#i forget which one asked. i think it was either james or logan. probably james

[britneyshakespeare]

james and logan can still backflip

[onlydreamofmysoul]

The Prince and The Pornstars

Chapter Four

Chapter four here we go! This chapter was weird because I knew exactly what I wanted for all the chapters after this one, but the issue was getting through this first! However then I had a brainwave and yay here we are!

Happy New Year my lovely, lovely people!!!

Credit for characters of course to the incomparable @lumosinlove

Finn

“I’m telling you June, I think I’m going crazy.”

June looked up at him skeptically over her coffee. “So you have a new job.”

“Yes.”’

“Working for pornstars.”

“Uh huh.”

“And you’re attracted to two of them.”

“So it would seem.”

“Who also happen to be a couple.”

“That would be correct.”

June tipped her head towards him. “I’ve gotta say Finn, when I said you needed to get out there, I did not see this coming.”

Finn nearly spat out a mouthful of his own caffeine hit. “It’s not like I did it on purpose!” He groaned, that aching feeling in his chest even more prominent now that he was actually acknowledging it. “And what am I supposed to do? It’s not like I can ask them out I mean for start that’s probably sexual harassment or something, like you know what I do for them.”

“So why not wait until you’re a proper makeup artist and you know, not doing that anymore.”

Finn bit his lip helplessly. “Because I want them now.” He groaned, dragging out the last word pathetically. “But it’s not like I could even be with them either way - they’re with each other!” He met June’s eyes. “And it’s not like they’re just messing around June, they’re properly in love. You should see the way they look at each other.”

“The way you want them to look at you?”

Finn flushed. “You know what? We’re moving on from me. How’s that girl you’ve been pining after for months? What’s her name again? Oh yes, Heather.” Finn teased, knowing exactly what her name was. He had heard about very little except the woman since she and June had met. 

The little bell above the door chimed and Finn looked up out of habit, ever curious to the goings on in the world. June was saying something back to him, undoubtedly sarcastic, undoubtedly evasive, but Finn could no longer hear her. No, instead all he could focus on was the fact that Leo and Logan had just walked in. 

He gripped June’s arm and she started at him confused but he still wasn’t looking at them. Leo had gone straight to the counter to order but Logan was looking around for a table and spotted them. Finn smiled weakly and June turned around to see what was going on. 

Logan seemed frozen for a minute, but gathered himself and walked over. “Hey Finn.”

“Logan, hi.”

June’s eyebrows rose comically. “Logan, really? Interesting.” She turned to Logan and held out her hand. “I’m June, it’s lovely to meet you.”

Logan shook her hand, blinking. “Yeah, you too.”

Finn gestured to the empty chairs around them. “Do you wanna join us?”

Logan bit his lip, hesitant. “Are you sure? We wouldn’t want to disturb.”

June jumped in before Finn could say anything. “Of course not, grab a seat.”

Logan did so, sliding in next to them and Finn couldn’t help but laugh at Leo’s face when he finally arrived and realised who they had run into. Finn introduced him to June and they chatted for a bit, about everything and nothing at all.

“So, we go onto set and literally everyone except James is stark naked, right?” Leo was saying, in stitches laughing. “And James is like ‘wait, what’s going on?’ except no one ever acknowledges it, we just pretend nothing is happening.”

“All because he tried, and failed to prank you one time?” June asked, tears of laughter forming in her eyes. 

Leo nodded earnestly, “We take these things very seriously.”

“Attends attends,” Logan added, still wheezing a little, “You’re forgetting the best part.”

“Oh my god, what’s the best part?”

“After lunch, James came back naked as the day he was born, and we had all put our clothes back on.”

The table broke into a fresh round of laughter, the patrons of the coffee shop looking at them disdainfully.

“Even Lily?” Finn asked. 

“Oh, especially Lily.” Leo was saying. “They may be married, but he tried to trick her too. She was going to take him down.” They all chuckled again and June checked her phone as she finished her second round of coffee.

“I think we’d all better get going before we’re all late for work.”

They gathered up and Finn agreed to walk with Leo and Finn. June was going in the other direction so when they made it outside the door he kissed her on the cheek goodbye.

“Text me later, yeah?” She said, giving him a quick half-hug. 

“Yeah of course, love you.”

“Love you too! Have a good day!”

“So… June seems great.” Leo hedged after they had walked a bit, keeping a relatively fast pace to ensure they made it on time. 

“Oh yeah, she’s the best.” Finn agreed, and it was true, he and June had been best friends for years. 

“We’re having a little party next week.” Logan said. “If you wanted to come? You could bring June too of course.”

Finn couldn’t help but feel a burst of confusion at the ‘of course’ but he figured that was for Future Finn to work out. For now, he had an invitation to accept. 

“Yeah, I’d love to! I mean, I’ll have to check with June of course, but I’m in. Thanks guys.”

They arrived at their building, walking straight in. The guy at the desk greeted them hello, even knowing Finn’s name at this point. They walked through the lobby and in the double doors, waving to everyone they came across. Leo and Logan both went to their respective dressing rooms and Finn kept going until he reached the makeup department. For the first time since he’d been here, Celeste wasn’t there before him, so he set to work organising the stockroom a little until she arrived and told him what needs to go where. And then of course, what sets and with whom he’d be working with that day. 

He organised peacefully for a minute before his mind inevitably went to the same place it seemed to always go nowadays. Which was to say he was most certainly not thinking about Leo and Logan.

Nope. Not at all.

Not one single bit.

(Okay maybe a little.)

(A little meaning a whole lot).

He sighed and tilted his head back, staring up at the fluorescent lights for a minute. It was like he had said to June - he was not going to do this. He was not going to start crushing on his co-workers. He was not going to start crushing on his co-workers who were in a committed relationship with each other. 

Never mind the whole fact that Finn worked for them. He couldn’t just start liking them this way. It felt morally wrong.

(But it also felt so, so right. Emotions like this - they could make you believe in fate).

He came out of the stockroom to find Celeste bustling around in a hurry. 

“Well, well, well,” Finn teased, “Look who finally decided to show up.”

“Désolée,” Celeste said, beginning to apologise before she turned around and realised Finn was only playing with her. “Oh you are wicked O’Hara. I could have you fired you know.”

“You could,” Finn mused, pushing himself off the door frame where he had been leaning. “But you won’t. Now, what do you need me to do?”

Finn headed down the corridor, delivering costumes, sniggering when he handed in James’ one, much to the other man’s confusion, then he continued making his rounds. He gave Logan and Noelle identical maid outfits (for different films of course. Leo wasn’t the only one Logan didn’t work with) and currently, neither of them were the wiser. Finn could have told them... But he figured it would be far more entertaining for them to figure out on their own. 

It was going to be busy today; he was working with Logan first, then Leo and he would be going back and forth between the two sets as the other ‘rookie’, Ollie was out sick today. Everyone here had great fun with ‘O’Hara and ‘O. Halla’, the two fluffers. He went to Logan’s set, smiling at everyone before going directly to Logan, there would be no chit-chat today, it was straight to business as Finn was needed elsewhere. He was glad they had all been able to talk this morning instead, he would have missed his little updates on their lives.

“Back again, are we?” Logan teased, raising his eyebrow as he lay back on the futon that would be starring in today's filming. He untied his robe and tucked an arm underneath his head, looking at Finn through lowered lashes. Cocky. 

Finn gave him a look that made sure Logan knew with no uncertainty that Finn was aware of his every movement, before looking him right in the eye as he took Logan’s cock in his hand. Logan gasped and Finn steadied his hips with his free hand as he stroked him quickly. One thing he would never not love about Logan was how incredibly responsive he was. Every single thing Finn did was reflected in some way. The stutter of his hips when he circled his thumb over the head. The intake of breath when Finn’s fingers would accidently brush that damned tattoo. The flash in those green eyes when Finn would bite his own lip. 

Logan was hard and ready in no time and Finn rose, throwing him a playful wink before waltzing out of the room. 

“He’s all yours, boys.” He called to the producers and laughed a little as he left the room. He had made a vow to himself before he went on set today - he would not fucking blush. It would seem that so far, he had succeeded. 

Leo was always a little harder to judge than Logan, but Finn was learning quickly. He liked when Finn’s hand might slip lower and tease his balls. He wasn’t as affected by a little scrape of Finn’s nails. Finn was getting good though, he was learning their bodies, almost as well as he knew his own. Leo always almost came undone when Finn would twist his wrist, hand curled around his tip. Finn had to control himself when he made that discovery. That was what always did it for him too.

Sometimes at night, Finn's mind would slip to them. Then he would feel guilty and think about something else, anything else. Porn was ruined for him now, although he had to admit, it had never done all that much for him in the first place. He always ended up thinking about Leo and Logan again, but never from what he saw on set. No, Finn’s active imagination would slip to what they might be like by themselves, what they might be like with Finn. His orgasms would always come with the crashing reality that his dreams would never come to be. 

“Me and Lo, it’s for us. It’s not something anyone else gets to see.”

Finn sighed and gritted his jaw as he pulled his phone out of his pocket and sent a quick text to June.

Fancy going to a party next week?

Would this happen to be a pornstar party?

… Maybe 

Yeah I’m in.

Oh, and Finn?

Yeah?

You’re so fucked.

Finn rested his head back on the wall behind him. Yeah, yeah he was.

[jerepars]

Back again lol. Even though the writing just hasn’t been the best this season, I’m not really that mad about the way they’ve portrayed Jeresa. Just looking at this logically, I feel that they gave us 5x02 as our Jeresa episode early on and there really was a lot of sweet moments. Now, inevitably we had to have angst in between. But it’s been constantly cemented that James is in love with Teresa, and strongly implied that she loves him too. They can’t just build that up and leave it unresolved. Plus, with TV shows in general, a couple being together early on in the series just leaves it open for unnecessary conflict and the ship just loses its intrigue. If they give us the Jeresa ending we’re hoping for then it makes sense to have not got them together any episode earlier than the final 2. And despite everything, I think the writers have been a hell of a lot better than others in keeping their ship alive and not causing a irredeemable issue between them. I probably shouldn’t defend them before seeing the next two episodes, but I am hopeful. All that being said, there most definitely should have been more scenes and dialogue between them. We should’ve had a Tony moment between them (I’m so mad about this, especially since the writers acted like it was such a pivotal part of the season and then only showed Pote’s ‘grief’). I’m very sorry for rambling, just wanted to hear your take.

Oh, yes hello, back again, I see. Your ask made me sigh because I think it opens me up to be honest and critical of this season’s writing, and that kind of opinion may not always be favored around here, and also because it requires a response of essay length. But I’ll do it for you, anon, I will. Okay. So you want my take on the portrayal of Jeresa in season 5. Here we go. After the jump:

Let me preempt this by saying the show isn’t too serious (try and tell me this is still a serious show after the kerfuffle that season 5 has been), so you shouldn’t take this too seriously either. I have an opinion but I’m just…me. I encourage everyone to stick to their guns about what they feel about QOTS; what you like about it, what you love about it, what gets you excited, what you think has been done well, what is worthy of praise, etc. etc. etc. I go in pretty hard on the show in the next several (LOL, yes, really) paragraphs. But I am in no way the ultimate authority on all things QOTS.

I don’t think Jeresa would have unnecessary conflict and I don’t think the good ship Jeresa would lose its intrigue. In lieu of conflict, we’ve gotten…*crickets* nothing. No conversations of real value, no meaningful exchange of ideas, no arguments, nothing. If anything, the conflict between Teresa and James that is necessary had been absent. In seasons 1-3, there were always disagreements between Teresa and James. There was never a point reached where it created too much conflict, or unnecessary conflict. It created tension, which is like the very essence of Jeresa, and it showed the dynamic they have that made so many of us fall hard for Jeresa as our ship, as our OTP. I don’t think making them a couple or having them together early on in the season would create unnecessary conflict. I think it could’ve created different conflict than what we’ve seen before, and wouldn’t that be a beautiful thing, to have seen them evolve and deal with each other in ways we haven’t seen before?

So, related to what I said about different conflict, as far as intrigue goes…I don’t think presenting Jeresa as a couple or in a relationship would ever make them flat or boring. When I think back to season 3, when we got Jeresa in 3x05 and 3x09, I wish we’d been offered the chance to see them succeed and see what happened with them if they tried. Like I said, it’d be a different kind of conflict, a different kind of challenge for them to face and have to face together. That sounds so opposite of lacking intrigue to me, anon. That’s a side of Jeresa I would have loved to see.

You’ve pointed out that, in general, on TV shows, getting a couple together too early usually means doom and gloom and failure for them. One of my favorite shows ever was Veronica Mars, the first two seasons especially. When the showrunner, Rob Thomas, has talked about the first kiss Logan and Veronica have, he refers to it as being earned. For QOTS, and for Jeresa, I really felt that when they shared their first kiss in 3x05. It took so much and they went through so much to get to that moment. It was earned. So, with that idea—of the earned kiss, of the earned get together, of the earned relationship—in mind, to me, there is no point in season 5 that would have been too early for Jeresa.

Talking about TV shows and how they usually go in general leads me to my next point: as a viewer, is that what I want and is that what I should expect, to be given more of what’s typical? Maybe the writers and critics and people much smarter than me will tell me it’s my fault, I’m the fool, for wanting to critically engage in media that’s not meant to be consumed that way. Maybe I’m just supposed to accept and enjoy and be happy with what I’m given. No one claimed this wasn’t going to be typical. So okay. It’s on me. It’s my bad. But here’s the thing. If I’m supposed to accept and enjoy and love this as it is…well, give me something to love. I’m not asking for a revolution or anything life-changing here, just something I can appreciate (and this season, in my opinion, has really lacked things that I can hold on to and appreciate). So as for typical TV…I’m not down with merely accepting that because things usually go a certain way, that’s how they always have to go.

Why do Jeresa have to fail if they got together earlier in the season? Why is it so out of the realm of possibility that they might succeed together? Are they so emotionally stunted, do they lack so much compassion and understanding of each other that it would be impossible for them to listen and move forward together? What if they could discuss their issues, tell each other how they feel, stop hiding, and try? Who says there wouldn’t be angst and tension between them as they try to work through their issues? What if they’re actually supposed to be together and it would make them stronger—individually and as a couple?

Now, forget everything I just said. LOL. Let’s say we have to go by TV in general and typical TV rules. Let’s assume if Jeresa got together early on, then we’d see them struggle and fall apart and break up. Fine. Okay.

Here’s how Jeresa could have played out after the first two episodes:

5x03 banging honeymoon phase, probably

5x04 arguments and frustration with each other as T embraces being the white queen

5x05 J finds out about T’s coke usage and has to walk away from the relationship because he can’t stand to be complicit and stand idly by while she destroys herself

5x06 classic Jeresa angst and tension

5x07 KG’s death leads to T’s breaking point and J is there to support her

5x08 honesty hour, where it’s made clear that these two mean so much to one another and they’re running out of time to let each other know that, so they tell each other

5x09 one last united mission + they hatch the plan to get out and be free + a farewell with the promise and intent to see each other in another life

5x10 reunion in another life

Are these all headcanons? Of course they’re headcanons. Of course I would never expect the show to go exactly how I thought it would or with my own ideas. My point is that if they would’ve gotten together early on and we’d been given a glimpse of what that would be like, even if they failed, it doesn’t mean it would’ve been impossible for them to ever find themselves together again before season’s end.

“There’s not enough time,” the writers said. “It’s an action packed season,” the writers said. Okay. Why? There was enough time to spend on backstory of minor insignificant characters. There was enough time to introduce characters, tell us a bit about them, only to see them dead by the end of the episode. There was enough time to focus on Kote’s story, over multiple episodes, with not just a baby plot but a kidnapping one as well. So why? Why was there no time for Jeresa? Forget about them getting together and kissing and sex. If that was what it was (and it was) they wanted us to not have, then fine. Some of my favorite Jeresa moments were in the first two seasons, when Jeresa getting together was very much not a thing, when tension was high. So if it was just the portrayal of them not being together, if we still got the scenes of tension and them having no choice but to communicate, that would be completely fine. Like I said, I know I’m never going to get exactly what I want, my headcanons are mine, so that’s okay. Oh. But…no. Oh no. There was not even enough time for Jeresa to have more than short, throwaway, blink-and-you’ll-miss it conversations? Well. It’s the writers’ decision. They wanted it that way.

“It’s a Teresa-centric season,” Dailyn claimed. Like I’ve said before, James is a big part of Teresa’s journey and story. If you’re going to have a Teresa-centric season, it’s hard to accomplish that without shedding more light on James and Jeresa. This isn’t a Teresa-centric season. This has become the Kote show. Teresa is the main character but her journey has been pushed aside, diminished, and downplayed in order to make way for Kote ultrasounds and Pote grunting and Kelly Anne thinking “positive” and hopeful that Marcel will come to a party at the safe house. Instead of getting conversations that would offer insight into Teresa’s relationships with those in her family, we got an extended deep dive into the most chemistry-lacking relationship we’ve ever seen on the show. Well. It’s the writers’ decision. They wanted it that way.

“It’s Queen of the South, not Jeresa of the South,” the writers will insist. If by that they mean it’s Kote of the South. Imagine for a second that it actually was a Teresa-centric season but they were adamant about keeping James in this minor capacity. Okay. It would still be different than it is now because we’d be in tune with Teresa. We would’ve gotten a glimpse into her thought process. Was this not, at some point, meant to be a story about a strong woman? I can even extend that question to Kelly Anne. Was this not, at some point, meant to be a story about strong women? Then why do we keep seeing them make asinine decisions? Why are their most extreme actions in reaction to what the men have done?

Moreover, if this show is about the people in the cartel, in Teresa’s inner circle, rather than just the Kote side plot becoming the main plot, there’s no way this is the James we would be getting. James, our beloved reluctant assassin…who we know nothing about. He can’t even get a backstory on a show on which he is supposedly one of the main characters. Five minutes—five seconds—couldn’t even be spared on James and how he came to be who he is, how he got where he is. But Isidro Navarro? By all means, I need to hear his life story. Who’s Isidro Navarro, you ask? Right. Exactly. Apparently we don’t deserve backstory and explanation and conversation and introspection from our protagonists. But a character who is there for ten minutes or less on a single episode and will never be heard from again in any significant manner? Of course he needs his screen time. Well. It’s the writers’ decision. They wanted it that way.

“This is not a romance show,” the makers of season 5 said. Honestly? Fuck that noise. Fuck that sentiment. Fuck that ignorance. When has Jeresa ever been about romance? Where do the people who make this show get off saying something like that as if we are so stupid we don’t know that? A romance story and a love story are not the same thing. Jeresa is love. God forbid Jeresa ever experience love within a successful relationship. God forbid Teresa and James ever become mature enough to use love as strength rather than weakness. But pile on all the Kote. Focus on them and emphasize how Teresa and James can barely even look at each other. Well. It’s the writers’ decision. They wanted it that way.

So now here we are, on the cusp of 5x09. We got a spoiler in the last promo trailer. We know, after 7 episodes since their last conversation that actually meant something, after the writers missed the mark and didn’t have Jeresa interact in a way that was significant and necessary over the course of the season, that there is at least one kiss. They might even have a conversation. They might even share more than one kiss that leads to more (but also, don’t be surprised if we get a mere few seconds of a kiss and nothing more before fade to black). This is going to make us so happy because finally, finally, they’re giving us what we wanted. And then what? What does it mean if those things are true? Is everything forgiven? Is the instant gratification of seeing our ship sail for a scene or two enough? Does it make up for the character assassination of the characters we love? If we somehow get the ending we want, or at least one close to it, is it even believable anymore? Is what has been broken all season so easily fixed?

Listen, I already know the counter argument. I’m going to be told I’m crazy, that Teresa has to be on her own, that it wouldn’t be interesting, that it would diminish the payoff for Teresa and Jeresa in the end. I get it. Typical TV rules, right? We have to go with what people know, what they’re used to. But what have we gotten, really, to preserve these ‘rules’ for TV in general? Teresa has been dumbed down and is now lacking a lot of the intuition and street smarts she had before. She makes bad decision after bad decision and she doesn’t see what’s coming. The actions she takes are in reaction to those bad decisions. James hates so much of what he’s been made to do but for some reason he keeps going along and carrying out Teresa’s orders; he’ll just stew over it quietly in a corner without saying anything. Teresa and James don’t talk to each other, at least not about anything important, and when they do talk, they give each other heart eyes but never scratch the surface—how could they when they talk for like 10 seconds at a time? So. Has this been a good portrayal of Jeresa? You tell me. If it’s fine with everyone else, then I guess it’s fine. I’m probably the wrong person to ask.

[darkesthourrpg]

LOGAN HASTINGS (Rebecca Rittenhouse) is looking for their TWIN connection. Please message KOURTNEY for more information regarding this connection. The connection is TAKEN.

Name of requested character:

Leonardo “Leo” Hastings.

You can change it as long as the name stays an L. Leo is just what I used in the bio.

Age Range:

31

Age turned: 28-29

Species:

While this character was originally a witch they have turned. In my head I was thinking Vampire, but I’m pretty down with any species.

Wanted Faceclaims:

Dacre Montgomery, Chace Crawford, Will Tudor, Alex Roe, Scott Eastwood, William Moseley, Hunter Parrish, Alexander Ludwig, Max Thieriot, Daniel Sharman, Theo James, Richard Madden or UTP

All I ask is they vaguely kinda look like Rebecca Rittenhouse if it’s possible.

Connection Type:

Twin Brother

Background:

Okay so this character does share a father with mine, here is what you need to know about Evil Witch Daddy: Please note this is like the sparks note version of this all.

Richard was married to the oldest child’s mother, but marriage life wasn’t really his thing so he had multiple affairs. Which in turn spawned a total of 6 children; all six are reference in age order below. Along the way Richard had started dabbling in dark magic, which he realized he could use to his benefit. Well when he was passed over for supreme due to the ancestors realizing he was too far gone, he completely lost his shit. He got the idea to take out the ancestors and become his own supreme but of black magic. He had plans to start a dark coven with his children, since he was aware of 5 of them. While he waited and grew crazier he always kept his plan in the back of his head. So Richard got the bright idea to make a sacrifice of his oldest and the child he loved the most so he could obtain the power. 5 of the children were present: Lucian, Logan, Leo, Lorelai, and Liliana (Nia). Richard had them all present in cause he would need to complete the circle. Which as he grabbed the kids things felt off, Leo screamed and Logan had made run for it, but Richard had grabbed them and put them to sleep. Thankfully a little boy (Callum) saw and picked up Logan’s necklace, told the party about Richard. Which during the sacrifice he almost went through with it until the moms and the coven showed up right before he could finish and saved the child. After that Richard was stripped of magic and expected to be put to death for his crimes, but he snuck out before he was suppose to be put to death. Instead of just leaving quietly he stole his youngest child and skipped town.

Rather than look for the child The Coven covered it up along with the moms who feared if they angered Richard that he’d return and harm one of the other children or take them too. So Richard got away with the baby and the mother of the child was deemed crazy as everyone pretended they had no clue what she was talking about. The mother eventually ended up leaving the coven, she was never spoke about again.

Meanwhile the other 3 moms: The Oldest (Lucian), The Perfectionist (Lorelai), and Leo/Logan band together to protect their children. They became neighbors, were each others support system as they tried to give their children the most normal life after the craziness that had happened. The coven sweep all of their dad’s antics under the rug completely and it’s basically some weird fever dream to them at this point. The moms constantly stuck by the story of the dad just took off, there’s never been anymore detail about him given in fear that one of the children would want to know him/locate him.

