#maybe Logan too; possibly void if they’re around

[heisttheblackflag]

is…is Jeremy perceived in pr1 the way Michael was in 2013-2014 ah?

[starlocked01]

Do You Love the Color of the Sky

(pls don’t scroll it’s not that post)

AO3

Masterpost- Previous- Next

Summary: Not being able to see green must suck, but Patton pitied his soulmate more for being stuck with him.

Content Warning: Swearing, Food

Day 26 Queerplatonic Intruality, background Logince-  You can't see shades of your soulmate's eye color until you meet and look into each other's eyes for the first time.

Do you love the color of the sky?

Patton scrolled through the ridiculously long post and sighed. He liked most of them but the shades of blue always looked so dull. A lot of people reposted this particular picture set because it was the easiest way to tell what color eyes your soulmate has. Which led to a lot of bored scrolling.

If not for the lack of blue in his life, Patton would have assumed he didn't have a soulmate. It just didn't make sense to him as a concept. He loved all his friends and cared about the people he met in his day to day life, he didn’t feel like anything was particularly missing.

Other than the color blue, that is. He stared at his own green eyes and chuckled sadly. His poor soulmate had never seen summer leaves or blades of grass, probably never liked Luigi as a character, hated driving, and wouldn't recognize Patton's pride flags. Patton had learned about the aromantic spectrum and a lot of his feelings had clicked into place. Romance just wasn't his thing and he was happy. He did worry about disappointing his blue-eyed soulmate. How awful to be tied with someone who won't love you romantically.

Patton's best friend since middle school had managed to find his brown-eyed soulmate at a local cafe. Logan didn't say much but Patton could tell he was ecstatic under the calm exterior. And from the sound of it, Roman was quite the romantic which flustered Logan. Patton was happy for them, really.

"You know, Pat, I could try to set you up on a blind date," Patton looked up at Roman with confusion.

"Oh no, they're blind?" Patton couldn't imagine not being able to see at all.

"Why would you suggest that, Roman. His eyes are only green," Logan interjected from the kitchen where he was preparing dinner for his soulmate and friend. Roman had been the one who insisted on inviting Patton and this idea was probably the reason why.

"No, they aren't blind. A blind date is when you go on a date with someone you haven't met before. I could set everything up! I've got the perfect man in mind-" Roman started rambling excitedly.

"Don't tell me it's your brother," Logan scolded.

"It's my brother, but that's not the point!"

"Don't you think you've put Remus through enough humiliation?" Logan turned, shaking a wooden spoon at Roman menacingly.

"I mean, I doubt he's my soulmate and I'll probably disappoint him, but I'll meet your brother if he's okay with it," Patton fiddled with the napkin holder, trying to diffuse the argument by agreeing. What did he have to lose?

"Fantastic! I'll call him right now!" Roman jumped up from the table, phone in hand.

"Roman! Dinner's almost done, just leave it alone!" Logan called with an exasperated sigh, "sorry, Patton. He does this to everyone."

"It's fine, Lo. A low-pressure date might be nice?" Patton shrugged.

Roman had the whole date set up before dinner was even done. He decided the two would meet for a picnic at the local park that weekend. Patton didn’t even have to say a word and it was all planned out. Logan shook his head but gave his soulmate a small smile.

The day of the picnic arrived. Roman had done everything to get this set up for the two, excited at the possible connection for his brother and new friend. Patton just rolled with it, bringing a small cake he'd made to share.

He found the picnic and spotted Roman talking with a man who looked oddly similar and dissimilar to him at the same time. Patton figured they must be brothers and hesitated several yards away.

The man couldn't look any more different from Patton if he tried. His hair was dyed and Patton thought he spotted the glint of a piercing on his lip just under a trim mustache.  For some reason, he'd decided on a black and green mini skirt and fishnet stockings with a ripped My Chemical Romance shirt. It certainly contrasted with Patton's sky grey polo, grey cardigan, and khaki slacks.

Patton took a few deep breaths to try and remember that this wasn't likely to work and was mostly to humor Roman. He'd be nice to Remus. Maybe meet him again at a Christmas party where they both laugh at Roman's poor matchmaking. End of story.

Roman spotted him and waved Patton over, more excited than a puppy brought home from a shelter.

"Patton! Let me introduce you to Remus," Roman grabbed his wrist to yank him the rest of the way over, "I think you guys are really going to hit it off!"

Remus stared at the ground, looking embarrassed. Patton felt really bad as Roman must put him through this all the time. He offered a hand and a warm smile which he took but Remus wouldn't meet his eyes. He was fine with that.

"Alright, I'll leave you two alone to start building chemistry. Good luck!" with that Roman turned and left and Remus let out an exasperated sigh before sitting down on the blanket.

"You don't have to stay. I know he probably paid you or something," Remus muttered at Patton.

"No, I agreed to try, no bribes. I'm sorry if I'm embarrassing you," Patton smiled sadly, kneeling down on the other side of the blanket.

"It's not you, Patton. It's him. He's obsessed with finding my soulmate ever since I told him…" Remus got very quiet, picking at one of the threads of his sock.

Patton urged him to continue, "you told him what?"

"That I'm ace. No one is ever gonna be happy with me so why try?" Remus picked up a rock and threw it hard, "he doesn't believe me and thinks I'm just giving up. I wish he'd just fucking listen to me!"

"Oh, is that all? Gosh, I'm sorry, Remus. I totally get it though! Have you asked him to stop putting you in uncomfortable situations?" Patton was so relieved he forgot that Remus wouldn't know why.

"Don't you think I've tried?? And yet here you are, probably telling yourself you can change me because all anyone would need to do is get in my pants- skirt- whatever and I'll change my tune! Right?" Remus glared at Patton who looked away quickly.

"N-no… I mean I actually get it. I'm aro and I hear a lot of similar stuff from people who don't get it," Patton explained himself softly.

Remus hit his forehead and flopped down onto his back, staring up at the sky, "oh! Oh, of course... I'm sorry for assuming, Patton."

"It's okay. Let's just enjoy this lunch and what I assume is a beautiful day," Patton laid down and stared at the sky, "is it cloudy today or is the sky actually blue?"

"Oh, it's a brilliant blue today, Pattycake. Have you never seen the blue sky?" Remus asked in amazement.

Patton chuckled, "nope, never seen it. My 'soulmate'-" he used finger quotes "-has blue eyes."

"Oh, well it's about the color of your shirt today," Remus grinned, "so I guess you know the difference between leaves and clouds, huh?"

"Green is a beautiful color," Patton smiled, "I hope someday you get to see it with someone who appreciates you for who you are, Remus."

"Thanks, Patton."

They both laid there in silence for a few minutes before Remus broke it, "so what do you think of horror movies?"

"Too scary to watch alone, but I'll watch with a friend," Patton smiled, "opinion on Bob Ross?"

"A treasure, but I wish he drew fewer happy trees and more sad ones," Remus grinned. They continued bouncing questions off of each other, a few starting heated debates as they ate the picnic and just talked.

It was wonderfully non-romantic. Patton felt understood for the first time in a long while.

Remus became more and more animated as their conversation drifted from movies and games to tattoos (Patton showed him a Spongebob tattoo on his ankle much to Remus' surprise) and careers. Patton was shocked to discover that Remus worked in daycare most days, something he would have never guessed from his attire.

"You like working with kids?" Patton asked cheerfully.

"I get to give them back to their parents at the end of the day and sleep like a rock," Remus laughed and took a bite of cake, "let me guess, you're a baker?"

"Not quite, I help run my parents' Mom and Pop diner and they stick me on dessert duty way too often," Patton happily patted his stomach, "I bet chasing all those kids burns about as many calories as I can bake in a day."

Remus snorted, "maybe I should stop by and find out some time."

"Yeah! I make the best cheesecake- if I'm being humble," Patton laughed.

"I love cheesecake! Can we go now?" Remus sat bolt upright with a large grin on his face.

"Don't we have to clean all this up or wait for Roman?" Patton asked, happy but a little nervous to make Logan’s soulmate upset with him.

"Oh come on!"

"I can always just make you one," Patton replied carefully.

"That would imply seeing you again," Remus smirked at him.

"You seemed to like the idea," Patton smiled hopefully, picking at the grass.

"I love that idea. You're so easy to hang out with, Pat. You really do get it, and I'm sure we could have lots of fun together," Patton looked up, tears in his eyes. He took off his glasses and wiped them with the sleeve of his cardigan before meeting Remus' gaze with a smile.

Something in the back of his head clicked. He watched as Remus blinked in confusion and started looking around wildly. Patton felt just as confused until he noticed the sky.

He fell back down on the blanket and stared up at the brilliant depths of blue in the cloudless sky. He could almost feel how far it stretched into the void of space and was utterly in awe, tears streaming down from the corners of his eyes and down his ears. It was magnificent.

Patton lay there crying until his view was blocked by two navy blue eyes, sparkling with joy and streaming tears as well. Patton smiled and opened his arms for a hug which Remus gladly fell into.

Roman came back and found them in each other’s arms, laying on the blanket and talking about everything they couldn't tell anyone else before. Patton made sure later to tell him off for how he'd treated Remus but also thanked him for setting up the date.

They weren't dating. It was something different, but they were happy. And Patton really did love the color of the sky.

Tag List: @stoicpanther @ifrickenhatedeverythingaboutthis @idontgiveafuckaboutshit @tsshipmonth2020

[baka-monarch]

What The Fuck!?

(A.N: before we start with the story I just wanna say that this is based off of this post by @lance-alt​ . Also, alot of creators on here got mentioned in the story, like actual mentions so if you got mentioned just know that I love what you create and wanted to include you because I love your interpretations of the sides, and you do not have to read this at all if you don’t want to and if you want me to take you out of the story please DM me and tell me so that I can)

TRIGGER WARNINGS: SLIGHT MENTION OF VORE FOR LIKE TWO SECONDS, MENTION OF USYEMPETHETIC SIDES, SHITTING N SOME HEADCANONS EVEN THOUGH I MYSELF LOVE THEM

The Sides are lost. They find themselves in a familiar and yet unknown place.

They will soon find someone dark. And someone far too shiny and bright… Too innocent.

The Sides meet…

their fanon-selves.

 ...

 It had started like any normal day. The sides existing as a part of Thomas, helping him with his daily dilemmas, the usual things. Until Thomas took a nap. Then the sides suddenly found themselves in a white void. It wasn’t a dream, they could confirm that much from the other dreams that Thomas had. Also from the confused looks on the twin’s faces who were in charge of dreams, like how Remus had caused Thomas’ nightmare that they had disgusted in Dealing With Intrusive Thoughts.

“Where are we?” Logan spoke up, voicing everyone’s concerns.

“Wherever it is, Thomas has never thought about it before.” Roman muttered as he glanced around.

“Yeah, I know his brains can be scooped out at times, but not even he can have a mind this empty.” At Remus’ comment, most of the others cringed in varying degrees, with Logan being the only one unaffected, only rolling his eyes in annoyance.

“Although your metaphor usage could use some work, you are correct. This place is too empty to be a part of Thomas.” Logan conceded.

“If this isn’t Thomas...then where are we?” Virgil gleaned around wearily, trying to come up with his own explanation for this situation.

“It’s really blank here...maybe Thomas is in a coma?” Roman tried, to which Virgil’s eyes widened.

“Impossible, how would we be active if he is not?” Logan debated.

“I don’t know! Do you have any ideas, Sherlock Drones?” Roman rebutted, causing Logan to roll his eyes and fix his glasses.

“Unfortunately, no. There is not enough evidence...anywhere to make a proper inference on the situation.” Logan finished adjusting his glasses by the time he finished, gaining an annoyed huff from Roman.

“Heya, kiddos? Maybe we shouldn’t argue. We’re all confused right now, and getting upset isn’t going to get us anywhere.” Patton butted in to make sure things didn’t escalate.

“Thank you, Patton.” Logan gave a curt nod of agreement.

“Fiiiine!” Roman whined after a bit.

“It would be wise to explore, to see if we can find any clues as to where we are.”

“I’ll do it!” Remus jumped in. “Who knows, maybe we all died a gruesome death!” He cackled.

“No need.” Janus approached the group from behind, having already explored himself. “Look behind us.” When turning the sides were surprised to find the area behind them was not all whit. On it there were words like what one would find in a google doc currently describing their situation as they lived through it. 

“What the fuck?” Virgil muttered. He had a Tumb.lr so he knew what fanfiction was, and this looked like it. “This can’t be happening…” He groaned, knowing it was happening.

“Aw, they’re writing about us Virge! Like the people on that one app you use.” Patton cooed, only knowing of the fluff part of fanon.

“Pat, you don’t understand. This isn’t good.”

“Oh nonsense kiddo.” Patton dismissed. “Have you guys seen the art they draw of us? It’s so cute!” Virgil internally cringed knowing that not all of it was like that.

“Either way,”-Janus cut off their small conversation.-“We need to find a way out of here.” Janus focused slightly more on Virgil for his next comment. “Whether this is real or not.” Virgil shivered at the thought of them not being real, or even acting like they do in the things that people create. 

Everyone agreed, and soon they were on their way to explore this strange new environment.

 …

 Soon enough, however, the sides are lost. Which brings us back to where this story began. As they searched for their original location, or even the mysterious floating words, they come upon a familiar and yet unknown place. It looks strikingly like a Disney movie kingdom. With one half, filled with bright colors, lush fields, enchanting forests, and a large white castle with a red roof. The other half being dark and dangerous, the colors fading, plants rotting, instead of animals there only creatures of unknown origin, and in the middle, a black, crumbling, castle, with striking green roofing. It was almost as if...it were made for the twins.

In fact, as they got closer they could hear two far off shouts, with simultaneous silhouettes, motioning towards them, as if pointing them out to someone...or something, else.

“Uh...guys?” Virgil trailed off wondering if the others had noticed.

“On it.” Romas was quick to pull out his sword, Remus quickly following suit with his morning star.

It was unnecessary however, as once the silhouettes were in view, they looked exactly like the twins. 

“Wha…” Roman lowered his sword as he saw this. As they got closer more figures came into view. All of which looked like the sides to varying degrees. There were thousands. Some were small, some were even giants, and there were alot that weren’t even human.

“Oh! Hi there kiddos!” A Patton(?) came running past the twin’s doppelgangers. “You’re probably really confused right now, I know alot of us were when we appeared!” The sides just looked at the Patton look-alike  dumbfounded. The first to break out of it was Logan.

“I do not wish to appear rude, but, who are you and where are we?” Logan queried.

“Oh, I’m Patton by @baka-monarch !” Patton chirped. “And you’re in The Imagination!”

“The what now-?” “How did you-?” Both Roman and Virgil asked at the same time.

“Hm?” The other Patton tilted his head confused.

“One at a time now kiddos…” Their Patton silently reminded them. Roman nodded to Virgil to let him go first.

Virgil inhaled, taking his cue. “How did you say a mention? That only works when typed in social medias.” Virgil wondered confused.

“Oh! That’s just my fander creator kiddo!” This Patton didn’t miss a beat as he answered happily. Virgil stared at him blankly as he came to a horrifying conclusion.

“We’re in a f*****g fanfiction.” He jumped slightly at his bleep out. “What was that?”

“Oh, Jan Jan did that I wouldn’t have to hear any vulgar language.” All of them looked back at Janus who looked forward, uninterested, definitely trying not to hide his embarrassment at what this other him did, definitely not. 

“...Okay… My turn!” Roman exclaimed. “What is “the Imagination”?” He used air quotes.

“Yeah, I was wondering that too, Mr. The 6th Day clone.” Remus added.

“Oh! Don’t you know? It’s the place you and Roman can go to to summon anything.You can even change the entire world around you!” Patclone chirped.

“What.” They all said in unison with worry, apart from the twins who were excited.

“Yeah! Isn’t it cool!” Patclone said oblivious to the consequences of the twins having this power could cause. “Oh yeah, do you want me to introduce you to everyone?”

“Please, I am intrigued about how our counterparts might act.” Logan conceded.

“Okie dokie then! Follow me!”

 …

 It had been a few hours at this point and they still weren’t even an eighth of the way through yet. There were so many headcanons, variations, AUs, OCs, OOCs, designs, everything. It was almost too much to handle.

“-this is @tscampfireau ‘s sides from their au-” The Virgil hissed and bit towards them as they almost walked on their pentagram that they were making out of… was that blood? The Patton and Logan were helping them by t-posing as a barrier against the other sides. “-yeah they can be a...fun bunch to hang out with. Oh, and here’s @bleepblopbloop56 ‘s sides.”

“How, and why are they hotter than us..?” Roman mumbled to Virgil, only getting a weird look in response.

“Then there’s @mango-shpango ‘s and @rondoel ‘s ones, he’s got a lot-” Patclone shrugged it off, but King caught all of their eyes. He didn’t have to look like the one they knew for them to know who it was… “Oh, hey there @that-prey-lounge and @tiny-peter-rabbit ‘s sides!” He greeted them. As they turned a corner there was a group of sides that were made of metal like robots. “Oh, there’s @burnadolt ‘s fnaf au!” He waved. As they approached a tavern the last group greeted was, “Heya @nommy-thoughts ‘ sides, how are you adjusting?” there were several positive responses from many of them, and as the sides looked closer they could see that a few were smaller than a human hand not only that but nearby (possibly made by someone else), were the sides they’d seen from afar earlier that were giants.. They hadn't noticed them yet here because of how closely compact the buildings were and how their size made what was visible from their perspective look like buildings.

As they all entered the tavern, they saw that there was only one group of sides here. “Hiya guys! New sides I’d like you to meet @baka-monarch ‘s group.” There were several different hellos. “And my friends, I’d like you to meet… to meet..? I’m sorry but who’s your creator?” Virgil was the one to answer.

“@thatstha-MMPH!” Virgil was only part of the way through before the other’s Janus made him slap his hand over his mouth as the other sides in the room went pale. “What was that for?” Virgil asked, his voice muffled by his hand.

“You can’t say his name. Not here.” Patclone explained cryptid. They all fell into an awkward silence, until Roman changed the subject.

“Why are there...two of you?” Roman observed.

“Oh!” Patclone chirped. “I was created just for this au! Just so I could be your guide!” He paused for a moment thinking before continuing. “I guess I’m like the Monika of this world.” Again, everyone paled, some not understanding, others...understanding too well. “Welp, I guess you want to go explore now! Jan Jan, do you and Patty wanna go have fun while they look around?” Both mentioned sides blushed.

