#picani’s birthday is a few days before virgil’s

[i-am-bitterly-jittery]

Simply Meant To Be (pt 2)

[Part 1]

You don’t need to read part 1 to read this one since that one is Roman backstory and this one is Janus backstory

Rating: teen

Word Count: 3456

Pairings: Remile, Moxiety kinda (they’re kids, but they’re soulmates so I guess it’s future moxiety), Roceit but only at the very end

Warnings: religion, religious cults, religious guilt, child abuse, internalized homophobia, childhood trauma, stalking, threats of kidnapping, throwing up, psychological warfare (?), paranoia, swearing

I think that’s everything

It’s worse than you’d expect after the first part, but not quite as bad as the warnings make it sound, but if any of the warnings make you uncomfortable then feel free to skip this part

I started with some religious stuff right off the bat, so I put the entire fic below the cut

~~~START~~~

When Janus was growing up, he was taught that the colorblindness that everyone was born with was a test from God. God created a beautiful world full of wonderful colors, then gave man the ability to view only a fraction of this beauty. The wicked ones searched selfishly for ways to see even more, but the humble ones were grateful for what little beauty they were given. 

Soulmates were frowned upon in the Community. Janus was taught from a young age that soulmates were a trick, sent by Satan to lead people away from God. Even those who met their soulmates by accident were expelled from the Community. 

As such, Janus never expected to see color — for a while he’d even dreaded the mere thought of it — so he taught himself to discern between shades of gray. He was very good at it, almost to the point that someone who could see color would be fooled into thinking Janus could too. 

The Elders were not very pleased with this skill, and the Community as a whole was torn as to whether it was a sin or not. They said it was a reflection of his desire to see colors, of his desire to stray from God. 

So Janus repented. He begged forgiveness and promised to abandon his skill. He was devoted to God and only God. 

That was a lie of course, Janus prided himself on his ability to discern shades of gray, but he didn’t see why that had to be mutually exclusive to being devoted to God. 

Pride was a sin, and so was lying, but they were lesser sins to the Community than soulmates and colors. God would forgive him. 

He lived in the Community for twenty years, rarely leaving the town and when he did it was only for a few hours. 

He carries a lot of baggage from those twenty years, but he’s doing his best to shoulder it, to not let it affect his relationships with those around him, to not let any of the Community’s teachings hurt his son. 

Sometimes the little voice in the back of his head told him he was being selfish. Janus always silenced this voice with one thought: there’s nothing wrong with a little selfishness. 

Janus started going to gay bars on Saturday nights to feed his selfishness. He was never looking for anything, he had a young son at home after all, but one time, he kissed a man — he threw up in the bathroom afterwards, but he still counted it as a victory. 

There was a teenager that lived in the apartment next to Janus and Virgil’s first home outside the Community, and they were always willing to watch Virgil for a few hours, even if Janus couldn’t afford to pay them much. Elliot was Janus’ first friend outside of the Community, probably his first real friend ever. 

Janus hit Virgil once. Virgil was about two and a half at the time, and he’d proudly told Janus that his favorite color was magenta — after the dog on Blue’s Clues — and Janus hadn’t even thought, he’d just slapped his own son across the face. In the Community, a slap on the face would be the least of a child’s concerns after saying such a thing, but this wasn’t the Community, and Janus was trying to be better than them. He’d been completely consumed by guilt before the tears even began forming in Virgil’s eyes. 

“I’m so sorry baby!” Janus apologized, pulling Virgil in for a tight hug and rocking back and forth in a soothing motion. Virgil easily accepted the hug, and that only made Janus feel worse. Virgil trusted him completely, and he’d betrayed that trust. Janus was going to be better; he was going to do better. He was never going to hurt Virgil again. “I’m so sorry darling. You didn’t do anything wrong. It was all my fault; I shouldn’t have done that. I did a very bad thing, I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay daddy. I forgive you.” Janus’ heart broke even more; he didn’t deserve forgiveness. He didn’t deserve this child. 

After Virgil went to bed that night, Janus searched the internet for therapists. Doctor Emile Picani came highly recommended, and after a brief email exchange, they agreed to help Janus, even though he couldn’t afford their usual rate. 

Picani was an… interesting character. They made several strange statements then told him that they were references to cartoons that Janus had never even heard of. TVs in the Community weren’t for children to use, and Virgil was only two, he mostly just watched Blue’s Clues, Dora the Explorer, and Sesame Street. After telling Picani that, they changed their references accordingly, telling Janus that they had their own two-year-old at home, and they were more than familiar with the kind of shows Virgil was watching. 

Picani didn’t think Janus was a bad person, which was a foreign thought for Janus, who was certain that he was going straight to Hell. They were good at finding ways to make the little voice in Janus’ head shut up. It took Janus a while to believe him, but it got a little easier every week. 

Over the years, Emile became his friend, and Janus was grateful to have them every day. 

Emile was the one who insisted that Janus let them throw a birthday party for Virgil’s 5th birthday. Birthday parties hadn’t been a thing in the Community, and even after he left, Janus mostly just celebrated Virgil’s birthday by getting him new clothes, a whole party was a completely foreign idea. 

But Janus had said yes and agreed to bring Virgil over to Emile’s place the following Saturday. The party, he’d been told, would just be Emile, Emile’s husband Remy, and their son Patton. That was good, neither Janus nor Virgil were very good in crowds. 

Of course, whether there was a crowd or not hardly mattered when Virgil had met Patton and informed Janus that “everything is prettier now!”, Janus had a panic attack either way. 

Virgil can see colors! That isn’t allowed, they’ll take him away! He’s only five he needs me! They won’t let me keep him! This is all wrong!

“-five, six, seven. Out, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. In, two, three, four. Hold, two, three, four, five, six, seven. Out, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. Good. Are you with me, Jan?”

“Yes,” Janus croaked. He was in a different room now, with only Emile. Virgil was nowhere to be seen. “Where’s Virgil!?”

“Breath, Janus. Virgil is in the living room with Remy and Patton. Remy is teaching them all the different colors.”

“They’re going to take him away!”

“No one’s going to take him away. There is absolutely nothing wrong with him meeting his soulmate. Everything is going to be okay.”

“I don’t want to lose him.”

“You’re not going to lose him. You’re not in the Community, there’s no reason anyone will take him away.”

“I’m sorry,” Janus apologized, wiping at his tears. “I probably scared the kids.”

“Would you like a hug?” Janus nodded. That was one of the nice things about being friends with Emile, they gave great hugs and gave them freely. “Virgil was a little concerned about you, but Patton didn’t notice. Remy’s with them now, they’re okay. Do you want to go join them?”

“Not yet.”

“Alright.” Emile allowed them to sit in silence for a while before speaking up again. “I’m proud of you.”

“Why?” Janus asked miserably. 

“Your son met his soulmate and you didn’t respond with anger, you didn’t repeat any of the Community’s teachings, it’s a big step for you.”

“It doesn't feel like a big step.”

“Well it is.” And that was that. 

Ten minutes later Janus was feeling up to joining the others. Virgil climbed into Janus’s lap as soon as he sat down, and having his son in his arms did wonders as far as calming himself down went. 

“This is my source material!” Virgil informed Patton and Remy happily. Patton accepted that information easily, but Remy shot Janus a bemused look. 

Janus shrugged in return. As soon as Virgil had started getting anywhere near being able to speak, Elliot started teaching him weird phrases in the hope that Virgil’s first word would be strange, some of them stuck. 

Virgil started babbling after that, telling Janus about how ‘Mr. Remy’ was teaching him about colors and soulmates. Internally, Janus was grateful that someone else had given Virgil the soulmate talk, someone who hadn’t grown up with a cynical and toxic view of soulmates. 

Other than the hiccup at the beginning, Virgil’s birthday party went pretty well. Patton was a very nice boy — though he’d have to be considering he was Emile’s kid — and Janus truly couldn’t have picked a better soulmate for Virgil if he tried. Patton seemed to have an absurd amount of emotional intelligence for a not-yet five-year-old, and when Virgil starts fatiguing towards the end of the night, Patton’s energy level changes appropriately. 

Janus headed home that night with a sleeping child, two new stuffed animals — one of Blue and one of Magenta — a box of Playdough, a Sesame Street coloring book with crayons — a last minute addition thrown in because of Virgil’s newfound colors — and newfound sense of peace. His son met his soulmate and nothing bad had happened. 

Play dates became a regular thing, and Janus was glad his son would already have one friend going into kindergarten in the fall. One of the kids’ favorite things to do during play dates was painting, and as a result, Janus found himself using his skill to baffle Remy with his ability to paint everything the correct color, even when Remy tried to trick him. Painting, however, was not particularly fun to Janus in and of itself, and wasn’t something he partook in when he and Virgil were at home. 

Remy was actually the one to suggest a different medium for Janus: makeup. Remy even allowed Janus to use him as a canvas, and Janus’ skills on a living canvas soon flourished. Often he would sit down to practice on Remy, and Virgil and Patton would do the same with Emile. Janus’ work would of course look a lot better in the end, but Emile vehemently claimed to love both looks equally. 

Eventually Janus started a YouTube channel dedicated to makeup tutorials. He always used Remy or Emile as models, appearing himself with contacts and half his face painted to look like a snake, hoping that was enough to obscure his identity in case anyone in the Community ever came across his channel. 

His channel became fairly popular, not enough for Janus to make a living from that alone, but he did make enough from the channel for it to pay for itself. He could afford better makeup brands, which meant he could make cooler designs, which made his channel more popular. It was going well. 

Until his mother showed up on his doorstep one day, nearly a decade since he’d last seen her. 

“Janus.”

“Mother.” He didn’t have anything to say to her. Not a thing. Ten years and he hadn’t once felt the need to reach out to her. 

“When are you going to stop this silly game and come home, Janus? We miss you, and this is no environment to raise Virgil in.” She gestured to Janus’ apartment, and Janus’ blood began to boil. 

“Well excuse me for not meeting your standards, mother, but as I recall, it wasn’t my choice to leave in the first place!”

“If this is about Emmaline-”

“It’s not just about Emmaline! Virgil and I are perfectly happy where we are, and I’m not about to go exposing him to your toxic-”

“TOXIC!? Janus Lysander Hadley you take that back this instant! I will not have you speaking about our faith that way!”

“It’s not my faith, mother, it’s yours, and it has no place in my home!”

He should have been expecting the slap, it was a common way for his mother to respond to anyone disagreeing with her, but it had been so long, the sharp sting on his cheek came as a complete surprise. 

“Step aside, Janus, I’m taking Virgil home whether you’re coming or not. You’re clearly not fit to raise a child.”

Her trying to push past Janus and into his apartment shook Janus out of his shocked stupor and he blocked her advance. 

“You’ve never been fit to raise a child in your life!” He hissed, pushing her away from the door. “Now kindly fuck off, mother, you aren’t welcome here!”

He slammed the door on her shocked face, and quickly locked the door, locked the deadbolt, and slid the door chain in place. As soon as the door was thoroughly locked, his mother started pounding on the door, the gravity of the situation sunk in, and his panic started mounting. 

His mother found him. She knew where he lived. She wanted to take Virgil from him. He yelled at his mother. She knew where he lived. He made her angry. She wanted to take Virgil from him. She knew where he lived!

“Sperm donor?”

His son’s voice snapped him out of his spiraling thoughts. Virgil was peeking out from behind the partition for the living room, where he wouldn’t have been visible from the door. He was clearly scared, because of course he was, his father had just had a screaming match with a woman he probably didn’t recognize outside their apartment, and said woman was proceeding to yelling abuse through the apartment door. It had to have more than a little unsettling for the ten-year-old. 

“It’s okay, mini me, everything’s going to be fine.” Janus crossed the room to pull his son into a hug. Virgil latched on to him immediately, shaking from stress. 

“I don’t want to go with her,” Virgil mumbled into Janus’s sweater. “She’s mean.”

“You don’t have to.” Janus tightened his arms around his son protectively. “You’re staying with me.”

Janus’ mother stopped pounding on the door eventually — presumably because one of the neighbors either threatened to call the police, or actually called the police — but Janus and Virgil’s nerves were both shot for the rest of the day, and they both ended up spending the night at the Picanis’. 

Janus didn’t see hide nor hair of his mother for weeks after the incident, but his paranoia levels were through the roof. He wouldn’t let Virgil be home alone anymore, instead having him go home with Patton after school, staying at the Picanis’ until Janus could pick him up. Every day when he got home he would search their apartment for anything out of place that would suggest that someone broke in, he even went as far as constructing minor booby traps for anyone who tried to root around through their things. 

“Janus — I’m saying this as your friend, and as a mental health professional — I’m concerned about you,” Emile told him one day when he came to pick up Virgil from their house. “You’ve been on edge for weeks, it’s not healthy, for you or for Virgil. He told me he’s been having nightmares, you know.”

“I know, I know! But I don’t know what to do!” Janus stressed, he was dangerously close to his breaking point, but he didn’t know how to stop it. 

“Have you considered moving?” Emile asked gently. “It’s clear you don’t feel safe here, maybe putting some more distance between you and your parents will ease your distress.”

“I can’t move; you guys live here. I can’t just take Virgil away from Patton, he’d be devastated.”

“I’m not saying move to Antarctica and become a hermit, we can visit, and Patton and Virgil can Skype. Yeah, it’ll be hard and both of them, but this is hard on them too. Janus, I think it’s important for you to feel safe in your own home, and you obviously don’t.”

“I don’t know…”

But a week later, Janus would be pushed over the edge. 

He came home from work — thankfully before picking Virgil up — to find his apartment door wide open. Cautiously, he searched the apartment for any intruders, but after twenty minutes he was confident that no one was around. 

There were a few things missing, mostly all of Virgil’s crayons and colored pencils, as well as his coloring books and some of the drawings he’d made that Janus had put on the fridge. There were also a few photos of Janus and Virgil missing from their frames, and a tile with Virgil’s baby handprint missing from the kitchen. And three of Janus’ booby traps had been sprung telling him that whomever broke into his apartment — presumably his mother — had opened the hall closet, the cabinet next to the fridge, and the medicine cabinet in the bathroom. 

As if that was bad enough, there, in plain sight on the dining room table was a copy of the Community’s version of the Bible. 

“We have to move.” Janus wasn’t sure how he ended up at the Picanis’; everything after finding the bible had been a panicked blur. All he knew was that he couldn’t stay at that apartment anymore. 

Moving was hard. Virgil didn’t like it, but he was afraid of their apartment too, and if Janus and Virgil just moved in with the Picanis — which Remy had suggested — then Janus’ parents would just start terrorizing them too, and Janus couldn’t have that. No, it was better that he and Virgil move away, not just to a new apartment, but to a new city, a new state even! Somewhere his parents wouldn’t find him or Virgil. 

They ended up moving to Florida, halfway across the country. Remy had a cousin in Florida, one that he swore up and down that Janus would love, and moving somewhere where he sort of knew someone was better than starting over from scratch a second time. 

Remy and Patton came with them to help them move and to allow Patton and Virgil to spend as much time together as they could. Emile stayed behind since they couldn’t reschedule all their appointments on such short notice. Emile did suggest a new therapist near Janus’ new home, and included a suggestion for Virgil too. 

Having Remy around for the moving process was good because he was able to parcel things out in ways that didn’t make Janus feel overwhelmed with the amount of work that went into moving. Having Patton around for the moving process was good because when all Virgil could see were negatives, Patton pointed out the positives and had a way of making Virgil begrudgingly agree to them. 

Part of the moving process was for Janus to change his and Virgil’s name in the hopes of throwing his parents off their scent. Since Virgil was taking the move so hard, Janus let him pick their new last name to make him feel better. Of course Virgil was beginning to enter his emo-pre-teen-angst phase, so he picked a name that was edgy and extra: Storm. 

Janus Storm. 

He sounded like a supervillain, but it made Virgil happy, and he could never resist anything that made Virgil happy. 

Before Remy and Patton went home, Remy introduced Janus and Virgil to his cousin: Thomas Sanders. Thomas owned a theater in town, and offered to let Janus use him as a model for his YouTube videos. He was alright; Virgil seemed to like him well enough, and Janus trusted Virgil’s instincts on these kinds of things. 

It was a teary goodbye when Remy and Patton went home, and Virgil refused to speak for the rest of the day, but once their plane touched down, Patton called on Remy’s phone, so maybe the distance wouldn’t be too bad. 

The Picanis came to visit for Virgil’s eleventh birthday since it occurred during Patton’s winter break. They ended up staying for almost a week.

Almost a year after Janus and Virgil moved to Florida, Thomas called Janus to tell him that the makeup artist at his theater quit, and that the job was Janus’ if he wanted it. 

Taking that job turned out to be the best decision of his life. 

“I’m Roman.”

The moment Janus had been dreading since he was a child was finally happening. The moment Janus had learned to be cautiously optimistic about was finally happening. 

Slowly, as though someone were carefully turning up the volume on a speaker, the monochrome world around Janus began to change, and he finally understood what Virgil meant by ‘everything is prettier’, because it was. It was wonderful and terrifying all at once. 

“Janus.”

~~~END~~~

Janus’ backstory wasn’t supposed to be quite this angsty but  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ here we are. It’s probably never going to get this heavy again

Let me know if I forgot to tag anything or put anything in the warnings

taglist:

@royalty-of-all-things-snuggly @pixelated-pineapple @northlight14 @mistythegenderqueermess @bluerosesbleedred @sevencrashing @awkwardjester @everythingisstardust

400 followers!! Thank you all 💜💜💜

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I Just Keep Losing My Beat - Chapter 16

Chapter 1 - Chapter 2 - Chapter 3 - Chapter 4 - Chapter 5 - Chapter 6 - Chapter 7 - Chapter 8 - Chapter 9 - Chapter 10 - Chapter 11 - Chapter 12 - Chapter 13 - Chapter 14 - Chapter 15

Sorry for disappearing so ages w/ no update im out of touch im out of time and it isnt even thursday

Relationships: Platonic Creativitwins. Eventual Intrulogical. Do NOT tag as r*mr*m.

Characters: Remus Sanders; Roman Sanders; kid!Deceit (called William) Sanders; kid!Virgil Sanders; OCs; Logan Sanders; kid!Patton Sanders; teen!Sleep/Remy (nb!Remy), Emile Picani.

Genre: Human AU, Single Dad AU, Slowburn, hurt/comfort, both angst & fluff

Chapter’s Wordcount: 2,319 words [under the cut]

Chapter Warnings: Sickness/Illness, Swearing (idk if there’s swearing in this chapter but just to be safe), Food mention, if there’s anything else let me know

Chapter 16/?

Chapter 16 the boys!!!!

Logan was quite swift to pack up all his gear at the end of the day, calling the last few instructions over the ruckus of the kids handing in their work and packing their bags. William was quick and quiet, and he ended up in a beanbag at the back of the room waiting for Logan to finish tapping away at his laptop, waving to Maggie as she left. About five minutes later, the sound of cheerful whistling heralded the arrival of Patton Picani, his green eyes absolutely sparkling with life as he skipped through the door, backpack bouncing against his back as he went.

