#and it’s how he finally gets logan to be hydrated

[worstwolvie]

that one thing cats do where they only drink water out of cups their owners have drank out of but it’s logan

[dinogoofymutated]

THAT POST ABOUT CLEANING IN THE FLOWY DRESS? THINKIN ABOUT HANK? HNNNGGG PLEASE I BEG OF YOU

NSFW!Beast/AFAB!reader. - NSFW HCs! I was already on it when I got this ask heehee. These hcs were originally suppost to be part of another NSFW request I got for him but I was thinking about this too hard and comepletely forgot the actual theme of the req! So I decided to save it for later and just post it under your ask lol Anyway I need him my god. I was writing this while picturing watxm Hank but I'm pretty sure it works for any version. TWS: MDNI!!! smut under the cut. PNV smut. Eating out/head. Cum descriptions. Reader written with Fem in mind and also wearing a dress is mentioned, but overall no pronouns used. Creampie. Getting caught after the fact but not during the deed.

Okay, We all know that Logan has incredible stamina, and there's quite a few mutants that you would just expect that from anyway, but I'm 100% sure the one person that a good bit of people would NEVER expect to have insane stamina in bed is Hank. Like yeah he's nerdy, but dude straight up went to college on a SPORTS scholarship on top of his academic ones.

There is no fucking way this man has anything other than the most insane stamina. Dude is the perfect package of nerdy genius and athletic perfection. Can you imagine how long he could go on for in bed?? While you're sweaty and absolutely exhausted he's having the time of his life. Sure he's sweaty to but he's still. fucking. going?? It's like you'd been having sex for three minutes instead of four hours. He obviously gives you breaks and takes care of you, keeping you hydrated and such- but every time he begs you for "just one more". He's so gentle when he's gathering up your limp body and he's kissing your temples and forehead and massaging your tender spots, but he's a scientist at heart. He wants to know how far the two of you can really go, and he wants to know BAD.

I saw in a post somewhere on tumblr that he mentions that the one thing he doesn't have control of is his libido or something like that? It was from a comic snapshot so obviously this isn't even a hc it's fully cannon I don't make the rules.

THE FUCKING PHEROMONE THING!! For those of you who don't know, Hank was confirmed to have some minor Pheromone manipulation abilities. Like oh my god?? I definitely think that he will use it in sweet ways where he just wants some cuddles without asking you for them, but I feel like when he's hot and heated he just subtly does it without even knowing. Like he's super pent up one way and for some reason every time you greet him or pass him by you just start having more and more inappropriate thoughts about him. He'd feel so guilty if he catches himself doing it but at the end of the day, you don't really mind. Don't think too hard you beautiful big guy, can we just fuck already??

He will absolutely use his strength to hold you in any position possible. As long as you're both comfortable with it no position or hold is off the table for him. I don't think he'd be into BDSM or anything that has to do with hurting you, but I do think he's the type to read through the kamasutra and want to try all the positions to find the one you both enjoy the most.

He will fuck in the lab. He might do a whole "Oh my! Not in here, dear ;)" But most of the time he's instigating it! Sure he makes sure to lock the doors and everything but he's not shy when he has you splayed across his work tables, bent over you as he gently kisses and brushes his fangs over your skin. He likes how flustered it makes you.

He also cums A LOT. Like a lot a lot. He's most certainly got the heaviest balls you've ever seen, and they're not just for show. Every time he cums inside he causes you to practically overflow, and he's usually still cumming when he finally pulls out of you as well. He's a little embarrassed about it, and will clean you up very well because of that. He doesn't want you to deal with the sticky feeling of it drying on your skin, especially not if you have sensitive skin/texture issues. He is defiantly down to eat his one cum out of you though ;)

also, I think that he has a thing for long flowy dresses. I know there's a ton of dudes who say they like them bc of "easy access", and I know for a fact that Hank would find that sort of mindset disgusting. He just loves how beautiful and feminine you look in them, and also just happens to really enjoy the feeling of the fabric against his arms as he hitches up your skirt, his hands trailing up your thighs. As depraved as it might be, he also likes giving you head underneath your long skirts. He'd be apologising for being so ravenous and thanking you for letting him have you in such in intimate manner, all while giving you the most earth-shattering head. He's just so sweet about everything in the bedroom I swear.

    You swear you didn’t fully expect to be in this exact situation when you were getting dressed this morning. Sure, you knew exactly how much Hank loved to see you in sundresses and were definitely going for a certain reaction out of him, but you never would have expected to be pinned against the wall of his lab, his large hands cupping your ass and thighs as he holds you suspended whilst using the wall as leverage. His thick cock is pumping in and out of you at a quick, needy pace. He goes back and forth from biting his lips and letting his moans and groans ring out and echo in the cluttered space. You’d never done this position before, although you certainly knew that Hank had more than enough strength to pull it off. Still, you were sure that the image of him fucking you, hands beneath your long skirt as it bunches at your hips and drapes down below you, was certainly a sight to behold.

    “Ah- Please, let me know if this is uncomfortable in any way- nhg… I’m sure your anatomy is taking me quite… deeply, in this position.” Hank grunts, his thrusts deep and steadily paced in a manner in which he knows you like best. You smile at him, desperately trying to keep your eyes open as your hands clench and unclench on his shoulders every time his thrusts catch you Just right.

    “Is that what you’re calling it now? “Studying” my anatomy?” You muse. You wonder if he had noticed you catching on to the glances and stares he does when he thinks you’re not paying attention. You purposely poke your chest out as you mention it, and Hank huffs in amusement before he buries his face into your semi-exposed cleavage,  licking and sucking as he shifts your weight onto one hand as the other takes hold of your cheek. He puckers your lips, nipping at the top of your breast before he pries himself away, sending you a smug smile as he leans in teasingly close.

    “You know, I really think we could be using that quick tongue of yours for something a little more useful than backtalk.” Hank chuckles. He kisses you in a way that leaves you breathless, still holding you effortlessly even with a single hand as he keeps up his thrusts. His free hand drifts down to your clit as your walls begin to flutter and clench around him, a sign that he knows means you’re approaching your peak and fast. His kisses match the intensity of his hips as he closes in on his own pleasure. You cum barely a second before he does, his cum warming your insides as he cums, and cums and cums. He overflows your cunt quickly, and it drips down your legs when he pulls out. Hank makes sure to help you keep your balance when he sets you down, your legs shaking from your orgasm but also a bit numb from the position he had you in. He kisses you gently as you recover from your high, doing so over and over again all across your skin. The gentle touches make you giggle a bit. 

    “Had a feeling that we would end up like this today. Maybe I should wear dresses like this more often.” You hum. Hank chuckles deeply before drawing you into another sensual kiss, his hands stroking up and down your now-clothed body in a loving way.

    “I wouldn’t mind testing that theory.” He says when he separates from the kiss. You shake your head at him, laughing a bit more as you cup his face with love.

    “Of course you wouldn’t.” You say sweetly. Hank is smiling at you, his hands beginning to wander again right before the two of you hear a mortifying swish of the doors. Hank quickly tucks himself back inside his pants before the two of you instinctively turn to face the door where Logan is standing with a bit of a confused look on his face.

    “Logan! We were just-”

    “Hey, Logan! Nothing to see here!” Both of you are scrambling to fix the situation, utterly and spectacularly failing as Logan takes one sniff of the air and then smirks.

    “I’m all for a bit of risk, but at least lock the door, lovebirds.” Logan gives the two of you a sardonic wave before marching straight back out the door. Leaving both you and Hank more than a little mortified. As embarrassing as it was, you can’t help but begin to laugh, Hank joining you as you shake off the adrenaline of technically being caught red-handed.

    “Let’s go wash off before we have any other unexpected visitors,” Hank suggests. You agree wholeheartedly, your laughter picking up once again as he lifts you off the ground in a bridal hold to head to the showers.

[eggiesins]

Sandrock Bachelors Being Drunk

Mild NSFW so Minors DNI

My first head canon post, enjoy!

Arvio

Arvio already has no idea what inhibition is so expect his personality to intensify by 200% while his ability to actually come up with schemes drops by 200%.  He’s gonna have so many half-baked terrible ideas that he will immediately try to act upon, so be ready to keep him on a kid leash to avoid some really dumb incidents.  “Builder!  I just had the best idea for how to get more investors for By the Stairs, but we have to act fast!  I’m hopping on the next train to Atara right n- what do you mean it can wait til morning??”  Arvio already slurs his words, so drunk Arvio I could see being almost unintelligible.  Once he’s drunk enough, he’ll constantly flip back and forth between beaming over how much he loves the builder and sobbing over Fang’s most recent rejection.

PLEASEPLEASEPLEASEPLEASEPLEASEPLEASEPLEASE rizz

Amirah helps at first, but clocks out of babysitting after the first hour of shenanigans.  Good luck Builder.  He’s your responsibility now.

Burgess

Sweet, sweet summer child Burgess.  He’s not much of a drinker, but would easily be peer pressured into drinking games, especially if the Builder wants him to play.  Others offer to drink for him if he wants, but Burgess insists that, as the Chief Water Inspector, his high hydration levels and position of bureaucratic authority give him a high enough tolerance to make it through the whole game.  They do not.  Sweet baby boy’s never been drunk before and has no idea how to handle it, so be ready to babysit this one too.  He’s gonna cry over how beautiful the cactus flowers are in full bloom, how Banjo jumped in his lap and started purring, and how you’re an angel from the Light sent to save Sandrock.  Keeping him hydrated is easy, but if he does throw up, he’ll never forgive himself for the wasted water.

He’s very good at listening to the Builder’s instructions and advice on sobering up, though.  Of all the drunks on this list, he’s the easiest to comfort and get to bed by far.

Drunk Burgess is a “sinner” (by his perspective) & 100% gives Pen the “you’re a bully but I forgive you” speech instead of turning the other cheek or forgiving immediately.

Ernest

It’s been a while for him.  Did he drink and party with Luna back in Atara?  100%, but since arriving at Sandrock, he’s been so busy with hyper fixating on Logan and trying to survive droughts and sandstorms, there hasn’t been much of an opportunity for him to just let loose and party.  Once he finally does, though?  Mans is writing sonnets on sonnets on sonnets.  None of them rhyme, or even make sense, but he gives them his all anyway.  “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?”  “Ernest, you said that one already.”  “Did I?  I guess every time I see you, I seem to just forget everything else.”

Ernest is pretty open about flirting with the Builder normally, so when he’s drunk, expect to hear it way way more.  He’s gonna rizz up that Builder as well as his drunk brain can ‘cause he absolutely LOVES seeing them blush because of him.  He’s all talk though, well aware that when he’s drunk, neither he nor anyone else should take him seriously.  He’s just having fun!

Fang

I could see Fang going one of two ways when drunk: either he realizes he’s drunk and immediately goes to sleep regardless of location OR his walls come down and you get to see an almost completely unfiltered Fang.  When his walls come down, oh man, Arvio better watch out.  If Arvio were to try any shenanigans, Fang is definitely telling him to shut up and sit down.  He’s grumpy normally, so drunk Fang would be much more likely to express that grumpiness.  It’s not that he’s a mean drunk so much as he is just more comfortable expressing himself under the effects of liquid courage.

If he’s with the Builder, he becomes soooooo clingy and jealous.  “The feel of your touch, unforgettable.”  Yeah he’s not giving up the feel of your touch while he feels confident enough to truly demand it.  If the builder is standing, he’s right behind them with arms around their waist.  If the builder is sitting, his head is on their shoulder, hand on their thigh, glaring down other townies who get too close.  

X lowkey loves when Fang gets drunk because it means he doesn’t have to filter what he says either, not that he does it too much normally.  He definitely eggs Fang on if the kind doctor happens to be roasting someone (Arvio) like a squawking mini-hypebeast.  At the same time, X helps the builder out a lot with getting Fang to drink water and go to sleep.

He has a very low tolerance, 4 drinks max

Justice

Our favorite Sheriff and tiredest dad of all the bachelors, Justice definitely knows how to drink.  One of his best friends is the local saloon owner, so yes, Justice has a pretty high tolerance.  With that, Justice tends to be pretty mellow when he drinks, but if he’s with the builder, he’s getting flirty too.  He’s gonna lean hard into the cowboy aesthetic, with a fake tip of the hat before asking the builder to dance.  During the dance Justice is pulling the builder close enough to stand on his feet (so he doesn’t drunkenly stumble on them) & going all the way with the spins and twirls.  He’s not elegant by any means, but he is fun!  He’s giggly and having a good time (probably annoying Logan).

If the builder is a friend, he’d insist on walking them home to see them off safely before stumbling back to his house.  If the builder is more than a friend, Justice is definitely laying on the rizz  and trying to get laid down at the workshop.

[insert “hmm society” question about life here] (seriously though, why do all the civil corps members wax philosophical so often?)

Logan

We all know the yakboy only dances when he drinks, but what else will he do when drunk?  Logan has a temper, yes, but he’s also a soft gooey ball of affection with the people he cares about, and that dichotomy is on full display when he drinks.  He avoids drinking games (they’re dumb & childish & he’s a grown man, damnit), but if the Builder wants to get up to drunken shenanigans?  Oh he’s in.  

“Darlin’, are you seriously tellin’ me ya wanna go build a scarecrow that looks like death to set up outside Cooper’s house ‘n scare him when he wakes up at 4am?”  “Ye”  “What do ya need me to do?”

Surprisingly, not a horny drunk at all (fanfic writers sue me).  BUT, he is an affectionate drunk with the builder.  Kinda like Fang, he’s all about the physical affection, especially in public.  The builder is his, and he’s gonna make sure it stays that way.  When they get home, he just wants to lay in bed with the builder in a cuddly vice grip til they both fall asleep.

He definitely relies on Rambo knowing the way home, just hops up, tells the goat where to go, and halfway passes out in the saddle.  He’s definitely getting roasted for being a lightweight by Andy when he gets home.

Miguel

How else would a religious fanatic obsessed with discipline act when drunk?  Off the rails ranting & outright simping for the builder.  Full stop.  I’m not even a Miguel fan and I know this man is so down bad for the builder.  He wouldn’t even want to drink initially, until the builder challenges him to a game.  “Very well, Builder.  For the person who has done the most to promote telesis in this barren land, I can surely raise a glass or two in celebration.”

Once he’s drunk, expect a strange combination of sermon and praise for the builder (he will definitely be mortified in the morning).  But if the builder even touches him by accident, he’s already hiding a sneaky semi tenting his pants.  

“Miguel…are you hard right now?”  “Builder, it would be a sin for me to deny the truth of this situation.  *proceeds to dramatically throw his jacket off*  Take me now, body and soul.”  “I mean, sure, but…can that wait til we can get home?”  “OH…………………..yes”

The next morning, while nursing a hell of a hangover and the raw, unfiltered embarrassment of drunken mistakes, he vows to never drink again.  At least, as long as the builder doesn’t ask him to.

Owen

Honestly?  I don’t see Owen acting too differently when drunk, just a lot less anxious when interacting with the builder.  Seemingly out of nowhere, his stuttering and nervous way of speaking with the builder is gone, replaced with a more confident barkeep.

He’s wicked good at drinking games, having spent his entire life inside of a saloon.  If you think you’re winning beer pong or rage cage against Owen’s 6 foot something ass, you’re wrong.  There’s a reason Justice and Logan outright refuse to play drinking games with him, and it’s cause it always ended with someone throwing up.  Never Owen, though.  He’s got a finely tuned tolerance for alcohol and knows exactly where his sweet spot is.  

He won’t really try to initiate any sexy times with the builder, but if they start dropping hints for him?  “Justice, can you watch the bar while I step out with the builder real quick?  They need some help..um…perfecting a new recipe.”  Cue Justice’s shit-eating grin.  “Sure pardner, take as long as y’all need” with a quick wink at the couple

Pablo

Is he drunk, or has he just been pretending to drink that much?  Who knows?  Pablo’s been around, especially in Walnut Groove.  He knows how to drink and even more so, he knows how to look how to drink especially.  He’s watching the town get absolutely smashed with glee, taking stock of everything that happens, especially anything embarrassing.

He’s the one who calls at 8am the next morning when you’re hungover to hell and back and tell you, in excruciating detail, every embarrassing thing you said and did, just in case you forgot.  All in all, I think he likes to drink a little, socially of course, but he’s far more interested in getting others drunk instead of himself.

Pen

Assuming that Pen can get drunk (he is sensitive to Duvos peppers), he’s gonna be glued to whatever the nearest reflective surface is.  But what actually surprises the builder is how genuinely affectionate he becomes with them, especially if they’re not officially a thing yet.  He wants them sitting in his lap so he can wrap their skinny arms in his big arms the entire time.

When he’s not being affectionate, he’s definitely trying to spar with them, though.  For Pen, fighting is very much foreplay, and this is even more true when he’s drunk.  He would already be turned on just by the builder existing, so a drunken brawl at 2am?  He’s the hardest he's ever been the entire time, full stop.  Bro is so hard from fighting the builder he has to take care not to fall flat on his face or he might break Pen jr.  

Pen avoids getting drunk because it also makes him feel guilty, at least some part of him.  He doesn’t necessarily like deceiving the builder (Sandrock he could take or leave tbh), but he has to so he can protect the life he wants for himself.  The builder changed a lot of that for him, so he feels a lot of guilt about keeping secrets.  Don’t be surprised if drunk Pen says he needs to confess something, only to go silent for 5 straight minutes before telling them he’s just hungry.

Qi

You know that meme about the guy’s roommate who blacks out and designs an entire airplane?  That’s Qi when he drinks, but with spaceships.  How did you get him to the saloon to start drinking in the first place?  Three words: Saloon Trivia Night.  Qi is competitive, and assumes that he’s usually at the top of his respective totem pole, so when Owen starts including trivia questions about archaeology, building, agriculture, etc, Qi can get frustrated relying on his team to answer for him.  And for every round lost, that’s another drink finished.  Soon enough, he’s ranting about the uselessness of “soft sciences” and the possibilities of interstellar space travel (someone please just make out with him and shut this nerd up)  The drunker he gets, the more he only excuses the builder’s mistakes and no one else’s.

This man definitely gets hot and bothered when drunk, but has no idea what he’s feeling or what to do about it, so he usually just goes to bed.  If the builder is romancing him, though?  The builder will definitely need to initiate things, but from there a now-uninhibited Qi goes off, following any and every instinct he can that the builder will allow.  He wants to try everything with them, for science of course.  

Unsuur

Regular Unsuur is honest, if a bit stoic.  Drunk Unsuur is too honest, and still kinda stoic.  As soon as he has a thought, he’s saying it, no filter.  It doesn't matter who he is talking to or what he is saying, he’s gonna let loose with whatever he’s thinking.  “Hey Cooper, why do you talk so much?  Like, you talk a lot.  Going on and on, kind of like I am now.  Why do you do that?”

“Unsuur, are you drunk?”

“Yeah.  Oh.  Builder, can I make love to you until you’re breathless and destroyed and the only word you know is my name?  I think you’d be really beautiful like that”

“Unsuur, we’re in public! Everyone can hear you right now.”

“Oh, yeah.  We should probably go home before doing that.  Pretty sure having sex in public is a crime.”

Aside from shamelessly flirting with the builder, Unsuur would also just wax philosophical to all the town pets in some corner of the saloon.  None of the other drunks there could keep up with his train of thought, but he doesn’t let that stop him.  Now Macchiato’s third eye is open, and he’s considering joining the civil corps under Captain.

I hope you guys enjoyed the headcanons! Let me know if you want to see the bachelorettes too! Yan has dialogue in the game about "mixing yakmel milk and catnip" so if y'all want any other headcanon posts, intoxicated or otherwise, let me know!

[adventuringblind]

Celebratory Kissing?

Logan Sargeant X Reader X Oscar Piastri

Genre: Fluffy smut

Summary: Oscar gets his first win and celebratory activities ensue.

Warnings: dom/sub dynamics, switch Logan if you squint, subspace for reader and Logan (eventually), SOFT dom Oscar (a simp is what he is), oral (both receiving), fingers, unprotected sex (don't try this at home kids), Praise, oral fixation, marking/biting

Notes: Another request! haven't done a smut in a while. I might be a wee bit rusty...

Side note: I finished this mere hours after I had to put my dog down 😬

Masterlist // Request Form // My Website // buy me a Ko-Fi

A sprint win is still a win. An argument she is determined to put to an end should Oscar tell her otherwise. This is an achievement and should be recognized as such.

Logan appears in front of her. His body absolutely gleaming with sweat and hair tussled from his helmet. "You look wrecked."

"The good kind I hope." She hands him the water she's holding, and he holds eye contact while trying to drink it. Only to fail miserably and dump it everywhere.

"It's about fifty-fifty. Half like Oscar just ruined you and the other half like you might be sick."

"Jokes on you, I probably am!"

She stares at the McLaren garage where Oscar has been swept off to. "Do you think he'll accept it as a win?"

"Maybe, I'm not sure yet." Logan crosses his arms and follows her gaze. "We could always convince him it's a win." He wiggles his eyebrows. The last part coming out quieter.

"But you two have to race tomorrow!"

"And I'm not suggesting anything crazy, I would like to be able to walk still. That doesn't mean we can't make it good."

She hums thoughtfully at the proposal. "He won't go for it."

"Trust me, he will." Logan takes his hand in hers and swings their arms back and forth. "We've been doing this for almost two years now. I think we can bring it out of him."

