#virgil just has a normal last name

[part-time-zombie]

you have no idea how much this scene means to me

Roman realized that virgil went out of his way to help him and acknowledged virgils actions, vocalizing his appreciation. Virgil isn't used to receiving such kind words, especially from roman, but he can see them as genuine which throws him off even more.

Virgil again tries to downplay his actions, not even knowing how or why he did what he did to help, but before he can completely ignore this moment of unexpected vulnerability, roman grabs his shoulder. While this would probably normally result in a flinch or a fight, virgil instead is grounded by the unexpected touch, quieting down and focusing back on roman when he started to overthink.

Roman says this so softly, so proudly, and virgil is completely thrown off. Virgil, the facet of anxiety, being called brave by the confident prince? He can't even comprehend the concept, let alone believe that such an admirable trait of roman was apparently found in himself, vocalized by roman of all sides.

Virgil doesn't believe it. He's anxiety, he can't be brave. Romans brave, romans the prince, how can the literal embodiment of anxiety even come close to brave? He tries to deny it, tries to run from this unexpected openness from the both of them, but roman stops him yet again. All the other times before when roman told virgil to shut up or called him names it was known to be taken as a jab, a joke at his expense. But now, here in this moment, they aren't enemies or even rivals, they're friends celebrating each other. This is not a joke, this is a compliment subtly spoken in the same witty banter he has grown used to, even become fond of.

Roman watches the scene unfold, happy at last. Virgil just looks at him, amazed by how far they both had come. Romans hand is still on virgils shoulder, but he can't find it in himself to mind. Right now all he can think of is what roman had said. Bravery. Virgil was brave to roman, brave For roman. And even if virgil himself can't see it yet, or refuses to admit to it, roman saw it. And if roman, the bravest prince virgil knows, can recognize bravery in him, then he supposes it must be true, even a little bit.

[employee052]

little poster for a minicomic im working on thats half au / half backstory for virgil and the tsp gang in my universe called "la vie en jaune" (or life in yellow in french) (i think) (idk i live in canada)

for a full infodump on this au ill put it under the cut bc this au is an amalgamation of portal 2 (which takes from cave johnson, caroline, aperture, while also taking from a chelley fic i read) , simon from adventure time, kingsman, and floating megane's ted nivison comics on insta.

the plot:

Virgil works at a company called Ouroboros Technologies, whos goal is to make gadgets that automate the process of buisnesses (though they never go beyond that explanation, it pays hella money so ppl dont question it).

Anyways, Virgil's job is to hire and manage the new employees in his division. And at his 427th employee he hires Stanley Rider (also rider is stanleys canonical last name apparently so might as well use that instead of parable). A 26 year old whos fresh out of university n is working as an intern. Getting coffee, flowers for the office, making sure everyone has enough whiteboard markers since ppl use that up like crazy, etc

The two get close to the point that Stanley becomes Virgil's assistant. Which helps a bit since both Stanley and Virgil are struggling to keep up with their (seperate n now combined) workload.

The company makes a prototype product which is a set of yellow glasses, which gives the user access to the whole company's building, files, and technology in an AR form that they can access at the blink of an eye. The Prototype AR Accessible Biotech Launcher Enviroment (or pARable for short) They give it to Virgil to test, and research finds that it improves productivity 110%. However, the tech begins to backfire as it slowly begins to change Virgil's attitude and body. His mind starts to forget the people and names around him, he starts becoming increasingly more anxious and self conscious of his work when in the presence of an audience, his body begins to rapidly age and drain his life from him, and he begins to crave the control that he is given with these glasses.

Stanley notices this, and pleads with Virgil to stop, which he does. However, it causes them to fall behind on their workload, and the higherups dont like it.

Eventually, as the company threatens to dock their pay, Virgil is forced to use the glasses again in order to keep up with the workload and feed both him and Stanley. At which, Virgil begins to lose himself more and more. Forgetting his name and instead calling himself the Narrator.

The only person that he remembers is Stanley.

One night, Virgil doesn't come home, and after filing a missing persons case, Stanley doesn't find him. (Although the usual silence from Ouroboros seems more ominous than usual)

The company begins to export and send pARables en masse to all its employees, and the company reaches a terrifying peak in efficiency. And Stanley follows. Yet the only difference is that his pARable is different than his coworkers. Where everyone else starts off at a narration explaining the device followed by a room that is designed to look exactly like the user's own bedroom. Stanley's starts off with a story, in an office that looks suspiciously like his.

And concerningly, he can only vaguely remember of his life before the pARable.

And so the game plays out like normal, except both Stanley and The Narrator cant help but shake the fact that the other feels so familiar somehow.

---

ive got one page already done so i might do some more doodles with the designs i have for these two later, but im just glad i got to put this down since this is how i saw virgils origins to be subconsciously

which reminds me i need to share what ive got written for my tsp portal au f U C K

[evilwy]

About Rentz 🐍🔗

(3/3)

(I apologize in advance for any typos or mistakes, I'm dyslexic, thanks for understanding)

Most important thing I think it's worth saying that when he wakes up on nautiloid, Rentz remembers absolutely nothing, not even his name. There is no despair, no pain, no anger, they come later, there is only emptiness and a feeling of cold at the beginning.

Fear appears almost immediately from the ringing emptiness in his head, from the realization that he exists. Bruises on the body respond with pain when he trying to move, and anger flares up when a silhouette appears in front of him. His mind, like an open wound, itches and bleeds, he can't utter anything but... help.. me... This is what their meeting with Lae'zel actually looks like, he meets her first.

Rentz is a soldier, all his life he carries out orders that he cannot disobey. He's wise and observant. Knows a lot, but doesn't want to share it with anyone. Rentz watches distantly most of the time, not wanting to attract too much attention. Authority is important to him, he only follows orders. Rentz himself does not want to take the place of a leader of the group and it even scares him a bit.

The whole path of Rentz is saturated with such a strong enveloping dread. Everything he does is connected to it, but what he's afraid of, he cannot understand. And a bit later, a caustic whisper of savagery begins to seep out of the emptiness of consciousness. At first it's easy to ignore it, but it develops into a mad scream of a thousand voices that seems to drive him crazy. Rentz doesn't sleep at night when the screams get louder, he doesn't understand and is afraid of this. Afraid of his disgusting desires to maim, harm, massacre, slaughter.

TW: BLOOD

No one in group asks his name right away, they're just satisfied that he's on their side, and when the question does sound, it hangs in ringing silence. He doesn't know. And the fingers involuntarily begin to tremble. He subsequently finds his "own" name in a randomly found note, where initials are written in a neat handwriting in the lower corner of the paper. "Rentz" is his name now.

It's like there's no empathy inside Rentz, and there's too much of it to the point of nausea. Initially, he kills out of supreme pity, as it seems to him. "Faerun is too cruel to everyone, I'm ready to put you out of your misery," he thinks and is afraid that he won't be able to stop.

Later, so much anger remains inside him that he can choke on it, it retreats only after the murders, the veil slides from his eyes and there remains a void that is filled only by pain and violence.

(cw: not major spoilers)

During Alfira's murder, he sees Astarion and realizes that he's lying about his nature, Astarion in turn sees him and this knowledge unites them in the thought "I am a monster". For a while, they're like two predators baring their teeth at each other, but do not dare to attack, and later in their hatred of the world they find similarities in each other.

(Til'em is a character of @virgil-630 , later the two of them will have an affair with Astarion)

Rentz has a complicated relationship with Til'em, he dreams of squeezing his neck until it crunches from the first meeting, and this is more a personal dislike, not a dark temptation. In one of his outings, he tries to kill Til', but something prevents him and at the last moment Rentz changes his mind.

He begins to see in Til'em something more than just a leader of a group much later.

Til'em skillfully plays on Rentz's sense of abandonment, his deep desire to be accepted, to be normal. He skillfully presses all the levers of Rentz's soul, even though it takes him lots of time, and he opens up to Til'em like an abandoned child who doesn't trust anyone because instead of hugs he is afraid to get a slap in the face. Who closed himself off from everyone so as not to hurt what little of a person was left in him and pushed it so deep inside that he no longer believes that anyone can love him.

[fangirlwriting-stories]

Complete Me (Please)

Summary: Roman has been waiting his whole life to meet his soulmate.  Okay, yes, he can already hear Logan's voice in his head that their wouldn't be a way to wait less than your whole life to meet your soulmate, but the point stands that Roman has been waiting longer than is assumed normal.  And he isn't going to say that hasn't been hard on him.  But that doesn't really matter, because he knows the minute he meets his soulmate everything is going to click into place and all of his problems will disappear.

Or at least, that was supposed to happen.

Everything, Roman knew, would work out once he met his soulmate.

That was how love worked.  That was how life worked.  That’s what everyone had always told him.  His parents had met in high school and fallen in love just like they were supposed to.  His best friend Logan had met Patton and they’d fallen in love just like they were supposed to.  Even his brother had fallen in love with Janus just like he was supposed to.  And they were all so much happier afterwards.  Granted, they’d all been doing okay beforehand, and Roman was… oh, but that didn’t matter!  Roman didn’t have to worry!  Because one day he’d meet Virgil Storm and then he’d be totally fine!  Because that was how it worked!

Until then, he’d just ignore the disappointed looks from his parents when he went home for the holidays, as if expecting him to somehow control when he met his soulmate.  He’d ignore the worried looks from his brother and his friends, as if they thought he could do something to make life move faster, to make his life start already.  He’d ignore the looks he got every time he explained to someone that yes, he was graduating college this year, and no, he hadn’t met his soulmate yet.

He’d ignore it all and he’d be fine.   Because it was only a matter of time, and then he’d actually be fine.  Then he’d have his soulmate, and everything would be okay.

Unfortunately, whether that day came next week or next decade, he couldn’t spend all the time in between focusing on it.  He had classes to pass, careers to build, and bills to pay.  The last thing on that list was why he was here.

He’d gotten the job as something that would pay those bills until he hopefully got his first acting job.  (His prospects there, at least, were looking much more promising than his prospects in his love life.  He had auditions coming up in a few months for roles he could do in his sleep.)  Selling coffee wasn’t exactly the dream, but he could be friendly and he could sell things and he could run a cash register.  Besides, it was temporary.  Just like being single.

On his first day, he was handed his apron and nametag and directed towards the person who was going to train him, who for some reason was not wearing a name tag and leaning on his elbow behind the counter and looked like he’d rather be anywhere else in existence.

Even so, Roman put on his best smile and walked over to him.  “Hello!  I’m Roman!  May I ask who has the honor of training me on this lovely Tuesday?”

The person turned a gaze on Roman that had about all the grace of a feral raccoon, and then turned back towards the counter.  “We open in fifteen minutes,” he said.  “Talk to me when that happens.”

“Oh, well, I mean I think I should probably know some of what to do before that happens?” Roman said, rubbing the back of his neck.

The person groaned, and pushed himself up to a standing position.  “Fine,” he said.  “Listen closely, I won’t be repeating this.  Regular coffee cups are over there, coffee is in those huge-ass heater things, we sell mugs for fifteen bucks, yes that’s overpriced but you can’t say that to the customers, all of the creams are over there including whipped cream and other toppings for shitty fancy crap that doesn’t even count as coffee, all the prices are on the wall behind me, it’s your first day so I’m making you do all the hard chores.”  With that, he flopped back down onto his elbow.  “If you have questions, keep ‘em to yourself.”

“Uh, what’s your name?” Roman asked, feeling a little offended.

“What did I just say?” the person snapped, glaring up at him.  “I intentionally don’t wear a name tag so people don’t know my name, why would I then tell you upon asking?”

“Because it’s polite?”

The person blew a raspberry.  “I just sell coffee to customers, and we’re just coworkers, no one involved in those interactions needs to know my name.”

“Okay then, you’re rude,” Roman said, rolling his eyes and moving away to look for everything the person had pointed out.  Coffee cups, giant heater-looking things that held coffee, creams, prices that he’d have to work on memorizing.  He had no idea where the mugs they apparently sold for too-high prices were.  Maybe he’d ask someone else.

Roman gave the person at the counter a distasteful look.  Anyone else would do, really.

A little while later, the person went up and flipped the sign around to open, then moved back behind the counter.

No one was there immediately, but it didn’t take long for people to start trickling through the doors, and as soon as they did, Emo Feral Raccoon Person immediately turned into a completely different person.

“Hi, what can I get you today?” he asked, putting on a pleasant smile that almost gave Roman whiplash.

He’d been instructed to watch for a little while to get a feel for how things worked, so he watched as Emo Man helped the first couple people in line, then he moved to try helping the next person at the other register.

“Hi, what can I get you?” he asked.  Naturally, the customer rambled off a list of things that all somehow went into one coffee, and Roman immediately felt in over his head.

Thankfully, it seemed Emo Man wasn’t a completely horrible person, because he headed over to the register the second the customer started talking.

“Sorry sir, it’s his first day, so I’ll be helping out a little bit,” he said.  “Can you run through that one more time?”

The customer, looking irritated, did so, and then Roman followed Emo Man as he made the coffee, taking note of everything while he did, and then turned to face the next customer as soon as he finished.

Thankfully, this person just ordered a black coffee, which Roman was able to take care of.

He fell into a groove eventually, and while Emo Man had to help with an occasional complicated order, Roman felt he did pretty well for his first day.

The coffee shop didn’t close until 9:00 that night, meaning since this was just a training shift for Roman, someone was going to relieve him around lunchtime.  But about half an hour before that happened the manager Carol appeared from the back during a time the store was empty.

She tapped Emo Man on the shoulder.  “Virgil, take the trash bags out, would you?” she asked, and suddenly Roman couldn’t breathe.

“Wait a second,” he said, and both of them turned to face him.  “Your name is Virgil?”

Virgil glared at Carol.  “See now why’d you have to let him know that?”

“No, no, I—” Roman waved his hands.  “Virgil Storm?”

Virgil got a very suspicious look on his face.  “Who’s asking?”

Roman reached for his shirt and pulled his sleeve up, revealing his wrist.  “Uh.  Roman Prince?”

Both Virgil and Carol’s eyes widened, and a second later Carol clapped her hands together, starting to smile.  “Oh!  Never mind about the trash bags Virgil, you can take your fifteen minute break now!”

“Oh, no,” Virgil said instantly, turning towards the trash cans.  “Those things are overflowing, let me handle them.”

“Virgil,” Carol said, giving him a strained smile.  “You can take your fifteen minute break now.”

“I don’t want to take my fifteen minute break, Carol,” Virgil said, giving just as strained a smile back.

“Well, I simply insist,” Carol said, widening her smile.  “Virgil, show Roman where the break area is please.”

“But I don’t—” Virgil groaned and looked up at the ceiling.  “If someone’s up there after all, now would be a perfect time to strike me down.”

“Uh… did I do something wrong?” Roman asked hesitantly, trying to shove down the massive pile of nerves this whole interaction was bringing.

“Nope,” Virgil said, sounding very done.  “Let’s go to the break area, hurray…”

Roman’s hands started shaking a little as he followed Virgil.

They headed to a spot in the back that had some falling apart chairs and table, and Virgil sank into one, crossing his arms.

“Look,” he said, giving Roman a very done stare.  “I appreciate that the universe is trying to hand me a gift wrapped relationship or whatever, but I’m not looking for a partner right now.”

Roman’s hands were definitely shaking.  He swallowed.  “What?”

“I mean I just…” Virgil ran his hands through his hair.  “I don’t know you very well, dude.  And no offense, but it doesn’t really seem like we have a ton in common.”  He gestured between his outfit of all black and Roman’s bright red shirt and light blue jeans.

“I…” Roman’s mouth felt dry all of a sudden.  “But… but we’re soulmates.”

“So?” Virgil flopped back in his chair.  “That means I owe you something?”

“But—” Roman next breath came in wheezy, and suddenly he was finding it really difficult to stand.

It took Virgil a second, but he seemed to notice this, and he turned widening eyes up to Roman.

“Wait.  Oh, holy shit.  Are you okay?”

Roman put a hand to his chest, trying to breathe past the strangled feeling now building up in his chest.

“I don’t… understand,” Roman wheezed out, sinking into a chair.  “That’s not how this… how it works.”

“I…” Virgil held his hands up, not seeming like he knew quite what to do.  “Uh… fuck.  Dude, I don’t… I don’t know you, man.  It’s nothing personal.  I don’t… I just don’t want to date anyone.  It’s nothing against you, I… shit.  Okay, okay, come here.”  He grabbed Roman’s hands and started tapping out a rhythm on them.  “Can you breathe to that pattern?  You really shouldn’t be gasping this much dude, it’s not good.”

Roman tried to do just that, but it was a little difficult when his world was sitting in front of him and telling him that he didn’t want him.  Virgil was supposed to make everything okay.  What was he supposed to do if Virgil didn’t make everything okay?

“Roman, hey.”  Virgil snapped his fingers in front of his eyes.  “Can you hear me?”

He definitely couldn’t, and a second later Virgil disappeared, which didn’t help with anything.  What were his parents going to say?  What were Logan and Patton and Janus and Remus going to say?  What was he supposed to do now?

A second later he felt a shock of cold on his forehead, and he managed to pull back to see Virgil holding an ice cube out in front of him and looking more than a little guilty.

Virgil held the ice cube out to Roman, who took it and pressed it to his forehead, trying to focus in on that until he could slow his breathing and lean back in the chair.

“Okay, so… I could have done that way better,” Virgil said weakly.  “I… shit, I’m sorry.”

Roman shook his head.  “I don’t understand,” he said.  “I don’t understand, you’re my soulmate.”

Virgil looked away uncomfortably and rubbed the back of his neck.  “I… I don’t want a soulmate,” he said hesitantly, and Roman’s world fell out from under his feet again.

“You… but why?” he asked.

“Dude, I just… it doesn’t sound like something that would make me happy,” Virgil said.

“It doesn’t…” Roman trailed off weakly.  He leaned forward to lean his elbows on his knees as he tried to process that.

“Look,” Virgil said, shifting on his feet.  “I’m sorry.  I… I think I need to go get back to work.  You can stay until my friend Remy gets here to take over for you.  I’ll let Carol know.  I won’t tell her about the… yeah.”

And with that, Virgil walked away and left Roman’s world to crumble around him.

…

Janus and Remus were both playing video games when Roman got home.  He lived with them for right now, because it was way more expensive if you didn’t room with your soulmates, but Roman hadn’t met…

“Hey Ro!” Remus called without looking as Roman shut the door after him.  “How’s the job?”

Roman looked over at the couch.  Janus and Remus had moved his blankets, and turned the futon back into a couch so they could play video games.  They’d erased Roman’s presence just like that.  Was that what everyone else was going to do now too?  Was that what his parents were going to do?  Was Logan going to find a new best friend, one who was actually worth something?  Was Remus going to find a new brother, one who wouldn’t be sleeping on his couch forever because no one else wanted him?