Please note despite the dad’s actions being sweep under the rug all of the children were heavily watched by coven/their mothers to see if they’d show any signs of being unstable like the father. They would have also been heavily dosed to forget that it ever happened.

If you want more about this night you can always pull up Logan’s bio which I went into more detail, or I can gladly provide more detail

The Oldest (Lucian) *** This is the sibling the dad tried to kill.

Logan (Twin)(My character) *** Current Supreme of the coven

Leo (Twin) *** The only one who is no longer a witch because they were turned.

The Unknown Sibling (Jaylin Sanchez-Wilson) *** This is a lifelong friend of the siblings. They have no idea that she is their sister, it will be revealed later on in game.

The Perfectionist (Lorleai) *** She was the one the coven picked and expected to take over after the previous supreme died. She’s the one who follows every rule and is down right a perfectionist.

The Stolen (Liliana aka Nia) *** This is the child the dad took off with and the moms/coven pretend never existed. With the trauma of their childhood they probably have no clue about this sibling.

For this character:

They are the twin brother of Logan Hastings, they are 5 minutes younger than her and she will never let them forget it.

They were deemed the Sun/Moon by their mother, they even have necklaces that they were gifted as children by their mother. Leo was always the light while, Logan was the moon.

Logan lost her necklace as a child during the night the dad went nuts, which it was never found but there have been similar replacements. There is only one that magically bonds to Leo’s tho and it’s the one that is missing.

During childhood Logan was always up at night, even more so when they got their powers. Mostly because she wanted to use hers. Where I always picture Leo as more a morning person, up the minute the sun is out.

With them probably being polar opposites and Leo so bright, he was probably pretty popular in High School and probably played a sport like Soccer, Basketball, or Football.

He had amazing grades so I did have him going to NYU in the bio, but it can be changed. Logan always struggled at schooling where it was probably easy for him.

Even when she was away they probably talked every single day, she constantly had him out visiting her.

Now I did allude to this in the bio for Logan, but Logan met a Charles character, who always asked tons of questions about Logan and etc. When she mentioned wanting to stay in Washington he 100% lost their shit and even attacked her as he screamed about how special she was. Logan’s apartment was also broken into and all the photos were taken. About a week later Leo was turned. Before you ask, yes Charles is actually Richard and yes he is nuts and paid someone to turn his son. Knowing that it would force Logan to return.

Which she did immediately, she spent 2 years with Leo trying to help him settle into his new life. She probably did helicopter mom him with their actual mom, but they both wanted to make sure he was okay.

They’re the reason she pushes to change witch law and to allow interspecies dating among witches. She watched how their friends and the coven treated him and she was honestly pretty livid.

I would think they probably took loosing their witch powers as almost a blessing? The witch community is low key toxic and they would 100% see their siblings falling apart all the fucking time. Logan even left because of how toxic the community is.

Would now be currently living their best fucking life away from the coven. If you want them to struggle with their new powers go for it, but I can also see them embracing them.

Probably was also the siblings who cared the least about magic growing up because their other siblings were so damn crazy about it.

Usually when an all out war breaks out among the other three they sit back and watch with their popcorn. If the older brother can’t break it up then they do get involved as the peacemaker.

*** While this is not a requirement I could see Leo being apart of the LGBTQ+ community, whatever you would like his sexuality to be it’s completely up to you and Logan supports it either way.

*** Depending on how he is played I could also see him having a kid. Like it was deff an accident but he found out about it or had it (depending on the species) after he turned.

[batskulldrag]

Phoenix by Fallout Boy

chapter nine. no oc’s background dudes are either youtubers or characters from 2017′s dream daddy a dad dating simulator. abuse mention trigger warnings, there will be one warning in every chapter

Chapter Nine: Who We Are by Imagine Dragons. I know it’s not about fire, but it always made me think about the heroes around a bonfire singing. So, there.

Patton sat in the back seat with Virgil’s head on his lap. He had settled down for the most part.

“I’m sorry I had a meltdown in there.” Virgil said for what was now the sixth time.

“It’s ok.” Patton rubbed his back. “You had all that bottled up for a while.”

“But I still made a scene like a dumb crying baby.”

“Well, was the thrift store an ideal place for that? No. But, like I said you had that bottled up for a while.”

“I made an idiot out of myself. And I embarrassed you three.”

“I’m not embarrassed. Sometimes you just get hit in the right nerve and it all comes out. That’s why you shouldn’t repress things. If you do you can’t control when it breaks free.”

“I’m really sorry.”

“I understand. After Mom died, I fought off my feelings for a long time. Then I went to get groceries and ended up sobbing over a box of cornflakes. I just kinda fell to my knees in the middle of the aisle and cried my eyes out, holding a box of corn flakes.”

“That makes me shiver just to hear it.”

“Well, it’s hard to control when or how we feel things. Or when we feel things loudly.”

“Or when we break down like a dumb crying baby. Again, might I add.”

“Well, we can’t exactly press undo. So, we just have to move on.”

“I guess you want details.” Virgil pulled his hoodie over his face.

“Not if you don’t want to talk about it.” Patton kept rubbing his back. “But how do know what your dad was up to?”

“I snooped around his stuff while he wasn’t home. And I’m not as stupid as he thinks I am, so I knew what everything meant.”

“That might have been dangerous to do kiddo.”

“He didn’t catch me. Thank God. But yeah, that probably could have been how my entire being would die.”

“Do you think that’s why he started that fire?”

“That certainly seems like something you’d wanna burn.”

“Well, we’ll make an appointment so you can tell the police what you know.”

“They won’t believe me.”

“You don’t know that.”

“No, I guess not. I can’t prove anything though.”

“Let’s not worry about that right now.”

“Is it true? That I can stay?” Virgil looked up at him.

“Yes. We want you to stay with us and we’re going to do anything we can to make sure of that.”

“Why? I mean, that sounds awesome. But why? What do you care?”

“Well, first of all, you’re family. And to me at least that means something. Secondly, even if you weren’t, I’d still wanna help you. Because no one deserves to be treated the way my brother treated you.”

Virgil sat up and wiped his face with his sleeve.

“Do you wanna keep going or have you had enough fun for today?” Patton reached over and pet his head.

“We can keep going.” Virgil pushed his head into Patton’s hand like a kitten. “I’ve been trapped indoors for like two weeks now, and you guys have been isolated since I showed up.”

“Ok, we’ll tell the others when they come back out here” Patton scratched the kiddo’s head lightly.

“I am sorry about that scene I caused back there.”

“I don’t think anyone noticed.” Patton smiled.  

“Don’t lie to me.” Virgil sighed.

Logan and Roman came in with only the sound of the car doors closing. They both paused for a minute.

“Are you alright Virgil?” Logan was the first to break the silence.

“Yeah,” He looked at the floor. “I’m sorry about causing a scene.”

“I just told everyone that your leg started swelling up,” Roman said with a shrug. “Very painful experience.”

“Did they buy it?” Virgil winced.

Roman shrugged.

“I am sorry about making a scene.” Virgil wrapped his arms around himself.

“Well, hopefully this is the start of you being able to process everything.” Logan adjusted his glasses. “So, would you like to continue our excursion, or are you ready to go home?”

“I’m ok to keep going.” Virgil sighed. “I usually try to limit my public humiliation to once per day.”

“Sometimes you just need to have your dramatic breakdown and cause a scene.” Roman said calmly.

Virgil squinted skeptically at the back of Roman’s seat and sneered. Patton had to repress a laugh at this display of disgust.

“Virgil.” Logan broke the silence as they started driving. “Roman tells me that you’re quite the avid reader. Do you have any books that you prefer?”

“Uhh…” Virgil looked at Patton in confusion. “I like Henry James. His take on ghosts was always pretty cool.”

“He also had novel, at the time, ideals about woman’s place in society.”

“Yeah, that too.”

“Which ghost story is your favorite?” Patton perked up. Maybe if they kept him talking, he wouldn’t have another attack.

“Well, he has this one about a couple of older ladies who are kind of haunted by one of their dead relatives. But they really see him as a buddy more than a threat.”

“Aww. That’s sweet.”

#             #             #

               Logan and Roman caught on to Patton’s idea and both made an effort to keep Virgil talking. Talking about anything really, anything but Payton. Logan had the rules of chess reiterated to him and now knew every strategy that Virgil was aware of. Roman asked about every book he could think of and requested a synopsis of most titles. He had attended a year’s worth of book clubs in one hour. And Patton had brought up music, he learned about a lot of emo bands. He didn’t know that many emo bands existed.

               “And their guitarist is actually married to Gerard Way.” Virgil happily finished a monologue as he looked at socks. “They’re still together and everything.” He looked off to the side. “Glad to see that not everything of his breaks up.”

               “That’s nice.” Patton smiled. He had no clue what this kid was talking about, but he was so excited.        

  “I know you probably don’t care.” Virgil looked at the ground. “But I’m glad you were listening.”

Is this a naturally occurring hug moment?

Patton risked it and stepped in for a hug. Virgil saw him, shrugged and stepped into his arms.

“So, you’re just like this then?” Virgil was muffled by Patton’s shoulder.

“Yes, prepare to get so many hugs.”

“I can be ok with that.” He fell into his arms and almost went limp.

Oh, you poor anxious little touch starved baby.

“I really can’t wrap my head around the idea that you’re my dad’s brother.” Virgil laughed half-heartedly as he slid out of the hug.

“We don’t have to talk about him.” Patton said softly.

Virgil smiled at him in response. It was his usual tiny smile with his lips only parted about a centimeter. His stunning eyes, which normally looked aged beyond his years lit up slightly. All in all, Virgil looked pleasantly surprised. And it was adorable.

Patton beamed back at him.

“So, who’s your favorite band?” Patton went on, afraid of another opportunity for his baby to have an attack.

“You can’t just ask me to choose like that.” Virgil placed a hand on his heart and feigned hurt. “That’s like asking someone what their favorite dog is.”

“Oh.” Patton played along. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have asked you that.”

“It’s ok.” Virgil tossed a package of black socks into their basket. “You didn’t know.”

“You know, you never did tell me what foods you like the best.”

“No, I guess not.” He looked at the floor. “I haven’t really had much of an appetite these last couple of months.”

“Well, we can work on that.” Patton grabbed his shoulder. “Did you like any of the casseroles that we’re drowning in?”

“That eggplant thing was pretty good. And I like a couple of the tuna ones.”

“Do you like pasta?” Patton pointed at him.

“Of course.”

“How about desserts? Everyone likes desserts.”

“You’re gonna get mad at this…” Virgil looked at the floor. “But I wasn’t really allowed to have desserts. You know because of calories and sugar and cavities. And bullshit.”

While Patton processed that body blow, Logan showed up and added a container of multi vitamins to their haul. He looked between Patton and Virgil.

“Patton are you alright?” He sounded like he was talking to a bomb.

“I’m ok.”

Logan and Virgil exchanged terrified looks. Logan’s because he had seen Patton mad before and it was haunting, Virgil’s because he had no idea what was going on, but in his line of logic when an adult got mad, he got hit.

“Virgil, sweetie.” Patton rubbed his temples. “I promise I won’t ask you anything else after this. And I won’t get upset with you no matter what you say. But I have to know, are you just not eating out of stress or are there other reasons for this?”

“I just started getting sick whenever I ate.” Virgil wrapped his arms around himself to hold himself together. “I guess it was anxiety. I don’t think there were other reasons.”

“Ok. I’m sorry I had to ask you that.” He sighed. “And like I promised, we won’t talk about it anymore.”

“Did you miss me?” Roman announced dramatically.

“Who are you?” Virgil squinted at him.

Roman made a series of offended squeaks and held one hand against his heart while flailing his casted arm in front of him. Logan looked on, his eyes glimmering and a smiled forming across his face. A soft laugh escaped his mouth.

“Well,” Roman laid the indignation on thick. “I was going to buy you a dress for prom but forget it.”

“I can’t get a date anyway.” Virgil shrugged.

“The boys are probably intimidated by your looks.” Roman continued. “I think you should try asking one of them out.”

“Oh no.” Logan suddenly broke in, pinching the bridge of his nose.

“What? Prom isn’t until high school, if you think I’m too young to date you can say so.”

“It’s not you Virgil.” Logan sighed. “One of our neighbors is here as well.”

“Oh no, who?” Roman looked around frantically.

“Howdy neighbors.” As if on cue the voice of Brian rattled them.

Brian approached and Virgil immediately stepped closer to Patton. Seems he feared the sheer amount of man that approached. Which was odd, Brian’s bear like appearance normally didn’t intimidate people. But of course, Virgil was, well Virgil.  

“Salutations.” Roman said blankly.

“Hi Brian.” Patton forced a smile.

“Hi.” Logan didn’t even look at him.

“You three out shopping for more lawn flamingos?” Brian teased.

“No.” Logan said without any cadence.

“We are actually helping our nephew rebuild his wardrobe after a fire.” Roman with his usual tendency to act like he was reciting lines on stage. “You’ve probably heard about our taking him in.”

“I did hear that. Most of us are wondering when we get to meet the new member.” Brian led them into a false sense of security. “You two almost ended up being the last couple to take the plunge and start a family.” He gestured to the slim figure clinging to Patton’s arm. “This must be Virgil.”

“Well,” Patton ruffled the kiddo’s hair. “It’d be kind of weird if he were a stranger.”

“Hi.” Virgil said quietly, as he pulled away from Patton’s side. “Nice to meet you.”

“Virgil was in chess club and on the debate team back in his old school.” Roman announced contently. “And he does advanced reading.”

“Really.” Brian looked impressed. “Maybe he’d like to play Daisy sometime, she’s running out of people who can match her.”

“I am not going to be a part of this, and neither are you.” Logan picked up their basket and put his arm around Virgil. “Let’s finish off the list, they can catch up.”

#             #             #  

               “I’m sorry for dragging you away like that.” He explained, now out of earshot. “But I do not want to engage in a one-upping competition. Especially about our children.”

               “That’s what that was turning into, huh?” Virgil looked back in that direction.

               “Brian is a notorious one-upper. And I can’t stand him.” He sighed. “And if I’m honest I think he’s putting too much pressure on his daughter. I know he means well and he proud of her, but the constant bragging is going to set her standards to impossible levels of up-keep. Overachievers like her are difficult to deal with. Too much input, positive or negative can be catastrophic. Positive reinforcement is great, but the way he does it makes me feel like Daisy is going to associate achievement with affection and burn herself out.”

               Virgil looked at him impressed.

               “And I’m definitely not putting you through that.” Logan looked away. “I’m not completely dense. I know you weren’t in any of those things because you wanted to be.”

               “Were your parents like that too?” Virgil’s voice was soft and hesitant.

               “People with Asperger’s are occasionally incredibly intelligent, so yes I was an overachiever when I was in school. My parents enjoyed the vicarious limelight, so yes, they put a good deal of pressure on me.” He clenched his fists. “I was diagnosed when I was eight. Sometimes I still dream about that moment, their reactions. You would have thought somebody died, or that I had murdered someone. I didn’t understand why they were mad at me.”

“I’m sorry.”

“It’s alright. I’m far better off without their influence in my life.”

“I almost won a spelling bee.” Virgil added. “I got all the way to state.”

“That’s very impressive, you should be proud.” Logan smiled.

“I lost.”

“You still made it to state championships, that’s quite an achievement.”

“Dad grabbed my arm and he jerked me, and he dislocated my elbow. It hurt.”

Logan knelt and hugged him.

“My parents broke and dislocated more bones than I care to recall. And I say this, not because I’m trying to compete. But so that you know I mean it when I say I understand.”

“I know we’re not competing.” Virgil hugged him back. “You win because your parents aren’t in jail.”

“Now, how did you puzzle that out?” Logan pulled back to look at him.

“You said you were done with them, but you didn’t sound very satisfied.”

“You could tell all that from my tone of voice?”

“No, I was eavesdropping on you and Uncle Patton when you told him to stop sending them stuff.” Virgil smiled.

“Patton doesn’t let things go easily.” Logan scoffed. “And he doesn’t forgive them.”

“Do you?”

“Never think you should forgive someone who isn’t sorry.” He said flatly.

“Even family?”

“Familial bonds shouldn’t be a bargaining chip to force someone to tolerate abuse. Nothing justifies that. I thought that my parents had a right to do what they did because of how I am, I’m sure Payton gave you excuses. But those are just hollow manipulative tactics. You don’t owe anything to someone who mistreats you. All they deserve is a swift kick out of your life.”  

“Ok.” Virgil seemed relieved to have heard that. “So, is there some sort of contest on who is gonna go the longest without having kids in your neighborhood. Because I think we just proved that not everyone should be a parent.”  

“That mostly consists of people asking Patton and me when we’re going to adopt. Or asking Jenna and Julian when they’re going to have kids. Or bothering Lily about when she’s going to settle down and start a family. And I suppose now that Dan and Phil are both out, they’re going to be harassed too.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know. I don’t understand their investment in all of our lives.”

“Sounds like a fun place. I can’t wait to meet everyone.” Virgil was completely deadpan.

“It’s not as bad as it seems.” He reassured.

Patton and Roman caught up to them, Roman looked ecstatic.

“I told Brian about how I rescued Virgil!” Roman clapped happily. “He’ll never one-up that one.”

“It was pretty cool.” Virgil tossed a package of boxer briefs into the basket. “He broke through the window with his fist, like a superhero or something.”

Patton was silent, he had an annoyed look on his face.

“You ok Uncle Patton?”

“I wouldn’t mind the fact that I once knocked over our charcoal grill and set our yard on fire so much if Brian would stop bringing it up.” Patton said sternly. “Just for that, he’s getting a book of grilling tips for Christmas.”

“Not again.” Logan sighed. “How many would that make? Five?”

“He’s right.” Roman put a hand on Logan’s shoulder. “Get him a book on gardening instead.”

“Just get him a yard gnome and say, ‘I saw this and thought of you’ that’ll bother him.” Virgil suggested from the floor, not looking up from the vitamin bottle he was reading.

“Aww,” Patton said giddily. “He takes after me.”

“By the way Roman,” Logan turned to his roommate. “I noticed that you introduced Virgil as our nephew. As in all three of ours.”

“Well, calculator watch,” Roman began. “My brother is a maniac. Patton’s brother is the worst. So, why not pretend that Padre and I are brothers, that way we can get good siblings. And I babysat Virgil a lot towards the end, and I wrote at least seven essays in character as Patton and no one noticed. So, I think I know him pretty well.”

“You wrote those?” Patton was shocked and confused. “I thought I just sleep wrote them. Like how I kept doing the dishes in my sleep.”

“Well, you did kinda sleep write them.” Roman shrugged timidly. “I just made them legible.”

“Are there any other parts of my college life that are a lie?”

“I bought groceries with my own money and put the money your mother gave me back into her account.” Logan offered. “Which was more than fair because I was living with you rent free.”

“And I bought a bottle of laundry detergent and kept topping off yours so you wouldn’t run out. I went through about twenty bottles doing this.” Roman submitted sheepishly.

“That’s why the soap was always half full? I thought I was losing my mind!”

“And whenever I cooked, I put ground up moths in Payton’s food.” Logan didn’t even look at him.

“Why?!”

“I just really don’t like your brother.”

This entire discussion took place over the sound of Virgil laughing. Once they got to the moth part, he completely lost it and was on the floor in a ball, laughing so hard he was crying.

“That’s…” Virgil wheezed, wiping tears with his sleeve. “That’s just evil. Where did you get the moths?”

“Ok, Logan,” Patton pointed at him. “Your parents are getting a Christmas card this year.”

“You said you’d stop.”

“That was before I found out you fed Payton moths for months. Is that why you always offered to cook?”

“If we’re ok with poisoning Payton,” Roman held up his hand. “Then I used to spit in his water bottle whenever he left it unattended.”

Patton sat down on the floor with his head in his hands. Virgil continued laughing. And Logan and Roman just stood there guiltily. Virgil’s laughter died down and turned to coughing and hiccupping as he tried to get his breath back. At least one of them was having fun. Patton pulled him into his lap like he was a stuffed animal.

“How did we get here?” Patton whimpered.

“I don’t know, but I am thrilled that I was a part of it.” Virgil beamed at him.

“Might I add that he left his baby unattended more than he left his water bottle.” Roman tried to defend himself. “And was next to useless when it came to literally everything that was going on. Some nights he didn’t even come home.”

“In his defense,” Patton buried his face in Virgil’s shoulder. “If I could have just walked away and not have had to see what happened, I would have. Maybe he just couldn’t take it.”

“What about Virgil?” Roman raised an eyebrow. “He left you to raise his baby and tend to your dying mother.”

Patton kissed Virgil on the top on his head and sunk back down.

“I can’t defend that. I just, I understand why he didn’t want to be around then. Mom would have liked to see him though.”

“I’ll be an advocate really quick,” Virgil added, looking at the floor. “At least Payton kept me. He didn’t leave the country and dump me off with an abusive father.”

“That doesn’t matter anymore either.” Patton wrapped his arms around him tightly. “Because we actually want you. And we want you to stay with us.”

“So, I can stay?” Virgil blinked in disbelief.

“We’re suing your father for custody.” Logan said quickly. “And not to get your hopes up, but we have a pretty solid case. I think our chances are good.”

Virgil quietly leaned back against Patton.

“So, are we just gonna have all our big moments in the middle of a store?” He asked blankly.                              

[supermallorygalaxy]

the truth about the moon

soulmate au where they can hear each other’s thoughts with analogical! this is paired with @loganberry-jam‘s piece, they wrote this in virgil’s pov and also is responsible for all the dialogue between virge and lo!!

also! blood and injury tw although it’s not awfully gory or anything!

☆

“Good lord, what is all this yelling for?”

Virgil’s voice in their head was not uncommon, considering both their ages and soulmate status. They paid no mind to it and continued talking to Thomas about lighting design.

Again; “Well. That’s quite a bit of blood. I didn’t even know I had so much..”

Well, that particular sentence was definitely not common. 

“Virgil?”

No response, and, as if to top it off, almost an absence of him. He wasn’t ignoring them- he was physically incapable of responding.

Logan thinks his name again, with a bit more urgency. Thomas notices their sudden detachment from the conversation and taps them on the arm.

“Logan? You okay? You got a little spacey on me.”

Eyes coming back into focus, their face takes a turn for worry. (Which, if you know Logan, is quite a turn, considering they aren’t particularly fond of showing too much emotion.)

“It’s Virgil, he said something about blood, he’s not responding, I don’t know..”

“Virgil, what do you mean blood?”

“Are you alright?”

“Virgil??”

Thomas sets his clipboard on his desk and takes Logan’s out of their arms as well. 

“Hey, I bet Virge is fine. He’s doing set with the guys right? Let’s just go down and check on them.” Thomas, though not sounding too confident, pulled Logan’s arm a bit and took them both down from the booth and towards the scene shop. On the way, Logan calls Virgil on their phone, hoping that at the very least, maybe somebody who’s with him would pick up. No such luck.

When the two of them get to the scene shop, nobody else is there. Brandon, Grant, and, most importantly, Virgil, are all no longer working. Logan frantically looks at Thomas for a second.

"Hey, don't freak out, I bet they're-"

"Don't tell me not to freak out!" They snap. "Virgil's injured somewhere and he isn't- or is unable to respond! Plus Grant and Brandon are-"

"Jesus christ, my hand fucking hurts, good god, can't they give me some drugs or something- "

Logan stops. "It's Virgil."

“Drugs? What would you need drugs for?”

“Well is he okay??” Thomas asks, and Logan shushes him.

