#THOMATHY I NEED ANSWERS

[edupunkn00b]

Learn to Fly Again

Five times Thomas tried to figure out why he woke up with wings. And one time he didn’t.

Written for @tsspromptmonth's Sleepy Bean Fanfic Café for @dragonsaphirareads. Prompt: A canonverse/winged AU with a focus on Thomas having wings, hurt/comfort, 5+1 with any of the side(s) that the barista wants to add! - Rated: G - WC: 1678

One

“Logan!”

Thomas had woken that morning feeling worse than usual, achy and stiff and oddly cold. His first surprise had come when he realized the thermal tee worn to bed lay next to him in tatters. His second came when he sat up and caught his reflection in the mirror. He summoned his Logical Side by pure instinct. “Logan? I need you!”

"Ah, well… This certainly explains a great deal,” Logan muttered, suddenly behind him.

“Explains nothing!” Thomas cried, poking at the giant rainbow feathered wings over his shoulder. “Why do I—” He turned to face his Logical Side and his eyes grew wide. “Why do we I have wings?”

“I have wings because I am a metaphysical representation of you,” Logan said, head tilted as he examined the blue-black feathers covering his own wings. After a moment, he released his wing and gripped Thomas’ shoulder. He gave him a sad smile. “What I cannot explain is why you suddenly have wings.”

Two

“‘Why do you have wings?’” Roman repeated, incredulous. Arms raised overhead and wings stretched out, he executed a flawless double pirouette. “To look fabulous, of course!”

Hiding his wings under a trench coat he’d worn for and old Kill in the Blanks show, Thomas had snuck down to the dance studio. He hoped getting a better look at his new wings might explain… something. Positioning himself in a mirrored corner, Thomas stretched his wings, wincing when muscled he didn’t know he had burned and popped with the movement. Matted in places, with the edges frizzing up in others, his wings looked anything but fabulous.

“Great Hera’s Hairpiece, Thomathy!” Roman cried, picking at a particularly rough-looking patch. Thomas winced again, jerking away from the touch. “Oh, it looks like we’ve got some work to do.”

Three

“Now just relax,” Janus murmured, adjusting the angle of his work light when it spilled over Thomas’ eyes. They were in the living room with Thomas sitting backwards on his office chair. Arms crossed over the backrest, he could tilt his head down, completely supported, and still provide a full range of movement for his wings.

Janus stood behind him, a collection of wide-toothed combs, oils freshly ordered from Pets.com, and a small bowl of warm water at the ready. After he’d returned home from the dance studio, his Protective Side had finally convinced him to sit for a preening session.

“Are you sure you know what you’re doing?” Thomas asked, sensing Janus’ hesitation.

“Of coursse I do,” he said, a little too quickly. “Well,” he paused and removed one glove. “I’ve never done this before but Logan has done an incredible amount of research and I do have more than a passing familiarity with… special skin care.

This close to Janus, Thomas struggled to resist the temptation to get a better look at his most mysterious Side’s scales. Laying both gloves on the table just within Thomas’ sight, Janus chuckled. “You can ask me anything, you know. I can’t lie like this.”

Fidgeting with a loose thread on the back of his seat, Thomas shrugged. His wings rustled with the movement. “Why do I have these things?”

A low laugh spilled up from Janus’ throat and he dipped his fingers in the water. “Now, Thomas, that’s not really what you want to ask me.”

Thomas chewed at his lip. Janus really had said he could ask anything. “Do you… Do you really shed?”

“Now that’s an honest question,” Janus murmured approvingly.

Silence fell between them as deft fingers worked to separate and smooth the flight feathers on his left wing. Finally, Thomas craned his neck, peering at Janus over his shoulder. “Well? How ‘bout an honest answer?”

“I said you could ask me anything.” A smirk pulling up the human side of his face, Janus rubbed oil between his palms and began to work it into Thomas’ feathers. “I never said I’d answer.”

Four

Virgil’s wing feathers lay in a shifting gradient of lavender to the deepest purple. They seemed to change from day to day, even moment to moment. There were even times when Thomas could have sworn they looked almost black at the edges.

Now was one such time, when dark purple seemed to loose its color completely, and his wings twitched at every sound. Thomas felt it, every twitch, every pause as Virgil listened to some sound outside—real or imagined, stiff, waiting. Ready. Fight or flight, indeed.

“Do you think that’s why I have wings now?” Thomas asked him, rising to stand next to him in his vigil. Together they stared out beyond the dark patio, eyes jumping, tracing the movement of the leaves in the wind.

“To fly away from trouble?” Virgil looked up at him, eyeshadow halfway down his cheeks.

“Yeah.” There could be benefits to overthinking. His Anxiety knew exactly what had been twisting into pretzel knots in his head.

Tugging at his hoodie strings, Virgil seemed to consider the question. “Can you?” he asked, eyeing Thomas’ wings before meeting his gaze. “Fly?”

Thomas shook his head and looked out into the darkness. “Haven’t tried.”

Five

“Hey, Kiddo.”

Thomas looked up from his new favorite spot in the living room, curled backwards on a chair. With a pillow stuck between his chest and the backrest, head pillowed on his arms, he could finally relax. The position gave him plenty of room to flex and wiggle his new wings and he could turn the chair away from his computer, his kitchen, his usual filming spot. Anything left undone or incomplete on his to-do list.

His arms were wet. And so were his cheeks.

“Oh,” he dragged his hand over his face, wiping away the tears. “Hey there, Pat. I… I didn’t realize I’d summoned you.”

Pulling over a second chair that hadn’t been there moments ago, Patton smiled gently, dabbing at his cheeks with a soft cloth. “You didn’t, Kiddo.”

“Oh,” he said again.

Patton finished drying his tears and they sat together in a heavy silence. Thomas’ wings twitched and Patton reached over, absently preening as he watched his face. “It might help to talk about it,” he said after a while, scritching gently at the spot between Thomas’ wing joints.

His eyes fell shut, a low hum slipping out. How did Patton know that spot had started to ache? Patton’s robin-egg-blue wings brushed against his knee and Thomas sighed.

As a matter-of-fact, I’ve watched it fifteen-and-a-half times because I am a part of you, Thomas!

Right.

“Why do I have wings, Pat?” Thomas asked quietly. “Is this…” He shook his head, cheeks burning at the thought. “Is this some sort of ‘great responsibility’ thing? A superpower? Like, I dunno, save cats from trees or—”

“Awww…” Patton’s eyes grew wide and a dopey grin spread across his face. “You’d be so good at it, too, Thomas!” Thomas stared back at him and Patton seemed to snap out of it. “Right, that’s not the point. Y’know, Kiddo, I’m not really sure why you have them.

Thomas settled back into his seat, head resting on his forearms. His wings hung limply. Together, they took up the entire living room with them.

“I do know an apartment’s an awfully tiny space for someone with a twenty foot wingspan.” Patton smoothed down an errant feather. “It might be good for you to get out there and find a place where you can really, y’know, stretch your wings.”

And One More

Driving long distances was uncomfortable with his wings tucked in at his sides for hours at a time, so Thomas bought the first ticket on Amtrak that would take him out of town. He ended up in Letchworth, New York, in some state park billed as the “Grand Canyon of the East.” He’d hiked out as far as his legs would take him, finally finding a clearing overlooking a stone canyon. A river was somewhere at the bottom.

Surrounded by no-one and no-thing taller than flowers and grass, the plateau was reprieve from tight quarters. Thomas relaxed, really relaxed, wings spread over a bed of clover and soaking up the warmth of the sun.

But his solitude wasn’t meant to last.

A rhythmic beating buffeted Thomas’ ears and he looked up just in time to see Remus floating down from the sky, massive neon green wings rowing though the air and slowing his descent. He touched down with an impossible grace before squatting down next to Thomas with his more characteristic frenetic grin.

“Heya there, Tommy-gun,” he said, bumping their shoulders together. He tapped his fingers together humming just under his breath, but his eyes never left Thomas’ face. “Nice spot you found here.”

“Oh, hi, Remus, I… I didn’t mean to summon you, but…”

Head titled at a painfully sharp angle, Remus blinked, first one eye, then the other.

“But I’m glad you’re here,” Thomas said, bumping him back.

“Well, fuck,” Remus laughed, peering over the edge and out at the canyon below them. “The others won’t like that.”

Thomas pulled him back, quickly shaking his head. “No! No, Remus not like that.”

“Boo,” Remus said, grinning and ruining the plaintive tone in his voice.

Looking out over the scene Thomas was beginning to regret saying anything. Remus, strangely, remained… well, mostly silent. Still humming quietly, he gently smoothed down the bristle feathers that had begun to grow around Thomas’ ear. It felt… nice.

“I’ve asked everyone else but I haven’t asked you yet.” Thomas scooted closer, just until the edges of their wings touched. “Why do you think I have these things?”

“Why?” Remus repeated and pushed up to his feet. “Who gives a fuck?” Stretching out his wings, he grabbed Thomas’ hand and pulled him up. Threading their fingers together in a death grip, he started walking them backwards, wild eyes fixed on Thomas’. Before long, he’d given them about twenty feet of literal runway before the cliff’s edge.

“A better question is…” He looked out over the canyon and winked at Thomas. “What are you gonna do with them?”

[shadowgasp]

it’s 2022 and we still have no idea why Logan hesitated when calling Virgil “paranoid”

[just-some-gt-trash]

2.- Glitch

AND I AM LATE TO MY OWN OROMT LIST WUUUUUU

Tbh I underestimated how much my writing has improved since my last monthly list, and therefore how much time I need to write.

But here is day two! On day five!

Pairings: Lomoceit

Summary: Logan was created with the purpose of providing humans with all the knowledge they needed. Unfortunately, his creator passed away before he was launched to the market, leaving him activated on his old house. His existence has been pretty boring since then. Until a cute couple moved next door.

—————————————————————————

Logan was looking out the window as usual. It was one of his usual activities since he didn't really have anything else to do, but today was different. There was a couple moving next door.

Logan had seen them go in and out of their new house for hours. It wasn't like he had anything else to do, and it didn't exactly get boring either. He was analyzing the way they walked, the way they carried boxes, and every movement they made. He was programmed for that after all.

It didn't take long for the sky to get dark so he started the “night shift” for the house. It only turned on all the lights and made sure the energy saving settings were off. He didn't know why he was still doing it since there was no one living in the house, but it helped him establish a routine.

A soft nuzzle against his legs snapped him out of his thoughts. Well, the house wasn't completely empty. Perhaps saying there were no humans living there was more adequate.

Logan kneeled down to pet the head of the house dog, Thomas. He knew dogs were quite affectionate creatures, especially this one, so pets were the way to go when trying to calm it down. “It is still not time for your dinner Thomas”, he reminded it “I’ll make sure to feed you as always. Do not worry about that.” Thomas only walked away in response, most likely to go take a nap or something.

Logan sighed and looked back out. Apparently the couple decided to stop for the day. It was logical, they must be tired from working all day after all. Still, Logan couldn't really understand why he was so disappointed he couldn't see them anymore. He would have to wait for tomorrow.

There was some movement on one of the windows from the neighbor's house. One of the humans pocked their head through the window and looked out, making direct eye contact with Logan. The human smiled widely and waved at him. Logan only stepped aside and closed the curtains of his own house. Having a relationship with a human wouldn't be a good idea.

Patton was unpacking his collection of snowglobes. The shelf above the chimney was the perfect spot! He was loving every single minute of unpacking and redecorating their new home. Him and Janus had taken a big step when they decided to move together, and Patton couldn't be happier.

Well, he could. Patton noticed his neighbor had been looking at them through their window. Janus would freak out, but Patton thought they just looked lonely. He really wanted to go and introduce himself but didn't have the chance, until now.

Janus was out looking for a job nearby, so Patton had the house all for himself. He had spent the previous days trying out their new kitchen and had plenty of pastries to offer to his neighbor. So Patton packed some cookies up on a nice gift bag and headed out of his house.

Patton rang the doorbell of his neighbor’s house and waited patiently for someone to answer. A couple of seconds passed and Patton decided to try again, still nothing. “Hello? Is anybody home?” He was starting to get a little bit desperate and started ringing the doorbell multiple times in a row.

A groan could be heard from the other side of the door before it opened. A tall and slim man wearing formal clothes stood in front of him “Good morning. I politely ask you to stop playing with my doorbell and go back to your own house.”

Patton smiled at them “Hello. I’m Patton, he/him pronouns,” he extended his hand towards him.

Logan raised an eyebrow and sighed. He took Patton's hand and gave a firm handshake “You may call me Logan, and I suppose pronouns are not quite suitable for me but I’m mostly referred to as a male.”

Patton blinked “so… he/they?”

Logan shrugged “however you want to adress me is fine for me. It's not really something I’ve thought about before.” Perhaps he could look more into it later.

“Well, whatever makes you comfortable then!” Patton nodded with a wide smile. He had never met someone so formal with their words like Logan. He reminded him of an old fashioned butler.

Logan nodded back slightly. “Now as I was saying.” He felt a gentle nudge on his legs as he asked Patton to leave once again.

Patton looked down and gasped. “You have a dog?!” He kneeled down to pet it happily.

Logan was taken aback by Patton ignoring him. He looked down at them “I do, theoretically. Thomas doesn't exactly belongs to me but I do serve as it's caregiver.”

“It's adorable. Is it a golden retriever?” Patton loved dogs. He loved all animals but was unfortunately allergic to cats so he couldn't get one. He was halfway through convincing Janus to get a dog though!

Logan shook his head a bit. “Thomas is a red golden retriever, you may notice a variation on the color of its fur.”

Patton nodded, “that makes sense. You're so lucky to have a cute dog like this one.” Patton chuckled softly as he kept petting Thomas.

Logan hummed, “I suppose I am. It does need a lot of physical activity and special diet needs, but I’ve managed to accommodate its necessities.”

Patton smiled softly, “sounds like fun! This good guy must have the time of his life going on walks.”

“Ah,” Logan pushed his glasses up, “not exactly. Neither Thomas nor I get out of this house. It can run around in the backyard and I make sure to keep it entertained. I also built a rather complicated machine that helps it keep the healthy levels of exercise it needs.”

Patton looked up at Logan with wide eyes ��woah. Wait, you seriously never get out of your house?”

Logan shook his head “I don't.” As much as he wanted to 'info dump’ on Patton, his purpose and functionality must remain a secret until his official release to the public. “I am not quite fond of being outdoors.”

Patton frowned a bit. “Well, maybe we could go out one day!”

Logan blinked “Pardon?”

Patton stood back up and nodded with a smile. “We can take Thomathy for a walk, or just explore the neighborhood together! Oh! And I can bring my partner Janus! I’m sure you two will get along!”

That… surprisingly didn't sound bad? Logan hummed as he tried to understand why. “As uh, lovely as that sounds, I’m afraid it won't be possible.”

Patton's smile dropped “oh, it's alright. I guess we can come visit again sometime then?”

Logan thought for a bit, having humans around wasn't a good idea. He wasn't supposed to be interacting with anyone without the host’s permission in the first place, but he knew he wasn't going to get it either way. “That can be possible.”

Patton’s smile returned, and Logan couldn't help but smile back at that. “Sounds like a plan then! Should I uh… give you my number?”

“You can. Just tell it to me and I’ll memorize it to call you later.”

Patton nodded and did that. “Then I’ll be seeing you and Thomas soon!” Patton gave one last pet to the dog. “Oh! And I almost forgot!” He handed Logan the bag of cookies, “I backed these earlier in the week but they're still good and I figured I could share some with you!”

Logan took the bag, he couldn't eat but it was just an act of courtesy. “Thank you Patton. We’ll be pleased to have you around again”

And with that, Patton made his way back home. He waved at Logan as he walked away.

Logan waved back and instructed Thomas to go back inside the house before closing the door behind them. He looked down at the cookies with a small smile. He felt something warm on his chest… and then it became pain.

Logan groaned and rubbed his head. He looked at his hand as it started glitching. The censor on the ceiling started beeping. “Thomas, I need to inactivate myself.” He walked to the living room and left the cookies on the coffee table. “I’ll be back to feed you.” Logan looked up at the censor and his physical form pixelated away until he disappeared completely.

Logan hadn't had any manteinece whatsoever since his creator passed away. He hadn't had any issues until now. Did it have anything to do with Patton visiting? Either way, he needed to rest and let the system analyze him.

Patton took the batch of cookies out of the oven just in time. They would be heading to Logan’s house to hang out soon and he figured he would bake for him again.

Janus wasn’t as excited as his boyfriend. “Are you sure this Logan guy wants me there?”

“Of course!” Patton nodded, “he never said you couldn’t come.”

Janus sighed, “that still doesn’t mean I’m welcome in his house.”

Patton took off his oven mittens and looked over at his partner. “Come on Jan, we need to meet new people. You haven’t been that friendly with your coworkers.”

“They keep misgendering me.” Janus defended themselves, “I don’t want to be friends with people that can’t do something as simple as respecting pronouns.”

“I do not believe there’s not a single person in that office that uses they/them for you” Patton walked closer to them as they talked. He took their hands. “I know you don’t like new people, but I already did half the work for you,” he chuckled a bit. “Logan is not a complete stranger, and he sounds smart! You could probably talk about techy stuff.”

Janus rolled their eyes a bit at Patton. “Fine, just because you say he’s nice.”

Patton smiled and gave Janus a quick kiss “I promise, we’ll have a fun time!”

Logan was freaking out. Not only was his glitch getting worse no matter how many times the system told him there were no errors, but his creator’s family finally found out he was dead.

Based on the information they shared with him, they weren’t really close to their family and they thought they were crazy for trying to be an inventor. It was no surprise for Logan that it took them weeks to hear the news, but he wasn’t expecting them to want the house either.

Logan didn’t know how, but he was scared. Those people visited early and even called a shelter to come and take Thomas with them. They weren’t even going to keep it! Logan was able to call them and cancel of course. One of his assigned tasks was to take care of the house dog.

If, no, when they manage to move in it’s not going to take them long to find out the censors around the house are apparently doing nothing and then they would get rid of them. The probabilities of Logan ending up in the trash was 85.6%. The other 14.4% were the probabilities of him being recycled.

They left about an hour ago but Logan didn’t know what to do. Those humans were… dumb, for the lack of a better word. They were used to farm life and most likely knew nothing about technology. Even if Logan revealed himself to them, they would be useless, maybe even a burden, taking care of him.

The doorbell rang, shit. With everything that happened, Logan forgot about Patton and Janus’ visit. Well he didn’t forget, but his processing system didn’t categorize it as a priority. Logan took a deep breath as if he needed oxygen and hoped he wouldn’t glitch while they were here. He would kick them out, but he was really looking forward to hanging out with them for some reason.

Logan opened the door and offered them a warm smile. “Good evening, it’s a pleasure to have you both here.”

Patton smiled back at him “Thank you for inviting us Logan.”

“You’re welcome.” Logan nodded slightly and stepped aside “you can come in.”

Patton nodded and walked inside hand in hand with Janus. Thomas ran to them excitedly and almost tackled Patton. “Woah there,” he chuckled, “it’s nice to see you too buddy.”

