#i had diagrams drawn to work it out and lost them all halfway through

[fwoopersongs]

Here it is: Why I’ve been so quiet on tumblr recently! :D!!!!!!

Written for @merelhyn in the annual @nif-exchange...

What if instead of there being wuxia elements in the alternate-historical setting of the novel, Langya List, there were xianxia elements instead?  The outcome of the Chiyan Case and Great Liang’s history is changed (in supernatural ways). 

A look at the ‘return’ of the Chiyan army from five different perspectives.

[starry-eyed-sanders-sides]

Finals Week

Inspired by the dozens of students napping in increasingly unlikely places at my college this last week. (This is my first time doing this, so any feedback/ suggestion is appreciated! Thanks! Love you all!)

Sanders Sides College AU 

One-shot

About 3,600 words

Slight angst. Mostly Fluff. It’s a bit of Prinxiety and Logicality, a bit of all of them?

Remus is kinda mentioned in passing, but he doesn’t say anything. IDK how do do warnings. If people notice something, go ahead and tell me!

Virgil stumbled out of the classroom in a strange haze of exhilaration and defeat, dark purple bag slung over one shoulder. One final exam down. Sure, maybe he could have done better, but right now he was too exhausted to care. It was over with, and his next one wasn’t for another four hours or so. 

Just enough time to catch a power nap.

Suddenly anxious that someone would beat him to it, he sped up a bit, heading straight for his favorite nook in the school library. It was a secluded sort of place, all the way on the top floor where even the elevator didn’t reach, and in the far corner behind a towering bookshelf that jutted out from the wall.

Behind this barrier of sorts, there was just enough room for the single couch and the couple ottomans he’d shoved together a while ago. Secretive. Solitary. Quiet. It was perfect.

Legs burning a bit from the climb (one of the reasons people rarely came up here), he rounded the corner to his hideaway and noted with great relief that it was empty. 

He hadn’t been the only one to discover this place. Once, he’d stumbled straight into one of the drama majors in the middle of a scene, the tall man in a bright crimson jacket reclining along the back of the couch, script held above his head as he mouthed his lines.

Virgil had quickly ducked back behind the bookcase unnoticed. And it was only because he hoped the other man would leave soon that he spent the next little bit browsing books on the opposite side of the shelf. And it was complete coincidence that he’d catch the occasional glance of a chiseled jaw and flashing eyes that would contort with fury or sadness as the scene demanded, so wrapped up in his work that the stranger hardly seemed cognizant of anything around him.

And Virgil was totally not at all charmed by the occasional song that the other would sing softly, simple melodies drifting in a low, hauntingly beautiful sonorous voice.

Nope, it was all around annoying and inconvenient when an uncomfortably attractive stranger would steal his favorite spot.

And there were others Virgil had to fight over the space with, too.

Once, a slim, pale man with dark hair had completely dominated the space with charts and maps spread over every surface, even climbing the walls and bookshelves. Once again, Virgil had ducked behind the bookshelf and peeked through the tiny gaps. He’d been able to figure out that the neatly labeled diagrams were star charts for various systems in the Milky Way, each labeled point carefully noting essential characteristics of the star, nebula, or exoplanet.

Virgil, an artist himself, tried not to be too impressed by what looked to be the hand-drawn astronomically-correct coloring and shape of each noted point.

He also tried not to be too entranced by the way that by all accounts the stranger kept a completely controlled, straight face as he methodically worked. Except for the way his eyes glittered with enthusiasm behind thin black frames.

Finally, there was the tiny light-haired puffball of a student. Virgil didn’t see him as much as the others, but when he did, this stranger usually took the Virgil route and used the space to nap, all curled up in a tangle of limbs like a puppy and snoring softly, usually with a therapist textbook in his hands or tucked over his eyes.

Virgil would never admit it, but the boy looked adorable when he napped.

He blushed slightly from the memory, suddenly realizing he’d been standing for quite a while, lost in his thoughts. He shook himself, plopping his bag to the floor and shoving it against the wall where it would be out of the way. With that, he crawled forward to the farthest corner of the couch, curled up, pulled his jacket hood over his face, and quickly fell asleep.

…

Roman left the drama room exultant, cheeks flushed red from the adrenaline. His performance had been magnificent! One of the best in the class, even! His teacher had even singled him out for his genuine reactions and subtle portrayal of emotion, even though most of it was on-the-fly work. Some of his fellow classmates patted him on the shoulder as they passed him, offering congratulations. Roman grinned widely and basked in it all.

A boy in a ruffled dark green jacket pushed past him without a word. Still glowing from success, Roman ignored him. Fame always begat jealousy. He would be the bigger person.

