#okay look but can i just say emotions asside

[crymeariveronceagain]

"And how many times will you almost die in the process?" he asked. "How many emergency physician visits will there be? And what if Elwin can't fix you?" "What if Elwin can't fix you?" "I... Don't matter."

---Lodestar, by Shannon Messenger. Page 23.

[lovelivingmydreams]

What I assume about you based on your Sanders side notp

I don’t claim to be an expert i just wanted to make this dumb little post to show that every pairing has valid reasons to be icky for certain people while it might still be awesome to others. Anti toxic fandom post if you will. Keep in mind that i have my own biases here.

Prinxiety: one of these two reminds you of a bully of yours. Loner with an attitude or extroverted popular kid. The other might be your kin or comfort character, but this is not necessarily the case

Moxiety: You have had that someone in your life who (intentionally or not) makes you feel like they don’t take you seriously. Or you feel the dad/son vibes too hard on this one for it not to be cringe as a romantic paring.

Logicality: You have had issues with people dismissing you as ridiculous over how you express your emotions or you are often accused of being cold and unfeeling. This pairing’s cannon dificulties might highlight those experiences for you and it becomes hard for you to see past that in a different setting where they comunicate better.

Royality: Again the dad/son vibes might be too strong for you to ignore. Or (cuz i don’t want to cop out) you’ve been let down by someone you admired, someone you wanted to be proud fo you or wanted support from.

Intruality: You’ve been pushed out of your comfort zone the wrong way before. In either direction. Made to do something you felt was not right (don’t be a pansy) or made to tone down who you are in order to appease someoen you liked.

Moceit: okay i’ll give myself one cop out. This is kinda see Intruality but in a slower way. Smaller steps in one direction or the other until you are suddenly firmly out of your comfort zone in an unpleasant way.

Logince: you’ve been made to feel dumb by someone with a different skill set than yours. Someone more sociable or more book smart or something else entirely.

Intrulogical: This was a hard one cuz i like the mad scientist duo vibe here. But maybe you don’t like it because it reminds you of that person who enabled a bad habit of yours. Possibly with good intentions. Or maybe there was this one person you thought liked the things you liked but they had this way of putting you down even when they were being ‘accepting’.

Loceit: You’ve had this person who was your interlectual equal but always managed to talk over you or dismissed your input whenever you disagreed on something.

Analogical: You have that friend who pushes you to be your best selve in a way that is just too overwhelming.

Roceit: You’ve been manipulated/gaslit before. Or you had someone you liked say something hurtful about you to your face.

Dukeceit: You have a friend whom you can never be sure off if they actually like having you around or if they like that you kinda do what they want you to do or how good they look next to you.

Dukexiety: You have this old friend you used to get allong with great. But over time the things that made you such good friends became a burden on your friendship instead. 

Anceit: There is this close longtime friend you had a dissagreement with, they might have broken your trust, abbandoned you.

RemRom: I said no more cop outs. So asside from the whole “they are twins” thing most will have as a reson to nope out of this. There is someone in your life who has the same hobby/job/fandom as you but acts like they are better than you somehow or think that how you perform or enjoy this thing that you feel passionate about is wrong, lame, ect.

[wisconsin2002]

Okay I'm just gonna say something that should be obvious.

Everybody's take at Commander Anne and it being rushed.

Some people might feel like they shouldn't like an episode because of other peoples criticism on it or opinion.

I for one did think the episode zoomed by pretty fast but you are all within you're right to disagree or enjoy the episode. It's okay.. You form your own opinions on the show. Whether they be strong or soft opinions, It's still yours and you're very much entitled to it. Same thing with critics, yall have your opinions and whatever I'm about to say doesn't immediately mean you have to freaking agree with me or abandone your own opinion. Okay.

.. Back to the point

However I do also think a lot of people who are going around calling Sashas redemption rushed have not the slightest idea of what theyre saying. Especially when they bring up where "Anne forgave her".

Point me to the exact moment Anne says she forgave Sasha. I WANT TO SEE IT!

I don't see it. What I do see is Anne and Sasha literally agreeing to each other to put their differences asside to focus on... Oh..idk..maybe.....THE WAR! MARCY in TROUBLE...you know PRIORITIES! BIG ASS BLUEBERRY NEWT KING IN THE SKY READY TO BRING UPON AN ALIEN INVASION TO AMPHIBIA!

There's a time and place for Anne and Sasha to work on their emotional baggage and past issues. The Middle of a war isn't one of em.

"But Anne hugged Sasha and didn't yell at her and told her she changed"

Anne was stating the facts. Sasha has changed whether you think it's rushed or not it's true. Still doesn't mean she's fully redeemed or forgiven or has 100% changed every bad flaw about herself. It means she's on a path to doing so.

A hug and a couple words of encouragement does not immediately mean that She's forgiven. Not even close. Sasha can have closure and support, she can have people who have her back leading her on to make a change for the better and the people leading her on can still not forgive her, they can still carry the trauma and the betrayals. Sasha did a lot of wrong that's not easily forgiven for, shes gotta earn that and the fact that shes working her way up to earn that is what Anne said herself, Proved she's changed. Big change or small change, Change is change. If Sasha is willing to put in the work to better herself, something we didn't get a sign off from past Sasha..Past Sasha was all talk no walk while this Sasha is clearly taking baby steps,.. What would you call that? I call it the beginnings of an actual change in character and the steps into redemption. Not yet redemption.