“Ro?” Remus said, starting to glance back over, and Roman realized he hadn’t said anything for a good ten seconds.

“Oh, yeah,” he said, trying to inject some emotion into his voice that wasn’t despair.  “Yeah it’s… good.  I’m just tired.  I’m gonna go lay down for a bit.”

“Oh, okay, cool!” Remus called.  “You can use our room!  We might grab dinner out later, I’ll let you know if we do.”

“Okay,” Roman said, desperately hoping that they wouldn’t.

He went back to Remus and Janus’ room and curled up miserably under their covers.  He’d dreamed of the day that he’d get to move into a place of his own with his soulmate.  Now… what was he going to do now?

Virgil didn’t want him.  Virgil, his saving grace, the one who was supposed to make everything okay.  Okay with his parents, okay with his brother, okay with his friends, okay with him.  What in the world did a life for Roman Prince mean without Virgil Storm?

Was he going to have to couchsurf with his brother forever, and watch him and Janus live the life he wanted to have with his soulmate?  Was he going to continue to be a huge disappointment to Mom and Dad, who had always placed such importance on soulmates?  Was he going to have to be alone, forever?

Roman pulled out his phone, trying to quiet the rushing thoughts in his head, and looked up “Help my soulmate doesn’t want me.”

Results that came up ranged from support groups, to therapists, to advice articles, but the overall advice was generally, horrifyingly, the same: If your soulmate doesn’t want you, you can’t force it.

Many articles also talked about things working themselves out in time, but even those started by saying there often wasn’t much you could do.  The only places Roman saw people saying there was something you could do were people essentially advocating for manipulation and abuse, with more flowery and disguised terms.  For obvious reasons, Roman wasn’t going to do that.

But that meant it was sounding suspiciously like he was going to be… alone.  Alone.  How was he supposed to deal with that?

A knock sounded on the door, and immediately Roman’s brain shouted at him that right now he was going to deal with it by telling no one.

“Roman?” Remus called.

“Yeah?” Roman called back, putting on his practiced fake smile and the customer service voice he’d spent the morning developing.

“I think we’re just gonna grab some fast food, come talk about what you want, okay?”

“On my way!” Roman called brightly, heading towards the door as Remus started back towards the kitchen.

Fake it till you make it wasn’t a terrible start.

…

Virgil seemed understandably uncomfortable when Roman came into work again the next day.  Roman gave him the best smile he could muster and walked up to lean against the other counter, trying to seem as casual as possible.

“Hey,” Virgil said, doing the vocal equivalent of shooting finger guns.  “How… how are you?”

“I’m ready to help some customers!” Roman said with probably the fakest smile to ever exist.

Predictably, Virgil winced.  “Hey, look, I really am sorry about yesterday.  It was kind of shitty of me to not consider that you were probably expecting—”

“Oh, water under the bridge,” Roman said, waving his hand dismissively.

“Are you sure?  You don’t really have panic attacks about stuff that’s water under the bridge the day after.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Roman said, clenching his hands tightly on the counter.  “Besides, we’re opening soon and I still have a ton of questions about how things work around here.”

Virgil bit his lip, still looking unsure, but he nodded.  “Okay.  Uh, shoot.”

Roman managed to fill the rest of the time before they opened with questions about how various things worked, and it had the effect of not letting Virgil talk about the whole “crushing Roman’s entire hopes and dreams” situation that happened yesterday, as well as meaning that by the time the doors opened, Roman actually did feel like he had a handle for what to do.  That was probably good, because tomorrow started his actual shifts, which would be much longer and come with one of those dreaded fifteen minute breaks.

Roman, after a little while, managed to lose himself in the work throughout the day, and by the time he left again, he’d at least gone most of the shift without thinking about Virgil.

As soon as he left, however, all of the thoughts came rushing back, and he knew for a fact he couldn’t go home and see his brother’s perfect soulmate story right now.

He pulled out his phone and called Logan, who answered after his usual two rings.

“Roman, you’re off work I presume?” Logan asked.

“Yep!  Want to do something just the two of us like old times before you met Patton?”

“I… suppose?” Logan said.  “What would you like to do?”

“Let’s go to the planetarium,” Roman said, because that would distract Logan enough that he wouldn’t ask Roman what was wrong.

Sure enough, Logan immediately agreed, and started talking much faster and more excitedly as Roman made his way to the car.  In another couple minutes, they were both on their way, and since Roman was much closer, he was free to have his breakdown in the car once he got there and make sure he still looked presentable before Logan showed up.

He let himself space out to the sound of his best friend’s excited voice as they walked through the planetarium, and really only managed to not get lost because he was hanging off of Logan’s arm the whole time.  His distraction plan worked, though, and Logan never once asked him what was wrong.

Roman was probably hoping a bit too far to think he wouldn’t notice something though.  He just had a different way of calling attention to things.

“Roman,” Logan said as they were leaving, and Roman glanced back at him.

“I appreciate this,” Logan said with a smile.  “This was a nice surprise.  I hope you know how much I enjoy spending time with you, whether we’re doing something, or,” he raised an eyebrow slightly.  “Just talking.”

Roman nodded weakly.  “Thanks, Pocket Protector.  I’ll keep that in mind.”

Logan nodded again, and they both headed their separate ways.  Roman pulled out his phone to get directions back home, because he could never quite remember the way, and winced when he saw five missed calls from Remus.

He hadn’t told him where he was going, had he?

Roman hit “call back” and held the phone up to his ear.  Remus answered on the first ring.

“Hey Re,” Roman said weakly.

“Where the hell are you?” Remus asked.  “I thought you were coming back home!”

“I just went with Logan to the planetarium,” Roman said, holding up his hand, though Remus couldn’t see it.  “Sorry, I forgot to tell you.”

Remus sighed, part irritated and part relieved.  “Ro, we were waiting for you here.”

“What?  Waiting for me?  Why?”

“Just get back here, dummy,” Remus said, and hung up.

Roman gave the phone a curious look, but went to navigate to directions, and got home about half an hour later.

He wasn’t sure what he was expecting to see when he walked in, but it definitely wasn’t Janus and Remus both sitting at the dining area table with a huge cake that read “Congrats On The New Job Dummy!”

“What…” Roman said, giving them both baffled looks.  “I started yesterday.”

“Yeah, but this was your last training day, right?” Remus said with a grin.  “So we got you a cake to celebrate your shift into seven hour shifts with not enough time to rest or sit down!”

Roman blinked at the cake for a minute, and Remus and Janus both smiled at him and picked it up to display it a little.

“Oh,” Roman said, swallowing past a lump in his throat.  “Okay.”

He walked forward before either Remus or Janus could ask about the tone of his voice and plastered a giant smile on his face.  “Thanks, guys,” he said, and at least he really meant that part.  “This means a lot.”

“Course, dummy,” Remus said, leaning forward and ruffling his hair.  “You know we’re proud of you, right?”

Roman swallowed past a bigger lump in his throat and widened his smile.

“I’ll go get a large sharp knife now!” Remus called happily, and started for the kitchen.

“Oh lord,” Roman muttered.

“I think I should supervise that,” Janus said with a smirk at Roman.  “But good job, Roman.”

“Thanks Janus,” Roman said with a smaller smile up at him.

Janus picked up the cake and headed into the kitchen with Remus to get a knife, and Roman pulled out his phone again to avoid focusing on all the emotions rushing through him right now.  He could deal with them later.

Unfortunately, it seemed Logan wasn’t going to let that be the case, because on his phone was a text from him.

 Logan: I had quite a bit of fun with you today Roman.  I hope we can do that again sometime.  You are an enjoyable person to spend time with.

 Roman set his phone down, called that he was going to the bathroom, and vanished down the hall.

As soon as he made it to the bathroom, he shut and locked the door.  He managed to make his way over to the toilet and sit down on top of it before he started sobbing quietly into his hands.

Okay.  Maybe he’d been a little wrong.

Maybe he wouldn’t be alone alone.

…

Next time, it felt a little easier to talk to Virgil.  And now that it didn’t feel quite so raw, Roman really did have questions for him.  So, when there was a break between customers and they were restocking supplies, Roman glanced over and called, “Virgil?”

Virgil glanced back at him.  “Yeah?”

“Can I… can I ask why you don’t want a soulmate?”

Virgil immediately looked away uncomfortably.

“You don’t have to answer,” Roman said quickly, despite how desperate he was to know.

“It’s really that big of a deal?” Virgil asked, looking hesitantly back over at him.  “It’s really that big of a deal to just… not be looking for a partner right now?”

“Right now?” Roman asked, and suddenly he could see a wall go up in Virgil’s eyes.

“Hey,” he said immediately, leaning away.  “Don’t count on it.”

Roman bit his lip and looked away.  “But why?” he asked.

“Because I don’t like the idea that I owe so much to someone I barely know,” Virgil said.  “I don’t like the idea of changing my life for someone who isn’t me.  Before I know if we’re compatible, before I know how they’ll treat me, before I know if I like them as a person.”

“But…” Roman shook his head in confusion.  “We’re soulmates.”

“So?”

“So doesn’t all of that stuff kind of… work itself out?”

Virgil’s gaze darkened.  “Says who?”

Roman blinked in surprise.  He didn’t know how to answer that.

Before he could even try, the bell rang, and Virgil turned around to help the customer that came through the door.

And Roman wasn’t sure why, but he found himself unable to stop thinking about what Virgil said.  Did he really not believe that they’d be compatible, or that he’d like Roman as a person, or… that Roman would treat him well?

Was that the issue?  Because he would treat Virgil well.  He’d been dreaming about having a soulmate his whole life, of course he’d treat Virgil well.  When they both got off at around 3:00, Roman brought this up to Virgil.

“You know,” he said, as they both started towards the staff parking lot.  “If you’re worried about how I’m going to treat you, I can assure you—”

“Ugh, no, oh my god!” Virgil groaned, throwing his hands up.  “See, this?  This is what drives me crazy.  You focused on that reason?  I’m not worried that you wouldn’t treat me well.  I’m honestly far more worried about whether or not we’d be compatible.”

“But…” Roman gave him a baffled look.  “We’re soulmates.”

“I. Don’t. Know. You,” Virgil said firmly.  “The fact that we’re soulmates does not automatically mean we’re going to work out.”

“Of course it does,” Roman said in confusion.

“Really?  You don’t know stories about people whose relationships with their soulmates fell apart?  You don’t know people who were soulmates with someone that just did not make sense for them?  You don’t know someone who was treated badly by their soulmate?  And that’s not my main point, so don’t focus on that again,” Virgil snapped as Roman opened his mouth.

“My point is,” he said as he reached his car.  “Having a universe stamp of approval does not mean people don’t have to put in work to make relationships work.  Ask yourself this.  Do you really care about who I am as a person, or do you just know I’m your soulmate?”

Roman stared at him.  “What?”

“See you tomorrow,” Virgil said, and climbed into his car.

Roman walked over to his car too, but he sat in it and didn’t leave for a while.

What… what did he know about Virgil?  He knew he worked in a coffee shop.  He knew he could be a little rude.  He knew he was Roman’s soulmate.  And… and…

Roman’s eyes widened.  That was it.

Oh, Roman didn’t like that feeling at all.

…

“I’m an actor,” Roman said, during a pause the next day.

Virgil looked over at him.  “What?”

“I’m an actor,” Roman said.  “I have a few auditions coming in a couple months.  I want to act.”

Virgil stared at him.  “Good for you?”

“What do you want to do?”

Virgil narrowed his eyes suspiciously.  “Why?”

“Because… you said I didn’t know anything about you,” Roman admitted, rubbing the back of his neck.  “And you were right.  So I’m trying to amend that.”

Virgil narrowed his eyes further.  “I’m not going to date you, Roman.”

Roman winced.  “I… I know,” he said, though the idea hurt badly to admit.  “That’s not why I’m asking.”

Virgil didn’t look like he quite believed him, but after a second, he said, “I’m a songwriter.”

Roman lit up.  “You’re a poet?”

“What?  No, I— I mean, I guess technically.  But that’s not exactly how I’d describe it.  Besides,”  He closed the box of creams he was restocking and gestured around them.  “Doesn’t really pay that well.”

“Neither does having an acting degree,” Roman said with a small smile, and Virgil snorted.

The bell jingled, and Roman turned to help the customer coming in while Virgil put the creams away.

It was the part of the day when things slowed down, meaning no one came in after that customer left and Roman could turn back to Virgil.

“What are the chances I could hear one of your songs?” he asked.

“About as high as the chances of getting a date,” Virgil said, patting Roman on the shoulder as he walked past to start another batch of coffee.

Roman winced again, though thankfully Virgil didn’t see it that time.  That still stung.  But it wasn’t… it wasn’t Virgil’s fault.  Roman would get over it eventually.

And in the meantime, that didn’t mean he couldn’t still enjoy Virgil’s company as a friend and have that be good too.  Because once Roman started asking, it turns out there were a ton of great things about Virgil.

“Wait. A. Second,” Roman said, slamming his hands down on the counter one day, as soon as the last customer in line left and he recognized what Virgil was humming.  “Is that Poor Unfortunate Souls?”

“What?  No,” Virgil said immediately, turning away from Roman.

“It is.  Oh my god, it is!  Virgil, that sounds so good!”

“I was humming dude, it didn’t sound that good,” Virgil muttered, ducking his head down.

“Except it did though!” Roman said, clapping his hands together.  “And now since you’ve brought it up totally intentionally, we’re going to talk Disney!”

“You like Disney?” Virgil asked, glancing over at him.

“I’m a gay man trying to work in theatre, Virgil, I don’t know why you’re surprised.”

“Well, I— oh, shut up.”

“But I’m guessing your tone of voice means that you like Disney too, so go on then.”  Roman leaned his hand onto his chin.  “Favorite movie, favorite villain, favorite song.”

“The Black Cauldron, Ursula, and Sally’s Song.”

“Sally’s Song?”

“It counts!  And that movie was sick!”

“Hm, I can’t deny that,” Roman admitted with a shrug.

“Alright, your turn then,” Virgil said, crossing his arms.

“I can’t choose amongst any of my darling babies!” Roman said, pressing a hand to his chest.

“What?  Dude, unfair, you made me pick!”

“Hey!” called a voice from the back, and both Virgil and Roman winced and turned around.

“You don’t get paid to stand around and talk,” Carol said with her hands on her hips.  “Back to work, both of you.”

Both of them did turn back around, but as Virgil was about to start over to the fridge, he leaned over to Roman and hissed “Cheater.”

Roman gasped in offense and spun around, but Virgil was already gone.

…

“Evanescence?  Really?” Roman asked, wrinkling his nose slightly.

“Hey, don’t judge it before you try it,” Virgil said, writing down the amount of cups they had left on the inventory sheet.  The shop wasn’t technically closed, but they closed in five minutes, and the place was already dead, so they’d started inventory, and had gotten to talking about music while they did so.

“Besides, most of what you listen to is musicals,” Virgil said.

“I’m an actor.”

“Your point being?”

“That you’re an angsty teenager trapped in an adult’s body,” Roman said.

“Why thank you,” Virgil said, smirking over at him.  “Now go count the stir sticks.”

Roman stuck his tongue out but went to do just that.

“Besides,” Virgil said, and Roman perked up to listen.  “Too much mainstream music is about soulmates.”

Roman tensed slightly, but kept moving as normally as he could.  “What’s so wrong with that?”

“Nothing, I guess,” Virgil said, though it somehow sounded like he was wrinkling his nose.  “It’s just… everywhere.  You’re telling me you don’t notice?”

“I… like soulmate songs,” Roman said, setting the first pile of stir sticks aside.  “I think they’re sweet.”

“Some of them are alright,” Virgil said.  “But then there’s ones that talk about soulmates completing each other, and being two parts of a whole, and just… ugh.”

“What’s wrong with that?” Roman asked curiously, glancing over at Virgil.

“I’m supposed to wait for someone else to make me complete?” Virgil asked, turning and leaning back against the counter.  “Fuck that noise.  I don’t want to wait for someone else to start living my life.”

Roman suddenly couldn’t breathe quite right.  “You… but you don’t have to do that, though,” he said weakly.

“No, but that’s why I hate those songs,” Virgil said, rolling his eyes.  “I’m enough all by myself, thank you very much.”

Roman blinked, and now he couldn’t breathe for a very different reason.  “You really think that?” he asked.

Virgil raised an eyebrow, and Roman immediately backtracked.

“No, that’s not— I don’t mean I’m questioning you,” he said.  “I just mean… that’s kind of… cool.”

“Uh.  Thanks, I guess,” Virgil said, turning back around.  “I mean, I’m not saying I have super high self esteem, or something like that.  Lord knows I don’t.  But… I don’t need someone else to be a whole, complete person.”

Roman blinked again, looking down at the floor.  “Yeah?” he asked.

“What, you think I need you in order to be complete?” Virgil asked, shooting a smirk over his shoulder.

Roman laughed at the idea.  “Definitely not,” he said with a small grin, and Virgil grinned back.

There was a stretch of silence, and Roman turned back around.

“You don’t need me to be complete either, you know,” Virgil said, and Roman went still.

“That goes both ways,” Virgil said.

“Yeah,” Roman muttered, gathering up the stir sticks.

“Hey, I mean it, dummy,” Virgil said, walking suddenly up alongside him, and causing Roman to look over.  “You had a life before you met me.  That life is not any less real or important because I wasn’t in it.”

Roman looked at him for a second, but didn’t say anything, and eventually, Virgil turned away.

“Why are soulmates so important to you anyway?” he asked.

“I don’t know,” Roman said quietly.  He almost said that they were important to everyone.  But then… that wasn’t true.  They weren’t important to Virgil.  And that wasn’t… why they were important to him.  They were important to him because… because of the disappointment in his parents eyes.  Because of the worry in his friends’ and his brother’s.

“My brother has his soulmate,” he said.  “My best friend has his soulmate.  I just have… no one.”

“No, you have your brother and your best friend,” Virgil said, giving him a look.  “They count.”

“Not to my parents,” Roman said with a light chuckle.

“Then your parents fucking suck,” Virgil said, and Roman coughed in surprise.

“Virgil!”

“What?  They do.  Your worth doesn’t depend on whether or not you have a soulmate.”

Roman stopped and leaned back against the counter.  “No one’s ever told me that before,” he said quietly.

“Well it’s about time someone did then,” Virgil said.

Roman looked up and saw real sympathy in his eyes.  He bit his lip.  “I really like you Virgil,” he said, and when Virgil tensed, he continued.

“Not as a soulmate,” he said, and Virgil relaxed.  “I just mean… you’re… good.”

“I’m good?” Virgil asked, smirking.

“Shut up, you just dropped like six existential questions on me, you can’t expect my words to work!” Roman exclaimed, and Virgil laughed.

“Well, you’re good too, Roman,” Virgil said, and his eyes were sparkling a little bit, and Roman smiled at him, his chest feeling warm.

