all-time-logan - Tumblr blog

all-time-logan · 4 years ago

Text

Seasons Readings

Hello hello! I’m so excited to present my secret santa gift for @strongindependentcheesecake for the @sanderssidesgiftxchange ! I tried to combine your first two wishes, and I’m pretty pleased with how it turned out. I hope you have a wonderful holiday season and a happy new year!

Summary: Roman and Remus co-own a bookstore, The Royal Bookshop. The others come and visit them often, though there seems to be some confusion among the employees on who Roman is actually dating.

Pairing: DLAMP, QPP dukeceit, platonic creativitwins

Word Count: 4421

***

Roman hummed quietly to himself, shifting some books over on the shelf to add the newest inventory. They had just gotten the first of their holiday shipments in, and while he usually manned the counter or sat in the office working on paperwork, Elliot was in today and had trouble bending over repeatedly. So, they were manning the counter and had put everything in the system while Roman worked to shelve the new books they got in.

From where he was standing, Roman couldn’t see the front door or counter over the shelves, so his only warning that a customer came in was the bell above the door tinkling and Elliot saying, “Hi, welcome into the Royal Bookshop! Do you need any help today?”

Roman was already making his way towards the counter but sped up with a grin when the customer spoke.

“Oh, no thank you. I’m actually looking for Roman?” The voice was even and calm, and when Roman turned the corner, Logan was standing next the counter, his laptop bag hanging from his shoulder.

It was early November, so he was clad in a sweater that Roman was pretty sure belong to Patton, and one of Virgil’s scarves was hanging from his neck.

Elliot was saying, “Oh, I can call him for you—” but didn’t get to finish before Roman was speaking over him.

“What do I owe the pleasure, my bespeckled nerd?” He swept forward, gathering Logan into his arms. Logan went easily, resting a hand on Roman’s chest.

“It’s 1:30, which is usually your lunch break. I thought I’d come by and treat you to lunch at the café around the corner?”

Logan was flushed slightly, and Roman couldn’t help the besotted smile that overtook his face, which just made Logan’s face go a deeper shade of red.

“You spoil me, darling,” Roman said, pressing a kiss to Logan’s forehead. He turned to Elliot, who had been watching the interaction with confusion.

“Elliot, this is my boyfriend, Logan. Since he’s a sap, he wants to take me lunch, do you think you can man the shop on your own for a bit?” He ignored Logan sputtering next to him, squeezing his waist.

Elliot shrugged, looking a little apprehensive. “I guess, yeah. I can call you if anything happens, right?”

Roman nodded, “Yes you can. I’ll be down the street, and inventory’s done for the day, so you just have to worry about customers coming in.”

“Ok, then I’ll be good. Have a good lunch!”

Roman grabbed Logan’s hand and dragged him from the store, making sure the sign out front was still propped up as he did. He swung their hands between them as they went down the street, humming again quietly.

“Has Elliot already had their lunch?” Logan asked, readjusting his laptop bag.

“Yeah, theirs was at noon. We also have some snacks in the office if they get hungry.”

Logan nodded, holding open the door for Roman as they arrived at the café. “That’s good. We could have brought them back something if they hadn’t.”

Roman laughed quietly, bumping Logan’s shoulder. “You mother hen. If you’re worried about them, I’ll buy them some chips. I might anyway, for leaving them at the store alone right before holiday season starts.”

“Is Remus not there?”

“No, he had a migraine, so I made him stay home.”

Logan hummed, his brow furrowed in concern. “I might head over there after this then, to make sure he’s eaten.”

Roman’s chest felt warm, fondness coursing through him at Logan’s concern. He was such a mother hen, making sure they all were taking care of themselves. It didn’t help that Janus more often than not teamed up with him. The two were a force of nature in their own right, let alone together. Roman grabbed Logan’s hand and squeezed.

“He’ll appreciate it.”

They ordered and ate, and Logan walked him back to the store. Roman endured the light teasing from Elliot and went back to the office to keep working.

Remus was back at the store the next day, his migraine having abated enough for him to face shelves and work in the office. Roman wasn’t happy about it, wanting Remus to feel fully better before he came back, but Remus had waved him off.

