#hfc logic/morality/creativity/anxiety

[fanders-fic-awards]

Breaking Point (HFC18)

Summary: Roman has absolutely no intention of ever revealing to his three best friends and housemates, who are now dating, that he’s in love with all of them as well.  Fortunately, things do not go as planned.  An extended metaphor ensues.

Relationships: Roman/Patton/Virgil/Logan

Warnings: brief mention of death

Word count: 1180

Roman heard the metaphorical ice creak beneath his feet the second he walked into the living room.  Patton and Virgil and Logan were already in there, cuddling on the couch sipping hot chocolate while Patton played some video game and the other two offered encouragement and advice.  Clearly they were having couple- well, triad bonding time.  Clearly, Roman should stay out of their way and go right back to his room.  Just like he’d been doing every other time he saw the three of them together in the past few weeks.  The warning signs in his head couldn’t have been any clearer: danger, thin ice! Stay away!

It wasn’t fair, he thought, as he hovered at the edge of the warm aura they always seemed to give off.  It wasn’t fair that they’d all somehow managed to get together during the few days Roman had been away last month.  It wasn’t fair that they kept trying to get him to do things with them anyway, as if they didn’t think it would be unbearably awkward, as if they didn’t realize his avoiding them was for the best.  It wasn’t fair that he found himself moving so carefully in his own home to keep them from noticing how completely, hopelessly in love with all of them he was, and had been for ages.

Yes, he should definitely go back upstairs.  Standing here admiring his crushes from the other side of the room wasn’t going to help anything.  Maybe he would be able to get over them eventually if he stayed away, although his romantic soul said he would more likely keep pining forever and leave a beautiful handwritten letter for them to find after his death, in which he would finally confess his true feelings, and it would all be extremely tragic because they would realize they’d loved him all along now that it was too late, but also if they didn’t feel the same way he wouldn’t be alive to get rejected.  (That last bit was the only reason he hadn’t decided to try writing them a letter before dying.)  He may have gotten slightly lost in the fantasy, which was why he didn’t realize they had noticed him leaning in the doorway until someone called his name.

“Uh… Earth to Roman?”

He jumped and looked up, feeling even less stable than before.

“Are you… feeling alright?”

“You were just staring into space, we got kinda worried!”

Oh, lovely, now he had all of them looking concerned.  He couldn’t very well tell them what he’d been thinking about.  “No need to worry, my dear friends,” he assured.  “Just daydreaming again, you know me!  Struck by inspiration on my way to the kitchen, and I couldn’t very well ignore it, could I?”  He turned in that direction.  It would be safer in the kitchen, less chance of the ground collapsing under him at any moment.  “I’ll just grab a snack and be on my way now.”

“Aw, Ro, why don’t you take a break and join us?”

Oh, come on, not now!  Not when he was already emotional over them… although, to be fair, that was most of the time.  “I can’t,” he pleaded without turning around, hoping Patton wouldn’t push it any further.  He could feel the cracks beginning to grow under his feet; he needed to get out of here.  “I’m- simply too busy at the moment.”

“At the moment?”  Out of the corner of his eye, Roman could see that Virgil was standing now.  “How about every time we’ve tried to do anything with you for the past month?  Did you think we weren’t gonna notice?”

“I didn’t- it’s not on purpose,” he protested weakly.

“It’s fairly obvious that you have been avoiding us ever since…”  Logan’s eyes narrowed as he looked over his shoulder at Roman, and the cracks spread.  “Ever since the three of us entered into a relationship.”

Virgil stepped forward as if to defend the other two from him, and oh, Roman was not prepared for how much that hurt.  “Do you have a problem with-“

“No!  No, I, of course not!”  He finally turned at that, hands up in a placating gesture.

“Then why?”  Patton sounded quite upset, and he felt horrible for causing it.  “We miss you, Roman, please just tell us what’s wrong so we can fix it!”

