#and patton being a dad to total strangers

[lefaystrent]

Patton being alone on Thanksgiving and going, "Well this won't do at all," and sending out invitation cards to all of his neighbors in his apartment complex to come join him for the holiday, have a home cooked meal, and offer a safe space to celebrate for anyone else who may not have anywhere else to go. He doesn't know his neighbors, and maybe it's a long shot, but it's the thought that counts!

Fastforward to Turkey Day and five guys show up on his doorstep, all of them strangers to each other, but each of them having read the invite and going, "Why not?"

[poisonedapples]

Patton’s Home For Traumatized Kids - Chapter Five

Bad Memories Don’t Erase

Chapter Summary: Roman tags along with Logan and Virgil to hang out at their friend’s house.

First Chapter Previous Chapter Story Masterlist

Chapter Warnings: Mentions of past abuse, stealing, and one inappropriate joke

Word Count: 4,008

Taglist: @shade-romeo, @grayson-22, @pixelated-pineapple, @acrobaticcatfeline, @astrozei, @edupunkn00b, @princey-7258, @eternalmoonlight19, @remy-the-lemon-berry, @look-ma-im-on-tv, @mariniacipher, @bigwendymonster, @nonbinary-octopus

Notes: This chapter’s a little short, but the next one is gonna be really long, so hopefully that makes up for it

On Sunday the next day, Patton finally took Roman to buy his gym clothes. Roman was trying to hide a goofy smile while sitting in the back seat, desperate to not get his hopes up while also ecstatic his plan was working so far. He was going to have Patton stay in the car while Roman shopped for clothes! This had never worked on his dad before!

By the time Patton finally parked the car in the parking lot of the store, Roman’s chest felt weighted from his anxiety, waiting to see Patton’s final verdict. So long as he didn’t change his mind now, then Roman was in the clear. He hoped to be in the clear.

“Alright, kiddo,” Roman’s heart stopped as Patton pulled out his wallet and gave him some money. “Forty dollars should be more than enough for some pairs of gym pants and shirts. Give me back all the change when you come back, okay?”

“I will! Promise!” Roman wanted to jump for joy. It was working!

“Text me when you’re checking out so you don’t surprise me, and if you see something else you might want, just text me before you buy it so I know. Tell me if you have any issues, okay?”

“Okay!”

Patton smiled. “Go on then, kiddo.”

Roman practically leaped out the door to skip his way to the front entrance of the clothing store, two twenty dollar bills crumbled in his pocket. He got away with it! No parents staring him down while he changed outfits!

Roman walked into the store and tried to hide the skip in his step. With no parents to watch him, he could buy what he actually wanted to wear, no tight pants and scoop neck shirts. No, Roman wanted to look like his real goal. His goal of being a blob of cloth that vaguely resembled a human.

Granted, he’d mostly gotten there. His aunt replaced all of his wardrobe, so his current clothes were a lot more comfortable to wear even if they weren’t very fashionable. Mostly bright colored t-shirts and pants, maybe some shorts if they were able to reach down far enough. Maybe once he was more comfortable with himself he could actually test out more styles, but for now, oversized clothes were all he could handle.

Roman’s walk sped up slightly when his eyes landed on the men’s athletic section. He had to be quick with this, he didn’t want Patton getting impatient and coming in to check on him. Roman looked through the shorts and shirt sizes, easily finding a size up for a couple shirts while heavily struggling on the shorts. Roman groaned. It was always the shorts that caused the issue, they were always too high up. What if he was sitting down and the pant leg rode up too far? No, Roman refused to get something like that willingly.

Roman took all the athletic shorts that could fit him and held them up in front of his legs. Most of them only made it to his lower thigh, but he managed to find two shorts that made it to right below his knee. Roman smiled and bounced on his toes, grabbed his items and rushed to find a dressing room. Once he did, he rushed into the first empty area he saw and locked the door. The mirrors on the walls and gaps in the door made it hard for him to change comfortably, so instead Roman tried to press himself against the very corner of the room when he was changing.

Between the six shirts and two pants Roman found, he was pretty happy with most of his choices. Thankfully, the long shorts looked fine, so Roman hung them up on a hook with a sign over it saying I’m buying this! and considered it a success. However, when it got time to look at the shirts, only three of them were good enough for purchase. The white one he grabbed was practically see-through, and the other two had a scratchy inside material that Roman couldn’t stand, so they got put on the reject hook while the other three passed the test. 

For a rushed shopping visit, Roman was pretty pleased with his choices. Two shorts might not be enough for five days worth of classes, but maybe Roman could keep one pair in his locker until it started to stink. Which might be a little gross, but desperate times called for desperate measures.

Roman exited the dressing room and put his rejected shirts on a rack outside, carrying his other items to the checkout area. Before he got in line, he looked at all the price tags and added them up in his head best he could. The shirts were about six dollars each, and the shorts were a little over five after tax. Which means, adding up the extra cents, he’d have to pay twenty nine dollars for the clothes in total. Considering Patton gave him forty dollars, this was plenty.

Roman hesitated for a second. He stuffed his hand into his pocket to feel the money in the palm of his hand while he thought about his options. If he told Patton the truth, Roman would give him eleven dollars and there would be no issues. Patton might let him do this again next time they go shopping, too. But also…Roman had no backup plan. He was stuck with Patton with nowhere to go if things went wrong.

His aunt told him that Roman could always go back to her house if a guardian was abusing him, and he had every intention to take her up on that offer the second the opportunity arose. But even if Roman walked to her house on foot, he had no money for food during that trip. She lived so far away from him now, there was no way to get to safety without a dollar to his name. But if he stole some from Patton, then Roman could have a serious issue on his hands.

Roman slowly walked up to the check out area and handed the teenage worker the clothes. As she scanned all the items with a satisfying beep, Roman felt himself getting antsy. There’s no guarantee Patton will let me do this again. I’ve already gotten away with so much, and the more time I spend around him, the more danger I’m in. But if Patton notices I stole from him, he could be furious. Is there even a right answer here?

“Twenty nine dollars and thirty two cents.” The cashier said cheerfully. Roman handed her the money and she put it in the register, then handed Roman a bunch of coins, two five dollar bills, and a one dollar. She smiled. “Would you like a receipt?”

“Uh, no thank you.”

When the receipt printed, the cashier tore it out and threw it in the trash behind her. “Have a nice day.”

“You too.” Roman squeaked, rushing away from the register to stare at the money. Apparently they ran out of ten dollar bills, because the money was split perfectly for taking without it being obvious. Roman considered this a sign to take his chance. He put a five dollar bill and a quarter in his left pocket and shoved the rest in his right. It wasn’t much, but he could build it up. This was only the beginning.

Roman walked out of the store and tried to act normal instead of anxious. Worst case scenario, he’d say he forgot to bring out the rest and give Patton the other bills. Giving away the quarter also would be too obvious, but he could get away with stealing that at least. When he made it to Patton's car, Roman opened the back seat and tossed his clothes next to him.

“Hey, kiddo!” Patton greeted, “Got any extra cash to give me?”

“Uh, yeah, here.” Roman dug into his right pocket to grab half the money and handed it to him. Patton put the coins in his pocket and put the two bills in his wallet. He didn’t seem to consider how much Roman gave him, instead he started backing out of the driveway and got distracted while reversing. Roman let out a quiet sigh of relief.

He felt the five dollars still stored in his pocket. He got away with it. For now.

***

“We’re home!” Patton announced as he and Roman stepped inside. Logan and Virgil were both lying on the couch, and Logan perked up from his spot.

“Wonderful. We wanted to ask both of you a question.” Logan said.

Patton seemed intrigued. “What question?”

“Can we go to Janus’ house, Pat?” Virgil asked.

“Oh, of course, kiddos! Do you know when you might be back?”

Virgil thought about it. “Probably at six before dinner.”

“Perfect! Just text me if that changes so I don’t worry, okay?”

“We will.” Logan reassured, “And Roman, would you like to come with us?”

Roman tilted his head to the side. “Me? I don’t even know who Janice is.”

Virgil sunk into the couch more. “Friend of ours. Has a snake, talks a lot about philosophy and books. Acts like a tired underaged wine aunt.”

“Right, well, still. Isn’t it a little strange for me to tag along to a stranger's house?” Roman pointed out.

“Janus wouldn’t mind, I’m sure.” Logan said. “Of course, you don’t have to, we simply figured you would like the invitation so you’re not the only one left out.”

Roman’s eyes widened when Logan said that. Wait, shit, if Logan and Virgil are going to this girl’s house, then Roman will be here. Alone. With Patton. Until six in the afternoon.

Roman’s mood change was almost instant. “Well then, perhaps I should go! Make new friends and establish bonds, or whatever!”

Virgil smirked. “Sweet. It’s a short walk, just a block away. Just let us grab our shoes and we can head out.”

“I’ll tell Janus we’ll be bringing a third party.”

Roman let out a breath of relief. As Virgil and Logan grabbed whatever they needed, Roman set his new bag of clothes in his room next to his backpack. He’d have to remember to put some boxers in there before tomorrow morning, too.

Roman felt the five dollars in his pocket again. He took the money and hid it deep in his backpack in a hidden pocket he hoped wasn’t too easy to find. Satisfied with that for now, Roman stepped back outside of his room and waited for the others.

Once everyone was situated, Virgil called out to let Patton know they were leaving the house and then closed the door. Logan and Virgil did most of the talking as they walked while Roman just listened, following behind them and letting the two lead the way.

“Oh, and Roman,” Logan suddenly said during a point of silence, “Another one of our friends may also show up later at Janus’ house. He said he might be coming, so we’ll see.”

Roman shrugged. “Sounds fine to me.”

“Alright.”

No one said anything else after that on the walk. After a while, Virgil and Logan stopped in front of a house and started walking up the driveway to the front door. As Virgil knocked on the door, Roman stood awkwardly off to the side until someone answered.

It wasn’t long before the door swung open, showing a teenage kid with a large birthmark under his left eye. He rested his elbow on the top of the black and yellow cane next to him and smirked. Was he the brother, perhaps?

“I’ve been expecting you.” He said menacingly.

“‘Sup, fucker.” Virgil greeted.

“Hello, Janus.”

Wait, what? Against his better judgment, Roman forced himself to stand in front of Logan to face Janus. “Wait, your name is Janice?” He asked.

Janus put his hand on his face. “Janus. It’s Janus. J-a-n-u-s, not the old lady name Janice.”

Roman felt his face grow hot. “…Oh. Well, uh…”

Janus rolled his eyes and held the door open wider. “Just come inside.”

Virgil was the first to step in, with Logan following after while Roman hesitated. He made an awful first impression, maybe he should just walk around the block for a while instead-

“Come on, my arm is tired.” Janus coaxed. Roman felt too awkward to walk away, so he instead sucked it up and stepped inside the house with everyone else.

The house was quite nice. The walls were painted dark and the carpet was red, but it looked nice in a Victorian era kind of way. On the living room coffee table were piles of fabric and a sewing machine, seemingly making something that looked like a suit. Janus took the cane he was holding and threw it onto the couch. Well, apparently it was just a part of the outfit.

Virgil motioned to all the fabric on the table. “Fuck are you making now, dude?”

“I’m making the refined villain look of my dreams.”

“Nice. When do you think you’ll finish it?”

“Possibly tomorrow. I’ll start on it again after school.”

“Do you make your own clothes?” Roman asked, hoping to distract himself from his previous embarrassment.

Janus smiled slightly. “Less clothes, more costumes. Mostly for myself, but sometimes I make them for the high school’s theater when I’m feeling generous.”

“Oh, that sounds fun!”

“Wanna see Janus’ costume closet?” Virgil asked.

Roman shrugged. “If he wants me to.”

“Oh yeah, just talk about me like I’m not here.” Janus rolled his eyes and motioned for everyone to follow him. He had a downstairs family room with a closet off to the side. Once everyone was downstairs, Janus opened it and let Roman look inside.

“…Woah.” Roman looked at all the costumes, astonished and full of wonder. A lot of them were very extravagant, like they were specifically designed for a dramatic person, so Roman felt a calling toward them. He took a few of them off their hangers to look at; roaring twenties inspired suits and a black dresses with fancy gold finishes. Roman ran his hand on the fabric like they were fancy relics.

“They are quite high-quality.” Logan said, “Costume design is certainly one of Janus’ greatest skills.”

“I can see that.” Roman whispered.

Virgil rolled his eyes. “Don’t make his ego bigger than it already is.”

“Oh no, please do continue, I’m designed to be the center of attention.” Janus smirked.

Roman laughed and put the costumes back on the rack. It seemed like him and Janus were pretty similar in personality, just on opposite ends of the spectrum. Both dramatic artists, except one likes to add that with tons of sarcasm. He could see them getting along quite easily.

“Also, Janus,” Virgil said while looking at his phone, “Rat bastard says he’s coming over. He’ll be here in ten.”

“Ugh, fine. I was getting used to the silence.” Janus sighed.

“…Who’s rat bastard?” Roman asked.

“Friend of ours.” Virgil replied, “You’ll meet him in a bit. He’s a rat bastard. Smells vaguely of cheese.”

“…Attractive.”

“You get used to it.” Janus shrugged. He then smirked at Roman like he got an idea. “Would you like to see my snake?”

Roman’s eyes lit up. “Yes!”

Janus led them all upstairs to his bedroom, Roman following last in the line so he could keep Janus’ door cracked open. As he stepped inside, he noticed a very large cage on the wall to his right. It was very long with lots of wood decorations spread across the container, with a fluorescent lightbulb above it. Roman looked around in the enclosure to try and spot the snake.

Before he could find it, Janus opened the top and stuck his hand in the cage. The snake climbed up his hand onto his arm, and as Janus stuck him out for Roman to see, Roman jumped back.

Janus rolled his eyes. “He’s a corn snake, he’s not known for hurting people.”

Roman still looked at it from a distance. The snake was large enough that Janus had to hold him with both hands, as well as being a mesmerizing yellow color. Roman never had a friend with a pet snake before. “…What’s his name?”

“Lawrence.”

“Nerd.” Virgil called out.

Logan smiled. “I think it is a wonderful name. Lawrence Kohlberg developed the theory on moral development, the very basis for ethical behavior.”

“Nerds.”

“You’re very mature, Virgil.”

Roman ignored them. “I think he’s cool. How old is he?”

“About five. I’ve had him for a while now.”

A buzz came from Virgil’s phone, making him check it and read the message. “Rat bastard says he’s outside your door.” He announced.

Janus didn’t seem rushed. “He can get in on his own.”

Roman laughed, and Janus set Lawrence back in his enclosure so he could bask underneath the heat lamp. Roman still watched his movements from inside the cage. “I wish I had a pet.”

“Patton would get you a dog in seconds if you asked.” Logan suggested.

Roman shook his head. “It’s fine, I won’t ask.” He didn’t really know what kind of pet he even wanted, and besides, it’s not like he’d be able to keep it once he leaves Patton’s house. There was no point.

Suddenly, a loud stomping came from the stairs outside Janus’ bedroom. Roman yelped and ran to hide behind Janus in the corner of the room, but the others didn’t react. 

Roman sputtered. “What the-”

Before Roman could finish, a large bang came as someone kicked open the door and let it smack into the wall.

“I’m back by unpopular demand!”

“Hello, Remus.”

Roman completely froze up at the sound of that name. He turned around to look at the person that just busted down Janus’ bedroom door, a kid with messy hair and peach fuzz for a mustache, ripped jeans in the summer with a cast boot on his right foot.

Roman felt himself choke on air as he processed what was in front of him.

“Slugs are goopy like jello! So jello is made of slugs, duh!”

“Remus, that’s gross! No one would make food out of slugs!”

“What’s up, fuckers!” Remus announced. “I’m back from the pits of hell! Also known as the emergency room.”

Roman didn’t say anything, only stared at him in disbelief. Remus’ voice was a lot different now. He’d hit puberty, so the pitch had dropped a lot from what Roman was used to. A tuft of his hair was white, also. Roman couldn’t tell if it was dye or a condition.

That piece of hair and Remus’ mustache were the only things that made them both look apart now.

“What actually happened?” Logan asked. “You never told us specifics.”

“I broke my foot sucking too much-”

“Remus.” Janus warned.

“Fine, fine. I tripped trying to run up some steps and my fall didn’t look badass at all. Don’t tell people that though. If anyone asks, I broke it running from the cops.”

Janus nodded and smirked. “Noted.”

“We brought a third foster brother, also.” Virgil noted. Roman stopped breathing.

“Oh, really? Shit, I fuckin missed everything!” Roman looked in the corner trying to avoid Remus noticing him, but it was never that easy. “Why hello, welcome to our humble- …Oh, fuck.”

Remus tilted his head to make eye contact with Roman, and the surprise on Remus’ face was something Roman would never forget. He seemed genuinely baffled, like nothing in the world would have prepared him for what he saw. Roman wanted to cry.

I wanted to leave behind these people.

“…Roman?” Remus finally said, “Dude, holy fuck, I haven’t seen you in forever!”

“Wait,” Virgil staggered, “You know each other already?”

“He’s my fucking cousin!” Remus exclaimed. “Come on, look at us, we’re only a little related but we look like twins!”

Logan turned to Roman. “Is this true?”

Roman could feel the tears ready to burst. His throat was scratchy, but he tried to talk anyway. “…I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Come on, Princey, don’t be shy!” Remus teased. “We used to be best friends, let everyone believe we were twins until our moms called our shit out. Absolute bastard children- …wait. Wait a fucking second.”

“What is it?” Janus asked.

Remus turned to Virgil and Logan with a shocked and confused face. “…You said he’s your foster brother?”

Logan nodded. “That is correct.”

Remus turned to Roman, seemingly at a loss for words. “…Dude, the fuck? What happened?”

Roman looked at the floor, gripping onto his arm so hard it’d be a miracle if there weren’t marks later. “I said I don’t want to talk about it.”

“I mean, I know I haven’t seen you since your mom fucked off to Neverland, but what happened to your dad? He’s still alive and shit isn’t he? The hell happened?”

“I said I don’t want to fucking talk about it!” Roman seethed, grinding his teeth together as he practically growled out that sentence.

Virgil flinched violently. “Roman-”

“Whatever!” Roman pushed Remus off to the side and kicked the door fully open, storming his way down the stairs despite the sounds of people yelling for him to come back. Roman stomped out the front door and took a sprint for it down the block, not caring if he had to be alone with Patton, so long as he wasn’t here.

“I bet you would eat a slug!”

“No I wouldn’t! Liar!”

“Boys, boys!” Roman’s mother laughed, crouching down to meet their eye level from their place sitting in the grass. “No eating slugs. Be nice to the bugs or we’ll go back inside.”

“Yeah, Remus!”

Remus huffed. “I’m not doing anything!”

“Not yet!”

Roman’s mother laughed again. “I’m going to help Uncle André with dinner. But I better not hear a fight, okay?”

“Okay!” Roman promised, watching as his mom went back inside his uncle’s house into the kitchen. Roman and Remus continued to play in the grass by looking at bugs and telling stories to each other, making Roman smile more than he has in a long time. He always loved going to Remus’ house. His dad never came with them, so he and his mom were always happier.

“How come we never go to your house?” Remus eventually asked after a few minutes of playing. Roman stuck his tongue out.

“‘Cause our house is tiny and the backyard isn’t as cool.”

“Still! When you come over, you never bring Uncle Theo!”

“Good!” Roman defended, “Dad’s boring so he doesn't getta come!”

“I like him! He’s fun and nice and always brings chocolate!”

“He’s awful!” Roman covered his mouth after he blurted that out. Remus gave him a look.

“He’s not awful!”

Roman looked over to the glass sliding door. His mom was in there, he could see her, but she couldn’t hear him. Maybe he could get away with it. He could tell Remus a secret and his mom would never find out.

Roman hesitantly took his hands away from his mouth. His tone grew to be a lot softer. “…He is, though.”

Remus tilted his head to the side like a dog. “What makes him awful?”

“…Promise not to tell anyone?”

Remus leaned in closer. “Uh huh!”

“No one at all, ever?”

“Triple quadruple promise!”

Roman looked back at his mom. She wasn’t paying attention to him, seemingly talking to his uncle and pouring juice into cups. Roman hesitated for a moment. “…My dad-”

“Boys! Dinner’s ready!” Roman’s mom called out, making Roman jump almost a foot in the air. Both of them got off of the grass to walk inside, but before they did, Remus turned to Roman again.

“Your dad what?”

“…Nevermind.” He missed his chance. Remus would never find out, and Roman never told anyone for another five years.

Roman ran faster down the street at the memory, fighting back the tears in his eyes. It was fine. Roman was fine.

He never wanted to talk to Remus again.

[shortprince-cos]

Presents Or Pranks?

Summary: Janus assumes his "secret admirer" is a prankster, but a familiar face proves him wrong.

Ship: Romantic Moceit (Patton x Janus)

Warnings: Stabbing mention (doesn't actually happen i swear-), pranking mention, high school, Valentine's Day(?). Tell me if I need to add anything else!

Note: Happy Valentine's Day!!! Hope you have a good day regardless of if you have a s/o or not! Also i forgot that Valentine's day wasn't on a school day this year, so ignore that cause i didn't want to rewrite it. Pretend its an AU.

Thank you to @emy-loves-you for helping me with some plot (and basically every other fic I've written)!

~~~~~

If there was ever a time for Janus to develop anxiety, it would be now.

For weeks he had been wondering who kept putting letters - love letters - in his locker at least twice a week. The last letter had said to meet him here, under the bleachers on the football field, after school, on Valentine's Day.

There were two possible situations that this could turn into: One, this was a really elaborate prank and he was about to either get humiliated or stabbed, whichever came first, or two, someone who has a crush on him was about to meet him, and he would have to break their heart or make out with them.

At least if he gets attacked he can defend himself, and humiliate the stranger instead. If it was an admirer, then they would both be humiliated.

He hoped it was a prankster, because if the person was real, they seemed really sweet, and Janus didn't want to do that to them.

It's probably some straight girl who wants a bad boy. It wouldn't be the first time that had happened, but Janus was tired of explaining that he was gay to every girl he ever crossed paths with.

The letters and gifts had always been very stereotypical, like ones you would see in rom-coms and books. They usually consisted of chocolates, little poems, and pressed yellow flowers.

They were all really sweet gifts (especially the chocolates), but Janus still couldn't help but worry over who the 'admirer' was.

Janus anxiously checked his phone. The stranger was seven minutes late.

It was probably a prankster, and he was probably being filmed right now. Janus looked around, but all that was there was an empty football field.

Janus sighed and ran his fingers through his hair.

Would a prankster even put this much effort into a joke? This was going on for weeks, and unless this person really hated Janus, he doubted it was a prank. As awful as that was.

Who would even have a crush on Janus, anyway? He wasn't exactly nice or pretty, he was mean and- well, he wasn't ugly, but he definitely wasn't charismatic.

His whole aesthetic was 'stay away from me', so he always wondered why that seemed to attract girls to him, until Remus enlightened him.

"They want a bad boy." Remus explained one day. "They think the idea of an angry guy with a soft spot only for them, is sexy."

"That's stupid." Janus had replied.

And it was stupid- is stupid. What kind of girl wants someone who's mean to them? Janus blamed the Twilight saga.

Janus checked his phone again. Eleven minutes late.

Janus cursed and decided to call it quits. He picked up his backpack and started walking towards the parking lot before he heard someone shouting something behind him.

He looked back towards the football field to see a short, blond, boy, running at him as fast as they could.

"W-Wait!" They yelled.

Janus waited for the short person to catch up, when they did, they put their hands on their knees, trying to catch their breath.

They looked kind of familiar, but everyone does when you go to the same highschool.

"Sorry- sorry!" The stranger looked up at him with blue eyes looking through round glasses. "I'm so sorry I'm late! I promise I didn't mean to be, but my teacher wanted to talk to me after class about my grades, and I tried to tell her I was late, but she wouldn't listen! And then my friends wanted advice about their gifts for their partners, and I got caught up! I'm so sorry for keeping you waiting!"

Janus knew he should probably be listening to what the shorter boy was saying, but all his mind was thinking was that he was rather adorable.

"W-What?"

Oh, did he say that out loud?

Janus smirked. "You're adorable when you're rambling."

The boy blushed quickly. "I- u-uh- thank you?"

Janus chuckled. "So, you're the one putting those gifts in my locker?"

The blue-eyed stranger shifted on his feet. "Y-Yeah, I did. I did wanna talk to you about that! Which, is the whole reason we're here- obviously- why else would we-?" He giggled nervously. "Anyway, the reason I put those there is because...uh- I kinda- maybe sorta...like you?"

"Why?" Janus immediately asked.

"I- what?"

Janus crossed his arms. "You said you liked me, and I want to know why."

"O-Oh. I didn't expect you to- uh- ask that?"

"Well, do you have a reason, or-?"

"No- yeah! Of-of course I do...you-you want to hear it?"

"No, I just asked because I was curious." Janus answered sarcastically.

"R-Right. Yeah, okay, um- well-"

Janus smirked as he saw the shorter one fumble over his words.

"Well, over winter break? You uh- you volunteer at an animal shelter in the next town over?"

Janus' eyes widened in shock. "How did you-"

"I work there too! I do every weekend when I'm at my dad's house! Uh- anyway, I saw you there over winter break, and you were just so...soft, with the animals, and it was really cute to see you playing with kittens, and you always took the older dogs on walks because they were sad they never got adopted, ooh! And then you helped me carry some boxes in that one time 'cause no one else was, and you kinda called me pretty? I guess that part isn't as important, heh- oh my gosh I'm rambling! I'm sorry!"

Janus was shocked at how specific this guy's examples were. Then he thought about the situations again.

"You had blue hair."

The bubbly boy's face lit up. "You remember me?"

"A little. You cried when puppies got adopted."

"Can you blame me?! I loved playing with them, and I just wanted to make sure they got a good home!"

Janus outright laughed - which, if you talked to Janus' friends, they would claim that Janus only laughed when a kid fell off a bike.

"S-Sorry- I-" Janus laughed a bit more. "That was the most innocent thing I've ever heard."

The blue-clad boy pouted and crossed his arms in the least intimidating way possible.

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry!" Janus apologized while still chuckling slightly. "I'm sorry."

"It's okay. A-Anyways, I just wanted to tell you that okay I'll be going now-"

"Wait." Janus said before the smaller one ran off. "What are you doing tonight?"

"O-Oh! I'm not doing anything...why?"

"The dance tonight? Would the unnamed stranger in front of me like to go?"

"Oh my gosh! I'm sorry, I totally forgot to introduce myself! My name's Patton!"

Janus smiled. "Alright then. Would you like to go to the dance with me, Patton?"

Patton immediately blushed more. "Oh gosh, you don't have to-"

Janus took Patton's hand in his own and brought it up to his lips. "Now why wouldn't I want to take my beautiful admirer to a nice dance?" He pressed a kiss to Patton's knuckles and watched as Patton's face turned even redder.

"I-I...y-yeah, I wanna go with you!" He squeaked out.

Janus dropped Patton's hand. "I'll see you tonight, then?"

"Y-Yeah, sure!"

Janus picked up his bag again as Patton started to gather his as well. "Oh, and, Patton?"

"Yeah?"

"I hope you know that I will have to repay you for those presents you gifted me."

Patton sputtered. "You don't have to! I just wanted to give you something-"

"Nope, too late, I've already decided." Janus started walking back towards the parking lot. "See you later, cutie!"

Thinking about the future dance, Janus decided that maybe an admirer was better than a prankster after all.