"Lo, I swear to god, if you get us in trouble, I will never let you hear the end of it."

~~~~~

She really shouldn't have been so shocked when Logan dragged her back to the hotel promising Oscar a 'surprise' for his victory. The Aussie had given them a questioning look, but just shrugged them off. A quick word about staying hydrated was thrown in there.

Now she's sitting on the edge of the bed, freshly showered and patiently waiting for Logan to tell her what his plan it. He's been digging through Oscar's luggage for the last five minutes mumbling about disorganization.

Finally, he pulls out the tightly wound coil of rope and makes a triumphant 'ah-ha' sound.

"You were looking for rope?"

"Yup!"

"And what are you going to do with said rope? Oscar is the only one with enough patience to manage any kind of Shabari-" Logan shuts her up by starting to tie the rope around her wrist.

"This okay?"

"It would be more okay if you told me what we were doing." She huffs in annoyance.

Logan rolls his eyes dramatically. "Figured I'd put you down first. Get you to that headspace that drives him feral."

She has to suppress the whine that threatens to leave her throat. "What about you?"

"One of us has to be coherent until he gets here. He can do what he wants after that. We just need him to see you first." Logan finishes the rope on her wrists, successfully securing them behind her back. "Not saying I'm not enticing, mind you. I just know how to put you down faster than the other way around."

Which - okay, Logan isn't wrong there. Oscar seems to hit the sweet spot with him where she can't. Not for a lack of trying, she just does not have the tone of voice that send her American partner over the edge. "Well played, Sargeant."

"I thought it was clever." She can't see him, still settled behind her. It doesn't matter. She knows he's smirking; can feel it in the open-mouthed kisses he's placing on her spine. It's ridiculous how much simple touch affects her.

"You slip so easily."

"Shut up."

It doesn't help that she's completely bare. Logan still has his sweats on, which only makes her feel vulnerable.

His hands trace the outline of her curves. They drag against the more sensitive areas with a nimble sort of ease. She lets out a happy sigh in response.

His teeth latch onto her shoulder. He bites and sucks a mark that will definitely be visible tomorrow. Logan's always had an oral fixation. Constantly chewing on the ends of his hoodie strings, chewing on pens and pencils, the sheer number of lollys in the house is ungodly. Oscar has used this to his advantage too many times to count. Zoom meeting at the number one offender.

Logan manages to bite all the way down her arm. He slips himself lower to get a better angle on her hips. Fingers bruise her thighs with an impossibly iron grip that he really doesn't need to have.

He attaches to her neck, spinning her around so face him. Logan slides his wet tongue from her throat to her lips. He shoves his tongue down her throat without warning. Successfully making it so she can't breathe; suffocated but only him. Only Logan and his stupidly nimble tongue exist in this moment.

He lets her breath again, only to push her backward onto the bed. Saliva drips all across her body as his tongue slides downwards.

Logan's is panting against her by the time he's finally in between her legs. "You're terribly wet, baby." He licks everywhere except where she needs him most. "Do you want my tongue? Are you going to be good for me while we wait for Osc?"

"I promise - please Lo, need you."

All sense of coherency leaves the second Logan's tongue starts lapping up her arousal. His hands grip her thigs to keep them spread apart.

Her hands would be in his hair if they could. instead, they grip the sheets underneath her. Anything to keep somewhat present. It doesn't work. Her mind is already swimming while the blonde moans into her core, teeth grazing her clit and driving her to the brink of insanity.

Her legs shake as his tongue slips in and out of her. She chokes out his name, on getting close to the point of no return.

He pulls away. Not fully, just enough to stop contact. Went tongue retreating through glistening lips.

IN the background, the sound of the door unlocking startles them both. Logan frantically strips the rest of his clothes in record time, helps her to the floor and manages to get them both into some kind of waiting position.

"I hope whatever you to are planning involves sleep at some point-" Oscar flicks the lights on and she can feel his eyes burning holes into them. "Please tell me you haven't been like this for the last hour?"

They shake their heads no as Oscar looks them over. He grabs Logan's chin and swipes his tongue across the American's bottom lip. "You taste like her. Tell me what you did."

"Got her ready for you."

"I can see that. She's staring at us with that look in her eyes." Oscar moves to her next, dropping Logan's chin and softly patting her cheek. She keens into his touch, aching for some kind of contact again. "Is this my surprise? A good night with two beautifully obedient partners?" His voice is soft with a hint of a condescending tone.

"Wanted to make sure you know that it's a win." There it is. He has Logan in the palm of his hand, whining and slurring his words.

Oscar looks like he might melt. "I think I've already won everything I need to. I have you two kneeling in front of me. That being said, you've got me worked up and it would be a shame not to take advantage of your wonderful surprise."

Oscar undoes the rope around her wrists and helps them up off their knees and onto the bed. "Nothing hard tonight. I'd hate for you to be sore tomorrow, Lo." He kisses them both. Hands gripping their chins and alternating who's mouth he's exploring.

It's heaven. The place with these two. The fuzzy, floaty feeling in her mind only registers them and their touches.

"You did good with her, Lo. Bet you're ready to go, yeah?"

It's the first time she's actually seen how hard the American is. Oscar strokes him a few times, slowly, thumb swiping away the pre-cum that had leaked out.

Oscar jams two fingers into her without warning. "Wow, you really did get her ready. Was this all your tongue baby?"

A third finger slips in. She's dripping liquid all the way down to his wrist. The pathetic whining sounds she's making are outrageous and should be embarrassing. She's to blissed out to care.

Oscar manhandles them to where he wants. Her body shudders as she accepts Logan's length, straddling over the top of him. "Come on, love. You want to make him feel good, yes?" She'd want to do anything Oscar tells her to, really, but she can't say as much.

Regardless, she rolls her hips and moans at the feeling. Logan's mouth goes slack, and Oscar takes the opportunity to slam his dick into Logan's mouth.

It doesn't take her horribly long to get close again. The skin on skin and roll of hips. The impatience of Logan as he tries to buck his hips upward in time with her.

"Osc, please." He crashes his lips onto hers and moans into her mouth.

He pulls away just a tiny bit and clasps a hand around her throat. "Go ahead, cum for be."

Logan slams up into her a few more times before he finishes. She lets herself fall into the abyss of white-hot pleasure. Brain only focused on one thing.

She can hear Logan coughing as Oscar slams into his throat.

It all ends too fast for her liking, and she looks at Oscar expectantly. Waiting and wanting for more.

Oscar pulls her off Logan and lays her body down on top of him. The Aussie take his time exploring their shivering bodies. The amount of concealer they are going to need tomorrow will be ungodly.

"This doesn't feel like the celebratory kissing I'd hoped for," whines Logan.

"Tell you two what: If I can get second tomorrow then I'll make sure neither of you can walk for a week." Oscar huffs. "Also, I'd appreciate it if we could refrain from calling it celebratory kissing."

"But it's tradition!"

"I feel like we've came a bit farther then just celebratory kisses..."

[blushblushbear]

HII BEAR !! How are you?? PWEHEHRH THIS IS MY FIRST TIME SENDING AN ASK- OKAY, WHAT IF: Beach day with the boys? 🧐

did someone say BEACH BOYS????

Nimh - ALL THE SUNSCREEN. All of it. Likes playing in the waves and sand, doesn't go too far out into the water though. Loves a popsicle and a soda! always gets sand in his everywhere

Volks - loves the beach! loves the sun! loves the water! LOVE THE BARBECUE! Likes to dig in the sand. Maybe make a sand castle but first-- DIGGING!

Kelby - WATER SPORTS! SURFING! SWIMMING! BEACH VOLLEYBALL! Always gets burnt cause he forgets to reapply his sunscreen-- he was having too much fun!

Eli - Time to tan, drink fruity drinks, eat ice scream and hunk watch. Also play around in the waves and sand but only after he's had a few coconuts with little umbrellas!

Anon - hates the sun. hates the sand. hates the water. has on 3 different high spf sunscreens WHY IS HE HERE, HE'S GINGER

Garret - TIME TO PLAY IN THE WATER TILL HE ALMOST PASSES OUT FROM HEAT STROKE!

Dmitri - Getting his tan on, even more so than Eli. Also showing off his new speedo.

Ichiban - Hides under an umbrella and towel. eventually goes into the water for a bit, then back to the umbrella and towel.

William - Loves looking for sea life! also is super into boating! loves being out on the waves! what a time to unwind

Myx - just kinda bumming around the beach. catches some waves, hanging out with the gang, making a mondo sandcastle, eating ice cream! what a good day!

Stirling - hiding under an umbrella, a towel, a large hat, a robe, some sunglasses, and gloves. he loves the invite but really-- a vampire on the beach??? no thank you

Scale - gets into a fight with a crab, almost looses

Sven - GETS SAND IN HIS EVERYWHERE. is having fun regardless!

Cole - mostly chilling in the shade. only comes out to play when a water gun fight starts. he promises the verocity with which he hunts and shoots everyone down is just his natural competitiveness and no kind of underlying aggression. honest.

Poe - another dark dork hiding from the sun. at least he's not going full bathrobe like the vampire. although he is wearing SO MUCH sunscreen and is still probably going to get burned

Cashew - reading on the beach like a nerd. chills for the most part but does eventually join in the fun when you take a dip

Seth - that beach ball slipped out of his hand, he promises. also he doesn't know what happened to that kids sand castle, honest. anywho SPLASH FIGHT!

Logan - unofficial life guard, snack mom and sunscreen police. also hydration police. he's just making sure everyone is having fun and survives!

Reece - running experiments to learn more about earth sand and sea water. gets buried in the sand at some point and doesn't know when it happened. (he was distracted!) enjoyed himself!

Aki - OH MAN! TIME FOR FUN AND SUN AND TRICKS AND TREATS AND HE'S GONNA HAVE A FIELD DAY HERE! LOOK OUT BEACH, HERE COMES AKI!

Haru - he loves barely wearing any clothes. also seeing you barely wearing any clothes. who's up for a skinny dip to make it no clothes??? (might get told off by the life guard cause SIR THIS IS NOT A NUDE BEACH)

Fuyu - the final member of the lots of sun screen gang. takes him a minute to warm up to all the sand and salt water, but he eventually has fun. does complain about the salt and sand in his hair later though (BUT HIS SKIN HAS NEVER FELT SOFTER)

they'll all have fun fun fun till the daddy takes the T Bird away

[buckyownsmylife]

Lucky - Logan Howlett smut

The one where Logan catches you touching yourself when you’re supposed to be his.

Warnings: masturbation (f), oral sex (f), slight voyeurism, playful possessiveness, reader is a dumbass, Logan is in love, p in v, dirty talk, unprotected sex, a single spank, kind of a cum kink?, creampie

A/N: If a man tries to control when you can orgasm without your consent, please ignore him and get yourself another one. Logan here is obviously jesting and even if he were to create such a rule, he’d only enforce it with his girlfriend’s acceptance, of course. Day 4 of kinktober and the prompts were masturbation + eating out.

Y/N’s P.O.V.

As soon as I hear my room’s door close behind me, the stress of the day started to leave my tense muscles. Just being surrounded by my stuff, that I’d been carefully collecting since my arrival in Charles’ academy four months before, was enough to send the message to my brain: you’re home, relax. No one is going to disturb you here.

It wasn’t necessarily true, of course, which was one of the cons of living in the same place that I worked, but the probability of one of my students coming all the way here to ask for help, advice, or any other sort of guidance was extremely low, thankfully. As 5pm approached, the youngsters too began to relax, opting to look for social activities or hobbies to occupy their time instead of training and studying. In all my time here, no one except teachers had come to bother me in my own bedroom, and even that was extremely rare. Everyone seemed to understand the need for some alone time after a day of responsibilities.

So that’s why this room that was designated to me had this ability to instantly make me feel better, I guess. Up until now, the only other place that managed to make me feel so safe wasn’t actually an environment, but a person.

Logan.

We’d been some sort of unspoken thing for a while now, only about a month. Despite his usual grumpiness that seemed to be directed to keep me away from him right after my arrival, the fact that I didn’t seem to care quickly made him curious, and this curiosity soon became a particular interest in seeing me underneath him, moaning pleasurably in his bed.

He made me feel safe, and the truth was that I didn’t care that after a month, we still hadn’t decided to give a name to what we had. All that mattered to me was that he wanted to spend time with me too and that he treated me right. 

But he’d been gone for the last four days on a special mission assigned by Professor X, so that meant that my current situation couldn’t really be blamed solely on my student’s behavior for the day. Oh, no. This particular tension came after my body had grown accustomed to being treated to multiple orgasms night after night, only to be abruptly denied those treats.

I missed him. I hadn’t had to touch myself in over a month and I’d spent the last few nights depriving myself of it because I knew I could never give myself the kind of pleasure that Logan could. Only he wasn’t here, and I was going crazy, especially since no one had any idea of when he would be back.

I needed him.

So I decided to grant me at least some sort of relief, as pathetic as it’d be, in the hopes of calming my longing body. The first thing I did was strip down to nothing. My favorite pampering activity was a nice warm bath after a stressful day of classes, and from Logan’s comments, I knew he liked it when I took the time to lather myself up in essential oils, too. On more than one occasion he commented that it made me smell “good enough to eat”.

It was only after said bath that I laid down on my still-made bed, spread out to appreciate the silkiness of my own skin after a good hydration session. The smell of coconuts from my favorite cream helped to ease me into the right state of mind, that I so desperately needed so I could start softly running my fingers over my thighs without that stupid inner voice that wanted to make me recoil in embarrassment.

I was a grown woman in the privacy of her own room. It was stupid to be timid about needing to touch myself, so I focused on the desire I could feel rising through me, and not on any other pop-up thought that insisted on making its way into my brain.

It became a lot easier when I thought about my lover.

Oh, how I wished Logan was here. He’d love to see me in this position, legs spread open for his eyes to take. Only the thought of his piercing eyes fixated in my naked body was enough to get me wet, and that elicited another memory of him. How he’d groan when the smell of my juices hit his nose, immediately prompting him to get on his knees in front of me and bury his head between my thighs. He’d lap me up eagerly, hungrily, like I was an entire feast dedicated to him after a life of restraint. As passionate a lover as Logan was, I don’t think there was anything he loved more than eating pussy.

If he was here, he’d say mine was the only one that provoked such an animalistic reaction from him. I’d laugh, refusing to believe anything that came out of his mouth when all he could think about was burying himself inside of me, but I’d blush nonetheless. A part of me wanted to believe I was special to him, despite his years and the number of women he’d most certainly laid with, mostly because he was special to me, too. 

But I couldn’t afford this sort of thought, so I opted to focus on the memory of how Logan’s tongue felt against my clit. I let a single finger touch it, trying to mirror the same pattern of movement he’d make. It was nowhere near the same sensation, but it was enough to prompt me to release a little moan of pleasure.

We were starting to get somewhere.

Logan’s P.O.V.

After four long days of fuckery, the only thing I could think about was going back home straight to my girl’s arms. So as soon as we were through the academy’s doors, I took the stairs two at a time to go directly into her room, having memorized her schedule long enough to know that she’d most likely be there. 

No one tried to get in my way. They knew better.

Much to my surprise, as I approached the now familiar doors to her room, a familiar scent engulfed me, prompting me to tune into the sweet sounds that I’d dreamed about these last nights. They were very discreet, but for someone with my enhanced abilities and extreme focus on her body and reactions, it was very obviously there.

Blindly, I reached for her door, slowly pushing it open and welcoming the warmth and overwhelming perfume that I’d come to associate with her presence, especially during the times she was releasing these delicious little moans. Immediately, my ears picked up on another, much dirtier tune: the squelching sounds her fingers elicited from her sweet pussy as she fucked herself.

I almost fell to my knees, as my legs suddenly lost the ability to keep me upright, but I was able to hold myself back just in time. Wouldn’t want to miss the show, especially when it was making me so fucking hard. 

Finally venturing further into the room, I came face to face with the beauty waiting for me. She hadn’t noticed my arrival yet, too preoccupied with her pleasurable activities, her eyes closed shut in concentration as her mouth fell open in that delicious silent scream I liked to swallow so much.

I watched as she touched herself a bit more, attentively looking for the telling signs that she was close to her release, and just when the muscles on her thigh began to clench, I leaned over her and wrapped my hand around her wrist, pulling her fingers from inside her cunt. The surprised gasp she let out made me smirk.

I sucked on her fingers, enjoying my first taste of her after what felt like forever. A deep groan erupted from my chest at her sweetness invading my mouth. “Missed me?” I teased when I finally reopened my eyes to find her staring back at me with a lustful expression.

“You have no idea just how much,” was her answer. I was enough of a man to feel proud of her response, but it also became clear just how much I had actually become soft for the woman under me - a stark contrast to the hardness I could feel restricting my jeans.  

When she first arrived at the academy, I hadn’t expected her to become as important to me as she had now, but just as I struggled to take off my clothes as quickly as possible before kneeling before the bed, pulling her by the ankles so she was spread out just in front of my face, I couldn’t really deny it. I’d do anything to keep her with me, just like this.

“I think I have some idea of it…” I teased her just as I softly ran my fingers over her pussy lips, simply collecting the wetness that had gathered there.

Y/N’s P.O.V.

He once more wrapped his lips over his wet fingers and moaned at my taste in his mouth. “How are you this fucking sweet?” Was all he asked before he delved right in, parting my thighs with his large hands and licking from my puckered hole to my clit. 

“Fuck!” I cursed, throwing one of my hands over my head, to find something to hold onto, while the other found its way into his hair, pulling on it just the way I knew he liked. I felt his groan reverberating through me before he chuckled, briefly stopping his ministrations to stare up at me with his lower face dripping from my wetness.

“I love when I can make you curse.” Biting my lip, I accepted that I couldn’t retaliate his teasing while he continued to eat me out. His tongue easily engulfed my whole pussy, so just that was enough to bring me to the edge of an orgasm in a way I could never grant it to myself. “Come on, sweet girl,” he admonished, slapping my thigh. “Ride my face. Give me what I came here for.”

I obeyed him without even thinking about it. This was just how it was when it came to us. He asked me to strip, my panties were on the floor before he finished his sentence. He ordered me to get on my knees, my mouth was instantly watering at the sight of him.

But God, did he deliver. My compliance came very easily when it came to a man like him, so eager to please beyond what his body could already offer. I’d been with many men before who, while obviously not as well-endowed as him, had been on the bigger side, and they always left me needing more, like they believed their dick’s length was enough to satisfy me without any real effort from their part.

Not Logan, though. Oh, no. Logan thrived on making me cum, over and over again. He liked to say he’d live on my pussy alone if possible, and by the way he very hungrily ate me out for hours on end at times, I knew he was being honest.

I sometimes liked to entertain the idea that I was the one who brought out that side of him, but I knew better. Someone like Logan had a lot of experience, I was dumb to think that I might be somewhat special to him, somehow. So I didn’t.

Instead, I allowed the filthy sounds of my wetness being gurgled down by him to bring me back to this moment, choosing to focus instead on how delicious his tongue felt against my clit, how he happily accepted my movements as I buckled up, in search of my orgasm.

I was right over the edge, in need of just a little something else to push me over it when Logan suddenly decided to open his eyes and focus them on me. The sight of his darkened eyes and dilated pupils was enough to make me throw my head back against the soft pillows of my bed as I reached bliss.

When the stars of light disappeared from my vision and I came to my senses, Logan was still in the same spot in front of me, his thumbs softly caressing the inside of my thighs. “You’re back with me, darlin’?” He asked in that deliciously gruff voice of his, and I shivered, nodding breathlessly as I wetted my lips. “So now, let’s have a talk. Who said you could touch yourself while I’m away, huh?”

I blinked once, then twice. My mouth was slightly agape as I looked down at Logan, still sprawled out for his viewing pleasure while my mind raced to make sense of his words. “I-I don’t understand,” I finally confessed, my eyes following his movement as he climbed up on the bed until we were face to face for the first time since his return.

Logan’s P.O.V.

I tsked teasingly, leaning down to deposit a quick kiss on the corner of her lips. “I asked you…” I breathed out on her ear, watching as goosebumps raised over her skin. “... who said you could touch yourself, darlin'. Because last I checked…” I cupped her cunt with one of my hands, chuckling lightly at how I was able to cover it with my palm. “... this pussy was mine and only mine.”

“I-it was?” Now, hold my heart (and my cock) but she just looked too fucking cute with that confused look on her face, her eyebrows frowned as she stared at me like I had grown two fucking heads.

“Of course, sweetheart. Now, I know we hadn’t talked about this before, so I’ll let your pretty little ass spank free this time, but be warned…” I leaned over her again, my nose touching hers as I felt her little breaths against my own lips. “... next time you’re feeling horny, you ask your boyfriend to help you deal with it. And if he’s not around, you wait.”

Now, I was expecting some kind of reaction from my little rule, and I was 100% ready to negotiate, but what I wasn’t expecting was for her eyes to grow twice their size as she suddenly sat up on the bed, forcing me to lean back and take a seat, too.

“Boyfriend?” She definitely looked confused, her eyes searching mine for something I didn’t know since I was just as puzzled. Opting to stay silent, I simply stared back at her, both of my eyebrows raised high as I waited for her explanation. “You mean… you?”

The familiar fire of anger rose up quickly inside my chest, and I had to curl my hands into fists to control myself. “Of course it’s me, who the fuck would it be? Are you sleeping with anyone else?”

Rationally, I knew my problem was less anger and more disappointment. I’d let my guard down for her - way too quickly, faster than I’d done for anyone else throughout my life. And I’d done it because she touched my heart in a way no one else had. I was falling for her, and I thought she felt the same way too.

“NO! Of course not!” She all but jumped, her hands reaching out to cradle my face and I found myself actually relaxing against her touch, as my heartbeat started to slow down at the knowledge that she really was all mine. “I just… I didn’t know… I didn’t think we were dating. I thought you saw me as…”

She didn’t seem to have the courage to finish her sentence, but she didn’t need to. I understood what she meant, and as realization fell upon me, I found myself throwing my head back and full-on laughing, much to her displeasure. When I managed to calm down, she was pouting at me, which only made the arousal that had dissipated by the fear reappear that much stronger.

“Oh, darlin’...” I started, pulling on her ankles to force her on her back again as I hovered over her, watching, analyzing. “I’ve fucked you every single night for the last month. Now, I know I’m not the kind to talk about my feelings, but I figured that made it pretty obvious…”

Leaning down, I took possession of her mouth to give her a breathtaking kiss, forcing her to accept my eager tongue, to taste herself on my lips. Then I went further, kissing her jaw, her neck, until I reached her collarbones, where I sucked a bruise, all the while rubbing my aching cock against her clit before pushing it inside of her in one forceful thrust. 

“... You’re mine. Only mine. Mine to fuck, mine to bruise and mark, mine to cum into.” Her mouth immediately fell open at the feeling of my hardness stretching her open, and I couldn’t help the smirk that took over my lips. “You okay with that, sweetheart?” I asked, waiting for her to adjust to the feeling of being invaded as I nibbled on her earlobe.

Finally, after a few minutes of her struggling to breathe as I felt her squeezing my biceps, she nodded. “Y-yeah.” Grinning, I took that as an okay to start moving and immediately started to pound her against the mattress, just like I loved and had come to learn that she did, too. Her nails bit on my flesh, but it only added to my own arousal, making me growl against the skin of her chest.

“This fucking pussy… You really thought I’d just treat you like a fuckbuddy?” Abruptly pulling out of her, I manhandled her onto her hands and knees before pushing her face down against the mattress, all the while laughing at the little scream of surprise she let out. “I’m never gonna stop fucking you, pretty thing. You better watch out.”

She was moaning desperately now, just how I’d dreamt of hearing while I was away from her, and it made my sack even heavier as it slapped against her clit with each thrust I gave. “Fuck… ‘m gonna cum, sweetheart. Do you want it? Say you want my cum in your pretty little pussy, come on.”

After a gasp that followed my slap on her ass, she flipped her head back, looking at me with those fucking sultry eyes that I loved so damn much. “Please, Logan, cum inside of me. Wanna feel it dripping from me, please, I need it so bad.” And this is why I was convinced she was some sort of siren or whatever. The second that our eyes connected, I was fulfilling her wishes, releasing all of my milky cum inside of her throbbing pussy, as she came at the same time as me.

Once I was able to breathe again, after having thrown myself by her side on the bed, I pulled her so she’d rest her face on my chest, chuckling to myself over how much of a cuddle lover I’d become ever since we’d started sleeping together.