Janus held the bag of cookies so Patton could pet the dog. They smiled a bit at it and looked back at Logan. “I’m Janus, they/them pronouns.”

Logan nodded “It’s nice to finally meet you. Patton mentioned you in the little time we talked the other day.”

Patton blushed slightly and chuckled. “Well, they are the love of my life after all.”

Janus blushed darkly and gave Patton’s foot a slight kick.

Logan looked between them as he tried to analyze the situation. There was no way of making it less awkward but he was still going to try. “Would you like to go outside? There’s a back porch with a small living room where we can spend some time, and Thomas would get to run around and play with you if you want.”

“Sounds good to me!” Patton nodded. Thomas had gotten off him as soon as it heard ‘outside’.

Janus nodded in agreement “As long as there’s not any mosquitos attacking me.”

“The porch has an anti-bug system installed as well as a radiator and plenty of lighting in case the evening gets too cold,” Logan explained. “I can guarantee there won’t be any mosquitoes bugging us.”

Patton snorted at the joke and Janus rolled their eyes. “Great, you found someone with the same licking for dad jokes Patt.”

Logan raised an eyebrow, “I don’t think I understand.”

“Mosquitoes, bugging us.” Patton tried to explain, “don’t tell me the joke wasn’t intentional.”

Logan recalled his words in his mind and finally understood. “Ah, no, I’m afraid it wasn’t. But I can certainly make some jokes if those are of your liking.”

Patton smirked, “oh please. I love Janus’ annoyed face every time I make one” he chuckled and kissed his partner’s cheek.

Logan didn’t know what it was, but it didn’t feel quite right to see Patton and Janus interacting as a couple. He was well aware they were dating and all but seeing them being so affectionate with each other made him feel… glitchy. “Why don’t you go ahead while I put those aside?” He looked at the bag of cookies on Janus’ hands, “just go all the way down the hallway and you will see a clear door.”

Janus nodded a bit and handed the cookies to Logan before walking away, Patton and Thomas following behind them.

Logan hurried to the kitchen and closed the door behind him. He started to glitch again, the bag going through his hands and falling to the floor. This was bad, he couldn’t let Patton or Janus see him like this. He picked up the cookies and left them in the pantry next to the previous batch Patton gave him, which remained untouched, and went outside with the humans.

Things were going surprisingly well. Logan got the chance to get to know the couple better and even talk to Janus alone while Patton was in the bathroom. He hadn’t glitched again and was having a really fun time with them. Everything was perfect, but of course, it didn’t last long.

Logan’s sensors detected a car parking in front of the house. The same car that had been there earlier, oh no. Logan excused himself to go look outside, only to confirm that those humans were in fact his creator’s family again. Logan started one of the security protocols of the house and locked the doors. He had to figure out how to get Patton and Janus out of the house.

To make things even worse, Logan started glitching again. He was running out of time! His systems must definitely be overheating right now. He held down his glitches and would try to repress them as much as he could. He went back outside “Alright, I’m going to have to be completely honest with you two now.”

Patton looked at him with a confused look “What’s wrong?”

“I am going to explain everything that is going on, but you are going to have to trust me. There’s some people trying to come inside the house. We can’t let them know we’re here.” Logan tapped a specific spot on the ground and the coffee table rose up revealing a staircase going down into the ground. “No one knows about this place, we’ll be safe if we go down there.”

Janus stood up and pulled Patton with them. “What?! You seriously can’t expect us to go in there.”

Logan had started the ‘sleeping mode' on the house and the lights inside turned off. “Please. I am well aware that we don’t really know each other, and you have absolutely no reason to trust me. But I don’t want you to get in trouble within your first month of living here.”

Patton looked inside as the lights went off, them at the secret entrance, and then at his partner. “We have to Jan.”

“No we don’t. He could be trying to kill us or something,” Janus pulled Patton away. “We’re leaving.” They were about to open the door to go back in when they heard footsteps from the inside and stepped back. They looked at Patton, who gave them a reassuring nod. They sighed “fine, but I swear if you try anything sketchy.”

“I won’t. This is merely for your safety.” Logan made a hand movement towards the stairs, instructing Thomas to go down.

The humans gave each other one last look before going down as well. Logan followed them and made the entrance close behind them.

Downstairs was a secret bunker his creator made in case of an emergency. It was equipped with one of Logan’s sensors, tools in case he needed fixing, food and water for humans and dogs, and Logan’s ‘heart’. It wasn’t really a heart of course, it was just a large cpu that contained all his programming and archives.

Janus looked around the room, focusing on the cpu as they admired how advanced it was. “What is this place?”

“A bunker, technically.” Logan knew it wasn't able to protect humans from all natural or human created disasters, but it definitely made the chances of survival bigger.

“Alright, and why did we have to come down here then? Who are those people?” Janus was getting quite defensive. Logan was nice and all but this situation made them feel like their safety was at risk.

Logan let out a sigh. “I promised I would explain.” He stood under his sensor and looked up at it. “This house is not my property. All of this belonged to my creator.”

Patton raised an eyebrow. “Your creator? You mean your parent?”

“If you would like to see it that way.” Logan had never thought about it like that. “The thing is, I am not human. I am a virtual home assistant. There are censors all around the house that allow me to materialize in a room and control the different electronic devices such as lights or security systems. I was created to help humans with their daily tasks through the day, as well as provide knowledge about any subject of interest. What I do not know I can learn through the internet.

Patton and Janus looked at each other as Logan explained. Janus let out a dry chuckle “so you’re like Siri.”

Logan winced, “please don't call me that. Siri is not as advanced as myself and it's obsolete in comparison.” He fixed his glasses and spoke quite proudly.

Patton couldn't help but chuckle at that. He let go of Janus’ hand and walked closer to Logan. “You're a hologram then?”

“Not exactly. Every molecule of my body is digitalized but I do possess a physical form.” Logan reached to grab Patton's hand. “I am able to touch and interact with other physical stuff around me as long as I’m activated. There's also a setting that keeps me in ‘voice mode’ just like other virtual assistants.”

Patton intertwined his fingers with Logan’s “and you're here all alone? Well, with Thomas.”

Logan looked down at their hands and nodded, “I am. My creator passed away not that long ago, but their family just found out about it.” He glitched, making his fingers go through Patton's. “The censors in the house are the only thing that keep me… alive, in a way. If those people move here and don't uninstall them properly-”

“You disappear,” Janus interrupted them. “And even if they don't, without someone checking your systems, you'll keep failing.”

Logan nodded and glitched again. “There must be some kind of error on my program but I'm not being able to detect it.” He walked to his cpu, “the only thing I know is that it started when Patton first visited.”

Patton walked back to Janus, “you can fix him!”

“What? Me? Why should I? We barely even know him and I wouldn't even be able to decipher his code without any sort of help from the developer,” Janus explained.

Patton sighed, “we can't just leave Logan to die.”

“I wouldn't die, I would just cease to exist,” Logan looked back at them. “My creator had several journals where he explained all the process of my development. All the information needed for me to function is here,” he tapped the cpu a couple of times.

“Please Jan.” Patton took his partner’s hands and squeezed them, “we can't just do nothing. I would do it myself but I know nothing about computers and programming and all that stuff you do.”

Janus looked at between Logan and Patton, they sighed. “Fine, but it’s going to take time. I’m not completely sure when I’ll be able to activate you again. We would have to take the cpu to our house as well as the censors and install them there.

Logan nodded, “I understand. The cpu itself it’s enough to have me active on a monitor, so I’ll be able to guide you through the whole process. We can get started as soon as the people upstairs leave.”

And they did. Patton and Janus managed to move the cpu to their home and connect it to their computer. A digital version of Logan lived on the screen and he was still able to communicate with the humans. Besides working on getting Logan’s physical form back, they started doing more hanging up nights. They got to know each other better, but that only seemed to make Logan’s errors worse.

Janus made some significant progress and was able to activate a mini Logan using their phone as a sensor. He was even able to walk around the desk freely. But they still couldn’t find the cause of the glitching.

Patton made sure to help with what he could. He took care of Thomas, who was now living as their dog, and made sure Janus didn’t overwork.

During one of the many casual talks Janus and Logan had, the topic of pronouns came up. “How did you know you wanted to go by they/them?”

Janus shrugged, “It’s not really something like a big revelation or something. I just came across the non-binary label and different sets of pronouns, they/them just sounds right.”

Logan hummed. He had gone through all the articles he could find online about the topic and still didn’t fully understand. “Would it make sense for me to use them? I do not really have a gender and I’ve been thinking about that since Patton introduced himself. My physical form can be altered through my code and I don’t know how being a boy or a girl feels like.” He started rambling about his worries. Did he want this only because it was logical?

Janus listened as they kept working, they eventually stopped to look at the small assistant sitting on their desk. “If you want to try it, go ahead. It’s not a bad thing to change your label or how you want people to refer to you as you discover more about yourself. You become more sentient with every new code and every upgrade you get. I suppose it resembles your growth, not as an artificial intelligence, but as a person.”

Logan looked up at them, “that… makes sense…” He glitched, and an idea came to his, their? Their mind, “that’s it!.” Logan stood up and walked to Janus’ phone to go back into the monitor. They looked through the codes until they found what they were looking for. “I become more sentient with every upgrade, but I haven’t been upgraded in months,” they looked at Janus through the screen. “Somehow I was able to develop a wider range of emotions, more than the original intent. I’ve become more advanced than my last upgrade.”

Janus’ eyes went wide as they understood what Logan was saying, “you need an upgrade, one that allows your system to process those emotions as part of you and not as an error.”

Logan nodded, “exactly. Do you think you can do it?”

“Well, we’ve come this far. I’m sure an upgrade won’t be as hard as it sounds.”

Logan chuckled a bit and looked back at their codes. “You know, I do want to try going by they/them pronouns. The agender label sounds like the most accurate for me.”

Janus smiled softly and tapped the screen with one finger. “Welcome to the club then.”

Logan looked back at him and placed their hand on Janus’ finger. They smiled and glitched again as that warm feeling on his chest returned.

“Are you ready Patt?”

Patton bounced on his feet with excitement, he had Thomas running around him. “I am! Come on come ooon! Activate them!”

Janus chuckled and kissed Patton’s cheek. “Patton, darling, I present to you,” they tried to reach up to activate the sensor but underestimated how tall the ceiling was. “Oh come on!”

Patton held back a laugh and grabbed his partner under their armpits to lift them up. “There you go!”

Janus yelped and blushed, “this is the last time I let you pick me up…” They both knew that wasn’t true, but Patton would let them think it was. “As I was saying, I present to you” they turned the sensor on.

It glowed with a dark blue light and projected a beam of light under it. Several pixels appeared and fused together until Logan’s physical form was completed. “L.O.G.A.N 6.4!”

Logan opened their eyes and let them adjust to the light in the room. Their scanners recognized Janus and Patton as the new hosts, and Thomas as the house dog. “Greetings, your L.O.G.A.N 6.4 has been successfully upgraded and activated, please wait for previous data to download completely.” Logan stood still as they finished their upgrading process. They blinked once they were ready.

“Logan?” Patton walked closer to them, a bit worried something went wrong and they went back to default mode.

Logan smiled softly, “it’s me, hello Patton”

Patton squealed and hugged Logan tightly. “It worked! It really worked!”

Janus joined the group hug happily. “It’s so nice to have you back Lo.”

Logan wrapped their arms around the humans with a slight blush. They didn’t glitch this time, not that it surprised them since they fixed that issue, but it felt different than they expected it to feel. “It’s nice to be back.”

Their systems weren’t able to fully comprehend every emotion just yet, but Logan was sure of something. They never wanted to live alone again. No, they never wanted to live without Janus and Patton again.

[doomstypewriter]

Calm before the storm: cronic of an angsty one-shot

I'm bored, so here's a sneak peek at the awful one-shot I asked you guys if you'd like me to torture you with.

I think I might make it kind of a sequel to THIS

Tell me in a comment if you feel it's about to go down.

Also, quick acknowledgement to @wisecolorthing for their ideas. I will try to incorporate some of them in the full one-shot.

PSA: I will be taking suggestions for the title of this monstrosity I'm writing (will have sort of a happy ending though, I'm not that sadistic)

PSA 2: Comment if you want to be tagged

CW: sexual innuendo, swearing (if there's anything else do tell).

Pairing: Intrulogical

Logan rolled on his bed with Remus, laughing as they kissed.

His week had been amazing.

He had begun using his new influence to fuel Thomas with energy to do things. Not that he had done it by physically being there, he could inspire certain thoughts or feelings without presenting in front of him.

Who would have thought that anger would make him exercise, then in turn hungry, do the dishes to get a plate and cuttlery, and all the activity get him to go to bed early?

In turn, he could use the feeling of success from the dishes as a push to take care of the rest of the appartment. Maybe Logan could get him pissed off about having nothing nice to wear to a date with Nico so he’d do the laundry.

If just one month of being a so-called dark side could get him this far, who knows what he could achieve in a year. Maybe Thomas could start listening to audiobooks while he edited!

Remus pulled on his hair.

“Hey, you’re going to fuck with me, not with all those thoughts. Let me quiet that brain of yours”.

“I’m afraid if you want that you’ll have to make me”.

“You tease” he smiled widely “that’s exactly what I wanted to hear”.

Before Remus could get up to anything, though, Logan stirred and pulled him off.

“What? Are you going for some edging action?” Remus tried to cover up his confussion.

Logan shook his head.

“I am being summoned by Thomas” he answered, sounding surprised.

Instantly, Remus sat up on the bed and crawled to Logan’s side. His hands went to the other’s shoulders to massage them in a very boxing match kind of fashion.

“Oh, oh, oh! Seems like Thomathy is finally paying attention to his most worthwhile part. Well, Anger, enjoy the debut!”

Logan placed his right hand atop Remus’ and caressed it lightly without making visual contact with him.

“Thank you, Remus”.

Anger frowned for a second, then he stood up and took a deep breath.

“I guess I’ll go to my room, hit me up if you need help”.

Logan’s pretty orange eyes finally glanced at him.

“I will, thank you for offering”.

“No problem, RATIONALE 9000, go tell them”, Remus conjured an orange tinted torch and lit up his face from below, “I am putting myself to the fullest possible use”.

Logan smiled warmly.

“That certainly is what any conscious entity can ever hope to do”.

The two sank out.

Link to the full O-S

Taglist: @wisecolorthing , @braingoburr , @queerly-a-hisssstory-momster , @willowaudreykeyes , @theyluna-womoon

Taglist of people who commented on the "original inquiry": @lucifer-kingofwhatever , @scathd , @apinkline2715 , @wtfamidoingontmblr , (if any of you want to be removed from the taglist to this fic, tell me, don't worry)

Me right now: ARE YOU FEELING NERVOUS? ARE YOU HAVING FUN? IT'S ALMOST OVER, IT'S JUST BEGAAAN

DON'T OVERTHINK THIS LOOK AT MY EYES, DON'T BE SCARED, DON'T BE SHY, COME ON IN, THE WATER'S FINE

[fangirlwriting-stories]

These Unprecedented Times

Chapter One

AO3 Link

Chapter Two: Escapism

Janus was not surprised to find five other sides staring at him when he returned to the Mindscape.  He tried to decide what to say for half a second before Virgil got there first.

“What the fuck?”

“Language,” Patton scolded.

“No, seriously, how did you do that?” Virgil asked, stepping forwards.  “What did you do?”

“I… don’t know,” Janus admitted.  “I just felt a tug, and I knew Thomas needed me, so I went to him.”

“Well, can you go back?” Virgil asked.

Janus took a moment to assess the question.  “It feels like it.”

“What do you mean it feels like it?”

“Yes, I would like some clarification as to what that means as well,” Logan said, raising an eyebrow.

“I don’t know, I just… hang on.”  Janus took a moment and thought about Thomas, and then suddenly he was back in Thomas’ bathroom, where the man in question was brushing his teeth.

Thomas turned to him in surprise.  “Uh, was there something else?”

“No, just testing something.  Carry on,” Janus said, waving as he headed back to the Mindscape again.

No one had moved, and as soon as he appeared everyone went back to staring at him again.

“Yes,” Janus said.  “I can go back.”

There was another moment of stunned silence.

“We can talk to Thomathy now?” Remus exclaimed suddenly.  He started running towards Janus.  “Oh, my turn, my turn!”

“No,” Janus said firmly, catching him by the arms.  “You talk to him when I say you can talk to him.”  Remus pulled out of his grip a second later and ran past him.

“Well, that’s not very fair, kiddo,” Patton said, crossing his arms.  “We should all get a chance to talk to Thomas.”

“And you will,” Janus said.  “Eventually.  But I don’t know if Thomas is ready to meet any of you, and it seems to be up to me.”

“What brings you to that conclusion?” Logan asked.

“The fact that Remus is still here.”

Everyone looked over at Remus, who was currently hanging off the ceiling and trying to bang a hole to Thomas through the wall.

“You know, that’s fair,” Virgil muttered.

“So who are you letting see Thomas?” Patton asked warily.

“Right now, no one.  Everyone needs to go to bed.  We can discuss things tomorrow if you all have points you want to make.”  Patton didn’t look happy with that idea, but Janus didn’t particularly care at the moment.  “I’ll see you all at breakfast tomorrow, goodnight,” Janus said, and he walked away, marking the end of the conversation.

He hung out in his doorway for half a second to confirm that everyone was actually going to bed, and everyone was at least moving that direction.  Except for Virgil, who was moving towards him.  And as soon as Remus noticed him doing that, he hopped down from the ceiling and did the same.

“So… what does this mean?” Virgil asked.

Janus sighed.  “I don’t know,” he admitted.  Virgil and Remus exchanged a glance, and even Remus wasn’t grinning.

“Do you think this is a bad thing?” Virgil asked.

“I don’t think so,” Janus said.  “If Thomas summoned me because he needed me, that doesn’t sound like a bad thing.”

“Oh, he needed you, huh?”

Janus sighed.  “Remus, get your head out of the gutter.”

“Do you think he’ll need me next?”

“Remus.”

“We do get to talk to him soon though, right?” Virgil asked, looking away from Remus.

“You’ll get to talk to him,” Janus said.  “But I don’t know who I’m going to send in next.  I really don’t want to make things worse than they are, and no offense, but I don’t think that makes either of you the right choice.”

“Why not?  I think we both do an excellent job of convincing Thomas that he’s going to get sick with COVID and die,” Remus said with a proud nod.

“Yes, and that’s precisely what I mean, thank you for demonstrating.”

“Yeah, alright,” Virgil muttered, not looking happy.

“Hey, it’s not your fault,” Janus said, nudging his arm.  “I’m not going to fault you for being anxious or hyperfocused.  I just think we might want to send someone else first.”

“Like who?” Remus asked.

“I don’t know yet.  I’m going to figure that out after a long night of sleep.  Which you two should also be doing.”

“Okay, but, here me out…” Remus said, starting to grin.

Janus grew wary, looking up at the ceiling.  “What?”

“Celebratory We-Can-Talk-To-Thomas-Now-For-Some-Reason Sleepover?”

Janus looked at Remus again, bouncing in place.  He sighed.  “Alright.”

Remus cheered, and zipped off to his bedroom to grab his pajamas.