~~~~~

Sorry this is so short, but I thought something was better than nothing! I hope you guys enjoyed!

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[exhaustedfander]

One shot request intruality, Patton and Remus having a conversation about their insecurities. Mostly focusing on how they both have times of struggling to understand the other sides ex. Making some changes

This isn’t exactly what was requested, but I hope you enjoy it nonetheless. I had a lot of fun with this one! 

Word Count: 3,322

Summary: Recently, Patton and Remus's relationship has begun to change. When Patton lets a pet name slip by accident, a much-needed conversation takes place.

ao3 link

Sweet Pea

To say that Remus hadn’t been expecting any of this would be a gross understatement. He is by no means the kind of side to have too many expectations; when your whole thing is being unpredictable, you learn to stop expecting things and simply see what life chucks your way. Even so, having a relationship with Patton of any kind has thrown him for a loop like very few things can.

It isn’t as though Remus has a vendetta against Patton. Sure, the guy is a lot more clean-cut then his style, which is to say, not a rat-man, and he indulges in far fewer of life’s pleasures than Remus does, but he doesn’t hate him. For a while there, he’d been real fun to mess with, knowing Patton was so afraid of him. So much as walking into a room could set the fatherly side on edge, and wasn’t that just the best? He adored messing with any of the others, but Patton was by far the easiest.

The only problem is, it’s become a hell of a lot less fun with Patton since the massive shift that’s occurred between them. When Janus got accepted into the “good guys,” Remus was convinced that his role likely wouldn’t change – which he was totally fine with! He’s been the same old Duke for years, even if Thomas hadn’t known about him for almost the entirety of his life, and that was okey-doke. But… after Janus found himself a seat at the table, so it seemed, did Remus.

It isn’t as though he’s been given the green light to try and convince Thomas to do absolutely anything he wants to do, as fun as that would be. But the weird thing is, Patton had apologized to him. Morality, who’d been so wary of him for so long, had told him that he had been judging him too harshly and that surely, there was a lot of good in him. Remus isn’t one to have expectations, but that had struck him as odd. Why the fuck would Patton want him to be around, considering all he represented? Why would morality want anything to do with him?

As weird as everything is, Remus had been under the impression that Patton was merely tolerating him, maybe in an attempt to make the others believe he was making nice with everyone. At first, Remus kept up his usual behavior, obnoxious and crude, but it didn’t rattle Patton like it used to. Sure, he’d get a surprised shriek or two when he dangled from the ceiling from one of his tentacles or rose up unexpectedly, but then Patton would simply smile at him and say hello.

 Patton isn’t scared of him, not anymore, and Remus doesn’t quite know what to do with that.

He’s used to others being unnerved in his presence, considering who he is. But since Patton has been alright with him hanging around them more and more, he’s noticed them doing more to tolerate him as well. Roman is, well, he isn’t complaining about him quite as much as usual. He’s even stopped chastising him every time he comes into the imagination claiming he’ll “Ruin everything!”, even if it is their shared domain. Virgil still seems fairly irritated with him, but that’s nothing new and Remus doesn’t mind. Logan is being far more considerate of him then he’d think, considering he’d chucked throwing stars at his face before. Janus has always at the very least tolerated him, so that’s just peachy-keen. The other sides are being considerate enough not to complain every time he’s near, but Patton has gone above and beyond in welcoming him lately. And that… is decidedly very weird.

He's invited him to come to dinner, even encouraging that he can eat whatever he wants, no matter how seemingly inedible it is. It’s certainly amusing to see the looks on the other’s faces when he sits down at the dinner table as if he belongs there; he doesn’t think he belongs there, but that’s beside the point.

Patton does everything he can to keep things civil at the table, to a point where Remus is almost impressed if he weren’t such an agent of chaos himself. He nips blossoming spats between Virgil and Janus in the bud as quickly as they arise and he tells jokes and puns that Remus can’t help but find a little endearing, in a silly, dad way. Remus decides to tell some jokes of his own, and while they are on the harsher and more disgusting side, he elicits a few chuckles from Patton while the rest of them simply roll their eyes.

It doesn’t make any sense; Patton has just stopped being terrified of him, and now here he is, morality, giggling at Remus’s mention of cannibalism. Has the world gone mad? Has he gone mad? Quite possibly.

Things only grow stranger from that point on. Patton speaks often with Remus, encouraging him that they are getting to be “real good friends” and Remus is even invited to movie nights (“I’m afraid your birthday suit is not an acceptable outfit for movie night, kiddo).

It isn’t hard to tell that the others are at least somewhat displeased with him being there, for the most part. Sure, Janus doesn’t have any problems with him, and Logan doesn’t seem to hate him, but Roman is clearly very agitated and Virgil seems to be doing everything in his power to ignore him. And yet Patton, of all sides, continues to provide so much warmth and joy his way it almost made him want to puke.

Remus isn’t used to this kind of treatment. Even with Janus, someone he considers his closest friend, there is very little affection between them. Remus is used to being the gross one, the nuisance, the “problem child.” Being fawned over is a completely new experience and one he can’t decide how he feels about. Patton isn’t scared of him anymore, and that was kind of a bummer at first, but now? Well, now Remus isn’t quite sure what the hell is going on.

After movie night of a few Disney films, everyone else had decided to hit the hay, yet Patton and Remus remain. Remus is sure any moment now Patton will rise from his spot and declare that he is going to sleep, too. Except… that isn’t what happens.

Instead, Patton asks Remus if he has any movie recommendations, something they could watch, just the two of them.

“I don’t think my kind of movies are really your style, Pattycake,” Remus insists, thoroughly shocked that Patton would so much as ask. The fatherly side shakes his head.

“Well, that doesn’t mean we can’t give it a try. I’d like to watch something you enjoy for a change,” Patton says, smiling kindly, “If it’s really that bad, I’m sure I could just let you know.” That seems okay, Remus supposes.

“Yeah, alright. But don’t complain to me when you get sweet little nightmares,” Remus warns, though in actuality he doesn’t plan on showing Patton anything too intense. Before, the idea of giving Patton nightmares was positively delicious, but now – now it made him feel kinda sick, and not in a good way, either.

Remus decides to pop in The Cabin in the Woods, seeing as it is a comedy as well as horror and fairly silly, despite the gore. He’s sure Patton won’t be too much of a fan of it and bail out early on, and yet here he remains, sitting close to him on the couch and looking intently at the screen.

Remus realizes maybe he doesn’t know as much about Patton as he thought he did when he giggles a bit at a scene of people being mascaraed by a large group of monsters running amuck, laughing particularly hard when a character meets a gruesome fate at the hand of a less than conventionally attractive merman. All the while the movie has been going, Remus notices that Patton has been inching closer and closer until his head is resting on his shoulder. The thought of Patton willingly being so close to him sends a strange feeling of contentment through him. For most of their lives, Patton has been so wary of him, and now he’s almost as close as he can get. Why would something as silly as Patton laying his head on his shoulder make him feel so strange?

Remus is almost positive that he is going to burst into flames when Patton smiles at him once the film had ended and says: “I don’t know what you were worried about. That was a really fun movie, Sweet Pea.”

Remus jerks away, scooting to the edge of the couch while Patton shoots him a look of concern.

“Remus, are you okay?”

“What… what did you just call me?” Patton blinks.

“…Huh?”

“You called me Sweet Pea. Why – why the hell did you do that for?” Even in the fairly dark living room, Remus can see the blush that’s spread across Patton’s face, meaning his own flushed cheeks are visible as well. Patton wrings his hands, apprehension present in the action.

“W-well, I dunno, I guess it just kinda… slipped?” Patton offers weakly, praying Remus will accept the answer without fighting it any more than that. Of course, that’s not to be the case.

“It slipped?” Remus asks incredulously. “Why in the world would you use a word like that to describe me?” Patton doesn’t respond for a moment, his eyes settled on his lap, refusing to answer Remus’s burning question. After a minute or so, though, Patton speaks.

“Things have been different between us lately, haven’t they?”

The question hangs heavy in the air. Remus barely knows how to respond. Of course, things have been different; Patton’s actively professed he enjoys hanging-out, to say things hadn’t changed would be a blatant lie.

“I mean… yeah. You’ve been all sweet with me, I guess. Which you get is weird, right?”

“Why would it be weird?” Patton asks, so genuinely it hurts.

“Because,” Remus says as though Patton’s a lunatic for asking the question, gesturing vaguely to himself, “I’m me! Intrusive thoughts, remember? Everything nasty that’s been shut away for the last thirty-years; everything you hate.” Patton’s mouth creases into a frown.

“I don’t hate you, Remus. I… well, I never have. I was just scared of you, once, but I just didn’t understand you then.” Remus scoffs.

“And now you understand me completely?”

“I never said that. But…” Patton hesitates, biting his lip before extending Remus his hand, “I want to. I want to know you better. I was so lost in the belief that I knew best for so long… and I’ll always be sorry for that. I’m sorry for the way that I treated you and Janus; it wasn’t right of me. Not at all. But I’m trying. I want to know you guys. I want to know you, Remus.”

Remus retracts his hand, the warmth in his chest bursting into flames, a fire that’s sure to burn down everything that it touches.

“You don’t want that,” he insists, his eyes training on the wall, eager to avoid the heavy weight of Patton’s gaze.

“But I do!”

“No, you just think you do,” Remus grits through his teeth, the fire bathing him in a horrible warmth, “You – you just think you want that. But you don’t. You’re too sweet for that. Too sweet to know me that way. You���ll quit while you’re ahead if you know what’s good for you.” Remus rises to his feet, positive the fire is enveloping him now, positive to burn him to the ground. With each passing second, he burns a little brighter, skin melting and bones turning to ash. The feeling is something horrible, he realizes, more abhorrent than anything he could possibly conjure.

Remus is falling in love with Patton.

Remus shivers as Patton grabs a hold of his wrist, keeping him from feeling. Doesn’t he get it; Remus is trying to keep him from perishing in the fire as well. He’ll die alone, go up and smoke if it means Patton is safe.

“Patton – let go,” Remus says, the request a beg more than anything else. Patton shakes his head, determination brimming in his eyes.

“I won’t. I’m not letting you leave, Remus.”

Remus pulls harder, shocked by the sheer strength Patton is exhibiting. If it were anyone else, he’d do anything to escape, biting, scratching, and clawing his way out, if necessary. But Patton isn’t anyone else and he’s been stupid enough to develop dangerously strong feelings. Patton calling him something so soft and painfully domestic has awoken something fragile in him, and he intends to put an end to it.

“Why not? Why the fuck are you trying so hard to be nice to me? Why do you care?”

“Because…” Patton swallows the lump in his throat, squeezing his eyes shut as he lets go and admits it, “I like you!”

“Wh-what?”

“I said: I like you. I’ve been spending time with you because I want to. I want you to feel welcomed, I want you to know you have a place here. But also because I like you. A lot.” Finally, Patton’s released him, and yet Remus can’t find it in himself to run away.

“You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“But I do!” Patton maintains, his eyes burning with a sincerity that’s scaring the hell out of Remus, “Lately, I’ve seen you light up and… I like that. I like seeing you so much happier, I like seeing you and Jan joking in the commons and at the dinner table. I like it when you greet me in silly ways when you hang from the ceiling with your tentacles or jump from behind the couch. I like the time we spend together; I like that I’m getting to know you more.

“I like you, Remus. And if you don’t feel the same… then I understand. If I’ve made you uncomfortable, I’m sorry… again. But I need you to understand that I want this, I want to hang out, I want to watch movies that you pick out. I want you to be real with me because you can! I’m not afraid of you anymore, and I never want to be ever again. Liking you is much better than that.”

Remus doesn’t know how to respond. The fire is incasing him now, but he’s not sure if he’s going to be reduced to a pile of ashes anymore. Patton is offering so much, more than he realizes. He’s offering the kindness he’s already shown him, offering understanding unlike he’s ever known, offering intimacy unlike he’s ever experienced. And he could turn away and forget this ever happened if he so desired. Patton’s giving him that option, too, no matter how much it’s clear that he doesn’t want to. All because of some sappy nickname being said accidentally, Remus is being extended an opportunity he never envisioned for himself.

Remus has the chance to get to know Patton for everything that he is, faults and all, a chance to see the moral side down to his very core. And, in turn, he’s being given the chance to be known himself, in a way he didn’t think anyone would ever truly be interested. It would be a major understatement to say he’s a little overwhelmed.

“Do you… do you mean it?” He hates the vulnerability in his wavering voice, threatening to break. He hasn’t felt so overrun by emotions of this caliber in years, used to being brushed aside and ignored. Patton smiles, so genuinely Remus is almost positive the heart he wasn’t aware of owning is about to burst.

“With all my heart,” Patton says, and that’s the straw that breaks the Camel’s back.

Remus launches himself forward, throwing his arms around the moral side and burying his face in his neck. Patton stiffens for a moment, caught off-guard before returning the embrace with nearly as much vigor.

“Me too,” Remus says, his voice uncharacteristically soft as he clings to Patton, the fire no less lively but dying down in terms of threat, “I like you too, Patton. A-a lot. More than bugs, or blood and guts, or all the deodorant in the world.” Patton laughs at that, the sound bright and so full of joy as he runs a hand through Remus’s frazzled hair.

“Well, what a lucky guy I am,” Patton says, though his tone is nothing but serious.

After a moment they part long enough to sit back down on the couch, though Remus is quick to place himself right in Patton’s lap, his legs wrapping around the moral side’s waist. Remus has never known much in the ways of personal space and Patton is almost always eager to hug the nearest person to him, combining to an unlikely but very cuddly pair.

“Hey, Remus, how many tickles does it take to make an octopus laugh?” Patton asks. The smile that’s crept onto Remus’s face and refused to leave grows.

“I dunno, Pattycake, how many?”

“Ten tickles!” Patton says before unleashing an onslaught of tickles onto Remus, earning a trail of giggles Patton is sure is one of the loveliest things he’s ever heard.

“Sta-stop it! knock it off, Pat or I’ll-I’ll claw your eyes out!” Remus warns jokingly, peeling off into another peel of laughter before Patton stops.

“Hey, Sweet Pea?” Patton asks after a moment. The nickname surprises Remus, but this time he’s a little more prepared for it.

“Yeah?”

“Can I kiss you?” He asks softly, his hands cupping Remus’s face gently. Remus nods quickly, smiling as Patton leans in and closes the gap. The embrace is gentle, perhaps gentler than would be expected of Remus, but it’s nothing short of incredible. Remus relishes in the feeling of Patton’s soft lips, his hands burying themselves in Patton’s curls.

“Hey,” Remus says as they break apart, already intent on kissing Patton senseless the next chance he gets. For now, though, he’s drowning in the warmth that’s surrounding him, in the softness he’s suddenly been allowed.

“Hi,” Patton responds, his smile just as wide as Remus’s.

“You’re a damn good kisser, Cookie.” Patton turns three shades redder in a matter of seconds. “Aww, you got all embarrassed! You like me calling you my cookie?”

“Stop it, Remus!” Patton says with a giggle.

“What? You’re so sweet, I can’t help it.” “Remus.”

“Oh, so you can call me sweet pea, but I can’t call you cookie. How’s about my buttercup? Honeybee? Cutie Pie?”

“Remus,” Patton says, before pressing his lips to the intrusive side’s again, effectively silencing him.

Not long ago, Patton was terrified of Remus. Terrified of what he represented and what that could mean for Thomas. But that isn’t the case anymore, not nearly. Affection has grown between them without either of them realizing. They still don’t entirely know each other, not yet. But they will. Patton’s grown so much, accepting the faults in his thinking, and with Remus’s help, he’s sure he’ll continue to change for the better.

Remus never counted on intimacy, not seeing how it could possibly be in the cards. And yet here he is, embracing someone he hasn’t always understood but is now so desperate to now. Remus doesn’t entirely know if he’s built for this kind of tenderness, knowing that it wouldn’t be impossible for things to shift back and for Patton’s fear to remerge. For now, though, Remus doesn’t focus on the nagging thoughts of what could go wrong, simply embracing what’s right in front of him.

They put on another movie, going to bed at a reasonable time out the window, though it takes very little time for them to fall asleep in each other’s arms, the TV still playing some long since forgotten horror movie.

=+=

Taglist:

@nadiestar 

@unoriginalgayboyalex 

[katelynn-a-fan]

Somewhere Over The Rainbow: Chapter 1

Next | Masterlist | Ao3

Summary: Patton encounters a stranger outside of his door he never expected to find. Little does he know that this one person found on his doorstep will forever change both him and his friend's lives in a single snow filled night. Animosities flare and personalities clash, but none of them can resist those big, round puppy dog like eyes. And truth be told, none of them really want to.

Word count: 5993 / 6k

Warnings: Fear, implied hypothermia (This fic is not for minors, you’ve been warned)

Patton gazed out the window at the few flakes of snow outside the window as they lazily drifted down to the ground in the fading twilight. He smiled at the sight. Fiddling absently with the sleeves of his fuzzy sweater, he leaned on his right crutch a little. Patton’s brow creased as his left foot started to ache a bit. He shifted his weight slightly more on his right to compensate. The relief wouldn’t last though.

It’s officially winter now, I suppose. OH! I’ll be busting out my Christmas sweater soon, then!

Patton’s smile spread wider as he turned away from the window, looking around the kitchen he was in.

The kitchen wasn’t too small, but even with plenty of space it was piled with many different containers of various ingredient types, and most of them looked suspiciously like items for making cookies. Speaking of cookies, there were quite a number of unlabeled Tupperware containers that were quite obviously filled with cookies. So. Many. Cookies. There were even multiple circular containers that had the very obvious design of a very familiar very chubby, bearded man dressed in red with a half eaten cookie in his hand. 

It was totally not Santa, no siree, just a random cartoon of a guy that looked exactly like Santa...

Okay, maybe Patton had already started to get into the holiday spirit, and okay, maybe he was bored being alone without his friends and baked all of these cookies just today and okay! Maybe-

Beep! Beep! Beep!

Patton sighed, adjusting his crutches as he hobbled over to the stove with the grace of a newborn cygnet in a thunderstorm, where yet another batch of cookies shined back at him in the glow from the oven light.

OKAY! Maybe he was still baking  yet another batch of cookies. Sue him! He just loved cookies… a lot. 

Patton propped one of his crutches on the kitchen counter off to the side, leaning on his left crutch to open the stove. He flinched back, despite being prepared for what was going to happen as a wave of almost blistering heat poured from the gaping maw of the oven, hitting him in the face full blast. 

Patton didn’t go to reach for the oven mitts in the drawer beside the oven, instead first inching his face into the heat to see if the cookies looked like they were done. 

Patton studied the cookies, face fading from a smile to an intense and serious half-frown of concentration as Patton sought to complete his task, searching the tray for any of the cookies that looked still the slightest bit wet or soggy. Finally, he spotted one. The cookie had a very obvious spot that looked distinctly soggy and a few of the other cookies around it looked only very slightly soggy. But that was enough, Patton decided to let them bake a little more. Nodding to himself, Patton brought his head back out of the endless waves of heat, snapping the oven door shut with a light  snap .

Only waiting a moment, the heat from the oven cut off from threatening to melt Patton’s face off he leaned too far forwards, Patton added five minutes to the oven timer. The beeping of the buttons that went off as he input the time into the oven filled the silence around Patton. They were only sounds in the silent kitchen other than Patton’s soft breathing, and yet they were like an avalanche of sound.

Patton pressed start, a last beep emitting from the oven before the kitchen was plunged again into silence. Really, that only heightened the wintery atmosphere; the silence reflected the silent snowfall around Patton’s home. The kind of silence that led people to shout: “Wait, it snowed last night! How did I not notice?”

Patton paused, glancing out the window, considering going back to watching the silent snow fall down outside before the thought of the cold outside brought his eyes to rest on the corner of a box on the kitchen counter under some of the items. His lips tugged up in yet another smile.

Oh, perfect! I might just have some of the cookies I’ve made today with this!

Patton grabbed his right crutch that he had set aside for his oven duties, utilizing it to take the few steps to where most of the items were piled on the counter. He hadn’t had the energy to put them up as of yet, but he knew his two partners would help him do that when they got back. They were such good partners like that. Patton was a lucky guy.

A goofy grin spread onto Patton’s face at the thought of his friends. Roman’s little laugh that he always did instead of his full laugh because he automatically tried to suppress anything that would make him use his inhaler, laughing included. Patton hated that he was deprived of such a melodious sound, but his little breathy laughs were (almost) just as endearing. Janus was similarly quiet, but his laughs were fuller much more often when Patton told a particularly good dad joke. Remus was the one that he wasn’t the most keen on, unhinged cackling at the practical jokes he pulled on Patton or his… partners? He had never seen Remus play any jokes on his partners, so Patton had no idea what he sounded like then. Logan’s little giggle when his little buddy Crofters did something absolutely adorable when he was able to play, and finally Virgil's full belly laugh that only happened when Patton or anyone caught him off guard with a particularly funny joke, like Janus, but Virgil  howled . He loved all of their laughter and couldn’t wait to hear it again.

Granted, he could’ve asked Remus to come over as he was the only one in his trio that was still at home, maybe to help get him to stop baking another batch of cookies.

But right now, he was getting that box.

Patton didn’t set his other crutch aside this time, able to stretch out his hands (within his limits, he still had crutches under his armpits to deal with, mind you) to shift aside all of the various food items laid on top of what Patton needed to get.

Having pushed everything finally out of the way, Patton proudly produced a box of hot chocolate packets of various flavors triumphantly. His chest puffed out as he completed the action. The corner of Patton’s lip twitched up.

Score! It’s not opened yet! That means I get the pick of the litter! Yay!

Patton put his hand over his heart with one hand, pressing the box into his chest, dramatically bobbing his head while pumping his fist into the air like a recreation of  The Breakfast Club.

After he was finished, he glanced at the clock despite the fact it was still resolutely still showing 5 minutes left on the timer. 

Patton wasted no time, retrieving his favorite mug with a frog featured prominently on the side. The handle of the mug was made to look like the frog’s tongue, which may have grossed out anyone else if they saw it, but Patton didn’t mind.

Patton hobbled over to the sink with one crutch, leaving the other behind for a bit more flexibility for what he was going to do. It remained, sadly draped against the kitchen counter. He nearly fumbled with the knob and almost spilled his mug, but he was able to steady it before anything was flung onto the counter. Not having any line or indication of where to fill the mug up to for the proper hot chocolate powder to water ratio, Patton simply eyeballed the amount of water he needed. The mug filled to about a third of an inch under the rim of the mug before the water was turned off, Patton having successfully filled the mug with the right amount of water according to his personal assessment.

Before he moved back towards the hot chocolate powder packets, Patton made sure to set the mug down and wipe his hands off with a towel. Patton also ran the towel for a couple seconds around the part of the counter surrounding the sink, to clean any stray bits of water that had managed to splash out of the sink and the mug. When he was done, he hung the towel back up, folding it perfectly like Janus had taught him when they moved in together.

“Towels definitely look nice all wrinkled, folding the towels isn’t a way to make them not wrinkled when you hang them up.” Janus had said in that adorably sarcastic tone that made Patton just want to hold Janus’s face and squish it until Janus was blushing as red as Santa’s signature suit. 

Patton’s smile bloomed into a full blown grin at the memory of one of his partners. He had been  so  adorable when Patton was first able to fluster him. Patton’s heart attempted to full on beat out of his chest as his mind began to wander to more memories of his partners before a slight change out of the corner of his eye caught his attention. Patton glanced over to gauge the source of the change in his vision. Like humans developing their innate sense of danger and perception through trial and error, historically it had been used to spot prey and also potential predators. But in a kitchen in modern society, Patton was in no place for some kind of predator to simply jump out at him.

00:04 

Instead of a predator in the wild, the oven timer had caught Patton’s eye once again. Already, a minute had elapsed.

Patton shook his head, trying to shake the lingering memories of his partners out of his head to help him focus.

