#and totally not me projecting just how happy i was to hear this dumbasses' boots waltz into sharlayan because I knew exactly what it meant

[fatedroses]

I dont post my wips often but when I do they're either just uncolored sketches or they look like the ramblings and scrawlings of a madwoman lmao

[empteygold]

Clockwork (1)

Summary: It was just like any other Sunday, you were on your way out to meet your two best friends for coffee. It’s been a tradition ever since you all began high school. Now you’re all graduated and your two best friends have officially become pro hero’s. You on the other hand, just lived a regular life as you were quirkless, or so you had thought.

Genre: Angst with a little fluff. It’s not much but things will progress as this fic goes on

Cw: Cursing, talks of depression

Notes: Hi guys, thanks for reading, this is the first fic i have written and the first time in a long time since i have written anything. I have plans for this fic and it will evolve so i hope you stat tuned. 

The warm sunlight peeking through your window slowly awoke you from your slumber. You had spent all night tossing and turning. Once you had finally fallen asleep, the sweet bliss was snatched away from you. As a child you remember having recurring nightmares, and now those nightmares were starting to resurface. You weren’t sure as of why they were coming back, since it has been many years since you’ve experienced any form of dreaming. 

Not being able to fall back to sleep, you slowly took your time and finally managed to get out of bed. You reached for an oversized hoodie, one you had stolen from your childhood best friend years ago. It gave you comfort. You remember how when you first got it, it smelled like smoke and sweat. It was all he had on him, but you were cold, so he did what he could do. You never gave it back.

 As you got up you made your way to the restroom fuzzily trying to remember your dreams last night. You couldn’t quite shake the feeling of the agonizing pit in your stomach. You couldn’t quite put your finger on it, but your nightmare had felt so realistic. It gave you a sense of déjà vu, like you have been here many times before. It felt familiar and warm, but it also made you sick to your stomach. 

You decided to hop in the shower, trying your hardest to push down these feelings. You set the water to an almost boiling temperature thinking it would help. As you stood in the shower crying you suddenly remembered, it was Sunday. Suddenly you felt that ache slowly go away, and you felt a little more at ease. Every Sunday you had a tradition of meeting your two best friends whom you have known the entirety of your life. While you may have known each other longer than you can actually remember, you didn’t actually decide to start this tradition until you started high school.

******

You, Izuku, and Bakugo were completely inseparable up until you all started high school. Both Bakugo and Izuku had gotten into UA, the best school to become a pro-hero. However, you just went to a plain old high school, as you never inherited a quirk of your own. As children you and Izuku had a closer relationship than the one between you and Bakugo. Two best friends basically conjoined at the hip. Izuku was also quirk-less at the time. You all thought he would never get one and that’s how you stayed so close. Two quirk-less best friends. 

Bakugo got his explosion quirk young and spent more time with kids who had quirks. Izuku was always hell bent on becoming a hero even without a quirk of his own. The day Izuku received his quirk you and Bakugo were in complete and udder shock. You weren’t surprised though, you had a gut wrenching feeling that a quirk would arise in him someday. The boys were concerned about you making sure you were okay as you still didn’t have a quirk. You were very content with not having one, and it never really crossed your mind on what you would do if you had ever gotten one. 

You never considered yourself a bad person, but you didn’t considerer yourself a good one either. Saving people in a heroic way seemed distasteful to you. The only downside of not having a quirk of your own meant not being able to see your beloved best friends as much as you would have liked. Hero training and regular study courses at UA made things very chaotic and hectic for the boys. There was little time for you, and you slowly began to fade from their life’s. During this time period, you had struggled with some major personal issues and not being able to see your friends and have someone to vent to made you spiral into an overwhelming depression.

  It had been months since you’ve seen the boys, Bakugo was home for fall vacation and Izuku was out somewhere doing something you weren’t too sure of at the time. Bakugo had called you up and it was so nice to hear his voice. It was low and stoic instead of chaotic how it usually was. When you picked up he could immediately tell something was bothering you and asked if you were free to hangout. 

You met Bakugo at a café in town that was in the middle of UA and your academy. It was a Sunday morning, there was a crisp breeze and leaving of different colors falling around you. The walk was somber your mind kept wandering not being able to control your feelings or thoughts. You kept picking at your scarf as you were over thinking. As you got closer to the café the smell of freshly roasted coffee beans and sweet pastries calmed you down.

 Once you entered the café you immediately saw Bakugo. He looked nervous for some reason, but his expression changed immediately once his eyes met yours. “What’s with that face Kacchan?” you smirked with a flirty tone. ‘Well good morning to you too dumbass. If you must know, I’m just happy to see you.” Bakugo was only sweet when it came to you, he would never let anyone see him like this. Not even Izuku. While you could tell his feeling were genuine you felt as if he was hiding something. “I didn’t order yet, I don’t exactly know what you like.” He mumbled in a soft tone. 

You ordered something new, something you saw one of your favorite American celebrity order in an movie you had to watch for a school project. “I’ll have an oat milk latte with vanilla and hazelnut please.”  Bakugo looked at you with a slightly confused face. “I’ll have that too I guess” he stated. You knew Bakugo too well and knew he wouldn’t like it. “Actually, just give him an Americano with vanilla and hazelnut” you smirked back at him “Trust me.” Bakugo was quite impressed with your drink choice even though he didn’t admit it, you could see the smile after his first sip.

  You spent the next couple hours catching up, as you realized the time you informed him how you needing to get going. Even though it was fall break you had multiple assignments to catch up on as you were basically failing every single one of your classes. You tended to procrastinate as it was Sunday you had to finish it all by tonight. Bakugo was very displeased in hearing this as he is a top student and knew how much potential you really had.

 Upon hearing about what has been going on in your life and how you aren’t doing well in school he decided then and there that every Sunday he would make time for you. He would meet you in this café and he would check on your studies, and even help tutor you. He felt so guilty for not having spent time with you. As he was telling you his plan for the next coming Sunday his little surprised came and plopped down right beside you. “DEKU” you just about cried seeing your two favorite boys together again. Kacchan went ahead and told him his plan and Deku insisted he come along every Sunday as well. Three best friends back together again, and that’s how your Sunday traditions began.

******

After a long-deserved shower, you made your way to your closet, while you knew it was Sunday and the plans to meet with friends was already set in motion, you couldn’t be bothered to put on anything to fancy. Your body still ached from the night before. The fumbling in bed and the jerk of your body as you came pummeling down from your nightmares really put a strain on your body and mind.

 A simple pair of leggings and Kacchan’s oversized hoodie seemed to be just fine. Making your way through your apartment, the coldness of the floor made you shiver. As you went back into the restroom to finish getting ready, the image in the mirror startled you. It’s been years since you’ve felt like this. The nightmares bringing up repressed memories and feelings you’ve buried long ago. 

The bags under your eyes seem darker than normal and it doesn’t seem like a cup of coffee can help you fix this one. You looked back at your reflection, disappointed in what was looking back and sighed “I swear we’ve been here before, and you can’t go back to feeling like this. Pull yourself together. If not for yourself do it for Bakugo, you know he wouldn’t want to see you like this.” With a little self-deprecation and your pep talk you managed to get ready for the day.

 You’re usually known to wear bold eye looks but today you went with something a little softer. A muted brown Smokey eye with a sharp wing liner. As you made your way to your front door, you put on your favorite pair of combat boots. You wore them everywhere, they were in tatters and barley hanging on by a thread, but you loved them more than anything. Upon leaving you felt a slight breeze graze your face.

*Bzzzz bzzzz* You grab your phone from your pocket and answer “Hello?” you mustered up the nerve to get it out as you were not in the mood to be speaking to anyone right at this moment. Once you heard it was Bakugo you felt more reassured. ‘Hey dumbass, where are you?” You didn’t realize the time and how late you had been running all along. “Oh my god Kacchan I am so sorry, I totally forgot about our plans today” a slight hint of sarcasm rolled of your tongue.  ‘YOU WHAT” it sounded far more disappointing then angry.” Nah I’m just fucking with you dummy, turn around” There he stood, his sadden eyes igniting at your sight. 

This man had the purest crimson red eyes, they matched the fire within in soul.  He was beautiful but in the way forest fires were beautiful. He may be destructive, but he did it in the most alluring way. Bakugo made his way towards you wrapping his arms around your waist, you were never one for personal touch even hugs with people you considered your friends was hard for you. With him you felt comfortable, safe even. There was always an unspoken bond between the two of you, after a certain night back in high school but Bakugo would never make the first move and neither would you. 

You’ve never held on to him so long in your life. He never once complained though, he just held you until you decided to let go. As the hug came to an end he could sense the tenseness in your body. Your eyes didn’t have the same sheen to them as they usually do. Even though you were wearing makeup he could see the puffiness that still remained. A thumb landed on the apple of your check and slowly rubbed circles into it.

 Bakugo let out a small sigh “Oi, I forgot to tell you, Deku won’t be meeting us here today, He’s on a mission and we don’t know when he will be back” A small flash of sadness overcame your face as you would have really enjoyed seeing Izuku, but you understood he had responsibilities as a pro hero. Suddenly your thoughts were interrupted as the barista shouted out your order. You hadn’t realized that Kacchan had already ordered. “Oat milk latte with vanilla and hazelnut and an americano with vanilla and hazelnut for Bakugo and (Y/N).” He was absolutely hooked on that flavor combo since you introduced it to him quite some time ago.

 The Barista knew you all by name as they have been working here just as long as you have been coming to this café. Upon receiving your drinks, you make your way to your favorite booth in the corner. It’s hidden away from everyone, it’s nicely lit, and you can see everything happening around you. You’ve always liked to be aware of your soundings in any situations.

 Bakugo stares at you intensely, you know exactly where this is going. You take in a deep breath and sigh as he continued to ask you if you were alright. At first, you’re very hesitant but with sweaty hands and a quivering lip you look up and speak. “They’re back Kacchan. My nightmares, they’re back.” The amount of shock of his face was agonizing to see, he still remembers how bad they used to get. 

Your nightmares would get to the point where you would call bakugo in the middle of the night screaming and crying because of how real the dreams felt.  On days he could, he would sneak out of UA and come to comfort you. He would stay by your side and hold until you calmed down and slowly drifted back to sleep. It was so utterly heartbreaking for him to see you, his best friend so broken and scared. Some days he wouldn’t be able to sneak out but even then he would facetime you until you fell asleep and would stay on until the sun rose. No one ever knew about this not even Izuku. 

As you and Bakugo grew closer you and Deku started to slowly drift apart. Izuku only really cared about becoming a hero and his new friends. He spent all of his time with them training and even doing all the stuff you used to do. It made you feel thrown aside and unappreciated. Just because you didn’t have a quirk didn’t mean you still couldn’t hang out with him anymore. For someone who went most of his life unnoticed and quirk less you though he would understand how you felt but he really didn’t. Bakugo on the other hand made some new friends and they’re all really great but thankfully he always made time for you.

  Bakugo looks up into your eyes glossed over as tears start to form in the corners, he lays his hands atop yours. (Y/N) are you okay, do you know what triggered them to comeback?” He was quiet, worried about the response you may give him. You stare into his eyes thinking of your response, you didn’t know what to tell him. These nightmares you had were the same as they used to be. He’s already heard what happens. Images and scenes of you and the people you love dying in the most gruesome way. So detailed oriented as if they were memories you had once lived. Recently it has been the same recurring dream but last night, there were minor inconsistencies. 

“They’re the same Kacchan, I keep seeing myself and everyone around me die, but the worst part is how real they feel.” As you explained your most current dream to him you could see him become teary eyed. This was a dream that has made you feel so uneasy. This was a dream you had consistently back when you were younger. It started with you walking down an unfamiliar street in an unfamiliar neighborhood. There was nothing unusual about it. You would always pass a thriving Onigiri shop, A couple dogs on a walk and even pass by the most beautiful flower shop. As you come to an intersection waiting to cross the road when you suddenly trip. You fly head first into oncoming traffic and the way your body id torn apart is appalling.

 While you only tell Bakugo the dream ends with you being hit, you don’t go into graphic detail not wanting to worry him more than you should. The strangest part is it always felt intentional, like someone was trailing you. You always felt eyes on you, and even though you never knew how to explain it you described them to be eyes that stared into your soul. You saw galaxies floating around in those eyes, just like clockworks. You always heard ticking in the back of your mind. Was it a count down? Why was this all you could now think about.