“We both own this store, I’m putting in my own fair share. Besides, if it gets worse, I can pass out on the couch in the office. Or on the floor in the kids’ section, that carpet’s super soft.”

“You’re not passing out in the kids’ section again, Remus. Last time the kids drew all over you.”

Remus grinned, lifting his sleeve to show one of his tattoos, a snake wrapped around a bundle of flowers. “They inspired my newest tattoo though!”

There was a snort from behind the shelves, and Kai, another one of their employees came around the corner holding a few holiday books in their arms.

“Yes, because you should let kids decide what should permanently go on your body.”

Remus nodded, “Yeah, that’s what I did!”

Kai huffed, shaking his head. “Alright man, you do you. Do y’all want me to put these on the display shelves at the window or on the front table?”

“The table,” Roman said, “The window still has the local authors display up, and I’d like to keep it for another week or so.”

Kai saluted with one hand, wandering off towards the front of the store. There was a moment of quiet, before a startled, “Oh, welcome in!” filtered back to the twins.

When the customer responded, they shared a look, and Remus grinned before shoving Roman into a shelve and racing towards the front. Roman sputtered and had to catch the few books he knocked off, and after he put them back, headed towards the front as well.

When he reached the front of the shop, it was to Remus swinging a man around in circles, ignoring the shrieking from the man and Kai’s startled look. It wasn’t until Remus finally put the man down that he could make out Janus’ disgruntled features.

He reached up to adjust the sun hat he had on—despite it being mid-November and cloudy outside—but didn’t stop Remus from wrapping his arms around him from behind.

“Hello, dear,” Janus said, resting his hands on Remus’s arms. Remus wiggled in place, smushing his face into the side of Janus’s head.

“I’m going to assume this guy is your boyfriend?” Kai said, absentmindedly rearranging the books on the display table.

Remus and Roman snorted at the same time. Remus smiled brightly at Kai and said, “Gross! He’s my QPP.” He tapped two small pins on his jacket, one pin of the ace flag and the other the aro flag.

“Oh shit, my bad.” Kai rubbed the back of their neck, looking sheepish.

Janus waved him off, “It’s not a problem. What will be a problem, is if my boyfriend doesn’t come to say hello.”

At this, he made grabby hands at Roman. When Roman got close enough, Janus cupped his face and kissed his cheek, humming when Roman did the same.

“What.” Kai said, face blank the way only pure confusion can cause. Remus cackled before giving out a dramatic fake wail, pulling Janus away from Roman. Janus went willingly, letting Remus swing him around a bit as Remus played up the dramatics.

“He stole my partner right from under my moustache!” Remus said, his voice pitched like he was going to cry. Roman sputtered, but Remus just began to make noises like a dying cat.

Kai put their hands up, turning away to go deeper into the store. “Not my problem, bye!” He said, disappearing around the shelves.

“Oh, don’t be ridiculous dear,” Janus said, gently patting Remus’ arms where they were wrapped around his waist, “If anything, I’m playing the long con here to snatch him from the other three.” This was said with a lack of irony, considering that Janus still had a lipstick smudge on his cheek from Virgil, and was wearing one of Logan’s button ups over his shirt.

“Remus don’t make me seem like a homewrecker! I’m going to have to explain that to Kai now.” Roman sighed but couldn’t help the smile twitching at the corners of his lips as Remus kept up the dramatics.

“If he thinks that Remus is being serious right now, then I worry for your hiring choices,” Janus drawled, patting Remus’ arms again to make him quiet down. Remus did, tucking his head over Janus’s shoulder.

“Although,” Janus continued with a smirk, “he isn’t too far off. We did start dating after Remus and I became partners.”

“You guys have been partners since freshman year of college! I’m not a homewrecker,” Roman huffed, crossing his arms.

“Well duh, Ro, if you were, we’d have had a long and bloody battle by now,” Remus said, “I’m just playing, and you know Kai knows that.”

Roman sighed and took a step forward to grab Janus’s hands. “Yeah, I know. I’ll probably still talk to them though.”

