#Roman chill out with being so rude!

[schrijverr]

I Dig You 1

Chapter 1 out of 8

Robin is tentatively excited for her first internship: an archaeological dig in the Netherlands, where she has been studying. However, when she gets there, Steve is there too. The dick of their uni that she now has to work with. Great. But being stuck digging for six weeks makes people bond and maybe he isn’t too bad. Maybe he can be her friend.

AKA an archaeology interns, modern, enemies-to-friends stobin au

On AO3.

Ships: none

Warnings: referenced homophobia

~~~~

Chapter 1: Encounter

Of course.

Of fucking course.

Robin will never be rid of this fucking guy, she seethes as she glares daggers into the back of Steve Harrington’s head. He hasn’t done anything in particular, he just showed up. But that was enough for Robin.

Why must he also be here? She would have totally thought he’d be in the Caribbean sieving sand instead of being here with her in a random small town in the Netherlands for his internship. It doesn’t make any sense, but here he is anyway.

Robin herself couldn’t afford to go on a uni internship, you had to pay to excavate, no thanks. She couldn’t even really afford a plane ticket home for the summer break, so she stayed in the Netherlands for her internship. A paid one, albeit only if you can count 3 euro per hour paid. It isn’t much, but otherwise she’s not getting credit for it, so alas.

However, Steve very much has Caribbean internship money. Or even Greece internship money. He could be chilling somewhere in the sun, but instead he’s here as well. And Robin doesn’t fucking get it.

She knows Steve has money, because she has been forced into his proximity since the introduction in the first year. As the two Americans in their year, they have often been grouped together and Robin would rather the uni stop. She has made her own friends. Not many or very good ones, but friends.

Enough that she doesn’t want to be stuck with Steve, whose parents bought him a house – not an apartment, but a house – when he came to study here. A house he throws so many parties at with girls who all thrist over him. It’s fucking annoying. He’s fucking annoying. And none of the pretty girls realize it and Robin wants to scream.

And instead of being rid of him for the summer, they’re stuck together for six weeks, because apparently he is on the same excavation she is.

Robin herself is here out of desperation. She has more of an interest in archaeosteology and the illnesses you can find in human remains. However, no graveyard was being excavated, so she’s getting her six weeks experience at a random excavation instead. Fine enough.

She doesn’t know what Steve is interested in, but she expects it to be something stupid like the Romans or something. Or maybe he doesn’t care for any of it and is he just doing it, because his mommy and daddy told him he had to do something and he thought archaeology would be easy. Must be regretting that now with the big practical aspect of it.

Maybe he forgot about the internships and didn’t sign up, so this is a desperate last resort to get his credits? That seems pretty likely, so Robin accepts that as reality.

Not that knowing why will change anything. And Steve doesn’t even seem to realize how much he has just ruined her summer. He just greets her with a smile as he asks: “You also interning here?”

“Yup,” Robin says, not trying to be rude, but also not feeling like being friendly.

Luckily the project leader introduces himself to them as they introduce themselves back. His name is Jeroen and he shows them the trench they’ll be working in for the first week, week and a half. Together. Great.

The excavation has been going on for a while already, but it won’t be done soon, since they’re digging at a construction site where an entire new neighborhood is being built. Robin is unfamiliar with commercial archaeology, so she listens eagerly, glad everyone here seems to speak good English. She has picked up phrases here and there, but she is far from fluent.

They’re currently working in trench five or, in Dutch, put vijf, while next to it construction is already happening on what used to be trench four. Further along trench six is already being plotted and dug by the machine excavator.

In trench five – put, Robin reminds herself, wanting to be able to get the terms right for when they’re written down, since the excavation is in Dutch – they need to dig up and record all the features, sporen in Dutch.

The two have couped at their first fieldschool, so they’re given a shovel to go with their trowel and Jeroen explains how the admin system works, before setting them loose to coup the first half of all the features – no, sporen.

Robin is half tempted to wait and see where Steve starts, so she can dig at the other side of the put, but there are already a few people digging and she wants to be friendly with the people that are going to be her coworkers, so she follows after Steve.

With Jeroen, it’s a team of nine total, including her and Steve. Since they can only work one put at a time (not to mention it’s summer break) a bigger team isn’t necessary. Robin is grateful for it, because large groups of people have never been her thing, so this smaller crew seems a lot more manageable.

Maybe this internship wouldn’t be too bad.

One woman, Astrid, takes them under her wing a little, asking: “Have you dug many coups before already?”

Robin shares a look with Steve – it’s involuntary, she swears, but it happens. Their fieldschool wasn’t exciting with nothing being found.

So, while they did get the theoretical explanation that when people in the past dug holes to place things like poles or trash, those poles and organic trash decomposed and with the new layer of soil that formed a new color dirt filled the hole, which they could now see when they dug to the C horizon in the earth. Neither of them have dug out many of the features/sporen.

However, Robin doesn’t want to admit to her own inexperience so bluntly. Steve does not have that inhibition, easily shrugging: “Like one or two. This is my first internship.” And while Robin still doesn’t like Steve, she is glad that she can just nod along.

“Alright, but you know how to do it, right?” Astrid asks, before chuckling: “It’s luckily not that hard.”

Robin awkwardly chuckles too as the two of them nod.

“I’ll draw some-” Astrid stops her sentence and turns to one of the others, who is digging further down, yelling: “Bas, wat is een goede vertaling voor coupeerhaken?”

The man in question, Bas, looks up and thinks for a second. The he yells back: “Geen idee, iets van coup hooks?”

Robin’s Dutch isn’t amazing, but she’s pretty sure Astrid just asked Bas for a translation of the word and Bas had no clue either.

She turns back to them apologetically and says: “I’m going to call them coup hooks. The little thingies to indicate what part to dig out, you know what I mean right?”

“Yeah, I do,” Robin smiles, wanting to assure Astrid.

“I would have no clue what to call them otherwise,” Steve adds and Robin feels vaguely annoyed, because she is pretty sure Astrid’s smile back is directed at Steve, not her.

“Anyway,” Astrid moves on. “I’ll draw some for you until you get the hang of them. And just give a holler if you find anything, you’ll know because you’ll hear your shovel break it.”

Robin still finds the idea of breaking any finds horrifying, but it seems to be part of it. And she doesn’t want to pull attention to it, so she just thanks Astrid and follows after her with Steve to the first two sporen so they can start digging.

Astrid quickly explains: “The card with the… uh, spoornummer… Ah, featurenumber! When you’re done digging stick it in to the side, so we know it hasn’t been drawn in yet.”

“And photos?” Robin asks, proud at herself for managing to speak up and ask about something she’s confused about instead of being anxious about it in private. College is good her her. Growth and all that.

To answer her question, Astrid gets a company phone with a sturdy case that functions as a camera and explains the admin app for photos to them. She points to where the North arrow and folding ruler are, before leaving them to it.

Now couping can be a little boring, especially in put five where there is apparently nothing to be found in the sporen. So they’re just digging to find out what shape the discolored earth is in the hopes of figuring out what its function used to be.

She and Steve work in silence for most of it. He tries to start a few conversations, but she isn’t really in the mood to talk to him, more focused on creating a neat little square for a coup and not letting her vibe be ruined by Steve.

They have two breaks that day of half an hour, one is on the boss, but they have to pay for the other themselves. So after eight and a half hours, Robin says goodbye to the first day of her summer internship.

While it was kinda fun, she is glad to be done for the day. She still has two and a half hours in public transport ahead of her, before she’s home and can rinse off the dirt and sweat, something she is looking forward too. As she checks in, she sends a small thank you for free public transport for students to the sky, because she couldn’t afford the daily commute otherwise to this outer corner of the Netherlands.

The next day her alarm goes early in the morning and she’s glad she doesn’t have roommates in her student housing, because they would probably hate her with how she’s grumbling and stumbling around in her studio.

At the dig site, Steve looks way too chipper for the hour and she sends him a glare. He looks a little confused, maybe even hurt by it and she feels a bit bad. However, she stuffs the emotion away and grabs a shovel. Steve is an asshole, she probably just imagined it.

Again, they’re digging coups the whole day. The sun is burning and the ground is drying out, making it incredibly difficult to get through. So, they’re all sweaty and a bit burnt when the first break is finally here. Robin finds it quite funny how they’re all re-applying sunscreen together, sitting in a circle.

And so the days continue.

That first week Robin gets into a rhythm. She stumbles out of bed early in the morning, dozes in the train, dozes in the bus, before having to walk the last bit to the dig site. There they dig all day, putting on sunscreen during both breaks, before she takes the bus and train again, showering when she gets home and shoveling down an easy meal. Digging makes you hungry. Then she writes her daily reports, before falling into bed.

She also tries to make contact with the other people they work with. All of them are nice and their English is great – not an odd detail, considering most of them studied at the university in English, taking the same courses she is now.

However, they’ve worked in the field along other Dutch people since their graduation, so it’s habit to fall back in the language. Robin gets it, but she feels awkward reminding them that she can’t follow along. Her Dutch isn’t that great yet. So, she kind of fades to the background.

Steve is in the same boat as her, though he has less trouble reminding him he doesn’t speak Dutch, which Robin is reluctantly grateful for.

She knows she could be taking with Steve, since he won’t default to Dutch on accident, but she is holding on to her grudge. Not that Steve is making it easy. He seems perfectly nice and charming, which grates on her nerves.

And makes it very difficult to dislike him. Something that makes Robin dislike him even more and that only fuels her silence.

Not that it has deterred Steve from talking to her. He must have gotten tired of reminding people around Thursday that first week and has taken up talking to her during their breaks. It’s nothing interesting, just classes, professors, friends, parties, other shit he did. He doesn’t seem to mind her lack of replies.

Robin has to admit that Steve is funny too. Fucking annoying that is. But the jokes he makes are hilarious and she has to bite her lip not to laugh. She doesn’t like Steve, she reminds herself, she’s not giving him the satisfaction of laughing.

She breaks on Tuesday of week two. It’s about the stupidest joke too. Steve is telling her about how he got rejected for a date at a faculty party, groaning: “And she turned me down all because I told her that I dug her. You know, digging? Because we’re archaeologists. That’s a great joke, works on Argyle every-”

He cuts himself off in surprise, eyes growing wide as he looks at her. It’s only when he falls silent that she realizes she laughed.

An embarrassed blush covers her cheeks immediately and she looks away with a huff. “It’s a good pun,” she admits, as though under duress. It isn’t that good, but it’s funny.

For a second she regrets admitting that, until she chances a glance at Steve and sees him wearing a proud, self-satisfied grin. It almost looks as if trying to get her to laugh had been his goal all along and she doesn’t know how to feel about it.

The gesture is sweet, but for all she knows, he could be trying to get into her pants. She hates when guys try to do that.

“Thanks,” he smiles at her, oblivious to her inner musings. Then he blows her expectations out of the water when he laughs: “I should stop trying that line on girls, honestly. The only time it every worked was when I asked out Tommy, but that was never going to be more than a fling.”

“You’re… queer?” Robin asks, too surprised to hide it.

“Yeah, bi. Didn’t you know?” Steve asks in return, frowning a little. “I thought for sure we talked a little at that lgbtq hang out thing back in first year.”

They had, Robin remembers that and now she feels a little terrible for her bitter thoughts as she admits: “I thought you were only there to get into Tammy’s pants.”

Steve is quiet for a moment and just when Robin thinks he’s going to get mad or upset – neither of which are good since Robin gets anxious when people are mad and uncomfortable when they’re upset – Steve laughs again.

It surprises Robin almost more than the earlier revelation. He looks at her with a grin and says: “To be fair, I was trying to get into Tammy’s pants.”

He looks so kind as he says it, so nonjudgmental – unlike Robin had been – like he doesn’t care that she kinda erased his identity and called him performative. Maybe there is more to Steve than she had realized, she thinks, as she allows herself to smile back and say: “Sorry.”

Steve shrugs: “It’s okay. I try not to flaunt it too much anyway. Can’t have word coming back to my folks back home, you know.”

Robin flinches a little at that. Her own parents are cool and have always been, but she’s still forced into a dress whenever they go by her conservative grandmother, having to listen to all the advice about how to get a husband.

“That sucks,” she tells him genuinely, because they queers have to stick together.

“Tell me about it,” Steve chuckles, fortunately not sounding too bothered about the whole thing. “I guess it could be worse. My dad wanted me to be a legacy at Yale, then he would have heard all about what I’ve been doing from his old buddies. Now I got a whole ocean between us and no eyes on me at all. Just have to be careful about what I put online, but that’s it.”

It sounds like he’s underselling how much it sucks, but Robin isn’t going to push. If Steve is trying to undersell it, then he probably doesn’t want to talk about it. So, she just awkwardly goes: “That’s nice.”

Luckily, she is saved by the break ending and the two go out into the field again, digging even more coups.

They’re almost done with put five and put six has already being dug. There hasn’t been much inside the coups here, but they’re optimistic about more being found elsewhere, since they’re currently on the outer edge of what used to be a settlement instead of at the center.

This time, when they’re out digging, Robin actually talks back to Steve. She has decided that he can’t be all bad and digging in silence was kind of a bummer. So, she’s giving him a chance and hoping her faith isn’t misplaced. It would suck if Steve truly is a douche.

~~

A/N:

I wanted Robin to be interested in proto-languages and how you can trace migration and interaction through language, but idk enough about it, so I went with archaeosteology because it fits with Robin too and I know a little bit more of it, though not too much either lol (im planning on projecting my own interests onto Steve bc they fit him better)

Also rip Roman arch, u can be interesting, but ur also the normie archaeology that gets way too hyped for no reason xp

I’m 100% Astrid trying to translate subject specific lingo and struggling, though I manage to do it both ways lmaooo

Also I love couping, idc what people say, it’s not boring and while it might be hard work, it is quite fun when you get into it

(btw, I think international students sadly don’t get free public transport here, which is so sad, but I didn’t want to put Robin through actual public transport prices bc those are criminal (we love a private company having a monopoly on a public service))

[twoidiotwriters1]

The Curse of Oenone (Leo Valdez xFem!Oc)

A/N: Ara being Ara -Danny Words: 2,298 Series' Masterlist Previous Chapter // Next Chapter

II: Help! People Are Treating Me Like They're Supposed to and Now I'm Uncomfortable

"Your brother hates me."

"He doesn't."

Leo stops and looks at her. "That guy's going to throw me under the elephant at the first chance he gets."

Ara tries not to laugh. "Percy has a resting bitch face, that's all. You'll be best buds in no time."

"Sunshine, no offense, but you're too close to the danger to see it."

"He doesn't hate you," she insists. "But if he did, I'd still love you."

Leo smirks. "What if I turn into a worm, would you still love me?"

"We've already had this conversation," Ara resumes her walk.

"Last time it was a three-legged dog with rabies!" He quickly catches up with her. "But that one was way out there, so mad respect for saying yes."

She laughs. "That should make it clear enough, then."

"The dog still has some personality though," he teases her. "Worms don't even come in fun colors."

"Worms are useful. You could be bait in my direst moment of need," she jokes.

Leo holds her hand. "Okay, you win. I'm the best boyfriend ever."

"Well, what now?" Nico eyes my Tyrian cape and the laurel crown with little interest.

"I gotta move out of my cabin," I reply. "Preferably before the campers get here, Chiron doesn't want me to distract them."

"You can't stop that from happening," Nico raises a brow.

"Shut up," I reach up to take the crown off.

Lily stops me. "Wear that with pride. We broke out backs training so you could get it." 

I glance at her hand, the scar on my wrist that used to match Lily's is gone, and I'm half glad about it, I won't be reminded of Michael as often now.

"Is there a rule that says she has to wear the whole fit from now?" Nico taunts her. "Please say yes."

"Can I slap him one last time?" I beg Lily.

Ara is starting to understand why Jason didn't escape this camp as soon as he got the chance. Everyone's seated where they please, old and young demigods—even older than Beckendorf—surround her and her friends. They all look healthy, happy, and like they've enjoyed a fulfilling life. If this is the one thing Roman demigods can aspire to have... she wants it too.

Everyone has been nice to her to a decent extent, except for the Octavian guy, but he's rude to everyone, so it doesn't matter. What keeps bothering her is that Percy isn't the only one staring at Leo weirdly. Hazel Levesque keeps stealing glances at him and Ara doesn't know how to interpret that. 

Percy told Annabeth that she was someone else's girlfriend... but there's a faint lavender glow coming out of Hazel ever since Leo took the seat next to her. "...My brother, Nico, went looking for the doors," the girl mentions as they start talking about the prophecy.

"Wait," Annabeth frowns. "Nico di Angelo? He's your brother?"

Ara tenses. "About that... Can I talk to him?"

"Ara..." Percy stares at her with a look of warning.

"We're talking about a fourteen-year-old boy, tall and severely malnourished, right?" She ignores him.

"Ara," he presses.

Hazel tilts her head in confusion. "Wait, he's fourteen?"

"Nico Di Angelo has been here before, even though he's Greek," Ara continues, anger bubbling up in her stomach. Percy tries to talk but she lifts a hand to stop him. "He brought you here?"

"Yes, last September," Hazel replies awkwardly. "But he never mentioned your camp, I swear."

"Ara," Percy looks at her sternly. "Chill."

"I'm chill," she replies, clearly not chill at all. "I just wanna talk to Di Angelo."

"You can't," Percy continues. "Hazel was about to tell us what her brother was doing before he went missing."

Ara's soul leaves her body. "He's missing?"

The first time I met Nico and Bianca Di Angelo wasn't even the first time for real. We met in the Lotus Hotel, but I only remembered a year after we found them.

The first time we spoke isn't as important as the time we almost killed each other, anyway. The first time, I mean, when Nico shattered the Pavilion's floor. But you've heard that story, so I'll tell you about the first time I officially met the Di Angelo siblings.

Percy, Thalia, Annabeth, and I arrive at the creepy military school, where a monster is already there to welcome us. He didn't notice me at first, which was good, I could sneak my way towards Bianca and Nico without the monster knowing.

"Hi!"

Bianca gives a start. I've interrupted some kind of argument between her and her brother. "Hi?"

"I'm Ara," I reach to shake her hand. "Jackson."

It's not the first time I introduced myself with that last name, but it is the first time that sounds natural. Bianca shakes my hand. "Bianca Di Angelo. Are you new?"

"Yeah! And I saw you two from across the gym, you seem nice," I look at Nico and grin when I see the cards he's holding. "Cool deck! I have a friend who's a huge fan of Mythomagic."

The boy's eyes widen. "You wanna play?"

"Sure," I take a sit next to him.

He's the same age I was when I met Percy, and I'm the same age Percy was then. My vanity tricks me into thinking that's enough to dazzle the boy, but people aren't interested in age, just power. When I met Percy, he had my respect 'cause he was strong and cool. 

It didn't matter if I was older, I was a nobody to Nico.

Ara makes an effort to be quiet now, too shaken to argue.

"The last thing he said to me was that he was going to look for the doors of death. That's all I know."

"We'll look for him," Percy assures Hazel. "Right, Ara?"