 As your mind came back to the realization you were talking to bakugo he let you know that he will always be there for you and in the end, things would be okay. He tried his hardest for you, but deep down you knew he would never understand. As the morning passes by your usually meeting is cut short as Bakugo was summoned to help out in crime that had gotten out of town downtown. You said your goodbyes and headed your separate ways.

As you headed home you decided to take a new route, a longer way home as you still wanted some time to yourself to reflect on everything happening. The walk was cold, but the sunlight made it bearable. The leaves were changing beautiful colors and were slowly falling. You took in the air around you as autumn was your favorite season of the year. Making your way farther into the neighborhood, you stopped as that heavy and unsettling feeling resurfaced. 

You tried to ignore it but as you made your way farther down the street you stop and stared to the building on coming up your right you notice the sign decomposing and falling apart. “Onigiri….” You were in shock, but the place looks like it’s been shut down for years, abandoned even. You continued on your way, but the unsettling feeling kept growing. You next find yourself in front of a flower shop. The flowers are all dead, and the store window was smashed to shreds. Maybe it was a quirk gone wrong. “This has to be a coincidence” you say to yourself trying to believe your own words.

 Suddenly you see it, someone walking two dogs passing you. You’re in a trance, panicking not understanding what’s happening and why you’re seeing everything you saw in your dreams. Without thinking you start running down the street. For a slight moment you glance back, to make sure no one was trailing you. As soon as you turned around you felt it, someone had pushed you right into oncoming traffic.

 As you look up while you fall you finally see her. A woman with galaxies in her eyes, was that apart of her quirk you wonder as you watch her disappear. As you’re falling you hear the ticking of clocks and see a bus heading for you. “This is it, this is how I die isn’t it?” You slowly begin to sob only wishing you had held on a little tighter to bakugo today. As you fall to the ground you’re stuck looking at the bus like a deer in headlights, when suddenly everything around you comes to a complete stop.

 As you’re heaving and trying to catch your breath you look around for a hero who may have been the cause for what’s happening. You’ve heard of hero’s who can slow objects and time around them for short periods of time but a hero who could stop time completely it was unheard of. There was no one in sight, how could that be you wondered to yourself. As you started getting up you heard the ticking of the clock speeding up, for some reason you knew this meant time would be returning to normal, you made your way back to the sidewalk. 

You stared at awe at the street where you just about died. You were quirk-less all your life, or so you thought.

[romansleftshoulderpad]

A Curse is a Dream Your Heart Makes

HUUUUGE Huge thank you to @max-is-tired for being my wonderful beta and also for them and @justcallmepancake for listening to my constant rambling about this!

Ships: Prinxiety, and just about every combination of Logan and Patton being fathers.

Tags: @fandermom @my-analogical-romance @patchworkofstars @jynxlovesluck @notveryglittery

Warnings: Swearing, curses, Deceit (character) both sympathetic and as a villain, Temporary major character death, caps lock. OP might have missed cleaning up a few of /these guys/

Word count: 19,226

----

Roman wasn’t exactly in his room when he woke up. In fact, he didn’t know if he was anywhere, exactly. He wasn’t even sure he woke up. The walls around him looked flat, but outside the window were plenty of layers and dimensions. He was surely dreaming, wasn’t he? He pinched his arm, slightly alarmed to actually feel pain. He looked down at his arm. It was smooth. Too smooth. Unrealistically smooth. Hold on...

If there was one thing Roman excelled at, it was being the resident Disney Trivia master. So if theoretically, he were to wake up inside of a Disney movie, he’d know. And he knew. The only question was: Why?

Okay ‘why’ didn’t matter. He was in a Disney movie, for heaven’s sake! He was going to have some fun with it. He explored his castle to find the nearest stable and set off the follow through with this adventure.

It was a bright and sunny day as Roman rode along. He could have spent hours just enjoying the views, but he had to be The Prince, and when he saw the familiar cobblestone of an old grey castle he knew he was searching in the right direction.

The echo of a soft voice singing to oneself confirmed that Roman was headed in the right direction. He drew closer to a cobblestone wall and leapt off of his high horse. There were enough cracks and gaps between the stone to be able to climb it. Oh, the voice he heard was so lovely and enchanting as it echoed from the old wishing well that Roman knew so well- he had seen this movie a thousand times after all.

He pulled himself to the top of the wall and nearly fell off when he saw the man singing into it. His old black pants were torn and dusty, with an old white blouse tucked into them. He was gorgeous, but that wasn’t the problem. Gorgeous with the voice of an angel, yes, but he was-

“Virgil?!” Roman yelled, promptly falling off of the fucking wall and landing on his chest like an aloof moron.

Virgil jumped away from the wishing well, frozen for a moment as Roman scrambled off of the ground. “How do you know my name?!” Virgil asked.

“Hmm?” Roman asked, totally blanking. Virgil didn’t recognize him? How could he not? Roman had checked the mirror before leaving, and he definitely still looked like himself. Maybe Virgil was just playing the part! That was likely! At least, Roman thought it was likely until he met the other boy’s eyes. Virgil was shaking, terrified even! He definitely had no idea who Roman was.

“Why you’re Prince Virgil, of course!” Roman said, trying to hold his bluff as best as he could. It was then that he realized that not everything was perfectly scripted, was it?

“Oh,” Virgil said, “right.” The silence hurt in a way that could rival any fight they’ve had in the past. 

Assuming this was the same Virgil, at least.

“I suppose proper introductions are in order,” Roman said. He bowed dramatically, extending his hands so that his blue cape shook around him. The real Virgil always claimed to hate when he did this. “Prince Roman, at your service.”

Virgil hesitantly bowed in response. “Well, Prince Roman, I really must go. Chores and such.”

“Wait, Vir- Prince Virgil-!” he called out, but his attempts proved fruitless. Virgil was already rushing inside of the castle.

So what was a confused Roman to do to both follow the script and force the villain here to unveil themselves? Sing, of course. “One song,” he started softly. “I have but one song.”

He could see Virgil pause in front of a glass window. “One song, only for you.” Virgil disappeared again, presumably rushing off to the balcony with its iconic red curtains.

“One heart,” Roman projected, “tenderly beating! Ever entreating; constant and true.” His eyes shifted to where the evil queen should appear any second now. Virgil peaked through a curtain. Right. That’s what he was doing. “One love that has possessed me. One love thrilling me through.”

Virgil looked down from the balcony at the ridiculous prince in a ridiculously flowery cape with ridiculous boots that didn’t even look practical. This ridiculous prince that he couldn’t take his eyes off of, almost as if he were under a spell. “One song,” the prince continued, “my heart keeps singing of one love only for you.” Virgil smiled at the prince before disappearing back into the castle. His stepmother would never approve of him, but what she didn’t know couldn’t kill anyone.

Roman spent the next few hours making up for what he considered lost time. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was an animated miracle in 1937, Roman could never give up the chance to explore everything he could. Besides, The Prince hardly played a role in this movie anyway, he’d have days to just unwind and explore.

It was when he saw Patton covered in blood that he decided to make a quick stop. “Are you okay?” he asked.

Patton looked to him, fear, terror, and regret filled his eyes. “The prince,” he mumbled. “The- the prince.”

“What about the prince?” Roman asked, looking down at Patton. He had never seen him this scared before, and the blood splashed across his dull, brown clothing was truly a horrific sight to behold.

“He- he- he,” Patton’s breath was shaky as he tried to stabilize it.

Roman dismounted from his horse yet again and put a hand on Patton’s shoulder. “You look like you need a drink, sir, would you care to join me for one?”

Patton looked around, his eyes darting all across the forest that seemed to be growing dimmer, deeper, and creepier by the second. “I’m not sure that anywhere would be safe.”

“Come to my castle,” Roman said, “we’ll both be safe there and you can tell me anything you must get off your chest. I won’t tell a soul.”

Patton sighed and nodded his head pleadingly, allowing the prince to lift him onto the horse. They both knew it’d be a long- but needed- conversation.

Upon arriving at the castle, Roman ordered a servant to fetch Patton some clean clothes as he poured two chalices of wine. Chalices? Okay maybe being stuck in a film had some benefits after all.

“Now, tell me what’s troubling you, Patton,” Roman said, pushing a cup towards the hunter.

“How do you know my name?” Patton asked. Roman really needed to fucking learn to stop saying people’s names when they didn’t have a clue who he was.

“Lucky guess,” Roman said, and apparently that was enough of an explanation for Patton. “What’s wrong?”

“The Queen,” he said softly, still rather paranoid that she might overhear, “gave me special orders to kill her stepson- Prince Virgil.”

“The prince is dead?”

“No,” Patton said, shaking his head, “but I had to kill something in his place to keep the queen satiated, at least for a little while.” The breath he realized was frail and shaky, as he concentrated on his bloodstained hands and the chalice that he held. “I fear what might become of me when the queen finds out.”

“You’ll be alright,” Roman said, reassuringly putting a hand on Patton’s arm. “I assure you, I swear on my life, I shall not let her harm you.”

“I couldn’t possibly ask you to risk your life for me.”

“Your story will have a happy ending,” Roman said, “trust me.”

As days and nights passed, Roman would soon learn that being stuck in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs is rather boring for anyone who isn’t Snow White. Although, knowing Virgil, he was sure that being chased through the woods by a knife-wielding Patton wasn’t exactly a picnic either. Still, it’d be nice to know where the story was headed, and he had seen the movie enough times to know where the cottage was. Surely it couldn’t hurt to keep the timeline in order a little bit.

He approached the cottage slowly, peeking in through an old glass window (like a fucking stalker but go off I guess) and watched as a familiar scene came to life. Virgil, dressed now in bolder colors and cleaner clothes, dancing and laughing with seven dwarfs. Roman couldn’t even fathom a time that he had ever seen Virgil this carefree before. True, it wasn’t actually the Virgil that he knew, but it was nice to pretend that it was.  

When he saw Dopey glance his way, the prince ducked below the window, hoping to not flip the script more than he already had. He stayed behind the window a bit longer, hoping to make an escape plan, but something held him back. Something, a deep, desperate longing to hear what comes next weighed in his chest until it was too heavy to remove himself from where he sat by the window.

A hushed conversation as the dwarfs’ music ended, but the familiar instrumental started up in Roman’s head as if he were imagining it. It was Virgil’s voice, soft and low, as he began to sing, “Someday my prince will come...”

Oh, he really did sing like an angel. Perhaps this was a dream, a very weird dream, after falling asleep during Snow White, but at this point, Roman didn’t want to wake up. He wanted to listen to the wondrous sound of Virgil’s voice as the sky grew darker and dimmer. His eyelids grew heavy until he fell sound asleep.

Falling asleep was a bad idea, especially when you have an impatient horse to take care of. Oh, it’s also a bad idea to fall asleep while offscreen in a film where your character spends quite a long time being unneeded to the plot as side effects may include being asleep for several days. Yes, this dumbass prince actually fell asleep outside against a house for two days.

He stretched out his sore back, glancing towards the window once more to find the cottage completely empty. “I’m sorry, Destiny,” he said, petting the horse gently, “let’s get you back home and I’ll feed you extra carrots, alright?” He mounted Destiny and began riding off towards the castle, but strangely, slowed down, headed towards a trail of fallen apples. Roman tried to steer the horse away, knowing damn well those apples were poisoned. “Let’s go, Destiny, we need to make a stop before heading back home.”

Destiny listened to Roman, trotting in a path that seemed almost pre-determined, slowing down towards a gathering of animals that stood still with their heads bowed. Roman dismounted from Destiny, spotting the dwarfs and the famous glass coffin.

He gestured at Destiny to stay still as he walked slowly to the glass coffin. “Do you mind if I say my own farewell?” he asked, the dwarfs looking up to him, some with faces of awe, others with sorrow.

“Go ahead,” one of them, presumably Doc, said.

Roman stood over Virgil’s still body. He was a breathtaking sight as he laid there peacefully. His black hair was pushed out of his face and every freckle and eyelash seemed to be perfectly placed and sun-kissed. Roman brushed a hand against Virgil’s cheek- it was ice cold- and tried not to flinch. He placed his lips gently on the other’s in hopes to wake him up.