Roman headed straight for his favorite little refuge in the library. It would be the perfect place to be able to re-enact his performance, just to himself, before beginning to study for his next test later in the day. He was halfway to flopping on the couch before he noticed a certain black-and-purple shape in the corner.

Roman froze, studying the thin, slow-breathing form of the sleeping student.

Should he leave? If this space was already claimed, that was probably the most polite action, but where would he go? Almost every other space in the library was full up. If he was really quiet, they probably wouldn’t even notice, and he’d probably be gone before they woke up, right? There was no harm in that, right?

Roman put his bag to the side and carefully crawled into the middle space (it had the most room) just out of reach of the other student, script gripped in his hand. They didn’t even shift. Somehow soothed by the stranger’s soft, steady presence, (it was an audience, of sorts) Roman started into his lines, just murmuring them softly to himself. This monologue was read as a love poem, one of a heartbroken man describing all the beauty of the lover he pined for, but it was all for naught as their lover would never see them. It was a beautiful story. One of his favorites.

Roman tried very, very hard not to glance at the delicate, narrow face of the one he shared the couch with, nor the enchantingly whimsical wisps of purple hair that hung over their face, nor the exact way the light and shadow played on their skin, nor….

By the curse of the Dragon Witch Roman cursed softly, feeling himself fall deeper and deeper into yet another crush.

He was probably blushing up a storm right now.

…

Logan straightened his glasses, looking once more over his test. If he did not receive a perfect score, then he would receive one very close to it. It would be sufficient. He gathered his things and stood to turn in his packet, ignoring the way the other students stared at him. He had used approximately one quarter of the time allotted to take the test, but seeing as he was already as confident in his answers as he was going to be, any extra time he spent worrying over them would be counterproductive. Better to use the time to prepare for his next exam.

When he rounded the corner of the bookshelf, he was slightly surprised to note not one but two other students who had already claimed the space.

“My apologies,” He said softly, realizing that one of them was sleeping. “I was not aware that this space had already been allocated by others as a study area.”

The tanner one with golden-brown eyes looked up in surprise. Then, strangely enough, he smiled widely, flashing a white toothed grin. “There’s plenty of room,” He invited, one hand patting the unused end of the couch. “You’re free to join us.”

“Thank you,” Logan said with a nod. He swept his gaze over the set up skeptically. The low hassocks had been pushed flush with the edge of the couch, leaving no room to stand in. While impractical and very likely not physiologically advantageous… Logan did have to admit that the stranger looked comfortable with his legs extended over them. Sighing slightly, Logan tucked his laptop under his arm and crawled into place. It took a moment of awkward wiggling to get where he wanted. He tried to mimic the other man’s posture.

“Roman,” the other man said, extending a hand.

“Logan,” He said in reply, shaking it briefly.

 Roman, rather than letting it go of Logan’s hand immediately, flipped it so that his knuckles faced up, pressing them to his lips in a feathery-light kiss.

Logan blinked, short-circuiting for a moment. “You are… erm… part of the Drama department, I presume?”

Roman grinned winningly. “How ever did you guess?”

“Drama students carry with them a sort of confident, even flamboyant, attitude with them that most other studies in the university do not,” Logan said right away. “This often extends to more experimental and ostentatious styles and colors of dress, such as the bright red jacket you sport, and the ease with which you move and sit suggests ballroom training. Clear, well developed speech patterns indicate many years of vocal training, likely both in singing and speech roles that are cultivated by…” He trailed off, realizing that Roman was staring at him with a strange expression.

He cleared his throat. “I apologize. I see now that the question was rhetorical, not an actual request for an answer.” 

He quickly opened his laptop and set to work, more to give him something to focus on than a desire to make progress. Mentally, he berated himself for allowing his reckless enthusiasm for explaining things ruin yet another potential connection with his peers. This wasn’t the first time it had happened. There was a reason he had to ignore most of the people in his class. They hated him, and now this charming man would, too.

That made the next words he heard a bit of a shock.

“There’s no need to apologize, Sir Arthur Conan ‘Dorable,” Roman said, smiling softly.

Though still humiliated and pink-cheeked, Logan chanced a look up at the drama kid. This softer, more gentle attitude suddenly felt more genuine. Like Roman was letting down a mask to try to console him. Logan didn’t notice the hesitant smile plucking at the corner of his own lip. “What did you say?”

Roman shrugged. “What you did was impressive, a Study in Scarlet.” Logan blushed a bit more at the nicknames. Scarlet indeed. “You don’t have to be ashamed of it. It’s… remarkable.”

Logan couldn’t help but be slightly impressed by the references, silly though they were. Word play had never really been one of his strong suits, but even he could recognize the value of a well-timed, conversationally associated pun. 