I think fandoms always get redemptions wrong or don't understand them very well.. Usually in a fandom there's. Two sides.

One side appreciating glorifying the character to the max and somewhat not taking actions and consequences into account

And then there's the other side.. THAT DOES THE COMPLETE OPPOSITE. Takes all actions into account and literally thinks of nothing else but putting the character down.

It's always too much of one or the other side

Which is why when I see critics and fans at eachothers throats I always think about how they both are two sides of the same coin with different misunderstandings of the equal and opposite argument.

Like fair play to critics right. Pointing out flaws and shit but come on. Do you pay attention to any of the conversations or Dialogues? Any time skips? Or do you just straight up look at the minute mark or the episode length and go "OH YEAH its Rushed." Amphibia looking like Mad Max, looking like Thanos home planet, and you want them to Talk about emotional baggage? Dude. And then yall say you wan't a longer episode and I know for a fact you still wouldn't be pleased because that's still not gonna solve emotional baggage at all. Do you know how long that's gonna take? How long for Anne and Sasha to talk about all their past issues and heal from them? That's not a one or two episode thing man that's months of talking to eachother, forming trust and figuring things out. That's not something we can give time to right now and clearly Amphibia is not trying to go into that yet. Let the girls fight the big fight and in the end when Amphibia is not ruled by a crazy blue bitch. Let them go back to earth, see their families and then talk about emotional baggage once they're not in danger. Let the story play👏 out👏.

Whether you think the episode is rushed or not is your own entitled opinion and thats fine but it's not opinion to say that the story still needs to play out cause it very much does.

[washipuppy]

Where is my mind (this time)?

Personal stuff? On MY Tumblr? Yep, it's happening. I need to ramble, and where the feck else am I gonna do it but Tumblr?

I was supposed to go in for an Autism assessment today with my therapist. It's been constantly on my mind it all week, to the extent that I think I might actually ne worried about it, and I have no feckin idea why. It's not a test.

Anyway, it was cancelled and re-scheduled for next week. I took the day off work for it too, since it was gonna be a couple of hours, but I went back to work because I'll need to take next Thursday instead. So I guess I'm having another week with this oversized, unresolved question-mark dangling from my neck.

Background will (hopefully) be under the cut so that most of you aren't bothered by all this:

Background 1 - My therapist is kind of flakey. 

Like many people, I have a therapist that I picked entirely because I'd been without one for several years (since my last therapist retired) and I needed to do something about the tail-spin death-spiral my brain was in. I don't get to see them too often, because I work 8:30 - 5:00, 5 days a week and they tend to cancel my appointments on me thr day they happen, but I'm too tired and worn down by existence to get another one, so it is what it is.

Background 2 - I'm not trying to be weird, please stop calling me that. 

Lotta people seem to think I'm Autistic. Including said therapist, who I noticed was asking me the "Could this person be Autistic?" questions during our last session. Shortly after which I realised I recognised the "Could this person be Autistic" questions without the word ever being used. I've considered the possibility, but although I have a some traits that are associated with ASD (non-verbal episodes, repetative hand / body movements when anxious, low social situational/emotional awareness, eye contact avoidance...), I have a pretty intense imagination and I can be spontanious. If I decide I want to go shopping after work, I'll do so. If someone wants to spend time with me and I don't really have a reason not to go (e.g. a prior commitment or not wanting to spend a lot of money on something I won't actually enjoy), I'm gonna go even if it's last minute. Because they asked me specifically (General invitations offered to "the group" don't elicit this, and I'm way more likely to bail on those) and I want to keep being asked to go to things; If I say no too often, people will just stop inviting me to things. So if I'm asked to go see a band or an expo or whatever and the cost isn't too bad, I'll go. Besides, what good will it actually do me if I get confirmation that I am Autistic? It's a bit late for it to make a difference to my development, the damage has already by and large been done. I didn't see how it would actually help my life now to be diagnosed.

Background 3 - The culmination of a cascade of f**kups.

For a while, I've suspected I might have ADD/ADHD (just gonna use ADHD from now for this). It started on Tumblr, oddly enough - I follow several people here who also have ADHD and post bits and bobs about it, all of which make me go "Yes, that is a thing that is me." But I tried not to think too much about the growing idea that I might have ADHD myself despite almost everything I ever saw or read about girls having ADHD described me perfectly - From the childhood maladaptive daydreaming through to the mental breakdown in university and inconsistent job performance - because I think of myself as something of a hypochondriac* and It's trite to say "Oh, I've got ADD, I'm so easily distracted!" when the world at large is horrible and distracting. 

That is, until last year. See, I left a job I didn't like in 2018 and got one I quite liked in 2019. Thing is, even though I like this job, I'm still fucking up with an alarming frequency and I can't seem to stop. I don't know why it happens or how to make it stop, and I don't know how to make myself think or be more careful or even understand how I'm doing something wrong enough to stop. It's so incredibly frustrating and distressing to know you're going to fuck up, and to try to spend your time mitigating the inevitable**. The thing that made me think I should probably actually get myself checked out, however, was my partner. I've been forgetting a lot of things lately, getting confused, been struggling to keep things right in my head - after driving across the city for an event that had in face been re-scheduled next week, my partner sent me a comic strip from the ADHD Alien that basically outlined my exact mental stateand life. It was his own gentle way of saying "I don't exactly understand what's going on with you, but I think this might be what its called". More importantly though, it's something that, if I really do have it and can be diagnosed with it, we can actually do something about it and getting it managed would actually help my life.