He never did end up talking to Kai, as the holiday season seemed to ramp up immediately after that day. Shipments began coming in almost every day and foot traffic to the store increased, causing the twins to get their holiday help in early.

Remy wasn’t upset about it, saying something about “double the pay, working here and the coffeeshop at the same time.” Remus made sure his schedule wasn’t too overloaded though, so that Remy could take breaks away from work when he needed to.

Today, the twins were both couped up in the office, trying to slog through the different inventory sheets they had gotten.

“I swear, Hatchette either needs to get better quality boxes or laminate their inventory sheets. I’m working with a puzzle here.” Roman said, trying to piece the torn-up sheet back together. Hatchette Publishing boxes always came torn up and damaged in some ways, which meant the inventory sheets and books came damaged too. The number of books that they had to send back because of Hatchette was annoying at best and a loss of money at worst.

Remus only hummed, highlighting one of the sheets that Roman had passed him earlier as he checked to make sure everything was in the system. He worked with a narrow-minded focus that only appeared when he was at the shop and working with the business side of their store. Remus finished the sheet he was working on and reached for another, only to find the stack empty. He blinked, coming back to himself, and seemed to register what Roman had said.

“Oh, no, yeah they suck. Is that the last one?”

“Yeah, then we’ll be done with yesterday and today’s shipments.”

Remus stood and stretched, before shuffling the sheets he had finished together. “Then I’m going to go grab a coffee real quick. You want anything?”

“Can I get a mocha?”

Remus clicked his tongue in acknowledgement and headed out of the office. Roman kept working, finally managing to put the sheet together and get the items on it in the system and marked off.

He grabbed the stack of books that had been held back due to the sheet being so torn up and made his through the shelves. About halfway through the stack, Roman heard the bell above the door jingle, and startled when, instead of the usual greeting, Remy said, “We don’t welcome your kind here.”

It was followed immediate by a “Fuck off,” and a loud cackle, so Roman just rolled his eyes and finished shelving the books in his hands before going to the front counter.

As he got closer, he could make out the sounds of playful arguing, which made sense considering that it was Virgil standing at the counter.

They were holding Roman’s mocha in their hand, and still had their apron on, meaning that Remus had most likely pulled them away from their shift to hand deliver Roman his coffee.

“I’m sorry,” Remy was saying, “but we don’t carry The Guide to being Emo here. Maybe you could try the local Hot Topic?” His voice was sickly sweet, the smile on his face an over exaggeration of a customer service smile.

“You can’t talk to me like that, I’m your boss,” Virgil replied, their scowl just as exaggerated.

“Technically, you’re only my boss on Wednesdays through Fridays. Roman and Remus are my bosses right now,” Remy said, trying to swipe the coffee out of Virgil’s hand.

Virgil huffed, turning towards Remus with a pout. Their eyes lit up when they saw Roman behind him, but they kept the pout.

Remus snorted. “Can’t help you there, V, he’s technically right.”

Virgil immediately turned towards Roman, and Roman, ever the pushover when it came to any of his partners, caved.

“Remy, be nice to Virgil, even if they aren’t your boss right now. They’re still my partner,” Roman kissed Virgil’s cheek, taking the mocha out of their hand and taking a sip.

Remy sighed in disappointment, and Roman couldn’t tell if it was because he got told to stop or because he couldn’t have the coffee.

“Alright, I guess I’ll be nice.” Remy said, leaning back in the chair behind the counter. He almost overbalanced and tipped over but caught himself.

“None of you saw that!” He said, his face red.

Virgil snickered, “Sure, and I won’t be telling Emile about it when I get back to the coffeeshop.”

Emile was another one of their holiday workers they borrowed from Virgil, though he mainly only came if they were super busy or one of the others called out. He was scheduled for the next day, actually, since Elliot couldn’t make it in. Emile was also Remy’s boyfriend and loved to tease him.

Remy’s face went a deeper shade of red. “You will not! He won’t let me live it down unless I make brownies.”

“So, make brownies?” Roman said, leaning against Virgil’s side.

Remy groaned, “They’re so messy! They also use so many dishes, I hate making them.”