“You think you can manage to get him not to scream all night?” Virgil asked.

“I’ll do my best.”

Virgil hummed in acknowledgement.  “Alright.  I’ll be back,” he said, and wandered off towards his own room.  Janus headed back inside his own and got ready for his room to be a complete mess in the morning.

…

Janus didn’t have a habit of waking up early, but when Remus stayed in his room, he usually got woken up multiple times throughout the night due to snoring, so around 7 Janus gave up and headed for the kitchen.

Patton was already there, making coffee and waffles for everyone.

“Good morning, Patton,” Janus mumbled, rubbing at his eyes as he moved to sit at the table for a moment.  He’d get up and help Patton in a moment.

“Boy, you sound pretty beat,” Patton said.

“Sleepover with Remus and Virgil,” Janus muttered.  “Doesn’t tend to leave one refreshed.”

“Oh boy.  You want some coffee?”

Janus considered the question.  “That would be nice, actually, thank you.”

“Sure thing.”  Patton poured some into a mug and set it in front of Janus, who gratefully took a couple sips.

“So, that was something yesterday, huh?” Patton said.

“Yes,” Janus said, admittedly still a little unable to wrap his head around it.

“What’s Thomas like?” Patton asked, looking over his shoulder.

Janus gave him a curious look.  “You know what Thomas is like.”

“No, I mean… what’s he like with his sides?  Or with just you for now, I guess.”

“I think mostly confused,” Janus said.  “He’s just as surprised as we are that this happened.  Or, actually, probably more surprised, since he didn’t know we existed.”

“Hmm,” Patton said, still looking uncomfortable.  “So… are you gonna let him meet Virgil or Remus first?”

Janus narrowed his eyes.  “Actually,” he said, partly because Patton’s assumption annoyed him and partly because what he was going to say was true.  “I was thinking Roman.”

Patton looked up in surprise.  “What?  Really?”

Janus nodded.  “Virgil and Remus are both hyperfocused on world event stuff right now, which is very much not what Thomas needs.  Logan’s in the same boat with wanting to stay as updated as possible, and you throw him into a guilt spiral every time he tries to think of doing something for himself.”

“Hey,” Patton said, sounding a little offended.  “I’m not—”

“Roman is the only one actually trying to do something constructive,” Janus cut him off.  “As ineffective as trying to come up with video ideas right now has been.  And who knows, maybe Thomas giving him some positive reinforcement will be able to pull him out of his head.”

Roman was the only one who hadn’t had anything at all to say last night, and Janus wasn’t at a loss as to why.  All of the attempts and consequential failures in trying to come up with video ideas couldn’t be doing wonders for Thomas’ ego, and Roman was Thomas’ ego.

Patton was still looking at him strangely at the end of his announcement.  “What?” Janus said.  “I’m going to be putting Thomas first in this, Patton.  Why would you assume I’d do anything different?”

“You’re the one who dragged Remus and Virgil over here,” Patton muttered.  “I figured you had some kind of agenda.”

“Yes, to try and get us all to work together while Thomas was being a mess and refusing to help himself in any way.  I had to try something different.  And it seems to be working,” Janus said, gesturing around.  “I’m not going to make Virgil and Remus and I the priority if it risks ruining that again.  Do you really think that little of me?”

“I don’t—” Patton sighed.  “It’s just surprising, is all.”

“Fine,” Janus said, not really believing that.  “I’m going to go talk to Roman before breakfast.  I’ll see you in a bit.”

“Good luck,” Patton said quietly.  Yeah, everyone knew Roman wasn’t doing too well.

Janus wasn’t expecting an answer immediately when he knocked on Roman’s door, but after a couple minutes he was forced to knock again.

“Roman?” he called.  “Are you still sleeping?”

Finally, the door opened.  “I was,” Roman muttered, rubbing at his eyes.  “Can I help you?”

“Yes, I’d like you to come speak to Thomas today.”

Roman blinked as he seemingly tried to process that.  “Did you introduce everyone else already?” he asked.

“No.  I think you should be the next to speak with him.”

Roman’s eyes widened in sudden panic.  “No, no no,” he said.  “That’s a horrible idea!  I don’t have any ideas prepared.  I don’t have any ideas at all!  I’m not camera ready, I’m not emotionally ready, I— I’m not good enough, Janus!”

“Roman.”  Janus reached out and put his hands on Roman’s shoulders.  “Roman, look at me.”

Roman did.

“You are good enough.  I promise.  I wouldn’t be asking you if I didn’t think you were the best side for this, okay?  I think talking to Thomas will do you both some good.  You could have a brainstorming session, or you could explain what you are, or you could just talk.  This isn’t as high stakes as you think it is.”

Roman stared at him.  “I’m meeting Thomas.”

Janus smiled in amusement.  “Yes.  And he’ll be happy to meet you.”

“He’ll be happy to meet the failure I’ve been lately?”

“Roman.  You are not a failure.  No one thinks you’re a failure.  It’s going to be fine.”  Janus thought for a minute.  “Would it make you feel better if we spend the morning getting you camera ready first?”

Roman brightened.  “Oh, uh, well.  Maybe.”

Janus started smiling again.  “Great.  Then let’s see what we can do in terms of a makeover.”

…

Thomas couldn’t necessarily say he was surprised to see Self-Interest again, but he definitely wasn’t used to it.  The second he appeared next to him Thomas jumped and nearly dropped his bowl of cereal all over himself.

“Hello, Thomas,” Self-Interest said.  “Careful, that bowl has milk in it.”

“I noticed,” Thomas said, setting the bowl down on the table.  “Good morning.”

“Afternoon.”

“Afternoon?” Thomas asked, looking over at the clock on the wall to see yes, it was in fact far past noon.  He sighed and rubbed his eyes.  “Afternoon,” he repeated.

“It’s alright, Thomas, you needed the rest,” Self-Interest said, stepping closer to the table.  “Can I sit?  I need to talk to you.”

“Yeah.  You don’t have to ask me if you can sit, you know.  You’re part of me, right?  Doesn’t that technically make this your house too?”

“Fair enough,” Self-Interest said as he sat down.  “So, yesterday you said you wanted to meet your sides.”

“Yeah, but you said I wasn’t ready for that or something,” Thomas said, taking a bite of his cereal.

“You’re not ready to meet sides such as Anxiety or Intrusive Thoughts.  But if you’d like to talk to a creative side a little more into escapism, that can be arranged.”

“I have an Escapism side?”

“That is technically his current title, yes.  But he actually has many functions.  He is part of your creativity, specifically the part more tended towards escapism, but he’s also your romance and your ego.  He’s, well.”  Self-Interest cleared his throat.  “As I’m sure you can imagine, he’s not doing so well right now.”

Thomas winced.  “Yeah, that… sounds about right,” he muttered.

“I’m not telling you to pity him, I think he would despise that.  But he’s the one who’s been trying to come up with ideas for you, and he already feels awful about not being able to do it.  So just…”

“Don’t be hard on him.  Got it.”

Self-Interest nodded.  “Thank you.  Should I bring him by?”

“Sure.”

Self-Interest nodded again, and sank back down like he’d done yesterday.  Only after he was gone did Thomas look down at himself and realize he kind of looked like a mess.  He’d met Self-Interest by accident yesterday, but now he’d agreed to meet a new side while wearing pajamas and not having brushed his hair, or teeth, or showered in who knows how long.  Before he could focus too long on that, however, Self-Interest and the new side Escapism appeared.

Escapism himself looked modeled off all of the Disney princes Thomas had seen yesterday, though Thomas also picked up on how nervous he looked.  “Oh,” he said.  “Hi, I’m Thomas.”

“I, er, know,” Escapism said.

“Oh, right, yeah, silly me,” Thomas said, shaking his head a little.  “You’re my Escapism?  Wait, why are you so much prettier than Self-Interest?”

Self-Interest sputtered in surprise.  “Excuse me?  Rude.”

Escapism, on the other hand, was now beaming.  “Well, I am based more directly on you, since I’m your ego,” he said with a proud smile.  “And it’s quite easy to work with such fine material.”

Thomas blinked and looked down at himself again.  “Uh… really?”

“Well, okay, you don’t look so great right now, but you clean up exceptionally well if I do say so myself.  Which I do.”  He smiled wider, and seemed in thought for a minute, before he jumped slightly in place.  “You know what, I’ll prove it to you!  It’s your turn for a makeover!”

“Wait, I thought we were going to brainstorm video ideas since you’re part of my creativity—”

“We were, but I absolutely forbid you to go on camera looking like that unless it’s a ‘before’ shot, and also, we can do both!”  He clapped his hands excitedly at the end of the sentence.  “We always think better when we’re moving anyway!”

“You know, that’s a fair point,” Thomas admitted.

“Of course it is!  Now, first of all, the basics.  Go brush your teeth, we need to get them sparkling!  Also, your mouth will feel less gross!”

“…True,” Thomas said.  He stood up.  “Alright, let’s go.”  He shoved a couple more bites of cereal in his mouth and then left the bowl on the table, following Escapism towards his bathroom.  He saw Self-Interest moving to sit on the couch as they did so, looking much more relaxed than he’d been yesterday, and more than a little relieved.  Clearly he thought Escapism knew what he was doing.

Thomas could trust him too, in that case.  Even if he felt a little weird with someone else watching him brush his teeth.

“Excellent,” Escapism said when he finished.  “That is a marked improvement.  Hair next!  And outfits!”

They headed over to Thomas’ bedroom, where Escapism tried to help Thomas style his hair, but since he could only move Thomas’ right hand, it didn’t end up going too well, and they mostly just ended up laughing at themselves.  On the upside, it continued to bring the mood up, and Thomas eventually managed to brush his hair and end with a state that Escapism approved of.  He put on one of his nicer outfits, because sometimes, as Escapism said, you just needed to dress up nice for yourself, and Thomas did like the way he looked when they finished.

“Next!” Escapism called happily when they finished.  “Lighting!”

“Lighting?” Thomas asked.

“Of course!  This house looks downright depressing right now.  We should aim for something brighter and warmer!”

Thomas gave him a curious look.  “Why?”

“Because if what you see had no impact on how you felt, there would be no point in having entire parts of a crew on lighting alone, now would there?  Or a massive industry in interior design.”

Thomas considered that for a moment, then shrugged.  “Fair enough.”

“We can start with something simple.  Let’s open some windows and turn on some lights around here!”

They ended up doing just that, and Thomas would admit that he did feel somewhat better by the end of it.  By the time they got back to the living room with Self-Interest, Escapism was talking excitedly about how much better that all looked.

“You know, I bet other people could benefit from this kind of thing too!” he said happily.  “What if that’s our next video?  Different ways to care for yourself and make yourself feel better while things aren’t going so great?”

“I’m not sure I have the authority to tell people how to care for themselves right now,” Thomas said, rubbing the back of his neck.

“I’m surprised you think no one else is struggling, Thomas,” Self-Interest said.  “I’m not saying you should display all of the ways your life is a mess right now on camera, but being open about not doing well might help others feel less alone too.”

“Exactly!” Escapism said.  “And we can add things like makeover tips!  Or maybe not, I don’t know, the idea could take some work, but it’s a start!”

“Yeah,” Thomas said, relieved to both finally have an idea and actually be feeling alright for once.

Escapism summoned a notebook and started scribbling things down, still talking a mile a minute.  He was very… loud.  But not necessarily in a bad way.

The rest of the afternoon had a large feeling of hope to it, and after a while Thomas started to get excited too, and ideas began to bounce back and forth between him and Escapism.  And if this was what came with meeting other sides, Thomas was pretty sure he could label this whole “side” thing as a positive change.

Chapter Three

[ymbly]

Sanders Sides Fan Fic: Switched

Chapter 1/?

AN: This chapter follows quite close to the first episode of the show, but as the fic goes on it will go a bit more out on its own

-

Three.

There were three. 

Apathy, Pride, Judgment.

Logan, Roman, Patton.

Dark, evil, ‘Dark Sides’.

-

Three.

There were three.

Caution, passion, self preservation.

Virgil, Remus, Janus.

Light, good, ‘Light Sides’.

-

One.

Thomas.

Thomas Sanders.

His role in this was more confusing than the world itself. 

-

Sides.

Strange beings with much of them unknown. 

All of which wore the same face.

Each with their own color the rainbow.

The one thing that made each unique.

-

Things had been unchanged for decades. Everybody had their roles. Their part to play. Their domain of Thomas’ psyche. 

They each had something to do. A job that never changed. Perhaps that’s why several were growing bored of their current lives.

-

--

---

----

---

--

-

A web series wasn’t exactly Janus’ favorite idea of Thomas. In fact, he heavily disliked the idea of Thomas creating one. Not to mention the fact that the web series was supposed to include the sides in it. Now that, he despised even more. He’d much prefer Thomas to be out pursuing a more traditional path to fame, but what could he do? It’s not like he was the one driving Thomas’ passion.

Virgil wasn’t against the idea by any means, more just the fact that he had to be in it. Being the literal embodiment of caution didn’t exactly help with this by any means. The camera hadn’t even started yet and he already felt like his heart was going to burst out of his ribcage. However, nobody else seemed to notice this since over the years he’d gotten quite good at disguising his fear. 

Remus was always excited to do something new, so this was no different. He felt as if there was electricity running through his veins. The kind of excitement mixed with slight anxiety that leaves you feeling drained later but pumped up in the moment.

Thomas had nearly finished the intro, and while there was little script for the sides, they all knew soon would be the time for them all to join in on the conversation.

“I need to have a sit down with myself, figure myself out, and maybe come to a better understanding that we all could learn from. Let’s do this!”

Virgil was the first pop up, oh god why did he have to be first?

“Hey,” Virgil greeted simply as he appeared on screen.

“This is my cautious side,” Thomas began, “My fears, fight or flight, all of that is in his domain. He’s also a constant reminder of my emo phase.”

“Hey-!” 

“Hey did you know that one fourth of the bones in your whole body are in your feet?” Remus quickly interrupted as he rose up. Virgil let out a quiet sigh at Remus’ introduction. Could’ve been worse though, so there was that. 

Thomas paused for a second before speaking, “This is my passionate side...somehow. Everything that keeps going, and random facts too apparently.”

“Gotta spice things up sometimes, Thomathy,” Remus replied.

“How is a random fact about bones ‘spicing things up’?”

“I’m surprised things aren’t more derailed,” Janus stated as he finally appeared in the room.

“We’re close,” Virgil answered as he eyed Remus. The chaoticness could be annoying, but he didn’t mind it too much usually. 

“And finally this is my self preservation,” Thomas started as he went back to his cheerful attitude from before, “Well, not as much in the physical sense, but trying to make sure I get by okay in life…I think,” Thomas attempted to explain.

“He also looks like he stepped right out of Spirit Halloween,” Virgil quietly said under his breath while looking at Janus.

“Says the one who looks like he hasn’t seen a mirror in weeks,” Janus replied. 

“Now enough of that, you two can fight when we’re not recording,” Thomas quickly added, breaking off the short argument.

“So what are we doing here anyways?” Virgil questioned.

“Well, people know me from all the Vines I make, but I don’t feel like people really know me know me.”

“Well perhaps they would if you posted YouTube videos more often,” Janus replied.

With a slightly annoyed look on his face, Thomas responded, “Okay, all right, that’s fair,” Thomas quickly started, “But I don’t know if I know me! There’s some things even I need to figure out about my own identity. Like, okay, relationships.”

“A one way ticket to-,” Remus began.

“Let’s not go through that door,” Janus cut in.

“Just gotta find somebody that will accept you for your flaws, I guess,” Virgil adds.

“Everybody does have their own flaws, and you could say that love is about accepting those,” Janus tried to explain. 

“Yes, that is definitely important. Flaws and all. Speaking of which-.”

“Are we bringing up flaws now? ‘Cause you have more than -” Remus quickly began.

“Passion, sto-,” Virgil started before being interrupted.

“I believe this would be of interesting conversation,” Janus once again cut in.

“You’re so fucking boring!” Remus said to Thomas.

“You’re often too selfless,” Janus added in.

“You keep changing your path in life, like all the time, way too often,” Virgil finally gets out.

“Maybe this was a bad idea,” Thomas quickly said after. 

“Well, remember everybody does have flaws,” Janus reassured.

“You’ve got good parts about you too, like uh, like you’re alive,” Virgil replied since he couldn’t think of a compliment.

“You aren’t a murderer,” Remus started, “Yet!” 

“Excellent compliments, guys,” Janus remarked as he rolled his eyes, “You try your best to get your work done and it shows. There, not that hard.”

“Well, thanks I guess, guys,” Thomas responded.

“It’s hard to think of stuff on the spot, okay?” Virgil attempted to reassure him as he messed with the strings of his hoodie. 

“Okay then, what else do I need to figure out?”

“Biggest fear?” Virgil quickly replied without thinking.

“Being boring!” Remus quickly answered.

“What happens after death,” Janus followed.

“What if you were stuck in a state of limbo for the rest of your life-,” Virgil began to reply to his own question as his eyeshadow slightly darkened.

“No, no, we are not talking about fears! I am well aware of those! I am talking about what I need to figure out about myself,” Thomas anxiously interjected. 

“Would you eat a clone of yourself if you had no other source of food?” Remus spontaneously questioned.

“Not...not those kinds of questions, Remus,” Thomas replied with a sigh.

“What kind of an impact do you wish to leave on the world?” Janus added, replacing Remus’ question with his own.

With that began the end of the video and Thomas’ speech to the viewer. Virgil felt less anxious than he thought he’d be, Remus felt, well, like Remus, and Janus felt a bit drained but other than that quite good. One by one, they sank out. Virgil, however, couldn’t stop a thought from rattling around the back of his head. What if this series provoked the dark sides?

-

I don’t write much so it might not be the best but hey I tried

Ao3 link

Edit: Formatting is a little weird because tumblr doesn’t let me do it the way I like

[snowdice]

Big Bang (Sort of) Editing Story [Day 11]

I started writing this fic while editing my Big Bang story, but am going to continue doing it for other things now that Kill Dear is out. I will write and publish 100 words of the story every time I finish doing whatever task I’m doing. If you’d like to block these proceedings, please feel free to block the tag proofread stories. I will reblog this post with the parts of the story I do today. Edited chapters 1 & 2 are linked; everything else I’ve done so far is under the cut.

My Master Post Part 1 Part 2

I was going to do the bingo fic, today but I haven’t been feeling 100% so didn’t start it in the morning. I kinda wanted to work on this one instead so I’m going to. :)

Chapter 3

The figure whose head Patton had just slammed a cookie sheet over tottered forward and fell to the floor; the knife fell limply from its hand onto the floor. Patton immediately stepped forward to kick the weapon away towards Logan. Logan stepped forward to grab it and stored it away quickly at the bottom of the chest at the foot of his bed.

He looked back up at Patton. “T-thank you,” he said.

“Um-huh,” Patton replied, still looking down at the fallen figure. It did not seem like it’d be getting up anytime soon. He slowly lowered the cookie sheet.

He cautiously knelt down next to the person.

“Patton, what are you doing?” Logan asked.

“I just want to see,” Patton said. He carefully shoved the figure over to its back so he could peer at his face. It was a young boy with a pale face and kinda squiggly dark hair that framed his face unevenly. “Oh,” Patton said softly. “He’s just a baby.”

