They Aren't Coming

//Day 5\\

Remus was rather quiet after that, but it wasn't the typical relaxing quiet that Logan enjoyed for reading, it was a tense quiet that Logan felt lost in. He almost let out an audible sigh of relief when Drake came in and put down a chessboard on the table in the living room, effectively breaking the silence. "We are playing chess."

"Very well."

"Oh no, not you Logan, I want you to observe the madness that this gremlin believes is a proper game of chess. I have never had a more frustrating opponent in my life!"

"You should attempt to play chess with Patton." The mention of his cookie loving friend hurt, but he knew Patton would never betray Roman. Love made you do strange things. Logan marked his book and sat it down before going over to the table, watching as Remus looked at the pieces excited.

"Just wait." The game was indeed strange, Remus would occasionally make reasons for why he was allowed to perform an illegal move and Drake would roll with it. He was obviously an excellent strategist because he still managed to get Remus into checkmate but Remus just smirked.

"You should have been paying more attention Dee, my kingdom is a matriarchy, the puppet king holds no power. Take him out, do us a favor. Then the queen can finally marry for love!"

Drake just sighed, "See, this is what I have to put up with."

The two of them looked at Logan who had a blank look on his face. There was silence in the room again until Logan burst out laughing, quickly trying to control himself and failing miserably.

"I have never seen anyone play chess like that." His laugh echoed around the room and through the tears in his eyes, Logan missed the soft smile that Remus gave him. Finally, Logan began to take in deep breaths, controlling his laughter. "That was... rather entertaining." Logan fought against it but he couldn't keep the light smile off of his face.

There was a bit of silence once again as Logan picked up one of the chess pieces and rolled it around in his fingers. "A matriarchy, I wasn't expecting that twist."

"I told you he was frustrating." Drake stood. "Remus, come with me to the kitchen and we can get lunch together." Logan was too focused on the pieces to notice the look that the two of them gave each other. He was fascinated by Remus' playing style. Logan had never really been creative, but Remus had life stories for each of the pieces, tragic reasons for why they were fighting this war. Logan closed his eyes and put his head on the table. If things were different, if Remus and Roman got along, what would a game of chess between the two of them look like?

It didn't matter, those types of hypotheticals didn't have value as the likelihood of them coming to pass was close to nil. A sigh left his lips. "You knew they wouldn't be coming for you. Do not allow yourself to succumb to such trivial feelings." His nails sunk into his arms as he just sat there for a few more minutes, almost jumping when he felt Drake touch his shoulder.

"You look tired. Come on, you can sleep in the spare room."

"Careful Drake, you are beginning to treat me like a guest and not a prisoner." Logan was not sure where that bout of sarcasm came from, but Drake just smiled.

"Don't get used to it."

He took a small nap but came back out for lunch where they continued to play board games, attempting to adapt to Remus' ever-changing rules. Logan could feel the cold left in his heart begin to chip a bit. He was enjoying this immensely, though he wasn't sure that he would ever admit it.