"Of course," Nico is annoying and difficult, but he's a camper, and he was her friend once, she doesn't want him gone and out of her life permanently. "But let's recap—The doors are in Rome?"

"That's what Thanatos said, yeah," Percy responds. "And finding them should be our priority anyway, as long as Gaea's army has control over them, the monsters will come back as soon as we kill them."

"Like water leaking through a dam," Piper mumbles.

"Yeah," Percy glances at Ara. "We've got a dam hole."

"What?" Piper blinks.

"Nothing. Inside joke. The point is we'll have to find the doors and close them before we can head to Greece. It's the only way we'll stand a chance of defeating the giants and making sure they stay defeated."

"You propose an expedition to Greece in your warship," Reyna says. "You do realize that the ancient lands—and the Mare Nostrum—are dangerous?"

"Mary who?" Leo asks.

"Mare Nostrum," Jason corrects him. "Our Sea. It's what the Ancient Romans called the Mediterranean."

"The territory that was once the Roman Empire is not only the birthplace of the gods," Reyna continues. "It's also the ancestral home of the monsters, Titans and giants... and worse things. As dangerous as travel is for demigods here in America, there it would be ten times worse."

"You said Alaska would be bad," Percy points out. "We survived that."

"Percy, traveling in the Mediterranean is a different level of danger altogether. It's been off-limits to Roman demigods for centuries. No hero in his right mind would go there."

"Then we're good!" Leo smiles. "Because we're all crazy, right? Besides, the Argo II is a top-of-the-line warship. She'll get us through—and Ara's the daughter of Olympus, she'll keep us safe."

"Ara can't look after all of us, it would be selfish to expect that," Percy scolds him.

"He didn't mean it like that," Ara is quick to intervene.

"Then he shouldn't say it—"

"Percy, don't start," Ara snaps at him. 

Percy glances at Leo with irritation, and Ara wonders why is he so hostile towards the boy.

"We'll have to hurry, I don't know exactly what the giants are planning, but Gaea is growing more conscious all the time," Jason continues, nervously glancing at the trio. "She's invading dreams, appearing in weird places, summoning more and more powerful monsters. We have to stop the giants before they can wake her up fully."

"Seven half-bloods must answer the call," Annabeth quotes. "It needs to be a mix from both our camps. Jason, Piper, Leo, and me. That's four."

"And me," Percy nods. "Along with Hazel and Frank. That's seven."

"And then there's me..." Ara grabs a fistful of grapes from a passing platter and eats a bunch at once.

I blame myself for not trying harder. I keep thinking that maybe if I'd befriended Bianca, none of what happened would've happened. Not in the way it did, anyway.

I didn't understand why she left Nico. He was her family and she dropped him just like that? I begged for something like what she had my whole life, and this girl gave it up so easily! 

I wasn't nice after she joined the hunters, and this caused Nico to attach to me. I was the same age as his sister and I was validating his feelings, I was Percy's sister as well, and he wanted to know all about him.

Nico punished Bianca by latching onto me and Lily, and that made her dislike us. In the end, Nico hated me for it. If I hadn't encouraged his behavior, the Di Angelo's would've parted on friendlier terms, and then maybe he wouldn't hold such a grudge towards me.

Despite all this... I still don't understand Bianca's decision, I gave up on having my own life to look after my loved ones forever, because that's what you do when your love is real.

Octavian stands up. "We're just supposed to accept that? Without a vote in the senate? Without a proper debate? Without—"

"Percy! Ara!" Tyson and Mrs. O'Leary rush in, there is a harpy seated on the hellhound. "Ella is scared!"

"N-n-no more boats," the harpy shivers. "Titanic, Lusitania, Pax... boats are not for harpies."

"Did that chicken girl just compare my ship to the Titanic?" Leo asks Hazel.

"She's not a chicken," Hazel avoids Leo's eyes and blushes. "Ella's a harpy. She's just a little... high-strung."

"Ella is pretty," Tyson continues. "And scared. We need to take her away, but she will not go on the ship."

"No ships. Bad luck," she spots Annabeth. "There she is. Wisdom's daughter walks alone—"

"Ella!" Frank tries to stop her. "Maybe it's not the best time—"

"The Mark of Athena burns through Rome," the harpy continues. "Twins snuff out the angel's breath, Who holds the key to endless death. Giants' bane stands gold and pale, Won through pain from a woven jail."

Ara's eyes land on Annabeth, whose entire face is flushed. "Was that—"

"I know!" Percy interrupts her. "How about you take Ella to get some fresh air? You and Mrs. O'Leary—"

"Hold on," Octavian's hands twist a plushie anxiously. "What was that she said? It sounded like—"

"Ella reads a lot," Frank explains. "We found her at a library."

"Yes!" Hazel continues. "Probably just something she read in a book."

"Books," Ella hums. "Ella likes books."

Ara's skin tingles with curiosity. They want to keep that harpy away from Octavian, and she wants to know why. 

"That was a prophecy," the guy insists. "It sounded like a prophecy."

Annabeth laughs, but Ara can tell it's fake. "Really, Octavian? Maybe harpies are different here, on the Roman side. Ours have just enough intelligence to clean cabins and cook lunches. Do yours usually foretell the future? Do you consult them for your auguries?"

While the rest of the demigods around them chuckle, Octavian seems to hesitate. "I, uh... No, but—"

"She's just spouting lines from some book," Annabeth dismisses the subject, "like Hazel suggested. Besides, we already have a real prophecy to worry about. Percy's right," she turns to Tyson. "Why don't you take Ella and Mrs. O'Leary and shadow-travel somewhere for a while. Is Ella okay with that?"

"'Large dogs are good. Old Yeller, 1957, screenplay by Fred Gipson and William Tunberg."

"Great!" Percy clasps his hands together. "We'll Iris-message you guys when we're done and catch up with you later."

Reyna's people look at her for approval whilst Ara's crew turns to her. The girls share a look, Ara would like to talk to Ella, but now's not the time, she doesn't want Octavian around for it, and he's clearly not well in the head. 

Reyna raises a brow. Ara can read her expression easily: "Your call, General." 

The girl leans back on her seat and shrugs, popping another grape into her mouth. Reyna turns to Tyson and Ella. "Fine. Go." She then turns to the others. "Octavian is right about one thing. We must gain the senate's approval before we let any of our legionnaires go on a quest—especially one as dangerous as you're suggesting."

"This whole thing smells of treachery," Octavian sneers. "That trireme is not a ship of peace!"

"Come aboard, man," Leo suggests. "I'll give you a tour. You can steer the boat, and if you're really good I'll give you a little paper captain's hat to wear."

"How dare you—"

"It's a good idea," Reyna intervenes. "Octavian, go with him. See the ship. We'll convene a senate meeting in one hour."

"But..." Octavian locks eyes with Reyna and grumbles the rest. "Fine."

"I'll go with you," Ara offers.

"No need, Arae," Leo winks at her. "We'll be back soon. This is gonna be epic."

Ara watches him walk away with a bad feeling, something rubbed her the wrong way, but she can't put a finger on it.

"Uh, Reyna," Jason speaks. "If you don't mind, I'd like to show Piper around before the senate meeting. She's never seen New Rome."

Ara wants to throw grapes at Jason's forehead. Can't he read the room? Reyna's been glaring at him this whole time! Poor Piper looks like she wants to crawl under the table and stay there for the rest of the day.

"Of course," the praetor responds tensely.

"Yeah, me, too," Percy adds. "I'd like to show Annabeth—"

"No."

"Sorry?" He frowns.

"I'd like a few words with Annabeth and your sister," Reyna explains stiffly. "Alone. If you don't mind, my fellow praetor."

"Okay," Ara stands and fixes her cloak. She's a good talker, this will be fine. "Lead the way."

Next Chapter ->

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[aeoki]

Chill Yellow - Chapter 1

Location: Staff Cafeteria Characters: Hokuto & Wataru Season: Autumn Writer: Maiko Nishioka (Happy Elements)

TL Note:

In Japan, once everyone has been served, it’s customary to say “Thank you for the meal / いただきます” (with hands clasped together) before eating to show appreciation for the farmers and/or cooks. Although nowadays, some people (especially the younger generation) are lazy and skip out on this, hence Wataru’s reaction.

Hokuto: (To think the previous work would finish so quickly… now I have time before the next meet-up.)

(Well, it doesn’t matter. It just happens to be lunchtime right now. I can have lunch while I’ve got the time for it.)

(Let’s see. Put an order through “Hallhands” and all right, all that’s left is to wait for the food to be brought over.)

…………

(It feels rather boring to be simply waiting like this… What does everyone else do to pass time at a time like this?)

………… *Looks around*

(...What’s this? Almost everyone is looking at their phones…? It’s such a bizarre sight to see everyone doing the same thing.)

(Hmm. But one time, Yuuki did say I should pay more attention to the trends. In this case, I suppose when in Rome do as the Romans do.)

(All right, I’ll imitate everyone here and also look at my phone.)

(But what are they all looking at? They seem to be flicking their fingers and flipping pages every so often. Is there really something worth staring at…?)

(I thought smartphones are generally used for phone calls or sending messages, though…)

(Hm. Found it. With this, I can also stare at my phone and flip the pages every so often. All right, I guess I’ll take my time looking at this.)

………… *Stares at the smartphone with all seriousness*

Wataru: …………

Hokuto: Woah!? I thought I felt a presence and turned around but–

Hibiki-senpai, anyone would be surprised if you stand silently behind them like that. You usually barge straight into my personal space with a huge commotion. Why are you so quiet today?

Wataru: Oh, no no. Actually, I saw you staring so earnestly at your phone, Hokuto-kun.

Therefore, I thought I might make a grand entrance by surprising you and saying,

“What are you staring at with such intense concentration~? Is it something you don’t want others to see?”

“Why, Hokuto-kun is going through puberty too!” 

But the act of you staring at your contacts list so earnestly was so eccentric, it exceeded my expectations and it left me standing here; my performance forgotten

To think you’re capable of making me forget my performance even for a split second… You are indeed incredible, Hokuto-kun.

Hokuto: What nonsense are you spouting? Anyway, you arrived early as well, I see. You were also called to meet in the afternoon, right?

Wataru: You are correct. Just as I was wondering what I should do with the time, I decided to go on a walk and I noticed you sitting over here. May I join you?

Hokuto: Sure, I don’t mind. We’ll be going to the same place afterwards anyway.

I’ve already ordered something so feel free to do the same, Hibiki-senpai.

Wataru: Yes, ordering…

Let’s see~ I’m not particularly fond of eating in front of others… However, it would be rude not to order something in a restaurant.

I suppose I shall have a cup of black tea, then.

Hokuto: Hm? Oh, thank you.

Wataru: Amazing! What a tantalising and fragrant aroma. A grilled mackerel set meal? That seems like a dish you would order, Hokuto-kun.

In fact, it was so predictable, it’s uninteresting so I’d say it’s more of a negative than a positive.

Hokuto: Make it clear which one it is. How confusing.

………… *Stays still*

Wataru: …Hm? Are you not going to eat? It will get cold, you know?

Hokuto: What are you talking about? Your drink hasn’t arrived yet. We all say, “Thank you for the meal.”[*], once everyone’s food has arrived. That’s what my grandmother taught me.

Wataru: …I see. You truly are a good boy, Hokuto-kun.

Hokuto: Hey. Don’t just sum it up to me being a good boy. When you phrase it that way, it makes it seem like you’re actually making fun of me.

Besides, if necessary, I might even dabble in a bad deed or two. You never know.

Wataru: Making fun of you? I have no intention of doing so. If anything, I’m truly impressed. 

It’s fine, isn’t it? To remain a person of good morals is a miraculous feat in itself.

Fufu… I highly doubt there will ever come a day when you’ll commit a bad deed. And it’s because you haven’t that’s why it makes you so fascinating and intriguing ♪

Location: StarPro Office (Conference Area)

Hokuto: Hm? Oh, it’s you, Anzu. You must have been working hard.

It’s been a while since I last saw you. I’m sure you must have been busy devoting yourself to another “unit” recently.

Oh, right. We’ll be working together next month, so we’re looking forward to your guidance. It’s been a long time since we last worked together. Akehoshi and Yuuki were dancing for joy.

Hm? No, I wasn’t dancing for joy.

Would it have been better if I did? I understand, I’ll dance with them next time. What dance would be good? I’ll do my best to meet your expectations.

…What? It was a joke, you say? I don’t understand why you would pull out a joke now.

Well, no matter. You seem to look troubled. I won’t dig any further then.

That’s right. I was called to come in today to check the details of my schedule and for a meeting.

You don’t have to worry about that. It’s finished already. It was over surprisingly quickly, so I was somewhat disappointed.

What about you? Are you fine with chatting with me like this? You’re still working, right? There are a lot of documents spread out around you.

Oh. So you were just organising this huge amount of papers. If you sort it every now and again, you won’t have to spend a lot of time doing it all at once later.

We have to manage a lot of scripts and equipment at the Drama Club and it’s a lot of work. Everything will pile up if you get lazy–

! Woah!? Sorry. Because I bumped into you, the documents you were carrying have all fallen to the ground.

No, it’s fine. It’s my fault. I’ll pick it up.

Hm? What’s this…? Documents for an audition that’s about to be held? I see.

What!? W-Wait! Let me see that piece of paper for a minute!

Hmm… What? A drama!? From that person…?

Huh? Do I know this director, you ask? Yeah, of course.

You could probably say I’m a fan. For people who enjoy acting, there are a lot of people who support him.

He’s like a treasure in the world of cinema.

What’s wrong? Why are you coming closer? Ohh, so you’re a fan of his too. You’re excited to find a fellow fan? Hm, I see.

But I’m surprised… A drama of all things, huh.

You probably know this because you’re a fan too, right? He’s the type of person to live and die for cinema.

I can’t believe he would be the director of a drama series. I wonder what change of heart did he have? Well, not that I’ll get the answer just by thinking about it.

I also recall he personally selects the actors he likes for his own films most of the time.

It’s unbelievable to see he would hold auditions for a drama…

So you think so, too, Anzu. It’s understandable why one would be so excited. No one knows if there will be another opportunity like this in the future.

Anzu. I’m thinking of auditioning.

Next Chapter →

[lumilasi]

I originally meant to first make all 4 House staff for Harrow's manor (the dad of my story's protagonist) before posting, but I decided to plop this out already. Did this a bit differently by basically just using the sketch again, no lineart.

IDK exactly why I decided that in this new form (while not born there) he comes from Romania, but I'm guessing its because I've seen glimpses of content related to the country a lot recently (A documentary on tv, that tumblr post about Romanian nuns helping out that kid scared of vampires, a game taking place there, etc), so it was in my brain when thinking of his origins lol

His bio below(W.I.P)

Name: Mihail (His surname is not an actual surname of his, he's just started using it jokingly when people ask, it is just the Romanian word for dog. Mihail has no surname as he doesn't recall his birth family)

Age: Unknown, but he is likely between 50-70, so among Grimmhounds he's considered to be an adult in their mid-to-late 30's, if converted to human years (Generally in this story, beings' lifespans tend to be measured in centuries, so they have a "true" age, and "human equivalent" age)

Family: birth family unknown, honorary little sister figure Scarlet Duffy

Friends: Harrow Araknos/Blackthorne (Soul eater & his boss) Thalia Swanson (The butler/head of staff) Roman Bosco (later, a former member of the same Grimmhound pack he was in)

Love interest: Aiden O'kelley (Human, their gardener)

Occupation: The chef/guardian of the Blackthorne Manor

Abilities:

Regeneration: His kind regenerate most injuries insanely fast, and are generally among the most durable land-dwelling beast types outside non-flying drakes.

Transformation: He has two forms; The humanoid skull-hound form, and a full black dog form the size of which he can change at will. He is insanely fast, stealthy and durable in these forms, with the skull-hound form being physically strongest, and the full dog form being fastest.

Shadows: He can merge with shadows to hide himself very well even in human form, and can attack you through them.

Bite force/claws: He has very strong bite force and can actually tear people's throats open even in human form. His claws can also be used to easily cut limbs off and damage metal.

Keen senses: Being a predator type of beast, his sense of smell is about as accurate as you'd expect from a trained bloodhound, he also has excellent night vision, and can pick up the faintest of sounds from hundreds of meters away. Also he's generally just very aware of his surroundings.

human weaponry: He's good at whipping out a knife and stabbing your eyes out with it when you least expect it.

Weaknesses:

Due to his disdain for his past self, Mihail tends to hold back too much in some situations, where he might get hurt needlessly. The same time though, in other cases he might use too much force, which may require some clean-up help from Harrow and Thalia.

He still has some bad habits from his past, namely he tends to come off as really rude and crude/blunt to people who don't know him well, even when he's not intending to do so. That's just how the group he was with talked. He tends to not realize when he's coming off rude either, and needs to be told about it.

Light magic spells are naturally effective towards his kind, as they tend to dispel the skull-dog humanoid form and force them to turn back to full humans, which is their weakest form. It does specifically need to be some sort of sacred type of light, you can't just whip out a flashlight to force them to transform. (Unless it has somehow blessed light-bulb I suppose...)

he's very protective over Scarlet, and would do anything for her.

Personality:

Mihail is very stoic most of the time, coming off very intimidating to most people. Despite this he is a fairly chill guy with a good - albeit sometimes morbid - sense of humor. He is mischievous and absolutely takes advantage of 1.) his natural intimidating vibes, and 2.) the fact he's attractive to many people (Within reason of course)

He has a fairly strong moral backbone nowadays, perhaps to atone from his past behavior, and generally tends to be willing to help people with things they don't want to do, even if he'd find the chore boring as hell and would rather be stabbing his eyes out. (he will admit this point-blank if asked whenever he actually enjoys doing the chore in question)

While he seems quite relaxed once you get past his intimidating exterior, Mihail is always keeping an eye out for any dangers, especially around Scarlet who is a troublemaker.

Fun Facts

He began flirting with Aiden pretty soon after they met, he just didn't realize Mihail was doing so, because it was disguised with jokey comments, such as the ones about the "Ghost Dog" lurking around the manor grounds. (Also Aiden is kinda oblivious)

He ended up in the Blackthorne manor, because Scarlet wanted to go steal something from there and they got caught. The house owner (Harrow) was amused and impressed enough by her bravery and trickery, that he ended up hiring her after finding out about her situation of not really having a home.

Mihail wasn't hired properly until later, when they found out he's a good guardian AND a cook, freeing Thalia from having to be responsible for so many things at once as the only staff Harrow initially had.

He has a Slavic accent, but no one can ever place exactly where its from, not even native speakers of the language family.

The languages Mihail knows include Romanian (naturally), English, Italian, and Japanese.

His name was given to him by the old woman & her daughters Mihail initially stayed with when younger, before they were killed in a house-fire that was accidentally lit by a stray spark. (Mihail was out at the time)

He and Roman had some tension between them initially, because while Mihail was never one that personally bullied him during his time with the pack, Roman was afraid of him due to him being one of the strong ones.