“Hi Dad!” he chirped, beaming widely. “Hello, Patton,” Logan smiled, hitting save on his work and closing his laptop. “I take it you had a good day?” “Yep!” Patton smiled, and he made his way down to the back of the room to give his dad a hug. “It was Charlotte’s birthday, and she brought cupcakes! We had them last period and I saved you one.” “Oh, I couldn’t eat,” Logan rushed. “But that’s very kind. Oh! Have you met William Sanders? We’re taking him home today - his dad’s sick.” “Oh no!” Patton turned to William with clasped hands. “I’m sure he’ll be okay! A-and I think I’ve seen you in the playground before. But nice to properly meet you! I’m Patton. Do you want a cupcake?” And at the end of that spiel, Patton pulled out something wrapped in a napkin and thrust it into William’s hands, who looked quite overwhelmed (mostly at the fact that Patton seemingly hadn’t stopped for breath yet). But William just looked up at Patton with wide eyes, before slowly unwrapping the napkin, and yes! It was in fact a somewhat squashed cupcake. “Are you sure?” William asked in a tiny voice. “Uh huh!” Patton rocked on his heels. “Charlotte had too many, and said to take some home for siblings. I haven’t got any, though, but you can have it!” William glanced between Patton and the cupcake, before he bit his lip to keep down a smile. “Thank you,” he said, and Patton bounded over to sit in the beanbag next to William as he took a hesitant bite.

Logan watched the boy’s face just light up, and he was quick to wolf the whole thing down in almost a heartbeat. That tugged at something in Logan’s chest, something paternal, and he bit his tongue and turned back to his bag, slipping the last of his things away, before fumbling for his keys. “Alright,” Logan said, turning to the two of them, William hastily wiping his face clean despite the fact he hadn’t made a mess, “I’m ready to go. How about you two?” William nodded silently. Patton checked his bag, pawing through it to double check, before zipping it up firmly and giving a big thumbs up in confirmation. “Grand,” Logan stated, clapping his hands once. “Let’s go, shall we?”

William was a very quiet boy. Or perhaps, he was a very quiet boy in the wrong company. And Logan had a funny feeling that almost everyone was the wrong company. But… even he could see from here the way William was warming up to Patton. Almost everyone did, after all. Patton had a talent for people; he’d definitely inherited that one from his father, and not Logan. Logan noticed that William kept both Patton and him on his good side, where he could see them, and crammed himself into the corner of the car to defend his blind side. He was flighty, sure, but certainly not as flighty as Logan had seen him before. He reminded Logan of a sparrow. Do anything too loud or too fast, you’d scare him off.

It was a fairly quick drive, honestly. Remus only lived around ten or fifteen minutes from school, and soon enough, William was quietly pointing out which house was theirs. “Number 28,” he declared. “The one with the red car.” It was a pretty beat up old red car, Logan noticed as he pulled into the wide driveway alongside it. “William,” Logan turned in his seat. “May I walk you to the door? I would like to check if your father’s alright in person, if you don’t mind.” William, to his surprise, nodded. “I think Da would like to see you, too,” he said, already clambering out of the car. Logan froze, thoughts jolting like a record skipping back on itself.

He went to stammer out a response, fighting the blush off his face as William closed the car door, Patton scrambling to help him open the boot to fetch his backpack. Logan stared into empty space for a moment. What did he mean? Did he mean what Logan assumed he meant? Could he assume that? Should he assume that?! Did… Did Remus want to see him? In a nice-want sort of way? ...Why was he fretting over this so much? Was it… was it something that meant that much to him? Remus being okay? ….If so, why? Patton and William were looking through the car window, staring up at him with their heads cocked to the side in the same direction. “Ah,” Logan smiled, trying to school himself back into comfortable neutrality. “Step back so I can open the door, you two. I’m coming, I’m coming.”

---

There was a series of knocks that jolted Remus out of the fitful little doze he’d fallen into, and Roman, who had been in the kitchen making him soup, quickly turned off the heat, set down his spoon and hurried over. As he opened the door, Remus sat up in time to watch his little rattlesnake barrel into his brother’s legs in a big hug.

“Hi, Uncle Roman!” William chirped. “Hiya, Will!” Roman beamed back, and he had to steady himself on the doorframe so they both didn’t end up on the floor. “Good to see you!” And William disentangled himself before making a beeline to the sofa, throwing his arms around Remus’ torso and burying his face in Remus’ shirt. “Hi Da,” he mumbled into the worn fabric. Remus hugged him tightly, trying not to wheeze as his son squeezed his chest. “Hi, rattlesnake,” he smiled softly. “Good to see you home.” “Are you okay?” William peeled himself out of Remus’ arms and looked up at him anxiously. “Yeah,” Remus said, slumping back into his cushions, and he really didn’t want it to be a lie, but he could see that no one was convinced. “Ah,” Roman declared in a very deliberate voice. “You must be Logan Picani! Come in, come in.”

Remus jolted upright again, despite his spinning head, and he hoped he hadn’t gone too pale as he watched Logan himself shuffle in, awkward, but genuine concern shining in his eyes, along with a boy who looked a a few years older than William, who despite his curly blond hair and big green eyes definitely looked like Logan (it was the jawline, and the nose, Remus reckoned).

“Logan…?”

He didn’t realise he’d even spoken until he heard his own voice crack, and snapped his mouth closed in embarrassment. “I…” Logan swallowed hard. “Excuse me if I’m intruding, but I-I wished to check if you were alright.” Remus met his eyes, and he… he wasn’t used to so much care being directed at him. He found himself just nodding mutely, before looking away. He couldn’t bear what looked to be tenderness in this man’s gaze… for him. He busied himself by pulling faces at Virgil in his playpen instead, much to Virgil’s delight.

“I’m Roman,” Roman introduced himself. “Roman Sanders. Remus’ brother.” “The pleasure’s mine,” Logan said politely, shaking Roman’s outstretched hand. “This is my son, Patton.” “Hi!” Patton smiled. “Nice to meet you, sirs!” Remus sat up slowly, bracing himself on the couch. When Roman turned back around, his face dropped. “Remus, lie down,” he ordered, hurrying over. “I’m fine,” Remus tried to brush him off. “You’re really not,” Roman warned, but Remus already made it to his feet. But as soon as Remus went to take a step, he immediately lost his balance, stumbling as all he heard in his ears was a crush of white noise as his vision blurred, and the next thing he knew he was slumped against someone’s chest, and judging by the steady warmth, it was his brother. “Told you so,” Roman said, but it was the least smug told-you-so he’d ever heard in his life. “Remus, please.”

Remus went to argue, but he was so tired. His ears were ringing. He steadied himself against Roman’s biceps and tried to keep his breathing easy. There was another hand on his arm, and Remus couldn’t stop himself from flinching. He snapped his head up as the hand retreated slightly, but the fingertips were still brushing the bare skin of his forearm, and he looked up to see the wide, warm eyes of Logan Picani, the question of are you alright wanting to spill out over his tongue, but it didn’t need to; his eyes said enough. Remus couldn’t help himself. He flushed bright red, and nodded his consent to Logan’s hand being there. “I think we need to get you to bed,” Roman murmured. “Properly. That couch is awful to sleep on.” “You can’t carry me upstairs alone,” Remus aptly noted. “I can help,” Logan immediately offered. “Oh, no, it’s-” “That’d be lovely,” Roman cut him off. “Thank you so much. William? Will you keep an eye on Virgil? And our guest?” And with that, Roman shot Patton a cheeky wink that was rewarded with a giggle. “Uh huh!” William confirmed with an enthusiastic salute. “But-” “Come along,” Roman sing-songed, cutting Remus off again, and a bitter weight settled in the base of Remus’ throat. It seemed it wasn’t his turn to talk tonight. That was fine. He never had anything intelligent to say anyway, or so he’d been told.

Roman slipped onto his left side and supported him, gesturing for Logan to take Remus’ right side. As Logan went to move into place, Remus flinched and stumbled back, a hand going to a wound on his right side, already trying to form excuses as to why they didn’t need to touch him, it was okay, he could walk by himself… when he realised that the fabric under his fingers wasn’t wet. He slowly brought his hand into his sightline to stare down at it, at the distinctly blood-less fingers, and blinked back to himself, to the recollection that that wound had scarred five years ago. And then he tried to find something to say, to explain, to apologise. “Are you hurt?” Logan asked softly, and he’d drawn his hands back to his own chest to show he wasn’t going to touch Remus if he didn’t want him to. Remus searched for a response, before settling on, “...not recently.” He rolled his shoulders. “Look, it’s fine. I know this is stupid, but… would you, um, mind swapping sides?” Roman and Logan glanced at each other, and there was a level of confusion in their eyes, but Logan didn’t miss a beat. “Of course,” he said. And he easily slipped in where Roman was, and Roman slowly approached his brother with hesitant concern on his face. And that was better. He knew on all levels that Roman wouldn’t hurt him. “Alright,” Roman led. “Nice and slow, let’s get you to bed.”

---

Remus was wheezing and lightheaded by the time they reached the top of the stairs, nearly all his bodyweight being carried by his companions. “Are you alright?” Remus wasn’t sure who asked, but he huffed out a lame confirmation. He took a step, and his knee buckled, and there was a cry of vague alarm, and steady hands caught him before he fell. “Sorry,” Remus mumbled, “My knees do that sometimes.” “It’s okay,” said a soft voice. “We’re nearly there, Remus.”

There was the opening creak of his door, and Remus all of a sudden remembered that Logan was here, and his room was a mess. He could feel Logan pause, and he rushed out some semblance of an apology. “No, no, it’s fine,” Logan told him, voice even and calm. “But I do not wish to infiltrate your personal space. It’s your room. I’m not…” “You can come in,” Remus cut him off, and he supposed he blushed, but he was way past being bashful by this point. The next goal was lying down. God, that sounded nice around about now. “Mind your step,” Roman said cheerfully, and there was the sound of something being kicked aside. “Don’t kick my stuff,” Remus mumbled, squeezing his eyes shut. “Sorry,” Roman’s voice told him. “It was a shoe that was in the way. But I won’t do it again, promise.” Remus made some noise in the back of his throat and tried to straighten up, trying to get his feet back under him, but again, nothing seemed to want to listen to him today.

But now he was being ferried across the room, and then he was being sat down, and Roman’s steady hands were guiding him into a lying position, and Remus could only sigh in relief as his head hit the pillow. “We’ll leave you to it, Re,” Roman then told him. “Thank you…” Remus mumbled out, cracking open an eye to look up at the two of them. Logan was smiling at him, and it was sweet and soft. It brought a touch of an upwards curl to his own lips, and he rasped out another thank you as best he could. “All’s well,” Logan said. “Get some rest, Remus. I hope you recover swiftly.” Remus was able to stay conscious long enough to watch them cross the room. He didn’t recall seeing Roman close the door as he went out like a light.

--- --- ---

YEEHAW the gay pining starts NOW. i just wanna say every little compliment, comment, tag, i try to look at them all bc they make this whole nonsense worth it. Aspects of this ended up being deceptively personal to me, so that it’s been so well received makes me tear up. thank y’all for the support.

untaggable, for some reason or other?: @princeyssash @shy-shiteray @testing-lovesupportandcookies @soupgromlin @peculiarities-starryeyed-oddity @socialhermit18 @omniscient-archivist [dont ask me why these aint working, i dont know. the inner machinations of tumblr are an enigma]

Taglist: @leiasolo77 @broadwaytheanimatedseries @nerdy-as-logan @vicdehart @pontsalin @ambersky0319 @kameraishere @sparrow-flightninggale @bootsinthesun @007ardra @errorchildsc @weirdo-popato-chisp @treasureofpriam @emo-does-things  @blackcursetsquad @jemthebookworm @lokinas @haggendazs-dispersion @sunflower-shitposts @8mason-woods8 @deceits-left-glove @chocomiruk @5am-the-foxing-hour @elvis-has-been-dug @iampengwing @perfectedprocrastination @fander-pest @shadowjag @fiive-second-cookies @dragonhoardsfriends @moonlightsylph @your-anxious-nightmare @the-aroace-queen-in-the-quiver @scared-ghosthunter @youre-not-alive @magpiemorality @rayla-is-rat-god @enby-phoenix @ironwoman359 @bluesea-sosp @phantom-moonfire  @ab-artist @idkanameatall @princessbelix @hr-part-of-a-mind @pheonix-inside-reblogs @anxie-teaa @irrelevantbutsanders @nerd-in-space @poisonous-lives @randomly-assorted @nonasficcollection @theotherella  @jadedmidnight  @gattonero17 @sssssssuckup @awesomerandomgirl1 @ironfilly @musical-nerd18 @letsdragonesquethings @a-mess-made-of-fandoms @a-stale-croissant @confinesofpersonalknowledge @drarryswingman @kindadecentmess @lunatatic @kyi21  @ao-koshka @isabellama23 @supernatural-demigod @witches-getstitches @vitodelaney @lesliealiceinwonderland @actitus-hypoleucos @unofficially-myself @demidork84 @for-real-fandom @quackerz-creations @reesiereads  @approximately12lbs-of-ducks @theshortestofall @crazydemigod666 @llamaly @gmotheemo @resident-trash-goblin @irei-art @littlestliu @hugsforwarmth @xxquietmobxx @justasadchildwithablog @rowanwilldoit @glitchybina

[fakeloveaskblog]

Hey Janus, you good today? I hope so! We have talked to Remy and have found out why they have blocked you (and Remus): It was unfortunately Virgil's doing (please stay calm for me). They will,,not be OK. But we, the ghosts, are 100% there for them, and it's best you stay away as much as possible, for Remy's sake. Also, news on Remus! I think you and him should probably go to Picani again soon, or at least hang out, for both your mental wellbeing. Also, hi logan! 🐌🕸

It was a lazy day. Patty, Logan and Janus were all still cuddled up in bed. Both of Lo's partners were leaning their heads onto each of his shoulders. Patty was doing sudoku, her husband was doing the newspaper's crossword and his partner was reading a book. Every now and then one of them spoke up to get help for the sudoku/crossword or say some random fun fact, but otherwise it was quiet.

Janus put down his book and took off his reading glasses when he heard your greeting "Hello. I am doing....as good as I can right now. The bruise is almost gone"

His eyes shone up a little when you said you'd talked to Remy. The hopeful look soured in an instant when you continued. Logan and Patty both looked over to him with worried looks. His boyfriend reached out and placed his hand on his knee.

"that little pathetic worm bitch" Janus mumbled under their breathe "Thank you for at least keeping Remy company. I- I am obviously at the height of calmness so knowing that you are there for them is not at all a comfort"

"Oh I hope they're not in pain" Patty added "I wish I could roll them up in a blanket and make them a giant pot of soup" Logan nodded along.

"I'm gonna master witchcraft to talk to them. Or summon Satan. I will find a way" Janus continued.

"I think doves would also work" Logan replied.

When you mentioned Picani Janus pretty much shot up from their comfortable position "I have therapy today! Gosh my fucking memory lately. A mess. Need to get this old wood brain reinstalled soon"

They quickly got up from bed and messaged Remus about meeting up by the therapy clinic. While they changed clothes Logan heard your lil hi and waved back.

"Greetings snail creature" He would have left it at that but then a small smile suddenly appeared on his lips "I have to show you something" He took his coffee cup and held it up "Observe that my cup now has a sweater"

There was indeed a crocheted sweater around it. In the same navy color Logan usually wore.

"My wife made it for me! As a gift!"

Patty looked just a bit blushy "It's amateur work honey-bear. I only asked my friend to teach me how to crochet a few weeks ago"

"It is a masterpiece dear! I am sure the technique is immaculate"

"It was Logie's birthday a few days ago if you didn't know" Janus added for context while being half stuck in a mesh shirt "But he's a sour little weasel who doesn't like birthdays-"

"I see no need for people to celebrate me simply being born" Logan interrupted.

"Right. So Patty just happened to feel like giving him a gift this week. And we just happened to plan a trip to a planetarium this weekend for absolutely no reason"

Lastly he put on the beanie. He went back into bed so Logan could give him a goodbye kiss. Patty gave him a quick kiss on the cheek which made him laugh.

"Good luck at therapy. If you leave the session in emotional distress feel free to text me and I will pick you up"

"Good luck getting out bed before 4 pm"

Right before Janus left the room Patty quickly added "Oh! And ask Remus if he wants to come with to the planetarium! The more the merrier!"

"Will do!"

Janus hurried down the stairs and managed to catch a bus. Their brain was having a battle between being worried for Remy and excited to see Remus.

They perked up when they saw Remus waiting for them. He waved as soon as he saw them.

"JANNY! YOU MOTHERFUCKER!"

Janus stopped in front of him "Hello to you too"

"Oh wow is that skirt new? I've never seen you in anything that uhm short" He panicked and added "It suits you!! Very well! Like a fist in the face!"

Their cheeks heated up "Aww thanks. I just cursed a few people to get it. Well actually Patty and Lo just took me stress shopping. It's when you shop while stressed"

"Newer would have guessed that" He fiddled a little with his necklace "So...why...did you invite me to your therapy session? You want me to beat up Picani for you? Kiss him? Fuck that old man on the floor?"

"He's not old. He's like 40"

"So you Did call me here to fuck him"

"NO!" Janus turned even redder "No that's not who you should- Or I mean you're not- Uhm- No I just- We haven't hung out in some time and uhm I know we- Me and Remy I mean usually have therapy on Wednesdays but Picani was sick yesterday so I assume their session has also been moved to today so hopefully we can meet up with them and we can all three hang out"

"OH!!! Yeah!!! We can go ghost hunting!- But only mean ghosts!"

"Great idea" Janus checked his clock "The session should start soon" He looked around, no Remy in sight.

"They've probably just gotten seduced by a stickbug. They look about the same" Remus joked with a lil shit grin.

"That's mean. I'm gonna be the one hunting you if you're not careful"

The two of them went into the clinic. The lady in the desk recognized Janus by now, even though there already was a surprising amount of baby goths going to Picani. She just pointed them towards the therapist's office.

Picani shone up when he saw the couple. He'd previously been trying to break his record in how many marshmallows he could stack on top of each other in his hot chocolate "Remus! It has been a while since I saw you"

"Hi doc"

"And there is my favorite noddle"

Janus waved. He hadn't sat down in the comfortable couch like he usually did as soon as he came in "Hello Emile. Do you happen to know if Remy has been here today?"

The therapist leaned back in his seat "Well you know I'm not allowed to give out information about my clients....So it's good they're not technically my client anymore. I haven't-"

"What? They're?? not???" Remus and Janus exchanged confused looks.