“What are you talking about?” Logan asked.

“He’s like 12,” Patton said with a frown. “Maybe 13.”

“He also had a knife,” Logan stressed, but he did move closer to get a better look at him. “We should call the guards.”

“But...”

“No, Patton,” Logan said firmly.

“Maybe it’s just a misunderstanding?” Patton tried.

“A misunderstanding?” Logan scoffed. “What? Did he accidently sneak past the guards into the royal family’s private hallway and come into my bedroom in the middle of the night with a knife?”

Patton looked down at the kid. “Well…”

“He’s clearly an assassin,” Logan said. “We need to call the guards so they can deal with him appropriately.”

“Can we at least wait until he wakes up?” Patton said. “I want to talk to him. Maybe…”

“He’s not a feral cat you can tame.”

Patton bit his lip and looked up at Logan about to do something sorta mean. “But aren’t you curious?” Patton beseeched. “He’s so young. Who would have sent him? Who would have trained him if he’s really an assassin? How’d he get past the guards? Don’t you want to know? They probably wouldn’t tell you if we let the guards take him away.”

Patton could see Logan’s resolve breaking. He was weak to his own curiosity and whoever this kid was, was a curiosity. He sighed. “We’ll have to check him for any weapons before he wakes up, and we’ll have to restrain him.” Patton beamed up at him. “We’ll call the guards and tell Father as soon as we’re done or at the first sign of trouble.”

“Sure,” Patton readily agreed.

“Hmm,” Logan said. “Watch him closely for a couple of seconds.” He ducked through the door to his little work area and then ran back with a corked bottle. “May I borrow your bracelets?”

“Sure. Why?” Patton asked, already working them off his own wrists.

“This is a binding potion,” Logan explained, taking the bracelets and pouring a couple of drops carefully on them. “It keeps people locked in place. It’s rather strong though and if I applied it directly on his skin, it’d hurt him and be hard to take off. This way, the bracelets will just act like magical cuffs. They’ll hold his arms in place wherever we need them to be.” He waited for a moment and then tapped his own finger to where he’d applied the potion. “It’s dry” he said. “Help me get these on him.” Patton nodded and grabbed the boy’s thin wrists in his, pulling back the dark sleeves so Logan could snap the brackets on him. Then, Logan grabbed both of his hands and moved them above his head, so they laid against the ground. Patton shifted him around, so he was laying prone. “Okay, now we should make sure he doesn’t have any other weapons on him.”

Patton nodded and they both started awkwardly patting at his clothing, feeling for anything that could be a weapon. “He’s really skinny,” Patton said while his hands brushed across his rib cage.

“Strange,” Logan said. “You would think one would keep one’s assassins well fed.”

“And older,” Patton pointed out.

“It’ll be another question for when he wakes,” Logan said. “He doesn’t seem to have any other weapons on him.”

“Let’s get him sat up,” Patton suggested, “so he’s easier to talk to.”

Logan nodded, and they worked on pulling him into a sitting position against the wall. The boy made a slight sound at being moved and Logan met his eyes. They quickly finished setting him up and settled his hands next to him on the ground to pin them there.

Then, they both stood back to watch. The boy shifted a bit more and then sucked in a sudden breath. He went tense all over the second before his eyes opened. His head lifted to look at them with absolutely terrified eyes. Logan shifted beside him, clearly about to speak, but Patton’s hand struck out to grab Logan’s shoulder. Logan glanced at him and then stood back.

Patton moved forward to kneel in front of him. “Hey there,” he said with a slight smile. The boy seemed to try to curl away from him into the wall. Strangely, he didn’t seem to even attempt to pull against his restraints.

 “What’s your name?” Patton asked. He paused but the boy didn’t respond. He just stared at him with scared eyes. “My name’s Patton,” he offered, “and that’s Logan.” The boy glanced at Logan, and then looked away, staring down at his lap. Patton waited, but he didn’t move. Eventually, Patton tilted his head so he could get a look at his face. “Oh, honey,” Patton said. “Are you crying?” Patton reached out to touch his cheek and he flinched back with a sharp inhale but there wasn’t very far for him to go. “Hey, it’s okay,” Patton soothed. He gently wiped away a few of the tears that had fallen onto his cheeks. “I’m not going to hurt you.”

The boy did not respond, and Patton settled back on his knees with a frown. He glanced at Logan who shrugged. Patton bit his lip in thought for a moment. They weren’t going to be able to speak to him until he calmed down. How could Patton calm him down? Patton’s eyes skirted around the room. The book Logan was reading? No. One of the old fancy crowns they’d borrowed from Thomathy? No. Cookies?

“Are you hungry?” Patton asked the boy. He didn’t confirm verbally, but his head did tilt up in interest. “We have some cookies,” Patton said. He stood, perhaps too quickly because he cowered into the wall as though he expected Patton to lunge at him. Patton smiled apologetically and walked over to the plate they’d luckily stacked the leftover cookies on before Patton had used the cookie sheet for different purposes.

With a smile, he selected a mint chocolate chip cookie from the plate and walked back over to the boy. He was slower this time with his movements, but the kiddo still tracked him carefully with his eyes as he knelt back in front of him. “Here,” Patton offered. “Try this one. It’s my favorite.”

The boy didn’t open his mouth. In fact, he pressed his lips even harder together.

“Come on,” Patton tempted. “They’re really good. It’s my mama’s own recipe and she made them herself. She’s one of the only two people who know how to make them perfect.”

Patton glanced over at Logan and smiled. He got a glare back in return. Patton leaned forward slightly like he was telling the boy a secret. “Logan’s the other person who knows how to make them,” he divulged. “When I was six, my mama got sick for a few days and I was really sad. He wanted to cook me my favorite cookies to cheer me up. He had no idea how to do it, but he was determined. He snuck into the kitchen in the middle of the night and tried to make them.” Patton laughed at the memory. “He did really, really bad. Logan hadn’t ever cooked anything before, let alone mint chocolate chip cookies. There was flour everywhere and he managed to break three wooden spoons. But, when mama got better, she taught him how to make them. That way, he can make them for me if she ever can’t.”

Patton offered the treat again. “Come on,” Patton said when he still didn’t move to eat it. “What’s wrong?”

Logan stepped forward suddenly and Patton blinked at him. He reached for the cookie and tore off a small piece of it before offering it to Patton. Patton opened his mouth, confused, and let him pop it into his mouth. He chewed it and swallowed.

“Try again,” Logan said, stepping away.

Patton turned back to the boy and held out the cookie. After a moment’s hesitation, the boy opened his mouth. Patton let him take a bite. “See!” he said. “It’s good, huh?”

He chewed and swallowed the bite of cookie. “W-what’s going on?” he finally spoke in a low scratchy tone. Hmm, maybe Patton should get him some water soon.

“We were hoping you could tell us that,” Patton said. “Lo and I were a bit startled by you showing up in his bedroom in the middle of the night.”

“I… was knocked unconscious,” the boy said.

“Well, you gave us quite the fright there with that knife of yours.”

The boy seemed to shrink at the reminder.

“Want to tell us what that was about?” Patton asked.

He shook his head, shoulders climbing.

“Let us rephrase,” Logan said calmly. “Clearly you were here to assassinate either my father, myself, or both. So, the relevant questions are who sent you to do so and why?” The boy shook his head and Logan frowned. “No?” he asked. “Apologies, but ‘no’ is not a sufficient answer.”

 Chapter 4

Logan’s statement did not appear to go over well with the small assassin. He went still and curled over into himself as though to protect his more vulnerable areas. Honestly, Logan thought agitated, Logan hadn’t threatened any bodily harm. He’d even prefaced the statement with an apology even though he didn’t feel as though he had anything to apologize for! Just like father had taught him!

Patton shot him a glare, telling him he was somehow in the wrong despite the fact that he’d been the one who was almost assassinated. Logan grumbled and returned to quietly sulking in the background while Patton cooed at the assassin, trying to cajole him out of the ball he’d wrapped himself into.

Logan did have to admit the situation was odd. He was young. He didn’t even know anyone trained assassins so young. His kingdom did have a guild of trained assassins/spies, but one couldn’t even join the military until one was of age (though they could start training at 16 with special permission) and all assassins must have at least a year of military training before being considered. It would be years more before they were sent out on actual missions.

So, where had this young boy came from? Surely, he wasn’t acting of his own violation, especially considering his age and temperament. What was his or whoever had sent him’s greater purpose? One didn’t attempt the risky act of regicide without some reasoning. Why did he only have one weapon? Most hired killers would be provided with a backup at the very least and more than likely an arsenal. Why was he acting so skittish? It was a strange attitude for a trained killer.

He had piqued Logan’s curiosity and Logan wanted answers.

“There, see?” Patton was saying. He was hand feeding more of the cookie to the assassin who looked just as startled by this fact the second time around as the first. “How about a compromise?”

Logan eyed him suspiciously. He was willing to let Patton lead since Logan was well aware of his own shortcomings when it came to tact, but his friend also had a bit of a bleeding heart. Logan refused to let him put himself at risk.

Ironically, the assassin seemed to be on the same page as Logan. His eyes tracked Patton distrustfully. “Compromise?” he echoed.

“Yes!” Patton said, unconcerned with the blatant discomfort in the room.

“We’ll ask you a question and you answer it,” Patton said. “Then you can ask a question and we’ll answer that. Then we can keep going back and forth like that.”

The assassin seemed unsure about this, but he slowly nodded. “What’s your question?” he asked.

Patton looked back at Logan and inclined his head. Logan took a step forward. “Who are you?” Logan asked. The assassin hesitated.

“Maybe a more specific question,” Patton suggested. “We’ve got plenty of time and ‘who are you?’ is a bit of a big question. There are so many different answers!”

“Very well,” Logan agreed. “Let’s start with, what’s your name?”

The assassin considered him, looking overly cautious for such a mundane question. “It’s Virgil,” he said after a moment.

“Last name?” Logan prompted.

“I-” he hesitated, looking distressed. “I don’t have one.”

“You don’t have one?” Logan asked.

And… he was curling up into a ball again. “Sorry,” he said softly. He started to cry again.

“It’s okay, it’s okay, hey,” Patton soothed. “That was good.”

Logan frowned. It was not ‘good’. It had given them basically no information. “Why-”

“It’s Virgil’s turn to ask a question, Logan,” Patton said. Logan almost groaned. This was going to take forever, wasn’t it?

Virgil’s eyes bounced between them. “Why haven’t you called someone to take me away yet?” he asked.

“We wanted to ask you a few questions ourselves before getting the castle guards involved,” Logan answered.

“Are…” he shut his mouth, likely realizing he’d have to wait for his next question.

Logan considered him. “Why do you have no last name?” Logan asked.

Virgil looked away. “I’m an orphan. I don’t know who my parents were, and no one bothered to give me one.”

“Ah, that makes sense,” Logan acknowledged. “And your question?”

“Are…” Virgil said. “Are you going to torture me if I don’t answer something right?”

Patton let out a little pained exhale.

“Why would we do that?” Logan asked.

“Why wouldn’t you do that?” he replied.

“Where the hell are you from where that’s a question?”

“Why the hell should I tell you?”

“Why the hell would you be defending a place that makes you think that’s a normal question?”

“What the fuck are you even on about?”

“Okay,” Patton cut Logan off before he retorted in kind. “I think that’s enough of the question game at the moment.” He stood up and walked back over to the plate of cookies.

“He-” Logan started to grouse and got a sugar cookie pushed into his mouth to silence him.

Logan frowned around the cookie as Patton went back and offered the other cookie to Virgil. Virgil turned his head away from it. Logan’s eyes watched the assassin as Patton thought for a moment and then tore a bit of the cookie off. He ate the bite himself before offering the cookie again. This Virgil was a suspicious thing, Logan thought as the boy slowly ate a bite of cookie.

It made Logan’s curiosity itch even more, but at this rate he wasn’t going to get any answers. He polished off the sugar cookie and then walked over to sit on the floor next to where Patton was kneeling.

Virgil watched him move and Logan met his eyes. “No, by the way,” Logan thought to answer. “We aren’t going to hurt you.”

Logan tried not to bristle at the disbelieving look on his face. Logically that distrust had nothing to do with Logan personally, but with whatever his experiences were before this.

Logan tilted his head at him. “Why the one knife?”

Virgil blinked at that. “What?”

“The knife,” Logan reiterated. “You were clearly here to use it, but you only have one. It seems odd.”

“Uh…” Virgil said. “I don’t know. That’s all they gave me.”

Logan nodded. “Me or my dad?” he asked. “Or both?”

Virgil clearly didn’t want to answer. “The king,” he said.

Logan nodded, and it suddenly hit him exactly what would have occurred if he and Patton hadn’t happened to be awake. Virgil seemed to see the realization on his face. He braced himself as though expecting to be struck. Logan felt suddenly nauseous, the idea of a dead father hitting a bit too close to home after…

“And the guards?” Logan asked.

“I didn’t,” Virgil rushed to say. “Just a light sleeping potion. They probably didn’t even notice anything happen.”

“Okay,” Logan said. “Good.”

“What are you going to do with me?” Virgil asked.

“We’ll hand you over to the guards,” Logan said. “They’ll figure out what to do with you from there.”

He nodded, looking small, and Logan refused to feel guilty for it. Virgil had come here with the intention of killing Logan’s dad! Logan had no reason to feel guilty about turning him in. Besides, it wasn’t as though any of them were going to hurt or kill a literal child. Dad would never let them anyway. He’d be fine! There was no reason for his sad eyes that seemed almost too big for his face to make Logan want to squirm uncomfortably.

Logan sighed. “Are you still hungry?” he asked. “We do actually have more than just cookies in spite of Patton’s efforts.”

“We don’t have any more jam though because of Logan’s efforts earlier,” Patton said sweetly. Logan pursed his lips but didn’t deny it. Instead he just walked over to where they’d stored their extra snacks.

“How about some cheese?” Logan suggested, “and perhaps some milk to drink?”

“Why are you trying to feed me?” Virgil asked.

“Because you look hungry. Are you?”

He bit his lip and nodded. They split up the cheese between the three of them which seemed to soothe Virgil’s worry of poison. He ate what they offered him without complaint and drank most of the milk.

Logan managed to squeeze a few more answers out of the boy, but nowhere near enough to satiate his curiosity. Eventually, morning came, and Logan sighed. “We should probably…” he said, “turn you in.”

The boy looked like he might burst into sobs, but he just hung his head. Another stab of that unfounded guilt shot through Logan and the frown on Patton’s face just made it worse.

“I’ll talk to my father first,” Logan promised. “He’s a kind man. Nothing bad will happen to you.”

Virgil clearly didn’t believe him, but Logan knew it would be okay in the end.

“We should probably hide him before we leave though,” Logan told Patton. “Just in case.”

Patton nodded and looked around. “Closet?”

“That will be adequate,” Logan agreed. He turned to Virgil. “Those bracelets make your arms stay in place as you have seen, but I can move them at will. I’ll take your arms and guide you to the closet. You walk behind me. Understand?”

Virgil nodded and Logan picked up both of his wrists, pulling his arms in front of him and then using his grip to help the boy stand. He didn’t resist being pulled to his feet or led to the closet.

“Alright, let’s go,” Logan said. Patton had on his unhappy face, but Logan did his best to ignore it. This was the correct decision. He and Patton left his bedroom and crossed to his dad’s room. Logan knocked. He’d expected that he’d have to wake his father since it was still very early in the morning, so he was surprised when the door opened before Logan had even finished knocking.

“Logan,” Father said. “I was just coming to see you.” He was already dressed, and Logan raked his brain for any early morning appointments for today and came up blank.

“What about?” Logan asked.

“There’s been word that Lamir’s new Queen may be considering an alliance with Mocnejsi. Seeing as I knew her mother fairly well, I’m hoping I can talk her out of it,” he said.

“What should I do?” Logan asked.

Father turned back into the room. “You’ll stay here and oversee things while I’m gone,” he told Logan over his shoulder. “I’ll only be gone for three weeks and there is nothing major that will need to happen. Just make sure everything runs like usual.”

“You’re going to be gone for three weeks?” Logan asked.

“Yes,” Father confirmed.

Logan glanced at Patton who had turned to him, hands clasped and was shooting him his best pleading expression. “Okay,” Logan said, “have a nice trip.”

 Chapter 5

Virgil sat as still as he could in the dark space he’d been put in. He could feel the warning tingle of the binding magic at his wrists telling him not to move too much or else. He was just lucky that they’d chosen to use metal instead of cloth to apply the potion and that he’d been unconscious until it dried. He knew from experience that there was no escaping the pain that type of potion brought until it dried no matter how still you were. Now, at least, if he didn’t try to struggle against his binding it wouldn’t hurt him. It sucked because all he wanted to do was move. He wanted to struggle and pull against the binding at his wrist, but he couldn’t. Even if it wouldn’t put him in crippling amounts of pain, he’d still not be able to get away.

So, instead he just shook. He was such a fuck up. He couldn’t even remember the right room and now he was going to die. No, he was probably going to be tortured and then he was going to die. His breath came quicker and quicker the longer he remained in the closet. He’d tried to murder their king. He’d come into their prince’s bedroom in the middle of the night wielding a knife. There was no way he wasn’t going to be made to suffer for that. It didn’t matter how gently the prince and his… person had treated him so far.

He heard the muffled sounds of people approaching the closet and curled into himself. Oh, god he was going to die. He had been breathing quickly, but now he couldn’t breathe at all. It felt like someone had poured tar into his lungs. The closet door opened, and he flinched, curled into a ball and choking on nothing.

“Hey, hey,” a familiar voice said. Patton, Virgil’s mind offered: the other guy with the prince. When Virgil managed to flick his eyes open, he saw Patton had gotten to his knees in front of him. He dully noted that the boy had reached out and touched his shoulder. “Oh sweetie, I’m sorry. Can you breathe for me?”

What was the point? He wondered, but after a few moments, he managed to suck in a couple of breaths.

When he managed to calm enough to look around, he noticed that instead of there being a bunch of castle guards standing around waiting to drag him off to some dungeon, it was just the prince and Patton again. He blinked up at them in confusion.

“There’s been a change of plans,” the prince explained.

“What?” Virgil asked dumbly. “What do you mean?”

“My father is going to be away for the next three weeks,” the prince said. “Considering you didn’t kill the guards and your only targets seems to be my father and perhaps myself, you are likely not a real danger to anyone if you escape and I’m willing to take the risk with myself. With that in mind, Patton and I have decided not to turn you in yet.”

Well what the hell did that mean? Was that good or bad? On one hand, it meant that he wouldn’t be executed yet, but what exactly did the prince want with him?

As Virgil began to freak out about the possibilities, the prince continued to speak, seemingly more to himself than to Virgil or Patton.

“We will need to figure out how to care for you in the interim. We’ll have to provide you with more food than just snacks as well as find you a place to sleep. At least one of us will have to be with you at all times, and with Father gone, I’ll have to attend to some royal duties. Luckily it isn’t strange for Patton to come into my quarters at will.” He considered Virgil with discerning eyes. “Also, your general health seems to be lacking, so I’ll have to account for preexisting conditions. First thing, first though. I imagine keeping you in those bracelets all the time would be impractical. We’ll need another solution, especially for sleep.”