[tziporarosen]

Burn The Devil:

Chapter Two

sorry for being MIA, I know most of you are following me for Sevika content, and I am working on it but life has been a little hectic so haven't had the time to keep writing as often. I'm posting this because its been sitting in my google doc, hopefully lesbian content is enough for you to keep your horny little minds occupied

Warnings: Mature Content, men and minors DNI, Marking, torture? idk anymore, its dark lol idk what to tell ya, she's a psychopath

word count: 1614

I open my eyes to be met with her staring at my legs, her pupils dilated with perversion. I move my arms over to my thighs to cover them as I edge towards the car door to be as far away as humanly possible. "Move your arms," the woman said drily, almost as if she was too bored to deal with the consequences of her threat. Terrified, I moved my hands back onto my lap slowly, my mouth dry from the tension around us. "Good girl" she whispers with a sly grin on her face, clearly amused by how easily I obeyed. After an hour that felt like an eternity, the car halts to a smooth stop, allowing me to get a glance at the large gates closing behind us, sealing my fate behind these tall walls.

The cold winter breeze hits my face as the front doors of the car open, each one of them stepping out, while I don't dare to move a hair on my head. The tall woman’s shadow appears on my side of the door, opening it as she leans down slightly. "Oh, how rude of me, I forgot to mention my name" she states with a chuckle. I kept my head tilted towards the floor, my eyes glued on the scratches that formed on my knees while I was on the ground. Suddenly, she grabs my face, lifting my chin up harshly. "Always look at me when I'm talking to you" she says with a grit in her teeth. "Do you understand?" she questions. I ignore her remarks and stay silent, hoping she will take my silence as compliance. " I said, do you fucking understand?!" she growls as another slap hits my face for the night. This time, it stung.

"I understand," I murmured out tearfully.

A smile crawls onto her face as she lets go of my face, rubbing the fallen tear with her thumb. "As I was saying" she cleared her throat. "My name is Carmilla" I put on a weak smile, acknowledging her words. Carmilla moves back and nudges for me to get out of the car with an open arm, her smile still remains as she watches me step out. A crunch is heard as my foot hits the layer of snow beneath me, each step dragging as the others stand beside us. Carmilla points her arm out, signaling me to walk towards the home in front of me. I stare at the mansion in front of me as she follows behind me, my heart tightening with every step I take. It's beautiful, warm brick and long windows overlooking the woods, its architecture spawning out of the Victorian era, perhaps even Roman, statues crying snowflakes and icicles. I walk over to the staircase leading up to the door, an overwhelming blanket of dread warming me against the frozen air. The smell of burnt wood and coffee hit my nostrils, as the howl of wind tickles the back of my neck. I take a deep breath to prepare my mind for the night ahead and look back at Carmilla as she places her hand on her gun, warning me silently. I quickly turn back around and make my way to the tall double doors, death greeting me with warmth.

"Walk to the staircase going down" she asserts as the door closes behind us, making my shoulders jolt as the trap is sealed.

"I don't want to, please, I just want to go home" I plead in a whisper, knowing if I go down there, I'm never coming back up alive. Carmilla takes a few steps towards me, her breath warming my neck as the bulge of her gun presses against my lower back. 

“You don't get to choose, Jane," Carmilla murmurs into my ear. The warmth quickly fades away as chills seep in, her voice more dangerous than the bullets in her palm.

A painful screech of a woman is heard through the halls of the brick cellar, followed by a loud whack before silence echoes around us. I look back at carmilla with horror in my eyes, only to be met with nonchalance and stoicism. "please" I sob out, falling to my knees, my body desperate for a way out. A groan is heard as she looks down at me, frustration lingering behind the boredom.

"You are starting to get a little annoying" she complains as she grabs onto the back of my hair, her fingers wrapping around the muddy strands. "If you won't walk there, I'll drag you there myself" she threatens as I keep crying, unable to compose myself for a task so simple yet the most difficult thing to do. A swift moment passes as she waits for my decision but my knees are glued to the floor, inviting her to fulfill the threat.

"Ahh it hurts, please stop!" I beg but it's to no avail, her fist remained tight around my hair as she dragged me across the tile floor. My lower back and legs start to burn as it's being scraped, my hair on fire as my heart thrashes against my ribcage. "I hate you!" I shout out in between cries, making the latter laugh as she halts.

"Oh, you'll understand hate in about an hour" she cooed as she opens a door before tossing my body into the dark room, followed by Carmilla shutting the door behind her. I crouch down on the floor in pain as my hand travels to my scalp, carefully soothing the sting.

"Get up." she ordered flatly as she took her suit jacket off before rolling up her sleeves. I catch a glimpse of her as her back is turned to me as she switches the warm light on. Her ironed white shirt is tight around her shoulders, veins seeping through the skin on her arms. I hold my position, too weak to get up as she steps towards me.I shut my eyes as her shadow towers over me, blocking the somber light in the foreign room. All I hear is my heart pulsing in my temple down to my toes as silence takes over before a harsh kick lands on my side, causing me to open my eyes in an instant as I yelp. 

"AHH" I scream out in pain as I curl up into a ball to attempt to soothe the pain burning onto my bones. She chuckles behind me and taps me with her foot before landing another kick to my back, this time hitting right in my spine. 

"I'll keep going until you listen. It's up to you" she elucidated composedly, yet her voice echoed in the distance of my ears, fading from the shooting pain. Mustering up the strength, I slowly get up with a wince, wishing for the kicks to stop. Holding my side, I stand up to face her, only to see the room I'm in.

The room is covered in gray cement where shadows clung to the walls like whispers, with endless shelves everywhere, caging the terror shrieking to escape. A clump of chains are situated in the corner, followed by a row of saws hanging on top of it. A metal chair, right at the center of the room like a stage, awaiting an audience to watch the unfold. A dangling bulb lightening up the room to show all its horrors. My eyes dread as I look over to the table in the left corner that holds an array of knives, guns, and throwing knives before my attention shifts back to the devil standing in the room with me. "You like my room?" she questions, tucking a strand of hair behind my ear. "This is for pretty girls just like you" she whispers as she digs her finger into my chest. It finally dawned on me that I am not simply getting killed, I’m about to be tortured to death.

"I promise I will listen to you. I didn't mean to act like that, I was just scared" I plead in a broken voice, praying that somewhere behind the evil lies a little sympathy. 

"Oh, but it's too late now, my love” Carmilla gently explains as she walks towards the chains. "Sit down, you're my guest after all" she says with a mocking tone in her voice. I was never religious, but for the first time, I searched around me for a glimpse of God, hoping he would make a deal with the devil on my behalf. 

Fighting reflex, I slowly walk over to the chair as she brings over a few chains. She pushes my body down to sit after I stay still, unsure of what to do next. "I swear, I have to do everything around here," Carmilla complains with a sigh leaving her lips. A cold chain hits my skin as my arms get tied to the back of the chair, the metal cold awakening my nerves. I feel myself trembling in fear as unconsented tears roll down my eyes, waiting for my untimely demise.

Her cold hand is placed on the back of my neck as she grabs all my hair into her palm. I flinch, expecting a pull, but to my surprise, she tucks it into a hairband. "What? Did you think I was going to pull your hair?" Carmilla questions, almost surprised by my reaction. "I just don't want your hair to get all bloody," she explains softly with a smile. My stomach drops as I look up at her with fear in my eyes, disturbed by her need for kindness. "What? It's so pretty, I don't want it ruined" the latter says admiring my tear-stricken face. 

[nicosavior456]

Adventures of Chika Hanabusa: The Restoration of Earth

Disclaimer: This book follows the events of Percy Jackson and Heros of Olympus fanfic, this fanfic will not include Trails of Apollo, The Kane Chronicles, and Magnus Chase.

Chapter 20: Dinner with Rivals

Reyna PoV

I felt sweat coming down to my forehead as I finished doing 20 pushups.  I heard the door being opened and I grabbed my sword in case there was a monster attack. I ran to the door only to find Chika in her white and green cheer uniform walking and the girl behind her, wearing a purple and black cheer uniform. The girl looks to be about my height, with black hair that is smooth like silk, and brown eyes that look similar to a cow.

“Woah Reyna, chill it’s me.” Chika puts her hands up in the air as she surrenders.

“I’m glad it’s you Chika, Now I’m assuming that the girl next to you is your old friend Isabelle.” Chika did a small smile and held the girl, Isabelle, hand, and waved Isabelle's hand. Isabelle looks on to me with a stoic look like she's anticipating my response while Chika waves her hand.

“Yes, this is Isabelle Belmont, my childhood friend," Chika says in a loud, cheerful voice. Isabelle is still wearing a stoic expression, but I can see a little contempt in her eyes.

"Hello, and you must be Reyna, the perfect girl that Chika kept talking about while we walked back home." Isabelle scoffs bitterly. Ok, this girl is a bit odd; I might have to be careful around her.

"Nice to officially meet you, Isabelle, I'm glad that you and Chika work out your issues. Chika did miss your friendship." I help my hand in respect but Isabelle still shoots a fierce glare. It's like she tries to burn me with her stare. I moved my hand away and I went back to Chika's living room couch. Isabelle followed me to the couch and sat next to me. Chika went upstairs to her room, presuming to change into her sleepwear.

“So I heard that you are a demigod like us, except that you are Roman.”

“That is correct, Are you a demigod as well and who is your godly parent?” I asked her in a curious tone.

“Yes I'm a demigod and my godly parent is none of your concerns," Isabelle says in an icy tone and holds her hands together.

"Isabelle, do you think I'm your enemy?" Isabelle's expression becomes soft and she moves her body to cushion part of the couch.

“No, well not yet. Chika is fond of you for some reason, she kept going on and on about you during our walk back from school. Like you still showed up to her life in the past 3 months and suddenly you become her world.” Isabelle's says in a shaky voice .

"You think I stole from you. Look I'm not that type of person to control other people's interactions, but you did abandon her and made Chika think that you hate her." I say in an icy tone, I'm not going to let this Perra walk all over me.

“I know and it is inexcusable. It is a miracle that Chika didn’t abandon me and I will never forgive myself for making her cry. But this doesn't change the fact that you are a pretentious snob." OK, now she just making up stuff about me. She doesn't know anything about me at all, she just met me three minutes ago. I felt my body heat up, but I took a calming breath. She is not worth it, she's just another insecure teenage girl.

"You're immature and I don't have to take this from you," I said in a low voice, and I did the stare that I learned from Lupa. Usually, most demigods back off but Isabelle stares back at me with equal ferocity, I admit she is brave enough to not get intimidated. Chika walks into the living room with green pajama shorts and a white Disney t-shirt.

“I hope you guys are getting along. You two could become friends someday.” Chika probably didn’t read the room; look I don’t mind getting to know Isabelle. But so far, she has been rude and childish to me, and I will not have it.

“I can help you make dinner, Chika. This one might not be much help in the kitchen anyway.” Isabelle points to me and I just roll my eyes.

"Thanks, Isabelle that will be nice, though you should probably change your clothes real quick.”

“Don’t worry about it sweetheart, I just want to make sure everybody goes to bed in a full stomach.” Isabelle stroked her hair and did a small giggle.

"Thanks, Isabelle, your help will be nice. Your cooking is always good Isabelle, god I miss your mac and cheese.” Isabelle blushed and suddenly ran to Chika in a hug.

“Whatever you want, my darling.” Isabelle snuggles her head to Chika's shoulder and Chika just laughs and rubs Isabelle back.

“I can get the table ready and I can do dish duty.” I offer while Isabelle and Chika are busy hugging each other. Chika got out of the hug and ran to me.

“That will be awesome, you’re the best Reyna.” I pat Chika’s head and do a warm smile, while Isabelle looks annoyed and kind of angry as she glares at me. This girl probably wants to fight me in combat at this point and I will be ready.

Isabelle and Chika went to the kitchen, and I went to the dining room of the house. I saw the dining table was littered with paper, which I moved out of the table. I grab three plates, spoons, forks, and napkins. I waited for about 20 minutes and both Isabelle and Chika brought out a  dish. Chika brought out grilled chicken with potatoes while Isabelle brought out mac and cheese. They set them on the table and I sit while they serve me the food they bring out. I tried out Isabelle's mac and cheese and it was very good. I can't control myself while I stuff the food through my throat. Chika's grilled chicken and potatoes were so amazing, I assume she put some foreign spices because they don't taste like salt and pepper.

“Hey Chika, What spices did you use for the grilled chicken and potatoes? I'm very curious."

“Oh it's easy Reyna, I used this Japanese spice called the Shichimi and it contains seven ingredients: hemp seed, black sesame seed, coarsely ground red chili pepper, and many others."

“These spices go well with the chicken and potatoes. It’s a good thing I know you because you are arguably the best cook, I know.” Chika smiles hugely and giggles a bit.

“I’m so happy that you like the food that Isabelle and I made together. One time we joked that we could run a restaurant together.”

“I bet; New Rome could use both of your talents. Despite your early rudeness Isabelle, I still like your mac and cheese." Chika looks shocked while Isabelle rubs the back of her head nervously.

“What do you mean early rudeness? Isabelle, what did you do?” Chika asks in a low tone looking at Isabelle while Isabelle hides in her face in her hands.

“I was a bit cold and snappy with her, I thought she was one of those ‘not like other girls’. I was misguided and I’m sorry Reyna if I offended you. Sometimes I just get jealous of other people easily and I can be hurtful to others.” Isabelle apologized in a sincere tone and I think she generally met the apology. Well, at least she is honest and self-aware of her actions.

“I accept your apology Isabelle and I do want to be friends with you. Chika told me that you have been incredible to her and protected her. I want to meet that person that Chika has been fond of.”

"And you will" Isabelle got out of the seat and served me more of the mac and cheese, got me a cup of water, and even gave me a Hershey's chocolate bar.

“I wanted to give this to Chika, but I decided to give this to you. I’m not good with people.” I took the Herseys Bar and I held my hand out and Isabelle shook my hand. Chika hugged both of us and both Isabelle and Reyna hugged her together.

Suddenly a woman appeared out of nowhere while we were hugging. She was wearing a white ancient Greek dress and she shared Isabelle's eyes, hair, and even body structure except she carried herself more regally. Wait is that Lady Juno, all three of us quickly get out of the group hug, and bow to her.

"Lady Juno, Queen of Olympus, what brings you to this home?" Juno stepped closer to us and quickly grabbed Isabelle carrying her like an infant.

“I’m here to pick up Isabelle, Sweetheart you should have told me that you are going to your friend Chika’s house.” Lady Juno or Hera says in a warm motherly tone

"I'm sorry Mommy, I just got so caught off with reuniting with my friend." Lady Hera just kissed her forehead and stroked her hair.

“I can never get mad at you Isabelle, my innocent little peacock. It’s a good thing I share the skies with my husband or else I would have assumed you have been kidnap." Hera still holding Isabelle close to her.

“Am I in trouble?” Isabelle asked shyly.

“No, you are not Isabelle. Now then step forward Chika Hanabusa and Reyna Avila Ramírez-Arellano” Chika and I move towards Juno or Hera and we bow to the goddess.

“Swear upon the River Styx that you will not speak of this matter towards any living thing unless I command it.”

“We swear on the River Stayx that we don’t see you upon this house.” Chika and I say in unison and suddenly Isabelle and the Queen of Olympus are gone.

Chika and I looked at each other and Chika just shouted, "WHAT JUST HAPPEN?!!!"  and I moved my head left and right, "I don't know Chika" I answered all honestly.

[david-box]

Liveblog (but a day late ish) of Succession season 4 ep. 1

3:38 love how Shiv didn't kiss Kendall also is very clearly lying lol. Rome is so focuking rude it's hilarious. Wtf is their new venture are they trying to make a new media outlet??? And shiv is talking to Tom

They're already on to her lmao. Glad she's semi honest. Ajjajahw. "he's not a real junkie" ahhaha. Kendall is saying "don't bail on me I don't want to put effort into this and not have you reciprocating". Shiv really is into it.

Ohhh my god Logan is visually miserable. Hows it feel old man you motherfucker. He is not dating that woman still Jesus Christ. I mean good for her probably, damn, but what the fuck. What happened to the Italian princess Greg?? He's so clean shaven... Also "friend assistant and advisor" lol. Girl when. Her face is funny as hell also I love these actors. Is it "random fuck". Greg's face lol.

Shiv don't sound bored. Kendall is into it. Tom looking out for Shiv?? You alwars awkward awkward man. Paying with one hand. You're not being fair Shiv rn but I don't blame you also low blow with the st. Paul remark. Best response Tom. She's really freaking out damn. THEYRE STILL HERE AKHAHAHHA. Rome the only chill one here hahahhaa. The investor advisors walked off in separate directions. Aaannnnd Greg's gf snitched lol. They're paranoid. They have every reason to be. Oh those are their investors.

Connor is dressed like a president and the gf is insiding. Connor how broke are you, you're always worried about money. Who was Logan's first wife? Why is the Left going after them? Are they buying Pierce? Also the audacity to call them rats... And the side piece is literally just standing there. Logan doesn't know what Tom looks like when he lies. His awkwardness helps though imagine asking your FIL for marriage AND business advice. Logan looks so annoyed Toms ass sucking but I honestly think it helps and as much as Logan is annoyed that's exactly where he wants him to be. Tom killing Logan 2023 hashtag or whatever. Who hosts a party and waits for food??? They fucking rich people.

Two parties vying for Pierce is going to make the Gojo buyout easier because the Waystair side won't bother squeezing Connor out. Unless they just try harder and he has to pay more to stay lol. Roman the most mature one here. Kendall is being stupid. Who was walking in the background also they're just sitting there huh those Saudis or whoever lolll. They do kinda have a point tho.

Tom doesn't even wait to cut Greg down a 6 inch. And she's fucking recording??? Greg is too excited for their marriage thing. Greg is delusional. I wouldn't switch gears personally but I'd be anxious telling the other guys to keep waiting if they're even still there.

Logan has the world and isn't even happy. Right in front of her "hoop de hoop". Nan's family is a matriarchal version of Logan and Shiv is correct he has no patience but Nan's gonna be busy ain't he. Nan is funny also. I love the way Shiv dresses casually ahahha good lines. Kendall might honestly be better to go but Nan's picky and pickier than what's good. Oh fuck off Kendall its about Dad. And Rome is scared of conflict and I don't blame him also it would be funny if they can do it.

Why is he going you're my pal. You're mybest pal. What the fuck does this mean. This poor man. People are exonomic units??? Bro. Is he really thinking about marriage??? Bro. Gee I wonder why

People turn against you everywhere you go. He's getting old and finally feeling it. Only person he trusts isn't even family and business only.

Ahhahahhahhaha I didn't think Roman would repeattt thatttt ahahha. She looks so hurt :-(. That means he didn't ask. You can pop it back in your mouth now lolll. Who they calling. Oh Logan? Pierce is making calls huh I bet.

Connor is so excited for the wedding and it's gonna be bad if he pushes for more money or if he pushes for less I bet. I love this man. Get a rapper and jetpacks. Dude. Bumfuts. Oh it's about the election cycle. Poor Willa. She's trying. She'll do a lot for him huh.

Greg has the worst timing and Tom low-key thinks it's funny. Greg. No. She's crunchy peanut butter. Dude. The guest bedroo?? Dude. And he's really worried ahahaha. I think he's more amused Greg is scared and is mayyybbee fucking fucking with him. He's making him tell him this is so gross hahahaha.