“And what do you mean, your hand hurts? Oh goodness, this has to do with the blood you mentioned earlier, doesn’t it?”

A beat before Virgil thought back, “God, they must’ve been so worried, just a mention of a shitton of blood and then nothing, can’t even imagine-”

They roll their eyes and take a breath. There’s no need for Virgil to know that they had a bit of a freak-out moment. 

“Yes, it was very worrisome, even more so when you wouldn’t answer my calls. What the hell happened?”

“Just a... bit of an incident with the table saw.”

“Table saw!?” They exclaim both out loud and in their head. Thomas jumps and looks over to the big saw on the countertop.

Virgil keeps going. “Calm down, it’s got that cool thing where it senses warmth or flesh or whatever, it forces itself to turn off. Breaks a bunch of the parts inside, but- oh god, James is gonna be pissed, those parts aren’t cheap-”

Logan chuckles. “For all I know he’s chopped his hand off and he’s worried about James, this man..”

“Virge, I don’t think the saw’s doing is what we need to be doing right now.”

“Chopped his hand off!? What happened to him??”

“I’m figuring it out!”

Although Thomas isn’t thrilled to have one of his students get snappy at him, he is thrilled to see Logan calmed down and Virgil alright enough to be awake and communicating.

“How bad did it… cut you?”

“No idea. I passed out after seeing all the blood. Never got a good look at it. I could ask the paramedic next to me.”

An external sigh of relief from Virgil’s partner. “Oh good, you’re in an ambulance, at least you’re getting treatment. Yes, ask them, and ask which hospital you’re going to.”

“Will do, love.”

Logan looks up at Thomas. 

“Well??”

They take a deep breath. “He’s asking the paramedic in the ambulance where he’s headed and how bad it is. Informed me he passed out from seeing all the blood. From what I gathered he cut himself with the table saw, but it turned off so it shouldn’t be too bad.”

“Alright, good. I’m going to call Virgil’s parents, and yours, assuming you’re headed towards wherever Virgil is?”

“Yes. And thank you, for, well… trying to calm me down. I usually don’t freak out like that.”

Thomas just chuckles and pulls Logan in for a hug. They’re still for a moment, but reluctantly hug him back.

“Don’t apologize for having feelings, Lo.” They both let go of each other. “And please, keep me updated on Virgil. I wanna know what happened and how he’s doing later.”

“Dammit, he blames himself.”

“Huh?”

“Grant. I’ll explain on the way. We’re going to B. Major Children’s.”

“Of course. Also, due to what Virgil just said, I believe Grant is in the ambulance with him. He’s headed for B. Major Children’s.”

“Good to hear. I won’t keep you here any longer, just please remember to message me!” Thomas tells them as they start walking away.

“I’ll remember! See you tomorrow.”

Logan starts jogging to their car. “I’m on my way. What did the paramedic say?”

“Nothing awful. Just a cut on my left index finger. Half a centimeter, she said.”

“Okay, good. You had me worried you’d lost it or something.” 

“Nope. It lives to do homework another day.”

They laugh a little, making it to their car. Only their boyfriend would make a crack at schoolwork while riding in an ambulance.

Then, feebly: “Does it still hurt?”

There really was no good answer to this question. If it was yes, well, that’s awful. Logan doesn’t want Virgil in pain. If it was no, well. That could be worse because it entails so many possible medical issues-

“Like a mother trucker. Hurts like a buttcheek on a stick.”

They have to stop turning the ignition to laugh. Maybe there was a good answer to their question.

“You’re insufferable,” Logan thinks fondly.

“You know you love meeeeee-”

Logan smiles before starting the car. 

“Yes, yes I do.” 

“I’m gonna ask Grant what’s eating him. See you in the ER?”

“See you in the ER,” they tell their boyfriend as they pull out of their parking spot.

☆

Getting to the hospital? Simple. Driving's a breeze, and Logan had put on a podcast about sea life to distract themselves from worrying. Honestly, if they hadn't been driving to see their injured boyfriend, it would've been an enjoyable time.

However, attempting to get to Virgil once they made it there? Very frustrating. This was Logan's second time talking to the receptionist, and again, she had refused to tell Logan where Virgil was, or, at the very least, where to wait for Virgil.

"What stupid bureaucracy, the hell do you mean, I “have to wait", my boyfriend got his damn hand caught in a table saw!!"

"Excuse me, I'll be right back to you," the receptionist says as she takes a call off her desk phone. Logan huffs.

"I think that counts as urgent enough, I’m practically family at this point, which doesn’t even matter to them because either you’re blood related, married, or complete strangers by their standards-"

"You’re rambling again.”

“I’m aware,” Logan thinks, sighing. “These damn receptionists won’t tell me where you are, because you’re in the ER and I guess I’m not close enough related enough to you to go back and see you-”

“Lo..”

“-Which is stupid because some people don’t have blood relatives that can or want to come visit them-”

“Logan…”

“-Which means some poor patients here are probably all alone because they won’t let their friends go and see them-”

“Logan Sanders listen to me or I’ll come find you myself!”

Sheepishly, they stop their tangent.

“..that would be preferable.”

“It was a threat, nerd, and anyways I can’t even move, they’re sewing it shut.”

“Did they at least give you Dilaudid or lidocaine?”

“I’m guessing those are painkillers?”

“Yes, and Dilaudid is highly addictive, which is why I hope they didn’t give you that and just used a nerve blocker like lidocaine-”

Virgil calls his partner back to focus. “Lo.”

“Sorry.”

“They did numb it with something, not sure what. Either way it’s numb, but i can still kinda feel them messing around over there. I am choosing not to look so I dont pass out again.”

“Yes, don’t do that,” They say, rolling their eyes. “Radio silence from my boyfriend isn’t exactly a pleasurable experience.”

“Doesn’t exactly sound like it.”

The receptionist finishes up her call and looks up at Logan again as she hangs up.

“One second, the receptionist is talking to me again.”

“I’ll be here.”

Sighing, she puts the phone down. 

“Sorry for the wait. Virgil will be in room 257. Before you can go wait for him to be done with surgery, I’ll need to get you a visitor sticker. Please wait while I get your picture and name.

“Thank you, Ma’am.”

“She finally told me where you were. I’m on my way up.”

“Oh good. I missed you at lunch today.”

Logan looks at the small clip camera on the desk, just trying to get all these hospital policies over with.

“I heard.”

“Oh yeah, I forget you can hear me sometimes.”

“How could I forget? Remember that one thought from last week?”

“Oh my goddddd let it GO-”

“Name?”

“Logan Sanders,” They take the sticker from the receptionist and start walking in Virgil’s direction.

“‘Teenage meetant neenja teetles’?? What does that even mean?” They try their best not to laugh in public in an attempt to look sane.

“Shhhh don’t try and figure out my shitpost brain.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it.” They glance at a map and get on an elevator. “Are the doctors done sewing you up?”

“Yep, it’s all pretty clean and bandaged. They told me not to move it too much but jokes on them, I’m left handed, so catch me wiping my ass with my fucked up hand.”

Logan turns down the hallway they’ve been looking for after getting off the elevator.

“One, ew. Two, do not do that.”

“You can’t stop me.”

“But what if I could?” They say, walking into Virgil’s room. Although they’re both teasing, Logan’s beyond relieved to see their boyfriend.

“You wouldn’t," Virgil says, grinning. “You know you’d just watch me be stupid and shake your head at my ridiculousness.”

Logan dropped their backpack under a chair next to the hospital bed.

“It’s almost as if you’re speaking from experience,” they joke as they sit on Virgil’s bed.

“Me? Being serially stupid? Never.”

Logan laughed, smiling at him. They were glad to see him, and to see him still acting like himself. It was hard for them not to be nervous though. 

“... Are you okay though? Like, getting your finger lacerated by a table saw probably isn’t that fun.”

Virgil just shrugs. “I mean, nah, it’s not that great, but hey, I get to miss school for a day or two.”

“Are they keeping you overnight?”

“Yeah, just for a night, to make sure the saw didn’t have any bad garbage that got in my finger.”

Although they were surprised, they didn’t mind Virgil staying if it would keep him safe and prevent his finger from getting injured any further.

“Do you want me to go and bring you anything?” Logan asks, grabbing Virgil’s not sliced-but-sewed up hand and holding it. They both grin at each other.

“I’ve already texted Patton about what happened and he’s gonna bring me… food. He didn’t specify what, but he yelled about bringing me sustenance.”

“Sounds about right. Are you sure you don’t need anything?”

He rolls his eyes. “Honestly, Lo? I just want you to be here with me.”

Logan sighs, smiling. “That I can do.”

-

When Patton comes in later with a tupperware full of leftovers for Virgil, humming as he sees both Logan and Virgil asleep, he smiles at the two. Deciding against waking them, he kisses them both on the head and leaves. Afterwards, Virgil argues he definitely heard Patton humming, and he definitely knew what song it was.

“I just know it’s a love song!” he says.

Logan just chuckles, saying, “Of course it’s a love song, it’s Patton.”

“I’m telling the truth!” 

“I believe you,” They tell their boyfriend, laughing. “I’d believe you if you told me the moon was flat.”

Virgil just looks at Logan, and then starts laughing too. “Good thing I only tell the truth about the moon, then.”

[the-arg0naut]

A Song For Every Moon

soulmate auuu where they hear the thoughts in their soulmate’s head! anyways i wrote this in collaboration with @you-call-those-glasses and!! yes!!! (also i forgot to post this for like three weeks shhhshshh)

also blood tw! its not big described but its there so Yes

~~~~~~~~~~~

Well this certainly isn’t ideal, now is it?

It all happened so fast. He was on set crew for the school’s various shows, he always was. So it was expected that he knew his way around the various machines used for set, yeah? Usually, yes. But today was just not Virgil’s day at all.

First, he had to step out of class first block due to a panic attack caused by some stupid freshmen who thought purple was a “girl’s color,” (Who gives a shit, it’s just a color. Last I checked, colors don’t have penises or vags.) Then, Logan had to take lunch to their math class to make up a test they missed so he had to sit alone-because god forbid he go up and actually talk to new people (They’re all looking at me, I’m all alone and they’re staring at me and calling me a loser). 

And then he gets to set construction, the one place he truly does feel safe, and secure, and comfortable.

And Grant just had to yell something from across the shop to him, when he knew he wouldn’t be able to hear him with the saw running.

He had turned to try and make out what he was saying. Kept feeding the wood into the machine. Didn’t even notice when his hand went just a little bit too far past the guard.

Honestly, he didn’t feel anything. Not initially, at least. Just a bit of weird tingling in his left index finger, something warm yet cool at the same time over the rest of his hand. A bit of a loud noise when the machine forced itself off, but he had earplugs in anyways, so it made no real difference. 

He only realized something was wrong when Grant started screaming at him, yelling something, good lord what’s all this yelling for-

Well. That’s quite a bit of blood. I didn’t even know I had so mu...

He barely had looked at his hand, barely had time to think a single thought before passing out. Blood and all really isn’t so cool when it’s cascading down your hand and onto the piece of plywood you were previously trying to cut.

He faded in and out of consciousness for a little while. Caught glimpses of things. Grant and Brandon carrying him out of the building. Flashing lights. Latex gloves. 

He came to in the ambulance, two EMTs and Grant beside him. He registered that his hand hurt, jesus christ my fucking hand hurts, good god, can’t they give me some drugs or something-

Drugs? What would you need drugs for? And what do you mean, your hand hurts? Oh goodness, this has to do with the blood you mentioned earlier, doesn’t it? 

Whoops. No one had thought to contact Logan, his soulmate. They must’ve heard him when he saw his hand, and promptly passed out. God, they must’ve been so worried, just a mention of a shitton of blood and then nothing, can’t even imagine-

Yes, it was very worrisome, and even more so when you wouldn’t answer my phone calls. What the hell happened?

Just a… bit of an incident with the table saw.

Table saw?!

Calm down, it’s got that cool thing where if it senses, like, warmth or flesh or whatever, it forces itself to turn off. Breaks a bunch of the parts inside, but- oh god, James is gonna be pissed, those parts aren’t cheap-

Virge, I don’t think how the saw’s doing is what we need to be worrying about right now. How bad did it… cut you?

No idea. I passed out after seeing all the blood. I never got a good look at it. I could ask the paramedic next to me.

Oh good, you’re in an ambulance, at least you’re getting treatment. Yes, ask them, and then ask which hospital you’re going to.

Will do, love.

He turned to Grant and the paramedic currently busying herself with a bag beside his head.

“Hey, Grant. Hey, uhhh, I don’t know your name, paramedic person,”

“My name is Annabelle.”

“Cool, hi Annabelle. So, uh, how bad’s the damage?”

“Well, we’ll be able to better tell exactly how much got lacerated when we get to the hospital, but from just getting it cleaned up, it doesn’t look too bad. A cut maybe half a centimeter in on your left index finger.”

“Cool, I won’t lose my finger. Where are we heading, by the way?”

“Since your friend here let us know that you’re still 16, and legally a minor, we’re headed to B. Major Children’s Hospital.”

“Grant, how dare you snitch on me.”

Grant only tentatively chuckled. Dammit, he blames himself.

Huh?

Grant. I’ll explain once we get there. We’re going to B. Major Children’s.

I’m on my way. What did the paramedic say?

Nothing awful. Just a cut on my left index finger. Half a centimeter, she said.

Okay, good. You had me worried that you’d lost it or something.

Nope. It lives to do homework another day.

Does it still hurt?

Like a mother trucker. Hurts like a buttcheek on a stick.

You’re insufferable.

You know you love meee.

Yes, yes I do.

I’m gonna ask Grant what’s eating him. See you in the ER?

See you in the ER.

“Hey Grant?”

He startled a little bit, having been staring off into space. “Yeah V?”

“You alright?”

He looked away again. “Yeah. I’m fine. You’re the one who nearly lost his finger.”

Virgil laughed. “Oh, hush, you heard the paramedic. It’ll be fine.”

“Yeah…”

Virgil sat up some, looking at him. “Hey, dude, it wasn’t your fault. I was the one who turned away from it.”

Grant continued avoiding his eyes. “Well, yeah, but I was the one who distracted you. If I hadn’t tried talking to you with the saw on…”

“Bro, it’s alright. I don’t blame you. Just think of it as me testing out the saw’s safety feature. We know it works!”

He finally laughed some. “Yeah, but I’d rather that feature not have to be used.”

“So does the school. Oooo, and James. Imagine, the one day you’re not there, one of the kids gets his finger nicked by the table saw. I’d hate to be him right now.”

“I’d hate to be him any day. I mean, the guy drives a Volkswagen Beetle. A damn Beetle!”

“Man, imagine. Tragic.”

“Truly tragic.”

~~~

They pulled in to the ER not long after, Virgil awake, talking and laughing. The doctors got him in his room and began assessing it. Virgil looked away, not particularly wanting to pass out again. He tuned back into his/Logan’s thoughts (it was hard to tell the difference sometimes), only to hear a stream of frustration from his partner.

...stupid bureaucracy, the hell do you mean, “I have to wait,” my boyfriend got his damn hand caught in a table saw! I think that counts as urgent enough, and I’m practically family at this point, which doesn’t even matter to them because either you’re blood related, married, or complete strangers by their standards-

You’re rambling again.

I’m aware. These damn receptionists won’t tell me where you are, because you’re in the ER and I guess I’m not close enough related to you to go back and see you…

Lo…

...which is stupid because some people don’t have blood relatives that can or want to come visit them…

Logan…

...which means that some poor patients here are probably all alone because they won’t let their friends go and see them-

Logan Sanders listen to me or I’ll come and find you myself!

...that would be preferable.

It was a threat, nerd, and anyways I can’t even move, they’re sewing it shut.

Did they at least give you Dilaudid or lidocaine?

I’ll guess those are painkillers?

Yes, and Dilaudid is a highly addictive painkillers, which is why I hope they didn’t give you that and just used a nerve block like lidocaine-

Lo.

Sorry.

They did numb it with something, not sure what. Either way, it’s numb, but I can still kinda feel them messing around over there. I am choosing not to look so I don’t pass out again.

Yes, don’t do that again. Radio silence from my boyfriend isn’t exactly a pleasurable experience.

Doesn’t exactly sound like it.

One second, the receptionist is talking to me again.

I’ll be here.

Quiet for a moment. You usually don’t think about the words as you speak them, which Virgil found  little annoying, because it meant he couldn’t hear what Logan was saying. It was a couple minutes before Logan popped back into his head.

She finally told me where you were. I’m on my way up.

Oh good, I missed you at lunch today.

I heard.

Oh yeah. I forget you can hear me sometimes.

I wish I could forget. Remember that one thought from last week?

Oh my godddd let it gooo.

“Teenage meetant neeja teetles”???? What does that even mean???

Shhhhh don’t try and figure out my shitpost brain.

Wouldn’t dream of it. Have the doctors finished sewing you up?

Yep, it’s all pretty and clean and bandaged. They told me not to move it too much but jokes on them, I’m left handed, so catch me wiping my ass with my fucked up hand.

One, ew. Two, do not do that.

Y’all can’t stop me.

“But what if I could?” they said as they walked into his room, sitting in a chair beside him.

“You wouldn’t.” he teased. “You know you’d just watch me be stupid and shake your head at my ridiculousness.”

“It’s almost as if you’re speaking from experience.”

“Me? Being serially stupid? Never.”

Logan laughed, smiling at him. “... Are you okay though? Like, getting your finger lacerated by a table saw probably isn’t that fun.”

“I mean, nah, it’s not that great, but hey, I get to miss school for a day or two.”

“Are they keeping you overnight?”

“Yeah, just for a night, to make sure the saw didn’t have any bad garbage that got in my finger.”

“Do you want me to go and bring you anything?”

“I’ve already texted Patton about what happened and he’s gonna bring me… food. He didn’t specify what, but he yelled about bringing me sustenance.”

“Sounds about right. Are you sure you don’t need anything?”

“Honestly, Lo? I just want you to be here with me.”