“Hey, Logan,” she called out my attention, making me hum in response as I looked down to find her staring up expectantly at me. “I hope you know that this goes both ways.” I blinked twice as I waited for her words to make sense to me, but before they did, she was giggling, already clarifying her meaning. “You’re mine too.”

To say that those words filled me with the happiest kind of warmth would be an understatement. I didn’t know what to say, I’d never been good at this lovey-dovey shit, so I settled for pulling her back to me again and giving her forehead a kiss.

“Believe me, darlin’... I know.”

[eliemo]

The Incident- Part 2

Summary: Sometimes, it’s dangerously easy to spiral...but Virgil’s family isn’t going anywhere. 

TW: Blood and injury treatment (nothing too graphic but stay safe), panic attacks, mentions of flashbacks, past abuse 

Masterpost

Taglist: @self-taught-mess @itawalrus @mygenderisidiot @a-very-gay-raccoon @dawnfire7 @cr4zyart @ray-does-stuff @whydoifeeltheneedtoorganizestuff @bunny222 (If i missed someone or u wanna be added just let me know!) 

Roman didn’t get back until after dinner, the sun setting with brilliant orange light in the windows, still far too hopped up on adrenaline and brimming with new ideas to even think about eating yet.

He was sprawled out on the couch with his feet in Logan's lap, despite the logical side’s halfhearted protests, lamenting about his recent adventures and the inspiration they’d brought for the newest script.

Logan was pretending not to be listening, but Roman caught sight of an almost invisible smile, pride blossoming in his chest as he continued.

Virgil hadn’t come down in a few hours at least, apparently locking himself in his room due to a stomach ache earlier in the afternoon, and Patton’s worry had finally taken over, the moral side heading into the kitchen to heat up a plate of leftovers to take upstairs.

“Make sure to get him some water, too,” Logan called after him, momentarily silencing Roman’s tale. “He needs to stay hydrated.”

For a few moments, nothing changed, Roman falling back into his story, Logan’s attention switching from the creative side to the open book in his lap, the prince’s voice easily drowning out the hum of the microwave in the next room.

“Logan?” Patton called suddenly. “Did you...you didn’t break a cup or something today, did you?”

Logan froze, looking up from his book to meet Roman’s suddenly worried gaze, the living room plunged into an uneasy silence.

“No,” he answered carefully, slowly pushing Roman’s legs off of him. “Why?”

A beat of silence, followed by a bit of shuffling. “There’s a lot of glass in the trash...and I don’t--”

Roman was already off the couch before Patton yelped, the creative side racing into the kitchen and nearly crashing right into Patton, who’d been rushing for the living room.

“There’s blood,” he said, before anyone could ask any questions. “There- there’s blood...a lot of blood on the glass in- in the trash can I...Virgil, I- I didn’t realize he was--”

“Try to remain calm,” Logan said, already making his way towards the stairs. Patton grabbed Roman’s hand, the two following close behind. “We don’t know what happened yet.”

They made it to Virgil’s room, the door closed and the room seemingly quiet, and Roman stepped back to allow Patton to knock, well aware his own presence could possibly be overwhelming.

“Virgil?” Patton called, unable to keep the slight nervous tremble out of his voice. “Can we come in, kiddo?”

There was no reply, no sound from the other side of the door, and Roman didn’t miss the way Logan’s frown deepened at the lack of a response.

“We aren’t mad, baby,” Patton added, hand hovering over the doorknob. “We just wanna make sure you’re not hurt.”

After a moment of silence and an encouraging nod from Logan, Patton pushed open the thankfully unlocked door, (Roman had been more than ready to kick it down if he had to) freezing in his tracks as soon as he stepped inside.

Peering over the moral side’s shoulder, Roman could see why.

Virgil’s room was empty, bed still made and lights off, everything almost eerily still and silent. The bathroom was just as empty, the lights off and the door left ajar.

Patton whirled around, eyes wide and already filling with terrified tears. “Logan--”

“Both of you remain calm,” Logan instructed, like he wasn’t obviously seconds away from losing it himself. “Patton, come with me downstairs.”

“But he--”

“I need to get the first-aid kit,” he said. “Roman, will you keep looking up here? If we can’t find him, we’ll go to Thomas.”

It was fine. It was probably fine. Virgil’s room was likely just amplifying their stress, and making them all freak out for no reason. They’d find him, and he’d pretend to be annoyed at all the attention and worry, but Roman wouldn’t be able to help pointing out the anxious side’s rising blush.

That was how it always was.

Roman double checked Virgil’s room as the others made their way back downstairs, just to be safe, frantically checking under the bed and behind the shower curtain, all too aware of Virgil's habit of finding strange places to nap or zone out to music.

But the room was vacant, abandoned, and Roman couldn’t escape out into the hall fast enough, carefully shutting the door behind him.

Unwittingly, his mind traveled back to the last time they couldn’t find Virgil. When he’d tried to disappear, duck out for good, all because Roman never bothered to offer him a shred of kindness, none of them caring enough to see just how badly he was hurting--

He almost didn’t hear it, so caught up in his own thoughts and panic, but the tiny, choking sound from the closet at the end of the hall snapped him out of his own head.

“Virgil?” Roman called, heart sinking when there wasn’t a reply. “You over there, Hot Topic?”

His only answer was faint, labored breathing, barely audible, and Roman quickened his pace, taking a shaky breath before pulling open the closet door.

The first thing he saw was Virgil, huddled up in his usual patchwork hoodie, pressed tight into the closet’s limited space.

The initial relief at finding the other side safe quickly vanished when Roman took a step closer, dread clawing at his throat as he took in the sight.

Virgil had curled up into a tight ball, visibly trembling, eyes only half open and staring ahead at nothing, his gaze distant and glassy. His hands were pressed over his ears, and running down his arms…

Oh, god. That...that was a lot of blood.

“Virgil! Virgil, can you hear me?”

If Roman was a bit more put together at the moment, he would have moved slower or gone to get Patton or Logan to coax the anxious side out of his hiding place.

But all he could see was the blood- the fact that Virgil was hurt and Roman needed to help. He couldn’t afford to wait.

Carefully, he dropped to one knee and reached forward, placing a gentle hand on Virgil’s leg.

The reaction was immediate, Virgil jolting under the touch pressing back even further against the wall, bloody and cut up hands held up like he was trying to protect himself.

His eyes met Roman’s, growing wide in genuine terror, and the prince felt his heart break at the sight.

“I’m sorry,” Virgil was saying before Roman even had a chance to open his mouth. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, please, I’m sorry--”

“It’s alright,” Roman tried, doubting Virgil even heard. “But you’re bleeding, Virge. We gotta take care of that, ok? Logan can’t patch you up until you come out.”

Virgil shook his head, frantic. “I’m sorry I didn’t mean to break it, it- it was an accident I swear, I tried to- tried to clean it up, I thought--”

Roman swore under his breath, glancing at the still empty hallway behind him. He knew he shouldn’t ever rush an attack like this, well aware Virgil was terrified and unable to think clearly but…

But aside from the bloody gashes across his palms and fingers, Roman could see a few smaller pieces of glass still wedged in the broken skin. He’d had those wounds for a few hours now at least. They didn’t have time.

“I’m so sorry, darling,” he whispered, squeezing his eyes shut for just a moment. “You’ll be alright.”

And then, without giving Virgil a chance to process the movement, Roman cupped one hand under Virgil’s legs, the other around his back, and lifted him off the floor, holding him to his chest.

He wasn’t sure what he’d thought would happen, but he certainly hadn’t expected Virgil to scream and flail like Roman had come at him with a weapon.

“Please don’t please,” he was begging, breaths quickly dissolving into frantic wheezes. “I’m sorry I hid I...I- I didn’t mean to lie I just thought...I thought…”

They were both talking in circles, desperately apologizing over each other, Roman holding him tighter as he made his way down the hall, Virgil fighting blindly to break from Roman’s hold.

“Virgil!”

Patton was bounding up the stairs first, hand over his mouth and tears in his eyes when he made it to the top step, Logan hot on his heels.

“Roman, what are you--”

“He’s bleeding, Logan!” Virgil was burying his head in Roman’s chest, even as he fought to escape, refusing to even glance at the others. “I didn’t...I don’t know what to--”

“Bring him into the bathroom,” Logan said, pushing past Patton, first-aid kit in his hand. “Hurry.”

Roman followed, flashing what he hoped was a reassuring smile to Patton, who was trying to comfort Virgil with words that clearly weren’t getting through.

“Sit him on the counter,” Logan instructed, turning on the sink and setting the metal box down on the closed toilet seat. “Try to keep him calm.”

That was easier said than done. As soon as Virgil lifted his head from Roman’s chest his fighting increased tenfold, thrashing and crying and begging as Roman and Patton struggled to keep him still.

What did he think they were trying to do to him?  

“Roman,” Logan said, running a clean towel under the faucet. “I need you to get behind him and hold him still. Patton, keep him from kicking please.”

Patton blinked, frozen in the doorway. “I- I can’t--”

“Patton, please.” Roman had maneuvered himself until he was standing behind the anxious side, arms wrapped around his chest and shoulders as Logan carefully reached for his bloody hands. “Try and get him to focus. Tell him he’s safe.”

The request was enough to snap Patton out of his own panic, the moral side wiping away his gathering tears and rushing towards the others. He held down Virgil’s legs with one hand, cupping his jaw in the other while Logan carefully but firmly took a hold of his wrists.

“Hey, honey,” Patton whispered, voice breaking when Virgil only choked back a terrified sob. “Just focus on me, alright? Look at me, sweetie. It’s Patton. It’s Dad. I’m right here.”

For a second Virgil’s breathing slowed, just a fraction. And then he flinched so hard Roman nearly lost his grip. Glancing over at the sink, he winced when he saw Logan carefully taking a pair of tweezers to the pieces of glass still stuck in Virgil’s skin.

“I’m so sorry, Virgil,” he muttered, barely audible over Virgil’s breathing picking up again. “It will be over soon.”

Thankfully, there wasn’t too much leftover glass in his skin, Logan soon setting aside the tweezers and guiding Virgil’s hands under the water. But still, Roman couldn’t imagine how badly that hurt, or what Virgil thought was happening in his panicked state.

“I need to clean the cuts to keep them from getting infected,” Logan said after a minute, rummaging through the first-aid kit. “Hold him very still, please.”

There was barely a warning, just a slight nod from Logan a few seconds later before he was pressing something against the skin and Virgil jumped, frantically trying to break away, crying out against the pain.

There was a sob that might have been from him or Patton, but there was no way for Roman to know for sure. Not when he was so focused on not letting Virgil go, not until he wasn’t a danger to himself.

“Please,” Virgil choked out, breathing still too quick and unsteady even as Patton counted out breathing exercises. “Pl- please, I’m sorry, I’m sorry--”

“Focus on my voice, honey.”

“I- I’m sorry for hiding, I’m sorry, it...I- I won’t do it again, I promise, I’m sorry just stop , please please, I’m sorry…”

And Roman felt his heart shatter.

Virgil thought this was a punishment. He thought they were hurting him on purpose.

“Logan--”

“I know, Roman,” Logan snapped, a distinct wavering to his voice. “I’m almost finished.”

Logan kept working, cleaning and wiping the blood away with quick but careful movement, growing visibly more tense with each one of Virgil’s pleads.

“You’re ok, honey,” Patton kept saying. “You’re ok. I’m right here, you’ll be ok soon. We’re all here. We’re gonna help you.”

Roman couldn’t seem to find his voice, just held on tight and rested his forehead against Virgil’s trembling shoulder, listening to his racing heart and ragged breathing, hoping the contact would do something to ground him.

It felt like hours- hours of Virgil begging his family not to hurt him, Roman helpless to do anything but watch- before Logan finally finished, wrapping his hands in bandages.

“All done,” Roman said softly. He loosened his hold when Virgil, still trembling, went almost limp in his grasp. “You’re ok, Virge. You did so well, I’m so so sorry.”

Virgil didn’t respond, eyes still wide and terrified, letting out a noise that sounded like a desperate whimper.

Patton took a careful step back, letting his hands fall to his side. “Let’s get you to bed, alright kiddo?”

Virgil still didn’t speak, his apologies having fallen silent since Logan stopped treating his wounds, the anxious side only squeezing his eyes shut and hunching his shoulders, like he was waiting for more pain.

Roman took the hint and gently gathered Virgil into his arms again, blinking away tears when he flinched at the movement.

They took Virgil back to his room, Logan bringing sleeping pills and a glass of water from the medicine cabinet.

It took a few moments to convince Virgil to take them, the anxious side frantically scrambling to get as far away from the others as he could as soon as he was set down on his bed.

But eventually, (mostly because Virgil seemed terrified of what would happen if he didn’t comply) they got him tucked under the blankets, still teary and shivering, refusing to open his eyes.

He wouldn’t let them go anywhere near him, Patton having to step out of the room when he realized Virgil’s breathing only quickened the closer they got to the bed.

It took some time, Logan doing what he could to keep Virgil’s breathing under control, Roman and Patton hovering in the doorway, but the anxious side’s eyes eventually slipped closed, succumbing to his exhaustion.

“I should have checked on him,” Patton said when they were back in the living room, squeezing Roman’s hand so tight he thought it might bruise. “He said- he...I should have known to--”

“It’s not your fault, Pat,” Roman said. “You were just giving him some space. And he’ll be fine when he wakes up, right Logan?”

He didn’t answer, the logical side lowering himself onto the armchair and reaching up to pinch the bridge of his nose.

It wasn’t until his breath caught in his throat, Logan’s hand suddenly pressed against his mouth to muffle any sound, that Roman realized something was wrong.

Patton was up off the couch in an instant, Roman close behind, but Logan quickly shook his head, moving away from outstretched hands.

He took a few heavy breaths, slowly moving his hand away from his mouth, gaze locked on the floor. Roman could see how red and watery his eyes were, even as he blinked rapidly to get rid of the gathering tears.

“Apologies,” Logan said, and Roman’s breath caught at how broken he was trying not to sound. “Please...please disregard…”

“Honey, no.” Patton kneeled in front of the chair, a steadying hand on Logan’s knee, and Roman moved to clutch at his shoulder. “Don’t keep it in. You’re allowed to be upset.”

Logan shook his head again, looking anywhere but Patton. “I am...I am logic. I am not supposed to--”  

“Will you cut the bullshit, Specs?”

Patton gasped. “Roman!”

Roman didn’t bother correcting his language. He squeezed Logan’s shoulder, knowing it helped to calm Virgil down and only able to hope it did the same for the logical side.

“You’re allowed to feel,” he said. “You can feel whatever you want whenever you want. You don’t need to pretend like you don’t.”

Logan shook his head once again, even as a few stray tears escaped and Roman wiped them away with his thumb. “It’s...it isn’t logical for me to be--”

“Emotions don’t have to make sense,” Patton said gently. “And no one’s going to think of you any differently for feeling.”

“You were trying to help Virgil,” Roman added. “You were trying to save him, and he thought you were hurting him. I’d say it’s fairly logical to be upset after that.”

And that was apparently enough to break the dam, a choked sob escaping from Logan, and this time he didn’t try to fight against it.

Roman rubbed his back as he tipped forward, forehead resting against Patton’s chest, the moral side crying along with him as he cupped the back of Logan’s neck.

“It’s ok,” he muttered. “We’ll be ok. It’ll be better in the morning.”

Logan curled further into Patton, clutching at his blue shirt. “I hurt him, I...I had to hurt him.”

“You were helping him,” Roman corrected, shifting positions to wrap his arms around both Logan and Patton. The angle was a bit awkward, but they seemed to relax slightly. “If you waited any longer, it just would have been worse. He’ll understand that when he calms down.”

“What if he doesn't?”

Roman wasn’t used to this. He wasn’t used to being the one to calm Logan down, to talk him through a problem. As relieved as he was that Logan wasn’t forcing himself to stay put together...he wasn’t entirely sure what to do.

“Then we’ll figure it out,” Patton jumped in, glancing up to smile through his tears. “Because we love him. And that’s never gonna change.”

They were silent after that and Roman forced himself to relax under Patton’s optimism, as forced as it clearly was. There was no way to tell what Virgil would think when he woke up.

Not for the first time, Roman thought about grabbing his sword and hunting down each and every person who had ever dared to lay a hand on Virgil with malicious intent, every person who had ever let him feel worthless and unwanted.

But then again, if he were to go that far he’d have to turn his own blade on himself.

Things were different now, though. And while he and Virgil hadn’t always gotten along in the past, Roman had never once considered hurting him. No one deserved the treatment Virgil had been given.

He didn’t understand. He couldn’t comprehend how anyone could see Virgil- sweet, scared, and caring Virgil , and decide they wanted to hurt him. Break him down until he was terrified of making the smallest mistake, convinced no one could ever accept him.

“He didn’t deserve it,” Roman said suddenly, not really meaning to speak out loud. “What they did to him. Virgil didn’t deserve that.”

“Of course he didn’t,” Patton said, with so much raw pain and hurt that Roman was once again forcibly reminded that Patton wasn’t just at the core of happy emotions. “But he’s safe now. Sometimes he’s just...gonna have to be reminded of that.”

And they would remind him. Over and over again if they had to. Like Patton said, they would figure it out.

When Virgil woke up, it was to a foggy head and a throbbing, itching sensation in his hands.

He finally blinked open his eyes when, after trying to scratch at his palms, he found only tightly woven bandages and a new spark of white hot pain up his arm.

Slowly, careful not to put any weight on his hands, he sat up in bed and leaned up against the headboard, suddenly weak and shaky as the whole room momentarily started to spin. He shut his eyes, walking himself through his breathing as he let the memories from yesterday wash over him.

Right. The broken glass, the panic attack, trying to hide and then…

Oh shit. God, what had he done? He couldn’t quite focus, couldn’t really remember where his thoughts had been through the whole ordeal, but it wasn’t hard to put the pieces together as they all came flooding back.

He couldn’t even imagine how much he’d upset them. God, they were probably terrified. They’d just wanted to help and all he’d done was panic and fought, completely losing control just because of one stupid mistake.

A mistake that would have gotten him days of pain before…

But it wasn’t like that anymore. He should know that by now. The others tried so hard to help and he still couldn’t even control himself.

They’d...they’d never seen him panic like that before. He’d definitely done a number on his hands without even realizing, and he’d been too far gone to differentiate between help and punishment.

They’d thought he was getting better. They often told him how much progress he was making, even if Virgil couldn’t see it himself.

Well, obviously...obviously they wouldn’t think that anymore. Jesus, he’d locked himself in a closet covered in blood for who knew how long.

Honestly, what the hell was the point in keeping him? Why would they want him to stick around if all he did was terrify and hurt the people he loved?

Logan had said Virgil helped them. Roman had once said he made them better. Patton promised they all love him.

He was having a difficult time focusing on any that right now, forcing himself out of bed and stumbling to the bathroom.

Virgil took one look at himself in the mirror and quickly turned away, a dangerous wave of self loathing immediately rising in his chest.

He should probably tell someone about that. Assuming they would still be able to look him in the eyes after last night.

Besides, he looked awful. His hair was horribly disheveled and his makeup was fading and smeared all the way down his face, eyes heavy and bloodshot.

His hoodie was neatly folded on the counter, cleaned of any bloodstains, along with a roll of clean bandages and a bottle of disinfectant.

Good. He wasn’t about to force anyone to take care of him again.

He changed his clothes and washed his face, not in any particular rush to leave his room, each movement making him more and more lightheaded, his hands protesting every little thing he did.

He couldn’t even put on his makeup, the pain too intense and hands too unsteady when he tried to grab the brush, nothing to hide the natural bags under his eyes, nothing to hide how pitiful and scared he looked.

It took a good ten minutes to get his bandages off, biting his lip to keep from crying out as he peeled off the paper, grimacing when he saw the far from healed cuts that littered his fingers and palms.

He’d done that to himself without even realizing it. There’d probably been glass stuck in his hands before someone came along and practically forced him to accept help. And he’d fought back like nothing had changed, like he was being punished, brain running on autopilot.

God, he was pathetic. Maybe he should just stay up here forever, isolate himself like he used to. He’d never have to be afraid of disappointing anyone again, and he doubted the thought had never crossed the other’s minds.

It...it wasn’t a bad idea. He hated it, of course. The thought of losing his family hurt worse than rubbing the disinfectant on his wounds.

He loved them. He loved what he had more than anything. But it wasn’t fair. He wasn’t getting better, that much was clear now. They deserved to be happy. And they couldn’t have that with him hanging around.

But he at least owed them an apology first. He wanted to make sure they knew they hadn’t done anything wrong.

So he wrapped up his hands as best he could with fresh bandages, taking a shaky breath before slipping on his hoodie. Pulling up the hood was the best defense mechanism he had right now, and the familiar warmth of the cloth offered a small amount of comfort.

It was almost eleven in the morning by now, which meant the others already had breakfast hours ago.

Virgil did his best to convince himself that they wanted to let him sleep in, and not that they just didn’t want him around.

It was annoyingly difficult to make it downstairs, his head pounding and vision strangely blurred. He almost wished he could just go back to bed and sleep the rest of the day away.

But he was at the bottom step without even fully realizing he’d kept moving, freezing when he glanced up at the living room.

Patton, Roman, and Logan were seated on the couch, the TV turned on low to what was probably an old Disney movie, the three very obviously paying little attention to the screen. Patton and Roman were restless, Logan staring blankly, lost deep in thought.

They were waiting. Waiting for him . And suddenly Virgil really wanted to go back to his room and sleep for the rest of his life.

But that wasn’t fair to them. Nothing he did seemed to be lately. He stepped off the stairs, still using the railing to keep himself balanced, and cleared his throat.

“Uh, m-morning guys.” He hadn’t meant to stutter, and he winced at how broken and cracked his voice was, vaguely remembering screaming the night before.

Immediately, all eyes in the room were on him and Virgil had to fight the urge not to flee and lock himself in a closet again.

“Morning, Kiddo!” Patton moved like he was going to rush over and hug him, quickly stopping himself as Roman put a hand on his shoulder. Right. No one was going to want to hug him right now. “How’d you sleep?”

Virgil shrugged, staring firmly at the ground and trying not to sway. “Fine. No nightmares this time.”

“I’m glad to hear that,” Logan said, standing along with the others. “But you’re likely still exhausted. Why don’t you take a seat?”

Virgil didn’t see a reason to argue, making his way to the empty armchair, knowing there was absolutely no way to hide how unsteady he was on his feet.

“Virgil,” Logan said when he was settled, and Virgil braced himself for the worst. “When was the last time you ate?”

Oh. Right, that would...probably explain his killer headache. “Uh, breakfast. Yesterday.”

Patton made a startled noise, already hurrying towards the kitchen before Virgil could muster up the strength to stop him.

The rest of them were left in heavy silence, Virgil refusing to look up from his lap while he absently picked at his bandages, until Patton returned moments later with a piece of bread with jam, and a cup of iced water.

Ice water in a plastic cup. He tried not to think about the implications of that.

“Thank you,” he muttered, and tried to ignore the fact that everyone was probably staring at him as he shakily picked up the piece of bread.

He was starving, but the anxiety churning in his gut was making him feel like he might throw up, and the last thing he needed to do was make another mess. So he ate his food slowly, sipping idly at the water, wincing at the lingering pain in his throat.

When he finished, he set down the now half empty cut, folded his hands in his lap and waited for the inevitable.

“Alright,” Logan said after a moment, and Virgil tried not to flinch. “I...believe we should talk about what happened last night.”

“Logan,” Roman chided, sounding more scared than upset. “He just woke up.”

“No, it’s fine,” Virgil said. The thought of delaying any longer was somehow even worse, and he didn’t need everyone pretending things were ok when they so clearly weren’t. “We can...we can talk about it now.”

A part of him, the part that had been in complete control yesterday, expected to be yelled at. He’d ruined their night, their lives, and he had the audacity to come down here like he was still welcome.

He pushed that voice away, and risked a glance up when he was met with silence, catching Logan sharing a small frown with Patton and Roman.

The logical side inched closer, taking a breath before speaking again. “How much do you remember?”

“Most of it, I think,” Virgil said. “I know...I know you guys weren’t, uh, trying to hurt me. For breaking that glass. I mean, I didn’t yesterday but...I know that now.”

He hadn’t thought he’d needed to say it, but that was quickly disproven by how quickly the tension in everyone’s shoulders suddenly dropped, a watery smile growing on Patton’s face.

“I must have really freaked out, huh?” Like the loss of his voice wasn’t proof enough, memories of his own screams and his family’s frantic apologies. “I-I’m sorry you guys, I didn’t--”

“You were having a panic attack,” Logan said, calm as ever. “As well as what were likely some very intense flashbacks. There is no need to apologize for that.”

“Right.” He was always told not to apologize, not to blame himself. It didn’t get rid of the suffocating guilt. “I’m still sorry. For scaring you.”