"Nopety nope. Their boyfriend called a few days ago and said they were trying to look for a new therapist. I can understand why. My methods aren't for everyone and I can agree that Remy had stagnated in their healing. If they think a more regular therapist will help them more I'm just happy they're still willing to try"

Janus paled "Oh.....okay...Actually Picani I wasn't ready for us to have this session today so I only came in to request that we skip the session this week, if that is okay" He lied.

"Of course. I have some 'paper work' to catch up on anyway. And by 'paper work' I of course mean cartoons" He smiled "I hope whatever you're busy with goes well" He looked between the two of them before very obviously winking.

"....thanks...i think"

Janus was still out of it. Remus had to pretty much grab onto their shoulders and pull them along as they left therapist's office. They only got out to the bench again before Janus sat down with their head in their hands.

Remus sat down next to them. He hesitated before putting his hand on their back. He patted a little.

"There. There"

"Virgil is trying to isolate them. Do you get that. Isolate them completely" They mumbled out "I wish I could- I want him to- I wish he would choke"

"Well uhhh they could genuinely be looking for a new therapist? Maybe?" Remus replied.

"Oh shush. Virgil is an asshole. I don't trust a single word that comes from him!....Sorry....I shouldn't take my frustration out on you"

"It's okay"

"It's not but sure"

Janus quieted. Remus sat awkwardly beside him. He kept trying to think of ways to cheer his friend up but hesitated on all of them. Until.

"Eyyy Jannie ehm do you...you want anything?"

He tried to put on a mischievous grin as he opened his jacket to reveal several packages of cigarettes stuck to the inside, like a street vendor.

Janus just got more confused "I don't smoke"

"Oh c'mon. It's for a cheap price 'cause you're my fav costumer" He took out a cigarette and held it out. He squished it and it got all soft "It's candy. It's candy cigarettes"

His friend continued to just look confused for a moment before breaking up into a laugh. It was a tired laugh but a genuine one. Remus laughed along.

"You're so stupid" Janus let out between chuckles.

"I know! I like being stupid since it makes you happy!"

That just made them laugh harder. Remus noticed the subtle bruise left by their nose. He reached out and cupped their cheeks. It took a moment before Janus noticed. They still had a smile on their lips as their laughter died out.

They looked at Remus with a questioning look. Their dark eyes meeting his red. He leant forward and pressed a kiss to the bruise.

Janus froze from surprise, before suddenly their whole body seemed to tingle from happiness. Remus made sure to keep the kiss long to really heal it, heal all their pain.

When he leaned back Janus was looking at him with glimmering eyes. Remus had a soft pink blush as he looked away.

"Just wanted to like help"

"Oh- Oh like" Janus blurted out the first thing his tired brain came up with "Like bob the builder"

"What!? YEAh! Yeah sure! That's a me! Bob...the builder....yeah"

"Now I almost want to get bruised again" Janus mumbled out.

"What?"

"WhAT?" He panicked "Oh right I was going to ask you something-"

"Is it a chance at torture? Are you asking me to a saw trap? Please pretty please say it is a saw trap"

"Not quite. Me, Logie- Logan and Patty are going to a planetarium this weekend. We were just wondering if maybe you want to come? I know you and Logan have had...differences...before but you don't have to talk to him"

"Aww don't worry Jannyboy. As long as you're there I'm going" Remus immediately replied with a big grin "But wear that skirt to the planetarium please. If I get bored by the stars I gotta have some thicc thighs to look at"

Janus let out an audible keysmash that made Remus grin even more.

[olliedollie1204]

for future reference

Virgil works at the reference desk. Logan is looking for a very specific book.

Pairings: Platonic Virgil and Logan

Word Count: 3,613

Tags: Librarian Virgil, Kid Logan, (very loosely) implied but not shown romantic Moceit

based on that one tumblr post that is maybe the cutest thing i’ve ever read? also, Logan mispronounces some words because he’s Babey, so I included a guide at the end to clarify what he was trying to say.

also i meant to make this short and simple but i tripped and came up with an entire new AU, so hopefully if y’all slam that mf like button I will find the energy to write the sequel

(Read it on AO3!)

Working at the reference desk was cool. When you walked through the main door of the library, you’d never suspect that nestled beyond the rows and rows of adult nonfiction, far away from the busyness of the community room or the chaos of the children’s section, was a neat and well-tended desk, behind which sat just one man.

That one man was currently alternating between scanning the sea of tables and chairs in front of him, and reading a cheesy romance paperback under his desk. Listen, he had an image to maintain, okay?

Virgil had always liked the solitude of a good library, almost as much as he’d liked the books themselves. Despite spending many long hours hidden away among dusty shelves when he was younger, he'd never thought about actually working in a library. He wasn’t a people person, and libraries, unfortunately, tended to attract people; so when he found out there was a position where he could get away with isolating himself behind a computer monitor all day long, where his main form of social interaction was helping patrons fix the printer approximately nine hundred times a day, where he could read or play Temple Run or just sit still and daydream for hours on end? He was sold.

He supposed he had to thank the library’s set up for his lack of work; truly, most people never made their way this far into the building, and those who did were usually just looking for a place to sleep for a few hours, so it wasn’t uncommon for him to go an entire shift without speaking to a single person.

It had looked like today was going to be the same, with Virgil halfway through his shift and having only spoken to one patron who was looking for the bathroom. He had just gotten to the part in his book where the farmhand and the farmer’s son were trapped together in the barn during an unexpected thunderstorm, shirts dripping wet and faces flushed from humidity and passion (and maybe Virgil had read this one once or twice already, don’t worry about it).

It was a perfectly normal day. Until the kid showed up.

“Excuse me, sir?”

Virgil certainly did not jump about a foot into the air at the kid’s sudden appearance, but it was a close thing. The librarian quickly sat up in his rolly chair, dog earring the already well-worn novel and shoving it back under the desk.

“Uh, hi,” he replied, gazing down at the child in front of him. He was small and scrawny, with wildly scruffy hair and a large pair of glasses on his face. As Virgil sat up taller, he was able to see that the kid was actually tiny, his chin barely reaching past the edge of the desk. Despite his small stature, he had an oddly serious look on his face.

“How can I, uh, help you?” Virgil asked haltingly.

“I need to find a book about baby names,” the child informed him plainly. His quiet, high-pitched voice felt completely at odds with the grave importance he seemed to place on his request.

“Oh?” Virgil said for lack of a better response. He quickly scanned behind the kid, looking for an adult that might’ve misplaced their incredibly somber toddler, but he quickly brought his attention back to the child in front of him as he nodded.

“My dads told me that I’m going to be a big brother soon and I need to find the names for my baby twin brothers who we are taking from a woman in the city because she is a sugar-ette and she is giving us her babies to keep,” the child replied in one long breath. Virgil blinked at the sudden influx of information.

“Ah,” he replied, absolutely nailing this conversation with this random, unaccompanied baby. “Let me… look that up for you.”

He paused for just a second before jerkily turning on his monitor, opening to the library catalogue’s search engine. Instinctively he opened the filter and clicked ‘search for keywords’ and typed ‘baby names’, until he looked down at the… really small child in front of him, like damn, were all kids that small?

“Um. How…”

How old are you? How many letters of the alphabet do you know? How stupid am I gonna look if I send you to the checkout desk with an armful of dense, high-level books about etymology?

“How high is your reading level?” he settled on. To his surprise, the child puffed out his chest in pride.

“I am five and three quarters years old and I will be going into kindergarten in Set-member and Dr. Picani says that I am reading like a kindergartener and I even can read first grade books, too.”

Okay. Virgil didn’t know who Dr. Picani was, but that wasn’t important. Kindergarten to first grade reading level. He switched the filter to adjust for that new information, but he was quickly met with the realization that the kid was looking at him for… some sort of response, because that’s how conversations work, Virgil, come on.

“That’s cool,” he replied lightly. Lucky for him, the kid didn’t seem to mind his lack of social graces. He just nodded, rocking back and forth on his heels as he watched Virgil type.

“And my Daddy gave me a bunch of chapter books for my birthday and I already read them all because that was last year and he and Papa said that for my next birthday I can get some more chapter books but I hope they are mit-sery books because I like the mit-sery books most of all. Dr. Picani told me that’s because I like to collect and organize information. I like it when Papa reads the mit-sery books to me, even though I can read all by myself, because he is always bad at solving the mit-sery and I have to explain it to him every time.”

At first, Virgil had merely been listening with a polite interest, nodding a little as his eyes scanned the page for what books they had checked in, but as the kid continued to talk (and Virgil was seriously starting to wonder if he ever ran out of breath), he realized he was now listening with a genuine interest. This kid seemed pretty smart for his age, even with his tendency to mispronounce words in his rush to get them out of his mouth, and it was honestly kinda endearing. This coming from Virgil, who was running out of excuses as to why he couldn’t help out with any of the children’s programs that the library hosted in the community room twice a month.

He pulled his eyes back to his computer. “Okay, so, um, it looks like we’ve got a couple books that you might want.” They had more than a couple books about baby names, of course, but Virgil really didn’t wanna hurt the kid’s feelings by giving him a book that was too difficult for him.

“I’m gonna write the titles down on this piece of paper,” Virgil continued, pulling out an index card and one of the weird tiny golf pencils that were at every desk in the library for some reason. “Here’s what the book is called, here’s the last name of the person who wrote it, and here is the number of the shelf where you can find the book, okay?”

He finished writing and slid the paper across the desk to the kid, who hesitated for a moment before taking it.

“... Thank you,” he said stiffly, turning on his heel and marching away. Virgil wasn’t gonna look away until the kid was out of his sight, but to his surprise he stopped just about ten feet away from the desk, looking between the paper in his tiny hands and the tall rows of shelves.

Virgil stood up suddenly, feeling like an idiot. He’d just told an infant to go look for one specific shelf in a giant room of identical shelves. Alone. Fuck.

“Hey, kid,” he called softly, moving around his desk and hurrying to the child. The little boy turned to him, eyes wide behind his glasses lens.

“How about I help you find those books, okay?” Virgil asked, trying not to tower over the tiny child. The kid looked around for a second before nodding quickly.

“Okay, I think that is a good idea, because I know where the books are in the playzone but I think this li-berry is really big and— and maybe I’d get too lost and my dads are scared of me being lost and so I don’t wanna make them scared,” he finished, looking down and scuffing the toe of his shoe against the carpet.

Virgil raised an eyebrow at the end of the kid’s sentence. “Do you know where your dads are?”

The kid nodded quickly. “They’re having storytime in the group room!”

Virgil nodded. He knew there was an adult book club happening in the community room that day, so that definitely made sense. But still, he leaned down, catching the boy’s eye with what he hoped was an appropriately stern face for the circumstances.

“Do your dads know where you are?” he asked. As he expected, the kid began to look slightly guilty, scrunching the hem of his navy polo in his hands.

“Um…” he started. It was the first time Virgil had heard him pause between his words. “Well, technically, they told me to stay with the li-berrian, and they thought I was gonna stay in the playzone with Ms. Dot, but technically, if I can stay with you then I am with a li-berrian and so I’m not in trouble.”

There was a note of self-satisfaction in the kid’s voice, like he’d just solved a riddle as opposed to trying to explain why he disobeyed his parents. Virgil got the feeling that this was a kid who knew how to use his words to his advantage.

“Okay,” Virgil replied, gently pulling the paper out of the kid’s hand and scanning what he’d written. “We’re gonna go look for some books, but then I’m taking you back to the children’s section— uh, I mean the playzone— and Ms. Dot is gonna watch you until your dads are done, deal?”

The child nodded, watching Virgil with intensity, and the librarian gently ushered him to the side and led the two of them down a row of books.

“What’s your name?”

“Logan,” the little boy replied, running ahead a little and turning to wait for Virgil to catch up. “What’s your name?”

Virgil reached Logan at the end of the row just as he answered, “Virgil.”

Without warning, Logan darted ahead again, reaching the end of the next row before turning around to face him. “Daddy says I should call the li-berrians Mr., Ms., or Mx. What are you?”

“Mr. is okay,” Virgil replied, a little bemused by his childish bluntness. “And be careful, okay? I don’t want you to trip and hurt yourself.”

Logan trotted back to Virgil, walking backwards for a minute so he could look at Virgil while he talked. “I’m sorry for running, but I really want to find a book about baby names because my dads are busy making the babies’ bedroom and buying all of the baby clothes and toys and ex-cetera and I want to be a good big brother and I want my baby brothers to have names that are good but my dads are really busy and they don’t even know what they want to name the babies yet!”

Virgil smiled at the indignation in Logan’s little voice. Of course, he knew there were far more important preparations to make when expecting a new child (let alone two new children at the same time), but to a child as young as Logan, the name was probably the most important decision to be made.

“Well, they should be on the next shelf over, so let’s—”

Logan took off before Virgil could finish his sentence, running halfway down the row and looking at Virgil expectantly.

Virgil scoffed, an amused smile on his face. “Yeah, yeah, I’m coming.”

As he entered the row, he began scanning the numbers on instinct; he knew these stacks pretty well, but he didn’t have them memorized.

“Okay, 929.4,” he muttered to himself, bypassing books about genealogies before coming to the section for baby name books. “Here they are.”

Logan came towards him, standing on his tiptoes as he reached his arms up high.

“Mr. Virgil, may I please have the biggest book, please?”

Virgil looked back at the shelf, immediately seeing which book Logan was talking about. He pulled it out, holding it in both hands as he scanned the cover.

“‘Ten Thousand and One Baby Names For You’,” he recited, passing it down to Logan. “Is that enough names to choose from?”

Logan’s eyes were wide, struggling to open the heavy book while still keeping it in his arms. “I never even knew there were ten thousand and one names!”

“Same,” Virgil replied, helping Logan open the book without damaging it. “I think this book has lots of names from all over the world, plus some super old names from the last century.”

“Like the 1990s,” Logan said, nodding seriously, and Virgil had to pretend to cough to avoid laughing outright at the kid’s earnestness. He turned back to the shelf, pulling out a thinner yet still dense book.

“And this one is called ‘The Story Behind the Name’,” Virgil explained, holding it down to show Logan. “It tells you more about what the names mean, where all of the names came from… stuff like that.”

He held the book out for Logan to take, but to his shock the child was looking at him with something akin to distress.

“Do names mean things?”

Virgil blinked. “Oh! Uh, sometimes? Not really. But some names have things that they used to mean, a long time ago, but a lot of people don’t know what they meant. Like—”

He hastily flipped the book open to the ‘L’ section, skimming the page before he found what he was looking for.

“Like, ‘Logan’, for example, is an Scottish name,” he explained slowly, “and it apparently means… uh, ‘from the hollow’? Which, I don’t even really know what that means, so. It’s not that important nowadays.”

He looked back at Logan, who was looking into the distance with a pensive look on his face.

“But what if I give them a name that means something bad,” he pondered slowly, and Virgil’s stomach swooped at the idea that he’d just given this kid something to worry over.

“Well, here,” he said hurriedly, holding the second book out to Logan. “If you take this one, you can check that the names you pick mean good things. Some people like to choose names that remind them of something good, like nature or history or— or their favorite book characters.”

That perked Logan up, causing him to eye the book with a new interest. “Really?”

His gaze flicked between the second book, and the much larger book that he still held in his arms.

“I think I should take both,” he said after a long moment to think. “Just in case.”

He smiled up at Virgil, who literally couldn’t stop himself from smiling back if you’d paid him. Logan was just too darn cute.

“Well,” he said, “how about I carry your books and take you back to the playzone, and you can get started reading these before you check them out?”

Logan nodded, somewhat reluctantly handing Virgil his large book as the two made their way out of the nonfiction section. “That is a good idea, because I am already checking out a lot of chapter books and my book basket is full and so I think my dads will help me carry these books to the checkout counter because they’re really big books.”

“They sure are,” Virgil said conversationally, holding a hand out to stop Logan as another librarian walked by with a cart. Before he could take another step, however, he felt something small and soft wrap around his free hand. Virgil looked down to see Logan holding his hand in his own tiny grasp.

“Papa says I shouldn’t hold hands with strangers,” Logan informed him, idly swinging their hands together, “but I don’t think we’re strangers because I know your name and you know my name and you’re helping me carry my books because you are a nice li-berrian.”

Virgil felt an inexplicable surge of protectiveness over this child he’d met only fifteen minutes ago.

“Sure,” he replied softly, letting Logan continue to talk as the two walked hand in hand back to the populated side of the library.

He almost didn’t want to interrupt Logan when they did finally arrive at the playzone, but he wanted to make sure this kid got back to where he was supposed to be before his dads found out he’d left. Dot looked at him from behind Logan, her eyebrows raising at the sight of Virgil a) not behind his reference desk, and b) attached to the world’s chattiest five year old.

“Hey, Lo,” he gently interjected when Logan took a breath, kneeling down to be on the young boy’s level. “I’m gonna set your books down with your book basket, okay? Where is that?”

Logan paused, eyes flitting around the colorful rug. “Um… it’s… oh! It’s right there!”

Virgil’s eyes followed where Logan was pointing. There, on the ground next to one of the large plush sofas in the reading circle, was one of the library’s book baskets. From here, Virgil could see at least a dozen junior chapter books poking out of the basket.

“Oh!” Logan exclaimed, darting forward and grabbing the handle of the basket in both hands and tugging it back over to Virgil. “Mr. Virgil, look, I raised my hand and asked Ms. Dot if I could please have the storytime book to check out for a little bit because I liked it a lot, even though it’s not a mit-sery book, but it is about cephalopods and those are octopusses and squids and ex-cetera, and she told me to turn around and the shelf behind me had tons and tons of books about cephalopods, and I picked out this book because it has pit-chers but it’s not a pit-cher book, it has chapters, too—”

Logan flopped onto his butt in the middle of the carpet, pulling out each book one by one and explaining to Virgil exactly what it was about and how many chapters it had and how he couldn’t wait for bedtime so he and his dads could read them all together. He chattered on and on and on, and Virgil didn’t even realize when he joined Logan in sitting cross legged on the floor. He didn’t have to talk much, but every now and then Logan would actually pause to breathe, and Virgil would ask another question that set the young boy off onto an entirely different spiel that lasted another ten minutes.

It was so different from working at the reference desk, quiet and hidden and isolated. Different, but not bad.

“Mr. Virgil?”

Logan’s voice was suddenly quieter, and it snapped Virgil back to reality. He looked at the kid, who was looking at his own tiny hands folded neatly in his lap.

“Yeah, Logan?” Virgil asked. “Are you okay?”

Logan nodded. “Yes, thank you, I’m okay. I think you are maybe the nicest li-berrian ever.”

The sincerity in his little voice nearly made Virgil reel back in shock.

“Really?” he asked, and normally he might be embarrassed about how insecure his voice sounded after receiving a compliment from a five year old, but Logan nodded immediately.

“Yeah,” he replied. “Ms. Dot and all of the other li-berrians are nice but I think you are the nicest because I broke the rules and you didn’t tell my dads and you gave me the name books for my twin baby brothers and you let me hold your hand and I like talking about my books and you liked hearing me talk about them. So I think you are— I think you are the best li-berrian I ever met.”