“That I can do.”

~~~

Patton walked into Virgil’s room, tupperware in hand, humming some sort of something. Probably some of those lo-fi songs Roman deems “not dramatic enough.” He smiled at the two, asleep, Logan holding Virgil’s good hand. He left the tupperware container on his bedside table, set Logan’s glasses beside it, kissed them both on the forehead, and walked out, still humming.

Virgil would later swear he heard his humming and would aggressively question him on what song it was (“I know it, I know I know it, I know I know I know it!”). But he wouldn’t let up. “Just know it’s definitely a love song.” (“Of course it’s a love song, it’s Patton”).

“It’s a song worthy of the moon.”

[angelofberlin2000]

Photo: Emily Denniston/Vulture and photos courtesy of the studios 

Keanu Reeves has been a movie star for more than 30 years, but it seems like only recently that journalists and critics have come to acknowledge the significance of his onscreen achievements. He’s had hits throughout his career, ranging from teen comedies (Bill & Ted’s) to action franchises (The Matrix, John Wick), yet a large part of the press has always treated these successes as bizarre anomalies. And that’s because we as a society have never  been able to understand fully what Reeves does that makes his films so special.

In part, this disconnect is the lingering cultural memory of Reeves as Theodore Logan. No matter if he’s in Speed or Bram Stoker’s Dracula or Something’s Gotta Give, he still possesses the fresh-faced openness that was forever personified by Ted’s favorite expression: “Whoa!” That wide-eyed exclamation has been Reeves’s official trademark ever since, and its eternal adolescent naïveté has kept him from being properly judged on the merits of his work.

Some of that critical reassessment has been provided, quite eloquently, by Vulture’s own Angelica Jade Bastién, who has argued for Reeves’s greatness as an action star and his importance to The Matrix (and 21st-century blockbusters in general). Two of her observations are worth quoting in full, and they both have to do with how he has reshaped big-screen machismo. In 2017, she wrote, “What makes Reeves different from other action stars is this vulnerable, open relationship with the camera — it adds a through-line of loneliness that shapes all his greatest action-movie characters, from naïve hotshots like Johnny Utah to exuberant ‘chosen ones’ like Neo to weathered professionals like John Wick.” In the same piece, Bastién noted: “By and large, Hollywood action heroes revere a troubling brand of American masculinity that leaves no room for displays of authentic emotion. Throughout Reeves’s career, he has shied away from this. His characters are often led into new worlds by women of far greater skill and experience … There is a sincerity he brings to his characters that make them human, even when their prowess makes them seem nearly supernatural.”

In other words, the femininity of his beauty — not to mention his slightly odd cadence when delivering dialogue, as if he’s an alien still learning how Earthlings speak — has made him seem bizarre to audiences who have come to expect their leading men to act and carry themselves in a particular way. Critics have had a difficult time taking him seriously because it was never quite clear if what he was doing — or what was seemingly “missing” from his acting approach — was intentional or a failing.

This is not to say that Reeves hasn’t made mistakes. While putting together this ranking of his every film role, we noticed that there was an alarmingly copious number of duds — either because he chose bad material or the filmmakers didn’t quite know what to do with him. But as we prepare for the release of the third John Wick installment, it’s clear that his many memorable performances weren’t all just flukes. From Dangerous Liaisons to Man of Tai Chi — or River’s Edge to Knock Knock — he’s been on a journey to grow as an actor while not losing that elemental intimacy he has with the viewer. Below, we revisit those performances, from worst to best.

   45. Johnny Mnemonic (1995)

The nadir of the ’90s cyberpunk genre, and a movie so bad, with Reeves so stranded, that it’s actually a bit of a surprise the Wachowskis were able to forget about it and still cast him as Neo. Dumber than a box of rocks, it’s a movie about technology and the internet — based on a William Gibson story! — that seems to have been made by people who had never turned on a computer before. Seriously, watch this shit:

44. The Watcher (2000) This movie exists in many ways because of its stunt casting: James Spader as a dogged detective and Keanu as the serial killer obsessed with him. Wait, shouldn’t those roles be switched? Get it? There would come a time in his career when Keanu could have maybe handled this character, but here, still with his floppy Ted Logan hair, he just looks ridiculous. The hackneyed screenplay does him no favors, either. Disturbingly, Reeves claims that he was forced to do this movie because his assistant forged his signature on a contract. He received the fifth of his seven Razzie nominations for this film. (He has yet to win and hasn’t been nominated in 17 years. In fact, it’s another sign of how lame the Razzies are that he got a “Redeemer” award in 2015, as if he needed to “redeem” anything to those people.)

43. Sweet November (2001) It’s a testament to how cloying and clunky Sweet November is that its two leads (Reeves and Charlize Theron) are, today, the pinnacle of action-movie cool — thanks to the same filmmaker, Atomic Blonde and John Wick’s David Leitch — yet so inert and waxen here. This is a career low point for both actors, preying on their weak spots. Watching it now, you can see there’s an undeniable discomfort on their faces: If being a movie star means doing junk like this, what’s the point? They’d eventually figure it all out.

42. Chain Reaction (1996) As far as premises for thrillers go, this isn’t the worst idea: A team of scientists are wiped out — with their murder pinned on poor Keanu — because they’ve figured out how to transform water into fuel. (Hey, Science, it has been 23 years. Why haven’t you solved this yet?) Sadly, this turns into a by-the-numbers chase flick with Reeves as Richard Kimble, trying to prove his innocence while on the run. He hadn’t quite figured out how to give a project like this much oomph yet, so it just mostly lies around, making you wish you were watching The Fugitive instead.

41. 47 Ronin (2013) In 2013, Reeves made his directorial debut with a Hong Kong–style action film. We’ll get into that one later, because it’s a ton better than this jumbled mess, a mishmash of fantasy and swordplay that mostly just gives viewers a headache. Also: This has to be the worst wig of Keanu’s career, yes?

40. Even Cowgirls Get the Blues (1993)

Gus Van Sant’s famously terrible adaptation of Tom Robbins’s novel never gets the tone even close to right, and all sorts of amazing actors are stranded and flailing around. Reeves gets some of the worst of it: Why cast one of the most famously chill actors on the planet and have him keep hyperventilating?

39. Replicas (2019) In the wake of John Wick’s success, Keanu has had the opportunity to sleepwalk through some lesser sci-fi actioners, and this one is particularly sleepy. The idea of a neuroscientist (Reeves) who tries to clone his family after they die in an accident could have been a Pet Sematary update, but the movie insists on an Evil Corporation plot that we’ve seen a million times before. John Wick has allowed Reeves to cash more random checks than he might have ten years ago. Here’s one of them.

38. Feeling Minnesota (1996) As far as we know, the only movie taken directly from a Soundgarden lyric — unless we’re missing a superhero named “Spoonman” — is this pseudo-romantic comedy that attempts to be cut from the Tarantino cloth but ends up making you think everyone onscreen desperately needs a haircut and a shave. Reeves can tap into that slacker vibe if asked to, but he requires much better material than this.

37. Little Buddha (1994)

To state the obvious, it would not fly today for Keanu Reeves to play Prince Siddhartha, a monk who would become the Buddha. But questions of cultural appropriation aside, you can understand what drew The Last Emperor director Bernardo Bertolucci to cast this supremely placid man as an iconic noble figure. Unfortunately, Little Buddha never rises above a well-meaning, simplistic depiction of the roots of a worldwide religion, and the effects have aged even more poorly. Nonetheless, Reeves is quite accomplished at being very still.

36. Much Ado About Nothing (1993) Quick anecdote: We saw this Kenneth Branagh adaptation of the Bard during its original theatrical run, and when Reeves’s villainous Don John came onscreen and declared, “I am not of many words,” the audience clapped sarcastically. That memory stuck because it encapsulates viewers’ inability in the early ’90s to see him as anything other than a dim SoCal kid. Unfortunately, his performance in Much Ado About Nothing doesn’t do much to prove his haters wrong. As an actor, he simply didn’t have the gravitas yet to pull off this fiendish role, and so this version is more radiant and alive when he’s not onscreen. It is probably just as well his character doesn’t have many words.

35. Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992) GIFs are a cheap way to critique a performance. After all, acting is a complicated, arduous discipline that shouldn’t be reduced to easy laughs drawn from a few seconds of film played on a loop. Then again …

This really does sum up Reeves’s unsubstantial performance as Jonathan Harker, whose new client is definitely up to no good. Bram Stoker’s Dracula is a wonder of old-school special effects and operatic passion — and it is also a movie in which Reeves seems wholly ill at ease, never quite latching onto the story’s macabre period vibe. We suspect if he could revisit this role now, he’d be far more commanding and engaged. But in 1992, he was still too much Ted and not enough anything else. And Reeves knew it: A couple years later, when asked to name his most difficult role to that point, he said, “My failure in Dracula. Totally. Completely. The accent wasn’t that bad, though.” Well …

34. The Neon Demon (2016)

One of the perks of being a superstar is that you can sometimes just phone in an amusing cameo in some bizarro art-house offering. How else to explain Reeves’s appearance in this stylish, empty, increasingly surreal psychological thriller from Drive director Nicolas Winding Refn? He plays Hank, a scumbag motel manager whose main job is to add some local color to this portrait of the cutthroat L.A. fashion scene. If you’ve been waiting to hear Keanu deliver skeezy lines like “Why, did she send you out for tampons, too?!” and “Real Lolita shit … real Lolita shit,” The Neon Demon is the film for you. He’s barely in it, and we wouldn’t blame him if he doesn’t even remember it.

33. The Lake House (2006) Reeves reunites with his Speed co-star for a movie that features a lot fewer out-of-control buses. In The Lake House, Sandra Bullock plays a doctor who owns a lake house with the strangest magical power: She can send and receive letters from the house’s owner from two years prior, a dashing architect (Reeves). This American remake of the South Korean drama Il Mare is romantic goo that’s relatively easy to resist, and its ruminations on fate, love, destiny, and luck are all pretty standard for the genre. As for those hoping to enjoy the actors’ rekindled chemistry, spoiler alert: They’re not onscreen that much together.

32. Henry’s Crime (2011) You have to be careful not to cast Reeves as too passive a character; he’s so naturally calm that if he just sits and reacts to everything, and never steps up, your movie never really gets going. That’s the case in this heist movie about an innocent man (Reeves) who goes to jail for a crime he didn’t commit and then plans a scam with an inmate he meets there (James Caan). The movie wants to be a little quirkier than it is, and Reeves never quite snaps to. The film just idles on the runway.

31. The Bad Batch (2017) Following her acclaimed A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night, filmmaker Ana Lily Amirpour plops us in the middle of a desert hellscape in which a young woman (Suki Waterhouse) must battle to stay alive. The Bad Batch is less accomplished than A Girl, in large part because style outpaces substance — it’s a movie in which clever flourishes and indulgent choices rule all. Look no further than Reeves’s performance as the Dream, a cult leader who oversees the only semblance of civilization in this post-apocalyptic world. It’s less a character than an attitude, and Reeves struggles to make the shtick fly. He’s too goofy a villain for us to really feel the full measure of his monstrousness.

30. Hardball (2001)

Reeves isn’t the first guy you’d think of to head up a Bad News Bears–style inspirational sports movie, and he doesn’t pull it off, playing a gambler who becomes the coach of an inner-city baseball team and learns to love, or something. It’s as straightforward and predictable an underdog sports movie as you’ll find, and it serves as a reminder that Reeves’s specific set of skills can’t be applied to just any old generic leading-man role. The best part about the film? A 14-year-old Michael B. Jordan.

29. Street Kings (2008) Filmmaker David Ayer has made smart, tough L.A. thrillers like Training Day (which he wrote) and End of Watch (which he wrote and directed). Unfortunately, this effort with Reeves never stops being a mélange of cop-drama clichés, casting the actor as Ludlow, an LAPD detective who’s starting to lose his moral compass. This requires Reeves to be a hard-ass, which never feels particularly convincing. Street Kings is bland, forgettable pulp — Reeves doesn’t enliven it, getting buried along with the rest of a fine ensemble that includes Forest Whitaker, Hugh Laurie, and a pre-Captain America Chris Evans.

28. Constantine (2005) In post-Matrix mode, Reeves tries to launch another franchise in a DC Comics adaptation about a man who can see spirits on Earth and is doomed to atone for a suicide attempt by straddling the divide twixt Heaven and Hell. That’s not the worst idea, and at times Constantine looks terrific, but the movie doesn’t have enough wit or charm to play with Reeves’s persona the way the Wachowskis did.

27. The Day the Earth Stood Still (2008) Reeves’s alienlike beauty and off-kilter line readings made him an obvious choice to play Klaatu, an extraterrestrial who assumes human form when he arrives on our planet. This remake of the 1950s sci-fi classic doesn’t have a particularly urgent reason to exist — its pro-environment message is timely but awkwardly fashioned atop an action-blockbuster template — and the actor alone can’t make this Day particularly memorable. Still, there are signs of the confident post-Matrix star he had become, which would be rewarded in a few years with John Wick.

26. Knock Knock (2015) Reeves flirts with Michael Douglas territory in this Eli Roth erotic thriller that’s not especially good but is interesting as an acting exercise. He plays Evan, a contented family man with the house to himself while his wife and kids are out of town. Conveniently, two beautiful young strangers (Ana de Armas, Lorenza Izzo) come by late one stormy night, inviting themselves in and quickly seducing him. Is this his wildest sexual fantasy come to life? Or something far more ominous? It’s fun to watch Reeves be a basic married suburban dude who slowly realizes that he’s entered Hell, but Knock Knock’s knowing trashiness only takes this cautionary tale so far.

25. The Devil’s Advocate (1997)

Very few people bought tickets in 1997 for The Devil’s Advocate to see Keanu Reeves: Hotshot Attorney. Obviously, this horror thriller’s chief appeal was witnessing Al Pacino go over the top as Satan himself, who just so happens to be a New York lawyer. Nonetheless, it’s Reeves’s Kevin Lomax who’s actually the film’s main character; recently moved to Manhattan with his wife (Reeves’s future Sweet November co-star, Charlize Theron), he’s the new hire at a prestigious law firm who only later learns what nefarious motives have brought him there. Reeves is forced to play the wunderkind who gets in over his head, and it’s not entirely convincing — and that goes double for his southern accent.

24. The Prince of Pennsylvania (1988) “You are like some stray dog I never should have fed.” That’s how Rupert’s older hippie pal, Carla (Amy Madigan), affectionately refers to him, and because this teen dropout is played by Keanu Reeves, you understand what she means. In this forgotten early chapter in Reeves’s career, Rupert and Carla decide to ditch their going-nowhere Rust Belt existence by taking his dad (Fred Ward) hostage and collecting a handsome ransom. The Prince of Pennsylvania is a thoroughly contrived and mediocre comedy, featuring Reeves with an incredibly unfortunate haircut. (Squint and he looks like the front man for the Red Hot Chili Peppers.) Still, you can see signs of the soulfulness and vulnerability he’d later harness in better projects. He’s very much a big puppy looking for a home.

23. The Last Time I Committed Suicide (1997) Every hip young ’90s actor had to get his Jack Kerouac on at some point, so it would seem churlish to deny Reeves his opportunity. He plays the best pal/drinking buddy of Thomas Jane’s Neal Cassady, and he looks like he’s enjoying doing the Kerouac pose. Other actors have done so more indulgently. And even though he’s heavier than he’s ever been in a movie, he looks great.

22. A Walk in the Clouds (1995) Keanu isn’t quite as bad in this as it seemed at the time. He’s miscast as a tortured war veteran who finds love by posing as the husband of a pregnant woman, but he doesn’t overdo it either: If someone’s not right for a part, you’d rather them not push it, and Keanu doesn’t. Plus, come on, this movie looks fantastic: Who doesn’t want to hang around these vineyards? Not necessarily worth a rewatch, but not the disaster many consider it.

21. The Replacements (2000) The other movie where Keanu Reeves plays a former quarterback, The Replacements is an adequate Sunday-afternoon-on-cable sports comedy. He plays Shane, the stereotypical next-big-thing whose career capsized after a disastrous bowl game — but fear not, because he’s going to get a second chance at gridiron glory once the pros go on strike and the greedy owners decide to hire scabs to replace them. Reeves has never been particularly great at playing regular guys — his talent is that he seems different, more special, than you or me — but he ably portrays a good man who’s had to live with disappointment. The Replacements pushes all the predictable buttons, but Reeves makes it a little more enjoyable than it would be otherwise.

20. Tune in Tomorrow (1990) A very minor but sporadically charming bauble about a radio soap-opera scriptwriter (Peter Falk) who begins chronicling an affair between a woman (Barbara Hershey) and her not-related-by-blood nephew on his show — and ultimately begins manipulating it. Tune in Tomorrow is light and silly and harmless, and Reeves shows up on time to set and looks extremely eager to impress. He blends into the background quietly, which is probably enough.

19. I Love You to Death (1990)

This Lawrence Kasdan comedy — the first film after an incredible four-picture run of Body Heat, The Big Chill, Silverado, and The Accidental Tourist — is mostly forgotten today, and for good reason: It’s a farce that mostly features actors screaming at each other and calling it “comedy.” But Reeves hits the right notes as a stoned hit man, and it’s amusing just to watch him share the screen with partner William Hurt. This could have been the world’s strangest comedy team!

18. Youngblood (1986)

This Rob Lowe hockey comedy is … well, a Rob Lowe hockey comedy, but we had to include it because a 21-year-old Reeves plays a dim-bulb, good-hearted hockey player with a French Canadian accent that’s so incredible that you really just have to see it. Imagine if this were the only role Keanu Reeves ever had? It’s sort of amazing. “AH-NEE-MAL!”

17. Destination Wedding (2018) An oddly curdled comedy about two wedding guests (Reeves and Winona Ryder) who have terrible attitudes about everything but end up bonding over their universal disdain for the planet and everyone on it. That sounds like a chore to watch, and at times it is, but the pairing of Reeves and Ryder has enough nostalgic Gen-X spark to it that you go along with them anyway. With almost any other actors you might run screaming away, but somehow, in spite of everything, you find them both likable.

16. Thumbsucker (2005)

The first film from 20th Century Women and Beginners’ Mike Mills, this mild but clever coming-of-age comedy adaptation of a Walter Kirn novel has Mills’s trademark good cheer and emotional honesty. Reeves plays the eponymous thumbsucker’s dentist — it’s funny to see Keanu play someone named “Dr. Perry Lyman” — who has the exact right attitude about both orthodontics and life. It’s a lived-in, funny performance, and a sign that Keanu, with the right director, could be a more than capable supporting character actor.

15. Something’s Gotta Give (2003) This Nancy Meyers romantic comedy was well timed in Reeves’s career. A month after the final Matrix film hit theaters, Something’s Gotta Give arrived, offering us a very different Keanu — not the intense, sci-fi action hero but rather a charming, low-key love interest who’s just the supporting player. He plays Julian Mercer, a doctor administering to shameless womanizer Harry Sanborn (Jack Nicholson), who’s dating a much younger woman (Amanda Peet), who just so happens to be the daughter of a celebrated playwright, Erica (Diane Keaton). We know who will eventually end up with whom in Something’s Gotta Give, but Reeves proves to be a great romantic foil, wooing Erica with a grown-up sexiness the actor didn’t possess in his younger years. We’re still not sure Meyers got the ending right: Erica should have stuck with him instead of Harry.

14. Man of Tai Chi (2013) This is the only movie that Reeves has directed, and what does it tell us about him? Well, it tells us he has watched a ton of Hong Kong action movies and always wanted to make one himself. And it’s pretty good! It’s technically proficient, it has a straightforward narrative, it has some excellent long-take action sequences (as we see in John Wick, Keanu isn’t a quick-cut guy; he likes to show his work), and it has a perfectly decent Keanu performance. We wouldn’t call him a visionary director by any stretch of the imagination. But we’d watch another one of these, definitely.

13. Dangerous Liaisons (1988)

Le Chevalier Raphael Danceny is merely a pawn in a cruel game being played by Marquise de Merteuil and Vicomte de Valmont, and so it makes some sense that the young man who played him, Keanu Reeves, is himself a little outclassed by the actors around him. This Oscar-winning drama is led by Glenn Close and John Malkovich, who have the wit and bite to give this 18th-century tale of thwarted love and bruised pride some real zest. By comparison, Danceny is practically a boy, unschooled in the art of manipulation, and Reeves provides the character with the appropriate youthful naïveté. He’s not a standout in Dangerous Liaisons, but he acquits himself well — especially near the end, when his blade fells Valmont, leaving him as one of the unlikely survivors in the film’s ruthless battle.

12. The Private Lives of Pippa Lee (2009) In this incredible showcase for Robin Wright, who plays a woman navigating a constrictive, difficult life with more grace and intelligence than anyone realizes, Reeves shows up late in a role that he’s played before: the younger guy who’s the perfect fit for an older woman figuring herself out. He hits the right notes and never overstays his welcome. As a romantic lead, less is more for Reeves.

11. Parenthood (1989) If you were an uptight suburban dad, like Steve Martin is in Ron Howard’s ensemble comedy, your nightmare would be that your beloved daughter gets involved with a doofus like Tod. Nicely played by Keanu Reeves, the character is the embodiment of every slacker screwup who’s going to just stumble through life, knocking over everything and everyone in his path. But as it turns out, he’s a lot kinder and mature than at first glance. Released six months after Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure, Parenthood showed mainstream audiences a more grown-up Reeves, and he’s enormously appealing — never more so than when advising a young kid that it’s okay to masturbate: “I told him that’s what little dudes do.”

10. Permanent Record (1988) A very lovely and sad movie that’s nearly forgotten today, Permanent Record, directed by novelist Marisa Silver, features Reeves as the best friend of a teenager who commits suicide and, along with the rest of their friends, has to pick up the pieces. For all of Reeves’s trademark reserve, there is very little restraint here: His character is devastated, and Reeves, impressively, hits every note of that grief convincingly. You see this guy and you understand why everyone wanted to make him a star. This is a very different Reeves from now, but it’s not necessarily a worse one.

9. Point Break (1991)

Just as Reeves’s reputation has grown over time, so too has the reputation of this loopy, philosophical crime thriller. Do people love Point Break ironically now, enjoying its over-the-top depiction of men seeking a spiritual connection with the world around them? Or do they genuinely appreciate the seriousness that director Kathryn Bigelow brought to her study of lonely souls looking for that next big rush — whether through surfing or robbing banks? The power of Reeves’s performance is that it works both ways. If you want to snicker at his melodramatic turn, fine — but if you want to marvel at the rapport his Johnny Utah forms with Patrick Swayze (Bodhi), who only feels alive when he’s living life to the extreme, then Point Break has room for you on the bandwagon.

8. Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure (1989) and Bill and Ted’s Bogus Journey (1991) Before there was Beavis and Butt-Head, before there was Wayne and Garth, there were these guys: two Valley bozos who loved to shred and goof off. As Theodore Logan, Keanu Reeves found the perfect vessel for his serene silliness, playing well off Alex Winter’s equally clueless Bill. But note that Bill and Ted aren’t jerks — watch Excellent Adventure now and you’ll be struck by how incredibly sunny its humor is. Later in his career, Reeves would show off a darker, more brooding side, but here in Excellent Adventure (and its less-great sequel Bogus Journey) he makes blissful stupidity endearing.

7. The Gift (2000) This Sam Raimi film, with a Billy Bob Thornton script inspired by his mother, fizzled at the box office, despite a top-shelf cast: It’s probably not even the first film called The Gift you think of when we bring it up. But, gotta say, Reeves is outstanding in it, playing an abusive husband and all-around sonuvabitch who, nevertheless, might be unfairly accused of murder, a fact only a psychic (Cate Blanchett) understands. Reeves is full-on trailer trash here, but he brings something new and unexpected to it: a sort of bewildered malevolence, as if he’s moved by forces outside of his control. More of this, please.

6. My Own Private Idaho (1991)

Gus Van Sant’s landmark drama is chiefly remembered for River Phoenix’s nakedly anguished performance as Mike, a spiritually adrift gay hustler. (Phoenix’s death two years after My Own Private Idaho’s release only makes the portrayal more heartbreaking.) But his performance doesn’t work without a doubles partner, which is where Reeves comes in. Playing Scott, a fellow hustler and Mike’s best friend, Reeves adeptly encapsulates the mind-set of a young man content to just float through life. Unlike Mike, he knows he has a fat inheritance in his future — and also unlike Mike, he’s not gay, unable to share his buddy’s romantic feelings. Phoenix deservedly earned most of the accolades, but Reeves is terrific as an unobtainable object of affection — inviting, enticing, but also unknowable.

5. Speed (1994)

Years later, we still contend that Speed is a stupid idea for a movie that, despite all logic (or maybe because of the utter insanity of its premise), ended up being a total hoot. What’s clear is that the film simply couldn’t have worked if Reeves hadn’t approached the story with straight-faced sincerity: His L.A. cop Jack Traven is a ramrod-serious lawman who is going to do whatever it takes to save those bus passengers. Part of the pleasure of Speed is how it constantly juxtaposes the life-or-death stakes with the high-concept inanity — Stay above 50 mph or the bus will explode! — and that internal tension is expressed wonderfully by Reeves, who invests so intently in the ludicrousness that the movie is equally thrilling and knowingly goofy. And it goes without saying that he has dynamite chemistry with Sandra Bullock. Strictly speaking, you probably shouldn’t flirt this much when you’re sitting on top of a bomb — but it’s awfully appealing when they get their happy ending.