“We were only scared because you were hurt!” Roman exclaimed. “You were practically bleeding out and you didn’t even seem to realize. We’d never seen you that far gone before!”

Virgil flinched, pulling his knees up to his chest, an old familiar defense. He knew Roman didn’t mean it as an accusation, but the guilt kept curling around him, tighter and tighter.

“We just want you to be safe,” Patton said, soft and quiet. “We don’t like seeing you in pain.”

Virgil nodded, not really sure what to say, digging his thumb into the palm of his hand like the sudden flare of agony could be of help. “I know.”

The room fell back into an awkward silence, Virgil warily shifting his gaze between the three of them, then back down at his own feet, wondering if they were waiting for him to say something.

“I think,” Patton spoke up after what felt like an eternity. “We should talk about why this happened.”

Right. Virgil had to tell him that they hadn’t done anything different or wrong, that he was just like this, and it was unpredictable and not worth the effort of trying to fix.

He opened his mouth to say just that, but Logan beat him to it.

“We assumed it was the glasses breaking,” he said. “Are we correct in that assumption?”

Virgil nodded, not trusting his voice at the moment, panic and guilt steadily building up as he half expected to be chided or told off. He’d made so many mistakes since being accepted, something as stupid as breaking a cup shouldn’t send him spiraling like that.

But Logan just gave a small smile in response, apparently pleased with the answer. “Please understand, Virgil, that it is completely reasonable for you to react so strongly.”

Virgil scoffed before he could stop himself, startling when there was suddenly a hand gently rested over his. He refused to look at Logan, clenching his jaw so tight he thought his teeth might break.

“It is,” Patton said from his spot by the couch. “You’d never...broken anything before. The other things you thought you’d be in trouble for were just...silly little things. We get that this might be...a bigger deal to you.”

“It’s…” Virgil paused, swallowing. “It’s still stupid.”

“It was a relapse, Virgil,” Logan corrected gently. “There’s no shame in something like this. Recovery is not linear. It never will be, and that’s quite alright.”

And this...this wasn’ fair. This wasn’t how they were supposed to be reacting. Virgil was horrible. He was terrible and awful and all he did was make everyone stressed and scared and miserable.

He’d screamed and fought when they were trying to help him, panicked over meaningless things too many times to count, and they still...why were they still being so patient with him? Why were they so nice?

Why would they give all this kindness to the person who deserved it the least?

“Perhaps,” Logan continued, when it was clear Virgil wasn’t going to answer. “We should inform you of what we’ve done in an attempt to ensure this doesn’t occur again.”

Virgil’s anxiety skyrocketed at that phrasing, wide eyes going immediately to Roman and Patton, but they just offered reassuring smiles and encouraging nods to Logan.

“The first thing we did was replace all glass cups and dishes with plastic ones,” Logan explained. “However, based on past experience I’ve determined that the sudden noise is also incredibly detrimental to your mental state.”

“I- I guess--”

“It’s only a temporary fix, of course, but we had Roman put a rug in the kitchen underneath the cabinets. It’s aesthetically pleasing- thanks to him, and it should muffle the sound if someone happens to drop something. Hopefully, that will alleviate some stress in the future.”

And Virgil...Virgil kind of wanted to throw up. Because that might be the nicest thing anyone had ever done for him.

He’d fucked up again, showed them that he was unfixable, and they’d responded by remodeling their kitchen.

“Of course it is not a- Virgil? Did I say something wrong?”

Virgil wasn’t sure when he started crying, but suddenly it was all too much, the guilt finally overwhelming. He was so unworthy- undeserving of every kind smile, every gesture, it made him sick.

He shook his head, the only sound he was able to manage being an awful sounding sob that worsened the pain in his throat, but at the moment he didn’t even care.

“What’s wrong?” Roman was asking, clearly distraught (Virgil had upset him again), and suddenly Patton was in front of him, gathering him into his arms.

Virgil knew he should pull away, refuse the comfort and distance himself. But he was selfish, melting into the warm embrace with another shuddering sob, unable to stop himself from holding on.

“Deep breaths, honey,” Patton said, voice barely a whisper. “Can you tell us why you’re upset? Are you just overwhelmed?”

He shook his head, taking a few desperate breaths, struggling to find his words.

“It’s...I...you shouldn’t do this. You shouldn’t have to do this. All of this. With- with the kitchen and the cups and the plates--”

Roman stepped closer, hand on the back of the chair. “Is it not going to help?”

“It will,” Virgil said, because it was perfect and they were perfect and that was the problem. “It will but it...it’s too much, and it’s just a hassle for you guys and I should just--”

It was Logan’s turn to cut him off, sounding painfully worried. “You...do you think we care more about the cups we use than your comfort?”

“It’s not about the cups!”  

He pulled away from Patton as soon as he realized he’d shouted, shame now mingling with the guilt, and Virgil had to forcibly remind himself to breathe.

“Sorry,” he gasped, shrinking back against the chair. “God, I’m sorry I didn’t mean to...I can’t do anything right and I just--”

“Hey.” Patton cupped his cheek, and Virgil quickly fell silent. “We both know that’s not true. Take a deep breath and tell us what’s wrong, ok?”

Virgil nodded, Logan and Roman watching patiently, Logan’s hand still gently cupping his own, keeping him from digging his nails into the bandages again.

After what he’d put them through last night, he needed to just get everything out in the open. The sooner the better.

“I’m not getting better,” he said, continuing over the expected protests. “I’m not. I know recovery isn’t linear or- or whatever, and you all say I’m making progress but...but last night was bad. And who knows if it’ll happen again, and I don’t...I never wanted to put you guys through something like that.”

“Virge,” Roman said. “It’s not your fault.”

Virgil wasn’t really in the mood to debate that. He couldn’t control it, as much as he tried, but it was still his fault the treatment had ever happened. He’d let himself get hurt, over and over again.

He shrugged, wiping at his eyes. “You guys are...you...you’re great. All of you. Nobody’s ever...done all of this for me. But I can’t do anything for you except...except make everything worse.”

“Virgil--”

“And I get it.” He couldn’t seem to stop now, desperate for it all to be over with. “And I know you all wouldn’t...say anything but, that’s ok. You- you’ve all helped me a lot. And I can...I can go back. I know it’s too much.”

Roman frowned, and Virgil felt him go very still. “Go back?”

“Yeah,” Virgil said. “You know, to...to how things used to be. Me up in my room all the time so you guys don’t have to keep dealing with this.”

Roman’s eyes widened, sharing a look with the others that could only be described as one of horror. “Virge, we’re not gonna ask you to leave!”

“I know!” Because that was the whole point, wasn’t it? They would never ask him to do that, no matter how much better things would be without him. They were too good. “I- I know you wouldn’t. That’s why I’m offering.”

It was the right thing to do. It was. They tried so hard, and they deserved so much better. And Virgil...Virgil was better off alone, anyway.

It would be ok. It shouldn’t hurt this bad.

“I love you guys.” It did. It did hurt this bad. “I don’t want to make things harder for you anymore.” It felt like his heart was being ripped from his chest. But this was for the best, this was--

There was a hand grabbing his chin, not hard enough to hurt, moving his head up until he was face to face with Logan. Logan, whose eyes were red and watery.

He’d made Logan upset. He’d made logic cry.

“Virgil,” he said, never averting his gaze. “You’re an idiot.”

“Logan!” Patton gasped, and suddenly there was another hand on Virgil’s shoulder. “He’s not angry, honey. You didn’t do anything.”

“I’m furious,” Logan said, and Virgil’s heart sank until he continued. “I’m furious at whoever left you feeling this way. Believe me when I say I will continue to do whatever I can to undo it. But you, Virgil, are an idiot if you can think for one minute that your trauma is all you have to offer.”

“Lo--”

“We love you, Virgil. All of you. That means your past, your mistakes, your relapses, all of it. Because that includes all of the good.”

“You make us better,” Roman added, sincere and strong. “I mean that every time I say it. You protect us, you bring us closer, and you make us happy.”

“I...I don’t--”

“You do.” Patton was in front of him again, Logan having let go of his jaw. “I know you can’t always see it, but you do. We wouldn’t be complete without you. We weren’t complete until you came along. So don’t you think for a second that we would ever give up on you. You’re worth everything, kiddo.”

Virgil couldn’t really see at this point, vision blurred completely by the neverending trail of tears, but right now he didn’t really care. The guilt was fading for the moment, that ever present voice in the back of his head finally being silenced.

“What we’re trying to say,” Logan added, not bothering to wipe away his own tears. “Is that we have no desire to ask you to leave. And at this point, I doubt we’d let you if you tried.”

Roman’s smile brightened, and Virgil felt himself blush when the prince winked at him. “Yes, we’ve grown rather fond of you, Doctor Gloom.”

Virgil sobbed again at the nickname, but he was smiling through his tears now, blindly reaching for all of them. And they were there, without even needing to be asked, one last silent reassurance that they meant what they said, that he didn’t need to go anywhere.

“Come on,” Patton said, pulling away after what might have been hours. “Let’s get you some real food. And I’ll show you the new cups- Logan let us make them pretty colors!”

For just a second the voice was back, telling him it was too good to be true, that he should duck out now and never leave his room again.

He didn’t even give it a second thought, brushing the dark thoughts aside and allowing himself to be dragged to his feet, following his family into the kitchen.

For the moment, even if it wouldn’t last, he let himself relax.

[miguel-manbemel]

Roman’s Brightest Idea

It’s been ages since I wrote a story. But today I had an idea for a story full of angst, and then while I was writing it, I couldn’t help filling it with platonic logince, so here you have this short story and I hope you enjoy it.

INDEX POST

Roman was writing in his room, with his finest golden fountain pen. It had all started, as usual, from a little spark, but Roman saw from the beginning that this spark had potential and he decided to develop it into an idea for a story, and finally he stamped his seal on the last page, then put all the papers in a red velvet folder.

“I did it! This time I did it! This is the best work I’ve ever made in my life! This is my brightest creation!”

Roman started bopping and giggling, like he always did when he finished a work he was proud of, which tended to be the majority of works he finished. It was like, for a minute or so, he returned to his five year old self, who reacted the same way when he finished his first ever fairy tale.

“I can’t wait to show it to Thomas! He’s gonna love it!”

And so, Roman grabbed the red folder and sank out to the outer world, looking for Thomas. He found him in the bathroom, having a shower. It was noon and he had just woken up.

“Hi, Thomas!” Roman yelled

“Jeez!” Thomas screamed, startled “Oh, goodness gracious, Roman, don’t do that, you scared the heck out of me!”

“I’m sorry, I couldn’t help myself, I’m overexcited!”

“Oh, is that so?” Thomas said while he turned the shower off, then grabbed a towel and got out.

“Yes, because, you see, I’ve got great news, I’ve got a new idea for a story that you…”

“Yes, that’s great and all, but could you talk to me about that later? It’s getting late and I’m still naked, and I still haven’t got my breakfast, then I gotta go to the office fast, I’ve got a meeting today.”

“But this story…” Roman said, his smile had left his face.

“Later, Roman, I promise. I’ve got a long day ahead of me, please try to cooperate with me, okay?”

With that, Thomas put his bathrobe on and headed to the bedroom to get dressed. Roman was left behind in the bathroom.

“Okay, Thomas, if you’re busy I won’t bother you now… I’ll try later.”

Roman sank down and returned to his room. He looked at the red velvet folder.

“Perhaps it’s not that good?” Roman pondered. “Maybe I need to give it some more time before I bother Thomas? He seemed pretty busy… But no, Roman, you gotta trust yourself a little bit. It was a real masterpiece and when Thomas sees it, he’ll agree too!”

Roman waited a few hours.

“I’m tired of waiting. Perhaps Thomas has finished his meeting already. Yep, I think it’s the time to show him my work. Let’s go.”

Roman sank down and he raised up… standing in the middle of the table right on Thomas’ meeting. Nobody seemed to see him except Thomas, who showed a face of horror.

“Whoops…” Roman said. “I guess it wasn’t over yet…”

“Are you okay, Thomas?” one of his team members said “You look concerned.”

“I… I have a little pain on my tummy, that’s all. I didn’t want to say anything to let him finish his exposition, but truth is I could use a little recess to use the bathroom, if it’s okay with you.”

“No, it’s totally fine, I think we all need a break, this meeting has gotten longer than expected.”

“Then it will be 15 minutes. See ya later guys.”

All the meeting members went out of the room.

“I’m sorry, Thomas, I thought…”

“Don’t ever do that again, Roman!” Thomas said with a voice of anger

“But I’ve been waiting all day and I wanted to show you this idea. I warrant you that it’s the best work you could…”

“It’s not the time for that, Roman! You can’t just pop up whenever you want without permission!”

“But this is…”

“Nothing warrants you the right to do that, Roman! If you continue like this, I’m gonna start to think that you’re not so different from Remus after all!”

“Wha…?” Roman face went ajar, his eyes immediately filled with tears.

“Now, go away, and don’t bother me for the rest of the day until I tell you you can come, is that clear? I wanna hear it from you.”

“It’s… it’s clear, Thomas…” a little sob interrupted the sentence but he managed to pronounce it with all the dignity he had left in him. “I won’t bother you anymore.”

“Good, now go. I have to go to the bathroom so that the others don’t suspect. Look what you’ve made me do, now the meeting’s gonna last forever. Go now!”

Roman sank down, then returned to his room. Now the tears were falling down his cheeks. He looked at the red velvet folder. He opened it in an explosion of anger, grabbed the pages and tore them to pieces while he yelled like a wounded beast, then he threw the pieces of paper to the floor and started crying on the table, sobbing so loudly that he caught Logan’s attention from his own room. Logan was repelled by feelings of that kind but still, he couldn’t help but worry about his friend and decided to check on him.

“Roman? What’s wrong, are you okay?”

“What… what do you want?” Roman said mid sobbing “Don’t you see it’s not the moment to bother me, Teach? Leave me alone!”

“I would, Roman, but logic tells me that if I did, that only would be bad for you. I may not be an expert of feelings, and I don’t know a lot of things in that field, but I know that you are my friend. You know you can count on me for anything you want, and I’d be glad to help you if I can.”

Roman looked at Logan, his eyes all red and his makeup all ruined. His face showed then a grimace of hurt as he opened his arms, inviting him to hold him in a hug. Logan hesitated for a second as he didn’t like that sort of affection, but Roman’s devastated face made him realize Roman needed it, so he just went next to Roman and held him tight. Logan could feel Roman’s tears soaking his shirt and the humid warmth of Roman’s breath after each sob muffled on his chest right on his necktie. It was an unpleasant sensation for him, more for the emotional charge that it had that communicated to him how broken Roman was, something he didn’t like to see at all, something that would have hurt him if, he thought, he had feelings like the others. He didn’t know why he had the need to do so, but Logan started petting Roman’s hair while Roman went on crying a river on him.

After a few minutes like this, Roman’s crying slowly started weakening and he finally calmed down. Still, he stood hugged to Roman for a few minutes more in silence, Logan still petting his hair. It was finally Logan who broke the silence.

“Are you okay now, Roman?”

Roman just nodded in silence, still reluctant to let go off Logan.

“Take all the time you need, then tell me what happened.”

Roman still stood hugged to Logan for five minutes. Then he finally let go.

“Thank you, Logan… oh, I’m so sorry, your shirt and necktie are soaking wet.”

“That’s not important, but it tells me that you have lost a lot of hydration, so here…” Logan invoked a bottle of water and gave it to Roman “drink some water, you need it and it will make you feel better.”

Roman started drinking. He really was thirsty as he finished the whole 24 ounces of water in no time.

“Want some more?”

“No, it’s fine. Thank you, Logan.”

“Now tell me calmly and slowly everything that happened, Roman.”

Roman proceeded to tell him how the day was for him. Logan listened to the whole story without interrupting him, focusing all his attention on Roman.

“...and then you arrived” said Roman, finishing the story.

“I see…” Logan said pensively “I can understand Thomas’ reaction to some extent, but I’m sure he didn’t mean to be so nasty to you, Roman. I’d say that you startled him so bad he acted out of instinct, in fear. It was just bad luck and bad timing, that’s all.

“I’m not so sure… Thomas hates me, especially after my appearance in the meeting.”

“I strongly disagree, I don’t think Thomas hates you, Roman. I’m sure under other circumstances, he would have loved to see your story. Thomas has always loved those worlds of fiction you invented for him. Even if I never fully understood them, I knew they made him happy and that was enough for me to approve your labor. You just caught him busy and stressed out, that’s all. And we all say things when we’re angry we regret later.”

“Have you ever been angry in your life, Logan? I thought…”

“Who hasn’t been angry at some point in his life, Roman? No matter if it’s for something that happened to us or something that happened to others or in the world, everyone experiences anger from time to time, it’s as natural as breathing. But anger always calms down and allows us to judge things more calmly. I’m sure Thomas will have that time to ponder what happened and he’ll come to you.”

“Do you think so?” Roman said, then he noticed the floor all full of pieces of papers “Oh, look at what I’ve done… my story idea is all ruined. Now Thomas will never see it…”

“Can’t you rewrite it all again?”

“No, I don’t think so. Once I put an idea into paper, it’s like waking up from a dream, I forget most of it. I could try to rebuild it from the pieces, but it would never be the same.”

“I can help you pick up the papers and maybe from the little pieces…”

“I don’t know, it would take forever and Thomas cannot stay that long without a story idea.”

Thomas rises up in Roman’s room.

“There you are, Roman!” Thomas said.

“Thomas? What… what are you doing here?”

“I’m so sorry, Roman. I couldn’t stop thinking about how I treated you all day during and after the meeting. I hope you can forgive me.”

“It’s okay, Thomas. It was my fault for appearing so suddenly. I thought you had finished the meeting but I was wrong. I apologize too.”

“Well, now I’m totally free for you and I can see that bright creation of yours, if you still want me to.”

“If I still want you to? Nothing would have made me happier, Thomas. Unfortunately, it’s too late…”

“Why, where is it?”

“You’re standing over it.”

Thomas looked at his feet, saw all the pieces of paper and understood.

“Oh, Roman, I’m so sorry… But maybe we can fix it.”

“We could try, but it would take forever and it would never look the same as it was when I first created it. I don’t know if it’s worth the time to try.”

“Yes, it probably would never look the same… but it could look even better than before. Let’s pick up the pieces and get everything we can from them. You are Creativity, you’re not gonna get scared by a little hard work, do you?”

“Of course I won’t. I’ll do my best to reconstruct the idea if you want me to, Thomas.”

“And we’ll recruit the help from everyone, that way we’ll finish it faster, and maybe everyone could give their contributions. It can be a fun task for the rest of the day, okay?”

“Okay, Thomas. I’ll do my best.”

Thomas gave Roman a short but very tight hug that pleased Roman, then called the others. It took a few hours, but everyone together managed to pick up all the pieces, reorder everything they could and, filling the gaps with everyone’s ideas, they managed to create a story that would eventually become one of Thomas’ most viewed and acclaimed videos ever, something Roman would always be proud of, especially because he had the chance to create it with the help of all his friends and that made that his most cherished creation of all.

[motherjoel]

Leading Lady (Spencer Reid x Reader)

chapter one- movie pirate

wc: 1.2k

summary: you’re a struggling actor in New York at risk of being the next victim in a string of local murders

a/n: this is a story thats on my AO3 that I decided to post on tumblr as well! i hope you guys like it

chapter index: chapter 2

“Deep breaths, Y/N. Once you’re up there, it’ll be a piece of cake! You just, yaknow, have to get up there,” you say to yourself, in hopes of convincing yourself to calm down. Being on stage was your favorite place to be, but for some reason it took all of your strength to actually walk onto the stage, even though it was just a rehearsal. Your passion outweighed the stage fright though, and as you heard your cue you got into character and made your way onto the stage. 

-

“It is the future that they bring when tomorrow comes… Tomorrow comes!” you sang, tears threatening to roll down your face. It was still only rehearsal but for some reason the last words of Les Mis brought you to tears every time. You finally landed your dream role of Eponine, although it was just a local community theater, the cast was very talented and you were honored to stand with them.

“Great rehearsal everyone. I know it's been a long day so I wont keep you. Go home, rest your voices, stay hydrated and be ready for tech rehearsal next week!” your director said. The rest of the cast had rushed off the stage, running off to their night shifts and chicken flavored ramen. Most of the cast were young and struggling to make it in show biz, much like you, who had yet to move from your position on the stage, still soaking in the moment. You snapped out of it, though- you had an early shift the next day and needed your sleep. Jumping off the stage, you gathered your things from a chair in the audience and headed out of the theatre. 

Your walk home was fairly short. Living in New York had its perks, especially the walkability. Never mind the polluted air and real estate prices- you just felt like you belonged here in Manhattan. You normally felt safe walking home at night, with the streets usually occupied, but you couldn't shake the feeling that someone was watching you. Picking up your pace, you made it to your apartment building and ran up the 5 stories.

“Yo, how was your rehearsal?” asked your next door neighbor and friend Brooke as you unlocked your door. She, like you, was a struggling artist- Brooke was always working on a novel, hoping to be the next big author. 

“It was fine. I'm starved, though. Wanna order a pizza?” you asked, hoping she'd come inside with you to hang out. You were still unsettled from earlier, couldn't shake the feeling of being watched and you didn't want to be alone.

“At 10:30 PM?” she questioned, to which you nodded. “Ugh I wish I could hang, I have to get to bed. I’m flying home tomorrow morning and I gotta leave the house at like 4 AM. Why don’t you ask Maaaaaatt to hang out…?” she suggested, drawing out the “a” in matt to tease you. Matt played Marius in your show and the two of you have a bit of a “showmance” going on. It wasn’t really a love connection but at least he was someone to pass the time. 

“Eh, maybe. It is actually kinda late and I gotta be at the store pretty early tomorrow. Have fun on your flight!” you said, stepping inside your apartment. Shutting and locking the door, you threw your keys and bag onto the couch and strode into the kitchen. Your apartment was very small- barely enough room for 2 people. You had moved in with your now ex-boyfriend, Logan, a few months ago. He has since moved out and for some reason, the small apartment always felt empty. 

Changing into your PJs and forgoing a shower, you climbed into bed and tried to fall asleep as soon as possible. You had to work at 8 and needed sleep. You drifted off with thoughts of France in 1815, not noticing the shadows on the fire escape outside your bedroom window.

-

BEEP BEEP BEEP

“Ughhhhh,” you sighed, not a morning person. It was 7:15 but it felt like the middle of the night. Rolling out of bed, you put on a denim skirt with tights, a black turtleneck and a pair of mary jane doc martens. This was your usual style, a staple piece being a turtleneck, sometimes you experimented with a colorful sweater but it was nice to have a style that was easy to throw on every morning. You heated up a frozen breakfast burrito while you put on some makeup, planning on grabbing some coffee at work. As you walked to grab your purse from your bed, you noticed the window in your room was slightly ajar. Weird for the middle of October, but you had work in 20 minutes and didn’t have time to dwell. You shut and locked the window, hurrying out the front door.

-

It was a short walk to your workplace- a quaint little bookstore/coffee shop store that you had loved ever since you walked in a few short months ago. After becoming a regular, you had noticed a “help wanted” sign in the window and jumped at the perfect opportunity to work your dream job. It was pretty chill and you got free coffee every shift which was a definite bonus. Today, however, was the opposite of chill. You knew this to be true when two serious looking men walked in with purpose- not the meandering behavior of your usual customers. You were behind the counter, just having finished ringing someone up, when the two walked over to you.

“Y/N Y/L/N?” the muscular one asked. You were shocked, to say the least, and you guessed it was pretty evident on your face when the man introduced himself.

“I’m agent Morgan, this is Dr. Reid, we’re with the FBI,” he said, flashing you a badge. “Could we speak with you?” 

You were caught off guard, once again. “FBI? The worst thing I’ve ever done is go on 123movies to watch High School Musical!” you said, noticing a smirk on the muscular one's face- the skinnier one in the sweater looked puzzled by you. 

“No miss, we’re not here about that,” he chuckled. 

“We’re here because we believe you could be the next victim in a string of murders,” said the sweatered one, quite bluntly. The man you now knew as Agent Morgan nudged him and he put his head down, blushing. Your mouth was agape.

“Sorry for my partner here, he isn’t the best with bedside manners. But, it's true. It’s possible that you’re in a lot of danger. Would you come with us?” he asked. You checked your watch, seeing that your shift was due to end in 10 minutes anyway. 

“Sure, I guess. Lemme just grab my things from the back,” you told them. As you headed to the back you heard the two bickering, but you were too in shock from the news you just received to listen in. After gathering your purse and jacket, you were led out the door by the two men and into a large black SUV.

[ameliidarling]

Alone

Warnings: Angst, Hurt/Comfort, and a bit of a Happy Ending. Contains Descriptions of Loneliness, Torture, and Arson

Notes: This is my first work so please be nice <3 I'm open to criticism as long as it's polite :)

