel like this wasn’t a win after all. 

He’d used this excuse as a way to calm himself when planning the heist - if I won’t have Tess back, at least there will be the money. The money was the certain thing, funnily enough. And Rusty was right, as he always was - Tess can’t be split eleven ways, Danny wouldn’t have a single cent to pay the other ten members of this team. They did it primarily for money, after all, and Danny was not supposed to be the one who would have to choose. And he wasn’t put in the position as Rusty had feared. But he didn’t manage to put Benedict in it the way he’d planned, either. 

Danny felt the corners of his mouth tugging upwards. He had to give it to the bastard, right? He lost and yet made it all look like Danny was the loser. Terry didn’t point a finger at Danny and say, “No, Tess, he is the piece of shit, not me.” Instead, he shrugged and said, “Tess, we are both assholes, and you probably deserve better. Bye.” And that was not funny, not in the slightest. But it kind of was. 

Benedict didn’t need months of unhappy marriage with him to know him better than Tess ever could. “Well played,” Danny said, gruff but still smiling. It wouldn’t do to be a sore loser with such a fat bank account. 

And when they parted ways, Danny turned around once more, dragged by his hands towards the police car, trying to put that face to his memory for good. He would be jailed for 3 to 6 months now, probably. And when he would get out, he fully expected this man to go after his ass. He grinned at the possible death threats. Reuben knew what he was about. If Benedict thought for a second that they were after his life, Danny wouldn’t walk out of this casino alive. He was humiliated and robbed. So, the very same was waiting for Danny Ocean and his team, he supposed.

And he couldn’t wait.

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