He held his breath and stepped silently aside. “You have no problem with kissing sleeping princes I see,” Virgil’s voice teased. Roman’s head shot up, followed by each of the dwarfs and the forest animals around them. Virgil was sitting on the coffin with his legs crossed like a child. “You found me.”

Roman let out a sigh of relief. “I broke the spell,” he said with a smile.

“Spell?” Virgil asked.

“With true love’s kiss of course,” Roman said, smirking as he saw Virgil’s face go crimson. The fake Virgil’s face was crimson; the real Virgil would never have woken up to Roman, and if not for simply playing a part, Roman would never have been able to wake up the real Virgil.

“What a wonderful observation,” a voice coed from behind Roman and in seconds flat he was out like a light. He wasn’t sure how much time had past when he woke up in the foliage of a very different forest with a very different horse staring down at him.

He sat up, looking upon his own clothing and at the world order. The world far behind him was flat and two-dimensional, colored only with dull cool tones. His own clothes were black and brown and he bit back a smile.

Though, the smile wasn’t hard to fight when he came to the troubling realization of not knowing why he was here. Surely breaking the spell on “Snow White” should have brought him back, right? Perhaps he would have to “awaken” all of the other sides.

He followed the hum of a familiar tune, mostly expecting to find Patton, though he could see how Logan would also fit the narrative of young Briar Rose. He walked alongside his horse, following it deeper into the forest where his next prince awaited.

“Are you fucking kidding me?” Roman sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose.

There was a deep laugh from the trees behind him.

“I hope you’re happy with yourself, you wicked fiend.”

“Oh thank you for the compliment, Roman,” the Dragon Witch laughed. Roman turned around to face her in her human form. Her long black hair made her look ominous in the shadows. Her green eyes sparked with wickedness and- all in all- she kind of looked like Angelina Jolie.

“Care to explain what I’m doing here?” Roman asked. “And why is he here?”

“Oh, silly boy, don’t you remember?” the Dragon Witch cooed with a menacing laugh.

“I will cut out your spleen again,” Roman threatened, pointing his sword towards the witch.  

“You’re no fun,” she pouted in response. “But worry not little prince, it’ll come back to you. In time...” Her words faded away as she sunk back into the shadows and seemed to vanish from existence, leaving Roman completely alone. He heard singing. Almost alone.

He peered behind the trees to see where Virgil was dancing, planning the exact moment when he could butt into the dance. He ran in while Virgil’s back was turned, pushing multiple birds out of the way and gently clasping his hands around the unknowing prince’s, following the dance he had secretly rehearsed with Patton time and time again back in the mindscape.

“You’ll love me at once,” Virgil sang in a quiet, muttered tone. His eyes were closed and he seemed totally separate from the world around him, but totally not connected all at once.

“The way you did once,” Roman continued, his voice deep and rich, “upon a dream.” Virgil pulled away from the dance with ease- something Roman accounted for with his loose grip- and stared at the stranger with shock and horror. “I’m awfully sorry, I didn’t mean to frighten you.”

“Oh, no, it’s just that- I really shouldn’t be- you’re-”

“A stranger?” Roman asked with a smirk. “Oh, but we’ve met before,” he continued. Even if Virgil didn’t remember the mindscape, surely he must remember being Snow White, right? Right?  

“We- we have?” Virgil asked, his brow knitted and Roman couldn’t help but notice his lack of makeup.

“Why of course,” Roman flirted, taking Virgil’s hand and pressing a kiss to his knuckles. “You said it yourself; we met once upon a dream.”

Virgil rolled his eyes, taking his hands from Roman. “That was just a silly song.”

“It doesn’t have to be,” Roman purred, a soft grin appearing on his face. He extended a hand for Virgil to take, feeling somewhat more hopeful and optimistic at the prospect of spending time with the other side than usual. Virgil hesitated for a moment before visibly relaxing and placing one hand in Roman’s and another on the prince’s shoulders. He was letting Roman lead. The two began to fall into a gentle rhythm as they circled around each other through a clearing in the woods. “My name is Roman.”

“Angel,” Virgil said. “My name is Angel Storm.”

“Angel?” Roman asked, his mind trying to think back to the last time he had seen this movie. The details were foggy and broken in his mind.

“It’s stupid, I know,” Virgil- Angel, said.

“No!” Roman spit out. “I think it’s... nice. Yeah, it’s nice.”

Angel’s face softened, blushing almost. “Well, thank you,” he said. “That really means something.”  

Their dance slowed until they pulled apart by an old tree atop a cliff overlooking the nearby kingdoms. “Can you imagine what it would be like to rule?” he asked quietly; even he could not tell if he were merely reciting a line or expressing a deep thought.  

“It’d be horrifying,” Angel said through a forced laugh. “I couldn’t imagine the stress that would put on someone. All those people judging you? Being unable to please everyone? That’s horrific, Roman.”

“I’m sure it couldn’t be all that bad,” he said quietly, slipping into the thought as he subconsciously brushed his hand against Angel’s. “If you had someone to rule with.”

“Yeah,” Angel sighed, taking Roman’s hand and falling against the prince’s side, “I suppose you’re right.”

They stayed against each other’s sides for what felt like hours as the sun began to set. A flood of pinks, oranged, and lilacs blanketed the buildings below. “I should get going,” Angel said. “It’s getting dark.”

“Will I get to see you again?”

“Swing by here tomorrow,” Angel said. “My uncles are throwing me a birthday party at our cottage just past where you found me. You should be there.”

Roman smiled, pressing kisses to each of Angel’s fingers. “Then there I shall be.” Angel blushed, smiling up at Roman, their breaths catching for a split second. They both parted their separate ways with a smile, blissfully unaware of the series of rather unfortunate events that would fall before them in the next couple of hours.

Roman mounted his horse, letting the animal take him home to his own kingdom, racing fast enough to feel the wind in his hair and the adrenaline in his system. Whenever he got to his own realm, he surely would like to enjoy more scenery and adventure. Hell, he’d even invite Logan to make sure everything was accurate.

“Speak of the devil,” Roman muttered with a small smile, the rush of the night still overtaking him.

“Roman!” Logan yelled; the prince pulled back on the reigns of his horse as he approached the other man. Logan looked different, older, creeping into his sixties but with the same strict posture he always had. “Roman, come down from there- you look absolutely preposterous.”

“Says who?” Roman teased, leaping from the saddle.

“Says anyone who can see you now,” Logan retorted. “You cannot meet your future spouse looking like- like- like some sort of stable boy!”

“Oh but I’ve already met him,” Roman said.

“You- You have?”

“Of course I have!” Roman announced. “Once upon a dream!” He grabbed Logan’s hands, twirling him around the castle grounds.

“Roman, stop this instant!” Logan demanded, pulling himself away from his son’s nonsense. “When did you meet Prince Virgil? Oh, we must be telling Patton-“

“I didn’t,” Roman said with a smirk.

“But you said-“

“I met the man I’m going to marry.” Even if his words were contradictory- and untrue towards the real Virgil- he couldn’t help but feel giddy as he said them. It was an iconic scene, truly, and he was just happy to take part.

“Roman, you must give up on this dream nonsense!” Logan snapped. “Wake up and face the facts, Roman. You are a prince you must marry someone royal!”

“You’re living in the past, Father! This is the 14th century! Nowadays-” Roman smirked to himself, biting down on his lip as he tried to fight back a giggle. He always wanted to say that.

“Nowadays, I am still king,” Logan said, “and I command you to be sensible!”

“Be sensible and marry the man I fell in love with!” Roman quickly mounted on his horse, starting away before Logan could run after him.

“Yes! Marry the- wait no! Damnit, Roman, get back here! Roman! ROMAAAAAN!”

Roman laughed as he rode, Logan’s yells being drowned out by distance and hooves galloping against a cobblestone road. He had that same feeling of wind in his hair as his cape flowed behind him and adrenaline coursed through his veins as he ventured deeper and deeper into the woods.

Roman, on his horse, trotted up to the familiar old cottage, finding it dark and empty in appearance. Maybe it was a surprise party and Angel hadn’t arrived yet. He dismounted his horse, knocking on the old wooden door. No answer. He turned the handle quietly, listening to the creak of the hinges as he entered the dark room. It was empty- and far too late for him to leave.

“Get him,” a cold voice ordered. Before he could properly adjust to the darkness, tens of hundreds of minions and monsters attacked him from all angles, constricting his limbs to his body with ropes tight like boa constrictors until he found himself completely tied up and hardly able to breathe.

“You are such a bitch,” he growled.

“I set a trap for a prince, and yet I catch a peasant,” the dragon witch said, sunlight seeming to fall towards her as she looked up at Roman with her lips parted in a sultry smirk.

“Can you tell me why I’m here now?”

“Impatient as always, Roman, you really must improve your temper.”

“Oh my GOSH, I will KILL YOU WITH MY BARE HANDS!" Roman yelled. “And this sword.”

“Tsk. Tsk. Tsk.” The dragon witch shook her head disapprovingly. “When will you learn some manners, Roman? Why else do you think you’re here in the first place?”

“You foul heathen, what have you done?!”

The dragon witch rolled her eyes, flicking a nail against Roman’s forehead. The prince recoiled in pain against her sharp nail. “I cursed you, you absolute buffoon.”

“Ah.”

“All right, boys,” she said, gesturing to the minions. “Let’s take him away.”

Roman fell to his back, being hoisted into the air by small goblin-like dragon-ish... things. He sighed, this would be a long existence.

+++

Angel- no, Virgil?!- was absolutely distraught. It was a nightmare come true, being here. He had cried himself into absolute fatigue. Maybe the panic attacks were partially to blame for the tiredness as well. So, his uncles were not, in fact, his uncles, but three strange... fairies? They had adopted him and now they were supposed to just.. Give him back?

He sighed, looking towards his disastrous reflection in the mirror, dark tear tracks had stained his cheeks and his eyes were redder than he had ever seen them before. If only Roman could see him now...

Oh no.

Oh fuck.

Oh shit.

Roman would think he stood him up. Roman would think he did this on purpose. Virgil’s chest grew tight again as he tried to count his breaths and counteract the possibility of another panic attack. It was so unbearable overwhelming. He couldn’t deal with this. Not right now, not ever. Counting his breaths was nearly rendered pointless when a soft presence entered the room. It was a glowing green... thing. He relaxed into a trance, almost as if he had been put under a spell.

He stood up from his vanity, all of the fatigue falling from his body and being replaced by calming sleepiness. He walked towards the presence, following it as it crept up towards a staircase he hadn’t bothered to notice before. Almost as if it hadn’t previously existed.

It hadn’t taken long before Virgil’s uncles, Emile, Remy, and Toby, and arrived at the castle tower where Roman had been held as prisoner. They told him everything they had gone through in the past sixteen years and warned him of the Dragon Witch’s evil power. Ah, so that’s the fake reputation she’s given herself around here. Armed with the legendary Sword of Truth and Shield of Virtue, Roman and the three fairies began to escape. Said escape didn’t go long without being caught. Diablo, the old raven famously owned by Maleficent (and temporarily borrowed by the Dragon Witch), squaked and cawed upon seeing them, alerting hundreds of minions, goblins, and monsters of their presence.

“Worry not, Prince Roman, you can handle them,” Emile whispered in his ear, hardly any bigger than a butterfly. The other two fairies shot him a disapproving glare. “With our help of course,” he amended.

The four races their way out of the castle, cutting through hordes and blocking attacks with Roman’s sword. Emile used his wand to turn a flock of incoming arrows and spears into falling daisies and daffodils. He giggled to himself at the sight, getting grabbed by the wing by Remy who insisted on no distractions.

They kept running, Emile and Toby turning any weapons or hazards into lovely things like flowers and leaves. They kept running, Remy flying ahead of the group to free Roman’s horse from its chains. Roman jumped on the saddle, pressing his legs into the creature’s sides and running off as Diablo continued to caw overhead. Remy happily shut him up with a spell.

That was when they found her, the Dragon Witch, in all of her monstrous glory. A great black beast (with a tiny little witch hat) towered over them. “I’m sorry, Prince Roman, I don’t think our magic can assist with-“

“Fuck this,” Remy said, countering over Emile, “good fuckin’ luck, Babe.”