Virgil did not like the sound of that. He assumed based on what the prince had done so far that he’d enact some sort of magical bondage. From Virgil’s experience, magical bondage ranged from unpleasant to legitimately agonizing.

“Patton, if you will watch him for the time being, I need to go work on a more precise binding potion then the one I’ve been using.”

“Sure,” Patton agreed, but the prince was wondering away before he’d even finished the word. Patton shook his head fondly before turning back to Virgil. “Wanna come out of the closet now?”

He really, really didn’t, but he was pretty sure he didn’t have a choice in the matter. He curled his legs into himself as much as he could and waited to be dragged out into the room, but he wasn’t touched.

“Okay,” Patton said. “That’s fine. It’s a pretty nice closet.” Virgil said nothing but did breathe a sigh of relief about being able to stay. It wasn’t very rational because in actuality he was no safer here than anywhere else in the room, but the closet felt more defensible even if they could drag him out of it whenever they wanted.

Patton seemed content to sit outside the closet and leave him in peace for the moment. A few minutes later Patton made a sound and Virgil looked over to see him yawn. He smiled when he saw Virgil watching. “It was a long night for all of us, I imagine,” he said. “Hmm… actually. Wait there.”

Like he could go anywhere else. He couldn’t get a good enough angle to see what Patton was doing, but he could here him moving around the room and rustling through a few things. He came back into view holding a comical number of pillows and blankets.

“Here,” Patton said. He offered Virgil one of the blankets and then seemed to remember that Virgil could not reach out to take it. “Hmm…” He spread out the blanket next to Virgil. “Do you mind if I touch you?”

“Why are you even asking?” Virgil asked. “You can do whatever you want with me.”

Patton frowned and Virgil scrunched into himself at the expression, but it lightened the next moment. “I know it’s a bit of a bad situation and you are technically a prisoner, but I don’t want to hurt you or make you feel bad,” Patton said.

 Virgil didn’t know how to respond to that. There was no way that it wasn’t some sort of trick, but he didn’t dare outright say that he thought that.

“Can I touch you a bit?” Patton asked once again. “Just to help you get onto the blanket.”

“Sure,” Virgil agreed.

The other boy smiled sweetly and grabbed his wrists with gentle fingers. Virgil let his whole body follow Patton’s guidance until he was situated rather comfortably on an unbelievably soft blanket.

“Head,” Patton said, holding up a pillow. Virgil lifted his head slightly and the pillow was shoved underneath it.

 Another blanket was settled over him the next. Patton was weird. “There you go!” Patton said. “Now you can take a nap.”

Virgil blinked up at him in confusion. That was… not happening. What exactly about this situation did Patton think was conducive to sleep?

“…Or rest comfortably at least,” Patton said after a moment. He arranged a pillow and blanket for himself and laid on his side, so he was facing Virgil. He yawned slightly again but didn’t close his eyes. They stared at each other for an uncomfortably long moment.

“What are we doing?” Virgil finally asked when he realized Patton was not planning to ever break the awkward silence.

 “We’re resting,” Patton said, “and hanging out.”

“Hanging out?” Virgil asked.

“Mmm, yeah,” Patton said popping up onto his elbow to peer at him. “Let’s talk some! We can get to know each other.”

Virgil looked at him suspicious about where this was going. “Talk about what?” he asked, eyes narrowed.

Patton hummed a quiet tune and his fingers tapped against the side of his face as he wiggled a bit back and forth. “Do you like cats?”

“Cats?” Virgil asked. “Uh… sure?”

“I love cats,” Patton divulged. “There are a lot of cats in the castle. Not all of them like people very much, but I like to try to pet them! I even made up a game where I get points for every cat that lets me pet it. The grumpier they are, the more points I get!”

 “You… try to pet wild cats?” Virgil asked.

“Uh huh!”

Virgil thought back to the few untamed cats he’d met in his life. “Don’t they… try to murder you.”

“Sometimes,” Patton said with a shrug. He moved his arm suddenly and Virgil startled, but he just rolled down his sleeve so Virgil could see a large, fairly fresh-looking scratch on his arm. “This one’s from Mr. Calico Man. He does not like his ears touched apparently, but he will let me give him chin scratchies!”

This boy was insane.

“I think I’ve pet every single cat in the castle at least once, except for Ghost Kitty.”

 “Who is Ghost Kitty?”

“Oh, Ghost Kitty is the prettiest thing in the world,” Patton gushed. “She hangs out in the gardens a lot, but no one ever can get anywhere near it. She’s completely black and only started showing up about a year ago. I can’t even see her for more than 2 seconds at a time let alone try to pet her, but I will some day and on that day, I’ll get 1,000 points!”

“How many points are they usually?”

“For ones like Mittens and Cleo who I’ve known since they were babies, only 1. For Sandra it’s 5 since she can get a bit tetchy, but usually won’t run away. Lily Flower and Red Hot like to run away, but won’t try to scratch me if I do catch them so they’re 10. Ones like Mr. Calico Man are worth 100.”

 “So, you are going to try to pet a cat that is 10x more feral than the one that slashed your arm?”

“She’s so pretty!”

“You have no survival instincts whatsoever, do you?” Virgil asked.

Patton smiled wryly at him. “I apparently have a couple,” he said.

Virgil blinked at him and thought back, connecting the dots. Only Patton and the prince knew he was here, and the prince had been in front of him when he’d came into the room… “You were the one to knock me unconscious,” he concluded.

“I’d say sorry, but you were coming in here with the intention of hurting someone I care about,” Patton said with a shrug.

 Right. Virgil had almost forgotten amongst his soft tone and gentle countenance that the man laying docilly next to him definitely hated his guts, and would probably relish in whatever the prince had planned for him.

Virgil let his fists clench, but otherwise didn’t let onto his distress at the thought as Patton softly brought the conversation back to the previous topic and continued to ramble on about the different cats of the castle.

 Chapter 6

Virgil had started to feign sleep about an hour after Logan had left to his potions lab. Patton could tell because his arms never relaxed. Patton kept talking to him in soft tones even though he was no longer responding.

 He seemed exhausted, but he was also clearly not planning to sleep any time soon. Patton wondered what had led up to him being here both recently which had caused the dark circles under his eyes and long term that had caused the sunkenness of his cheeks.

Patton’s stomach growled reminding him of the passage of time. He had no idea how long whatever Logan was doing was going to take, but someone was going to have to go to the kitchen and get some breakfast soon. The snacks truly had not been enough to hold them through the night.

 He felt secure enough even knowing Virgil wasn’t actually sleeping to push himself to his feet and walk over to the potions lab door. “Hey Lo,” Patton called. Virgil still hadn’t moved to indicate he was still awake.

“Yes?” he asked.

“How long are you going to take? I need to get food soon and maybe come up with an excuse for at least one of us to stay here all day.”

“It’ll be a little while longer,” Logan said.

Patton glanced back at Virgil. He caught the boy with his eyes open this time and saw him wince at being caught. “Maybe Virgil can stay in there with you well I go get things?”

 “That would be fine,” Logan said, turning back to what he was working on. “Bring him in here if you’d like.”

“Okie dokie,” Patton chirped. He turned to Virgil who was looking up at him. “I’m going to take your arms and lead you to the other room, okay?”

He nodded and Patton leaned down and grabbed his wrists. He went tenser somehow when Patton moved his arms to his front and Patton frowned, but didn’t comment. He helped him get to his feet and led him into the other room.

“You can seat him over there,” Logan said pointing.

 Virgil was looking around the room with wide eyes and Patton had to stop and think about what this room might look like to someone who hadn’t been enthusiastically introduced to every new potion ingredient and piece of equipment as they arrived. There were shelves of ingredients, all organized and labeled. He kept all powders in uniform glass vials and liquids in bulbous containers. Whole dried herbs hung from strings in one area and there were containers of fresh ones glowing a soft green; the preservation spells that Logan came up with himself kept them fresh for months longer than they would usually last.

 Logan had three separate areas for potion making. There was one space for potions that required more dangerous ingredients which currently had something simmering at it, but the enchanted protective curtain wasn’t drawn around it, so Patton imagined it must not be doing anything that could be too harmful at the moment. The table he used for experiments was empty and thoroughly cleaned so he was clearly making something with an already well-established recipe. Currently, he was standing at his table reserved only for non-harmful substances. He was chopping up what appeared to be mint as two smaller pots boiled in front of him.

 Patton led Virgil over to the indicated chair which was out of the way of even the non-dangerous ingredient zone. He still seemed to be trying to take in the room as Patton settled his wrists on the chair armrests.

“Any requests?” he asked Logan.

“Not really,” Logan replied. He glanced up at Patton. “Though if you can sneak me some of the leftover macaroni salad from dinner, that would be appreciated.”

“That’s not breakfast!” Patton chided.

“Which is why I requested that you to sneak it.”

Patton shook his head and turned back to Virgil. “What about you?” he asked.

 He looked up at Patton and shook his head. Virgil looked a bit scared and out-of-sorts. He wanted to reach forward and pat him on the head or kiss his cheek to comfort him, but he imagined that would go over worse than badly. Instead, he flashed the boy a quick smile and then turned to leave the room.

He left Logan’s private chambers and closed the door behind him before walking down the hall.

“Good morning Patton,” one of the stationed guards greeted.

He smiled at her and the other guard. “Good morning Kalani. Hi Owen.”

“I see you and the prince had a sleepover,” Kalani said. “Should we be planning on him not making it to his royal duties until later today?”

“Actually,” said Patton. “Maybe all day. He was feeling a little sick. Had a headache.” It was… probably true. They hadn’t slept a wink last night.

“Hmm,” Kalani said. “Maybe there is something going around. Clover said she had a bit of a dizzy spell last night.”

“Oh,” Patton answered. Clover had been one of the two guards set to watch the door to the royal wing. At least Virgil had been telling the truth about not hurting anyone.

9783

“I hope she feels better. I’m going to go get Logan something to eat for breakfast since he can’t come himself, so I’ll see you again in a few minutes.”

The guards nodded to him and he turned to walk down the hall. The areas around the kitchens would be pretty busy at this point in the morning so instead of taking any of the busier paths to it, he walked past the dinning hall towards the guest hall and took the staircase that led straight outside. It was a longer path because he had to go around and through the garden, but it was worth not getting in anyone’s way.

 Patton always did like the garden. It was pretty at every time of year. Even now as the flowers started to get sparser in the fall, it was still wonderful, and it smelt great. He took just the briefest moment to himself to splash a hand through one of the fountains with a giggle. He turned away to continue on his path to the kitchen which is when he saw her.

“Oh,” he said softly. “Hi kitty.”

Ghost Kitty was there and stared at him briefly before taking off into one of the bushes.

“Bye kitty,” he said just as soft. He smiled even though she’d ran away because that was the closest, he’d ever gotten to her.

[bella-in-a-bag]

Not mine

Ao3 

Masterpost

 - Next

Words: 2446  

Day 5 - Any intense emotions your soulmate feels you will also experience 

Maybe that was worse, because he was just broken and no one was to blame, just himself. Maybe he had repressed his feelings to the limit and they were retaliating, unlike, but he wasn't human after all. Maybe he deserves this and there is no reason, it just is and he has to accept that. 

Where Logan gets someone elses feelings.

Tags and triggers under cut

Hurt/Comfort, Unsympathetic Anxiety | Virgil Sanders, more or less, he's just mean and never actually in the story, just mentioned, it's implied that he's just stressed, mention of violence, Swearing, Remus doesn't get gross, , tw panic attacks implied

Logan didn't know how his chest had suddenly gotten so tight, his eyes watery and his gut twisted in a way that made him want to throw up. Feeling such an intense array of emotions left him unable to think, let alone reason his way out of something he didn't know the cause for. Just a minute ago, he was fixing Thomas's schedule to include his meeting with Joan, an action that he deemed deeply satisfactory, when a wave crashed into his train of thought. Anger for something he didn't know the motive but knew was wrong, as well as many other things he could only identify as a mixture of pride, guilt, grief and sadness.

Well, no use in trying to get something done now.

Logan was used to these impulses, as he liked to call them, but every time he suffered them he felt like the world was figuratively trying to crush him into a pile of dust, so maybe the appropriate term should be awareness of the situation. He didn't freak out when they happened, which was good, but the unpleasantness still stuck all the way through the episodes. Surprising no one, he hated them more than he hated Thomas pursuing theater and YouTube instead of a stable career, but unlike the latter, these problems only affected him. Maybe that was worse, because he was just broken and no one was to blame, just himself. Maybe he had repressed his feelings to the limit and they were retaliating, unlike, but he wasn't human after all. Maybe he deserves this and there is no reason, it just is and he has to accept that.

Logan realized that if Janus heard that he was going to get lectured, but he didn't really mind, not when his brain was spiraling back and forth between a decision he wasn't sure he was making himself. The pros and cons, the possible outcomes, the whole problem laid out to him in a way he could only watch someone from afar look at a map he couldn't see. It reminded him of the courtroom scenario, but at the same time the problem felt more trivial and more important. The stakes were high, he guessed while trying to assume the best decision based on the pieces he could get, but then a choice was made and anxiety filled his mind to the brim.

He almost didn't answer when he heard a knock on the door, too many things happening at once, but he pushed himself up his chair and answered with the loudest voice he could manage. "Who is it?" It still sounded too emotionally charged, or maybe it didn't and his ears were playing tricks on him. "Can I come in?" Still no answer to his question, but if he ignored them maybe they would go away. The three seconds he stood in the middle of his room waiting for an answer felt like an eternity, but to his dismay, that someone finally decided to reveal their identity.

"I'm Remus, Logan" he sounded far too broken for the Duke, and Logan deduced that wasn't good. "Can I come in?" The desperation in the voice pushed Logan to open the door and let him in, trying to look collected.

"How may I assist you?" He wanted to add that he couldn't even assist himself, but the thought remained in his head.

"I need you to coach me through Virgil's breathing exercises" it still felt wrong the way his voice broke when he said Virgil and why would he need them in the first place? Remus was becoming a decent distraction from his own problems, he realized as he tried to make sense of the situation. Logan gestured at the foot of his bed before beginning to speak.

"Ok, I want you to breathe in for four, hold for seven and exhale for eight" Remus simply nodded and Logan began the exercise, counting with his fingers when he saw the creative side struggling to follow his instructions. After 15 minutes and 23 seconds, Remus seemed to look more like himself and Logan stopped counting, finding comfort in the way his mind had started to function as well. Remus was looking at the ground while biting his nail and it didn't look like he was going to speak any time soon, but Logan needed to know what happened in order to help Remus. He might be also teeny tiny bit interested, but that is besides the point.

"If you are not comfortable you do not have to answer" Remus's finger was out of his mouth, good. "But may I ask what is bothering you, you seemed troubled. And by previous experiences, I assume you do not get easily troubled." Remus snorted, Logan wasn't sure why but that is a problem for another day.

"I might have fought with good ol' Virgin again, which might not have ended so good ol' ok" That usually didn't end up well, Logan remembered trying to comfort Virgil with Patton making cookies and Roman swearing revenge on the background.

"If you were in his room that would explain your distress"

"We were on common territory, so my bullshit comes exclusively from me."

"I wouldn't consider your stress fake, but did anything he said upset you into this state or was it the whole situation in general."

"Well, there were some things said." He paused for a moment, looking down weighting if it was worth it or not. Logan was beginning to think he would just get up and leave when he resumed talking, startling him just enough to make him flinch but improbable that the other side had noticed.

"I had this extremely good idea, you see. It was good, so good I was going to show it to Thomas. Not an intrusive thought, you don't need to worry legged dictionary, but an actual real plot for an episode." Logan nodded along, listening carefully to the side's words. "I made the mistake of telling Virgil, cause he was the only one around and I needed to tell somebody. He's still pissed that jay-nus got sort of accepted, hypocrite coming from him," Logan bit the urge to correct him, shifting a bit on the spot." so he didn't take well the idea of me making something useful. Or he was afraid that I wasn't going to make anything and kill Thomathy on the spot, but hey, same difference. He also called me something a bit ugly." Remus's voice shifted into Virgil's like second nature, which would make sense given Janus's history. "Yeah, well maybe you are better off trapped in the subconscious, no one wants you around anyway. I'm sure your brother won't miss you."

This time Remus didn't continue speaking and Logan understood that he wasn't getting more info right now.

"I am sorry Remus, Virgil has been a little over the edge lately with Janus up in the primary mindscape." Bad wording Logic, now he looks more sad. "I am in no way trying to excuse his actions, perhaps I could talk to him later. Make him see the error in his thinking, possibly getting him to apologize."

"Thanks Logan." Satisfactory, he isn't even using a nickname.

"If I’m not intruding too much, why didn't you go to Janus for help?"

"Intruding is my thing logical meat bag" That one's creative "but he's busy and you seemed good at comforting V-movie, so I guessed you could comfort me too. Well fuck me gently with a chainsaw, I sound like Roman."

"I guess you do not want anything to do with chainsaws, but I appreciate that you would come to me for help. I am not in any way qualified in dealing with emotions, but I am suitable for providing physical help, techniques do not depend in whether you are very sad or mad at someone eating your last crofter jar." Remus smiled, which was good.

"Well that was fun." Remus stretched and half laid on the bed, his legs dangling on the edge. "But you seemed pretty out of it Wikipedia, when I came in" So much for looking collected, then.

"I was not doing well, but I am fine now"

"You can't just not tell me what bothered you, I need to know what to hit." That was nice, in its own way.

"I am afraid you cannot hit my problems, Remus"

"If you don't tell me I'll have to disagree, Logan”

"Well, why would I lie to you if it doesn't benefit me?" A short idea dashed through Logan's head, and he followed it. "Remus"

"Janus lies without reason, Logan"

"I am sure he has his reasons, Remus"

"You don't know that, Logan"

"You don't know that either, Remus"

"Logan?"

"Remus?"

"You're good at avoiding issues, glasses." Maybe Logan laughed a bit, not that he would admit it.

"I like you, but if you don't tell me I won't leave your room till eternity." Logan did not appreciate the idea of Remus in his room for an eternity, whatever that meant given that Thomas, and per se his sides, won't live an eternity.

"It is difficult to explain, but let's just say that nothing caused my distress." Remus launched himself forward to sit down properly, one of his hands playing with his mustache.

"I belive I am feeling and experiencing things that haven't happened to me. I am unsure of the cause but I know for certain that it is not an emotional response to something that happened to my person."

"Do you know when it started?" Serious Remus voice, that is definitely scary.

"I do not remember"

"So you had a crisis but you didn't know why it happened."

"Yes and I did not tell you anything about a crisis, how do you- nmg" A hand pressed his lips together, making him unable to speak.

"I think I figured out and I am not smarter than you, probably." The hands off now, that's good.

"Well then, what is it?"

"I do not know how this happens, but I know why it does. Still no clue?"

"No, I am afraid I do not know. Emotions are not my expertise."

"I don't think this has anything to do with emotions. Ok, I'm going to give you the data and see if you can complete the puzzle, live up to your title Sherlock." That nickname made Logic all warm inside, not because he was being called Sherlock but because Remus meant it as a compliment and not an insult.

