Courting, Tea, and Swordplay

Chapter 11: Building a Connection

     (Song recommendation: https://open.spotify.com/track/4BMrXnKiuri75Rl4b2FGlb?si=-F02pbm5TYamTVAJ3BhjcQ )

     At ten am the next day, Logan knocked on Remus's bedroom door and awaited for an answer.
(Logan's dress for today)

Within the bedroom, Remus was still in bed, planning to spend the entire day in bed if he could. He sighed at the knock at his door, and debated whether or not to answer it. After awhile, a note was slipped under the door, and Remus sat up in his bed, staring at it curiously. Remus sighed before getting out of bed, pulling on a dress, and picking up the note. 'Remus, I would appreciate it if you could meet me in the library today. If not, that's alright. I hope you have a pleasant day.' The note read.
(Remus's dress)

Remus sighed, debating whether or not to go. Part of him really wanted to, but he didn't trust that part of him. "It should be fine. I can leave at any time." He reasoned with himself before pulling his curls into a loose ponytail and leaving his room.

Logan asked a servant for directions, then thanked them before heading for the library. Once there, he found a Mystery Novel, and took it to a sitting area to read while he waited for Remus to arrive. It was quite an interesting story, about three ex husbands and their deceased wife. Laura Dane, the detective, has to figure out which guest at the party killed her.
     He looked up when Remus arrived, smiling as he closed the book and put it aside. He never really experienced that, joy at another person entering the room. It was certainly a pleasant feeling to feel this sort of pleasant calm when Remus was around. "Good morning, Remus. I hope you are well." He greeted, standing up as the other Prince approached them.
     "Hey." Remus replied casually, walking past Logan and looking around. Logan's gaze followed Remus as he sat on the table Logan had sat at, taking the book and reading the back of it. "Oooh, a murder mystery." Remus cheered before putting it aside. "Yes, it's one of my favourite genres. I enjoy attempting to predict the murderer." Logan informed him happily.
     "Oh? You know, there's a trick that most of these plots follow. There's three important characters in each murder mystery; The Most Suspicious, The Least Suspicious, and the one you barely notice. Usually they'll investigate the most suspicious character first, then evidence will bring them to the least, but it was that character who's name was mentioned once or twice from the very start, the character that t(e author managed to make you forget. That's who the killer usually is." Remus told him.
     "Yes, I have noticed that pattern as well." Logan confirmed, excited as he returned to his seat. "Mystery's a pretty good genre, I'd say Mystery, Adventure, and Fantasy are my second favourite genres." Remus went on before handing the book back to Logan. "What are your favourites then?" Logan asked curiously. Remus hesitated, looking at Logan thoughtfully. "Horror, Psychological thrillers, and Science Fiction." He replied, causing Logan to gasp excitedly.
     "I haven't read much of the first two, but I do enjoy Science Fiction." Logan informed him. "Perhaps you could recommend me a few?" He requested. "Hmm, is that why you invited me here? So I could tell you my favourite books, and you could read them, then you'll pretend to like them and talk to me about them so I'll start to like you. Is that it?" Remus questioned.
     "Well, yes. Except for the pretending part, if I'm not a fan I'll politely admit that." Logan admitted. "Well, thanks for being honest at least, but I'm not going to make this whole courting thing easier for you." Remus sighed before standing up and walking towards the exit. "Wait, you've misunderstood." Logan began, getting up to follow Remus. "Oh, am I?" Remus asked, sounding unconvinced. Despite himself, he stopped at the doors and turned to face Logan, who nodded.
     "This isn't something I'm doing simply to court you, this is how I always develop connections with other people." Logan explained. "People can be... Difficult to navigate. So I learn about their interests in order to have an easier time talking to them." He continued. "Yeah, well... You don't need to learn about me to talk to me. Just be yourself." Remus assured him with a shrug. "But this is me being myself. This is how I make friends." Logan told him.
     "Is it? Or is it a strategy you made to avoid running into conflict with other people?" Remus challenged. "What do you mean?" Logan asked, confused. "Well you said that people are hard to navigate and that's why you do that. That means you didn't always do that, you started doing it because other people were being difficult." Remus pointed out. Logan thought about this for a moment before nodding. "Yes... I suppose you're right." He agreed.
     "Besides, I prefer it if you know nothing about the things I'm interested in. That way I can feel smart when we talk about it." Remus added. Logan watched with a thoughtful expression as Remus walked over to a table and sat on it. "I always try to learn about things no one else knows about, like bugs and weird things about the human body and things like that." He went on as he laid down. "Makes things more interesting." He concluded as Logan walked over to sit by the table.
     "Perhaps you do that because Roman is considered to be more successful than you at the activities most people prefer." Logan suggested. "So you partake in interests that you're guaranteed to know more than him or others about so you can have that feeling of success." He added. "Yeah, probably. It's not exactly a secret that Roman's this perfect golden child and I'm... well, I'm not supposed to speak when we have guest over, so that's pretty telling of where I stand." Remus huffed.
     "I'm sorry about that." Logan replied, hoping that he could find a way to help Remus with this situation. "Eh, it's fine. I'm used to it. I accepted it a long time ago." Remus dismissed. "The fact is that Roman is perfect at everything anyone would want to be good at, athletics, art, heck he even has perfect grades, but without being a nerd, somehow. They're probably faked but whatever. He's perfect and I'm just-" He went on before stopping himself, brows furrowed as he sat up.
     "Why am I telling you this?" Remus murmured, furrowing his brows and glaring down at the floor. "I'm glad you're opening up to me." Logan informed him, causing Remus to scoff. "Yeah, I'm sure you are. It's awfully helpful in your attempt to court me isn't it? One step closer to making your kingdom stronger, right?" He huffed.
     Logan paused, thinking as he watched Remus cross his arms and look in the opposite direction of Logan. "If it makes you feel any better... My plan when I came here was to do the bare minimum, just to please my mother. I never wanted to marry, or date for that matter. I've never had interest in romance before, it just seemed like a waste of time." Logan admitted. "That was until I met you. You intrigue me, you make me feel happy. Even my own family makes me feel dread when I'm around them, most people make me feel tense. You, however... I feel relaxed with you, and I rarely feel relaxed even when I'm alone."
     Remus turned to look at Logan in surprise as he spoke, lowering his arms as he processed Logan's words. He could be lying, but his tone sounded so sincere, and it made sense. Logan had given Remus the impression of someone who's a stranger to romance, heck, Remus had nearly expected Logan to treat this whole courting thing like a business matter. Though what didn't make sense was that Logan could feel relaxed around someone like him, when most people felt more tense around him. Then again, maybe that was because Logan was just as weird as he was.