“Don’t worry,” Roman said to the fairies, “I got this. Just try to take care of those thorns further up the path.” The fairies all nodded, too eager to fly away from the battle to question Roman’s foresight.

“What a silly little prince,” the Dragon Witch cooed, her voice deeper and menacing. “Still can’t remember why you’re here can you?”

“Can we just fight and get this over with? I’m getting real sick of your mind games reeeeally quickly.”

“In a rush to deliver true love’s kiss, are we?” The Dragon Witch laughed, spitting fire towards Roman and knocking him off of his horse. The prince hid behind his shield, feeling the heat of the fire around him. “I knew you were oblivious but I didn’t know you were desperate.”

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

The Dragon Witch rolled her eyes. “This, Roman, is why I fucking cursed you.”

Roman held his sword, ready to strike, catching himself in a sword fight against a single one of her claws. “I haven’t the slightest idea what you mean.”

“Just admit that you’re in love with Virgil, holy shit,” she said. “Literally none of this would have happened if you did that in the first place, but nooo I have to teach Sir Sing-a-lot here a lesson.”

Roman dropped to the ground as she swung a claw close to him. “This is hardly the groundbreaking fight this universe promised me!” he yelled, jumping from where she spit down fire by his feet.

“Well life isn’t fair, is it?” she laughed and cackled.

“Sword of Truth,” he muttered under his breath, backing away from the monster, “fly swift and sure that evil die and good endure.” With careful precision, he drove the sword into the dragon’s heart, watching her fall to the side and shrivel to her human form with the last of her remaining energy.

She reached up, grabbing Roman’s shirt and pulling him down towards her. “Don’t break the script. You won’t get rid of me that easily,” she hissed as the color drained from her face and the light vanished from her eyes. She released her grip and fell to the ground. Dead.

Roman took a deep breath, pulling the sword from out of her chest. He regrouped with his horse and, eventually, the three fairies as they quickly rushed him to King Patton’s Castle.

Roman ran up the staircase to where Virgil was laying. Not as lifeless as he had been in that glass coffin, but eerily lost beyond hope. Though, perhaps, not entirely hopeless. Roman sheathed his sword, steadying his breaths as he watched Virgil’s chest- he had to be sure he was breathing. The rise and fall of his chest was slow and small, but a rise and fall nonetheless. Roman stood over the prince, brushing the hair away from his face. He cupped his hand around Virgil’s cheek, leaning in slowly and carefully. He had the eerie feeling something was about to go wrong- and perhaps it was.

He connected their lips softly and fearfully. He felt energy shoot through his chest, infecting his body with its own cure. The power of true love’s kiss. Why hadn’t this happened last time? It wasn’t like he was in love now. Roman shook off the feeling, assuming the energy as a side effect of the curse.

Virgil’s eyes fluttered open, his face falling to a relieved smile. Roman blinked back at him in shock, opening his mouth to say something when suddenly his vision left him. Not for long, only a moment or two, but when it returned, he was somewhere else entirely.

“Okay,” Roman said with a sigh through gritted teeth, only a little salty that he didn’t get to finish Sleeping Beauty. He had to go through Cinderella now. “Let’s get this over with.”

He went through the story, waiting for the ball, rolling his eyes at every woman who tried to court him until he saw Virgil in the ballroom. He got up from his throne, tracking down the carmel-haired boy in the blue suit. They danced until the clock struck midnight, following the script line by line, making everything absolutely perfect. Roman had to head the dragon witch’s warning.

The clock struck midnight, Virgil’s face completely paling. “I have to go,” he said quietly.

“Can’t you stay just a bit longer?” Roman asked, hating the feeling in his chest.

“I- I really can’t-“ Virgil said. “My stepmother- she would- well, she’d-“

“Then, just, one last thing before you leave?” Roman asked.

Virgil took a deep breath, his eyes far away from Roman and right at the ticking clock tower. Roman grabbed the collar of Virgil’s jacket and pulled him forward, locking their lips in a quick moment of impulse and passion. Roman wanted Virgil to kiss back- oh God he was desperate for it- but the moment never came.

“I have to go,” Virgil said as Roman pulled away. The prince released his grasp on the commoner and watched him flee the castle. Roman knee the story of Cinderella like he knew the back of his hand; Virgil was running to escape the possibility of being caught when the spell wore off, so why did Roman feel like he had scared him off?

When the ball had ended, Roman stayed out on the balcony, cold air sobering him up from the intoxication that Virgil had poisoned him with. “I broke the script,” he muttered quietly to himself. “I broke the script, oh goodness gracious, what have I done?”

The wind continued to howl through the kingdom, freezing Roman’s cheeks and ears. His breath was carried through clouds against the wind, dissipating just as quickly as they were created. Roman didn’t get any sleep that night.

They carried on through the story- they always did. Assemble a search party, spend too many hours going door to fucking door, find Virgil, try on the glass slipper, happy ending, voilà! If only it were that easy.

Roman took it upon himself to fit the shoe to everyone at the ball that night. He was knelt on the ground, looking up at Virgil as he held the shoe in his hand. He requested a moment alone, and everyone (including prying Stepsisters) were removed from the room.

“My... deepest apologies if I ever made you uncomfortable,” Roman said quietly. “You were in a rush. It was very un-princely of me to hold you back.”

“It’s all forgiven, your highness.”

Roman let out a deep sigh. “But it doesn’t have to be,” he muttered, “I don’t want you to forgive me only for my status.”

“Your highness, I-“

“Roman,” the prince said with a smile. “You can call me Roman.”

“Roman,” Virgil said with a smile, “I forgive you.”

Roman let out a sigh of relief, holding up the glass slipper to slide onto Virgil’s foot. A sudden crash from the next room over (followed by yelling from Virgil’s stepmother and stepsisters) scared Roman, causing him to fumble with the shoe and drop it, sending shards of glass across the floor. Roman’s eyes widened in horror, believing that he had ruined the script completely and that he’d be trapped here forever. (Not that being trapped with this Virgil would have been a bad thing.)

Virgil reached over to gently pet Roman’s hair, letting him know that he was here and that he could comfort him. “It’s okay,” he said, reaching into the pocket of his apron, “I have another.”

He handed the relived prince the shoe of glass and gave him reassurance as Roman slid the shoe into place. “Virgil,” Roman said, just before fully fitting the glass against skin, “it’s been a pleasure meeting you.”

With a flash of light, Virgil was gone, and all the remained was the sparkling ocean and salty sea air. The ship’s crew hummed and sang in their own quiet siren’s song. It was almost enough to make Roman forget about dragons, curses, and poisoned apples. Almost. “Such a lovely day, isn’t it?” Roman pondered aloud.

“Yes, the weather is quite satisfactory today,” the man standing beside him noted in response. Unlike the rest of the crew, he was dressed in pristine clothing and a perfectly ironed coat. He kept a pipe in his breast pocket and wore silver circular lenses.

“Of course you’d say that, Logan,” Roman muttered with a chuckle.

“I can only hope that your birthday celebration this evening will be rendered adequate,” the man continued.

Roman took another breath full of salty air and sunshine. “I’m sure it will be wonderful, Lo.”

Wonderful is a broad expectation, but one that many would agree that such a celebration did not meet. There was a storm. A horrible, loud, crashing storm, rocking the boat across hostile waves as sailors struggled to hold on and stay still. Men were already scrambling onto emergency boats when a strike of lightning hit the sail, quickly setting it aflame. Roman had to choose between the boats and his dog. He chose the dog.

“ROMAN! BE CAREFUL!” Logan yelled as he and the crew began to float away aimlessly.

“Just get everyone to safety!” Roman yelled back, dodging a fallen post. “I’ll be alright!”

Max’s barks grew louder and more frantic. The heat was growing closer and closer, hotter and hotter, towards Roman as sparks gave love bites to his arms and ankles. He ran up a set of old stairs that cracked with every step and completely shattered once he made his way to the top. Max looked frantically up at the prince who now held him in his arms. From the side of his eye, Roman could see where the flames were heading. He tossed Max into the water, making the drop as short as he possibly could. He let out a deep breath of relief as Max swam towards the crew until he was close enough for Logan to pull him into the boat. Perfect. Now Roman just had to find an escape route for himself before-

                                              BOOM!

Ashes fell from the sky like deadly snowfall as waves carried the crew away and they were faced with the choice of finding their prince or saving their lives. They began to row, knowing there would be a lot to explain in the morning.

Roman was completely unconscious by the time he hit the water, and he wouldn’t wake up until hours later at dawn on an old beach shore. He felt a hand brushing against his cheek and playing with his hair as a voice hummed a quiet yet comforting tune. He didn’t need to open his eyes to know that it was Virgil who had saved him.

“What would I give to live where you are?” Virgil mumbled along to the melody he had been humming. “What would I pay to stay here beside you? What would I do to see you smiling at me?”

“Prince Roman!” A voice yelled. Roman shot up, opening his eyes quickly as a shiny purple tail disappeared into the water. “Oh, Roman, thank God that you’re alright. We should be getting you back to the castle.”

Roman kept his eyes on the water as he stood (with worried assistance from Logan) and began to walk towards the castle. With a sigh, he gave up on trying to spot Virgil one last time ignoring the way his heart sank with an old shipwreck. He’d see Virgil again, but waiting for that moment seemed daunting and impossible.

With a deep inhale of sea air, Roman pushed down his feelings. He didn’t need to deal with pesky, complicated emotions. He just needed to go on with the story. As well as ignore how much he was turning into Logan.

It was during one all too familiar scene that he swore he was going to crack. Crickets, frogs, and even the wind seemed to be harmonizing together in a tune that Roman would often sing at 3am much to the dismay of his fellow sides. He was just drifting along the lagoon sitting across from Virgil as lightning bugs and stars danced together in a beautiful waltz. Looking at him, Roman could have sworn that Virgil was getting prettier each time he went through this vicious cycle. It was maddening.

“So... you don’t talk much, huh?” Roman asked. Virgil shook his head with a shrug of his shoulders. Roman almost caught himself staring at how prominent Virgil’s exposed collarbones were with the flowy blouse he was wearing. Roman knew the real Virgil would have hated being exposed and holding his hair back with a fancy purple bow, but, he looked rather nice in it. Roman had to stay focused. He couldn’t let something as simple as shoulders distract him- What was he? A high school boy? Absolutely not! “Alright, maybe I can guess your name,” he said, fighting back a smirk.

“Hmm...Thomas? No. Patton? Logan?” Virgil shook his head so much Roman thought it might fall. “Angel? Hmmm... Virgin?”

Virgil shook his head with his face scrunched up in disapproval. Roman couldn’t help but burst out laughing. “Definitely not then,” he said. “Virgil?” The boy in front of him nodded with a soft smile and Roman wondered if it would be easy to cut a few corners and get out of this story early.

Simply to break the curse. Not because he wanted to kiss Virgil. Definitely not. Not like it was rather unfair that their only kisses had been while Virgil was unconscious or in a hurry and therefore Roman had no idea what it felt like to properly kiss this boy. Definitely not.

He leaned in, shifting his entire body closer to Virgil, who subtly did the same. He laid a hand against Virgil’s cheek, feeling the softness of his skin beneath his own and feeling a tug at his chest that longed to feel Virgil’s lips against his own. He leaned in closer, his heart rate increasing more and more. The two bumped noses and broke into affectionate giggles, but never strayed from the moment ahead of them. Roman’s eyes began to close as the focused on Virgil’s slightly agape mouth. Virgil wanted this as badly as Roman did.

Virgil wanted this for different reasons, Roman had to remind himself. Virgil was breaking his own curse. This wasn’t the Virgil that Roman had always known nor was it any Virgil he had actually met before. This was a clone. A carbon copy. A creature of the sea simply trying to fulfill his own end of a poorly written contract.

Yet something within Roman didn’t care. Some stupid, minuscule, impulsive aspect of himself didn’t care about curses or contracts or plot lines. Some stupid, minuscule, impulsive aspect of Roman just wanted to kiss the mute boy in front of him and never do anything else ever again. His eyes stayed closed as he felt Virgil’s breath against his skin and felt his own breath hitch as his skin shivered in the best way possible. There was an infinitesimal amount of space between them but it felt like an infinite void. Just a little closer...