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“Hoowee, Logan~ Now you’re speaking my language~ But who do you really want to scream that at?”

Remus rose up into the Dark Sides’ Mindscape. The smirk on his face slowly fell as he looked at the messy room around him. It looked like a tornado had swept through the living room.

The glass coffee table was shattered and lay in a pile on the floor. The couch cushions were ripped apart and the sides were singed and charred black. The curtains were torn to shreds and were in a crumpled pile on the floor.

In the kitchen, Remus could hear the sounds of gushing water.

He walked into the kitchen, stepping over a broken picture frame and a half-burned photo of the Dark Sides, shattered glass crunching beneath his black boots with each step. He stepped in to see that he had left the faucet on. Oops.

He looked around.

The kitchen was almost as bad as the living room. The shattered remains of coffee mugs and porcelain plates and bowls covered the tiled floor. In front of the refrigerator lay a pile of torn, yellow post-its that Dece--... Janus always left on the fridge door with reminders for the others to hydrate, eat, and take breaks.

Remus glared at them with resentment, almost hoping that they would spontaneously combust if he stared long enough. And they did.

The pieces erupted into flames right before Remus’s eyes. The fire licked at the front of the fridge, blackening the grey metallic surface. He watched with a melancholic expression as the fire slowly died down and the post-its were reduced to a pile of ashes. Remus took a slow step towards the charred remains and raised his foot over the pile of ashes before bringing it down just as the last orange embers faded away. He crushed it beneath his boot, as if trying to stomp it out of existence.

He stepped away from the fridge and huffed in anger.

He still wasn’t satisfied.

He continued to stare at the ashes for a few seconds, in silence, before turning around towards the sink.

If Thomas’s sink was gross, then Remus’s was probably downright horrifying to even look at. It was filled to the brim with murky dishwater, scattered pieces of leftover food-- if you could even call it that-- drifted along the surface, a few bubbles coming up from the drain.

It smelled like the rotten insides of a dead fish.

Remus was tempted to slurp it all up with a straw, or eat it like soup. But he actually stopped himself from it this time. He wasn’t in the mood for dishwater soup. That was his happy food. He was most definitely not happy at the moment. Remus felt like how you feel when you burn popcorn.

Annoyed.

Frustrated.

And… A little bit sad.

He felt like committing arson. Watch a building burn down right before him, sirens blaring in the distance accompanied by a beautiful display of blue and red flashing lights against his surroundings.

He wanted to kidnap someone and chain them up in his makeshift medieval dungeon. Carve his name into their skin and memorize the sounds of their screams as he dug the knife into their skin and blood dripped down to the dirty, concrete floor. He could watch as the life slowly left their eyes and their body going limp, their final breath escaping them in a small puff of fog in the cold air of the dungeon.

He just needed to do something, anything to fill the deafening silence of his loneliness.

A distraction.

Remus didn’t usually mind being alone, but that’s because he was never actually alone, alone. There was always someone, or something, somewhere in the background that didn’t make being by himself so bad.

When he was “alone” in the Imagination, it was never quiet. There was always the distant sound of creatures rustling through the bushes or the tall grass. There was the sound of gushing water from the long river of an unnamed black liquid a little ways away from the forest path, and Remus was a little bit proud of that creation. When he was in the Imagination he was never actually alone. There was always some eldritch horror hiding in the eternal darkness, watching him. And the sound of wind brushing against his face and back kept him distracted from the eerie silence.

When Remus was “alone” in the Dark Sides’ living room, there was often the faint sound of emo pop songs coming from Virgil’s room. Then, when he left, there was always some light jazz playing in the background. Remus suspected that Janus had something to do with it. As if he too needed something to fill the empty, and silent void that Virgil’s absence had left. Of course, Janus would deny hearing it, but Remus spent his whole life living with the embodiment of deceit, and he could tell when Janus was lying. Still, he didn’t ask anymore,nor did he thank him for it.

Now that Janus was gone, there was no more jazz music. No more reminders of self-care written on yellow sticky-notes stuck to the fridge door. No more late-night scheming. No more clear kitchen sinks and freshly washed dishes. Nothing.

Remus was always alone before, but he’s never felt lonely.

He hated it more than anything in the world. More than he hated being ignored. More than he hated Virgil for leaving. More than he hated soap.

God, he hated soap.

He despised it with every fiber of his being. But he couldn’t do anything about it. All he could do was look around at the broken dishes, dirty walls, and flooded sink, and hope that the floor beneath him would open and swallow him whole.

Remus walked back into the living room and sat down in front of the couch. He brought his knees up closer to his chest and wrapped his arms around them. He rested his head on his knees just as his eyes began to burn with tears.

‘Maybe if I sit here long enough, without moving, I’ll turn into stone.’ Remus thought to himself.

It was a nice dream. Maybe Remus could even cause someone to stub their toe, or trip and break their neck. Remus chuckled a little at the thought of someone tripping over his curled up statue, and then breaking their neck and their tongue would hang out of their mouths as their body lay motionless on the floor.

Remus wiped a few tears from his cheeks and threw his head back against the sofa.

Maybe Remus could get used to the silence.

Maybe, if he tried hard enough, he could enjoy being alone. Being free.

‘Yeah… I could get used to this…’ he thought.

Maybe, he could stop feeling so lonely, all on his own.

[sher-soc-the-famder]

i rly need some platonic fluff too... maybe Thomas and Logan? those sweet sweet platonic cuddles. maybe one is sick?

Optimal Recovery

Summary: Logically, taking care of yourself is the best and most efficient way to feel better.

Word Count: 1833

Warnings: N/A, just some fluffy fluff here

Notes: This was fun :D I really do need to write more with character Thomas

Read on AO3

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The screen in front of Thomas wavered, the black lines of text bleeding into each other. He ran his hand over his eyes. The glare of the screen drilled into his head, but he was already behind on his work. God, if he wasn't always behind on his work. He took a deep breath and felt his breath catch. Coughs shuddered through his body until he curled in on himself, clutching at his chest. 

He took a deep breath, pulling his shaking hand away from himself. He reached for the keyboard of his laptop again. Only to yank his hand away as it clicked shut. Thomas followed the arm that closed it up to meet Logan's eyes. Logan raised an eyebrow at him.

"As grateful as I am that you are focusing on your work," Logan said steadily, "I believe that now is not the correct time for that diligence."

"But-"

Logan reached up from the laptop and laid a hand across Thomas' forehead. Thomas leaned into the cool touch gratefully, only peripherally aware of the way that Logan sighed. He slumped forwards even more, pressed up against Logan's steady presence.

"You are running a temperature," Logan said. Thomas tried not to whine as Logan pulled his hand away. He didn't think that he succeeded. Logan frowned briefly; Thomas blinked wondering if he imagined the expression before Logan started to poke at his shoulder. "Combined with your cough, headache and dizziness, the most likely diagnosis for your condition is a cold. Ample bed rest and hydration should lead to a swift recovery."

"But I don't wanna move," Thomas whined.

Logan sighed again. He poked at Thomas' shoulder again until he leaned back deeper into the chair that he sat on. Thomas blinked at him slowly, trying to fight through the fog that covered his brain. Thinking about it, that might be why he was struggling so much to make progress on his script. 

"There will be time to catch up on your work later," Logan said, sweeping Thomas' laptop away, "I shall make sure of it. Our current focus should be regaining your health. Preferably before Virgil decides that it means that you're dying. Again."

"I mean, I could be-"

Logan pointed a finger at him.

"Don't. Just- don't."

Thomas grinned at him. He really should spend more time with Logan. He needed more teasing if that was his reaction to a joke. Thomas had four brothers and six figments of his imagination; he totally knew how family like this worked.

"Stay there," Logan said, and Thomas lurched forward in panic anyways when Logan stepped away. The world spun around him and only the cool hand on his shoulder kept him from falling out of his chair completely. His breath caught, and another round of coughs left his entire body shaking. Logan pushed him gently back into the chair once more with a frown. 

“I am confident that you are aware of the definition of stay, so I am confused as to why you act like you don’t,” Logan muttered almost more to himself than to Thomas.

"Don't go," Thomas said more than asked, reaching for Logan's shirt with his shaking fingers. He never liked being alone in the first place; Virgil and Patton both could attest to that. Seeing Logan turn his back and panicking wasn't a logical response but well. Thomas thought he could be forgiven for having one irrational thought while sick.

Logan eyed him for a long moment. Thomas tightened his grip on Logan's polo. For a wild moment, Thomas worried that Logan would simply disappear as his Sides could, and then Thomas would be left alone to deal with his cold. He could. For all his joking about it, he was an adult who could deal with things like this. He just preferred not to.

Logan gripped his hand gently and pulled it free.

"I won't be long," Logan said, his voice as soft as when he tried to comfort Patton or Virgil or even Roman. Thomas wondered why they didn't hear that tone more often. "I am simply going to collect the supplies that you will need and I'll be right back." He looked Thomas straight (gay) in the eyes. "I promise."

Thomas let his hand drop and watched as Logan turned to rifle through his kitchen cabinets. At least the kitchen was in view of his sitting space. He could still watch Logan collect a glass of water and what looked like saltines as he set them down on the counter. Logan leaving to gather things from upstairs however-

Thomas finally closed his eyes, even as the black spots swan underneath them. It was better than watching Logan get swallowed up by the stairs. With his own heart racing, from the cold or from his anxiety, Thomas spent a brief moment to hope that Virgil was holding up alright.

He focused in the quiet, steady footsteps making their way around his apartment. He tried to time his breathing to the movements, even if Logan did stop every once and awhile. Thomas let himself drift, not quite asleep, but not quite awake either. He wrapped his arms around himself, trying not to shiver. From the cold or the anxiety, it didn’t matter.

He jumped at a hand on his shoulder.

"Thomas." Thomas blinked at Logan slowly. He glanced around, taking in the light blanket that Logan must have grabbed from the bedroom, along with a stack of books and movies. He looked down and sighed at what Logan held in his hands. Thomas made a face at the medicine but took it gratefully anyways.

He swallowed the pills first, and took the glass of water when Logan handed it to him. He drank it slowly, under Logan’s watchful eyes. Thomas almost wanted to point out that Logan didn’t need to hover that close but refrained. He took the liquid cough syrup less gratefully and felt his face scrunch up at the taste. Logan watched him down it all sharply, nodding to himself as he swept it all away and set it down on the kitchen counter.

"I will set an alarm on your phone for a reminder when you need the next dose." Logan's eyes already scanned the room for the intended device. "I would encourage you to rest in the meantime. I have picked out a selection of media that you might enjoy without having to get up. There is the choice of netflix as well, though you will want to make sure that you keep a steady amount of water intake as well."

Thomas jumped in while Logan took a small pause to breath.

"Well, you'll be here to make sure that I do, right?"

Logan blinked, caught off guard. Thomas wished that he was better at reading his Sides. He knew they weren't always the best to each other, heck he wasn't the best to them at times. He wanted to work on that. Thomas patted at the spot next to him on the couch.

He could see Logan hesitate, foot shifting forward and a quiet twitch of his cheek.

"I don't think you can catch it from me," Thomas reasoned, trying to coax Logan closer. "Plus isn't there something about how contact with others releases good hormones and stuff to help people recover faster?"

“There have been studies proving that physical touch can boost immune systems and release the hormone known as oxytocin which helps promote positive thinking, optimism, and trust," Logan said. He paused and adjusted his tie. "So you are correct, in a sense. Are-" he cleared his throat. "Are you sure?"

Thomas fought not to roll his eyes. He reached out as soon as Logan got close enough and pulled him onto the couch. Thomas shuffled around for a bit, until he had curled up in the blanket that Logan had given him and pressed up against Logan's side. He ignored the stiff way that Logan held himself.

"So," he said cheerfully, "I'm thinking of a documentary."

"The chances that you retain any information from a documentary at this point in time is rather low," Logan said, slowly starting to relax. Thomas let himself melt into Logan, relishing in the warmth even if he knew logically he was more overheated than under.

"Yeah, but it would be fun," Thomas didn't shrug, but only because that would upset the careful balance that Logan gave off. Also, he could lose his blanket. "Plus, we'd get to watch it again later to actually learn things from it."

"In that case," Logan adjusted his glasses, "Disney plus is connected to National Geographic and has a wide selection of nature documentaries that we could peruse."

Thomas beamed up at him and handed him the remote. 

"I'm supposed to be hydrating," Thomas told him, "and I only have one hand free so." He waved the one hand outside of his blanket burrito to emphasize his point and ignored the small huff of breath that came from Logan. He pointedly grabbed his glass to further his point as Logan scrolled through their options.

He carefully set the glass back down and let his body relax onto the couch and adjusted to find the most comfortable position against Logan. He didn’t want to disturb Logan too much, so despite his initial feelings of simply climbing into his logical Side’s lap, Thomas wiggled down to his shoulder pressed into Logan’s side. He lay his head against Logan’s chest and grinned to himself.

He could be feeling better, but at least this way he'd get something out of it. Thomas glanced up at the intense way that Logan stared at the television, most likely trying to pick the "best" option that could hold the most correct information while being something useful that they could use on top of whatever logical thoughts that went through his head. Logan didn’t even seem to have noticed the change in positions. Thomas felt his grin widen as he turned to the television.

Yeah, this way he got something out of it, and he wasn't even the only person too.

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Logan startled as Thomas' phone alarm went off. He froze as the weight against his side shifted. He reached out and tapped the dismiss button. Thomas shifted again, murmuring slightly and settling into a more comfortable position against him. 

Logan didn't know when they had started to cuddle on the couch but-

He glanced at the documentary still playing on the television and back to Thomas' sleeping form. He reached out and tucked the blanket so that it sat more securely around Thomas' shoulder, adjusted Thomas' neck so that he wouldn't cramp and then gave him an awkward pat on the head. Logan turned his focus back to the documentary and made a mental note to make sure Thomas took his medicine when he woke up.

He turned the volume down on the documentary and smiled to himself.

Rest was optimal for recovery after all.

[purplerose244]

Irrational - Chapter 6: Okay

BACK WITH ANOTHER ONE!! 💙💙💙

Here’s the sixth chapter for the @spacecampweek, for the prompt “You’re okay”, the one that makes all Space Campers’ heart beat faster! 🥰🥰 I had fun on this one, lots of overthinking Seamus while Krel tries to be sincere 😙

Enjoy! 💕💕

Summary:  "I need to talk to you" With a message like this how could someone blame Seamus for being worried out of his mind? Considering how little he was proud of his past and how much it felt like he was never going to make up for it, it felt like the natural conclusion of the upcoming discussion was going to be a breakup. ... he and Krel were not a couple though?

Read it on the AO3

Tarron: Hello Johnson

Tarron: Are you free now, by any chance?

Tarron: I require your presence

Tarron: …

Tarron: I need to talk to you

So, Seamus was panicking. Those few little messages in rigorous grammar had been sent more than an hour ago, and he had been unable to think about anything else ever since. Today’s impossible amount of homework? Forgotten. Logan chatting to him about the latest Fist to Face game? Never heard of it. The fact that his dad had forgotten his lunch in the fridge and tonight he was going to be absolutely unsufferable to the entire world him included? Didn’t even phase him.

All he had allowed himself to do was lay down onto his bed, stare at his ceiling covered in those familiar fluorescent stars and contemplate the universe. Or his life. Or how he was going to deal with it from now on if Krel was going to break up with him.

“… wait a second. Hey, wait a second!” Suddenly he got up, sitting onto his mattress with crossed legs. “He can’t break up with me! We’re not even together!” He stood up, bouncing lightly, the biggest smile over his face. “Krel won’t break up with me because we’re not a couple! That’s it! What a relief! Eheh… yeah, that’s not really good news, but still.” He sighed, scratching the back of his head. “At least whatever this is it’s not for that… is it?” He widened his eyes. “Can he break up with me as a friend? Is that a thing?!” He slowly let himself fall down onto his seat again, gaping helplessly. “Oh gosh, what is going on anymore, how do you do relationships again??” He was so happy Steve wasn’t there witnessing his breaking down and teasing the heck out of him.

His eyes fell onto his phone, left untouched over the nightstand. There was only way to find this out, no matter how terrifying it was. Seamus took a deep breath and picked it up.

Me: Sounds serious

Me: Alright man, be there in ten

Tarron: Thank you

This guy was even taking the time to thank him. Him, the arrogant Krel Tarron, the one who had always taken every chance at showing teachers how to do their jobs, so he didn’t have to thank them for accidentally teaching him. Something was definitely off, and Seamus wasn’t completely sure he was looking forward to finding out.

That being said, he had been called to Krel’s house. By Krel. He would have not been able to stop himself from going… and his feet had already left his house for the Tarron’s residence.

Yeah, he was weak. And terrified, but he could deal with one feeling at the time.

During the entire trip his unfortunately very well-trained mind was systematically replaying his life ever since he had first met Krel, wondering what exactly the matter at hand was and if it involved something he had done – his pessimism said yes, his optimism said pessimism had a point. It turned out there was almost too much material supporting that theory into his head, between all those racist remarks from the very beginning, the numerous deadly glares because of his A+s, calling him a cheater, cheering Steve from that time he was about to punch him saying to “knock him back to wherever he came from” – if only time travel was real and he could go slap himself. Sure, after the Math Duel they had started to get along. Sure, he had made lots of effort to improve himself in order to show Krel that he was thankful for what he did. Sure, he had joined their group of friends several times at this point even engaging in a few conversations with Pepperjack – what in the world this Earth Invaders was the coolest thing ever. It was all shaded under the massive jerk he had been as a first impression though, something he was never going to be able to shake away.

When the retro style house appeared around the corner, Seamus was struck by the feeling that something was meant to happen in there, and he was in no way mentally prepared. All he was hoping for was that he could still be friends with the Cantaloupian, in order to at least pretend to dream that one day he might grow a pair and ask him out. Yet his brain was being mean. It only replayed Krel’s scowl into his mind when the Math Duel had been proposed, again and again.

Before he knew it or wanted it, he was in front of the door, sweating bullets. He didn’t want to, maybe he was still in time to back down and run at the speed of light, pretending that he had fallen asleep or that his dad had demolished his house because of an A-… which wasn’t unlikely.

Too late, force of habit had him press the doorbell. It ringed inside of his brain as well, making him realize that this was it. There was no coming back.

It had been nice having a genius as a friend.

“… hello Johnson.” A single brown eye peaked from the barely opened door, like he was checking for intruders. Krel looked so distressed, his hair was a little messy as well. “Thank you for coming with such a short notice, I know it must’ve been quite bothersome for you, especially when your father is involved.” It was wrong, so wrong, Krel wasn’t supposed to feel this unsure and diffident. He was supposed to feel confident, in control, happy. “Really… thank you.” A second thank you. No, this wasn’t only worrying anymore, this was straight up a problem. Something the blonde was apparently a part of, which didn’t help his current anxiety.

“Uhm, no worries.” Seamus was let in. It was dead quite inside, grandpa Tarron was definitely somewhere else, or he would have heard him from outside – same with Aja… and Mrs. Tarron… and Mr. Tarron, alright this family was all genetically loud. “Are we alone?” Wow, an occasion like this and he was going to be dumped, his usual luck.

No, not dumped, not… probably… hopefully.

“Varvatos is out for his usual chess game with the other geezers, Aja is currently participating to the event called ‘girls time’. As for the Bla- parents, mine, they are not… here.” He was scratching his palm, a tic Seamus had never seen on him before. “Would you like some liquids for hydration?”

That made him laugh a little. This guy was so weird it was adorable.

“Trying to be a good landlord by offering drinks, Tarron?” Krel looked at him and smiled a little, shrugging. Seamus laughed again. “I’m good, thanks.”

“Good… good.” The brunette took the deepest breath, walking towards the couch, gesturing for him to follow. The air was getting tense, something Seamus would have never wanted around the guy he liked. It seemed important he followed through though. “Johnson?” He was right next to him, but the blonde still hummed affirmatively. “There is something I need to tell you. Perhaps I should’ve addressed this right away, when we had started to get to know each other better, but it… it is not an easy thing to do for me.” Again, he was scratching the palm. “I hope you understand.”

Oh.

Oh gosh.

Oh gosh Seamus was right. Krel totally wanted to dump him… as a friend.

He knew it, he should had known right from the beginning that nothing was going to make his situation better. He had screwed up big time right away, there was no way someone as smart and cool and beautiful – alright Johnson chill – as Krel could ever want to stay close to him. He had clearly reached his limit with him, all the patience he could had given to him, now he was finally going to ask to never see him again.

Seamus clenched his fists over his knees. Dang it, he wished he was angrier about this, he wished that his usual mood would have gone out by now just to vent his frustration, the fact that he wasn’t good enough just like dad had always said.

He couldn’t. He cared about him more than that, he didn’t want to upset him even more.

“Alright, I’m all ears.” He really didn’t want to be, but for him he was going to endure.

Krel looked down, almost as he was struggling to gather his words. For someone this brilliant and with no filter whatsoever, it was really weird to see.

“Where do I start… this is something that does not have anything to do with you, I hope you know this. It is not that I do not trust you, I know you are a good person now.” Wow, really? The good old ‘it’s not you it’s me’? He might had as well kicked him in the ankles and screamed that he was never going to date jerky blondes with problematic fathers – huh, that actually ruled Steve out too –, pity was the last thing he wanted. “The matter is far more complicated than you could think… it’s… ah kleb, when Aja did this it has not looked nearly as difficult!”

Mind explosion. Seamus gaped, almost choking with air.

“Aja? Aja did something like this?” His brain was starting to melt. The Cantaloupian nodded without looking at me, as it was something normal. “With Steve?!”

“Yes, and she did not hesitate for a sekton. I wish I had her resolve right now.” Why and how and when and where and how did Aja actually break up with Steve?! There was no way, not only the Palchuk would have called him a million times to have him console his sorry butt, but such a juicy gossip not way would have not reached Mary’s ears by now – and if she knew, the entire town knew. “Perhaps this is because she never had problems finding people to hang out to, she was always very well liked, even back home.” His inside scream stopped. Krel was gloomy again. Seamus slapped himself for thinking that even now, with those big sad eyes and a rare vulnerability in him, he was really pretty. “While I do not want to risk losing the few people I have, they came almost by accident. Alas, it would not be fair to keep this from you… especially from you.” Oh. The marvel, the way his cheeks were slightly red, his eyes adorably timid.

It really was easy for someone like Seamus to be pleased. Maybe he could take it. He could take this moment, this outstanding view of a completely different Krel into his heart, to conserve after everything was to end. There was no way he wanted for him to suffer because of his mistakes, not again, and if that meant not being friends anymore, that was fine.

It wasn’t, but it could be. Maybe… hopefully.

Seamus was going to slap himself for this as well, later, but right now he couldn’t help it. He grabbed one of his hands, holding it between his with a smile.

“Ever heard about ‘few but good’?” Krel was looking at their united hands, looking baffled, shaking mindlessly his head. “Here in Arcadia you have friends, people that care about you. It doesn’t matter what came before, it’s about here and now.” He swallowed, caressing the back of his hand. “And… and even if something put a distance in between, they would still care. Trust me, you’re that likable.” He really hoped he wasn’t saying too much.

It looked enough. Everything would have been enough given that beautiful, relieved smile.

“Thank you.” Krel looked at him, straight into his eyes with those wonderful brown irises of his, lips trembling slightly. Seamus took a mental breath. This was it, it was happening. In a moment everything was going to end. He didn’t want to, he didn’t but- “The truth is… I am an alien.”

It felt like a pop. All fears and grief and acceptance he had gathered until now, growing larger and wider like a weird motivational balloon, they all exploded altogether by the aid of a single quill.