This… was not what he’d expected having a soulmate to be.  But the part of him that wasn’t aching kind of liked this better.

…

Remus and him weren’t really the type to talk about deep things.  Roman could count on one hand the times that it had happened, in all honesty.  Which is why it was understandable Remus gave him a baffled look when Roman asked him over breakfast that Saturday why he was dating Janus.

Or maybe that was the fact that to him, the question might not be so deep.  Roman was beginning to realize it wasn’t common for people to think about why they dated their soulmates.

This second assumption was proven right a second later when Remus said, “Uh, cause he’s my soulmate?  You feeling okay, Ro?”

“No, that’s not exactly what I meant,” Roman said, but now he was realizing he didn’t know how to ask what he really wanted to hear an answer to.

Had conversations about soulmates used to be this difficult?  Or was this just Virgil’s fault?

“What do you mean then?” Remus asked, still looking baffled.

Roman thought for a minute, then hesitantly asked, “What do you like about Janus?”

Remus’ eyes lit up, and at least he didn’t look confused anymore.  “Oh, he’s witty, and he’s sarcastic, and he’s caring in his own super weird way, and he’s weird, and he likes being weird, and he likes that I’m weird!  And he knows exactly how to make me laugh, and he knows all my favorite foods, and he’s fucking gorgeous.  And he’s also really good at sex—”

“Okay, I did not need that last bit, Remus!” Roman exclaimed, and Remus cackled.

“But honestly, what don’t I like about Janus?” he said, leaning over onto his elbow, with a slightly dreamy smile, and Roman couldn’t help but smile too at how happy he looked.

“Do you think you work well together?” he asked.

But that didn’t work, because now Remus just gave another look of confusion.  “Well, yeah,” he said.  “We’re soulmates.”

Roman’s displeasure must have shown on his face, because now Remus just looked even more confused.  “What did I say wrong?”

“I… I don’t know, exactly,” Roman said.  “I just… did you only start dating Janus because he was your soulmate?”

Remus blinked.  “Are you looking for another reason?”

Roman sat back in his chair.  “I… I think I might be,” he said, but more to himself than to Remus.  “I mean, Remus… would you still love Janus even if he wasn’t your soulmate?”

“Uh, yeah,” Remus said.  “Duh.”

“But you only started dating him because he was your soulmate.”

“Yeah, and?”

“You’re certain you would have still fallen for him, would have still noticed him, without your soulmarks?”

“I… I don’t know.  I don’t like that question.”

Roman gave a short laugh.  “You and me both,” he muttered.

Remus stared at him.  “What does that mean?”

“Nothing.  I’m just thinking about a lot of things for the first time,” Roman said, standing up.

“Why?”

“Don’t worry about it,” Roman said, waving Remus off and heading over towards the futon.  “Just something a coworker asked me the other day.”

“You’re thinking about this stuff because of a coworker?” Remus asked.

Roman turned back around, biting his lip.  “A friend,” he amended, because it felt right, and explaining to Remus everything that was going on felt like way too much effort at this point.

That didn’t mean he was done, though.  And this time, when he pulled out his phone to text Logan, he asked the same question with intention.

 Roman: Hey Logan, why did you start dating Patton?

 There was a moment before Logan responded, and when he did, it was what Roman expected, but not exactly what he wanted to hear.

 Logan: Because he is my soulmate.  I’m sorry, I think I’m a little confused by this question, Roman.  Is that what you meant to ask?

 Roman huffed and flopped back on the couch.  He was starting to really dislike this.  Why was it that this was bothering him so much all of a sudden?  If he and Virgil had started dating the moment they met, Roman would likely have given the exact same response— that he started dating Virgil because he was his soulmate.  But now that felt like a problem, and no one else saw it as such, and he didn’t even understand why it felt like that to him.

But then again… maybe there was a way to bring them all on this confusing journey with him?

 Roman: Can you and Patton come over here?  I have something to tell you all.

…

It was just before lunch that everyone managed to get there, and they all seemed awake enough to talk (even Janus, though he was largely the reason it took a while).  They all sat at the kitchen table, and Roman looked out at all of them and tried to figure out where to start.

“So,” he said.  “On my first day at work, I met Virgil.”

Immediately everyone’s faces brightened, and Roman realized he definitely shouldn’t have stared it that way.

“No, wait,” he said, holding up his hands.  “This isn’t a good thing.  Or— or it is, it definitely is, but it’s also not, and it’s also confusing, and also I’m starting to think soulmates aren’t exactly all they’re claimed to be.  Oh, but no offense to you guys!  I’m not talking about you guys I’m just talking about… I don’t know what I’m talking about.  But it’s weird and it’s confusing and also I think this is ultimately going to be a good thing and… yeah.”

Everyone was staring at him in bafflement, and Roman couldn’t exactly blame them.

“Uh, okay, let me start over,” he said.

“Please do,” Janus said.

“So uh… Virgil doesn’t want to date me.”

Everyone’s eyes snapped open in shock.

“What?” Remus said, looking almost angry.  “That’s ridiculous!  You’re you, you’re totally worth it!”

“Remus, he’s not required to date me,” Roman said, crossing his arms.

“But why wouldn’t he want to?” Patton asked in confusion.  “You’re soulmates.”

“Yeah,” Roman said, looking up thoughtfully.  “Yeah, we are.  And I think I’m starting to realize that doesn’t… that doesn’t have to mean anything.”

Now everyone just looked confused again.  God, why did this have to be so hard?

“No, just listen,” Roman said.  “I… I’ve been wanting to meet Virgil like he’s an oasis in a desert.  I thought meeting him was going to fix all of my problems and my life would just fall into place.  But that’s… not fair.  That’s too much to put on Virgil, not when he doesn’t know me.  And even if he did know me!  I can’t expect someone else to solve all my problems for me.”

“But… you’re soulmates,” Patton said again.

“We are, but…” Roman struggled for the words for a second.  Eventually, he turned to face Remus.  “Look, you said you think I’m worth it, right?  Worth what exactly?”

Remus blinked.  “Uh, I don’t know.  Worth dating?  Worth trying for?”

“But that still requires the trying part,” Roman said.

Remus nodded slowly.  “So… you and Virgil are going to start dating later?”

“No,” Roman said, shaking his head.  “Because trying doesn’t automatically mean succeeding.  And Virgil doesn’t want to date me.  And I’m not going to force him.”

“But you want to date him,” Janus said.  “Don’t you?”

“I…” Roman hesitated.  His automatic response was yes, but for some reason that didn’t feel right.  “I do… but I don’t… I don’t know.  I don’t understand it all either.  Look, I just…”  He sighed.

After a second, he looked back around at everyone.  “Did you… did you guys care about me less before I met Virgil?”

“What?  No, that’s ridiculous,” Remus said, and everyone else nodded in agreement.

“Really?  Because I think I kinda did.”

Logan’s eyes widened.  “What?  Roman—”

“I mean, you know what Mom and Dad are like,” Roman said, glancing at Remus.  “And you all—” he gestured around— “have each other.  I think I was holding onto Virgil like an ideal of that, and not really… trying to care about myself in the meantime.”

“Roman,” Patton said in concern, jumping up and moving around the table so he could wrap his arms around him.

Roman squeezed him back, but then pulled back as something else clicked in his head.  “And that was part of the problem,” he said, looking around.  “I didn’t want to date Virgil.  I wanted to date my soulmate.”

Now everyone looked confused again.

“Roman, Virgil is your soulmate,” Logan said.

“Yes, but I wanted to date the ideal, remember?” Roman said.  “I wanted what a soulmate would give to me.  Mom and Dad’s respect, and all the happiness you guys have.  I didn’t actually care about getting to know Virgil.”

“And… now?” Janus asked hesitantly.

Roman smiled widely.  “Now he’s a friend that I really like,” Roman said.  “And that… well, I think that will be good enough for me.  Not now, it still kind of… it still kind of aches.  But I think it will be.”

Patton leaned in and wrapped his arms around him again.  “We do not need you to be dating Virgil in order to love you,” he murmured to Roman.

Roman reached out and squeezed him back.  After a second, Remus joined the hug from the other side, and then Logan, and then Janus.

“I’m sorry I didn’t realize that’s how you were feeling, Ro-bro,” Remus said into his shoulder.  “You know Mom and Dad are just stupid sometimes, right?”

“Well… no,” Roman admitted.  “But I’m getting there.”

“Okay,” Remus said, squeezing him tighter.

“Ack, Remus, you’re squeezing my throat,” Roman wheezed.

“Choking is how I show love.”

“Can we move to the couch?”

“Absolutely, I call a movie night!” Patton called.

“It’s 11AM,” Janus said, raising an eyebrow.

“Movie morning, then,” Patton said, waving his hand dismissively.

“I’ll make some popcorn then,” Logan said, adjusting his glasses as he stood up.  “I’ll meet you all there.”

“Roman, you get to choose the movie!” Patton called, grabbing Roman by the arm and dragging him towards the futon.

“He’ll just pick something Disney,” Remus groaned as he followed him.

“Yes, and you love me for it,” Roman said with a grin at him.

And as they all settled down on the futon, and Roman pulled up Frozen, he found himself wondering how he ever thought he needed a faceless soulmate to fix these already amazing relationships.

…

It took a while, but Roman did start feeling better about himself.  It came with a lot of validation from his friends, which now included Virgil, and skipping going home for the holidays, using work as an excuse.

He had gotten some paying roles, including some of the ones he’d been trying for when he first started working at the coffee shop, but he was still working there for a number of reasons.

One of them was money, because the roles he’d gotten weren’t enough to support him full time, and the other was… Virgil.  Because the universe was cruel, and the moment he’d decided he was okay, really okay, with not dating His Soulmate, he’d realized that now he just kind of really, really wanted to date Virgil.

And that was just unfair.

In all honesty, it wasn’t a huge problem.  He’d meant it when he said being friends with Virgil would be good enough for him.  Because friendship with Virgil was amazing.  He was clever and snarky and arguing with him (respectfully) was actually really fun.  When they’d started hanging out outside of work, they’d discovered that they could find common ground in enjoying going to shows, even if Virgil didn’t love acting in them like Roman did.

“I am a techie or an audience member, and don’t you forget it,” he said.

Roman also discovered that he could enjoy going to concerts with Virgil, yes, even Evanescence ones.  It was just fun.  Really, really fun.

They actually did still talk about soulmates from time to time, but now it was closer to the lines of friendly debates and complaining (because yes, once Roman started paying attention, there really were way too many soulmate songs).  They almost never brought up the fact that they were soulmates anymore.  It didn’t seem important.

Roman had noticed Virgil giving him strange looks from time to time, but he hadn’t thought much of it.  There had usually been some other kind of context he could attribute it to.  And he knew by this point that if it was something really important, they’d talk about it.

…And they ended up doing just that.

It finally came up one night when they had a closing shift together and were doing inventory in the coffee shop.

Roman was humming one of Virgil’s songs that he’d finally been allowed to listen to, and he wasn’t really paying a ton of attention as he was moving from task to task.  This unfortunately meant that as he finished dumping out the coffee and set the now empty containers aside, he turned and ran right into Virgil, who was holding an armful of coffee cups.

“Shit,” Virgil said, ducking down to pick them all up.

“Sorry Virgil,” Roman said, doing the same.  They each gathered up half of the pile, but then when they moved to stand up, they ended up standing inches from each other, practically nose to nose.

And Virgil made just about the most adorable squeak Roman had ever heard and ducked away from him.

Well, then.  What was that?

“Virgil?” Roman asked, following him over to the other side of the room where the coffee cups were kept.  “Virgil, are you alright?”

“I’m fine,” Virgil said, his voice sounding much higher in pitch than it usually did.

“Are you sure, because you—”

“Roman,” Virgil snapped, unfortunately turning around and ending up right up against Roman’s nose again.

“I—” Virgil said weakly.  “I just—”

Roman started to grin.  “Virgil,” he said, adding a slight tease to his tone.  “You know, if I didn’t know any better, I’d say you’re acting like you have a cru—”

“Don’t,” Virgil snapped.  “Don’t say it.”

“Say what?” Roman asked innocently.  “Crush?  Say that you’re acting like you’ve got a little crush on m—”

“Roman,” Virgil said, burying his hands in his hair, which is when Roman realized they were shaking.

“Woah, hang on,” Roman said, putting his armful of cups down and pulling Virgil’s hands down from his hair.  “Virgil, are you okay?”

“No!” Virgil snapped.  “I’m not okay!  I’m a fucking hypocrite, Roman!”

He turned and stormed over to the break area, then sank into a chair and buried his head in his hands.

Roman blinked at him for a second, before slowly walking over.  “And why exactly are you a hypocrite?” he asked.

“I talk so much,” Virgil said, dragging his hands through his hair.  “I talk so much about how you shouldn’t date your soulmate just because the universe shoves them at you!  But it’s just talk!  It’s just talk because then the universe shoved you at me and I just fucking—”  He buried his head in his hands again.  “I’m just such a fucking hypocrite,” he mumbled.

“Virgil,” Roman said, smiling a little despite himself.  “You’re not a hypocrite.”

“No?  Because I think it would be really great to date you, Roman!” Virgil said, looking up at him.  “That’s what I think!  I think I like you and I think I’d like to date you!  And I gave you so much grief about that when we first met, and I was just slow to get with the program, I guess!”

“Hey, woah,” Roman said, sitting down across from Virgil.  “I am so glad we did not date when we first met.  I was not in the right place for that, Virgil.”

Virgil grumbled something unintelligible.

“Virgil,” Roman said.  “Can I ask you something?”

Virgil pulled his head up.  “What?”

“Do you want to date me because I’m your soulmate?”

“What?” Virgil wrinkled his nose.  “No.  It’s cause you’re Roman, dummy.  You’re smart and you’re creative and you’re talented and you’re sweet and—”

Roman raised an eyebrow, and Virgil swallowed.

“Oh.”

“Yes, oh,” Roman said with a slightly teasing smile.  “Besides, Virgil, the freedom to not date your soulmate doesn’t mean much if you’re not also free to date your soulmate if you want to.”

“I just— I told myself for my whole life I wasn’t going to do that,” Virgil muttered.

“Well, I told myself for my whole life that I was,” Roman said with a shrug.  “Your turn.”

Virgil snorted.  “Asshole.”

“Aww, you know you love me.”

Virgil laughed again, and looked hopefully up at Roman.  “You— what does that all mean then?”

“It means I think I’d really like to be yours,” Roman said, leaning closer.  “Not your soulmate.  Just your Roman.”

Virgil’s eyes were shining.  “I think I’d really like to be your Virgil too,” he said, leaning in.  He looked unsure for another second.  “And if the world thinks we’re just doing this because we’re soulmates?”

“Then the world is being just as stupid as it always is,” Roman said, rolling his eyes.  “We don’t have to let it dictate what we do.”

Virgil started smiling.  “Okay,” he said.  “Would you kiss me then?”

“With pleasure,” Roman crooned, and he leaned in and cupped the side of Virgil’s face.

[a-small-batch-of-dragons]

Frozen

*screeches in delight* Ok so I just finished the TSS masterlist (also please add me to the taglist) and at least in the past, you did literal interpretations of sayings. My question is, does this apply to fight/flight/freeze or brain freeze, and if so, do you have the spoons to write a fic? - diamond-blade

So I just saw this post (do links work in asks? It’s by orbmanson7), and now I want a Logan angst fic where the other sides literally silenced him. Or just any Logan angst, I’m not picky! - anon

Read on Ao3

Warnings: paralysis

Pairings: gen

Word Count: 2284

    Out of all of the ways he envisioned the argument ending, this wasn't one of them.

"Look, if we could all just get on the same page—"

"Same page? You're on a different chapter, Pocket Protector!" Roman throws his hands up. "Matter of fact, a different book! A different library!"

"There really is no need to be so dramatic."

"No—no need?" Roman splutters. "What do you think my job is?"

"It's not to be a constant nuisance!"

"I dunno," Virgil mutters, "could've fooled me."

"Oh, like you can talk!"

"Now, now, everyone—" Patton raises his hands in what is supposed to be a placating manner— "let's stop with all the name-calling and just settle down."

"Oh, I haven't even started name-calling."

"I think the point was to pre-empt any name-calling you may have done," Logan points out, pinching the bridge of his nose.

There really was no reason for this argument to spiral out of control so much. It was simply to decide whether Thomas would spend the day writing—as he had planned for the week and had already declined other weekend activities for, he had expressed multiple times that he wanted to write and in fact, missed it—or whether he would accept the invitation for coffee from someone he'd met a few days earlier.

Logan, of course, had maintained that they decline. They had plans, they had projects, ones that Roman himself had been advocating they work on.

Roman, however, being as fickle as he always is, had the prospect of romance figuratively waved under his nose and he'd been derailed faster than—well, a train derailing.

"Logan's got a point, Princey, you're the one who's been pushing for us to do the projects for like, a month." Virgil leans back against the stair rail. "You realize that this is likely the only time Logan's gonna be agreeing with you on…anything for the next year, right?"

"Logan, on average, how long does 'getting coffee' normally take?"

"Well, based on most estimates the actual act of procuring the coffee takes about five to ten minutes depending on the density of the other customers, extending to forty minutes if during peak rush hours—"

"You know what I meant."

"—but the act of 'getting coffee' in a romantic setting normally lasts at least an hour."

Roman gestures emphatically. "One hour! One hour! We can spare one hour from our busy day of writing to go and get coffee with someone."

"Interrupting your creative process has rarely shown such productivity. Additionally, it is unlikely that it will remain one hour when you account for travel time."

"Aren't you the one who's always advocating for healthy scheduling and taking breaks? I seem to recall a lengthy conversation with both you and Janus about pacing myself." Roman gestures at the door. "This is a way for me to take a break! For all of us to take a break!"

Virgil snorts. "Speak for yourself, Princey. Both you and I are gonna be on the clock."

"Plus—" Roman points at Patton— "the other day you and I were talking about how I need more inspiration! Because we decided that going on quests in the Imagination wasn't good enough, so I need new material! This is how I get new material!"

Patton falters and inwardly, Logan curses. If Roman can get Patton on his side…then the argument is as good as over.

"You also have a tendency to get distracted very easily by new things," he points out, "and it is likely that you will become so preoccupied with fantasies about this new potential suitor that you will lose all motivation or inspiration to work on these projects."

Virgil hums, pointing at him. "He's got a point."

"…he does, kiddo."

Roman makes an affronted noise, all but wilting. "Come on, this'll be good for Thomas!"

"Good for Thomas," Logan asks, "or good for you?"

"What's the difference?"

"Well," he continues, adjusting his glasses, "what's good for Thomas can also be working on these projects he's been letting sit and stagnate for almost a month now to help appease his Anxiety and maintain a consistent level of productivity."

He raises an eyebrow.