Roman’s heart jumped and his eyes snapped open as the boat suddenly fell sideways, dropping them both into the water. Roman couldn’t seem to swim upwards. He felt something tug at his shirt only to open his eyes and see a sea serpent- A merman? Definitely a merman- staring down at him with green scales across half of his face. “Don’t break the script,” he hissed before releasing Roman’s shirt and swimming away in nearly an instant. Roman quickly swam upwards as his lungs burned from the lack of oxygen.

“Are you okay?” he asked Virgil when he came up to the surface. The other nodded slowly. “Good. We should get back to the castle. It’s... better to get some rest.”

Roman didn’t sleep that night. He couldn’t. Every time he closed his eyes he was met with the same memories on loop. He saw himself almost kissing Virgil. He saw Deceit. He saw the Dragon Witch dying by his sword. He opened his eyes for a moment before closing them again. He saw himself almost kissing Virgil again. He tried not to focus on that. He opened his eyes once more. He saw the first time he kissed Virgil. And the second. And the third. He climbed out of bed, deciding that maybe it was just better not to try to sleep tonight. He was terrified of what he might see if he did.

So, he did the only thing he knew how. He snuck out of the castle and found himself a place to sit on a group of rocks by his window and began to fidget with the flute famously played by Prince Eric. He brought the cold metal to his lips with a deep inhale as he tried to let some sense of musicality take over him as he unleashed his thoughts into the wind. It wasn’t a tune he was very familiar with, and at first, it was hardly in tune, but it felt semi-natural to him.

Until his harmony had a melody to go with it. A man, walking along the beach, humming a tune that fits perfectly with Roman’s but yet... one he had never heard before. He stopped playing, slowly lowering the instrument from his mouth and holding it in his fist before following the man whose voice seemed so seductively calming. Roman’s memories grew fuzzier and fuzzier as he focused only on following the man in front of him; the closer he got, the worse his memory grew until even the present was nothing but a fuzzy blur in a fading stream of consciousness.

Everything from that moment on seemed to fast forward with Roman seeing to have little to no control over his actions but complete apathy towards doing so. It wasn’t until his own crashed wedding- Wedding?!- that his temporary curse was broken and that he was even aware that it had been cast. Needless to say, it wasn’t long before he was impaling the front end of a ship into the stomach of a massive sea-serpent Deceit.

He found himself in a familiar scene, shipwrecked on the shore as the sun shines down on his face. He pulled himself up and saw Virgil nervously waving at him as he rose from the water. As he walked out of the water. Roman stood watching as the water seemed to cling to and from around Virgil as he walked onto the shore in a sparkling blue dress. Roman couldn’t help but run to Virgil and pull him into a tight hug. “I thought I lost you,” he said. “I’m so sorry. Whatever I did while I was cursed- however I hurt you- I’m so sorry.”

“It’s okay, Roman,” Virgil said with a smile.

Roman gasped, pulling away just enough to see Virgil’s face. “You can talk!” he said excitedly.

“I can talk,” Virgil repeated with a smile. He had his happy ending, and somehow that pulling feeling was back in Roman’s chest.

“Can I kiss you?” Roman asked, his voice as quiet as the tiniest of mice and spoken with the carefulness of dancing through broken glass.

“You may,” Virgil said, smiling and happily leaning in as Roman wrapped one hand around his waist and the other around his neck as he pulled him into the sweetest and deepest of kisses. For the first time it felt... real. Roman felt like he was acting with his heart and not a script. He felt warm and loved and he wanted Virgil to feel the same thing. He pulled him as close as he could and nothing else mattered. He was bound to a curse that made it easier and easier to fall in love and he feared that when he opened his eyes all of it would be gone. He’d wake up and never get to fall in love with Virgil again.

“I love you so much,” Roman mumbled as they pulled apart, his lips brushing against the other’s with every word and his eyes squeezed tightly shut to block out every bad thing in the world around them. “And I’m so scared of losing you.”

“You won’t lose me, Roman. I’ll always be here. Waiting to find you over and over and over again.”

Roman felt a single tear fall down his cheek as he traced his thumb along Virgil’s jaw. “And I’ll love you every single time.” With a deep breath, he opened his eyes. The feeling of Virgil’s warmth against his fingertips was the last to go as he found himself alone in an old castle.

It was cold there. He heard a knock on the door in front of him. It echoed through the long hallways of the castle. There was a second knock, harsher and more demanding; whoever was out there was growing impatient. Roman glanced over to a mirror hanging along the wall before reaching towards the door handle. He was 19 again, and, unfortunately, he knew exactly who he was.

He opened the door and saw more cloak than woman, but it was too painfully obvious who this “stranger” was. She was back from the dead and madder than ever. “A night of safety in exchange for a rose, your highness?”

“Of course,” Roman said. He was too tired to fight. He was too tired to keep going through with this.

“What?” The woman asked.

“You can come in,” Roman said. “Surely it’s freezing out there. And keep the rose, you need not to pay for your own health and safety.”

“Thank you, your majesty,” the woman said slowly. She followed the prince through the castle, casting a slow spell as she entered.

Roman invited her to sit in a plush chair in front of a lit fireplace. He ordered Emile to fetch a fresh pot of tea for their guest. He sat on the floor.

“Surely, Roman, you aren’t as stupid as you look,” the woman said from beneath her cloak. He didn’t need to see her face to see her confusion towards her behavior; it was written all over her body.

“Perhaps I’m not,” Roman said. “I really am sorry about, you know, stabbing you.”

“You’re not being mean. Why aren’t you being mean? You’re going to ruin this story,” the witch warned.

Roman shrugged. “Don’t feel like it, I suppose. It’s so easy to be mean, but so exhausting.” He looked to the roaring fire and felt the warmth on his skin as he tried to suppress the longing for the summer sun that had kissed his skin only moments ago. He tried to suppress his longing for the boy who had kissed his lips during those same moments. “I do have... a question, though.”

“Ask away.”

“Why do the staff get cursed? They are all innocent in every variation of this story. Innocent in every version of this movie. They’ve done nothing wrong. Why curse them?”

“Because life isn’t fair,” the witch seethed, subconsciously pressing a hand to the scar over her chest.

The prince looked up at her with a child’s pleading eyes. “But... why?”

“To teach the prince that his actions have consequences,” she said. Around them, the walls started the grow older and darker as bits and pieces began to crumble off. “Just like right now.”

Roman eyes shut right as he curled in on himself in pain. He groaned and yelled, feeling himself be torn apart and mutilated in unfathomable ways. “I’m sorry!” he shouted out to the witch. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry.” When he tilted his head towards the sky, the witch was long gone leaving a silver mirror and on ordinary rose in her place. Roman cringed at the sound of claws against metal as he tried to hold the mirror in his hands. The sight ahead of him was unrecognizable beyond belief save for the same pair of brown eyes.

He apologized to each of his staff members individually, holding onto the hope that Virgil would come and rescue him soon. ‘Soon’ was an underestimation. Days blended into weeks which fell into months until he was no longer Prince Roman. Neither appearance nor heart was the same as they had been five years ago. Six years ago. Seven years ago. He could hardly stand to see himself in the mirror. He had torn apart every picture of him that surrounded the castle halls.

His 27th birthday has come and gone but he had hardly cared. In fact, he doubted he would have even noticed if not for the tiny card he had received from Emile. It was crudely made and nearly illegible, but it was the best a clock could do.

He spent countless hours in the castle library. Deep down he supposed that, back home, Logan would have scoffed and teased at the idea of Roman studying so much literature. As he cracked open the spine of another old book, Logan vanished away into nothing more than a distant memory. He studied languages, history, science, and most importantly of all, he studied fairytales. Old fairytales and new fairytales; he had to cling on to the last bit of hope in his heart.

Another month and one more year passed. Still no sign of ever getting away from this curse. He was nearing 29 and the rose was starting to wilt. His patience was wearing thin. He had heard the whispers down the halls. Echoes of doubt from his staff and from his own subconscious. He was growing hopeless.

It was a cold winter night. There was a knock on the door. Roman didn’t answer. He decided that whoever was out there could freeze to death. He didn’t care. He wanted to be alone.

“Hello?” Logan called out as he knocked on the stone castle doors. It creaked open slowly, and he carefully stepped in. “I don’t wish to intrude!” His voice echoed down the endlessly empty hall, bouncing back at him tauntingly. “Hello?!”

He stepped completely into the hall jumping when the door slammed shut behind him. “Is anyone home? I- I really don’t want to be a bother but there’s a terrible storm! My- My horse ran off! Please, I just need somewhere to stay for the night.” He took a candelabra from a nearby table and used it as a torch to light his way down the endless hall.

“Perhaps we can be of some assistance,” a voice said with a chuckle.

Logan spun around, but couldn’t see a single living being in sight. “Hello? Who are you?” He felt something tap his shoulder but when he turned he saw only the candle in his hand.

“Right here, Monsieur!”

“G’ah!” Logan yelled, dropping the candelabra and falling backwards, cringing at the sound of metal hitting the ground.

“Ow,” the candle moaned picking himself up and dusting himself off.

“Now you’ve done it!” a clock yelled- wait WHAT?!- as it sauntered towards the candelabra. “You’ve scared the poor man half to death!”

“Dot, ma amie, look at him!” the candle said, gesturing to Logan’s greeting hair and wrinkled eyes. “He’s halfway there anyway!”

“Apollo! That’s rude!” the clock- Dot?- scolded.

“What kind of machinery is this?” Logan asked, sitting up and holding Dot in his hands. “Extraordinary! The level of fine detail in this thing- it’s practically alive!”

“Alive and has boundaries!” Dot yelled, wiggling her way out of Logan’s arms.

“Oh, right, sorry,” Logan apologized, gently placing Dot down on the ground.

“Oh you must be cold, Monsieur,” the candle said.

“Remy, no,” Emile said under his breath. “What about the master-“

“Follow me, Monsieur!” Remy said, hopping along the floor as Logan gently followed, mesmerized by such complex machinery. He was led to an old chair in front of an unlit fireplace; Remy quickly fixed that.

“Oh, Mr. Potts!” Remy called. “Won’t you please fetch some tea for our guest?”

“Keep your voice down!” Dot cried out.

“Oh, don’t worry so much, Dot.” On a rolling cart, a teapot appeared surrounded by a chipped teacup, a sugar bowl, and a dish full of cream with a twin full of honey. “Oh, you look so tired,” Emile commented with a soft sigh, “you must have had a troubling journey to get here. Do you like chamomile?”

“I do find it to be a rather satisfying beverage, thank you,” he said, mixing in a single lump of sugar to his cup of tea. “My horse ran off shortly before I got here. I’m afraid I won’t be able to get home before the night is over.”

“Oh, dear, you’ll be safe here with us,” Emile said. Logan began to relax as he sipped his tea from the sleeping cup. With a hush of wind, the objects grew deathly still. Sensing their tension, Logan carefully put the teacup next to Emile.

“Why are you here?!” a voice growled, echoing across the room. A shadow of a man leapt toward the ground, staring in between Logan and the fireplace as he towered over the aging man. “Have you come to gawk at the beast who lives in this castle?!”

“No! Never!” Logan said, his voice getting higher by the syllable.

“I think you ought to be taught how rude it is to intrude,” Roman growled, orange light lining his darkened silhouette. “Remy, I’ll deal with you later.”

“Master, he was just cold and-“

“Later!” Roman yelled.

“Y- Yes, Master,” Remy said, silently crossing himself in a silent prayer to save his life and his ass.

Roman took Logan by the arms taking him up to the dungeon and not even realizing what he had down until Logan was staring back at him with pleading eyes. His remorse was short lived. He could barely remember what it felt like the human anymore, let alone even fathom being a side. All remorse was gone as he retired for the night.

That night alone felt like a curse in and of itself. He was back home. Back to normal. Almost normal. Almost home. It all felt so real and lovely, yet too real and absolutely terrible. He was nothing more than a ghost.

“It’s been three days already,” Patton said, choking on his own tears as Logan rubbed circles on his back from where they sat in the living room. Virgil was sitting on the staircase, hiding behind the stairwell as he chewed desperately on his thumb.

