pitythetrumper

"Help me out of the bed and onto the couch so I don't feel like such a fucking invalid," Prior muttered. He winced as he tried to swing his legs over the side of the bed. He really was just so damn hot, even wearing nothing but a pair of thin pajama pants. Too damn hot to care if there were a couple of lesions on his chest showing under the harsh light of day rather than the dim light he preferred when he and Freddie had sex.

It was just a low-grade fever, not bad enough yet to warrant a trip to the clinic, and since it was coupled with a serious flair-up of the myalgia in his leg, he really didn't want to make the trip anyway.

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"Look at you, ordering me around." He studied Prior and his chest seized a little. This came part and parcel with being with Prior, of course, but it didn't mean he had to like it. Only accept it. "Can you walk at all?" If not, it would mean that Freddie would carry him and that was easy enough.

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"I can if I can hold onto you." Prior hated this, too. Just as much, if not more. Because he couldn't help but be scared that the day would come when Freddie couldn't handle it anymore.

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"All right, come on." He slipped next to Prior and wrapped an arm around his waist, holding on tightly so that he'd be able to Freddie as a sort of human crutch.

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Prior winced as he accidentally put a little weight on his bad leg, but then he got the hang of it and allowed Freddie to help him over, where he slumped onto the couch.

"I've always depended on the kindness of strangers," he sighed.

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"So I'm a stranger, then?" Freddie sat on the arm of the couch next to Prior and looked down at him. "I hate to think that you've been letting strangers sleep in your bed." He was determined to at least pretend to be cheerful up until and even through Prior bitching him out.

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"If I remember correctly, you were a stranger the first time you were in my bed," Prior said. And then leaned to lay his head in Freddie's lap, taking a deep breath and trying to think not-feverish thoughts.

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Freddie brushed his fingers through Prior's hair, using the opportunity to surreptitiously feel how warm he was. "To be fair, that's only where Maureen put me. And she said you wouldn't be there. How was I supposed to know that you'd come back and think I was your ex?"

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"You're lucky I didn't kick you in the nuts," Prior murmured, sighing a little and making himself comfortable in the position.

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"Oh, I understand. I would have kicked myself in the nuts if I thought I were him." Freddie smirked a little. Roger did not give the best impression and he'd never run into the guy.

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Freddie never missed a chess game. He had his set of routines, just as Anatoly did, and part of it always involved spending time in the rec room in a face off with all comers. Anatoly was sufficiently worried enough to go looking for him. Whatever kept Freddie from the board had to be something very serious.

He knew that Freddie was staying with Prior and so he made his way to Bohemia, feeling self-conscious. They had a friendship of sorts, it was true, but it wasn't quite at the level of hut visits and what he was going to say, he didn't know. He reached the hut and peered cautiously into the open doorway, half-expecting Freddie to throw something at him. "Hello?"

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Prior cracked an eye open and just barely caught a glimpse of Anatoly there. "Hello, sugar. I'm afraid you've caught me without my face on."

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"But still gorgeous," Freddie assured Prior. When he was talking about his face, he was gorgeous. Most other times, he was handsome. Flip sides of the same coin. He turned to look at Anatoly over his shoulder, surprise and confusion clear on his face. "What are you doing here?" The 'what the hell' in that was implied. He had no idea what Anatoly was doing seeking him out. Unless there was something wrong with Maureen. Did Anatoly even know he cared about Maureen? He had to. Maureen was Florence's - his Florence's at least - lookalike.

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There was a distinct lack of throwing things. Anatoly was relieved by this, to be sure, but also mildly surprised. He had been prepared for something, anything so the lack of flying objects threw him aback. He took a deep breath to calm himself and tried for a smile.

"I didn't see you in the rec room or anywhere else and I... I was worried that you were not there. Is everything all right?"

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Prior sighed. "He's insisting on babysitting me," he said. It occurred to him that his head in Freddie's lap was kind of an indiscreet position, but it hurt too much to move.

"Feel free to play chess if you want," he added, and shivered. Fucking fever. "I wouldn't be surprised if Freddie's got a board stashed here somewhere."

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"I'm fine," he assured Anatoly, trying not to look surprised at the fact that he had cared enough to make the walk. That he had cared at all. Then, he said, "Prior is just hamming it up to get sympathy." It wasn't true at all, of course. It was the opposite of true. He pressed a hand to Prior's forehead and scowled a little. If the fever didn't come down soon, he was physically hauling Prior to the clinic.

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Now that Anatoly was over his initial moment of anxiety, he could properly take in the situation. Perhaps Freddie was fine but he was unconvinced that Prior was just pretending. He looked tired, exhausted - there was something in his demeanor that reminded him of Roger during some of his bad days.