“I told you not to call me that…” Janus mumbled as he took Patclone’s hand and the other Patton stood up to quickly join them as they went off to a separate room.

 …

 Only an hour had passed and the sides had already split off into groups with their counterparts. The Roman’s comforting each other while being completely random, some of them being sad little puffballs that the strong egotistic Roman’s had decided to protect, while others were a mix or just completely unsympathetic and degrading anyone the came in contact with, especially the Virgils. Virgil had kind of separated himself from the other Virgils since 90% of them were cowering away from everything and just having constant anxiety attacks, while the few who were different either had power that they abused, or were fawning over the other sides. The Logans had formed an army of science lead by the Logan from @askdarksidelogan and the other dark sides from his au, this Logan was very robotic looking, cruel, and unfeeling...well, almost unfeeling as the Deceit from his au was his boyfriend and the Remus was really close friends with him. Janus was busy trying to coral in all his different counterparts as some of them made plans to kill everyone around them and end the government, while others were hiding due to PTSD about the angst they have been through. The Remuses just vibed in their corner, killing, being gross, and annoying the other aspects. Finally the Pattons. Patton had basically adopted the ones that were child-like and too innocent for their own good while avoiding the unsympathetics that were teaming up with other unsympathetics and the ones who were...horny… Actually everyone was avoiding the horny ones.

But that was just the simplified version of the chaos. Logans were capturing people to test, Deceits were arguing over their name even though one was already canon, Romans were either being complete idiots or crying silently to themselves, while they were targeted by the unsympathetics along with the Virgils, everyone too scared to even try to tussle with the army of Logans.

Virgil sat back on a hill and watched it all unfold. How had the community gotten this far without this much chaos? He had no idea. A few other counterparts were up there with him but he didn’t mind since they mostly seemed chill. A Virgil approached and sat down next to him exhausted, and judging by the paint he was covered in he had just come from the Romans’ corner.

“Romans a little too much?” Virgil tried making conversation.

“Yeah…” He breathed. “It was getting a little too rowdy and I wanted to get my Roman out of there so he wouldn’t get hurt.” With no Roman in sight, Virgil assumed that he had been unsuccessful.

“So, which Roman is yours?” Virgil wondered.

“Hm?” The counterpart tilted his head confused until it clicked. “Oh, no, he’s not down there right now.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a tiny Roman. “See.”

“Oh…” Virgil was at a loss of words. What does a person say to that? After that they just sat there in silence as Virgil’s counterpart and the Roman snuggled slightly through a hand to body contact. 

“So…” Virgil decided to try again. “What’s it like, y’know, being shipped?” Virgil wondered, seeing how it seemed these two were in some kind of relationship. Virgil had always found it kind of weird, but, maybe there was more to it…

“I mean, it’s like any other relationship I guess… falling in love and deciding to be together.” The counterpart mumbled as the tiny Roman rubbed his hand to comfort him.

“But isn’t it weird how it isn’t real? How, you’re literally just playing out your creator’s fantasies because they enjoy the idea of you being together?” Virgil wondered.

The counterpart just shrugged. “I try not to think about it… but, it really isn’t that weird, even if we’re fictional characters we have memories, motives, morals, opinions, feelings. Those are real. Even if they aren’t created by us, they are real. Every thought, every motion, every breath. That is us. Just because it was written, drawn, or even just imagined, it happened and that makes it real. Makes this feeling real.” He explained as he rubbed the little head of his Roman.

“Huh I… I guess you’re right, I never thought of it that way.” Virgil shrugged.

“No one does. Why do you think people are told not to cry over fictional deaths when they actually had feelings for a character, platonic or not?” The counterpart said. “It’s just a story on the outside, something thought to not affect people even though when our memories are shared with them, it can change them.” Virgil looked at his counterpart, curiosity growing about how he had so much knowledge.

“Who’s your creator?” Virgil finally asked.

“Why do I have to have one?”

“Touche.” 

They went back to a comfortable silence. It was nice. Until this one Janus came.

“Hey, Virgil, does Roman mind if I had him for a bit?” They asked.

“I don’t mind at all!” The tiny side exclaimed as he got on Janus’ hand. They soon left, but when that Janus vired the Roman they weren’t far enough away from Virgil for him not to catch a glimpse. He shivered. 

“Is that normal?” He wondered.

“Depends on the part of the community, but pretty normal and usually safe, so don’t worry.” The counterpart comforted him. It barely helped but at last Virgil knew that that Roman was safe… probably.

“Can I try!” Remus came brelling up the his, straight (heh) to the counterpart.

“Only if you want to.” They replied.

“I do!” Remus wriggled with excitement.

“Alright, let's go find you one of the groups of sides either with the power to shrink you or are giants.” Virgil led Remus off the hill as Remus kept talking about everything that could go wrong but probably wouldn’t.

Weird. Was all Virgil could think as he watched them leave.

 …

 He saw a lot that day but never saw that Virgil again, as if he had vanished mysteriously. It didn’t matter to him right now though as he had been stuck with babysitting duty over all the little kid sides.

“F*** this.”

 …

 Virgil looked over the story he just read one more time. It was written by a small creator called @baka-monarch , who focussed more on reblogging than they did their own content.

“That was trash.”

…

…

…

“Reblog.”

[ambersky0319]

Remus ducks out because of how everyone else makes him feel, and by the time they notice, it's because Deceit is panicking. Patton tries to say it's fine that he's gone, that he was only bad for Thomas, untill Roman grows sick and looses his color. Deceit tries to leave to find Remus but Patton tries to put it off thinking Roman will suddenly get better.while that happens Logan leaves and journeys into the falling apart imagination, to find a young Remus crying, yelling out for Roman -Rayne

Warnings: Unsympathetic Patton, Minor blood(it’s literally brought up once in very very little detail), lmk if there’s anything I should add!

Masterpost 

———————————–

It had been a happy day.

The sun was shining through their windows from Roman’s part of the Imagination, Patton was making lunch for everyone, Logan and Virgil were having a light debate about something that really didn’t matter while Roman doodled in his sketchbook.

Roman barely even noticed himself that he was starting to feel a bit off. It could have been the fact he didn’t eat breakfast, so he just pushed aside his inability to come up with anything interesting as just his brain saying he needed food. No one noticed Roman’s occasional shift and grimace or the way he looked slightly too pale.

They ate their lunch and continued with their activities, except Roman only felt worse after he had eaten. He doesn’t say anything as he moves on from drawing in his sketchbook to working on the script for their next video. But his hand trembles over the notebook and he feels chills roll down his back despite the house being fairly warm. Roman bites his lip, trying to force his hands to steady, though he only fails. The living room is fairly empty now though, Logan had escaped to his room to work on schedules, Patton was cleaning the kitchen, and Virgil was napping on the opposite side of the couch. So no one noticed Roman only growing worse and worse. And Roman just assumed it was one of his off days.

No one noticed, at least, until late afternoon.

Deceit had rushed into the light commons, looking behind every piece of furniture and swearing profusely when he didn’t find what he was looking for. Deceit didn’t acknowledge that he startled Virgil or that Patton had scolded him for cursing.

“Deceit, what’s got your snakes all tangled?” Roman asked when Deceit had checked behind their TV. Deceit’s eyes snapped to him and somehow grew even wider.

“Roman? What’s wrong with you?” Roman frowned when Deceit didn’t answer, so he turned his head a bit too quickly and huffed. The action, however, made Roman feel a bit nauseous, and he refrained from reaching up to cover his mouth. He was fine!

“Nothing, just an off-”

“Oh my God, Roman you’re turning gray-” Virgil was the first to point it out, scrambling over on the couch to get to the princely side. Patton was suddenly in the living room upon hearing this.

“What’s all the ruckus kiddos?”

Deceit just shook his head. “I need to find Remus- this isn’t- fuck this isn’t good,” Deceit made a beeline for the stairs, but Patton blocked his way.

“Deceit, what’s going on?” Patton kept getting in Deceit’s path any time Deceit attempted to pass him, and the dishonest side let out a frustrated growl.

“Patton there’s no time!”

“If you just told us-”

“Remus is fucking missing, and Roman is suffering because of it! What’s not clear to you?”

“So your solution is to go invade the Imagination? Roman’s fine! And I’m sure Remus is just planning to come and attack one of us again, there’s no need to worry.” Patton had rolled his eyes as he spoke, crossing his arms.

“Um, Pat?”

“Not now, Virge.”

“But-”

“I said not now!” Virgil flinched as Patton raised his voice, his grip on Roman accidentally tightening and Roman whimpered ever so softly. Patton took a deep breath. “Roman will get better, today’s just a bad day for him! He said so himself!”

Deceit looked past Patton, to the top of the stairs. He made brief eye contact with Logan before the logical side disappeared around the corner, and Deceit huffed loudly.

“Fine! But I’m not leaving until Remus comes back, alright?” Deceit’s voice was just slightly too loud, loud enough to cover the sound of a door closing upstairs. Deceit trudged over to the couch, settling on Roman’s other side.

Roman was looking far worse. He felt as though he could get sick at any moment, and Virgil had been right, he was turning gray. His sash was already a dark and unsaturated red, and his skin was growing paler by the minute. But Patton just waved it off with the explanation maybe Thomas was just losing some motivation, it wasn’t something new, and he went back to cleaning.

-

In the Imagination, things were falling apart just as quickly as Roman was getting sick. Logan hated the Imagination, it was no place for him. But Deceit would know if Remus was just pulling a prank on them, and Logan knew Remus wouldn’t go as far as to make Roman sick. Patton maybe, but not Roman.

The ground shakes softly under Logan’s feet as he walks briskly through what was once a forest. Roman’s forest. The trees are almost regressing, some turning into saplings while others disappear below the ground in front of his own eyes. He passes a lake that turns smaller and smaller, first going dry before refilling with dirt. And then the color. Everything was void of it, and Logan knew that wasn’t right. Roman’s land was vibrant and loud and alive. Nothing was supposed to be dying in his part of the Imagination.

It’s when Logan gets closer to the border, everything now looking like an empty field, that he hears it. A wail that could shatter glass in an instant, and Logan’s running towards it, calling out for Remus.

As he gets closer, he realizes the wails aren’t just cries for help. They’re cries for Roman.

Logan nearly trips over the curled figure, but he stops before he can hurt them. And the cries momentarily quiet into soft sobs as they look up at Logan.

“You’re not- you’re not Roman-” he hiccups and the young figure finally registers in Logan’s mind as Remus. Except… he wasn’t Remus anymore, not the one Logan had been expecting to find. Still, Logan crouches down so he’s at eye level with the child.

Logan tries to keep his voice as even as possible. “No, but I know where he is.”

Remus’s eyes darken slightly, and he looks down, sniffling as he tries and fails to wipe away his tears. “So he did leave me? The bright man made him leave?” He asked softly, looking back up to Logan with tears still streaming down his cheeks. Logan tilted his head.

“The bright man?”

“Yeah, in the- the light blue shirt! He wanted to take Roman- I haven’t- where is he? He left me, didn’t he?”

Logan had thought he had felt rage before, but that was nothing compared to this. “You mean Patton took Roman?” Remus seemed to think for a moment, and then he nodded, and it took all of Logan’s energy to not curse up a storm right then and there. He tried to keep a neutral expression. “I don’t think he wanted to leave you, Remus, in fact, I think Roman would be very happy to see you.”

“But what about the bright man?”

Logan reached out to brush away Remus’s tears and push his hair from his face. “Don’t worry about him.”

“But what if he hurts me- he took Roman away because he didn’t like me- I was bad! What if he does it again?!”

Logan offered a small smile, hoping it looked reassuring. “As I said, do not worry about him. I’ll deal with him if he tries, okay?” Remus bit his lip, a bit too hard as a small bit of blood seeped out from under his teeth. Logan sighed softly. “Remus, do you want to see Roman?”

Slowly, Remus nodded, and Logan scooped him up off the ground just as the area around them was turning white. “Hold on tight, okay?” Logan mumbled as Remus buried his face in Logan’s shoulder, nodding, and Logan sunk out, holding the child tightly in his arms.

It had been a happy day.

———————————–

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[i-will-physically-fight-you]

Travelers in the Dark Chapter 4

Chapter Title: Bunker Underneath the Surface

Summary: If Virgil was told a month ago that events that transpired and led him into meeting Logan and the others, he’d laugh at the absurdity of it. Now it scared how quickly he’d grown to care for these humans. Still he has some fears over staying with them, fears that swirl in his mind when Logan asks for a quick chat between the two.

Pairings: platonic lamp

Chapter Word-Count: 3.4k

Warnings: Vampires, Fear, Panic, Implied Non-Graphic Violence, Blood Mention, Fantasy Racial Discrimination

Previous Chapter | Present | Next Chapter      AO3 LINK

*dusts off this fic* It’s been a while, huh? Massive thanks to @theeternalspace for beta’ing this chapter as always!

I don’t think I mentioned this besides the ao3 tags, but the original plan behind this fic was to include villain!Janus later down the road. It won’t happen until the second half of this fic, and honestly, I’m still deciding if I’m still including that or going a different route, I just wanted to mention that it may be occurring.

 If you don’t want to read content featuring him depicted that way, I understand. With the way the first half of this fic is designed, you can easily read the fic up to the point before villain!Janus might make an appearance and still enjoy it, as there’s basically two different story arcs that occur in this fic :)

-

Over the course of the next week, Virgil’s resolve to leave dissipated. It chipped away with Patton’s humming as he mixed together ingredients to make chocolate chip cookies. It splintered as Roman sauntered into the kitchen and swept Patton into an impromptu waltz. It fell apart as Logan tried to maintain a steady gaze on his physics book but the curve of his lips told Virgil he was amused by the others’ antics.

He’d never experienced such a warm, loving environment. He didn’t know they existed outside of fiction. If Virgil was told a month ago of the events that would transpire, he’d laugh at the absurdity of it all. Now it scared how quickly he’d grown to care for these humans.

In the stormy bleak world he’d grown up and lived in, it was every person for themselves. His foster parents took care of him simply for the money involved. His teachers could care less if he, a vampire, passed or failed. The one person he’d considered a friend only used him for their own gain in the end.

It’d been better to cease social interactions altogether. What was the point of subjecting himself to it when it always resulted in a negative outcome? After all, the definition of insanity was doing the same thing over and over again expecting different results.

Virgil was many things, but he wasn’t stupid. Or at least, he was smart enough to recognize it wasn’t worth it. Any other person might’ve gone the other extreme. They might’ve done whatever they pleased, regardless of what everyone else thought. They might’ve become what others expected them to be, because there was no other designated role in society for them.

Virgil refused. The last thing he wanted was to prove that the prejudices against vampires were valid. But again, he wasn’t stupid. He was just one person fighting an ocean of bigotry. Everyone knows you can’t fight the ocean because it does whatever its damn well pleases.

That was why he ran away from his foster family, from everything. He disappeared into the park, taking refuge in the trees. It had been safer to just give up than to play society’s game.  He didn’t even finish high school. Every day became about finding his next meal, his next shelter, his next—well he didn’t need water to survive. One of the perks of being a practically immortal vampire.

When he reached eighteen, he stopped aging. Physically. Which sounded just as fun as it felt; being trapped in a perpetual state of puberty for potentially a hundred years or so. It varied from vampire to vampire, when they’d start showing signs again of physically aging. He was twenty-eight now, and still practically an adolescent by vampiric standards.

In fact, vampires at his age required more frequent feedings to put up with their young body’s fast metabolism. It meant that Virgil was hungry all day every day. It had been hard at the beginning. He’d never had to worry about meals while under the care of the state.

Quickly he understood how hard it was to resist the urges wired into his being. Once, he’d gone three weeks without a meal. Hunting down animals hadn’t been as easy as he’d thought. Even when he managed to capture the odd bird or two—it was enough for him to starve off the urges. But never enough to truly satisfy it.

Virgil blacked out at the end of those three weeks. When he regained consciousness, he stood in an unfamiliar alley over an unfamiliar body. Fresh blood dripped from his lips as he recoiled in terror—did he do this? Did he really kill someone? But then---then! The body’s chest rose, and he knew for certain the person was still alive.

Virgil should’ve called an ambulance, he should’ve turned himself in. He should’ve done something. But he didn’t.

He ran—his mind clouded with panic. He ran and ran until he reached the secluded security of the parks’ groves. There he collapsed, his body wracked with sobs.

The kids at his school had been right; they’ve been right all along, and Virgil had refused to see it. He was a monster. Maybe they were also right that he deserved to die. But he couldn’t bring himself to do it.

Virgil secluded himself further in the park—being more mindful than ever to stay away from human contact. It was safer this way. Both for him and for everyone else. He couldn’t trust himself not to act on his impulses again. He became better at hunting wildlife animals. Too good, in fact.

There had started to be a suspicious shortage of squirrels in the park.

For years, his only focus in life had been on survival.  He’d forgotten almost anything that wasn’t vital to that goal. The days all blurred into each other, a continuous cycle of monotony. He’d liked it—routines were comforting. They were predictable, they were safe.

Despite this, even vampires needed social interaction. There was a reason why vampires preferred to live in covens rather than in isolation. He lived ignorant of that need throughout his time in the park. He didn’t realize it existed until this week spent in the apartment with Logan, Patton and Roman.

There had been a void in his heart and those three humans managed to fill it. For the first time in a long, long while Virgil felt…happy. The sensation was alarming and terrifying but also good.

Did that make him selfish if he didn’t want to give that up?

He tried his best to fight against the growing desire to stay. The last thing he wanted was to endanger the only humans who have shown him kindness. The idea of one day waking up standing over their unmoving bodies tormented him. He grew used to constant hunger, yes, but it was different in the woods. At least there he wasn’t constantly around three viable food sources. Not that he wanted to ever think of the humans in that way. They were so much more than a source of food. Vampiric urges be damned.

Several days after the garlic bread debacle with Roman, Logan sat him down.

“I have a few questions to ask you. But before I ask them, I want to let you know that you are not obligated in any way to answer them. Nor does this inquiry have anything to do with my scientific pursuits or anything of that sort.”

If he was a human, his pulse would’ve quickened from the anxiety swelling up inside of him. His thoughts pinballed into a million different directions as he tried to figure out what could possibly be on Logan’s mind. Externally he leaned back on the couch, arms crossed in a casual manner.

“Shoot.”

“Shoot? Why would I shoot—”

“It’s slang. It means ‘ask away.’” Virgil clarified.