Is this fucking Marthas vineyard? Italian themed Waystair rocyo? Do they realize Logan can just wait on the sale so they won't be able to buy her out? The sex implications with the headache is great. I think she's going to use it as leverage. Oh butter my beanpole ahahha. Tom saving his ass and isn't even needing to lie, everyone DOES know. He's got some fucked up machinations. Greg is worse off saying something than not. He hasn't eaten. He gave him candy. And he's just holding it. Ahahhaha. Shhshhahha the thumbs up. Lmao. Poor Greg. Poor poor Greg. Think of something better. I would not be honest. He really doesn't think about things critically, like, ever.

Who's the garbder? They're showing more servants today.

Logan smiled? What the fuck?? Tom is so right but he also clearly thinks its both funny and disgusting. Greg don't push it. Greg. Dude. Ahahah. God be willing. Nan thinks smiles and warm energy is important and is complaining about spending money. Interesting. Roy might be better for that than the kids. She's ruthless. Shiv is better for this than anyone else. Oh, but it's not wrapped up. It's fine :-)) come drink with me :-)). Don't curse. Kendall. Dude. She wants to drink? Take the offer to drink... Kendall it is not robust. What happened to Maine? I'm getting a divorce ahahhahaa okay damn. Kendall if you're gonna call her on the numbers don't be shitty. That was clever Roman.

Nobody tells jokes any idea so they. I'm saying Carl, it's a big dry in here. Do you have any jokes? Frank, start, be funny, abhahahahahahahahahahaa roast me dhshshhshshshs skanshshshs absghshshshhsjsjsjsjsjsjsh he can't even do it. That's not funny. Greg is too honest. Ahahhahaa "where are your kids?" AhahhahahhahahhahahahahahhahahahhahahahhahahahahhahahahhahahahahhaahhHahaha. Not a good retort there Logan sorry. So it is the money. Logan's mood is much better when he has something to do. He's going to win. But that's cus I got spoiled.

Roman is correct. 8 is bad. Oh ton don't pussy foot. "This is dusgusting :-)" lol. call your wife. Nan likes the bidding and they can't do 8.5. Tom hiding his face. They do not have 9.5. they go to 10 they lose. 10 is a lot. They don't have 10. And he's being loud. He's outvoted. Ouch. Shiv is so happy. She's gonna cry. Tom said 12 she fucked herself.

Congratulations on saying the biggest number. Romans not sure and they left. That's when the Gojo falls through innit? Lol. Or the lack of a divorce. They still living in the same house? Cute dog. Swear it's different from last year, lol. They don't even look at the accounts anymore. Oh, they still here. Tom still kinda trying to connect, he really does love her. Who wouldn't? Where's the disgusting brothers thing and Shiv is really trying to hurt him and she's hurt from it. And he's right to fire right tf back. Is Mondale even let out at night? Shiv is really, really upset. She doesn't want to move on but now she has an excuse to force herself so this is when the deal gets fucked and now she's divorced for no reason. Shiv doesn't wanna talk because she arguably did worse. No responsibility. Tom won't fight her and a small part of her wishes he did. Tom what the fuck ahahhahaa. Dude. What the fuck. He's genuine . He isn't but he is. I think Shiv would be happy just having him be there. They're so sweet together. My little cats. They do love eachother :-(. If only they could make it work.

Is Logan watching court dv? Or his own news? He's mad the reporters ugly. Wild. They actually won. Oh, new number.

[sheraphic]

hi, i loved your instagram post. Could you make one with Romane? Her instagram is romaneinnc. Also, could you do it as ex lovers? I really love how you write ♡♡

𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐲'𝐬 𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩 𝐢𝐬 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ ◦ ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

author's note; hi there anon, sorry for the waiting but here it is your request, hope you like it. Feel free to tell me who you want next, just leave the name or the context you want it to have.

warnings; there can be a few mistakes.

◤ REQUESTS ARE OPEN ◥

It would be wonderful If you reblog it, that help me a lot, it inspire me for write more.

// masterlist //

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ ◦ ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Liked by kendalljenner, yourinstagram, annetwist and 5,237,092 others

harrystyles Soon.

View all 40,783 comments

harrydailyupdates we can't wait!!

kendalljenner love that t-shirt

↪harryfan533 hendall is back everyone!

↪harryfan689 kendall is thousands times better than y/n

↪ynfan745 @harryfan689 yeah, because kendall is an expert on stealing others people boyfriends

lizzobeeating FUCK YESSS

↪harryfan702 we need a collaboration between you two!

↪hizzofan632 @harryfan702 PRAYING FOR IT

ynfan729 all i can say is that the album should be called y/n

↪harryfan673 shut up

harryfan806 what i can expect from one of her lame fans?

↪harryfan743 darling, please leave

↪harry_y/n.styles you all hate reading this comment because you now it's the truth

harryfan600 no one is going to talk about y/n liking this?

↪ynfan734 i'm in a break down right now

↪harryfan095 she can't leave him alone

Liked by zendaya, selenagomez, tomholland and 4,899,922 others

yourinstagram away from everything

View all 38,734 comments

harrystyles and everyone

↪yourbffinstagram no, just you

↪ynfan674 omg say it LOUDER

↪ynfan755 be my bff

↪harryfan706 she doesn't deserve you h!

↪ynfan732 how dare he?

↪ynfan609 and now the harries are going feral

↪harryfan493 @ynfan609 we don't waste time in something that clearly is a pr

yndailyupdates away for toxic people

↪yourinstagram period

zendaya not from me

↪yourinstagram not even in dreams

harryfan741 ok, you're funny

↪ynfan932 no, you are

↪ynfan734 we don't need your toxic obsession for him in here so leave her alone

↪harryfan741 @ynfan734 they broke up, silly

↪ynfan972 @harryfan741 thank god because who wants to be in a relationship where his toxic fans will destroy you just for be next to him

arianagrande she's my girlfriend, sorry for you all

↪ynfan427 when is the wedding?

↪ynfan632 i'm crying but it's happiness

↪harryfan881 watch out, she's gonna use your fame

↪ynfan182 @harryfan881 what about if you focus on your damn life just for once?

Liked by lizzobeeating, kendaljenner, alexachung and 7,663,522 others

harrystyles WATERMELON SUGAR VIDEO OUT NOW.

View all 42,533 comments

harryupdates song of the decade

harryfan787 is it true that this video were film before their broke up and y/n is one of those girls?

↪ynfan730 no, they broke up before

↪harryfan410 i heard that too, apparently y/n is in the scene where all of them are dancing

↪ynfan607 @harryfan410 that's no y/n

harryfan472 oh, to be in a beach with harry

↪harryfan996 the dream

↪harryfan046 that's all i want before die

↪harryfan630 can you imagine? He just being there, looking perfect and crazy hot

alexachung pose for me

↪harryfan735 i really love their friendship

↪harryfan518 alexa should have warned him about y/n

↪ynfan821 why all of u treat her like the bad guy? You don't know what happened besides what magazines tells you

↪alexachung @ynfan821 indeed

↪harryfan518 @alexachung wait... What?!

harryfan611 i know what i want to study; to be that watermelon slice that harry ate

↪harryfan881 goals in life

↪harryfan264 he really ate a lot of watermelon that day

↪harryfan611 @harryfan264 ikr

ynfan643 this is just... Wow

↪harryfan453 hey, don't be rude. We don't know the exact reason why they broke up, so don't blame him

↪ynfan453 @harryfan453 i wasn't being rude. But you're right, we don't know and yet a lot of you blame her

kendalljenner love

↪harryfan983 just confirm you both are together so i can be happy

↪harryfan374 they can be a power couple

ynfan267 did he just sang about...?

↪harryupdates yep ;)

Liked by harrystyles, lanadelrey, badgalriri and 6,733,409 others

yourinstagram i'm my own soul mate

View all 50,343 comments

loganlerman no one deserve you, just you

↪yourinstagram love you

↪ynfan631 are you guys together?

↪harryfan634 @ynfan057 he has a gf

kingprincess69 woman, what are your plans for tonight?

↪ynfan630 omg omg oMG

↪harryfan371 if this happend they're gonna be the wildest power couple

↪ynfan922 @harryfan371 and she's gonna be on tour with harry... Oh

annetwist beautiful as always darling

↪yourinstagram ♡

↪ynfan835 i really love that anne keeps in contact with her

↪harryfan642 @ynfan835 well her son dated y/n, she didn't

↪harryfan478 @harryfan642 but anne could have stop having interest in her in the moment they broke up, but she didn't

helenepambrun next time i can be your phone

↪harryfan661 omg do you have any photos of them together?

↪harryfan720 @harryfan661 if so, we never gonna see them

↪ynfan123 @harryfan720 that made me sad

harryfan855 you're just a leech

↪yourbffinstagram you better get out of here before i report you stupid account

↪harryfan936 @yourbffinstagram you're the BOSS

↪harryfan649 @harryfan855 just chill out no one is fighting about this anymore

↪ynfan330 @harryfan649 she's living in the past

harry_yn.styles harry what r u doing here sweetie?

↪ynfan289 all I can say is Harry liking her photos is cute

↪harryfan187 @ynfan289 yeah you can say that

↪harryfan720 @ynfan289 they can still be friends even after broke up so yeah is cute

[delimeful]

the shapes in the silence (12)

warnings: dissociation, fighting, mild blood & injury, panic, another hopefully less bad cliffhanger

-

Puff woke up to a gentle hand down his back ridges, his hoard chattering above him, and an odd, high pitched note on the edge of his hearing.

His ears twitched in agitation at the noise, but his hoard took priority, so he took a moment to stretch before finally tuning into the conversation.

The three of them were arguing about another one of their screen viewings, trying to decide which one of their little stories to play. Each of them seemed to treasure very specific titles with passionate reverence, but for Puff couldn’t tell the difference between most of them. The screen was always too bright for his eyes to focus on for long, and the sounds often too loud.

As such, when the decision was left up to him, he simply stared at them blankly for a moment before settling back into a curled up shape to continue dozing.

There was a pause in the chatter (making the strange noise seem all the louder) and then they continued speaking in much more muted tones, indicating discomfort and uncertainty. Puff felt a twinge of discontent run through him and sighed grumpily.

This was the problem with a human-shaped hoard. They were so difficult to maintain.

Not that Puff would trade his hoard for all the shining things in the world. Each of them on their own were more valuable than any number of treasures combined. Every dragon probably felt that way about their hoard, but in his case it was true.

He let his eyes slit open, peering at the nearest of his collection.

Roman, who carried the smell of pigments and an appreciation for the finer things himself, was like a golden gauntlet. Ornate but handcrafted, painstaking care in every detail, and dripping with rubies.

Logan, who needed his hands occupied just as well as his mind, was like an illuminated manuscript. Pages draped in silver leaf edging, needing such a delicate touch to keep the ink from wearing away.

Patton, who watched them all with keen eyes and a warm gaze, was like a polished wooden music box. Inside, rose-colored clockwork met precisely placed metal prongs, together producing the notes to a nostalgic tune.

They were so precious, all of them, but never more than when they were shining their brightest with joy and contentment.

Puff was having a hard time making them happy, lately. Without Not-Puff, it was much harder to figure out which actions would keep his hoard from becoming dull with misery. His tail thrashed irritably as he once again felt the absence in himself.

Despite his constant presence as a part of their shared being, Not-Puff was assuredly not part of the hoard. He was like a rusty, chipped butterfly knife. All double edges and caked dirt from lack of care. Barely even worth looking at.

Still, Not-Puff was better at understanding which choices would make the hoard happy, which meant he was useful to have around. Puff mentally prodded at the barrier aiding in keeping the other half of him tucked quietly away, but there was no response. As the days passed, he’d only stirred when one of the hoard did something dangerous-stupid that went against all of their shared protective instincts, and even then, only barely.

It made Puff think that he didn’t plan on coming back.

It wasn’t like Not-Puff was a dragon, so maybe he simply didn’t care as much about the hoard. And even if he was gone for good, what did Puff care? That just meant more room for him in the empty, echoing space of their mind.

… Whatever.

Puff rolled over and got to his feet, stretching his wings out until they threatened to cramp. How irritating, thoughts like this keeping him up when all he wanted to do was take a nap.

If he couldn’t sleep, he might as well investigate the source of the noise.

He leapt easily to the floor, his hoard having already picked a glow story to watch in subdued silence. Patton called out a parting caution, and then Puff was off, trotting over to the stairs.

He passed Not-Puff’s room with barely a glance down the darkened hall. It was empty, obviously, though most of his hoard didn’t seem to realize. Logan and Patton often stood at the threshold, knocking and trying to coax Not-Puff out with sweet foods or concerned words, and while Roman generally avoided it, Puff had caught him staring more than once.

No matter what they tried or didn’t try, it remained locked up, silent and dark inside. Just like its former resident.

Puff could still get in, though he refrained from using the small flap-like door when others were watching. It wouldn’t do to make his hoard feel excluded, after all.

His dagger, the obsidian one with the gilded edges and honeyed words, could get inside, too.

His dagger-- Puff couldn’t quite recall the false name he used-- spent a lot of his time locked in that room, which was a bit foolish of him. It couldn’t be pleasant. Even Puff could feel the stagnant, fearful aura that lingered there, and dragons weren’t known for being affected by such things.

Not-Puff had complex, many-edged feelings towards their dagger, but it didn’t really matter, because Not-Puff had complex feelings about all of the hoard. He was a strange one like that.

In any case, it didn’t stop Puff from occasionally tromping off to go curl up in his dagger’s lap, letting the silly creature talk at him. He always talked when Puff came to bask with him, trying to coax Not-Puff out with lies and threats and even apologies that made his voice crack.

None of it ever worked.

He wasn’t in Not-Puff’s room now, though. Puff felt around curiously, and found his dagger was out in the real world, playing pretend.

He did that more and more often these days, dressing up to masquerade as Not-Puff for their Thomas. It was a strange practice. Puff much preferred his dagger as himself, all shining scales and black velvet.

Thomas was the crown of their little hoard, of course. It only made sense.

The odd tone grew in intensity, and Puff shook off his distractions, ears flattening against his skull. He could curl up with his hoard later, once this irritating buzzing was-- as Roman would say-- vanquished.

He passed the doors in the hall one after another, listening carefully at each one. After such a thorough inspection, the answer became clear.

Puff studied the portal-like entrance to the imagination, head tilting back and forth as he listened carefully to the noise. Not-Puff’s fear of this realm had kept Puff from wandering into it alone up until now, but the painful buzzing was definitely coming from it.

It was Not-Puff’s own fault for not being around to stop him, he decided, and stepped through.

-

As Puff trotted down cobblestone paths and dirt roads after the sound, it only seemed to grow more and more intense, enough so that he had to stop a few times to shake his head agitatedly, trying to get rid of the ringing headache.

At least those irritating shadow projections Not-Puff spawned weren’t present. The woven thread around his neck seemed to do well enough preventing them, which was good, because Puff wasn’t in the mood to go scampering around avoiding the trifling things. Not when there were noises to attend to.

“So it worked, after all.”

The strange, lilting voice made him spin around, wings flaring defensively.

Up in the twisting boughs of an old oak, the stranger cocked their head, bird-like. “I wasn’t sure it would,” they continued. “You’re a strange one, aren’t you?”

They tossed a hollow stone in their hand, the strange noise emanating from it. The scales along their cloak rattled with every movement, and Puff’s hackles rose in response. He remembered them. The Witch that tried to turn him against his own hoard.

“Now, don’t be rude. I’ve skinned beasts much larger than you with barely a snap of the fingers, you know.” They slid down to the ground, and Puff skittered back a few steps. “Halt.”

The compulsion took root firmly in him, keeping his feet glued to the ground. He hissed viciously, furious that their magic had such a hold on him. They sauntered closer and dropped to a squat.

“So my thrall does affect you… perhaps before was a one-off? I suppose it’s still interesting enough that you somehow keep your mind.” The eyes of their mask were dark and hollow, sending a chill down Puff’s spine even as he continued to growl viciously. “Quiet, now. Keep your mouth shut.”

His teeth clacked together painfully as his mouth snapped shut, leaving an impotent glare as his only form of defense.

“Perfect,” they said, and plucked him up from the ground, calming his struggles with another pulse of magic and a hand down his spine. “His Royal Irritation has been rearing for fight after fight lately, so it’ll be nice to finally have some leverage on my side.”

A chill spread through him.

“How long do you think it will take for him to find you?” they mused, tone light and mocking as they continued to run their hand along his spine possessively. “Days? Weeks? I certainly hope I’ll have enough time to prepare for company.”

Puff felt as though the metal cuff around his leg had grown suddenly heavy. He had a sinking feeling that it wouldn't take them nearly as long as he might hope, not when his hoard had grown so used to having him constantly nearby. Not when there was a tracker to lead them right into the Witch’s trap.

“Don’t fret, little dragon,” they crooned, tapping a finger between his eyes. “Sleep. I’ll wake you for the fun.”

Unable to do anything else, he obeyed.

-

When he woke, it was on the floor of an ornate birdcage, with magic thick in the air.

He uncurled, limbs weak, and pushed himself up to see that not one, but three of his hoard were before him, standing there in the grand hall of an ancient castle, facing off with the Witch.

The sight sent a thrum of alarm through him. The three of them didn’t enter the Imagination together often, and the effects of their combined presence made the place feel more real, more lasting.

Seeing the way they were back to back, surrounded by vicious constructed monsters, that wasn’t a good thing. That was a very, very bad thing indeed.

Even from his position next to the Witch’s throne, he could make out the cut on Roman’s forehead that continued to drip blood into his eyes, the way Logan leaned his weight heavily on one foot as though injured, the exhausted shaking of Patton’s frame as he tossed away a monster at Roman’s back.

More than that, he could feel the strain of his mental connection to his hoard, the urge to keep them from harm nearly all-consuming. They were his, and he would not stand idly by while they suffered.

For the first time in weeks, there was a stirring inside of Puff, like a billowing of air on banked coals. A white-hot glow, expanding with nowhere to go.

A gloved hand flicked the bars of the cage, bringing all his furious attention to the Witch. Their invisible gaze rested intently on him, making his scales prickle.

“Enjoying the show, small one?”

If looks could kill, this battle would be long over. The Witch laughed lowly at him.

“You look at me so fiercely, but this wouldn’t have been possible without you, you know?” They turned their gaze back to the battle with a darkly satisfied tint to their voice. “All three of them, right here in the palm of my hand for the sake of such a tiny, helpless creature. I’d almost think there’s something genuinely special about you. Too bad you probably won’t survive the heartbreak when I kill them.”

The snarl Puff let out seemed too small, too weak to even begin to express the amount of vitriol inside of him. The Witch didn’t even glance at him before rising to their feet to join the battle themself. His body trembled oddly.

He was afraid, he realized with a startle. He was more afraid than he’d ever been before.