“It’s nothing!” he insisted.  “Really!  It’s just that- you’re all together,” he made a pushing-together motion with both hands to illustrate their current position, “and I don’t see anything wrong with it, I swear, it’s fine, but you- you don’t really want me in that, do you, we all know I would just get in the way of all your relationshippy stuff and it would be weird, so I don’t understand why you insist on constantly asking me to fourth-wheel you and making this so much harder than it needs to be!”  His voice broke, but he wasn’t going to cry, the conversation was going badly enough as it was.  He didn’t dare look any of them in the face.  Would that be enough to convince them, that burst of unplanned honesty?  Would they see, now, why they needed to let him stay away?

“…Oh, Roman.”

He opened his eyes- when had he closed his eyes?  And since when were they standing right in front of him?  Could he even move at this point without setting off a chain reaction that would ruin everything, or was he already doomed?  …Was he breathing right now?

Patton made an aborted move to touch his face.  Roman, feeling a bit dazed, made an equally aborted move to lean toward him, to let it happen.  Patton hesitated a moment and then closed the gap, brushing a tear away with his thumb before it could fall.  “Oh, Roman,” he said again, softly.  “You love us, don’t you?”

Crack.

The sound may not have been real, but to Roman it was like a gunshot.  It was the sound of the world finally, inevitably, shattering around him.  He squeezed his eyes shut again as he fell, bracing himself.  They flew open again in shock when rather than the freezing waters of rejection, he landed in the arms of three warm, non-metaphorical people.

“Wh…?”

“You’re an idiot,” Virgil muttered from his right side, hugging him tightly.

“Certainly not very observant,” agreed Logan from his left.

“We love you too, silly,” sighed a fondly exasperated Patton, who now had Roman’s face cradled in both hands.  “We’ve been trying to get a chance to talk to you about it and you just wouldn’t let us!”

“I- I thought…”  He blinked, shaking his head, and then laughed.  “I really am an idiot.”

“Yup.  But at least you’re our idiot.”

“Indeed.”

“We love you,” Patton said again, bumping their foreheads together for emphasis.  A bit late he added, “Be nice, you two.”

Roman thought- although he knew better than to say it out loud- that he could get used to being called an idiot, as long as it came with a side of being theirs.

by: @do-your-socks-have-holes-in-them

[fanders-fic-awards]

Ice Breaker (HFC18)

Summary: Roman has decided to take the sides out to the imagination, but things don’t always go as planned

Relationships: Patton/Roman/Logan/Virgil

Warnings: Hypothermia, Cold

Word count: 1110

Virgil’s POV

Roman had wanted to take them to the imagination all week, saying there was something he wanted to show them. Virgil was nervous about going, but went downstairs nonetheless, and they headed to the door to the imagination.

Once they were inside, Logan, Patton and Virgil all gasped in shock and awe. It was beautiful. The snow was glittering as if it was made of crystals, and it covered everything. There was a little path with less snow on it, and you could see prints of animals that had come through on it. There were woods on either side of it with tall trees and shrubbery all around that was covered in the snow so it looked almost like a blanket.

As Roman led them, they could see a little cabin up ahead with a frozen lake next to it. The cabin was made of a beautiful wood with gold accents added to it. From the window, you could see a beautiful fireplace with black brick and a royal blue mantel piece.

“This is amazing, Ro!” Patton said, mesmerized by the house and snow. They didn’t get much (if any) snow in Florida, so this was amazing to see this much snow in one place.

“I do have to say, you really outdid yourself.” Logan said, admiring the detail that Roman had put into this. Everything from the wood, to the lake, to their surroundings like the woods and path had the little quirks that everything had in the real world.

“Not bad, Princey.” Virgil said, still feeling anxious about the whole thing, but a tiny bit calmer now.

I’m glad you all like it. There are a couple things we could do. I think, though, that we should go ice skating. I think all of you would enjoy it.