It became apparent quickly that Logan was not adept at slang. It was a sore spot for the veterinarian—he took pride in being right. He told Virgil that he only spoke if he was certain of what he was saying was correct. Still, he found discovering new knowledge invigorating. Rather than denounce slang, he tried his best to understand it. He kept a pack of flashcards with him to help remember the correct usage of them.

“Ah! I’ll have to remember to add that later,” He murmured before clearing his throat, “moving on. My first question would be, how often do you actually need to feed?”

Virgil froze, meeting the knowing gaze of the human. He’d been careful to take the bare minimum blood from both Logan and Roman. He hadn’t fed from Patton, and frankly he was trying to avoid that. The bond between a vampire and a donor was a complex, tricky thing.

The more blood he took, the more he risked strengthening such a connection. But both Logan and Roman were stubborn humans that refused to see their vampire guest starve. He’d managed to convince Logan he survived off less than what he actually needed. It was the truth—as long he conserved his energy and slept for longer periods. But it appeared Logan became suspicious—or maybe, had always been suspicious from the start.

“Did Roman put you up to this?” Virgil demanded, his nails digging into the flesh of his arms.

“While he did mention what happened with the garlic, he did not set me up to this. I’m asking out of my own vocation and…concerns,” Logan frowned, adjusting his glasses, “I’ve refrained from asking you questions about vampires’ physiology because the last thing I want to do is make you feel uncomfortable but…I just want to make sure you are getting proper nutrition. Your health is just as important to me as the others.”

Virgil sighed. What did he have to lose? Perhaps upon learning the truth, Logan would realize Virgil wasn’t worth their time and energy. As much as that thought hurt, it was for the best.

“I don’t really know,” Virgil confessed, “I’m always hungry. Squirrels and birds are enough to get by, but they’re…not enough. Maybe once, per day?”

Virgil closed his eyes, unable to force himself to see Logan’s reaction. There a was a few beats of silences before Logan inhaled deeply and said,

“I see. How many liters do you think that is?”

“Liters?” Virgil knitted his eyebrows together as he tried to recall how measurements worked, “I…have no idea.”

“As you know, I do not know much about vampire physiology, but do you think it’s similar to vampire bats?” At Virgil’s vacant stare, he elaborated, “vampire bats consume half their body weight per feeding.”

“No, it’s not like that,” Virgil shook his head, “It’s less, I think? But it depends on the source.”

“What do you mean?” Logan asked, leaning forward in interest.

“Look I don’t know how all the scientific shit works. But like, for some reason human blood is more nutritious? We can sustain on animal blood, but it’s not the same it’s like—it’s like—”

“Eating junk food compared to healthier alternatives?” Logan suggested.

“Yeah, I guess,” Virgil shrugged, slinking further into the couch, “We don’t have to drink as much human blood as we do with animal blood.”

“Fascinating,” Logan muttered, his hands twitching as if he wanted to scribble down these findings in a journal. He instead cusped his face with a hand, frowning. Virgil shifted nervously, waiting to hear the rest of Logan’s thoughts.

“I’m not sure though…if I and the others would be able to donate blood on a daily basis without severe risk to our health.”

“Wh—what?” Virgil said, his eyes widening in surprise. Logan actually sounded regretful of this fact. Whatever Virgil expected to come out of his lips, it wasn’t that.

Logan, however, seemed to take his reaction for something else entirely.

“You see, when humans donate blood for medical purposes, we are only allowed to donate every eight weeks or so to allow time for our red blood cells to replenish. Having a low red blood cell count is dangerous for humans…I am truly sorry about that, Virgil.”

“Wh—you have nothing to apologize for—I mean I wasn’t expecting you guys—” Virgil’s voice cracked, causing him to glance away in embarrassment, “you don’t have to do anything, really.”

“Virgil,” Logan said softly, “do you remember what I said when we began this discussion?”

Virgil’s eyebrows furrowed.

“Do you mean what you said about how you cared for…my health?” He asked hesitantly.

“Precisely,” Logan said, “I was stating the truth when I meant your health is important to me. After all, you are a friend.”

“You’re serious?”

“Of course,” Logan nodded, “only serious people wear neckties.”

He gestured to his necktie, and Virgil let out a chuckle.

“Y’know, you and the others are really making it hard for me to leave.” He murmured, “but I can’t stay. I—I just can’t. I can’t stay and possibly become a danger to you.”

 “Virgil, you will not be a burden to us. It might be difficult, but I know the others and I would be willing to help figure out a solution for your dietary needs. Let me repay you—”

“You don’t owe me anything.”

“Then at least let me do this for you as a friend.”

There was again, the f word. It was really devilish of Logan to use it against Virgil. Especially since all he had ever wanted in life was to be loved and accepted by others. It was oh so tempting to just stay and live in the solace of the apartment. Until the day he outlived the others, by his hands or by natural causes. He didn’t know which one was worse.

Virgil swallowed, throat tightening, “Are you sure of this? Are you sure you want me around? I mean, you barely know me.”

“As certain as I am of the sun rise, yes.”

“Well there is one solution.” Virgil said with a slight groan. He couldn’t believe he was doing this.

 Logan perked up, looking at Virgil with childish excitement. “What is it?”

“I’ve never done this and I don’t know like the exact scientific crap behind it. But if a vampire feeds from a, uh, human consistently, um, it’s like we inject something that keeps humans’ blood healthy. So like, I guess it helps reproduce red blood cells faster.”

“Incredible,” Logan murmurs, “I can’t believe—well, unfortunately I can understand why this isn’t common knowledge. But something like this proves vampires and humans as a whole could one day live harmoniously.”

“I mean, I doubt that,” Virgil laughed bitterly, “There is some…side effects. You might become, uh, enthralled for a brief period after a feeding. Like, very agreeable to whatever I suggest. So I get it if that makes any of you uncomfortable.”

He flitted his gaze towards his ratty shoes. A hand rested on his shoulder, soft and tentative. As if fully prepared to draw back if Virgil brushed it off. He looked up at Logan. The human looked back, a determined glint in his eyes.

“Virgil, I trust you. I can’t speak for the others but I’d like to test this arrangement between you and I. If for whatever reason, it does not work—either for you or for myself, then we can always find a different solution. Alright?”

“Okay.” Virgil choked, forcing his vision to remain clear and not blurry with tears.

So, he stayed. Patton’s eyes lit up like a kid receiving a puppy for Christmas. He immediately bombarded Virgil with one of his signature hugs. Roman laughed triumphantly as he clasped Virgil’s shoulder and promised him that he wouldn’t regret this. Logan hung back, but his soft smile told Virgil all he needed to know.

Staying meant that he had to find a job. Virgil had never held a job in his entire life, never mind the fact he didn’t have a high school diploma. Yet Virgil couldn’t live in good conscious as a freeloader in the apartment. He wanted to contribute to the apartment rent. In order to do that, he needed money. He was certain that the two quarters and the one nickel he had floating in his jeans pocket wouldn’t be enough.

He searched for businesses that would hire someone like him. Not only was he dealing with a rather sparse resume, but there was of course prejudice against vampires. The humans flaunted around words like “peace among species” and “equal rights for all” but that rarely was the case. Even with the Helsing Laws in effect. He’d like to say that their prejudice was entirely unwarranted but well…

Most vampires kept to themselves. They either believed staying quiet would bring about peace or they just stewed about it away from human ears. Then there were some vampires that believed they were the superior beings and not the humans. So they really didn’t have qualms about hurting humans to bring about their agenda. Something Virgil knew about too well.

Of course, the businesses couldn’t openly discriminate. The Helsing Laws prevented that. But the laws did nothing to stop the prejudices that still clung heavily to the air.  It took just one smile—one laugh for them to see a flash of pearly white fangs and freeze up. They wouldn’t say it in words. But he could tell by their tone of voice and not so subtle wording that they were afraid.

They were afraid he’d snap and become an endangerment by attacking and drinking the blood of the first human he came into contact with. Honestly, humans were perfectly capable of eating their own kind’s flesh, yet you don’t see them worrying about that possibility.

It made it all the more hard to decipher then, who would hire him and who would cuss out his existence.

“So what makes you interested in working at our establishment?” The lady conducting his seventh interview asked. It was at a local, quirky coffeeshop—the kind that regulars claimed was way better than Starbucks.

Um because I want money? Virgil thought. He didn’t say it out loud, learning from his first interview that was apparently not what they wanted to hear. After that mishap, the others helped coached him through the right things to say. It still didn’t keep his intestines from knotting up out of nervousness.

“It seems like a chill, clean environment.” He shrugged.

“Well, thank you, we like keeping it that way for  our customers,” She laughed, “but we do still expect our employees to work hard and not slack off. We can get busy especially in the weekday mornings and all day on the weekends. Do you think you can handle that?”

No.

“Yes,” Virgil said, lying through his teeth, “I’m pretty good at handling stressful situations.”

“Is there a specific example you can think of?”

Virgil twisted in his seat, doing his best not to fiddle with his fingers.

Here goes.

“Well, as a—a vampire, I’ve had to deal with people who don’t…like that much. So I’m good at making sure I keep my composure. Like if there is an upset customer, I—I think I could be good at staying calm and making sure they walk away happy.”

She pressed her lips together, “I see.” And then, “What would you say are some weaknesses of yours?”

The rest of the interview continued on. She didn’t make any sort of comment about Virgil being a vampire. He didn’t know what to make of that.

“I’ll call you soon on what my decision is.” She told him, although he learned by his second interview not to trust those words.

“How was it?!” Patton asked upon his return back to the apartment. He and Roman were sitting on the couch watching TV. Logan was gone from the apartment, too early for him to be home from work. Virgil said nothing. He took a few steps before crashing into Roman’s side.

“That bad, huh?” Roman chuckled, already drawing his arms around Virgil.

“Tired,” Virgil closed his eyes, “job interviews are fricking exhausting.”

He heard Roman’s voice say something as his senses turned all muddy and muted. Someone laughed. Patton? If he wanted to, he could’ve forced his eyes open to see. He was content, however, to just lie there and steal Roman’s body heat.

It was stupid how easily Virgil taken to be at ease with these humans. Then again, it was also stupid how easily they accepted him. If either party had malicious intent, it would be almost effortless for them. Like taking candy from a baby.

Sleep was a strange thing for vampires. They needed rest, yes, but they never slept as deeply as humans could. Even in his soundest sleep, Virgil had a murky awareness of things. He could feel Roman mess with his hair, carefully untangling it with his fingers. He heard Patton’s and Roman’s heartbeats, steady and strong as ever. There was also a different sound. A buzzing, ringing sound.

“—gil! Hey Virgil! Wake up!”

Virgil jolted, alert and ready. His eyes scanned everywhere but found no threats. He looked at Roman and Patton in confusion, “Huh?”

Patton smiled, holding out his phone, “It’s for you.”

For him? But that could only mean one thing—someone actually called him back after a job interview. With a shaky hand, Virgil took the phone from Patton.

“Hello?”

“Hi Virgil, this is you, right?” The voice on the other line said. It did sound like the lady from the job interview.

“Yes.” Virgil answered, biting his lips and trying not to hiss from the pain that produced.

The voice said more words. Virgil managed to say words back. The conversation lasted scarcely a minute yet seemed like an eternity. He handed the phone back to Patton, eyes glazed over.

“Well?” Patton wiggled his eyebrows, bouncing in his seat like a rambunctious Labrador.

“Well,” Virgil began with a hesitant sliver of a smile, “I got the job.”

[theobeiste]

[JACOB ELORDI, CISMALE, HE/HIM] WHO’S THAT? OH IT’S THEO BEISTE. I HEAR THEY’RE 20 AND ARE KNOWN AS THE KNIGHT IN SHINIG ATHLEISURE AROUND OHIO. THEY'RE ALSO A SOPHOMORE AT OSU AND A PART OF THE FOOTBALL TEAM* AND SIGMA CHI*. THEY’RE KNOWN TO BE CHARMING AND HUMBLE AND POSSESSIVE AND CLOSED OFF. SOME PEOPLE SAY THEY REMIND THEM OF LATE NIGHT PHONE CALLS AND DRIVING FAST AND SMOKING BLUNTS.

* future plot point

BASICS

Full Name: theo james beiste

Nickname: t, tj, teddy

Birthday: november 18, 2022

Place of Birth: lima, oh

Age: twenty

Zodiac Sign: scorpio☼, virgo☽, scorpio↑

Hometown: lima, oh

Current Residence: in an on-campus apartment with logan mccarthy

Sexuality: heterosexual

Relationship Status: in a relationship with zoe puckerman single

Education: high school diploma, currently enrolled at ohio state university

Major: political science

Occupation: student athlete, mechanic at hummel tires & lube*

High School Achievements: varsity quarterback, football captain (’41), prom king (’41), cutest couple superlative

LIKES/DISLIKES

LIKES: being in a relationship, girls, staying up late, running, competitive team sports, rap music, alone time, parties, smoking weed, quality time with his dad

DISLIKES: irrationality, loud people, losing his temper, inequality, feeling useless

TL;DR BIO

Throughout high school, Theo Beiste prided himself on being somewhat of a golden boy. He graduated on the honor roll and as the star quarterback of the football team, prom king, and with the most popular girl in school on his arm. Life was...pretty perfect. The first couple of years of college were pretty great too. Despite OSU being a bigger pond than McKinley, Theo still managed to be a pretty big fish and make his mark. However, after sustaining yet another concussion right before spring break and tearing his ACL after going a little too hard during a scrimmage, Theo has just received the news that he’ll have to sit out next season and possibly put his entire football career to rest. This development in his story has left him feeling completely void of purpose. Who is he if not the football player? What is he worth if he can’t do the one thing he’s good at? The trauma of the injury will result in his lashing out and making bad decisions to cope. 

FULL, UNUPDATED BIO

THE PAST TWO YEARS...

Theo Beiste always thought his life would go one of two ways. He’d either become a lima loser...or he’d make it big and go pro with football. He worked hard his whole life to avoid the former. He did well in school, he excelled at his sport, he tried to be a good person. Everything in his life felt like it had led up to the moment he got recruited to play football at OSU. It felt like the beginning of the rest of his life, like all his hard work had finally paid off. He was going to make it...

Theo’s first concussion was scary, but manageable. It happened during his freshman year mid-season, which resulted in him being benched for a few games. During the most recent season, during one of OSU’s playoff games, Theo not only suffered a concussion, but something also snapped in his leg. Scared of what the MRI would say, Theo played off his leg injury like it was nothing. He finished off the season in excruciating pain, but at least he finished. For the past few months since the season ended, Theo has continued to practice with his team and has also continued to lie about his pain and about going to the doctor. However, his lies caught up to him during a scrimmage recently where he got tackled by a teammate and felt another snap in his leg. After a lot of lecturing from his coaches, Theo finally went to the doctor and learned that he had torn his ACL and meniscus, both of which would require surgical repair. Theo spent his spring break at home on the tail end of his recovery from surgery and will resume classes on crutches. Despite his rigorous physical therapy schedule for the foreseeable future, Theo is not confident he’s going to be able to return to the field, and it’s tearing him up inside. 

Theo and Zoe, up until recently, were going pretty strong despite being long-distance. However, Theo’s recent injuries have deeply affected him. He’s become more closed off and insecure, which has resulted in him being less patient and compromising. The weight of the pressure he’s put on himself has started seeping into his love life and their issues came to a head when Zoe stopped by to visit after his surgery. The two argued the entire time she was there and at the end of it, Theo called it quits.

Because he’s in recovery, Theo has a lot more free time than usual. He’s started filling his time with parties, excessive drinking, and hanging out with his roommate Logan and his fraternity brothers. He’s starting to think that if football doesn’t pan out, maybe joining a frat will help fill the void. Only time will tell. 

[thesandersarchives]

Fade to Black

Logan expects to dream about Dr. Picani, the night after the man gives his statement. Instead, he meets someone he’s never seen before. Set during The Sanders Archives. Background Remile. Brief discussions of death and comas.

-----------------------------------

Logan falls asleep, and he wakes up in the kitchen of an unfamiliar house, staring at an unfamiliar man.

“Who the fuck are you?” Says the unfamiliar man, his brow wrinkling behind his aviator sunglasses.

Logan, meanwhile, is at a loss for words. Historically, the only person who’s been able to interact with him in this state is Deceit, but Deceit would have recognized him, and this man--

Oh. The answer comes to him in a rush, the Eye speeding his thought process along as he connects the figurative dots.

“Remy Picani.” He breathes, eyes widening.

“Uh, no, sweetie, that’s me. I asked who you are?” Remy slides his sunglasses down his nose to level a withering look at Logan, but his mind is far too caught up in possibilities for him to be cowed by something as insignificant as a glare.

“How--this should be your husband’s memory, not yours... Oh, I have so many questions.” Logan’s head is spinning. He wonders, he wonders. Compulsion doesn’t work on Deceit in the dreams, or at least it never seems to, but perhaps..

The scene shifts to an unfamiliar garage. Remy’s sunglasses are gone. The other man’s eyes widen with the realization that they’re missing, and before he can stop himself, Logan speaks again.

“You left them on the kitchen table.”

Remy stares at him for a moment, then, strangely, his posture relaxes.

“Oh, you’re one of the Eye’s sugar babies, aren’t you? That explains a lot.” He snickers, and Logan bristles, but he doesn’t rise to the bait. He has more pressing things to discuss with Remy Picani.

“Are you dead?”

Remy throws his head back and laughs.

“Oh, you sweet summer child. What’d Emi tell you?”

Logan frowns.

“You went missing roughly a year ago. Dr. Picani theorized that you were taken by agents of the Dark, due to your past association with that Fear. Forgive me for making what I thought was a fairly reasonable assumption.”

The garage flickers in and out, and suddenly Logan’s in the car, Remy in the drivers seat, propelling them both down an endless flat stretch of road.

“Okay, kid, here’s what actually happened.”

Logan waits for the explanation, for the story, but Remy’s fallen silent, lips drawn in a thin line. His shoulders are drawn up as if he’s bracing for impact, but the car doesn’t stop. Realization settles on Logan slowly, forming a pit in his stomach.

“...You left.”

Remy nods, some of the tension leaving his frame. “I took a chance that it’d follow me, and leave Em alone. Had to at least try and keep him safe from all my shit, right?”

In the rearview mirror, Logan can see that the streetlights behind them have gone dark.

The faintest slivers of the dawn pierce the horizon as the darkness behind them creeps closer. Logan’s vision goes white at the edges while Remy speeds up with a growl of frustration.