And now, the thrilling culmination...

So. I figure "Feck it, 2020 is the year of getting my brain sorted out or something," and I talk to my GP about how to go about getting assessed for ADHD. My response is more or less a shrug with a side of "Speak to a mental health professional about that." So I speak to my therapist. I know ADHD often comes with ASD, so I figure okay, maybe we'll kill two birds with one stone and see about getting them both assessed.

Turns out she was going to suggest doing an assessment for ASD as well. I initially thought ADHD was in that too, but nope - misunderstanding on my part again. So I need to get off my goddamned backside and track down a way to get tested for the thing that can actually be managed and mitigated, while my stupid head spins its wheels over the thing that probably won't do anything but confirm how different/ not different my brain actually is.

Whatever it is, I worry it's getting worse.

*On a related note, my partner's atitude to his health is so different to my own. I always think I need to prove that something is wrong to my GP before anything can even be looked at. For example, I'm tired a lot, to the point I slip into micro-sleeps / blackouts at work. We thought perhaps I wasn't sleeping well due to the hole in my face being a disaster zone, which I talked to my GP about. A blood-test later revealed that my iron intake was within normal levels, but it was low within normal levels (i.e. I'm not anemic, I've just got a low iron count). So I worked on upping it with more red meat and iron suplaments. No improvement, either in my being tired levels or my iron intake levels (And my sinuses are as clear as they ever get, which is still not good). So stronger Iron checks and a test for celiac disease that I still need to get the results for, despite the fact that I'm about 98% sure they won't show anything. Basically, I'm working to prove that whatever's wrong with my sleep, a sleep study will probably be needed to assess.

My partner pointed out that I could just... go do that. On my own. I don't need my doctor's permission to check to see if I have apnea or some kind of sleeping condition. I don't need to prove I have something that warrents a sleep test, I can just go get a sleep test.

**There's also the distractions that aren't helping. I'll always find something - I made so many paper roses until that was finally burned out of my system, I went through a pad of post-it notes in a few months trying to take down distractions and put them asside before re-focusing on the task before a minor hiccup interrupted that technique, I've opened new windows on my browser and immediately closed them because I'm trying NOT to get distracted, but even if I don't put an obvious distraction in front of myself, I'll stare blankly into space and daydream instead of focusing.

[plinys]

dear yuletide author (2017)

hello and welcome to my letter!

i am so happy to have you reading this letter and going to be writing a fic for me! why? because you dear writer are an amazing and wonderful person, deserving of all the kudos in the world!

please remember as you look at these prompts, that if something in my likes inspires you more than any of my specific prompts, totally feel free and run with that, and know that i will enjoy any fic that is gifted to me!!

ao3/lj handle: plinys

now lets get down to business:

the fandoms i’ve requested this year are: Dream Daddy: A Dad Dating Simulator,  Galavant (TV),   Legion (TV),  Powerless (TV 2017),  Star Trek: Discovery,  Young & Hungry

but before that, my likes/kinks/dislikes/triggers:

likes: alternate universes, characters that are in character, lady-centric fics, angst, fandom cliches, dysfunctional relationships, friendships, friends/enemies to lovers, soul mates, road trips,  hanukkah fics, jewish characters, bisexual characters, poly relationships, character studies, origin stories, ambiguous endings, meta fic, slow build, fics that incorporate social media, crack treated seriously, drunk confessions, miscommunication, 

kinks: threesomes, competence kink, phone sex, masturbation, crying during sex, hate sex, shower sex, praise kink, guys going down on girls, rough sex, first time, spanking, daddy kink, sex in front of mirrors, voyeurism, make up sex

dislikes: pwp, main character death (unless it really makes sense/happens in canon), character bashing, non-con, mpreg, a/b/o, 1st person.

my triggers (please no matter what do not include these): school shootings, cancer, terminal illness, riots, child abuse.

and now to the fun stuff -

Dream Daddy: A Dad Dating Simulator

requested characters:  mary christiansen, joseph christiansen, crish christiansen

where to find: it’s a video game on steam, you can purchase for about $15, otherwise there’s plenty of walkthroughs of people playing it on youtube. recommended routes: joseph, robert, and damien to get the full christiansen story family backstory. 

anyways first play through i did josephs route and he broke my heart, and i was like wow mary deserves better and then after playing robert and damien i was like no wow mary deserves the world, so as long as your gift doesn’t include mary bashing im happy

would love any backstory on this family (featuring robert in any way is totally welcome), whether its weird family stuff, crack fic, the cult stuff. like im pretty open on this one

specific prompts:

cult backstory, give me that hidden cult ending. give me them joining the cult together when they were young. give me them scheming together or scheming separately. or give me mary realizing she’s married a gay demon only after the fact and its too late to get out. like honestly give me anything cult

the mystery of crish? i can’t believe he’s in the character list and now i want someone to explain why we’ve never met him? does he really exist? this can (and probably should be total crack)

remember how i mentioned robert was an option, feel free to mix in his connections with the family, the affair that clearly happened. being part of their cult. mary just bonding with her best friend and being drunk together? joseph fucking robert while mary is aware of what is going on. how they even became friends with all that happened?

honestly, there’s just so much not explained about the christiansen family, so anything about them is 100% up my alley. 