“Your problem would be solved if you didn’t make it from scratch.” Virgil said, stealing Roman’s mocha to have some.

Remy gasped, scandalized. “I will not use a box mix! They’re fine, but they aren’t as good as ones made from scratch.” After a moment, he added, “Also Emile can tell the difference now and it won’t work.”

“Sucks to suck, Remy. Better stop at the store and get supplies after your shift then!” Virgil said, tapping the counter a bit.

Remy groaned again, and they laughed. Virgil stayed a bit longer before they went back to work, and then it was back to prepping for the holiday season.

The next day saw both Emile and Roman at the counter to handle the amount customers coming in. They worked through lunch, not having a moment for Roman to send Emile on break. They finally got a calm moment, but right as Roman went to send Emile on his lunch break, the bell above the door signaled a new customer. Roman suppressed a sigh and turned, only to light up as he saw it was Patton that had come in.

Patton was wrapped up in one of Janus’s puffy jackets, his face mostly obscured by a scarf that could have belonged to any of them, and his curls poking out of one of Roman’s beanies. He was holding a lunch sack in his hands and was stomping some of the snow off of his boots on the doormat.

“Pat, it’s not that cold out,” Roman said, trying not to laugh. Patton looked up, pulling the scarf down to reveal a bright grin.

“It is for me! Southern California doesn’t get much snow, so this is new.”

“You say that like you haven’t lived here for close to decade at this point.”

Patton just shrugged and dumped the lunch sack on the counter.

“Even so. Anyway, I brought y’all some lunch, since I knew today would be busy! Emile, I made sure that your sandwich was gluten free, and it’s wrapped in its own bag in this one,” he said, starting to unpack the sack. “How are you, by the way? I haven’t been able to stop by the coffeeshop in a bit.”

“I’m doing well!” Emile said, taking his food with a smile. “Finals went well, I’m enjoying the break. I’ve also almost managed to get Remy’s brown butter snickerdoodle recipe out of him, so that’s fun.”

Patton gasped, stars in his eyes. “You have to share that with me if you get it! Nothing I find online is near as good.”

Emile laughed, “If I get his permission, I’ll let you know. How’re you?”

The two continued to chat, and Roman left them to it with a kiss to Patton’s hair as he grabbed Remus’s sandwich and brought it back to him in the office. They were getting closer Christmas, and Remus was trying to figure out what days they could close after the holidays compared to the last few years.

Looking at the different spread sheets Remus had made of doing cost comparisons and sales and employee hours from the past three years made Roman’s head hurt, but Remus enjoyed it, so he left him to it with a pat on the head and a reminder to drink some water when he ate his sandwich.

A few days later they were in the full swing of things, and all hands were on deck. While it wasn’t the first time that all four of their employees worked the same shift, it was the first time this season that they had needed to do so.

Emile and Elliot were at the front counter, Remy and Kai were working on facing the shelves and restocking when needed, and Roman and Remus were both rotating between the front of store, the office, and the shelves as the others took their breaks.

At one point, both were at the front counter, though Roman was considering letting Remus switch with Remy or Kai. He never liked working the front, the constant barrage of customers often leading to a burnout of Remus’s social battery. Remus kept waving him off though, so for now Roman was leaving him be.

He finished bagging the books he had in hand, handing them off to the customer with a “Thanks for coming in, have a happy holiday!” and turned towards Remus.

Remus was tapping the counter with one hand, ringing up a different customer’s order with the other, his smile looking forced. Roman waited for Remus to finish the transaction, giving the customer a quick smile as they left.

“You doing okay, Rem?” he asked, pitching his voice a bit low so the customers looking at the displays nearby couldn’t hear.

Remus nodded, humming low in his throat. “Yeah, I’m fine. I might take a break soon though, get some food or something.”

Roman nodded. “That’d be a good idea. Maybe make a coffee run.”

Remus hummed in acknowledgment, and when they hit a slow moment, he slipped away. A minute or so later, Remy joined Roman behind the counter.

“Remus is making a coffee run, did you want anything?” Remy asked, a text conversation with Remus pulled up.