Logan nodded, struggling to hide his blush and once again turning back to his work and allowing Roman to do the same.

On the other side of Roman, Virgil slipped a little in his positioning, sliding over almost imperceptibly closer until he was leaning against Roman’s shoulder. Almost but not quite cuddling into the tall man’s side.

…

Patton sniffed, struggling to wipe the tears away. He’d done well at his final, at least he thought so. He’d done his best, but sometimes it was so hard to know if his best was good enough. His teacher had decided that the best thing to do would be to have real practice in a therapy session, so he’d recruited some of the drama students to pretend to be patients. 

They’d been given roles and told to react as genuinely as possible so therapists like Patton would be exposed to some of the emotional highs that might come out in a session.

There had been this tall boy in a bright red jacket that had looked nice, but he was assigned to work with a really nice black-haired girl Patton knew. When they’d come out of their fake session, both of them were smiling widely and the teacher was glowing with praise for how well both of them had done. The tall boy had hugged the girl, and it had looked like such a warm, wonderful, lingering hug that Patton had to try really hard not to feel jealous that he didn’t get to experience one like it. He loved hugs.

His teacher had called him next, as well as a pale boy with a wispy mustache and a ruffled green jacket. Patton had been nervous, of course, but he’d studied hard. He tried his best. 

And it had been awful! 

Nothing he said made the boy react at all! At least, react in a way that wasn’t erratic and horrible. Patton tried to reason with him, he tried to listen, he tried to guide him and coax him along and explain and get the boy to explain and not one single thing made a dent. In the end, his “patient” had this self-satisfied little smirk on his face that he’d worn almost the whole time, and Patton was almost reduced to tears. 

He could tell he’d disappointed his teacher. His teacher tried to say that technically, the boy had played an acceptable role, and that sometimes they had patients that didn’t want to listen or change, and that’s something that they would have to deal with in their field and it wasn’t his fault and he would still get a good grade for trying.

Patton still felt like he’d let his teacher down.

So when he rounded the corner, seeking his little secluded place in the library, and he saw the tall drama student from before, smiling as he lounged on the couch, Patton couldn’t help it. He burst into tears and threw himself into the man’s arms.

…

Roman hardly had time to look up to see who else had rounded this increasingly popular corner when they burst into sobs and leapt into his arms. They were really light, so Roman hardly noticed the extra weight, but he didn’t have a chance to get a good look at their face because they’d already buried it in his chest.

His instincts took over. Part of his mind told him that he was now in a dramatic scene, and his job was to comfort his mourning scene partner. He wrapped his arms around the small, trembling frame, stroking his hand through their light, curly hair.

“Hey,” He said gently. “Hey, it’s ok. You’re ok.”

“Do you require assistance?” Logan’s voice said on his right.

“Need me to beat someone up?” A low voice offered on his left.

Roman glanced over sharply to notice that the ruckus had apparently awakened his sleeping couch mate. They blinked slowly at him, their eye makeup making them look a bit like a sleepy raccoon, but they didn’t seem bothered by the fact that three different strangers had co-opted his space while he’d slept.

The dark eyed man looked away, shy, before focusing on the huddling boy in the middle.

“Hey,” the emo one said gently. Soothingly. “Hey, it’s alright. We’ve got you now. Everything is gonna be ok, ok? Breath slow. It’ll help, I promise. In….and out….. In…… and out….” He breathed in and out, seeming to follow a count of some kind, setting the pace for the shaking boy in the middle, who tried his best to follow along.

Roman couldn’t help but suspect the one on his left was someone who was well acquainted with break downs and panic attacks.

In any case, it seemed to help, and the middle boy quickly calmed down. Logan had spirited a fresh water bottle and a pack of nuts out of nowhere and offered them to the sniffling boy, saying something about health benefits and rehydration after loss of fluid via tears. The boy laughed shakily as he accepted them, sipping at the water slowly.

“I’m Roman, by the way,” Roman said, for the sake of both the boy in his arms and the one next to him.

“Yeah, I know,” the latter said, then flushed suddenly. “I-I-I’m Virgil.” He rushed on.

Roman suddenly wondered how long, exactly, the other man had been asleep. And if he’d been asleep when he’d started leaning towards Roman and putting his head on his shoulder. The thought made him flush, too.

“I am Logan,” a voice on the other side of Roman said.

They all looked at the smallest one, still cuddled in Roman’s arms. He squeaked a little at the attention, huddling down further, but he managed to get out a tiny. “P-patton.”

“It is a pleasure to meet you, Patton,” Logan said. “And you as well, Virgil.”