I love my partners, but if I want to time it right, I gotta focus. Come on Patton, let’s do this. Cookie and hot chocolate time! Woo!

Patton gingerly picked up the mug on the counter, moving over to the microwave, reaching up with the mug-less hand to pry open the microwave with a  click  that reverberated through the microwave, creating the unique sound that only opening a microwave could evoke. Patton’s feet and ankles protested as Patton edged his weight forward to slightly on his tiptoes, gingerly placing his mug into the microwave to heat it up for its intended purpose that evening. Hot chocolate!

Another unique microwave door click later, the sound of the microwave buttons filled the void the other sound of the microwave left behind as Patton set the microwave timer to heat the water for his hot chocolate up for 90 seconds total. 

Roman’s voice filled Patton’s head this time, his voice colored with playful exasperation.

“But why can’t you just input one minute and thirty seconds like a normal human being? The microwave even changes to that form when you start it up! Heathen!” Roman’s voice hadn’t been serious, but Patton had still responded seriously to Roman’s question with five simple words that had Roman aghast.

“Takes less time to press.” Patton had shrugged, turning away to hide his smirk at the offended noise it elicited from Roman that rivaled the most aghast pearl-clutchers.

This time, Patton didn’t let the memory pull him away from what he was doing as he pressed the start button on the microwave. The newest sound from the microwave, a gentle hum that signaled the microwave was working, filled the kitchen. 

Out the window, the snow began to visibly change direction, previously angled coming from the right, the very light wind began to blow the snow slowly from perpendicular to the ground to slowly start coming from the left. The wind was gratefully not the howling winds of a full on snowstorm. In Patton’s opinion, snow was best experienced overnight with little to no wind.

Patton jumped when the sudden beeping of the microwave startled him, whipping around to the microwave. He had gotten distracted by the snow and generally distracted for the third or fourth time in a quarter of an hour. 

Patton’s cheeks warmed, slowly turning pink despite the lack of anyone else there to observe him become distracted once again.

This darn snow! Making my brain go soft with it’s wonderfulness! Darn you, snow!

Patton shook his fist lightly at the snow outside as he mentally chastised the snow, a traitorous grin spreading on his face despite his attempt to look serious. What would the neighbors think if they saw him shaking his fist at the snow? They would likely think he was off his rocker from an accelerated case of cabin fever. The snow had just started, after all, and Patton had been able to go out for groceries not a few hours before for anything else he needed before the snow hit. That was… where he got a huge portion of the ingredients he had used in the plethora of cookies he had already made that evening.

 Patton’s grin remained as he grabbed the small towel he had used to wipe down the water around the kitchen sink. When he went to grab his now-thoroughly-steaming mug, he placed the kind of damp towel under the mug, a barrier between Patton’s hand and the mug. Even through the towel, the mug was almost too hot to touch. The towel also had an ingenious two-in-one purpose as it would catch and absorb any water that happened to slosh over the side of the mug.

Patton almost gasped as he accidentally bumped against the counter with his hip, tipping his mug so that a small glob of water darkened the still damp towel. Patton tensed as he watched the little bit of water slosh out of the mug, waiting for the scalding pain of the near boiling water to come, instead a slight damp warm thump of hot dampness plopped against his hand. The towel stuck to Patton’s hand where the dark spot appeared.

Patton stood still a moment more, blinking down at the dark spot made by the water, his mind filled with the odd thought of soaked towel hand puppets, before he finally relaxed again. His shoulders, like a coiled spring, dropped down into something more of a loose, flimsy string. Patton laughed breathily as he then much more carefully set down his mug on the counter. 

Patton waited a moment, gazing between the mug and the edge of the counter before he slowly ran the mug across the counter, a couple of inches away from the edge of the counter. No chance to mess up that now. Patton nodded to himself.

Grabbing the box of assorted hot chocolate mixes half blindly, Patton checked the timer, the oven now showing:

 00:02

Patton inwardly fist bumped the air like he did at the window. He didn’t want to make himself look even more off his rocker by doing the same thing he just did a few moments before like he was under the influence or something.. Patton was in full view of that same window, after all.

Right on schedule now! Yes! I still got to mix everything up, but the cookies have to cool still, so there’s absolutely no hurry. Take. It. Slow…

Patton pulled the box directly in front of him. His fingers ran smoothly across the surface of the box, searching for the special tab to help him open it. Eventually, one of his fingers sunk into the box, Patton turning it to see the finger had slipped through the hole where the tab was. Patton flexed his finger, getting his finger under the tab and then tugging. The sound of popping came from the box as Patton began to peel back the cardboard lid that was once a solid part of the box.

As Patton finished pulling the lid back, the hot chocolate mix box now resembled more the structure of an open tissue box than a standard box package. Not those tissue boxes with the plastic there to keep tissues from falling out, but the open mix box resembled those cheap tissue boxes you get. The ones where you peel back a portion of the box and leave the tissue paper open to the elements and the various germs of anyone who used it. Yuck. Even the hot chocolate mix packages themselves, the white thin packages with somewhat subtle color difference to denote the different flavors, resembled very thick pieces of tissue paper.

Patton’s face settled into pensive curiosity, following the packages up and down the structured lines the packages were in with his eyes. Already some of the mini packages were starting to fall over against each other, the box less sturdy now that it was open than when it was unopened on the shelf of the grocery store, relatively undisturbed. 

Patton bit his lip, his left hand rising from the counter where it had been draped to cup his chin, tapping his cheek as he agonized over which flavor to use.

They all sound so good! Milk Chocolate, Vanilla, Mocha, Caramel, even Candy Cane flavored?! I- I don’t know if I can even choose!

“You’re all so lovely, I don’t know if I can pick only one of you!” Patton cried, the sound a mix between a coo and a groan.

The mixes were of course no help, all of them seeming to say ‘Pick me!’ ‘No, pick me!’ ‘I taste good too!’ Patton just  could not pick.  

Instead Patton opted for the most unbiased method of choosing, he decided to merely screw his eyes shut and bring his hand down into the box to pick one. Patton gripped the box and did some preliminary stretches, making sure his hand landed on the box when it landed before he attempted the feat completely blind. He stepped back a little, prepared for what he was about to do

Patton slammed his eyes shut, and raised his hand, holding his breath dramatically as he hand dropped his hand into the box. He rummaged around slightly before a specific package called to him. He gripped the chosen package, extracting it from the others, opening his eyes as he brushed off the other package that clung to his chosen package. It was as if the packet was jealous and holding onto the other one to try and get Patton to choose it.

Patton flipped the package over, reading the vaguely faint text that read  Candy Cane on the package. Patton nearly dropped the package as he bit back a loud squeal. Even though he was alone, Patton still automatically suppressed his squeals, worried he might distress his partners. Patton glanced out of the kitchen towards the living room, face dropped before it lit up again immediately after, Patton’s fist balling up and plastering themselves to his chest as he let out a practically ear-piercing squeal, comfortable in the knowledge he wasn’t disturbing anyone with it as no one but him was home.

“It’s like a candy cane and a chocolate bar had a baby! I bet it tastes wonderful! I don’t think I’ve had this flavor before!” Patton bubbled to the empty kitchen, pushing the box of hot chocolate mix packages to the side.

Patton pulled the mug back towards himself. He also slid the towel towards himself as well. The mug was still scalding to the touch-

“Ah! Fiddlesticks, I forgot what I was doing with the mug. That smarts!” Patton clutched his right hand back from the mug, cradling it with his other hand.

-as Patton found out when he reached out to grab the mug like he always did when he wasn’t making hot chocolate, by the main part of the cup. Not the handle. 

Patton waved his hand, trying to dispel the pain as the skin of his hand turned from light toffee to a dim pink. His hand prickled, the sensation in his hand temporarily muddled by the phantom sensation of heat that remained, not going away with Patton’s hand movements.

Patton’s eyes widened, peeping down at the counter. He flickered his eyes between his hand and the counter once or twice before he placed his hand lightly on the counter. 

A contented sigh slipped from his lips. The cool countertop was the perfect balm for Patton’s hand, a current of ice traveling pleasantly up his veins to chase away the lingering heat.

However, his contentment didn’t last too long as Patton jerked when the oven sounded. That meant his hand was exposed to the air, and that aching heat slowly bloomed once again, radiating through his veins. 

Patton moved a couple steps to the oven, still with his singular crutch. Patton grabbed the oven mitts and slipped them on quickly. Patton couldn’t help but cringe at the coarse material sliding over his irritated skin, but he had to be ready just in case this time. Patton never wanted to intentionally burn his cookies.

Patton flinched back at the wave of heat then. His right hand under the oven mitt was painfully pulsing in time with the waves from the oven, like the oven heat was feeding the residual burn. 

Patton peered into the oven like he had five minutes before to check the cookies. Patton smiled as the cookies now were immaculate, no wet or soggy spots and no dark brown burnt spots either. There were one or two cookies that were visibly close to burning, but other than that, they were perfect.

A satisfied smile bloomed on Patton’s face as he reached into the oven with his left hand. He didn’t want to risk further irritating his right hand. Even though it was a bit harder to maneuver, Patton pulled the tray of cookies out with one hand, closing the oven with a solid  thump. With the tray balancing precariously in Patton’s right hand, Patton quickly abandoned his crutch to quickly set the tray down. Patton cringed as his feet protested the new weight on them, but he finished the job quickly setting the tray down on the counter beside his unmade hot chocolate.

Before Patton did anything else, the light yet still on coming from the oven caught Patton’s eye. Without a moment to lose, Patton leaned over as far as he could before his feet started to  really  protest and shut off the oven with a single finger, though the oven mitt hid the shape of his hand..

Glad I caught that! That could’ve been bad, and a HUGE waste of energy and electricity! Good job, Patton!

Patton started to brush his hand together in a job well done, a triumphant grin on his face, until his still oven mitted hands ran against one another. Patton cringed as the movement again irritated his still tingling right hand. Patton’s only lucky break was that the burning in his right hand had subsided while it was in the gloves. The stinging was only a slight jagged edge against Patton’s palm instead of the many very jagged edges feeling the irritation had caused initially when Patton first pulled back.

Patton sighed, gradually peeling off the oven mitts.

Letting the cookies cool as they needed a bit before Patton could handle them, let alone eat them, Patton faced the hot chocolate mix and the mug he had left sitting there. 

Patton snatched up the mix packet, humming with a stupidly wide grin as he finally tore open the mix, wasting no time before pouring it into the mug of slowly cooling water. Patton finished pouring the mix in and moved back, opening the silverware drawer to retrieve a spoon to stir the mixture into an even and uniform solution.

Patton let his mind wander, but not too far, as the gentle clinking of the spoon against the side of his mug faded into a peaceful background melody of sound. 

His eyes eventually gravitated back to the kitchen window, where he found fantastic shapes in the swirls of snow outside the window. Memories of previous winters past flitted through Patton’s mind, of cozy blankets and warm hugs. Comforting touches danced like phantoms across Patton’s skin, his partners’ gentle caresses and the platonic cuddles of his friends teasing him like vengeful apparitions. Except the vengeance enacted by the spirits was only teasing the gentle touch of his friends and partners, nothing malicious or evil.

When Patton was satisfied, he looked down at the steaming mug of hot chocolate. He extracted the dripping spoon from the solution, tapping it on the side of the glass like the final rings of victory in battle. Patton laid the spoon on the towel he had used to insulate his hand, having no need for it anymore.

The cookies sat, tempting Patton to take one, but he was still unsure if the cookies were cool enough to handle. However, it didn’t take long for Patton’s self control to falter under the irresistible temptation of what he had just created. Patton's face quickly turned pained before he pounced on two of the cookies, releasing his breath as the cookies didn’t burn his left hand as he picked the first one up. 

Patton’s pulse raced, bouncing up and down on his toes minutely as he gathered his things, preparing to move to a more comfortable location to enjoy the fruits of his labor. He retrieved his crutches where he had abandoned them leaning against the counter. 

With a pep in his step, Patton slowly maneuvered around the island in the middle of the kitchen. The ground underneath Patton starkly transitioned from the somewhat slick tiled floor of the kitchen to a soft carpet as Patton entered the living room. 

Patton wasn’t affected by the change in terrain, expertly weaving through the living room by muscle memory. He could probably do it in his sleep or blindfolded if he needed to.

Placing the cookies and hot chocolate on the coffee table, Patton set both of his crutches finally to the side, having no need for them while he was going to relax and recline on the couch. 

 The couch wrapped around him like a warm hug as he automatically relaxed into it. He let out a contented sight, automatically closing his eyes as he could finally relax instead of worry about the cookies or his feet. Patton pulled the coffee table close enough to grab his mug while being able to get out when he needed to get up. 

Patton grabbed the remote, turning on the TV. Patton scrolled through the channels, looking at various movies and shows until he turned to a channel that caught his eye. The program was a TV series he was getting into called  Steven Universe.  It was one of the episodes he had already watched, which he was grateful for as he had almost been spoiled a couple of times before, the episode was a welcome one for Patton. 

Though he had already watched it, he let the episode play out, placing the remote on the coffee table and replacing it with the mug of hot chocolate and the two cookies he’d nabbed. 

Patton’s eyes were glued to the screen, captivated almost instantly with the episode. He absently brought the cookie and hot chocolate to his mouth as he watched Steven and Connie battling a bout of snow. Patton chuckled softly at the timing of the episode, glancing outside as he did so.

That’s so funny, it’s snowing here too! Also… I knew this hot chocolate flavor would taste wonderful! It tastes just like candy canes and chocolate had a baby! Don’t want to drink this too fast, though. It’ll be more satisfying if I drink it to savor it, not just gulping it down.

Patton lowered his cup a little, slowing down the flow of hot chocolate. When he was done with the swig hot and heavenly cocoa bean liquid he was taking, he set the cup back down, leaning back into the soft cushions. 

The air of the room was so warm and the scent of cookies and hot chocolate that Patton found himself closing his eyes for longer and longer. It wasn’t until Patton’s arm slid off the arm of the couch that Patton jolted back, fully awake and aware. He grabbed for the mug of hot chocolate immediately, half of the liquid still sloshing around in there, having grown almost cold.

“I can’t have hot chocolate without the hot!” Patton mumbled, bringing the cup to his lips to try and wake himself up more. On the TV, Steven yelled out something, causing Patton to turn his attention back to the show. He peered over the rim of his cup to continue to watch the show when...

Thump.

Patton jumped at a small thud in the direction of the door. The veil of drowsiness draped over him almost immediately fled as Patton nearly tossed his hot chocolate all over himself. He managed to not spill it over himself, instead, he corrected the movement, expertly positioning his mug to catch every last drop of hot chocolate.

Patton didn’t celebrate the accomplishment though, chills traveling up his arms and his spine, making him shudder involuntarily. His mind immediately started to race, his mind conjuring up more and more absurd reasons why the thump occurred before a soft laugh escaped his lips.

It’s snowing, the thump was probably some snow falling off the roof, nothing to be concerned about. Breathe.

Patton didn’t follow the breathing exercise this time. His panic hadn’t mounted too much, so a simple and normal deep breath in and out dispelled the chill up his spine. However, it didn’t get rid of the small pit in Patton’s stomach that told him that there could be something wrong and that sound wasn’t just snow.

But Patton ignored it, moving onto his second cookie, the first one placed neatly in Patton’s stomach.

Thump. Thump.

Patton’s heart sank as two more thumps traveled through the living room for the front door of the house.

It’s not snow. Not snow. Not snow!

Patton’s fingers twitched around the cookie in his hand, placing it carefully on the coffee table. Making as little sound as possible, he slowly turned down the volume of the TV. The bite of cookie in Patton’s mouth now felt like a boulder, scraping down his throat when he swallowed. Patton had to swish down another mouthful of hot chocolate to get the harsh feeling to go away.

Patton’s thoughts went back to racing a mile a minute, analyzing everything he had heard so far and eventually all his thoughts came to the same basic conclusion.

He had to check out what the noise was.

Patton slowly extracted himself from the couch, setting his mug down and grabbed the nearest blunt object, just in case, as he passed the coffee table on his route towards the door: a decorative vase covered in cartoon flowers. The flowers in the vase had long since died and been thrown away, so Patton easily wielded it upside down, gripping the bumpy surface like a baseball bat. 

Patton approached the door very cautiously, trying to make as little sound with his socked feet as he could on the floor as the surface under Patton’s socks changed from the carpet back to the hard, flat surface of the hardwood floor. The change nearly sent Patton tumbling, the slick hardwood providing less traction than the kitchen tiles.

His crutches could wait for now; he didn’t  need them to walk, and they might slow him down in the tighter space of the doorway, so he left them propped up out of the way on the leg of the couch.

Another small shuffle came through the door. Patton gripped the vase harder, but nowhere near enough to crack it. Some part of Patton wanted desperately to run to his room, to hole himself up there and ignore the sound, maybe to call the police in case the sound was someone coming to attack him. 

But a louder part of Patton was insisting that Patton see what was making the sound. It could be something harmless, but it could also be something or someone who meant to hurt him.

Everything became suspended in time for a long moment. Patton was at the door, the only thing he needed to do now was open the door, but he paused. 

Should I open it? I should! But what if- No! I can’t back down, if it is someone who means me harm, I at least know to look out for something. Calm yourself Patton. In 4…..

Patton’s heart had begun to race, his breathing speeding up, but he wiggled his body a little, trying to get rid of the excess tension. He stilled only when he started the breathing exercise. Patton’s chest expanded languidly, his lungs filling with precious air he had been depriving himself of in his panic.

Hold 7...

Patton fought the urge to breathe out until the count was done, keeping his eye fixed on a point on the doorframe to not remind him of the possible danger waiting outside with a reckless glance.

Out for 8...

Patton’s shoulders relaxed. They dropped down almost to the position they were before, but there was an undercurrent of tension even then weaved into Patton’s slightly chubby frame. A stray strand of hair fell down into Patton’s face from his messy ponytail, and Patton tucked it behind his ear absently, not even registering it beyond tucking it away out of sight. 

Patton bounced on the balls of his feet, gazing through the small window above, the snow coming down just the same as at the kitchen window. He brought his hand up to the door knob, snatching it back as he second-guessed himself before slowly bringing his hand back to where it was.

The moment Patton’s left hand hit the cool metal, Patton shivered, hit with the fact that the next moments may count for his life or death.

Patton warred against himself for several moments longer before an impulse swept through him. His hand promptly gripped the knob. He twisted it sharply before swinging the door rapidly open. His left hand went to the vase, primed to strike before his assailant could....

But instead of anything Patton expected, Patton opened the door to find absolutely nothing there, no strange car in the driveway or hooded figure with a gun pointed at his chest. Rather, there was just the silent snow falling to the ground, the cold air blasting Patton in the face as the seal of warmth in the house was broken.

“Mm…”

Patton jumped at the sound of the human groan, nearly shattering the vase in his grip when his hand clenched the vase the tightest he could. Its proximity sent Patton’s heart pumping as he scrambled back from the sound as his gaze trailed down to...

Patton froze. And he didn’t freeze because of the cold temperature.

The reason was… much worse.

On his doorstep, half covered in a thin layer of snow that was slowly melting under the outside porch light, was a child. A child all alone, in the snow, with no coat or protection whatsoever, curled up on Patton’s doorstep.

Patton barely noticed when he dropped the vase in his hands, only hearing it shatter against the floor and the child’s huddled form jolt sluggishly at the sound. Patton’s hand clapped over his mouth, whether to stifle his cry or simply at the sheer sight, even Patton wasn’t sure of the reason he did it himself. Patton’s heart followed suit with the vase, dropping to Patton’s feet and shattering into a million tiny pieces at the image of the child's tiny form, left to the elements in the marginally below freezing weather.

There was only one coherent thought Patton had the sight of the poor child at his feet: 

Who would do this to a child?

[nightashes]

We’re Monsters. Isn’t It Fun? - Chapter 1

Masterlist - Next

A/N: This is for @stop-it-anxiety ‘s Fall Fic Contest. Prompt used was “Monster”. Figured October 1st would be the perfect time to post this!

Warnings: Spooky dark stuff in like an Addam’s Family the movies type way. 

Summary: The dark sides love the scary things in life. They thrill in scaring each other. Deceit raised his kid sides, Remus and Virgil, to be proud of this. And then they met the light sides...

***

His prey in sight, he crept along. Crouched close to the ground. His lips pulled back in a snarl as he prepared to pounce. Launching onto the sitting figure, he roared loudly, “Be afraid! Be very Afraid!”

“Oh no! You got me!” Deceit dramatically bemoaned as he fell backwards onto the couch. Virgil landed softly on his chest, doing his best scary face as he hissed at his victim. Dee chuckled, smirking up at his son with fondness in his eyes. “Truly a terrifying monster.”

Virgil smiled triumphantly, “I scared you, Dad!”

A sound of rushing footsteps is heard as another figure sped wildly into the room. “Monster! Where’s a monster?” Remus shouted excitedly. He ran around the living room, looking for the fearsome beast. 

Virgil stood up on top of Dee, causing the parental side to groan in pain. “I’m the monster! I’m the scariest thing in the mind palace!” He threw his hands into the air, causing lightning to flash behind him. “Hahahaha.” He attempted to top it off with his best impersonation of an evil laugh, which in reality was just a slightly deeper version of his normal laugh. 

Dee scooped his son up, standing with a yell. “I’ve caught you!”

Remus ran to grab onto Dee’s legs, “I’m a monster too! Let my brother go, you hideous knight! Together we’ll roast you up and eat your entrails!” Remus attempted to gnaw on Deceit’s legs. 

“Augh!” Deceit feigned pain. “You’ve killed me.” He collapsed to the ground still holding Virgil close to his chest. “What am I to do against two vicious beasts such as yourselves.”

“We won!” Remus shrieked happily. Virgil was clinging to Dee’s caplet after falling to the ground with him. 

Remus grabbed onto Virgil’s arm. “Come on, V! Let’s go into the imagination and kill some knights!”

“I just want to scare them.” He mumbled as he crawled off of Deceit, following Remus out of the living room. 

“Remus. Virgil. I know you two aren’t planning to go into the imagination without your weapons. Are you?” 

“I got ‘em, Dad.” Remus whined. “It’s no fun without them.”

“We’ll be safe, Dad!” Virgil grinned happily. 

Deceit eyed them skeptically. “I totally trust you brats. And I know that you guys are going to stay in the Dark Forest. Because if you don’t the light sides will find you, and make you take a bath.” He pointed at Remus, who shuddered at the thought. “And sing cherry songs.” He sneered at Virgil’s horror stricken face.

“Noooo!!” Remus cried loudly and ran off to his room. 

Virgil jumped and scrambled after him. “Wait for me!”

Deceit laughed maniacally as he watched his kids scramble off towards the imagination.

***

“Mary, Mary, Quite contrary. 

How does your garden grow? 

With silver bells, and cockle shells,

And pretty maids all in a row.”

Remus swung his morning star in wide overarching circles singing loudly about bloody mary as Virgil crouched above him, watching from his perch in a tree. His grin was creeping ever wider as he eyed his brother, readying a leap of attack when… 

“Are you sure about this, Roman?” 

His ears perked up at the strange voice. “Remus, quiet!” He hissed out.

Remus cut off his singing, cocking an eyebrow up at his brother. “What’s up?”

“There’s people. They’re in our forest!” Virgil held tightly onto the tree as he leaned towards the direction of sound. His sharp hearing picked up another voice. 

“It’s fine, Patt. I got a sword. Anything comes close and wham, bam!” 

“Let’s kill ‘em.” Remus happily bounced below him.

Virgil nodded in thought. “We gotta scare ‘em off before Dad finds out.”

Virgil swung down from the tree landing softly beside his brother. And together the two dark sides ran through the forest, Virgil leading the way as they headed towards the sound of the intruders. Bounding past the shadowy inhabitants of the woods. Running past trees covered in cobwebs, caves with echoes that sounded eerily like wailing, and a stream that ran bright red. 

The brothers slowed down as the strangers’ voices became clearer. They crouched down side by side, hidden behind bushes watching their prey enter their field of vision. 

“They look like us.” Virgil whispered into Remus’ ear. 

‘Light sides.’ Remus mouthed back. His eyes blown wide.

Virgil narrowed his eyes at the trespassers. How dare the light sides come into their domain. Nobody was going to make him sing happy songs. Although, perhaps Remus could use a bath.

Virgil gestured to Remus to go around. The foul side nodded knowingly and slunk away, keeping low to the ground. Virgil eyed the apparent light sides as he waited for Remus to get into position. There were two of them and they seemed to be the same age as Remus and Virgil. One dressed like a prince, how nice, was haphazardly brandishing a katana. The other must have been terrified already. He was jumping at every noise, wringing his hands and biting his lip as he spoke to his companion. 

“Dad says we shouldn’t be here, Roman. Can’t we please go back. I’m scared,” He was visibly shaking.

“That’s silly! I am here so you have nothing to fear! We’re gonna defeat the evil of this forest and return as heroes!” This Roman stood proudly, his sword thrust high into the air. Virgil was confused. Heroes were the ones the monsters defeated. Why did he want to be a hero? It was much more fun to be a monster. 

The leaves rustled in front of the pair. “Careful, Patton, it might be a scary monster.”

The signal. Remus was in position. Virgil launched himself into the open, he tackled the scared one, growling down at his face. “ScArY LiKe tHiS!” Virgil shouted. His voice doubling deeper and darker than it had ever gone before. Remus in the same instance came launching into view, swinging his morningstar straight at Roman’s face. The light side managed to duck away. Remus used his own demonic voice to screech at the top of his lungs. His eyes glowing red and the light bending around him. 

“LeAvE nOw oR DIE. yOu’Re iN ThE pReSeNcE oF tHe DEMENTED.” Remus shrieked as he swung his morning star. Roman attempted to block it with his sword, but the morning star merely knocked it out of his hands. 