4. River’s Edge (1987) This film’s casting director said she cast Reeves as one of the dead-end kids who learn about a murder and do nothing “because of the way he held his body … his shoes were untied, and what he was wearing looked like a young person growing into being a man.” This was very much who the early Reeves was, and River’s Edge might be his darkest film. His vacancy here is not Zen cool … it’s just vacant, intellectually, ethically, morally, emotionally. Only in that void could Reeves be this terrifying. This is definitely a performance, but it never feels like acting. His magnetism was almost mystical.

3. John Wick (2014), John Wick: Chapter Two (2017), and John Wick: Chapter 3 — Parabellum (2019)

If they hadn’t killed his dog, none of this would have happened. Firmly part of the “middle-aged movie stars playing mournful badasses” subgenre that’s sprung up since Taken, the John Wick saga provides Reeves with an opportunity to be stripped-down but not serene. He’s a lethal assassin who swore to his dead wife that he’d put down his arms — but, lucky for us, he reneges on that promise after he’s pushed too far. Whereas in his previous hits there was something detached about Reeves, here’s he locked in in such a way that it’s both delightful and a little unnerving. The 2014 original was gleefully over-the-top already, and the sequels have only amped up the spectacle, but his genuine fury and weariness felt new, exciting, a revelation. Turns out Keanu Reeves is frighteningly convincing as a guy who can kill many, many people.

2. A Scanner Darkly (2006)

In hindsight, it seems odd that Keanu Reeves and Richard Linklater have only worked together once — their laid-back vibes would seemingly make them well suited for one another. But it makes sense that the one film they’ve made together is this Philip K. Dick adaptation, which utilizes interpolated rotoscoping to tell the story of a drug cop (Reeves) who’s hiding his own addiction while living in a nightmarish police state. That wavy, floating style of animation nicely complements A Scanner Darkly’s sense of jittery paranoia, but it also deftly mimics Reeves’s performance, which seems to be drifting along on its own wavelength. If in the Matrix films, he manages to defeat the dark forces, in this film they’re too powerful, leading to a pretty mournful finale.

1. The Matrix (1999), The Matrix Reloaded (2003), and The Matrix Revolutions (2003)

“They had written something that I had never seen, but in a way, something that I’d always hoped for — as an actor, as a fan of science fiction.” That’s how Reeves described the sensation of reading the screenplay for The Matrix, which had been dreamed up by two up-and-coming filmmakers, Lana and Lilly Wachowski. Five years after Speed, he found his next great project, which would become the defining role of his career. Neo is the missing link between Ted’s Zen-like stillness and John Wick’s lethal efficiency, giving us a hero’s journey for the 21st century that took from Luke Skywalker and anime with equal aplomb. Never before had the actor been such a formidable onscreen presence — deadly serious but still loose and limber. Even when the sequels succumbed to philosophical ramblings and overblown CGI, Reeves commanded the frame. We always knew that he seemed like a cool, left-of-center guy. The Matrix films gave him an opportunity to flex those muscles in a true blockbuster.

[shxtxpp]

Is It Too Much To Ask?

Pairings: Romantic Logicality, Romantic Prinxiety (squint), Platonic Analogical and Logince

Characters: Logan, Patton, Roman, Virgil, Remy, mention of Deceit (named Declan), Emile, Thomas, Joan, Talyn

Warnings: Mention of death in the family, Cursing, Yelling, Mention of past addiction, Mention of recovery from addiction, Broken family (in a way), but there is a happy ending

Words: 1564

Before we begin, I used a quote from my side blog @sandersidesquotes , [x] along with one of the responses add there. Here is the original video of the quote if you want to see how the emotion is. Honestly, I just wanted to write this before I begin the prologue or first chapter of the AU I am doing of Patton and the sides. So, hopefully, you enjoy this? Any constructive criticism is welcomed! (Also, I am horrible with titles)

Weddings. 

The whole idea about weddings is to bring all families and friends to celebrate the union of a couple who will love each other until their last dying breath, and even after that. Even those who found it ridiculous would still support their friends or family members getting married.

They are supposed to be the most wonderful day of your life, where tears are coming out of happiness and joy.

This was not happening with Logan at the moment.

He has been on the phone with his mother, trying to convince her and the family to come to his wedding with Patton. It has been like this for days, trying his best to be optimistic, trying his best to make them agree.

Trying his best to show them all that he is clean and has been for many years.

The day of the wedding came, and he was in the bathroom right now in Roman and Virgil’s house, getting ready for his big day. Logan was once again on the phone with his mother, tears streaming down his face.

“Mom...Mom! Mother! I know I was engaged before…I was there…No! This isn’t just so sudden!” He paces around as he speaks, ruining his hair as he ran his hand through it, “I am sober! I know what I am doing! Because we love each other! Because we didn’t see a reason to wait! Because people get hit by cars! We’ve been together for a year!”

Virgil runs over to Roman, who was near the bathroom door, panting while holding his phone and rings, “Hey babe, don’t let me forget the rings, okay? Also, I just called the-what?” He frowns as Roman holds a hand up to quiet him.

“It’s Logan’s mom. No one in the family is coming to the wedding,” Roman whispers, looking heartbroken for Logan.

“What? Are you fucking serious?” Virgil says in shock, listening in.

“Because I care! I’m alone! If you don’t come, it is just me!” Logan sobs, gripping his hair, “Mom…Mommy, please, I am getting married! Come for your son who is begging!” He stands up straight and clears his throat, “Fine...No. I understand...Yeah, it’s so good to know that all of the best people in this family are dead.”

Roman and Virgil hear as Logan hangs up and throws his phone, sobs vibrating off the walls.

“Logan, dear…” Roman tries out, jumping as Logan slams the door in his face.

“He shouldn’t be sad this day, this is his wedding,” Virgil says and looks out the window, “It’s raining. Rain is supposed to bring good luck.”

“What do we do? Patton doesn’t want to see him until the wedding and he knows how to calm Logan,” Roman points out and shakes his head, “His mother is a bitch. How dare she alienate her son? All because she thinks he fell back on the wagon of addiction.”

“She is a monster and can go to hell. He doesn’t need them for this to be his best day,” Virgil says and checks the time, “Listen, you go tell Patton what is happening and have Declan and Remy nearby just in case. He’ll need all the comfort possible. I’ll stay and try to talk to him.”

“Call me for anything,” Roman says and kisses him quickly, leaving the house to go inform the other groom.

Virgil stood in front of the door, knocking timidly to not startle Logan. He had no words that could bring him comfort at the moment, so he just stood there and listened to his heartbreaking sobs. After what seemed like an eternity, he heard Logan’s sobs quiet down. He took the opportunity to open the door slowly and walked towards him.

“Logan? Buddy, it’s me, Virgil.”

Logan turns around and wipes his face, trying to put a smile on his face but it was pained and the corner of his lips kept twitching. He whimpered and started crying again, covering his face as he did, falling onto his knees.

Virgil winced at the noise made and he kneeled in front of him, “Can I touch you? Can I hug you?” He asks softly, waiting for consent.

Once he received it, he removed Logan’s hands from his face and hugged him gently, rubbing his back. Virgil let Logan cry on his shoulder, knowing that his best friend needed to let this out before the actual ceremony. Once more, after probably thirty-three minutes, Logan’s cries ceased slowly and all he did was sniffle and whimper.

“I am sober,” Logan finally spoke in a broken tone, “I have been clean for five years. I am clean. Why won’t they believe me?”

“Logan, buddy, I know I can’t say much to comfort you, but I can tell you this,” Virgil starts off and pulls away slightly, cupping his cheek once he could see him, “You do not need your mother. You do not need your siblings or other family members,” He smiles softly and wiped away a stray tear, “Roman, Emile, Declan, Patton most of all, and I love you and that’s all that matters, she can go fuck herself. Your new family is here, our family.”

“I wish my dad and brother were here. They would have come in heartbeat, they would support me,” Logan whimpers, shaking his head at the thought of them, “I hate that they were taken away from me so early.”

“They are here in spirit, remember that. No matter what, I have a feeling that they are already waiting for the ceremony to commence. Just like you, they are early for everything,” Virgil hopes that those words bring him some comfort.

Virgil watches as Logan had a small, but it was there, a smile on his face. He kissed his forehead, standing up and held his hand out. Logan looked at him and took his hand, standing up and winced at the pain his knees.

“Seems like you won’t be on your knees tonight,” Virgil teased, laughing at Logan’s glare.

The laugh seemed to affect Logan, as he soon started laughing along with Virgil. A smile overtook his past somber expression, and it did seem like rain was good luck. Once the laughing ceased, Virgil patted his shoulder and hummed.

“Now, finish getting ready,” Virgil grinned at him, “You have a wedding to get to very soon.”

Virgil turned around to leave, gasping when he felt Logan grab him. He soon realized that Logan was hugging him, making him smile. He patted his hand and they soon separated, Virgil, leaving Logan to finish getting ready. Once Virgil texted Roman about the aftermath, everything was back to normal.

The wedding would commence without a problem. The grooms were happy, nervous, but excited while getting ready.

All the guests would be arriving soon and taking their seat.

Everything would be amazing.

-

Roman and Emile stood on Patton’s side, while Virgil and Declan stood at Logan’s side when the wedding commenced. Somehow, Remy got ordained and would be officiating the wedding for these lovebirds.

The Wedding March soon started and everyone stood up as they watched Patton walking down the aisle in his light gray three-piece suit, Logan standing at the altar with his navy blue three-piece suit. Everyone had a bright smile on his face, Talyn throwing up flowers, soon taking a seat next to Joan and Thomas.

Once Patton reached Logan, they held hands and gave each other warm smiles, looking over at Remy who started the speech. They gave their vows (Thomas was crying after Logan’s speech), Patton cracked a few jokes which made the guests either laugh or groan (Logan just had a fond look), and now came the exchange of the rings.

“Do you, Logan James Sanders, take this man, Patton Alexander Foster, to be your lawfully wedded husband, to have and to hold, in sickness and in health, in good times and woe, for richer or poorer, keeping yourself solely unto his for as long as you both shall live?”

“I do,” Logan smiles as he puts the ring on Patton.

“Do you, Patton Alexander Foster, take this man, Logan James Sanders, to be your lawfully wedded husband, to have and to hold, in sickness and in health, in good times and woe, for richer or poorer, keeping yourself solely unto his for as long as you both shall live?”

“I super, super, do,” Patton smiles brightly as he puts the ring on Logan.

“By the authority vested in me by the State of Florida, and the internet, I now pronounce you husband and husband. You may kiss the groom,” Remy smiles and backs away a little.

“Finally!” Patton laughs and kisses Logan, who kisses him back.

Everybody claps and cheers for them, standing up and laughed as Talyn dumped the rest of the flowers they had on their heads.

Logan and Patton broke the kiss, smiling happily as they stared into each other’s eyes. Their friends watched them with fondness, and Virgil was happy for Logan. That even after everything he has been through, he gets a happy ending.

Logan looks back at Virgil and smiles, nodding at him, in which Virgil nods back. Virgil was right earlier.

His blood family be damned. He was happy right now,  the man he loves now his husband forever, his family.

This is the only family he needs.

[gutrage-archive]

five times platonically kissed w/ jess thanks

send me five times kissed for a drabble about five times our muses kissed.  /  accepting.  /  @thymocosm

            i.  

dani  is  a  sweet  light  in  a  dreary  world.  logan  isn’t  the  outwardly  expressive  sort  –  has  never  told  jessica  what  exactly  it  means  to  him  to  babysit  her  daughter,  has  never  really  felt  the  need  to  say  so,  until  this  quiet  night.  her  feathery  giggles  and  soft,  star  shaped  waving  hands  renew  a  dull  and  lost  emotion  in  logan,  buried  under  years  of  saline  and  metal.  (his  smiles,  more  real  than  any  adult  could  yield  of  him,  cut  lines  into  his  cheeks,  and  he  holds  her  under  the  arms  and  above  his  head,  or  tucks  her  slight  frame  against  the  soothing  heat  of  his  elevated  temperature.)  he’s  never  told  jessica  about  the  infant  he’d  never  carried  in  the  weapon  x  program  (victor  had  taken  him  by  the  jaw  and  bit  open  his  neck,  stilling  and  shaking,  and  in  that  death  wrought  life  destined  to  suffer  the  same,  sickened  by  the  inhospitable  nature  of  logan’s  body),  or  how  laborious  daken  had  been  (a  private  birth  between  he  and  itsu  alone  to  shadow  his  identity  as  the  carrier,  and  she  had  balked  at  blood),  and  how  he’d  been  lost  by  the  setting  of  the  swollen  sun.  at  the  end  of  the  day,  she  is  not  his,  and  he  doesn’t  presume  to  think  she  is,  but  the  delight  it  brings  him  to  hear  her  forming  blubber  of  speech,  how  she  calls  him  logan  with  a  soft,  wet  “L”,  swallowing  the  “a”,  how  ojisan  (a  taught  word  in  his  infant  language,  logan  had  thought  it  might  be  easier  on  her  than  the  hard  ends  of  ‘logan’) became  a  thick,  blurry  sound  on  her  baby  lips.  

though  logan  jumps  at  the  opportunity  to  nanny  the  girl  when  his  schedule  has  open  gaps,  jessica  looks  at  him  somewhat  apologetically  this  time,  her  pale  face  worrying  into  awkward  lines.  doreen –  uh,  squirrel  girl  –  is  watching  her  for  a  while.  i  didn’t  think  you’d  be  available,  actually.   logan  breathes  out,  somewhat  amused;  he  ducks  his  head,  then  meets  jess’  eyes.   ‘  i  know  who  doreen  is  ..   s’alright,  i  don’t  gotta  ‘sit  her  every  time  you  gotta  get  somewhere.   i,  uh  ..  i  got  kids.  ‘   he  sees  something  briefly  shift  in  jessica’s  face,  though  it  is  a  very  muted  reaction,  which  is  something  he’d  expect  from  someone  as  hard  and  calloused  as  he  was.  she  doesn’t  say  anything,  giving  logan  the  space  he  needs  to  talk,  if  he  wants.  he  appreciates  that  more  than  he  can  say.   

‘  i  have  a  son  …  he  hates  me.  i  ain’t  ever  faulted  him  fer  it,  but  it  used  t’  make  me  so  damn  mad.  he  was  taken  from  me  after  he  was  born.  i  never  knew  where  he  was,  what  happened  t’  him.  but  he  was  told  that  i  knew,  an’  that  i  didn’t  want  him.  ‘   jessica  moves  to  an  old,  hickory  wood  cabinet  with  a  glass  front,  sliding  the  glass  aside  to  retrieve  some  aged  bourbon  from  the  top  shelf.  she  debates  on  two  decanters,  and  decides  only  on  the  bottle,  leaving  the  door  open.  she  effortlessly  twists  the  bottle  open,  then  offers  him  the  neck  end.  logan  breathes  in  a  slow,  painful  way,  then  decidedly  reaches  to  acquiesce  the  liquor,  guzzling  at  the  heady  liquid,  relishing  in  the  burn  that  floods  through  his  sinuses  and  into  his  chest.  wiping  his  mouth  with  the  back  of  his  hand,  he  offers  the  bottle  back,  and  jess  shakes  her  head.  

you  can  keep  it.  i  don’t  drink  anymore,  not  since  dani.  if  not  for  the  weighty,  standing  blood  in  his  heart,  logan  would  ask  why  she  had  it  in  the  first  place,  but  a  drink  here  or  there  wasn’t  a  bad  thing,  and  in  truth,  he’s  proud  of  her.  he  remembers.  he  still  struggles,  in  fact.  that  was  a  demon  jessica  crushed  under  her  heel  –  that  made  her  stronger  than  him,  he  thinks.  he  blinks  away  some  stinging  sensation  in  the  whites  of  his  eyes,  nods,  picking  up  the  conversation  where  he’d  dropped  it.   ‘  that  weren’t  true,  i  ..  there  weren’t  nothin’  i  wanted  more’n  him.  he  don’t  see  it  that  way,  and  i  guess  we  won’t  ever  be  good  t’  one  another.  no  ground  to  stand  on.  there’s  laura..  you  know  laura.  but  i  don’t  ..  i  never  got  ta  raise  her,  either,  an’  that  ain’t  really  ..  parenthood.   i  don’t  ..  i  don’t  remember  much  of  bein’  in  the  weapon  x  program.  but  there  was  ..  you  met  victor  creed  b’fore.  big  asshole.  blond.  ‘  jessica’s  mouth  (solemn  and  quiet  and  attentive)  ticks  up  at  the  end,  indenting  a  handsome  line  into  her  face.  thats  a  little  vague,  but  i  think  i  know  who  you’re  talkin’  about.     

‘  he  was  part  of  it,  we  were  products  of  th’  same  masters.  i  hated  him,  an’  i  still  do,  but  it  pushed  us  together.  i  was  ..  i  had  ..  my  body,  ain’t  meant  fer,  makin’  nothin’.  i’m  radioactive,  inside  ..  she  was  four  months.  ‘  jessica’s  lips  part,  realizing  eking  through  her  face,  though  she  does  not  speak,  perhaps  balling  up  this  information  inside  her,  perhaps  thinking  of  danielle,  who  sleeps  soundly  in  an  adjacent  room.  a  short  sound  starts  in  her  lungs,  and  logan  lifts  his  hand,  dismissive,  but  not  unkind.   ‘  ain’t  on  you  t’  comfort  me,  jess.  we  ain’t  soft  people.  it  was  good  t’  say  it  t’  somebody.  ‘    despite,  there  is  a  sheen  in  logans  eyes,  and  he  turns  his  head  away,  doing  his  utmost  not  to  shed  his  tears  infront  of  jessica  god  damned  jones.  she  lets  out  a  breath  she  had  been  holding,  then  clumsily  reaches  toward  him,  touching  his  shoulder.   you  didn’t  have  to  tell  me  all  this.  but  i’m  glad  you  trusted  me  with  it.   gentle,  she  nudges  her  palm  at  him,  giving  him  the  leeway  to  initiate  an  embrace,  if  he  wishes.  

logan’s  face  becomes  somewhat  impassive,  though  the  way  his  eyes  flick  indicates  he’s  contemplating  his  options.  he  sighs,  wrapping  a  broad  arm  around  jess’  lower  back  and  pressing  his  face  into  her  shoulder.  she  strokes  the  area  between  his  shoulder  blades  (heavy  handed  and  clumsy,  but  full  of  love,  all  the  same),  and  presses  an  affectionate  kiss  to  the  side  of  his  skull.   

                  ii.

shoehorning  two  of  the  most  violent  individuals  in  new  york  into  a  no-contact  zone  is  probably  a  bad  idea,  but  ask  SHIELD  and  they’d  say,  we  don’t  have  anyone  more  qualified  than  jessica  jones  cage  and  james  howlett  at  hand  right  now,  and  logan  would  remind  them  that  he  hates  that  name.  there’s  still  plenty  to  do  at  a  bar  when  neither  of  them  want  to  drink  (jessica  giving  up  the  bottle,  logan  unimpressed  with  a  human  establishment),  so  the  wolverine  whips  darts  at  the  board,  slamming  the  bullseye  over  and  over  and  leaving  pock  marks  in  the  ring.   each  sound  is  a  cacophony  in  howlett’s  ears,  agitating  over  sensitive  hearing,  though  he  says  nothing  of  all  the  noise,  wheeling  his  hand  back  to  whip  another  dart  at  the  pegs  when  he  hears  jessica  scoff  from  across  the  room.  logan  swivels  on  the  stool  (his  feet  rest  on  the  bar,  unable  to  touch  the  floor,  which  always  feels  incredibly  demeaning),  observes  jessica  blatantly  refute  an  aggressive  flirt.  he  sees  her  jaw  muscles  contract,  and  her  fingers  tighten,  and  figures  she  feels  the  same  as  him:   god  damn  the  imposed  and  lordly  rules  of  their  ‘betters’,  no  contact  or  not.  

logan  slides  off  the  stool  and  tucks  his  hands  into  his  leather,  approaching  silently  but  for  thud  of  his  boots.  ‘  hey,  ‘  he  greets,  gaze  shifting  from  jess  to  her  assailant,  a  comely  man  in  his  thirties,  if  not  for  the  very  unfortunate  field  of  blemishes  encircling  the  hollow  of  his  cheeks.  logan  couldn’t  care  less  what  he  looks  like.  he  folds  his  arms,  leaning  into  the  wall  adjacent,  which  is  connected  to  large  frontal  windows.   jessica  reaches  to  grab  at  logan’s  sleeve  and  tug  him  toward  her,  straining  in  her  seat  to  press  a  delicate  and  thoughtless  kiss,  catching  his  cupids  bow.  the  drunk  blinks  slow,  as  if  to  process,  then  presses  his  palms  into  the  little  table,  scooting  his  chair  back  loudly.  you  coulda  just  said  you  were  taken,  lady,  he  grumbles,  abandoning  his  quarry.  logan  takes  the  seat  instead,  thick  brows  raising  toward  his  hairline.  

jessica  snorts.   come  on,  logan.  you  know  just  as  well  as  i  do  that  most  guys  don’t  give  a  shit  if  you  tell  them  no.  they  want  to  see  the  boyfriend,  because  his  ownership  over  you  matters  more  than  you  not  wanting  to  fuck  him.  logan’s  expression  shifts  visibly,  and  he  nods  somewhat  gravely.   ‘  i  know.  you  don’t  gotta  justify  ‘f  thats  what  it  was  fer,  i  just  weren’t  sure.  ‘m  sure  if  luke  were  here  he’d  have  beat  the  shit  out  of  that  guy.  ‘   jess  drums  three  fingers  on  the  table.  i  would’a  beat  the  shit  out  of  him  myself.  but  you  know  how  fury  and  hill  are.  what  a  bunch  of  dumb  assholes.  the  grin  logan  responds  with  is  all  teeth,  and  otherwise  terrifying.  ‘  finally,  somebody  with  some  sense.  ‘   

              iii.

the  bottle  jessica  whips  at  logan  shatters  not  against  his  skull,  but  into  the  wall,  neatly  curved  above  his  head  to  hit  an  intangible  face.  the  imagery  of  the  purple  man  burned  into  her  sockets  fades,  leaving  behind  a  man  who  couldn’t  be  further  from  different  –  thats  one  thing  she  can  take  comfort  in,  at  least.  logan  is  short,  and  strong,  and  mean,  and  honest,  and  all  sorts  of  things  zebediah  kilgrave  will  never  be.  he  doesn’t  lie  to  her,  doesn’t  try  to  make  her  believe  anything  that  isn’t  true.  he’s  never  asserted  his  will  over  her,  and  the  furthest  he’s  gone  with  flirting  with  her  was  a  drunken  compliment  regarding  her  appearance,  which  she’d  shut  down  in  a  tight-throated  clammy  panic,  and  he  had  never  tried  again,  apologizing  in  the  morning  with  a  drawling,  hung  over  voice  mail  that  rippled  through  her  old  speaker.  though  it  had  scared  her  in  the  moment,  that  logan  had  at  all  found  her  appealing  to  the  eye,  it  took  only  two  days  for  jessica  to  both  forgive  and  forget.  he  was  not  him.  they  were  all  fucked  up,  all  bloody  killers  who’d  broken  necks  and  wrung  out  life,  and  she  isn’t  sure  she’d  like  him  if  he  wasn’t  as  sour  and  brutal  as  she  was.  but  he  was  not  him.  she  makes  a  plaintive,  startled  sound,  unable  to  keep  the  pain  inside  of  her,  and  when  it  starts,  it  has  a  hard  time  stopping,  snowballing  down  her  teeth  and  across  her  lips. 

logan  lifts  his  hands  and  spreads  them  in  submission,  keeping  them  in  her  line  of  sight.    ‘  hey  ..  hey.  it’s  okay.  ‘    (logan  had  shown  her  an  old  picture,  a  few  weeks  ago.  whose  that?  she  had  dumbly  asked,  tongue  heavy  in  her  mouth.  logan’s  face  hadn’t  changed  when  he’d  said,  me,  but  she  had  seen  a  twinge  in  his  upper  cheek,  and  his  eyes  had  taken  on  some  quality  that  may  have   scared  her  if  she  were  younger.  the  individual  in  the  photograph  was  hardly  the  man  she  knew.  their  hair  was  long,  sleek,  bundled  back,  their  face  smooth  and  soft  –  despite  the  square  and  handsome  structure  of  the  face  he’d  possessed  now,  though  if  she  looked  hard  enough,  she  could  see  him  underneath,  young  and  frustrated  and  buried  in  a  body  he  had  wanted  to  cast  off  like  a  jacket  –  adorned  in  an  article  of  clothing  that  reminded  her  of  a  robe,   the  photo  so  old  it  had  no  color  and  was  broken  at  the  laminate  edges.  he  had  told  her  that  he  had  not  owned  land,  and  marriage  was  the  only  way  across  the  border  of  canada  into  the  states.  he  had  told  her  that  it  was  the  most  embarrassing  thing  of  his  entire  life.  she  had  told  him  a  little  more  about  the  purple  man,  and  how  she  couldn’t  drink  certain  wines  anymore  for  their  smell,  and  how  there  was  purple  in  everything,  and  it  made  her  want  to  rip  her  eyes  out.)  

(thank  you  for  being  vulnerable  with  me.)

jessica  grips  each  opposite  bar  of  her  strong  forearms,  breath  becoming  labored,  then  righting  into  slow  inhales,  stuttering  out  again.  she’s  trying.  logan  is  close,  now,  enough  that  she  can  smell  his  cologne,  and  distantly  a  cigar  he  must  have  smoked  earlier  in  the  day.  she  flinches  when  he  touches  her,  but  she  suppresses  the  way  her  muscles  spasm,  bunched  over  and  resolute  in  holding  herself,  terrified  that  if  she  moves,  she  may  spill  all  out  like  stuffing  through  an  opened  seam.  logan  is  shockingly  gentle.  he  tucks  his  arms  around  her,  palms  her  upper  back,  the  other  hand  caressing  her  hair.  

it’s  enough.  jessica  settles  down  into  him  like  a  child,  and  she  may  as  well  be  one,  in  the  wake  of  a  man  so  old  and  so  sad.  logan  moves  hair  away  from  her  forehead  and  kisses  the  side  of  her  brow  near  her  temple.  he  is  unfathomably  soft.   ‘  s’gonna  be  alrigh’.  ain’t  nobody  gonna  hurt  you  again.  ‘

         iv.

hercules  is  good  to  logan.  jess  can  see  it,  and  it  makes  her  happy,  though  curiously  nonplussed  by  the  idea,  well  aware  that  the  man’s  attitude  during  previous  excursions  on  earth  was  galvanizing  at  kindest,  and  sleazy  and  presumptuous  at  least  (which,  if  she  had  cared  to  say  so,  reminded  her  of  matt–something  logan  would  wholeheartedly  agree  upon,  before  clarifying  that  he  would  never  date  matt,  and  laughing  with  all  his  sharp  dog-teeth  stuck  out  in  a  sneer.)   still,  he  seems  at  least  matured  with  logan,  or  maybe  kept  in  line  by  him.  god  knows  howlett  is  a  commandeering  presence  –  he’s  made  grown  men  break  and  tremble  with  the  intimidating  level  of  sureness  he  possessed.  

neither  set  of  couples  think  about  these  things,  though,  danielle  in  her  high  chair,  luke  setting  the  table,  jessica  red  faced  for  what  felt  like  the  first  time  in  her  life.  

‘  okay,  look,  i’m  sorry,  kid,  but  i  don’t  think  you  know  how  ta  cook  fer  shit.  let  me  do  it.  ‘   blunt  as  always.  jessica  isn’t  sure  if  she  hates  or  loves  that.  still,  she  gestures  to  the  whole  of  their  kitchen.  logan  smooths  his  hands  back  through  his  hair,  producing  a  rubber  band  from  the  depth  of  his  leather  jacket,  which  he’d  stubbornly  refused  to  let  luke  hang.  he  ties  his  hair  neatly  back,  and  jessica’s  flustered,  terse  expression  shifts  into  something  notably  amused.  

‘  what? ‘  

she  laughs,  this  time.  i  didn’t  know  you  could  be  so  delicate.  he  bashes  his  elbow  into  her  side,  pain  thrumming  into  her  lungs,  though  she  doesn’t  complain  beyond  a  stiff  groan,  deciding  it  was  merited.  ‘  fuck  off.  where  d’you  keep  your  utensils?  ‘   jess  gestures  with  a  flapping  hand,  then,  as  the  tightening  sting  subsides,  removes  herself  from  the  premises,  electing  instead  to  entertain  the  god  they’ve  invited  to  dinner,  her  attention  divided  between  dani  and  herc  and  luke.  it  doesn’t  take  long  before  she’s  glided  back  into  the  kitchen,  and  in  earnest,  she  can  say  she’s  surprised  by  what  she  sees.  logan  is  no  liar,  and  he  seems  to  move  from  spot  to  spot  with  intent,  presently  scrubbing  his  hands  in  the  sink.  the  oven  emits  a  pleasant,  buttery  scent,  paired  with  something  she  can  define  as  lemon  and  pepper.    jess  calmly  and  politely  scoots  past  him,  sidling  toward  the  refrigerator.  