"You were feeling bad emotions but they weren't yours. I was feeling bad emotions. At the same time." Logan could almost physically feel the click his brain made while connected the dots, every time he had seen Remus sad or angry after he had had an episode, but as they have also happened without seeing him, there was no need to make a connection before. But it was obvious, of course it was. Obvious as it was, it still left option for a lot of questions, like for example, why?

“Ah, well.” Logan had to stop talking, the realization dawning on him. If this is what Remus was feeling, maybe that wasn’t so good. Because he knew what he had gone through, and if he had a reason, it had probably been worse. “Well, that is a lot to take in. Remus, you have gone through a lot.” A pause for air, so he wouldn’t drown in all the weird feelings he was having now. It was probably Remus, or him, or both. “You don’t need to deal with this alone anymore.”

“I wouldn’t want to drag you more into hell with me.” Sadness, and this time Logan knew it wasn’t his, even if Remus’s smile tried to convince him otherwise.

“You are not dragging me anywhere, because we are sitting on my bed and you did not choose your feelings to go to me.” Another beat of silence, this time less dense.

“I think it happens both ways.”

“Oh. That would make sense.” Logan did not want to think of what that implied, had the other side felt the anger he couldn’t control when it escaped its grasp and flooded his senses, or was he safe. No, he probably knows now, think clearly Logic.

“Don't worry dicktective, I’m not going to judge you. I don’t do that, not even kink shaming! Unless that is your kink, then maybe I’d make an exception for you.” Logan figured he tried to sound suggestive, but in all honesty he just sounded tired. He was tired too, so tired he could jawn. So he did, at the same time as Remus. Remus smiled afterwards, less maniacal, more soft. Logan smiled back.

“We are soulmates, Logan.” The logical side was taken aback. He barely knew Remus and he was sure that soulmates meant a declaration of love so good it was as if it was chosen by the universe.

“No?” Yes, appropriate response Logan, five stars would recommend.

“I mean, that’s the drill right?. We share emotions, we share a soul. Isn’t that soulmate 101.”

“Soulmates aren’t real, those are just fairy tales.”

“Maybe Thomas wanted them to be real, so he made them real in his messed up mind.”

“That, that actually makes sense.”

“Look, it’s even making me intelligent. I should hang around your room more often.” An offer perhaps, to see where this goes. Logan is very dense right now, but he nods unsure of everything.

“Why me? I’m the least emotional side.”

“That might be what you think, but you don’t know everything.”

“It’s terrifying.”

“Not knowing or soulmates?”

“Both.”

“I figured. I am pretty scary.” A feeling of discomfort, but this time is his own.

“Not you, emotions. I would react the same way if it was any other side. Maybe not Patton, as he insists on calling me his kiddo and that would be uncomfortable.”

“I’m morally depraved and it would still feel weird.”

“Yes.”

“Yeah.” Silence, this time they are just lost in thought. A minute passes, maybe ten. Logan isn’t keeping track of time. It doesn’t matter anymore, not when his world just tilted a bit to the side.

“Logan?”

“Remus?”

“How the fuck are we going to tell the others?”

“We'll figure it out, let's worry about ourselves now.”

"Thanks Lolo."

"You're welcome Remus."

He wasn’t really sure of anything. But with Remus by his side, sounding so confident and yet so scared, maybe things would turn out ok. He was greeted with happiness, a feeling that wasn’t his but still belonged, somehow. And somehow, he knew Remus was receiving happiness as well.

@tsshipmonth2020

[chameleonwritess]

⚠️⚠️SPOILERS AHEAD!!⚠️⚠️

Ok, first up, Thomas and his crew are SO talented and I will never be over how hard they all work to bring us incredible content. Now onto the video!!

• Ok so I am SO glad that Patton and Deceit are talking out their differences and Thomas is giving Deceit a seat at the figurative table but I can’t help but fear for how Virgil is going to react to all this. Especially after how we left things off with him in the last video- this can NOT be good for him

• It wouldn’t be a post by me if I didn’t yell about Roman Sanders for ages so here I go:

He blames this on himself and you can sort of see throughout the entire video how much he thinks Thomas’s happiness is his responsibility. Whilst he did get listened to this episode, he also was very clearly feeling like his contributions weren’t helping and he really needs a hug. Let me hug him, please.

•Also, at the end?? First of all, I understand why Deceit (Janus? Janis? How is it spelt?? I’m presuming the first one, more on Deceit in a second) made that comment about Remus to Roman but you can SEE how much it hurts, especially because of the funhouse mirror analogy Roman made last episode, but I also get why Roman laughed at Deceit’s name. He’s done that for pretty much everyone’s name- it’s just who Roman is and if anything, it was the most familial he acted towards Deceit all episode. It just really killed me to see Roman that upset

• Right, I’m not done with Roman entirely but Deceit. Janus. I nearly screamed at the name reveal (lowkey salty it wasn’t Gilbert THANKS TIK TOK) and the whole taking his glove off symbolism but this episode really emphasised that the sides aren’t good vs bad sides and that ALL of them just want what’s best for Thomas. From Roman’s insistance that Deceit was still evil, though, despite Deceit backing Roman up and Roman not even necessarily being on Patton’s side (despite the battle where he was literally on Patton’s- I’m just gonna shut up) makes me think there is a history there even more than before. I need answers, Thomathy!!!

•Last little thing- Logan my sweet nerd how I love you you’re just the best!! Janus was so dorky at the end it was adorable I mayhaps love him (not in a straight way though ewww I’m not het haha)

I would comment on Patton but I’ve had complicated feelings about Patton for a while and my brain HURTS bc it’s so late here in the UK and I’m lacking sleep anyway.

TLDR: I’m still a Roman stan, I love Janus and I’m very nervous and excited for more content

[its-pronounced-quoassoint]

Power Rangers AU-Chapter 9

Pairings: romantic Logicality, Prinxiety, Demus, Remile

This Chapter features: Roman centric, brief coming out story, again another ‘filler episode’, sorry

This Chapter Warnings: swearing, talks of passive aggressive homophobia and transphobia from another character, talks of therapy and seeing a therapist, mentioned first kiss, food and eating, sympathetic dark sides

Credit for this AU goes to @when-day-met-the-knight (specifically this post).

If you would like to be added to the taglist for this fic please let me know in reply!

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Chapter 9-Faith

Roman would always remember his first homecoming. Logan had been his closest friend since the fifth grade, but in the few months leading up to Homecoming he had been pulling away. Roman didn't know why at the time but he was determined to get their friendship back to how it used to be by asking him to homecoming. Roman remembered it all so vividly. Logan wearing a long-sleeve pale blue dress and ankle boots. Roman wearing his favorite dress shirt and pants. The two arrived at the dance, went into the full gym, and listened to one song. Then Logan ran.

Roman was so shocked he couldn't move. He just watched Logan go. Roman looked around, worried that people could see him all alone. Then he ran after Logan, scolding himself for even thinking about other people's thoughts before Logan. He was terrified. Why had Logan been so distant? What had Roman done wrong? He thought this dance would help, but now it seemed to have backfired so bad he might lose his best friend.

When Logan returned to Roman's worried side, he was with Patton Valentine, a sweet boy who Roman had subscribed to on YouTube months back. The most surprising sight however, was that Logan and Patton, who were roughly the same size, had switched clothes. When Roman asked about the outfit swap Logan simply smiled and asked Roman to join him outside, saying a quiet goodbye to Patton. That was the night Logan had come out to Roman as trans. Then it became the night Roman came out to Logan as gay. Then the night Logan also came out as gay. Then the night they both talked about crushes without it being as awkward as before. Finally, the night they both shared a bag of microwave popcorn with Remus while they sat in the twins' treehouse and watched Star Wars Clone Wars on a portable DVD player.

Roman also knew that he would never forget his second Homecoming. Logan had decided not to go, and Roman figured he wouldn't push it. Roman actually had a boyfriend named Breyden at the time so he went with him. Roman had a good time and at first it didn't seem like that night would be all too magical. Until Breyden kissed Roman. Roman's first kiss. At a school dance, with a cute guy, and during the song 'Die Young' by Ke$ha. Roman's and Breyden's relationship lasted only a few months after that, but it wasn't a bad breakup. Roman still considered Breyden a friend and life went on.

Junior year Homecoming was the first school dance Roman didn't attend. Homecoming was mainly for the Freshmen and Sophomores, besides Roman was busy preparing for his first lead role in a musical.

Now, as a senior, Roman was spending his Homecoming night sneaking Logan into his car and driving with him and Remus to Thomas's for impromptu therapy. The three arrived at Thomas's fairly quickly, but not without Logan complaining that Roman didn't have to pick him up.

Patton was already there when they entered. He sat on the couch looking down the hallway toward's Emile and Thomas's rooms. Thomas was in the kitchen making something that was sizzling, and humming along to Wicked.

"Hey, Pat." Roman greeted him.

"Heya kiddos!" Patton smiled cheerily back.

"Whatcha makin' back there Thomathy?" Remus asked, plopping himself down practically on top of Patton and pulling out his phone.

"Quesadillas." He replied.

"Oh that sounds good." Roman said.

"Smells good too!" Remus shouted distractedly. "So is Dee here yet?"

"No, sorry." Patton shrugged.

"Hmm." Remus only looked at his phone more intently.

"What are you two?" Logan asked, taking his place next to Patton as well, though farther away that Remus was.

"What?" Remus asked, an eyebrow raised.

"You and Dee. I'm confused by the manner of your relationship." Logan began.

"We're friends. I think. Most of the time. Maybe." Remus said with a sideways glance.

"I assume you know that answer made no sense whatsoever." Logan leaned forward to look at the other boy.

Remus huffed and put his phone down. "Look, I've told him how I feel about him and he just ignored it. He wants to stay, whatever we are, and that's fine with me."

"That's bull crap Remus and you know it." Roman stated.

"Well, it's not my call Roman." Remus retorted. "I'm not gonna force him. Besides, even if he wanted to date me-"

"I'm still not convinced you two aren't dating now." Logan leaned back.

"-I wouldn't go out with him. He's still friends with Kayley and I personally want to rip out each fake eye lash and injection on her stupid face." Remus growled.

"Wow." Logan pursed his lips.

"Oh I can't stop picturing it." Roman groaned.

"How sure are you that he doesn't want to go out with you?" Patton asked.

"Pretty sure. Like I said, he ignored me earlier. And more to the point he's friends with Kayley!! She disgusts me." Remus went back to his phone. "She always goes on about how much of an ally she is! She said the A in LGBTQIA was for ally. Like bitch, no!"

"Language." Thomas and Patton said at the same time.

"I think I'm allowed to call her a bitch." Remus sneered.

"I don't like her too much either Remus, but you still shouldn't call people that." Patton said.

"Why don't you like her?" Roman asked.

"Like Remus said she talks constantly about how much of an ally she is, but when Juleka came out as a lesbian, Kayley started saying just awful things and called her slurs." Patton stated. "She kept talking about how Juleka had a crush on her and how gross it was that she's gay."

"When I began my process of coming out she pretended to support me, but when it came to actually helping me with bullying or actual transitioning, she didn't do anything." Logan added.

"What? Why didn't you say anything?" Roman asked astonished.

"Well, it didn't matter, you enjoyed sitting at her lunch table, besides it really didn't bother me as much as it may seem." Logan dismissed.

"Well shit." Roman's voice cracked. "I can't believe I let her just get away with this."

"It's not your fault Roman, it's not your responsibility to police her for her actions." Logan stated.

"But I still could have noticed. Why do I even sit with her?" Roman ran a hand through his hair and knawed on his bottom lip. He knew what Logan was saying was true, but it still didn't sit well. He was supposed to be there for protect his friends when they needed and he had let this girl get away with hurting them for too long.

"Kayley only wants to sit next to you for clout you know." Remus interjeted.

"Well I'm not sitting with her any more." Roman scoffed.

"You can sit with me." Patton suggested. "Naomi thinks you're all very entertaining."

"What are you guys talking about?" Dee's voice asked from the door, shutting down the conversation immediately.

"Nothing." The four replied, looking in different directions.

"Okay then." Dee shrugged, not sounding totally convinced. He went over the the couch and sat down next Remus.

It was quiet, though not uncomfortably so. Roman perked up when he heard a door open and close down the hallway and Emile stepped into view.

"How's this?" Emile asked, walking down the hallway. He entered the livingroom and gave a small twirl.

"I like this one a lot more." Patton told him.

"Like what a lot more?" Logan asked.

"The outfit." Patton explained. "Emile's got a date to homecoming tonight!"

"Who ya going with?" Remus asked.

"My girlfriend, Sara." Emile responded.

Everyone seemed to be looking at Emile in some form of confusion on Roman spoke up.

"Oh my god for a second there I forgot straight people exist!" He laughed. The seniors all began laughing with him.

"Ha, ha." Emile crossed his arms. "And just so you know, I'm not straight. I just don't feel like labelling myself right now."

"You shouldn't be pressured to anyway." Logan stated.

"Thank you Logan." Emile nodded. "Now! Outfit thoughts?"

"I already said I liked it. Very cute." Patton remarked.

"I have no issues with the clothing." Logan said plainly.

Roman examined what he was wearing. A shell-white dress shirt, small pink bow-tie, and black pants. Simple, comfortable, adorable; Emile.

"Very dashing." Roman told him.

"Alright by my standards." Remus shrugged.

"You have no standards." Dee pointed out. "Very nice Emile."

"Great!" Emile sighed. "Alright, have fun with therapy tonight, I'm leaving."

A series of farewells were said to Emile as he left, and the Rangers went back to silence. Thomas finished making quesadillas and began handing them out. They munched while awaiting Renette's arrival. It didn't take too long, but Roman had watched Remus practically inhale his quesadilla and he didn't need anything more. When Renette knocked and opened the door she gestured for each of them to enter a car. Roman saw she was on the phone and looked particularaly exhausted.

Roman hurried his friends out the door and into cars before they could protest his choices in seating. Patton and Logan next to each other in the first one. Remus and Dee in the next. Finally, Roman and Thomas in the last one. Roman figured his matchmaking for the night was over and hopped in happily.

Renette got into the passenger seat of the last car and looked back to smile at Roman and Thomas.

"No! Listen to me, you listen to your mother." Renette continued, signaling for the driver to start the car.

The other cars started their engines and they pulled away.

"You know what I mean when I say listen to your mother. You're not going out tonight. I don't care that it's friday. If your mom said no and your dad said no then what makes you think I'm gonna say yes?!" Renette continued. "Oh don't you 'Ma' me Remington! You've been sick for a whole week, and you know that those kids do-"

She listened to what the other person was saying.

"Well I didn't know Emile was going to be there you should have led with that! Emile going is your most valid argument so far!" Renette pasued again. "No this doesn't mean you can go! One good argument from you doesn't change my mind. Besides, your mom and dad both said no, even if I wanted you to go I'm outnumbered! Nope, I'm sorry hun but I'm not risking it! You're sick and this is Florida, people don't exactly vaccinate down here. End of discussion."

Roman looked out the window trying to make it seem like he wasn't eaves dropping.

"Yes yes, love you goodnight." Renette hung up and sighed into her chair. "Roman, if you ever want kids meet my son, he'll change that real quick."

Thomas, the driver, and Renette laughed.

"Then again, you've met Emile so you probably think kids are just little angels." Renette added.

"Oh he's certainly not a little angel." Thomas rolled his eyes. "Emile may seem like it, but I've seen him sucker punch people a few times."

"Only cause you trained him to!" Renette laughed.

It fell into a lull of discussion between the adults after that. Roman pulled out his phone and began texting Logan. Until Patton took over to text using Logan's phone. When the cars stopped it was at a building a ways outside of town. The sun was going down earlier and earlier as winter drew closer, and currently the sky was just fading into a deep blue.

Roman, Thomas, and Renette stepped out of the car. The other Rangers followed quickly and together they all went inside. It was well lit and smelled of lemon scented cleaner. Renette led them past a few doors until reaching a counter with a woman sat in front of it.

"Hey Janica, how are ya?" Renette asked.

"I'm doing good Renette. They should all be ready for you boys." Janica replied, she handed Renette a piece of paper. "I need your signature here." She pointed to a line at the top. Renette signed and Janica took the paper back, then gave Renette another paper. "These are their assigned rooms."

"Thanks Janica." Renette smiled, taking the paper and moving to enter the door right of Janica's desk.

"Oh, best of wishes to you and your family Renette. There's a little something that a few people in the department put together for you. We heard about Remy and wanted ot help." Janica smiled.

"Thanks!" Renette smiled warmly, opening the door and walking in. "Okay boys, Roman you're room one. Logan room two, Dee room three, Remus room four, Patton room five, and Thomas you know where to go."

"Thanks Renette." Thomas nodded.

Roman looked to his right and saw a stretch of doors, marked one to fifteen. He walked all the way down with the others, each friend leaving him to head into their respective doors. Roman finally reached the door with a bronze 1 nailed to the front and inhaled. He put his hand on the doornob and twisted. He felt his stomach tighten but he didn't entirely know why.

"Roman?" A sweet voice inside asked.

"Yes." Roman nodded. He looked over to see a larger woman sitting casually in a chair. The room smelled like carmel scented candles.

"Come on in." She told him. "It's okay, whatever you're comfortable with. Want some tea, coffee, water?"

"Um, no, I'm good." Roman replied, taking a seat on the grey leather couch across from her.

"Okay. My name is Doctor Faith Hop, you can call me Faith." She smiled. "Are you ready to begin?"

---

It was Tuesday the next week when Renette showed up again.

"Hopefully you all set up a schedule to meet with your therapists weekly?" She asked.

The Rangers all nodded.

"Wonderful." Renette smiled. "Now, a couple things I need to get out of the way. One, I set up a meeting with a couple friends of mine, some higher-ups in foreign governments. It's very important that you meet and discuss with them next week. Two, I need to hear any and all strategies from this moment on. Especially now. That fiasco during the last attack cannot happen again. We need results. I'd hope you all have come up with some idea as to how you can get any closer to defeating Virgilius. I want to hear everything."

"Okay, uh, Renette, what do you mean we're meeting with your friends?" Roman asked. "I don't really have a lot of time to drive somewhere like Washington D.C."

"Yeah and my moms are getting really sick of my excuses as to why I can't be home for take-out night." Dee said. "I miss eating chineese food with them."

"Don't worry about that, my friends are coming here. I cleared this with Thomas weeks in advance."

"And you're only telling us now?" Logan quirked an eyebrow.

"I could only tell you now. Anyway, you all share science class together I believe, and your teacher and our current official working at the school has agreed to give the whole grade a large group project, with which you will claim you are all working on Saturday, so you can arrive here." Renette said quickly.

Roman looked at her incredulously. "Mrs. Ryans?"

"Yes, she works for me." Renette smiled.

"She works for you?" Patton's eyes went wide.

"I believe I just said that." Renette stared.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Dee put his hands up. "So you're telling me, that Mrs. Ryans works for the government and has been spying on us-"

"I certainly never said she was spying on you but yes since you've become Rangers she has been keeping a closer eye on you."