Virgil was giddy. Remus had fantastic control over his voice and now Virgil was gaining his own. He smiled down at his prey, ready to boast of his achievement. But Patton was crying. Tears were streaming down his face as he looked at Virgil in utter terror. And suddenly, being scary seemed wrong. Bile rose in his throat. What had he done? He had made the light side cry? Being scary was fun but... this wasn’t fun. This was terrible. Scrambling off of Patton, and putting distance between them. He sat there on the ground, his mouth agape in silent apologies. Remus paused his rampage to watch in confusion.

“Virgil?” Remus spoke softly. His voice having returned to normal.

“I scared him.”

“Yeah. That’s what we do. Scaring is fun.”

“FUN!” Roman interrupted. Panting from his attempts to dodge Remus’ attacks. “You think this is fun? You guys are mean!” Roman’s previous bravito abandoned. His hands trembled, his body curled in on himself. “You guys are monsters!”

Patton sat up and Roman ran to hug him close. Patton said nothing. But his eyes remained locked on Virgil. And then the dam broke and he cried out. “Daddy!!” Roman buried his face into Patton’s shoulder and they hugged each other close. Remus came over to stand beside Virgil. 

“I don’t get it. What did we do wrong?” He asked him. Virgil said nothing. Only silently stood beside his brother. Remus wrapped his arm around him. Trying his best to comfort his brother, despite not knowing the cause of his distress.

“Patton! Roman!” A voice shouted through the woods. Running footsteps thudded against the forest floor as a sprinting figure rushed towards the shaken group.

“Daddy!” Patton cried again. Roman looked hopeful as he watched the man come into view.

Remus grimaced. “Another intruder.”

The figure, another side, hesitated for only a second before crouching down by the crying light sides and wrapping them in his arms. “Shhh.. It’s okay. I’m here.”

Virgil shifted on his feet self-consciously. An adult light side. They were in real trouble now. 

The man looked over at the two hesitant brothers. His gaze was like ice. “What happened here?”

“They scared us.” Patton cries.

“That monster tried to kill me, Dad!” Roman bellowed pointing at Remus.

“I’ll handle it.” The man spoke with care. Standing, he loomed over the child dark sides. His eyes locked onto Remus.

“Your weapon, now.” The man held out his hand.

“NO! Dad says we can’t be in the dark forest without ‘em.” Remus defended, gripping tight onto his beloved morning star.

“And where is Deceit? I would like to talk with him about your behavior today.” His voice rang with authority.

“We didn’t do anything! They’re just being babies.” Remus complained.

The man was not impressed. He peered down at them through his black spectacles. “You terrified them. You made Roman think you were going to kill him. I know you dark sides have a warped sense of fun, but when you torment my children that is crossing a line. A line you do not come back from. If you ever bother my children again… You will have to answer to me.”

“Dark sides?” Roman whispered, pulling back in shock.

“This is unfair! You are the ones that came into our forest!” Remus was growing increasingly agitated. He must really hate this new side. Virgil wasn’t particularly fond of him either. He was making him feel wrong. Was it bad to be a dark side?

“That is not a valid excuse for terror-”

“Daddy! I want to go home!” Patton broke through the shouting. 

The light side straightened his shoulders. “I will be escorting my charges back now. I expect you two to return to your own commons. And I will be calling Deceit about your behavior here today.”

Virgil and Remus watched the light sides leave their forest. Remus shouting at their retreating backs to “Stay out of our forest!”

Virgil only turned away. Trudging back through the Dark Forest and towards Remus’s door. 

Arriving home, Remus ran to the commons, excited to tell Dee all about their adventures. Virgil followed slowly behind only to stop short upon seeing Dee yelling into the phone. “Well. the brats shouldn’t have been in dark side territory… No! If they don’t want to be scared than they shouldn’t have been idiotic enough to go monster hunting in the Dark Forest!”

Monster hunting? Virgil thought. These light sides really thought that way about monsters.

“Oh please! You know we can’t get hurt. Let alone die!... It’s not my fault Roman doesn’t know that!” Dee was continuing. Remus shuffled up to his dad. Staring up at the man with a grin, bouncing on his toes as he waited for Deceit to be done. 

Virgil didn’t want to wait. He just wanted to be alone. He sunk down to his room and landed softly onto his bed. Virgil grabbed his blanket and rolled across his mattress, enveloping his small form in a blanket burrito. Ending face down, he sighed into his pillow. What happened back there?

Deceit had always taught them to be proud of being a dark side. He read them spooky stories and was delighted when they played monster. It was always so much fun being a monster. But now, Virgil just felt sad. He didn’t know if he wanted to be a dark side anymore. He didn’t want to be bad. And the light sides were terrified of him. Did that make him bad?

He shifted to his side and curled his legs up to his chest. He closed his eyes to the world. Virgil had always been scary but he didn’t want to be bad. Was scary bad? 

***

A soft knock awoke Virgil. He blinked tiredly, glancing around his room. When had he fallen asleep?

“Virgil.” Deceit’s voice called through the door. 

“Dad?”

Deceit slipped into the room. Spying Virgil curled up on his bed, the fatherly side made his way over to sit beside him. Settling in place, Deceit sighed as he looked down at the young anxious side. He reached over and gently brushed Virgil’s hair back from his forehead. “How you doing, Spider?” 

Virgil tucked his chin down, looking away from Deceit in answer.

“I’m sorry they yelled at you, bud.”

Virgil studied the stitch in his blanket.

“Remus told me your voice warped. That’s truly horrid news.” Deceit’s smile was evident in his words. But it only made Virgil angry.

“Horrid is bad, Dad! And not fun bad. It’s bad bad.” He huffed.

His father’s eyebrows knit together. “Did the light sides say that? Did they say you were bad?”

“They said we were mean. They said we were scary and Patton cried. We’re monsters. Monsters a- are ba-ad.” Virgil whispered into the dark of his room. His words choking at the end. He bit his lips and willed the tears not to come. He didn’t want to cry. 

“Now that’s a blatant lie and I should know. There are plenty of good monsters. I know you know this. Just look at the Yeti. And what about Arabella?” Deceit spoke, pointing to Virgil’s pet spider nestled happily in her terrarium. 

“What about her?”

“Well, spiders scare a lot of people because they look different. But that doesn’t make them bad does it?”

“No… Arabella is a good spider.”

“And you are a good side. If you ever doubt that I want you to think about Arabella and then I want you to come find me. I’ll always be there for you, my spider.”

[recipeforme]

C7: Somehow I’ll Be Strong

Book: A Good Kid

It was a tradition in our friend group that once a month we would gather at Patton’s house to have a movie night. I’m sure that if it was up to Patton it would be at least every two weeks. But Patton’s Dad, Mr. Thomas, said that we could only do it once a month during the school year.

If it had been up to me we would do a movie marathon of some kind every month. But once again, Mr. Thomas said we could only watch one movie and that it couldn’t be longer than ninety minutes. The last rule was made after I tried to get everyone to watch ‘The Sound of Music’ which is two hours and fifty-five minutes.

The way our movie nights worked was that we rotated each month on who got to pick the movie. Last month it had been Logan’s turn which meant that we watched some boring space documentary. But this month it was my turn!

-----

I walked up to the front door of the Sanders’ household with five different DVD cases in my hand. I know that we were only allowed to watch one film but I still like to get Patton and Logan’s opinion on which to watch.

Standing on the front porch I rang the bell. I could hear Patton’s joyful yell and the sound of running footsteps, I smiled as he threw open the door and flung his arms around me.

“Roman! You're here!” He yelled “I missed you.”

“You just saw me at school.” I laughed, hugging him back.

I chuckled lightly as I pulled away from the hug and Patton led me inside and to the kitchen where Logan was. “Hey Nerd,” I said.

Logan rolled his eyes, keeping them in the book he was reading.

“So I see that Roman’s here.” I looked over to see Patton’s dad standing in the entryway that led into the kitchen.

“Hello Mr. Thomas,” I said with a smile.

The man laughed “Roman, how many times do I have to tell you? It’s just Thomas.”

“Sure thing Mr. Thomas,” I replied with a cheeky grin.

Thomas playfully rolled his eyes at me and moved to the kitchen table where he opened his laptop. Most likely to get some work done, not like that’s any of my business. I started chatting with Patton before his foster brother came downstairs.

“Well, if it isn’t the Emo Nightmare!” I said with a smirk. Virgil looked over at me with a scoff of annoyance before moving to the fridge and pulling out a water bottle.

“So,” Patton said, returning to our conversation. “What are we watching tonight Roman?”

“I haven’t decided yet but I do know that it will be one of these movies,” I said pulling out the DVD cases I had brought.

Logan set his book aside and looked at the cases “why do you always choose Disney movies?”

“I don’t always choose Disney!” I protested “sometimes I chose a musical.” I heard Virgil snort and I turned to him “what? You have a problem with Disney?!”

“No,” He said. “I, too, am a Disney fan.”

“You?” I laughed.

“What? Why is that so hard to believe?”

“Disney movies are the embodiment of goodness and purity, something you would know nothing about!” I said, still laughing.

“Be nice kiddo” Patton scolded.

“Disney movies have such wonderful and empowering messages!” I said to Virgil.  

Virgil gave me a dark smirk and leaned up against the kitchen counter, still holding his water bottle.“You must not be watching the same movies then.” He said, “because the movies I know have much more sinister undertones.”

He looked over at Logan and Patton “Come on, you must sense it. I'm just making sure you're alert to all of the messages in those films, whether they were intentional or not.”

“Actually, this is kind of intriguing,“ Logan said.

“What?” I cried.

“So you think every movie has a darker meaning or a misleading message?” Logan clarified.

“Oh yeah.”

“This is ridiculous!” I yelled “you besmirch the name of Disney. This time, you have gone too far!”

“Really?” Virgil raised an eyebrow, setting aside his water. “This is where you cross the line?”

“Well, how 'bout this?” Patton cut in “Logan and I will throw out some Disney movies and you two tell us what we’re supposed to learn from each movie.”

The two of us agreed and Patton got started. I’m sure I’ll win. There was no way that evil villain will be able to find anything wrong with such perfect movies.

------

“Okay, movie one. Cinderella.” Patton said.

“Ha! Easy.” I said, “believe in your dreams and one day, they will come true.”

“Sure, just literally wait around your entire life, subjecting yourself to the cruelty of your ungrateful, ignorant family members, until some magical fairy comes along to save you.” Virgil said sarcastically “don't take action yourself.”

“She had mice, too!” I protested.

“Not to mention, men can't memorize the face of a woman they've been dancing around with for hours, they have to rely on the shoe.” The darker teen added, “ergo... men are idiots.”

“He was a very busy prince! He had a lot on his mind!”

“Let's just move to another.” Patton said, “um, Snow White!”

“Okay, so this time the message is to not do what the princess did.” I said, “don't accept random fruit from strangers.”

“Or, don't eat fruit...?” Patton said.

“No,” Thomas called from the kitchen table.

“No?”

“The bigger message is to just run away from your problems and become the housekeeper for seven men,” Virgil said.

“Sometimes the best solution is to get out of a bad situation!”

“Not to mention, a prince comes out of nowhere and plants a kiss on a seemingly sleeping girl?” He adds “I guess consent isn't really that important.”

“I never did understand that,” Logan said to himself.

“He thought she was dead! It was a farewell kiss!” I yelled, “what's with all the prince hate?”

“I wonder,” Virgil said in a sarcastic tone that I’ve grown to hate.

“Well, how about something a little bit more recent: Frozen,” Patton suggested.

“A sister's love triumphs overall!” I said.

“And don't trust random princes. I can get behind that” Virgil added.

“I swear…”

“Also, when Elsa passes away, Olaf's gonna die too, 'cause the magic will be gone. So just prolong the inevitable?” Immediately Patton and I cried out about how dark that was. Virgil just shrugged saying that he’d warned us.

“How about we lighten it up with Peter Pan?” Patton suggested.

“Don't let your childhood spirit ever die” I said.

“Also, it's totally fine to believe a random stranger when they tell you to jump out the window after they've broken into your house.” Virgil said “but I would guess that's how your whole being would die.”

I groaned “urgh…”

“Okay, how about Aladdin? My favorite!” Thomas said, moving to lean up against the table. Watching us with interest.

“The value of a person is not determined by wealth.” I told them “a diamond in the rough can be found anywhere, even someone who may be considered a street rat.”

“And they can get what they want by lying and deceiving their way right into the castle and getting the princess.” Virgil smirked.

“Oh, come on!” I cried “he came clean in the end! He even freed the Genie!”

“Yeah, he did.” Virgil agreed “but not before his way lying and deceiving right into the castle and getting the princess.”

“How about Fox and the Hound?” Patton asked.

“True friendship overcomes any boundaries set by society.” I said, folding my arms and glaring at Virgil.

“But then that friendship will be immediately be terminated by that society, and the two must learn their place in the world.” He added.

“Beauty and the Beast” Logan suggested.

“Okay, I know what you're gonna say, you're gonna say--”

“Stockholm Syndrome.” Virgil and I said in unison.

“But,” I said “it is more than just a prisoner falling in love with her kidnapper! It is about a love that transcends outward appearance. Even a beastly, hairy, animal-- you're right, that doesn't sound much better.” Hums of agreement floated around the room “But come on, can you really look down so harshly on these movies?”

“I still like them,” Virgil said “there's just some darker messages that we don't first see.”

“Bambi?” I asked.

“Man is dangerous.”

“Pocahontas!”

“White man is dangerous.”

“Sleeping Beauty!”

“Well, now we're back to the lack of consent with sleeping women.” He responded with a smirk.

“It was to lift a curse!” I yelled.

“The Little Mermaid?” Thomas asked.

“Don't just sign a contract without having your mer-lawyer look over all the fine print and stipulations. That one's just common sense.” Virgil said.

“Or learn to write, or use sign language.” Logan added “there's more than one way to tell the prince you're the girl that saved him.” I couldn’t help but silently agree with both Virgil and Logan.

“Well then, how about we just concede that Disney movies have a lot of different, interesting messages within them” Patton said.

“Duh, that's what I've been saying.” Virgil said “I never said Princey was wrong.”

I was surprised “you didn't?”

“No.”

“Well,” I said slowly “then I suppose I shall concede a few points to you.”

“Great.” Virgil began to leave the kitchen, water bottle in hand, when I called out to him.

“Wait,” he stopped and slowly turned around “there’s one movie you forgot” I said.

“Which one?”

“Tangled.”

Virgil stiffened “there are those in your life who are supposed love and care for you but sometimes all they do is hurt you.” He answered quietly.

Everyone in the room went silent. Virgil ducked his head and flipped up his hood, hiding his face from view. And he quickly disappeared down the hall.

[chroniclackofselfpreservation]

Creatures of the Night

Chapter 6 - to sleep, perchance to dream

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If there’s anything in this chapter I should be warning for, please message me.

(The title of the chapter comes from Hamlet by William Shakespeare, III.i)

The next night.

Running. Running and panting and trying not to collapse and possibly die and runrunrundon'tdiedon'tdie! Chasing. Or rather, being chased. Something big, with big knives... or teeth, or something, but it didn't really matter. What mattered was it was trying to kill him. He couldn't see it, but he could hear it. Hear it slithering, hissing, laughing a low gravely laugh.

"You can't hide from me, little prince" it growled, ravenous. Tress fell out of the darkness, blocking his path. He scrambled a different direction, slipping on dirt and pine needles. Faster, faster, it was catching up. He couldn't run anymore. Something tore at his insides. His legs buckled beneath him, caught on something invisible. It was going to get him and—

Patton woke with a start, finding his arms and legs tangled in something and he couldn't get awaycouldn'tgetaway—

He tumbled over the side of his bed with a thud, smacking his head on the side of his nightstand. Chest heaving, he grabbed at whatever was around him and, oh, it was just his blanket. He lay there for a good few minutes before his brain realized he was awake and safe in his bedroom. Sighing, he sat up and wiped his face with a trembling hand. He wanted—needed to turn on the bedroom light, but didn't trust himself to stand.

"It's okay. You're alright. You're safe. It wasn't real, it wasn't..." he trailed off. But they were... weren't they? Or, at least, they had been, at one point or another. However, these last few months, they'd been getting stranger and stranger, and reality hadn't been mimicking them. Well, as far as he was aware, anyway. As a child he'd had dreams like these, but about mundane things: getting groceries, conversations he would have with his teachers or friends, things like that. Things his mother quickly told her eight-year-old son to keep to himself because "it wasn't natural." It wasn't until moving out that the dreams had become more... fanatical. They rarely made sense and often left him questioning what had even transpired.

You should be glad, a voice in the back of his head sneered. At least you're dreaming like a normal person now, right?

Looking to his left, he saw that it was nearly midnight. His throat itched with thirst and he swallowed dryly. He needed a drink of water. Slowly standing and keeping a hand held out to test his balance, he made his way to his door, which he'd left open a crack. He enjoyed the faint breeze leaving his door and window slightly open produced, and had grown quite accustomed to it. Pushing the door open with a finger, he stepped out into the hallway.

That's strange, he thought, looking at the partially illuminated stairway. The downstairs lights were on. Did Virgil forget to turn them off again, or was Logan simply ignoring both his and Roman's pleas to go to bed at a decent hour? Placing his hands on his hips, he strode toward the stairs and opened his mouth to speak when a noise cut him off. A soft, breathy sound, like someone whispering. A conversation? Patton stopped, and crouched near the top of the banister, out of sight from whoever was speaking below. Normally, he was totally against eavesdropping, but something inside him told him he'd regret not listening.

"...worked! I can't believe it! His name is Dorian, and he was, like, a normal—well, I take that back—a kinda half-way normal person once he dropped the whole giant-demon-snake thing." Patton's eyebrows bunched in concern. Was that Roman? What about a giant demon snake? Patton's mind immediately flashed back to his dream, and he had to clamp a hand over his mouth to keep from gasping.

You can't hide from me, little prince.

"But wait," another voice—Logan?—cut in, snapping Patton out of his thoughts, "You said that you two made some sort of deal? What were the parameters?"

"Well, not yet. I'm sure we'll talk about it more tonight, but I've got the basics down. He'll tell me how to break this stupid curse, or whatever, and all I have to do is kill an immortal dragon-witch," Roman said, gradually growing less and less confident in his rendition of this "deal."

Patton could almost see Logan pinching the bridge of his nose. "So, what you're saying is that you've gotten rid of one curse just to replace it with another one? One immortal demon for a different immortal witch?"

Roman scoffed. "I'm just glad I'm still here to tell you about this, Specs. After all, this was your idea."

"I see your point," Logan relented. There was a pause, then, "Just... be careful. Okay?"

"Of course."

Patton leaned back against the wall as he heard the front door open and shut. Out of sight, Logan sighed and settled onto the couch. Patton barely breathed, trying to digest what he'd just heard.

He might just have to scratch the whole "dreaming like a normal person" thing, after all.

                                                  * * * * * * * * * *

Roman sat cross-legged in the grass just outside the forest, feeling calmer than he had in... a while. Sure, he was still about to spend most of the night with a strange demon-snake-man-thing that he was pretty sure still wanted to kill him, but things were getting better. At least, he hoped they were. The curse churned within him, though he was used to the pain; almost numb to it, actually. Soon, he'd be able to sit and look at the stars without feeling like his intestines were being run through a meat grinder.

Something moved through the grass next to him, and he tensed, reaching for his sword. It turned out to only be the cat from last night. Roman chuckled and held out his hand. The feline padded over, pressing its head against the palm of his hand and purring loudly. Roman scratched the side of its head, then wrapped his arms around his knees and stared at the forest. The cat sat next to him, wrapped its tail around its feet, and looked into the dark depths alongside him.

"You know?" Roman said softly, leaning towards it ever so slightly, "You remind me of my friend."

The cat's ear twitched.

"He doesn't talk much, but he feels a lot. I can tell. There was this one time when I was a teenager, I was really upset with my dad and wanted to run away. He was the one who convinced me to tough it out and stay. He said, 'You can always start over, but good things take time. If you throw something away before you give it time to become good, you'll never know what you could have gained.' I don't know how he comes up with this stuff," Roman said, picking at the grass, "but I'm glad he said it." He looked down and saw that the cat was now staring at the night sky. The stars reflected off its eyes like pools, deep and wise and knowing. Something pulled at Roman, and it wasn't the curse. No, this pull was... different somehow. First of all, it didn't hurt. It felt more like the drawing together of two magnets that had always meant to meet. Secondly, it didn't actually pull at him. In a way he could explain, at least. It was like it was tugging at his mind, at the bizarre ocean of unknown deep in the pit of his subconscious—and yet, somehow he knew. Like he'd known with the Silkweed. He couldn't explain it, but something about this cat... just something.

"I'm, uh," he continued, rolling his shoulders, "I'm going to break the curse."

The cat looked at him intently, and Roman felt pinned in place. He tore his gaze away.

"You're just a cat. I don't know why I'm telling you this, but hey, here I am, talking to an animal. All right, time to get a move on," he grunted, standing. The cat made a strange chirrup noise and Roman stopped. That same tugging tickled the insides of his ears and sent shivers down his spine. He ignored it, focusing on the painful pulling behind his navel.

He stepped into the forest.

                                                  * * * * * * * * * *

"Hello?" he called into the night. Roman wasn't exactly sure how to go about this new arrangement. Sure, he'd still brought his weapons with him, but that was just a precaution. If Dorian got to keep the ability to turn into a giant demon snake at any point, Roman definitely got to keep some weapons around.

"Greetings, little prince." Dorian stepped out from behind a tree without a sound.

Roman jumped. "Jeez, warn a guy, would ya? Also, stop calling me 'prince'. I have a name, you know? I told you and everything."

"...Yes," the man said distastefully. "Shall we head to the cave before continuing our conversation from last night?" he said, already walking away through the trees.

Roman's hand twitched toward the hilt of his sword. "Uh, do we have to? I don't think it'll rain anymore and the clearing's much closer." There were two reasons for this. First, Roman didn't quite like the idea of being in an enclosed space with someone who could spontaneously explode into a giant snake. Second, the last time he'd entered a cave with a magical entity, it hadn't really ended well for him. He'd like to avoid a similar situation.

Dorian stopped, but didn't face him. His figure cut a sharp silhouette, tall and imposing as the trees around him. "There are things in this forest that I would prefer not overhear our discussions."

"Other things? But I haven't—"

"I tire of this," Dorian hissed, turning on his heel. His one snake-eye glowed a rich gold, casting light against his face and shining through the darkness around them. Roman jumped, and tried to swallow, but his heart was hiding in his throat and refused to move. His mind flashed back to that night with Ursula. Her eyes had glowed a similar color.

Dorian took several steps forward, the movement so smooth he might as well have been gliding. Roman gripped his sword. "You," he growled, his voice returning to that grating rumbled that usually accompanied his serpentine form, "are a naive, ignorant, stupid little boy who has decided to make a deal with a demon without knowing anything about what he's getting himself into. Now, you can either follow me to the cave, or I can return to my previous engagement of hunting you for sport."

"I, uh..." Roman managed, words failing him. How was it that Dorian managed to be more intimidating as a person than in his demon form? "To the cave, then, I guess."

"Very well," Dorian said, and turned around once more, disappearing into the night. Roman cursed under his breath and ran after him. Did he have to wear black? Roman barely remembered how they got to the cave last time, as he was near delirious with hypothermia, and wasn't too keen on wearing Dorian's patience even thinner by getting lost.

The cave proved to be much farther into the woods than Roman realized, and it took nearly an hour of hiking to reach. Dorian plowed forward, not breaking a sweat or even flushing at the exercise. Roman wasn't red-faced or panting or anything—he was used to fighting for his life and running around for six hours, if that didn't build up a person's endurance, nothing would—but he was surprised at the total lack of exertion on Dorian's face. His arms barely moved at his side and his eyes never wavered from their target in front of him.

Eventually, however, they reached their destination. Roman entered the cave and had a proper look around as best he could with the given light situation. It wasn't very spacious—only a dozen feet or so at its widest. It did, however, run deep into the mountain, farther than Roman could see. He contemplated shouting, to see if it would echo, but thought better of it and turned to inspect the fire pit. It was cold and dead now, the blackened coals and half-burned logs sat in a damp pile. Roman reached out at dragged a finger across one. It came back covered in a sooty paste. He looked up at Dorian, who stood with his back to the cave, silent and unmoving as if he were watching for something.

Roman cleared his throat. "The wood's wet, we'll have to—"

"Nonsense," Dorian muttered, snapping his fingers. A fire burst into existence with a roar, and Roman yelped, falling back in surprise. A hint of a smile graced the demon's face as he settled down into a seat on a nearby boulder. "Now, I don't see why we must waste anymore time with explanations. Are you ready to make the deal, or not?"

Roman took a breath. "I am."

"Very well," Dorian stood and came around to his side of the fire. Roman, in a less graceful fashion, also stood. The demon was shorter than him in this form, but somehow that didn't downplay his level of intimidation. Every time Roman saw that golden snake eye, he remembered the monster that stalked his every night, that hunted him, and fought him, and drove him completely insane with paranoia. This was the creature he was about to make a deal sealed in magic with?

Dorian unfolded the parchment on which the contract was written and placed it on the ground between them. He pulled up his sleeve, exposing an arm riddled with patches of scales just like those on his face.

Roman took a step back. "Wait."

"What is it now?"

"I have another request I want to add on," he said, hoping he wouldn't get his throat ripped out for it.

Dorian's eyes narrowed. "And what exactly would this request entail?"

"I'll kill the dragon witch for you if you help me break the curse, but you have to promise to stop trying to kill me."