Roman shrugged, motioning for a customer to come to the counter. “I wouldn’t mind a coffee, but he doesn’t have to get me one.”

He greeted the customer, and as he checked them out another line formed. He and Remy worked through it, Remy only having to leave once to grab some more bags from the office.

Roman smiled at the couple he just checked out, sending them off with a “Have a happy holiday!” before calling the next customer to the counter. He didn’t look as they approached, bringing the transaction screen back to beginning to start their order.

“Hi, did you find everything all right?” He said, turning to the customer, only to light up as he came face to face with Logan and Janus. Logan was setting a drink onto the counter, Janus holding two in his hands.

“Oh my gosh, hello! What are you two doing here?” Roman asked, only accepting the cup when Logan slid it towards him.

“Remus stopped at the coffeeshop, said you all were in need of caffeine,” Janus said, passing back on of the cups to Logan.

“We thought it would be nice to bring them to you all, see how you were doing.” Logan finished. Instead of drinking out of the cup, he slid it over the counter towards Remy.

Remy looked surprised, picking up the cup questioningly. “I didn’t think Remus would actually get me anything.”

Logan’s brows dipped, “Of course he would, he said you all would need it. That isn’t limited to just Remus and Roman.”

“I know, I know, I’m just—surprised I guess,” Remy said, taking a cautious sip. He hummed in appreciation, drinking half the drink down before he resurfaced for air. “Ok, so I needed that more than I thought.”

“Damn right, you guys haven’t really stopped today, have you?”

They all jumped a bit at Virgil’s voice. They appeared from between the shelves, Patton, Remus, and the rest of the bookshop employees following behind. Roman took a quick glance around the areas of the stores he could see, and Remus shook his head when they made eye contact. No customers were currently in the store, then.

“I mean, we’ve had some breaks, but it’s been pretty busy today.” Elliot said, taking a sip of some iced drink. They were less than a week out from Christmas, and people were hitting that point of desperation in getting gifts.

“Then it’s a good thing we brought you all a caffeine boost!” Patton said, “Hopefully it’ll help y’all get through the rest of the day.”

He approached the counter, and with a quick, “Hi honey,” he kissed Roman on the cheek. Out of the corner of his eye, Roman saw Kai jerk in surprise, and Elliot choked a bit on their drink.

Remus thumped Elliot’s back, and Roman leaned around Patton to give them his full attention.

“Are you okay?”

Elliot cleared their throat, their face flushed. “Yeah, yeah, I’m fine. Just—caught off guard.”

“At what?” Remus asked, though he didn’t look as confused at Roman felt, some sort of realization seeming to cross his face with a mixture of delight.

Elliot’s face got redder as they stuttered out, “Well, I, um, that is I didn’t, I don’t really know, well—”

“How many boyfriends do you have?” Kai burst out, confusion clear on his face. “I thought you were just dating Janus, but I guess Patton too? But Patton and Virgil were holding hands when they gave me my drink? What’s happening here?”

They had set down their drink at this point, leaning on the counter as if it was the only thing keeping them up. Remus began cackling, and Janus and Virgil laughed along with him. Kai’s face was growing steadily redder, but they seemed to calm when Logan patted their shoulder.

“The confusion is understandable.” He said, but before he could continue Remus cut him off.

“He’s in a torrid affair with all of them,” Remus said, his grin wide enough to show all his teeth.

“Oh, be quiet, you gremlin,” Roman says, exasperated. He turned back to Kai, explaining, “I have four partners. You’ve all met them at some point, I swear.”

Remy nodded, while Emile, Kai, and Elliot shook their heads. Remy did a double take at Emile not knowing, saying, “Babe, I knew because I work at Virgil’s shop, like you do. How did you not know?”

Emile shrugged. “I knew Virgil and Roman were dating, and that Roman and Patton were dating, but I didn’t know they all were dating. I get they’re in the store a lot, but I had just assumed they were close friends.”

Virgil snorted. “That’s because I know how to not flirt while I’m working.”

“You flirt with me when you come here though!” Roman protested.

“Ah, but I’m not working when I’m here, aren’t I? That’s on you, sweetheart,” Virgil said, giving Roman cheesy fingers guns.