“I’m cool with that,” Patton said, hearing Logan groan.

“That would be adequate.” Logan replied, seeming undeterred by the whole thing, though you could see a small smile forming on his lips.

“If you’re sure it’s safe.” Virgil replied, more nervous about this than anything else they could have done. Him? On ice? With sharp blades? In the middle of nowhere? There were so many things that could go wrong. Someone could fall and cut themselves badly. They could fall through the ice. Knowing Roman and knowing he wouldn’t do anything halfway, there would be freezing cold water under there. What would they do then? How would they get whoever fell through out? There were so many what ifs, but he trusted Roman. He just hoped that hope would be enough for everything to be fine.

A Time-skip Is Used..

Virgil’s POV

It turns out that ice skating was fine. At first he was a little nervous, but with the encouragement of the others, he was actually having fun.

Roman, of course, was amazing at skating. He had amazing footwork, and could do amazing tricks. Virgil had been worrying over almost all of them thinking about how he might fall and hurt himself. Stil, itl was pretty good.

Patton was having fun just making figure eights, but had gone in the cabin, saying that he was going to make some cookies and hot chocolate.

Logan, too, eventually got off the ice, and went into the cabin, coming out a little bit later with a book.

Virgil, howerer, decided to stay on the ice. With all the tricks Roman had been doing, Virgil was worried that the ice might crack underneath him (and maybe he liked skating, too, but not like he was going to tell the other sides that).

Turns out that Virgil’s fears were correct, though, when he noticed a tiny crack in the ice under Roman. It was small enough that if you weren’t paying attention to it, you wouldn’t see it, but large enough to break if someone went over it.

And that’s exactly what Roman was about to do. He was skating fast enough that he knew Roman wouldn’t be able to stop in time if Virgil told him, so, making a quick decision, he skated toward Roman, and pushed him back as the ice fell through under him, and he went under the ice.

The first thing Virgil felt, was that it was freezing. Then, there were hands on him, and he could feel them pulling, but their fingers slipped, and he sunk deeper into the water.

Virgil started becoming warmer, which confused him because he could have sworn he was cold a couple minutes ago. Then there were hands grabbing onto him.

He felt himself getting pulled upwards, but could barely feel the hands on him with how numb his skin felt. He started falling asleep, but felt strong arms give his body a strong shake, and his eyes fluttered open, not remembering when he closed them.

Virgil felt himself getting picked up, and the others moving him gently. He felt someone trying to take off his hoodie, and he grabbed onto it the best he could, though his fingers felt numb.

“Let go, Virge. It will only make you colder,” someone said, using a soft voice. Knowing it was one of his boyfriends, he let go. He wondered why taking it off would make him cold, but he let them take his clothes off and put him in some fuzzy pajamas. They then took him to the couch in front of the fireplace, putting blankets around him.

He felt one of them get under the blankets next to him, and put him on their lap, which Virgil didn’t protest to because of the warmth the other person was giving off.

After a couple of minutes, the Logan and Patton came in.Patton held a mug out to Virgil and Virgil tried to reach for it, but Roman (whose lap he was sitting in) gently pushed his hands down with one of his own, and took the cup with the other. Roman then gently moved, and put the cup up to his lips. Virgil tried to reach for it again, but Roman just put his hands down again and held the cup to his mouth. Roman tilt the cup up a bit and let Virgil drink from it, who was enjoying the slight burn in his throat.

After a while, the mug was empty, and Virgil was a good bit warmer. He snuggled up into Roman’s chest, and felt an arm on his back. Logan, after making sure that Virgil was warm enough to rest, started reading the book in his hand, brushing his fingers through Virgil’s hair. Virgil’s eyes slowly started to slip shut, and, he let unconsciousness drag him under.

by: @aphriteblack

[fanders-fic-awards]

Mom Jokes

Hi guys! I saw a post about fanders fic awards and I couldn’t resist! This is a Logicality and Prinxiety oneshot, and is a fluff work. Enjoy!