Galavant (TV)

requested characters:  madalena (galavant), gareth (galavant)

where to find: both season are on netflix!

so im biased because i was convinced to watch this show because of my mallory jansen, so madalena is of course my favorite character. and then this ship hit me out of nowhere, so now here i am

im either looking for madalena centric fic, or shippy fic with the both of them

specific prompts:

the end of s2 left so many openings that weren’t explored because we never got a s3 but give me madalena learning to do the d’dew, and getting to finally be the evil queen that she deserves wow

also feel free to give me that shippy stuff with gareth going to save her, and then realizing how much they love each other (as they should have wow)

alternatively a fix-it for the finale where madalena chooses gareth over the d’dew and they figure out where they can go from there. rebuild that trust, just be happy together though still sorting things out because now they do’t have a kingdom

smut? this ship is built for smut? madalena literally has a body built for sin, give me that sin

alternatively, give me fluffy, them finally getting to be “happy” together, madalena learning to have emotions and to love

also for non shippy plot any future fic for madalena or character study set during season 2/post season 2 would be the dream

Legion (TV)

requested characters:  cary loudermilk, kerry loudermilk

where to find: honestly i have no clue? fx? pirating sites? i watched this one live when it was airing. 

this show hit me with so much backstory and explanation not given and like that’s the aesthetic of the show, but i was specifically drawn to these two and their unique set of powers and i just ?? need more??

while i’m mostly into gen for these two, if you want to do weird stuff, like, i’m curious and not opposed (does it count as incest if they’re technically the same person?)

specific prompts:

BACKSTORY, any thing with their backstory, build on what canon told us and give me more, like what is it like for cary to keep aging on while kerry stays younger, what are the limits of their powers, how much can they feel

that hurt comfort after the stuff that happened towards the end of the season, like these two need to bond and recover after all the trauma 

5 times they were overly protective of each other

just man their dynamic is so weird and i need that to be explored, feel free to ship them with any of the other characters or ?? with each other if youre into that?? just like give me more of these two

actually, does it count as incest if their the same person is now a prompt, like maybe someone asks that? idk man just discuss

Powerless (TV 2017)

requested characters:  beatriz da costa | green fury (powerless), emily locke

where to find: this is another i have no clue situation im sorry

this show got canceled because it was like bad dc sitcom airing the same night as arrow but before it did it gave me this hint of femslash potential and tbh this is why im most offended that it was canceled

specific prompts: 

so if the show had lasted longer i am convinced that beatriz and emily would have been gay together, so give these ladies the show they deserved and tell the story of them falling in love

the news already thinks their dating so what about super villains, how many times does emily get kidnapped for being the green fury’s girlfriend before they actually art (or before she realizes she actually is)

how does dating a superhero effect her work life

also just emily loves superheroes, so she’s probably so pumped to be dating one like “wow babe can you believe im dating a superhero” and beatriz like “we were just making out obviously youre dating a superhero”

give me cute gay girls honestly 

Star Trek: Discovery

requested characters:  michael burnham (star trek: discovery), saru (star trek: discovery)

where to find: cbs all access! its ongoing, as i write this letter on its second episode!

okay since this show is ongoing these prompts might get joss’d but it’s too late to go back because two episodes in got me interested in the dynamic between these two

this can be gen (and feature other ships if you want) or can be shippy for these two. im pretty open since this show is so new. 

specific prompts: 

so they were together on the shenzhou for 7 years according to canon so lets get some back story between these two, how did they get to where they were. was there rivalry between the two of them from the very beginning? how does saru feel about someone who has never been to the academy out ranking him? bridge disagreement shenanigans? their captain locking them in a room until their sort out their issues

like, do you want to write alien sex? because a part of me wants to receive alien sex so like? this is an option?

what about them now both on the discovery together, that distrust because of what happen on the shenzhou? building up into something  new? better than before? building into feeling that may have been hidden all along?

on the discovery, forced to work together to save the team and putting their issues asside for the good of everyone else

honestly i just feel like they were supposed to be the spock/bones dynamic of the shenzhou before things went bad and like ??? i want that ?? 

Young & Hungry

requested characters:  caroline huntington 

where to find: it’s all on netflix (though caroline only appears in season one)

yet another show i watched because of mallory jansen, and her character is only in the first season and really all i cared about on this show so guess who i want backstory for

specific prompts:

caroline character study? i mean, she’s written as the rich bitch girlfriend rival in the show but let’s just say she deserves better, flush her out and give her life for me

she definitely deserves better than josh, and i like femslash so pair her with one of the girls in the tag set if you want

just more on her and the horse from young & pregnant this is mostly crack but like also

consider for a second that instead of the plot being gabi sleeps with josh on the first day and starts all of the show drama. what if instead she sleeps with caroline, and we get the aftermath of “oh hey i slept with my new boss’s finace, this isnt awkward at all” rewrite of season 1 with 95% more femslash 

just give me more caroline

ANYWAYS, I HOPE YOU ENJOYED MY LETTER AND I’LL LOVE WHATEVER YOU DECIDE TO WRITE ME!

[lovelivingmydreams]

Okay so here is part two of this promt of mine to thank my now almost 250 followers. First part here. Enjoy!

Remus had a lot of fun stating the facts to the others. When they finally put everything together their faces will be even more hilarious! For now the others remained clueless though. For a little while Remus thought they'd all be old and grey by the time anyone figured it out.

Luckily they did get a clue about a week after Remus learned the exciting truth.

It was the evening before the premier of a project they'd been working on for ages. Roman was going over everything in the common area with everyone else as practice audience. Remus was playing heckler. No one asked him. He just did. He probably should have noticed Virgil tensing up with each comment. But he didn't. After Remus shouted something about a possible wardrobe malfunction Virgil shot up. "We have to cancel. We're not ready!"