Roman huffed, exasperated, but he could feel the smile tugging at the corners of his lips.

“You’re a menace,” he said, leaning against the counter. The bell above the door chimed as someone walked in, and Roman gave them a quick greeting before turning back to his partners.

“Back to the grind, I suppose. Thank you all for bringing us something to drink, I appreciate it.”

The others gave similar replies, and Roman’s partners gave varying responses back, ranging from a bright “You’re welcome!” from Patton to a simple shrug from Virgil.

“We’ll see you and Remus tonight for dinner?” Logan asked, “It’s Janus’s and I’s turn to cook.”

“Wouldn’t miss it, Specs,” Roman replied. Remus nodded.

“Alrighty, then we’ll head off and let y’all get back to your work.” Patton said, darting forward to give Roman another kiss on the cheek. The rest of Roman’s partners followed suit, and Remus gave Janus a quick squeeze of a hug before the four left the shop.

It was quiet for a moment, before Kai asked, “How did you all get together?”

Remus grinned, immediately launching into some dramatic telling of the group’s college days and how Roman “fought for their hearts in a bloody battle of subterfuge and dumbassery” while Roman denied and agreed with parts in turn. At some point, the customer that had walked in checked out with their purchases, only giving a quick bemused glance towards Remus as he acted out what Roman could only guess to be he and Virgil’s first meeting and subsequent fight.

Their employees were all enraptured with the tale, though they seemed more amused by Remus’ dramatics rather than the actual story. Roman shook his head, doing a quick sweep around the store to check it was empty and putting a ‘Be Back Soon!’ sign on the door. Remus wouldn’t be done with the story for another half hour at least, if he was only just getting to Roman and Janus’s first date. They all could take a break, he thought, beginning to usher them all towards the office. It was the holiday season, and what better way to spend a quick break than by listening to a story about love and joy?

#sanders sides #sanders sides secret santa #roman sanders #patton sanders #logan sanders #remus sanders #virgil sanders #janus sanders #gozy writes #dlamp #dukeciet #creativitwins #sanders sides fic

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all-time-logan · 4 years ago

Note

hey uh idk if you’ve answered this already lately i looked and didn’t see anything (also sorry if this not a good time to ask or if this comes off as rude or smth) but do you have any updates on the uni au? i recently remembered it again and i miss it :)

no updates, per se, as in i havent finished the one story from like forever ago because life is busy and ive been in a rut :( but here's a ficlet for you because i love them and this was a very sweet ask :)

(if you remember the fic from a looong time ago where janus is very gay for logan being unkempt, here's the inverse of that because ive wanted to write it since i wrote the first one lol)

Logan is familiar with all-nighters. Not fond, or even impartial, really, but... familiar.

He just likes to get things done, is all. Going to sleep with an assignment looming over his head, hovering all night like some academic sword above his crown (God forbid, he sounds like Roman), it makes him uneasy - there's no reason to rest first when he should be getting work out of the way. There may be some rebuke of self care in that midst, he knows. Patton certainly attests to rest over efficiency, shooing him to bed if he sees a light on too late or hears him rooting around the kitchen for a midnight study snack. Logan does take care of himself, though; he tells Patton as much. He's very adamant about getting adequate rest, just... after work. And if a night of productivity means he has to down an extra cup of coffee the next morning, bitter and sharp to shock his senses back to attention, or he has to take some naps in his car between classes, using his sweater as a pillow and ignoring the crick in his neck to follow, that's fine by him. Not fun, or favorable, but fine.

He is very much not familiar with Janus' all-nighters.

"Can you sit down like a normal person or are you just going to keep gawking at me?"

Logan isn't gawking, for the record. For his own record, when he inevitably looks back on this moment, for no reason - he is not gawking. He's just analyzing. Or scoping out- it doesn't matter what he's doing, actually, besides trying to greet his study partner, and that's not gawking.

Study-partner in question is scowling at him from the table, though, and it's a bit of a distracting circumstance upon first arrival to the library. Janus is, holistically, a bit of a distracting circumstance, given the fact that he looks like he hasn't slept in days, and reasonably, that should make him less... appealing to look at, Logan supposes that's the way to put it. But it doesn't.