“Is he just... gone?” Thomas asked from where he sat on the floor.

“What’s going on?” Roman asked. “What are you all upset about?” No one could hear him and that’s when the terrible realization had set in. He was gone. It had been three days and he had been gone for all of them.

“No, no, he can’t be gone,” Logan said.

“What if he... ducked out?” Virgil asked.

“The problem isn’t that he’s gone, it’s... he’s...” Logan was wiping away his own tears before anyone other than Roman could see. “He’ll be back.”

“How can you be so sure?” Virgil asked. For a moment he looked up and almost made eye contact with Roman. He went back to biting his thumb but the look in his eyes killed Roman. He woke up in a cold sweat with a horrid reminder of what- of who- he was. He didn’t go back to sleep.

So, the next day, when he heard voices echoing around prison cells, he didn’t remember loving kisses under warm sunshine. He remembered that terrible nightmare. He remembered nearly ten years of pain and agonizing loneliness.

“An intruder just like him,” Roman growled from the shadows.

Virgil looked up towards him, gripping at the metal bars. His soft brown hair and hazel eyes looked marvelous among the sunlight, but in them, Roman saw his own pain. “Let him go,” Virgil pleaded, his voice shaky and weak, nothing like the Virgil that Roman had known long ago. “Can’t you see that he’s sick? He’ll die here!”

Roman ignored the pain in his chest- a new pain, a guilty pain- and kept his gaze forward. “He should have thought about that before breaking and entering!”

“I’ll give you anything you want for his freedom!” Virgil yelled. “We don’t have much, but surely you have some compassion!”

“You wish to bargain for human life?” he scoffed.

“What about a trade?” Virgil asked, his shaking hands contrasting his stiff bravado. “Take me in his place. A life... for a life.”

“Virgil, no! Don’t do this!” Logan yelled, coughing as he did so. “You’re young! You have your life ahead of you!”

“I can’t let you die here,” Virgil said, tears welling in his eyes.

“If I let him go, you’ll... take his place?”

“Yes!” Virgil cried. “Just... please. Please let me save my father.”

“You’ll be here forever,” Roman warned.

Virgil pressed a hand against Logan’s cold arm. “Step into the light,” he said softly.

The monster stood like a giant as he towered over Virgil. He had sharp fangs and sharper claws. Curled horns protruded from his forehead and he was covered in thick brown fur. There was no sign of humanity left in him. Virgil gasped, scaring the monster back into the shadows.

“I’ll take his place,” Virgil said surely.

“I see,” Roman said. He held something in a clenched fist as he walked past Virgil and directly to the gate of Logan’s cell. He took the key from his paw and let the gate swing open. “I’ll give you a minute to say your goodbyes.” He made his way down the stairs leaving them completely alone, ignoring the confused glances that bounced between Remy, Emile, and Dot.

“He’s gone,” Logan said quietly. “Quick, we can both escape!”

“No, Papa,” Virgil said, holding Logan’s arms and keeping the older man up.

“Virgil, I- I can’t let you do this.”

“Yes you can, Papa,” Virgil said, smiling despite the tears falling from his eyes. “Let me do this for you.” He pulled Logan into a warm hug, rubbing his father’s arms to fight off any hypothermia he may have suffered. “I love you.”

“Virgil-“

Virgil stepped into the cell, closing it so harshly that the key fell to the ground. “I love you, Papa. Now go home, you’re sick.”

When Logan fell to his knees from coughing, he couldn’t fight back the servants leading him down the stairs. Virgil watched his father disappear from sight as he watched with a melancholic smile. He knew his father would be safe, even if he never saw him again.

Roman had sent out his finest carriage to take Logan as close to the village as was safe without getting caught. He climbed the stairs back up towards the old cell to put the key back on its holder. He blinked back in surprise seeing Virgil standing patiently by the window- already locked into the cell.

“You’re... still here?”

“I made a promise, didn’t I?” Virgil asked, turning to face his captor.

“I, uh,” Roman picked up the key off of the ground, “let me show you to your room.”

“My... room?”

Roman took a deep breath, feeling his heart nervously pounding in his chest. “Unless you’d rather stay here in the cold tower.” Virgil shook his head slowly as Roman unlocked the cell. The gate swung open with an ugly noise as Roman lead Virgil down the hall. “I reacted... poorly, earlier,” he said. “You shouldn’t have to spend your life here, I only suggest that you stay the night until the storm lets up.”

“I... I don’t understand.”

“You’re free as soon as the weather allows you to travel safely,” Roman explained.

Virgil looked past a window and saw the snow growing heavier and harder. It didn’t seem to be letting up anytime soon. He continued to follow.

“You may travel anywhere in the castle that you wish- except for the west wing.”

“What’s in the west wing?” Virgil asked, curiosity bypassing fear and getting the better of him.

Roman took a deep breath, not sure what to say. “It’s...it’s just off limits, okay? If there’s anything you need, my staff will be happy to attend to you.”

“I- well- Thank you,” Virgil said. Roman had left him alone at the open doorway of a guest bedroom that was nearly the size of Virgil’s house and looked as if it hadn’t been used in 30 years. Sentient brooms and dustpans quickly cleared from the room as they laid eyes on Virgil.

“Is it possible to have a change of heart overnight?” Remy asked.

“It’s certainly... unusual,” Dot agreed.

“Aww, don’t be so suspicious of him,” Emile pleaded.

Remy and Dot exchanged a glance. “We’re not gonna stop being suspicious of him.”

“Don’t you miss being human, Emile? Aren’t you a little bitter at him for taking that away from us?”

Emile sighed. “Do you think he isn’t? He felt- feels- terrible about all of this. About us. You think he wanted us to suffer?”

There was a moment of silence broken only by the crackle of the fire. From the hall, they could hear the sound of claws clicking against wood as Roman paced back and forth. Emile couldn’t help but wander into the hall, with Remy and Dot following behind.

“Master?” Emile asked quietly.

“I... I didn’t think this far ahead,” Roman said as he continued pacing.

“Didn’t think... for what, exactly?” Remy asked.

Roman continued pacing back and forth and back and forth; the three observers may have begun to think of him as growing mad. His mind was racing. It had been almost ten years since that day on the beach. It had been almost ten years since he had even /seen/ a movie! He couldn’t remember what to do next and he certainly wasn’t sure what would happen if he failed.

“Emile, could you please go keep our guest company? Remy, Dot, I’ll need you two to come with me. I have... an idea.”

With a small knock at the door, Emile and Kai slowly entered the guest bedroom and found Virgil curled up on the floor talking to Madame Armoire. His eyes were red but he was laughing and smiling. “I don’t mean to intrude, but I thought you might like a cup of tea after such a long night.”

“That would be lovely, thank you,” Virgil said, picking up the teacup that had maneuvered itself in front of him.

“Wanna see a trick?” Kai asked ecstatically. He made a big show of inhaling and scrunched up his face as the tea bubbled up and spilled over.

“Kai!” Emile scolded.

“Sorry, Papa!” Kai giggled as Virgil carefully placed him on the ground.

A loud crash sounded from the hallway as many smaller crashes grew closer and closer to the guest room. The door swung open as Remy and Dot both fell to the ground.

“The master would like to invite you to-”

“GET READY FOR DINNER!” Remy yelled with a smile.

“A-HEM!” Dot stood up, brushing herself off, and shooting Remy a glare. “The master would like to formally invite you to a private feast in the dining hall.”

“What?”

“We’d like to ask you to be our guest,” Remy said with a grin and something mischievous behind his eyes.

It had taken a lot of preparation, yes, but Roman was happy with the end result as he watching the dining hall from behind a cracked door. He couldn’t see Virgil’s face, but a quick thumbs-up from Remy told him everything he needed to know.

“Now, Monsieur, is there anything else we can assist you with?” Remy asked.

“No, no, we really must be retiring for the night,” Dot scolded as Remy rolled his eyes.

“Don’t be such a buzzkill, ma amie. Surely there’s something that would interest the guest?”

“Well, I,” Virgil said, thinking carefully, “I wouldn’t mind a tour of the castle.”

Roman took a deep breath hearing those words. He’d keep his guard up in the west wing. He watched from the shadows as Virgil crept into the room slowly. Roman stayed still as Virgil pieced together an old torn painting that Roman had destroyed long ago. “Go!” Roman yelled. “Get out!”

Virgil ran from the castle as fast as his legs would carry him. He wasn’t a prisoner and he sure as hell wouldn’t be held like one.

Roman watched him run from the window. He knew exactly where Virgil was heading. He picked up the silver mirror gazing for a moment at the monster staring back at him. “Show me the boy,” he said. He saw Virgil running and, just out of the younger’s view, he saw wolves. Hungry wolves.

Roman quickly ran from the castle. When he found Virgil, he was being surrounded and attacked by wolves, beating at them with a rotted tree branch. Roman growled and roared at the beasts, drawing their attention away from Virgil. They ran after him, jumping on him, and biting his arms and legs. “Go!” he yelled at Virgil. “Get out! Save yourself!” He saw Virgil hesitating, still gripping onto the old branch. That was when his head hit the ice and he began to black out.

He woke up sitting in the old chair in front of a roaring fire. He was back at the castle. Back at home. He sucked in air through his teeth as he felt his arm burn and sting. “Hold still,” Virgil ordered. “This might sting a little.”

“No kidding,” Roman bit back. “You never should have run out there.”

Virgil pressed a hot rag against Roman’s wounds, causing the beast to roar and squirm. “I wouldn’t have run away if you hadn’t shouted at me!”

“I wouldn’t have shouted if you had learned not to trespass!”

“Well, you need to learn to control your temper!” Virgil yelled, taking the rag and angrily tossing it in the bucket of hot water. Droplets splashed against the floor as the two found themselves at a stalemate. Remy, Emile, Dot, And Kai all glanced to one another silently.

“Kai, I think you should be heading to bed,” Emile said softly.

“But, Papa!” Kai whined earning a warning glare from Emile.

“Kai.”

The teacup rolled his eyes and sighed. “Yes, Papa.”

Everything remained silent save for the roaring fire and defeated clinking of a teacup hopping away. Roman tore away his stare and mumbled towards the floor, “I’m sorry for yelling at you.”

Virgil carefully rung out the cloth and held Roman’s hand tightly. “Hold still,” he said, gently placing the warm fabric on Roman’s wound. The beast winced but tried to keep himself still. The blood had finally stopped running; Virgil held out his hand as Dot gave him a roll of bandages. He began winding the gauze around Roman’s arm. “I should thank you,” he said quietly, “for saving my life.”

Roman saw the vulnerability in Virgil’s eyes and felt his heart race a little bit faster and a little bit more prominently. “It was my honor,” he said with a smile.

Virgil looked towards him and smiled back. Remy, Emile, and Dot all let out a sigh of relief, grinning with mischievous grins as if they knew something the others were blind to. And in some ways, they did.

The snowstorms were starting the letup, at least for a while. They only seemed to grow worse when either of them mentioned the possibility of Virgil going back home. Virgil didn’t seem to mind the storms.

Dot, Remy, and Emile couldn’t help but watch from the windows as the two fought a vicious snowball war which Virgil seemed to be winning. His face was red from the cold but the smile on his face made it apparent that he wouldn’t be giving up the snow anytime soon at all.

Roman was pacing in front of the fireplace that evening. He was deep in thought, but a small part of him was smiling nonetheless. “I... I want to do something special. For him.”

“Well, there’s the usuals,” Dot said, “flowers, chocolates, promises you don’t intend to keep.”

Roman rolled his eyes but laughed. “There’s the library,” he joked, but let his memory return to him. Any Virgil is still Virgil, right? A few days had passed before he unveiled the surprise. He had spent days planning, decorating, and making Remy, Dot, and Emile stall for time. Finally, at long last, it was time.

“No peeking,” he laughed, holding his paws over Virgil’s eyes.

“I’m not I swear!” Virgil said with a laugh.

“Okay, okay,” Roman said, slowly removing his paws, “keep them shut.” He opened the library door, leading Virgil into the large room letting the door fall mostly shut from behind them. He took a deep breath. “Okay, you can open them now.”