Everyone looked up at Virgil in surprise. It'd been a long time since last he demanded skipping or postponing any type of commitment. It was always an option to him, but this wasn't a suggestion. It was a demand so strong that Thomas actually was thinking of what to tell Joan already.

No one knew what brought this on or how to resolve it. But Roman was still going to try.

"What do you mean? I'm sure we can see to any doubts you have and blow everyone away tomorrow."

Virgil balled his fists and shook his head. "Too much can go wrong..." he hissed through gritted teeth.

"Certainly. But we mustn't let down our audience for mere chance of failure.," Roman countered gently. "You think I'm being paranoid?" Virgil snapped accusingly.

Roman looked taken aback. "Virgil you are overreacting. I am merely trying too help!"

Virgil huffed, threw his hood over his head and stormed off to his room.

"Virgil!?" Roman called after him, but he didn't follow him up the stairs. He remained behind until they all cringed at the sound of a door slamming shut.

The prince's shoulders slumped and his head lowered dejected. "I'm... I'm going to reread the lines again..." he muttered before heading to his own room.

Patton reached out to Roman's retreating frame but came up short on things to say. The silence remained until a gentle click signaled that Roman had entered his room.

"That was fun," Janus muttered sarcastically as he got up, intending to talk to Virgil.

"Snakey, he just had his first fight with his boyfriend. He isn't up for 2 lies and maybe a truth," Remus pointed out. "Just like how my bro isn't going to appreciate playing tag with me."

Everyone stared at Remus, surprised he was capable of such insightful comments.

"Well that leaves us Lo," Patton observed looking up towards the private rooms tensely. Roman and Virgil argued a lot. Even now that they were all friends. Such was their nature. But those arguments were usually loud and full of Virgil's quips and Roman's dramatics. This one was unnervingly quiet in comparison.

"It would appear so. You should check on Virgil, I shall attempt to reason with Roman," Logan suggested. Patton nodded and together they headed to the opposing rooms. "Good luck," Patton smiled at Logan before knocking on Virgil's door.

"Virge? Mind if we chat for a bit?" A moment of silence before the door was opened. Patton hadn't heard him walk over... had he been by the door?

The question was forgotten when Patton saw Virgil's make up was running.

"Come in Pat..." he whispered softly, though he wasn't looking at him. Or rather past him at Logan.

Once more that puzzle was put asside in favor of cheering up his kiddo.

They sat on Virgil's bed, V curled in on himself Patton Indian style.

"I know I shouldn't have ran off... and that Roman wasn't calling me paranoid. So if that's all you wanted to say..."

"Actually," Patton started, interrupting Virgil before he could even start whatever self depreciating train of thought he was starting.

"I wanted to ask why you are so worried about this performance. It's not a big event and we are well prepared. Remus was only trying to get Roman of balance you know?"

Virgil dug his fingers in his hair in frustration. "I know! But what if it happens for real!? Roman'll get hurt!"

Patton blinked in surprise. He expected Virgil to be worried about Thomas first and the rest of them second. Prioritizing Roman like that... was Remus onto something? Patton always thought Virgil and Roman would make an absolutely adorable couple.

Virgil sighed and wrapped his arms around his legs to pull them tightly against his chest.

"Ever since you guys accepted me... I've been patching Roman up when he got 'bruised'. And even before I tried to check up on him... it's my fault when he gets hurt Patton. Because I didn't push Thomas hard enough, or too hard... anything I do wrong ends up hurting him. He was right to hate me. And when he realizes that I'll lose him and then you guys will stop talking to me and..."

"Kiddo hey... you're spiraling buddy." Logan said it's important they tell Virgil when he's trapped by his own head and how. "Breathe."

Virgil nodded and took a few deep breaths while wiping at his eyes.

"Virgil, none of us would ever blame you for trying your best."

Not even Roman. He knows you always act with our best interest at heart. And if you tell him you were worried for his safety, the whole thing will be forgotten," Patton assured the anxious side gently, secretly hoping that getting Virgil to open up towards Roman this way might help them get closer. Prinxiety just might set sail after all.

"You think so?" Virgil asked, not convinced.

"I know so. Take it from your old man kiddo. Roman cares about you. He has a funny way of showing it sometimes, but he does."

Virgil's face relaxed his eyes softening and his lips pulling into the tiniest smile.

"Yeah... I'll talk to him," Virgil nodded getting up and walking to the door with Patton. 

Logan frowned, confused by the strange look Virgil had cast at Roman's door. Fearful yet almost longingly...

He must be mistaken. Emotions were not his area of expertise after all.

Instead of pondering the question any further, he turned and knocked on Roman's door.

"Roman? I wish to discuss something with you,"

A moment passed. "It's open."

When Logan entered he found Roman sat at his desk, his notes in front of him and his hands in his hair.

"I... can't figure it out Logan... I turn the conversation over and over in my head... what should I have said?"

When Roman looked up it was evident to even Logan that he'd been crying though he was doing his best to hide it.

Logan sat down on the bed his body angled towards the desk.

"Virgil was not mad at you Roman. It would seem something triggered a negative thought process in his mind which he tried to hide as not to disturb us. In doing so though the thoughts were not addressed and instead were left to build up tension which got released all at once. Even if you said exactly what he needed to hear, he was not in a mindscape to accept any of it. I am sure Virgil regretted what he said as soon as he said it. I theorize that he took distance in order to calm down before talking to you again," he explained.