"And it allows more than one of us to take 'center stage,' if you will."

"I appreciate the theater reference, but come on, I'm asking you for an hour! Two, tops!"

"We've kinda already set this day aside for you, Roman," Patton says warily, "you—don't you think you're getting a little greedy?"

There are points, Logan has realized, where, in hindsight, he can label them as the moments where the nosedives begin. And while he will grant both Roman and himself the respect to admit they'd been somewhat antagonistic towards each other, Patton's remark had…well.

"Greedy?" Roman draws himself up. "Excuse me, what exactly am I being greedy about?"

"We have already decided this day shall be for writing. That means that you will be the one who is 'in charge,' so to speak, or at the very least your connection to Thomas will be prioritized." Logan gestures around at the others. "However, as Thomas's creative process revolves around us as well, as characters he has created and such, that means we shall also have a part to play, even if yours is disproportionate to ours."

"Okay—"

"However," Logan continues as Roman tries to interrupt him, "if you choose instead to go on this…coffee date—"

"I didn't say it was a date!" Roman holds up a proclamatory finger. "Let the record show I never said it was a date."

"That's kinda what you implied, though," Virgil muttered.

"—if you choose to go," Logan says, speaking over them, "then it will very much be a 'one-man show,' if you will, save for the occasional inputs you deign to allow the rest of us."

"Except me," Virgil adds, "you get no say in that matter."

"So, yes, Roman." Logan crosses his arms. "Trying to force an activity where you have more of a say could be considered greedy."

Roman splutters, looking back and forth as if expecting someone to deny it. When no one does, he puffs himself up and clears his throat. "I am trying to ensure Thomas gets adequate socialization and continues to meet new people! I-if anything, it's Logan who's being greedy for insisting we stick to his strict schedule!"

"Oh, god."

"Roman…"

Logan draws himself up too. "I have at least taken the time and care to make sure that everyone is content with the schedule, whereas you—"

"I"m not content with it! In case that is very much unclear—"

"—insist on blundering through things as you always do and expecting everyone else to cater to your needs—"

"—no, I am not happy with it. And you're the one who insists I have only 0.5% of any given day, were you just looking for an excuse to—"

"—without realizing that we have to work together. I understand that might be a difficult concept for you to grasp—"

"—shut me out? Oh, and here we go again, el principe es estupido, is that the only insult you have?"

"—but I assure you it is a worthwhile endeavor. Perhaps if you were capable of seeing beyond yourself—"

"I don't know how to put other people first? Why do you think I've let this project be pushed off so much, because none of you—"

"—then you might realize that the world does not, in fact, revolve around you and whatever you think is important—"

"—seem to think it's worth doing even though it's Thomas's source of income! You don't understand how hard it is to—"

"—and since you clearly cannot afford even the basic respect of listening to me and letting me speak uninterrupted, then clearly you are not capable of considering the fact that you are not—"

"Shut up!"

—worth having this argument with, is what Logan would say, or perhaps even don't tell me to shut up!

What he ends up saying is nothing.

Nothing at all.

Which is, of course, because he has been frozen.

His arms go rigid at his sides. His lungs refuse to inflate. His eyes begin to water from their inability to blink. His mouth dries up and he stands there, hangs there, freezes there as something horribly cold and deadly seeps into him.

I can't move. I can't move. I can't move.

An interesting thing about pain; pain requires functioning nerves. If you can't feel anything, then you can't feel pain. But if you can't feel pain, then you can't tell when something is wrong. And if you can't tell when something is wrong, you can't tell when it's getting worse.

Mouth open, one hand slightly raised, his weight imperfectly balanced on one leg because he'd been in the middle of shifting, Logan freezes in place. He looks at his hand and for a moment, he doesn't quite recognize that it's his hand because he can't feel it. He can't move it. He can only stare at this thing a few inches in front of him that looks like a hand that used to belong to him.

Then he remembers he can't scream.

"What the fuck did you do?"

"Logan? Logan, are you okay?"

"What the fuck did you do, Roman?"

"I don't know! I didn't—I don't know, I've never done this before!"

"Well, fucking undo it then!"

"I don't know how! I don't—don't shut up! Talk, Logan, say something! Move!"

"It's not working!"

"I can see that it's not working!"

"L, L, you gotta move, you gotta—come on, bud, you gotta."

"Un-shut up! Anti-shut up! Move again! Undo whatever I just did! I take it back!"

"That's not working either!"

"Fuck—I'm sorry, Logan! I didn't mean it, I just got angry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!"

"Roman, I swear to god, if you can't fix this—"

"Unfreeze!"

Logan gasps, sensation flooding back into his body so quickly it's almost painful. He collapses into a heap as blood rushes through him, pounding so heavily in his ears that it's almost deafening. His hands—his hands, he can move them now—scream with pain as he clenches and unclenches them, his muscles trying slowly to reacclimate to moving, to feeling, to being unfrozen.

"Easy, bud," comes Virgil's low voice, "in for five, okay? One…two…three…four…five. Good, good job. Hold now…"

He lets Virgil walk him through a breathing exercise until he can breathe normally. He looks up and nods when Virgil gives him a quiet you okay?

"Logan, kiddo? You okay, sweetheart?"

"Yes…yes, I think so."

"Go slow, okay," Virgil warns as he starts to stand up again, "you just gotta go slow."

Standing is…challenging, but he manages. The whole ordeal had lasted barely a minute and now that he's able to move again, the panic fades and he can start to function once more. He takes a few more deep breaths to steady himself before he looks around.

Patton is hovering, concern written plainly all over his face. Virgil is next to him, there if he needs to grab onto his shoulder or sink out. Roman is—

Roman is standing on the other side of the room, his hands held over his mouth in horror. There are tears on his face.

"I'm sorry, Logan," he whispers, "I'm so sorry, I didn't mean it, I didn't even know I could do that, I—are you okay?"

"Yes," and surprisingly, he is, "I'm alright now. I would…appreciate if that didn't happen again."

"No, no, of course, I won't—I won't do it again. I promise."

"Thank you."

Roman nods, his hands finally moving away from his face. He swallows and draws himself up, although this time it's far more similar to a child trying to save face than an arrogant prince. "I, um…we can…I'll be ready to write on Saturday."

"That would be great, thank you."

"Do you…need or want anything else right now?"

He pauses, considering, before slowly reaching out for him. Roman balks, confusion and fear warring on his features before he slowly crosses the room to let Logan grab onto him.

"You're the warmest," Logan mumbles, lurching forward to hug him—only it ends up being more like leaning his entire weight on Roman while Roman holds him up— "I'm still cold."

"Oh, of—of course." Roman wraps his arms carefully around him and Logan hums. "Would—do you want to sit on the couch?"

"Mm."

"…was that a 'yes?'"

"Yes."

Roman helps him carefully over to the couch as Virgil and Patton pull out the coffee table to make room for everyone's limbs. Logan turns his face against Roman's shoulder and closes his eyes.

"I'm going to sleep here now."

"Okay." Roman adjusts his grip so he won't get a strain in his neck. "I really am sorry, Logan."

"I know." He blinks up at him. "We can't do Saturday, but maybe…we may be able to do Sunday?"

Roman smiles. "We can talk about it later. You should sleep now."

And so he does.

General Taglist: @frxgprince@potereregina@gattonero17@iamhereforthegayshit@thefingergunsgirl@awkwardandanxiousfander@creative-lampd-liberties@djpurple3@winterswrandomness@sanders-sides-uncorrect-quotes@iminyourfandom@bullet-tothefeels@full-of-roman-angst-trash  @ask-elsalvador @ramdomthingsfrommymind@demoniccheese83@pattonsandershugs @el-does-photography @princeanxious@firefinch-ember@fandomssaremysoul@im-an-anxious-wreck@crazy-multifandomfangirl @punk-academian-witch@enby-ralsei@unicornssunflowersandstuff@wildhorsewolf @thetruthaboutthesun @stubbornness-and-spite @princedarkandstormv  @your-local-fookin-deadmeme @angels-and-dreams@averykedavra @a-ghostlight-for-roman @treasurechestininterweb @cricketanne @queerly-fluid-fan @compactdiscdraws@cecil-but-gayer@i-am-overly-complicated@annytheseal@alias290@tranquil-space-ninja @arxticandy @mychemically-imbalanced-romance@whyiask@crows-ace @emilythezeldafan@frida0043 @ieatspinalcords @snowyfires@cyanide-violence@oonagh2@xxpanic-at-the-everywherexx@rabbitsartcorner @percy-07734@triflingassailantofmyemotions @virgil-sanders-the-gay-emo@cerulean-watermelon@puffed-up-bees@meltheromanstan@joyrose-fandomer@insanitori@mavenmush@justablah65@10paradox10@uhhh-hi-there-i-am-nervous@cutebisexualmess@bella-bugatti-frogetti-baguetti@ultrageekygirl

[whatgaviiformes]

Fic: G-forces

Another prompt fill! For @drileyf​ who asked for:

Thanks to @onereyofstarlight​ for the extra science help because I am not smart enough to write John. :D it’s all still my fault though

Post SkyHook - season 1, episode 11  Characters: John Tracy, Gordon Tracy Genre: Angst, Episode filler Words: 1.3K

John can still taste the metallic on his tongue. While his suit had taken the brunt of the G-forces in effort to keep his blood flow stable, it was designed with the flight from Thunderbird Three and the ascent via the space elevator in mind, plus a few extra safety features because it was designed by Brains. What it was not designed for was 25Gs of nauseating, tunnel-visioning, muscle-straining centrifugal force pressing on his all too human body. And helmetless as Scott on his first rescue, John had gotten a bloody nose from it.

He’s fine though. His ears stopped bleeding ages ago.

His heart hurts. It’s a pain that radiates out from his chest, and, yeah, he remembers clinically that it was normal for his heart to compensate to get the blood flowing efficiently through his body when under immense strain like that. Strain that, for the record, is far from normal. But there’s something different all together in the remnants of the hummingbird flutter under his skin – like its moving so fast he can’t even feel it past the intense ache that expands across his breast.

If he were a different man, he might believe that his heart had beat itself into oblivion and he was in some sort of demented version of what Hell might be – then again if it were Hell, maybe demented was par for the course. But no, he is a logical sort, and facts show his heart is still there somewhere past the pain. The monitor is telling him so. Plus he’s been through training enough – not for 25Gs - to know what residual heart stress feels like.

He's fine, though. Granted, there’s a fog over his brain, and his hands are cold – but these are all temporary things.

He wasn’t in danger. Much.

He’s ready to go home.

John’s fine with hospitals when he’s on the other end of a comm line telling them to expect rescuees inbound, less so when he’s the one needing care. The coffee is terrible - not that they’d give him any – and he hates the sludge of his brainwaves. He respects the people, those who are just as familiar with lack of sleep as his family of IR operatives, and with a similar vein of an immense desire to save others. Make a difference in the world.

His breath hitches when he thinks about, a laugh that quickly turns to a grimace. Veins. His feel like they’re pumping lead.

And there’s nothing to really look at in a hospital. The walls are too white for him, the smell too clean. He misses the rainbow of Five, because his home is not as colorless as one might think. She not just silver against the black of the void; even Virgil couldn’t argue the orange and green lines built into her glass panes, the array of holoscreens that held his charts and sensors and communications, the subtle shift of light in the stars he studied easier up  above the atmosphere. And that’s without considering the massive planet outside his window, giant, bright. Blue so deep he could drown in it without ever touching water, and firm rock and earth freckled with a network of electricity that triggered the sparking of his own synapses. There were times John would look out from his home, at his home, and feel like he could hold all that was precious in his palm, align the overlap of her tectonic plates with his hands and hold her together where fault-lines met lifelines.

Fingers as frozen as they are, he glances down at his hands when they twitch, past the IV in his arm, past the band around his bony wrist and the print of his name and blood type, and there a familiar set of fingers curl into his hospital blankets, not touching his own, but close and barely out of reach with something holding them back from closing the last of the distance.

Probably respect for John, which means a lot because the hand belongs to his most tactile of siblings and he can feel the restraint radiating from the clenched knuckles. John blinks, and Gordon’s watching him, his eyes bright, but his expression knowing as he takes in his face and realizes John’s finally caught up with the fact he’s there.

“Where were you?” his aquanaut brother asks, the corner of smile quirking upward knowingly.

“Holding tectonic plates together.”  John’s surprised by how lethargic his own voice sounds when he speaks, and maybe if he weren’t being medically drugged to all hell first, it would be poetic. He likes words, and also math, and poetry is really just mathematic words, so maybe he went into the wrong field. Fields, with an s.

“Maybe try to hold yourself together first, yeah?”

“FAB.” It’s instinct to respond with their code, though, John’s usually the one giving the suggestions and his brothers are the ones confirming said suggestions. “Why are you here?”

“My brother’s in the hospital,” Gordon answers dully. “I’m not sure where you expected me to be.”

It’s a valid question. John’s not sure the question came out right based on the way Gordon won’t meet his eyes. He just keeps looking down at his hands, still out of touching distance. And that’s the thing, isn’t it? Gordon’s not looking at John, but he’s not looking at anything else either while describing the different rescues Alan and Scott and Virgil are all out performing. They can’t be there, so Gordon is. 

And Gordon doesn’t do hospitals. But he’s here.

From G-forces to a different type of G-force – Gordon force. It comes with a side of sunlight and sarcasm usually. But he doesn’t look so happy at the moment.

“John.” Gordon’s knuckles are turning whiter than John’s sheets, and he looks uneasy as the name tumbles out.  “What were you thinking?”

“Hmm?

“Do you know how far a human can freedive? No? It’s only sixty feet. Past that and you want to start wearing gear to handle the pressure below the water. I know they’re different, but Five spun and you hit twenty-five Gs. That’s more than four-thousand pounds of weight, John. It’s like if I went freediving ten-thousand feet below sea level. Do you know what that would’ve done to me?”  

He knows. John’s trying not to think about it, but apparently the haze in his mind is making it impossible to push down the image of his younger brother’s body contorting under that kind of immense pressure and becoming crushed with the air violently pulled out of him.

“I can’t do the math that quickly,” he says quietly. “But you can.” Gordon’s ears turn red, and his smile turns flat, as he glares at John through a thick layer of hurt in his brown eyes. “You knew,” he accuses. “You knew all along and you continued to let it happen anyway.”

“It was a calculated risk,” John admits slowly.

“That’s the wrong answer.”

“What would you have had me do? Let them fall?” 

“Not throw your life away, that’s for sure! Again, for the record,” Gordon growls. “Did you think about moving Five, or asking Eos to slow down the rotation, or maybe putting your helmet on first, ‘Scott’?”

None of those are bad ideas, and the truth is he’d been trying to get to his helmet, except…

“Everything just happened so fast.”

“I know that.” Gordon sighs deeply, visibly recenters himself with a shake of his head and tries again. “I know. But, John, this is the second time in a manner of weeks. I’m concerned about you.”

“Gordon,” he reaches for his hand and grasps it tight. Gordon’s hold is stiff with anger and surprise at first, but slowly his fingers relax, trembling, while John urges him to understand. “I’m not trying to put myself into harm’s way. If that’s what you mean. I’m sorry I scared you.”

“Just…” He squeezes his eyes shut. “I don’t like seeing you here.”

“I don’t really like being here to be honest.”

Gordon shakes his head and smiles softly at him. “At least we can agree on that.”

[beetlewine-art]

"Who's Manny?"

I just found out that "Manny" is used as a nickname for "Roman" and i decided to make a short fanfic about it because i got inspired.

Resume: Virgil has been crazy about his new boyfriend lately and has been talking non-stop about him, his two best friends, Remus and Janus, start to befome curious about this new man Virgil is dating, his name is, "Manny" or at least that's what Remus thinks since that's what Virgil calls him, to his surprise, Manny is only a loving nickname that Virgil uses to hyde the identity of his boyfriend, eventually, the true comes out and Remus is not happy about who "Manny" actually is.

Pairing: Romantic Prinxiety, mentioned romantic Demus.

Warnings: Swearing, lying, Remus being an overprotective brother and Virgil is a simp.

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

Remus is rolling his eyes, once again, Virgil started going on about his new man. Virgil has been like this since he started seen his current boyfriend, he was going on and on about how beautiful and talented he is: "Manny did this" "Manny did that" or "Manny and i went to X place last week". Remus was tired of it, it was cute at first but now it was just annoying.

He couldn't understand how Janus was SO patient with Virgil, meybe because the emo has never been so invested in a relationship before, Virgil is usually really private about his love life and never talked this munch about his dates. But this time he was head over heels and couldn't stop talking about this "Manny" guy.

Janus was starting to get really curious about him, and really suspicious about their relationship too, because as he said it: "For a man who brags so munch about his boyfriend, he is trying really hard to hyde it from us" and he wasn't wrong, Remus couldn't care less, he was tired to hear about Manny, but he admited that it was really weird how little Virgil shared about his boyfriend. Sure he talked a lot about Manny, but at the same time he didn't? Sure, he talked about how amazing he is, but he never gives any actual information about him, like how old he is or what he does for a living, what he is studying in collage, nothing.

"is kinda impresive, you know?" Remus heard Janus said "How you can talk so munch about this guy, but never tells us anything about it" Remus looked at Virgil, who now had his eyes wide open and had gone completely silent. Janus continued:

"When are we going to meet him?"

Virgil said the same reason he gave the last time they asked him that "is too soon" but Janus wasn't having it

"Come on, Virge, is been seven months since you used that scuse, you can't keep using when you two have been dating for ten months by now"

Virgil shrugged his shoulders and look away:"You can't meet him now, he is out of town".

"Oh, why? Is he gone because of work? Or collage?".

Virgil looked unsure to answer that question, but finally he said:

"He is away because he got a role in a musical, is not a big one, but he is really exited about it".

"So he is an actor"? Janus asked and

Virgil nooded, Janus wanted to know more, Remus was listening to the conversation, he wanted to see how munch information Janus could get from Virgil before the emo decided to leave. Janus asked another question:

"How old is he?"

"22"

"Is he in collage?"

"Why does that matters?" Virgil was starting to get anxious, so he grabed his drink and looked at Janus before taking a bif sip from the cup. Remus was starting to get interested in the conversation joined in:

"don't get defensive, Emo, Jani just wants to know more about your little boyfriend, is normal since you want to hyde him so badly"

"I AM NOT trying to hyde him"

"Then why don't you tell us more about him, right now the only thing we know about him is that he is an actor and is 22 years old" Remus smiles at janus and laugh.

"And that his name is Manny, don't forget his name, Jan"

Janus looked at Remus and said, with a smirk on his face.

"Oh, i don't think that's his actual name Remus, little Virge here has a bad habit of refering to his boyfriends by nicknames only" Janus looked back at Virgil, who looked like a bowl of cold water had just fall over him.

"So what's his actual name? I guess is something like Emmanuel? or Manfred?"