“Go figure, I was right. It almost caught up to me, a few times, but--” He swerves sharply, and the darkness passes by, fog curling around the car until it blocks the road from view. “--I had a contact, old family friend kinda deal, y’know? He’s a clever guy. Eventually he figured out how to keep it from taking me.”

“How?” Logan finds himself asking, and Remy grins, sly and relaxed.

With a snap of his fingers, the whole scene dissolves, and Logan is lost in an inky-black void. Lines of light snake through the space, twisting and turning out of sight in all different directions.

“I live here.” Remy’s voice comes from behind him, and Logan turns. Behind his restored sunglasses, the man looks almost... skeletal, somehow, despite his unchanged physique. 

“Well, maybe ‘live’ is the wrong word, but whatevs, it’s close enough. It was super boring until these showed up.” He traces along one of the floating lines, watching it twitch and shiver with poorly disguised amusement.

“They take me places. Basically, I get to fuck around in other people’s dreams, it’s pretty sweet. Haven’t managed to find Emi yet, but that’s probably because he’s too healthy.”

Logan frowns, and Remy’s grin turns almost sheepish. “Yeah, so... The thing about these dreams is I really only get to see ones from people who’re dying or comatose or something? Or people like you, I guess. That’s new. Never had someone see me in a dream and have it not turn into a nightmare.”

“Ah. I know how you feel, in that regard.” Logan grimaces, but despite how uncomfortable those dreams can be, this place chills and chafes at him in a way he’s never felt before, and he’d almost take another nightmare over this.

“I just think it’s so rude when they scream, y’know?” Remy says, oblivious to his discomfort as he sips on something from a Starbucks cup that he seems to have manifested from the aether. 

“Like, I get that I’m a portent of death and stuff, but I’m not the thing that’s gonna kill ‘em! Seriously, people need to chill. Although I guess if they did stop freaking out about dying I wouldn’t have anything to do, so, I can deal. At least it passes the time while I wait for the Dark to take the hint and give up on getting me back.”

Logan opens his mouth, but he can’t even form a question in his mind to follow Remy’s monologue, let alone find the voice to ask it.

Something in his head, counter to his usual instincts to press and pick apart a story, tells him no, turn away. Because he knows without a doubt that Emile will not want to know any of this, isn’t ready to hear about what his husband’s become.

If he’d known about Virgil before...

Logan shakes his head, the movement sluggish and difficult, and when he looks up again, he’s in another statement. Remy’s nowhere to be found.

Only much later will Logan see him again, this time in the waking world. Thomas mutters apologies to everyone and no-one under his breath beside him, both of them watching as the discreet doctor Thomas once hired to put Remy in a medically-induced coma slowly reverses the process.

Logan doesn’t need his abilities to know that Emile will want to thank them all for bringing Remy back. He doesn’t want to know whether or not Emile will regret his gratitude in the end.

[sometimes-love-is-enough]

(1/3) sorry, can i just rant about orange for a sec? like—thinking about this concept blows my mind if i focus on it for too long. there's an entire SIDE that we (and character thomas) have NO idea about. like, he exists?? maYBE??? the character select and the orange flower and 'hello' all point to him /being/ there, but other than that, we have NO information, which is nuts (in a good way) to me. like, we knew more about janus BEFORE he gave us his name than we do about orange /right now/.

(2/3) i've seen so many ideas for what he could possibly represent (wrath, repression, DEpression, sloth, just to name a few) and they're ALL LIKELY at this point. liKE???? WHAT THE HECK IS THIS GUY'S DEAL???? and clearly the other sides KNOW about him because he's sort of been mentioned off-hand (like virgil said [deceit's] friends /plural/ when talking about the others in svs 1, which means more than just remus) BUT OTHER THAN THE FACT THE HE EXISTS AND HE'S ORANGE WE KNOW NOTHING ABOUT HIM

(3/3) AND EVEN THE FACT THAT HE'S ORANGE MIGHT NOT EVEN BE TRUE??? like hints are one thing but until we actually SEE him we really have no idea and i'm. AHHHHHHHH!?!?! again, sorry to just randomly show up in your inbox and shout incoherently about this, but like. i just—fuckin' orange, man, what is UP with him?? (wow i hope you get all these in the right order....but anyway thank you for indulging me—have an awesome day! ^^)

Okay, so first things first - you are always welcome to drop into my inbox and rant at me about whatever the hell you want. i can NOT stress this enough. i love interacting with people; it makes me feel a lot less like I’m just screaming into an empty void. 

and now that’s i’ve got that out of the way - YEAH. orange intrigues me and it might just because I’ve only been properly in the fandom since mid-last year - which meant that Remus had already been introduced etc etc the point is I’ve never been around for a New Side Introduction and just. 

we KNOW that there’s at least one more side because character select (and as you said, deceit’s friends plural) and the probability of him being orange is also pretty high because Rainbows, but I couldn’t even begin to predict what his name/role are going to be

that being said. some of my favorite theories/concepts for orange include:

laziness (i like this fic series, and i particularly like his godawful fashion sense and the ukelele. iconic)

procrastination (pretty similar but), which is why he’s taken so dang long to show up. he keeps going ‘oh yeah i’ll do it next video’ but he never does

logan but angry

idk who he is but he’s been standing directly behind thomas the entire time that Sanders Sides has been running. Thomas has just never bothered to look behind him

idk who he is but he’s been lying on the ground at Thomas’s feet this entire time. Thomas has just never bothered to look down. 

idk who he is but he’s been crouching on the ceiling. thomas please look up oh my god he’s right above you oh my god - 

he’s probably procrastination and actually he’s been in the kitchen behind logan for the past three years, making a sandwich. he keeps saying he'll nearly be done, but the others have completely given up on believing him

secret third creativity sibling, bringing it up to triplets. he produces the content that’s perfectly morally grey but also like. kind of objectively boring. he is the Friends of creativity.

some sort of counterpart for Patton being morality, which is partly because Interesting Morality Concepts!! patton being ends-justify-means vs orange being means-justifies-ends and also partly because of a really dumb pun (please note i’m not really that convinced by myself. i just like dumb puns)

idk who he is but when he does show up he’s just going to insert himself into the video as if him being there and contributing is completely normal. 

for extra unnerving points, everybody else also seems to think him being there is completely normal. what do you mean? he’s always been here with us!

the orange side is just a running joke that everybody but thomas is in on. he doesn’t actually exist. they just blame all their minor problems and inconveniences on him. he’s like the collective mindscape cryptid at this point. they keep dropping ominous hints about him to Thomas (and us, the viewers) because it’s habit and they find it hilarious

same as last point but he does actually exist and when he shows up in person there will be many loud screeches of ‘WHAT THE FUCK’ and ‘YOU AREN’T SUPPOSED TO BE REAL’

[max-is-tired]

Now My Life Gets Better (Every Letter That You Write Me)

Prompt: “Pen pals! Logince” by @creativity-killed-thekitten

Pairing: Logince

Characters: Roman Sanders, Logan Sanders, Virgil Sanders, Patton Sanders

Words: 2.826

Warnings: Some insecurity, swearing, the rest is basically just fluff 

Notes: I HAD THIS FIC IN THE WORKS SINCE FREAKING NOVEMBER CAN YOU HEAR ME SCREAMING-

I swear this fic did not want to work with me. I had to restart it like, five different times? It really did not want to get written lmao. But now here we are! Finally!!

Thanks to @creativity-killed-thekitten for giving me this prompt and not killing me for the long ass wait lmao ily and thanks to my amazing beta @tigertigertigger who makes sure the English language doesn’t kick my ass to the moon and back, you’re the absolute best

Hit me up if you want to be added to the taglist and let me know if you liked this, reblogs, comments and asks are always very welcome and much appreciated!

Read it on AO3!!   Buy me a Coffee!!

It all starts in 6th grade, when two kids from two different states stumble upon an initiative about pen pals concerning different school districts scattered all around the country.

Since it’s advised more than once to choose a pen name, Logan decides to go by L –just a letter, but generic enough to pass as a nickname. His introduction is rather plain, almost technical, his handwriting clean and void of errors –but, even if he tries to act indifferent to the whole ordeal, he can’t help the little glimmer of curiosity that sparks in his mind, seeping into his words and phrases without him meaning to.

Roman introduces himself as Prince, his first letter written with every single colored pen he can find. It’s messy, as enthusiastic as a written letter can be, and filled with the occasional grammatical error –he should have proofread it, but his 11-years-old brain was too filled with excitement and anticipation to really care about that.

They’re polar opposites in every aspect of their personality and yet, something between them clicks. They keep exchanging letters through the years, a constant back and forth that accompanies them through their middle school and high school years.

They’re not all happy letters, of course. They fight, they cry, and there are windows of time in which no words are spoken, both parties too proud to admit their wrongs. But they always come back to one another, without fail.

And maybe one would think that exchanging written letters in the 21st century is weird, or a waste of time –technology is so much faster and reliable than a piece of paper or the American mail service- but they don’t care.

Even when they finally exchange email addresses first and telephone numbers later, their back and forth in letters doesn’t stop –it’s a tradition by now, something absolutely theirs none of them wants to give up on just yet. It doesn’t matter that they can now talk on a daily basis, may it be via phone or Skype call.

One thing they do not exchange though is their name. They don’t know why, to be honest. They know each other, they trust each other, and yet none of them knows the other’s real name –they still refer to each other with their pen names, even when they’re looking at each other through their laptops’ screens.

Which is never a big problem for Roman, who’s just a sucker for both pet names and flustering the hell out of his beloved nerd.

“I will tell you my name when we meet in person,” Logan says once, during one of their frequent Skype calls, “but only if you agree to do the same.”

“The I absolutely can’t wait for that day to come, my dear L,” Roman answers, dramatically draping himself over his chair while sending his laptop the sweetest smile he could possibly muster, “I’m sure your name is as beautiful as you are, if not more.”

Logan sputters, glaring at Roman as his cheeks and ears turn bright red, and Roman beams, eyes crinkling in delight at the other’s embarrassment.

“Starlight, is that a blush I see?”

“No it is not, and if you don’t shut up now I will end this call.”

Yup, he really can’t wait.

+++

“Hey Sir-Sing-A-Lot, stop talking to your boyfriend for a second, we need to reach that fucking café and you’re the only one between us who knows where it is.”

Roman looks up for his phone, scowling at his friend. “For the last time Mr. Dark and Gloomy, he’s not my boyfriend.”

“Every time you’re talking to him you get this sappy, stupid smile on your face,” Virgil smirks, clearly amused by Roman constantly denying the obvious, “It makes you look more stupid than usual, and that’s saying something.”

“I absolutely do not!” Roman exclaims, face red and eyes flashing. Virgil just laughs at his reaction, leaving a blushing Roman glaring at him and wanting nothing more than wipe that fucking smirk off his new roommate’s face.

In his hand, his phone keeps vibrating at an alarming frequency –L has probably launched into one of his little rants, so he’s not really concerned. It’s cute, really, how the other gets so fired up sometimes. Roman just needs to rile him up a little, a few choice words thrown into their conversation, and there’s no stopping him. Roman often finds himself looking forward to their little debates, moreover if they’re over face call. That way, he can admire L as his expression gets more and more invested in their argument, blue eyes lighting up with fire as his passions take hold.

It’s an endearing sight, and one Roman feels like he’ll never get tired of. It makes his insides squirm and flip, heart consumed by a flame oh so similar to the one in the other’s eyes, burning in his veins like liquid fire and-

“-rth to Roman! You with me, Lover Boy?” Virgil exclaims, waving a hand right in front of the other’s face. “Stop daydreaming about the love of your life for a second and get us to the cafeteria, would you? Patton is waiting for us, you know.”

“You want to go just because there’s coffee.” Roman grumbles, walking forward to hide his red cheeks from the other.

Virgil smirks, easily falling into step with his friend. “Damn right I do. Also, you did not deny it. You sure there’s no mysterious boyfriend you gotta introduce us to?”

Roman simply shoves him and keeps walking, effectively putting an end to the conversation.

And in the silence that stretches, his mind starts wandering.

It’s not that he’s not interested in L that way. He can’t say he hasn’t thought about it, that’s for sure. How could he have not?

L is downright stunning, with deep, intelligent blue eyes and always-styled brown locks that Roman just wants to sink his hand into. And he’s not only aesthetically pleasing –oh god, he’s starting to sound like him- but his personality is really something else.

L is calm and collected, the voice of reason in the middle of a storm. But he’s also passionate and incredibly clever, armed with a fiery temper and infinite knowledge. He’s not one to back out from a fight, wiping the floor with his opponent with the use of words alone.

He’s like the ocean, calm in appearance and yet hiding an inner strength to rival the strongest of fighters.

… yeah, maybe Roman is a little bit in love with his best friend. He can see where Virgil’s taunts are coming from. And if those lingering looks and quiet, soft smiles L has been gifting him more and more are anything to go by, he has a rising suspicion that his feelings are very much returned.

But Roman is more attentive than most give him credit for, and he hasn’t missed the uncertain look or the flicker of doubt on L’s face every time the other thinks he’s not paying attention. He knows what the other is thinking. How could he not, when he’s probably feeling the exact same thing?

Because for their whole life, their entire relationship has been composed of letters and messages and video calls. They know each other, but at the same time he can’t help but ask himself… do they really?

To be honest, Roman’s scared shitless of the day they’ll meet. He’s afraid –as illogical as it may seem- that the other will just look at him and decide that he’s suddenly too much –too loud, too affectionate, too dramatic, too Roman- and walk away, leaving him behind for good.

It’s nothing he hasn’t heard before, after all. But that doesn’t mean that, when the time comes, it will break his heart any less.

God, he’s not ready for that day to come.

“You sure you know where we’re going, Princey?” Virgil asks, snapping him out of his thoughts, “Patton is starting to get worried and he’s kind of blowing up my phone with messages.”

Roman rolls his eyes, gaze sweeping over their surroundings. Differently from his two friends, who have both moved just recently in the city for college, he’s lived his whole life just a town over and knows these streets like the back of his hand. He could navigate the town with his eyes closed, and the café Patton’s waiting for them at is, coincidentally, one of his favorites.

The boy grins as his eyes land on the coffee shop’s familiar windows, staring back at them from the other side of the road.

“See?” he exclaims, a smug smile appearing on his face as he points to their destination, “told you I could get us there.”

Virgil waves him off with a chuckle, shaking his head as he reads through Patton’s messages on his phone. “Yeah, yeah. Also, apparently Patton has somehow run into our mysterious fourth roommate and convinced him to wait with him for us, so yeah, heads up I guess?”

“The more the merrier.” Roman hums, quickly crossing the street.

“He says the guy’s name is Logan, he’s apparently very passionate about space and I think Patton just adopted him or something,” Virgil adds, clearly amused.

“Sounds like Padre alright,” Roman chuckles, opening the shop’s door, “I wonder what type Logan is?”

“Looks like we’re about to find out,” Virgil says, “There they are.”

Roman follows Virgil gaze, immediately spotting Patton’s wild caramel curls at one of the tables on the far right of the shop. He looks like he’s giggling at something, hands curled around his cup as he shakes in laughter. The scene brings a little smile on Roman’s face, who still has to get used to how adorable Patton can be –if his heart wasn’t already so set on a certain handsome nerd, he’s pretty sure that boy could have easily stolen it.

Then he looks at the other occupant of the booth and his thoughts loudly screech to a halt.

Roman freezes on the spot, completely ignoring the strange look Virgil is giving him as his heart starts beating wildly in his chest. He’s turned around, face hidden from him, but the slicked-back dark brown hair, the lean, thin frame, and the overall posture are so familiar to Roman he feels like he’s about to burst. And yet, he can’t quite believe it, blinding hope and rational skepticism clashing in his mind –there’s no way that’s who Roman thinks he is, why would he even be here, what even are possibilities that’s really-

“There they are!” Patton calls, waving his hand towards them, and as their mysterious new roommate turns around, every single doubt disappears from Roman’s mind.

Because he knows those deep blue eyes staring back at him, he knows them like he knows his own name and he can’t do anything but stare, completely dumbfounded as the other –it’s L, it’s really him, holy shit this is really happening- slowly stand up from the booth and walk towards him until they’re standing face to face.

L looks at him, cocking his head to the side as he seems to ponder something.

“It appears that you were right, after all,” he finally says.

Roman simply blinks, “W-what?”

“You really are taller than me,” L answers, a little smile appearing on his face, and Roman lets out a laugh, finally snapping out of his shock. He grins, happiness and giddiness pooling in his chest, and before he knows it he’s basically tackling his best friend, spinning him around as L –Logan, Virgil said his name is Logan holy shit he finally knows his best friend’s name- lets out a startled shout.

“What the hell are you doing here?!” Roman exclaims as he finally puts the other down, a blinding smile ever-present on his lips.

“I could ask you the same thing,” Logan answers, trying to keep his balance as a wave of dizziness hits him, “was it necessary to spin us around like that?”

“Very much necessary, Specs,” Roman grins, bouncing on his toes, “holy shit you’re really here, this is amazing!”

“Uh,” a voice suddenly pipes up, startling the both of them, “not to interrupt your moment or anything, but what the fuck is going on?”

Roman groans and turns around, sending a weak glare toward Virgil. His roommate simply raises an eyebrow, completely unaffected, while beside him Patton looks three seconds away from bursting into excited squeals.

“Remember the pen pal I told you about?” he says, gesturing to the boy beside him, “Meet the pen pal.”

“More like the guy you’ve talked our ears off about for literal hours, Princey,” Virgil counters, rolling his eyes with a little smirk on his face, “Nice to finally meet you, I guess.”

“OH MY GOD RO THIS IS SO CUTE,” Patton suddenly exclaims, giving everyone else a heart attack as he jumps up and down with literal stars in his eyes.

“Pat, my sweet friend, you know I love you dearly,” Roman wheezes, a hand on his heart, “but please do not do that ever again.”

“Whoops,” Patton giggles, a sheepish smile on his face.

“So,” Logan pipes up, the corner of his mouth twitching upwards, “Ro?”

Roman visibly startles, turning towards him with wide eyes. His surprise disappears quickly though, morphing in a big smile and gleaming eyes.

“Roman Prince, at your service,” he introduces himself with a flourish, complete with a dramatic bow and dazzling grin.

Logan smiles at his antics, rolling his eyes with an amused smile on his face. “My name is Logan Sanders, a pleasure to make your acquaintance,” he says, “you used your last name as your pen name?”

“Told you it wasn't just because I am royally handsome,” Roman grins, wiggling his eyebrows.