Logan fell silent, looking down at his lap and fidgeting with his shirt hem, and Virgil was honestly a little speechless.

“Oh,” he said slowly. “Um, thank you, Logan. I think you are… the best reader I’ve ever met.”

No sooner were the words out of Virgil’s mouth that Logan looked up at him with wide-eyed shock.

“Really?” he squeaked. Virgil was literally going to get a cavity from all of this sugar.

“Yep,” he replied. “You’re smart and kind and you care a lot about your baby brothers. Your dads must be very proud of you.”

Each word of praise was brightening Logan up bit by bit, and he switched to sitting on his knees and bouncing up and down.

“Will you play checkers with me?” he asked, hands flapping in excitement. “I always want to play checkers but Ms. Dot says I’m not old enough, but you’re definitely old enough, right?”

Virgil laughed outright at that. He thought about his reference desk, sitting unoccupied on the other side of the library. He looked at Logan.

“Sure, kid,” he replied, standing up with Logan’s book basket. Logan grabbed his free hand, and Virgil let him lead them both to the game table, Logan already explaining the rules in anticipation.

Yeah. Different, but not bad. Not bad at all.

~

Post notes: As promised, here's the guide to Logan's incorrect words!

Sugar-ette: Surrogate Set-member: September Mit-sery: Mystery Li-berry: Library Li-berrian: Librarian Ex-cetera: Et cetera Pit-chers: Pictures

[the-bee-is-lost]

Snake's Day Off

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This is my birthday fic for Janus because, well, I wanted to. So enjoy.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The moment Janus woke up he knew something was off. Something in the air was different. Sticking his tongue out Janus began to investigate, snapping his regular clothes on to avoid getting accosted due to his Slytherin pajamas. 

Making his way to the common area Janus found what was different. Patton was in the kitchen (being closely monitored by Virgil, who could actually cook quite nicely) making something. 

Sauntering into the kitchen Janus leaned against the counter. "What are you making, Patton?" He asked. 

Looking up Patton grinned widely at the snakely side that just joined them. Virgil on the other hand, was not as pleased, resisting the urge to hiss at Janus. 

"Oh Janus! Just the side I needed to see!" 

"You needed to see me? Why?" 

"What flavor icing do you want?"

That caught Janus off guard. "What?" 

"What kind of icing do you want for your birthday cake?" Patton asked again, head tilting to the side slightly in confusion. 

Janus's mind whirled at a thousand miles per hour, eventually catching up to the situation at hand. "Oh-" he eventually said. "My birthday, that's- that's today." 

"Did you actually forget your own birthday?" Virgil snorted. 

"I *didn't* forget my birthday," Janus hissed. It was quite convincing, for Patton at least. Virgil just shook his head. 

"Sure Jan," 

Janus rolled his eyes, but eventually looked back to Patton. He hesitated for a moment before deciding. "Vanilla." 

With a nod of satisfaction Patton went back to his baking. 

~~~~~~~

A few hours later Janus found himself in his room, arms full of gifts, and stomach full of cake. Setting down the gifts on the floor Janus sat to open them. 

He had chosen to open them in here alone for two reasons. 1) everyone was practically ushering him out of the room so he could spend the day alone, relaxing. And 2) he wasn't sure if he would be able to keep from not crying as he opened them. 

The first present was wrapped in red paper, and was fairly small. Opening it he found a small golden necklace in a box. A delicate snake wrapped its way around the black gem on the necklace, and Janus immediately put it on. 

The next one he opened was in a large blue bag. He pulled out a large, soft object, finding it had a cord. It was a heated blanket, and Janus had to stop himself from hissing in delight. That wasn't the only thing in the bag though, and at the bottom he found a very large bottle of red wine.

The next blue bag was smaller, but just as soft. Inside was a bulky yellow sweater. A note came with it, falling into Janus's lap. 

'I hope you like it! I made it myself!' 

It read, in Patton's messy handwriting. Inspecting it closer Janus found that it didn't only have two arm holes, it had six. That alone almost made him cry. 

With only two presents left Janus reached for the one that wasn't even fully wrapped. It was clearly an egg carton, wrapped in the largest piece of snake skin Janus had ever seen. Carefully he unwrapped the skin, setting it to the side. Inside of the egg carton was the most amazing wine glass Janus had ever seen.

It was a greenish color, and the handle, which came to the bottom of the cup part, was the sandworm from the movie Beetlejuice. 

Grinning Janus uncorked the wine he had gotten from Logan, and poured some into the glass. As he drank he opened the last gift. 

It was on the smaller side, and it was mostly flat. Pulling the purple wrapping paper off of it Janus's eyes went wide at the leather bound journal that he held. Black ink was spilled on the front cover, but it looked like it was done on purpose, into the shape of an eye. 

The front page had a note. 

'Sorry for being a dick to you, even though you deserve it sometimes. Happy birthday or whatever, you're old.' 

A few years seemed to fall down Janus's human cheek, and after wiping them off he the deceitful side chugged the remains of the first glass of wine. 

He sat there for a while, but ended up getting up eventually. "Alright, ssssssself care time." 

~~~~~~~~

Hours later Janus left his room, going back to the central common room to thank the others for their gifts, and for leaving him be for the day. He was honestly surprised that they had lasted the full day without him having to yell at him. 

But when he walked into the living room, he understood why there had been no complications. 

The room was a wreck. The coffee table was shattered, the TV was on the floor, all pictures had fallen from the walls, and there was stuff everywhere. In the middle of the room, sat Roman, Remus, and Patton, all tied in a circle. 

On the couch, was Logan. He stared at the three people who were tied in the center of the room, unmoving. 

"Uh, Logan, are you alright?" Janus asked, wearily staying in the room, when all of his senses were telling him to run. 

Meeting Logan's gaze, Janus almost swore he could see thousands of burning souls in Logan's eyes. 

"I am keeping them quiet." 

There was a pause, Logan not saying anything else aside from his one deadpan sentence. That was when Janus's fight or flight reflexes finally kicked in. "I see. Well, thank you for keeping them out of my hair for the day." 

And with that Janus turned right around, and went straight back to his room. 

Sitting down on his bed he tried to wrap his head around what had just happened. Eventually he reached for his phone, searching his contacts. 

After a short dial tone a voice on the other end of the line picked up. 

"Emile Picani, Imagination Therapist, do you how do?" 

"Yes, hi. I am Janus, and I was calling to see if you had any openings for a friend of mine?" 

There was a pause and a typing of computer keys. "I can see him tomorrow morning, or Friday afternoon-" 

"Tomorrow will be great. I'll make sure he is there, thank you!" 

And with that, Janus hung up. 

[starlocked01]

I’ll Stay Awake (because the dark’s not taking prisoners tonight)

AO3

Masterpost- Previous- Next

Summary: Virgil doesn't get to meet his soulmates each night. No, he has nightmares. His roommate decides to stage an intervention.

A/N: I’m not even going to pretend I was close to representing actual therapy. I really probably should have done more research and I’m sorry v-v

Content Warnings: Cussing, Nightmares, Self-harm, Depictions of drowning, Panic, Paralysis, Anxiety Medications

Day 12 Anxceitmus (background Logicality)- You meet your soulmates each night in your dreams

"You can run, but you can't hide, bitch!"

Virgil tore through the broken landscape, avoiding holes in the floor and checking around every corner. The demon with glowing green eyes pursued relentlessly, cackling laughter peeling off the rusted metal surfaces and echoing so that he couldn’t tell where the source was coming from. All Virgil could do was keep running.

He rounded a corner and found himself face to face with a half-man half-snake, the face grotesquely split between each form. The human hand raised up toward him. Virgil backpedaled to escape its grasp.

"Sssstop!" the creature hissed. Virgil pulled his hoodie around his face and screamed.

He bolted upright in bed, still screaming. His roommate groaned and rolled over, turning on a lamp on his nightstand.

"Another nightmare, kiddo?" Patton looked a lot less caring than he sounded.

"Sorry," Virgil whimpered, fidgeting with his bed covers.

"Logan and I are pretty used to being interrupted by now. I just wish you could meet your soulmate instead of having these awful, scary nightmares," Patton yawned, "I'll leave the light on for you, maybe that will help." Patton rolled back over and was snoring in minutes.

Virgil sat in bed, unable and unwilling to fall back asleep. To keep himself awake he blasted music through his headphones and scratched at his skin. 

When the morning alarm rang out, Patton yawned and stretched out of the bed only to find Virgil up and working on homework. The dark bags under his eyes gave him away. Patton frowned and walked over, laying a hand on the boy's shoulder. Virgil jerked back, breathing hard, shaking off Patton's hand and tipping the chair dangerously close to falling back.

"Hey kiddo, how'd you sleep?" Patton smiled but Virgil only growled in response, flipping up his hood to hide his face. "Aww, I'm sorry."

"I'll be fine," Virgil glared at Patton and opened his desk drawer. Inside was filled with energy drinks. He grabbed three, stuffing two in his backpack and cracking open the third.

"Virgil, I'm worried about you."

"Well, don't."

Patton sighed and started getting ready for his day.

Virgil finished his drink before his 8 am calc class. By 8:15 he was already cracking open the second one.

Virgil sat with Logan and Patton during his lunch break, picking at a bowl of soup that was nearly unidentifiable.

"Virgil, Patton told me you didn't sleep again last night," Logan stated matter-of-factly.

"What do you care, wonder nerd?" Virgil bit back.

"We're your friends and we're worried about you, Virge," Patton smiled sadly.

"Honestly you might need professional help. You should look into a therapist to talk with about the nightmares. You can't live on sugary caffeinated drinks forever," Logan reprimanded him. Virgil glared at Logan.

"I know a guy who's really easy to talk to. At least try?" Patton tried to make eye contact but Virgil emphatically ignored him. Patton sighed, "whatever, we just want you to be able to take care of yourself and not scratch yourself raw every night. If you decide to try, here's Dr. Picani's number." Patton slid a slip of paper across the table to a stunned Virgil.

"How did you know?" he asked quietly.

"I just know what I'm looking for when it comes to that kind of stuff," Patton looked uncomfortable and Logan placed a comforting hand on his back.

"Okay.. thanks," Virgil didn’t look up as he gathered his stuff to leave the cafeteria.

Virgil felt locked in his car. All he had to do was get out and walk inside the office building, but he felt paralyzed in the driver's seat. This was such a bad idea. There was no way this would help. He needed to get out of there go home and pack up and get on the next flight out of the country and hope that no one ever tried to talk to him agai-

His phone rang. He didn't recognize the number but answered on autopilot.

"Hello, Virgil Strike speaking."   

"Hello, Virgil! This is Dr. Picani. I'm just calling because our session was scheduled to start at 4 but you're still sitting out in your car-" Virgil looked up and could see a man in the building window on the phone waving to him, "-are you okay? Do you need to reschedule?"

"No, I'm sorry, I-. I'll be in in a minute," Virgil waved back and disconnected the call. After a herculean effort, he made his way inside and was greeted by Dr. Picani who led him back to his office.

"Now, Virgil, I think I'll spare you my normal introduction," Picani grinned at the inside joke with himself, "this is a safe place for you to say anything. Nothing you tell me leaves this room unless you talk with someone else about it. Understand?" Virgil nodded. His pulse was spiking but Picani's calm demeanor helped immensely. 

"Alright, so let's get to know each other a little bit! What's your favorite cartoon?" the doctor grinned widely as though this were a completely normal question to ask.

"Uhhh does anime count? If not I'd have to say 'Happy Tree Friends'," Virgil stared the doctor in the eye as he jotted down the answer.

"Edgy! What about Spongebob?" The smile on his face never broke. They continued to talk until Dr. Picani worked the conversation around to why Virgil decided to come to therapy.

"My roommate and his soulmate think my lifestyle is pretty unhealthy, and it only really got bad when I started having nightmares instead of dreams after my birthday," Virgil scratched the back of his neck. It was hard to admit that he hadn't had a soulmate dream like everyone else did after their 18th birthday. To his surprise, the therapist didn't laugh or scoff.

"And how are the nightmares affecting you?"

"Well, I usually wake up screaming in the middle of the night and can't let myself go back to sleep. I'm lucky if I get 3 hours a night. Which means I'm falling asleep in Calc almost every day, not that I'm behind in class, and I drink a lot of coffee and energy drinks," Virgil paused and took a huge breath, "and this has become kinda a problem." He pulled up the sleeve of his hoodie to show the therapist the scratches and scars on his arm. "It's not like cutting! I just kinda scratch to keep myself from falling back asleep after the nightmares."

"Oh my, your friends were right, Virgil. This is very unhealthy. I'm glad you took their advice and came in," Dr. Picani smiled warmly to reassure Virgil. They spoke for the rest of the hour and just before Virgil left the doctor spoke up again, "Virgil, I'd like you to try an over the counter anxiety medication. We may need to get you a prescription for something that's stronger but I'd like you to try something over the counter first to see if you feel better. I think your anxieties are affecting your dreams. Maybe we can take that edge off so you can get some more sleep, which will have a domino effect on everything else. Maybe with better sleep, you can work on using less caffeine, which will help you feel calmer. Let me know how it works when you come in next week."

Virgil nodded hesitantly but stopped at a pharmacy on the way home anyway. He was ready to try anything at this point. 

Patton was waiting when he got back to the dorm. 

"How'd it go?" he asked with a bright smile.

"Doc's weird… but I think it's going to help," Virgil smiled back, setting his bottle of pills on his desk. 

Virgil popped two of the pills. Patton had gone to sleep already and was happily dreaming. Probably talking with Logan too.  Virgil settled into bed, uncertain of what the night would bring.

Virgil’s legs and feet were bound together with a thick tentacle that pulled him beneath the water before he could cry for help. Dragged underneath, Virgil found his lungs filling with water, but then discovered he could breathe the water without his body screaming for air. The tentacle dragged him deeper and deeper into the murky water.

After what felt like an eternity, Virgil could see a giant pair of green eyes reflecting in the formless dark. He kicked and struggled against the creature.

"I've got you now! Stop struggling, you emo nightmare!" a voice growled from the darkness.

"Let me GO!" Virgil cried out, tearing at the tentacle with his hands. The grip on his legs loosened and he kicked free, swimming towards the surface.

Rising to the surface, Virgil was tossed by the waves onto a sandy beach. He coughed up the seawater and laid on his back, sun burning down on him. Too hot. He couldn't move as the sand baked around him. 

A cool, smooth sensation crept up his foot and leg. Virgil couldn't move to see what it was as it moved up his torso. He heard a soft hissing and opened his eyes to find a yellow snake staring back at him. He tried to scream but had no voice, tried to throw the snake off but couldn't move. 

The snake… shook its head?

"Honessstly, why do you keep avoiding usss?" the snake spoke with a lisping voice.

Virgil found his and replied, "what the hell do you want with me?" His eyes were wide with fear.

"You haven't figured it out? We're your sssoulmatesss."

Virgil sat up in bed in a cold sweat. The bedside clock showed it was much later than he normally woke up in terror. Patton slept undisturbed. Virgil felt almost calm enough to go back to sleep. Not that he wanted to if his soulmates were monsters.

Over the next few weeks, Virgil used over the counter anxiety medication regularly. He felt a lot calmer in class and the nightmares were a lot less terrifying. 

After a few sessions with Dr. Picani, Virgil picked up prescription medication and felt immensely more relaxed.

The landscape was still hellish and broken. Virgil didn’t feel like running. Instead of a demon, a boy his age with gorgeous green eyes and a streak of silver in his brown hair rounded the corner, ready for the chase.

"Alright let's fucking do- wait you aren't running," the boy looked confused and a little disappointed.

"You aren't a demon so why would I run?" Virgil shrugged.

"Oh my god, finally! Let's go find Double D," the boy grabbed Virgil by the wrist and started dragging him down the hall.

"What's your name?" Virgil asked, catching up to the other and twisting his hand so they were holding hands.

"Ooh you're fresh!" he chuckled, "just wait until we find Double D."

"Who's Double D?"

"Our other soulmate."

"Woah two soulmates?"

"Yeah, neat huh?"

"Sure, why 'Double D'?"

The boy stopped walking and turned to face Virgil, "we were waiting for you to tell each other our names and you took your sweet time so we gave each other nicknames. That's why you're Emo Nightmare and he's Double D."

"So what are you called?"

The boy grinned manically, "Fucker."

They continued walking through the twisted halls until they found another boy with one golden brown eye and one dark brown eye smiling at them as they rounded the corner.

"There you are. Did you finally catch him?" He asked in a silky smooth voice.

"Nah, for once the emo didn't want to run," the green-eyed boy grinned.

"Well maybe you two shouldn't have acted like monsters," Virgil smirked, "so, who are you guys?"

The green-eyed boy was practically bouncing out of his shoes, "I'm Remus!" he blurted out.

"My name is Janus," Janus held out a hand to Virgil, "and you are?"

"Not telling you," Virgil laughed at the scowls each of them gave them, "I'm kidding. My name is Virgil. It's good to meet you guys."

"Likewise," Janus grinned as Virgil took his hand.   

Remus picked them both up in a strong vise-like hug and twirled them around. They continued to talk the rest of the night, agreeing just before they woke up to not exchange direct addresses or phone numbers until they all met in person.

Virgil woke up more refreshed than ever, excited to find his soulmates in real life. Occasionally the dreams still started as nightmares but he was able to recognize Janus and Remus in the terrors and they could help talk him down from the fear. Each night they got to know each other better, talking about school and work and hobbies and everything else they could think of.

One day when a stranger with two different colored eyes sat down across from Virgil in the cafeteria, it felt as though Virgil had known him his whole life. 

Tag List: @stoicpanther @ifrickenhatedeverythingaboutthis @tsshipmonth2020

[collapsingintojupiter]

Sunshine and Stormclouds: Chapter 15

Catch up: Chapter 1  Chapter 1.5  Chapter 2  Chapter 3  Chapter 4  Chapter 5  Chapter 6  Chapter 7  Chapter 8  Chapter 9  Chapter 10   Chapter 11  Chapter 12  Chapter 13  Chapter 14

Summary:

It’s Roman’s birthday. Though his biological parents may not be there for him, his friends are. 

Characters: Roman Sanders, Emile Picani, Scout (oc), Virgil Sanders, Logan Sanders, (baby) Patton.

TW: This is little more than tooth-rotting fluff. You’re good (though of course, message me if you’d like me to put something here).

---

    It had been a long day; following an even longer night. Virgil slumped against the couch, eyes closed, his hoodie drawn up over his shoulders. Patton busied himself on the floor nearby, dressing up his bunny in a little blue doll’s dress. Several other stuffed animals that Remy had bought (though the pink bunny by far remained his favorite) lay scattered around him, and a few more assortments of doll’s clothing. 

    Remy said that Patton had a good fashion taste. Even Logan couldn’t disagree. 