Virgil was now sweating and got up.

"None of those, now if you scuse me, i have to go"

"I guess his name just end with "Man"?"

"Wait a minute"

Remus looked at Virgil, something was weird, things started to connect in his head. Virgil had a 22 years old boyfriend, that was an actor and was away from town because he got a role in a musical, meanwhile, Remus just happends to have a younger brother, who is put of town, is also and actor and is the same age as Manny.

"I REALLY HAVE TO GO" Virgil grabed his things and left his part to pay for the drinks. In that moment Remus got up and started to follow Virgil.

"Virge, wait, who is Manny?"

Virgil didn't listen to him and walked faster.

"Virgil, come back"

Virgil started to run.

"VIRGILIO DON'T FUCKING RUN AWAY FROM ME, TELL ME WHO THE FUCK "MANNY" IS FOR?" Remus screamed while running behind Virgil.

Janus soon regreted his choices, payd for their drinks and run behind them while telling Remus to calm down.

Three weeks later, Roman come back to town and he was not happy when he found out about the fight his brother and boyfriend had in the middle of the street, and he was even more livid when Remus had the audacity to give him the silent treatment for dating one of his friends.

____________________________________

This is my first short fic and i'm terrible with writting in english, i am so sorry for the terror grammar. I wanted to do this as a writting practice and because i was inspired. If you want, you can't correct my writting mistakes, i am open to critics and corrections.

Tag list: @emobeanwhoneedssleep @maze-arts @roman-can-gay @dorkyduckling16 @meowthefluffy

[sobbingdistantnoises]

I am a little confused about the ask game buttttt 

i just found this and i can’t stop laughing

also do you have any weird stories you’d like to tell? 

HELPPHDJSJAKKA, THAT'S AMAZING, hdjsjaj. Don't you just hate when your subconuous mind makes you build shelves? </3

BUT WEIRD STORIES, hm.

OKAY I THOUGHT OF SOMETHING. Basically, context: I've had the same history teacher and class for two years, and said teacher has taught at the school for since it was built. Therefore he was there for its whole history

What's also to note is that my course was a 2 year course with both freshmen and sophomores, and we had about 60 kids in the classroom. Therefore we needed a BIG classroom. The school didn't initially have classrooms big enough, so what they ended up doing was knocking a wall down between two small classrooms to form a big history classroom. However, because there used to be a wall in the middle of the classroom, there still needed to be a pole for integral structural support or whatever. Thus, my classroom had a 1x1 foot pole towards the front of it

Now (time), the teachers have put stuff on it, like Caravaggio paintings, some student's drawing of a theoretical mid evil (<- can't figure out how to spell it) kingdom ensignia (<- I should really use words I can spell) for my teacher, and Raphael's School of Athens. However, what my teacher told us last year is that that wasn't ALWAYS the case. Because several years back, some girl put a picture of some celebrity on it, then someone else did the same, etc etc. Basically, for a few years, it became known as the pole of hotness

However, for some reason, the hot people went away, and no one has added anything else to it.....UNTIL NOW.

You see, this year, I liked and became friends with the 3 people that sat at my table. So we hatched a PLAN ("plan") somewhere in the middle of the year to go and put someone on the pole of hotness "one day". However, then exams happened and we cried and forgot to do this until the second to last Thursday of school. Then forgot to do it until Friday morning, which was the last day of the normal school schedule and our last chance to pull it off

We all basically frantically tried to think of hot people that would be more or less universally known. Through a combination of none of us knowing universally known hot people or not wanting to confess to finding someone attractive, we settled on. Wait for it. Dante Alighieri's hat.

This is Dante ^ He was a mid evil Italian who wrote a long poem about going to hell with his friend Virgil (dead Roman poet) who he may or may not have either fatherzoned or had a celebrity crush on. Not sure if I'm honest. But either way, I don't recall his hat ever being important

STILL I managed to get a fixation on this hat. Let's go through a list of what I have done

Wrote "Dante Alighieri's dumb hat" in response to the question of the day, "what is your pet peeve". My friend drew him underneath, and my teacher pointed it out to the whole class and called it "the most humanities student thing ever" the next day

Wrote 6 pages of crossover crack fanfiction between Dante, his hat (which I named Lauren after the fact that laurel leaves exist and John Laurens (I didn't watch Hamilton by this point but I think I read a few fanfics)), and Paul Revere based on the idea that Lauren could talk for an assignment

(Not hat specific but) wrote about wanting to time travel to the moment Dante finished writing the Divine Comedy in order to appear as a divine being and scare him on my FINAL EXAM ESSAY (the whole essay was slightly unhinged in general but shh)

Added Dante's hat to a slideshow my friend's friends made called "chest hair history" in which they put a lot of shirtless people and shared with the history teachers at the end of the year (MY FULL NAME IS ALSO ON THIS THING. ON THE FIRST SLIDE) (unrelated but this whole slideshow is so dumb, there's Elon Musk, Michelangelo's David, Bruce Dickinson (I LATER FOUND OUT MY TEACHER IS AN IRON MAIDEN FAN, dying), Steven Adler, and one of Genghis Khan's grandchildren, among others)

And now we have come to the point at which a fifth point will be added. But first, my friends and I frantically panicked as we realized that I was afraid to ask my art teacher (who is actually so nice, 10/10 teacher, I just fear things) to use the printer but was the only one with a period where I could effectively do whatever since it was the last days of school

So instead, I spent 40 minutes drawing, and then it was time to go to history, equipped with a colored pencil'd notebook paper drawing of his hat

Putting it on the pole was simultaneously both simpler and more difficult that we assumed (we had no plan). My teacher talked at the start of class, we realized we had no tape, we schemed (panicked) and didn't know what to do. My teacher finished went away to his farther away desk. We decided to go steal some tape from the teacher's table that was ~two meters away from us. (ALSO NOTE. WE WERE NOT SLY. WE SAT AT THE FRONT OF THE ROOM, AND DANTE'S HAT IS BRIGHT RED.)

Tape acquired, we all looked at each other in our seats not knowing when to get up nor who will get up to put the paper on the wall. So impulsively, I took the paper, walked a few meters over to an emptier side of the pole, STUCK IT ON THERE, speedwalked back to my seat. And then the paper fell and I had to tape it again not a full 15 seconds later whilst the teacher had actually TURNED SO THAT I THINK I WAS IN VIEW while I did the deed, hfjsjaka. (And there was also a group of guys sitting right in front of the pole who looked at the new addition so ???ly, FJSJAJA)

And that is. the story of how I indirectly called some old dead guy's hat hot and subtly announced this to my history classroom for hopefully years to come (we shall see whether it's still up next year). I will also now pray that no one irl finds this post (I think at least one of the three friends has tumblr so. Fear.)

[seldomscilence16]

Whumptober day 9:

"Learning everything ain't what it seems, that's the thing about these days."

Polaroid | mistaken identity | "you're a liar."

Fandom: Sanders Sides (AU)

Prompts used: all

Oof this one took some creativity I didn't have lol, so pardon the names used. But welcome to Sanders sides superhero au, or rather, the aftermath of one. 

…

Virgil's early years were an amalgamation of too many things. He gets anxious just thinking about it, a past only a select few even knew about. Virgil's eyes glance over to his mantle- and what a world it is for him to have a fireplace mantle- where a picture frame sits face down. Some days he can look upon it with nostalgia and a small smile, other days he can't see the faces, only the things they'd had to do. 

He'd spent the last several years doing everything he hadn't been able to do then. Online classes galore, a normal job, a house, things so mundane and yet so freeing. He has a service cat- Ide is the only service cat he's ever heard of but she's special in more than one way so he supposes that makes sense- that helps him out in the day to day, to keep him from getting too overwhelmed. 

He's been doing good recently too. He can answer Patton's weekly phone calls on the second ring with minimal heart palpitations, and he'd even been considering going to their next meet up. 

He could already tell he'd never let himself live this down if he made it out. 

He'd decided to go out for coffee, there was a deal going on and it was spooky season and Virgil had woken up feeling okay. He'd get his coffee, take Patton's call when it came, and get some work done, it would be a good day. He should really know better than to jinx himself like that. 

He hadn't even made it to the coffee shop, had felt a shiver up his spine, couldn't even react before his head exploded with pain and his world dimmed. He thinks he sees Ide run off, hopes she's okay, before he can think of nothing at all. 

When Virgil was a kid- and that's what they were, they were kids- he and five other of the neighborhood children had been out late one night. Virgil hadn't really chosen to come, had been kicked out and dragged along by Remus, ever excited to explore in the dark. It had happened like a movie really, some bright light, a crash, the whole dramatic speech from some being from another planet- an Alien named Thomas of all things, though maybe that's just what it sounded like to their ears. 

Exposure to the crash had of course granted them powers. Powers they were expected to use to defend Earth again the foes that had followed Thomas. Virgil thinks the cosmic forces at play made the wrong choice, at least with him, but definitely for choosing kids. Still, for whatever reason, seeing the others put themselves in danger had stirred him the wrong way. He'd ended up fighting alongside them, it was rough but they'd somehow managed to survive. 

So why, after several years of no longer being some stinken 'super hero' and living a semi-normal life, is he being kidnapped!?

"I see you're awake. Took you long enough, Sandine." 

Ah… well frack. How the hell did this guy mix up Virgil with Thomas, Virgil is a complete mess. 

"Yes, I know who you are. You and your team may have disappeared, but the impact you made stayed, I haven't forgotten what you've done. And now, finally, I can make you pay!" 

Virgil almost wants to laugh, how ironic, the guy who fought only because he wanted to protect the others, is captured in place of one of them. What a world Virgil lives in. 

"I'm sure you're wondering how I figured it out." 

Damn, this dude had no idea how to do the villain thing, maybe Virgil is on a hidden camera show… one where head trauma is okay… so just an ameteur, Virgil could work with that, maybe. 

The guy begins to pace in front of the tank he'd put Virgil in- one he can only assume has adtonium in it to keep his powers at bay- gearing up for a long speech. Virgil squirms in his binding, robe burn be damned, as he glares in the general direction of his kidnapper,

"You see, you all were not nearly as secretive as you thought! My uncle, a mere henchmen, was able to capture this photo!" He produces an actual polaroid from his person, wrinkled from years of handling, and though Virgil can't see it super clear through the tank, the costumes on the three figures are familiar, "You were stupid enough to remove your masks, and now, I have you. The great Sandine, captured at last, with no little team to save you. Your life will end, your powers will be mine, and those who oppose me will fall one by one!" His laugh is too pitchy, his speech boring, but Virgil is a little impressed. To find, capture, and contain one of them is a feat, and to supposedly have the technology to steal a power, well it's intriguing at least. 

But he wont be getting the powers he thinks, and this guy will not be able to handle them in the slightest. But to do that, this guy needed to be convinced that Virgil was Thomas, so he should probably say something quippy and heroic…

"You're laugh sucks." Well… that was something at least. 

"I'm telling you Logan, he hasn't missed a call in ages!" Patton paces in the kitchen, piles upon piles of cookies filling the counters, phone pressed between shoulder and ear. 

"Patton, if you worry any more I will have to assume you are Virgil." 

"This is not a joking matter Logan, but good job." He turns to place another tray down to cool when he sees something at his window, "uh… Logan, remind me, am I allergic to all cats or are alien ones an exception?" He squints, trying to see familiar markings. 

"You know we have only met one alien animal, Patton so the results are inconclusive. However Ide was an exception, yes, why do you ask?" 

"Because Ide is at my window, without Virgil, and something is definitely wrong!" He rushes to said window, throwing it open as Ide limps his way through, nerves twist his gut up like only a friend in danger can as the cat meows loudly. "Logan. Call the others." There's no room for argument in Patton's voice as he hangs up, something happened to Virgil. 

"Just a few more adjustments and we'll test this baby out!" 

"Wow, how embarrassing for you." 

"Stop that! Gah, how the press thought you were an angel with that much snark I'll never know!" 

"You just bring out the worst in me." 

Virgil's wrists ache something terrible, rope having cut into skin at this point and he supposes he should be glad his jacket was taken from him before all this lest it be ruined now. He's eyeing the cliche laser gun above him, then the little drains in the floor and wondering idly if he expects a mess or if they'll be draining into his tank rather than out. 

"Soon, I'll know the secrets of the galaxy, and you'll be dust beneath my boots!" 

Wow, this guy thought Thomas knew everything? He'd be flattered sure, but he was far from omnipotent. And Virgil questions everything, even the things that don't need to be questioned! 

"You want to know stuff? Learning everything ain't what it seems, that's the thing about these days. There's always something more, something lurking, if you knew everything your head would literally explode, and you're not allowed to do that without The Duke here." 

"You're a liar, you just want to keep everything to yourself!"

Virgil could correct him, after all Janus was the one with the whole lying schtick. Had to do with his powers and stuff of course, but even before that he was known to lie in stressful situations. His defense as it was, and one that Virgil had taken too long to realize. 

"It doesn't matter anyway, it's ready, say goodbye Sandine!" 

The lazer lights up as bubbling liquid fills in from below and he hates when he's right, his struggles renew as he finally lets his panic, well panic. The feeling he'd been ignoring, that emptiness that had been dragging him down, is ten times worse now- except… It's fading now. That idiot, did he… turn off the thing keeping his powers at bay? 

"You want my powers?" Virgil's wrists finally slide free, smeared with red, purple and black mist swirls around him for the first time in a long time, "Here ya go." 

"Wait. That's not-" 

The lazer goes off, the liquid makes his feet slip, the tank explodes as his powers fill the room with his scream of agony. Trying desperately to find the threat, unable to flee, searching for what to fight, the man screams in terror, but Virgil barely hears it over his own. The machine ignites in a fiery mess, the lazer dying out, but as Virgil slumps his powers stutter. 

The man lifts shaking hands, wild eyes flitting around the room, the gun in his hand goes off and Virgil's powers shrink until they fold into that place within him, pounding against an invisible wall, the emptiness returns tenfold and with no resistance drags him down. His ankles, still tied to the chair, twist uncomfortable as the thing tumbles sideways with him. The bubbling liquid burns but he can't seem to move, a glow has his eyes lowering, and there, embedded in his shoulder, just barely above his heart, is the gray space stone adtonium. 

Huh… guess this is how it goes down. Nothing to hear but the mad ramblings of an unstable villain wannabe, skin burning, chest aching, and powers locked away, alone. 

At least it wasn't Thomas… or any of the others…

"Virgil! Is he okay!?" 

"M'fine."

"What a shitshow, Nightmare." 

"Everything will be dreadful soon, Vee. We won't be handling the rest, so do worry."  

"Mkay… 'ake a nap now…" 

"Virgil don't you dare!" 

"Just hang in there buddy!"

"We'll get you home safe stormcloud."

"Please remain still Virgil, this will only hurt for a moment." 

"Falsehood." Virgil's eyes close, he yells at the yanking, and the sudden burst of powers freed, and thinks this was a positively dreadful day. 

But it could have been worse.

[wolfprincesszola]

The Fate of the Marked Six Chapter 7

as always, reblogs and likes are appreciated! enjoy <3 ——————– Summary: Virgil moves into a new town and meets Roman, a ghost that he promises to help in finding the unfinished business needed to pass over. However, Roman's past seemed to be deeply muddled with trouble, an uncurable disease that has started to affect a classmate, and a certain tight-lipped valedictorian. Friendships are made and Virgil finds himself thrown into a situation far more complicated and twisted than he signed up. Hopefully, with the help of his new five friends, he can find a way to bring peace to the town once and for all.

Trigger Warnings: Drunk Driving Mention

Content Warnings: Swearing

<Masterlist>

<Previous> <Next> ——————–

Chapter 07

Roman spent most of his days wandering when Virgil wasn’t around. A lot of the time, he’d wander around the house, finding a new gadget every day and entertaining himself with it until Virgil got home. Unfortunately, the amount of new things soon ran out after a few months.

“Hey.” Roman laid against the couch, looking at the boy upside down. “I’m bored.”

“Ah, now that you’ve figured out how to interact with the world, you don’t want to stop interacting with things, right?” Virgil teased, as he looked around, “Alright, well, I heard from Logan that there were a few things interesting around town to look at. I hadn’t gotten the time, but I guess the time should be now. I haven’t taken you outside to help with your unfinished business or anything.”

Roman perked up, sitting up normally, “Really? You’ll do that.”

“Sure.” Virgil snorted, “I feel like a dog walker or something, taking you on a walk.”

“Oh please, I haven’t left the house in months.”

“I know.” Virgil smiled, “Come on, just try not to make me look insane for talking to the air.”

“Oh by the way…Logan is…?”

“Ah, one of my friends from school. I don’t think I’ve ever mentioned him. I’ve only talked about Janus, Remus, and Patton.”

“He sounds familiar, I just can’t put my tongue on it.”

“Maybe he knows you. I mean…for a while, I tried to see if you and him are related, but I couldn't come up with anything.”

“Oh, why?”

“His last name is also Sanders.”

Roman gave a small smile, “Is he like me?”

“Not at all.” Virgil snorted, “But apparently he has a brother…that he doesn’t like to talk about. It would make sense if it was you and you died. Maybe once upon a time, he was like you and then you died so he changed.”

“Maybe.” Roman shrugged as they walked out of the house, the both of them going into Virgil’s car.

“Where do you want to go?”

“I don’t know. What places did your friend recommend?”

“Well…okay now that you’re saying friend, I see how wrong I was. I’d like to think we’re friends, but I don’t think anyone’s Logan’s friend in his mind.” Virgil sighed, “He recommended I check out the bookstore, the nearby park, and the museum.”

“Let’s go to the park, museum, and then bookstore.”

“Sounds good.” Virgil smiled before he realized, “This isn’t going to give you nightmares or anything…right?”

“No, it shouldn’t.” Roman snorted, “I’ll teleport out if I need to.”

“Lucky.” Virgil grumbled as he drove, routing directions to the bookstore Logan had mentioned they should visit.

Upon reaching the parking lot, Roman phased out of the door and seatbelt that he had insisted on putting on. The two walked in, Roman before Virgil.

“Welcome, welcome, to the place where I make my income! How can I help you today?” The bookstore clerk grinned, sliding over to Virgil. “I’m just kidding, don’t tell my boss I said that instead of the actual greeting. How can I help you, Virge?”

Roman watched as Virgil smiled, and through context clues, he could gather that the person that worked was Patton. He awkwardly watched them interact before deciding he didn’t need to be there for the conversation, floating around to the different books. He noticed there was both a top level and a bottom level. It was clear the bottom level was connected to a nearby cafe, with the top level being for most of the books, as well as albums. Overall, it seemed pretty nice, but then something caught his eye.

There was a small room to the side that Roman squeezed through to see hundreds of book nooks created by someone. All of them signed with the same name on the side. Logic.

He smiled as he looked through all of them. They were all so pretty.