Roman nodded allong to that. "So... I haven't ruined everything?" he asked almost timidly.

Logan shook his head. "You know I am not good with feelings. But i have observed that you and Virgil have grown close since he got accepted. Especially in recent weeks he is calmer and less prone to negative thinking when he interacts with you. Likewise he has clearly helped you be more focused and keep a level head, some of the time at least. You two have built something strong. And one fight like this won't end that."

Roman was tearing up again, but this time he was smiling.

"Truly? You believe I am good for him?"

Logan nodded his head, eyeing Roman curiously. He might be wrong but it almost seemed like...

"By Neptunes swimtrunks!" Roman exclaimed wide eyed. "I thank you for your aid Logan but I must make myself presentable and talk to my Emo post haste!"

His emo? Logan almost wished he was wrong. If Remus was right in any capacity he'd never let any of them live it down. But Roman and Virgil finding happiness with each other might just be worth it.

Logan let Roman push him to the door and let himself out as Roman was already hurrying to his bathroom. In the hallway he found Patton being led out of the opposing room by a nervously shifting Virgil.

"Is Roman mad at me?" he asked nervously.

"Of course not. He is worried about you," Logan assures his friend warmly.

Virgil relaxed at that. "Thanks guys. I think we'll be fine," he told them as he headed to the door. Logan got the hint and led Patton down the hall. He heard Virgil knock at the door an call out Roman's name. If he or Patton had turned back they would've seen how Virgil kissed Roman as soon as he opened the door.

Roman kissed his boyfriend back as he walked them both inside and closed the door.

"Not that I'm complaining but... what if someone saw?" Roman wondered quite happy actually with the bold gesture of affection. Virgil's role usually made him extremely cautious, which made his bouts of impulsivity even more surprising and delightful.

"Well if they did then I get to take you out to make it up to you," Virgil shrugged.

Roman chuckled. "You have nothing to apologize for mi corazon. But the thought is greatly appreciated. Want to talk about this over pizza and Disney?"

Virgil smiled and nodded. "You pick the first movie." 

Logan and Patton voiced their suspicions to one another as well as Janus. All three agreed to wait with intervening and giving the two a chance to figure things out for themselves.

The tipping point came when they had a scheduled meeting with Thomas to discuss an upcoming colab he was nervous about.

First Roman and Virgil weren’t to be found anywhere. And then when Thomas pulled called them up by force they looked… disheveled.

“Good timing Thomas. One second later and… I honestly don’t want to think about that,” Virgil muttered as he straightened his hoodie and hair out.

Roman looked rather sheepish as he tugged at his sash and combed trough his hair.

“Where did you two come from?” Patton asked astonished.

“Imagination,” Virgil huffed as he turned to Roman, avoiding everyone else’s eyes subtle enough to be considered a coincidence.

“I told you we should have waited until after the meeting,” he told him, though he didn’t seem to be as mad as he was trying to be.

“I didn’t think we’d take that long,” Roman tried feebly.

“I did! You have no self control! Always have to go the extra mile don’t you?” Virgil pointed out. Roman looked back at Virgil now, a lot more confident.

“I didn’t hear you complaining,” he pointed out with a smirk.

Virgil rolled his eyes, but stuck his hands in his pockets and looked down. “I was kind of distracted,” he admitted.

“It’s no matter, we are here in one piece and there are more urgent matters at hand. Shall we, my stormy knight?”

Virgil sighed dramatically. “You are lucky you are so cute.”

Everyone in the room looked on incredulously. How were these two so clueless?

When the meeting ended, Roman and Virgil picked up their hike where they left off. On a blanket on top of the hill, ignoring the sunset in favor of making out.

“They need help Logan. Desperately! I am all for letting my kiddo’s take their time but this is too much! They are obviously in love!” Patton pleaded.

“Even I can’t stand watching them make eyes at each other any longer. Virgil is… taken with Roman. And Roman appears to be returning those feelings,” Janus admitted reluctantly. Virgil’s eyeshadow had been lilac more often than not when around the creative side. Only a complete idiot would keep denying it at this point.

“Told ya!” Remus grinned.

“Okay, fine… So how do we go about ‘setting them up’?” Logan relented.

Remus giggled manically. This was going to be so good.

“We make them spend time together! They have to realize they are meant for one another if they spend time one on one!” Patton exclaimed.

“But they are already together most of the time?” Logan objected.

“They are always working though. We have to pull them out of their comfort zone!”

Janus and Logan exchanged looks. “I’ll give an example,” Patton decided.

“Kiddo’s will you come down please!”

Roman and Virgil appeared almost at once, side by side, smiling brightly at Patton, Virgil’s eyeshadow bright and shiny as any of them had ever seen it.

“s'up pops? Virgil asked casually.

“Family picnic. You two take care of deserts!” Patton grinned brightly. “me and the others are going to put a basket together. Kitchen is all yours.”

And before either of the happy couple could respond Patton had pushed Janus and Logan out, followed closely by Remus. “have fun you two,” the green twin winked before rounding the corner.

“Are they seriously setting us up?” Roman whispered in astonishment.

“That’s hilarious,” Virgil grinned before turning to the kitchen counter where a cookbook laid open on a cake recipe. “Think you can handle this clever scheme o unconquerable prince?” he teased.

“Oh ye of little faith. It is I who shall thaw thine frozen heart with true loves kiss,” Roman grinned back.