The demon put on a sardonic grin, "Please, I'll waste away with my favorite plaything gone."

"I'm serious."

"So am I. I've been alive longer than even the oldest of demons, and I've been dealing with Ursula and her infernal curses for the past three centuries." He leaned closer, his grin stretching. "I've found boredom to be the worst of tortures."

Roman exhaled, trying to keep his hands from flying to his weapons. He really didn't want to start a fight before he'd gotten the information he wanted. "What assurance do I have that you won't simply kill me after we make this deal? Or even if you don't, I need to focus all of my energy on breaking this curse and fulfilling my side of this bargain. I can't be doing that when I'm worried you're going to bite my head off every single night."

Dorian sighed, dropping the expression and stepping back. "I suppose you make a valid point. All right, I'll also agree to cease hunting you and refrain from inflicting any fatal bodily harm under the caveat that you fulfill the conditions of the contract within three months." He waved a hand and Roman watched the words appear in ink on the parchment.  

Three months. Twelve weeks to break his curse and figure out some way to kill an immortal dragon witch. Easy. He could do that. Right?

"Okay," Roman said, moving closer to Dorian and pulling his sleeve up his arm. The demon gripped his forearm, and Roman his. A strange tingling sensation began to spread from where their skin met. It reminded him vaguely of the feeling of removing the amulet. The butterflies in Roman's stomach turned to ants, crawling and biting and stinging and oh, this was a bad idea what was he thinking—

Gold threads of light sprouted from Dorian's free hand. His demon eye brightened and his brow hardened in concentration as he wound the magical thread around their clasped hands. His lips moved wordlessly and Roman fought to keep his breathing under control.

It's okay. You chose this. Everything's fine, he repeated over and over in his head, but it didn't seem to do much.

Dorian's chanting faltered. Roman looked up. "What's wrong? Why'd you stop?"

"You're shaking."

"I'm—? Well would you look at that," he said, shifting nervously. "You'd think I was making a deal with a super scary demon, or something."

Dorian's fingers held the golden thread motionless above their hands. "Are you sure about this? We can stop. There's still time—"

"No! I, uh—I'm fine. I... I need to do this," Roman said, gritting his teeth and willing his hands to be still. They did. Dorian watched him for a moment, then resumed the rhythmic chanting. The magical thread reached its end, and Dorian tied it off. His grip tightened ever so slightly and Roman watched with baited breath as the gold light seeped into their flesh and it... it didn't hurt. It was warm and filled Roman with a strange sort of energy that made his heart flutter like he'd gone over the crest of a roller coaster. He felt a soft tickle on the pad of his thumb and watched as his thumbprint appeared in ink across the bottom of the contract alongside a runic symbol he didn't recognize.

He blinked, and it was over. Dorian released him, and stepped back, rolling the contract up in his hand. Roman looked at his arm, inspecting the faint, pale lines crisscrossing his skin.

"Is... Is that it?" he asked tentatively, flexing his fingers experimentally.

"Yes." Dorian pressed the paper to his chin thoughtfully, then quite unceremoniously tossed it into the fire. Roman tensed, but seeing the demon's unconcerned expression, he assumed it was a perfectly normal thing to do.

Roman sat down. "What happens if one of us can't fulfill their end of the deal?"

"You mean, what if you don't kill Ursula within the time frame?"

"Or you get too bored and kill me on accident," he added cynically. "What happens then?"

Dorian snorted. "Let's just keep to our sides of the bargain. Speaking of," he said, replacing his glove and smoothing out the sleeve of his jacket, "I'm supposed to teach you about your curse, yes?"

"Uh, yes?"

He sighed and sat down across from the fire. "That, little prince, is a long story..."

[broadwaytheanimatedseries]

God another one so soon? What the hell, me

Yeah so apparently I can't look at good fanart without turning it into an AU so-

Shazam AU:

Thomas Sanders is Shazam, but there's a bit of a twist.

See Thomas Sanders doesn't actually exist.

Or well, he only exists as Shazam, and when he isn't Shazam he just... Isn't. Like at all.

The Sanders siblings have been on their own for a very long time now.

The order of ages goes Dylan, Roman and Remus (Remus is a few seconds younger and Roman calls him baby brother), Logan, Patton, and finally Virgil.

They were all chosen for the power of Shazam, but each was chosen for a different part of it.

The wizard who decided that instead of one champion to trust with all this power, there needed to be a group of people, who could work together as one, was named Thomas.

He trained the siblings and was the first adult in their lives to truly care for them.

When they were ready to receive the power, Thomas told them the process was dangerous and possibly lethal, as no one has ever attempted to split the power of shazam into 6 individuals before.

They said they were willing to take that risk to help the person who saved them save the world.

What Thomas didn't tell them, is that the process would be dangerous and possibly lethal for him, not for them.

And indeed, when it was done, Thomas was no more. At least, not the Thomas the siblings knew.

When they aren't Shazam, they can still use their respective powers, as part of splitting up the power of shazam is that it's made up of several powers.

Dylan wanted to be able to always know when he's being lied to or manipulated, and more importantly when his little brothers are, so he was granted the Wisdom of Solomon. Now nothing goes over his head, and no one can trick him anymore, so he might as well have some fun and be a bit of a trickster himself.

Roman wanted to be able to protect his family and himself, so he was granted the Strength of Hercules.

Remus wanted to be able to endure anything that was thrown his way, so he was granted the Stamina of Atlas.

The twins have very similar experiences but deal with them very differently. Roman believes that you should always fight back, while Remus believes that if the person trying to hurt you sees they aren't hurting you, they'll just leave you alone.

Logan wanted to be useful and cool, he wanted to be important, for his family to notice him. Maybe even to make some friends. He wanted most of all to be strong. So he was given the Power of Zeus, and now he can always win people over and get their attention.

Patton wanted to never be afraid again, and to make sure his family wouldn't have to be afraid either, so he was granted the Courage of Achilles, and now he can face any challenge head on and help others do the same. His family, his friends, even total strangers.

Finally, Virgil wanted to never be stuck in a bad situation with no way out again, he never wanted to be in a fight he couldn't run from. So he was granted the Speed of Mercury, and now there's nothing he can't outrun except his own anxiety, and he uses his power to help other people who are trapped with no way out.

Usually they can work on their own, or even as a team of individuals, separately, but when there's a serious threat, they all get together and -

SHAZAM!

- they merge into one being, who based on the combined ages of the siblings should be 64 but looks to be about half that, with the mentality of their age average, which is 13.

But it's still 6 siblings who have been through a lot, so it's a rather mature 13 year old in the body of a 32 year old, for better and worse.

When they are Shazam they refer to their collective consciousness as Thomas, to honor their mentor and the closest thing to a real dad they've ever had.

Sometimes they wanna stay Thomas even when the danger's gone, but they know they risk losing themselves to the collective consciousness.

Anyway I have no idea what to do with this concept lol.

[latestageyouth]

When you walk away (nothing more to say)

Chapter 1 - The new kid

Trigger warnings: uhhh selective mutism?, swearing, sympathetic Deceit and Remus

word count: somewhere around 3,000

Author's note: do not hold me responsible for any cringiness, I've written this a long time ago

As soon as the bell rang Roman put his books in the bag and was out the door.

"Remember to submit your essay on Thursday!" Mrs. Harrison said just in time for Roman to hear before he headed to his locker. There, he already saw Patton.

"Hey, Pat! Long time no see!" he waved to his friend and began to unlock his locker.

Patton looked at him with a confused smile, "We talked to each other an hour ago," he put his math textbook into his locker before closing it and hugging Roman.

"An hour too long," the other laughed. Roman opened his eyes to see Logan approaching them, "Hey, specs, finally decided to join us?"

At the mention of Logan, Patton spun around and hugged the other too, "Hey Lo!" Roman could practically see Logan tense under the touch, but he didn't pull back.

"Nice to see you too, Patton," after the said boy freed his from his embrace, Logan adjusted his glasses on his face, "So, shall we go eat? I haven't eaten anything all day, so I would appreciate if we could go to the cafeteria now," the other two nodded and headed down the hallway, Patton scolding Logan about how skipping meals isn't healthy.

The cafeteria food was awful, like always, but Logan didn't seem to mind. Well, not as much as the other two. Roman and Patton didn't get any food, Logan and Patton bickering about hypocrisy and food habits, Roman didn't pay attention, too busy scrolling Instagram to care. What pulled him to reality was an exaggerated cough. The cough also happened to stop Logan and Patton, all of them looking up to the source of the sound.

Patton smiled at the tall stranger in front of them holding a lunch tray, "Can I help you?" the stranger gestured at himself and then at a chair at their table. Patton furrowed his eyebrows, but the smile didn't leave his face, "I'm sorry, I don't understand? Maybe use your words?" the stranger's eyebrows shot up as if he was saying something passive-aggressive, then pointed at himself and then at the chair, but this time more firmly. Patton looked between Roman and Logan, "I am really sorry, I-"

"He's asking if he can sit with you, dumbass," a voice came a few tables from their own. All four of them looked in the direction of the speaker, which the three recognized as Damon, the gossip of the school, "And before you say anything, you can sit with us, people who actually understand that maybe you can't speak," he turned to look at Patton with a plastic smile, which Roman knew he was doing on purpose.

Roman rolled his eyes, "Wow, so thoughtful. Last time I checked, you were the one making bets on which one of the choir will lose their voice first due to the intense training."

"Actually, that was me," said the other man sitting at the table with Damon, smiling like he was proud of himself.

Roman pinched the bridge of his nose, "That's even worse."

The stranger looked between the two tables, before walking over to the one where Damon and the other man sat. Roman scoffed, Logan squinted his eyes at the action, as if questioning the other's sanity, and Patton pouted about losing a potential friend, but soon the three got talking about biology homework that was due today, Roman begging Logan to let him copy it.

While that was happening, the stranger sat down next to the unnamed man, who was now smiling at him, "So why can't you speak?"

"Goddamnit Remus, you can't just ask people why they don't speak. Excuse him, I'm Damon," Damon laid a hand on his chest, "So, you're mute?"

The stranger shook his head.

Damon paused, "So you just don't speak?" the stranger shook his head again and pulled out a pen. He pointed at the notebook that Damon had on the table next to his textbook. Damon slid it to him. The stranger turned to the last page and tore it out as neatly as possible, then began writing on it. After he was done he turned it so the other two could see 'I have selective mutism, do you know what that is?'

"Oh, yeah," Remus exclaimed said, "Isn't that how people have an extreme phobia of speaking in public so much they, like, can't? I think I heard about that."

The unnamed man nodded, then began writing again: 'I can only speak to my uncle. He's a counsellor at this school, do you know him? Also, my name's Virgil'

Damon smirked, "Nice to meet you, Virgil. Yeah, we were both sent to Picani a few times obligatorily, like after Remus got into a fight with a teacher, or after I pierced my tongue in the school bathroom..." and Virgil just wondered what he had got himself into, "Do you call him Picani or Emile?" Virgil raised up two of his fingers, "Emile?" Damon concluded. Virgil nodded.

Remus chuckled, "That's so weird. You two look nothing alike. You don't even have the same eye colour."

Virgil shrugged, writing on the paper once more: 'lmao, yeah, a lot of people tell me that :D'

"I never saw you at the school, did you transfer here?" Damon tilted his head. This sentence took a little longer to write: 'I moved here after my mom lost custody of me (haha finally...) This is actually my first day here. Before, I went to a school in Jacksonville.'

"Oh my god, I've never been there! Is it true that they eat raccoons in there?" Virgil looked at Remus and slowly shook his head. At that, Remus let out a sad sound.

"What about your father?"

Virgil scrunched his shoulders and looked away.

"It's okay," Damon dismissively waved his arm, "I don't know who my dad is, so I understand if you don't wanna talk about him."

Virgil gave him a warm smile and moved his hand to his lips and down and away, and if Damon didn't know any better, he would've thought he was blowing him a kiss. The problem was, Damon didn't know any better. Virgil must've seen the confusion on his and Remus' face, as he wrote down something again: 'That means thank you in asl. Do u know sign language?"

Damon and Remus shook their heads.

'Do you wanna teach it?'

"Hell yeah!" Remus shouted loud enough so that the few tables, including the one with his brother, turned to look at them.

Damon scoffed, "Of course not, why would I wanna add to my list of skills and make it easier for more people to communicate with me? Such a waste of time.."

Virgil smiled at him and let out a chuckle. Damon reached over and took the piece of paper and pen, then began writing on it. Virgil furrowed his eyebrows, which shot up his forehead when he was handed the paper and pen back.

"That's my number," Damon pointed at it.

Virgil flinched when his arm was pulled away, his sleeve being pushed up, only to have a pen pressed to it, "Aaand this is my number" Remus added a heart to it. He also tried to draw a dick on his arm but Virgil yanked his arm away and smudged the drawing out of existence.

Virgil signed 'thanks' again, only this time the couple actually smiled at him.

"We're having a movie night tonight, you wanna come?" Remus supported his head by putting his hand on his cheek, pushing it up slightly, "You gotta walk with us to my house though, gotta get there before they do," Remus looked at the table where Patton was pinching Logan's cheeks while Roman was recording the whole thing with his phone. Virgil contemplated it for a second. On one side, he met these people like 15 minutes ago. On the other side, he really needed to make some friends. Larger groups mean fewer bullies. Virgil nodded, "Great! I can't wait to piss them off!" it didn't sound sarcastic at all.

"What do you have next? Like as a period," Virgil took out his lesson plan, handing it to Damon, "Oh, we have the same class. Ms. Watson is the best teacher ever."

"She's a pain in the ass. A total drag. Everyone on this planet hates her," Remus exaggerated every insult with stabbing the table with the plastic fork, ultimately breaking it.

Damon nodded, "Yeah, basically."

The bell ripped through the cafeteria, some of the students, including Remus, flinching at the sound.

Remus began to walk away, "Well, girls, I'll see you later," he winked at them. Or at least they thought it was a wink, it looked more like a spasm. The two of them walked to the biology classroom together, Damon explaining how Virgil should just lay low and not cause trouble when it comes to Ms. Watson, or she'll blame you for third-degree murder. Virgil wasn't really sure if that was an exaggeration.

The classroom was a mess. Not in a literal sense, the class itself was pretty clean, but people were sitting and laying on tables, some we carving something into the chairs, other's sticking gum to the tables. Only one of the students waited by the door. Oliver, he was told. He watches for when the teacher comes. Speaking of the teacher, Oliver had turned away from the hallway and to his classmates, "She's coming! The fury is coming!"

Immediately, all the pupils were in their seats, no gum being chewed, no chairs being carved. They were all quiet when the teacher came in. She didn't say a word, closing the door after her and going straight to the attendance book. She furrowed her eyebrows after scanning down the page for a while.

"Virgil Blake?"

Virgil stood up, all of the eyes burning into him.

"You're new?" she raised an eyebrow.

Virgil nodded.

She closed the book, nodding slowly, "Do you have all the textbooks?"

Virgil nodded again.

She turned to the blackboard, "So, last week we talked about the cell structure of fungi. Today's lesson we will be..."

Virgil had sat down by that point, trying to focus on the lecture. That plan fell short as something hit the back of his neck, ending up in the hood of his hoodie. He reached behind, looking at the folded paper. He quietly tried to unwrap it, Damon already gaping at it before he even unwrapped it.

It was a drawing, a bad one at that. There was a cow with a plaid skirt and a black denim vest with a popped collar, similar to what Damon wore. There were also yellow circles scribbled over each other, which Virgil assumed was his hair. On the side was written 'COW' in capital letters. Virgil looked at Damon, who had pulled back to his chair and crossed his arms, looking at the floor next to him. Virgil quickly crunched up the paper and put it in his binder, the first thing he could think of to get it out of sight. Then he took a pen in his hand and began to write on his hand, eventually tapping Damon's shoulder and showing him the arm: 'I think you look really cool :)'

Damon chuckled sadly, looking up at Virgil, who smiled back. Damon put a hand to his lips and then away, mimicking the sign Virgil had taught him.

The heartfelt moment was interrupted by the deafening school bell, announcing the lesson was over, "Alright ya' little punks, the lesson is over, get ya' asses outta my classroom."

"Don't have to say that twice," Damon mumbled so quietly that even Virgil had to strain his ears to hear it. He had to resist the urge to burst into a fit of giggles. The rest of the day went as normal as it could, the three of them meeting in the hallway in-between lessons. Finally, the last bell rang and most of the class scrambled for the exit, including Patton and Virgil, who crashed into each other.

"Oh, sorry, didn't see ya there," Patton smiled up at Virgil, who had put his hands into a defensive manner and smiled tensely. Before Patton could say anything, Virgil was already being dragged away by Remus, who rembled about how they're gonna be there second and what not.

"Seriously, Roman is a fucking fast walker, we better hurry the fuck up," Damon had now joined the club, being dagged by Remus out of the building before any of them could protest.

"Oh, Virgil, here you are!" the three looked at the cheery voice, Remus not bothering to stop, so Virgil had to forcefully grab Remus by the back of his leather jacket, ultimately stopping him. His uncle, Emile, looked tensely between the three, "Already making friends I see?" Virgil nodded. He let go of Remus in favour of signing something that was beyond Damon's and Remus' knowledge, but Mr. Picani seemed to understand perfectly, "Why of course, just let me know if you need me to pick you up."

Virgil rolled his eyes and signed something shorter but still complicated. Mr. Picani seemed to tense up, "Are you sure?" he glanced between the two of them, then turned back to Virgil and spoke back, this time using sigh language. Virgil scoffed, signing back in a snappy manner, but then his expression relaxed. Mr. Picani nodded, "Alright then, I trust you. Just be sure to call me if you decide to stay the night," he hugged Virgil, who tried to scramble back and away from his uncle. Finally, Picani pulled back and Virgil stumbled a few steps back. Remus couldn't hold back a giggle. Virgil glared at him in exchange, signing something to Mr. Picani before he went to his car.

The three continued walking to Remus' house, which was not far from the school. Virgil noticed the chimney had smoke in it, smelling sweet. Remus reached under the welcome mat and pulled out a key, unlocking the door, "Ma, I'm home!"

"Hey, Remus, could you be an absolute sweetheart and go to the basement for more flour?" a short plum woman peeked out from the kitchen, "Hey Damon!"

"Hey, Ms. Addington."

Ms. Addington looked over at the other boy, "And who are you?" she smiled in a sweet way that makes teeth rot.

"That's Virgil," Damon gestured to him.

"Nice to meet you, are you new here?"

"He can't speak."

"Oh, my apologies then," she still smiled at him. She reminded him of uncle Emile in a way. She had this calm, cheerful atmosphere around her, he was sure they would get along well.

"Bad news, no flour to be found," Remus came out of the basement.

"Ah, fucking shit, what did I make all this shit for then?" she gestured at something on the counter that Virgil couldn't see. Wow, they would definitely not get along. For fuck's sake, uncle Emile had a swear jar.

"The hell do I know, you always try to be innovative," Remus answered, clearly unphased. He moved over to the living room, opening the tv stand where a bunch of DVDs were stacked on each other, "Alrighty, ladies, the selection for this movie night is: Nightmare on the elm street, The Black Cauldron, The Purge 2 ooooor," he reached into the back, "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre."

Damon plopped down onto the couch, "Purge 2, a classic."

Virgil was sitting on the other side, nodding his head in agreement.

Remus opened the DVD player, "Chainsaw massacre it is then,"

"Hell no! We watched that last time and I fucking threw up! I am not doing that again!" Damon seemed livid, and Virgil kicked Remus in the back to state his disagreement.

"Fine, fine, Purge 2, but first, popcorn," Remus got up and went to the kitchen, then Damon walked upstairs to get blankets. So Vigil waited, looking over the DVD collection they had. There were all kinds of movies, from Sleeping Beauty to The Godfather, it really was quite a lot. Virgil heard the door open, looking at the figures stepping in.

"And then I was like, 'You really are', and then she-Hey, what the hell are you doing here?!" Roman looked panicked for a brief second before Remus ran into the living room loudly announcing that the popcorn is done, and Damon went down with 3 tons worth of blankets on his back. They had all settled down on the couch, Remus laying across both of their laps with his face in his hands.

"We're watching The Puuuurge tonight!" he said in a sing-songy voice.

Roman scoffed, "No, we're not! We're watching Lion King!"

"Mom! Roman is trying to establish dominance over the DVDs again!"

A quiet sigh could be heard from the kitchen, "For the last time, Remus, I don't even know what that means. Roman, Remus was here first, and you already had a movie night yesterday, let him have it."

Virgil never thought he would see someone look so betrayed, "But-" Ms. Addington walked into the living room, tsk-ing Roman.

"You forced us to watch Bambi three movie nights in a row, we're going to watch The Purge. You and your friends can go upstairs like Remus did if you don't like it," she waved stirring spoon in front of his face like a knife.

Finally, Roman gave in, as he sat down onto the floor and crossed his arms and legs. Logan did too, but Patton said he'd rather not watch it and went home.

It was about halfway through the movie that Roman went to his room because he was tired. Then, Ms. Addington, Natalie, as Virgil had learned, fell asleep in her chair. Next was Logan to go, who got too tired from analyzing all the inconsistencies and bickering with Remus. Now, it was only the three that remained, Remus usually shouting words of encouragement for the killers or telling the other two better and more effective methods of killing someone. He was splayed over Damons and Virgil's legs, lying on his stomach. He eventually went out too, snoring slightly and drooling on Virgil's pants, which he found both disgusting and incredibly funny. Damon and Virgil sat in silence, eating what was left of the popcorn. Damon didn't last until the credits. He didn't get to see that the main character didn't actually kill the guy he was after, which Virgil thought was a shame. So there he was, surrounded by a pile of sleeping bodies and it was getting close to midnight. He tried to reach for his phone, but as it was in his back pocket, it was no use. He finally fell asleep at 1 am, shortly after Damon shifted in his sleep and collapsed against him, leaving Virgil with no chance to move.

[winterknight1087]

Flower from the Fae (ch 3)

Chapter Title:  Blooming in the Sunrise

Summary: Virgil likes plants, but when he goes to investigate a plant his friend, Remy, tells him about, he doesn’t exactly check out the plant. Little does he know that the handsome man he meets there is a fairy who is about to challenge the world Virgil knows.

Word Count: 2207

Chapter Warnings: anxious thoughts, mention of fighting

Pairings:  Eventual Romantic LAMP, Moxiety

AO3 Link      My Writing

A/N: this is chapter 3, so read the first chapter here!

Patton sat at the base of the sequoia, watching the sky become lighter. This was his favorite part of the day. Birds happily chirped to one another, the early morning dew made the grass almost sparkle, and even the sky turned magnificent colors. Of course, Patton wasn’t paying too much attention to it today. He was picking at the bottom of his dress.

It was his favorite dress by far: it stopped at his knees and when he wiggled, the dress would move with him. It was a pretty shade of blue. It had been the dress he wore when he had met Logan, and eventually Roman. His wings were hidden away with just a dash of magic so that anyone looking at the young fairy wouldn’t know that he wasn’t human. Even Patton’s giant circle glasses had received special care for this meeting: a nice polishing and deep cleaning from a flustered Logan.

He wanted to make a good impression on this human, not just for himself but for LoLo. He loved meeting people, but Logan had fallen hard for this human, so Pat wanted to make sure that he didn’t mess with that for the socially-awkward scholar. Pat smiled, thinking about how Logan had gushed about this intelligent boy. At least until a voice cut through the calm morning.

“Remy, I swear! I’m not dropping however much on some shirt I’d wear only once when I could use that money on expanding the greenhouse. Yes, I am aware... No, I do not care about your hurt fashionista ego. I am not contributing to your caffeine addiction either, Remy. I got to go... No, I don’t see anyone… I’m done listening to you whine, that’s why! Talk to you later.”

Virgil groaned as he turned his phone onto vibrate. It was too early in the morning for Remy to be griping about his wardrobe. He sighed as he looked around. Patton was very aware of the human but remained hidden on the other side of the giant tree, suddenly nervous to meet him. Virgil became focused on the tree though.

“Oh no, I didn’t see that yesterday.” He said softly to the tree, moving over. “Of course, I didn’t see much other than… Whatever, that’s not important to you, huh, big guy? Let’s get rid of some of those dead bark scraps so you can heal properly.”

Other than some scraping sounds, it was fairly quiet. Virgil started to hum, finding the silence to be a bit unnerving. Patton found himself falling for this unseen human already and quickly realized just how badly Logan had fallen for him as well. Patton was almost terrified to show himself now, for fear of the other not liking him.

“There we go. You should heal a lot faster now, old guy. I may even have some yummy fertilizer for you. Let me see.”

Patton’s heart was a mess. Of course, this being has some fertilizer for some random tree!

“Oh, um… Hello?” the voice pierced Patton’s thoughts.

Both look over each other and realized that they were screwed. Patton realized just how accurate Logan had been; Patton’s heart was thundering as his eyes took in this very attractive human. On the other hand, Virgil was wondering just how many more hot men were going to randomly appear on this random hill and why is this was his life and whether this was all some elaborate plan by Remy and/or Dee.

“Sorry! I was lost in thought! You must be Anx! LoLo told me about you! I’m Pat, he/him!” Patton jumped to his feet, excitedly.

“Uh… Yeah… Nice to meet you, Pat.”

Pat hummed cheerfully as he moved a bit out of Virgil’s way. He caught the silent message and continued to sprinkle the fertilizer around the giant tree. He knew it wasn’t much for such a huge tree, but it would be a little bit of help, at least. Yet, his thoughts were running, wondering how much this hot stranger had heard him say. He was used to speaking to plants, but most people thought it was odd.

“I can hear your thoughts from here and that makes it official. I am now adopting you and will physically fight you if I hear one more negative thought from that head of yours.” Patton stated, arms folded and a small pout on his face.