It took him a moment. A minute, a few seconds, it was hard to tell.

“… huh?” He was still holding his hand, and Krel was staring with fearful eyes. “An illegal alien?”

“No… or rather not completely, I am still a little confused by your concept of ‘legal’, the last time the term had been presented to me by Jim Lake and his friends it was not properly explained.” Somehow in his mess of a head knowing Lake and his group was involved was the only thing that made sense – weirdness happening, skinny legs definitely was in it somehow. “Anyway, I am an actual alien… although the term is quite offensive, for me and for the entire extraterrestrial population, the actual denomination would be Akiridion… but we can, uhm, we can talk about that later.” Krel sighed, his shoulders sinking. “I am truly sorry, I know I’ve kept this for a long time. Not many are aware of this, and I could not tell you until I knew I could trust you but even then-”

During his complete mind blackout, the only certainty was that this guy was speaking words to him. It was only in a brilliant moment for his highly complimented brain that Seamus Johnson managed to find his way back to this world, to realize exactly what was happening. The guy he liked was blabbering about something involving space, the situation was a ton less tense than it was before, and there was nothing threatening his relationship with the Cantaloupian.

In other words…

“Wait, so you’re not dumping me?!?” Krel widened his eyes – was that a blush again? Seamus bit his tongue. “I mean, I thought… you still wanna be friends?”

“Of course, why wouldn’t I?”

What a rational and normal question. Seamus was starting to feel really stupid now about himself.

“I don’t know! It sounded serious and I thought about all possible scenarios, the fact that I literally called you cheater only because you’re good at math and my dad was absolutely horrible to you and… I don’t know, all the rest.” The blonde pressed his lips together. “It made sense.”

“No it did not!” His hold tightened, Seamus didn’t think his heart could beat any faster. “Whatever you brain has been up to, cease this instant! You are supposed to be smart enough to measure up with me!” His face was close. They both realized it at the same time, suddenly letting go and looking in opposite directions. “I-I mean… you are one of my best friends, Johnson. Sure, you made some mistakes in the past, but you are doing your best to be a better person.” Ah, that tone was too much, Seamus had to look again. Good idea, he was smiling again. “And if it makes you feel less self-conscious, I have way more good memories of you than bad ones.”

I did help. Although this guy could had said something like “You are a mediocre math student but I have saved you so you now must show loyalty towards me” and that would have done it. Again, he was weak, and even if that would have been one massive hit to his pride, he would have bled his inferiority complex all over to have at least another moment with him.

… holy mole, maybe he liked Krel a little more than he had thought.

Seamus breathed in. Then he released a massive sigh of relief, because he liked Krel a lot, and he didn’t want to part ways. He had never wanted to, even while trying to be the mature one and accept his fate. At last, he was still here.

“My gosh Tarron, you sounded so serious in your message! I was so worried!”

“You cannot hear written messages Johnson, I fail to understand how you could’ve caught that intention into my texting.” Despite the mockery, there was a lighter tone into his voice. “I was equally concerned myself, I truly didn’t want to lose you, no matter the situation. I cannot comprehend how Aja managed with Steve so easily.” Ah, Staja was still going strong then, good for them. “I guess back then the abduction helped breaking down the news, it is hardly something you can avoid in such a situation.” Yeah, that made sense, with an abduction involved… “And with Steve almost falling to his death, Aja’s reveal was mostly a matter of chances.” Falling to his… death? “Thinking about, it was less about sister’s resolution and more a necessity… what? What is it?” Krel was giving him a confused look, only fair to an equally confused stare.

Freed from the stress of the worry, Seamus’ brain had managed to reboot, finally coming back to its senses as his crush was explaining the situation to him. About an alien abduction, about a fall from a spaceship apparently, how Aja was also a… a…

“… you’re an alien.”

Krel blinked at him.

“I thought I established that already.”

“Sorry, it’s just… it’s kinda coming to me only now, give me a moment.” He pressed his hands over his eyes, breathing in deeply, then he pulled it all out. Krel. His friend, his crush, was an alien. An actual alien. “… don’t take this the wrong way, okay? Because I trust you, I know you don’t joke around and you’re usually even too serious and literal. But this feels a little unreal, or either something you’re making up to turn my long-lasting dream of interacting with the extraterrestrial world true. Which I thank you for, but I really don’t understand why.”

He got a frown out of that, which was better than what he had expected since he knew Krel didn’t like when people didn’t believe him or listen to him. The guy – alien or, what did he say before, Akiridion? – hummed softly, looking around, then he lightened up. He took out something, a protractor by the look of it, showing it to him.

“I have very concrete proof, though it might be quite surprising. Please stay calm, okay?” Seamus nodded, not really sure what to expect. Krel pressed something over his protractor, there was a sudden light what in the- Oh. Oh. “There, this is my actual form. Well, my Akiridion form, I do not mind my human form at this point, it is almost like another side of me. This is to tell you that my appearance was simply that, the real Krel is always here, I hope this is a given for you.” He felt himself being observed. “Johnson?” He felt himself being poked a little. “I told you to remain calm, what are you doing? Is this a human reaction? Are you sick perhaps?” Not that hearing Krel worried about him wasn’t nice, but his thoughts resided elsewhere.

Like the fact that in the house of his crush, this apparition had materialized. There was a glow in front of him, pulsing blue of energy that almost made him look away. Beyond that there was a creature, taller than the one before, even more given the mane of glimmering hair raising up as without gravity. His body was dark but luminous, like space covered in stars, able to shine through despite the darkness. His eyes were blue through a black world, like far away dashing planets.

Seamus gaped, feeling like he forgot to breath for several minutes. It was ridiculous falling in love all over again, right? Right, of course. This was fine, perfectly fine, nothing to be this amazed b- Oh holy everything he had four arms, he was an al- Akiridion with four arms, screw everything his amazement was off this house’s roof and there was nothing he could have done about it.

His brained had switched off again, the little traitor. When it came back, Krel was looking at him with deep worry, something he never would have wanted for him. He needed to speak.

“… you look like a fairy.” Dang it, the traitor again, where was his filter?!

Krel blinked with those unbelievable eyes of his.

“What is a fairy?”

“Oh, huh, uhm…” Seamus swallowed, pondering if it was even a good idea and deciding that what in the world, he was talking to his friend who was a freaking extraterrestrial, rationality was officially out. “Uhm, do you have, like, legends and stories where you come from?” Krel nodded. “Well, a fairy is like a mythical creature, invented, that doesn’t exist.” Ah, he could already see the frown forming, his thoughts going somewhere like ‘I am right here you soolian’. “They are like magical beings coming from the forest… of such an ethereal beauty they cannot be real.” He almost breathed those last words, because they were almost too true all of the sudden.

The Akiridion widened his eyes, which was a sight. He was frozen, taken back, then he slowly melted into a smile. The first smile Seamus had seen of him in this form. It was as beautiful as ever, something that made him feel so lucky that Krel had trusted him enough to show him thi- Holy, freaking, mole, were his cheeks glowing? Was that an alien blush?!?

“Thank you.” Too many thank yous today, and his crush was an alien. It made sense in the fact that it didn’t make sense. “Truly, for being fine with this.”

Seamus grinned, holding his hand again. It felt a little warmer than before.

“One of my best friends is an Akiridion, how could I not? This is the dream!”

Krel beamed at him, going for the hug, making him gasp.

“You are a really good person. I knew it.” His voice was sweet. Everything felt immensely warm. The blonde was almost too overwhelmed by the fact that his crush had two arms plus to hug him to fully realize that his heart had not beat. Perhaps it was an Akiridion thing, he really wanted to know. They pulled away after a while. Krel’s cheeks were glowing again, Seamus suspected his own weren’t doing much better. “Uhm, I will take it you have some questions.” He looked away, and it was adorable to see.

“Make that some something like a thousand.” Seamus laughed a little. “Would that be okay?”

“Yes of course, you deserved to clear all the doubts you might have.” This was too good, Krel was an Akiridion, still his friend and he had another reason to spend time with him while daydreaming about his hopeless feelings. This day had been amaz- “Perhaps we could go on a less secluded place? Aja might come back soon, and I have not told her about my intention to tell you just yet, she might berate me over the fact that I did not want her to tell Steve before.” He could totally picture it. It made him snicker. “Would Sam’s be okay? Or another place maybe? Just the two of us?”

Today Seamus felt like anything other than his usual perfect student self, because his mind was struggling unbelievably. He looked up, crossing those eyes again, that embarrassed and hopeful expression of his over his brand-new appearance.

He swallowed, hoping his last brain cell wasn’t going to betray him.

“Is… is this a date?” Glowing blush at maximus.

“W-well, let’s just say that this reveal was not the only reason I wanted you to come this urgently.” He went to scratch his palm again, his glowing blue palm. “Before I could try any kind of courting ritual I wanted to be sure you were going to accept my current form… accept me, for who I really ma.” He looked at him, sending him pure shivers. “Is this okay?”

This was a dream, it had to be. That, or maybe this was the outcome, the reward at turning his back to who he used to be, in order to be a good person. Enough for an amazing person.

He was speechless. Then, faster than his insecurities, the blonde kissed the Akiridion’s forehead and hugged him again. He could feel him trembling a little, then embracing back, as much as he could. Seamus had never felt this happy before.

“Of course, it is.” He closed his eyes, grinning so much his cheeks hurt. “You’re okay.”

You’re perfect, Krel.

[trashyswitch]

Catch Meeee!

The boys started off watching a movie. Next thing they know, they're floating around the room and having a one-sided tickle fight! There is just no telling where a date night will go.

This prompt was suggested by @thatweirdemonightmere. I hope you enjoy this Prinxiety fic!

Virgil and Roman were sitting on the couch, enjoying an underrated movie together. The movie? Rango! Even though the movie was somewhat dark, it was still a fun western. Virgil enjoyed how dark and unique all the characters looked, while Roman enjoyed the story of identity and the funny jokes within it. One of his favorite characters was probably the singing and playing owl band in between the scenes. He also found the cactus bottle to be a hilarious part and enjoyed the weird and trippy hallucinations. And of course, no one could forget that Johnny Depp voiced Rango and did amazing voicing the role. So, there was that.

“Man...Imagine being forced to live without water.” Virgil told him.

Roman groaned. “I could not IMAGINE. Water is the most underappreciated resource known to MAN.” Roman reacted.

Virgil looked over. “Water is used for everything! It’s used for cooking, it’s used for cleaning, it’s used for hygiene, it’s basically used for living.” Virgil explained.

“Plants, animals, humans, bugs, even bacteria use it! No one would be able to live without water.” Roman added.

“Get this: Logan told me earlier that it’s possible to be allergic to water.” Virgil told him.

Roman sat up and turned to face the emo. “What?!”

“It’s true! I’m not kidding.” Virgil told him.

“Can’t be! We just explained all the things we need water for! How can a person be ‘allergic’ to a liquid that’s constantly used?! How do they stay hydrated?! How to they get clean?! How do they LIVE?!” Roman asked.

Virgil decided to look it up on his phone. “Aquagenic Urticaria, aka Water Allergy, is a rare form of allergy in which hives develop on the skin after contact with water, regardless of temperature.” He read. “People with the Water Allergy are able to drink water, but can have an allergic reaction to bathing/showering, sweating, crying, and rainfall.” Virgil read further.

Roman felt his own arms. “Oh gosh…”

Virgil decided to read further. “A substance dissolved in water enters the skin and causes an immune response.” He read. “So...similar to a peanut allergy.” Virgil added on the side before continuing to read. “The hives are not caused by the water itself, but are rather caused by an allergen hidden within the water. An interaction between water and a substance hidden in/on the skin, creates a toxic material that gives them hives.” Virgil read.

Roman looked at him. “Sooooo...don’t live in Canada, Ireland or the UK. The UK and Ireland constantly create rainfall, and snow is basically frozen water.” Roman suggested.

“Yeah...I’d suggest either living in Las Vegas, Arizona or California due to its little rainfall.” Virgil told Roman, looking at his own phone.

“Alright.” Roman replied.

After a while of just watching the movie, Roman looked over at Virgil with a smile. “Hey Virgil.”

“Hm?” Virgil looked over.

“Wanna know something that’s cooler than water?” Roman asked.

Virgil grew a small smile. “Sure.”

Roman conjured up some water bubbles. The water bubbles started floating around them, while the two boys stayed put on the couch.

Virgil’s eyes widened with wonder as he brought a finger up to one of the water bubbles. Amazingly, the water bubble didn’t pop when his finger touched it! Instead, the water bubble coated his finger in a layer of water.

Virgil looked at his own wet finger and giggled. “It’s floating water!”

“It’s zero gravity water!” Roman explained briefly.

Virgil laughed. “If it’s zero gravity, then why aren’t we floating too?” Virgil asked.

“Do you want to float?” Roman suggested.

“Yes! That would be amazing!” Virgil replied.

“Alright!” Roman snapped his fingers and in no time, the two of them were floating! Their bodies were completely zero gravity, while the surrounding furniture and appliances were still staying on the ground! How this was actually happening, Virgil would never know.

“WHOA! HAHA! I’m FLOATIIING!” Virgil declared excitedly.

“ISN’T THIS COOL?!” Roman yelled excitedly.

“HOW ARE YOU DOING THIS?!” Virgil asked.

“MMMMAGIC! HAHAHA!” Roman joked.

Virgil started swimming and floating himself up to the wall, and pushed himself off to head back to the middle at a quicker speed. “WEEEEEE!” Virgil squealed. As soon as he reached Roman, Virgil tapped his shoulder. “YOU’RE IT!” Virgil immediately pushed himself away.

“WAIT, WHAT?! COME HERE YOU!” Roman reacted, pushing himself off the nearest wall to float to him.

“NO WAY!” Virgil laughed. Roman was about to tag his foot, but Virgil pulled it away quickly. “HA! NICE TRY!” He teased.

“GET BACK HERE!” Roman yelled, pushing off the sofa arm and soaring to Virgil. Roman started to do a zero gravity kartwheel, when his hand touched his head. “YOU’RE IT!”

“NOOOO!” Virgil reacted dramatically. “I CAN’T TURN AROUND!” Virgil complained with a laugh.

Roman laughed. “GOOD!”

“NOT GOOD!” Virgil yelled back.

Virgil grabbed onto the top of the table and pushed off of it, accidentally knocking off a coaster in the process. “I’M COMING FOR YA!” Virgil yelled, reaching his hands out and soaring at him.

Roman turned around and squeaked like a toddler! “OHSHITNO-!” He screamed.

“SUPERMAN!” Virgil declared, before booping his back with his finger. “YOU’RE IT!” Virgil declared. Then, Virgil turned his feet towards the wall using a chair, and bounced off the chair very hard to soar himself across the room in record time! “WHEEEEEEEEEEEE!”

“YOU SOUND LIKE BAYMAX!” Roman yelled.

Virgil stopped himself against the top of the sofa and smirked. “HAIRY BABY!” Virgil shouted at him.

Roman gasped and took off after him. “YOU FUCKIN’ TAKE THAT BACK!” Roman ordered loudly.

“MAKE ME!” Virgil yelled back.

Roman reached him and pulled Virgil towards him. “I CERTAINLY WILL!” Roman started skittering his fingers onto his ribs and armpits.

“aaAAAHAHA! NOHOHOHO ROHOHOMAHAHAN!” Virgil started laughing, and pulling his legs up to his chest.

“No what? No ‘skittering my fingers inside your super sensitive armpits’? No ‘counting all my ribs till I can’t even count myself’? Perhaps...No ‘tickling me till it’s all I know’?” Roman teased.

“NOOOOHOHOHOHO!” Virgil begged. “NOHOHOHONE OHOHOF THAHAHAT!”

“Okay!” Roman decided. “I’ll tickle your belly then and keep you in a constant stream of giggles!” Roman wrapped his arms around Virgil’s middle and started skittering all 10 of his fingers onto the sides of his belly.

“Uhuhuhuh OHohohohoh! Rohohoho plehehehehease!” Virgil pleaded.

“Please tickle you? But I am tickling you! I’m tickling you a lot!” Roman teased more.

“Hahahahahahaha!” Virgil started to twist himself left and right, which only tickled him even more. “Nahahahahat fahahahahair!” Virgil yelled at him.

“You want this to be fair? Okay. I’ll make it fair.” Roman used his magic to slowly turn the gravity back onto their bodies. It didn’t take long for their bodies to finally touch the ground. The moment this happened, Roman let go of Virgil and opened his arms up. “Tickle me.”

Virgil was still a giggly mess who was getting used to being on the ground again. “Wahahait, whahahat?” Virgil looked up and widened his eyes.

“Tickle me.” Roman told him.

Virgil blushed and stared at him with both confusion and awe.

“You wanted things to be fair, right? So I’m making it fair. Tickle me.” Roman told him.

Virgil shook his head, slowly shrunk himself down and hid his face in his own arms.

“I see...You can’t tickle me right now, cause you’re in a zero gravity lee mood.” Roman teased.

Virgil hid his face more and started to giggle into his arms. “Noooohohohohoho!”

“Looks like I gotta keep tickling!” Roman resumed spidering his fingers all over his belly.

“Wahahait! AAAAHAHAhahahaha! Nuuuuhuhuhuhuhuhu!” Virgil cooed and giggled, arching his back and kicking his feet absolutely everywhere.

“Tickle tickle tickle tickle tickle Virgey! I think the floaty spiders absolutely LOVE YOU!” Roman teased more.

HAHAHAhahahaha! Thehehere ahahare nohohoho flohohoatihing spihihidehehehers!” Virgil yelled back.

“Yes there are! Look!” Roman stopped tickling Virgil and unzipped Virgil’s sweater zipper. Then, he removed his hands and placed them behind his own back while small, black spiders started crawling all over his purple shirt. Virgil took a one second look at his chest, and squealed loudly! There were LITERALLY BLACK SPIDERS CRAWLING ON HIS SHIRT!

“NOHO! NO! COHOHOME OHOHOHON! ROHOHOhoho!” Virgil shrieked!

“Would you like the evil little spiders to stop tickle tickle tickling you?” Roman asked.

“IHIhihihi…” Virgil took a minute to think. Did he really want them to stop? Or was he secretly enjoying them and didn’t want them to stop? He couldn’t tell at this point!

“Too late!” Roman started skittering his fingers all over Virgil and spidered around alongside the black spiders that crawled and skittered on his belly.

Virgil was giggling, snorting and squirming all over the place! And the crazy part? These spiders weren't even capable of being killed! These spiders were from Roman’s imagination! So, they couldn’t be killed! They could only be unconjured by Roman! “ROHOHOHO! IHIHIHI NEHEHEED AHA BREHEHEHEAK!” Virgil begged.

“Are you sure you need a break? Or are you covering up the fact that you still want tickles?” Roman asked.

Virgil snorted and shook his head left and right. Roman was such an evil ler! How dare he exploit the spiders!

“NOHOHOHO MOHOHORE SPIHIHIHIDEHEHERS PLEHEHEASE!” Virgil begged.

Roman hummed in curiosity. “Alright. I suppose I can do that.” The prince replied.

Roman removed his skittering hands and snapped his fingers. Suddenly, the spiders disappeared into thin air and all that was left was a plain purple shirt. Virgil’s laughter quickly turned right back into giggles.

Roman watched this man’s giggle fit with a big smile on his face. Roman absolutely adored Virgil’s laugh! It was such a fun laugh to listen to! It was bubbly, it was cutesy, it was somewhat girly and it even had snorts! It was the kind of laugh that you’d want to hear for a very long time. But, due to lung capacity and...you know, breathing...Roman would have to stop eventually so he didn’t end up killing him.

Suddenly, Roman’s thoughts were interrupted by a few fingers grabbing his hand. Roman blinked in surprise and looked at Virgil. The emo was blushing madly as he slowly brought Roman’s hand closer and closer to his stomach. Virgil was telling Roman through his body language, that he secretly wanted some more tickles.

Roman smiled and started tickling his belly with his other hand again. Virgil giggled and let go of the dominant hand while starting to thrash. Finally, Roman started skittering his right hand on more of Virgil’s vulnerable belly.

“Hahahahahahahehehehehe! Yahahahahayyyy!” Virgil cheered.

Roman giggled at that. “Such a desperate little lee! So desperate that you used your actions to ask for more? How adorable!” Roman teased.

“Yeheheheah! Ihihihi cahahan’t sahahay thehe wohohord!” Virgil admitted.

“You can’t say the word? What word? Kerfuffle? Farlek? Dapplequack?” Roman teased.

Virgil started to laugh more and more at the stupid and silly words that he was coming up with. “NOHO NO NO NOHOHOHOHO!” Virgil laughed.

“Dirple, Maybe? Wombat? Dijery-doink?” Roman asked.

“Stahahahahap ihihihit! Thohohohose ahaharen’t ihihit!” Virgil giggled and laughed.

“Oooooh! Is it a word I already know? Like, spider? Snort? Adooorable?” Roman asked.

“Yehehehes! Ihihit’s aha wohohord yohohou knohohow.” Virgil replied.

“Hmmm...Is it another word for sensitive?” Roman asked.

Virgil bit his lip and covered up his mouth.

“OOOOoooh! I know what it is! Tickle! It’s the word tickle! A tickle tickle tickle tickle tickle tickllllle!” Roman teased more and more.

Virgil squawked and uncovered his face to cackle wildly! “NAHAHAHAHAHA! STAHAHAHAP SAHAHAYIHIHING IHIHIT!” Virgil shouted at him.

“Stop saying tickle? But tickle is my new favorite word! I can tickle here!” Roman tickled his sides. “I can tickle up here!” Roman tickled his abs. “I can tickle right in the middle!” Roman swirled his finger around his belly button. “I can even give a poke!” He poked his belly.

Virgil threw his arms all around himself in a failed attempt to get Roman’s bloody hands away! But it was just no use! He was just wasting his energy on a tactic that doesn’t even work 90% of the time! What’s the point in doing that?!

Finally, Virgil tapped his boyfriend’s lower arm to show that he was tapping out. Roman, happy to give him a break, stopped tickling him and started wiping off all the ghost tickles that could linger. Virgil was still all giggly and couldn’t keep himself together. Once Roman moved his hands away, Virgil curled himself up into a ball and wiggled his feet as he struggled to regain his composure.

“You...doing okay?” Roman asked.

Suddenly, Roman was grabbed and pulled down with him. Roman started giggling into Virgil’s shoulder as he was snuggled and hugged tightly by the flustered emo.

“You are such a cutie. You know that?” Roman told him.

Virgil giggled more and shook his head. “Ahaham nohohot.” Virgil protested.

“You certainly are!” Roman replied.

“Aham not! I’m nahahat cuhuhuhute!” Virgil protested back.

Roman giggled. “You’re super cute. You just don’t see it.” Roman booped his nose with a smirk.

Virgil shook his head and nuzzled into Roman’s chest. “Ahaham not.”

“Am too.” Roman argued back.

“StAAHAP! I’M NOT! CUTE!” Virgil whined like a toddler.

“Oh? So I’m completely wrong then?” Roman asked, sounding playful and offended at once.

Virgil started to giggle more as he nodded.

...Let’s just say that the cuddling didn’t last much longer after that...

[98prilla]

Deathworlder Down

Next

Previous 

AO3

based on @delimeful wibar

Warning for some disturbing imagery/body horror this chapter. Virgil’s having nightmares.

...

Fear.

 Pounding, aching fear.

 Shadowy figures surrounded him, discussing him in words he could almost hear, hushed voices he could almost understand, and it grated at him, it hurt his ears. He tried to cover them, but found he couldn’t move, not a muscle, his eyes were open but he couldn’t even blink, his fingers wouldn’t even twitch, and he could feel his heart hammering in his chest, but despite his panic his breathing remained steady and even. The shadows moved closer, their whispers growing louder, echoing in his head, screaming tempests against his ear drums, and he wanted it to stop, he needed it to stop, but it just grew louder, and louder, and then it was the suited beings again, holding a scalpel, and he screamed, as his chest was sliced open, the flesh peeled away to reveal the organs beneath, his heart visible through the blood leaking from him, and he realized though he was screaming in his mind, he wasn’t making any sound, his vocal chords as paralyzed as the rest of him, and he couldn’t look away, as they started ripping out his insides, tearing him apart, the pain splintering through his being, blacking out his vision, and he tried, he tried desperately to writhe and claw and fight his way free, but couldn’t even lift his head, and he was aware of them adding new parts, shoving metal and wires and circuit boards into him, the pop and crackle of electricity against his skin shocking him, sending him into spasms that somehow defied whatever drug they’d given him, back arching at the intense, radiating heat flowing up his spine, and he finally did break free, break out of whatever drug they’d used, a keening, desperate wail shoving past his lips as he shoved himself off the table, as he snarled and clawed and bit and slashed, anything, everything, to get free, until he’d fought off the beings, his breathing ragged and uneven as he looked at the monster they’d made him, all mechanical parts and twisted limbs, broken bones and spasming muscle.

 “Virgil?” Suddenly a shadow Logan was there, looking down at him, head tilted and eyes empty, hands strangely still, assessing him like the specimen he was and he shuddered, twitching uncontrollably.

 “No. That isn’t Virgil.” Patton, voice hollow, and he screamed again, because his feathers were torn from his body, bent and broken nibs trickling blood down his wings, though he didn’t seem to care. “Virgil wouldn’t do this to me. And he did.” He shook his head, trying to deny it, but memories rushed back, his hands, moving against his will, the metal twisting around his bones, jerking him around like a marionette, Patton, begging, pleading, but he couldn’t stop, the single thought in his mind echoing destroy, destroy, destroy. His hands, ripping handfuls of feathers, feathers flying around the room, getting stuck in his grinning teeth, his manic laugh, his twisted soul.

“No… nonononono…” He curled tight on the ground, ignoring the fire racing through him, the intense, burning, heat, trying to make sense of this, of anything, noticing for the first time his hands were stained red, seeing Patton’s agonized face in his head, his hands on his throat, pressing down, down down-

 “Virgil!” Roman’s voice rocked his world, and suddenly his eyes snapped open, hissing at the sudden brightness, too confused to understand anything, vision blurry, from tears, he realized, his breathing stuttering in and out, barely enough to keep from passing out, his throat tight, barely a pinhole of space for air to wheeze in and out of, his chest felt so tight, so constricted, and there wasn’t enough air, and he was hot, why was he so hot, the wires, the wires twisting through his veins, no, he had to get them out, they would make him hurt them, hurt Patton, he couldn’t hurt Patton!