The library was painted purple and black with silk threads intricately knitted and hanging in corners. It was a gothic nightmare and Virgil instantly fell in love with it all. “This is... incredible! All of it!”

“You like it?” Roman asked with a smile.

“Like it?! This is incredible!”

“It’s yours,” Roman said.

“What? You couldn’t possibly mean that.”

“And why can’t I?”

“I- well,” Virgil swallowed the lump in his throat. “Thank you,” he said with a blush, “thank you very much.”

After a little time and a whole lot of courage, Roman was finally about to live through one of his favorite Disney dances. His heart was racing in his chest.

“A dress?” Virgil whispered as the two glided across the ballroom. “Really?”

Roman chuckled from his throat, feeling more human than he had in years. “I think it suits you.”

“A suit would suit me,” Virgil mumbled.

“Is that a pun?”

“...maybe.”

Roman laughed, feeling Virgil lay his head onto his chest. Roman had to restrain himself from mumbling a quick “I love you.” This was a different Virgil- who didn’t love him back. This Virgil wasn’t his Snow White, his Sleeping Beauty, his Cinderella, or his Little Mermaid. He couldn’t risk scaring him off. He had to charm this Virgil just enough to save his life.

He had to get back to the real Virgil. To the Real Patton and the Real Logan too. He took a deep breath, silently cursing that damn dragon witch for cursing him to fall more in more in love but to never be able to explain why.

“I need to show you something,” Roman said, thinking back to the magic mirror. This story needed an ending- even if it killed him.

He lead Virgil to the West Wing, watching the boy visibly tense. He didn’t know how to apologize. He pretended not to notice. “This,” he said, picking up the handle of a silver mirror, “is a magic mirror. Ask it anything you wish; it will show you your heart’s desire.”

“Anything?” Virgil asked. He took a deep breath and held the mirror with a shaking hand. “Show me, my father... please.”

Virgil watched his reflection melt away and the vision of Logan took his place. The old man was deathly pale and tired as he coughed up a lung. “He’s dying,” Virgil whispered, “my father is dying.”

“Then you must go to him,” Roman said. He pressed the mirror in Virgil's hands against his chest. “Take this with you,” he added, “and let it remind you of me.”

“Thank you,” Virgil said. “For everything.”

“Of course,” Roman said, “oh, but, Virgil?”

“Yes?”

“You might want to put on a pair of pants first,” he joked but felt his heart sank as Virgil ran off. He watched as Virgil ran far from the castle, flying quickly beyond his reach and taking Roman’s heart with him.

Roman hadn’t expected this to hurt so much. He always knew he’d have to watch Virgil leave him. He knew this story like the back of his hand, but, if there was one thing he’d learned from his past, it was that knowledge couldn’t prevent heartbreak.

He tried not to think about what would happen next...

The entire castle staff was horribly aware of the mob approaching the castle. Many of them said their final prayers, while others looked back on their every regret. They all stay still in the dark as the doors creak open. A stout man leading the group wrapped his sweaty fingers around Remy’s base. He stuck a match, lighting the candle, and moving him back and forth as the mob moved inwards. In a swift movement, Remy bent his arms downwards, burning the skin of the man holding him and causing the man to drop the candle towards the ground. “NOW!” Remy yelled, and everyone attacked.

Roman was sitting alone, watching as the invaders marched into the castle. He couldn’t imagine the fight going on downstairs. His deep pondering was interrupted by a crack at the door as Deceit entered the room with a drawn bow and arrow. With a sigh, Roman turned back towards the window.

In a quick second, he felt the arrow pierce his skin and he growled in agony. To add insult to injury, he felt Deceit push against him as he fell through the window. “Get up, Beast!” he yelled, pushing him down to the next part of the roof. “Or are you too ‘kind’ and ‘gentle’ to fight back?!” His words were harsh and he spit them out like venom. He broke off a hunk of cement from the side of the castle.

That’s when Virgil appeared. He and Logan on the horse had ridden up to the castle entrance. “Roman! Look out!” he cried out.

He was so worried and sincere and that’s when the memories poured in. They had danced together in a tale as old as time. Virgil was part of his world. They had found each other after the ball. They had danced once upon a dream and they were there at the old wishing well.

More importantly, this was Virgil. Virgil had been there since the beginning. They were both sides of Thomas. They fought and argued and bickered but deep down they both cared for each other. Roman cared for Virgil. He might even dare to say that he loved him.

He caught the stone club as it swung down towards him and picked himself up, watching the fear in Deceit’s eyes as he finally fought back. They both pushed and shoved, racing towards and against each other in the pouring rains and thunder. With one misstep, Deceit had started to fall, but he caught himself on the next ledge.

He brought his club down on the beast’s head, destroying it under his power. With a flash of lightning, he saw the rows of gargoyles and the chipped cement he had destroyed. “Stop hiding, Beast!” He yelled. “Did you really think,” Deceit asked, “that someone like him could love a monster like you?”

“No,” Roman answered and time seemed to stop. Deceit lowered his weapons noticeably but not completely. “I don’t. I don’t expect him to love me. Not now, not ever; not here nor anywhere else. I can’t expect that from him. I can hope and dream and pray that he’ll love me back but I can never expect that. To do so would be unfathomably cruel.”

Deceit rolled his eyes. “You think that you’re poetic, huh? Words can save you? Don’t be a coward, Beast!”

Roman reached out, grasping his claws against Deceit’s throat and watching him squirm as he held him in the open air out above the cliffs below. Deceit gasped for air, hands on Roman’s paw, trying to free himself. “Please,” he choked out, “don’t hurt me. I’ll- I’ll do anything! Please!”

Roman’s glare dropped when he saw genuine fear in the other’s eyes. He was still a side. No matter who, or what, he was, he was part of Thomas. Roman couldn’t bring himself to kill him, no matter what part he had to play.

He brought Deceit to the castle’s ledge and held him down to the ground. “Get out.”

“Roman!” Virgil yelled from the castle balcony.

“Virgil,” Roman said softly, climbing the old shingles up the balcony ledge. He took Virgil’s outstretched hand and laid a paw against Virgil’s face. “You came back.”

He smiled, happy to be reunited and happy knowing that the fighting would be over. He, unfortunately, couldn’t remember the next chain of events until he felt a cold blade pierce into his side and pull out just as quickly. He growled in pain, losing his grip on the balcony, and knocking into Deceit who stood close behind him. Virgil grabbed onto this cape and pulled him forward.

Deceit slipped from the roof, falling into the deep abyss below. He was gone and as good as dead. Roman seemed to be rather close to meeting the same fate. His breath was leaving him as his vision started to grow blurry and dim.

“I got here too late,” Virgil said, tears falling from his eyes. “I- This is all my fault.”

“Shhh,” Roman said. “You shouldn’t blame yourself.”

“But, I- I didn’t know they’d come after you, I-”

“You had to save your father. I know.” He brought his paw up to the side of Virgil’s face, the latter of the two holding it in place. “At least... I got to see you... one last time.”

“No,” Virgil said softly, tears falling from his eyes. “Don’t leave me. You- You can’t leave me.” Roman’s hand went limp as the light drained from his eyes. Virgil screamed out in agony, shaking the still air around him. His throat was sore and hot tears poured down his face as he buried himself against Roman’s chest. “I love you.”

There was nothing but still silence, but warmth seemed to travel through the cold air. Hope broke through the atmosphere of despair. Virgil felt something push against him as Roman rose from the ground. He fell backwards watching the prince as a golden halo surrounded him entirely. His hind legs transformed into human flesh and bone as the transformation spread throughout his body.

Roman woke up back on the cold ground. “Virgil?” His voice was hoarse but there was something loving behind it. He looked to his hands and smiled widely, bringing them to his face and head. His hair was a bit longer, laying just above his shoulders, and he was human again. “Virgil, it’s me!”

“Roman?”

Roman nodded and Virgil happily threw himself into the prince’s arms. “I thought I’d lost you.”

“I never thought I’d be happy to hear those familiar words.”

Virgil wrapped his arms around Roman’s neck and held himself as close to the other as he could. He was so happy and relieved and his heart was beating out of his chest. “I love you,” he murmured into the other’s neck.

“I know, mon amour. I love you too, Virgil, always and forever.”

The music swelled as they danced across the ballroom. Virgil was once again in the ballgown he claimed the hate, as friends, family, and (once again human) staff danced alongside them.

“I could dance with you forever,” Roman said with a smile. He wasn’t acting anymore. He wanted this to be his happy ending.

“That seems illogical,” Virgil said. “You’d have to get tired eventually.”

Roman laughed, he really was Logan’s son. He twirled Virgil, feeling the fabric of the ballgown drift against his legs. “With you? Never.”

“You’re such a sap,” Virgil teased, leaning teasingly but noticeably. He didn’t pull back.

“That may be true,” Roman agreed, feeling the soft skin of Virgil’s cheek under his own calloused fingertips. “But I’m only a sap for you.” He leaned in, smiling as he held the other in a sweet embrace and an even sweeter kiss.

He pulled back slightly when he heard the music fade away. He opened his eyes to find himself in the desert- with only Virgil left in his arms. He stared into his eyes and whispered, “I love you, so much,” before watching the ghost smile in return and fade away. He was left in rags and grasping onto memories as he prepared to fight one more time.

Okay, he wasn’t prepared to fight just yet. “Where are you, you coward?!” he yelled against the sands. He was completely alone out there. Alone entirely except for one parrot in the distance. “Making Deceit do your bidding?! Can’t handle me on your own, can you?”

The parrot stared at Roman as he kicked at the sand. “You win! Okay?! Is that enough for you?!” He let out a groan against the dark, uncaring night sky. “I love him.”

“Don’t give up now,” the Dragon Witch cooed. “It’s only getting interesting.”

“You are cruel and heartless.”

“Ugh, you’re being a buzzkill today, aren’t you?”

Roman let out a sigh, letting himself fall back into the sand. The parrot flew down to him, sitting on his chest. “Is... he cursed too?”

“I suppose that depends on who you’re asking about.”

“Deceit,” Roman said. “Does he... is he going to remember any of this?”

The Dragon Witch stayed silent.

“Please,” Roman said, tears welling in his eyes. “I don’t want to wake up from all of this and know that all I did was hurt someone for my own good. No matter who it is, I don’t want to hurt anyone real.”

“His fate is up for you to decide.” The Dragon Witch began to fly away but Roman was quick enough to catch her wing as he sat upwards. Even she couldn’t say ‘no’ to his sad, puppy dog eyes. “Face your fears, Roman, and no harm will come to those you love.”

The parrot flew away against the dark night sky as Roman fell back against the Arabian sands and fell asleep. He couldn’t tell if the dream he dreamt was a blessing or a curse.

He found himself in Anxiety’s room. Fitting, he decided, as the agony bubbled and rose in his gut. He looked up to find Virgil taking deep breaths as he adjusted his headphones and clicked play on his laptop. Roman couldn’t leave his corner of the room; an invisible wall held him captive, but he could turn his head just to see Virgil’s computer screen. A Whole New World began to play through his headphones as he slowly let go of his inhibitions.

The movements were clumsy and sloppy at first, but Virgil was gliding across the floor on his socks, dancing slowly to the music. He was doing some formless version of a waltz and twirling himself as silent words stay mumbled against his lips.

Roman was never a lip-reading genius, but he knew a princess song when he heard- or saw- it. He was murmuring Jasmine’s part to himself and fuck, Roman was so in love. Whenever this curse was finally over, Roman knew he wanted to take Virgil’s hands and dance with him for hours. Really, truly dance with him. No more carbon copies.

Maybe he’d throw in a real kiss for good measure too.

No, he had to tell himself softly, he couldn’t do that. This Virgil- the real Virgil didn’t love him back. He wouldn’t love him back. He couldn’t love him back.

Regardless, that would never stop Roman from loving him.

The empty feeling settled in the pit of his stomach as Virgil continued to dance- completely unfazed by Roman’s presence. “I want to go back,” Roman whispered before fading quickly out of Anxiety’s room.

“Hello?” Virgil asked quietly, pulling off his headphones and hitting pause on his computer. He looked to the corner of his room- Roman’s corner- and couldn’t help but feel a chill cascading down his skin. It was as if a ghost had past thorough him. Something was horribly, inexplicably wrong.

