Disclaimer: I'd claim to own Tin Man but we all know what the response to that would be. This game is also known as Cheat.

Author's Note: Well I was going to tell daughterofthe1king that she'd best kick that muse of hers into gear if she wanted to win that bet, but between Quality Control demanding a break from the Game Night Series and the mother being's impending visit, I think the advantage is once again to her. Sigh. Hmmm…I wonder what Gulch is up to? I mean, she said break from Game Night, she didn't say anything about the rest of my stories…

...

Wyatt Cain hadn't meant to get roped into playing. Truly, he'd done everything he could to avoid it. And the princess. Which was hard. Impossible in fact. Turns out that when one has made a rather obvious habit of sticking by a certain princess through thick or thin there was really no way to start avoiding her without making it obvious you were trying to avoid her so, well, he couldn't avoid her.

And so here he was.

He ought to be good at this game; it was right up his brick route after all. Learning to read people, being able to tell if they were lying, it was all straw and scarecrow of being a Tin Man. And for the most part he was doing well – except where it came to the Crown Princess, because that would involve looking her in the eyes, and Cain was having the oddest difficulty meeting D-Princess DG's eyes these days.

Sighing, the Tin Man placed two cards face down on the pile and muttered, "Two headcases." Those eyes whose gaze he was studiously avoiding narrowed in suspicion, causing a sensation he absolutely refused to identify as panic to skitter down his spine, but after a moment she let it pass.

Cain, in his own modest opinion, was losing his mind. He couldn't possibly be in…be in l-l-l…it wasn't possible that he…and there was no way that she could…that she would…Clearly he was getting senile, letting his addled senses confuse a sort of doting fondness for wanting something he absolutely could not have…

"Four twos."

…oh like hell, he wasn't that old. It was more he was letting himself get carried away by his natural sense of gratitude for having been freed from his tin prison and the resulting close companionship they'd been forced into since his release. Yes, that was it. No need to pani- er, worry, or avoid the princess (not that that had been working anyhow). All he needed was a little time to get his head on straight, sort himself out and get over her, um, it.

"Three threes."

Right, because there was absolutely nothing between him and the youngest princess but honest friendship and mutual esteem-

"Bullshit!"

The Tin Man nearly jumped out of his chair in surprise while DG smugly flipped over three cards to show they were indeed the three threes she'd reported playing. "I think you'd better check your Sight," she teased playfully.

"That not what Raw meant," was all the Viewer replied.