He heard the door open, and for some reason, he could sense it was Virgil. Smiling at the different books, he came across one in particular. There were wired lights across it, and a tattoo parlor seemed to be built above it. The lights were framed in a way that over the top, it made a semicolon.

“I remember when I made this one.” Roman gave a small smile, the feeling of nostalgia hitting him, “My brother was always a writer and he wanted to write one about a tattoo parlor, and didn’t know where to start, so I offered to help him create a book nook. He did most of them, but I mean…he just couldn’t figure out how to do the lights, so I helped him with it. He cried for the next day after, saying how grateful he was to have a big brother like me. God, I laughed at his stupidity, but I don’t know. I think my brother was just very fond of me.”

He then looked at the name on the side, where it said two names instead. Logic and Creativity.

“You have a brother.” Virgil mentioned and Roman blinked.

“Yeah, I guess I do.”

“Do you remember his name?”

“No.”

“Then, we need to figure out who Logic is.” Virgil remarked, “Because I think you’re Creativity.”

Roman stared at the hundreds of book nooks, “I can faintly remember all the book nooks up to that one up there. The Percy Jackson one. He made hundreds after my death…it’s only been a few months.”

“Well, it doesn’t really look like a few months.” Virgil laughed. “But you’re right. That further disproves my theory about Logan being your brother. His brother’s older than him because Logan's brother graduated the year before Logan became a freshman.”

“Huh.” Roman nodded, “Do you think my brother’s even in this area?”

“If your family is your unfinished business, then probably. You never appear in the world too far from your unfinished business. The world isn’t working against you, but actually for you.” Virgil murmured, “Let’s go ask my friend.”

“Patton?”

“Yeah. How’d you know? I never introduced you to him.”

“Context clues.” Roman grinned, “Also it’s on his nametag.”

“Ah.” Virgil nodded as the two walked out towards Patton. “Yo, Patton!”

Patton looked up, clearly not working, as Virgil was the only customer in the bookstore and cafe. “What’s up?”

“What’s the room for book nooks?”

“Ah, we have this frequent visitor who comes in. We don’t know when or who they are, but they keep dropping us off book nooks, for the past 3 years. Their pen name is Logic.”

“Well, we need to.” Virgil replied, “Is there any way we can figure it out?”

“If I knew, I would’ve told you. I want to meet this person and find out why they continue to make them, and what the significance behind some of them are. They’re all beautiful, but only one has wired lights. Only some of them have another person’s name on it. I want to know who they are and find out what their life is.”

“Yeah, well I’ve figured out half the puzzle. If I tell you, will you help me figure out the other half?”

Roman stopped Virgil, “Do you think this is a good idea? I don’t know if I can trust him.”

Patton shrugged, “Of course.”

Virgil gave a look to Roman to tell him that he trusted Patton, and Roman trusted Virgil. He decided that he would trust whoever Virgil did because he learned to care about the boy. He learned about Virgil's trust, and he knew that it wasn’t easy to gain it.

“Alright, what is the half of the puzzle?”

“The person, Creativity? That’s Roman Sanders, who died a few months ago. Logic was his brother, but I don’t know who his brother is.”

It seemed to click for Patton a lot faster than it should have. “You’re a medium, aren’t you?”

“What?” Virgil seemed caught off guard.

“You’re a medium. I knew you had powers, and I’m not as dumb as I seem. It just clicked for me. The reason you know that is because he’s a ghost and he’s looking for your help to find his unfinished business.” Patton seemed to be so happy at that fact. “Is he here right now?”

“Wh-what?” Virgil blinked, “Sorry, how do you know all this?”

“Being around Logan meant that I learned how to pick up on his vagueness a lot.” Patton shrugged, “Hi, Roman!”

Roman raised an eyebrow, waving back to Patton.

Virgil sighed, “He said hi back.”

“I knew it! I’ll help you.” Patton grinned. “I know a dude who has access to all the files. If I can find a Roman Sanders in this city, I can find his brother.”

“Thank you, Patton.” Virgil gave a small smile.

“Yep, no problem.” Patton grinned, “Where are you headed to next since it’s clear you’re not taking home a book?”

“A park and then the art gallery. I’m taking my ghost on a walk.”

“Very offended by that statement.” Roman scoffed, crossing his arms.

However, Roman still followed Virgil around.

-+=~=+-

Roman was in the car with Virgil when he asked something that may have come off as weird, “Can I call you Vir?”

“Sorry?”

“Vir. Like Vir-gil.”

“Yeah, I got that. I just haven’t heard anyone call me that. It's always been Virge.”

“Can I?”

“Sure.” Virgil nodded, “You can call me Vir. Why?”

“I don’t know. I just felt the need to have a nickname with you. I think a part of me likes having you as my medium friend.”

Virgil smiled, “I like having you as my ghost friend, although you can get annoying in the house sometimes. You keep me company…and you’re pretty good at math.”

Roman gave a small smile. They stopped at the park soon after, and Roman walked out, Virgil soon after with his phone in his ear.

“Who are you calling?”

“No one. I just don’t want to seem like I’m insane talking to the air, since there are people here.” Virgil rolled his eyes as they walked over to the park. The actual park itself was beautiful. There were trees with flowers blooming from it, almost mimicking cherry blossom trees. There was a playground for the kids, but there was more space for picnics. The focal point of the park was probably the statue in the middle of the park.

“Holy shit.” Roman whispered as he walked up to the statue. It was a boy sitting at the edge of the pedestal with a paintbrush and a smile.

“Isn’t that you?” Virgil asked, following soon after. “He has the same facial features and everything.”

“Yeah.” Roman whispered, “I think that is me.”

Virgil ran his fingers over the engraved text at the bottom, reading it out loud, “Roman Sanders was driving when a drunk driver drove and took his life. He was an aspiring artist, and could’ve lived to great things had he not died. Remember to drive safely so that lives like his aren’t taken again.”

“Is there anything else?” Roman asked as he decided to try and scale the statue to find anything.

“No.” Virgil murmured, staring at the statue’s face, “Your smile looks fake.”

“Does it?” Roman asked, turning.

“You looked tired in this pose. You look less tired now as a ghost.”

Roman sat next to the statue in the same pose and smiled. Roman’s shoulders didn’t sag and the edges of his eyes crinkled when he smiled. Roman titled his head when he gave a smile, and it was much wider than the statue. Roman knew it himself.

“I don’t think you were very happy in your everyday life.” Virgil murmured.

Something ached in his heart as he looked at the statue. For some reason, the statue seemed to capture a life that he lived. A life that he hated.

However, Roman could only remember the life he loved. He remembered the good memories with his friends. Although he couldn’t remember specifics about his family, he could see small memories littered throughout with his parents and his brother. More of his brother.

“I think I want to move on.” Roman murmured, “Let’s go to the gallery.”

“Do you remember wanting to be an artist?”

“No…I didn’t even think that was what I wanted to do. I thought I wanted to be a scientist.”

“Then, I think you’re fooling yourself because you’re a pretty damn good artist if you could do the book nooks.”

Roman couldn’t help the smile that grew, “Thanks.”

Virgil nodded, smiling back as the sunlight hit the back of his head. He looked so pretty and Roman never really noticed it until now.

-+=~=+-

The art gallery was the last stop, but the busiest. It seemed to be the focal point of the city, with a lot of people around.

Roman cut the line even to wait for Virgil on the side with all the art.

However, since it was busier, and he was in a quiet art gallery, Virgil couldn’t risk talking to Roman, so while Roman could tell Virgil anything as loud as he wanted, Virgil had to whisper his response back.

Roman seemed almost at home with the art, and he didn’t know why, but there was a familiarity in all these artists. Then, they got to one that he knew by heart. “The one coming up is Will Oleg. At the age of 5, he was creating masterpieces of art. Even to the time of his death, he was creating with anything he could get his eyes on. His most famous is Wooden Spoon where he stabs a wooden spoon into his canvas to paint around it. My favorite is the one he made out of the sauce his daughter spilled on the canvas because even though he dried it, the painting he made out of it was really nice.”

He turned to Virgil who was smiling at him, and he felt his heart skip a beat for a second as he smiled, “What?”

“Oh…nothing. It’s just that I don’t think I’ve ever seen you this passionate.” Virgil whispered, trying to hide the smile.

“I don’t remember a lot about my life before I died…but I think he was my favorite artist.” Roman stared at the works that littered Will Oleg’s section, “I remember feelings though. The feeling I had most about being in this room was the fact that one day, I’d like to have my work right next to his.”

“Maybe that’s your unfinished business.” Virgil whispered.

“Ah…if it was, the universe wouldn’t have filled that room over there. You said it yourself; the universe leaves opportunities open for ghosts until they can finish that business.” Roman gave a small smile, “I think it was just a dream that didn’t come true.”

“Well, let’s see if the person next to Will Oleg is worth being put next to him, instead of your work.”

“You don’t even know how good of an artist I was. I don’t even know how good.” Roman laughed, remembering the paintbrush in his hand at the park statue.

“But I know you, and I want to believe that anything you create is better than anyone else.”

Roman flushed, and couldn’t help but feel his heart stutter for a second. Why was he feeling like this?

With that, the two walked into the next exhibit, and immediately memories flooded Roman’s mind. Flashes of his parents yelling at him, flashes of his brother watching him paint, and flashes of his quiet space all came back to him. He remembered the story behind every painting, remembered what he did with the glow-in-the-dark paints, and remembered how he would pretend like his brother messing up his blank tapestry wasn’t something he planned his brother to do. He turned around to the jellyfish painting in the very back, remembering that he had modeled it after his brother to let his know that he truly cared so much about him.

All of his paintings were filled with love for his family, especially his brother, and it made his heart swell.

“Woah.” The word escaped Virgil’s mouth as he looked at the exhibit in awe, “I’m sorry, Roman, but there is no way you could top this. It’s a beautiful exhibit.”

Roman didn’t answer, staring at the last painting he had ever made before he died. He had a dream about a boy with brown hair, brown eyes, and the most beautiful smile. For some reason, he knew he was his soulmate, and so when he woke up, he took out a canvas to portray everything about him. He was never a portrait painter, so instead, he stuck to what he knew. He drew out scenery, and stuck some jellyfish in it, but the most prominent of everything was the spots of brown and purple.

Then, he turned to see Virgil staring at the painting too. Then, he saw the brown hair, brown eyes, and the purple outfit that he was wearing. And then it clicked on why the universe had given him that dream.

Although he never got to meet his soulmate in his life, it was after his death that he would learn to care for someone. He cared about Virgil, his first friend who promised to help him move on.

He smiled, “Do you like it?”

“Hm?”

“I mean the paintings.”

“Yeah. They’re beautiful.” Virgil breathed, “Especially this one.”

“Thank you.” Roman uttered.

“Why’d you say thank you?”

“Uh…no reason.” Roman gave a small smile, as he decided to keep the artist a little secret. He decided not to tell Virgil to look down and see his name painted on the ground, in big letters. “Let’s go to the next room.”

Virgil nodded, “The artist is different in the next room?”

“Yeah.” Roman lied, knowing that in two-room exhibits of the museum, it happened when the artist was multi-talented. At this moment, he wanted to keep his paintings a secret from Virgil. At this moment, he wanted Virgil to know him as an unknown artist.

As soon as they walked in, the projector in the middle of the room buffered, showing a new video, and Roman heard his own voice.

“The day I fell in love with you, you wore a red jacket. I saw you in it and my heart made a racket. On you it looked really nice; it fit you well, and was worth the price, not too baggy and not too thin, kept you warm enough within.”

It was a poem visualizer, and he watched as in the background of the poem, two people wearing red jackets moved around.

“I thought you did art.” Virgil whispered as he sat down, watching the story play out.

“I think I did both.” Roman sat down next to him, staring at the people.

The two sat in silence, watching his videos as they all came through. Then, he saw a little boy that was not much older than 10 years. He watched as the boy grew up, showing thousands of videos of his smiling with him as years went on, and he felt a tug at his heart.

“Hey, Vir?”

“Hm?”

“How do ghosts know what their unfinished business is?”

“They just do. I heard it described as a tug at the heart, and the feeling of wanting to do something relating to the specific thing, whether it’s a person or an event.” Virgil murmured as he smiled, watching the two interact.

“Yeah, well, I think that boy is the answer to my unfinished business.”

Virgil turned his head, raising an eyebrow. “Are you sure?”

“Yes, I don’t know who he is…but I think he’s the first step to figuring out what I’m missing.”

Virgil took out his phone, snapping a picture before pocketing it, “We’ll look more into it when we get home.”

Roman nodded as he stared at the boy, his heart aching. As he stared at the little boy, he felt the need to protect, and then…he remembered swearing that he would always protect the boy and make sure he would never be without a shoulder to cry on. If the boy was truly Roman's unfinished business, he must’ve been so alone for a long time without Roman's shoulder to cry on.

-+=~=+-

“How was today? Did you enjoy your walk?” Virgil asked as soon as they were back in the car.

“Oh, Jerky McJerk Face.” Roman rolled his eyes, “I’m not a dog.”

“To me, you kinda are. You are needy for attention, get excited when you see me, need regular outside time, and-”

“Don’t finish the sentence, I get it.” Roman sighed.

“I’m glad you had fun. Besides, we got a little more to work with for your unfinished business.” Virgil gave a small smile.

The two stayed in silence the entire drive home. They didn’t mention anything about it, even when they got back home, until it was almost time for Virgil to head to bed. Roman usually slept on the floor next to his bed, but today, the vibes were different. He wanted to see what else was out in the city, so he let Virgil know. Before he went to sleep though, he stopped him.

“Hey, Vir, I, uh…want to thank you for helping me with this. You really didn’t have to.” He shifted nervously. He was never good with talking about his feelings.

“Don’t worry about it. Besides, had I not agreed to help you, I would’ve missed out on being friends with you. I think you’re a really cool person, now and even before you died. I mean, you had your work featured in an art gallery, you had book nooks donated in the bookstore, and most of all, you have a statue after you.”

Roman smiled, and thousands of words about how he was glad he was his soulmate–even if it was platonic–died at his throat. All he said instead was “Good night, Vir. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Good night, Ro. Try not to die again.”

The two headed off in their separate directions.

-+=~=+-

An odd thing Roman noticed was that even during the night, there were no ghosts wandering around the area. When Roman first appeared in the world as a ghost, there were no ghosts. He figured out what happened pretty soon after realizing no one could see him or would talk to him. During his first few weeks of being a ghost, he found his way around the city and visited the library, trying to see if he could see any books about ghosts. When he did, he waited at the library for someone to take out a book. That was how he found out about his death and whatnot.

Roman had woken up with no recollection about any of his past life except for his name and age. While reading the books along with the other humans (some of them were painstakingly slow readers), he found out that he must’ve been dead for a few months before he reappeared in the world between the spirits and the other world. He found out about his death from the recollection of seeing cars.

However, in books, it had said that there were supposed to be ghosts wandering around everywhere people went. Mediums had talked about ghosts being everywhere too. Even when he learned how to use the internet as a ghost, he found no articles that ever talked about a barren area with no ghosts.

Walking through the city was quiet and nice. He didn’t find anything else useful, but he decided he would talk to Virgil about it when he woke up. Virgil was the only thing Roman had that he knew would always be true. Virgil was real, and Virgil would always be truthful to him. That was all Roman could ask for in a friend, and that was all Roman could rely on at the moment of all of his unknowns about his life and about the city he was in. ——————– little prinxiety dates are always fun to write <3

If you enjoyed this, please consider reblogging! Reblogging helps me a lot and are very appreciated. Check out my masterlist for more, feel free to request any writings, and stick around if you want to see the rest of what I have in store for this! :)

[riallasheng]

Hello!

For the headcanon game, how about:

☯ - likes/dislikes headcanon

♥ - family headcanon

Fandom/character(s) is up to you.

Thank you!

Hmmmmmmmmmmm

Doing my usual 'several' here ^^

Under the readmore cause BIG XD

Fireball XL5: ☯ Likes - the headcanon that we can toss anything / everything we 'learn' about Steve's family and past in the Flying Zodiacs out the window because not only is that a dream episode... it's VENUS' dream. Which means I get to keep the Century 21 comics canon that Steve's dad was Agent S / Agent Seven of the Universal Secret Service XD ☯ Dislikes - (that Zoonie exits XD) Nah, nah... in all honesty I can't think of a headcanon that I really dislike at the moment? ♥ - The aforementioned 'Steve is the son of Agent S which... well, okay that's actually canon. Hm. Ah. Pulling off the headcanon that Agent 21 and Agent 23 are Penny's parents - the headcanon that Steve is good friends with Penny, and is her big brother in all but blood.

Stingray: ☯ Likes - the headcanon that Marina is actually a bit older that we realize, as Terran years are actually shorter than Marine Years like they are for all other time measurements, and thus Marina is actually ~22 years old, not 19 ☯ Dislikes - That Troy is an idiot or an asshole. He's a solid, heroic and good guy, darn it all. He's got the people skills of a concussed beta fish, but he's actually smart and does his best to help people with no thought of reward. ♥ - Fisher has mostly mended the bridges between himself and his father, but the situation between himself and his mother is horrendous, to the point that his parents divorced over it and Troy actually punched the woman out when she attempted to attack the hospitalized Fisher after the ‎Exocoetus crash (that only Fisher, Gordon, and Holden survived)

Lady Penelope: ☯ Likes - That FAB 1 was rebuilt from the Rolls Royce Penny's father used into it's current 'form', using blueprints for Supercar that Penny managed to stop Steelman from getting on her first real spy mission. Penny was able to ensure that all blueprints were destroyed, and a few weeks later she was given the last set of blueprints by Zizi and Jimmy as thanks for her actions. ☯ Dislikes - That Penny 'isn't really that good of a spy'. Penny is a freaking FANTASTIC spy and she's got the comics and novels (and audio plays) to prove it! XD ♥ - Penny is actually the daughter of Agent 23 and Agent 21. ^^

Thunderbirds 65: ☯ Likes - That the birth order is Scott, John, Virgil, Gordon, Alan. And that Brains (going off the 'actually a teenager' bit of semi-canon) was actually legally adopted by Jeff when Brains was ~15... and that Brains' REAL surname (Hackenbacker is an alias darn it all XD) is Walter, thus giving the show six of the Mercury Seven in the siblings ☯ Dislikes - Except when it's just good fun / joshing (ie when the person saying it is beign sincere) the headcanon that Brains actively dislikes the Tracys ♥ - Both Jeff and Ruth fell into some nasty depressions when Val (Lucille... I've been using the name Val for her for decades XD) and Grant died in the avalanche, and Scott had to step up into the parenting role, as well as doing his best to help his father and grandmother, as a result for a few years. Ruth came out of the depressive spiral first, but it was still 2 years after the event, and Scott had pretty solidly locked himself into the role and even at 15 was stubborn enough that Ruth couldn't really dislodge him, so she just did the best she could to let Scott be a normal teen instead of an adult. Jeff got out of his spiral about a year later

Thunderbirds 04: ☯ Likes - That the helmet we see Virgil wearing during the oil rig rescue is actually standard and USUALLY the boys wear them whenever they aren't in the Thunderbirds so no one knows their identities. (The windows can also be 'polorized' into essentially one way windows and that is the default setting... but this CAN be turned off to allow people outside the craft to see inside ☯ Dislikes - ...hm. Actually can't think of one at the moment ^^;; ♥ - The Belagants are not actually Malaysians by race, although they were all born in Malaysia. Kyrano's father was from Uganda and his mother was british. Onaha's mother was from India and her father was Filipino. The Hood shares his mother with Kyrano, and his father is unknown.