Virgil couldn’t stop the laugh that escaped him. “You sound like one of my friends, Emile.”

“If I sound like one of your friends, then you must be used to it and so I will go full-on dad mode and fight you for thinking badly about my child!”

“I wish you luck with that, Pat.”

Patton could still feel the negative thoughts coming from the human. All he wanted to do was to yank the guy into a tight hug, wrap him up in his wings and cuddle the anxious bean until the thoughts were gone. Yet, Patton couldn’t do that as Logan had told him that he had made no indication that this poor human had walked straight into a fairy circle and was dealing with actual fairies.

What he could do was distract him, though. “Lo told me that you were looking for a plant! Do you know what kind it was? There isn’t all that much to look at up here.”

“Oh… right…” this man is going to be the end of him. “One of my other friends told me that they saw a purple flowering plant up here.”

Patton hummed as he plopped himself on the ground in front of the grass. “Come, watch!”

Virgil’s brain didn’t even think about questioning the request. He sat down on the ground right next to Patton. The fairy fought to keep a squeal in as he pointed at the patch of grass they were sitting in front of. Virgil carefully leaned in and looked over the plant, as Patton looked over the human.

Almost as if the sun were waiting for Virgil to stare at what appeared to be grass, the first tendrils of sun escaped over the horizon. Patton’s heart may have skipped a beat seeing a couple early beams of light touching this mysterious human’s face, but he wasn’t about to let that worry him as Virgil’s mismatched eyes went wide. Before their eyes, the strands of grass bloomed into beautiful purple flowers.

Patton could hear the human muttering. “What is that, kiddo?”

Virgil jumped before relaxing. “Oh, sorry. Wait, kiddo? I’m not a kid?”

Patton couldn’t help but giggle. “You’ve already forgotten that you’ve been adopted? What were you saying?”

“Oh…” Virgil went bright red. “It’s just some things I’d like to note about the plant later in my journal.”

“Ohhhh… Like what?” Patton asked curiously.

“Just things like this plant having Photonasty movement, height, things like that. Bartram’s Ixia is fairly rare; it’s in fact listed as an endangered plant species… but you probably aren’t interested in hearing about the specifics. I’m just a weirdo who enjoys studying plants.”

“Hey, kiddo, what did I say about that negative thinking?”

“Uh…”

“That I will physically fight you for thinking badly about my child!” Patton giggled. “I know I am not as intelligent as LoLo, but I do love learning and I also love plants. I’ve been watching over this little plant since its first bloom here. I’d love to hear specifics about it! LoLo said you were an incredible teacher when you taught him about those cool mushrooms over there!”

Virgil went bright red hearing that but decided to focus on the fact that didn’t send his poor gay heart into a frenzy. “You’ve been watching over these flowers?”

“Yup.” Patton popped the ‘p’ proudly. “They bloomed a couple of weeks ago for the first time and when I asked Lo about them, he did some research and found out that they are dying out, so I’ve kept an eye on them!”

“Oh…” Virgil shifted awkwardly, before suddenly asking. “Since you’ve been watching them, I guess I should ask you if I could study them then?”

Patton blinked, before smiling at him. “Of course, you can, silly! Anyone who wants to protect pretty flowers should be able to study them! Lo said you wanted to take them to someplace where you could keep them out of danger.”

“Well, that would take a little bit of time as I would have to have clearance from the government first. Stuff about ensuring that I have the facilities to properly care for them, no ill intent in tending to them, that sort of thing. If you would rather me not start that process, I totally understand. You’ve been watching over them so it would be wrong of me to do something that you wouldn’t like.”

Patton knew it was a bold move, what with the human panicking and them being strangers, but he reached out and gently pulled the man into a hug. Virgil was shocked but something about the hug felt right. Almost like home in a single person. Patton ran his hand up and down the human’s back, waiting for him to calm down.

“I… uh… Sorry.” Virgil finally said, sitting back.

“Nothing to be sorry about, kiddo! Sometimes everyone just needs a nice hug!” Pat answered. “Now, if you wanted to study the Ixia, you might want to get started! They tend to close up before lunchtime. And while you study them, you should tell me a bunch of cool facts! This way I can go and show LoLo that I can learn things!”

Virgil knit his eyebrows at this as he went to grab his bag. “Does Lo think you aren’t smart?”

“No, he says that RoRo and I have our own intelligence, but Lo is absolutely brilliant! It’s sometimes hard not to think you aren’t that smart when talking with him. He has his heart in the right place though, so it’s OK.”

“RoRo?”

“Oh, Ro is Lo and my third partner! He’s very interested in meeting you, Anx! LoLo was super excited telling us about your discussion yesterday and anyone who can make our precious nerd chatter like that has to be incredible! I should probably warn you though, RoRo can be a bit much. He’s passionate about things he cares about and that tends to be shown in loud bursts of love. One time, Lo was upset about something, I don’t even remember what it was anymore, but Ro’s idea of making things better was publicly trying to fight whatever it… OH! Right! Lo was furious at something he’d read! Ro was shouting in the square for the person who hurt his love to step forward. Lo finally threw the book that angered him at Ro and Ro promptly burned the book.”

Virgil chuckled, which Patton decided he needed to hear at least three more times in the next ten minutes alone. “Great, you three are starting to really sound like my group of friends. Dee has dressed up in some fancy lord costume before just to be able to dramatically pull his glove off and swat me with it for suggesting we get tacos over hamburgers.”

The two of them continued to talk and joke as Virgil gathered physical properties abut the flower. He showed Patton some things that he said he would tell Lo. Patton pulled the stops out of his dad joke and pun repertoire, thrilled to hear more laughs from this man. Not that the other would know, but Patton and Virgil were falling deep for each other. Virgil had the unfortunate ache in his heart knowing that the two men probably weren’t interested in adding someone into what sounded like an already extra group of people.

“Shit…”

“Language!”

“English.”

“Anx!”

Virgil laughed before moving. “I accidentally caught you in the picture.”

“Let me see!”

Virgil turned his camera to the excited man. Patton saw his silly self peeking out from behind the flowers. It was a nice picture of him, but that wasn’t what his eyes decided to focus on. He was shocked to see just how in love he looked while talking with this human. It was the look Roman’s dad insisted showed that how he felt towards Logan and Roman was different from other beings. Obviously, Virgil had to have noticed and now obviously thinks Pat strange.

“Hey, if I’m not allowed to think negatively, neither are you,” Virgil said. “I can easily delete it. No proof of whatever caught your worry.”

Before Patton could come up with anything, Virgil pressed a couple of buttons and showed him a message saying ‘item deleted’. “See, no issue. Sorry for getting ya.”

“It’s no problem, and I didn’t have an issue with having my picture taken,” Patton answered quickly. “It was just a passing thought. Hard to not pause when you notice something about yourself that you wish you were a bit better at hiding.”

That caused the man to pause before quietly saying, with his eyes looking away. “I don’t think you have anything you should hide, Pat.”

This time, Patton couldn’t help but squeal and yank his new friend into a tight hug. Virgil just laughed as he accepted his fate.

Next Chapter

[rainbow-filmnerd]

Another Top 5 Favorite Sanders Sides Videos (5/5)

In honor of the one-year anniversary of me watching Sanders Sides for the first time and becoming a Fander, I’ve decided to count down ANOTHER Top 5 Favorite Sanders Sides videos! If you didn’t see a video you think I should have discussed, be sure to check out the first list!

#1, the top video in this list, is... “Selfishness v. Selflessness” 

(Just a note, I probably would’ve considered “Healthy Distractions”, but this list is made for videos from the main series, and also considering there’s only one Asides video as of May 2020)

GENERAL THOUGHTS

This video was going to be on the original list, but “Embarrassing Phases” edged it out by a hair. So, this second list was an opportunity to bring this one in a Top 5, and “Putting Others First”, which proceeds this video, helped part 1 of SvS take the top spot!

I remember that this was the last video I saw before being all caught with the series. I can’t recall how long it took me to get through the series the first time before “Dealing with Intrusive Thoughts” dropped. This video was just fun to watch, and at the time, I wasn’t aware that there was going to be a follow-up to it. I was “Team Wedding” the whole way through, but that was before I knew about the whole mental health situation. I know that this one is a Fander favorite, and this video is one of my favorites as well.

FAVORITE PARTS/LINES OF DIALOGUE (in no particular order)

Virgil before the opening. That has to be one of my favorite dual Thomas shots in the entire series to date!

“Wha-?! He...! He tampered with the evidence!” *Deceit laughs like a chaotic idiot as he backs away*

Roman unwillingly giving Deceit advice on better disguising. Still a little wary about this information intake, but it did come in handy for Part 2...

“Yeah, when I think of trustworthiness, I immediately think of someone who consistently disguises themselves like a member from Team Rocket!”

Not only do I like how “Psycho Godfather Wars” was an improvised line by Joan, but it was a huge nod to Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho, Francis Coppola’s The Godfather, and George Lucas’s Star Wars. Where did you guys think “Alfred Hitchcoppolucas” came from?

Deceit’s monologue when he’s at the stand is intriguing. I really want to know what he’s talking about...

“Okay, I can’t believe I’m saying this, but that is so edgy and over-the-top. We’re talking about a wedding here!”

Patton doing his absolute best at being a Lawyer for Thomas.

“Deceit, standing in the spot of one of my four best friends!”

Logan raising his hand, desperately wanted to be called on like some kids in a classroom.

Deceit’s sarcastic comment about not knowing anything about words.

“Maybe Mary and Lee will understand!” “Uh, it’s actually Mary Lee and Lee.” “Not confusing at all.”

A frustrated Virgil throwing his hood over his head.

Poor Logan getting benched by Deceit, but he still provided some input during the case.

Deceit’s failed attempt to impersonate Logan.

“LIES!” That’s the dictionary definition of “falsehood”, so that’s not too far off.

“*hissing* Sssssuck up!”

Virgil’s raspberry noise when Deceit called him to the stand.

The “liar liar” shirt color test.

Roman, after pounding his gavel and freaking the daylights out of Virgil: “*in a calm voice* Go ahead, Patton.”

Patton taking “kangaroo court” as a literal thing.

“Logan, that’s a statement, right?” “Yeah, that’s a statement. I don’t know what he’s talking about.”

Patton saying “hi” to Virgil before he questions him at the witness stand.

“Oh honey, the truth hangs out in the courtroom? Ha! That’s a laugh and a half.”

Virgil’s reaction shot of Logan recalling when Thomas was informed of the wedding.

“No further questions. Smirk.” “Did he just say ‘smirk’?”

The whole scenario Patton set up for Roman when he’s at the stand.

“And now, I would like to call Thomas Sanders to the stand...ers. Nailed it.”

Patton cross-examining himself at the stand.

“Stay with me here. Say you had a stereotypical relationship between a man and a woman.” “You lost me.”

Deceit, don’t you freaking dare say something to upset my favorite stormcloud.

“Why is he still here?!” “Why am I still here?!” “I meant Deceit!” “Whose underwear is this?”

Also the callback/Deceit’s impression of Virgil from the Valentine’s Day video. One of the many reasons I love Sanders Sides is Thomas’s acting range.

“But will they punish Thomas?” *Roman? someone yells offscreen* “How old are you?”

Poor Logan being so out of the loop when Deceit called him to the witness stand.

“I would have stayed in my room if I knew Dad was gonna take us on a guilt trip.”

Butterfingers. And that endcard scene.

“Ooh, said with the confidence of a man who has his hand stuck in a cookie jar, in a cookie factory, and his pants are down, and they’re on fire.” “We get it.” *Deceit cackles like the chaotic idiot he is*

Patton encouraging Judge Roman to do his best.

Deceit trying to get everyone to focus on the philosopher part of Striner when he talks to Patton on the stand.

“The best thing for us to do is sit with a crowd of strangers, watch two people shove cake into each other’s mouths, make out, and tell each other how much they love each other, while dressed up like a butler and a princess.” “You’re darn right!”

Roman manipulating Thomas’s left arm.

“Sorry, he’s still bummed that I went back to brown hair. I said I might dye it again soon!” Regardless, I always give Virgil the purple hair in anything post-AA.

“Objection! Judges don’t object!” “Objection, neither can the jury.”

Roman laughing at Patton’s innocent question on rescheduling the callback.

“I find Thomas winning the callback-. Winning the callback? Is that how that should be phrased?”

Roman spelling his name. He’s so egotistical, but I still love him.

“I’m gonna do a handstand. That’s what I’m gonna do.” *stumbles*

Deceit losing his cool after the courtroom scenario has ended.

“Attack the pinata?” “I believe he’s suggesting that you beat up someone and rob their unconscious body, right?” “... NO!!!!”

Patton’s Max Stirner pun, and Virgil’s reaction shot.

“Okay, so we kiss now, or...?”

Thomas turning to Roman for a nickname for Deceit.

“Glad he didn’t leave it at Dr. Trickle...”

Patton accidentally hurting his hands.

“I don’t feel anything.” Logan, you liar. You do feel emotions.

Virgil interrupting Deceit’s introduction.

“Well, your face ruined my day! So, we’ll call it even.”

Deceit’s multiple arms! Uh... that’s a bit freaky but cool at the same time.

“So, Deceit... If that is your real name.” “It is.” I freaking knew he lied about that!

“He just said he was a liar!” “I didn’t say ‘liar’, I said.... ‘lawyer’. Totally different.”

Roman scolding Deceit to stop lying.

“I’m too emotionally unstable for jury duty. Can I be excused?”

Roman breaking his gavel.

“Count five, did leave his dirty underwear all over the gosh-darn floor, like a gosh-darn animal?!”

Thomas admitting he’s a liar. This poor man, and everything else that followed in the scenario.

“Well, your Honor. What’s your sentence?” “Sentence? I don’t know, the quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.”

The extreme close-up shot of Thomas opening his eyes and the sound of Roman pounding on his gavel.

Deceit revealing his emblem and Patton’s first response is to comment on the snake tongues.

“Do you think some logic could be employed to assist with this dilemma?” “Yes, there’s always room for me.” *coughs loudly* “Sorry, there was something in my throat there.”

The fact that Thomas was sitting on the couch with his eyes closed the entire time.

“Oh, for the love of Archimedes, I will never intentionally make a pun!”

Patton and Roman making snake puns together.

“Well, unlike our tardy teacher, I don’t have an issue for strong language.” *Patton covers his ears* “I freaking hated everything about this!”

Patton’s monologue and his exit being like he’s going down in an elevator.

[mossdeemo]

6 Dads — Chapter 3

I totally forgot to post 3 and 4 here dudes—

I might stop putting them here and just have them on AO3— these are long and I don’t have a computer— I’m So Sorry if you have to scroll past it 😂😂

Links to other chapter and AO3 link in my “6 dads” tag

@pricklyfish777 @mostlikelytokillyouwithaspoon

It took almost no time at all for Thomas to begin seeing these five men. Was it sudden and a little overwhelming? Yes. Was it worth it? So far, definitely.

It began with a simple coffee date with Remy, who insisted that he needed to see him again. To get to know him better, and to apologize for drunkenly fawning over him.

Then it escalated to more dates with Remy, and then dates with Remy and his boyfriends, and it wasn’t until the fifth date that he realized that he now had five boyfriends.

Thomas had told Logan that he was dating Remy, he didn’t ever keep things from his son. Though he wasn't sure how to explain the other 4 boyfriends he had acquired.

But Thomas was bad at keeping secrets, and he was desperate to talk to someone about this. He really really liked his partners.

As always, Logan assisted his father with making breakfast in the morning. He cut up fruit and set the table while Thomas cooked at the stove, soft music playing from the speakers in the living room.

Thomas started putting their food onto plates. One small plate for the fruit, and a larger one for the ham, toast, and boiled egg.

They both sat at the table together, and Thomas couldn’t help but fidget. He was starting to wonder if telling Logan over breakfast was a bad idea. What if he choked? Or got mad and left without eating? Thomas took a long sip of his juice.

Thomas sat and picked at his food, staring at Logan and hoping he didn’t notice and get creeped out. He didn’t.

Eventually he cleared his throat, sitting up a little more. “Hey, Logan? Could I talk to you for a second?”

Logan took a second to put his fork down and wipe his mouth before looking up at his father. “Yes?”

“You know that I’ve been dating my boyfriend Remy for a few weeks now.”

“Yes.”

“Well, you see, Remy was already 4 other men when I met him.”

Logan blinked. “Ah. You were a… side hoe?”

“Wha-What? Where— no! No, I wasn’t… I knew about it, it’s nothing like that. I met them at the same time that I met Remy. They’re all very nice people. And, um, I’m also dating them now. Like, all five of us are dating each other. Does that make sense to you?”

Logan leaned forward slightly. He began tapping his foot, leaning back slightly. “Hm, I… not really. Will you allow me to do research and get back to you?”

Thomas hesitated, but Logan was already pulling out his phone. He sat there in almost complete silence, other than the music playing in the other room. He picks at his food a bit, as Logan scrolled through an article, mouthing words to himself occasionally. Then he looked back up.

“Alright, father. I now have a more extensive understanding on the subject of polyamouras relationships.”

“O-Oh? So… you understand.”

“Not entirely, but I’m sure you won’t mind answering a few questions?”

“No, of course not, Logan..” Thomas smiled.

“What are their names?”

“There’s Remy, Roman, Dee, Emile, And Remus.”

Logan frowned, tilting for a second. He started to pick at his food again as he thought. “..Will I get to meet them?”

Thomas grinned. “Of course! You’ll love them, Logan. I just know it.”

“Do you love them?” Logan asked, tilting his head slightly.

“Yes, of course, very much. But-But that doesn’t change anything with us. I’ll always love you so so much, Logan..”

Logan nodded, staring down at the table. “Okay. But you’ve only known them for three weeks. You’ve known me for fourteen years.”

“And I’ve loved you since the moment we met.” Thomas chuckled, shaking his head. “Love is weird, Logan. It’s.. really difficult to understand. But they make me very happy.”

“Okay.” Logan whispered, then went back to eating his food. Thomas hesitated, not sure whether or not the conversation was over.

“O-Okay! Thank you for listening, Logan. I appreciate it.” Thomas took a slow breath in through his nose, allowing himself to relax. He shouldn’t have worried so much; things went fine! Logan was much calmer than Thomas thought he would be.

After breakfast, Thomas texted his boyfriends through the group chat, asking when a good time to bring Logan over would be.

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Despite what he told Thomas— Logan was not looking forward to meeting his father’s partners.

You didn’t have to know Logan for very long to realize he wasn’t exactly as “people person”. So having to go and be friendly with 8 strangers to make his father happy wasn’t something he was looking forward to.

Logan couldn’t be exactly sure how he felt about it— but knew that the tightness in his chest and constant need to fidget could be symptoms of nervousness or anxiety or stress— or maybe he had pneumonia. Though, that last one was unlikely.

Logan sat in a chair near the front door, waiting for his father to finish getting ready. Thomas has been fluttering around all morning, telling Logan how nervous and excited he was. It wasn’t very clear why his dad was nervous though— what did he think was going to happen? Thinking about that made Logan’s stomach turn, so he tried not to, tapping his feet and reading the small book he was taking with him.

Thomas walked up to where Logan was, opening the closet doors to get his coat and shoes. “Are you ready to go, buddy? Roman is picking us up— he’ll be here any second.”

Logan nodded, standing up, holding his book tight in his arms. “I-I would say so.”

Thomas stopped what he was doing to look at him. He turned, putting a hand on Logan’s shoulder, making him pull back slightly.

“Ah- sorry.” Thomas put his hands up. “Logan, buddy, it’s okay to be scared. Heck, I’m scared. I really hope that you guys get along. But no matter what happens, it’ll be okay, I promise. If you feel uncomfortable and want to leave— just tell me. Or text me, if it’s easier.”

Logan gave his father a small smile and a nod. “Father, do you—“

Logan jumped as someone knocked on the door behind him, turning to see a man grinning and waving at them through the glass.

Thomas laughed, putting a hand on his chest and going over to open the door. “Roman, you jerk, you scared us.”

“Did I? My apologies.” He grinned, then looked over at Logan. “You must be Tommy’s little boy. Hello, Logan.”

“Ah, yes, hello.” Logan gave a polite nod, taking a small step back from Roman. His voice was really loud, he felt like he was being yelled at.

Roman glanced at Thomas, stepping backwards back out of the house. Was that too much? Thomas has told him and Remus beforehand that Logan was a little different— just so the poor kid wasn’t overwhelmed. Roman was gonna try his best to tone himself down, but that was easier said than done.

Roman took Thomas by the arm, leading both of them to his car. Logan sat down in the back seat, behind his father, glancing over at the seat next to him. A young boy was sitting in a car seat, drinking juice out of a sippy cup.

Patton’s face lit up when he saw Logan enter the car. He stared at Logan, his mouth hanging open, while Logan stared right back at him. Then Patton laughed, waving his hands and dropping his cup onto the seat between them.

Roman glanced back at them as he and Thomas got in the car, grinning. “Logan, this is Patton! Patton, wanna say hi to Logan?”

Patton rocked his head back and forth, the bright blue glasses on his face wiggling slightly. “Mmm, hi! Gimme!” He reached for his cup, sticking his tongue out. He stretched down a bit, but his stubby little arms couldn’t quite reach his juice.

Logan hesitated before giving the bottle back to the small child. It was a little bit sticky, as he had anticipated, and Logan cursed himself for not taking any wipes with him. But Patton seemed happy, kicking his legs and tilting his head back as he drank his juice. Logan tilted his head back, watching as they pulled out of the driveway.

Roman turned up the radio once they started driving. It was on some channel that played broadway music. Nothing Logan was interested in, but he was grateful for the background noise. Patton grinned and set his juice down in his lap, bobbing his head and moving his arms around. He blabbered along to the song, saying nonsense words and making Roman and Thomas laugh.

Patton laughed when they laughed, bouncing in his seat. “Papa, is—ummm.. is chocolate?”

“Yes, honey! It’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. God job!” Roman grinned, putting a hand on Thomas’ arm as they both giggled.

Patton continued to move along to the music, now staring out the window. He lifted his head up as high as he could so he could see more, huffing. “Mm, where we goin?”

“To Dee’s house, pancake. We’re going to go and see everyone. Remus, Virge, Remy…”

Patton grinned and banged a hand on the car door.

“Are you excited?”

“Yep! I wan- I wanna play with sissy!”

Roman gasped softly, making a choked noise like he was gonna start crying. “O-Okay, honey. That sounds lovely.”

By the time reached Dee and Emile’s house, Patton was restless and couldn’t sit still. He kept swinging his feet (saying “sorry!” whenever he accidently kicked Roman’s seat), and tossing his now empty sippy cup into the air and catching it.

Logan didn’t hate kids, but he didn’t like being around them, especially not in an enclosed space like this. But he managed to survive this toddler singing Broadway tunes, which was something of a success.

They all got out of the car, Roman helping Patton unbuckle and then carrying him the rest of the way to the house.

Logan shifted, staying behind his father as he walked. He ran his thumb over the spine of his book, taking a slow breath.

They all headed inside, Roman loudly announcing their arrival, taking a look around. The 4 adults were all sitting in the living room, and Logan followed his father and Roman towards them.

Basic introductions weren’t so difficult. He said hello, they said hello, they weren’t too touchy. Emile was the friendliest, Remus was already drinking and seemed fairly tired, Dee was chill, and Remy was.. Remy.

Logan wasn’t the best at reading social cues, but he could tell they were all a little off, and it was making him kind of uncomfortable. He just couldn’t put his finger on it though. They were treating him odd, and he wasn’t sure why. So when Emile offered to take him up to meet Virge and Dice, he agreed immediately.

Emile led Logan and Patton upstairs, stopping in the middle of the hallway and turning back. “Are you doing okay, Lo? If you need anything, you can just ask me, okay?” He smiled, giving him a soft pat on the arm. Patton ran past the both of them, opening a closed door and running into the room.

“Yes, I’m.. I’m fine.” Logan nodded, turning over the book in his hands several times. “Why?”

Emile lowered his voice. “You just seem a little nervous. You could sit by yourself for a little while if you’d like? You could into my room and take a little breather.”

“Thank you for the offer, but it will not be necessary.”

“O-Okay, Lo. The offer is there if you need it. Have fun, okay?” He smiled and gave a small wave, before heading back downstairs.

Logan watched him go for a few seconds, biting his lip. Then he turned back, going over and looking into the room that Patton has gone into.

Virge sat in a bean bag chair, leaning back against her bed with Patton on her lap. Dice was nearby, crossed legged on the carpet. There were a few discarded wrappers and water bottles on the floor, along with a guitar and some scribblers.

They both looked up when Logan entered the room, then glanced at each other.

It’s not as if they’d never seen each other before. Logan was not a high school student, so they went to school together. And they had gone to the same middle school. Logan wasn’t sure about elementary, though.

Logan didn’t have many friends at school, and these two were a part of the overwhelming majority that chose to avoid him. He had only been in the school for a few months now, but it didn’t take very long for people to figure out that you’re a total weirdo.

But Logan didn’t mind that. He didn’t bother seeking out friendships on his own, because it was just a waste of time. He knew that having friendships would be overall beneficial, but what was the point when it’s likely temporary, and was very likely to cause him emotional distress?

Logan didn’t have friends. Not because he couldn’t handle them, or because he didn’t know how to make friends. No. Because he just didn’t see a point.

Dice was the first of them to speak up. “You gonna sit down, or stare at us from the doorway?”

Logan froze for a few seconds, watching as Virge rolled her eyes and nudged Dice with her foot. “Chill, dude. Hey Logan. Have a seat.”

