pitythetrumper | (no subject)

Entry tags:

anatoly,
prior

(no subject)

There were very few things that could keep Freddie from the chessboard for long. In fact, until the first time it had happened, he hadn't thought there was anything that could keep him from the rec room and the board. And then Prior got sick. He was still adamant that it didn't make things different, but he couldn't help but be a little bit of a mother hen. He hated the thought of Prior being sick and his only options were either ignoring it entirely or doing something about it.

Fear suggested the former, but common sense demanded the latter.

Prior had a fever and so Freddie left the front door open in the hopes that they could get a breeze through the hut. That was the one problem with living out here. There was no air conditioning outside of the Compound, at least as far as he knew.

"What else can I do?" He was hovering and he knew it, but Prior was in no position to argue.

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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."

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.

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."

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?"

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."

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."

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.

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.

"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.

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."

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?"

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."

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."

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.

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

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

With that, the game was on and nothing registered to Anatoly but the board and the man across it. It wasn't a game played for a title and watched by millions of people, it was true, but he approached it as if it were. He knew no other way to play against an equal.

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