 He started scratching at himself, clawing at himself frantically, uncaring of the wetness slipping down his face, he had to stop it, he couldn’t-

 Bloody feathers, crushed neck, broken wings, shattered body, he couldn’t-

 Hands. Hands on him. He hissed, growled, tried to shove them away, but he was weak, so weak, he couldn’t do anything, couldn’t get away, and they were stopping him, and he was going to hurt everyone, he had to let go, he had to stop himself, he was just a monster, just a toy, just a broken sack of bits and pieces that didn’t even fit together right anymore, why couldn’t they just let him stop?

 “please. Please, I can’t, I can’t, I won’t, i… i…” He doubled over, curled into a ball, shaking so hard his teeth were chattering, feeling as if he was shattering into a thousand pieces, broken and stomped on and wrecked.

 “kiddo. I need you to breath.” He flinched back, away from Patton, eyes wide with fear, shaking his head frantically, as he scooted away, the grip on his hands letting him go.

 “n-no… no! I’ll h-hurt y-y-you they’ll m-make me h-h-hurt-“ he broke off, running out of air, all of it dedicated to keeping the spots in his vision from growing larger, from taking over and plunging him into black.

 “virgil. You have never, never ever, hurt me. And they can’t hurt us, anymore. Do you remember that? We’re safe now, remember? You broke us out of there, and kept us safe. You’re safe, Virgil. We’re safe. We’re ok. We’re ok.” Patton repeated softly, using the gentle chirp of his native tongue, ruffling encouragingly when Virgil finally looked up at him, struggling for a few moments, before tentatively chirping it back.

 “We’re… we’re… ok.” He echoed slowly, tongue thick in his mouth, head pounding, it hurt to think, it hurt to do anything, but he forced his mind to remember, to remember what he was missing, flashes of a slim, multi armed figure, of a bulky, scaled one, of a… a ship, and he managed a slightly larger, shaky breath.

 “M-Mindscape?” He managed, and Patton nodded, eyes soft with worry.

 “That’s right, kiddo. You got sick, do you remember that?” He remembered feeling not great, but that was normal. He remembered being dizzy, but that was all. He shook his head, feeling confused again, feeling slow and tired and hazy.

 “That’s ok, Virgil. I just wanna help, ok? Will you let me do that?” Patton asked, taking a small step closer. “Will you let me help?” His gaze flicked to the others in the room, pulling at a dull memory, at familiarity, he knew them, knew them and they didn’t spark… fear. Not quite. But the scaled one’s gaze was sharp and angry, and the crystal one’s gaze was sharp and piercing, and both sent unease tingling down his spine. But Patton was asking, and he trusted Patton, and if Patton trusted them, then they couldn’t be bad.

 “O-o-Ok.” He managed, letting out a soft sigh when Patton closed the distance between them, resting a hand on his leg, and instantly, the fight and stress drained out of him, eyes fluttering shut.

 “You’re gonna be ok, kiddo. I promise.” Then nothing.

…

“He's hotter, Lo.” Patton said, voice shaking, as he felt Virgil's forehead. Sweat coated his skin, and he was panting for breath, shaking, obviously in pain, not just from the lines of red up and down his arms, where he'd started clawing at himself, before Roman stopped him. “he’s getting worse."

 “We need to get him to drink. He’s severely dehydrated. I… hate to suggest this, but IVs may be the best option here. I know, it will cause added emotional strain, but his body does not have the strength or resources right now to fight off this illness. And I’d rather have him be upset or afraid than… than dead.” His words caused Patton to draw in his feathers, shrinking to nearly half his normal size, and he buried his face against Virgil’s side. Roman’s scales shifted, scraping against each other as they flattened, conflicting emotions racing through him.

 He didn’t like Virgil. Didn’t trust him, wouldn’t have him here, if it had been up to him, but the thought of him… dying, still sent a spike of unease through him, one he could pretend was just for Patton, who was so attached to Virgil.

 “ok. If it’s the only way, ok.”

 He disinfected and bandaged Virgil’s arms first, before letting Roman shift him back onto the couch, fetching the medical supplies and hooking up the bags. Finally, he was standing over Virgil with the IV line in hand. All he had to do was insert it. He found himself incredibly resistant, now, to the idea, now that he actually was doing this, mind flashing to the moments he’d seen in the vidi, the pain and agony that had accompanied nearly every experience with a needle, but this was different. This was to help.

 So he swiftly located the vein on the human’s wrist, slipping the needle in and securing it with gauze and tape, relieved when Virgil did no more than moan slightly, rolling onto his side and curling into a ball. He doubted the reaction would be so placid when he actually woke up to find a needle in his arm, but that was a future worry.

 “Alright. That should help hydrate him, as well as give him some of the basic nutrients he is sorely lacking in, as well as some very moderate medicines. I doubt anything we have would do him any harm, but I don’t want to take chances and accidentally make things worse. Patton… you need to sleep.” He added, looking at the disheveled ampen, who shook his head.

 “No, no, no! I have to stay! What if he wakes up?”

 “He won’t for a few hours, at the very least, which is long enough for you to get some sleep. You haven’t slept since we found him.”

 “Well neither have you! You’ve been pacing yourself silly!” He sighed, shoulders slumping.

 “Alright. You’re right. If Roman stays on watch and promises to get us if anything changes, will you come rest with me?” he asked, knowing Patton wouldn’t turn down that offer, not with how rarely he was willing to offer tactile comfort, but they could both use some, right now.

 “Ro? I know you don’t like him, but-"

 “I’ll take care of him. I promise, Patton.” Roman swore, kneeling down so Patton could hug him, smiling as he butted against the underside of his chin, before stepping back, chirping an ampen thanks, hesitantly following Logan down the hall and into his room, Roman hearing the door slide shut.

 He let out a low breath, scales flattening as he tried to calm himself, staring down at Virgil’s unconscious form.

 “I don’t know what to make of you. I will never say this out loud again, but you terrify me. And I will not lose another family, to humans. But… every time you panic or lose control or lash out, it’s always at yourself. It’s always to protect Patton. You always choose to harm yourself over any of us, but you’re still a human, a death worlder, a dangerous, violent, creature.” He said, though it sounded much less convincing now, that it usually did in his arguments with Logan or his silent fuming.

 Virgil moved slightly, his breath hitching, and his face creased, as if sensing Roman’s displeasure.

 “no… please… m-mom…” Virgil mumbled, trying to reach out to something that wasn’t there, something only in his mind, and after a moment, Roman realized Virgil was crying, curling tighter.

 He’d known Virgil had been stolen off his planet, but he’d never thought about the implications of it. He hadn’t considered that Virgil had clan, would have a mother or a father, that he’d lost everything, to aliens, without even having a chance to fight to keep it.

 Roman knew how it felt, to lose everything, in the blink of an eye.  

 “and then you go and say something like that.” He sighed, shifting into the chair left beside the couch, hesitantly reaching out to brush back the human’s hair, mimicking the motion he’d seen Patton do countless times, to soothe or relax the human, surprised as Virgil instantly settled, a shaky breath escaping him before his body seemed to go lax once more, leaning into his touch.

 “this doesn’t mean I like you. It’s only because I promised Patton.” He grumbled, not moving away, despite himself.

[5-falsehoods-phonated]

Out of the House

Series summary: Ever the paranormal enthusiast Remus is excited when he finds an abandoned house creepy enough to have ghosts in it with no chance of being caught trespassing. He quickly finds himself in over his head however when his fantasies come true, fighting to solve a mystery with the only possible outcome being losing someone he comes to love.

Platonic dukexiety focus

This series was created for dukexiety week 2021. I’m posting after but here is the list of prompts!

Chapter 2: I’ll be by Your Side

Chapter Summary: Remus goes back to the house in the hopes of making contact with the entity the resides in it. Unsurprisingly, his attempts are not appreciated.

Pairings: Platonic Dukexiety (Remus & Virgil), background Lociet (Logan x Janus)

Day 1 Prompt: Swapping

Warnings: mild swearing, mild sexual innuendos, injury and violence, distorted text, paranormal events. If there are others please let me know!

WC: 3441

AO3 link

Main masterlist

Remus fumbled for the light as he shot up in bed, bloodshot eyes fighting through the urge to close as he scanned every corner of the suddenly too bright room. This had been the routine every hour on the hour no matter how much he tried to ignore the growing paranoia and simply stay asleep. The task, as it turned out, was much easier said than done when phantom glass still pricked at his skin and echoing screams rang in his ears so loudly tik could hardly sort his own thoughts out if tik could concentrate enough to have any. Finally satisfied that the shadows weren’t hiding anything Remus allowed tiks head to drop into his hands, groaning in frustration and kicking the tangled blankets off his legs. He doubted he’d be able to get any more sleep of any decent quality so tik may as well just get up and get the day started. It would be a long one after all.

The clock on the stove glared a bright 4:30 in his face accusingly as tik went about getting the coffee pot cleaned and set up. Logan always said the way he used it would break it or tik sooner than later but after three years it still worked just fine so he had no problems patting down three cups of bustelo espresso into the filter and letting it run through before pouring the brewed coffee back into the back and allowing it to brew through the grounds a second time, filling the apartment with the scent of strong slightly burned heaven.Too much creamer in a mug the size of a cereal bowl later and he was sat down on the old couch Roman had let him keep when they moved out of their dorm, computer booting up on the table as he absently dug between the cushions for a fidget toy he knew had to be lost someone in the abyss.

Abandoning the fetch quest to bring up google he stared at the screen intently for a few moments tryin to figure out exactly what it was he was trying to figure out. He’d seen the ghost shows, been to scenes, read the spooky and “informative” books- he thought he had known what he would do if he ever actually saw a ghost in real life. Now that he had...obviously tik didn’t know the first thing about anything. It had to be a poltergeist that much tik knew. They were violent and loud and could manipulate their surroundings, even if in all the supposedly real footage he’d ever seen that wasn’t part of a show there had never been anything quite as destructive and hostile as the being in that house. 

But it was a starting point and that would have to be enough for now. Maybe tik could just…

Okay well, typing in “poltergeist” yielded nothing but cheesy movies. He already knew what one was so a definition wouldn’t help…maybe “how to calm a poltergeist?”

Poltergeist activity typically starts with minor isolated incidents. Remus snorted as tik reached p to tug on his bandaged ear. Typically yes, but this wasn’t tiks wallet being misplaced every now and again. Clicking off the article he scrolled down a bit until he came to another that sounded a bit more promising. Establishing Contact With the House Entity. A bit more on the nose than he would have thought was necessary but sometimes the more obvious something was the more straightforward information you could find.

While there are many ways to know whether or not there is a presence in your home the first signs usually start out subtle. General uneasiness is among the most commonly reported- as well as a feeling of being watched or perhaps seeing something flicker just outside the limits of your vision- on;y to find as you turn your head that nothing is waiting for you to find. When it comes to feeling safe within your home it’s best to trust your gut when things feel amiss, and trust it as soon as possible no matter how “crazy” you may think the feelings are. Better to accept a spirit or ghost has entered your life and deal with it as soon as possible than to be too late to do anything at all should things take a turn for the worst.

Rolling tiks eyes at the wording, Remus grabbed up his coffee mug only to realize he must have drained it already without realizing, sighing heavily before getting up for a refill. The apartment was quiet and while tik normally didn’t mind it was setting him on edge this morning, the walls seeming to creep closer anytime he wasn't looking and threatening to trap him in a prison with nothing but his thoughts. Thoughts of shadows that caught his ankles and glass filled winds that ripped his face and shredded his eyes so he couldn’t tell what was real or not while the walls pressed his arms painfully against his ribs until they popped like old sticks and his lungs floated like balloons to escape the hell he had created and still the screaming continued to get louder and louder until it deafened him with blood dripped down his neck and nothing but the vibrations against his skin indicated that they were still screaming to get out get out get-

Remus jerked his head up and startled as his phone peeled away from his face and fell to the floor, still vibrating merrily oblivious of his distress. Looking around confused he straightened his back the rest of the way, groaning in pain as tiks spine popped from his bent in half position he’d been holding for god knows how long. Rubbinghis eyes he remembered his phone and snatched it up just as it stopped vibrating, five missed calls and a few texts filling the home screen all from Janus who as far as Remus could tell had gone from scolding him for sleeping in to asking in his sarcastic/worried way if he had died at the house yesterday and if he should check on tiks ghost. 

Checking the time revealed it was currently 9:00, which meant that not only was he an hour late for the only class he has that day but that there would honestly be no point in going so he may as well just act sick and hope Janus wouldn’t be suspicious. He last thing he needed or wanted was getting an “I told you so” about how ghost hunting was going to make him sick with stress one day and he needed a proper sleep schedule and no coffee doesn’t count towards daily hydration and stop double brewing it, you’ll die of a heart attack at twenty-five. Pressing tiks lips in a thin line he shot a text apologizing and saying he had over-exerted himself running so much yesterday so he’d stayed home to rest. A bit of a stretch considering he’d been in track for long enough that a couple of full out sprints with obstacles in one day really wouldn’t have done much but Janus didn’t know that....probably.

-----

The most effective way to establish contact would be through something simple. A twist on/off flashlight is a good place to start as long as you’re clear with your intentions. Turn it on and do a wide sweep of the room you suspect the entity is in, stating in a clear voice that “on means yes and off means no”. Ask clear, deliberate questions while paying attention to the flashlight- the simpler the question the easier the entity will find it to respond. Any electrical equipment you can get- voice and EVP recorders, cameras, thermometers, infrared detectors- anything and everything you have at your disposal can and should be used. The more data there is to work with the closer you’ll be to figuring out what you’re dealing with and how to get it to leave.

The rest of the article had devolved into talk about smudging and priests and offerings to get the spirit to move on- none of which Remus would be using unless whatever it was expressed interest in doing so. He just wanted to know what and who it was and maybe figure out why they had stayed so long after the house had emptied. There was a story there, tik knew it, and his curiosity wasn’t about to let it go until he knew as much of it as possible. 

He adjusted his motorcycle helmet one last time before stepping into the house and  quietly shutting the door behind him. If tik was going to be attacked again tik was going to make damn sure he’d leave with minimal injuries and both of his eyes- he still couldn’t quite shake the nightmare from this morning and for once would rather take the safe route than risk getting blinded by a glass tornado- ignoring the question of how he would even explain that at the hospital. The house was silent and still, no indication that there had ever been anything in it all yesterday save for the scuffed boot marks beside the wall where he had scraped tiks soles against it trying to get away from the stairwell.

Said stairwell was cheerily lit as usual, sunlight streaming through the ruined window and spilling over the steps in a way he’d find ironically funny if his hands weren’t shaking slightly at the mere thought of trying to climb them. Protecting his face from glass wasn’t the only reason he had worn the helmet; he had surmised earlier that the easiest way to communicate with the ghost would be to get to where they hid when they weren’t shooing people out. So tik had to get up the stairs, rickety and falling in and probably going to kill him or not. He’d even dressed light for the occasion hoping the shedded weight would make it easier, trading his usual platforms for worn doc martins with none of the layers of clothing and chains he was known for. A t-shirt, green corduroy jacket and ripped jeans was as far as he went, thanking whatever god there was that Logan and Janus hadn’t seen him as they’d never let tik live it down. He doubted they’d seen him out of his punk-esque style in a decade and he preferred to keep it that way. 

Taking a deep breath, tik carefully placed tiks foot on the first step near the wall where he assumed the least amount of damage would be. His foot didn’t break through with his weight like before so, taking it as a good sign, he braced himself against the wall and moved to the second step. Icd shot through tiks veins suddenly as he whipped his head around in search of the eyes he felt raking his back, but of course there was nothing to see. No nails or glass screeching through the air, no shadows dripping from the crevices he could barely make out through the ooze. Just an empty, unassuming house.

Remus tried not to dwell on the fact that in comparison to yesterday the silence left him more unsettled than being attacked would have.

Tik continued on, practically flattening himself against the wall as tik took it one step at a time, wincing as every creak echoed through the silence and only served to further raise the hair along his arms leaving his nerves electrified. Three quarters of the way of the step split down the middle from the wall to the railing, tils heart beating madly against his chest as he waited for it to collapse underneath him and leave him a bloody heap at the bottom. He took his weight off slowly and shifted to the next step up instead which seemed much more stable. Tik was acutely aware it was growing darker, the sun dimming around the edges as shadows began to ooze, so he tried his best to hurry his shimmy  as best he could to try and beat the inevitable. 

Blatantly ignoring the way his boots kept catching on nothing he finally reached the top step. Sighing in relief and closing his eyes for a second, tik dug the flashlight out of his pocket and stepped forward….only to bump his foot against the bottom step.

“What the fuck?” He was on the first floor again, the sun shining merrily at the top and spilling over the clearly visible stairs. Not a shadow in sight. “Okay, then I won’t blink. Needed the exercise anyway ghostie.”

He went up much faster this time, holding his staring contest with the railing like his life depended on it. As the air grew cold and tiks joints stiff he was starting to think it might. Tripping his way up the stairs as his vision began to tunnel he slammed his foot perhaps a tad more decisely than was appropriate on the top step. Tik grinned and stood up straight, making his way towards the corner to finally see what awaited him down the hall- and smashed his nose into the front door.

Nostrils flaring, Remus spun on his heel and marched his way back to the steps and slammed the flashlight on to shine it up the stairs. Tik took a moment to calm tikself and remember to control tiks volume. Yelling probably wouldn’t be the best tithing to do considering he’d nearly gotten an impromptu piercing yesterday just from sitting down. “Very impressive mind games but Janus could do better in his sleep.”

If the entire house darkening for a few seconds before returning to normal was a response that was probably something Remus should have thought more about before speaking. He leaned against the far wall and started again. “Look, I’ve never seen a ghost before so this is cool and shit but- they’re gonna be tearing this place down soon- I’m not sure they could fix and sell it in the state it’s in. Will you be stuck here when they do?”

The house was deathly silent as he waited, flashlight momentarily forgotten before he nearly dropped it. “Oh right! You have no problems manipulating objects so- on is yes, off is no....or maybe- one blink for yes to for no? I won’t ask anything too complicated I swear-”

Tik was cut off by the tool being ripped from his hands and catapulted into the far wall, bulbs smashing and batteries exploding out from the other end. He watched the plastic case clatter to the ground and roll away past his field of sight. While he wasn’t exactly sure which answer the entity had picked he was pretty sure it translated roughly to “fuck your flashlight.” which while much more impressive than a one word response it was decidedly less helpful.

“Okay! You wanna play it that way?” Deciding to do what he did best and simply not think he took a running start and sprinted up the steps, heedless of the wood crumbling beneath him and the shadows licking desperately at his heels. Turning sharply at the top tik kept running until he reached the very end of the hall, spinning around and holding his arms up in a defensive position, preparing for the worst as logic finally caught up to him.

For a moment nothing happened, a flea could have sneezed and Remus probably would have heard it for all the noise there was in the house. If his idiocy had taught him anything however it was that silence here was rarely ever a good thing.

His heart leapt in his throat as a door slammed against the wall, plaster raining down on the floor while the door slammed back into place looking as if it upset the frame with its force. Further down the hall another door did the same, this time taking an entire section of wall with it as it whipped back into place. The last door slammed with even more force, cracking the door itself in two but failing to swing back immediately. Instead it creaked back and forth slowly, as if undecided whether or not enough destruction had been caused to justify its closing. Remus watched it with wide, bloodshot eyes, pressed as tightly against the wall as he could get with shaking knees and rapid breaths. This had been a mistake. Whether his coming here was to selfishly prove there were such things as ghosts or to actually help he wasn’t sure- but this wasn’t at all what he’d expected or wanted.

Tik locked his eyes on the door which had now stopped creaking, shadows deepening around it as a cluster seemed to form just at hand height, pushing the ruined wood aside as it stepped into the hallway fully. There was nowhere to run from the terrifying entity that stood before him, writhing dimness that put a sickly filter over the light coming in through the dingy window. Tiks breathing picked up as he realized just how screwed tik was with no exit short of trying to bust through the wall and nothing but tiks mouth that had already gotten him into this mess to begin with. 

He shrunk back as the form began to move slowly down the hall, a sound registering that sounded like talons scraping against the walls as he frantically looked for what could be making the noise. Whimpering as gouges appeared in the walls sans  any talons or weapons to be seen, tik could only press himself back further and hope to god this wasn’t where his stupidity led him. A painful end in an empty house with a ghost that made the walls press in on him and ripped at his arms painfully and pulled every last breath of air from tiks lungs that it could before it decided to run him through-

He gasped as his back suddenly hit the floor, whipped around and thrown a few feet away so that he was facing the wall he had just been cowering against. Eye shapes so blacked they almost glowed purple stared into his own terrified brown ones mere inches away.

“Leave.” Remus felt the word more than he heard it- a deep, rumbling base shaking him to his core as tik struggled to raise up on tiks elbows without bumping “heads” with the ghost. Creaking snapped his attention to the boards in front of his feet as the floor began to ripple and crack beneath him, his scrabbling to gain purchase making it worse as wood chips began to fly up and around him. Splinters ripped at his clothes and tore his face as tik finally just rolled over and kicked off the wall, half sprawling towards the steps as he rolled sloppily to his feet. 

“L̴͇͓̦͎͊͊E̵̗̻͉͖̟̿̃̇̐͑͗A̶̛̩̤̖̻͛̌̋̓́̌̚V̷̢̰̎̿͆Ę̵̜͓̩͈̺̜̳̗̪̞̦͔͎̄̈̂̍̐̅̍͌̒̌̕͝!̵͙͖͔̲̹̟̫̣̻͙̤̿̐̊̀͒͜͝!̴̨̨̧̘̇̑̎͐͗͌̑̒͛͊̂̓̓̑̚ͅ”

The voice bounced off the walls and slammed into him, knocking him forward and giving tik just enough time to cover his face before tik was sliding down the stairs on his stomach. Groaning, tks eyes widened as he tried to get up only to find tik couldn’t. His arms throbbed in pain and his hip pulled painfully even as he tried using only one leg to push himself away from the shadows coming down the stairs like an infected flood. “Please-”

“L̶̡̛͙̝̙̥͖̳̮̝͕͍͙͎͖̘̘̽̈́͑͑̇̆͛̀̈́̿͊̔̿̚̚̚͠͝͝Ê̵̡̨̡̧̧̪̗͙̲̗̻͈͓̠̟̞̪͚̰͔̑̏̋̉̊͑̿̈͂̓̓̇̍̀̍̚̕͝ͅA̷͎̯̱̲̤͇͉͍͓̤̦̕͜͝ͅV̶̛̞͛͂̓̅̚͘̚͠E̴̬͕̬̣̟̽̄̽̆́́̋̀̈́̏͋͂͌̑̋́̊͘͝͝!̸̢̛̘̘̝̰̖̼̝͙̖͕̦̹͓͈͉͓̫̰̘͙̾͆̍͆̏̑́͒̿͊͂̈́̈̏͝͠ͅ!̷̨̧̭̪͙͈̫̰͖̻̤̺̝͋̉̐̓͐̾̓̓̏͋͂͜ͅ”

“I can’t!” Remus sobbed as his body was flung like a ragdoll towards the door, limbs splayed out in a way he’d joke about if he wasn’t so afraid he was going to die. Everything in him was screaming to just get up, crawl if he had to but get away, get away, get away-

And then he stood.

His body protested immediately but he hardly registered it in his panic. He hadn’t moved...and it was quiet. Why was it quiet? It shouldn’t be quiet he was going to die and now it was quiet-

“T̵̯̾h̵̳̑i̸̦͂s̶̢͆ ̷̰͌ỉ̶̗s̵̜̾-̸̲͗ ̷͈̈́I̸͔̅'̴͒͜d̷̗͘ ̸̫͊f̵̜̆o̸̡͠r̵̛̼g̸͎̈́o̶̞͊t̸̹͂t̵̺̑ė̵͔ṇ̵̿-”

“Forgotten what?” He mouthed, not a sound escaping from tiks cracked and bloodied lips.

His bruised fists clenched of their own accord and he began to jerkily move towards the door.

“I̷ ̵w̷a̷n̸t̷ ̷y̸o̵u̶ ̸o̷u̵t̶ ̵a̶n̸d̵ ̶I̴ ̵w̶a̸n̵t̴ ̷y̴o̷u̸ ̵f̶a̷r̸ ̶a̴w̵a̸y̷” The voice continued to echo in his head. “I̷ ̷w̷a̵n̸t̸ ̴y̵o̴u̶ ̴o̶u̶t̴ ̷a̶n̵d̵ ̶I̷'̶m̵ ̶n̸o̵t̶ ̴l̶e̴t̶t̶i̷n̴g̴ ̴y̴o̶u̵ ̴g̷o̶ ̸u̷n̷t̶i̸l̴ ̷I̶'̸m̸ ̵s̷u̶r̸e̷ ̸y̶o̴u̴ ̸c̶a̸n̸'̵t̶ ̸c̸o̶m̴e̴ ̵b̴a��c̴k̸!̸”

A chill ran through him as tik tried desperately to fight but it was no use. Tik slammed through the door into the cool night air, startling him as he wondered just how long he’d been trapped inside the house.

And then his body began to run.

Previous     Next

[full-of-roman-angst-trash]

A Prince’s Room Part 2

(I finally got past my writer’s block and finished part 2! Also I got some inspiration for this chapter from an amazing anon from this ask. So yeah, sorry this took so long to make, writing is hard)

TW: Unsympathetic Sides (Except for Roman), Self-Doubt, Cursing, Arguing, Injuries, Mention of starving once self and not sleeping, Mention of Manipulation, Quilt tripping, Blaming, Caps, Hurt no Comfort, Weapons, If I missed any, pleased tell me and I will add it.

Pairings: None

Word Count: 2384