“Do you think they've confessed yet?” Patton wondered as he placed nervously in Logan's room ten minutes later. The room calmed him down mostly but not near enough to be considered calm.

“Let's find out!” Remus exclaimed. Before anyone could stop him he was gone.

“That'll end well.” Janus groaned as he followed behind with Patton and Logan. To everyone he’s surprise they found Remus watching the kitchen rather discreetly. They joined him and were left speechless.

Roman and Virgil were both wearing aprons and chefs hats that matched their styles perfectly, both disregarding their usual top attire for simple t-shirts. Which was a good thing because there was an abundance of flower, chocolate and egg all over them.

Virgil was currently scolding Roman who was  trying to take the mixing bowl from him. Neither was cross with the other though. In fact, both were nearly dying of laughter.

“Truce! Truce!” Roman called out as he managed to get a hold of himself. “Let’s compromise. Lest we get poorly mixed batter added to  our canvases. How about I show you what I mean?”

Virgil relaxed his protective hold on the bowl and let Roman step behind him. Roman adjusted Virgil’s grip and laid his hands over his aligning their arms. He gently guided Virgil in mixing the batter.

“See?” Roman asked softly after a bit.

“um… wait almost. Show me that last bit again.” Janus quirked a brow. That was a lie. And if that was a lie, then Virgil just wanted… Oh boy his ray of stormshine had it bad.

Patton was nearly vibrating. Surely they'll realize…

“and there. Now it can be baked and we can get clean!” Roman declared satisfied as he stepped away. Virgil nodded and sighed in relief. “Finally, I’m more beat than the batter,” he joked. Roman snorted but he wasn't the only one.

“Oh hey Padre!” Roman greeted innocently. “ The cake will be done soon!” 

Logan was up next. He reasoned that the key was physical proximity. He had observed that as light as the two acted about it afterwards it had clearly gotten to them. Remus suggested locking them in a closet until they ‘made out’ but Logan was sure he could be more subtle than that.

“What? But organizing the thoughts is your job!” Roman complained.

“It is and I apologize. I've been falling behind on my duties. Please, I am sure that if the two of you worked together it will be done quickly.”

Both Roman and Virgil sighed. They knew this was a set up, so they'd get away with more flirty behavior. But it was also work. And the room where the thoughts were being kept was so full of cabinets and boxes that it was near impossible to move around on your own let alone… oh.

If Logan thought he was being more dignified than Remus would be by disguising it as an accident he was wrong.

Roman wasn't even surprised to hear the door click shut as soon as Logan was “out of ear shot".

He was surprised to find that Logan had arranged the cabinets and boxes in a manner that would make them topple over and trap him and Virgil on the ground. Virgil on his chest as he'd pushed Roman to the ground and his arms wrapped protectively around his body to cushion his fall as much as possible.

They were stuck in that exact position for as long as Logan seemed necessary.

“Do you think either of those schemes would've worked if we weren't already dating?” Virgil wondered. Roman thoughtfully played with the hairs at the base of Virgil's skull for a bit.

“Not sure. We can both be stubborn. I’m kind of glad that I’ll never know,” he confessed.

Virgil sunk deeper into his embrace. “Me too.”

It wasn’t as fun as the baking scheme, but it was nice to cuddle with nothing else to do. Virgil usually got fidgety after a few minutes, even if he wanted to stay forever.

Roman wasn’t much better at staying still. But this… This might just convince the both of them to do this more often.

“I don’t hate this,” Virgil sighed after laying in silence for a while.

“I do make for a handsome pillow,” Roman joked as he pulled Virgil in closer.

“You do. But I mean… Usually silences are terrifying to me. But this? I don’t mind. I don’t worry about what you’re thinking. Or that I’m supposed to say something. It’s just… us and that’s enough. You know what I mean?”

Roman thought it over for a moment. “Yeah… I do. This is… As close to perfect as life is going to get,” he sighed contently.

It was something close to 30 minutes before they heard the door open and a moment later the room rearranged itself. “Tell me this isn’t something we could’ve done this entire time!” Virgil groaned as he got up, not showing his reluctance to do so.

“This is Logan’s domain. He maintains order in here. I have no power,” Roman huffed pretend offended, he was less successful in hiding how perfectly content he‘d been with their predicament.

“Indeed I do,” Logan agreed, flanked by Janus and Patton who both saw the look on Roman’s face. Again almost but not quite. What would it take?

Logan apologized for their predicament and assured them that he would complete the task. If they’d bought into the ruse for even a second this would have definitely tipped them off. But they let Logan think he was successful at least in hiding his intentions.

Janus initial idea was to simply impersonate either of the boys and using that form to get the other to confess. He never tried. And if he did he wasn’t found out almost right away.

So his second attempt he didn’t disguise himself or his intentions. Not to Roman at least.

And so the theater was left to fade away. It’s purpose fulfilled in an unexpected way.

“What exactly are your intentions with Virgil?”

Roman looked up from his vanity comb still in hand.

“After what you tried to pull yesterday, I’d say you know what my feelings are. As for my intentions… I won’t do anything that’ll make him uncomfortable. Don’t you worry,” he said as he returned his attention to the mirror and hummed ‘Once upon a dream’.

“So you are in love with him,”  Janus drawled studying his nails. Though he glanced up to see Roman’s face flush. “Well…” the prince hesitated for a moment but then a blissful smile broke free and he leaned back with a sigh. “Yes,” he confessed dreamily.