It all started with Roman.

Roman came running down the stairs on a wintry day in his sweater, finding Logan reading at the kitchen table, Patton making hot cocoa, and Virgil sitting on top of the fridge. This didn’t phase Roman, who was used to seeing this every morning. 

Roman slid to a stop, a feet made more difficult by his socks (I’m sorry I couldn’t help it). As he was about to greet the others, a black and purple blur leapt onto his back. Roman swung around Virgil, who had jumped off the fridge, and set him down in front of him.

“Good morning, Hot Topic!” Roman said, giving Virgil a quick peck before grabbing his red and gold mug, containing cocoa. He took a sip.

“This cocoa is delightful, Patton!” Roman exclaimed, smiling at the fatherly side, who shrugged and smiled.

“I know how to please my kiddos, of course!” Patton bubbled, carrying dark blue and light blue mugs to the table. He flicked the book Logan was reading.

“Lo, the others are here!” Patton informed the intelligent side.

Logan looked up from his book. “Oh. Terribly sorry. Salutations, Roman.”

“Morning, nerd,” Roman quipped.

“Please tell me you aren’t going to drag me somewhere else in public today. We’ve been out every day this week,” Virgil asked. “Sorry,” he tacked on, “I haven’t had coffee, so I’m whiny. And have no filter.”

Patton laughed. “We actually are staying in today, my dark strange son! You aren’t the only one who’s tired.”

“I am quite grateful as well. We don’t have to shapeshift today,” Logan added on.

“Good news! I have an idea of what we could do today!” Roman exclaimed.

“Oh no,” Virgil said, “Roman, the last time you said that, I ended up with a broken arm and a new scar.”

Roman chuckled nervously. “Don’t worry, I wasn’t thinking anything like last time. I was thinking we could stay in and play board games, or watch movies.”

Patton smiled excitedly. “Ooh, can we watch The Princess Bride?”

“Patton-” Logan started, but Patton used such effective puppy eyes, Logan stopped and sighed, smiling. “Of coure we can watch that.”

Virgil and Roman quietly cooed in the background as Patton squealed and Logan smiled, almost somewhat foolishly.

“Hey Logan, cat-lover got your tongue?”

Logan flushed bright red at Virgil’s comment.

“Virgil, you know better than making puns in front of Patton! He will react at high frequencies!”

“Sure thing, mom,” Virgil said with a smirk.

Logan froze. Patton was issuing a high-pitched noise that quickly turned into all out squealing. 

“Oh my goodness, Virgil made a mom joke! Or, a dad joke… about moms!”

Roman glanced at Virgil with a knowing look. “This is why I love you, you know.”

Virgil grinned chaotically. “I know.”

Logan regained his composure. He turned to Virgil.

“You’re grounded.”

Virgil and Roman doubled over laughing.

Patton grinned cluelessly. “Kinda funny. I’m Dad and Logan is Mom!” Patton continued smiling for a moment before his expression shifted to realization. “Wait-”

Logan looked defeated. “I give up. Virgil wins.”

Patton looked at Logan hopefully. “Was Virgil implying what I think he was implying?”

Logan covered his face with his hands, but you could still see his red blush. “Yes, I suppose he was.”

Patton smiled excitedly. “Is he correct?”

Logan sighed. “Yes.”

Patton squealed yet again, and Logan risked a glance. Logan turned his head to be met with a kiss from Patton. Logan turned an even deeper red, though he didn’t pull away.

Patton pulled away a moment later when Roman and Virgil started whistling, a goofy grin on his face.

“Good thing too, ‘cause I’ve wanted to do that for a while now.”

At that Logan smiled, before putting an arm around Patton and steering him towards the living room.

“I think it’s time for a movie.”

The four of them sat down, turned on Patton’s requested film, drank hot cocoa, and talked for the rest of the day.