pausing,  she  leans  in  toward  his  ear  and  presses  a  grateful  kiss  to  the  softest  part  of  his  cheek,  just  above  the  sharp,  metal-lined  bone.  thanks.  for  this.  i  mean  ..  god,  i  never  thought  i’d  be  here,  like  this.  don’t  it  feel  good?   logan  stills,  though  only  momentarily,  letting  out  a  sigh  that  she  takes  as  pleased.  she  doesn’t  have  to  see  him  head  on  to  know  there’s  a  smile  on  that  stiff  face.   ‘  yeah,  it  does,  ‘  he  mumbles,  sliding  on  oversized  oven  mits  that  look  so  comical  on  his  body  that  jessica  almost  laughs.  the  heat  from  the  oven  door  wets  her  eyes.   ‘  almost  done.  oh,  uh,  if  herc  gives  y’all  any  problems,  smack  him  in  th’  head.  he  c’n  be  kinda  ..  overzealous.  ‘   jessica’s  grin  is  worthy  of  sharp  teeth.  she  gives  a  final  pat  to  logan’s  shoulder,  carrying  a  bottle  of  sparkling  wine  in  one  hand  (a  courtesy  for  hercules,  really),  balancing  juice  for  dani  and  a  can  of  sprite  for  herself  in  the  other.   will  do,  chief.

         v.  

jessica’s  never  been  this  far  out  of  new  york.  it  makes  her  just  a  little  anxious,  though  she  isn’t  want  to  admit  as  much,  which  in  turn  inspires  her  to  follow  logan  like  a  puppy  dog.  if  he  minds,  he  hasn’t  chastised  her  for  it.  it’s  a  pretty  place,  though,  she’ll  admit,  the  buzz  of  city  life  met  with  a  gentle  compliment  of  bright  and  bustling  aesthetics.  (she  likes  the  countryside  better,  and  it  seems  logan  does,  too--jess  can  see  some  agitation  in  his  face  and  shoulders  when  they  have  to  head  into  the  city,  though  she  feels  no  need  to  remark  on  it.)    

logan  becomes  a  different  person,  here,  quiet  and  calm  and  carrying  himself  with  such  familiarity,  no  one  would  assume  he  was  a  tourist  or  that  he  somehow  didn’t  belong.  he  had  striven  to  ensure  that  he  would  belong  here,  if  nowhere  else.  

it’s  deeply  unsurprising  to  the  either  of  them  that  they  would  encounter  Hand,  here.  jess  nudges  logan’s  arm,  wearing  a  tight  expression.  i  thought  they  were  supposed  to  be  in  madripoor,  she  mumbles,  and  logan  nods  just  slightly.   ‘  yeah,  but  --  splinter  groups.  s’why  there’re  some  in  america  sometimes.  they  came  from  japan.  s’far  as  i  know,  anyway.  ‘   she  hadn’t  considered  that  they  were  at  all  similar  to  SHIELD,  perhaps  finding  some  comfort  in  the  idea  they  were  disorganized  and  feral,  as  opposed  to  a  bunch  of  operative  criminals  who  had  at  least  a  semblance  of  uniformity.  

‘  c’mon.  lets  bring  a  few  trophies  back  fer  matt  an’  ‘lektra.  ‘   logan’s  grin  is  sick  and  mischievous,  blood  loving  and  hungry.  jess  laughs.  

in  the  aftermath,  jess  finds  logan  sitting  on  cobblestone  ground,  gripping  a  long,  thin  sword  by  the  hilt,  which  has  been  driven  into  his  abdomen.  he  had  acquired  it  in  the  heat  of  battle,  taking  the  blow  by  throwing  himself  instinctively  before  jess.  if  not  for  the  blade,  she  would  be  sorely  tempted  to  swat  him  in  the  back  of  the  head,  the  hell’d  you  do  that  for?  but  for  now,  she  tucks  her  hands  into  her  pockets  and  closes  the  disparity  of  distance.   you  need  help?  she  asks,  low  and  apathetic,  apology  hidden  somewhere  behind  the  guise  of  uncaringness.  logan  grunts  in  response,  gripping  the  banded  leather.  he  inhales  in  a  shallow  arc,  then  on  an  inaudible  count,  rips  the  weapon  free,  blood  gushing  up  around  the  exit  and  entry  point.  frustrated,  logan  casts  the sword  aside  with  such  force  it  pins  itself  into  the  ground,  wet  still  with  his  blood.

wordless,  he  unsheathes  a  single  claw,  shuffling  to  his  feet.  jessica  silently  observes  as  the  wolverine  hunches  over  a  member  of  higher  standing  --  given  the  color  indication  of  their  uniform  --  wrenches  their  arm  back, and  severs  their  middle  finger.  a  ring  slips  off  the  extremity,  making  a  sharp  sound  when  it  hits  the  stone.  logan  discards  the  digit,  reaching  instead  for  the  ring.   he  dries  the  trinket  of  blood,  and  offers  it  forth.   ‘  you  see  matt  more  than  i  do.  ‘m  sure  he’d  like  this.  ‘   jessica’s  mouth  twists,  though  not  in  an  unpleasant  way,  and  she  sputters  a  short,  quiet  laugh.  okay.    ‘  ‘f  i’m  bein’  honest,  matt  drives  me  kinda  nuts.  ‘   jess’  smile  folds  at  the  ends.   i  know  he  does.

the  last  legs  of  the  trip  are  a  deal  quieter.  jessica  learns  how  to  say  fuck,  and  logan  gently  corrects  her  pronunciation  until  it  becomes  properly  accented.  she  remembers  to  take  her  shoes  off  and  neatly  lines  them  at  the  door  next  to  logan’s,  she  remembers  at  least  three  important  table  manners,  and  only  blunders  once  at  a  sushi  restaurant  (where  she  learns  the  high  end  sushi  stops  in  new  york  are  feeble  and  weak  in  comparison  to  the  high  end  sushi  stops  in  japan,  sampling  a  dragon  roll  out  of  logan’s  yen  that’s  so  good  her  knees  wobble).  she  has,  more  or  less,  a  good  time.  

jessica  can’t  remember  the  last  time  she  had  a  good  time,  not  one  that  she’d  wanted,  not  one  where  she  had  so  much  freedom.  logan’s  packing  their  bags  for  the  morning  flight  when  jessica,  seated  on  the  edge  of  her  bed  in  their  shared  room,  flares  her  nostrils.  

this  was  nice,  logan.  thanks.  

logan  pushes  down  a  piece  of  clothing  that  stubbornly  pokes  at  the  zipper,  then  grips  the  tongue  between  thumb  and  finger,  the  other  pinching  the  track.  ‘  uh  huh.  ‘   he  murmurs,  sounding  somewhat  dismissive,  though  not  intentionally.    ‘  you  wanna  see  more  ‘f  the  cities  here,  you  gotta  come  back  withou’  me.  s’too  much  fer  my  senses  sometimes.  ‘  triumphant  over  the  bag,  he  slings  it  around  the  outmost  door  handle.  jessica  is  standing  now,  closer,  though  logan  hadn’t  noticed  her  move.  she  reaches  out  to  him,  slowly  takes  his  hand,  and  logan  stares  on,  curious  and  suspicious.  jess  kisses  the  area  between  his  thumb  and  index  finger,  then  lets  his  hand  fall  away.   i  know  you  lost  a  lot  here.  you  never  ..  said  anything  to  me.  but  i’ve  read  your  files,  uh,  your  SHIELD  files.  i  felt  like  kinda  an  asshole  for  never  saying  that  i  did.  so,  thank  you.  i’m  gonna  take  a  shower.  

blinking  slowly,  logan  clears  his  throat,  pulling  his  hand  back.  with  the  other,  he  gestures  at  the  bathroom.   ‘  th’  shower  knob  with  the  drain  on  the  floor  is  where  you  shower.  you  only  take  a  bath  after  you  shower.  it’s  --  baths  are  fer  relaxin’,  not  cleanin’.   last  person  who  went  wit’  me  to  japan  didn’t  know  what  ta  do.  ‘  

jess  props  her  thumb  in  the  air,  hand  tucked  near  the  side  of  her  ribs  as  she  shoulders  open  the  door.

[mayarosa47]

What Happens If I Cant Get A Loan Modification?

Loan modification is a change made to the terms of an existing loan by a lender. It may involve a reduction in the interest rate, an extension of the length of time for repayment, a different type of loan, or any combination of the three.

Such changes usually are made because the borrower is unable to repay the original loan. Most successful loan modification processes are negotiated with the help of an attorney or a settlement company. Some borrowers are eligible for government assistance in loan modification.

How Loan Modification Works

Although a loan modification may be made for any type of loan, they are most common with secured loans such as mortgages.

• A loan modification is typically granted to a borrower in financial crisis who can’t repay the loan under its original terms. • Successful applicants typically are represented by legal or other professional counsel. • Some consumers have access to government programs that help mortgage-holders. A lender may agree to a loan modification during a settlement procedure or in the case of a potential foreclosure. In such situations, the lender has concluded that a loan modification will be less costly to the business than a foreclosure or a charge-off of the debt. A loan modification agreement is not the same as a forbearance agreement. A forbearance agreement provides short-term relief for a borrower with a temporary financial problem. A loan modification agreement is a long-term solution.

A loan modification may involve a reduced interest rate, a longer period to repay, a different type of loan, or any combination of these. There are two sources of professional assistance in negotiating a loan modification:

• Settlement companies are for-profit entities that work on behalf of borrowers to reduce or alleviate debt by settling with their creditors. • Mortgage modification lawyers specialize in negotiating for the owners of mortgages that are in default and threatened with foreclosure. Federal government assistance also is available to some borrowers.

Government Programs

Mortgage loan modifications are the most common type because of the large sums of money at stake. During the housing foreclosure crisis that took place between 2007 and 2010, several government loan modification programs were established for borrowers.

Some of those programs have expired but government-sponsored loan modification assistance is still available to some borrowers. These include:

• Fannie Mae, the government-sponsored mortgage company, has a program called Flex Modification. • Mortgages insured by the Federal Housing Authority may be eligible for modification through the agency’s FHA-HAMP program. • Military veterans can get mortgage delinquency counseling through the U.S. Dept. of Veterans Affairs. Some traditional lenders have their own loan modification programs.

Applying for a Mortgage Loan Modification

A mortgage loan modification application will require the details of a borrower’s financial information, the mortgage information, and the specifics of the hardship situation.

Each program will have its own qualifications and requirements. These are typically based on the amount the borrower owes, the property being used for collateral, and specific features of the collateral property. If a borrower is approved, the approval will include an offer with new loan modification terms.

• Apply for a modification as soon as possible. To qualify for a modification, you’ll have to submit a complete “loss mitigation” application to your loan servicer. It’s best to submit your application as soon as you know you’ll have trouble making your payments or shortly after you fall behind. If you take several weeks or months to put your paperwork together, a foreclosure could start or continue, leaving you with less time to work out a foreclosure alternative.

• Send in all items the servicer requests. To get protection against dual tracking under federal and some state laws, you have to send your servicer a complete application. An application is complete once you’ve sent in everything that the servicer requested—like a financial worksheet, pay stubs, bank statements, information about your assets, tax returns, and a hardship statement. One of the main reasons that people often don’t get approved for a modification is because they fail to send in every document that the servicer requests. The servicer won’t make a decision your application until all of your items are in. If you leave out just one document—or send paperwork that’s outdated—the servicer will likely deny your request for a modification.

• Be sure to include every page of each required item. When you send your paperwork to the servicer, don’t omit any pages. For example, even if page three of your bank statement is blank, if the other pages say “Page 1 of 3” and “Page 2 of 3”, you need to send all three pages. Otherwise, the servicer will probably consider the document incomplete.

• Keep all correspondence you receive from the servicer. Be sure to retain all written communications you receive from the servicer, such as a confirmation letter that the servicer received your complete application or a letter telling you that certain items are missing. This information could be useful later on if you want to challenge a foreclosure by showing the servicer didn’t comply with servicing laws. (To learn what to do, and what not to do, in a foreclosure, see Foreclosure Do’s and Don’ts.) • Learn about laws that protect you in the process. Servicers sometimes make mistakes when processing borrowers’ modification applications. Find out about the federal and state laws that protect you in the loss mitigation process so you can enforce your rights if the servicer fails to abide by the law. (Read about federal mortgage servicing laws that protect homeowners from foreclosure.) Don’t:

• Send illegible documents. When you send your paperwork to the servicer, be sure that all pages are legible. Otherwise, the servicer might deem them unacceptable and deny your application. Be aware that what you consider acceptable and what the servicer considers readable might be different. The servicer won’t put in a lot of effort to decipher words or numbers that are potentially unclear. It’s in your best interest to make it easy for the servicer to read the documents by submitting only clear, clean copies.

• Lose your cool if the process isn’t perfectly smooth. Stay calm, even if you have to resubmit paperwork you already sent in. Resend whatever item the servicer asks for, and send it as soon as possible. If you get irritated with the servicer and insist that you already submitted all required documents rather than resending them, you’ll only hurt yourself. Remember that your servicer is likely getting thousands of requests for modifications—don’t give the staff an easy reason to turn down your request. • Be afraid to get clarification. Be sure that you’re clear on exactly what items you need to send in. The servicer might request two pay stubs assuming that covers one month of your income. But if you’re paid weekly, bimonthly, or monthly, you might have to send in more or fewer pay stubs. If you need clarification, ask your point of contact. (Under federal law, in most cases, by the time you’re 45 days’ delinquent, the servicer has to assign a single person or a team to help you with the loss mitigation process.) • Forget to put your name, loan number, and contact information on each page of every document you turn in. Normally, you get a few options for sending your documents to the servicer: by regular mail, overnight mail, fax, or secure email. Paperwork sometimes gets lost, so the best option is secure email. Whatever option you choose, be sure to put your identifying information on every page of each document. Otherwise, the servicer might misplace one page and think your application is incomplete. When possible, send all of your application documents at one time, which significantly reduces the opportunity for items to get lost. • Assume everything is on track, even after you’ve sent in your complete application. After you send in your paperwork, remain in touch with the servicer. Call at least one time each week to check on the status of your application. Keep notes detailing when you called the servicer, who you talked to, and what you discussed. Also, be sure to ask if the servicer needs any updated documents or information from you. What Are the Alternatives If Loan Modification Does Not Work for Someone? What Happens If Someone Defaults on A Loan Modification? Is It Like

Essentially Having A New Loan?

When you do a loan modification, they actually record a new deed of trust in the land records with the terms of the new loan modification. So, essentially if you fell behind in a loan modification, it’s just like falling behind on the original mortgage except the payments are lower and you’re not falling behind as fast as you were when the payments were higher. The good news is the attorney can still file Chapter 13. Law office of Attorney James Logan has filed quite a few Chapter 13 for people who had modified loans. Because the payments are lower, a lot of times, the Chapter 13 will work out. You can always file a Chapter 13 after getting a loan modification if you want to try to hold on to your house. In some cases, people get second loan modifications and again, if their income situation is changed for the better, they may be able to get another loan modification from their lender.

What Are Some of The Other Alternatives to Foreclosures?

Once you start to fall behind on your mortgage, your first option is to call your lender and see if you can work out either some kind of forbearance. If it’s a temporary collection on your income or you’re just out of work for 6 months but now you’re back to work, and the forbearance means they’ll work out some program with you to catch you up on the 2 or 3 months that you missed. Attorney James Logan can do a reinstatement if you have funds available. Sometimes, people get a tax refund that’s allowing you to catch up the mortgage. But what you don’t want to do is pull out money from your 401(k) to reinstate your loan, that’s a very bad idea because you’re paying the taxes and penalties on the withdrawal for the 401(k). And if you ultimately end up losing the house, you wasted all that money. So, it is strongly advised never to pull out money from a 401(k) or IRA to catch up loan or catch up a mortgage. If you have some other source of funds that you can use to reinstate the loan, that may be an option. In Maryland, you can apply for mediation at a certain point during the foreclosure process and the mediation is where you can actually sit down with the lender and a mediator was appointed by the court and talk about options to save your home. Sometimes, that’s successful. Your ultimate option is to file a bankruptcy. You need to file a Chapter 13 where the attorney can set up a payment plan to catch you up on the back payments on the mortgage or you can file a Chapter 7 and just basically buy yourself a few months in the house and wipe out all your liability on the house and walk away from it. Sometimes, people just realize that they are never going to be able to hold on to the house and they start to buy time and walk away.

Why Bankruptcy Would Be A Better Option?

Bankruptcy may be a better option for loan modification if you’re not too far behind in your mortgage and you have other debts that can be dealt with in a bankruptcy. So, those are probably the two situations where it makes more sense to file a bankruptcy. Unfortunately, by the time many people come to see a lawyer, they’re two, three, four years behind in the mortgage which they can’t afford just the regular payment. If they file a Chapter 13, they’re looking at the regular payment plus another payment on top of that. So, if you can’t afford the regular payment, how are you going to afford the regular payment plus more on top? But if you’re only a few months behind, which is becoming more common as we emerged from the recession, we’re starting to get past all the crazy day mortgages. Those kinds of situations make sense. In another case, if you have a lot of debts, a lot of times, we can file a Chapter 7 and get rid of all your credit card debt and other debts that are weighing you down and you can focus on getting a loan modification to save your home. To learn more about federal and state laws that protect homeowners in the loan modification process, talk to a lawyer. If the servicer violates any of the laws mentioned in this article or treats you unfairly, you might have a defense to a foreclosure, which could give you leverage in the modification process. To get assistance with completing your application or to learn more about different loss mitigation options, consider talking a HUD-approved housing counselor. You should not, however, hire a loan modification company to assist you.

Loan Modification Attorney Free Consultation

When you need legal help with a loan modification in Utah, please call Ascent Law LLC for your free consultation (801) 676-5506. We want to help you.

Ascent Law LLC 8833 S. Redwood Road, Suite C West Jordan, Utah 84088 United States Telephone: (801) 676-5506

Ascent Law LLC

4.9 stars – based on 67 reviews

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What Happens If I Can’t Get A Loan Modification?

Loan modification is a change made to the terms of an existing loan by a lender. It may involve a reduction in the interest rate, an extension of the length of time for repayment, a different type of loan, or any combination of the three.

Such changes usually are made because the borrower is unable to repay the original loan. Most successful loan modification processes are negotiated with the help of an attorney or a settlement company. Some borrowers are eligible for government assistance in loan modification.

How Loan Modification Works

Although a loan modification may be made for any type of loan, they are most common with secured loans such as mortgages.

• A loan modification is typically granted to a borrower in financial crisis who can’t repay the loan under its original terms. • Successful applicants typically are represented by legal or other professional counsel. • Some consumers have access to government programs that help mortgage-holders. A lender may agree to a loan modification during a settlement procedure or in the case of a potential foreclosure. In such situations, the lender has concluded that a loan modification will be less costly to the business than a foreclosure or a charge-off of the debt. A loan modification agreement is not the same as a forbearance agreement. A forbearance agreement provides short-term relief for a borrower with a temporary financial problem. A loan modification agreement is a long-term solution.

A loan modification may involve a reduced interest rate, a longer period to repay, a different type of loan, or any combination of these. There are two sources of professional assistance in negotiating a loan modification:

• Settlement companies are for-profit entities that work on behalf of borrowers to reduce or alleviate debt by settling with their creditors. • Mortgage modification lawyers specialize in negotiating for the owners of mortgages that are in default and threatened with foreclosure. Federal government assistance also is available to some borrowers.

Government Programs

Mortgage loan modifications are the most common type because of the large sums of money at stake. During the housing foreclosure crisis that took place between 2007 and 2010, several government loan modification programs were established for borrowers.

Some of those programs have expired but government-sponsored loan modification assistance is still available to some borrowers. These include:

• Fannie Mae, the government-sponsored mortgage company, has a program called Flex Modification. • Mortgages insured by the Federal Housing Authority may be eligible for modification through the agency’s FHA-HAMP program. • Military veterans can get mortgage delinquency counseling through the U.S. Dept. of Veterans Affairs. Some traditional lenders have their own loan modification programs.

Applying for a Mortgage Loan Modification

A mortgage loan modification application will require the details of a borrower’s financial information, the mortgage information, and the specifics of the hardship situation.

Each program will have its own qualifications and requirements. These are typically based on the amount the borrower owes, the property being used for collateral, and specific features of the collateral property. If a borrower is approved, the approval will include an offer with new loan modification terms.

• Apply for a modification as soon as possible. To qualify for a modification, you’ll have to submit a complete “loss mitigation” application to your loan servicer. It’s best to submit your application as soon as you know you’ll have trouble making your payments or shortly after you fall behind. If you take several weeks or months to put your paperwork together, a foreclosure could start or continue, leaving you with less time to work out a foreclosure alternative.

• Send in all items the servicer requests. To get protection against dual tracking under federal and some state laws, you have to send your servicer a complete application. An application is complete once you’ve sent in everything that the servicer requested—like a financial worksheet, pay stubs, bank statements, information about your assets, tax returns, and a hardship statement. One of the main reasons that people often don’t get approved for a modification is because they fail to send in every document that the servicer requests. The servicer won’t make a decision your application until all of your items are in. If you leave out just one document—or send paperwork that’s outdated—the servicer will likely deny your request for a modification.

• Be sure to include every page of each required item. When you send your paperwork to the servicer, don’t omit any pages. For example, even if page three of your bank statement is blank, if the other pages say “Page 1 of 3” and “Page 2 of 3”, you need to send all three pages. Otherwise, the servicer will probably consider the document incomplete.

• Keep all correspondence you receive from the servicer. Be sure to retain all written communications you receive from the servicer, such as a confirmation letter that the servicer received your complete application or a letter telling you that certain items are missing. This information could be useful later on if you want to challenge a foreclosure by showing the servicer didn’t comply with servicing laws. (To learn what to do, and what not to do, in a foreclosure, see Foreclosure Do’s and Don’ts.) • Learn about laws that protect you in the process. Servicers sometimes make mistakes when processing borrowers’ modification applications. Find out about the federal and state laws that protect you in the loss mitigation process so you can enforce your rights if the servicer fails to abide by the law. (Read about federal mortgage servicing laws that protect homeowners from foreclosure.) Don’t:

• Send illegible documents. When you send your paperwork to the servicer, be sure that all pages are legible. Otherwise, the servicer might deem them unacceptable and deny your application. Be aware that what you consider acceptable and what the servicer considers readable might be different. The servicer won’t put in a lot of effort to decipher words or numbers that are potentially unclear. It’s in your best interest to make it easy for the servicer to read the documents by submitting only clear, clean copies.

• Lose your cool if the process isn’t perfectly smooth. Stay calm, even if you have to resubmit paperwork you already sent in. Resend whatever item the servicer asks for, and send it as soon as possible. If you get irritated with the servicer and insist that you already submitted all required documents rather than resending them, you’ll only hurt yourself. Remember that your servicer is likely getting thousands of requests for modifications—don’t give the staff an easy reason to turn down your request. • Be afraid to get clarification. Be sure that you’re clear on exactly what items you need to send in. The servicer might request two pay stubs assuming that covers one month of your income. But if you’re paid weekly, bimonthly, or monthly, you might have to send in more or fewer pay stubs. If you need clarification, ask your point of contact. (Under federal law, in most cases, by the time you’re 45 days’ delinquent, the servicer has to assign a single person or a team to help you with the loss mitigation process.) • Forget to put your name, loan number, and contact information on each page of every document you turn in. Normally, you get a few options for sending your documents to the servicer: by regular mail, overnight mail, fax, or secure email. Paperwork sometimes gets lost, so the best option is secure email. Whatever option you choose, be sure to put your identifying information on every page of each document. Otherwise, the servicer might misplace one page and think your application is incomplete. When possible, send all of your application documents at one time, which significantly reduces the opportunity for items to get lost. • Assume everything is on track, even after you’ve sent in your complete application. After you send in your paperwork, remain in touch with the servicer. Call at least one time each week to check on the status of your application. Keep notes detailing when you called the servicer, who you talked to, and what you discussed. Also, be sure to ask if the servicer needs any updated documents or information from you. What Are the Alternatives If Loan Modification Does Not Work for Someone? What Happens If Someone Defaults on A Loan Modification? Is It Like

Essentially Having A New Loan?