    Virgil’s eyes were shut, but he was awake - unfortunate as that was - listening to Patton as he finished arranging the dress on his bunny. Once he was happy with it, he moved on to a puppy dog plush. This one he wrapped - awkwardly, with his chubby fingers - in a sparkly bit of pink cloth. Patton fiddled with that until he was content, talking to “Acha” as he arranged the scarf around the dog’s neck and body. 

    Then, a knock sounded at the door. 

    “Hrggyph,” Virgil muttered to nothing in particular, and slowly opened an eye. The bit of pale pink material he saw through part of the visible window was definitely not Roman’s, and Logan wouldn’t be caught dead in such a vibrant color. 

    So who...

    Wonder if they’ll go away, Virgil thought tiredly. A few seconds later, however, whoever it was knocked again. Dammit.  

He sighed. Slowly, he picked himself up from the couch, and Patton jumped up to grab his arm as he started for the door. 

    “Is Daddy home?” he asked, grabbing Virgil’s hand in one of his little ones. His dog plush dangled precariously from the other, the pink tip dragging on the floor.

    “I don’t think so, buddy,” Virgil said. Patton turned and held up his arms; his father smiled to himself as he picked the boy up. He opened the door. 

    “Oh, you’re home!” The excited voice belonged to somebody Virgil had seen before, but he wasn’t quite sure who. It was a younger boy, about Roman’s age, with crooked glasses, curly hair the color of rust, and soft brown eyes. He wore a pale pink sweater, black jeans, and a bright smile. Behind him stood another kid, though the last time Virgil saw them, he was pretty sure they’d been a pirate. Now however, they wore wearing a button-up covered in stars, ripped jeans, and converse that had been painted in a familiar style. Over all that, a too-big camo jacket that clashed with everything rested on their shoulder. 

    “Emile?” Virgil asked at last. “And...Scout?”

    “That’s us,” Scout answered with a nod. They nudged Emile, who started and blinked before nodding.

    “Right! Uh, Mr. Virgil, I think you remember us from that time we were at your house back on Halloween?” Virgil nodded, and his smile somehow got wider. “Awesome! Um, so...this might be a bit weird, but Roman’s birthday is tomorrow, and we’re...uh, we’re trying to plan something special for him. And he talks about you guys all the time, um...do you think you could help us?”

    ...forget sleep. Sleep could wait. 

    “Come on in,” Virgil said. He turned, gently setting Patton down so he could pull out his phone. Scout and Emile quickly knelt down, keeping his son busy as he placed a call to Remy. 

    “Hey, I need you over here stat,” he said as soon as the barista answered. 

    “Is something wrong?” he asked. 

    “Nothing bad, Rem,” Virgil assured. “Um, Emile and Scout are here; they told me Roman’s birthday is tomorrow. We’re gonna need your help.” 

    Remy’s response was instant.

    “Say no more, I’m on my way,” he said. Before Virgil could say anything else, he hung up. 

    “Who was that?” Scout asked as he put his phone back in his pocket. Virgil chuckled. 

    “You remember the Dragon Witch on Halloween?”

    “Yeah?”

    “He’s on his way now. Much better at this stuff than I am.” Virgil checked his watch, hid a yawn, then glanced at the two kids again. “My husband should be back in about an hour from school. He’ll also be more than willing to help. Don’t worry, we’ll get this figured out.”

    “Yes!” Emile grinned widely, wiggling in excitement. “We’re gonna make Roman so happy!”

    Virgil felt his heart warm as he sat down with the kids to wait, whereupon Patton came over and crawled into his lap. “Where is Roman now?” he asked, helping his son sit up. 

    “He said he had to help his mom with something,” Scout said. Their voice sounded tense; like they knew what he did - what he knew only because of the horrible nights he’d faced alone, with drunken laughter downstairs and his stomach cringing with hunger. Virgil shook his head violently, and a shiver twirled down his spine. He focused instead on staring at Scout’s shoes. They were black, spots of paint that looked like stars and planets. He bet it was Roman’s work.

    Soon enough, someone knocked at the door again.

    “The Dragon Witch!” Emile exclaimed, and jumped from his seat. The knock came again, before Remy flung the door open and strode inside with a grin and a wink. 

    “Well well well,” he said. “I hear there’s a birthday party we need to plan.”

    “Hell yeah,” Scout said, and Emile grinned. 

    “It’s Roman’s birthday tomorrow, and we wanna do something special for him,” he explained. Remy nodded. 

    “Good. He needs good friends like you,” he said. He looked at Virgil. “I think it’s time to go shopping. We’ll get the supplies…” he glanced at Scout and Emile, “...when you two get out of school tomorrow, I’ll pick you up. We’ll set everything up then for Roman.”

    “How will we get him over here?” Virgil asked. 

    “He’s your babysitter, you tell me.”

    “That could work.” Virgil nodded, taking Patton in his arms as he stood up. “Alright, so…”

    “We need to divide and conquer,” Remy said. “Decorations and preparation, and gifts.”

    “Logan’s very good at that,” Virgil said. “-Decoration, I mean, and I’m sure he’ll be happy to do it for Roman.”

    “I’ll text him. Scout, Emile - what do you two want to help with?”

    “I’m good at decorations,” Emile said. Scout nodded. 

    “That he is. And I know what he likes.”

    Alright - so Emile, you’ll be with me, then, and Scout will go with Virgil. Sound good to you?”

    The two kids nodded. 

    “Excellent! Let’s get this boy of ours a birthday party!”

---

        What the hell was so special about a birthday, anyway? Roman sighed, burying his head in his arms. At the front of the classroom, a history teacher droned on about something he didn’t remember; wouldn’t remember. Recently his mother had gotten a job, somehow, and was now even nastier than usual when she wasn’t drunk. Roman didn’t want to go home; he was tired; and everything ached. 

    At least...at least, he got to babysit Patton again today. Roman stared at his fingernails; at the chipped edges, and ignored his classmates. The teacher continued to drone. The clock was getting closer to three, but it wasn’t there yet. 

    Finally, the bell rang. 

    Roman let out another sigh; he got his backpack and slung it around his shoulder, and started tiredly for the door. 

    Outside it was frigid, and though his jacket was warm it wasn’t warm enough. He’d forgotten his warmer one. Roman wondered how the puppy was; how Emile was. Briefly, the thought allowed him to smile. Maybe Remy would be at Virgil and Logan’s house, and let him see Prince. That would be nice. He reached up, tracing the embroidered letters with his finger. Prince. 

    He didn’t feel like a prince. 

    He couldn’t feel much of his hands or face by the time he came to the street where the Sanders lived, kicking at stones as he passed Mr. D’s house. He saw the older man in the window, staring at him. There was something unsettling about it, that he couldn’t put words to. Roman shivered and continued. 

    He stopped at the familiar blue door, adjusted his backpack straps, and knocked. 

    “SURPRISE!” The enthusiastic shout ripped him out of his thoughts with a force that nearly knocked him sideways; as it was Roman jumped, letting out a startled yelp. 

    “Happy birthday!” Emile and Scout shrieked in unison, sharing excited smiles as they rushed forward to greet him. Roman’s eyes widened, and he found himself laughing as they hugged him - Emile’s gentle touch, and Scout’s bone crushing grip.

    “You-you guys knew?” he asked at last, overwhelmed by the streamers and people, and Logan and Virgil smiling at him...and was Remy holding a cake?

    “Of course we did!” Scout laughed and punched his shoulder, then grabbed his hand and tugged him inside. “C’mon, you gotta try the cake we made. Well, Emile made it. Either way it’s good.”   

    Something small and furry ran up to him, barking and wagging its tail. 

    “PRINCE!” Roman yelped. He dropped to his knees by the puppy’s side, and it leapt into his lap to enthusiastically lick his face. He cradled the pup in his arms, gently running his hands along its soft black and brown fur. Prince was already bigger than it had been when he’d found it, with floppy ears and a goofy smile.

    “We think he’s a mutt,” Remy had said. Roman didn’t care - he loved the pup regardless.

    “Happy birthday to you…” his eyes widened as the others started singing to him, and he scrambled to his feet with Prince still in his arms--holy shit, he thought. How did they all have such beautiful voices? Logan, the stiff teacher and Virgil...their voices swelled in a perfectly complimenting harmony, leading the group in the song. Remy’s voice followed, a pure tenor; and Emile - though his voice was softer than the others, he sounded just like an angel to Roman. 

    He tried not to cry but he did, and as the others stopped singing Scout grabbed him in a hug, letting him bury his face in their sweatshirt. There they held him until he was breathing steadily again, and they let go; the others had gathered in the kitchen and smiled at him. 

    “Hope you’re hungry Roman!” Remy announced, and gestured to the dining room table where several boxes of pizza and tubs of ice cream had been lined up in a neat row. Roman’s jaw dropped, and the others grinned. 

    “Everybody get your fill; then we’ll meet in the living room. We got a movie ready to play and presents ready to open.”

    “Presents!?” Roman blurted, then slapped a hand over his mouth. Virgil chuckled good-naturedly, and even Logan smiled. 

    “That’s right!” Remy said. “Just for you, my boy!”

    “Let’s get pizza!” Emile took Roman’s hand, and he felt himself melting into the other boy’s embrace as he pulled him towards the table. “Look, see? We ordered your favorite!”

    “Olive pizza!” Roman’s face broke into an open-mouthed look of amazement, and after gently setting Prince down he reached out and piled several slices onto his plate. Scout and Emile joined him; Remy followed with a wide smile, and Virgil and Logan took up the line in the back. Balloons crowded against each other on the ceiling; their strings dangled down in front of him. Roman looked up, and shades of gold and white and red looked back. He smiled. 

    “Guess what movie we’re gonna watch?” Emile asked as they sat down. Roman raised an eyebrow at him, unable to contain the happy expression on his face. 

    “What movie?” he asked. Scout sat down on his other side, yawning and leaning against his shoulder. Emile leaned against his other side, and gave him a look to melt his heart all over again. 

    “Beauty and the Beast!” he giggled. “Your favorite!”

    “How did you-”

    “I told him,” Scout said, grinning at the look of dumbfoundment on his face. They took a bite out of their mushroom pizza (ew) as Virgil and Logan entered. They took the other sofa, seating Patton between them with his little slice of cheese pizza. Remy was the last to come in, pepperoni his choice of the evening. He sat down, and Virgil got the remote and started the movie. 

    It was better than Roman remembered. The colors seemed brighter, and better, and warmer. Maybe that was Scout and Emile, leaning against him as if to chase away the cold that had settled into his bones, or Emile’s laughter that was soft and sweet like bells; like sugar pastries and autumn mornings where the sun’s warmth is gentle on your back. Scout’s, on the other hand, was sharp, like dogs barking in the dead of night and icicles shattering on the sidewalk. 

    He loved them both. 

    Roman knew what Scout knew though, that he was hopelessly in love with the Picani boy. He loved everything about him - his soft curls, and big eyes, and round glasses that always sat crookedly on his nose no matter how many times he fiddled with the frames. He loved his smile, and his laugh, and his voice.

    And when the other boy leaned against him, and gently reached out to hold his hand...Roman felt like he knew what Heaven was. 

    Scout glanced at him, chuckled to themself at his happy expression, and turned back towards the TV. Together they watched the story play out, laughing and joking and sharing goofy smiles with each other as they discussed the scenes. They all booed at Gaston, and agreed that the candlestick and clock were very much gay. 

    And then, all too soon, it was over. The credits rolled and Roman let out a soft sigh, feeling Emile’s chest rise and fall as he breathed - fast asleep against his shoulder. Their paper plates were stacked on the coffee table - the pizza long gone - and Virgil held Patton. The little boy had also fallen asleep, and slept contentedly in his father’s arms. 

    “I’ll go put him in his room,” Virgil said at last, his voice soft. “Then you can open your presents, Roman.”

    The presents! Roman realized, suddenly, that he’d forgotten all about those. Remy noticed the look on his face and laughed, which startled Emile awake. He muttered something under his breath, yawned, and looked up into Roman’s eyes. 

    God he’s so cute. 

    Roman smiled at him, and Emile smiled back. Then he reached up, and lightly tapped his nose. 

    “Boop!” he giggled. Roman felt his face turn an embarrassing shade of red, and he ducked to try and hide it - which would’ve been fine, had Emile’s hand not gotten tangled up in his hair. The next thing he knew they were both doubled over with laughter, and Emile was attempting to squeak out an apology in between gasps for air. When they finally recovered Roman saw Scout, leaning back and shaking their head; they were laughing too, and Remy and Logan shared a look that was both amused and affectionate. Virgil came back into the room, saw the spectacle, and let out a sigh. He too, however, failed to hide a smile as he sat down. 

    Emile struggled to compose himself with the others, one hand clasping Roman’s shoulder. His glasses looked more crooked than ever; his messy curls tangled and dangling over the rims. Eventually, he pulled himself upright. 

    “Present time!” he yelped, and burst out laughing again. Roman and Scout joined in, as the adults brought out a small collection of somethings and set it on the floor and coffee table in front of him.

    Once he’d finally calmed himself, Roman slid off the couch to kneel in front of his presents. Remy set Prince down and the puppy ran over to join him - his heart felt so warm and full he thought it might burst, looking over the shiny wrapping paper and the kind expressions in Virgil and Logan’s eyes. Gingerly, he reached out and took the first gift. 

From Remy, it said. He gently pulled away the red and gold wrapping, and his eyes widened at the colors upon colors upon colors of nail polish he found packed neatly into a black and red nail kit bag. On the top of the bag, his name was embroidered: Roman, in swirling gold type. 

    “I love it!” he cried, and gently picked up one of the colors - a shimmering beetle green - before putting it back. He couldn’t wait to try it out.

    The next present was...well, he knew Scout had tried, at least. Paper wrapping wasn’t exactly their specialty. Nonetheless Roman unwrapped it gently, and hugged the new sketchpad that revealed itself to his chest. 

    “There’s also some stickers inside for you,” they said - were they nervous? What a strange thought; but Roman couldn’t deny the slight tremble; the tingle of anxiety in their voice. He smiled at them. 

    “I can’t wait to draw in it,” he said. “This is the perfect size.”

    From Logan, read the third gift, tagged neatly with a sharpie. The wrapping paper revealed something soft, and something not - new gloves, in his favorite shade of red, and a book. It claimed to be a fantasy book, and Roman felt tears stinging his eyes as he looked over the cover. He imagined Logan, standing in the fantasy section of a bookstore, with no idea of what any of the books contained. 

    “This one was rated very highly,” Logan explained matter-of-factly. “I do...hope that you enjoy it.”

    “Thank you,” Roman said softly, trying to blink away the tears. The gloves and book he gently set aside - somehow, Logan must have realized that his old ones were worn. 

    Two presents remained. He picked up one of them; From Virgil, it said. The paper presented a box when he pulled it away; inside the box was a soft puppy plush that was black and brown just like Prince, with a red bandana around its neck. The word Prince was hastily stitched onto it in yellow, and as he looked up at Virgil the father glanced aside. 

    “I...I’m sorry you can’t keep the real one,” was all he said, in a terribly soft voice. There were tears in his eyes too, Roman realized. “I hope this helps.”

    “It...it does,” he said. He hugged the plush dog close, and sniffled; with his other hand he gently petted the real dog. “Thank you, Virgil.”

    “Of course.”

    The last present was Emile’s. Roman hesitantly reached for it; he felt Emile tense as he pulled the paper away - it was a beanie. A soft one, with stripes of blue, yellow, and pink. Roman’s eyes widened, and he looked abruptly up at Emile. 

    “You...you made this?” he asked softly. 

    “Yeah. I hope it’s okay? I tried to make it as close to your flag as possible, and I-” he was cut off as Roman crashed into him, wrapping his arms around the other boy’s shoulders and hugging him tightly. 

    “I love it,” he whispered, and now he really was crying. “Thank you...thank you all so much.”

    He felt the warmth of another body beside him, and Roman opened one eye to see that Scout had joined the hug. Then Remy came over, followed by Virgil, and soon even Logan joined the group. Though Roman sort of expected it to be awkward...it felt really nice, surrounded by everybody he loved and who loved him in return. He felt himself smile 

    Thank you guys, for the best birthday ever.

[skeletaldarling]

Chase The Fire Away 8

The Bookshop 

AO3

Prologue

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Summary: Patton wonders what it would be like to tell his dads about his powers. 

Ship: Lomile, implied future Intruality, Roceit, mentioned Sleepxiety 

Word Count: 1381 

Warnings: Dark sides (but I might stop adding this warning, they’re in the whole series- I’ll always tag the characters though!), witchcraft and vampires, swearing, god it’s really pretty mild the warnings don’t represent that very well lmao 

Patton was doodling kittens on the corner of the newspaper while his dads made lunch together in the kitchen. Logan smirked at his husband while Emile hugged him from behind. He poked his sides affectionately. “What can I do?”

“I think you’re good right there,” Logan said. He poked the grilled cheeses with a spatula before turning them over in the pan. 

Emile cooed and kissed his neck. “You’re being sweet.”

“You’re being cute.” Logan shot back. Emile smiled and squeezed him tighter. He rested his chin on the vampire’s shoulder. 

Patton watched them for a moment before returning to his drawing. He gave one of the cats a little witch hat and stared at it. He should really tell his dads about his powers. Patton tried not to groan at the thought. Yes, Logan was a vampire. Yes, they were both super cool and accepting. And yes, they deserve to know what’s going on. But the thought of telling anyone that he was a freaking witch just made Patton feel silly. 

Patton chewed on his lip anxiously as the thought of Emile and Logan laughing at him swirled around his mind. 

“Pumpkin?” 

Patton’s head flicked up to see Emile looking at him, holding two plates with lunch. “Honey, are you okay? You totally spaced out on me.” 

“I’m fine,” Patton said quickly. “Sorry.”

“No no, not at all,” Emile reassured. “It’s okay, sweetpea. Have some lunch.” He offered the plate again. 

Patton took it from him with a small smile. “Thanks, Dad.”

Logan hovered his hand over Emile’s waist and guided them to the table. The small family sat down together and ate quietly. Logan had one hand on Emile’s back, as he often did. He looked over at Patton. “Have you talked to Remus today?”

Patton swallowed and tried to pretend he wasn’t blushing. “... Yeah. Why?”

Logan smirked and Emile hid a giggle behind his hand. “Ooh-ooh!” he smiled. “You’re blushing…”

“Shut up!”

Logan smiled and kept his eyes on his food. “Fine, fine. But I know that Remus is coming in tomorrow if you want to come to work with me.” 

Patton did end up going to work with his dad, he’d only been to the shop a couple of times but it was really pretty and he did love it. Logan was sitting at the counter, reading something and hoping they had few customers. Roman was sitting on top of a table, flicking through a book of old looking illustrations. 

In the back of the shop, Remus was adjusting the arrangements while Patton perched on a stool, watching. He watched one of the candles on a shelf, they were unlit, just sitting there. 

Remus pulled back and studied his new arrangement. He looked around and caught sight of a book by Patton that needed to go somewhere. “Hey can I just grab this- thanks.” he leaned over Patton, their shoulders bumping together. 