That internal stir rose up again at the emotion, but it still felt as though a wall of thick mental fog separated Puff from it, like reaching through a haze. Bracing himself, he pushed past it anyways, dizzy with the effort.

For the first time since they’d been separated, Not-Puff was reaching back. Puff hesitated for the barest of moments.

If they did this. There would be consequences.

If they didn’t do this…

Nothing could be worse than losing them, one of them answered, and the other agreed. Which one was which didn’t really matter, in the end.

He took the anger and the fear that bubbled up inside of him and let them grow, welling up into one singular drive to protect. And, as the empty space around him seemed to vanish, he realized that he was growing, too.

The bracelet was the first thing to go, the connecting thread snapping at the pressure of his changing form. The tracer cuff followed easily, metal crumpling, and then the bars of the birdcage bent until they snapped, and then he was free of every restraint at last.

Virgil half-expected to come back to a human shape at that very moment, but Puff was still more than present in their mind, and as much as he loved their humans, there was clearly a superior option to better keep them all safe.

He flickered up like the flame tongues of a rising bonfire, or a bolt of energy connecting the earth and heavens, until he was big enough that his wings spread and met the adjacent walls of the throne chamber.

Every eye in the room was upon him, and when he growled, it was like the rolling crashes of a thunderstorm. Some of the monsters cowered away from that alone, turning tail and fleeing.

The Witch looked up at him and cackled, exuberant where they should be terrified.

“I knew there was something there, something different! You may have changed shape, little dragon, but my thrall isn’t so weak as to be influenced by size. You’ve only made your hoard’s end that much easier for me!”

Virgil could see the three of them behind the Witch, crowded together and staring up at him with equal parts apprehension and hope. His hoard wouldn’t be hurt a single moment longer. Not by the Dragon Witch, and certainly not by him.

The Witch lifted their arm and snapped their finger at him.

“Stop all that noise, little dragon,” they commanded, and the compulsive magic washed over him and rolled right off.

Slowly, deliberately, he took a step forward, and his growl rose in volume, echoing off the vaulted ceiling.

There was a heady feeling of satisfaction at the way the Witch stumbled back, the mask barely hiding their shock. “I said stop, right now.”

The magic passed, easier and easier to ignore. The Witch would never control this body again, no matter what form it took.

With a howl of wordless anger, they vanished from sight, and all the monsters that remained turned to him with aggression writ in every line of their bodies. An unfamiliar sensation welled up in his chest, waiting to be released.

Might as well see what this familiar-unfamiliar form could manage.

Working off Puff’s instincts, Virgil opened his mouth and let something click in the back of his throat before exhaling what looked like thick, rolling smoke. It filled the air, clumping together dense and heavy, and Virgil blinked, recognizing the form of it.

Huh. Storm clouds.

In the next moment, lightning sparked, shooting down and lancing straight through every attacking creature. Virgil darted a few steps closer, somewhat alarmed that friendly fire might hit the others, but even as they hunched down in surprise, any electricity that neared them seemed to simply veer away.

Of course it did, the more draconic part of him crowed smugly. No magic of his would hurt his hoard.

He went to his humans anyhow, moving slow so as to not startle them. He was the oversized one, now.

He needn’t have worried. As soon as he lowered his head into range, Patton lunged forward, wrapping his snout in the best hug he could manage. He was clearly sniffing back tears. “Oh, kiddo, we were so worried!”

Roman was attempting to casually lean on his sword, but there was clear relief in his gaze, too. “We should have known better than to believe the Dragon Witch would get the better of you, huh, Puff?”

Virgil huffed a cloud of colorless vapor into Roman’s face. Affectionately.

“We should celebrate our reunion later, once we’re safely out of here,” Logan pointed out over Roman’s faux-indignant complaints.

Despite his own words, Logan took a moment to reach out, gently placing a hand on the side of Virgil’s head as though to reassure himself that he was real. Virgil leaned into the touch slightly, an odd pleased chur bubbling up from his chest.

As his eyes slitted nearly shut in happiness, he caught movement from the corner of his vision.

The Witch, holding one hand aloft and casting something that made his skin prickle, aiming not at him, but at the other Sides.

Quicker than he could think, his body was moving, curling around his precious people with only a second to brace himself before the attack struck him solidly in the back.

It seemed a simple strike at first, barely breaking skin, and he regained his footing as the others rose to his defense with a ferocity that made his chest feel strangely pressurized. Between the three of them, the Witch was more than outmatched, and they were finally forced to flee.

It was only then that Virgil noticed the feeling of rot and fever spreading along his skin.

He stumbled, and then lay down heavily as his energy dipped well below what was sustainable. The others fluttered around him like moths, trying to figure out what was wrong.

Virgil let out a sigh, almost too exhausted to be panicked. He’d really thought for a moment that he’d pull it off, that he could deal with the backlash of the huge, energy-draining form on his own in private and maintain this fragile balance. So much for that.

On his next exhale, there was a flash-crack as the transformation came crashing back down on him, leaving him snapped back into the form he’d abandoned. Anxiety.

Around him, there was a stunned silence to replace the earlier clamor. He forced himself to blink his eyes open, resisting the urge to squint and see them more clearly. He didn’t really want to see what kinds of expressions they were wearing.

Whatever the Witch had cursed him with was still active, burning him up from the inside-out like the awful fever Thomas had gotten when he was ten. If the others weren’t going to take the opportunity to discorporate him, the poisoned injury would manage just fine on its own. And he’d just gotten back, too.

At least the others weren’t in danger anymore. Hopefully, Thomas would be okay until he reformed.

… Who was he kidding? Thomas had managed fine all these days with him gone. He would probably be better off without Anxiety, just like everyone had always said.

Still, he was leaving the others without being punished for the deception he’d been subjecting them all to for so long. He was leaving them without any real answers at all.

“Sorry,” he managed to grit out, barely able to think past the blood rushing in his ears. It seemed to break the fragile silence, because the others all began speaking at once, creating an indecipherable tangle of noise.

Soundlessly, Virgil passed out.

[daring-elm]

cat and prinxiety

Roman wasn't a cat person.

If he was fully honest, they freaked him out a little. Just sat and stared from far away and when he cautiously got closer, they ran off. They hissed and clawed at him for no reason and were so freakishly quiet that Roman never saw them coming and besides, they made his nose itch.

But him not being a cat person didn't mean he couldn't date one. Virgil almost seemed part cat too, really—he wasn't exactly talkative, shied away from affection and left remarks with a bite that Roman found obnoxious until he fell head over heels for them. Winning Virgil over had taken patience and more chill than Roman liked to exercise, but it was worth it—every second Roman spent in Virgil's arms paid back the months of pining tenfold.

And Roman had convinced Virgil; how much harder could his cat be?

—

Virgil took Roman's jacket, flipping the hallway light switch. Curiously, Roman glanced around, his eyes catching on a pile of letters and postcards that Virgil quickly stood in front of, on a beaten-up plastic cat carrier that sat in the corner like a war relic, on—finally—the massive gray and black wad of fur on the couch that was glaring at him through glowing yellow eyes.

Roman took a step back.

He wasn't scared—he was very appropriately cautious about the murderous backpack-sized dust hare that his boyfriend was now lifting off its perch. The cat sat calmly in Virgil's arms, its tail slowly swinging, unblinking, unmoving, as Virgil pressed a gentle kiss to its head. Roman looked it in the eyes and wondered if cats could smell fear.

"Salem," Virgil said in the softest voice Roman had ever heard leaving his mouth, "say hello to Roman."

Still staring daggers at Roman, Salem slowly blinked. Roman gave the cat, then Virgil, a tense smile. Virgil raised an eyebrow at him.

Roman stepped closer, his eyes fixed on the cat, slowly stretching out his hand, letting it sniff his finger first. Salem ignored Roman's peace offering, still sat still as a fuzzy gargoyle. Hesitantly, Roman brushed over his head—Salem pulled away and Roman jerked back as if he had been struck by lightning.

Virgil snorted, then burst out laughing—Salem yowled at him and he let the cat fall to the ground (it landed on its feet, gave Roman a venomous glare and sped off into the kitchen). "Sorry—" He shook his head, miserably failing to suppress laughter as Roman glared at him. "I just, I thought you didn't want to come over because you hated me or something—you could have told me you're scared of Salem!"

"You're rude," Roman complained. His cheeks were burning—he made a point of ignoring Virgil's amused glance.

"Mm." Virgil offered him a hand. Their fingers interlaced, and he gave Roman's hand a small squeeze. "I'll help you win him over; Salem can be kinda grumpy but he'll come around." He kissed Roman's temple. "Don't worry."

"Rich coming from you," Roman teased, stealing a kiss back from Virgil's lips. He sighed. "Fine, I'll give the little demon a chance. Only because I love you so much."

"Thanks." Virgil gave Roman a shy smile, as if he couldn't help himself. "Love you too."

—

"Virgil?" Roman called from the living room, his voice shaky and pitched. Virgil set his bowl aside, rushing out of the kitchen to find his boyfriend frozen with nerves, his hands hovering over Salem as he climbed onto Roman's lap.

Virgil grinned. "You good?" Roman made a frantic, wide-eyed gesture, and Virgil laughed. "He likes you!"

Salem curled into a cat donut on Roman's legs, softly kneading his thigh. Hesitantly, Roman brushed a finger over his head, then pulled his hand away. He glanced back at Virgil.

"Scratch behind his ears." Roman did, and Salem purred, leaning into his hand. Virgil chuckled as Roman continued carefully, as if the cat would shatter under his fingertips if he was too harsh. He gave Virgil an anxious look.

Virgil kissed his forehead. "You're doing great."

Roman grinned. "Aren't I always?" Salem dug a claw into his leg and he yelped.

Virgil snorted, petting Salem's head. "Of course you are."

With another kiss, Virgil left to continue making popcorn—but he had no doubt Roman and Salem would be fine. After all, he knew they would come around.

[multimetaverse]

HSMTMTS 2x08 Review

Most Likely To was the best ep of S2 so far and ended one ship while launching another. Let’s dig in!

Gaston was super fun, a very nice showcase for both Larry and Matt. This is the kind of energy that early S2 was lacking. Also feels like the first ep where East High might actually have a shot at beating North High. Covid restrictions played a role but we really needed to see more rehearsal scenes and scenes of the wildcats just being theatre kids. This also may be one of the last times we see EJ perform as a student in the musical so I’m glad we got this.  

EJ has been criminally underused for most of S2, he’s marketed as part of the big 4 along with Nini, Ricky, and Gina and Matt Cornett’s name is listed 3rd in the credits but in the early eps of S2 you’d think he was guest star. Lately he’s started to become more important and tonight was an excellent showcase of why he’s such an interesting character. I’m not gonna check but this feels like it’s the most EJ screen time in a single ep that we’ve gotten all season long. 

Of course, the main reason for EJ’s increased screen time is because of Portwell. I’ve been neutral on them but tonight they really won me over’ their scenes were so sweet that they warmed even my cold black heart. Matt and Sofia are good friends irl and that shines through in their easy rapport and great chemistry. Gina snorting at EJ’s joke was cute and I loved the shot of Gina accidentally walking into the shot for EJ’s confessional. As an aside, they’ve been doing some fun stuff with the confessionals lately which helps add a bit of the metaness that helped make S1 so great.

The real big Portwell scene tonight was EJ and Gina talking on the couch at Ashlyn’s. Lot’s to love there. Gina’s speech to EJ about what she sees when she thinks of him was sweet and her saying that EJ tried to do the right thing and often failed but kept trying echoes what she said of herself during her confession to Ricky. Also when EJ asked Gina if she understood the feeling of having her life mapped out she replied, ‘’not really’’ which is almost certainly the inspiration for Gina asking a question to EJ and him responding ‘’not really’’ in their pre S2 face time call on the hsmtmts instagram. 

EJ is still wracked with guilt for the guy he used to be but Gina reminds him that he’s grown and is a good guy which leads to her slip up about her seeing him that way vs the rest of the gang hinting that she’s beginning to catch feelings for EJ. Which leads to EJ complimenting her and them having a moment that could well have led to a kiss if Ashlyn hadn’t come home. And they cap it off with Gina falling asleep and EJ covering her with his Duke sweater. 

It’s been nice not seeing Gina upset over Ricky these past two eps and it’s a damning indictment of the poor writing and pacing of S2 that her story in the first 6 eps can be summed up as Gina being upset over something Ricky said or did. Not only has Portwell allowed EJ to rise in prominence but also it’s allowed Gina to escape the rut her character was stuck in pining for Ricky. 

I hope after S2 is over that we get an interview where Tim explains how the Portwell plot came to be. The S1 finale set up some possible interest between them as did the pre S2 face time call but nothing came of it during the first 4 eps, they stood next to each other a lot but barely interacted otherwise. Notably in 2x01, which Tim himself wrote, EJ tries to grow a beard and tells Ashlyn that he says her as so young which is extremely jarring now that we know that EJ is crushing on Gina who is Ashlyn’s age. 

Was Tim not set on doing Portwell until he realized he needed to give Gina something else to do other than hopelessly pine for Ricky? Narratively, it made sense after Rini got together in S1 to put the other two Big 4 characters together in S2 but did Tim not want it to seem so obvious to the audience so he deliberately kept Portwell apart until 2x05 where EJ’s feelings make for a nice plot twist? Was he just reluctant to plug EJ back into the love square due to how much more complicated it would make things but later felt he had no other options? Or was it just plain old bad pacing and writing?

Of course, I wish that there wasn’t such a large age gap between Sofia and Matt but there are no Gina ships that avoid that problem, there’s also an age gap between Sofia and Joshua, just as there was between Olivia and Joshua and Matt in S1. Depending on when they film S3 there’s a good chance that most of it will be finished before Sofia even turns 18 which is deeply unfortunate. There’s a broader issue of teen girls being cast in mostly age appropriate roles while their male love interests are older adults and in particular it often affects female characters of colour. Netflix has a really bad track record with those kind of age gaps but Disney has problems too as we’ve seen on HSMTMTS and on GMW where by the end of S3 they had 18 year old Peyton Meyer as the boyfriend of 14 year old Rowan Blanchard’s character (not to mention canon Joshaya which didn’t have such a bad age gap between the actors but was problematic regarding the ages of the characters themselves).

A knock I’ve seen on Portwell is that EJ is just gonna leave for university next year but that was never gonna happen, Matt’s under the same 4 season contract as all the other mains and he’ll be sticking around in some capacity much like Sharpay ended up doing in the movies. It is true that EJ will probably have to move on at the end of S4 while Gina still has her senior year left but that will also happen with her and Ricky since he’ll be graduating at the end of S4. It was a big mistake to make EJ a senior but it also may end up being a big mistake to make Gina a sophomore. It would have been too messy to retcon EJ to be a junior but Tim probably should have taken the chance to retcon Gina into being a junior in S2.

That Rini breakup was so sad (missed opportunity for gotta go my own way). They managed to get in a Troyella reference with the treehouse. This was inevitable they just have not been communicating well though now that we know that Ricky thought Nini left YAC for him some of his desperation to spend as much time together as possible makes more sense. I think Rini is endgame if the series has 4 seasons but it wouldn't shock me if we never seem them dating again and they only get back together in the series finale. It also wouldn’t surprise me if Nini never dates anyone else for the remainder of the series or at least not seriously. 

We’re not even halfway through the series so it’s way too early to permanently slam the door on Rini though this time apart will probably help Joshua and Olivia move on from their own bitter break up before it bleeds too much into their performances. I do wonder if Tim really has a clue what he's gonna do with them for the remaining 24-28 eps of the series, assuming S3 and S4 have 10-12 eps each. 

Roman Banks killed If I Can’t Love Her and the montage of all the couples or ex couples was great.

It was nice to finally meets some parents other than the Bowen’s and Salazar-Roberts’. Kourtney’s mom was played by Dara’s actual mother and their dynamic was great as expected. It seems from their conversation that Kourtney's father is dead which I don’t believe has been mentioned before. Cash Caswell.... well it gets what the character is about across. He really looks and sounds like a rich Utah republican, I bet he knows Mitt Romney personally. I liked EJ going to tell his father that he’s not going to Duke and recognizing that he wants to build his own life on his own merits. 

We saw a bit of that S1 Miss Jenn energy tonight which was fun though I didn't like how curt she was with Seb nor did I like how rude Carlos was to Seb although we know that blows up in 2x10. 

Jazzara rising! I really liked how Jazzara and Portwell are sort of mirroring each other and since Mazzara knows about EJ’s feelings for Gina it wouldn’t shock me if helping EJ out is part of him showing a softer side in 2x12.

Of course Ashlyn is VP of the Nostradamus society. It's clear her family has some kooky new age beliefs (her parents are probably members of some naturopathic medicine group on Facebook that doubles as a gateway into Qanon)

It was nice to see Big Red being such a good friend to Ricky and the return of Ricky’s infamous pillow hugs. Lmao at Ashlyn just chilling while Big Red is comforting Ricky

Also Miss Jenn saying sexy and Big Red referring to pillow talk, the writers are adding a bit of spice when cooking up these scripts.

Looking Ahead: 

Looks like Gina may be wearing EJ's duke sweater next ep according to some posts I saw. Jack presumably is there to somehow help Gina decide what she wants with Ricky and EJ though him having wanderlust might also feed into Gina’s thoughts on settling down in SLC or moving with her mom around the country.

Let's see what mom of the year, Lynne Bowen, has up her sleeves. Ricky’s bedroom at her place in Chicago looks much nicer than the apartment Mike Bowen has so perhaps she makes a lot more money than he does. 

Not looking forward to the Zoom portions of the ep but I guess it was inevitable. 

There’s only two paths for Gina’s story to go in the remainder of this season; either she decides to move on from Ricky and give EJ a chance or she decides that Ricky is worth trying again and squelches her budding feelings for EJ. The former looks much more likely after tonight’s ep but either way it needs to be handled with care. Inevitably Gina and Ricky need to talk about what happened between them but if Tim really wants Ricky to continue being a viable love interest or even a good friend to Gina then he needs to really have Ricky apologize and show a thoughtful, kinder side of him that’s largely been missing this season. 

What I think Tim is doing is setting up Portwell getting together in 2x12 but Ricky pining over Gina until Portwell break up late S3 and Rina get together in the S3 finale before they break up later in S4 and Ricky gets back with Nini near the end of the series. If I had Tim’s ear I would tell him that he should pick which ship he wants to do, Rina or Portwell, but don’t do both. He wants canon Rina? Great then end Portwell before it starts and have Rina happen in S3 and introduce other obstacles to them getting together rather than having to damage EJ’s character and make him lose another girl he likes to Ricky. He wants canon Portwell? Great then have Gina and Ricky’s conversation be closure for the both of them and have Gina and EJ get together and break them up without Ricky being a cause of it or waiting in the wings to get with Gina soon afterwards. Doing both will be a disaster and I truly hope that Tim Federle carefully thinks over his mistakes in S2 and really plans out the remaining 2 seasons of the series while there’s still time to prevent things from going really off the rails like GMW and AM did thanks to the bad decisions of Michael Jacobs and Terri Minsky. 

Until next week wildcats. 

[bilgisticallykosher]

Not going to tag every side, even if they were technically all mentioned but. I'm. Very screaming still.