Thunderbirds are Go: ☯ Likes - That iR used to be like TOS IR in that they only responded to the rescues that no one else could do, the current 'suicide run' is RECENT, only two or so years old. ☯ Dislikes - That the tag boys have the same histories as the tos boys... that is that Gordon (who is only 17 or 18 years old so far as I know) served in WASP, and Scott served in the air-force. With iR being a thing for at minimum 9 years prior to the start of the series and Scott involved with iR off the bat (and Gordon's age and involvement for a few years prior to the start of the show) there just isn't a way for the tos pasts / military histories to have occured. MAYBE Scott served for a short while, but Gordon couldn't have given recruitment ages. ♥ - That Penny's father was basically sir Jeremy Hodge from TOS in personality, appearance, etc

Captain Scarlet 67: ☯ Likes - That Scarlet and Brown were not actually dead at the time of their mysteronization, resulting in their odd behavior compared to other Mysteron Agents. (Also, Black was not killed / is not dead and has not been mysterionized, he's just being controlled by the mysterons and is still in his original body) ☯ Dislikes - That Black is a willing ally to the Mysterons instead of their first victim. ♥ - got two that I really love for family. XD Dianne's older brother is Roger Lyon from the Lady Penelope comics (he took up a false name when he joined the secret service and was born Robert Simms) Grey and Black (who both lost their parents in the Atomic Conflict and were sent to America to be raised by someone there) were actually raised by the same man - Grey's godfather, Black's uncle - and the two consider each other to be brothers.

new Captain Scarlet: ...oddly THIS is the hard one XD I don't have a lot of headcanons or know a lot of headcanons for nCS, despite being a longtime fan of it. ☯ Likes - The Mysterons of this universe aren't having a 'War of Nerves', they're just trying to cause as much terror and suffering as possible, toying with humanity before they kill them, and the reason we see the threat levels ramping up in severity as the series goes on is the Mysterons getting pissed that Spectrum keeps STOPPING them. (the og series seems to have rules that the Mysterons must follow in their war of nerves... always informing Spectrum of the next attack, only attacking something / someone once, etc) ☯ Dislikes - That Blue is an idiot. Yes, he is a bit gung-ho and impulsive, but he's DAMNED smart and more than fast enough on his mental feet to get himself out of situations he might get himself INto ♥ - annnnnd I'm stuck ^^;; sorry, I HAVE family headcanons, but I am blanking on them at the moment

[lenna-z]

Hii! It's been a long time because either there was a problem with tumblr or my connection, I don't know, but I couldn't access tumblr in any way...

And it's been a long time since I published a fic... so I've edited this fic countless times and this is the last one. I hope you like it!

○●○●○

The Man on the Ground

This man would see the white light today.  And definitely from her hand. If she had been in a different situation, maybe she would have felt sorry for him, maybe. But no, this man was the reason her brother was in the hospital. Whatever his name is.

She would find out his name later. And it would probably cost her dearly when she found out, but it didn't matter right now.

She had already knocked the man down. He already had a bleeding lip and a swollen eye.

Eye for an eye. Just for situations like this.

"Kayo."

A harsh and cold sound. She'll probably add another white to her brother's hair this time around.

She could worry about him later, and for herself...

She bent down and pressed one knee into the chest of the man on the ground. She had raised her fist when a strong hand gripped her wrist tightly. "Don't-"

"No, Kay... You should stop, please."

Virgil.

His voice almost sounded like he was begging.

She could try to get rid of him. Even if she succeeded, she had to beat Scott afterward. But the enemy here was not her brothers... So it made more sense to choose to use words.

"This man is responsible for Alan being in the hospital!" She could imagine her eyes watering and even reddening, so she couldn't look at either of them.

"You have no proof. For God's sake Kay-"

"Oh so you don't trust me!" She pressed her knee harder into the man's chest. This was met with a painful grunt, and a look of genuine satisfaction crossed her face.

"Yet." Virgil's sharp voice seemed entirely aimed at Scott. The hand on his wrist loosened, and Virgil walked in front of her, leaning toward her. "We don't have proof yet." When confronted with eyes as devastated as her own, she was shocked.

"Kay, the media is literally everywhere. Please stop before it gets worse."

Why didn't they understand? Didn't they know what was going on there? Oh and the damn media was the last thing she cared about right now.

"Scott!" Virgil suddenly turned back to Scott. His brown eyes were shining more than usual. "Kay, I know-"

"No, you don't know!" She grabbed the man's hair with his right hand and lifted his head in the air. "This man, since he had a date to catch up, used Alan to return to earth even though there were people in danger!" As she took a deep breath, tears began to trickle from her eyes. "He. Hurt. Alan. Under. My. Watch."

○●○●○

Damn he knew that. He still couldn't imagine what was going on there.

In any other situation he would probably be worried about the man on the ground. But right now, he would help his sister if he could.  He could tell by looking into Scott's eyes that the same was true for him.

"Nobody blames you, Kayo." And Scott wasn't making it easy, even if he wanted to.

"Scott, let IR security and John know we're here. If possible, tell Ames to come." 

Amethyst Powell. Her family named her Amethyst because she had a purple birthmark on her right ring finger and where the ring is normally worn.

On one mission Virgil, witnessed she calm Kayo in an unusual but effective way.

If they can't calm Kayo, either Grandma or Ames can. She's the best option since Grandma is with Alan, and of course since Scott has to walk away for everyone's sake.

As Scott walks away in a silent agreement, Virgil takes the opportunity to take a closer look at Kayo.

Well… He wasn't sure if he could find the right word to describe his sister's current condition.

She had bruises on her face from that event in space, probably on the unseen sides of her body, but it was hard to tell as she was wearing her usual IR uniform.

His eyes shifted to knuckles, white from gripping the man's hair and bleeding from punching.

Her eyes were shining with unshed tears and were red from the spills.

"Kayo, you were doing your job, you wouldn't know..."

Before he could even finish his sentence, she started shaking her head.

"I should have known."

Her stubborn personality was hard to deal with. But he couldn't forgive himself if he let herself blame even though it wasn't her fault. 

"Kay, if you hadn't gone ahead and scanned the area, you'd be lying in another hospital bed next to Alan right now."

She was going to start to protest, but he stopped him before she started. "And the bodies of the people you saved would have been dismembered and lost in space..!"

"This man really deserves what you're doing right now, Kayo and you can't imagine how much I want to join you." The walls she had built since her arrival were now falling apart, and Virgil would not hesitate to slip through the first crack he saw.

Her hand in the man's hair loosened.

"Alan woke up and asked about you first, Kay... and And when he realizes we've been lying to him about where you are, he wanted to come here himself." And Scott went through that crack. His voice came from behind Kayo.

She suddenly stood up, and breathing sounds came from the man on the ground.

She started backing away, shaking her head. He watched his sister's walls crumble as Scott slowly wrapped his right arm around her waist. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry... I just-"

"It's okay, it's okay, we got you, Kay, I got you."

○●○●○

They lived and saw different things almost every day. Sometimes he thought it was unfair to his family that he had gone through so much.

And days like these made him question why they had chosen this life. Not about why they came to this life, it's about why they chose International Rescue.

The woman in his arms was still muttering an apology silently, and assuming he was making matters worse by talking, it made more sense to stay quiet.

No matter how hard he tried to help, he had been warned more than once by Virgil.  Maybe if she just knew he were there for her...

Virgil was generally more consoling than anyone else in the family. But his brother was controlling the man on the ground, as if it was so necessary.

How much they could comfort Kayo though, he wasn't sure. If they had come a little later, they would have to calm their sisters for a very different reason.

He knew that Kayo had gone further than that in the past, although she didn't tell them, there were a few days when she was allowed to come home because she was injured. He had heard their father and Kyrano talk about 'self-defense'.

Kyrano had gone to the mainland a few days before Kayo came on the island. It was later revealed that he had gone for Kayo, but no one expected Kayo so badly. She was bad physically, yes, she had scars, but mentally she was worse...

When the situation got this bad, he and John infiltrated the archives of the GDF and investigated the case.

Kayo had fought a man, a man much larger than herself. Backup was not coming and she had a chance... She had to shoot the man.

Her wounds were pretty bad, if she hadn't shot the man...

While she was trying to call backup, the communicator had been left on and everyone had heard what had happened, GDF pleaded guilty as there was no point in denying it, but at what cost..?

He wrapped his arms around his sister even tighter and waited for her to calm down.

"I thought Alan was going to die...  because of-" One hiccup... and then another...

"And I want- I wanted him dead..." He turned his head and pointed to the man on the ground.  "Oh my-"

She pushed his chest with her hands and quickly began to move away from him. Before she could get very far, though, she bent down and emptied her entire stomach...

He could hear the quick steps behind him, but he was closer.

He gathered the few strands of her carelessly gathered hair and saw the owner of the swift steps coming towards them.

His brother stopped right in front of Kayo and bowed.

He gently grabbed Kayo's wrist, looking as if he was trying to calm her down, but the way his fingers were positioned… seemed to be checking her pulse.

"I- ...I screwed up... didn't I..?"

She started muttering an apology again as tears welled up in her eyes.

"Hey, what did I say? It's okay, huh?" They would fix it. They had to fix it. "I- Kay, you know we trust you, right? We are not here to blame you... We were worried because you weren't talking to us and then you left and-"

"Scott. You really should leave these conversations to us."

Kayo snorted softly as she wiped her tears with her hand. "I- huh... Thank you."

After a long time she said something that emotions didn't take hold of her.

"Thank God, Kay..." He caught Virgil's eyes when he realized that he was speaking out what was on his mind. He looked just as relieved as he did.

Still, the wounds on her hands didn't go unnoticed.

He was sure that the reds and purples on her hands hurt more than they looked. It is highly doubtful that these wounds consisted solely of punching  the man on the ground.

"Thank you.. Guys, I..."

"Hey, what are brothers for?" Virgil's voice still sounded restless, maybe it was because Kayo was still shaking, or something.

"But I'm sorry to worry you anyway, you already had enough on your plate..."

"Worry? I was worried about you until I got here, but then I started to worry more about him. Well... you have a scary influence, Kay."

All three of them knew that wasn't the truth. But it would be a lie if he said he wasn't worried about the man on the ground at first.

"Who's he? The man on the ground?" Virgil's sarcastic tone softened the atmosphere.

"His name and himself is my last concern right now..." And here was the anxious and balancing brother coming back. "What about you, Kay? How much do you have on your plate?"

"Yes Virgil, the man on the ground. His name doesn't matter right now, does it?"

Meanwhile, he entered his left arm to help her stand upright and Scott entered her other arm. Kayo's lack of objection made her even more worried, and then she stumbled when she tried to walk.

When he met Virgil's eyes again, he saw the worry in his too."Okay... Let's talk about this later, huh?"

"Okay." She stopped for a moment. "The man on the ground... will he live?" She asked, turning to Virgil. The voice was unlike his sister's strong and sharp voice...

"Yes, but I doubt he'll wake up in the next two days." There was a pause and he continued. "And in these two days we will make sure that he will not see the light of day."

With those words, Kayo averted her eyes from both of them. "Tanusha." She glanced quickly at him when Virgil was called her by her name.

Virgil gently put his arm around her waist. "It's not your fault. I know it looks so bad right now because it seems like it can't be fixed. But we will find a way. We're not leaving you, okay?

Scott also squeezed her arm reassuringly. "We always find a way."

For everyone's sake, he hope they find a way...

[kaythegay2022]

Stick It to the Man (Ch. 2)

The Cult of Dionysus 

(by The Orion Experience)

This is the second barp of my fic for the Thomas Sanders Big Bang 2022 ( @sandersidesbigbang )!

Part 1

Read on AO3

Chapter Warnings: mentions of drinking and smoking

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

“Remus, you need to focus.”

Remus groaned, opening his eyes and glaring at Janus. He didn’t want to focus. The past two weeks had been rough, and he had no will to try and figure out what to do without Virgil. In fact, Remus was more concerned with just finding Virgil. His boyfriend wouldn’t answer his calls or his texts. He wouldn’t answer any of the band's calls or texts. It was like the emo had just… disappeared. 

“Babes, leave him alone. We still have a while. I’ll just lead or whatever,” Remy cut in, leaning back in his bean bag chair. They were in their studio, though Remus would rather be anywhere else right about now. 

“What about new music? Virgil wrote all of our songs.”

“We’ll just perform those-”

“Fuck this.” Remus wasn’t putting up with this any longer. He wanted to go out and forget how to be sad. “I’m going to Wisteria. Remy, you coming with?”

“Remus, I do not think this is a healthy way to cope-”

“Hells yeah, babes! Let me grab my coat!” Remy rushed out of the room as Remus stood up, trying to stretch out his back. He glanced over at Janus and immediately regretted it. The other was giving him one of those ‘mom looks’ Remus so despised. 

“Jan, please. I need this. Don’t come with us if you’re going to keep looking at me like I’m about to get a breakup tattoo or some shit.” Remus didn’t want to deal with anything tonight. Not Janus’s pitying looks, and definitely not the aching loneliness he felt without Virgil. He wanted to get drunk and party as fast as he possibly could. He wasn’t even going home to change into something with a bit more… chaotic energy. His skinny jeans and muscle top would work just fine.

“Fine. I will go be the designated driver for you two’s shenanigans,” Janus lamented, before giving Remus a grin. The bassist thought that was much better than that judgy bitch look he had been giving him before.

“Alright ladies, let’s get it going!” Remy cheered, finally coming back. Remus forced a grin, trying to at least fake his normal energy. His mother had always taught him to fake it until he made it, and that had seemed to work so far. It wouldn’t fail him now.

—

Wisteria was exactly what Remus needed. It was loud, full of people, and painted with colorful lights. No one knew or cared about him, and he didn’t know or care either. Remy had gone off somewhere earlier, probably to smoke weed out back. Janus was back at the bar still, only drinking a simple tap water. Remus had taken to the dance floor, letting himself lose it all in the bodies around him. The song was fast, his heart was flying, and it was the first time he had felt calm in a while. That only lasted a few minutes. 

“Hi everyone! We are Hit The Light. We’re a bit new, but we hope you like our set!” Wisteria was known for its live music, but Remus had never heard of this band. Being in the music world means you hear most of the local names, even if they’re newbies. But he knew that voice… It sounded like-

“Yesterday I heard you say,

Your lust for life has gone away.

It got me thinking, I think I feel a similar way

And that’s sad, that’s sad.”

No way. No fucking way. Remus refused to believe what his brain was saying. But he knew- he knew that voice. He shoved his way to the side of the dance floor for a clearer shot of the stage, but that really didn’t help any. It just meant he got a full view of Virgil up on that stage, with another band… with Roman. Remus had to admit his twin looked different since he had last seen him. He seemed happier too. Remus wondered how he’d been, what had happened… That only lasted for a second. Now all Remus could think about, all he could see, was his twin brother and his... His ex-boyfriend? Ex-lover? He wasn’t sure, but right now he didn’t care.

“So let's make a decision, start a new religion

Yeah, we're gonna build a temple to our love

Orgiastic dances, nymphs in trances

Yeah, we'll be the envy of the gods above!”

The worst part was probably how happy Virgil looked up there. He looked exactly how Remus remembered from their last performance, when the emo had disappeared. He had a small smile, but so fucking real. His shoulders were relaxed for once, not stiff and expectant. And his eyes… Remus had fallen for those eyes first. He could read every emotion in them. The excitement, the joy. And those eyes were looking right at Roman. 

“I'm feeling devious.”

“You're looking glamorous!”

And of course Roman was doing back-up vocals. Remus could almost roll his eyes.

“Let's get mischievous.”

“And polyamorous!”

“Wine and women and wonderful vices-

Welcome to the cult of Dionysus!”

Remus needed to find Janus. He needed to… He needed to leave now. Before his thoughts got too loud. They were already building. ‘Why did he leave me? Why won’t he answer back? What happened? What did I do?’ Remus needed to go, right now. He stumbled over to the bar, not even aware that he was crying at this point. He could barely feel anything over the vibrations from the pounding music. 

“Remus! Re, come on, we’re leaving.” Janus had been looking for him too, apparently. Remus knew now wasn’t the time to confront Virgil. Well, logically he knew. That didn’t stop him from tugging out of Janus’s grip and turning back to the stage to take one last look.

“Run, run, run away-

Just take my hand and we'll abandon this world.

We'll wash those tears away!

You're young and beautiful, and I'll love you always.

We got no time for pain!

When it's just you and me in ecstasy!”

Remus got what he wanted. Somehow Virgil had spotted him. Remus wasn’t sure what his face looked like. Shocked? Hurt? Broken? He felt all those things. Maybe he looked angry. He didn’t feel angry yet. He was sure that would come later though. Right now he could only feel panic and sadness. From the look in Virgil’s eyes, the other could see that too. 

Then Janus was tugging him away and out of the club. 

“Remus, come on. Now is not the time. I’m going to get you to bed and we will talk-”

“He really left. He abandoned us.” It wasn’t a question. It was a simple statement. A fact, for all Remus knew. They were out of the club, the cold air stinging when the anger finally hit. Not even the chill could cool him down. “He fucking left!”

“Remus, contain. Not here.” Janus grabbed his hand, tugging him to the car. Remy had noticed them leave and had come to join them, not that Remus cared. No, all he could see was the look he knew Virgil was giving Roman.

“Babes, what happened? Why do you look like you got hit by a train?”

“I’ll tell you in the car. We’re leaving.”

The rest was a blur for Remus. He knew Janus was telling Remy what had happened, but all he could stand to do was look at the stores the car was passing by. Remus felt like every emotion was attacking him at once. He was angry, sad, confused, abandoned… His stomach was turning in the worst of ways, and not from the alcohol. His head was starting to hurt too, pouding in time with his too fast heartbeat. And all he could hear was Virgil and Roman singing together, voices melting into each other just fucking perfectly.

I'm feeling devious.

You're looking glamorous!

Let's get mischievous.

And polyamorous!

Wine and women and wonderful vices-

Welcome to the cult of Dionysus!

[orion-sh1tposts]

Camping.