~~~~~~~~

A few months have now passed since the awful accident. Roman was now in his room. He hasn’t eaten in about 4 weeks. He has kept hydrated and he occasionally slept once in a while. Well, more like he would wait until his body gave out and forced him to sleep. While the sides didn’t need to physically take care of themselves as normal people do, they can choose to be affected by things like starvation and sleep deprivation. And, Roman chose to let it affect it. 

He considered this his punishment. His punishment for being so stupid. He had one reason to live. One reason to continue fighting despite how much it hurt him. To make his friends happy. To please them. And he failed. He failed so badly. All those days of taking notes, of observing their friends closely, of forcing himself to change. All of that, for nothing. All the struggles and self-inflicted punishments for participating in what he labeled a bad habit, just for him to mess it all up. Just for him to make the dumbest mistake that will make all his work for nothing. He couldn’t stop thinking of where he went wrong. Was it letting himself lose track of time on the day of the confrontation? Was it leaving the chart in such an obvious place? Was it naming the chart “Duties”? Was it making the chart in the first place? He couldn’t decide. All he knew was that he lost the war. He had prided himself on winning thousands of battles. But in the end, he let himself lose the war. He lost by his own hands. And now all he had left was nothing more than toxic thoughts and a torn-up room.

He knew that he couldn’t die, at least not from something like starvation, so he just sat there suffering. He gave up on giving Thomas ideas. He didn’t think it was worth staying up all night or constantly fighting writer’s block. He didn’t think it was worth sitting through the harsh criticisms of the others. It just wasn’t worth it. Nothing was. Not anymore.

The others knew about Roman’s absence, they just didn’t care. In fact, they enjoyed it. They were happy that they no longer had to deal with a fake friend. On top of that, they were glad he didn’t have to deal with his dramatics. They no longer had to deal with his excessive talking that many times was too loud. They didn’t have to deal with him constantly talking about Disney or another interest for hours non-stop. They didn’t have to deal with his nonsense stories that often derailed and became off-topic. They didn’t have to deal with his loud singing at random times of the day. They didn’t have to deal with him constantly accidentally bumping into them every time he would dance around the living room. They didn’t have to deal with him. It was a breath of relief for them.

What they did care about though, was his lack of work. They cared that Thomas had been in a creative block for months. They cared that he wasn’t working on scripts for the next video. They cared that he wasn’t going out to auditions. They cared that they had no way to make money.  

And so soon, they got fed up with it. They were tired of not being able to make money from their main source of income. They were tired of Thomas just sitting around and wasting time. They were tired of Roman just being selfish, but none of them wanted to talk to him.

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

“So, what are we going to do now?” Logan looks at the others.

They all decided to gather in the living room to hopefully construct a plan of action. 

Virgil rolls his eyes in annoyance, “I don’t care but whatever it is, I am not going to talk to that bastard.”

“Kiddo, language,” Patton mumbles. 

The anxious side just rolls his eyes in response.

“Can you all focus?! We need to figure this out! Thomas can’t continue neglecting his job!” Logan says, starting to get frustrated with the others.

“Wow, thanks for the information Logan,” Janus starts sarcastically, “It’s not like we didn’t already know that.”

The logical side turns to the snake-like side, “Shut up Janus. If you already know this then how about you help me find a solution!”

Now Janus starts getting mad, “Isn’t that supposed to be your job! You’re the logical one!”

“Enough!” Patton intervenes, “This isn’t getting us anywhere!”

Remus laughs, finding the others bickering quite entertaining.

“What are you laughing about?” The moral side asks pointedly.

The intrusive side shrugs, “I just think it’s funny when you guys argue.”

That’s when a full fight breaks out. Everyone yelling at each other and insulting one another. This happened quite often nowadays. Ever since the accident tensions have been very high, often overspilling into massive arguments. They didn't want to argue. They didn't like to constantly sit in a room fueled by tension. They didn’t like carefully picking out what to say. Walking on eggshells so thin that the smallest amount of added weight made that sea of eggshells crumble in seconds. 

In the end, though, it never mattered. No matter how careful they were. How much they didn’t want to argue and fight. Or how much they wanted the tension gone. It didn't matter. Because in the end, all their efforts were for nothing. The sea of eggshells was always broken. The tension always built up to a suffocating extent. And it was frustrating for them. So, they took out that frustration on each other. 

About half an hour later of them just arguing, Patton decided it was enough. 

"EVERYONE SHUT UP! WE CAN'T CONTINUE DOING THIS! WE NEED TO FIND A SOLUTION TO OUR PROBLEM AND THIS IS GETTING US NOWHERE!"

Everyone went quiet and just stared at Patton for a bit. 

Eventually, Logan spoke up, "You're right. We should all go to confront Roman and convince him to stop being unreasonable." 

It takes a bit of convincing but eventually, everyone agrees to the plan. So, they start making their way over to Roman’s room. 

Once they get to Roman’s room, Virgil is the one to begrudgingly knock on the door. Minutes pass and there’s no answer making all of them frustrated. So, this time Remus knocks on the door, much harsher and louder. 

There’s still no answer. 

So, in an act of frustration and anger, Remus breaks the door down. The second he does a terrified scream fills the room, startling all of them. When they take in the scenery, they all feel their hearts sink. 

The room itself was a mess. All the posters and papers were ripped off the walls and laying on the floor, crumpled and torn to bits. The actual paint on the walls was scratched off, nail markings and dried blood in its place. Makeup and art supplies littered the floor, most of it was no longer usable. Medals and prizes were either broken or accompanying the rest of the mess on the floor. 

The most heartbreaking part about the situation in front of them though was the small trembling figure in the corner. 

Roman looked pale and sickly. He was significantly skinnier than the last time the others had seen him. He was shaking so much, it looked like the smallest touch would shatter him. His eyes had deep bags underneaths his eyes, once that easily beat Virgil’s. It was upsetting, to say the least. 

They slowly begin to make their way over, noting how the sickly side didn't react at all. They stop a few feet in front of him.

"R-Roman….?" Patton calls him quietly.

He doesn't respond. Not even move, well aside from his shaking.

"R-Robro pl-please…." Remus tries, his voice deep with regret and uncertainty. 

No response from the broken side.

Logan decides to move closer and place a hand on the other side's shoulder gently, immediately noticing how cold he was. Before he can say anything, Roman slaps his hand away and tries to move further into the corner, whimpering when he realized he couldn't. 

Logan steps away, startled by Roman’s actions. It was now Janus's turn to try anything. He goes over and kneels in front of the creative side.

He speaks softly, "Roman, can you hear me….?"

Roman hugs his knees and buries his face in them, going back to not moving or responding. 

Virgil groans quietly and steps forward, "Come on Princey. This isn’t funny."

"Virgil is right," Logan says, "This is impractical and a waste of time. Thomas needs you to get back to work. Stop acting like a child and letting all these things affect you. You're not human, you can't die."

"I hate to agree with them kiddo," Patton speaks up, "But, they're right. You can't continue doing this."

Suddenly Roman stands up, ignoring the dizziness it brought him. His legs were shaking so much that it seemed like his knees would just give out underneath him. Yet, he stood strong, his anger very visible. 

“Get the fuck out of my room! All of you FUCK OFF!”

Patton quickly reacts, “Roman! Language! We’re here to help you and you’re being ungrateful! We’re trying to fix your mistakes!”

“I DON’T FUCKING CARE!” Patton flinches and hides behind the others. 

Everyone else is completely speechless.

“YOU’RE NOT HERE TO HELP ME! YOU’RE HERE TO QUILT TRIP ME INTO THINKING THAT I’M IN THE WRONG AND THAT I’M THE CAUSE OF ALL THIS! GUESS WHAT? I WON’T FALL FOR YOUR SHIT ANYMORE!”

Remus manages to find his voice, “ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?! THIS IS YOUR FAULT! IF YOU HADN’T TREATED US LIKE SOME SORT OF TASKS NONE OF THIS WOULD BE HAPPENING!”

Roman turns to Remus, summoning his sword and nearly slashing his twin with it, however, Remus was able to block it with his morning star in time.

“I DIDN’T TREAT YOU GUYS LIKE TASKS! IF YOU HAD ALL JUST SHUT UP AND LET ME SPEAK ON THAT FUCKING DAY YOU WOULD HAVE KNOWN WHAT THE GRAPH WAS ACTUALLY FOR!”

“Enough!” Janus says in a harsh and serious tone, mad that Roman tried to hurt Remus.

Logan sighs, “Roman, what was the graph for?”

Roman grits his teeth and puts his sword away when he sees Janus glaring at him.

“The graph was to try and keep you guys happy! It had lists of what you guys liked and made you happy so that I could please you all and make sure I didn’t FUCK UP OUR FRIENDSHIP! BECAUSE GUESS WHAT?! YOU ALL WERE THE ONE THING THAT GAVE ME A REASON TO CONTINUE DOING MY JOB AND LIVING! YOU GUYS WERE THE REASON I STILL CONSIDERED IT WORTH IT TO GET UP EVERY MORNING! WAS THE NAME OF THE GRAPH BAD? YES! I REGRET NAMING IT THAT BUT WHEN I CAME UP WITH IT I COULDN’T THINK OF A BETTER NAME BECAUSE OF THE HORRIBLE CREATOR’S BLOCK I HAD!” Hot angry tears flow down Roman’s face as he takes harsh, semi-short breaths.

Every other side suddenly freezes. Remus lowers his morning star. Janus’s glare vanishes. Virgil, who was standing in front of Patton in a defensive position, dropped his guard. Patton’s face goes pale and ghostly. Logan bites his tongue a bit and tenses slightly.

The other sides don’t dare to say anything and instead just watch Roman, who is trying to desperately wipe his tears away and calm down to no avail. 

“R-RoRo….” Remus decides to try and fix his mistake.

“Don’t.” Roman quickly shoots down any sort of apology they try and give him.  

“R-Roman please….” Virgil shakily speaks, on the verge of an anxiety attack.

“Leave,” Roman looks away from them, fighting the urge to forgive them and fall into their abuse again.

Janus takes a deep breath, “Please let us talk-”

This makes Roman’s blood boil all over again, “OH DON’T YOU DARE SAY THAT!” His tears start again, “Not after everything I’ve been through because YOU all REFUSED to let ME talk!”

They go quiet again, watching the once prince-like side with pity.

“You don’t get to cast me aside and make my life a living hell, then once you learn the truth try and to apologize to make yourselves feel better! I REFUSE TO FALL FOR YOUR FUCKING GAMES AGAIN! Just SECONDS ago you were all dismissing my feelings just to get me to work and make you guys money again! I’m DONE! SO. GET. OUT. OF. MY. ROOM!”

They don’t dare to try and argue again. They all start walking out of the room. Roman keeps his eyes to the floor, once again trying to stop his tears with little success.

Then just before he hears his door close, he hears words that add salt to his thousands of wounds.

“I’m sorry.”

From a voice, he quickly identified, Patton…

Roman punches the wall in rage, not caring or even flinching when the wall breaks and his knuckles bleed. 

He falls to the floor, hugging himself tightly as he sobbed. All the pain he felt from that unfortunate day that spiraled everything out of proportion, now back a million times worse. As well as the pain of having to confront the very people he once loved and fighting the urge to hug them and just forgiven them for the sake of being loved again.

The guilt-filled sides all went back to their individual rooms and, much like Roman, broke down. Their tears filled with regret and self-hate.

But, even if Roman could hear their cries from his room or as he passed their rooms to get food, he didn’t feel bad. They only cared after he snapped at them. They never tried and asked for his side of his story during the time he was locked in his room. He didn’t feel bad for them because he knew they didn’t really care about him. Instead, they cared about their own emotions and conscience. 

So as he walked back to his room after getting some snacks, once again passing through the loud sobs, he pledges to never let them win again by blindly trusting them and giving them his friendship.