“A royal annoyance, more like,” Logan shoots back without hesitation, his lips stretching into a smirk of his own.

Roman’s Offended Prince Noises™ are drowned by Virgil’s surprised laugh. “Roman, you didn’t tell us your pen pal was cool!”

“Thank you, I guess?”

“Nerd,” Roman chuckles, shaking his head, “I’ll change your mind, just you wait.”

“Oh, really?” Logan challenges, raising an eyebrow, “I’ve known you since 6th grade, Prince. How exactly are you planning on doing that?”

“How about some take-out dinner at my place tonight?” Roman asks without missing a beat, “we could even watch one of those space-themed documentaries you like so much.”

The other blinks owlishly at him, clearly caught off guard. Silence falls in their little corner of the coffee shop, the only sounds being Logan’s sharp intake of breath and Virgil’s stunned whisper of “holy shit Princey that was smooth as fuck-”.

Distantly, Roman knows he should be freaking out right now, fears and doubt swirling in the back of his mind like a storm brewing in the distance. Strangely enough, though, he can’t feel even an ounce of panic, a smile on his face and his heart beating wildly in his chest as he takes in his best friend’s reddening cheeks and a very familiar spark of something appearing in his eyes -it’s a special type of glimmer, one Logan gets every time he talks about the stars, the universe, the wonders of this world he oh so loves and admires.

It makes Roman’s heart sing, to be the one at the receiving end of that look.

“I- um-” Logan finally manages to croak out, fixing his tie and clearing his throat to try and get back some of his composure, “Are you- are you asking me out on a date?”

“Yeah, I think I am,” Roman nods, still smiling, “if you want to, that is.”

Logan looks at him, clearly pondering the offer in his head. Then, he lets out a sigh, shaking his head with a smile slowly spreading on his face.

“Leave it to you to ask me out not even ten minutes after we’ve met for the first time in real life,” he chuckles, fondly rolling his eyes, “but I think I’ll accept your offer.”

Roman grin widens even more, not missing a beat as he briefly closes the distance between them and gently lets his hands rest on Logan’s waist.

“I swear you won’t regret it, sweetheart,” he murmurs, before leaning in and finally kissing him.

It’s everything Roman has dreamt it would be and so much more. Logan’s lips are soft, slightly chapped, gentle as they move in unison with his own. Roman can feel the beginning of a smile threatening to form as he sinks into the kiss, his surroundings completely forgotten as his whole world narrows down to Logan, and nothing more -he barely acknowledges Virgil letting out a loud whoop, Patton squealing loudly in the background.

The world could end in this very moment, and Roman wouldn’t care less. Because he’s kissing Logan, his pen pal, his best friend, his crush, the man he fell in love with, and for now, everything is perfect.

[runaway-horses]

The Brightest Colors Fill My Head

Word Count: 2,036

A/N: *reappears from the void I disappeared into to yeet 2k words of photophobic!Remy at you before disappearing again* I hope you guys like this! I had fun writing it, honestly. Aro!Virgil makes a brief appearance in this fic, but I swear I'm going to get around to finishing + posting his own fic. (Hopefully. Maybe. Hopefully.) I still can’t title, but what else is new?

Warnings: Deceit Sanders, hurt/comfort, photophobia, nothing else that I can think of? Please let me know if I need to add/remove anything!

Tag List: @pippippippin, @stormcrawler75, @a-cure-for-sentience

Virgil narrowed his eyes at the three people in front of him.

“No.” He said, getting ready to shut the door.

“Virgil! Panic at the Everywhere, my Dark and Stormy Knight, Winnie the Blue, Charlie Frown-” When it became clear that Roman wasn’t stopping on his own, Virgil let out an exasperated huff.

“Fine! If it’ll shut Princey up, y’all idiots can crash here.” Virgil sighed.

Patton cheered quietly, and for a moment Virgil was glad for having such good friends in his life. Not that they needed to know that. He had a reputation to keep. So-

“But don’t think that I don’t see right through you three. You’re not exactly subtle.”

“Whatever do you mean Virgil? We’re just friends here to hang with their friend at his house, as friends do.” Dee smirked at him, and nope. Virgil had changed his mind. He hated them all and didn’t need friends. He scrubbed a hand across his face as Roman and Patton squeezed past him, bumping hips and giggling.

///

“I really don’t need the company, guys.” Virgil felt like a broken record at this point, but Roman and Patton were setting up an honest to god blanket fort. And even Virgil had to have a limit. Because his friends were two year olds. Even Dee, the one who had most frequent possession of the (single, solitary,) brain cell between the three, was helping their boyfriends arrange couch cushions just right.

“This is the fun part, Emo Nightmare.” Roman quipped playfully, unfazed by the patented Death Glare Virgil had fixed on him. Patton crawled out from under the roof of blankets (Virgil honestly doesn’t remember owning that many blankets. Maybe Patton was some sort of god of comfort and coziness in disguise and had blanket multiplying powers.) Patton gently steered him into the kitchen as Dee and Roman started squabbling over the remote. (Two year olds, truly. Virgil would kill them if they broke his remote.)

Patton parked himself in front of the counter and set his Dad Face on Virgil. Virgil knew what that face meant. It was “are you ok?” and “spill the beans” and “I’m here for you” all in one face and Virgil ran his fingers through his hair in distress. Patton was too damn kind for his own good, and Virgil wondered how he had ended up with someone like Patton in his life.

He briefly debated sitting down at the counter with Patton and spilling his guts to him, but the moment was fleeting. Really, he didn’t want to talk about it. He opened his mouth to tell Patton just that when a clatter came from the doorway.

Virgil was out of the kitchen immediately, scolding on the tip of his tongue, -“I’m too young to be a father and you’re too old to be such children and Dee I will not hesitate.”- but Roman and Dee were poking their heads out of the blanket fort, just as confused, before a figure clad in a leather jacket and shredded jeans appeared in the doorway, and Remy tumbled right into his apartment.

“Remy?” Virgil’s voice was confusion, changing to concern when Remy makes a pained noise and presses his hands to the side of his head.

“Shit. Roman, Patton, Dee, turn off the lights and shut the blinds.” The three shared a concerned look before snapping into action. Virgil was obviously concerned, and a concerned Virgil was a force to be dealt with.

“Rem?” Virgil pitched his voice softer as he approached his friend and pulled him into the apartment, cupping his face. “Where are your glasses, Remy?”

“Broke,” Remy whispered, pressing his face into Virgil’s shoulder. Virgil cupped the back on his neck and hummed in response.

Roman, Patton, and Dee were now hovering awkwardly nearby, having finished doing what Virgil asked. Remy’s body language had relaxed slightly now that the lights in the apartment had been dimmed, but it was still the middle of a sunny Florida day, and there was plenty of light to be found, sneaking its way in around curtains and between blind slats.

Virgil let Remy stay where he was, pressing his face into his hoodie and white-knuckling the fabric. Virgil tried to subtly gesture to the others to give them space - excuse themselves to the kitchen or something - but he didn’t want to disturb Remy.

Roman, bless his heart, finally got the message and pulled his partners away, pushing them into the kitchen and shushing Dee’s indignant hiss.

“I got you Remy, it’s ok. We’re gonna go to my bedroom now, ok? It’ll be darker in there.”

He didn’t get a response from Remy beyond the slight loosening of the death grip he had on his jacket. Together, they shuffled to Virgil’s bedroom. Virgil kept Remy’s head tucked into his shoulder, and shut the door as gently as possible. He left Remy standing in the middle of the room, heels of his hands pressed against his eyes, as he quickly pulled the heavy curtains over the windows, the room darkening immediately.

Remy flopped onto Virgil's bed, pressing his face into the pillow. Virgil placed a cool hand on the back of his neck. “I’m going to get you some painkillers. Be right back.”

Virgil slipped out of the room, trying to keep as much light out as possible. When he entered the kitchen, he saw Roman, Patton, and Dee all sitting at his counter, varying degrees of concern and confusion on each of their faces. Dee stood and made their way to Virgil.

“Is everything ok? Remy seemed to be in intense distress.” Their brow was knitted in concern. Virgil blew his bangs out of his eyes and ran a hand through his hair.

“He will be. Remy has photophobia; light really hurts his eyes. That’s why he wears sunglasses all the time. He told me they were broken, I don’t know how long he was walking outside until he got here but it did a number on him.”

Virgil pulled a glass out from a cabinet and filled it up with water before turning back to the others. He gave Patton a squeeze on the arm.

“Don’t worry Pat, you can smother Remy with love and adopt him into your circle of kiddos soon.”

And with that he exited, leaving the three in his kitchen. Hopefully, he thought, they wouldn't burn down the place while he was with Remy.

•••

Virgil took a moment for his eyes to adjust to the dark of his room. Remy was still face down on the bed, but he flipped his wrist in an attempt at a wave when Virgil entered. He sat down next to him, and the two of them were quiet.

After an indeterminate amount of time, Remy rolled onto his back and blinked up at the ceiling.

“How you doing there Starbuck?”

“Everything’s fuzzy and I have a headache.” Remy’s eyes flicked over to Virgil and he smirked. “I was too fabulous so God nerfed me by making me allergic to light.” Virgil gently socked him in the arm.

“Little did she know that she only heightened your power by giving you sunglasses.” Remy snickered and reached up to rub at his forehead with a slight wince. Virgil handed him the painkillers and glass of water, which he accepted gratefully. Virgil paused for a moment before turning and rifling through his nightstand, returning with a pair of sunglasses. Remy took them too, and despite the darkness of the room, put them on.

Satisfied that his friend was as comfortable as he could make him, Virgil flopped down next to him. The two stared up at the ceiling together in comfortable silence.

“What are Gay, Gay, and Gayest doing here?”

Virgil sighed.

“I told Logan how I wanted to be his QPP. They're here for support.”

“Damn gurl, really?” Remy's arched eyebrow was evident in his voice.”What'd he say?”

“He said ‘Thank you.’”

Remy rolled on to his stomach, and Virgil felt the bed shift.

“‘Thank you.’?” Remy's tone was incredulous and held barely concealed laughter. “Oh my God, you two really are made for each other. Dumb gay fools.”

Virgil reached blindly for his friend so he could slap the laughter out of his voice.

“Shut up, I hate you. He said thank you, and told me he needed to gather his thoughts, and then he wandered off.”

Remy sobered and sat up on his forearms. Virgil ignored him and stared up at the ceiling.

“I'm not worried.” Virgil said. “You know Logan, feelings aren't his strong suit. I'm letting him work it out before he comes to me.” A pause. “I'm not worried.”

Remy gave him a pat on his head.

“Sure you aren't V,” He said fondly, and Virgil looked up at him with a lopsided smile.

“Well, if you're prying into my business and snarking at me, I'm guessing you're feeling better?”

Another gentle shove from Remy.

“I know you're deflecting, because you want Lolo to be the space to your ace and you don't want to talk about it; but yes, I think the painkillers are kicking in. The dark is nice too.”

Virgil blushed at the reference to Logan (because he did, very much, want Logan to return his feelings.) He opened his mouth to respond, but Remy flapped his hand at him.

"Hush, Vee. I'll stop pushing." Remy gave Virgil's head a pat again, and Virgil rolled away with a hiss, making Remy laugh.

The two of them laid in the dark, quietly, and Virgil felt himself drifting to sleep when the quiet was interrupted by a knock on the door.

“Did the disaster gays out there order pizza?” Remy asked.

Virgil shrugged and rolled off the bed.

“If they did, save some for me!” He called as Virgil left the bedroom and walked towards the door.

“Guys, you don't live here, you can't just order pizza whenever you want-”

It wasn't a pizza man at the door.

It was Logan.

Virgil's heart stopped in his chest.

“Virgil, what are you hollering abo- oh!” Dee stuck their head out from the kitchen, but smiled and ducked back out after seeing who Virgil was talking to.

“Virgil. Is this - I didn't mean to intrude. I just, well, I think I reacted poorly earlier. The truth is, I have been harboring feelings for you for quite some time, but I wanted to respect your boundaries. So when you told me how you felt earlier today...to quote Roman I entered “gay panic” mode.”

Here Logan paused to fidget with the fidget cube in his hand, and Gods above Virgil was so fond of this man.

“I would love to be your QPP, Virgil.”

Virgil made a sound like a dying cat.

How endearing. He thought wryly.

Logan, bless him, let Virgil stand there with his mouth open like a fish before finally coming to his sense and snapping it shut.

“Logan, that's - I mean - I'm so happy.”

Logan smiled that beautiful smile at him and pocketed the cube.

“Fucking finally!”

“Roman! Language!”

Virgil and Logan both blushed.

“You have company, I should go-”

Virgil was about to ask him to stay when a voice hollered from his bedroom.

“Gurl, if you don't invite that boy in for dinner I'm disowning you!”

Virgil smiled sheepishly up at Logan.

“Sorry. I'd say my apartment isn't always like this, but it is. It's kinda the landing place for everyone. You're more than welcome to stay for dinner, it'll probably just be Chinese takeout and my friends are all here and they're sure to pester you with questions-”

“Virgil,” Logan cut him off with a smile. “I would love to stay.”

He opened the door all the way.

“Well then, I guess you're meeting the family tonight.”

Logan stepped into the apartment, the door closing behind him. But anyone who had x-ray vision, or perhaps was an omnipotent narrator, would be able to see Logan settling down on the couch that Virgil got from his brother Thomas, see Roman, Patton, and Dee tumbling out of the kitchen to pepper him with questions, see Virgil smiling from over the top of his laptop at them as he ordered their dinner.

They would see the happiness of family, family that was found, family that was made.

And you didn't need x-ray vision to feel the love pouring from the very foundations of the home.

[wandering-through-wonder-land]

Virgil, Fangs, and Snakes

Can be found on Ao3 here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15050129

Summary:

Virgil has fangs, they're new and painful and he's afraid of what the others might think, so he hides them. Comfort comes from an unlikely source in the form of one snake type side.

***

Virgil cracked his door open after the mid hours of the night had long since passed, peeking out from not only under his hood, but also from under his fringe to ensure the hallway was empty. Seeing nothing but darkness, faintly illuminated by the glowing light from three doors, he relaxed a bit, then tensed again, weighing the pros and cons of leaving his room. The cons were basically summed up in one statements: The others could find him. But then the pros….well, he needed food since he had skipped dinner.

Taking a deep breath and holding it in he began to open his door, which, unfortunately, like the rest of his room, reflected his anxiety, and creaked as he slowly opened it. He winced , knowing that if he opened it any quicker it would make a larger noise and likely attract more attention than the smaller, continuous drone of the current squeaking.

When his door was open enough to allow his slim body to pass through he stopped opening it and the horrid noise faded out into the darkness. Seeing that none of the others were up to investigate he released the breath he’d been holding and cautiously stepped out into the hall.

With hands buried in his hoodie pocket and ever careful steps he started down the hallway. God! It seems so much longer than it did usually! He held his breath each time he passed one of the doors belonging to another side, fear that they would discover him catching his lungs in a death grip. It was irrational, he told himself. This whole thing was irrational! But….he was anxiety, accepted or not, he could not change his nature. So he held his breath, and softened his already barely there steps even more, eyes fixed on the stairs at the end of the hall.

His eyes would flit to the doors he was passing briefly as a reassurance that they were closed and the room’s occupants deep in slumber, before setting once again on the stairs so near yet so far.

He passed by Roman’s room first. Golden oak marked through with colors of every shade covering the wood, yet accenting it rather than hiding it. The circular lights one might find surrounding a dressing room mirror marking its edges, their light dimmed to a warm gold in the night hours.

He thought he heard the side stir and froze mid step before his door, eyes wide in panic. Realizing it was the sounds of sleep rather than consciousness, he relaxed once more and moved forward again.

It was Logan’s door he passed next. A deep brown trimming appearing almost black in the day and much darker at night surrounding a dark wooden door unmarred by decorations. Nonetheless, it emitted an aura of soft blue light that seemed to spill from the edges, despite Virgil knowing no such light shone inside the room.

The Logical side’s room gave no sound other than the methodically ticking of a Newton’s Cradle that Logan claimed helped him focus and sleep. Virgil paused a moment to listen to it, letting the rhythmic sound calm his nerves for a moment, then moved on.

Patton’s door was the last before the five feet to the stairs, and perhaps the trickiest. True Logan tended to notice anything out of the ordinary, like doors opening and footsteps sounding late at night, and Roman would notice much the same thing and come out in search of adventure, but Patton? Patton had a sixth sense for when something was wrong, especially if one of the others had been acting out of the ordinary, and he certainly had been, what with skipping dinner and not talking much….well, talking less than usual.

Patton’s door was a light golden wood surrounded by a pastel border that bled from pink into blue and back again, creating all shades of pastel purple. Paw prints from puppies and kittens were engraved in the wood and stained dark. A soft pink light emanated from the door, much like the blue had from Logan’s, but rather than feeling cool and calming, it felt warm and comforting.

He paused at this door as he did the others and listened intently. He could he Patton’s soft breathing and the sound of a gentle music box lullaby playing to the background of soft waves.

Virgil smiled softly and moved on to the stairs. He paused at the top of them again and looked down them. Anxiety surging up again. He could just turn back now, it’d be far less risky to go back by the other three’s doors then to try going down the stairs silently. What if they heard him? What if they came to check on him? Or Princey got crazy and tried to defend them all against an intruder with his bloody katana – ignoring the fact that they couldn’t have an intruder in the mindpalace. What if they started asking questions? What if- Virgil shook his head to clear it. No. He needed to eat, and he had come too far to turn back now. Besides, he comforted himself, he knew where every squeaky step was. He could totally do this without waking anybody up.

So he started down the stairs, far more slowly than seemed possible, pausing every few moments to listen for signs that the others were waking. Eventually he came to the bottom of the stairs and headed for the kitchen, refusing to turn on a light until he was there for fear of waking anyone, and even then it was only the stove light.

Once he was sure once again that he heard nothing from upstairs he set about getting himself a sandwich and a glass of milk. Setting them at the counter beside the fridge, he opted to stand and eat, much quieter than trying to pull out a chair, he reasoned.

Dinner had been nearly five hours ago and he was starving, so he opted to try eating the sandwich first. 'Try' being the key word. In theory it should have been simple: Open mouth, place food in mouth, bite down, tear a piece off, chew, swallow, and repeat. Except it wasn’t. Because when he went to bite down his teeth hit against each other, so he didn’t bite down all the way. And because of this, when he tried to tear a piece away without closing his jaw all the way, it pulled on four teeth still sensitive due to their newness. Virgil cursed quietly in pain and set the sandwich down, staring down at the two holes in it as if they were the source of all his pains in the world. Sighing, he rubbed his eyes and reached for the glass of milk. Maybe that would be better, at least it would fill his stomach.