Virgil tapped two fingers to his temple in a sort of half-salute. “Yeah,” He mumbled. Then, stronger. “So you’re the ones who’ve been stealing my space, huh?”

Roman blushed impossibly deeper. “I-I, we, ah, I mean, I assumed th-that you wouldn’t-”

“Nah, ‘S fine,” Virgil said, voice still low. Roman, though, trained by years of theater, could hear the slightest waver in his voice, as well as a quirk of a smile at his lips. Both were quickly hidden again.

“You don’t mind that I used this space, do you?” Patton piped up, craning his head to look back at Virgil.

At that, a real half smile lit up Virgil’s face, seeming to melt something as he looked at the innocent boy. “Of course not. I mean, technically, it’s not mine, so…” Looking down and trailing off, Virgil seemed to be struggling to keep a smile off his face. Suddenly, he leaned forward and stripped his black and purple jacket off, leaning to wrap it around Patton instead.

Patton squeaked happily and nuzzled down into it, once again reminding Virgil of a puppy. After a moment, he closed his eyes and his breathing began to slow and he seemed to be getting very, very close to drifting off to sleep. The other three couldn’t help but smile at the soft sight.

Virgil yawned. “If that’s all, I’m going back to bed,” He said sleepily. “I’ve got a test in a while, and I didn’t get any sleep last night.”

“Adequate sleep is vital for proper brain function,” Logan put in, sounds of approval at the choice to nap and disapproval at the choice to not sleep the night before both extremely apparent in his voice.

Roman suddenly lifted his arm and swung it around Virgil’s shoulders, pulling him closer. 

“You gave away your jacket,” Roman said when Virgil glanced at him questioningly. 

Virgil continued to stare.

“Look, it doesn’t mean anything. If you want to be cold, go ahead and-”

“Shut up, Princey,” Virgil said, leaning in and tucking his head to Roman’s shoulder. Roman, smiling, did so. He turned to Logan, opening his other arm.

“You too, Scarlet Study.”

“You already used that one,” Logan said, typing something.

“Constellation Leo-gan,” Virgil suggested from the other side.

“Constellogan,” Roman countered.

“Unicorn Nebulogan,” Patton mumbled, half asleep but still listening.

Logan paused in his work. “How did all of you know that I enjoy learning about astronomy?”

Everyone paused, then Patton broke down into giggles. It was contagious, and soon enough, all of them were caught in the same. Even straight-faced Logan couldn’t help but smirk.

“It seems I’m not the only one who has paid attention to the others who use this space,” Logan observed wryly.

“Didn’t help that you’re all so darn attractive,” Virgil grumbled. Roman laughed heartily at that, but no one denied it.

“Can we meet up here more often?” Patton asked, voice still sleep-heavy, but obviously struggling against it.

Virgil yawned. “Sure.”

“I see no reason why not.”

“It shall be our very own glorious bastion against the assault of education!”

“Roman, education is hardly something we need to defend against. In fact-”

Virgil groaned jokingly. “Quick, Roman, cuddle him before he gets into lecture mode.”

Roman did so, wrapping an arm around Logan and pulling him close to the group. Logan blinked, straightening his glasses, which the sudden motion had made crooked. He seemed to be struggling to find something to say, but the abrupt closeness and warmth made him short circuit briefly.

Virgil smirked. Guess that worked.

Logan sighed and put his computer aside. He guessed he’d studied a sufficient amount to do well at the next exam. Besides, though he’d never really tested it before, human contact was supposed to be beneficial in boosting of oxytocin and serotonin levels, which would aid in relaxation and focus during a stressful exam. At least, that’s what he told himself when Patton crawled over so he was in Logan’s lap and wrapped his arms around his neck, nuzzling his face into the crook of his shoulder.

“There’s a blanket in my bag,” Patton mumbled to Roman and Virgil, wrapping Virgil’s hoodie so it covered both him and Logan. “I always carry one with me.”

Roman, with the longer reach, retrieved it and draped it over Virgil and himself, pulling the emo boy closer and chuckling. “You’re freezing.”

“Yeah, well you’re basically on fire, Blushing Beauty,” Virgil mumbled, wrapping his admittedly cold hands around Roman’s warmer ones.

They both listened as Logan gave up on his half audible stuttering and finally found the brain power to wrap his arms around Patton, bringing the small boy even closer and sighing happily. 

Roman leaned forward as Virgil leaned into him, using his free hand to tuck some stray hair behind the emo’s ear.

“I’m trying to sleep.” Virgil complained half heartedly with his eyes closed.

Roman smiled, pressing his lips gently against the other’s brow.

“I’m trying not to.” He whispered.