When you do a loan modification, they actually record a new deed of trust in the land records with the terms of the new loan modification. So, essentially if you fell behind in a loan modification, it’s just like falling behind on the original mortgage except the payments are lower and you’re not falling behind as fast as you were when the payments were higher. The good news is the attorney can still file Chapter 13. Law office of Attorney James Logan has filed quite a few Chapter 13 for people who had modified loans. Because the payments are lower, a lot of times, the Chapter 13 will work out. You can always file a Chapter 13 after getting a loan modification if you want to try to hold on to your house. In some cases, people get second loan modifications and again, if their income situation is changed for the better, they may be able to get another loan modification from their lender.

What Are Some of The Other Alternatives to Foreclosures?

Once you start to fall behind on your mortgage, your first option is to call your lender and see if you can work out either some kind of forbearance. If it’s a temporary collection on your income or you’re just out of work for 6 months but now you’re back to work, and the forbearance means they’ll work out some program with you to catch you up on the 2 or 3 months that you missed. Attorney James Logan can do a reinstatement if you have funds available. Sometimes, people get a tax refund that’s allowing you to catch up the mortgage. But what you don’t want to do is pull out money from your 401(k) to reinstate your loan, that’s a very bad idea because you’re paying the taxes and penalties on the withdrawal for the 401(k). And if you ultimately end up losing the house, you wasted all that money. So, it is strongly advised never to pull out money from a 401(k) or IRA to catch up loan or catch up a mortgage. If you have some other source of funds that you can use to reinstate the loan, that may be an option. In Maryland, you can apply for mediation at a certain point during the foreclosure process and the mediation is where you can actually sit down with the lender and a mediator was appointed by the court and talk about options to save your home. Sometimes, that’s successful. Your ultimate option is to file a bankruptcy. You need to file a Chapter 13 where the attorney can set up a payment plan to catch you up on the back payments on the mortgage or you can file a Chapter 7 and just basically buy yourself a few months in the house and wipe out all your liability on the house and walk away from it. Sometimes, people just realize that they are never going to be able to hold on to the house and they start to buy time and walk away.

Why Bankruptcy Would Be A Better Option?

Bankruptcy may be a better option for loan modification if you’re not too far behind in your mortgage and you have other debts that can be dealt with in a bankruptcy. So, those are probably the two situations where it makes more sense to file a bankruptcy. Unfortunately, by the time many people come to see a lawyer, they’re two, three, four years behind in the mortgage which they can’t afford just the regular payment. If they file a Chapter 13, they’re looking at the regular payment plus another payment on top of that. So, if you can’t afford the regular payment, how are you going to afford the regular payment plus more on top? But if you’re only a few months behind, which is becoming more common as we emerged from the recession, we’re starting to get past all the crazy day mortgages. Those kinds of situations make sense. In another case, if you have a lot of debts, a lot of times, we can file a Chapter 7 and get rid of all your credit card debt and other debts that are weighing you down and you can focus on getting a loan modification to save your home. To learn more about federal and state laws that protect homeowners in the loan modification process, talk to a lawyer. If the servicer violates any of the laws mentioned in this article or treats you unfairly, you might have a defense to a foreclosure, which could give you leverage in the modification process. To get assistance with completing your application or to learn more about different loss mitigation options, consider talking a HUD-approved housing counselor. You should not, however, hire a loan modification company to assist you.

Loan Modification Attorney Free Consultation

When you need legal help with a loan modification in Utah, please call Ascent Law LLC for your free consultation (801) 676-5506. We want to help you.

Ascent Law LLC 8833 S. Redwood Road, Suite C West Jordan, Utah 84088 United States Telephone: (801) 676-5506

Ascent Law LLC

4.9 stars – based on 67 reviews

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Set Up A Trust

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from Michael Anderson https://www.ascentlawfirm.com/what-happens-if-i-cant-get-a-loan-modification/ from Divorce Lawyer Nelson Farms Utah https://divorcelawyernelsonfarmsutah.tumblr.com/post/616092568386748416

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What Happens If I Can’t Get A Loan Modification?

Loan modification is a change made to the terms of an existing loan by a lender. It may involve a reduction in the interest rate, an extension of the length of time for repayment, a different type of loan, or any combination of the three.

Such changes usually are made because the borrower is unable to repay the original loan. Most successful loan modification processes are negotiated with the help of an attorney or a settlement company. Some borrowers are eligible for government assistance in loan modification.

How Loan Modification Works

Although a loan modification may be made for any type of loan, they are most common with secured loans such as mortgages.

• A loan modification is typically granted to a borrower in financial crisis who can’t repay the loan under its original terms. • Successful applicants typically are represented by legal or other professional counsel. • Some consumers have access to government programs that help mortgage-holders. A lender may agree to a loan modification during a settlement procedure or in the case of a potential foreclosure. In such situations, the lender has concluded that a loan modification will be less costly to the business than a foreclosure or a charge-off of the debt. A loan modification agreement is not the same as a forbearance agreement. A forbearance agreement provides short-term relief for a borrower with a temporary financial problem. A loan modification agreement is a long-term solution.

A loan modification may involve a reduced interest rate, a longer period to repay, a different type of loan, or any combination of these. There are two sources of professional assistance in negotiating a loan modification:

• Settlement companies are for-profit entities that work on behalf of borrowers to reduce or alleviate debt by settling with their creditors. • Mortgage modification lawyers specialize in negotiating for the owners of mortgages that are in default and threatened with foreclosure. Federal government assistance also is available to some borrowers.

Government Programs

Mortgage loan modifications are the most common type because of the large sums of money at stake. During the housing foreclosure crisis that took place between 2007 and 2010, several government loan modification programs were established for borrowers.

Some of those programs have expired but government-sponsored loan modification assistance is still available to some borrowers. These include:

• Fannie Mae, the government-sponsored mortgage company, has a program called Flex Modification. • Mortgages insured by the Federal Housing Authority may be eligible for modification through the agency’s FHA-HAMP program. • Military veterans can get mortgage delinquency counseling through the U.S. Dept. of Veterans Affairs. Some traditional lenders have their own loan modification programs.

Applying for a Mortgage Loan Modification

A mortgage loan modification application will require the details of a borrower’s financial information, the mortgage information, and the specifics of the hardship situation.

Each program will have its own qualifications and requirements. These are typically based on the amount the borrower owes, the property being used for collateral, and specific features of the collateral property. If a borrower is approved, the approval will include an offer with new loan modification terms.

• Apply for a modification as soon as possible. To qualify for a modification, you’ll have to submit a complete “loss mitigation” application to your loan servicer. It’s best to submit your application as soon as you know you’ll have trouble making your payments or shortly after you fall behind. If you take several weeks or months to put your paperwork together, a foreclosure could start or continue, leaving you with less time to work out a foreclosure alternative.

• Send in all items the servicer requests. To get protection against dual tracking under federal and some state laws, you have to send your servicer a complete application. An application is complete once you’ve sent in everything that the servicer requested—like a financial worksheet, pay stubs, bank statements, information about your assets, tax returns, and a hardship statement. One of the main reasons that people often don’t get approved for a modification is because they fail to send in every document that the servicer requests. The servicer won’t make a decision your application until all of your items are in. If you leave out just one document—or send paperwork that’s outdated—the servicer will likely deny your request for a modification.

• Be sure to include every page of each required item. When you send your paperwork to the servicer, don’t omit any pages. For example, even if page three of your bank statement is blank, if the other pages say “Page 1 of 3” and “Page 2 of 3”, you need to send all three pages. Otherwise, the servicer will probably consider the document incomplete.

• Keep all correspondence you receive from the servicer. Be sure to retain all written communications you receive from the servicer, such as a confirmation letter that the servicer received your complete application or a letter telling you that certain items are missing. This information could be useful later on if you want to challenge a foreclosure by showing the servicer didn’t comply with servicing laws. (To learn what to do, and what not to do, in a foreclosure, see Foreclosure Do’s and Don’ts.) • Learn about laws that protect you in the process. Servicers sometimes make mistakes when processing borrowers’ modification applications. Find out about the federal and state laws that protect you in the loss mitigation process so you can enforce your rights if the servicer fails to abide by the law. (Read about federal mortgage servicing laws that protect homeowners from foreclosure.) Don’t:

• Send illegible documents. When you send your paperwork to the servicer, be sure that all pages are legible. Otherwise, the servicer might deem them unacceptable and deny your application. Be aware that what you consider acceptable and what the servicer considers readable might be different. The servicer won’t put in a lot of effort to decipher words or numbers that are potentially unclear. It’s in your best interest to make it easy for the servicer to read the documents by submitting only clear, clean copies.

• Lose your cool if the process isn’t perfectly smooth. Stay calm, even if you have to resubmit paperwork you already sent in. Resend whatever item the servicer asks for, and send it as soon as possible. If you get irritated with the servicer and insist that you already submitted all required documents rather than resending them, you’ll only hurt yourself. Remember that your servicer is likely getting thousands of requests for modifications—don’t give the staff an easy reason to turn down your request. • Be afraid to get clarification. Be sure that you’re clear on exactly what items you need to send in. The servicer might request two pay stubs assuming that covers one month of your income. But if you’re paid weekly, bimonthly, or monthly, you might have to send in more or fewer pay stubs. If you need clarification, ask your point of contact. (Under federal law, in most cases, by the time you’re 45 days’ delinquent, the servicer has to assign a single person or a team to help you with the loss mitigation process.) • Forget to put your name, loan number, and contact information on each page of every document you turn in. Normally, you get a few options for sending your documents to the servicer: by regular mail, overnight mail, fax, or secure email. Paperwork sometimes gets lost, so the best option is secure email. Whatever option you choose, be sure to put your identifying information on every page of each document. Otherwise, the servicer might misplace one page and think your application is incomplete. When possible, send all of your application documents at one time, which significantly reduces the opportunity for items to get lost. • Assume everything is on track, even after you’ve sent in your complete application. After you send in your paperwork, remain in touch with the servicer. Call at least one time each week to check on the status of your application. Keep notes detailing when you called the servicer, who you talked to, and what you discussed. Also, be sure to ask if the servicer needs any updated documents or information from you. What Are the Alternatives If Loan Modification Does Not Work for Someone? What Happens If Someone Defaults on A Loan Modification? Is It Like

Essentially Having A New Loan?

When you do a loan modification, they actually record a new deed of trust in the land records with the terms of the new loan modification. So, essentially if you fell behind in a loan modification, it’s just like falling behind on the original mortgage except the payments are lower and you’re not falling behind as fast as you were when the payments were higher. The good news is the attorney can still file Chapter 13. Law office of Attorney James Logan has filed quite a few Chapter 13 for people who had modified loans. Because the payments are lower, a lot of times, the Chapter 13 will work out. You can always file a Chapter 13 after getting a loan modification if you want to try to hold on to your house. In some cases, people get second loan modifications and again, if their income situation is changed for the better, they may be able to get another loan modification from their lender.

What Are Some of The Other Alternatives to Foreclosures?

Once you start to fall behind on your mortgage, your first option is to call your lender and see if you can work out either some kind of forbearance. If it’s a temporary collection on your income or you’re just out of work for 6 months but now you’re back to work, and the forbearance means they’ll work out some program with you to catch you up on the 2 or 3 months that you missed. Attorney James Logan can do a reinstatement if you have funds available. Sometimes, people get a tax refund that’s allowing you to catch up the mortgage. But what you don’t want to do is pull out money from your 401(k) to reinstate your loan, that’s a very bad idea because you’re paying the taxes and penalties on the withdrawal for the 401(k). And if you ultimately end up losing the house, you wasted all that money. So, it is strongly advised never to pull out money from a 401(k) or IRA to catch up loan or catch up a mortgage. If you have some other source of funds that you can use to reinstate the loan, that may be an option. In Maryland, you can apply for mediation at a certain point during the foreclosure process and the mediation is where you can actually sit down with the lender and a mediator was appointed by the court and talk about options to save your home. Sometimes, that’s successful. Your ultimate option is to file a bankruptcy. You need to file a Chapter 13 where the attorney can set up a payment plan to catch you up on the back payments on the mortgage or you can file a Chapter 7 and just basically buy yourself a few months in the house and wipe out all your liability on the house and walk away from it. Sometimes, people just realize that they are never going to be able to hold on to the house and they start to buy time and walk away.

Why Bankruptcy Would Be A Better Option?

Bankruptcy may be a better option for loan modification if you’re not too far behind in your mortgage and you have other debts that can be dealt with in a bankruptcy. So, those are probably the two situations where it makes more sense to file a bankruptcy. Unfortunately, by the time many people come to see a lawyer, they’re two, three, four years behind in the mortgage which they can’t afford just the regular payment. If they file a Chapter 13, they’re looking at the regular payment plus another payment on top of that. So, if you can’t afford the regular payment, how are you going to afford the regular payment plus more on top? But if you’re only a few months behind, which is becoming more common as we emerged from the recession, we’re starting to get past all the crazy day mortgages. Those kinds of situations make sense. In another case, if you have a lot of debts, a lot of times, we can file a Chapter 7 and get rid of all your credit card debt and other debts that are weighing you down and you can focus on getting a loan modification to save your home. To learn more about federal and state laws that protect homeowners in the loan modification process, talk to a lawyer. If the servicer violates any of the laws mentioned in this article or treats you unfairly, you might have a defense to a foreclosure, which could give you leverage in the modification process. To get assistance with completing your application or to learn more about different loss mitigation options, consider talking a HUD-approved housing counselor. You should not, however, hire a loan modification company to assist you.

Loan Modification Attorney Free Consultation

When you need legal help with a loan modification in Utah, please call Ascent Law LLC for your free consultation (801) 676-5506. We want to help you.

Ascent Law LLC 8833 S. Redwood Road, Suite C West Jordan, Utah 84088 United States Telephone: (801) 676-5506

Ascent Law LLC

4.9 stars – based on 67 reviews

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Set Up A Trust

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ATV Accident Lawyer Park City Utah

Source: https://www.ascentlawfirm.com/what-happens-if-i-cant-get-a-loan-modification/

[coming-from-hell]

What Happens If I Can’t Get A Loan Modification?

Loan modification is a change made to the terms of an existing loan by a lender. It may involve a reduction in the interest rate, an extension of the length of time for repayment, a different type of loan, or any combination of the three.

Such changes usually are made because the borrower is unable to repay the original loan. Most successful loan modification processes are negotiated with the help of an attorney or a settlement company. Some borrowers are eligible for government assistance in loan modification.

How Loan Modification Works

Although a loan modification may be made for any type of loan, they are most common with secured loans such as mortgages.

• A loan modification is typically granted to a borrower in financial crisis who can’t repay the loan under its original terms. • Successful applicants typically are represented by legal or other professional counsel. • Some consumers have access to government programs that help mortgage-holders. A lender may agree to a loan modification during a settlement procedure or in the case of a potential foreclosure. In such situations, the lender has concluded that a loan modification will be less costly to the business than a foreclosure or a charge-off of the debt. A loan modification agreement is not the same as a forbearance agreement. A forbearance agreement provides short-term relief for a borrower with a temporary financial problem. A loan modification agreement is a long-term solution.

A loan modification may involve a reduced interest rate, a longer period to repay, a different type of loan, or any combination of these. There are two sources of professional assistance in negotiating a loan modification:

• Settlement companies are for-profit entities that work on behalf of borrowers to reduce or alleviate debt by settling with their creditors. • Mortgage modification lawyers specialize in negotiating for the owners of mortgages that are in default and threatened with foreclosure. Federal government assistance also is available to some borrowers.

Government Programs

Mortgage loan modifications are the most common type because of the large sums of money at stake. During the housing foreclosure crisis that took place between 2007 and 2010, several government loan modification programs were established for borrowers.

Some of those programs have expired but government-sponsored loan modification assistance is still available to some borrowers. These include:

• Fannie Mae, the government-sponsored mortgage company, has a program called Flex Modification. • Mortgages insured by the Federal Housing Authority may be eligible for modification through the agency’s FHA-HAMP program. • Military veterans can get mortgage delinquency counseling through the U.S. Dept. of Veterans Affairs. Some traditional lenders have their own loan modification programs.

Applying for a Mortgage Loan Modification

A mortgage loan modification application will require the details of a borrower’s financial information, the mortgage information, and the specifics of the hardship situation.

Each program will have its own qualifications and requirements. These are typically based on the amount the borrower owes, the property being used for collateral, and specific features of the collateral property. If a borrower is approved, the approval will include an offer with new loan modification terms.

• Apply for a modification as soon as possible. To qualify for a modification, you’ll have to submit a complete “loss mitigation” application to your loan servicer. It’s best to submit your application as soon as you know you’ll have trouble making your payments or shortly after you fall behind. If you take several weeks or months to put your paperwork together, a foreclosure could start or continue, leaving you with less time to work out a foreclosure alternative.

• Send in all items the servicer requests. To get protection against dual tracking under federal and some state laws, you have to send your servicer a complete application. An application is complete once you’ve sent in everything that the servicer requested—like a financial worksheet, pay stubs, bank statements, information about your assets, tax returns, and a hardship statement. One of the main reasons that people often don’t get approved for a modification is because they fail to send in every document that the servicer requests. The servicer won’t make a decision your application until all of your items are in. If you leave out just one document—or send paperwork that’s outdated—the servicer will likely deny your request for a modification.

• Be sure to include every page of each required item. When you send your paperwork to the servicer, don’t omit any pages. For example, even if page three of your bank statement is blank, if the other pages say “Page 1 of 3” and “Page 2 of 3”, you need to send all three pages. Otherwise, the servicer will probably consider the document incomplete.

• Keep all correspondence you receive from the servicer. Be sure to retain all written communications you receive from the servicer, such as a confirmation letter that the servicer received your complete application or a letter telling you that certain items are missing. This information could be useful later on if you want to challenge a foreclosure by showing the servicer didn’t comply with servicing laws. (To learn what to do, and what not to do, in a foreclosure, see Foreclosure Do’s and Don’ts.) • Learn about laws that protect you in the process. Servicers sometimes make mistakes when processing borrowers’ modification applications. Find out about the federal and state laws that protect you in the loss mitigation process so you can enforce your rights if the servicer fails to abide by the law. (Read about federal mortgage servicing laws that protect homeowners from foreclosure.) Don’t:

• Send illegible documents. When you send your paperwork to the servicer, be sure that all pages are legible. Otherwise, the servicer might deem them unacceptable and deny your application. Be aware that what you consider acceptable and what the servicer considers readable might be different. The servicer won’t put in a lot of effort to decipher words or numbers that are potentially unclear. It’s in your best interest to make it easy for the servicer to read the documents by submitting only clear, clean copies.

• Lose your cool if the process isn’t perfectly smooth. Stay calm, even if you have to resubmit paperwork you already sent in. Resend whatever item the servicer asks for, and send it as soon as possible. If you get irritated with the servicer and insist that you already submitted all required documents rather than resending them, you’ll only hurt yourself. Remember that your servicer is likely getting thousands of requests for modifications—don’t give the staff an easy reason to turn down your request. • Be afraid to get clarification. Be sure that you’re clear on exactly what items you need to send in. The servicer might request two pay stubs assuming that covers one month of your income. But if you’re paid weekly, bimonthly, or monthly, you might have to send in more or fewer pay stubs. If you need clarification, ask your point of contact. (Under federal law, in most cases, by the time you’re 45 days’ delinquent, the servicer has to assign a single person or a team to help you with the loss mitigation process.) • Forget to put your name, loan number, and contact information on each page of every document you turn in. Normally, you get a few options for sending your documents to the servicer: by regular mail, overnight mail, fax, or secure email. Paperwork sometimes gets lost, so the best option is secure email. Whatever option you choose, be sure to put your identifying information on every page of each document. Otherwise, the servicer might misplace one page and think your application is incomplete. When possible, send all of your application documents at one time, which significantly reduces the opportunity for items to get lost. • Assume everything is on track, even after you’ve sent in your complete application. After you send in your paperwork, remain in touch with the servicer. Call at least one time each week to check on the status of your application. Keep notes detailing when you called the servicer, who you talked to, and what you discussed. Also, be sure to ask if the servicer needs any updated documents or information from you. What Are the Alternatives If Loan Modification Does Not Work for Someone? What Happens If Someone Defaults on A Loan Modification? Is It Like

Essentially Having A New Loan?

When you do a loan modification, they actually record a new deed of trust in the land records with the terms of the new loan modification. So, essentially if you fell behind in a loan modification, it’s just like falling behind on the original mortgage except the payments are lower and you’re not falling behind as fast as you were when the payments were higher. The good news is the attorney can still file Chapter 13. Law office of Attorney James Logan has filed quite a few Chapter 13 for people who had modified loans. Because the payments are lower, a lot of times, the Chapter 13 will work out. You can always file a Chapter 13 after getting a loan modification if you want to try to hold on to your house. In some cases, people get second loan modifications and again, if their income situation is changed for the better, they may be able to get another loan modification from their lender.

What Are Some of The Other Alternatives to Foreclosures?

Once you start to fall behind on your mortgage, your first option is to call your lender and see if you can work out either some kind of forbearance. If it’s a temporary collection on your income or you’re just out of work for 6 months but now you’re back to work, and the forbearance means they’ll work out some program with you to catch you up on the 2 or 3 months that you missed. Attorney James Logan can do a reinstatement if you have funds available. Sometimes, people get a tax refund that’s allowing you to catch up the mortgage. But what you don’t want to do is pull out money from your 401(k) to reinstate your loan, that’s a very bad idea because you’re paying the taxes and penalties on the withdrawal for the 401(k). And if you ultimately end up losing the house, you wasted all that money. So, it is strongly advised never to pull out money from a 401(k) or IRA to catch up loan or catch up a mortgage. If you have some other source of funds that you can use to reinstate the loan, that may be an option. In Maryland, you can apply for mediation at a certain point during the foreclosure process and the mediation is where you can actually sit down with the lender and a mediator was appointed by the court and talk about options to save your home. Sometimes, that’s successful. Your ultimate option is to file a bankruptcy. You need to file a Chapter 13 where the attorney can set up a payment plan to catch you up on the back payments on the mortgage or you can file a Chapter 7 and just basically buy yourself a few months in the house and wipe out all your liability on the house and walk away from it. Sometimes, people just realize that they are never going to be able to hold on to the house and they start to buy time and walk away.