Because - and this is hypothetically, now, a bit of algorithmic experimentation, mental math of sorts - reasonably, having dark circles under your eyes should be jarring, or at least concerning. They don't strike Logan as worrisome on Janus, though, not until after he realizes they draw attention to Janus' eyes, cloudy and ablaze as he glares, blue and amber as they are. It adds an edge to Janus' face, so usually smooth and relentlessly charming, untouched.

And reasonably - logically - messy hair on someone as put together, as carefully crafted as Janus should be unimpressive. He has a way of putting his waves just so; so particular is he that he won't take hats off without a mirror or a fuss, and he wholly lacks Logan's own habit of running his hands through his hair, sharp and attentive to strays and errant strands like his life depends on it. So theoretically, the way his hair sits in disarray now should grab Logan's attention as a flaw; theoretically, there should be no noticing of how it falls across his forehead in soft waves, or how some pieces stick out near his ears, like he's tried in vain to tuck them back. The caramel color seems richer under the skylight.

And reasonably, there should be no reaction to Janus' outfit besides a smug look, or a judgmental tsk, something to keep Logan poised as self-satisfied and ultimately above him, to keep their schtick going. But the honey-colored crewneck Janus is wearing, pulled over a white turtleneck and pushed up to his elbows, is so very different than his usual outfits - there's no sharp silhouette, no crisp prints, no metallic accents for him to flash - that Logan's eyes just flit around the ensemble for a second. A very long second.

Reasonably, that should all be the end of it. A look, a thought, and he's done, processed Janus' change enough to carry on.

Unreasonably, Logan is struck still by how... endearing it all is.

Janus, in all his unusual endearing-ness, is still scowling at him. Logan snaps to some semblance of attention and clears his throat. "You look tired."

"And you look like a knock-off Professor Plum," Janus shoots back immediately, turning his scowl back to the marked pages of his book, "but no one comments on that."

Logan raises his eyebrows.

"I had a presentation for Philosophy this morning." Janus shoves a coffee cup across the table to him as he finally sits down, and Logan takes it wordlessly, equal parts stunned and placating. There's a messy, doodled heart peeking over the cardboard sleeve. "My group members didn't finish their parts, so I was up doing it for them."

Logan takes a sip of the drink as Janus talks - it's a caramel macchiato, a sugary concoction Janus made him try a few months ago after finding out he'd never had one. He seems to favor caramel. Logan's come to like it quite a bit, too, though he'd never tell Janus that. The drink is still hot.

"Did you tell your professor?" he says between measured sips.

Janus' mouth quirks into a small smile, crooked and complacent. Logan, reasonable as he is, does not get distracted and nearly spill his drink, nor does he burn his tongue in the process. Reasonably so.

"I didn't need to. They had no idea what they were presenting on. Made a fool of themselves in front of the class," he flips a page in his book, voice singsong as he scans it, "and I did swimmingly, even despite the sleep deprivation."

Logan nods, a small smile of his own creeping up. Reasonably, he pushes it down. Unreasonably, it does not work very well. "I wouldn't make that a habit, if I were you."

"Hm?" Janus glances at him again, an eyebrow raised, and gestures to his outfit. "What, you don't like the all-nighter chic?"

No, I do. Logan bites his tongue.

(He does like it, though, the soft hair and pullover and the edge in Janus' tired eyes. He likes knowing that Janus most definitely didn't go to class like this, that he was undoubtedly as put-together as usual this morning, that he didn't change until he knew he would only be seeing Logan at their table, until he'd be bickering and giving Logan coffee with a heart doodled beneath the sleeve. A foolish, unreasonable part of him likes that Janus is familiar with him, enough to be casual.)

"It's certainly a look," he says evenly, deliberately so. He knows Janus is going to throw a pen at him as soon as he says it. He leans to the side, avoids it, and knows Janus will grumble about understanding fashion and trends before they both move on to actually studying in their easy silence. He takes another sip of his coffee and, as unreasonable as it is, he is wholly endeared.

(He likes that Janus is familiar.)

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