He relaxed, if only slightly, at that. Logan stepped into the room, pushing the door half shut behind him. He glanced around once more, before settling down in a bean bag chair a few feet away from Virge.

“So, Thomas is your dad? He’s pretty cool..” Virge said, brushing the hair out of Patton’s eyes. “Like, I’ve only met him a couple of times, but.” She shrugged, looking over at him.

Logan slowly nodded, staring back at her. He wasn’t sure what he was meant to respond with.

Virge stared at him for a few more seconds, before turning her attention back to Patton. She attempted to ask a few more questions— but they didn’t get her very far. Logan was having a difficult time forming words and thoughts. He shifted in his seat, running his thumb over the pages of his book. He felt restless, and wished he was alone.

When they were finally called down for dinner, Logan felt relieved for a moment. But only for a moment.

The realization that he was going to have to sit down at a table with 9 other people scared Logan. He didn’t quite understand that, but knew that this would not be a fun experience. But he went through with it anyway.

Logan made his way into the dining room, sitting down at the table. Dee and Emile’s dinner table wasn’t big enough for all 10 of them, so there was technically two tables pushed together. Roman and Virge were on either side of Logan, and his father sat directly across from him.

Logan twirled his fork around in his fingers, glancing around the table. He wasn’t focused on the food in front of him. He didn’t even look at it long enough to take in what it was. Logan was focused on the people around him. Virge was talking to Dice and feeding Patton, Dice was eating, Emile was laughing at a joke Remus was telling, Dee had an arm around Emile, Roman and his father were talking. They were really loud. Logan wasn’t hungry. His stomach twisted in knots, and he felt sick.

Logan felt his lip quiver, and tears welling in his eyes. Then, panic, as he realized that he was about to start crying. He swallowed hard, stabbing into something on his plate with the fork gripped in his hand. He shoved in his mouth, but couldn’t chew. That’s when the dam broke.

Everyone at the table turned to look at Logan as he began sobbing. He dropped the fork in his hand, moving his fingers up and into his hair. He squeezed his eyes shut, rough gasps escaping his throat as rushed down his cheeks. No, no, no!

He heard voices but, but not words. He opened his mouth, spitting whatever was inside back onto his plate.

Roman was the first to try and touch him, placing a hand on his arm. That only worsened things. Logan jerked backwards, falling out of his chair. He was now lying on the ground, sobbing and yelling with his arms wrapped around his head.

Thomas was next to him in seconds, doing what he could. He gestured for Roman, who looked like he was about to cry, to get everyone else away. Which didn’t look like it was gonna be easy.

Remy had freaked out, not knowing what the fuck was going on. He just heard screaming. Patton was also screaming and freaking out now, and Virge was trying to comfort him, while looking like she was about to start panicking as sell. Dice had already bolted from the room.

Thomas glanced over at the others as they headed out of the living room. Except for Emile, who approached Thomas, asking if he could do anything to help. Thomas wasn’t really sure. His heart was racing and he could barely focus on Emile as his son was crying and curled up in a ball on the floor.

Thomas didn’t say anything as Emile carefully kneeled down nearby, putting a hand on Thomas’s back.

“Logan, honey, it’s okay. You’re okay.” Thomas whispered to him, unsure whenever he should touch him.

Logan shook his head, trying to look up at his father through the tears in his eyes. He slowly managed to sit up, feeling embarrassed of himself. It was difficult to form a cohesive thought, but he still managed to scold himself internally for this childish behaviour. Logan reached out to touch his dad’s hand, grabbing hold of it and squeezing his eyes shut once again.

Thomas moved closer to Logan, putting his other hand on top of Logan’s. “Can you tell me what happened, Lo? What happened? Are you hurt?”

Logan looked up at him, swallowing as he tried to take a few deep breaths. He wanted to calm down, it was just hard to get his body to cooperate.

“I-I’m.. okay, father.” Logan managed to get out, his voice shaky. He wiped his eyes, and Emile reached over and gave him a handful of tissues. Logan could still hear Patton crying from a room above them, biting his lip and pressing his hands over his ears.

Emile watched Logan, biting down on his lip. “Honey, do you… would you be more comfortable if I left? I don’t want to intrude.”

Logan shook his head slightly, wiping his eyes with the tissues clenche in his fist. “I’m sorry for—“

“No, there’s no need for that.” Emile smiled, shaking his head. “There is nothing for you to be sorry for, okay?”

Logan frowned, looking down at the floor. “A-Alright.”

“Did Virge or Dice say anything to you? Are you feeling alright? Or were you just… overwhelmed? S-Sorry if I’m overstepping, you don’t have to answer. I just want to make sure you’re okay.” Emile said, reaching over and lightly touching Logan’s leg.

Logan bit his lip, nodding slowly. “Alright. I’m just... I’m not entirely sure… I’m not sure what happened.” And he wasn’t, not really. At least, not to this extent. And never publicly. Sometimes he would cry in his room, or in the bathroom at school, but he had never full on freaked out like that. Not that he could remember. “I think you’re right about me being… overwhelmed.”

“Do you know what caused that..?”

Everything. “No.”

“Okay.” Emile smiled, removing his hand and slowly standing up. “Do you like tea, Logan? I’m going to make some.”

“Um, yes, thank you.” Logan whispered, wiping his face once more, before shoving the tissues in his pocket. He felt much calmer now. Not completely, but he was no longer crying. Logan stood up, watching as his father followed suit.

The two of them went over and sat on the couch together. They didn’t have much to say, and Logan wasn’t up for talking much anymore, so Logan just relaxed and allowed his father to play with his hair. There wasn’t much touch that he enjoyed, but that was always something that made Logan happy.

When Emile came back over with the tea, Logan was curled up against an arm rest, fast asleep. Emile smiled, setting his cup down on the table, handing one to Thomas, and sitting down in the recliner with his own.

Emile and Thomas spoke to each other quietly, as not to disturb the sleeping teen. Thomas was pretty shaken up, as he hadn’t seen Logan cry like that since he was a child. He couldn’t remember the last time he saw Logan cry at all. Emile was concerned, but wasn’t pushing too much. He wanted to, but barely knew Logan yet and didn’t want to jump to any conclusions. He would see what comes with time, and made the suggestion to Thomas that Logan could benefit from talking to someone. That’s all he could to.

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Logan awoke in an unfamiliar bed.

He opened his eyes, facing a purple coloured wall, with a heavy bedspread covering him. There was a radio playing from somewhere in the dark room, softly playing “The Girl from Ipanema”.

Logan squinted, realizing that he wasn’t wearing his glasses. He managed to stand up, rubbing his face as he tried to fully wake up. He made his way towards the soft glow of a light switch, almost tripping over something in the middle of the floor. Ugh, what the hell—

Logan switched the light on, and was finally able to see the blurry bedroom, which he now realized belonged to Virgil. With the dull ceiling light, he was now able to find his glasses, phone, and book on her nightstand.

He sat back down on the edge of the bed, checking his phone. No notifications, but it was about 8pm.

Logan hummed, rubbing his face once again. He had a minor headache, which was either caused by the nap, or his crying earlier. Or both.

He heard very muffled voices coming from the living room, which seemed to be right beneath him. But those voices were quickly drowned out by footsteps in the hallway nearby, which seemed to stop outside his room.

Virge knocked against her own door a few times before slowly opening it. She and Dice had just gotten Patton to fall asleep, when Dice had noticed that the light was on, meaning Logan had woken up. She was justifiably, considering what happened.

“Hey, Lo?” Virge looked into the room, making eye contact with Logan. She headed over, sitting next to him on the edge of the bed. Dice walked in too, shutting the door behind him and sitting down in Virge’s desk chair.

Logan shifted slightly, folding his hands together and rubbing a finger over his thumb. “Ah, hello. I apologize for dinner, I have no idea what..”

“What? No, dude, it’s fine. I’m more worried about you.” She put a hand on his back, shaking her head. “We both are, I mean. I know you probably don’t wanna talk to use about it, which is cool. I would be so fucking embarrassed. No, wait, I mean—”

“Virge.” Dice shook his head, looking at Logan. “We’re sorry if we made today extra shitty for you. I wouldn’t want to have to hang around our fucked up family either. You freaked the fuck out and worried everyone, and we really don’t want that to happen again, for everyone’s sake.”

“He’s including you in the ‘everyone’.” Virge clarified, and Dice nodded.

Again, Logan has to appreciate Dice’s honesty. It was… comforting.

“Thank you for your concern, but I’m fine. Is my father still here?”

“Oh, yeah, they’re all downstairs.” Virge waved her hand. “I can walk you down if you’re ready to go. It’s getting pretty late, I guess.”

Logan got up and grabbed his things, giving her a small nod. He was very tired— and he had to go to school in the morning. Logan didn’t mind school— but right now he wasn’t really looking forward to it. Odd.

Virge and Dice took him downstairs, where all the adults were. None of them were nearly as invasive as Virge had been— they said their goodbyes and told Logan they hoped he was feeling better. Roman looked particularly upset, but Logan couldn’t pinpoint why.

Emile drove Logan and Thomas home, and Logan was silent for the entire trip. Not because he was uncomfortable— the opposite, actually. Logan liked Emile very much.

Thomas gave Logan some space once they arrived home, but did come to check on him every 20-30 minutes. He told him that he didn’t have to go to school tomorrow if he didn’t want to— but Logan refused. The only times he stayed home is when he was sick— and Logan felt fine now.

Maybe not fine, but better at least.

Thomas checked in on Logan one last time at 11pm, to find him fast asleep. He sighed softly, going over to give him a kiss on the forehead before flicking his light out and stepping out into the hall.

“Sweet dreams, Lo.” He sighed, then carefully shut the bedroom door.

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

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

The next few days were weird.

Logan was used to not having any friends at school— he had been used to it for years. So when Virge, Dice, and a few of the people in their friend group began approaching him more, and inviting him to sit at their lunch table, he was caught off guard.

And even though it was different, he liked that it was different. The small shift in his routine didn’t bother him as much as he thought it would. Having friends… it was something Logan could definitely get used to.

Thomas was surprised when Logan approached him one day, asking for a drive to Dee and Emile’s house. They hadn’t talked much about what had happened last time. Thomas had no idea what he was going to do. So, this caught him off guard. He asked why, and Logan adjusted his glasses.

“Virge invited me. She and Dice will be there, it’s only for a few hours. Would that be alright, dad?”

Thomas grinned and nodded. He wouldn’t dream of saying no.

Logan began visiting his friends frequently. They saw each other at school, after school, on weekends. Virge and Dice seemed to like him a lot— which he didn’t fully understand, but tried not to question too much. They were very nice people.

Becoming closer to Dice and Virge slowly lead to Logan seeing much more of his father’s boyfriends, and Patton.

Virge and Dice didn’t seem to want to hang around the adults very often (especially Dice), so it was a gradual change. Emile would often check on the three of them. Sometimes Logan would stay to eat and chat with Dee. Then, when Dice and his father officially moved in with Dee, Emile, and Virge— he began seeing a lot more of Remy.

Roman and Patton also visited fairly often, and would sometimes even visit Logan and Thomas’s house. Logan often ended up spending time with Patton— especially if Virge was around. That little guy loved her.

Remus also spent a whole lot of time at Dee and Emile’s, though he also worked quite a bit, and Logan didn’t see as much of him. But Remus told a lot of interesting stories, and Logan enjoyed listening to him speak.

Logan really liked these people. He knew that for certain. The next family dinner they had was about a month after the last one, and Logan hadn’t been nervous about it. At least, not nearly as nervous as last time. He wore a pair of headphones to block out a lot of the noise, but still tried to pay attention to what his family was saying.

His family. The first time that Logan had called them that, he had caught himself off guard. He hadn’t realized how much he had come to care for these people. Emile’s kindness, Patton’s laugh, Roman’s upbeat and dramatic personality; they were all things Logan had come to love and treasure. He sat at the dinner table, watching as Remus wiped juice from Patton’s chin, and Virge snatched a roll from Dice’s plate when he wasn’t looking. And he smiled.

This was his family. And he loved them so much.

[ilovemygaydad]

part 3/? of punk!patton gets adopted by single parent logan

part one - part two - part four - part five - ao3 version - masterlist (includes asks)

pairings: one-sided pining moxiety, eventual logince, background pining remceit, mentions of past thomas/female oc

warnings: swearing, lots of emotions, anxiety, worry, sympathetic deceit (his name is DC), jealousy, sadness, one-sided pining, rivalry mentions, depression mentions, divorce mentions, being held back a grade, arguments, anger, crying, unhealthy coping mechanisms, embarrassment, like some angst (sorry buds but emotionally closed off patton is an angst fest), food mentions, possibly something else

***feel free to send me questions or comments! i’ll answer them to the best of my ability, and everything is tagged under “punk!patton au”

a/n: this one is.... so long

(a clarification: logan and patton aren’t really father and son--they’re more like legal guardian and child. neither of them were looking for a father/son relationship, so they agreed that it wasn’t for them. i just didn’t clarify)

a few weeks had passed since the whole clothes incident, and patton and virgil had actually become real friends

which was why patton was unnerved when virgil’s foot wouldn’t stop tapping in their first block class

patton scribbled out a quick “you okay?” on a piece loose leaf paper and nudged virgil’s leg to get his attention and passed over the note

a few moments later, the paper is passed back to patton, and virgil’s neat writing reads “yeah, just nervous”

“about what?”

“well... i was going to ask you if you wanted to join my family for our twice-monthly disney marathon on saturday. dad’s college friend comes with his son, dc. he’s a senior. everyone wears onesies, and we just chill and watch cartoons for the night. you don’t have to come if you don’t want, but i thought you might enjoy it.”

and patton’s like

oh

okay

this is... a thing

so he writes back, “sure. i think dc is in my photography class?”

and virgil passes the note back one last time, but the timing went poorly, and the teacher sees

she’s like “mr sanders. mr summers. are you passing notes?”

and patton rolls his eyes as he takes the paper and clips it into his binder “no, ms w. virgil thought that he’d missed some of the notes yesterday by accident, so i gave him my sheet so he could double check.”

and the teacher is like ,,,,,,, fine and goes back to teaching, but virgil looks over at patton and gives him this small, thankful smile

and if patton has some weird, fluttery feelings about it, then that’s fine

even though he doesn’t

(the note says “7pm--last house on zora lane downtown. you’ll know the one ;)” and patton finds it really cute)

so saturday rolls around, and patton picks out some pajamas to go in because he doesn’t have a onesie

logan had offered to buy him a onesie, but patton looked up one that he thought he might like, and it was nearly forty dollars. he refused to let logan spend so much money on something so stupid

he settles on a black muscle tank and black jogger sweats because there’s no way he’s going to break his aesthetic for a disney marathon

he does wear his glasses, though, because he doesn’t want to deal with the hassle of taking out his contacts before going to sleep and then putting them back in before anyone wakes back up, and he’s too blind to just go without

and he hates how the huge, square frames look on his face, and the lenses are so damn thick

but he wears them anyway because he has to

logan drives him to virgil’s house and it definitely wasn’t because logan was hoping to catch a glimpse of virgil’s dad what???

virgil was right--his house was so easy to find. it had a ranbow flag flying by the door, and about twenty little rainbow pinwheels stuck around the garden

it was either the sanders’ house, or it belonged to the world’s most excited five year old

the thing is, virgil didn’t mention that it was huge with gigantic fucking windows and a chandelier that was visible from the fucking street

patton gives a quick goodbye to logan and goes up to the door. he rings the doorbell, and almost immediately, the door swings open. there’s a tall man in a stitch onesie and round glasses smiling at him, and all patton can choke out is a small “hello”

and this man squeals

like

squeals

and then he says, “you must be patton! virgil has told us so much about you--come in!”

it isn’t like patton is just going to say no, so he walks inside and follows this stranger through the house, looking around as they go

the place is just as big as it looks from the outside. there’s a formal dining room to the right and a large office to the left

patton wouldn’t really call the dining room “formal,” however, since all the chairs and the table are random colors and sizes and styles

but that doesn’t even mention the vast foyer with floating stairs to the second level on the left side of the hall and bridging to the upstairs on the right

patton couldn’t believe he was somewhere so fucking nice

they keep going and patton gets a few glimpses of the shiny kitchen and lush living room as they head through a door to the basement

disney music filtered up the stairwell as they descended into the finished basement

it smells like cookies and popcorn

they round the corner and there’s a little entertainment area with a rainbow of giant, fluffy bean bag chairs and a very large flatscreen tv that was currently on the main screen of winnie the pooh

there was also a bookshelf full of disney DVDs (and even a few VHS tapes of the classics)

virgil, roman, and dc were sitting on a couple of the bean bags, but virgil immediately hopped up and threw himself at patton when he noticed that he was downstairs

“you actually came! and you have glasses!!!”

patton huffs out a laugh as he wraps his arms around virgil and hugs him back “yes, i did show up, v. i wasn’t going to stand you up. and, yeah, i do have glasses. i didn’t want the hassle of bringing my contacts and solution and shit, so i just wore my glasses even though they look stupid”

“that’s bullshit!” virgil almost shouts, but he quickly corrects his volume “the glasses look really nice, pat. i swear.”

and there’s that stupid fluttery feeling again

patton rolls his eyes as virgil releases him from a hug, and he’s actually able to get a good look at his friend

virgil’s wearing an eeyore onesie, which matches the disney onesie theme of roman’s mushu onesie and dc’s beymax onesie

patton almost feels left out in his regular pajamas, but he cuts that shit out right the fuck away

virgil gestures to the man who brought pat downstairs “that’s emile. he’s dad’s college friend, and you said you know who dc is already” he still points to the boy who was draped over his bean bag upside down and staring at them with his heterochromatic eyes—the gold one standing out against the darker birthmark around his eye. dc flashed a peace sign, and patton waved back

virgil turns his gaze to the cookies and popcorn set out in the middle of the floor by the tv “those are free to eat—just don’t get between dad and the snickerdoodle ones. he’s vicious. and, i’m only telling you this because i know for a fact that i’m speaking too fast for him to understand”

so they all sit down and watch the movie

patton decides to not notice when virgil moves from a pink beanbag to a purple one right next to patton’s blue one

the movie starts, and it’s all goofy and fun in the basement. the sanders and picanis are quoting the characters and singing along to the little songs

even roman, who signs along with a soft smile on his face

patton is kind of in awe at how relaxed everyone is

he’s also in awe at how freaking cold it is in the basement

he can feel himself curling up and shivering, and he totally regrets wearing a tank top

patton doesn’t know how, but virgil sees him shivering and hops up from his chair, whispering a hasty “i’ll be right back” before sprinting upstairs

when virgil returns, he’s holding a bundle of gray fabric that he tosses to patton

when the bundle is unfolded, patton sees that it’s a hoodie with cat ears and paws and a big pouch in the front

“sorry that it’s so cutesy,” virgil whispers. “it was the most black thing that i own...”

and patton just laughs a little because,,,, virgil’s thought process is really adorable and weird sometimes

like any hoodie or blanket would have done, but virgil absolutely had to get patton the darkest colored one

pat puts it on and instantly feels much warmer

after winnie the pooh, they change to black cauldron

roman whines for a little bit because “there aren’t even any songs!” but eventually concedes because it’s virgil’s favorite and he isn’t going to not let his son watch the movie on disney night

after that’s done, the adults decide they’re going to go to sleep

emile says it’s because they’re old, roman says it’s because he has yet to meet his prince charming in his dreams, and he is looking forward to it

as soon as the adults are gone, the teenagers move closer to the food in the middle

“so,” virgil starts. “it’s time for our gossip session. patton, you’re completely free to sit out if you feel uncomfortable”

“what, uh, does this ‘gossip session’ include...?” pat asks because honestly ???? he’s a bit afraid of what he might hear

dc decides to answer, saying, “usually it’s about what teachers are being shitty again, how classes are going, do we have any annoying group partners. that sort of fun stuff”

and patton just nods because that’s not bad at all

and then virgil does that cute thing like in the movies where he crosses his legs and rests his elbows on his knees and he puts his chin on his hands and he leans forward

you know

that thing

and he says, “sooooo dc. what’s up with that cute boy from school that you like? oh, what was his name? ryan? ray???”

dc rolls his eyes and crosses his arms, and his voice comes out clipped and low

“i don’t have a crush on remy sanders, who you already know because he is your cousin. first of all, stop doing that every time you bring him up. second, stop fucking bringing him up”

virgil just kinda goes “aw, bud, you totally have a crush on him!”

and dc flips out

“you fucking know how much i hate your teasing about crushes, and then you go and tease me in front of someone i barely know? at least i don’t do that! actually, you know what? maybe i will tell patton who you have a crush on because, fuck it! we’re letting all of our secrets out, anyway! virgil has a crush on—“

virgil cuts him off with a loud “STOP” and patton swears that time froze in that room as everyone stares at each other

“i’m sorry,” he continues. “it was so uncool of me to tease you in front of patton without your consent. i just—i think you and remy would be good together, even if it’s just as friends”

dc stands up and starts to march to the stairs “remy and i were nothing more rivals in school, and now that he’s out of the competition, we don’t have anything to connect us. just fucking drop it. i’m going to bed”

patton doesn’t really know what the hell is going on with this remy guy, but he knows some major shit just went down

he decides to focus on virgil instead of the twinge in his chest at the mention of virgil having a crush on someone

really softly, patton asks who remy is

“he’s my cousin,” says virgil “he’s technically the year above, but he got held back last year because of some personal stuff that messed with his school work.

“ever since we were kids, remy and dc were rivals in school. they were both smart and athletic and talented, and they wanted to be the best. they had a lot of chemistry despite the constant bickering, and i tried to get them to become friends instead of rivals. it never worked because remy spends weekends with his moms, so he couldn’t do disney nights, and on the days he was with his dad and could hang out, dc was busy with gymnastics.

“then, after rem got held back, they pretty much ceased all contact. i knew that both of them were hurting because they lost the thing that fueled them to be the best that they could be, but it was pretty obvious that they were missing each other, too.

“i just want them to be happy!” virgil ends, hunching in on himself

patton hesitantly opens up his arms

“do you... do you want a hug”

virgil doesn’t even answer; he just launches himself forward and pretty much tackles patton to the floor in a hug

he’s sobbing now, and patton doesn’t really know what to do, so he pats virgil’s back every so often and whispers nice things to him

eventually, virgil’s breathing evens out and he’s just sniffling into the soaked cat hoodie

patton slowly releases him and rubs virgil’s arms gently in a reassuring gesture

“i’ve never actually done this whole sleepover thing before,” pat says with a sheepish grin, trying to play up the act (even if it is partially real). “would you mind if i slept in your room?”

virgil looks surprised for a second, but then his face smooths out into a tiny smile

“yeah, sure. it’s getting kinda late.”

they pack up the leftover food and stick it in a cupboard by the stairs before going upstairs

virgil grabs patton’s hand as the make their way to his room because tbh he needs the comfort

patton doesn’t mind

virgil opens the door to his room, and it looks just how patton expected

the bed is straight ahead from the door and placed at the bottom of a large window with pink curtains. the blanket and pillows are floral patterned in pastel colors. there are tall, white bookshelves on both sides of the bed that are filled with books of all sizes and colors; however, they look to be organized by age and genre, starting with children’s books and ending with adult fiction and nonfiction. there’s a door that leads to what patton assumes is an en suite bathroom and double sliding doors to the closet. the walls are painted a very light purple, and the remaining furniture are all a slightly darker purple. there’s a wooden desk strewn with tons of office supplies and a vanity with a large mirror and makeup neatly organized in small plastic drawers

everything just screams virgil

while patton is busy ogling at the room, virgil had gone and grabbed a sleeping bag and extra pillow, setting them up on the floor

“i’m gonna go brush my teeth, so make yourself comfy in the bed!” virgil said as he walked into the bathroom

“woah, wait—i’m not sleeping in the bed! this is your house. you get your bed!” patton argues as he takes off the wet sweatshirt and looks for a place to put his glasses for the night

“nuh uh!” virgil sticks his head out the doorway, toothbrush in hand and toothpaste all over his mouth. “you sleep in the bed”

“you aren’t sleeping in that sleeping bag. i refuse to let you do that.”

“fine!” virgil went back into the bathroom, and patton assumed that the argument was over, but virgil came back out with the same fiery look in his eyes. “if i can’t sleep in the sleeping bag, neither can you. get your ass in that bed before i tackle you”

patton had never been so afraid of a 5’7”, 130 pound boy before

he quickly slid under the covers with virgil following after he flicked off the lights

within just a few minutes, both boys were fast asleep

there is so much warmth when patton starts to stir in the morning

he’s just so warm, and he loves it

he curls into the warmth, and for a second he thinks about falling back asleep

and then there was a soft giggle

patton jolted back, opening his eyes to see that he was face to face with virgil

he had been cuddling virgil

and virgil was laughing at him

“awwww, pat! you’re so cute when you’re asleep! you kept trying to cuddle me.”

“shut the fuck up,” patton grumbled, putting his glasses back on and slipping out of the bed

“but it was so cute!!!”

“and if you tell anyone,” patton growls (although, there isn’t much bite behind it) “i will end you. I have a reputation to uphold, and i won’t let you ruin it”

virgil just laughs and follows patton downstairs, teasing him the whole way to the kitchen

roman’s already there, sitting on the counter and stirring a bowl of something

“morning, dad!”