Why Bankruptcy Would Be A Better Option?

Bankruptcy may be a better option for loan modification if you’re not too far behind in your mortgage and you have other debts that can be dealt with in a bankruptcy. So, those are probably the two situations where it makes more sense to file a bankruptcy. Unfortunately, by the time many people come to see a lawyer, they’re two, three, four years behind in the mortgage which they can’t afford just the regular payment. If they file a Chapter 13, they’re looking at the regular payment plus another payment on top of that. So, if you can’t afford the regular payment, how are you going to afford the regular payment plus more on top? But if you’re only a few months behind, which is becoming more common as we emerged from the recession, we’re starting to get past all the crazy day mortgages. Those kinds of situations make sense. In another case, if you have a lot of debts, a lot of times, we can file a Chapter 7 and get rid of all your credit card debt and other debts that are weighing you down and you can focus on getting a loan modification to save your home. To learn more about federal and state laws that protect homeowners in the loan modification process, talk to a lawyer. If the servicer violates any of the laws mentioned in this article or treats you unfairly, you might have a defense to a foreclosure, which could give you leverage in the modification process. To get assistance with completing your application or to learn more about different loss mitigation options, consider talking a HUD-approved housing counselor. You should not, however, hire a loan modification company to assist you.

Loan Modification Attorney Free Consultation

When you need legal help with a loan modification in Utah, please call Ascent Law LLC for your free consultation (801) 676-5506. We want to help you.

Ascent Law LLC 8833 S. Redwood Road, Suite C West Jordan, Utah 84088 United States Telephone: (801) 676-5506

Ascent Law LLC

4.9 stars – based on 67 reviews

Recent Posts

UCC Financing Statements

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Set Up A Trust

Asset Protection Pitfalls

Probate A Will

ATV Accident Lawyer Park City Utah

Source: https://www.ascentlawfirm.com/what-happens-if-i-cant-get-a-loan-modification/

[aretia]

What Happens If I Can’t Get A Loan Modification?

Loan modification is a change made to the terms of an existing loan by a lender. It may involve a reduction in the interest rate, an extension of the length of time for repayment, a different type of loan, or any combination of the three.

Such changes usually are made because the borrower is unable to repay the original loan. Most successful loan modification processes are negotiated with the help of an attorney or a settlement company. Some borrowers are eligible for government assistance in loan modification.

How Loan Modification Works

Although a loan modification may be made for any type of loan, they are most common with secured loans such as mortgages.

• A loan modification is typically granted to a borrower in financial crisis who can’t repay the loan under its original terms. • Successful applicants typically are represented by legal or other professional counsel. • Some consumers have access to government programs that help mortgage-holders. A lender may agree to a loan modification during a settlement procedure or in the case of a potential foreclosure. In such situations, the lender has concluded that a loan modification will be less costly to the business than a foreclosure or a charge-off of the debt. A loan modification agreement is not the same as a forbearance agreement. A forbearance agreement provides short-term relief for a borrower with a temporary financial problem. A loan modification agreement is a long-term solution.

A loan modification may involve a reduced interest rate, a longer period to repay, a different type of loan, or any combination of these. There are two sources of professional assistance in negotiating a loan modification:

• Settlement companies are for-profit entities that work on behalf of borrowers to reduce or alleviate debt by settling with their creditors. • Mortgage modification lawyers specialize in negotiating for the owners of mortgages that are in default and threatened with foreclosure. Federal government assistance also is available to some borrowers.

Government Programs

Mortgage loan modifications are the most common type because of the large sums of money at stake. During the housing foreclosure crisis that took place between 2007 and 2010, several government loan modification programs were established for borrowers.

Some of those programs have expired but government-sponsored loan modification assistance is still available to some borrowers. These include:

• Fannie Mae, the government-sponsored mortgage company, has a program called Flex Modification. • Mortgages insured by the Federal Housing Authority may be eligible for modification through the agency’s FHA-HAMP program. • Military veterans can get mortgage delinquency counseling through the U.S. Dept. of Veterans Affairs. Some traditional lenders have their own loan modification programs.

Applying for a Mortgage Loan Modification

A mortgage loan modification application will require the details of a borrower’s financial information, the mortgage information, and the specifics of the hardship situation.

Each program will have its own qualifications and requirements. These are typically based on the amount the borrower owes, the property being used for collateral, and specific features of the collateral property. If a borrower is approved, the approval will include an offer with new loan modification terms.

• Apply for a modification as soon as possible. To qualify for a modification, you’ll have to submit a complete “loss mitigation” application to your loan servicer. It’s best to submit your application as soon as you know you’ll have trouble making your payments or shortly after you fall behind. If you take several weeks or months to put your paperwork together, a foreclosure could start or continue, leaving you with less time to work out a foreclosure alternative.

• Send in all items the servicer requests. To get protection against dual tracking under federal and some state laws, you have to send your servicer a complete application. An application is complete once you’ve sent in everything that the servicer requested—like a financial worksheet, pay stubs, bank statements, information about your assets, tax returns, and a hardship statement. One of the main reasons that people often don’t get approved for a modification is because they fail to send in every document that the servicer requests. The servicer won’t make a decision your application until all of your items are in. If you leave out just one document—or send paperwork that’s outdated—the servicer will likely deny your request for a modification.

• Be sure to include every page of each required item. When you send your paperwork to the servicer, don’t omit any pages. For example, even if page three of your bank statement is blank, if the other pages say “Page 1 of 3” and “Page 2 of 3”, you need to send all three pages. Otherwise, the servicer will probably consider the document incomplete.

• Keep all correspondence you receive from the servicer. Be sure to retain all written communications you receive from the servicer, such as a confirmation letter that the servicer received your complete application or a letter telling you that certain items are missing. This information could be useful later on if you want to challenge a foreclosure by showing the servicer didn’t comply with servicing laws. (To learn what to do, and what not to do, in a foreclosure, see Foreclosure Do’s and Don’ts.) • Learn about laws that protect you in the process. Servicers sometimes make mistakes when processing borrowers’ modification applications. Find out about the federal and state laws that protect you in the loss mitigation process so you can enforce your rights if the servicer fails to abide by the law. (Read about federal mortgage servicing laws that protect homeowners from foreclosure.) Don’t:

• Send illegible documents. When you send your paperwork to the servicer, be sure that all pages are legible. Otherwise, the servicer might deem them unacceptable and deny your application. Be aware that what you consider acceptable and what the servicer considers readable might be different. The servicer won’t put in a lot of effort to decipher words or numbers that are potentially unclear. It’s in your best interest to make it easy for the servicer to read the documents by submitting only clear, clean copies.

• Lose your cool if the process isn’t perfectly smooth. Stay calm, even if you have to resubmit paperwork you already sent in. Resend whatever item the servicer asks for, and send it as soon as possible. If you get irritated with the servicer and insist that you already submitted all required documents rather than resending them, you’ll only hurt yourself. Remember that your servicer is likely getting thousands of requests for modifications—don’t give the staff an easy reason to turn down your request. • Be afraid to get clarification. Be sure that you’re clear on exactly what items you need to send in. The servicer might request two pay stubs assuming that covers one month of your income. But if you’re paid weekly, bimonthly, or monthly, you might have to send in more or fewer pay stubs. If you need clarification, ask your point of contact. (Under federal law, in most cases, by the time you’re 45 days’ delinquent, the servicer has to assign a single person or a team to help you with the loss mitigation process.) • Forget to put your name, loan number, and contact information on each page of every document you turn in. Normally, you get a few options for sending your documents to the servicer: by regular mail, overnight mail, fax, or secure email. Paperwork sometimes gets lost, so the best option is secure email. Whatever option you choose, be sure to put your identifying information on every page of each document. Otherwise, the servicer might misplace one page and think your application is incomplete. When possible, send all of your application documents at one time, which significantly reduces the opportunity for items to get lost. • Assume everything is on track, even after you’ve sent in your complete application. After you send in your paperwork, remain in touch with the servicer. Call at least one time each week to check on the status of your application. Keep notes detailing when you called the servicer, who you talked to, and what you discussed. Also, be sure to ask if the servicer needs any updated documents or information from you. What Are the Alternatives If Loan Modification Does Not Work for Someone? What Happens If Someone Defaults on A Loan Modification? Is It Like

Essentially Having A New Loan?

When you do a loan modification, they actually record a new deed of trust in the land records with the terms of the new loan modification. So, essentially if you fell behind in a loan modification, it’s just like falling behind on the original mortgage except the payments are lower and you’re not falling behind as fast as you were when the payments were higher. The good news is the attorney can still file Chapter 13. Law office of Attorney James Logan has filed quite a few Chapter 13 for people who had modified loans. Because the payments are lower, a lot of times, the Chapter 13 will work out. You can always file a Chapter 13 after getting a loan modification if you want to try to hold on to your house. In some cases, people get second loan modifications and again, if their income situation is changed for the better, they may be able to get another loan modification from their lender.

What Are Some of The Other Alternatives to Foreclosures?

Once you start to fall behind on your mortgage, your first option is to call your lender and see if you can work out either some kind of forbearance. If it’s a temporary collection on your income or you’re just out of work for 6 months but now you’re back to work, and the forbearance means they’ll work out some program with you to catch you up on the 2 or 3 months that you missed. Attorney James Logan can do a reinstatement if you have funds available. Sometimes, people get a tax refund that’s allowing you to catch up the mortgage. But what you don’t want to do is pull out money from your 401(k) to reinstate your loan, that’s a very bad idea because you’re paying the taxes and penalties on the withdrawal for the 401(k). And if you ultimately end up losing the house, you wasted all that money. So, it is strongly advised never to pull out money from a 401(k) or IRA to catch up loan or catch up a mortgage. If you have some other source of funds that you can use to reinstate the loan, that may be an option. In Maryland, you can apply for mediation at a certain point during the foreclosure process and the mediation is where you can actually sit down with the lender and a mediator was appointed by the court and talk about options to save your home. Sometimes, that’s successful. Your ultimate option is to file a bankruptcy. You need to file a Chapter 13 where the attorney can set up a payment plan to catch you up on the back payments on the mortgage or you can file a Chapter 7 and just basically buy yourself a few months in the house and wipe out all your liability on the house and walk away from it. Sometimes, people just realize that they are never going to be able to hold on to the house and they start to buy time and walk away.

Why Bankruptcy Would Be A Better Option?

Bankruptcy may be a better option for loan modification if you’re not too far behind in your mortgage and you have other debts that can be dealt with in a bankruptcy. So, those are probably the two situations where it makes more sense to file a bankruptcy. Unfortunately, by the time many people come to see a lawyer, they’re two, three, four years behind in the mortgage which they can’t afford just the regular payment. If they file a Chapter 13, they’re looking at the regular payment plus another payment on top of that. So, if you can’t afford the regular payment, how are you going to afford the regular payment plus more on top? But if you’re only a few months behind, which is becoming more common as we emerged from the recession, we’re starting to get past all the crazy day mortgages. Those kinds of situations make sense. In another case, if you have a lot of debts, a lot of times, we can file a Chapter 7 and get rid of all your credit card debt and other debts that are weighing you down and you can focus on getting a loan modification to save your home. To learn more about federal and state laws that protect homeowners in the loan modification process, talk to a lawyer. If the servicer violates any of the laws mentioned in this article or treats you unfairly, you might have a defense to a foreclosure, which could give you leverage in the modification process. To get assistance with completing your application or to learn more about different loss mitigation options, consider talking a HUD-approved housing counselor. You should not, however, hire a loan modification company to assist you.

Loan Modification Attorney Free Consultation

When you need legal help with a loan modification in Utah, please call Ascent Law LLC for your free consultation (801) 676-5506. We want to help you.

Ascent Law LLC 8833 S. Redwood Road, Suite C West Jordan, Utah 84088 United States Telephone: (801) 676-5506

Ascent Law LLC

4.9 stars – based on 67 reviews

Recent Posts

UCC Financing Statements

How Soon Must A Probate Be Filed?

Set Up A Trust

Asset Protection Pitfalls

Probate A Will

ATV Accident Lawyer Park City Utah

Source: https://www.ascentlawfirm.com/what-happens-if-i-cant-get-a-loan-modification/

[michaeljames1221]

What Happens If I Can’t Get A Loan Modification?

Loan modification is a change made to the terms of an existing loan by a lender. It may involve a reduction in the interest rate, an extension of the length of time for repayment, a different type of loan, or any combination of the three.

Such changes usually are made because the borrower is unable to repay the original loan. Most successful loan modification processes are negotiated with the help of an attorney or a settlement company. Some borrowers are eligible for government assistance in loan modification.

How Loan Modification Works

Although a loan modification may be made for any type of loan, they are most common with secured loans such as mortgages.

• A loan modification is typically granted to a borrower in financial crisis who can’t repay the loan under its original terms. • Successful applicants typically are represented by legal or other professional counsel. • Some consumers have access to government programs that help mortgage-holders. A lender may agree to a loan modification during a settlement procedure or in the case of a potential foreclosure. In such situations, the lender has concluded that a loan modification will be less costly to the business than a foreclosure or a charge-off of the debt. A loan modification agreement is not the same as a forbearance agreement. A forbearance agreement provides short-term relief for a borrower with a temporary financial problem. A loan modification agreement is a long-term solution.

A loan modification may involve a reduced interest rate, a longer period to repay, a different type of loan, or any combination of these. There are two sources of professional assistance in negotiating a loan modification:

• Settlement companies are for-profit entities that work on behalf of borrowers to reduce or alleviate debt by settling with their creditors. • Mortgage modification lawyers specialize in negotiating for the owners of mortgages that are in default and threatened with foreclosure. Federal government assistance also is available to some borrowers.

Government Programs

Mortgage loan modifications are the most common type because of the large sums of money at stake. During the housing foreclosure crisis that took place between 2007 and 2010, several government loan modification programs were established for borrowers.

Some of those programs have expired but government-sponsored loan modification assistance is still available to some borrowers. These include:

• Fannie Mae, the government-sponsored mortgage company, has a program called Flex Modification. • Mortgages insured by the Federal Housing Authority may be eligible for modification through the agency’s FHA-HAMP program. • Military veterans can get mortgage delinquency counseling through the U.S. Dept. of Veterans Affairs. Some traditional lenders have their own loan modification programs.

Applying for a Mortgage Loan Modification

A mortgage loan modification application will require the details of a borrower’s financial information, the mortgage information, and the specifics of the hardship situation.

Each program will have its own qualifications and requirements. These are typically based on the amount the borrower owes, the property being used for collateral, and specific features of the collateral property. If a borrower is approved, the approval will include an offer with new loan modification terms.

• Apply for a modification as soon as possible. To qualify for a modification, you’ll have to submit a complete “loss mitigation” application to your loan servicer. It’s best to submit your application as soon as you know you’ll have trouble making your payments or shortly after you fall behind. If you take several weeks or months to put your paperwork together, a foreclosure could start or continue, leaving you with less time to work out a foreclosure alternative.

• Send in all items the servicer requests. To get protection against dual tracking under federal and some state laws, you have to send your servicer a complete application. An application is complete once you’ve sent in everything that the servicer requested—like a financial worksheet, pay stubs, bank statements, information about your assets, tax returns, and a hardship statement. One of the main reasons that people often don’t get approved for a modification is because they fail to send in every document that the servicer requests. The servicer won’t make a decision your application until all of your items are in. If you leave out just one document—or send paperwork that’s outdated—the servicer will likely deny your request for a modification.

• Be sure to include every page of each required item. When you send your paperwork to the servicer, don’t omit any pages. For example, even if page three of your bank statement is blank, if the other pages say “Page 1 of 3” and “Page 2 of 3”, you need to send all three pages. Otherwise, the servicer will probably consider the document incomplete.

• Keep all correspondence you receive from the servicer. Be sure to retain all written communications you receive from the servicer, such as a confirmation letter that the servicer received your complete application or a letter telling you that certain items are missing. This information could be useful later on if you want to challenge a foreclosure by showing the servicer didn’t comply with servicing laws. (To learn what to do, and what not to do, in a foreclosure, see Foreclosure Do’s and Don’ts.) • Learn about laws that protect you in the process. Servicers sometimes make mistakes when processing borrowers’ modification applications. Find out about the federal and state laws that protect you in the loss mitigation process so you can enforce your rights if the servicer fails to abide by the law. (Read about federal mortgage servicing laws that protect homeowners from foreclosure.) Don’t:

• Send illegible documents. When you send your paperwork to the servicer, be sure that all pages are legible. Otherwise, the servicer might deem them unacceptable and deny your application. Be aware that what you consider acceptable and what the servicer considers readable might be different. The servicer won’t put in a lot of effort to decipher words or numbers that are potentially unclear. It’s in your best interest to make it easy for the servicer to read the documents by submitting only clear, clean copies.

• Lose your cool if the process isn’t perfectly smooth. Stay calm, even if you have to resubmit paperwork you already sent in. Resend whatever item the servicer asks for, and send it as soon as possible. If you get irritated with the servicer and insist that you already submitted all required documents rather than resending them, you’ll only hurt yourself. Remember that your servicer is likely getting thousands of requests for modifications—don’t give the staff an easy reason to turn down your request. • Be afraid to get clarification. Be sure that you’re clear on exactly what items you need to send in. The servicer might request two pay stubs assuming that covers one month of your income. But if you’re paid weekly, bimonthly, or monthly, you might have to send in more or fewer pay stubs. If you need clarification, ask your point of contact. (Under federal law, in most cases, by the time you’re 45 days’ delinquent, the servicer has to assign a single person or a team to help you with the loss mitigation process.) • Forget to put your name, loan number, and contact information on each page of every document you turn in. Normally, you get a few options for sending your documents to the servicer: by regular mail, overnight mail, fax, or secure email. Paperwork sometimes gets lost, so the best option is secure email. Whatever option you choose, be sure to put your identifying information on every page of each document. Otherwise, the servicer might misplace one page and think your application is incomplete. When possible, send all of your application documents at one time, which significantly reduces the opportunity for items to get lost. • Assume everything is on track, even after you’ve sent in your complete application. After you send in your paperwork, remain in touch with the servicer. Call at least one time each week to check on the status of your application. Keep notes detailing when you called the servicer, who you talked to, and what you discussed. Also, be sure to ask if the servicer needs any updated documents or information from you. What Are the Alternatives If Loan Modification Does Not Work for Someone? What Happens If Someone Defaults on A Loan Modification? Is It Like

Essentially Having A New Loan?

When you do a loan modification, they actually record a new deed of trust in the land records with the terms of the new loan modification. So, essentially if you fell behind in a loan modification, it’s just like falling behind on the original mortgage except the payments are lower and you’re not falling behind as fast as you were when the payments were higher. The good news is the attorney can still file Chapter 13. Law office of Attorney James Logan has filed quite a few Chapter 13 for people who had modified loans. Because the payments are lower, a lot of times, the Chapter 13 will work out. You can always file a Chapter 13 after getting a loan modification if you want to try to hold on to your house. In some cases, people get second loan modifications and again, if their income situation is changed for the better, they may be able to get another loan modification from their lender.

What Are Some of The Other Alternatives to Foreclosures?

Once you start to fall behind on your mortgage, your first option is to call your lender and see if you can work out either some kind of forbearance. If it’s a temporary collection on your income or you’re just out of work for 6 months but now you’re back to work, and the forbearance means they’ll work out some program with you to catch you up on the 2 or 3 months that you missed. Attorney James Logan can do a reinstatement if you have funds available. Sometimes, people get a tax refund that’s allowing you to catch up the mortgage. But what you don’t want to do is pull out money from your 401(k) to reinstate your loan, that’s a very bad idea because you’re paying the taxes and penalties on the withdrawal for the 401(k). And if you ultimately end up losing the house, you wasted all that money. So, it is strongly advised never to pull out money from a 401(k) or IRA to catch up loan or catch up a mortgage. If you have some other source of funds that you can use to reinstate the loan, that may be an option. In Maryland, you can apply for mediation at a certain point during the foreclosure process and the mediation is where you can actually sit down with the lender and a mediator was appointed by the court and talk about options to save your home. Sometimes, that’s successful. Your ultimate option is to file a bankruptcy. You need to file a Chapter 13 where the attorney can set up a payment plan to catch you up on the back payments on the mortgage or you can file a Chapter 7 and just basically buy yourself a few months in the house and wipe out all your liability on the house and walk away from it. Sometimes, people just realize that they are never going to be able to hold on to the house and they start to buy time and walk away.

Why Bankruptcy Would Be A Better Option?

Bankruptcy may be a better option for loan modification if you’re not too far behind in your mortgage and you have other debts that can be dealt with in a bankruptcy. So, those are probably the two situations where it makes more sense to file a bankruptcy. Unfortunately, by the time many people come to see a lawyer, they’re two, three, four years behind in the mortgage which they can’t afford just the regular payment. If they file a Chapter 13, they’re looking at the regular payment plus another payment on top of that. So, if you can’t afford the regular payment, how are you going to afford the regular payment plus more on top? But if you’re only a few months behind, which is becoming more common as we emerged from the recession, we’re starting to get past all the crazy day mortgages. Those kinds of situations make sense. In another case, if you have a lot of debts, a lot of times, we can file a Chapter 7 and get rid of all your credit card debt and other debts that are weighing you down and you can focus on getting a loan modification to save your home. To learn more about federal and state laws that protect homeowners in the loan modification process, talk to a lawyer. If the servicer violates any of the laws mentioned in this article or treats you unfairly, you might have a defense to a foreclosure, which could give you leverage in the modification process. To get assistance with completing your application or to learn more about different loss mitigation options, consider talking a HUD-approved housing counselor. You should not, however, hire a loan modification company to assist you.

Loan Modification Attorney Free Consultation

When you need legal help with a loan modification in Utah, please call Ascent Law LLC for your free consultation (801) 676-5506. We want to help you.

Ascent Law LLC 8833 S. Redwood Road, Suite C West Jordan, Utah 84088 United States Telephone: (801) 676-5506

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