A sander sides horror one shot! its sort of a found footage type thing.

CW: Blood, detailed gore description, major character death, people being eaten, general horror.

 A Camera flickers to life. It's placed down on a log. Two men can be seen by a fire. One as pale as the moon, wearing a purple and black outfit. Specifically a thick purple hoodie over a black shirt. And black jeans. With a pair of black hiking boots. His hair is purple with black roots, the sides are shaven and the top is tied back with a Hello Kitty hair tie. His eyeshadow is black and smudged all around his eyes. One of his eyes is green and one of them is brown. 

The other has tan skin, almost reminiscent of the glow of the sun. His hair is a deep rich brown swept over to one side. The tips are red. His eyes are a beautiful shade of emerald green. He is wearing a white and gray jacket, with red details. Black hiking boots and black jeans as well. He turns to the purple man next to him with a grin on his face. 

“So, tell the camera what we're doing, Gerard Gay!”  He nudges the other with an elbow. The other man in frame lets out an annoyed sigh.

“We are camping for your birthday and I'm here against my will.” His voice is monotone as he says this. 

“Hey don't say that! You were the one who planned this trip. You can't gaslight people into thinking I kidnapped you. Especially not on my birthday!” He laughs and smiles. The other one smiles back at him.

“Roman, do we seriously need to record this though? Remus and Janus said it was ok they couldn't make it. They're not going to miss much. And it seems rude to just like, show them what they missed ya know?”  

“Virgil, that's the whole point. They couldn't make it because Remus got sick like an idiot.” Roman is still smiling as he picks up the camera. “You hear that Remus? You're a sick idiot. Imagine getting sick. On our birthday.” He is holding the camera right to his face. The feed cuts off. 

A man with the same shade of brown hair and tan skin, and those same green eyes clicks around on his computer. He looks almost identical to the ‘Roman’ from the video that was just played, except this man has a mustache and a prominent white streak in his hair. Looking through files from this camera. It's been 3 months since his brother Roman and friend Virgil went missing. During a search party the camera was found, but he had decided not to tell the police. Remus was his name, and he did not trust the police at all. The files from this camera were so messed up it was taking forever to fix them. 

He rewinds the footage to the point where Roman is talking about him again. And then again. And again. Until something beeps on his computer. Another file was uncorrupted. He clicks on the file, and presses play. 

Virgil can be seen looking at some plants by a hiking trail, meaning Roman must be behind the camera. The video is quiet. The wind can be heard gently rustling the trees. The sounds of birds chirping and singing, and bugs making well, bug noises. The comforting sounds of nature. It's then interrupted by a familiar voice. 

“And now we have a wild Virgil, in a very unnatural habitat. How did it get here?” His voice is full of enthusiasm, and he is speaking in a very poor Australian accent. Virgil looks up from the flowers with a face of annoyance. 

“Princey if you don't shut up i'm going to kick your skull in.” Roman can be heard laughing, and the video ends.

Remus replays the video, searching for anything in the background that is remotely suspicious. And then replays it again with his volume as high as it can go. Nothing. Just a normal video. He sighs and opens up Cookie Clicker in a half tab over the files. There are 13 files on the camera. 13 is normally one of his favorite numbers since others see it as unlucky, but this time around it's just unnerving. Roman and Virgil were last seen in the nearby woods 3 months ago by some other campers. And then they just vanished. Their campsite showed no signs of any kind of foul play or animal attack. There was no DNA evidence found. Search dogs couldn't pick up a scent anywhere. It was as if they both never existed. Detectives and search and rescue teams have all been stumped. No progress has been made the past 3 months in finding them. 

Remus had tried to track their phones, but neither of their phones showed anywhere on a gps. He personally searched around their entire campsite, but he still didn't find anything. It was a cold case until last night's search. Much to his Husband Janus’s dismay Remus had insisted they looked far into the night. Something that the previous search parties had not done. Janus and Remus searched by themselves way into the night. It was about 3 in the morning when they came across the camera in a ditch.  Janus had picked it up and held onto it while Remus searched the ditch for any sign of the emo and the theater kid. Of course he found nothing, so they called it a night. Remus had not slept at all though. 

It was 6 pm now. He had been working on recovering the files from the camera since they got home. The camera was damaged beyond repair, but the insides were salvageable. He was still clicking away when something beeped again. 3 more files all ready at once. He clicked on the next one, and yet again pressed play.

This time the atmosphere is different. The video plays and the sound of hyperventilating can be heard. The camera is pointed at someone's legs. The jeans ripped up and bloody, revealing the pale and scraped up skin under the jeans. The boots were covered in dirt. It was Virgil. The area around him was pitch black. A flashlight was on next to him, lighting up the ground around him and his legs. He begins to speak,

“It wasn't a person..that thing couldn't have been a… oh god.” The sounds of someone puking can be heard next. The sound of crunching leaves grows louder and louder. And Virgil lets out a blood curdling scream. 

The video ends. Remus stares at his computer in shock. What did he just watch? What was Virgil talking about? It all keeps getting weirder and weirder. He again replays the video, searching for anything at all. Around the middle he notices eyes in a bush in the distance. Horrifying eyes, watching his friend. Almost as if they were looking through the camera into his eyes as well. A chill runs up his spine. Remus hears a knock at his door, and jumps. Janus walks into the room with some pizza rolls. 

Janus is a tall man with long black hair tied into a ponytail. A burn scar covering half his face. He places the plate next to Remus’s keyboard and pulls up a chair next to his Husband. Janus takes control of the computer and rewatches the footage that Remus has already watched. 

“What the fuck is this.” He says blankly.

“I don't even know Jan.” Remus replies with a mouth full of pizza rolls.  

Janus clicks on the next file, file number 4. It's another video. He presses play.

The camera feed is pitch black, and then a flash light turns on. The camera is being held above something. A good 13 feet in the air. The camera focuses on Roman. Lying seemingly unconscious in a pile of leaves. Inhuman breathing is all that can be heard. A pool of blood is forming in the leaves around Roman. His jacket is missing, and snowflakes begin to fall on his body. It hadn’t snowed at all the past 3 months. A twig snaps in the distance and the camera is dropped. Something runs horrifyingly fast towards the sound. Then something else picks up the camera. It's Roman. He quickly shuts it off.

Remus is now facing away from the computer. This is all too confusing and disturbing, even for him. Janus on the other hand is invested. He zooms in on Roman, trying to figure out where the blood is coming from. He notices a stab wound on Romans left side. It was a large stab wound that did not look normal. Though being stabbed is not normal either. He then starts looking up weather reports from the past 3 months. These videos were not dated but if he could find out when it snowed last, then he could find out when they were recorded. It hasn't snowed at all. Not even once. 

He places a hand on Remus’s back in comfort, and clicks the next file. He once again presses the play button, but hesitantly. 

The video is only 2 seconds long. 2 seconds of pitch black video and screaming in the distance. The screaming sounds pained. It sounds like Virgil. There is also muffled crying much closer to the camera. 

Janus yet again clicks the next file, and presses play. Choosing to not think about what he's watching. He presses play once again.

It's a clip of someone running closer and closer to the screams. Loud crying can be heard. The camera is then thrown to the ground as someone falls to the floor. The camera rolls into a ditch. The same ditch Janus and Remus found it in. In the distance Roman can be heard. Begging for someone to stay with him, presumably Virgil. Virgil is no longer screaming. The forest is quiet. No animal noises can be heard. No crickets or any kind of bugs. Just the sound of Roman crying. And the video cuts off.

Janus clicks on the 7th file. At this point Remus had left the room. Janus’s breathing has become fearful. He once again presses play.

The video has opened up in the ditch again. Right in front of the camera is Virgil's face. Lifeless and paler than ever before. Tear streaks and smudges of black eyeshadow run down his cheeks. Blood is dripping out of his nose and mouth. The sound of birds can be heard once again, and daylight shines down on the corpse. The feed stays like this for 2 minutes. And then Virgil is dragged out of frame. The feed keeps going. Disgusting sounds are heard in the distance. The sounds of bones snapping. Something eating something else. It sounds like it's been hungry for a long, long time. A full 8 minutes of the sounds of Virgil being eaten go by, and the feed cuts off. 

Janus is leaning over a trash can. His mind is going so fast. He's mumbling to himself. So many profanities are being said. His hands are nowhere near the computer. The 8th file begins to play. Janus looks up and tries frantically to shut it off to no avail.

“What the fuck..” He says to himself.

The video shows the mangled bodies of Virgil and Roman. Blood is everywhere. Bones are sticking out where they are not supposed to be. Roman is missing his jaw entirely. Something quietly laughs behind the camera. The camera is then thrown back into the ditch, camera lens up. Facing the sky. And the feed cuts off once again. 

Janus has now actually thrown up. He is smashing the keyboard with his fist, but the computer is acting on its own. The next video, the 9th, begins to play.

It's the sun rising, and then setting. The clips cut in awkward ways. The video is 3 minutes long, but shows the sunsets and sunrises of 3 months if counted. Then it begins to rain. It cuts off.

The 10th file begins to play next. The camera is partially covered by leaves, and people are walking above the camera. No one notices the camera in the ground. Shouting can be heard. It's one of the many search parties. Looking for Roman and Virgil. Yelling their names. 

The 11th begins to play as well, Janus and Remus can be seen walking by, the moonlight illuminating the ditch. Janus picks up the camera, and inspects it. Remus can be seen looking around the ditch. The wind whistles through the trees. The feed cuts off, and then back to it sticking out of someone's pocket as they walk. 

“I mean, why would we even turn this in Janus. The police dogs can't even find a scent. They're probably not competent enough to look at the footage.” Remus says with a sigh.

“I suppose you're right.. But what if it's got some. Creepy serial killer message on it?” Janus asks with concern and worry filling his voice. 

“Jan, hun, i've seen almost every true crime documentary there is. Nothing can phase me. I know this will help us find them.” Something follows them through the woods. Lurking in the shadows of the trees. The video ends.

Janus’s heart sinks as he looks over to the camera on the desk. It's facing directly towards him. He takes a deep breath, and begins to think out loud.

“It's fine. This is fine. It was probably just recording us then because it's broken?” He is lying to himself. The computer has finally stopped doing things on its own,and with a shaky hand Janus begins to move the mouse to the 12th file. He takes a deep breath, clicks it, and presses play.

The footage is just a close up shot of Remus’s face for a good couple seconds, before he places it down and begins working on extracting the files from the camera. The shadows behind him dance on the wall. The shape of some kind of creature stands there, unmoving. It ends there.

The 13th video plays. It's Janus, at this very second. This shouldn't be possible. He looks terrified yet his eyes won't move away from the screen. Suddenly, a thud can be heard from the other room. Janus still doesn't take his eyes away from the screen. The creature is right behind him. It's no longer in the shadows. It's too tall for its head to fit into the frame. It breathes heavily, as blood drips from its mouth down to Janus’s head. The blood rolls down his cheek. The creature leans down, face fully in view now. Its eyes are blood red, its face is that of a horrifying looking wolf. It sniffs Janus, as he is frozen in fear. And then bites down on his neck. Janus lets out a pained scream, that is cut off by the video ending.

[90363462]

Commentary

Kanye West's ‘Drink Champs’ episode failed us all

At this point, it’s time to turn off Ye’s mic

Last week, when SpringHill Company CEO Maverick Carter announced it would not air Kanye West’s appearance on The Shop due to his “hate speech,” it felt like a turning point in the rapper’s prolonged vile publicity run. Finally, outlets — namely, Black outlets — were pushing back and refusing to air West’s nonsense, even if it meant missing out on viral moments. That pivot, however, was short-lived.

Just a couple of days after The Shop interview got clipped, Drink Champs — the Revolt podcast where hosts Noreaga and DJ EFN interview musicians while drinking copious amounts of liquor — announced that West, who now goes by Ye, would be on the show. The resulting episode that aired Sunday was three hours of antisemitism, anti-Blackness, falsehoods about the murder of George Floyd while in police custody, and Jewish people in the music industry. The entire fiasco was a disgrace, and the worst moment in Drink Champs’ history. It was also a reminder that Black outlets have a responsibility to be better in how we treat the people who stand to suffer the most from Ye’s antics — and, yes, even how we treat Ye, by keeping his rhetoric off of these platforms. Especially if they’re going to go unchallenged in real time.

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Drink Champs started as fun. It featured rapper Noreaga hanging out with his rap friends, drinking a whole lot and reminiscing about the good old days. As the platform grew, eventually landing at Sean “Diddy” Combs’ Revolt TV network, the show became a touchstone in pop culture, a must for any musician trying to gain support for a new project or get attention in general. But these stops, and the increased visibility of the show, put Noreaga in situations where he was simply in over his head.

For instance, when he encouraged former NBA champion Lamar Odom, who has struggled with addiction, to drink to the point of intoxication, it led to a misunderstanding that almost ended in a fight. A few months later, Noreaga held a conversation about Black Lives Matter in the midst of the protests that occurred in response to Floyd’s murder and had record executive Russell Simmons as a guest soon after a documentary about his sexual assault accusations had been released.

And then there were Ye’s appearances.

It’s been years since Ye wrapped himself in the Confederate flag (like he did in 2013), and began spouting things like “slavery was a choice.” So when Ye appeared on Drink Champs a year ago, it didn’t come as a surprise that he’d continue on that same path, insulting anyone and everyone close to him. But the Ye that appeared on Drink Champs on Sunday was even further gone than the one from last year. This Ye has become friends with conservative commentator Candace Owens, is trying to sell shirts that say “White Lives Matter,” has tweeted out “death con 3” for Jews, and targeted a Black female journalist because she criticized his antics.

Ye has also been open about his mental health struggles. This makes Drink Champs’ choice to give Ye alcohol, offer him a blunt (as Noreaga did), and allow him an open mic to continue his rants unchecked, even more irresponsible.

When Ye said that George Floyd died from a fentanyl overdose and not a result of the physical pressure applied to his neck by then-Minneapolis police officerDerek Chauvin, Noreaga and DJ EFN just nodded silently — much like they did last week when Boosie spread his anti-gay bias about needing to enforce “normal sex” on children so they don’t “get swayed the other way.” The hosts also never checked him for insinuating that fashion designer Virgil Abloh died from something other than cancer. And they allowed him to continue his antisemitism with lies that Jewish execs owned all of the record labels.

Noreaga called in to The Breakfast Club Monday morning to apologize for not checking Ye during his rant about Floyd, which only served to demonstrate how ill-equipped he was to handle such an interview. “I just wanna be honest, I support freedom of speech,” he said. “I support anybody, you know, not being censored. But I do not support anybody being hurt. I did not realize that the George Floyd statements on my show was so hurtful.

“You gotta realize, it was the first five minutes of the show,” Noreaga continued. “When he walked in, he told my producer, he said that if he stop filming, he’ll walk out.”

Refusing to refute Ye’s assertion about Floyd’s murder is even more of an indication that publicity and attention were more important to Noreaga than standing up to his friend. Noreaga also invoked friendship, particularly with Jewish people, to distance himself from Ye’s antisemitic remarks.

“I don’t support none of it,” he said. “I don’t support the George Floyd comments, the antisemitic comments. All I have is Jewish friends, all I have is Black friends. That’s it.”

Previously, Noreaga has hidden behind the idea that he’s not a real journalist, even though he’s declared himself to be one before. Even if Noreaga isn’t a journalist, he’s still a Black man and human being. And all it should take is a morsel of humanity to stop Ye while he’s yelling out hate speech. But the buck doesn’t stop with Noreaga and DJ EFN.

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For the episode of Drink Champs to see the light of day, various people had to watch, approve and publish it. Revolt did run a story fact-checking Ye’s rant (though it contained its own inaccuracies), but it was taken down. It’s also telling that Combs, who is always front and center when it comes to hip-hop, has been silent on this issue, though he did call Ye out over the “White Lives Matter” shirts. There’s no excuse for any journalistic entity, let alone a Black-owned one, to allow three hours of unfettered anti-Blackness to air on its platform. There’s no merit to letting West unleash hell on marginalized people, beyond Revolt and Drink Champs getting more views and cashing out. But at what cost? Letting Ye spew his rhetoric does not only do a disservice to his Black fan base, it’s also grossly unfair to Ye himself with his history of mental health issues.

I reached out to Noreaga and Revolt for comment, but I have yet to hear back.

Some of West’s fans are still enamored with the old Ye who made classics and wasn’t an enemy of Black people. But this isn’t a blip on his publicity radar anymore. At the very least, we should understand the danger of allowing him to disseminate hate speech and stop airing it. Because all we’re doing is harming our audiences, our own credibility and West himself. All parties deserve better.

David Dennis Jr. is a senior writer at Andscape and an American Mosaic Journalism Prize recipient. His book, The Movement Made Us, will be released in 2022. David is a graduate of Davidson College.

[jordanpickford]

(replying as Hendo)

hadaway Stonesy ya spenk, that's not how you talk about your Skip. getting too brave aren't ya. and not happy with the implications of noncery either, if you meant Jude we've not laid a finger on him, get your head out the gutter. as for Jack he's pushing 30 (perhaps not mentally but besides that eh) and i've not heard any complaints from him about what he does with us.

still if you fancy a scrap that can be arranged, crack onto our Jack again and find out. din't nah as that's a good move, like, seeing as we're a bit bigger than you are and quite a bit harder, but if you wanna call it on just name a time and place lad. wouldn't normally knack an England teammate obviously, wouldn't be captainly would it. we're not with England at the moment, though, are we..

but by the sounds you might enjoy the physical attention a bit too much. state of youse. not nice to lead lads on, y'know, it'll get you in a lot of bother, man. what's wrang with with Picks anyhow, you two sackless wonders deserve each other, and all of us know you'll end up like them two auld bickering gay fellas out of that rubbish sitcom with ian mckellen. knock the slut act on the head aye, it's rank and it's fooling no one

alright hendo ya weapon it’s Pickford, who the fuck do you think you are threatening Stonesy? You want a fight I’ll meet up with you round the back of Tesco and I’ll do to you what I did your little mate Virgil. DCL is my second btw he wants to give you a fucking doing for nicking his penalty ya bender.

Don’t think I haven’t read your book btw. Shitebag for mentioning that tackle and saying I should’ve been pulled up for it. Well I fucking wasn’t, live with it.

No one wants your precious Jack stop giving your mind a treat. We all know you like the young lads anyway, your hard drive needs looking at mate. Only reason Jack doesn’t mind is cos he doesn’t realise but John’s gonna tell him on Monday cos it’s not fair that he’s out with a beast and has no idea.

Call John a slag again and it won’t be me who deals with you, it’ll be much fuckin worse. It’ll look like an accident anall. Calling us sackless wonders, away and take your face for a shite you old has been. I know you touch your groin to John, you’re just bitter you’ve always fancied him and he wouldn’t Fuck you if you were the last bloke on earth