“morning, starshine. why does patton look so grumpy?”

patton slumps into a chair at the table all emo and grumpy, and virgil softly sighs

“i was teasing him, and he got a bit grumpy at me. i’m sure he’ll lighten up as soon as we have pancakes to eat.”

surprised, patton glances over at virgil. he was expecting virgil to completely expose him like the older kids at the orphanage had done, but virgil hadn’t. the smaller boy smiles gently and winks, sitting down next to pat

there’s this strong urge in patton to lean close to virgil, but he squashes that feeling down right the fuck away

“hey, has dc been down yet...?” virgil asks, and patton can see that he’s genuinely still worried and upset about what happened last night

“i am now,” dc announces as he walks into the kitchen

patton is Extremely uncomfortable right now

dc and virgil are just staring at each other when virgil speaks up again

“look, dc, i’m really sorry. it was super selfish of me to try and force your life a certain way based on what i wanted. i’ve always just wanted you two to be happy, but i let my own emotions get in the way”

there was a long pause, and for a second, patton thought that dc was going to throw hands or something

“i forgive you, virge,” dc sighs, and he sits down next to virgil. “i’m sorry, too. i was about to deal a low blow, and that was equally shitty.” he groaned and hid his face in his hands. “and you were right”

“right about... what, exactly?” virgil asked

“i have a crush on remy”

“oh. oh! oh my gosh, dc! that’s sweet! aw, i’m proud of you.”

patton has NO clue what’s going on, but he thinks it’s a nice family moment, so he decides not to intrude

dc and virgil chat for a few minutes, and patton stares at the table silently

it feels a bit like breakfasts at the orphanage where everyone else would laugh and talk and be normal kids

and he would just

sit

alone

all the while, roman had been cooking, and he shouts out, “alright, every-gay--i mean, except patton?”

“nah, i’m... i’m gay, too.” 

“sweet!” roman says with a sigh of relief. “every-gay, it is time for... cinnamon roll pancakes!”  

a huge--like, at least thirty--pile of pancakes was set in the center of the circle, and everyone immediately began to set pancakes on their own plates and slather the frosting on top

dc and virgil began to banter with each other and, against his better judgement, patton joined in

and it felt...

really nice

patton was getting to know virgil’s friends and family better, and it was so interesting to finally be part of some sort of family dynamic for the first time

then he looked over at virgil, who was stuffing pancakes into his face and

the feelings kind of hit him straight in the face

he’s in love with virgil

virgil, his best friend

virgil, who tried to defend him even after he’d been a total asshole

virgil, who... had a crush on someone else

patton almost drops his fork as a sick, sad feeling twists inside of his stomach

he can’t be in love with virgil because virgil doesn’t love him

for the rest of the morning, patton’s all fake smiles, and he keeps quiet

he says a quick goodbye to virgil when logan shows up to drive him home, and he sits silently in the car as logan chats with roman for a few minutes

he doesn’t turn around to wave at virgil

when he gets home, he immediately goes to his room and cries into his pillow

life was a lot easier when he stifled his emotions...

to be continued... in part four

asks are loved and encouraged 💖💖💖

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[harry-niclach]

TS TS

Virgil had been going through tics all his life whether or not it was more noticable now he was seventeen was a different story, as a kid he had always had very small and barely motor tics but now he was seventeen they included twitches of the head, arms, the scrunching up of the eyes or the face, rarely he would become paralysed and end up falling somewhere and he would just lay on the ground until he could stand again which usually took around ten minutes but on bad days it was longer, the only good thing about the paralysis one was that he didn’t twitch when it happened, he made involuntary noises and he often said random things but up until this point he had been very alone, no wanted to hand out with him because he didn’t fit into friend groups the only thing that helped him feel better was that when he was sixteen (last year) he had been officially diagnosed with tourette's syndrome, and at first it had been heartbreaking and he had looked at the news as debilitating which it really was but he soon began to look at it in a different light as his dads really encouraged him to embrace it and they didn’t ridicule him or stare and they somehow never seemed embarrassed but one of the most helpful things they did was to do with his coprolalia which made him swear and say inappropriate phrases and they didn’t happen often but when they did he always hated it they happened a lot when he was stressed which was becoming a lot more since exam season was coming up and he was always stressed about his grades. His dads never ever ridiculed him and they even laughed with him and the times Virgil wasn’t laughing, they would comfort him.

Virgil wasn’t on meds because they did nothing for him and he had met some awful people on his way to where he was but now he was joining a new high school as they had just moved to a new town, he didn’t mind they moved often but his dad Patton was certain they would be staying here for as long as they could and his Pa Logan had agreed and Virgil was perfectly content with it as this house was one of the better ones and the town seemed to be too.

He had to get two buses to school though which was a pain, because he wasn’t very good at suppressing his tics and even if he was he didn’t want to because it hurt and when he stopped suppressing them a lot more came out and the silence he had made didn’t compensate for the tics that came out.

It was on a Tuesday that his life changed a bit more that he would’ve thought, he was sat on the bus trying to muffle his vocal tics which was working somewhat, it was fair to say that today wasn't a particularly good tic day but he had had worse, his physical tics however were not doing well, his head kept twitching to the side and his hand and arms kept stretching, he kept kicking his leg out in front of him, luckily no one was sat in front of him. He kept taking deep breaths which worked for about twenty seconds before the slight flailing came back,

Before he could think about how to stop them though someone sat next to him and he immediately panicked and that didn’t help at all and right after the person sat down Virgil’s right arm shot out and punched this person in the arm, but they didn’t say anything, they turned with a smile and held their hand out,

“Greetings! I am Roman, Who might you be?” He seemed to be in the best mood even though he had just been harshly punched for no apparent reason,

“I’m -lemon!- Virgil,” He shook Roman’s hand before looking down but it didn’t last long as his head jerked to the side and his eyes screwed shut before relaxing for a few seconds, then his arms began to flail a bit but this stranger- Roman- didn’t seem to mind at all, in fact, he seemed to be ignoring the tics altogether which, in Virgil’s opinion was brilliant!

“Do you go to Golden Oak?” Roman once again was smiling as he ignored Virgil’s ticing he thought it the nicest thing to do and the boy seemed very self conscious and nervous about his tics so Roman decided not to bring it up,

“Yeah -lemon!- do you?” Virgil’s arms id some weird flinging thing, his leg kicked a couple times and his head jerked right and then left a few times before flinging back and then finally relaxing again,

“I sure do! It is one of the most magnificent schools i have been to! And I absolutely adore that you will be attending it too! Oh! Do you have your schedule yet?” Roman was basically glowing,

“Yeah,” Virgil pulled out his schedule and passed it to Roman who scanned it quickly and then beamed,

“We have every class together except for biology, i do Spanish, and art because I’m in drama!” Virgil was, honestly, relieved because this Roman dude seemed really nice but he supposed it was time to explain himself,

“Cool, I feel -F-fu- that I should ex-fuck- explain myself, I have tourettes -Pancakes!- and i do a lot of -Lemon!- ticking, I don’t think about -Pancakes!- or lemons as much as I say it,” Virgil’s head jerked a little and both his legs swung and kicked, his gloved right hand punched his chest as he squeaked,

“I guessed that was the case! And don’t worry about it! Last year I wrote three different papers on tourettes!” Roman seemed so nice and Virgil couldn’t help but smile back, since being diagnosed he had learned to laugh at life and he would often laugh at his ticks because they were awkward and the best way to dismiss that was by laughing about and sometimes his tics were funny but sometimes they were just exhausting, especially in classes.

Roman and Virgil made small talk until the next stop where they needed to wait for a different bus,

“Lemon! Fuck! Pancakes!” Virgil’s vocal tics could just be let g for now because the only ones getting on this bus were Roman and Virgil and if Virgil was very lucky not many people or none would be on the bus, while they waited Roman began to speak,

“If you don’t mind me asking, and you can totally say no, but would you like to...be friends?” Roman sounded remarkably smaller and a little sacred and Virgil wasn’t going to deny him, in all honesty, Virgil would love to be Roman’s friend,

“Lemons! I would like -f-fu- that,” Virgil suppressed his swearing tics as much as possible but most times he couldn’t stop, plus it hurt to suppress tics. Roman visibly brightened and then without warning hugged Virgil before backing off a little, it was short and sweet, and in all honesty Virgil enjoyed it,

“Do you think -pancakes!- that you could sit -lemons!- sit with-” Virgil stopped being able to talk as his jerked and his arms flailed too much to keep talking as he just couldn’t get the words out, so he waited it out, it lasted five whole minutes but he was fine, Roman seemed worried though,

“Virgil? Are you okay?” He seemed hesitant to ask but his worry outweighed his hesitancy,

“Yeah -cats!- I’m fine,” Virgil breathed deeply as he tried to focus, he kept making noises obviously, he did that most of the time and every now and then his gloved hand would come up and punch his chest or his rams would fly up or out or back,

“What were you going to say?” Roman tried to fix the conversation,

“Could you -Lemons!- sit with me at -lime!- Lunch?” Virgil looked at Roman for a while but his head jerked and he broke eye contact, Roman smiled and nodded very enthusiastically, the truth was Roman didn’t have any real friends sure he had ‘friends’ but a lot of them were toxic and none of them really liked him, they liked the mask he put on but Virgil seemed to like him so far and if he decided he didn’t like the real Roman, the mask could always come back up.

“Of course! I would love to dearest Virgil!” Roman gestured wildly with his hands and Virgil could already tell, he was one of the most extroverted kids, but he didn’t mind because Roman seemed like a true friend, he couldn’t help but let a gummy smile crossed his face as he watched Roman prance around lamenting words of endearment.

The bus pulled up two minutes later it was packed full today and that did not bode well, Roman got on first, leaving Virgil to follow him as his head jerked and his hands made random gestures, Roman choose a seat near the back and thank god that the only four seats that weren’t taken were the two behind and the two in front but there were people sitting across from them and diagonally to them, Roman let Virgil have the window seat so that his ticking didn’t run the risk of hitting anyone except himself and Roman which Roman was absolutely fine with.

Virgil began to talk to Roman, this time he started the conversation,

“What do you -Lemons!- know about tourettes?” He had to admit he was curious, because Roman could be misinformed or he could simply not know the right things for Virgil’s kind of tics or he could simply just not know things but there was also a chance that he did know these things,

“Well, I know about a lot of different types of tics, I know about and vaguely understand coprolalia, I understand what tic attacks are and I know some random bits of information that probably won’t ever be useful but I know them,” Roman seemed really interested inn tourettes and he seemed dedicated to his papers because that was a lot of information to retain and to understand it, even vaguely was impressive,

“I’m surprised most -pancakes! Fuck! Shit! Cunt!-” Virgil’s head jerked wildly again and his legs swung forward, kicking the chair in front quite hard as his arm punched in Roman’s direction hitting him in the shoulder, but he didn’t react, unlike those around them, people were staring with looks of disgust but Virgil had a mantra for times like this,

Those that mind, don’t matter and those that matter, don’t mind.

He repeated it a couple times in his head before speaking again,

“Most people don’t -shit!- don’t understand, even -lemons!- vaguely,” Virgil had an air of confidence but his eyes told a different story, they had an undertone of frustration and anger but a set sadness and fear were buried under that, Roman could see it all but decided not to point it out,

“Well, what can I say?-” Virgil cut him off

“Except you’re welcome!” He had a bright smile plastered on his face at the brilliant reference and Roman covered his mouth ad he gasped quietly,

“You...Like Disney??!!” He seemed very excited and Virgil felt so full of joy in that moment, more joy than he had felt in the last year, sure he had experienced joy but not like this. Virgil nodded causing his head to jerk down five times before he could look back up again,

“Well what about Mulan? Let’s talk” and so the rest of their journey consisted of ignoring the snarls and looks of disgust and the not-so-silent whispers passing around the bus about Virgil, and consequently Roman as the two spoke about every Disney film and the characters and eventually they were talking about Harry potter, the books versus the movies, so far Virgil’s argument for the books seemed to be winning, but before they could continue the bus stopped at the school and Virgil got all anxious again,

“Fuck! Shit! Fuck off!” The people were now just talking about him as he followed Roman to the exit but they didn’t make it that far, they were stopped by someone and Virgil instantly knew what was coming before they even opened their mouth nd it seemed so did Roman,

Virgil held his jacket close as he slung his backpack on his shoulder,

“What is wrong with you?” This was one of the times when Virgil wished this man had some curiosity in his voice but he didn’t, all it held was malice. Roman caught the question before Virgil could answer, as his head was jerking too much, but he managed to control his arms because they were holding his jacket very tightly, his shoulder kept jerking back though, and it would hurt the next day because t always did but that was the least of his problems right now,

“Let me answer that. There is simply nothing wrong with him, he is a fine friend and i don’t believe there is anything wrong with him. Unless you do?” Roman’s voice had an undertone of danger but this dude seemed to miss it,

“Yeah, I do! Look right now, even when we’re talking he can’t focus on us! And he keeps saying weird shit! What’s wrong with him?” The man’s insults weren’t anything that Virgil hadn’t heard before but they still hurt no matter how many times he heard them,

“Like I said, nothing is wrong with him, now excuse us, we have to get going,” Roman pushed past the man and Virgil stuck close, once they were off the bus Roman let out and angry sigh and Virgil thought he was mad at him for being an embarrassment but it didn’t happen,

“I was about to punch that guy,” Roman sounded angry but he wasn’t really, not anymore. Virgil’s head jerked a couple times and there were some weird noises and the word lemons but other than that he seemed to have calmed down a little now that they were off the bus,

“C’mon we’ll be late,” Roman took Virgil by the hand, gently, and led them to their first class, Math.

-

It turned out that they weren’t late at all, in fact, they were the first there beside the teacher, who smiled kindly, having already met Virgil she ignored the tics which now were just noises and the scrunching of the eyes and face, which weren’t really that bothersome unless he was reading, good thing they weren’t in English.

“Is there a seating plan?” Roman spun around, Miss Kathleen (she made sure they called her by her first name) was Roman’s favourite teacher, she was by far the most understanding and she was really funny, but she was like a mother to everyone but she wouldn’t tolerate bullying and she could really be strict if the situation called for it. Roman idolised her because she was just so great!

“Oh, well there is but since you are here early and you’re one of my favourites I’ll let you pick your seat and who sits beside you,” She smiled again and Roman beamed back before grabbing Virgil's hand again and leading him to the back, left corner, next to the window, which Virgil was very grateful for, after they had their books out (Virgil getting a completely new set of books to work from) Roman began talking,

“I think this is like one of the only classes with a seating plan so I’ll sit next to you in the other ones!” Roman was radiating happiness,

“Yeah, that would -Lemons! Fuck!- be nice,” Virgil’s head went back to jerking and his legs swung out, as his shoulders jerked back every once and a while and his arms would either come up to hit Roman or to hit himself. Today was going to be a long day.

-

Five classes and a break later, it was lunchtime, now Virgil didn’t have any complaints about the five classes he had been through, sure he got some weird looks and people who told him to ‘shhh’ but he ignored them because,

Those that mind don’t matter, and those that matter don’t mind

He was sat alone at one of the far away lunch tables he waited for Roman despite not being sure he would even turn up, he was wrong though because not even two minutes later Roman bounded over to the table Virgil was sat at, his legs swinging and his eyes scrunching up, as his arm punched his chest, he squeaked too, Virgil thought his tics were the worst thing but Roman thought they made Virgil cute and oddly attractive,

Roman sat down having just come from biology and Spanish the two were talking about what the lesson had been like and Roman was asking Virgil if he had been okay,

“So, did anyone give you trouble?” Roman sounded so protective and Virgil almost wanted to tell him that the biology teacher, despite being a biology teacher, was an ignorant dick, but he decided against and told Roman about his seat,

“I have to sit next to -fuck! Lemon, pancakes- to some kid who -lemon- thinks I’m a -lemon, lemon, lemon- freak and treats me like -fuck! Shit!- an experiment, I've had worse though,” He punched himself in the chest before his arm shot out to the side and the his elbows jerked back, his head jerked left then right then left again and his face scrunched up, all before he started eating,

“I mean, if you want I could take his whole face out?” Roman seemed dead serious and that just made it ten times funnier and Virgil threw his head back in a true, full body laugh, and the best part? It was a tic free moment. Roman joined in but then as they both calmed down someone walked over to their table and they seemed to have such an air of confidence that wasn’t fake at all and that was a little worrying, to say the least,

“Hey Roman, why aren’t you sitting with us today?” This kid wasn’t even acknowledging Virgil, like at all, but that was okay because Virgil didn’t really want to be noticed, so he just continued to eat his lunch,

“Well, I just thought I would sit here for today, y’know for some...Variety? Yes that’s the word!” Roman waved his hands around and smiled brightly though Virgil could see through the smile and it wasn’t like the one he had seen only minutes ago, but he decided to bring it up later,

The girl hummed, “Okay, well, if you don’t want to sit alone, then you can always come join us,” The girl took one last look at Roman before she tried to walk away but Roman butt in,

“What do you mean alone?” His tone was ludicrous but he was always that little bit extra,

“Well, you’re sat by yourself, or at least this kid that your sat with probably doesn’t talk much so it must feel like you’re alone,” She snickered,

“Well for your information, we happen to be having the most wondrous conversations and I like his company more than yours,” Roman seemed mad but Virgil didn’t really believe that Roman was mad,

“Geez, okay dude, no need to be so harsh,”

“Irony,” Virgil couldn’t help himself, he found irony so funny and stupid at the same time, kinda like tumblr humour, not the point!  

“What did you say to me?” The kid seemed genuinely curious but there was an underlying tone of danger that, while it went unnoticed by Roman, was not missed by Virgil, and you see Virgil wasn’t a violent person but he would and could fight if he had to and the weird thing was, when he got angry at someone or when someone he loved was being threatened his tics went away and it was amazing but it was also strange and it upset Virgil that it couldn’t be explained, but hey ho what can you do but get on with life,

“Irony,” Virgil repeated himself,

“What do you mean, irony?”

“Your response was ironic,” Virgil stood up from the table and turned to look at the girl who had come over,

“How dare you?!” She was mad but Virgil wasn’t sure if she would start a fight of not, hopefully she wouldn’t but you could never be sure with some people,

“What?” Virgil cocked his head to the side slightly and at this point there was a small crowd growing, Roman was still seated,

“You realise that you can’t speak to me like that?” She took three steps closer to Virgil, he didn’t step back like sh expected, he wasn’t afraid of her,

He held his ground.

They glared at each other for a second before she clenched her right fist and took a swing at Virgil’s face, she hit her target but she left herself wide open and Virgil swung his foot to kick her in the back of the knee, as she tripped, Virgil took a swing at her side just o throw her off balance a little more,

Now Virgil with only a bloody nose and this girl with a sore knee and a sure to bruise side, she tried to tackle him again but he just aimlessly dodged her and after that she was sure she wouldn’t miss again and she was right, she didn’t, she brought her fist up to Virgil’s eye and she hit him right in the left eye, he stumbled back a little but before he could be hit he elbowed her in the back before falling to the ground when something hit him in the back of the head,

He turned to see that it was another boy presumably this girls boyfriend but at this point Virgil’s vision was blurry and his head was throbbing he could only see out of one eye and he could taste his blood on his tongue, but he wasn’t done yet,

He wouldn’t lose this time.

Virgil stood up and stepped into a fighting position his eye already bruising up, the boy looked at him and laughed,

It was funny how he stopped laughing when Virgil brought his leg up in a very straight line and kicked the guy in the nose, he brought his feet back into an apprehensive stance as taekwondo was turning out to be useful he would thank his pa later for suggesting he take classes,

“How dare you?!” The boy recovered faster than the girl did and that surprised Virgil but he liked a challenge,

Virgil smiled a little as he strafed right to avoid the punches that were swung his way and then the boy decided he had had enough of being beaten he began to use brute force never leaving room for Virgil to attack back he was on the defense for the near future and he didn’t like it, his arms had been raised into an x position in front of his chest and his face to avoid a lot of pain but he had no room to attack, his arms become sore, absolutely sure to bruise heavily and he was sure he could keep it up,

Until he heard a snap.

He felt more than heard it but as soon as it happened he felt his arm become limp and it burned with pain he wanted to scream but he knew that wasn’t a good idea so he just let his tears fall silently instead of screaming or saying anything he gritted his teeth and just as the boy pulled away as he thought he had won, Virgil hugged his arm to his chest as he ducked under his arms but before he could do anything else a voice was heard over all the chanting in the crowd,

“What is going on here?!” It sounded like the head teacher but Virgil wasn’t sure, in seconds though he was leaned against the table,

Roman ha moved him.

And he was now sitting in front of Virgil asking him questions but Virgil couldn’t hear him over the blood rushing to his ears and the gasping noises he was making certainly didn’t help, the group started to dissipate but not everyone left a few pairs and the odd trio were still hanging around but Virgil couldn’t focus on anything else apart from the pain he felt,

“Vi….il….infirmary...c’mon….” That was most definitely Roman’s voice and there were shouts and murmurs in the background but as it happened Virgil wasn’t sure what was happening he wasn’t even sure how he was moving or if he was doing it himself, spoiler alert he wasn’t, He felt warmth around him though and that was somewhat comforting he would feel incredibly comfortable right now if it wasn’t for the pain he felt everywhere.

-^-

Okay so I know that was a lot and I know i don’t know a lot about tourettes I don’t have tourette's but I tried to research as much as possible and it may not be correct but I tried really hard and f you would like to massage me any feedback you might have don’t be shy I would love to hear what you think and where I may have gotten things wrong and if you want and if I get enough feedback about what is wrong and what id right then I will update it an we can work together to make to more correct and to read smoother and to sound better. I hope you enjoyed regardless of any mistakes and who knows maybe I’ll make a part two depending on how this is received who knows you might all hate it a lot but maybe some people will like it, well no matter what I enjoyed writing it and learning I love you all and of you read all of this note thanks you’re all pretty great human beings and I appreciate you,

@the-crazed-band-kid @nobodygotarrested

You both seemed very excited for this but then I don’t like it and it’s not very good but you said you would give me honest to god feedback so please tell me the good bits and the horrifically awful bits, if it’s incorrect or insults you in any way I will take it down,

Love you all

- Harry

[amethystdarkwolf]

Dysphoric

Au: Human/Highschool Ship: Background Royality Prompt: X Requested by: X Warnings: Dysphoria, minor transphobia? If there's anything I missed let me know. Summary: Patton struggles with more than he can handle at this point, his dysphoria suddenly spiking and not giving him a break. F/A/H-C: Angst POV: 3rd ~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Why can't it just go away?" Patton murmured as he sat on his bed, "Leave me alone and let me be happy!" He snapped to no one. He was home alone, so the risk of him being found out was minimal. He just wanted to say something, scream, throw something. Do something! Just to get the feeling to go away! To make the stranger in the mirror stop being a stranger. His hair was too long. He couldn't cut it. He wasn't allowed. His mother said he had a  too round face shape and it 'wouldn't look good'

Though the thought had crossed his mind, several times. The yells and screams of his dad scared him more than anything in the world. He would get in trouble if he took the opportunity to take the pair of his scissors and just cut his hair to make it look better! He had stopped brushing it even, hoping in the back of his mind that it would get so tangled that they would Have to cut it. At least then it wouldn't be as bad of a blow.

But that time never came. He was stuck like this, trapped and he wasn't going to be able to escape, not any time soon anyway. He had tried to come out, and he was met with acceptance! At first... then... After a few weeks, his mom changed her mind. Saying that 'she' was just a bit more masculine, that people were trans, genderfluid etc. But 'she' was not that way.

Patton had tears rush to his eyes, teetering just on the edge before falling as he recalled the conversation. It was forever ago, but it still burned and stung like nothing else ever would. That they shouldn't be expected to call their child by a different name. That Patton would always be their 'little girl'. He wanted to just be called by a different name, cut his hair, and get a binder. He wasn't FtM trans. He was non-binary, still trying to fully figure out which term fit him but he wasn't sure which one did.

Genderfluid had fit for a while, but now he wasn't sure. Days he would feel fine! Totally fine going by she/her pronouns, getting called by his birth name. Other days, he didn't mind either way! But... Today was neither of those. Today was the day that he woke up uncomfortable. His chest was too big, every action he did seemed too feminine. The look of the pink dresses he would have adored when he was little, before he stopped to consider his gender at all, made him want to throw up.

His friends at school knew and were incredibly supportive. They called him by his preferred name, and pronouns. One even calling him handsome in order to help in some way. Which it did a little, the baggier clothes he was wearing helped as well, but he still wanted to breakdown, wanted to cry whenever someone said his birth name. It wasn't him. That wasn't his name. Someone else may like it, and that's totally valid, but he does not.

He glanced back over to the scissors. Instinctively reaching for them and picking them up. Why couldn't he just cut his hair? It was his!! He should have never tried to come out, he was going to be allowed to cut his hair until the reason why came into question as he had never mentioned it prior. His mom refused to let him cut it after that. It was too long for him to handle. It was down to the center of his back even when it was in a ponytail and a tangled rats nest.

He almost cut his hair then and there, his reflection in a mirror beside his bed making him open the scissors, but of course. He remembered the consequences. He swallowed harshly, "Just another year, you can last another year." He said putting the blades down where they had been originally. He unlocked his phone and decided to text his boyfriend, Roman, he always made him feel better. 'Can u come over?'

Roman took a little bit to respond. 'Idk, y?'

'Dysphoric.'

There were a few more minutes of no reply, before 'No, I can't sneak out, darling, and they won't let me go over unsupervised, I'm sorry.'

Patton only cried even harder. He just wanted to be hugged, held and told that one day he would be okay. That everything would be okay. He would be able to come over if Patton was a biological male. But no. Of course. He texted a small 'thx anyway' to Roman. He wasn't intending to be rude, he just couldn't focus too long on the keyboard as he typed. Tears were blurring his vision.

He tried to wipe them away but more came. He wiped them away, shut off his phone and the lights in the room and just curled up on his bed wrapped up in blankets. Hoping that he would be able to fall asleep and wake up the next morning feeling better. But of course not. He ended up staying up much later than normal for him, about three or four am, despite him having to wake up at six.

The next day went much the same...

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