". . . Right." Dee deadpanned. "So she's making our entire grade do a group project just so we have an excuse to leave the house on Saturday?"

"That is correct." Renette nodded.

"If we're here on Saturday when are we going to work on said project?" Logan asked.

"Well that's not my problem." Renette dismissed.

"Hold up, hold up!" Roman started.

"No, no, no, no, no." Dee started waving his hand.

"Wait a minute, what?!" Patton exclaimed.

"I'm gonna fail science." Remus sank into his blow up pink chair.

"Oh you boys will figure it out." Renette tried to wave off their concerns. "What you need to focus on is the meeting with representatives from the UN who expect a level of professionalism from the only people on Earth that have acess to weapons that can defeat the Dragon Witch."

"Oh god." Roman sighed.

"I shouldn't go." Remus shook his head.

"You're all going. Whether you like it or not." Renette stated. "Now, I am hoping, praying, you boys have some kind of lead or strategy that can be used against Virgilius."

It went quiet.

"What happened to those letters you found on the map?" Thomas asked.

"Oh, yeah, that turned out to be a dead end." Roman grimaced.

"What letters?" Renette asked.

"Um, yesterday, we were looking at this map of the county." Patton got up and pointed. "Logan put pins into the places where Virgilius previously attacked. Even attacks from a year ago. Anway, we were just looking at em' and I thought these kinda make the shape of an 'H'."

"We figured he was trying to say 'help' or send a message." Dee sighed.

"And?" Renette asked impatiently.

"When we traced them all out it said 'Ha suckers!'." Roman said in an annoyed tone.

"Exclimation mark included." Logan reminded.

Remus started laughing. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I mean I'm not really that sorry, but come on that's good. Like he got us."

Roman looked at his brother and just shook his head slowly.

"Clever child." Renette pondered. "Distracting you, throwing you off his scent."

"We're pretty sure he's like in his twenties." Roman said. "He's tall so."

"Yeah taller than me." Remus said, almost impressed.

"Okay, good to know." Renette nodded. "But, other than your failed attempt, do you have anything more for me?"

Roman looked around. Logan, the one who usually concocts their plans, had nothing. However, when Roman looked to the others, he saw them exchanging glances. Thomas, Remus, Dee, and Patton lookedas if they were all in silent debate with each other. Finally Thomas gave a firm nod and the four looked to Renette.

"We may have something." Patton told her.

Taglist:

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[gothighunicorntolerance]

Lord of the Wild (one shot)

AO3

His journey had been uneventful so far- that is, until his horse had reared up and he had fallen off. 

“Indigo! Indigo, come back sweetie!” Patton called out to his horse who had run off into the woods. Brambles and beaches tore at his clothes, drawing pinpricks of blood on his uncovered arms. He could only imagine how terrified the horse might be! 

Patton knew that starting off the path was unsafe, but he needed to find Indigo! And besides, he could just retrace his steps! 

“Ind- agh!”

A net sprung from underneath the leaves where it had been hidden, trapping him inside as it dangled from a tree.

“Hey! Help!” Patton shouted, suddenly afraid. But this was only a hunter’s trap for game animals, right? The hunter would surely be along soon to help him out. Right? 

Suddenly, Patton realized that in his capture, his glasses had fallen to the forest floor, which must have been ten feet from where he dangled in the net. 

“Help!” 

Patton kept shouting until his voice was hoarse and the sun had gone down. Resigned to his fate that he wouldn’t be getting down until someone came to check the net, Patton attempted to close his eyes and sleep. But every sound kept him awake, every gust of wind made the net swing and spin. 

Then, just as his eyes were about to close, he heard the crunch of leaves below him. 

“Hey!” Patton looked down and saw a hooded figure. “Help!”

The figure looked up at him, their face obscured by the heavy black hood. Patton watched as they walked to the tree, and suddenly he plummeted to the ground.

He bit back a help of pain as his ankle twisted on the impact. 

Still tangled in the net, Patton looked up at the hooded figure.

“Gosh, thanks! I don’t know how long I could have been there if you hadn’t come!”

He attempted to wiggle his way out, the figure still standing, unmoving. 

“Hey, uh, a little help here?” Patton asked, pointing to the knot that held the net together. 

The figure moved, and instead of undoing the knot like Patton had expected, they grabbed the rope that had been attached to the tree branch.

“What are you doing?” Patton shouted, hoping the waver in his voice didn’t register with them.

The figure remained silent as they dragged the net with ease, even though Patton thrashed and grabbed foliage in an attempt to stop them. 

“Please! Where are you taking me?” Patton cried, wincing when his ankle was hit by rocks or branches. 

They must have had enough of his pleas, as they stopped walking and turned to Patton. 

Instead of an answer like Patton expected, they drew out a long metal staff from inside their robes. 

Patton didn’t have time to shout before the staff connected with his temple and his vision faded to black.

***

Patton woke to the sound of voices. Struggling to open his eyes, he saw a crowd had gathered around where he stood, all of their faces hidden, all dressed in identical black robes. Even though he could see none of their faces, he knew they were all staring at him, and as he realized that he also suddenly realized that he was now shirtless. 

He tried to take a step back, but found his hands were tied above his head to a wooden post, the tips of his toes just barely reaching the ground. 

“Prepare the offering, Brother.” Someone in the crowd said. 

A jolt of fear ran through him. Was that what he was to become? An offering for some higher power? Patton had doubted the existence of the powers religions and cults worshiped, but he had no doubt that he would die because of their belief. 

“One for the ground, uncaringly trod,” a sharp pain ran through Patton’s back as a sharp crack sounded in the air. Biting back a scream, he felt blood begin to drop down as the gravelly voice rhymed. 

“Two for the birds, fearfully awed.”

Another crack. 

“Three for the fish, painfully caught.”

Patton couldn’t tell if it was the crowd or himself repeating the verse as another crack split the air. 

“Four for the horse, unwillingly bought.”

His back had gone numb, and Patton couldn’t choke his screams down anymore. 

“Five for the fire, painfully tamed.”

How long had it been? It seemed like it had been an eternity since he found himself tied to the post.

“Six for the floods, unfairly blamed.”

Another lash, another welt on his back.

“Seven for the winds, shamefully rang.”

“Please… stop!” Patton cried, unable to hold back the tears or the shrieks. How long would his pain last? Was this how he was going to die? 

“And eight for the quakes, to bring you all down.”

If there was more, Patton couldn’t tell. His head slumped to his chest, and though he could feel himself being moved, he could do nothing to stop them. 

He was powerless. 

He was alone. 

He was going to die. 

That was the only thing he was certain of now: that these people would bring him to his end, whether it would be infection or blood loss or some gruesome way, there would be no getting out of this alive for Patton. And there was absolutely nothing he could do except perhaps prolong his suffering. 

So still he fought as cloaked arms dragged Patton to what looked like a giant shepard’s hook. Every injury became tenfold as painful as the cultists-was that what they were?- forced Patton’s arms above his head once again, the cuts in his back becoming worse as he was hoisted off the ground, kicking his feet in vain until a two grabbed his ankles while a third wrapped thick rope around them to stop him from thrashing. 

Patton continued to scream for help, to shriek at them to stop, until a gag was shoved into his mouth, rendering him almost mute except for the muffled grunts he managed to get out. 

He shook his head, resisting his hands getting tied to the curve of the hook until someone took a clump of hair in their fist, fighters digging into his scalp, while tied a blindfold around his eyes, digging into the back of his head. 

The hands holding him down finally let go, and Patton's face paled as he realized what had happened. 

They had hung him there like cow’s meat at a butcher’s shop. 

That last thing he heard was “The Lord of the Wild will be pleased with his offering.”

***

Patton hung there for- seconds? Hours? Days? Every breeze swung him in a different direction, every caw of a bird seemed to signal that his time was up- and when it was, would he go peacefully? Relieved? Ready to be rid of the pain? Or would he keep fighting? What would he do? Drifting in and out of consciousness, he wondered. 

His wrists strained at the weight of his own body, and Patton felt as if his arms were about to snap off and let him plummet to the ground. How fitting of an end that would be, to be rid of the pain in the same way he had brought it upon himself in his stupidity. 

It seemed like an eternity had passed before he heard a sound below him- on the ground! By now, the feel of grass seemed like a distant memory. Before he died he would have liked to run on the grass barefoot one last time, just as he had done as a child with his brothers, their only care being who could catch the most fireflies. Patton had always lost, always a little too slow to catch one.

Now the hope of living became just as distant as those fireflies had seemed. 

Still dangling there like a worm on a baited fishing hook, Patton heard another sound identical to the first- a grunt of pain. No, they couldn’t have kidnapped someone else already! They couldn’t subject anyone else to the pain Patton had been through- sobs hacked at his throat, the full wave of despair crashing into him. These cultists would continue to kidnap and kill people until they were all dead-

“I’m going to get you down. Please stay strong.”

What? Had he heard that right? That must be Death himself talking to him. And in that moment, Patton knew what he was going to do. He would let Death take him, let Death ease his suffering. Patton had always wondered about where you went when you died, and he supposed he was about to find out. 

He felt a tendril of… something… wrap around his waist. He briefly attempted to shale off his blindfold, but like so many previous escape attempts, it was in vain. 

The pressure on his wrists suddenly released, his arms numb and stiff. 

Something solid pressed into his side, and- was that grass? Yes! Patton had never been so glad for the grass that prickled around him, pressing into his cheek and side. 

Just has suddenly as it had been taken from him, the pinprick light of the far away stars returned to his vision. 

Patton angled his head to see the person who had saved him. 

Attempting to speak, he realized the gag was still shoved in his mouth, so he could only grunt. 

“Shh, it’s okay, I’m going to help you,” they said, pulling the gag out.

“Tha- thank you,” Patton replied, his voice hoarse. Was it from screaming or disuse? 

“It’s okay,” they said again, cutting Patton’s wrists and ankles loose from the rope. “You’re safe now. Can you stand?”

Grunting from the effort, Patton eventually got on one leg, then the other- he shrikes as he put pressure on his foot, the one that had been twisted in his first fall. Stumbling back to the grass, his savior caught him. 

“I’ll carry you, then.”

Patton looked around as he was picked up, moving his eyes as it hurt to turn his head, and saw for the first time what had caused the grunts he had heard. 

Scattered around the cleaning were a dozen corpses, all cloaked in black. Weeds and vines covered them, as if they had died a hundred years ago and had been grown over. 

Patton immediately retched into the grass. 

“S-sorry-” he trembled. He had thought this person his rescuer, but would they simply kill him, too? Choke him with vines as they had done with the cultists? 

“I swear I’m not going to hurt you,” they said. And though Patton didn’t quite believe them, he allowed himself to be carried from the clearing that had become the site of a massacre, if only because he was too exhausted to fight back. 

He could have imagined it, but Patton swore he heard the person carrying him say, “Thomathy, find some bandages, please.”

***

Patton lay on his chest in an unfamiliar bed. Was this the afterlife? Surely the afterlife, whatever it was, would have comfortable beds like this one? 

He looked to his left, and saw a man sitting in the corner. Groaning, Patton tried to see what the man was doing. He suddenly looked up and smiled. Patton became acutely aware of the bandages wrapped around his torso. 

“You’re awake! You probably don’t want to move too much, you got messed up pretty good,” he said, standing. In his hand he held a block of wood and- a knife!

Patton gasped in fear. This man really was going to kill him! Trying to move somewhere, anywhere else, the pain began to set in again. His back was on fire, his wrists screaming for him to stay still. 

The man’s eyes widened as he realized what was happening. He dropped the knife and stepped back. 

“Listen to me, okay? You’re safe here. You’re safe. No one is going to hurt you.” 

Patton let his words sink in, and relaxed after a moment. 

“Am I dead?” Patton whispered, his throat sore. 

“No, I don’t think so. But then again, we never really know.” 

“Who are you?” If this man wasn't going to hurt him, then what was he going to do? Patton wanted answers, and he wanted them now. 

“My name is Remus, what’s yours?” 

“I- I’m Patton.”     “Hello, Patton. Is there something you’d like to talk about? Your injuries will likely take a long time to heal, so I hope we can be friends.

“Injuries? What- what did they do to me?”     Remus sighed. “Well, they’re a cult, as you’ve probably figured out. They think I’m some kind of deity or sorcerer or whatever-”

“You? That’s you? The-”     “The Lord of the Wild, yeah, that’s what they call me. They think I’m some malevolent entity or something, which is all bullshit, of course. I’m not even that powerful of a sorcerer. Anyways, you probably really don’t want to hear about what happened in detail, but you lost a lot of blood and have several broken bones. Your back looks like shit. No offense, of course, but they did horrible things to you. And I’m so, so sorry that you had to go through all that on behalf of someone’s delusional beliefs.”

“How long has it been?” Patton dreaded the answer but needed to know.

“They kidnapped you five days ago.” Remus answered, apologetic.     Patton said nothing for a moment, thinking. Five days… less than a week ago he had been happily on the road, no destination in mind but going where he wanted. Now? Now he had been kidnapped and tortured and sacrificed! He should be afraid right now, but… he wasn’t.

“Who’s Thomathy?” Patton asked, breaking his silence. Was there someone else here? From what Patton could see, the house, if it could be called that, seemed to have the back half inside a small cave where he lay now and the front half almost like a log cabin. Surely there couldn't be room for three people? 

“Oh!” Remus said, brightening. “This is Thomathy!” 

Remus slowly walked over to where Patton lay on the bed of animal furs, his hand cupped around a- rat?

“He’s my assistant,” Remus said proudly as the rodent in his hands squeaked. Was Remus delusional? Off of Patton’s confused look, Remus explained, “I talk to rats and mice. I give them protection, and they give me help!”     It made slightly more sense, but Patton had never heard of anyone talking to rats. In the stories it had always been princes or princesses talking to birds, or perhaps deer.  But Patton never heard of talking to rats, of all creatures. 

Thomathy squeaked and climbed out of Remus’s hands onto the bed where Patton lay. “Hello there,” Patton moved his hand, a task that felt almost impossible, and pet the small rat on the head. The rats he had in the village where he lived before deciding to go on a journey had all been huge, mean, ugly things, but Remus’s rats were so cute! They were just tiny little furry babies! 

“Rats are actually really smart! Thomathy knows how to count to thirty, which is the highest any rat knows how!”

Thomathy seemed to stand up a little straighter at Remus’s praise. 

“I’m going to go get some food. Thomathy, keep Patton comfortable for me, okay? Patton, if you need anything, just tell Thomathy. He’ll know what to do,” Remus walked toward the cabin part of the house after giving Thomathy a pat. 

The rat curled up beside Patton on the pillow as Patton drifted off into a dreamless yet restful sleep.

A moment after Patton woke, Remus walked in with a wooden bowl, his hand covered in red. Red- so much red- red blood- 

Patton started to breath rapid, shallow breaths as he saw the redness drip down Remus’s palms, the stickiness of it clinging to his green tunic-

“Patton! Patton, look, it’s just berry juice. Patton, take a deep breath for me, that’s it.” 

Patton shuddered as he did as Remus said. 

“I- I’m sorry…” Patton’s voice hitched as his eyes watered. 

“It’s okay. It’s okay,” Remus reassured him. “I know what it’s like, to have your mind hate you, to be afraid of things that don’t make sense. Tell me what I can do, Patton. Am I allowed to hug you?” Remus grabbed a water jug and washed his hands of the red juice.     Patton nodded, and Remus wrapped his arms around Patton, careful not to disturb the bandages. For the first time in what seemed to be forever, Patton felt safe. 

There, in Remus’s embrace, Patton could finally breathe. He could finally, finally stop fighting for the chance to live, because at that moment, he knew he would. 

Patton would survive.

[spacegaywritings]

The Wonders of Sleep - Chap 1/5  “Productive Night)

Summary: A bunch of oneshots on Virgil making sure the other sides sleep after long days of work and being busy. This time, Logan has worked until the next day and still refuses to sleep until a certain intervention stops him from getting more coffee.

Tw: trigger?? nO only SOFT RIGHTS, analogical, virgil, logan, nap, softness, domestic fluff. Fluff. Self care, trust, sleep, snuggles, cuddles, naps

 ao3 ! / next chapter .

Support me? KoFi.

Story under the cut! (1326 Words)

Loud typing filled the air of the commons. Tips and traps were emitted by the consistently pestered keyboard as Logan was writing away at a first draft of logical facts that would end up woven into the latest script of yet another episode of the Sanders Sides series Thomathy had created.

 His unoccupied hand reached for the cup of coffee, his fingers wrapping around its handle. It was cream white. A colour fitting into basically any setting. This is why Logan appreciated it. No matter what or where, a good cream colour fit any occasion or location.

It definitely aligned with the rest of furniture Patton had asked Roman to put into their common space.

 When he brought the cup up to his lips, eyes still fixed on the illuminating screen, he stilled down. It was empty. While a bit of remaining smell of dark, unsweetened and bitter coffee greeted him, there was no replenishing liquid left to clear up his senses.

Not to speak of his expanding on his capacity to stay awake further.

 “How unfortunate”, he mumbled to himself as he placed the mug back onto the table and retreated his hand to finish typing up his section.

Finally.

He was not fully done but at least a part of it was ready to be send over to Roman.

 He closed his laptop, glancing over the time in the bottom left corner of the screen.

2:49 am

This was not exactly the prime time of productivity but he had yet to write a frame of safety measurements and otherwise logistic concerns for Roman to consider. It was just a list of things he had to bring up in a meeting with the others in order to make these short videos Thomas made, as well.

To be fair, it just made him remember “vines”. To Logan, these compilations of short sketches were nothing but “vines”. They had to be put into quotations as they were not actual vines such as the plants.

 He got u-.

No, he did not.

Instead of raising to his feet, Logan got somewhat stuck in the process. His butt barely left the soft couch but did not get any further. A certain amount of weight pushed him back down to his seat.

 How odd.

 Logan looked down, mug in his hand and nothing but an empty grab into air with his unoccupied fingers.

Apparently Virgil had placed himself onto his lap while he was immersed in work - not literally, of course, just mentally. It was another of these metaphorical expressions he had picked up.

 “Virgil, what are you doing here?”

 There was no answer.

Huh, strange. Virgil was usually more than fast to shoot back any retort but there was really nothing but silence, not even a flinch.

Any movement and sound were cancelled out.

 Logan squinted, leaning a bit over Virgil to look at his face. It was mostly covered in his bangs. Other than that, he was facing away from Logan, more towards the table with the laptop on it. He had not even realised the weight of a whole head and a pair of shoulders nestling on his lap.

Now there was Virgil and he could not get up to the coffee machine and make himself more coffee.

 “Virgil, please, this is highly unproductive.”

 Maybe it was one of these practical jokes Virgil explained to him? It was worth a “shot” to try and appeal to Virgil from blocking him.

 “This is highly unproductive. It is almost 3am, please let me continue on with my work. Anxiety? Are you ignoring me?” He stared into the closed yes he could see with his back arching a bit further. Virgil looked peaceful.

 They had accepted him a while ago and it had become more and more usual for him to come around and hang out with them despite him having enough after even a few minutes. It must have been due to a lack of consistent social interaction, Logan assumed, for now Virgil was more likely to stay even when a lot of them were together and actively engaging.