“So tell him.” It was not that hard! He was the romantic side wasn’t he? Shouldn’t he be all for grand gestures like this?

Roman pursed his lips and shook his head, sitting up again and returning to his beauty routine.

“I’m waiting for the perfect moment.” Their first official date actually. If the other’s hurried and put the pieces together, they might be able to go on one for their 2 month anniversary.

He might already have something planned out. He had little doubt he’d be the one to crack first.

“I thought you’d say that. Come on, he’s waiting.”

Roman shot up. What was Janus planning?

The serpentine side led him to the imagination where a theater was set up. They entered stage right where Roman saw Virgil was waiting on stage.

“What is this about Jan?” the emo growled, eyes darting towards Roman and to the audience. Patton and Logan who looked about as confused as Roman felt. Remus was behind them just munching on popcorn.

“Remember the valentine’s episode?” Janus asked, everyone nodded, still confused.

“Well Virgil never got around to showing you all how he’d go about wooing someone. So I figured he could show us with Roman as an example crush. Thomas is getting ready to ask Nico to be his boyfriend. Might as well have all the possibilities out there. Direct, from the heart, grand gesture… You two have already shown that my methods of evasion and deception won’t work on Nico. He seems to find Thomas charming when he’s honest about his flaws, so we aren’t even going there.

Virgil, you have the floor,” Janus smirked smugly before getting of stage and joining the others in the audience.

Virgil took in a deep breath and glanced up at Roman as he let it all out.

Clearly he was nervous.

“Okay… So first…” He took hold of Roman’s hand. And it wasn’t the first time, this shouldn’t be a big deal. But doing it in the open, with this unexplained tension in the air, and his own confession in his head, it made Roman beyond flustered.

“Is this okay?” Roman pulled his eyes away from their joined hands as Virgil gave his a squeeze, looking at his boyfriend’s face instead. He looked so nervous.

“Of course,” he sighed breathlessly smiling warmly at the boy who completely owned his heart.

“Good… Roman… You know I blow at putting my thoughts in words. But this is something I need to say. Because just showing you feels like it isn’t enough.” Virgil took a deep breath and tugged at Roman’s arm, turning them to face each other.

“I like you,” he murmured, looking down “I like everything about you even the parts that drive me nuts. I like the way I feel around you. I like arguing about stupid things and laughing about it later. I like making messes with you and not worrying about cleaning it up. I like how you make me forget how scared I am sometimes. I like being myself with you, and feeling like that’s enough. I…”

Virgil might have a lot more to say than that but Roman wasn’t giving him the chance.

He pulled Virgil in and kissed him soundly. Virgil didn’t even pause before returning the kiss.

There was a loud wolf whistle, Remus clearly, but other than that complete silence.

After an infinite moment they pulled apart and smiled at each other.

“You can’t say things like that and expect me to just not kiss you mi amor.” Roman could hear the loud gasps from their audience.

“Wait! Are you saying…?” Patton started.

“We’re official,” Roman confirmed excitedly before returning his attention to Virgil.

“And that means, I shall be planning our first date. Be ready at six this evening, wear something semi-formal. No ties no monkey suits. But something nice. Understand?” Roman checked, not wanting Virgil to worry too much about what to wear, but needing him to not wear the hoodie just this one time.

Virgil nodded. “I think I can do that.”

Roman turned back to their audience. “I’d almost forget. Padre, may I take Virgil out?”

Patton was still  in shock but nodded. “Of course, um have fun.”

“Told you all!” Remus shouted satisfied.

“How long?” Janus demanded, not a fan of secrets he isn’t privy to.

“Almost two months,” Virgil smiled making everyone go back in their head and see their interactions in a new light. They could see the moment they thought ‘How did we not figure this out,’ crossed their minds. Oh they’d been right. This was hilarious.

Roman chuckled fondly at their friends’ faces, before gently gazing down at Virgil and stroking his bangs out of his eyes/

“As much as it pains me to part my darling. I must prepare our evening.”

“Wait! Wait! You two… You two are boyfriends!” Patton exclaimed vibrating with excitement as that discovery finally registered. He jumped out of his seat and rushed over to the stage to hug them.

“Oh my goodness I’m so happy and proud!” he gushed. Both of them chuckled.

“Well, while I wish we had not wasted time on attempting to help you, I too am glad you have found happiness with each other,” Logan allowed.

Janus remained stubbornly silent, realizing Remus had known and had not told him at the very least.

“Thanks guys, that means a lot. And we were just messing with you guys, we weren’t keeping it a secret cause we didn’t trust you,” Virgil assured them as Patton finally let go and Roman put an arm around his waist, both excited that they could now do this in public.

“Oh you rascal! You really had us good. You have to tell me how you got together now though!” Patton insisted.

“Perhaps, once we return from our date Padre. Which I’ll have to start preparing for,” Roman reminded them reluctantly. He let go of Virgil’s waist and took his hand to place a kiss on it.

“I will count the minutes,” he muttered to his knuckles and exited stage left.

It took everything Virgil had not to start squeeling.

“Oh M G! We are going to pick out an outfit!” Patton giggled dragging Virgil along.

“I’ll lend you a hand. Obviously I have the most style,” Janus insisted as they too left the theater.

Logan sighed as though resigning himself to his fate. “Roman is bound to skip over practical details. I better ensure the date is a success or we’ll never hear the end of it.”

“Just admit you want to be part of it Nerd. That’s what I’m doing,” Remus grinned as he pulled Logan along.