Patton’s breath hitched. They were so close, god he liked Remus so much. He bit his lip until Remus drew back and he relaxed. 

“Holy shit, pancake did you do that?” 

Patton looked up, “what?”

Remus pointed at the candles on the other side of the room. “They weren’t lit before.” 

Patton swallowed. “Um… maybe. I’m not sure.”

Remus laughed, offering a high five. “Nice one! Can you do it again?”

“I’m not sure…” 

“No no no! Doubt ruins it!” Remus grabbed Patton’s hands and squeezed them. “C’mon. Get rid of the bad vibes, Pancake. Only happy feelings are allowed!”

Patton smiled at Remus’s efforts. “Ree, my dad is in the next room.”

“Okay, fine.” Remus was still holding his hands. “When are you going to tell your dads you’re a witch?”

Patton laughed. “Yeah I’m not telling them.” 

“Because they wouldn’t believe you?” questioned Remus. 

Ha! My dad’s a fucking vampire. “No, I just don’t know if I’m ready to make it a whole thing yet.” 

“Seems fair I guess.” Remus let Patton’s hands go and picked up a candle. “Make a wish, pancake.” 

Patton raised his eyebrows. “It’s not my birthday.” 

“Irrelevant.” Remus presented the candle to him. “Wish.”

Patton laughed and blew out the candle. I wish Remus liked me back. 

Roman looked up at the sound of the door opening and broke into a grin. “Dee!”

Janus rolled his eyes. “Hi, love.” Dee was his middle name, and still the name Roman preferred to use because it used to make Janus grumpy. He walked over and kissed Roman. He set the coffee cup tray down on the table his husband was sitting on and rubbed his back. “What’re you working on?”

“Just looking through a book I forgot about.” Roman picked his coffee up and leaned against Janus, tucking himself against his side. “How’s our son?”

Janus kissed the witch’s hair. “They’re very wedding focused at the moment. Virgil was working at the counter, completely surrounded by binders and notes.” 

Roman chuckled. “Poor things.”

“I don’t remember us being much better,” Janus thought back to their wedding. Roman had been beside himself with stress and Janus himself had slept a total of three hours the week before they got married. 

Roman squeezed Janus’s hand. “We definitely were not.” 

Janus looked around the shop and saw Logan. “Hello.”

“Good afternoon, Janus.”

“Coffee?”

Logan was by his side in a blur and took the cup. “Thank you.”

“Using your speed in the same shop as a clueless 14 year old seems foolish.” Janus pointed out. 

“I can hear them. He’s distracted.” Logan sipped his drink. “They’re discussing werewolves.”

“What are they saying?”

Logan shook his head. “I’m not repeating it. It’s ridiculous.” 

Janus smiled at Logan’s exhausted expression as he walked back to the counter and returned to his book. Janus rested his chin on his husband’s head. “I love coming in here.”

Roman looked up to kiss him. “I love you coming in here.” 

Janus hugged him and looked over his shoulder. “Show me this book then. What’s it about?”

Logan watched the older couple talk from his spot by the counter, doing his best not to accidentally listen in on them. Roman and Janus were beautiful together, they were exactly who he wished he could be with Emile one day. That was, if he wasn’t immortal. Logan ran his hand through his hair as he thought about the promise he’d made to Emile the night he’d proposed. 

Emile had tears on his cheeks, admiring his ring as he rubbed at his face, scrubbing the tears away. “I love you so much.” he smiled, throwing himself into Logan’s arms. He hid his face in the crook of Logan’s neck. “I want to be with you forever.” 

Logan waited perhaps a moment too long before responding softly. “Forever with me… is quite a long time.”

“It’s what I want, Lo.” Emile said. “I want to be like you, to be together with you forever.” 

“Is it really?”

“I need you to promise you’ll turn me.” Emile whispered. “Not now. But one day.”

“When?”

Emile cupped his face, pressing their foreheads together. “10 years.”

“10 years?”

“Promise me, Logan. No longer than 10 years.”

Logan pulled him closer. “Emile Picani.” He murmured. “I promise to turn you into a vampire, within the next 10 years, so we can spend the rest of our lives together.”

Logan leaned against the counter, sometimes he wished they could just be normal together. Just a normal couple who could raise their son and grow old and eventually die. But it was more complicated than that. Of course. 

Logan looked over at the doorway where Patton was and listened in, wondering what they were up to. They’d moved on from werewolves to difference between warlocks and witches. They were both so fascinated by supernatural creatures, it almost made Logan nervous that Patton would spill his secret. He would never, Logan decided. He trusted his son. 

Logan set his hand over the page of his book and studied his wedding band, the light from the candles around him reflected off the gold ring in shiny little shapes. He smiled at it slightly and picked his phone up, opening the contact with muscle memory alone. 

“Hey, kitten.”

“Hi, honey!” 

“Are you busy? I thought maybe you could stop by for lunch…”

Taglist:

@sander-sideblog , @korsaromantic66 

[jzixuans]

hiya, love!! if it's okay, can we know more about the royality in the stupid reason au? or maybe just patton relationships in general? :D

yeah of course!!!

let’s start by establishing patton’s character a little bit

he grew up in the lower levels of the court, as his mother was a court physician and his father was an entertainer 

he’s about ten years older than logan

due to the busy nature of their jobs, their parents left patton in charge of watching over logan while they were at work

logan and patton are very close! patton taught him how to cook and logan loved to sit him down and teach him about whatever he learned that day from his tutors

while logan was able to get higher education from masters in their fields who later vouched for his early admission to university, patton’s education was more more basic, although he picked up history, philosophy, and ethics with great speed

imagine hiro and tadashi kind of

their parents are both retired now and live in a nice cottage in a more rural area of the kingdom

the boys go to visit on holidays and for birthdays and other celebrations, and once a month they’ll head out for a picnic

patton doesn’t put much stock into romance. he’s never fallen in romantic love, but he doesn’t mind, because family will always come first to him

his first job in the castle was as a chef in the kitchens! it was a well known fact that his pies and his pies alone were the king’s favourite

he has several connections in high places, partially because he’s a great chef and no one wants to bite the hand that feeds them, and partially because he’s just so damn approachable

these connections are part of why logan’s had such a high education! that and the fact that thomas has a soft spot for him and sponsored him through university

he only ever knew thomas as the king because they met after thomas’ coronation

running the kingdom is stressful work, but thomas was always able to find solace in the kitchens

he would sit there at night and watch patton prep the stations for breakfast the next morning and they would have idle conversation (patton also slipped him lots of late night snacks)

patton’s a great listener, and thomas had lots of worries to talk about

every so often patton would throw in his two cents on a subject that would actually be super clever and insightful, so thomas took to bringing a notepad with him to write down patton’s advice

they become super close!! they’d hang out outside of their working hours to goof off and do dumb stuff

thomas loved that neither patton nor his genius kid brother were afraid to call him out on stuff just because he was the king

patton met thomas around the same time that thomas adopted roman, a baby boy from a small village with parents too sick to care for him. when they heard that the king was visiting, they begged thomas to find their son a home where he could grow up healthy and happy, fearing that they wouldn’t survive their illness

“his name is roman,” they told him, “and he is the most important thing in our lives”

so thomas took him in as his own

patton was roman’s favourite babysitter

he spoiled roman with sweets and always read him fantastic stories right before bed 

as one of the king’s closest friends, he started supervising roman’s lessons with his tutors and his coaches when roman turned ten (the kid’s got a knack for geography by the way)

he always made sure that roman had time to take breaks and be a kid

he even brought his brother, just three years older, in to play with roman

patton endured many, many shenanigans from those two

roman will never admit this until he’s older, but patton was the primary influence in his motivation to do good by his people, and treat them with kindness and fairness as a prince should

this goes on for a few more years until patton’s in his late twenties and thomas in his mid thirties, and thomas decides that more people deserve to hear patton’s ideas, so he approaches his friend with a proposition

patton becomes an advisor about halfway through logan’s time at the university, so logan split his time between his classes and the practical experience of sitting in on meetings with the high council

roman would be there too, and it was almost always impossible to tell which of them was more guilty of getting into trouble at these meetings

the rule became that they would only sit in on half of the meetings, and they would be filled in later to soothe their restless energies

they hardly got into too much trouble of course, save for some gentle scolding, because one of them was the crown prince and the other was the younger brother of the king’s best friend

even still the castle staff adored roman, he was just that charismatic

patton’s also in a queerplatonic relationship with emile picani, an artist from the nearest city to the castle

emile uses he/him and she/her

emile’s a great help in getting patton to destress after a particularly long day of meetings

she’s got a super hyper energy about her that never fails to make patton laugh

their favourite date was when they went out to dinner, and there was a live performance that had them laughing and dancing and singing along. neither of them were particularly good at it but it was silly and light-hearted and a good couple hours spent letting loose

they’re both great supporters of the performing arts, so whenever roman put on a show with the castle troupe, they were always there in the front row

emile’s not at the castle often, but she was commissioned to paint roman’s portrait on his eighteenth birthday

they first met when patton was on business in the city, and he saw a beautiful landscape painting of a lake at night and he wanted to buy it for logan

enter the artist himself, cheerful and bubbly, so excited to talk about his piece

patton’s suddenly more enamoured with the creator than the creation

he makes several more visits to the city with the hopes of being able to chat with emile

patton bought her a couple of drinks and the rest is history

logan thinks that they took too long to get together

patton’s always quick to remind him that he’s been pining for virgil for years

[tranquil-space-ninja]

The Story (Sanders' Sides Human AU)

Ft. Platonic Moxiety, trans Roman, Imaginality (Remus x Patton), and Emciet (Janus x Emile)

Tw: suicide, homophobia, implied abuse, transphobia, f*g said, tra**y said, bullying, anorexia

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

Patton stared at his phone. He had a shift at the office in a few minutes, but he couldn't..... He didn't quite know what he couldn't do today, but he couldn't do it. He called in sick. Emile was very understanding. "Take as long as you need, Pat," he said. "Your mental health comes first."

"Thanks, Dr. Picani." He hung up and continued to stare at the message on his phone.

Unknown Number

Got ur number from Jan. How u doing?

It was him. After all these years, it was really him. And, paired with the fact that it was only a week till his brother's birthday.... The last two years of high school came rushing back.

Patton's phone chimed.

Ro's birthday is coming up.

Like Patton didn't compulsively write down the date in his calender every year. June 4. They would have been twenty-six.

I'm moving to ur area 4 work. I finally caught up 2 u.

Patton stared at his phone without really seeing the messages. Tears started to bluer his vision. He wiped them away, only for them to return with a vengeance. Finally, Patton just let himself sob, hoping to get everything out by the time Virgil got home.

***

Virgil waved to his friends as he walked to his front door. His dad's car was in the driveway, which was a surprise. Normally, he wouldn't be back until dinner. He slowly opened the door. "Dad," he asked. Patton gave Virgil a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes.

"Hey, kiddo! How was school?"

"Okay. How are you doing? Are you sick?"

"No, no, I'm fine. Just taking a mental health day. Sit down! I made popcorn. We can watch Black Cauldron."

Virgil sighed and sat down, leaning on Patton. Patton put part of his blanket around the teen and pulled him closer. He loved his son more than anything. He would not let Virgil go through the same things he did.

***

Just as Virgil was about to go to sleep, someone knocked on his door. "Come in," he called. Patton opened the door and gave him another fake smile. He sat down on the chair beside Virgil's desk.

"Can I tell you a story," Patton asked.

"I'm a little old for bedtime stories."

"Please? It's kinda boring, but.... I'll be quick. Please?" Virgil stared at his dad. He hated the desperate look in hs eyes. It was getting closer to June, which meant he'd grow quiet and a bit withdrawn. Maybe this was to preemptively make up for it?

"Sure." Virgil laid down and looked up at Patton.

"Thanks, Virge," he said with a slightly more real, relieved smile. "Let me tell you a story about six boys growing up in Florida."

***

Logan Crofters, Roman and Remus Ryan, Janus Pine, Emile Picani, and Patton Hart. They had been best friends since kindergarten. They were all inseparable. Things got worse in middle school when Roman came out as trans. His parents refused to let him transition or cut his hair, and the other kids were less than supportive. Remus let him wear his clothes, though, and his friends all defended him when they could. And they all survived until high school.

Fast foreward to sophmore year. Logan was on the fast track to becoming valedictorian. The other kids, in addition to whispering, "Fag," and, "Tranny," at them all in the halls, taunted Logan for his intelligence. Remus and Janus got into fights often to protect the others. Patton and Emile tried to keep the group's moral up. Logan and Roman always took it all harder than the others, but they had one teacher, Mr. Sanders, who let them eat lunch in his classroom and used Roman's proper pronouns. He even congratulated Patton and Remus when they started dating. He'd always pair up Janus and Emile for group projects, just to watch them flirt.

Patton, Roman, and Remus's parents passed around a petition to get him fired the next year. It was successful. That was the year everything fell apart.

Roman and Logan couldn't handle the pressure that came with the grades and the bullying. They always said they were fine, but....

One day, Logan quit his job at the library. Said it just wasn't worth it anymore. Roman stopped eating and always brushed his friends off when they begged him to try.

They died the same night. June 4, Roman's birthday. Roman overdosed on antidepressants. Janus, Remus, Emile, and Patton read his note over and over again.

Dear Friends,

I want to start by saying this isn't your fault. Remus, you were the most amazing, supportive brother anyone could ask for. Patton, Janus, Emile, Logan, you are all wonderful and perfect, and you all deserve the world. But.... I can't do this anymore. I can't live in this body one more day or hear someone call me Rachel one more time. I just can't do it. I love you all so much. Please don't dwell on this for too long. I want you all to be happy, okay?

Mom, Dad, I'm sorry I couldn't be everything you wanted me to be. I wish I could have been as good a son as Remus was. I wish you could have loved me as much as he did.

And, Mr. Sanders, if you ever see this.... Thank you. For everything.

Adeiu, best of friends and best of men,

Roman

Logan hung himself. He didn't leave a note. His parents at least gave him a funeral. Roman's parents didn't care enough to even do that.

Luckily, Remus, Janus, Emile, and Patton had saved enough from their various jobs to have him cremated. Emile's parents insisted on helping out, which helped a lot.

The group burried Roman's urn just outside the cemetery where Logan rested. Luckily, his grave was at the edge of the gate so Roman's could be near his. Remus painted a large rock to use as a marker. They all stood by the small grave, Janus holding Emile and Patton and Remus squeezing each other's hands, until the sun rose.

Patton stayed with Remus after Janus and Emile left.

"I can't stay here anymore," Remus had whispered. "I can't stay with the people who killed my brother."

"I know," Patton whispered. "I hate our parents." He brushed back his bangs to show Remus a black eye and a bruised cheek. "If we save enough, we'll run away together," he promised. "We'll get Janus and Emile, and we'll all go to Massachusetts, and we'll get married." Remus nodded.

"I like that." He gently pulled Patton close, and they shared a long, sweet kiss.

Things didn't work out. Senior year was worse. Janus, Emile, Patton, and Remus were the gays who were friends with the two who killed themselves, and that's all anyone ever treated them as. Janus's parents took him and moved to Delaware. He and Emile stayed in touch for a few months before the lost contact. Janus and Patton still talked occasionally, though, even after high school. Emile, Patton, and Remus stuck together, but things would never be the same.

When senior year ended, Patton and Emile prepared to move to Massachusetts, but Remus wouldn't go.

"Please," Patton begged. "We found a cute apartment in Salem. We can start over. We can get jobs while Emile is at school. We can build our own lives. Please come with us." Remus shook his head.

"I can't," he said. "It's only been a year since they died. I just can't leave them yet." Patton hugged him tightly.

"Keep in touch," he asked. Remus nodded and pressed a kiss to his lips.

Over the next few years, Patton kept in touch with Remus. Every year, he said he would finally move in with him, and every year, he had an excuse not to. Eventually, they stopped talking as much, and when Patton changed his number, he forgot to tell Remus.

***

"He and Emile stayed together, though," Patton finished. "Patton became Emile's receptionist when he started practicing independently."

"What about Janus and Remus," Virgil asked.

"Janus is still in Delaware, and I guess Remus is with him." Virgil nodded. He wasn't an idiot. He knew Patton had just told him his life story. He just wasn't going to press any further than that. Maybe someday, Patton would tell him more, but it was almost the day his friends killed themselves. Patton needed time.

***

The next day, Patton went back to work. Larry and Dot were happy to see him. When their appointment was almost over, another patient entered the waiting room and walked up to Patton's desk. "Hey," he said, head tilted down. His voice was low and familiar.

"Hi! Do you have an appointment?"

"N-no. I just moved here and was hoping I could set one up."

"Okay.... Dr. Picani is with a patient right now, but-- Remus?" Remus was staring at Patton, a sad frown accepting his dull eyes. "L-like I was saying, Emile--"

"Why didn't you answer my texts?" Patton began to fiddle with a pen. "You could have just said you didn't want to see me. I get it. I probably remind you of Ro and Logan, and that's fine. I failed you and I put off moving even though I said I would, and I understand that you're mad, and it's okay. But--"

"I wanted to see you." Remus stared at Patton, who stared right back.

"What?"

"I wanted to see you, but I couldn't say it. It's just so close to Roman's birthday, and I didn't know what to do or what to tell my son--"

"You have a son?" Patton nodded, tears in his eyes.

"I adopted him five years ago. His name is Virgil. He's funny, he's dark, and strange and sarcastic, and I love him more than anything."

"Boyfriend or husband?"

"Single dad and rockin' it." Remus laughed despite the tears that were escaping his eyes. Patton laughed with him, also crying. "I'm sorry. For everything," he sobbed. Remus took his hand.

"Me too." And that's how Larry and Dot found them five minutes later.

Holding hands and crying, together again.

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

[notalwaysthevillian]

Parent Trapped

Warnings: Money worries, kissing

Pairings: Romantic Remile, platonic LAMP

Word Count: ~1.9k

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Masterlist

Chapter 11: A Real Date

“So, you’ve come to us.”

Remy was sitting on the couch, resisting the urge to roll his eyes as Roman paced in front of him. Logan merely sat on the side, a notebook in his hand.

“Roman, I just asked for ideas of where to go.” Remy shook his head. “Maybe I should just ask Em where he wants to go.”

Practically vaulting over the coffee table, Roman snatched Remy’s phone out of his hand. “No! Please, let us help. I’ve been dying here. You never give us any details!”

“Because there aren’t any to give.” Logan said before either of them could speak again. “This will be their first date, remember?”

There was a huff from Roman. “Fine. But I want to hear details after, okay? Emile clearly makes you happy, and that’s what we want for you.”

“I will give you details.” Remy held up a hand as though he was being sworn in. “Now can I please have my phone back?”

“Not until we think of a place.”

“What kinds of things does he like?” Logan asked, pen at the ready.