He brought the glass up to his mouth and started to take a drink, but hit his fangs against the glass and not only caused himself pain but also spilled the milk over the counter. Holding one hand over his hurting mouth he frantically tried to clean up the spilt milk with the other.

He heard a noise behind him and then there was a hand resting on his should gently, another in his field a vision, helping to clean up the spilled milk without the tinge of panic coloring its movements. Milk cleaned up he found himself being turned by the hand on his shoulders to meet the hetrochrome eyes of Deceit.

The naga-like side was, for once, void of his usual get up, now clothed in simple black sleep pants and a black tee shirt, a thick golden blanket around his shoulders. Seeing the side’s face free of that ridiculous hat was an odd change for Virgil, and he found it made the snake seem softer somehow. But that didn’t mean he trusted him. They had a long history, some of it good, some of it bad, but it had all been abruptly broken off when Virgil had come to fore of the mind, and now things were odd between them.

Deceit, however, seemed void of his usual snark and sneer right now, opting instead to take the hand not gently gripping Virgil’s shoulder and raise it to move the other’s hand from his mouth. Virgil made to resist that but Deceit just arched a brow lazily at him, thoroughly unimpressed, so he let it drop, keeping his mouth closed.

Deceit gently cupped Virgil’s cheek, rubbing his thumb there in a comforting gesture, and sighed softly. “Fangs?”

Virgil’s eyes widened marginally at the word, not expecting Deceit to have figured it out. Deceit just sighed again and gently used his hand to encourage Virgil to open his mouth. Once the Anxious trait had done so he gently ran his thumb along the length of one of the four points causing Virgil to flinch back. Deceit sighed again, returning his hand to rubbing Virgil’s jaw gently.

“I'm guessing you have not had them very long, hmm?”

Virgil furrowed his brow, “How?”

Deceit smiled ruefully, “You should remember that I certainly was always part snake, Virge. I certainly don't remember when mine first grew in. Nothing hurt them.”

Virgil’s eyes widened again. “You have fangs?”

Deceit smiled gently and let his fangs grow out from their usual small points where his canines should be to their full length for a moment before retracting them again. He looked at Virgil sympathetically. “You most certainly have not been hiding all day and you surely have eaten, right?”

Virgil shied away from looking at his old friend and Deceit sighed. “Don’t go sit down, Virge.”

Virgil nodded mutely and settled at the kitchen table, watching deceit retrieve two glasses of milk and his sandwich. Deceit grabbed one more thing out a drawer and sat down at the table across from Virgil.

“There certainly are not ways to make eating easier with fangs, Virgil. And they most certainly will not stop hurting in a few days.”

Virgil just nodded slightly. The snake like trait raised his hands and the contents grasped there. Two straws sat trapped between his fingers as he gazed at Virgil humorously, but not teasingly. “First lesson, straws are certainly not your friend.” He reached over and put straw in Virgil’s glass, bending it at the neck. “It won't keeps your fangs from hitting the glass. Just make sure you do bite your lip instead.”

He placed a straw in his own glass and started drinking, watching Virgil expectantly. Virgil picked up the glass and tentatively got the straw between his fangs and closed his mouth around it to drink. He winced at the coldness on his sensitive fangs but sighed in relief as the milk hit his empty stomach. Deceit smiled ruefully. “Yeah, they’re totally not gonna be really sensitive to cold and pressure for awhile. Don't give it a few days.”

Virgil tried to smile in return, without opening his mouth and trying to work around his aching fangs, it didn’t quite work, but Deceit got the message and smiled back softly. He reached over for the sandwich and pulled it in front of him, frowning down at it. “Unfortunately, the certainly is a simple way to eat, even after your fangs stop hurting, which of course they won't do. But for now it’s even better because they hurt. The worst thing to do is to tear it up into smaller pieces.”

He tore off a bit of the ham and cheese sandwich and handed it to Virgil who popped it in his mouth. He chewed awkwardly, wincing when his fangs hit his other teeth. “Putting food back by your molar is a horrid idea.”

Virgil did just that and found it a bit easier to eat. “Thanks De.”

“Of course not”

The sat in silence for awhile, Virgil did his best to tear of pieces of his sandwich and eat with as little pain as possible while Deceit made a cup of tea. When most of the sandwich and milk was gone and Deceit’s tea had started to go cold Virgil picked his head up and shyly asked a question.

“Hey De?”

“Yes Virgil?”

“How do---How --- I mea-“ Virgil bit his lip then caught his mistake as pain flared from the punctured skin.

Deceit set his cup down and leaned forward, crossing his arms on the table and leaning against them to look up at Virgil. “What is it Virge?”

Virgil looked down at the table rather than look at Deceit. “H-How do you retract them?”

Deceit looked at him sympathetically, then sighed. “Totally doesn’t depend on what kind of fangs you have Buddy.” He got up and came round the table to sit on the edge near Virgil. “Here, don’t let me see.”

Virgil tilted his head up, face all but hidden between his hood and his fringe, and opened his mouth just slightly. Deceit gently took the other’s jaw in his hand and urged it open, when it did he ran his thumb carefully over the new fangs, exploring their shape, setting, function, and type. He sighed, stroking a thumb along Virgil’s jaw comfortingly.

“They don't look like wolf teeth.” At the questioning look he continued. “You don’t have two large canines on the top and two smaller fangs on the bottom between them. They are certainly not designed for clamping onto something and tearing it apart or holding on.” He sighed again, absentmindedly stroking Virgil’s cheek again. “Unfortunately, Virgil, they are retractable.”

Virgil flinched away a bit, looking away. Deceit simply stroked his jaw comfortingly, spacing out. After a time the anxious side spoke again, voice quiet, snapping Deceit back to the present. “Wh-What about yours?”

“Hmm?”

Virgil looked up at him shyly. “What about yours? Why do they retract?”

Deceit smiled ruefully, absentmindedly raising a hand to rub at his own jaw. “They’re not snake fangs Virge.”

Virgil looked up at him, furrowing his brows, “But…..I heard Patton and Logan talking about some little green snake Thomas found outside…..It didn’t have fangs…..And when Patton asked why it ‘Didn’t have cute little fangs’, Logan went on a whole lecture…..That I didn’t really hear.”

Deceit smirked, but there was no malice in it, just fond amusement. “Only venomous snakes don't have fangs….but then, only Solenoglyphous Snakes can not fold their fangs up or retract them.”

Virgil considered this a moment and nodded his head. “Oh, ok. I guess that makes sense – Hey wait a minute!” He looked up at Deceit shrewdly, “Does that mean you have some sort of venom?”

Deceit smiled and laughed, “Caught that didn’t you?” He let his fangs fall out again and pointed to the tip of one, “Yes, I do not have a venom of sorts that I could not inject into someone by biting them.” He traced a path up his fang and across his cheek to a point just below his temple. “There are certainly not small sacks just behind and below my eyes that hold it.”

Virgil looked up at him like a child fascinated by something new, but then his expression turned…not frightened, but wary. “Would it kill someone?”

Deceit laughed then, full and humorous. “Yes, Virge.”

There was a momentary panic on the darker side’s face before he remembered who he was talking to and relaxed. “Oh. Then what does it do?”

Deceit chuckled, “Oh it’s totally not ironic.”

Virgil looked up at him, curiosity burning through him. “What?”

Deceit just chuckled again and shook his head playfully. Virgil poked him in the side, whining playfully. “Whhaattt?”

Deceit shook his head and laughed. “Alright, alright, I won't tell you.” He smiled, amusement written clearly on his face. “It most certainly is not a form of truth serum that could force any of you to tell nothing but the truth. Nope, most certainly not.”

Virgil looked at him with wide eyes for a moment then started shaking with laughter. “You – You – “ He threw back his head and laughed. “Oh that is priceless!”

Deceit watched him fondly until the other got himself under control. When Virgil finally stopped laughing he looked up at Deceit with mirth shining in his eyes. “But, I mean, it makes sense, in a way.”

Deceit nodded. “No, it doesn't. Just like yours don't make sense.”

Virgil flinched slightly at the mention of his own fangs, but didn’t shy away from him, curiosity winning out over embarrassment. “H-How?”

Deceit just gave him a soft smile, reaching out to gently card his hand through the other’s hair. “Because. Your fangs are not meant for grabbing hold of something, for latching on to it and either holding it close or ripping it apart. You’re not anxiety, among other things, but your main purpose is not to either reign the others in and protect them or to keep Thomas and the others safe from something by tearing it apart and showing them how dangerous it can be. “He gently lifted Virgil’s chin to look at him. “My job is not to work in the shadows, like a poison, a snake, slow and steady, for if they were to see me outright they certainly would not shun me and everything I am.”

Virgil winced slightly, knowing he had been one to not only push away the lying trait, but to actively make him feel unwelcome. Deceit just smiled gently. “You are not like a wolf, Virgil. Do you know how wolves protect their own?”

Virgil shook his head, so Deceit continued. “They don't bare their teeth in warning. They don't use those teeth to hold others close and keep them in control. They don't use those teeth to latch onto a threat and render it harmless. And that is certainly not your job.”

Virgil stared up at him for a moment before smiling thinly, standing quickly and wrapping the naga-like creature in a hug, catching him by surprise. “Thanks Dee.”

Deceit shook his head and smiled, hugging the other back. “You’re not welcome Virgil.”

Fin.

Tags - If you want to be tagged in my writing, just ask!

@anxiousangelvirgil​

[cmyknoise]

Comfort -  Part 1

This fic is loosely based on the song ‘Glowing Eyes’ by Twenty One Pilots. I feel like it fits Virgil well, and extremely well into the whole, ‘he was once a dark side’ thing that I adore.

Words: 1665

Relationship: If you squint maybe platonic LAMP? Platonic Anxiet? Kinda

Warning: Sympathetic Deceit? Angst I guess but not much.

Characters: Virgil, Deceit, Roman, Patton, Logan, Thomas. ‘Carefree’, ‘Pride’, and ‘Envy’

Summary: “The yellow and brown eyes looked…..curious, pitiful. He felt more comfort from those than he did with the orange and green ones, but, then again...the yellow and brown eyes were untrustworthy. They had a false sense of secureness about them. They all did. But being alone in the void, really they were all this cloud of fear had. They had become normal, and his sense of fear and uncertainty melted away. They were comforting. They had lulled him asleep at nights, calmed him when he was feeling extra jittery. They were all he had.”

Note: Time doesn’t pass the same for Virgil as it does for everyone else. He’s been in the ‘void’ from Thomas’s birth to about 10/11. The whole him getting used to everything feels like days, but really it’s years that he’s been getting used to everything.

Note 2: I’ve been writing this on and off for around a month, perhaps a bit more. I’ve had so many ideas on the direction of this and it’s changed probably like five times and each time it gets longer. You may be able to tell that the direction shifts often, I am terribly sorry for that!

Note 3: After now months of writing this, I’ve decided to post this in parts because it is getting long.

Note 4: As of posting this, I’m still not done, the other parts should come out eventually!

Next.

Fic under the cut !

   Things had started out dark, a void. This was before he had a physical form, before he had a name. Here, he was alone, he was just fear, he was just instinct. He knew there were others. The ones who resided in the light…. He liked visiting the light. He could watch from their shadows. The happy cat obsessed one seemed nice...the prince one was so brave, something he wished he had. The smart one was someone to look up to. That one seemed to…..almost sense his presence. He was too fearful to stay around him long.

   The void was nice. Lonely, but it was secure, it was safe. Or at least, it was. He wasn’t really alone. Glowing orbs in the darkness told him this. Orange, green, a single yellow, and a single brown. The soft light was comforting, yet the way the orbs watched him was unsettling. They heightened his feelings. He didn’t like it.

   The yellow and brown eyes looked…..curious, pitiful. He felt more comfort from those than he did with the orange and green ones, but, then again...the yellow and brown eyes were untrustworthy. They had a false sense of secureness about them. They all did. But being alone in the void, really they were all this cloud of fear had. They had become normal, and his sense of fear and uncertainty melted away. They were comforting. They had lulled him asleep at nights, calmed him when he was feeling extra jittery. They were all he had.

   It took a few years, but something had happened in their Host’s life that finally allowed this cloud of fear a physical form. Fight or flight, and this fear ball chose flight. He was terrified, the mass swirling and growing as his fear heightened. It had been for days. Phobia after phobia being triggered and found in Thomas’s life. Now, a bullying incident. Things had started falling in place. Panic set in, and he made Thomas run. It was growing more and more clear that he wasn’t just fear, not just instinct. He was anxiety, panic, dread.

   The mass bubbled and swirled. A humanoid form started to form. The mass felt ground below him. That was new. Color flushed through him, seeping up into him. He could see his hands...he had hands, a body. Color swirled and seeped into the area around him, and slowly all the eyes disappeared from view. Dark strands of something fell into his view. Hair. Words pounded into his head. Ow...pain. Headache. Anxiety? That was...what he was? He was more than just that. More pain. He felt something wet fall down his face. Tears. His arms wrapped around himself, and he soon found that he was in a weighted article of clothing...a hoodie. He hugged himself, his form shaking.

   Was Thomas okay? What was this? He tried to speak but his voice caught in his throat. He had no comfort. The eyes were gone. What was going on? Why was he physical? Was. Thomas. Okay? Tears fell from his face and he managed to sob. Suddenly, he knew what was happening. Panic attack.

   It was a very unwelcoming way to become more apart of Thomas’s being. The eyes had returned to the corners of his room, watching him. They were what finally pulled the anxious trait to reality again. He had a room, he was physical. Hands, a face, a body! It was exciting to him. The room was open to decoration, but more importantly, there was a door. Could….could it possibly be to the light? The thought thrilled him and he got up, stumbling to the door.

   He reached for the handle, but froze. The weight of dread and fear started to overwhelm him. What if that’s not what lied out there? What if….there were too many what ifs. He slowly backed up from the door, and found himself falling. A scream escaped his lips, the side ready for impact, but, instead he heard squeaks and he bounced. Oh...it was just a bed. His bed. When he thought about it, warm, soft blankets appeared and curled around him. The weight of the blankets slowly helped him fall asleep. The soft glowing eyes in the darkness of his room helped.

   Days were spent in his room. He was making it….comforting. The walls were covered in posters of things he thought were cool. A lot of cat references. The whole time, those glowing orbs watched his every move. He tried to get close but they’d disappear. Maybe for the best.

   His room was dark, no real light sources around. The only one being from the soft glow of these eyes. It was fine though. Anxiety liked the dark, the night. It was...it had become comforting, natural. It’s all he ever saw, all he dreamed of.

   His eyes drifted back to his door. The idea thrilled and scared him. What was out there? Could it be the light he had seen in the void? He hoped it was. They seemed so...nice. It seemed nice. But could he really just, join in? No...they already had a ‘family’. They wouldn’t want someone new.

   Curiosity got to him soon enough, and Anxiety soon found his hand on the door handle, and slowly he twisted it, stepping out. The place looked….familiar, but it certainly wasn’t light. There was hardly any light at all, though the rooms and layout seemed similar to what he once saw in the light.

“I…”

   Anxiety froze, hand moving to his throat. Speaking felt...weird, he sounded….hoarse, he sounded strange. But, he tried again.

“Is….anyone here…?”

   He was quiet, but there was no response. Everything in him told him to scurry back into his room and continue to hide away, it was safe there, but he couldn’t hide forever, not really. He could sure try, but the desperate hope that those he had seen were here, but….this wasn’t the same house he had grown accustomed to watching in the void. It was a bit darker, monotone in color. The lovely reds, purples, and blue decorations he had once seen weren’t here, an ugly mix of other colors were left. Greens, oranges, yellows..

   His heart leaped and he turned on his heel, running back to his door. Rather than getting to his door, he ran straight into another body. Anxiety stumbled back, looking up at the taller figure. Bright orange eyes met his. He tried not to make eye contact for long, looking this taller side over. Untucked white shirt….ripped black jeans, square framed glasses, orange speckled scales trailing his cheek bones. His eyes trailed back up. That orange looked familiar… The taller male tsked, rolling his eyes as he pushed past Anxiety. He called out, causing Virgil to tense up from the firm and booming voice.

“Fresh meat!”

   Footsteps went down the stairs, each step sounding like its own boom of thunder. Two doors at the end of the hall shot open, one door adorned with golden snakes, the other with stickers of different reptiles, mainly snakes. Anxiety’s flight or fight kicked in, but he only froze up, watching as two faces popped past the door. They looked...older than Thomas was, or at least since Anxiety had last seen Thomas. At least just young teens. How...how long had he been in his room?

   The one dressed in yellow ran up to Anxiety, who flinched and shielded himself. Their faces were partly covered in scales. Half of the yellow one’s face was covered in soft green scales, the green one had golden scales on the other half of his face. Why did they all have scales?

   Anxiety took a fearful step back from them, eyes frantically darting over the two.

“You look absolutely…”

   The yellow one trailed off, concentrating on something for a moment, the green one rolled his eyes.

“You look absolutely horrendous.Your eyes are so uncool and your scales are dull.”

   The yellow one spoke in a tone...that seemed to imply the opposite of what he said. Anxiety thought it over, looking the yellow one over. Scales? He didn’t have scales…

“What…” Anxiety’s voice was soft and quiet, though it sounded doubled over, dark, “What scales? And...what about my eyes?”

   The green one rolled his eyes and gave a sneer. The yellow one looked to him, elbowing his side, getting the green one to speak up.

“The purple scales under your eyes. They’re bright and vivid...so much cooler than our dumb scales. Your eyes are a bright white-“

   He doesn’t remember having scales...and he certainly didn’t have white eyes. Anxiety tried to step back, looking at his door which was just behind the two. If he could just get past them… A yellow gloved hand suddenly grabbed his arm, Anxiety met the yellow ones eyes. He saw his mouth moving, but words hadn’t registered. Fear and panic bubbled up within Anxiety and he squeezed his eyes shut, covering his face with a hand.

   He heard the green one but….from far away. He opened his eyes and looked around, finding that he had some how popped into his room. That was...useful. He moved over to his door, pressing his ear to it, listening to the two outside of it.

“Come on Deceit, leave him alone for now. I don’t get why he has your attention. That doors been here for years.”