He also noticed how tender, protective Freddie was of Prior and that was something he knew he could never comment on without it ending up in a fight. He had never seen him this gentle with anyone, especially not Florence and yet... here he was. Anatoly would have sworn up and down that such a thing out of him was impossible but he couldn't deny the evidence of his eyes.

"I don't want to impose," he said awkwardly. "I only wanted to make sure everything was all right. I could - could I get you two anything?"

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"Mint julip and a young Marlon Brando in a wet tshirt," Prior sighed. He reached for Freddie's hand. "He really can stay if you want to play chess. Maybe I should sleep anyway. I think the fever's gone down, it's just my leg that hurts." Sleeping through it was often a good solution.

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Freddie snorted and put his hand over Prior's forehead again. Sure it had gone down. Whatever Prior said. And if Anatoly was going to let Freddie order him around, who was he to argue the free labor? Freddie shifted Prior carefully so that he could actually sit down on the couch with Prior's head on his lap and he looked up at Anatoly.

"There's a cloth over there," he said with a nod. "Go and get some water." It was said as an order, but there was a small hesitation as if it had started out as a question. "And then Prior can sleep and we can play."

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In any other circumstance, Anatoly would have made a fuss over Freddie ordering him around as if he were some lackey with nothing else to do. But this was for Prior and if they weren't quite friends, Lex and Prior were and that was reason enough for Anatoly to swallow his pride and do as he was asked.

"Here," he said to Freddie as he handed over the cloth and water.

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Prior cracked an eye open. "Two handsome nurses? Clearly this beats the clinic. Too many chicks."

He glanced down as if remembering his state of undress - though it was more the lesions than his bare chest that bothered him. "Darling, a robe or something, please."

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Freddie was pretty sure that Prior was talking to him. At least he hoped Prior was talking to him. It wasn't exactly like he could move, though. He was stuck in place because of Prior. He turned wide eyes on Anatoly and didn't bother the small smirk on his face. "You heard him, darling. A robe?"

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He knew he shouldn't rise to Freddie, not when there was someone else in the room but Anatoly couldn't help himself. "I am afraid I don't know where it is, knyaginya or I would be most happy to."

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Prior didn't speak Russian so he had no idea what that meant, but he thought it was probably a little condescending. "Now boys," he murmured, letting his eyes drop closed again. "Don't fight over little old me."

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Freddie rolled his eyes. "He called me a princess. If anyone is the princess around here, it'd be you, Sunshine." He nodded to the dresser. "Second drawer down."

He tried not to sound too put out about the niceness.

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There was much worse that Anatoly could call Freddie but he was going to behave for the rest of his time here, he really was. He got up and went to the dresser and after a bit of searching, he found the requested robe and went over to hand it to Prior.

"There you go," he said, the warmth in his voice very much genuine.

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"I'm not a princes, I'm a queen," Prior said, and sat up out of Freddie's lap enough to pull the robe on.

"Thank you," he added to Toly.

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Freddie did something he only ever remembered doing once or twice in Anatoly's direction. He smiled. He smiled and he wrapped an arm around Prior's waist. "Go back to sleep, Sunshine."

He dragged his nails along Prior's scalp gently and nodded at Anatoly. "Thank you." It was something else he wasn't sure he'd ever said to Anatoly.

"Want to play? I'm sure that'll set Prior right off."

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Anatoly wasn't sure which surprised him more - Freddie smiling at him or Freddie thanking him. They were both firsts, no matter how he looked at it and so he resolved to behave himself for the rest of his time here. If Freddie could be civil, then so could he.

"I would love to play," he said. "Where is the board?"

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Prior settled back against the couch and closed his eyes. He didn't want Freddie to have to carry him back to the bed, and he was fine here, really.

"Go on," he murmured. "I'll be fine."

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Freddie pulled Prior in close and tucked him along his side. "Neither of us is going anywhere," he promised. "Which means you may sleep through one of the only games where we don't end up throwing pieces at each other." He nodded to the board by the side of the dresser. It was more like a handful of boards glued together with the spaces colored in. The pieces were stones with the piece name taped on top. He actually looked a little sheepish.

"I need a better chess set."

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It was a very makeshift board, it was true, but Anatoly carried it over to where Freddie sat as if it were made of the purest gold. It was made to play chess with and therefore it was special. All the same, he thought Freddie deserved a proper set. Somehow, he would find a way to get him one, even if it meant making it himself.

He sat across from Freddie and carefully set the board down, white side facing the other man. "It has a charm all on its own," he said then sat back and waited for the game to begin.

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"Protect your queen," Prior mumbled, curling up against Prior's side and closing his eyes, fully intending on going back to sleep.

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"I already am," Freddie murmured, brushing his fingers through Prior's hair. He leaned forward a little and moved one of his pawns.

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