Remy thought back to all the times he and Emile had spoken. “Well, he really seemed to like Roman’s play. He loves talking about his job and how well his patients are doing, even though he can’t name names. Oh, when we were talking about Finding Nemo - Dory specifically - he mentioned that he hadn’t been to an aquarium in a really long time. Something about Patton being scared of the sharks and Virgil not liking the tunnel.”

“That’s perfect!” The high-pitched shriek from Roman had Remy and Logan covering their ears. “Sorry. But imagine it! He can check out all the fish while you check him out.”

Logan nodded, putting his pen down. “Not how I would’ve put it, but Roman is correct. An aquarium date seems like it would work well. And if everything is favorable, you could buy him a cute stuffed animal from the gift shop. From what I’ve seen from Virgil and Patton, their family seems the type to appreciate those types of gestures.”

“Can I have my phone back to let him know then?”

Plopping Remy’s phone in his hand, Roman picked up his own and began typing furiously. He and Logan left the room, likely talking to Patton and Virgil in their group chat.

Babe: How does an aquarium date sound?

Honey <3: That sounds lovely! I know a restaurant nearby, we can have dinner and then go to the aquarium if you want.

Babe: Sounds perfect. I’ll pick you up at 6?

Honey <3: Sounds good to me!

The second Roman walked in the door after school on Wednesday, he dropped his backpack and went to find Remy. “What are you wearing tonight?”

“Roman, I’m working.”

“You have a date to get ready for!”

Setting down his tablet pen, Remy spun in his chair. “It’s only three. I’m picking him up at six. Can I get an hour of work done before you insult my closet?”

“Fine.”

Whirling around, Remy continued working on his design. It was a tattoo that one of his regulars had requested, and he was hoping to finish the overall design by the weekend. It covered a lot of skin and would rake in some much needed cash for the parlor.

He quickly fell back into the zone, working on the clean lines. It wasn’t until he felt Roman physically tapping his shoulder that he realized it had already been an hour.

“You’re done!” Roman said, pulling the chair back from the desk. “Time’s up!”

“Okay, okay. Let me save.”

Roman waved a hand toward the tablet before tapping his foot on the ground. When Remy had finished saving, he found himself being dragged into his bedroom. Logan was already in his closet, sorting through the clothes.

“I’ve found some suitable pieces for a semi-formal restaurant, as well as one that would require a more formal dress.” He said as he laid out some clothing Remy hadn’t worn in forever. “Do you know which type of place you’re going to?”

“Let me ask.”

Babe: Sweetheart, what should I be wearing to this lovely date?

Honey <3: Wear something semi-formal! Though I wouldn’t mind seeing you in a suit <3

Babe: A birthday suit?

Honey <3: I wouldn’t be opposed *kissy face emoji*

Feeling his face heat slightly, Remy pocketed his phone before Roman could steal it and attempt to read the messages. 

“Em says semi-formal.”

Logan put a few pieces back into the closet, before nodding to Roman. “You’re up.”

Roman dug through the pieces, holding up a shirt here and there. He shook his head on a few pieces, tossing those at Logan. Grumbling, Logan hung them back up and put them back in the closet as Roman continued.

After nearly fifteen minutes, Roman had a full outfit. He pressed it into Remy’s arms, pushing him toward the bathroom. “Go! Put it on!”

In the bathroom, Remy finally got a good look at the outfit. He couldn’t help but smile. Clearly Roman had gotten his sense of style.

He pulled on the gray pants. The black and white striped shirt was next, though he did fumble with the buttons for a second. It was a simple look, but it fit him extremely well. Emile wasn’t going to know what hit him.

Stepping back into the bedroom, Remy did a twirl. “Hmm?”

Logan tilted his head, taking it in. “I believe it would be best to show off your arms. Many people are attracted to tattoos.”

“I’ve definitely seen Emile checking out your arms.” Roman teased, coming over and perfectly rolling up Remy’s sleeves. “Lo?”

“It is as close to perfection as it can get, given that perfection is unattainable.”

With a smile, Remy held his arms out, wrapping them around his boys when they jumped into them. “Thank you for the help.”

“I have one final question.” Roman said, looking up. “What’s for dinner?”

“I don’t think we’ve seen Gerald in a while.”

“YAY!”

After ordering the pizza, Remy headed back into his office to get some work done. He quickly found that he couldn’t concentrate. A certain pair of green eyes continued to float through his mind.

Before he knew it, he realized that he’d completely started a new design. A brain, with the definition lines showing off a question mark in the white space.

“That wasn’t the one you were working on before.” Came a sing-song voice from Remy’s side.

Checking the clock, Remy swore. It was only a few minutes to six.

“I’ll be home late. There’s ice cream in the freezer, do your homework, don’t kill your brother!” He called out as he grabbed his wallet, jacket, and keys before darting out the door.

He pulled up to the Picani’s just as the clock rolled over to six. Calming his breathing as he strode up to the door, he knocked.

Only for the door to open and have Emile knock the breath from his lungs anyway. The pink dress shirt hugged Emile’s small muscles in a delicious way. Not to mention the pants that were showing off his curves.

“You look amazing.” He said, sure that there were stars in his eyes.

Blood rushed to Emile’s cheeks immediately. “Why thank you. You look great as well.”

“Just go already!” Two voices called in unison.

Laughing, Emile shut the front door, following Remy into his car. He slid a hand over the leather seats. “I don’t think I’ve ridden in your car before. It’s nice.”

“A lot nicer than a minivan.” Remy teased, earning a playful glare from Emile. “I kid, I kid. The van is way easier for when we all go somewhere. Now, where is this restaurant?”

“It’s near the aquarium, so we can park in their lot and walk.”

Emile refused to tell Remy anything else about the restaurant. Instead, they chatted about how their kids were doing in school.

“Patton has been doing so much better, thanks to Roman.” Emile was saying as they pulled into the lot. “I’m glad he found someone who thinks like he does.”

Pulling the keys out of the ignition, Remy said, “Same with Logan and Virgil.”

The two got out of the car, Remy immediately offering his arm. Emile took it, feeling another blush creep up his neck. “It’s just over here.”

“Wait, we’re going to Lottie’s Boulangerie?”

Upon hearing the concern in Remy’s voice, Emile stopped. “Did you not want to -”

“No, I - I do want to.” Remy glanced back toward the restaurant, taking in the shining lights that were going to make Emile look positively radiant. “I just...it’s a little on the expensive side and -”

“Rem, I’m paying for dinner.” Emile’s tone of voice told him there would be no argument. “You can pay for the aquarium tickets.”

“But -”

Tugging on Remy to spin him around, Emile slid his arm up to wrap around his neck. When he heard the sharp intake of breath from the other man, he bit back a smile. “I’m paying for dinner.”

“O-okay.”

Emile immediately let go and started walking, trying not to laugh when he heard Remy scrambling to catch up.

Dinner went swimmingly. The two of them loved their dishes, and their waiter was as polite as can be. Emile snagged the check before Remy could see it, leaving behind a generous tip.

Before long, the two of them were entering the aquarium.

“Wow.” Emile breathed as they entered.

Remy felt his heart swell as he watched Emile look around. He’d purposely picked a day of Aquarium After Dark, so that they could be a little more alone. It was an adult only night, ensuring that they wouldn’t be bothered by any screeching toddlers or crying babies.

“What do you think?”

“It’s so much prettier lit up at night.”

Remy paid for their tickets, noting that they weren’t nearly as expensive as their dinner was. But Emile had insisted on paying, and he wasn’t exactly rolling in funds, so he pushed it to the back of his mind.

The two of them strolled through the different areas, taking everything in at their own pace. Emile had squealed when they found the ‘Finding Nemo’ tank, filled with all the fish that could feasibly live together.

“Look, it’s Dory!” He whisper-shouted, despite the two of them being the only ones in the room.

Remy pointed to a clownfish. “And Nemo and Marlin.”

By the time they reached the tunnel, one of the last areas of the aquarium, the two of them were holding hands. Emile let go to get up close to the glass, watching the sea turtle swim by.

Taking a deep breath, Remy walked up behind him, wrapping his arms around Emile and nuzzling his hair. “How was this for a first date?”

Emile gently turned in his arms, a soft smile on his face. “I’d say it’s one of the best ones I’ve been on.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

Their noses brushed.

Remy leaned in.

Their lips connected.

Emile’s hand moved to thread through the hair at the nape of Remy’s neck. Remy curled his arm around Emile’s waist, dragging him ever closer.

When they parted, they were both red faced and breathing heavier.

“Definitely the best first date.” Emile whispered before leaning in once more.

[recipeforme]

C16: I Need A Little Help Here

Book: A Good Kid

Trigger Warning: Mentions of bullying, abuse, cutting yourself (not self-harm), hair- pulling, being kicked, police, hospitals. Let me know if I missed anything.

The majority of this chapter is written in 3rd Person Point Of View because it takes place in or talks about the past. However, the whole chapter is written from Virgil's point of view.

“You have been doing really good these past few weeks Virgil” Dr Picani said with a smile “it is still a long road to recovery but you are off to a great start!”

“Thanks Dr Picani,” I said with a small smile.

“Now, there is one thing that I think should be discussed” he said “but only if you are comfortable with it.”

“What is it?” I asked cautiously.

“You childhood.” Dr Picani said “specifically your life before you were placed in the foster care system.”

I froze and my heart began to race, I squeezed my eyes shut and I went over one of the breathing exercises Dr Picani taught me.

The man must have noticed my panic. “You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to.”

I opened my eyes “no,” I said. “It’s okay, I want to talk about it.” I took a deep breath and began my story.

-------

Virgil Storm was born on December 19th to two loving parents and an older brother who was two years older than him. You would think that would be the end of the story, Virgil would grow up in a loving family and live happily ever after. Unfortunately life doesn’t always work out that way.

For the first several years of his life the Storm family was your average, happy, suburban family. They did things that any normal family would do, but sometime after Virgil had turned ten everything changed. Eliza Strom was diagnosed with breast cancer.

Eliza did everything she could to fight it, but no matter what she did she was slowly losing her fight. There were times when it seemed like she was going to make it, but it never lasted. And then on February 1st, a few days before Janus’ birthday Eliza Strom lost her battle for good.

Things after that slowly began to downsprail. Virgil and Janus’ father started drinking in order to cope. It wasn’t much at first and he would only do it at night, making sure to be sober by the time that the two woke up.

But then he started drinking after work. A lot of the time he would end up passing out on the couch, forcing Janus to take care of Virgil and himself. Something that Virgil always felt guilty for. Then one night, their father snapped. Virgil doesn’t know what happened, all he knew was that it led to not only the scars on Janus’ face but also what led to his brother bullying him.

All of this led to both Virgil’s home and school life being a living nightmare. It wasn’t until Virgil started seeing Dr Picani that he realized that during this time his mind was in constant fight or flight mode. And when Virgil was thirteen everything changed, whether for better or worse he hasn’t decided yet.

------

Virgil sat curled up in his closet, tears silently pouring down his cheeks. “Get back out here you ungrateful little rat” his father’s voice bellowed.

It was all his fault. Virgil had been washing some of the dirty dishes that had started to pile up when he had dropped a plate. The sound of it shattering had awoken his father from his drunken slumber. Angry the man had stormed into the kitchen yelling. Virgil was terrified, he ended up running into his room and hid in the closet. He had cut his feet on the broken glass in the process but that was the last thing he was worried about right now.

Burying his head in his lap Virgil sob quietly. Because he had run off and hid father was sure to give him a beating when he was found. For once Virgil wished Janus was here, maybe he would be able to stop this. But Janus was off hanging out with his gang.

The closet door flew open and Virgil snapped his head up to see his father. “Get out here” he slurred.

Virgil shook his head and scooted farther into the corner, he could smell the alcohol on his dad’s breath. The larger man reached in and grabbed Virgil by the hair, dragging him out of the closet. The boy screamed in both pain and fear and his father dragged him into the living room with a fistfull of his hair in hand.

When they got to the living room the man grabbed Virgil by the arm and threw him across the room into the wall. The wind was knocked out of him but before he had time to recover his father stormed over and kicked him in the stomach, taking his breath away once again. Virgil gasped for breath as his father began to repeatedly kick him in the ribs. He could hear him yelling something but he was unable to make it out due to the pain.

Then, it stopped. Surely his father wasn’t done with his beating yet. So what happened? Virgil then felt a gentle hand on his shoulder and he flinched away, a soft voice began to speak to him in a low voice. He could hear the sound of yelling and see bright light behind his eyelids. He opened his eyes a crack to see a woman in a police uniform and then it all went black.

-------

When Virgil woke up he was laying on a soft bed in a white room, a hospital room. He was scared and confused but an officer came in and explained everything. They had gotten an anonymous tip that his father was committing child abuse and they had gone to investagate just in time to catch his father in the act. They immediately arrested his father and took him to the hospital to be looked over. After words they had picked up Janus and brought him to the hospital to be checked for any wounds as well.

After that Virgil was forced to talk to people from CPS, luckily no one ever made him give a statement in court for they had a good case already. His father lost in court and was now serving twenty years in prison. Unfortunately Virgil never got the chance to see Janus again before the two were separated and put into separate Foster Homes.

Virgil’s  Social Worker, Ms. Torres-Rosario, said that when they had asked him Janus said that he wanted the two of them to be in separate homes. Despite all of the things that Janus had done over the years Virgil still loved his brother and the memories that the two of them shared when they were younger.

------

“So yeah,” I said leaning back in my seat, wiping my eyes with the wad of tissues in my hand “that’s the story of my effed up childhood.”

“I am so sorry that you had to go through all of that Virgil.” Dr. Picani said softly “but let me ask you something, do you feel better talking about it?”

I paused before realizing that I did, it felt like a weight that I didn’t know I was carrying had lifted. “I do,” I said with a small smile.

“That's good” Dr. Picani said “talking about this can help the road to recovery, it may take some time and work but as I said earlier you are off to a great start.”

At this I did smile “I look forward to it then.”

[the-duke-of-deodorant]

For Picani's birthday thing: Perhaps Emile comes home after a tough session, maybe he's a little emotionally word down or tired. He steps through the dark doorway, takes off his coat, and suddenly all the lights turn on and Remy and all the cartoon therapy and/or sanders sides people are there, with presents and a giant disney-themed cake and suddenly the day seems much less tough

Ahhhh this ask made me smile so much!!

Have some Remile/sides fluff :)

Ship: Platonic Remile+sides (hurt with comfort/fluff)

Warnings: almost mental breakdown, anxiety/overthinking | Characters: LAMP+ Remy and Emile

Word count: 654 (short but really sweet OwO)

Roman and Remy worked together on the cake. Roman had the vision- a red cake with pink and blue tropical flowers and green palm tree leaves, with a mold of Stitch sitting at the top and Happy Birthday Emile written in pink cursive letters, and with that a bunch of fluffy blue cupcakes surrounding it. Remy had the ability to put it together. Although he hadn’t done anything fancy for weddings or anything like that he liked making cakes for fun and had a lot of practice with it. Remy had his hair pinned back behind his ear and sunglasses sitting on the counter across the kitchen in the middle of their mess. The light strained his eyes, but he could see what he was doing better. He could risk messing up something like this.

Patton, Logan, and Virgil helped with decorations. Red, green, pink, and blue balloons lined the walls to match the Lilo and Stitch themed party (Emile’s favorite movie which all of them have seen at least 500 times. A Lilo and Stitch themed party seemed obvious) Virgil let Patton sit on his shoulders to help reach the ceiling as Logan blew up balloons and passed them to Patton so he could tape it up there. Disney music was playing through a small speaker in the kitchen, which happened to be playing Frozen in the moment. Remy’s favorite movie, although he would never want to admit it. After watching it with the sides the music was all he could listen to, and he even got Emile to watch it with him a few times as payback for all the times he was dragged into movie nights. Remy could never admit he could reach the same high notes Elsa could in her songs, even if Emile had heard him once or twice.

All of this while Emile locked himself in the bathroom across from his office with shaking hands.

He knew not to get himself emotionally involved with his patient’s problems. Remy reminded him if he kept doing that his whole career would become exhausting, but he couldn't help it. Emile sat against the wall and blew into the hand covering his mouth until his breathing was normal again. His glasses sat on the tiled floor next to him until he was calm enough to put them on again and his vision was no longer blurred with tears. This wasn’t supposed to happen. He wanted to be calm. He wanted to live his normal life without problems that weren’t his own constantly wrapped around his mind. Especially today. Today of all days was the one that pushed him past his limit.

Emile was hesitant to open the door to the apartment. Of course the sides would see him. They would want to see him on his birthday and they wouldn’t want to see him… like this. His face wasn’t red anymore, so he could easily fake a smile and suck it up for a few hours. It would all be okay.

When the door handle moved Logan raced to turn the light off. Patton practically fell of Virgil’s shoulders and Roman and Remy raced away from their mostly-finished display to hide behind the couch with everyone else. Remy watched the man walk through the door and begin to slide off his count. For the split second it was dark he looked exhausted. Before he could think any more of it the lights turned on and everyone jumped out from behind the couch.

Emile’s face lit up with a genuine smile.

Remy was the first one to be stuck inside of one of Emile’s excited hugs. Emile hid his smile inside Remy’s jacket as his hold got tighter, and Remy started to run his fingers through Emile’s hair when the hug held on for a little longer than what he thought it would. Remy and the sides shared the same smile Picani did.

Taglist: @winterrs-child @remusthedukeofdeodorant @thecatchat @stop-it-anxiety @znikitrash @awkwardandanxiousfander @nowletmeseeyourkezzhands @prox-xima @hela-daughter-of-loki @arcticfrostdoesthings

[megs-writing]

For Picani’s birthday thing: Perhaps Emile comes home after a tough session, maybe he’s a little emotionally worn down or tired. He steps through the dark doorway, takes off his coat, and suddenly all the lights turn on and Remy and all the cartoon therapy and/or sanders sides people are there, with presents and a giant Disney themed cake and suddenly the day seems much less tough. 

Ahhhh this ask made me smile so much!!

Have some Remile/sides fluff :)

Ship: Platonic Remile+sides (hurt with comfort/fluff) Warnings: almost mental breakdown, anxiety/overthinking | Characters: LAMP+ Remy and Emile

Word count: 654 (short but really sweet OwO)

Roman and Remy worked together on the cake. Roman had the vision- a red cake with pink and blue tropical flowers and green palm tree leaves, with a mold of Stitch sitting at the top and Happy Birthday Emile written in pink cursive letters, and with that a bunch of fluffy blue cupcakes surrounding it. Remy had the ability to put it together. Although he hadn’t done anything fancy for weddings or anything like that he liked making cakes for fun and had a lot of practice with it. Remy had his hair pinned back behind his ear and sunglasses sitting on the counter across the kitchen in the middle of their mess. The light strained his eyes, but he could see what he was doing better. He couldn’t risk messing up something like this. 