Pre-episode. Squealing, so much squealing. Remus. I'm just. Remus, but intense. Remus 💚 Anyway, I see Thomas looking horrified- OH ARE WE GETTING TO THE DREAM THING? Are we dealing with The Thing from DWIT??? Aaaaa. Also, Logan? I thought it was supposed to be Virgil. Hm.

Okay, let's- hnnnnnng content warning I happy flapped. Frick I keep squealing, the green smoke and the bear trap in the A of asides. Omg omg omg.  FORBIDDEN FRUIT! Is it two am or pm? Gasp! NICO! No Nico, don't jk the date, please. I'm begging you, I can't. (Edit: legendsgates told the server that it was Thomas who texted Nico, not vice versa.) Oh no, he slept through the text notif? Oh no. Logan! Oh, it's two pm. I mean, I figured because of sunlight, but. FFFF 69TH! *snicker* Thomas smirked, too.  

Ooh, daily schedule. Degree a couple degrees! Five am Thomas is a bastard. Logan is… very whelmed by all the Thomases. Oh boy, this schedule is… not going well. Snort. Don't mention it. You don't have the time. Did he schedule time for scheduling? That's a lot of alarms. 

ARM!!!! Oh is that a bear trap? Oh. Yup. Whoops, that's- oh. Nope. He's fine. Old?? Aging? NICO IN REAL LIFE OMFG AAAAH! HE HAS A FACE!!! Oh. Aging. Hm. Okay, so he bear trap was less physical, more like Remus is trapping Thomas's thoughts. Neat! Also I have to take a break right, now I cannot handle the dramatic music and his face omfg. Aaaaaaaah. Okay I'm good maybe. Oh! That's the face from the thumbnail, nice. Green light in his hair looks nice. 

Aw, Logan is concerned about him. He's a good boy. And yikes that's a lot of um. Filth. Is that a nail? "Muck" is- Remus, points for effort, but no, dear. I mean, only if you say it outloud, backwards. K-Cum. Okay, you know what? I'll allow it. 

Remus. Rearranging his sentence is less intimidating than you think. I think he's putting back(?) Caressing? A book of Broadway… something. "You couldn't turn anything on, if you tried." WOW, WAY TO BE WRONG, LOGAN. I mean. You know. Uh. I'm just holding this attraction for a friend, it's not mine-

Thomas looks resigned. Hmm. Shiny green notebook, nice. Does that say "call updog?" Mmm. Yep. Yep it did. Lot of Updog on there, on the other hand, Remus's handwriting is gorgeous, wow. Dinner with Updog (can't cancel that again) I may have injured myself laughing at some point. 

This. This is that point. Oh my gosh. Who. So freaking close. The freaking tension! Did they censor damn? Yeah, sounds it. FFFFF LOGAN. Janus and Logan wine moms confirmed. Oh my gosh. He just freaking rips the cork out with his teeth. Chug. There's, like so much tension in this episode. Predicting that the screw is him "screwing" with his mind? Yep, nothing. Hmm. What if I choke. Is that Remus's influence? Or Virgil's? "I'd be screwed" Ha! Oh, wow, Logan! Look how much you're putting Thomas's mental health first! Wonder what was on Remus's second list…

Okay what's going on with the roomba. Ayyyy, Intrusive Thoughts! He's so good in this, Logan. WHAT KIND OF RUBE GOLDBERG GARBAGE- oh, garbage disposal, wow this was well set-up oh my gosh, the drawing attention to the garbage disposal, the book he placed there. Never stack your knives on top of anything, guys! 

The little 'yes!' Oh. Oh. Um. Okay. Wow. "I don't care about the knife, but the soap!" You guys, no, this can't be canon help. Oh he's cleaning! Ohhhhh, eyepatch. Love it. This feels very reminiscent of Dealing With Anxiety way back when. But with more Remus! Oh no he got his string caught in his weiner.

Bratwurst, whatever. I bet that was not originally in the script. I.e., accident. Hey, Kingdom Hearts! I know he is. Thomas, Logan, or Virgil? The chords before "He said you're wanting to be more honest"!!!!! 

Cue freakout. Yeah, it's Virgil. Man if Remus keeps setting these things up, he's like a genius, the physics involved, geez. Oh. Well, listen, not all experiments work the first time. Oh nope. There it- nope. Hmm. Pink panther-esque? Um, sir that's glowing. Sir, that's a keyblade. Oh, Nico again. Coffee, he says, after guzzling wine. Puzzle? Cognitive distortions!!! "It was a stab" Virgil!!! Logan's such a good boy, oh my gosh, I can't. Yeah. Sounds pink panther. I beg your pardon??? Whomst? Love the 'ooh~' in there. Haha, just stops at Logan. Oh, he's trying to get to Logan- ffffff, Remus, oh my gosh. Okay, why are there text alerts but no new texts? Remus, did you wear his shirt while getting stabbed? Rude. Ha! Got an ad for Anxiety/stress, that's funny. Aw, ketchup. Logan how can you be so wrong? Ha! Solenium lycopersicum again. "Yes. You. Am." Help I love him so much. Nico napkin? It's not me, right? He's not contacting him? (Edit: It was me. 😔) Okay, so the thoughts are being very tied up into anxiety, with like being alone, but he's also obviously scared to take a step towards relationship? Maybe??? Man, Remus is so good at these things. Okay, also stress about someone being in his house? Just high stress in general, I gu- !!!!!!!!! Oh hi. 

No, Remus, your puppet is being mean- oh, no, that's the, he's just stabby. Mutual stabby? You have no idea how hard I'm looking at his eyeshadow right now.!!!! MUSIC??? Song? Oh, okay, cool. Ahhh, what your momma gave ya. Remus, omfg he's so pouty at lack of stabbing. It's not lost on me that the lighting is purple. WOW, Logan. Willing to see his merit. Squeak squeak flick. He's not pretending he doesn't- yeah. Oh tongue lollipop. What was in his ear??? That he ate???

Manicure on severed hand. Ignoring dummies for dummies. Aw, does Nico have a carrot next to his name? WOAH WHAT!!!! Holy crap, fandom was right-

WAIT ARE HIS EYES ORANGE NO WAIT NO. 

THEY ARE! 

No, I wasn't ready for this theory to be right! Idk if…… rage/anger/wrath is orange through Logan or if that's a Logan thing or if he's turning into orange, gosh, I,,, really hope not. Nico calling! Ohhhhh, Remus likes that. 

Ahhh, Nico. Aww they're cute. Wait, is Logan supposed to be angry at Thomas? Oh. I really liked Procrastination as orange, and. Hmmmmmm. Oh man. We got some. Good, yet heartbreaking Logan there. 

Oh my gosh. I'm like. Almost shaking. Oh my gosh. I like. Don't know what to think. Love that totally real phone convo, though with Hello Fresh. Aaaa, what even do I think?! I'm so concerned! On multiple levels! But aw, Nico. I'm reeling. That angry Logan changed everything. Squints that seems lot a lot of paprika. Nico date! Patton!!! Roman!!! Virgil!!! Aw, Logan. Rome didn't fall in a day. "He's giving him permission," WAIT HE'S ANGRY ABOUT THAT TOO??? Okay, Logan's calming down, being okay. OH NO OH NO OH NO THAT WAS HELLA COOL WITH JANUS BUT THE EYES!!!! Crap, orange is anger. Damnit. Chills.

ALSO I had a belated realization at about Janus being in the tree and freaked out about it all day so expect something on that soon.

[tulipscomeinallsortsofcolors]

Ok I hope this is ok and not like super weird and rude. But I was stuck in like Insomnia Land(tm) a few weeks ago and was thinking about Janus in Pieces and Durant in laoft and wanted to share some of my thoughts

Cus middle of the night me was like “oh I wonder if/how Janus will ever be added to laoft, I really love how Violet writes him in pieces” bc I just.... lowkey forgot Durant was pre-name reveal Janus lol. And then I remembered but then i was like... well what if he just added him anyway??

And then bc it was the middle of the night and I have adhd I just started brainstorming that idea so ima leave it here. (Again hopefully that’s not rude I don’t wanna seem like I’m trying to take over ur AU or anything!)

Anyway here’s my rambling/brainstorm:

- so u know how Virgil is literally born of shadows and fear? Janus is the same, but with deception

- specifically the deception when Durant poisoned Virgil. The betrayal was so strong it literally spawned a whole new fae

- except this fae is a little.... off.

- he comes to consciousness rather slowly. It’s like a few weeks of this hazy in between of not quite existing but also not quite not existing. But when he eventually wakes up in the clearing where Durant poisoned Virgil he remembers Durant’s deception.

- Janus looks very similar to Durant. There are only slight differences, his eyes are slightly brighter and his hair is slightly darker. He looks a bit younger too. The most obvious is that where Durant’s scars were, Janus has discolored scales in a matching pattern

- the other major difference? While every other Fae can only speak the truth, Janus can only speak in lies. He is literally deception givin form. Literally Deceit.

- any fae he meets in the forest is pretty hostile to him because they see him as “cursed” or “unnatural”, since he literally somehow inverted one of the rules of their world

- so for the hundred odd years Virgil is sleeping Janus just kinda fucks off as deep into the forest and as far away from other fae or humans as he can

- he specifically tries to avoid both Virgil and Durant. Virgil bc he figures “who wouldn’t hate the physical manifestation of that time their brother attempted fratricide?”. And he avoids Durant bc he knows the Truth and knows Durant would probably kill him to keep him quiet

- he’s not necessarily guilty about being born from Durant’s deception, but he is far from proud of it

- anyway Janus does a decent job of hiding from the majority of fae, untilllll he meets Remus in the woods. Oops?

- this is like. Post-therapy Remus so he’s at the point where he sees “Dee” and is like U BITCH and just immediately attacks him

- and ofc he’s like “dee how tf are you alive?”

- poor Janus WANTS to say “I’m not him” but what comes out instead is:

“Yeah hi I’m definitely Durant.”

Bc he’s just panicking and his brain automatically just takes true statements and flips them and that’s basically what he says to people

Anyway it’s very confusing for a hot minute but they eventually figure stuff out. Remus probably wants Janus to go meet the others while Janus definitely does not want that. It’s also mildly triggering for Remus, Roman and Virgil but ya know they figure stuff out and it’s all chill in the end!

Anyway that’s my little ramble lol I hope you found it mildly entertaining? I didn’t stick really as close to real fae lore (though I guess you could argue Janus still kinda has to tell the truth he just speaks in like opposite talk or smthn lol). Bshdhh yeah you don’t need to do anything with this I just figured u might find it interesting?? Sorry again if it’s rude I wasn’t trying to be hdhdhhhdhfh

V: i love this so much!! not presumptuous at all, i love recursive fic, tho i will probably never add a second deciet character to laoft myself

[spicycreativity]

The Core Four (Logan, Roman, Virgil and Patton) are somewhere spooky, old house, in the woods, etc etc, and it's a place where poltergeist/demon/ghost/devil/spirit/whatever you want Remus resides and haunts and is scary and evil in. (Or they summon him) And he's like "Ooh time to mess with them muahahahaha!" but he sees Patton and gets like this "Cute boy!" And gets interested in Patton instead.

Boop

Words: 2k

Pairing: Pre-slash Intruality

Other notes: College AU, mild Vitaminwater slander, somewhat based on my own college experience of being straight edge and bored all the time and also owning multiple fist-sized chunks of quartz crystal purchased from the tent outside the gas station down by the on-ramp on the far side of town 🥴 Our abandoned dorm building was not haunted, tho

Content warnings: Mentions of underage drinking (not depicted), mentions of overdosing (non-graphic), Remus is sexually forward toward Patton, swearing, innuendo, etc. Still, I'd only rate this T

While it was rooming assignments that brought Roman, Patton, Logan, and Virgil together during the first weeks at university, it was their mutual unwillingness to break any sort of rule that kept them together. While their peers were drinking smuggled alcohol and racking up write-ups from the RAs, the foursome would sit on Logan and Virgil's side of the dorm suite drinking Vitaminwater and attempting to entertain themselves with board games and Netflix. This, predictably, got old quickly and weekends soon became a desperate battle to stave off boredom and existential ennui.

The fraying thread of Roman's patience finally snapped the night Patton suggested Pogs. The lack of adventure had chafed at him longer than it had the others and he secretly longed for some sort of thrill, even if it meant breaking the rules.

"Ugh," Roman threw himself backwards onto the pillow he'd stolen from Logan's bed, nearly knocking over Patton's mostly-full bottle of grape Vitaminwater. "We're seriously so lame that we can't think of anything better to do than Pogs?" 

"Hey," said Virgil from atop his bed, and shook a few drops of açai-blueberry-pomegranate sugar water onto Roman's forehead.

"Sorry, Patton," Roman added, wrinkling his nose at the unpleasant sensation. "No offense, but I'm just so bored! I was expecting more adventure when I finally left my dreary old hometown."

"I thought you told us you were from Los Angeles," Logan said, tossing a package of Wet Wipes down onto Roman's chest. "And Virgil, I understand why you would want to teach Roman a lesson, but please try not to stain my pillowcase."

"What do you wanna do, Roman?" Patton asked, adjusting himself where he was propped up against one of the legs of Logan's bed.

"I don't know! All I know is that I have the most boring Snap story out of everyone in my stupid 100-level History class. Remy went surfing the other day. And he's from Nebraska! How does he know how to surf?" 

"There it is," Virgil said.

Roman sat up again and opened up the Wet Wipes so he could clean off his face. "Lightning round! Suggestions. Go!" He pointed at Virgil.

"Um," said Virgil. "Uh-- Sca-- Uh, horror marathon. Horror movie marathon."

"Ugh, no." Roman pointed at Logan.

"Studying."

"Oh, come on. Patton?"

"We all go to bed early so we can wake up and get breakfast together before the dining hall runs out of waffle batter?"

"Guuuys." Roman pointed at Virgil again.

"Man, I dunno, Roman! Like I'm the expert in what looks good on a Snapchat story."

"You're the one who's bored," Logan added. "Why don't you suggest something?"

"That's not how it works!" Roman shot back. "I'm the-- the arbiter, the czar! You're the idea guys."

"Okay, fine!" Virgil leaned over the edge of the bed to better give Roman the evil eye. "How about we break into the shut-down dorms with a ouija board and try to contact the spirit of that kid who OD'ed in the bathroom?"

"That's the spirit," Roman said.

"Ha," Patton said weakly.

"Wait," said Virgil, already desperately trying to make eye contact with Logan. "I was kidding. You can't be serious."

"No, no, that's a great idea! Virgil, go get your ouija board and whatever other spooky shit you have tucked away.

"We're going now?" Patton squeaked.

Logan sighed and swung his legs over the side of the bed. "Roman, anything you post to your Snapchat story can potentially be turned in as evidence and used to incriminate you. I suggest you leave your phone behind."

"Wait!" Virgil ran his hands through his hair, agitated. "You can't possibly be on board with this."

"I'm not," said Logan. "I am offering Roman advice for the same reason high school nurses' offices offer condoms: not as an encouragement, but as a safety measure. Either we all agree to go now or we all agree to go tomorrow night after Roman spends the whole day pouting and whining--"

"Hey!"

"So I suggest we just get it over with," Logan concluded.

"Seriously?" Patton was already pale and shaking, holding a stray hoodie of Virgil's close to his chest.

"It's okay, Patton," Virgil said, offering him a reassuring smile. "I'll let you wear my horn of protection amulet."

It took just under an hour to get everyone changed into darker clothes and outfitted with protective symbols from Virgil's collection. In addition to silver amulets and charms, he had handed out fist-sized chunks of quartz crystal to all of them with careful instructions not to lose them, as he wanted everything back at the end of the night.

But soon (all too soon for Patton) they faced the looming silhouette of the abandoned Monroe Hall. It was in surprisingly good repair despite the lack of security cameras and floodlights to deter intruders. In fact, the only light came from the blue emergency callbox situated a few yards down the path.

"We, genius," Virgil said, turning to Roman. "How do we get in?"

"I don't know!" Roman tossed up his hands. "I'd Google how to pick a lock but somebody" --he glared at Logan-- "made us leave our phones in the microwave."

"I already told you, it's a functional Faraday cage and--"

"Yeah, yeah, how about we save the science lectures for 8:00 am on Tuesdays and Thursday," Roman said.

"That was oddly specific," Virgil muttered, trying and failing to exchange a glance with Patton, who was staring at the ground and turning over the quartz crystal in his hands. "Wait, I've got an idea." He took his own chunk of quartz out of his pocket and slammed it through the glass door, sending a shower of tempered glass clattering onto the tiled floor inside. Then he stepped through the hole and beckoned the others in after him. "Let's go."

Patton made a muffled sound of fear and grabbed onto Logan's arm.  "You don't really think there's a ghost, do you?"

"Of course not," Logan said, leading Patton inside and following Virgil to the stairs.

"Wait!" Roman jogged ahead to lead the charge. "Are we not gonna talk about Virgil just--"

"Found a broken door and stepped through it?" Virgil interrupted, bumping Roman with his hip. "No, we are not."

Roman led them up a flight of stairs and down a corridor similar to the one in their own dorm building. All the doors they tried were locked, so they set up the ouija board in the hallway outside the bathrooms.

"Okay, gang," Virgil said once they were all sequestered around the board. "Pointer fingers on the planchette."

"Not our whole hands?" Roman asked.

Virgil shot him a sideways glare. "I'm sorry, are you the expert on the occult?"

"Are you?" Roman asked.

"Relative expert," Virgil said, sticking out his tongue. "Now. Pointer fingers on the planchette."

"I really don't know if this is a good idea," Patton said, extending a shaking hand.

"You should be more afraid of campus security," Logan said. "Although from the state of the building, it appears that we are the first to successfully enter."

"Nothing's happening," Roman complained, his eyes on the planchette.

"We haven't asked a question yet, genius," Virgil sneered.

"It seems rude to barge into someone's house and just start asking questions," Patton said. He looked up, addressing the ghost. "Hi!"

The planchette jerked and began to shake. Anticipating Virgil's accusation, Roman held up his other hand. "It's not me!"

"Shut up!" Virgil snapped. "It's moving."

They read the letters out loud together as the planchette began to move around the board: "N-I-C-E." Pause. "C-O-C-K."

"Oh, come on." Virgil grabbed the planchette and threw it at Roman's face. "Not funny."

"I swear that wasn't me!" Roman said, smacking the planchette down. It clattered across the board and came to a stop by the number '2.'

"Roman," Patton chided, "it's really not nice to mess with us like that."

"You too?' Roman said. He turned to Logan. "Come on, Specs, you know it wasn't me."

"I know it wasn't a ghost. I know it wasn't me. I know Patton and Virgil aren't likely to make that sort of joke. Therefore, I can safely posit that it must have been you. Although I wouldn't make an accusation without more evidence."

"Oh, come on!" Roman put his hand on the planchette despite Virgil's noise of protest. "Hey, spirit. Can you do something else spooky so my friends stop accusing me of--"

What happened next was equal parts anticlimactic and chilling: Roman's eyes turned green and began to emit a gentle glow. He was silent for only a moment before turning to Patton with a chipper smile. "Hey, hot stuff! Nice cock."