“Because Envy! He’s come out so many times before! I am not interested. He doesn’t share a color with one of the other sides. Isn’t that normal?”

“Dunno. Don’t care. Come on, leave him alone.”

“Ugh, whatever. Let’s not go.”

   Their voices got quieter as they seemingly left the room. Anxiety slumped against the door, chest heaving as he recovered from his panicked state. That was enough adventuring. He tried, it didn’t go well...it was time to sleep.

[lowat-golden-tower]

Hey have you read homestuck? I'm trying to decide godtiers for the sides and thought that maybe you could help?

I have indeed read the Chaos Devil’s spawn of memes. Back in its hey-day I was eyeballs deep in that fandom, and yes, I was actually a source for classpect information at one point. I went and sifted through my old sources (god bless @dahniwitchoflight tbh) and tried to puzzle this one out.

Now note, I am very rusty with all of this and honestly the classpect system can be dissected any number of ways. So this is purely my interpretation.

With that said, shall we get to it?

TL;DR Version (for explanations and thorough analysis, check under Read More):

Thomas - Mage of BloodLogan - Witch of LightPatton - Knight of HopeRoman - Maid of Heart (ha)Virgil - Rogue of DoomDeceit - Sylph of VoidRemy - Heir of Breath (hi john)

So first I went and took a look at possible classes. I decided to include Thomas, Remy and Deceit along with the sides just for the fun of it, and surprisingly only one of them actually lined up with a single class and no other (the rest have many that could work).

Remy is a Breath player. Hands down. Nothing fits the sleepy rebel boi like Breath. Breath players can be disconnected, apathetic and indifferent. They’re detached, obsessed with liberties and freedoms and independence. They seek flexibility. If that isn’t Remy, then I don’t know what is. He shares these qualities with Virgil, actually, but I decided Remy exemplified the class far more.

Now for Remy’s class, I found four to be appropriate, so it was a matter of choosing the best. Heir, Mage, Sylph or Knight; after much deliberation I finally decided on Heir. Mages tend to have a dichotomy with their aspect I don’t see for Remy, Sylphs are too obsessed with pushing their aspect onto others, and Knights tend to use their aspect as a shield for fear of lacking in it. None of these suit Remy like the Heir, true naturals of their aspect who often don’t even need to actively seek it out. Usually they have problems getting stuck on one thing or another, and Remy does seem to have troubles with adapting. (Poor Thomas.)

Remy is an Heir of Breath. (Like John Egbert!)

Let’s go with Deceit next. He has the next lowest number of associated aspects after Remy, with just two: Rage or Void. In the end I found Rage to be too extreme of an aspect for Deceit, at least for the moment, with so little information known about him as a character. Ironically, he shares the Void association with Virgil, but I feel it is definitely more appropriate for Deceit. Void is infinite possibilities, its indifference and confusion, secrets, doubts, irrelevance. All things Deceit either is or does. The other sides would like to see him as irrelevant. He creates doubt and confusion through deceit, hoards secrets, and sees the bigger picture of things which is what prompts him to be deceitful in the first place. Creating something from nothing just because? Sounds like Deceit.

Now class… haha, oh boy. This was not so easy. About two-thirds of the classes for this aspect could apply to Deceit. So I had a lot of comparing to do, to narrow it down. Mage and Bard are two classes that I really struggled with, honestly. I feel like Mage of Void would suit Deceit if he became the truly despicable person we all know he could be, as the embodiment of deceit itself? While Bard of Void would apply more to “sympathetic Deceit,” a reformed Deceit who didn’t want to be the villain but was made out to be. And yet… Sylph of Void. Oh, Sylph of Void just screams Deceit, they are masters at hiding things and will happily do so, and make others do so.

Yeah, this one was really difficult. At the end of the day, I feel Sylph is the happy medium between Mage and Bard. They’re meddlers. They hide things; their actions, their motives, themselves. A Sylph of Void in particular would not be good working with others, making them feel useless, meaningless or insignificant. They’ll talk over others and shut them up. No one ever knows how much they’re hiding, or what they have up their sleeve. It’s all fitting.

Deceit is a Sylph of Void.

Let’s go with Thomas next. He’s tied with Logan for the most associated aspects at three. Space, Heart and Blood. In the end, I went with Blood. Heart just screams Patton to me far more, and Space feels more like Roman (but I’ll decipher those two when I get to them). No, Blood definitely feels like our Thomas. All about bonds, commitments, dependency on others and others onto you, taking responsibility and upholding promises. Our Thomas has an enormously strong bond with his friends, and even with the community he’s created. Not to mention his sides. :)

But now, what class for our creator? I narrowed it down to Mage, Maid or Knight, but in the end settled on Mage. Knight seemed just a little too insecure for Thomas, at least in this stage of his life. And Maid was a little too submissive, a bit too much of a doormat for relationships. No, Mage suits Thomas best. Tied down to his obligations; commitments to fulfill, promises to uphold, connections and bonds to maintain. They try to support the people they’ve bonded with, friends and family alike, and work hard to maintain those bonds.

He’s Mr. Dependable, or tries to be, but he often wonders about giving up a few of those obligations, of getting some more freedom and having fun. He fully feels the strain of all that responsibility. This even applies to his sides, each of whom he cares for and tries to keep stable, including their relationships with each other.

Thomas is a Mage of Blood.

Who next? Let’s go with Logan. Yes, finally digging into the main core of the sides. (He’s also my favorite.) Now due to Thomas taking Blood, that leaves Logan with Light and Mind as his possible aspects. Those of you familiar with Homestuck will understand why, as both are composed of a form of knowledge; having it, seeking it, stealing it, what have you. Now, Light also has a bit to do with luck, but that’s why I’m going to pick apart the threads and dissect them to figure out which suits Logan better.

Now for starters, Mind is the opposite of Heart, which I said suits Patton a lot. Hell, we have an entire video titled “Mind vs Heart” via Thomas, about how Logan and Patton are opposites. Nonetheless! I wanted to look at Light as a legitimate contender. Mind is reasonable decisions, it is logic, it’s rational and driven by pure thought. It can be impersonal, apathetic and indifferent; all things Logan has been, though he’s working on it. He gives equal weight to all options, not favoring any, no matter their moral siding. It is supremely Logan as any aspect goes.

Now Light, those with this aspect are knowledge seekers. They want to understand things. They take multiple sources of information and turn it into something useful, something usable. Scholars and researchers dedicated to knowledge for knowledge’s sake. They go after it with an intensity that might put off others. At their best, they are resourceful and driven. At their worst, fussy, pedantic and insensitive. HOO BOY if all this doesn’t sound like Logan too. And in the end…

Obvious a choice as Mind might be, I think Logan is indeed more Light. Perhaps in the beginning, when he was just Teacher, he could have been Mind. But he’s opened up so much more, revealed to us his quirks and eccentricities. He isn’t cold, unfeeling fact. He’s a rush of enthusiasm and a spark of joy and always thirsty to learn more, more, more to the point he can be blinded by his own desires. Yes, Logan is most definitely a Light player.

Class-wise, it was surprisingly hard. Few of the classes suited Logan all around, with the closest being Witch, Sylph and Heir. Now, we already have the latter two. I was trying to avoid doubles of the classes and aspects. Heirs are already gifted with a huge heaping helping of their aspect, they naturally gravitate to it. Their challenge is to not get stuck on one thing; to learn to change and adapt. Very Logan-like. Sylphs, as I mentioned, are meddlers, which is also very Logan-like. Witches, now… Witches control their aspect. They manipulate it. Think of Jade Harley, Feferi Peixes, Damara Megido; all witches who could utilize and abuse their aspect with a snap of their fingers.

Logan embodies logic, and knowledge; he loathes luck, probability and superstition. There have been times where he used his knowledge to come out on top, to try and expose others’ flaws, and he’s willing to see how some knowledge can be subjective. He often disagrees with the others on what they consider meaningful and important, and replaces it with his own views. He’s a know-it-all, he has an ego, and honestly he’s a little attention seeking. But he can also manipulate the information at his disposal, all the data Thomas has learned, to glean more from it- even if it wasn’t correct, or useful. This has also been shown in canon. Thusly, my conclusion…

Logan is a Witch of Light.

Let’s go with Virgil next. Now, like I said, I’m trying to avoid doubling up here. Remy is far more suited to Breath, and Deceit is more suited to Void. That leaves Virgil with the aspects of Heart, Rage and Doom. (I’m sure all of you saw the latter two coming.)

After reading further into Heart while looking into Thomas, I’ve decided it really doesn’t suit Virgil like I initially thought. Which gives us Doom and Rage to compare. Now Rage is unconditional hate or fear, refusal, rejection, skeptical criticism, doubt, negativity, despair, Getting the ‘Red Light’ or a Hard Stop, just absolutely no. That is Anxiety, and Virgil, to a T. Everything is going to turn out wrong. Don’t be fooled by peace and success, it can all go to Hell in a second. Nothing is “fine,” nothing is “okay.” But it’s not always fierce and lashing out, it also creeps up on you, paralyzing you, ensnaring you in a cage. It’s anxiety.

Doom on the other hand is harming, it’s all about control and limits, negativity, withdrawal, caution, but it’s also acceptance. It’s a little less extreme than Rage, more caution than outright disbelief and denial. Like Deceit with his classes, I get the distinct notion Anxiety was a Rage player, but once he became Virgil he settled firmly into the Doom aspect instead. He suffers, but with that suffering comes wisdom and empathy. He isn’t a healer or a fixer. He’s there to tell you something is wrong, but it’s okay, he’s there to suffer with you. He can be kind, but at his worst he can also be bitter, resentful and fatalistic- traits we saw far more in his earlier appearances.

So, Virgil is a Doom player. For him, I see Heir, Seer, Sylph or Rogue. Yet again, we already find ourselves with an Heir and a Sylph. Virgil sure does have a lot in common with Remy and Deceit, eh? So let’s focus more on Seer and Rogue.

Seers are shown knowledge of their aspect, and need to figure out how to apply that knowledge to the relevant situations. Virgil, seeing all the doom and negative consequences, and attempting to apply them where necessary; as anxiety does. Rogues, on the other hand, have problems coping with their aspect. They often think they can’t handle it, and they give up. Very defeatist. They’re supposed to come to terms with their aspect and own it.

And that, right there, is the key. Virgil initially being embittered by all the bad he saw in the world, the dangers, how no one ever wanted to listen to him or thought he was overreacting. Hyper-focused on if he can handle this job, if he’s really doing the right thing and being effective. Hell, there’s an entire video about Accepting Anxiety and I feel like it’s that video where Virgil would truly start to come into himself as a Rogue of Doom.

Rogues of Doom have trouble coping with rules, limits, obligations and responsibilities. They may think they don’t have the proper structure for it, or that they can’t handle it, or don’t deserve it. These are all doubts and fears Virgil tells to Thomas, as his anxiety. He constantly worries and frets over them not being good enough. He acts like he doesn’t care about not being accepted by the other sides, but in Accepting Anxiety it’s shown he really does. It eats him up inside. He feels repulsive to them, unnecessary and too pessimistic to be helpful or healthy.

Is it really futile to chase this desire? What if you stop, and regret it for the rest of your life? How do you know for sure this is necessary? Is it worth the sacrifice? Anxiety is uncertainty and questioning yourself, and that’s precisely what a Rogue of Doom does. They’re avoidant.

Once Virgil realizes he is important and is needed, he can step up and embrace those doubts and fears. He can use his pessimism and caution more constructively, to help Thomas and guide him, perhaps even pulling burdens and fears from the other sides to help them out as well. He, like all rogues, starts out selfish but has the capacity to become one of the most selfless classes. And through the progression of Sanders Sides, we have witnessed this growth.

Virgil is a Rogue of Doom.

That leaves us with Roman and Patton. I’m going to save Roman for last, because I feel like he’ll be tough. So let’s take a look at Patton!

I’ve already stated Heart suits him very well. However, we proved Logan didn’t fit the obvious, so let’s also look at the other aspects he could be associated with: Life and Hope. Hope and Heart are also aspects which could be associated with Roman.

Hope is unconditional love, confirmation, harmony, acceptance, naive optimism, belief and positivity. Everything is going to be okay, someway, somehow. It’s warm, accepting and open arms, lots of hugs, lots of “I’m here for you’s.” It’s a drive pushing you forward against all odds. Life is also positivity, growth, energy, recklessness and liberation. They’re always concerned for others and are deeply empathetic. They often put others’ needs before their own. At best, they are great caretakers, listeners and nurturers. At worst, they can prove to be passive-aggressive and pushy because they think they know best.

Heart, meanwhile, is irrational impulses, instinct, emotional, feelings, biased opinions, empathy and passion. It’s the soul. It’s who “You” are. It’s irrational and driven by pure feeling. There may be no justification for how they feel, but gosh darn it, they’re gonna feel it a whole lot anyway! Focused on morals, on what they view as “right,” and they show favoritism to options in this way. Very strong moral compass and, well, Patton is Thomas’ Morality.

So… yeah. This is indeed a tough one. I think it’s safe to say Heart and Hope trump Light here, and that Heart can most definitely suit either Patton or Roman. So to solve this, I decided to do a quick check to see if Roman would actually be a Heart player.

I’ve already crossed out Hope for him, as that is most definitely more of a Patton aspect. Fitting as Time is, I crossed that out as well. I feel it’s just a little too focused on the endgame and the “end of things” for Roman. He enjoys the story and the journey as much as the conclusion. Then I looked to Space, which is all about creation- but Space players are also patient. They pick and choose their battles, they take things as they come. That… is not Roman. Thus, in the end, I have decided.

Roman is Heart. Patton is Hope.

I’ll get to Roman’s class later. Let’s get back to Patton, now that we’ve established he is a Hope player. I narrowed down the classes to Knight or Page for him. Knights hide a fear of perceived fundamental failure with their aspect behind a shield of confidence and obvious effort. They’re supposed to learn that they are, indeed, enough and take it down a notch. Thanks to the nostalgia videos, we’ve seen this does, in fact, fit Patton. Pages, on the other hand, start with a lack of their aspect that they try to overcome with obvious overcompensation. They need to keep at it, even through the failures, to become the strongest of all player classes for their respective aspect. This also sort of suits Patton, but…

I’m gonna go with Knight of Hope. I really don’t see Patton lacking the aspect, even if he would try to overcompensate. He aligns more closely to Knight in that way, I find. Good at exploiting his own optimism and positivity, a great motivator and positive force. Great at instilling hope to get things moving along, a fantastic driving force sitting firm in his beliefs, even if occasionally he wonders if its enough. Is he being positive enough? Happy enough? Is he motivating the others the right amount? He piles and piles on the optimism, the joy, the good vibes even when he himself feels low. He welcomes and accepts new people and ideas, though he doesn’t tend to waver on his beliefs and ideas unless shown a “more real” alternative. And when he fails, he feels it intensely, as if he led everyone else astray. The moment he discovers one of his beliefs is false or truly harmful, he’ll drop it like it’s hot.

Patton is a Knight of Hope.

And last but not least, we have Princey. Roman, whom we’ve already determined is a Heart player. So half our work is done. Now to discover his class....

Out of those remaining, Maid or Page would be the most suitable choices. Maids of Heart start out relying on others to tell them what to love or hate. What to feel strongly or passionately about. They may even rely on others for their sense of self. Think a young Roman, a young creativity. Thomas turning to Disney, to Broadway, to his friends and parents and teachers for inspiration. Hell, Roman almost religiously follows Disney, believing all dreams will come true, princes are heroes and villains are irredeemable. I imagine these impressions being made at a young age.

As he grew, Roman would need to start relying on himself for that direction. He would need to look into himself, who he really is, and only take those outside forces as possible influences rather than the end-all, be-all. No one can tell you who you are except you. No one can decide what you love or hate. Roman creates his own sense of self, finds his true passions and then follows them, leading Thomas along this path. He’s an absolute force to be reckoned with when it comes to these passions, i.e. Disney. It’s infectious. Others get caught up in his own enthusiasm and excitement. Very Roman.

Pages of Heart, on the other hand, try to overcompensate for their lack of the thing rather than rely on others to fill the void. They act irrational and impulsive based on their instincts, which often leads to wrong decisions and interpretations. They try to act caring and empathetic to the point it comes off as insincere. Overemotional, open and honest to the point of giving away far too much information. They go overboard, they become obsessed with their passions. Super affectionate, over dramatic in their emotional displays. They blow everything out of proportion. Driven by strong desires, wants and needs. They need to learn how to be balanced.

As you can see, both of these classes suit Roman to a degree. However, I feel Page is a little... too extreme. I don’t believe Roman overcompensates that much, and he certainly doesn’t go to great lengths to be affectionate and caring towards the others. In fact, sometimes those emotions can be stunted, particularly with Virgil or Logan. No, I see Roman as a Maid. I see him as being inspired by the world around him, and then taking that inspiration and owning it.

Roman is (a) Maid of Heart. (Ha.)

[sam-i-am-27]

Living With the Past

READ IT ON A03

Pt. 2

Summary: Introducing our main protagonists of the story: Virgil, Patton, Roman and Logan, each with hidden secrets and a great adventure ahead of them. 

Word Count: 2,785

Pairings: None at the moment. May be fluffy or platonic not sure. 

Warnings: Death of a pet; Blood Mention

Thank you so much to @pastel-and-gore​ for being such an amazing person and editing this! Without you, this would probably be such a different story!

Early 19th Century

Virgil hated being alone, especially at night, and his parents knew that. So why did they send him out to the woods at night to collect water for his father? He could only guess it’s cause he was the only one not afraid of the dark. Sure, he was afraid of what might be lurking beyond his sight line, but he could at least be sure that nothing was going to come out and attack him.

Or maybe it was because he was young and worth nothing if he wasn’t out changing the world and was instead hiding at home learning how to cook.

But still… the creaking in that tree might be some sort of cat that was just as hungry as he was. It would explain why he felt like he was being watched like he was a single loaf of stale bread in front of a family of six.

“It’s nothing, Virgil,” he whispered to himself, rubbing the fabric of his cloak between his fingers slowly as his other swung the lantern slowly in front of him. “Just the wind… you’re just being dramatic…”

“Just being dramatic, Virgil,” he whispered again nearly ten minutes later, shuddering a little at the wind that was blowing through the clearing. The well was just ahead of him and he let out a breath that he didn’t even know he was holding. Setting down the lantern next to the well, he began to lower the bucket, humming a soft tune to himself. It wasn’t much, just a little passing-the-time song he had picked up from farmers around the village, but he still enjoyed the sound of it.