It was nice to have a calm person around, especially when Roman and Patton had especially intense days of being... an extra “handful”. Logan did not even know how to phrase it.

 He blinked.

 Now that he thought about it, the weight was sort of nice, maybe hindering him from getting more coffee and postponing his sleep further, yet still somewhat comforting.

It sounded odd but apparently, people sleep better with extra weight since it reduces anxiety and gives the body a feeling of comfort.

 “Virgil?”

 He did not want to wake up the other but he still called for him. It was another illogical action he found himself indulge in more and more.

Sometimes it felt as if the interactions he had with the others made him somewhat dense to sensible actions. Why would he say Virgil’s name for no reason? The idea of risking his sleep was rather bad, to be frank. Virgil needed sleep, it was also 3 am - since when was Virgil on his lap?

 When did Logan get his last coffee? He only remembered sitting down to start on his work in the evening and now it was very early in the morning.

 Well, he did still have a lot of work left to finish . . . Thomathy relied on him.

 “Virgil, please, I have work to do. I really need to keep going.”

 He looked down at the unmoving body and sighed.

 Nothing, not even a single reaction.

If Virgil was secretly awake, he was being rather persistent albeit rather calm about it. Usually, even the slightest bit of stress had him react intensely - which made sense considering he was the metaphysical embodiment of anxiety.

 “I have to finish. Roman and Patton will be lost without me and it will cause you more work to deal with, Virgil.”

 He glanced over the laptop and opened again.

If Virgil did not move, then he would work until he would pass ou-

 Wait.

 Exhausting himself until late into the night and even further meant that Thomathy had to be awake still, had to be awake because of him.

 Logan shoved his glasses up and rubbed his closed eyes. They were so warm.

He cleared his throat and opened up his mouth to speak to nobody in particular.

 “I.. I consider this a good time to catch up on my lost weeks of sleep as there is nothing better to do. Seeing as Virgil has fallen asleep on me”, he declared. Maybe he was addressing Virgil. He certainly was shutting down his idea laptop and putting it back into its respective bag.

 “Well, then. I will succumb to temporary nonsense for now - but only for as long as my mind needs to rest."

 His fingers pushed away the packed up laptop which nudged the empty coffee mug. Another hand wrapped around Virgil in the now completely dark room.

With the light of the laptop gone, only the faint lights in the kitchen (a sort of night light Patton had insisted on) illuminated the living-room a bit.

 Logan adjusted a bit and managed to eventually bring his legs around Virgil’s body and pull the other close to his chest before he buried them in a big blanket.

Props to Patton for keeping blankets in about any space this house knew. A freezing Morality was an inventive side, Logan noted down in appreciation.

 As he cuddled into the couch cushion, he wrapped his arms around Virgil, glasses abandoned on the coffee table.

  “Thanks for the reminder, Virgil. I really forgot how late it had gotten.”

 The logical side allowed himself to fall asleep to the regular rhythm of Virgil’s calm breathing. He could not see the curled up side smile but he knew for a fact that the other was less asleep than he pretended to be.

 One side down.

[today-only-happens-once]

If the dark sides names all end with -us then was Virgil not one of them??? Did he just think he was, or feel like he had to have been??? My anxiety does that to me sometimes which is why I ask... I need answers, Thomathy

I’ve thought about this a bit too (it’s a loose basis for my fic Home, back when CLBG came out) so it’s an interesting thought! And I do kinda love the idea that Orange is gonna named something like “Lucius” or “Aloysius” or something else that ends in “-us” and therefore leave Virgil as an odd one out, caught between them.

[anxiouslyfred]

Dating Remy

Ya know, this is for the Vampiceit au I have with @loveceit but I have been struggling with writing the ending of it cause it romance and I ain’t good at that when it’s projects like this. 

This is how Virgil, Deceit and Remus actually get Remy to join their relationship. There’s talk of abandonment, self doubt and talk about arguments, it even gets kind of angsty for a bit but ends up mostly fluff. Also Remy does sort of pass out, sort of just get to absorbed in his thoughts to have his body react to anything at one point 

Enjoy

I wanna write more about the cafe now

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

"You're moping again. I haven't seen that happen since we got together." Deceit observed, coming to throw an arm around Virgil where he was curled against the arm of the sofa.

Of course Remus wasn't far behind joining them, managing to find a comfortable position over both of their laps. "What's up Blustery? Too much excitement for you to handle all of this?" he asked, blinking up at them.

"Does he hate me? Was this something I should have clarified? But we never clarified anything before that it was just all understood, have I done something wrong then?" The words did nothing to explain what Virgil was moping about and everything to confuse Deceit and Remus even more than before. All they could assume was Virgil had been dating someone but it had been cut off when they got together with him and Virgil was trying to figure out why.

They share a glance before Remus nuzzled into his stomach. "Lightning Storm, who are you talking about? I can't give suggestions without a name at least.”

"Remy of course, I was with them. I'm sure we were together and they always seemed to encourage me trying to help and get to know you better so why is he ignoring me now? He's not even been hanging out with all of us like he always used to do." Virgil spoke like it should have been obvious.

The words did make Deceit realise that while before Remy had just had coffee with him or instead of arguing over Remus being curled up with Virgil only ever joined them, the function hadn't even visited them recently. They'd even missed the show that only he and Deceit liked and had made a point of watching together.

"So we kidnap them, get an explanation and all the cuddles you want only releasing him to let Thomathy get some sleep." Remus nodded before  Deceit could finish checking his recent memories for other things Remy had suddenly changed.

At least the identically shaking heads were expected now. "Give me your arm. I need to think and biting you normally stops you saying too much nonsense."

Virgil started petting Remus's hair as he tried not to panic over the failing relationship and how confused his current dates were about him mentioning it. It had been obvious right? Nobody just cuddles, hangs out and cares for each other as much as Remy and he had been so they had to have been dating. There had even been small forehead or cheek kisses when Remy was helping him to sleep and cuddling together overnight.

"Are you thinking that Remy is now dating all of us or just you?" Deceit asked breaking from his feed for a moment before starting another drink while waiting for an answer.

"That's you two and Remy's choice. If you weren't already together I can't say whether there should be attraction there or not. That's--that's not how feelings work, right?" focusing on Remus and the rhythm of stroking his hair was already helping to bring Virgil's breathing back to a steadier pattern.

"Sleeping with Sleep sounds great, when can I start? What kinks do you think he has? I'm betting somophilia and plushies." Remus piped up, grinning as his arms was fully released now.

Dee sighed, "Chaos Causer that's for thinking about after we've actually asked Remy if he wants to date us and clarified that Virgil thought they were dating and to suddenly stop that is the height of poor manners."

"How are we talking to him about it? I've got plenty of plans we could use to capture and kidnap him." Remus began listing out possible ways while the others just enjoyed the time cuddling and calming down together.

...

In the end Virgil insisted on just summoning Remy and hoping he'd answer. Actually he accidentally tried to summon Remy when he'd gotten upset over a stupid argument with Patton over a friends party that was intended to run very late.

They'd already settled on going only for the first hour before coming home since Thomas would be filming the next day but Virgil was still shaking. It was never easy to react when Patton was properly angry at him.

"Babes, I know its been a hot second since I came around but there's no need to cry over me." The words were the first thing that made him realise Remy was actually there and Virgil couldn't help throwing himself at the function.

He was easily caught with arms wrapping around him tightly and there was a moment where all his worries almost started spilling out before new ones emerged over upsetting Remy enough he left even more quickly this time. Trying to avoid that and just keep the comfort of his first partner Virgil decided to just send a small summons to his other boyfriends and hope Deceit would know how to bring the conversation up.

"Easy sweetheart, what's got you so upset? Has there been an argument in paradise?" Remy was entirely focused on calming and comforting in that moment, soothing hands going over Virgil's hair.

Remus was the first one to appear and wrap himself around the pair already present. "What happened with the others? Who am I killing?"

"So no trouble with Remus why are you so upset, Virge?" Remy adjusted surprisingly easily to having another person hanging off his back.

"Patton wasn't being kind today, was he? With everything already going on with Remy that argument just got too much, didn't it?" Deceit's words were gentle as he came over to the trio, only stroking the back of Virgil's neck.

That made Remy pause as he took in what was being said. "What's going on with me now? And any clues over what worked my Babes up this much would be awesome."

"So he is still your babes then? Virgil's been very upset that someone he was sure he was dating suddenly wasn't hanging out with us at all." Deceit said, gaze piercing through Remy's normal smirk as Remus began migrating to mainly be holding Virgil. 

“Of course but that feels like a loaded question I'm missing, Sweetheart. Wanna ask whatever you're trying to now?” Remy was sure he was close to understanding just why it felt like Virgil was trying to become a boa constrictor surrounding him if only one more bit of information was offered.

Remus rolled his eyes then, deliberately pulling his arms so Virgil and Remy got even more closely pressed together. “You've been abandoning your boyfriend and making him sad since we got with him. Stop that. We all want you included rather than whatever disappearing act you've been doing.”

Strike two for people saying he was dating Virgil when he knew nothing about it. “Okay, Babes, when did we start dating? Cause I could really use some dates on how long I've not been treating one of the hottest folks in Thomas's head right.” Remy hated asking loaded questions when Virgil was already upset but he didn't have much choice.

“Um – maybe 3 or 4 months? You didn't know? I – I thought.” Virgil tried to explain but couldn't get past the fact Remy hadn't realised they were dating but was still calling him his Babes. He ended up just hiding his face in Remy's neck again, cheeks burning.

He blinked for a moment, mentally tracking back the time and what would have distracted him from realising Virgil thought they were dating. “So I focused so much on helping you court the vampire that I missed the start of us dating? Damn, you are like so overdue a date to The Cafe Extravaganza at this point. When are you free? We can introduce you to all my red pandas” Remy asked, assuming it was all fine with Remus and Deceit since they had actually been the ones to bring up the subject.

“I've not been to Roman's half of the imagination in ages! Can we go now?” Remus asked immediately bouncing, even though he was still clinging to Virgil's back.

“Perhaps we could all go on this date together? Of course that's as long as you aren't opposed to also dating myself and the gremlin attached to you.” Deceit suggested, finally moving to join the group embrace they'd basically been stood in.

That was pretty much the moment Remy froze, questioning if he was even awake given when he'd gotten up that morning he hadn't realised he had even one boyfriend and now he was being invited to have three, three actual boyfriends that wanted to spend time with him and love him. Up until then he'd still kept part of his concentration on supporting Virgil and trying to comfort him, but now everything that wasn't somehow supported by Remus or Deceit was falling limp as his mind tried to comprehend the situation.

They were all curled up on the sofa when Remy blinked back out of his thoughts again, Virgil curled up on his chest, audibly counting the breaths Remy was taking. “So have I gone from not realising I was dating anyone to having three boyfriends? Or was that all a dream I made after something hitting my head?”

“Real and now we need to talk about your kinks!” Remus immediately insisted, bouncing across the room, ignoring the dual sighs and headshakes his words received.

Deceit had moved to get a glass of water from the coffee top before also joining everyone around the sofa. “It was real, but it's also true that you just passed out or got locked in your thoughts more thoroughly than either of these two have managed. I know your title is sleep but are you getting enough of it?”

“I sleep when everyone is asleep. That hasn't been happening so easily with the others this last week or so.” Remy shrugged, wrapping an arm around the man on his chest while taking the glass of water with his other hand.

There were frowns on the other threes faces at their words, each thinking over ways to try and help but before Remus could offer to run around knocking anyone still awake out Virgil was speaking. “You've never done that before and we've napped together plenty of times so why aren't you sleeping, Rems?”

“I thought I was Rems? I have a name stealer for a boyfriend!” Remus pouted, shoving Remy and Virgil along the sofa to properly strop with them leant against him.

“Depends on our moods which of us is called Rems, and of course I take naps with you, you're all cuddly and sweet when you're tired so how could I ever resist joining in? Doesn't mean that I'm not affected by the others not sleeping.” Remy protested, even while reaching their hand back to comb through Remus's hair.

Deceit was still shaking his head. “You're forgetting I'm present Remy. We don't impact you if we're awake when you want to sleep and even Thomas only marginally does so since most of our sleeping schedules follow in line with his. If you're looking for an excuse for us all to sleep in a pile now though I'll agree to it.”

“Yeah, that would be good. It's when I've felt loneliest since I didn't realise Virgil thought we were already dating and I thought you'd all want some space.” Remy admitted, the awkward look seeming very out of place on him having his new loves all frantically trying to think of something that would actually divert the conversation.

Virgil came up with one first, “What were you saying about red pandas?”

“I'll tell you all about them for snuggles somewhere bigger than this sofa so we can all be comfy together.” Remy pouted, wrapping his arms around Deceit's neck when he leant close enough. “Carry me to bed, Darling?”

[givemeureyes]

I love the idea that next episode Virgil and/or Remus will be standing in Roman's place just kinda standing there with a look on their face like: "I am going to crush y'all for hurting that boy" sooo here you go:

(I decided that both of them would be there)

"Roman!" Thomas summoned

No one showed.

"Roman? Kiddo?" Patton asked

"Roman, we require your assistance." Logan said, unwilling to show his worry.

Still nobody showed-

"Do you need something?" Virgil asked

"Virgil?" Patton asked, very confused

"Better question, do you really think you deserve to need something?" Remus appeared, glaring at everyone.

"AH!" Thomas screamed

"Relax, Thomathy. I'm not here for you."

"Then why are you here? Both of you?" Logan questioned.

"Not that we don't appreciate your presence Virgil but, where's Roman?" Thomas asked

Remus scoffed and Virgil just rolled his eyes.

"We were trying to convince him not to duck out. Then you summoned him. So we came." Remus answered

"Duck out? Why would Roman duck out?!" Thomas demanded

Remus and Virgil just stared at him.

"Do we need to replay the events of last video for you?" Virgil questioned

"Oh.." Patton said

"Yeah 'oh'. You're all lucky Roman said no violence cause-" Remus started

"Remus! He also said no threats." Virgil interrupted

"Did he? I didn't hear him. Did you hear him?" Remus asked with fake innocence laced in his voice

"... No I didn't." Virgil said, a smile spreading across his face

Roman suddenly appeared. His eyes were red and his hair disheveled. He was wearing a shirt that was probably his brothers considering the number of holes in it and sweatpants.

"Roman?" Patton asked quietly

"I don't have enough energy to be my normal happy self so don't expect it. What do you need Thomas?" Roman yawned out the question

"He doesn't need anything bro, we got this." Remus said, softer than he's ever said anything before.

"Roman, are you okay?" Thomas asked

Roman just laughed bitterly, " I'm absolutely fine, Thomas."

Patton gasped, "Roman, did you just lie?"

Remus growled and got in front of his brother.

"Back off, Patton. You have no place to be judging."

Janus popped up

"I heard the word 'lie'", Then he took a quick look around, "Not a good time I suppose? I'll leave."

Then he did.

Roman just sighed. He'll apologize to him later. But not now. He couldn't right now.

"I'm gonna go back to my room if you don't need anything." He said

"Go ahead, Roman. Like Remus said, we got this." Virgil smiled

"M'kay." Roman said tiredly

Then he went to his room and Virgil and Remus turned towards the other sides.

"We're gonna go make sure he's okay. After that, we'll be back. And still pissed." Remus said and sunk out with Virgil

"We need to talk," Logan said to Patton and Thomas, "and then we need to figure out a good way to apologise."

They agreed. It was gonna be a long day.

[joygaytrash]

An Average Spider Saturday(Spiderverse AU)

Word Count: 679

Notes: I wrote another small thing for @sugarglider9603 and @ask-spiderverse-virgil Spiderverse AU. It’s shorter than the first one but I’m currently writing a longer thing to make up for it :)

Virge[8:23 am]: Hey, open the window

Virge[8:25 am]: I know you're awake, Sanders

Virge[8:30 am]: Open the window or I'm breaking through the front door

Thomas groaned, pulling himself out of bed, and walking towards his bedroom window, where Virgil was holding himself on the brick wall with his hand and foot. "You really need to stop waking me up like this, especially on Saturdays, Virgil," Thomas said, stepping aside so that Virgil could get in.

"No can do, Sanders. I'm hungry as hell and you make some bomb ass pancakes," Virgil answered, walking out of Thomas' room and down the stairs. Thomas let out a sigh of defeat before heading to the kitchen.

In the kitchen, Virgil was sitting on the counter with his legs crossed. "You know, Thomas, you're a world renowned superhero with a shit ton of merch and such that you profit from and yet, you chose to live in a townhouse," Virgil stated, dangling his legs. Thomas laughed a little, grabbing the pancake mix from the cupboard.

"You know it's not just about the money, right Virgil?" Thomas commented.

"I know, I know but I'm just saying. You could be living in a big ass house with space for everyone to train instead of using the basement of this townhouse," Virgil argued, jumping off the counter. Thomas just rolled his eyes after he poured the pancake mix in the bowl.

It took Thomas about five minutes to make the pancake batter and after that, he grabbed a frying pan, a spatula, and some cooking spray. He sprayed the pan with a coat of cooking spray before pouring a generous amount of the pancake mix into the pan. "Hey Virge, are the others coming over by any chance?" Thomas asked, despite already knowing the answer(he just wanted to check to see if Virgil was still awake).

"Of course they are. They come every Saturday for pancakes," Virgil answered, not once looking up from his phone.

"I know but plans change sometimes," Thomas explained, flipping the pancake to the other side.

"But these plans never change, Thomathy!"

Both Virgil and Thomas look towards the front door to see Roman standing in the doorway with Logan and Patton behind him. "Good morning, Roman," Thomas said, giving a little wave while he kept cooking.

"Good morning, Thomas and good morning to you, Virgil," Roman commented, walking in. Patton and Logan followed him inside, Logan being the one to close the front door. "Good morning to the both of you," Logan said, taking his shoes off.

"Morning kiddos!" Patton cheered, taking his shoes off as well, along with his coat.

"Mornin' everyone," Virgil added, doing a quick two-fingered salute. Thomas smiled to himself as he finished the first pancake, placing it on a plate that was on the counter.

With the help of Patton, Thomas had made 20 pancakes. "Alrighty, kids, breakfast is done," Thomas called out to the living room.

"Finally! I thought you two would never finish!" Roman responded, being dramatic, as usual. Virgil rolls his eyes at Roman's reply and pulled himself off the couch, walking into the kitchen. Roman laughed at Virgil's reacted and followed him into the kitchen. Logan was the last one to follow them into the kitchen, a small yet noticeable smile on his face.

The five of them sat around the small table, topping their pancakes with whatever they could; Syrup, whipped cream, powdered sugar, and chocolate syrup. "Don't you think that you have enough whipped cream on your pancakes, Virgil?" Thomas questioned as Virgil finished putting whipped cream on his pancakes.

"Nope," Virgil answered bluntly before taking a bite of one of his pancakes, getting whipped cream on his face. Everyone laughed before digging into their own stack of pancakes.

The rest of the day was spent watching T.V., binging all the Disney movies they could, sharing memes with each other and ended with Thomas' favorite; A spider family sleepover in Thomas' living room with the biggest blanket fort they could build.