"Whoa" said Virgil, scrambling backwards toward the wall. "What the fuck."

"He invited me in!" said Roman, or more accurately, the ghost possessing Roman's body.

"Oh my God," Patton said. "That's not Roman."

"Yeah, no shit!"

"I'll give him back in a minute," said the spirit. "I just had to shoot my shot with hottie over here. What's your name, sugar?"

"Uh," said Patton, glancing wildly at Virgil (who was fumbling in his pocket for his holy water or his salt, whatever he found first) and Logan (who was actively blue-screening). "Patton?"

"Nice to meet you, Patton." The ghost stuck Roman's hand out for a shake. "Name's Remus. Has anyone ever told you you're kinda DILF-y for a college student?"

"N-no?"

"Well, you are."

"Thanks, I guess." Patton sat back and pulled his legs up to his chest in an unmistakably defensive pose. "Um, is there something that you wanted, Remus?"

"I already told you!" Roman's face beamed in a way it never had before, his eyes twitching strangely in their sockets. "I just popped in to shoot my shot. So?"

"He's propositioning you," Logan hissed. 

"I…" said Patton, panic whiting out his mind. Unable to find words, he held up his left hand to show off the silver band on his ring finger.

"You're married?" Roman's body leaned forward to read the engraved writing. "True love waits."

"It's a purity ring," Virgil explained, finally extricating a small vial from the tangle of cords and chains in his pocket. "And this is holy water."

"Wait," said Remus, "are you guys exorcising me? Cause I swear I'm gonna give you your friend back. I'm dead, not evil. Also," he turned to Patton, "is that a no?"

"Yes!"

"Wait, so you do wanna bang?"

"No!"

"Alright, alright, damn." Remus leaned Roman's body back, putting up his hands in a defensive gesture. "You know, I was gonna go full poltergeist and try to see if I could make you all cry, but I changed my mind when I saw Hot Pat-tato. Soooo, you're welcome."

"Yeah," said Virgil, "I'm not sure we should be thanking you for taking over our friend's body. Give him back, by the way."

"Wait!" said Patton. "Remus, why aren't you at rest? Is there something we can do to help you move on?"

"Nah," said Remus. "To be honest, I just wanted to haunt the crap out of some dumb college kids."

"Need I point out," Logan said, "that you are also a dumb college kid?"

Virgil looked around at the empty halls, walls of closed doors, the dusty spiderwebs hanging like streamers in the corners. "Wait. There's nobody to haunt."

"Yeah," said Remus. Roman's shoulders shrugged. "It's been kinda lonely and boring. 

"Sucks to suck," Virgil said, brandishing the sealed vial of holy water. "Okay, time to go."

Remus sighed and crossed Roman's arms over his chest. "Fine. I didn't really want to haunt you guys anyway."

"I might…" Patton twisted up his mouth thoughtfully, rubbing his fingers along the quartz crystal in his pocket. "Maybe I'll come back and say hello sometime."

The grin that unfurled across Roman's face was so familiar that Patton nearly hugged him. But his eyes were still that slightly luminescent green, still twitching and rolling like he was trying to take in every detail of the world all at once. "Really?"

Patton nodded and held out his hand palm-up. Roman's hand was icy, but Patton forced himself not to flinch as he brought his head down and kissed Remus' knuckles. "Really."

For a moment, there was silence. Then came a gentle warmth, and confused brown eyes staring down at Patton, who only had time to gasp before Roman tilted his head in confusion. "Um, Patton? Why are you holding my hand?"

[emy-loves-you]

Snowed In

Janus and Remus get stuck out in the middle of the snowstorm. Patton is the kind stranger that saves them.

Pajamus (Patton/Janus/Remus)

Word Count: 4,718

Warnings: Mentions of Sex, Guns (but no gun injuries), Hypothermia

Masterlist

Janus growled as he trudged through the knee-high snow. “W-why did you believe that it was a good idea to p-play with a gun in the car?” His boyfriend, Remus, merely shrugged, apparently not seeing anything wrong with their current scenario. Janus rolled his eyes. “You’re lucky I love you.”

“I love you too, Janny-poo!” Even though Remus seemed to have no trouble moving forward, practically skipping through the snowstorm, Janus knew he wasn’t fairing much better.

Janus frowned as another shiver ran down his spine. “We need to find shelter for the night, and possibly a way to call Roman.”

Remus whined, trying to cover up the way his legs buckled for a moment. “Why did you have to bring up my brother? He always interrupts our fun time, even when he’s not here?”

Janus snorted, blinking rapidly when his vision went spotty. “You see this as a fun time?”

Remus giggled breathlessly. “Of course! We’re alone, I’ve got Bertha in one pocket and a condom in the other, and Roro isn’t here to cockblock us!”

“Hello?!” Both of them froze, staring at the pale yellow light in the distance. “Is anyone out there?”

“Over here, Sweetcheeks!” Janus couldn’t even find himself to be mad at his boyfriend giving away their location to a potential serial killer, his vision swimming as he forced himself to stay standing. The yellow light came closer, but Janus couldn’t focus on it, the winter chill seeping through his bones. He heard muffled words before his world went dark.

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When Janus woke up, his first reaction was to shiver violently. He groaned softly, gripping the soft blankets around him. There was a gasp followed by footsteps before a cool hand touched his cheeks. Janus flinched away from the touch before falling unconscious once more.

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This pattern of waking up to shiver before falling back asleep continued several times before Janus regained the strength to stay awake. This time he was actually able to open his eyes, and he was slightly surprised to find the room empty. Seeing as this was the first time he’s been awake long enough to see, Janus took stock of his surroundings.

The room was large, but it was difficult to view it that way, the walls covered floor-to-ceiling with large wooden bookshelves. Each shelf was filled to the brim with books, except for a few shelves clearly missing a book or two. The bed Janus was sleeping in was smaller than he was used to, most likely a double-mattress, with dozens of dark blue and space-themed blankets on top of him. A small lamp sat on the night table next to him, the stars and designs on the body of the lamp appearing to be hand-painted.

“Oh, you’re awake!” Janus’ head snapped to the doorway and he winced, clutching his head as a headache quickly formed. “Oh, don’t strain yourself, please! Here, take this.” Janus felt something being pressed against his lips and he quickly pressed them shut, not trusting whoever was in front of him. “It’s just pain medication, I swear. Here, would you take it if I showed you the bottle it came from?” Janus didn’t move, and the stranger seemed to take that as confirmation. “Alright, I’ll be right back!”

The footsteps retreated but Janus kept his eyes closed, trying to ignore how much his headache was affecting him. As he waited for the stranger to come back, he belatedly realized two very important things:

The clothes Janus was wearing were not the clothes he was wearing out in the snow, and he didn’t know where his clothes or his gun were.

Remus wasn’t there with him.

Janus grunted softly as he forced himself into a sitting position, ignoring how heavy his limbs felt. He swung his legs over the side of the bed, shivering as his bare foot brushed against the nightstand. Just as he was about to try and get up the footsteps returned followed by a gasp in surprise.

“Oh, please don’t get up yet! You’re fever just broke an hour ago and I don’t want you to overexert yourself. Here, I have the bottle they came in.” Janus glanced down at the bottle now in his palm and read the label. “Headache relief, take 2 every 3 hours, no more than 12 in 24 hours.” Janus tried to remember the numbers but his head was still sluggish. He tried to open the bottle, but the child-proof seal proved to be too much for him at the moment. A warm hand covered his own as the stranger opened the pill bottle, their movement slow and obvious as they kept the bottle in Janus’ field of vision.

The pills were gently pressed to his lips once again, but this time Janus opened his mouth to take them. A glass of water was held up to his mouth and Janus drank eagerly, a small stream spilling down his chin. When the glass was pulled away Janus gasped for breath, the cold water making it easier to focus. “...where...am I?”

The stranger turned away and Janus looked up at them for the first time. They were short and on the heftier side, tufts of curly chestnut-brown hair peeking out over a sky-blue turtleneck. “You’re in my cabin, around a 10-minute drive from where I found you, and you’ve been here for almost 2 days now. You and your friend had some pretty bad hypothermia. What were you doing out there in the middle of a snowstorm?”

Janus shrugged. “My friend was messing around and we crashed the car. Where are my clothes? And my friend?”

The stranger turned around and Janus bit back a gasp. Standing in front of him was the most beautiful angel he had ever seen. Soft, round face; a smattering of freckles across pale skin. A pair of wire-framed glasses made their cerulean blue eyes look big and innocent, and plump pink lips formed a little ‘o’ before they answered. “Sorry, I had to change you out of those wet clothes. They’re all clean and dry downstairs in the living room, along with your… other items.” Janus suddenly remembered his lack of weapons and gripped the blankets tighter, suddenly feeling much more exposed. “Your friend is in the room next to yours.” They gestured to the door they didn’t come in through. “The rooms are connected through that closet, and when you’re feeling better I’ll help you over there so you can see him. His fever broke last night, but he hasn’t woken up yet.”

Janus snorted, speaking without fully thinking. “Remus sleeps like a log, he’ll wake up when he’s ready to wake up.”

The stranger gasped, a pretty pink blush dancing across their cheeks. “Oh, how rude of me!” They held out their hand for Janus to take. “I’m Patton Heart, he/him pronouns please!”

Janus tentatively took Patton’s hand, giving him one firm shake before letting go. “Janus, he/him. Remus also goes by he/him.”

Patton smiled and Janus felt his heart practically melting. “Thank you for letting me know!” Janus heard something beeping and Patton gasped. “My soup! I’ve gotta go take care of that.” He rushed over to the door before giving Janus one last stern look. “Don’t you even think about getting out of bed, mister! You need to save your strength so you’ll get better.” He nodded dumbly and Patton smiled, closing the door behind him.

Janus stared at the door for a few more minutes before shrugging, deciding it best to follow Patton’s orders for now. The man didn’t seem threatening, and he didn’t appear to be a threat to Janus or Remus.

Janus groaned as he laid down. “Roman’s gonna kill me. I’ve gotta give him another raise when this is all over.”

Roman was Remus’ twin and Janus’ personal assistant. Janus’ parents had each owned their own successful companies before they passed away, and Janus had made work of expanding them into his own financial empire. Roman gladly took up the job of managing the company behind the scenes, making Janus’ only job to make the big decisions, keep Remus happy, and not get kidnapped. While that third one could be easily solved with a few bodyguards, Janus preferred to just have himself and Remus armed and vigilant.

He had been driving home from a business meeting (he hated having chauffeurs when he could drive perfectly well on his own) when Remus decided to mess around with his favorite pistol, or ‘Bertha’ as he tended to call it, and they ended up crashing the car.

Janus sighed, his eyelids already growing heavy again. Maybe just a few more minutes of sleep…

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It wasn’t until around noon the next day that Remus woke up. Janus had been awake for around 2 hours now and had just finished eating when he heard Remus swearing in the next room. While Patton went to assure Remus that ‘no, you aren’t being kidnapped right now, and no, this is not a sex thing,’ Janus slowly got himself out of bed and made his way through the open door and into the other room. This room was much darker than the one Janus was staying in, with purple and black decor and My Chemical Romance posters on the walls. Patton was facing away from Janus, fretting nervously. Remus was still laying on the bed, whining about how much his head hurt. “My head feels like it just had an orgy with Dwayne Johnson and-”

“Remus.” Janus growled out, and both of them turned to look at him.

“Janny!” Remus whined out, making grabby hands. Janus rolled his eyes and slowly walked over to the bed, putting his hand in Remus’ hair. Remus melted into the touch and Janus smiled fondly.

There was a sigh and Janus looked up to see Patton frowning slightly. “I could’ve helped you in here, you know.”

Janus smirked. “I’ll be sure to ask for help next time.” He then sighed. “We need to call a friend to pick us up. May we borrow a phone?”

Patton frowned, looking away. “I’m sorry, but the phone lines went down last night. And the storm’s still going on strong, so even if you managed to call someone they wouldn’t be able to get here until after the storm let up. But you can stay here for as long as you’d like!”

Janus glanced over to Remus, who just shrugged. Janus thought about it for a few minutes before sighing. “If you’re alright with it, then we’ll stay.” It’s not like there’s much else we can do.

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The next day, Janus and Remus recovered most of their strength and explored the rest of the house. It was a simple house, with three bedrooms and one bathroom upstairs, and a bathroom, living room, study, kitchen and dining room downstairs. When they made their way to the living room, Janus’ attention was immediately drawn to the dozens of photos that lined the walls. All of them had Patton with two children. One kid was pale and short, probably around 12 years old, with Patton’s chestnut-brown hair but brown eyes. They wore an oversized purple hoodie in most of the photos. The other kid was tall and lanky, probably around 16 years old, with much darker skin and wavy black hair tied in a knot and dark blue eyes. They wore a pair of glasses like Patton’s, along with a polo and necktie in most of the photos. “Hey, Pat?”

“Yeah?” Patton called out before his head popped into the living room, a tray of small sandwiches in hand.

Janus gestured to the pictures lining the walls. “Who’s in these pictures?”

Patton beamed, setting down the tray. “Oh, those are my kiddos! Virgil’s the one in the hoodie, and Logan’s the one with the necktie! They’re just the sweetest little things!”

Remus piped up from where he was sitting on the couch. “Why aren’t they here with you?”

Patton sighed, sitting down. “Well, Virgil’s mom got pretty upset when I came out as bisexual, so we got divorced around 3 years ago. I get to have him all summer vacation and on weekends, while she gets him on weekdays and all winter break. Logan’s technically my godson, but I adopted him 2 years ago. He goes to a fancy boarding school for gifted kiddos out in the city, and he wanted to stay there during the break since Virgil wouldn’t be here.”

Janus frowned, his chest aching at the sad look on Patton’s face. “What are your sons like, Patton?” he asked, not being subtle with his desire to change the subject.

Patton didn’t seem to notice, smiling like a proud parent should. “Oh, they’re the bestest kiddos ever! Logan’s really smart, and he always has fun little facts to share! And Virgil’s really good with music, I don’t recognize most of the songs he plays but they’re still really good!”

Janus smiled, taking a bite of his sandwich while Patton rambled on about his kids. Maybe staying here for a little while wouldn’t be so bad after all.

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“Remus, we are not having sex in a kid’s closet!”

It had been almost a week since Janus first met Patton, and things had been going pretty smoothly so far. The three of them spent most of their time chatting and spending time together. It was obvious that Patton was lonely in this big cabin all by himself, almost as obvious as how attached Janus and Remus were to the sweater-wearing dad. There were very few moments where Janus wasn’t either spending time with Patton or thinking about him. And it was very obvious that Remus was feeling the same way, and that he was trying to find distractions for these newfound feelings.

By having sex in a closet, apparently.

Remus whined, practically throwing all of his weight on top of Janus. “C’mon Jan, it’s been ages since I’ve touched you!” He pouted and batted his eyelashes. “Pretty please, Janus?”

Janus sighed, leaning back on the door that connected the closet to Virgil’s room. They hadn’t told Patton that they were in a relationship, and they were still sleeping in the kid’s bedrooms, so they hadn’t actually had any time together in a while. “Just kissing.”

Remus purred, his hand reaching behind Janus’ head to pull him closer. “Fine by me.” They wrapped their arms around each other, their first few kisses hot and desperate, before melting into slow, languid kisses-

“Eep!” Janus quickly pushed Remus off of him, who fell back on the floor with a quiet ‘oof.’ Patton stood in the doorway to Logan’s room, blushing brighter than a cherry. “I’m sorry- I didn’t- I- I’ve gotta go!” And then he was gone.

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When they eventually got over their own mortification of getting caught and found Patton again, he was perfectly fine, all traces of blush gone. “You should have told me that you two were together!” He chided. “I’ll take Logan’s bed and you can have the bed in my room!”

Janus blushed. “We’re perfectly fine with our current arrangements Pa-”

Patton interrupted, putting his hands on his hips in the ‘I’m the dad, you listen to me’ voice. “Nope, no buts!”

Remus snorted. “Hehe, ‘butts.’”

Patton smiled fondly before continuing. “I’ll be fine in Logan’s room. Besides, that bed’s too big for little ol’ me anyways.” He clapped his hands and spun around towards the kitchen. “Now, who’s ready for lunch?”

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Patton was avoiding them.

Well, avoiding would be the wrong word to use, but Janus didn’t really have a word to fit their current situation. He still ate with them and they still spent hours chatting about anything they could think of. But there were quite a few times where he would get really excited or he would give Janus or Remus a look that would make their hearts melt, but then the light in his eyes would die and he would close himself off. Janus didn’t know what to make of it.

It didn’t help that he and Remus were absolutely smitten with the kind-hearted man. They’ve been sleeping in Patton’s bed for 3 nights now (an alaskan king bed, two big for the two of them, and definitely too big for Patton all on his own), and contrary to what would’ve been expected, they didn’t spend their time getting, ahem, reacquainted with each other. Instead, they cuddled on the too-large bed, whispering about how they felt about the amazing man who slept just down the hall.

They had just finished lunch and Patton had rushed off to clean up the plates, despite Janus and Remus’ assurances that they could clean their own dishes. Janus got up to at least clean up the living room when-

Knock knock knock

Patton stepped back into the living room, his eyebrows pinched as he wiped his hands on a small towel. “That’s odd, no one should be out in the middle of this storm.” Patton opened the door and Janus immediately knew who it was from his voice alone.

“Hello, I’m looking for two men. One looks like me with a mustache and the other looks like he would actually take candy from a baby.”

“Gee, thanks.” Janus called out sarcastically as Remus shouted “Roro!”

Patton came back to the living room with an enraged Roman trailing behind. Roman stormed in and grabbed Janus by his (technically Patton’s) sweater, shaking him slightly. “Where the hell were you?!? I thought you and Remus were kidnapped! I was tempted to send out a search party! You’re lucky that the GPS on you’re car was still working!”

Janus gulped. He had almost forgotten how terrifying Roman can get. Almost. “Relax, we’re both safe and sound, so there’s nothing to worry about.”

Roman glared at him before letting go of him with a huff. He then pulled Remus into a hug. “God, don’t scare me like that again.”

Remus chuckled softly. “You know I can’t promise that Roro.” He looked up at Patton’s confused look and pulled away from Roman. “Oh, time for introductions! Patton, this is Roman, my twin. Roro, this is Patton. He’s the one who saved us!”

Roman looked up at Patton and nodded. “It’s wonderful to meet you, Patton. Thank you for saving my brother. And my boss.”

Patton blushed. “Oh, it was noth- wait, boss?”

But Roman had already turned to face Janus. “C’mon, we need to leave ASAP. I had to postpone 3 different meetings to find you, and we can’t launch the new HYDRA TECH product until you officially give the go-ahead.” He looked around at everyone’s faces and suddenly realized that there was something he didn’t know. “...You have 10 minutes before the helicopter takes off.” He quickly left to give them privacy, the shutting of the door the only sound for a while.

“...So,” Patton chuckled nervously, looking away, “you have a helicopter.”

Janus blushed, rubbing the back of his neck. “Yeah… I inherited quite a few companies from my parents.”

“Oh.” Patton frowned. “...Were you ever gonna tell me?”

