Open Doors

Chapter 22

As the rest of the week passed, a tension filled the air of the house. Neither Virgil nor Patton liked the idea of this plan. Patton didn't like the idea of putting Logan in an emotionally compromising position. He knew Logan was strong but felt that allowing Lewis the opportunity to worm his words into Logan's mind could be very detrimental. Dee did not disagree and that was his main concern for this whole thing. Virgil on the other hand had other reservations, but didn't seem to want to articulate what was going through his mind. Every time he went to explain it, the words got lost in his mouth. Dee had a guess.

His brother was obvious, the way he spoke about Logan, the way his eyes cast loving looks at his tie clad roommate. Even now, as Logan and Dee sat in the front row of the play, watching as the final curtain went down, Dee could feel his brother's eyes boring through the back of his head. He shot Virgil a quick text about remembering to stick with the plan, then he handed his phone to Logan. "Did you change your passcode to the one we agreed upon?"

Logan nodded, handing his phone to Dee. "Yes, and please do not snoop through my phone. I am trusting you to respect my privacy."

"Likewise." He slid the phone into the pocket of his hoodie.

"How do you manage to text with those gloves on?"

"Special finger tips that allow me to still text."

Logan nodded, twisting his hands together as he attempted to calm himself. They walked over to where the cast was meeting with their family members and Logan had to fight with his body to keep moving forward. He felt sluggish, and empty upon seeing Lewis smiling, each step felt like a chore. Looking down at Dee's phone, he turned on the recording app before slipping it into his pants pocket.

"Dee! Logan!" Lewis shouted with a smile as he walked up to them, Roman quickly in tow. "How did you enjoy the play?"

It seemed as if Roman wanted to open his mouth but decided against it, keeping his head lowered. Dee could see it written all over his face, he thought that no one wanted to hear him speak. "We enjoyed the play. It was amazing."

"Why thank you!" Lewis wrapped an arm around Roman and pulled him closer.

Logan knew that he was supposed to wait for Dee to persuade Lewis more, to verbally catch him off guard, but Logan couldn't help it. "Lewis, can I talk to you alone?"

Something flashed through the smaller man's eyes and Logan knew he was losing him. He was afraid to see Roman get hurt any further so he did what he had done those years as a boyfriend, tried to fake the emotions Lewis wanted to see.

Reaching out he gently put his fingers on Lewis' free hand, not coming between him and Roman. "Please." It almost sounded pleading.

Lewis was rattled, his mouth hanging agape. Looking down at Logan's fingers gently touching his hand he muttered, "A... alright." Thoughts raced through his mind, wondering if Logan was finally ready to come back to him. This was perfect. "Will you wait for me backstage Roman?"

Roman nodded but Dee had other plans. "Actually, I saw Roman's brother while we were buying tickets and I... I think I'm interested. I was wondering if Roman could introduce me."

Lewis frowned, but as Logan gently took his hand, fingers lacing together, he nodded. "Yeah, of course." This was where things could fall apart.

Dee led Roman off, hoping beyond all hope that Logan could handle himself. "I didn't know my brother was here today." Roman said with a frown.

"He isn't that I know of, I lied. Patton and Virgil are outside and brought you gifts but Lewis has been acting territorial."

"Territorial?"

"Yeah, didn't you know he chased Patton away?"

"No. He said that Patton stopped coming because he didn't like being around me. Said I was too, extra."

Dee rolled his eyes, "He specifically made cookies to take to you. That is more extra than you have been since I met you."

Roman frowned but decided not to fight it as they slipped out of the door.

~*~

"Logan, you are too cruel, playing with my emotions like that." Lewis said quietly, squeezing Logan's hand tightly.

"Why are you dating Roman, he isn't your type?"

Lewis seemed to think about it, "how would you know my type? You were always busy?"

Logan struggled to keep his voice even. "Anytime that we would go out to eat together, you would stare at the men who dressed professionally and had serious faces."

"Well, maybe I wanted a change. After you left, I couldn't handle being with another robot who wouldn't take my feelings into account."

"And do you are happy with Roman?"

"Why? Do you want me back?"

"I asked my question first."

"And I don't have to answer it." Lewis looked Logan over and saw the hint of anger in his face. "Don't get angry Logan, you are acting childish."

"Childish?" Logan snapped, attempting to yank his hand from Lewis' grip. "Childish? FALSEHOOD! I spent almost a year being controlled and manipulated by you and now you are going after one of my friends? I have every logical right to be angry at you! Is this all a game to you? Is Roman just a catalyst for you to get a rise out of me, because he deserves so much more than that!"

"Calm down." Lewis growled but it only seemed to set Logan off further.

"You have no right to say that to me!" He continued to yank at his hand but Lewis' grip only grew tighter as his face grew more stoic. Logan was not sure he could control his temper until he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Hey, Logan, babes is that you?" Logan turned to see a man who was impractically wearing sunglasses inside the theater. The hand that was not holding Logan's shoulder was holding an empty Starbucks cup.

"Remy, a pleasure." All of Logan's anger dissipated as he pushed up his glasses. He could feel Lewis let go of his hand. "I was just speaking to an old acquaintance."

Lewis looked pissed, territorial even as Remy positioned himself so that his arm hung loosely over Logan's shoulder. He kept his flirty smile as he looked over Lewis before turning to Logan, putting himself a bit between them.

"No way, really, I didn't know you knew Lewis, is that why you are here?"

"No, I came to see Roman."

"What?" Remy brought down his sunglasses, "you came here for Roman, I didn't think he would be your type Lo."

"You barely know me, much less my type." Logan stated but hadn't pushed Remy away. It was nice to have some back up against Lewis.

"Remy, maybe you can catch up with Lo-Lo later, he and I haven't seen each other in so long and I'm really excited to catch up."

"Sorry babes, no can do. Lo and I haven't talked since just after college and he is going to buy me a Starbucks."

"The amount of caffeine you consume is detrimental to your health. If I must buy you something it will be decaffeinated."

Remy audibly gasped, "Logan, how could you, I thought we were friends." Remy was ushering Logan out, their backs already turned to Lewis. The sorter man knew he couldn't fight it if he wanted to save face, but Logan would be his. He did not like losing his property.