Illya raised an eyebrow, then straightened up sharply, nearly hitting his head against the top bunk, when Napoleon pulled out a small, battered chess box. It was a tiny set, not even as wide as Napoleon’s hands were long, and it was scratched alarmingly at the flanks, but when Napoleon tossed it over, Illya rubbed his fingers reverently over the black and white lacquer top before he remembered himself.

Switching to Russian, Illya drawled, “Stealing from the rec room? Also not clever.”

“Didn’t seem like anyone was using it.”

Illya opened the box. Almost all of the pieces were still there. They set the board up to their last move, using a couple of cigarette filters to stand in for the two pawns that were missing. Noting that Napoleon was bent awkwardly against the top bunk, Illya said carefully, “Sit down.”

Napoleon sat, if on the edge of Illya’s bunk, and grinned at Illya, clearly pleased with himself. And the little jackal should be pleased. He had seen a glimpse of Illya’s levers and had quite quickly done his best. The jackal, skulking carefully at the heels of a wolf, trying to seem useful enough to avoid its jaws.

Liam clenches his jaw. He just knows this will all end in disaster. But if it's there's only one way to keep Harry in sight, he'll take it. "I have a sidecar."

"What?" says Zayn.

"I brought a sidecar with me."

"You did not," says Zayn flatly. "That's just completely ridiculous and implausible."

"Your face is implausible," says Harry. "The sidecar is just Liam. Prepared for anything." He tweaks Liam's nose and smiles sweetly. Liam smiles back. It's a stern smile though, right? It's totally a stern smile.

"Oh my god," says Zayn. "What is this day. Liam, you're gonna put out for us, right?"

"Definitely," Harry answers, when Liam can't make words.

"All right," says Zayn. "Which way to the sidecar?"

It's at this moment that a red convertible with two boys in it rolls up and stops. It might be just that Harry's still sitting on his dick and Zayn's scratching lightly at his side under his shirt, but Liam's first thought is that they're kind of cute.