“Eventually.” Remus piped up. “It’s kindof dangerous, having so much money and so little protection. You can’t say things like that to just anyone, y’know.”

“Right, of course.” Patton didn’t really sound like he agreed though. He suddenly smiled, a smile that by this point Janus and Remus knew was fake. “Well, I guess it’s time to say bye.”

Janus frowned, stepping forward. “Patton-”

Patton held his hand up. “Nope, you heard him. You have important business stuff to go do. No reason to stay here any more than you already have.”

Janus looked hopelessly between Remus and Patton before sighing defeatedly. “Alright. Goodbye Patton.” And he left without another word.

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After a whole week of being away from Patton, Janus was just about ready to throw everything away and run back to him.

The only things stopping him were his company, and the fact that he was pretty sure Patton didn’t like him back. Or Remus, who seemed to have taken it even harder than Janus had. He’d spent the entire week curled up in their room, staring off into space or sleeping. Janus had completely dove back into work, hoping that by the time he was done all of his feelings would be gone.

Roman was the one who put an end to it, slapping a manila folder onto the desk.

“Here’s all the information I could find on the guy you were staying with. Patton Heart, age 36. Has partial custody over his biological son Virgil Heart, and full custody over his adopted son Logan Heart. Worked as a vet for several years before retiring shortly after his parents died 3 years ago. Owns that cabin and stays there year-round. No living family other than the kids. Virgil is homeschooled while Logan goes to Sanders Academy for the Gifted.”

Janus was surprised by the last part. “Logan goes to Sanders Academy?” Janus’ family had been huge donators towards the academy and Janus had joined in shortly after they died, even becoming good friends with the headmaster.

Roman nodded before realizing what was going on. “Oh, no you’re not. I see that look in your eyes. You’re plotting something.”

Janus sputtered. “I’m not plotting!”

Roman snorted. “Dude, that’s your plotting face.” He suddenly grew serious. “Just don’t do anything that’ll hurt my brother, got it? Goodness knows he’s already hurt enough.” And with that he left, leaving Janus to plot.

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Logan Heart was a very good student. He always showed his work, he aced every test, and he never, ever, cheated.

So, when Logan’s counselor arrived to tell him that Headmaster Sanders himself wanted to speak with him, without any warning as to what this conversation would be about, Logan grew to be very, very nervous.

He walked into the Headmaster’s office considering every option under the sun as to why he would be summoned in the middle of the day during winter break. He did not expect to find said Headmaster quietly chatting with the school’s main benefactor, Mr. Hydra.

Headmaster Sanders looked surprised, as if he didn’t expect Logan’s presence (or perhaps he just didn’t expect him to arrive so quickly). “Ah, Mr. Heart, how delightful for you to join us.” He suddenly got up, holding his hand out for Mr. Hydra to take. “I’ll leave you two some privacy. It was a pleasure to see you again, Janus.”

Mr. Hydra smiled, shaking his hand. “The pleasure was mine, Thomas. Tell the mister Remus and I said hello.”

The Headmaster chuckled. “I’ll make sure I will. Yell if you need anything!”

When the Headmaster left Mr. Hydra gestured to the seat next to him. Logan sat down stiffly, not entirely sure of what was going on. “Mr. Hydra-”

“Please, Mr. Hydra was my father.” The man interrupted, waiving his gloved hand. “Call me Janus.”

“...Janus,” Logan ammended, trying to not squirm as he kept eye contact. “I’m not quite sure why I’m here. Could you please explain that to me?”

Janus chuckled. “You’re so smart and polite, just as he said you were.”

Logan felt his lips twitch into a frown. “Just as who said I was?” It was highly unlikely that he was referring to the Headmaster, or any of the counselors. So that only left…

Janus shifted, suddenly looking… uncomfortable? Embarrassed? Logan always struggled with reading facial expressions. “Patton did. He’s actually what I came to talk to you about.”

Millions of scenarios began flying through Logan’s head at once. “What happened to my father?”

Janus waved his hands frantically. “No no no, nothing’s happened to him, I promise!” When Logan finally calmed down, he continued. “My boyfriend and I met your father around 3 weeks ago. We had crashed our car in a snowstorm, and your father rescued us and nursed us back to health. We stayed with him for nearly 2 weeks before leaving.”

Logan nodded. “You needing to tell me this implies that there’s more to this story.”

Janus blushed and looked away. “Yes, well, you see-” He huffed, crossing his arms. “This sounded like a much better idea in my head.” He turned back to face Logan. “My partner and I both developed romantic feelings for your father over the course of those 2 weeks, but we were forced to leave before we could tell him or learn if our feelings were reciprocated.”

Logan nodded in understanding. “You want me to ask Patton if he harbors any feelings towards you or…”

“Remus. And yes, I would be most grateful if you did so.”

Logan sighed, moving his glasses to pinch the bridge of his nose. “You do realize that it will be near impossible to do this, right? My father has an extremely difficult time with admitting what he wants. I hope you also know that my father wouldn’t want to enter a relationship that quickly. Contrary to what he might say, he is still rather heartbroken from Virgil’s mother leaving him.”

Janus nodded. “Of course, but I need you to pull every trick in the book. Guilt tripping, ‘innocent’ questioning, doe eyes, whatever you have to do. Surely you must know what makes your father cave by now. And we can take it as slow as needed, I just need to know before we accidentally break our own hearts, or his.”

Logan stared before sighing. “Alright. Do you have a number I can give him?” Janus scribbled off a number and handed it to him. “Thank you. This will most likely take a few weeks, so don’t get upset if he doesn’t immediately call. If I’m confident that he does not harbor any romantic feelings for you, I will call you at the earliest convenience.”

Janus nodded. “Thank you.” He went to get up, but Logan grabbed him by the wrist, pulling him down to face Logan.

“Oh and one last thing. If you do anything to harm my father, physically, emotionally, you name it, my brother and I will find a way to make your life a living hell. Got it?” Janus nodded, not even showing a hint of shock or fear. “Good.”

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It took two weeks for Janus to get a phone call.

It was the most miserable two weeks of Janus’ life. He hadn’t told Remus of his interaction with Logan, not wanting to get his hopes up. So, he spent two weeks glued to his cellphone, desperately hoping for and dreading the inevitable phone call.

He had been in bed when it came. He shot up and answered the unknown number, putting the call on speakerphone and ignoring Remus’ questioning look. “Hello?”

“...Janus?” Remus jumped at the voice but Janus put a hand up to silence him.

“Hello, Patton. I see Logan sent you my number?” Remus gave him a questioning look and Janus just mouthed ‘later.’

“Yeah, he gave it to me a few days ago.” The line went silent for a second. “Is Remus there?”

“I’m here.” Remus croaked out, apparently still awestruck by the thought that Patton was calling them. “What do you need, Pattycake?”

There was a giggle, and Janus felt his shoulders untense from the sound alone. “Well, the storm’s finally let up, and Logan wants me to come visit him at his school. I was wondering if maybe you wanted to meet up for lunch. Not on a date or anything! I don’t think I’m ready for that yet, but-”

“Patton.” Janus interrupted, and the line went silent. “We would love to have lunch with you. Would you like to invite Logan, and maybe Virgil?”

“...Yeah, that sounds really nice.” There was more silence, but it wasn’t uncomfortable. It was calm, peaceful, relieved. “How about next Tuesday at 2pm? We can meet up at Logan’s school and choose where to go then.”

“Sounds amazing Pattycake!” Remus called out, a new light shining in his eyes. “We’ll see you then.”

“Alright, bye!”

“Goodbye!” They both called out as Patton hung up. Remus turned to Janus, a large smile on his face as he kissed him. And Janus had just as big of a smile as they kissed. They kissed for hope, for new beginnings, and a chance for love.

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Taglist: @bisexualdisaster106 @self-taught-mess @arodynamic-enby @sanderssides-angst @whatishappeningrightnow @idont-freaking-know @cute-and-angsty-princess @artsy-enby09 @girl-who-reads @larrymalecsolangelo

[averykedavra]

alright, you asked. Cue Sanders Sides Swap AU number Five Billion! (original post here)

Morality!Remus:

He is...chaos.

Always has a huge smile on his face.

Changes his outfit every other week, but it always has a lot of flower prints and loud color schemes.

Pure energy.

Owns the room whenever he’s in it.

Has very little self-control and can sometimes come off as rude.

Makes a lot of snap judgments.

Lowkey willing to fuck up anyone who messes with his best buds.

LOVES disney

Pretends to be innocent, but makes a lot of dirty jokes while batting his eyes.

Misleading compliments for days!

“Boy, what an ass...et to your personality, am I right?” is completely him.

He’s actually really afraid of being hurt and takes things really personally.

The breakup hit him hard. He tried his best to move on but he still blamed himself for being Too Much and ruining things.

He’s more self-aware than people give him credit for. He knows sometimes he’s overbearing and hurts his friends but he doesn’t know how to stop.

On the morality side of things, he’s really loose about it. Always asking what Thomas thinks. He’s kind of afraid to be too harsh.

Best friends with Creativity!Logan and Anxiety!Roman. Argues with Logic!Janus a lot.

Intrusive Thoughts!Virgil kind of scares him from a morality perspective. And a personal perspective. He sees a lot of himself in Virgil’s exuberance and wonders if he’s really as rude and insensitive as Virgil is.

As for Deceit!Patton...things are complicated.

Creativity!Logan

Cue engineering montage from Big Hero Six.

Wears a science lab coat, his fingers are always stained with grease, his hair is ruffled from running his fingers through it.

Builds stuff. Loves robots and exploding beakers.

Gets very passionate about everything he creates.

Is lowkey the mechanic of the friendgroup and always fixes broken fridges or washing machines.

If you get him talking, he will NOT shut up. He’ll just jump from tangent to tangent for hours.

Owns a million bajillion books.

Has trouble making a good balance between his friendships and his work

Can come off as cold or disinterested when he’s really just thinking through a problem

Is a huge perfectionist.

Always tries to please everyone and reach their expectations for him. He wants everything to be nice enough for Morality!Remus, safe enough for Roman!Anxiety, and make enough sense for Logic!Janus.

Plus it has to meet his OWN standards, which means it has to be original and flawless and the best it can possibly be. And if it’s bad, then he’s failed as a person and Thomas will lose his job and die in the streets.

He may be a little OCD.

But he tears himself apart trying to meet these standards, sacrificing sleep and food, and it’s only after he finally cracks that his friends catch on.

He’s on good terms with Logic!Janus, although sometimes they argue. He’s best friends with Morality!Remus and is warming to Anxiety!Roman, though they sometimes argue. (Logan argues with a lot of people, he has a temper, especially if he hasn’t slept.)

His relationship with Intrusive Thoughts!Virgil is not great. Virgil represents all the chaos and unhinged energy he tries to avoid, and he feels that if he lets Virgil win, it’ll destroy the rules and boundaries he created. And without the limitations and expectations he’s surrounded in, he doesn’t really know who he is.

Kind of likes Deceit!Patton, though. His jokes are funny.

Anxiety!Roman

Ohhh boy.

Always has two hooked silver swords in his cloak.

‘Cause he’s ready for a fight at the slightest provocation.

Has absolutely almost taken Morality!Remus’ whole face out when he was startled.

Thomas probably has a severe anxiety disorder bc Roman has absolutely no chill.

Thinks up really imaginative scenarios in which Thomas dies or is hated by the entire world.

Insomniac.

Focuses a lot on Thomas being a Terrible Person and Hated By Everyone and Should Just Hide Before He Ruins Everything Else.

He’s accepted now, which is cool, but he’s still kinda insecure about his place in the group.

And before he was accepted? He made Thomas’ life a living nightmare.

Thomas still hasn’t fully recovered from some of the stuff Roman did.

Roman has apologized, and Thomas forgave him, but nobody can forget.

Roman has regular panic attacks. He tries not to let them affect Thomas, but it’s hard. Logic!Janus is the best at calming him down and Morality!Remus is the worst, just because he’s so overwhelming.

Jumps to all of the conclusion. He’s like a freaking frog with all the jumping he does.

Still a huge Disney nerd. Loves all the hero songs and wishes he was a hero, instead of the person born to be the villain.

Lowkey hates himself on a daily basis.

Nickname king.

He’s pretty good friends with Logic!Janus. Morality!Remus would die for him without hesitation and Roman thinks he’s a lot of fun. Him and Creativity!Logan have reached a tentative truce, but Roman always finds himself snapping at Logan. It doesn’t help that he just increases Logan’s perfectionist tendencies.

Thoughts on the Dark Sides are complicated for him. They used to be his best friends.

Now Intrusive Thoughts!Virgil is okay, kind of funny. Deceit!Patton? Can die in a fire for all he cares.

Logic!Janus.

You know that ‘um, actually’ friend? That’s Janus.

He will deliver all the knowledge with the most sass and panache possible.

Always looking for an opportunity to make the others look stupid.

Sarcasm central over here.

Can and will throw down with a bitch.

Self-care is his priority, because it’s logical to take care of yourself. This puts him in direct opposition with the others a lot, but he can handle it.

(No he can’t.)

Gladly plays devil’s advocate at every opportunity.

Debates. For. Days.

Don’t bring up paradoxes or his brain short-circuits.

Makes a million puns with a deadpan expression. No one’s quite sure how to respond to it.

Inside, he is a huge, massive dork. (And not the penis kind, Virgil.)

He really loves Disney, onesies, and fun turns of phrase.

Is really select with what he says. Always poised and ready to roll.

The few times he’s been caught off guard, nobody mentions again.

When he told his name after Morality!Remus did, Thomas laughed, and Janus is still salty about it.

He’s not that concerned with morality, so sometimes his logical suggestions include murder, arson, theft, or blackmail. They’re mostly jokes.

He’s not joking when he actually sides with Deceit!Patton on multiple occasions. Morality!Remus forgives him for it, but Janus thinks he hasn’t actually done anything wrong, and they have yet to actually talk through the growing resentment between them.

He can be a real asshole sometimes, blunt and straightforward. This makes friendship...hard.

But it’s fine. He doesn’t need friends anyway. All he needs is to keep Thomas and the others alive and successful.

He gets listened to--he wouldn’t allow anyone to ignore him--but they discount his advice more often than not.

It’s three against one, after all.

And Janus is the one nobody can stand.

(Even though he counts none of them as friends, he’s actually quite close with Anxiety!Roman and Morality!Remus. Even Creativity!Logan thinks he’s funny.)

As for the Dark Sides? They tolerate him, listen to him (especially Patton) and sometimes he wonders if he’d be better off with them instead.

Intrusive Thoughts!Virgil

Just vibing, let’s be real.

The epitome of Style (tm.) Piercings for days and always rocking killer eyeshadow.

Quotes memes on a daily basis.

Appears on top of the fridge randomly.

Way more relaxed than canon Virgil. Just having fun and living his life.

Loves conspiracies and cold cases, and reminds Thomas of them at one in the morning.

A force of chaos and does whatever he wants.

Can and will drink milk straight from the container, sit on whatever surface he wants, and respond to any complaints with “It do be like that sometimes.”

Societal conventions can go fuck themselves. If he wants to dress in fishnets and commit arson, no one can stop him.

“Vibe check,” he says and knocks Creativity!Logan out with a baseball bat.

Feral goblin child.

Wishes Logan would lighten up and give him more creative control.

His ideas are actually good! Just...not conventional. And kind of creepy sometimes. He likes horror stories.

And he does wreak havoc with intrusive thoughts, mostly the anxious and/or nihilistic kind, so Thomas isn’t inclined to let him stick around.

Deadpan and will slice into peoples’ insecurities with a glare if they try to threaten him.

“Big talk from the guy no one likes,” he says to Logic!Janus after Janus dismantles his claim that reality is an illusion.

“Why don’t you do everyone a favor and think for a fucking second about what you’re saying?” he asks Morality!Remus after Remus condemns Virgil’s ideas as mean.

“Nice to see you again,” he says with a smirk when Anxiety!Roman tries to get him to leave. “But knowing you, you’ll be back soon.”

Basically he tears into anyone who tries to force him into a mold or shut him up.

Except for Creativity!Logan. He’s always begging Logan for more power and Logan always shuts him down. Because he’s afraid of what Virgil means, afraid of how boundless creativity could affect his friends, afraid of the way Virgil can easily smash his carefully constructed standards.

Virgil really just wants the freedom to create what he wants.

And deep down, he kind of wants his brother back.

But he’s got Deceit!Patton, who thinks he’s the best thing since sliced bread, so he’s alright.

Deceit!Patton

Okay so...this is not unsympathetic Patton. But this is maybe morally grey Patton. Fair warning here. I get it if you’re uncomfortable with that. He cares deeply about the people in his life but advocates some harmful coping mechanisms and...yeah.

He’s sunny. He’s bouncy. He’s always smiling and makes the best jokes.

He’s also fucking terrifying.

He’ll silence someone with a smile. He’ll say the most terrible things in the sweetest voice. He’s outwardly kind and supportive of everyone, but there’s steel underneath that.

He can impersonate people, although he doesn’t do it very often. He prefers to simply state his objective and convince Thomas.

And Thomas isn’t used to a Side that is so nice. That takes what he says into account. That doesn’t argue with the others or call anyone names. He loves his main Sides, but Patton makes him feel heard.

So he ends up almost giving Patton way more control than he should have.

‘Cause yeah, Patton is self-preservation. But he takes that in an, um, different direction than Janus would?

He’s the lies you tell yourself to make yourself feel better.

Small stuff. “It’ll be fine. Everything’s okay. It’s not a big problem. It’ll solve itself. I don’t need to study.”

Well, it seems like small stuff. Until it piles up.

Patton creates a facade around Thomas. He doesn’t want to solve problems. He doesn’t even think himself capable of that. Instead, if he hides the problems they have to go away, right?

He’s basically King of Repression.

He’s less about preserving Thomas’ health than preserving Thomas’ happiness.

And preserving happiness isn’t helpful when someone actually needs to work through their feelings.

Patton’s pretty damn terrified of negative emotions. And although he kind of knows that Thomas can’t hide from stuff forever, he’d scraped out a fragile status quo. This stuff gets worse before it gets better, and the kind of painful honesty that Thomas would need to confront this stuff...he’s scared of that.

He doesn’t want Thomas to get hurt. He doesn’t understand that hurt is natural and a part of life. He doesn’t understand that sometimes you need to hurt in order to grow.

He’s deceptively good, kind, and alluring. It’s only after you’ve taken his route that you realize how poisonous his ideas are.

He’s working on being better. And he’s got people inclined to help. Logic!Janus disagrees with him, but enjoys his company. (Patton’s the only one who never insults him.) Creativity!Logan tolerates him. Morality!Remus disagrees with him vocally, though. And Anxiety!Roman would gladly run him through.

Thomas admits that Patton is a valid part of him. However, Patton still needs to understand the difference between protection and suffocation. Repression is bad for you, and right now, so is Patton.

However, everyone’s growing and learning. So maybe Patton has a chance to be...better.

If anyone’s interested, I could write what I think the episodes would be and how they would play out!