“That’s pretty.”

Virgil jumped, causing him to lose control of the bucket and heard a splash faintly at the bottom, leaving him without water and with a stranger in the deep, dark woods. He turned and came face-to-face with a young woman wearing a long draping cloak, a stark-white dress that flowed around her, and had her blonde hair pulled into a loose braid that fell over her shoulder. The sight of her made him shudder, not just because she had suddenly appeared, but because she was almost too perfect. Pale, completely flawless skin that almost reflected the moonlight, clean hands, and a dress void of any mud or leaves, much unlike Virgil’s muddy boots.

“Uh… thanks,” he said cautiously. “Are you here for water? I’m sorry but I just lost control of the rope. If you want water, you’re going to have to wait until tomorrow for someone to fish the bucket out.”

“No, I’m not here for water. I just like to go on midnight walks sometimes. Not entirely sure why I was the one chosen to be the outcast and do that type of stuff, but hey, I’m here and I enjoy it,” she said, approaching the well and leaning against the stones. Her hand brushed Virgil’s and he thought for a moment that maybe she was made out of some sort of icy fire based on the way the skin-to-skin contact left his hand tingling and hot.

“I kinda get that… being an outcast I mean. My family wants me to marry so I can get out of the house, but I don’t want to marry for a purpose other people want! I want to marry someone because I love him and-”

Virgil slapped a hand over his mouth, but the woman didn’t seem to mind. She just kept looking at him softly, almost curiously.

“I’m not interested in women! They intimidate me and I don’t see them in a romantic way. I-”

Was it just his imagination or did she lick her lips ever-so-subtly? Was that a stomach growl from her? She gave a hearty chuckle, breaking him from his own thoughts. “I like you. What did you say your name was?”

“I didn’t,” he said, holding out his hand even though he already knew what her skin felt like, but his manners practically took control of him and forced his shaky hand out. “I’m Virgil.”

She smiled at him, and the sight of long fangs dripping with a clear venom made him regret every little thing he had ever done in his life that had led up to this point right now. “Nice to meet you, Virgil. Now remember, everything will be explained…”

“Wha-

The hand that had been brushing up on his suddenly whipped around and grabbed his forearm. The hot-cold feeling rushed up his arm and into his body, paralyzing him. His eyes were frozen open in shock as the woman lunged forward and sunk her fangs into his neck. The venom rushed into his veins,. Suddenly he could feel every single one of them set ablaze by the liquid, but at the same time, he felt like every bit of oxygen was being sucked out of his lungs and through the fangs embedded in his neck. He couldn’t breathe, he couldn’t move. Everything hurt. His neck, his back, his arms… his mind and body felt like it was on fire. The world was turning black and faintly, he felt the fangs leave his neck and the woman was standing in front of him, his own blood coating her face and dress.

“I am sorry, Virgil. But thank you.” She turned into a large owl and flew away into the dark. He stumbled backwards, finally able to move but the world was continuing to grow dimmer and dimmer…  His back hit something hard and he felt himself falling down, down, down…

Mid 20th Century

The fact that a saltwater siren and a freshwater sprite was known far and wide across as many shores as the water-fae could reach. Some were sure that the friendship was known as far as the coasts of Japan. Not that the two cared. They were friends for the sole reason that they had heard that the other type would be toxic towards the other and were more than willing to test that fear.

“Hello,” the Siren said cautiously from the water, looking at the small form sitting on the rock, his skin blue like the sky and his curly hair an even darker shade. His wings were dripping from his back and looked as if the currents of the ocean had been solidified. His eyes were being magnified by the strange glass held by metal on his nose. Prolonged time on land had left his fingers and hands a light tan and freckled color. “You’re not jumping in…”

“Should I?” the Sprite asked curiously.

“I mean, normally things that aren’t sirens that hear a siren’s voice kinda jump into the water and die,” the Siren said calmly, but then a grin broke out on his face. “I’ve never gotten to talk to anyone that’s not a Siren! What are those on your face?”

“They’re my glasses!” the Sprite said, handing them out and setting them just out of reach of the farthest point the ocean came up the shore. The Siren took the glasses hesitantly and tried them on. Everything seemed to tunnel in and suddenly the Sprite seemed closer and yet very far away.

“They help me see! Right now, you’re just a red blob,” the Sprite said, picking up the glasses once the Siren had put them down on the ground again. “I like your tail! It’s really pretty!”

“Thanks!” the Siren said, lifting his gold-and-red scaled tail high out of the water for the sprite to look at. “I like your wings!”

The Sprite smiled sadly and looked back at them. “They don’t work. I don’t think they ever will. They’re just kinda there.” He suddenly smiled mischievously. “I’m not supposed to be talking to you.”

The Siren giggled. “Me neither! I’m Roman.” Since they had learned from personal experience just minutes prior that when freshwater meets saltwater, it created temporary burns and pain for the both of them, Roman opted just to wave at the Sprite.

The Sprite waved back. “Patton!”

Since their families thought they were exploring with friends, they decided that they wouldn’t tell them that they snuck away from the group in order to see what the flash of light had been. But as all children of any species did with a secret, they tried to tell as much as possible to as many people as possible without spilling the beans, but ended up telling the complete background of the secret within days. Within those few days, their parents had put up barriers against the two seeing each other ever again.

Unbeknownst to their families, the two had made a cross-heart promise to reunite as soon as they possibly could, something that was considered sacred to children, especially magic children. So one day, when both had experienced another fifteen years of life and in those years, grown used and tired of the constant watching, they found a way to the surface without being seen.

Roman sat on the beach, half out of the sand so the tips of his tail were beginning to separate into human legs, never losing their shine or scales the entire time. He looked around, sensing something nearby. It wasn’t human, that was for sure, and it had a magical presence that he had felt before and had felt tugging at his soul for the past decade.

“Patton?”

The Sprite stuck his head out of a nearby bush and burst into a grin at the sight of his childhood friend.

“Roman! You’re getting legs! And you’ve grown up!” Patton came skipping out of the bush.

“Yeah, my fins have gotten a lot bigger and I have control of my voice at long last. Your wings haven’t really changed though,” Roman said, pointing to the small wings that still hung limply at his back. Patton shrugged, his blue curls and skin tinted tan from time on land. “I’m fine with it. They’re pretty and I like the way they move.”

“Whatever you say,” Roman said. “So… we do realize what this means, right?”

Patton nodded and took a satchel the size of Roman’s hand off of his shoulder, reached in elbow-deep and pulled two pairs of human clothes, accidentally letting fruits and frozen fish spill out with the cloth. “Of course I do… I’m not happy with it, but I learned to accept what the promise meant years ago. Our parents, sure they’ll be upset, but there was no way they could stop it.”

Roman nodded in agreement starting to haul himself out of the water, the split lengthening and deepening until Roman had two distinct legs. Sure, they were still covered in his scales, but he could walk. His stood shakily, using a rock as support and brushing his sticky brown hair out of his eyes.

“Legs are weird, how do you and land creatures handle it?” Roman asked.

“I don’t know, but you obviously can’t ankle it,” Patton said with a smirk. Roman didn’t really understand the joke and began to pull on his clothes, with Patton’s help. The instant they were dressed, with Roman’s scales hidden and Patton’s wings tucked safely under a jacket, both took one last look at their former homes.

“You ready, Roman?” Patton asked softly.

Roman didn’t say anything. He bent down, scooped through the dirt for a second before producing a shell the size of his index finger. He held it up to his ear and the sound of the ocean echoed from the depths of the shell. He smiled sadly and put it in his pocket.

“Yeah.” Without another glance at the water, the two turned around and disappeared into the night.

Late 20th Century

Logan had never known his father, which should have been the first sign to him that he would be different. Weren’t most main characters with special fates alone with only one or neither of their parents? Not that Logan cared; they were just characters and he was a real life person living with a single mother who had been left by a father. At least gracious to leave her with just enough to get by as she raised a child by herself.

Within the first days of kindergarten, Logan was already being seen as the makings of a prodigy for a majority of his life. He was the smartest one in his class, finishing third grade as the others completed kindergarten. It was a little odd, especially considering how little he seemed to pay attention in class and instead spent his time filling notebook after notebook with descriptions of his dreams.

“Rachel tripped and she scraped her knee in my dream,” Logan explained, pointing to the sentence that, although very grammatically incorrect, explained everything in explicit detail. It didn’t stop the journal entries from becoming real within weeks, the time-span between each truth growing smaller in size as Logan grew older.

However, the strangest thing about Logan wasn’t a mental aspect or the knack for predicting little things like scraped knees or things falling. It was his eyes. Not only did he have heterochromia, each eye was a unique color that no doctor could explain. His left eye was dark red, almost the exact color as the crayons he would leave destroyed after an hour of doodling, while his right eye was the color of actual gold.

Logan only cared or remembered his eyes were weird when they were pointed out by bullies or doctors. Whenever he wasn’t being asked about them, he studied as much as he could with his pet hamster, Sir Squiggles the Brave (hey, he may have been a prodigy who used to write about his classmates being in pain, but he was still ten). He seemed like he could handle the life of a ten-year-old prodigy.

And then one night, he found himself walking into his mother’s room, tears streaming down his face from his beautiful eyes. He could barely see but he knew that his eyes were letting out a slight glow, illuminating his mother’s sleepy face.

“Logan, honey, what is it?” she asked calmly, beckoning him into her arms. He crawled in and huddled against her.

“I-I saw Sir Squiggles… in my dream…”

“What about him?” she asked, petting his hair softly.

“H-He was-wasn’t moving,” Logan sniffed. “I p-poked h-h-im… b-but he didn’...”

“It was just a dream, honey,” she whispered. “You can stay here if you want or do you want to check Mr. Squiggles?”

Logan shook his head and just cuddled up deeper into her embrace. He matched his breathing to hers, slowly counting under his breath until he lost count with his consciousness.

The next day, Logan missed school and instead spent the entire day, kneeling in front of a pile of dirt no bigger than the size of his hand. He wasn’t grieving… some part of him had known it was coming and if he knew it was coming, he shouldn’t mourn… should he?

The years went by and things kept on aging. Logan kept on aging and, as he did, his emotions seemed to drain away with the years, leaving only a hollow shell of what used to be a happy child behind. Everyone else thought it was part of being a prodigy, but Logan was doing better than okay in all his advanced classes. It was the dreams that were making him a robot and conform to what society had to offer.

Dreams of pain and suffering, death and unavoidable tragedies. He saw every single one happen: the death of his friend’s mother, the breaking of his teacher’s ankle, and eventually, the diagnoses of cancer in his own mother. By this point, he knew it was unavoidable. He could see death and destruction in the future… and the exact moment his mother passed in his arms, the sense of deja vu washed over him with the first wave of emotion he had felt in years that sent him into a spiral.

For days, he sat in his room, trying to understand what was happening. At night, he would continue to see dreams of what would happen, but now that the biggest tragedy had passed, they were all losing meaning. Some were of people around him meeting those he had never seen before, others were just of random events that didn’t really seem to have a meaning to the world.

But eventually, he wiped the tears away and kept plunging forward. This curse would not stop him from living a full life. He may never find an answer to whatever the hell was happening to him, but if he had to live with it up this point, he would keep on living with it unless something changed.

A/N: So this should be fun! Again, thanks so much to Pastel for editing this and I really hope you guys like it!

Once again, I was an idiot and lost any taglist I had. So if you want to be tagged in general, or just for this, just let me know!

Uh... yeah!

Reblogs are always appreciated and accepted, you’ve all seen the posts. 

Feedback is the good kush.

Have a great day!

[aion-rsa]

Deadpool 3: The MCU Questions and Connections

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Deadpool is coming to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. While the X-Men Cinematic Universe fizzled out as Disney bought out Fox, it doesn’t take a marketing genius to remember that Ryan Reynolds as Wade Wilson is a license to print money. Much like JK Simmons reprised his role as J. Jonah Jameson in Spider-Man: Far From Home, we’re once again going to see Reynolds as Deadpool because if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it! And even if he was broken, Deadpool has the innate ability to fix hims—

Sorry, got lost there.

They aren’t just going to reintroduce the character like Jameson, though. We’re getting Deadpool 3 and it’s going to be rated R. This will be a sequel…but in a different continuity than its first two films. Interesting novelty.

Deadpool 3 is the ultimate wild card because we don’t really know how it’s going to really work. Just the idea of Deadpool 3 being part of MCU canon fills the room with elephants. So while we have a long time to wait on this, here are some questions that arise about Deadpool 3.

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR CABLE?

We got one Thanos joke in Deadpool 2, but if Cable’s coming back, then expect even more references to Josh Brolin’s other big Marvel role.

Cable’s a tough nut to crack here. On one hand, he was such a major fixture in Deadpool 2 and it felt like a given that he’d be sticking around as Deadpool’s long-suffering gun buddy. He even chooses to stay in the present and save Deadpool because he feels he can fix the future by making a better world.

Watch everything Marvel and more on Disney+, right here!

But…what future? Cable’s future is null and void at this point. While Deadpool 2 didn’t go into canon connections, Cable’s father hasn’t even been established in the MCU. Not to mention the headaches that come from mixing and matching X-Men-style time travel and how it works in the MCU.

He’s too big a name to just ignore, but he’s also going to be a square peg in a round hole.

WILL X-FORCE BE CONSIDERED THE FIRST MUTANTS OF THE MCU?

Deadpool 3 doesn’t have a release date, but realistically, it can’t be showing up any earlier than 2023. We’re going to have two-to-three years of a stacked Marvel movie release calendar going on before we get to see Colossus and the others again.

Now, they haven’t announced any X-Men movies during that time (yet), but that doesn’t mean that mutants won’t be popping up. We all know that making mutants work as a concept in a superhero universe that’s been around for nearly a decade and a half is something that’s going to need some thought, but if they do figure it out, they could always sprinkle characters into different movies and shows. For instance, it would absolutely make sense for Mystique and/or Rogue to show up in Captain Marvel 2.

There are even rumors out there that a certain tentacled, Soviet mutant will be making his debut in Falcon and the Winter Soldier. Man, did they really go thirteen X-Men movies without giving us Omega Red and his MUTANT DEATH FACTOR?

Then again, there’s also the possibility that X-Force and the like won’t get any real screentime, focusing just on Deadpool, Vanessa, and maybe Dopinder.

WILL THE CONNECTION BE PART OF THE NARRATIVE?

Even from the original screenplay, Deadpool and its sequel were really loose about its connections to the other X-Men movies. Deadpool mentions he doesn’t know which Xavier actor he’d be meeting, established characters are extremely different from their previous appearances (Deadpool included), and even the X-Men’s public status as superheroes isn’t really something you see in the main movies outside of the first act of Dark Phoenix. Good luck figuring out how Wade’s movies tie into X-Men movie canon.

It would be absolutely forgivable if they kept that loose approach with the MCU. The difference is that the MCU is actually coherent. The X-Men movies are a gigantic pile of contradictions and retcons that leave you with a bunch of jigsaw pieces that just don’t fit well. Even when they tried to fix it all with time travel, they still screwed it up immediately after.

Also, why the hell did nobody age between First Class and Dark Phoenix?

Read more

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By Gavin Jasper

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Ahem. So anyway, the MCU has its cracks, but its pride comes from the fact that the movies and some of the higher-profile spinoffs tie together and do it well. You’re more likely to see Deadpool 3 play ball a little more specifically with the world around him.

But how important is this change of scenery? Is it an unexplained alteration that we aren’t meant to question and barely notice or is it going to be part of the storyline? This is a time when we’re already getting WandaVision, Spider-Man 3, and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness so close together and they’re all about exploring and mixing realities. For all we know, Deadpool might even show up in the Doctor Strange 2 post-credits. It would make as much sense as anything.

WHAT BIG NAMES ARE GOING TO GET ROASTED?

Deadpool’s already made references to the MCU here and there, like doing the Hulk lullaby to Juggernaut, fighting on a Helicarrier, being old friends with a guy whose very identity is tied to being from HYDRA, and whatnot. What happens when he goes full ham? Are we going to see Weasel recast with Ed Norton or Terrance Howard?

But really, we have dozens of movies to go on. Lots of stuff to poke fun at. Did he lose Vanessa again due to the Snap and then get her back? Is he unsure whether or not he’s allowed to talk about Venom? Is he going to be meta about the fact that it’s probably for the best that a Ryan Reynolds character didn’t show up until after the Scarlett Johansson character was killed off?

WHAT SMALL NAMES ARE GOING TO GET ROASTED?

Making jokes about Thanos and the Infinity Stones is one thing, but I’m into the obscure jabs. There are rumors going around about certain Netflix Defenders characters popping up in MCU projects, such as Daredevil being in Spider-Man 3. That means I only want Deadpool to dig deeper.

While I wouldn’t be against seeing knocks on Runaways or Cloak and Dagger, the real target I’m interested in is Inhumans. Inhumans, the property that Marvel spent years and so much effort trying to overshadow mutants with only to absolutely fall on their face when the movie was changed to a TV series and then flopped in its first season. The kind of project that is supposedly one of those “never bring it up or you will be fired” blunders.

Hey, they put that series on Disney+. Might as well give everyone a reason to check it out.

WHO WILL BE THE VILLAIN?

Deadpool’s rogues gallery hasn’t always been too impressive. During his defining Joe Kelly run, his big bad was T-Ray, but following writers proceeded to phase him out of importance. Even though Ajax was from the Deadpool comics, he was mainly there for one story arc before getting killed off (he did get briefly resurrected after the first movie came out, but even then only had one appearance). Deadpool 2 had Juggernaut and Black Tom, who were more plug-and-play X-Men villains in general who only had a limited connection to Deadpool himself.

Really, if anyone’s going to be the villain in Deadpool 3, it’s Mr. Sinister. Deadpool has dealt with him a few times in the comics and he was, for whatever reason, the main villain in the aggressively mediocre Deadpool video game. Thing is, if Deadpool 3 is the last true gasp of the X-Men Cinematic Universe as it transfers into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, then it’s probably going to be the big villain that they spent several movies building up (X-Men: Apocalypse, Deadpool 2, New Mutants, and technically Logan) only to never have him appear.

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Besides, it’s not like Sinister is above fourth-wall breaking humor. You could loosely base the story on What If #100, a story where Sinister became aware of his fictional nature and tried to break free from its imprisonment.

Why should Deadpool have all the self-aware fun?

The post Deadpool 3: The MCU Questions and Connections appeared first on Den of Geek.

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