Patton, Logan, and Virgil helped with decorations. Red, green, pink, and blue balloons lined the walls to match the Lilo and Stitch themed party (Emile’s favorite movie which all of them have seen at least 500 times. A Lilo and Stitch themed party seemed obvious) Virgil let Patton sit on his shoulders to help reach the ceiling as Logan blew up balloons and passed them to Patton so he could tape it up there. Disney music was playing through a small speaker in the kitchen, which happened to be playing Frozen at the moment. Remy’s favorite movie, although he would never want to admit it. After watching it with the sides the music was all he could listen to, and he even got Emile to watch it with him a few times as payback for all the times he was dragged into movie nights. Remy could never admit he could reach the same high notes Elsa could in her songs, even if Emile had heard him once or twice. 

All of this while Emile locked himself in the bathroom across from his office with shaking hands. 

He knew not to get himself emotionally involved with his patient’s problems. Remy reminded him if he kept doing that his whole career would become exhausting, but he couldn't help it. Emile sat against the wall and blew into the hand covering his mouth until his breathing was normal again. His glasses sat on the tiled floor next to him until he was calm enough to put them on again and his vision was no longer blurred with tears. This wasn’t supposed to happen. He wanted to be calm. He wanted to live his normal life without problems that weren’t his own constantly wrapped around his mind. Especially today. Today of all days was the one that pushed him past his limit. 

Emile was hesitant to open the door to the apartment. Of course the sides would see him. They would want to see him on his birthday and they wouldn’t want to see him… like this. His face wasn’t red anymore, so he could easily fake a smile and suck it up for a few hours. It would all be okay. 

When the door handle moved Logan raced to turn the light off. Patton practically fell off Virgil’s shoulders and Roman and Remy raced away from their mostly-finished display to hide behind the couch with everyone else. Remy watched the man walk through the door and begin to slide off his count. For the split second it was dark he looked exhausted. Before he could think any more of it the lights turned on and everyone jumped out from behind the couch. 

Emile’s face lit up with a genuine smile. 

Remy was the first one to be stuck inside of one of Emile’s excited hugs. Emile hid his smile inside Remy’s jacket as his hold got tighter, and Remy started to run his fingers through Emile’s hair when the hug held on for a little longer than what he thought it would. Remy and the sides shared the same smile Picani did. 

[corescorner]

Charmberry Cove Chapter One.

Chapter Title: New Places, New Faces.

Wordcount: 3,517

AO3

Yay, chapter one! 

Virgil moves into The Cove and meets a friend.

Taglist: @unsocialchapeau, @aularei

He was being shaken awake from his impromptu nap, he didn’t even realise that he fell asleep, but he supposes it was a long car ride.

 “Hey there Pumpkin King, wake up kiddo.”

 That would be his dad talking, well one of two of them anyway.

 Emile Picani, therapist and cartoon enthusiast. And like, one of the best dads ever, the other being his other dad, obviously.

 Virgil blinks slowly awake, staring at his dad, “how long have I been sleeping for?” he asks, rubbing his eyes and yawning.

 “Not long, just under an hour I'd say, ya didn't miss much” he smiles at Virgil, patting his head. “Now go put Hex in your room, I'm sure she's restless after being cooped up in that carrier most of the ride down.”

 Virgil shuffles grabbing the cat carrier and climbing out of the moving truck.

 He goes to open the front door, but of course, it's locked. He looks back to Pops, who is opening the back of the truck to assess their belongings with a hand on his mouth his finger tapping his lips, the other on his hip and a thoughtful expression on his face. Virgil walks up to the truck to stare with him for a moment; they have a lot of stuff.

 “Hey, Pops. The door is locked” he mumbles out. Emile startles then looks disgruntled.

 “Oh darn it, I don't know if I have the keys” he looks thoughtful, then snaps his fingers. “I'm gonna have to text your father and see what he did with those keys of ours.”

 Virgil watches as his dad climbs back into the drivers seat of the truck to get his phone, sitting there texting Remy.

 He stands there for all of thirty seconds before Dad pulls up on the street in front of the house in their car.

 That was fast, but Dad always has weirdly great timing.

 “Anybody order some keys?” He says, getting out of the car and taking a sip from his travel mug of coffee. He hands Virgil a purple key with the handle in the shape of a cloud and the number 618 etched into it, there was also a lightning bolt going down into the keys teeth. Clearly he got the keys personalized; he wouldn't be surprised if Remy himself had a key handle shaped like a coffee mug. Dad hands Pops his key, Virgil notices that it's shaped like Finns sword, he smiles at his pops’ unabashed squeal of delight at this fact.

 Virgil walks up to his new home, the 618 on the side of the front door in bold black and gold.

 Well here it goes. He unlocks the door and steps into his new house, taking it all in. It's nice, is his first thought, his second thought is on how big it actually is, it looks smaller from the outside and considering that it's a townhouse, which is to say it's connected to other houses made it seem like it might be smaller than it really is.

 Being at the front door he can practically see the whole first floor, it being very open spaced and bright from the large windows.

 The front door leads straight into the living room, and separating that in the back is a half wall and a breakfast bar that goes into the kitchen, with a sliding door into the back yard.

 The kitchen itself is a nice size, no doubt that Dad is going to have a good time experimenting in it.

 The stairs off to the side of the living room and close to the front door lead upwards, with a door set on the side of the staircase itself and Virgil hopes that it leads to a basement.

 Shifting Hex's carrier to be more comfortable, he steps towards the door intent on opening it, and he's not disappointed when he does, cause it does in fact open up to a staircase leading down.

 Descending the stairs and flicking on the light at the bottom reveals the basement in a low glow, off to the right side is an area for a washer and dryer to be hooked up and at the far end in the right corner looks to be a small bathroom and in the left corner he's met with a larger looking room with a closed door.

 A door that Virgil learns is unlocked and ready for exploration, it turns out that this door leads to a cozy sized room that’s probably for storage and the like, noting the high ceiling with rafters, the stone floor and lack of windows.

 He immediately claims this as his bedroom.

 Closing the door he lets Hex out of her cage and sits on the floor to look around more. There are a couple outlets to plug stuff in and there’s a single light that swings from the rafters that throws shadows around.

 Definitely not made to be a bedroom.

 He likes it even more.

 He sets out all of Hex's amenities and petting her before leaving to go help with the boxes and such; closing the rooms door so she doesn't get underfoot while they move about.

 When he gets back upstairs he blinks in confusion at the living room that now has a large amount of furniture and boxes scattered around, he didn't think that he was downstairs that long, but apparently he was.

 “Hey bud, find your room alright?” Remy asks, lounging on the couch his shades perched on top of his head nestling in the waves of his hair his piercing eyes on rare display; the shining turquoise is almost hypnotizing.

 “Uh yea, the um, the basement has a room in it, I like that one” he replies while picking at his hoodie sleeves.

 Dad chuckles “of course you'd choose the dungeon for a room.”

 He heaves himself off of the couch, ruffling Virgil's hair as he instructs his son “alright then, Phantom of the Opera, go bring your things into your room, that's all you need to help with.” He heads up the stairs yelling out to his husband “hey Babes, it seems like you've acquired that office, Virge wants the basement room.”

 He hears a knowing muffled laugh of 'of course he does', it seems like they had this conversation already.

 He goes to the truck to check on what to do first and decides on bringing all the large garbage bags filled with clothes and bedding to leave the boxes and heavier things for last.

 ~

 He huffs and wipes his hands together, the bags were easy enough, though there were quite a few of them so he takes a short break on the front steps, letting his mind wander to other things, like how his new school is going to be. This town doesn't have a large population to begin with, so he can't really imagine the student body population to be much either (not nearly as much as his old school does.) He thinks that this whole town wouldn't fill his old school.

 He gets distracted from his thoughts as another teen, about his age bounces towards him with a dog following by his side.

 “I didn't know someone new was moving in!” He happily chirps at Virgil. Virgil just stares at him, not exactly knowing what to say in this situation. “Oh”- the kid laughs out, face palming -“where are my manners?” He thrusts his arm towards Virgil for a handshake. “I'm Patton” he brightly announces “Patton Sanders, I live two doors down that way,” he points to the right of himself.

 Virgil nods, taking the outstretched hand and Patton beams at him.

 Giving his own smile, though shy and not as open as Patton's he mumbles out his own name. He doesn't think Patton heard what he said, but looking up at the other boy he sees that Patton doesn't have any annoyance in his features, only a calm encouraging smile that trails into his eyes, the warmth he sees behind the thick black glasses puts him at ease.

 It feels almost like Patton himself is pushing all the comforting feelings towards Virgil on purpose, and he finds he's not as anxious as he usually would be around someone new.

 So he clears his throat to introduce himself properly, in an octave the other can actually hear him in.

 “Virgil, um... Virgil Tempest.”

 Patton's eyes widen and he claps his hands together.

 “Oh! Like Tempest Coffee? Ms. Tempest is so nice and she makes the best cookies! I've always wanted to know what she does to make them that good!” He excitedly gushes it makes Virgil smile at the enthusiasm.

 “Yea, exactly like Tempest Coffee, though I'm pretty sure Dad is going to change the name” he offhandedly mentions.

 Patton tilts his head to the side he looks confused but quickly jolts like he was shocked; his eyes shine with sadness and guilt.

 “Oh my gosh! That was so insensitive of me” he gasps out his hands flying to cover his mouth. “I am so sorry Virgil, I completely forgot, I guess my brain hasn't caught up to the fact that she's gone yet.”

 And now Virgil made Patton sad with just being, cause of course he did.

 Great, off to a good start with the neighbours then.

 “It-it's okay, I didn't really know her. If that makes you feel better” he mumbles out that last part, shrugging.

 Patton looks uncertain for a second and then plasters a smile onto his face, exuding that same calming feeling from before.

 “She used to send me birthday gifts and weirdly enough, Halloween gifts too. That was as far as our relationship went” he looks confusedly back at Patton's own confused look “what?” he asks, enunciating the whole word.

 “You don't celebrate Halloween?” His nose scrunches up with his confusion; it's adorable.

 “I do” Virgil says slowly. “But, it's kinda weird to get presents for it no?”

 Patton shakes his head.

 Well then. Just him he supposes.

 “It's not at all weird around here, Halloween is kinda a big deal in these parts” Patton says then asks: “what do you usually do then?”

 “Well, you know. The usual, trick or treating” he ticks off his fingers as he goes down the list. “Dressing up, going to strangers houses to beg for candy, horror movie marathons, eating too much candy and then ditching school the next day cause, honestly, it was just Halloween.” He has a lopsided smirk as he says: “I love it, it's my favourite holiday.”

 Patton nods along to all of his points.

 “Well, we do all that stuff here too. Just more” he starts bouncing in place clapping. “Oh, you're gonna love it here if it's your favourite! The whole town goes up in lights and we have fireworks! Fireworks at the beach! And and and everyone participates in this amazing barbeque! And there's fun activities to do all 'round town, it's a spectacular event! Oh oh oh and and! There's a couple days off of school for all the festivities! And it's just so much fun!” Patton's excitement radiates out that his dog joins in on his bouncing. “I am so glad that I can show you all the cool stuff for the first time! This is so exciting!” He claps a couple more times.

 Virgil can feel the excitement smash over him like a tidal wave and he can't help the large smile that spreads across his face as he watches Patton clap.

 With a new sense of adrenaline Virgil decides that his break should be over and that he needs to get back to work on these boxes, he says as much to Patton.

 “You want some help?” The other asks so genuinely it throws Virgil through a loop. “I'm sure you'll get so much more done with some help” his offer is so honest and pure all Virgil can do is nod.

 Patton bounces in place once more “Oh, I need to bring Foster home but I'll be back to help you lickity split!”

 Virgil watches as Patton practically skips home with Foster bounding at his heels, he opens his front door Foster goes in with one word. Patton waves at Virgil as he closes his door again, then skips right back to Virgil's side.

 Well, it seems like moving his stuff isn't going to be as gruelling as he thought it was going to be.

 Virgil gets up off of the steps as Patton reaches him, both turning towards the truck.

 “Alright tell me what I'm bringing and where to put it” Patton exclaims, Virgil motions towards the boxes off to the side of the truck, some inside of it some outside so he instructs Patton farther than his hand wave gave.

 “All the ones to the left are mine, if you don't know what to grab all my boxes have my name on them. And you can bring them... Um.” Is Patton going to think he's weird if he tells him his room is in the basement, willingly, in a room that's not meant to be a room? He looks to Patton from where he was focusing on boxes only to see curiosity and kindness on the others face. “Um, the basement. That's where my room is.” Patton just nods and walks with Virgil inside his house, and then down the stairs.

 He's pretty trusting of new people huh?

 Patton goes to open the door to the room but Virgil stops him just before he can turn the handle.

 “Wait don't open it yet!”

 Patton freezes in place at Virgil's panicked tone.

 “Sorry” Virgil winces, “I can't let the cat out yet though.”

 Patton's eyes go wide and excitement bubbles up in him once again.

 “You have a cat!?” He breathes out with a slight high pitched noise following.

 Virgil nods amusement colouring his face. He puts the boxes he was carrying down and goes to open the door while Patton puts his own box down.

 The boys scurry into the bedroom, closing the door hurriedly behind them.

 “You like cats I'm guessing?” He asks as Patton gets on his knees in front of the small black cat, and he nods frantically as she climbs on to his lap.

 “I love them” he says as he cradles her to his chest, “I'm super duper kinda allergic to them though” he says lightly and Virgil startles at that.

 “Stop rubbing your face on her then!” he shrieks, waving his hands around as Patton giggles.

 “But she's just too cuuuuuuute Virgil!” He whines as he hugs the cat to his face.

 Virgil splutters with a pained look on his face.

 “But, your allergies...” he says lamely.

 Patton giggles once more “worth it. She's too cute.”

 Sigh.

 “Yes, yes she is.”

 Patton looks up, “what's her name?” He asks innocently, like he's not going to regret this whole situation.

 “Hex” he answers, Patton smiles down at the cat.

 “Well, she's gonna fit right in with that name.”

 “I suppose so,” Virgil agrees. “Now stop killing yourself with my cat” he opens the door to enunciate his statement.

 “Fiiine, bye bye Hex” he coos to the cat.

 ~

 They get a couple more boxes downstairs before Dad stops them on their way to go get more.

 “Who's your new friendo there Virge?” He asks his shades are back on his face sheltering his eyes from the outside world he’s sipping on an iced coffee; eyebrow raised.

 “Uh, this is Patton he lives two doors down. That way” he adds pointing to his left. “Patton this is one of my dads.”

 “You can call me Remy hon” he addresses Patton, then addresses them both “you boys hungry? I've got lunch sorted out, and Patton you are so welcome to join in on this sweet-pea.”

 “That sounds great Dad” Virgil sits at the breakfast bar, Patton following suit.

 “That sounds super, thank you Mr. Remy.”

 “Oh God none of that 'Mr' crap around here kid, just Remy is fine and dandy” he finishes his sentence with a long drag from his straw.

 Dad sets a sandwich in front of both of them and a plate of cookies in between them and then hands them both a soda before leaving to go upstairs.

 They eat in silence for the most part, until Patton takes a bite from a cookie and gasps out loud.

 Oh no, Virgil panics. Did his dad somehow mess up on this recipe that he knows by heart and accidentally poisoned his only friend?

Tears, there are tears coming from Patton's eyes, and Virgil has no idea what to do about this, his panic sky rockets and Patton immediately stops his stray tears and seems to force a lighter aura around his being.

 Virgil would define this as 'emotional whiplash' on how that happened so fast.

 “Are, are you okay?” He asks in concern (and maybe a little confusion.)

 “Yea, it's- it's just these taste exactly like how Ms. Tempest makes them an it threw me off guard, I didn't think I'd ever get to eat them again is all” he softly says as he stares sadly at the baked good.

 “Well,” Virgil starts “my dad is her son, so he knows all her baking secrets and tricks so you'll definitely be able to eat them” he smiles at Patton's soft expression.

 “So, she's your Grandma then?” Patton asks.

 “Yea, did... did you know her well?”

 Patton smiles “yea, I went over to the cafe a lot to help her out.”

 “Oh, that's nice.”

 “Mmhm. It was fun.”

 “Woah, what's with the mood in here?” Pops asks as he walks into the room, “It's like you just found out Bambi’s mum gets shot” he says brightly while grabbing a soda from the fridge.

 Virgil's eyebrows shoot up to his forehead in surprise.

 “Woah Pops, a little dark there.”

 Emile stops, stares into nothingness and turns to Virgil with a serious look on his face and a tone to match.

 “I've been spending too much time with your father.”

 And then promptly walks out.

 “How long have they been together?” Patton asks.

 “Um, since like, collage...”

 Neither of them can contain the loud laughter that comes.

  ~0~

 Patton is genuinely happy in this moment, helping Virgil out with his boxes.

 They just delivered the last one to Virgil's room.

 Remy had already carried and put in the bed, shelving, dresser and desk while they ate lunch.

 Well, that's what he said he did. But Patton didn't notice anything being moved, it's not like the staircase is out of their line of vision.

 Remy is an odd character, just like his mother.

 Patton can't get a read on him, just like with Ms. Tempest.

 Nothing came from her, and nothing from him now too!

 And come to think of it, he couldn't feel anything from Virgil's other dad either.

 It was confusing.

 If he can't read the person then it's harder to decide what emotion to put out there.

 Virgil on the other hand, was more of an open book, if only slightly more.

 Roman would probably call him 'dark and mysterious' and if Patton didn't know better, so would he.

 “Hey” Patton pipes up while they're walking upstairs so he can go home “what grade are you going into?” He asks hoping that he'd finally get a friend in his class.

 “Seventh grade” Virgil responds, dashing Patton's hopes.

 “Cool, you'll be in Roman and Remus' classes then! And maybe some of Logan’s too, his classes are probably going to be sporadic cause he's so smart that he skipped a grade! So he probably will be in most of your classes if not all, although he's so smart that he might have some eighth grade classes too, hopefully cause that'd be super duper neat!” He realizes that he’s been rambling when he gets a look from Virgil. “I'm sorry, I blab too much sometimes.”

 Virgil waves off is worries “it's alright, it just means that I don't have to” he smiles at Patton and his heart soars at the emotion that smile sends him.

 His ranting doesn't bother Virgil. He finds it endearing if Patton's reading it right.

 “Anyway” he says as he steps out of the house “I'll see you soon yea?”

 Virgil nods “the next time you see my room, it's going to be awesome.”

 Patton smiles he waves goodbye to his new friend and bounces all the way to his front door then yells out to Virgil: “I can't wait!”

 And he can't.

 He can't wait to tell Roman about the 'dark and mysterious' boy who he will most undoubtedly get along with.

 He couldn't wait to tell Logan about his new friend that has a quick wit and silver tongue when he's not all tied up in his own thoughts, oh the debates that they'll probably get into.

 He can't wait to tell Remus about the darker parts of this boy and watch their friendship bloom from that simple shared fascination.

 He couldn't wait.