“LOGAN!” he yelled, dashing out of his room and out towards the commons.

Roman did what he had to. He found the cave of wonders, grabbed the lamp, and had all of it fucked up by a circus monkey. He took a deep breath and rubbed the lamp. There was a moment of silence, a beat of hesitation, and a lifetime’s worth of fear and worry.

Then, the lamp began to shake and tremble. Roman dropped it as it warmed more and more until the metal was red and burning to the touch. Smoke began to pour out more and more filling the cave until a blue mist began to follow suit. “GAAAAH!” a loud, thunderous voice yelled, that would have been terrifying if not so familiar. “Ten thousand years will give you such a crick in the neck! OH- Hello there!”

“Patton,” Roman said with a smile.

“Oh it is good to be out,” Patton announced. He summoned up a microphone and held it to Roman’s face. “What’cha name, Kiddo, where ya from?”

“Roman.”

“Roman! Welcome to the show! Should we call ya Ro or Man? Or maybe just Oma because Oma-gosh is it great to meet you!” Patton chuckled loudly at his own joke before adjusting his glasses and moving his head down to look at Roman. “You know, you’re a lot smaller than my old master.”

“Master?”

“Yep!” Patton said. “I’ll grant you anything your heart desires! Three wishes- but no wishing for more wishes. That’s a big no-no. So, what’ll it be, Master?”

A million thoughts ran through Roman’s head in only seconds. “Maybe, uh, maybe don’t call me that. Roman- Roman’s good. Anything is better than- uh- than that.”

“Gotcha, Ro!”

Roman let out a sigh of relief. “Well,” he said, “I’d like to get out of this cave.”

Patton smiled, placing himself, Roman, and the circus monkey onto a magic carpet. “Please keep your hands, arms, feet, and legs inside the carpet at all times.” He turned his hand into a cannon and blasted a hole through the top of three cave, dodging debris as he steered the carpet (and the passengers) to safety.

Now all Roman had to do was:

1) Become a prince

2) Storm into Agrabah

3) Win Virgil’s affections

4) Release the Genie

Easy, right? Easy until step three. Virgil was very persistent about “I’m not a prize to be won” which was, completely understandable, but at least let a guy try, right?

So here he was, standing on a magic carpet, holding onto the railing of Virgil’s balcony. “I hope you know how creepy you’re being right now,” the prince said with a glare, “I could easily have my guards arrest you.”

“I know, I know, but- I just wanted to talk to you. Get to know you. Actually know you.”

“I’ll cave,” Virgil said, still holding a bit of a glare. “What do you have in mind?”

With the tap of his foot as the cue, Roman rose higher towards the balcony, revealing the magic carpet. “Care for a ride?” He held his hand out, but Virgil was clearly hesitant to take it. “Do you trust me?”

Virgil smiled softly, taking Roman’s hand and settling into the carpet. Roman kept an arm tightly around Virgil’s waist, for safety reasons of course. He obviously had no other motivation to embrace the feeling of his hand against Virgil’s exposed skin while the other snuggled up close to him.

“I can show you the world,” Roman sang softly, “shining, shimmering, splendid. Tell me, Princess-“ He winked as Virgil rolled his eyes. “-when did you last let your heart decide?”

He subtly pulled Virgil closer and waited a moment to see if there other were to protest this. He never did. “I can open your eyes. Take you wonder by wonder. Over, sideways, and under on a magic carpet ride.”

They flew over the marketplace but Virgil’s gaze was caught on the stars as the cool wind blew his hair away from his face. Roman’s heart melted at how lovely he was. “A whole new world,” he sang, “a new fantastic point of view. No one to tell us ‘no’ or where to go, or say we’re only dreaming.”

“A whole new world,” Virgil started, his voice was small and nervous but melodious nonetheless. “A dazzling place I never knew.” He took a shaky breath and pulled Roman’s arm tighter around his waist, leaving a blush on the faux prince’s face. “But now that I’m way up here, it’s crystal clear, that now I’m in a whole new world with you.”

“Now I'm in a whole new world with you!”

“Unbelievable sights,” Virgil sang, smiling and looking so carefree as if the fear of falling hadn’t occurred to him at all. He looked so happy and genuine that Roman almost had to wonder if Virgil were cursed too. “Indescribable feelings.” The prince smiled back at Roman with a look with too much wonder and adoration to be real. “Soaring, tumbling, freewheeling, through an endless diamond sky.” If Virgil were truly cursed, he’d be a lot more terrified and way too confused about all of this to be singing.

Roman let out a deep breath and smiled at his fake love. A side could certainly dream, couldn't he?

“A whole new world.”

Roman reached out to grab Virgil’s hand. “Don’t you dare close your eyes.”

“A hundred thousand things to see.”

“Hold your breath it gets better.”

Virgil gripped onto Roman’s hands, holding eye contact with him as best he could. “I’m like a shooting star, I’ve come so far.” He leaned in closer, his voice getting quieter as he pressed his forehead against Roman’s. “I can’t go back to where I used to be.”

“A whole new world.”

“Every turn a surprise.”

“With new horizons to pursue.”

“Every moment; Red-letter.”

They held onto each other as if nothing else mattered, moving in closer and closer as they sang. “I’ll chase them anywhere; there’s time to spare.” They pressed their foreheads together, noses brushing, as Roman let his hand rest against Virgil’s neck. “Let me share this whole new world with you.”

“A whole new world,” Roman sang, his voice dying down to a spoken whisper.

“A whole new world,” Virgil echoed, exhaling the words against Roman’s skin as they grew closer and closer.

“That’s where we’ll be.”

“That’s where we’ll be.”

“A thrilling chase.”

“A wondrous place.” They had flown back to the castle balcony already, letting time pass them by. Roman helped Virgil down onto the safe ground as he stayed floating on the magic carpet.

They stood on opposite sides of the railing- Virgil in his rich, wealthy castle; Roman hovering above the poor and the ruin- both so close and so far as Roman kept his hands against Virgil’s neck and both of their foreheads stay resting against the other’s. “For you and me.” Their lips brushed together as Roman moved in closer, and closer, just about to finalize the moment.

“Virgil! Virgil, are you out there?”

Virgil pulled away quickly, panic in his eyes. “My father,” he said with a gasp. “You need to leave!”

“I’ll see you soon, My Prince,” said Roman, pressing a kiss to Virgil’s hand. “I’ll see you soon.” With a wink and a smile, he was gone into the night.

Now for step 4: Release the Genie.

Yeah getting there proved to have a bunch of mini steps along the way. Maybe make freeing the Genie step 5.

Okay, okay, Roman’s Full To-Do List was:

1) Become a prince

2) Storm into Agrabah

3) Win Virgil’s affections

4) Get caught by goons

   a) Almost drown at the bottom of the ocean.

   b) Get saved by Patton

   c) Have Patton stolen by “Jafar”

   d) Get banished from Agrabah 

   e) Get back to Agrabah

    f) Fight Jafar

5) Release the Genie

6) Happy Ending to get the hell out of Aladdin

Now just to get past step 4F.

Roman wouldn’t admit it in his moment of horror, but having Deceit turn into a giant cobra was actually pretty funny on the Dragon Witch’s part. He’d have to compliment her after ripping out her spleen. That was a problem for another day, he decided as he trapped Deceit in the lamp.

“Ten thousand years in the cave of wonders ought to chill him out,” Patton teased, listening to the yelling coming from the lamp. He pulled his arm back and pitched the lamp as far away as possible. If he never saw it again, it would be too soon.

Roman tightened his grip on Virgil’s hands as they watched the lamp fly by. “I’m sorry for lying to you about being a prince.”

“It’s okay,” Virgil said, “I know why you did it. If it weren’t for that stupid law-”

“Hate to intrude, Kiddos, but... you do still have one last wish left.”

“Patton, what about your freedom?”

The genie sighed, forcing on a semi-genuine smile. “It’s only an eternity of servitude, but this... this is love, Ro. You’re not gonna find another guy like him in a million years.” He leaned in towards Roman’s ear and whispered, “Believe me, I’ve looked.”

“But-”

“Just say the words and you can be a prince again.”

Roman moved closer to Virgil, cupping the side of his face and planting a kiss to his forehead. “Virgil, I do love you, but I have to stop pretending to be what... I’m not. I have to do this.” He took the lamp in both hands. “Patton, I wish for your freedom.”

“One prince coming right up-” Patton froze, his voice softening and his eyes falling on Roman. “What?”

It wasn’t grand or filled with fireworks, but magically the genie’s cuffs fell off and he was finally free from his own lamp. He was... human. “I’m free,” Patton said. “I’m free! I’m free! I’m gonna see the world! I’m gonna- Thank you, Roman,” Patton said, pulling him into a big, weepy hug. “You’ll always be a prince to me.”

“Well, I think that’s certainly evidence enough.” The group turned to face Logan who stood in clothing that had more value than Roman’s entire net worth. “The only thing in the way is that law, after all.”

“Father?”

“Am I the sultan or am I the sultan?” Logan wore a smirk on his face as his gaze drifted from Virgil to Roman and vice versa. “From this moment forward, the heir may marry whomever he deems worthy.”

“Him,” Virgil declared, taking a running start into Roman’s arms. “I chose him.”

Roman smiled, cupping Virgil’s face and pulling him in towards a kiss. Their lips were centimeters apart when Patton pulled them- and Logan- into his arms and yelled, “GROUP HUG!”

“Perhaps we should give them a moment of privacy,” Logan suggested as the breath was squeezed from his lungs.

“Oh! Right!” Patton let go of the hug, letting Logan lead him back into the castle, but glancing over his shoulder to give Roman one last thumbs up.

Roman traced his fingers along Virgil’s jaw one last time, admiring his tanned skin. “Now, where were we?” he asked, separating Virgil’s lips as he leaned in for a kiss.

He happily woke up to the sound of jazz in New Orleans. One quick look in the mirror, he saw his skin had turned darker than it had been in Agrabah and he let out a sigh of relief. Well, at least he and the Dragon Witch had the same view on animated diversity!

Speaking of the Dragon Witch, she offered him a hand when she found him sitting on a street corner- Logan not far behind. “Enchante,” she said, pulling him up, “a tip of the hat from Dr. Facilier.”

“Finally owning up to your villainous nature, my wicked fiend?”

She laughed from her chest and just before they went into the alley, Roman got the first good look at her new form. She had red hair that hung just past her shoulders in waves and her eyes were unmistakably violet, but she still kept the same sharp facial features and broad shoulders that she always had. She handed Roman a business card as she whispered in his ear in as menacing a tone as she could muster, “Are you ready?”

He was not ready whatsoever and spent about 93 minutes screaming internally. His only wish was that he could have seen the witch perish. Virgil would have gladly let him have the experience in his place.

“Please- I! I just need a little more time!” The woman yelled. Demons grabbed at her shadow and she fell completely to the ground. Voodoo dolls and demons chanted angrily and hit drums around them as the woman pleaded for her life upon deaf ears. As she got pulled in her skin turned to scales and then stone until her physical body melded with the gravestone she was being pulled into leaving a stone dragon behind.

After turning human again, and getting their happy ending, Roman had to prepare for the worst. The Dragon Witch has spent a lot of time planning without him in Tangled. He’d have to think fast.

“Flower, gleam, and glow,” young Virgil sang as his mother brushed through his golden hair, “let your power shine. Make the clock reverse.” The witch’s scaly skin reverted back into human flesh. She’d have to be stealthy to stay human now. One backfired curse against Roman had taken that choice away from her. One stolen baby would give that choice back. “Bring back what once was mine. What once was mine.”

“I could get used to a view like this,” Roman said, looking over the kingdom. Everything was 3D now, computer animated and way more realistic. He loved all of it. “All right. I’m used to it.” He whipped around dramatically to face his confidants- a set of twins named Apollo and Jericho. “Boys, I want a castle.”

“You can get your castle, after we get the crown,” Apollo said, his voice deep and threatening. Apollo pulled Roman back by the collar. All right, let’s do this one last time...

It didn’t take long to get to the tower once he had to outrun the twins, the guards, and the horse. Damn the horse. Inside of the tower, however, was something eerily familiar about it all. He definitely knew who built this place.

That’s when it hit him. Literally.

He woke up strapped to a chair, tied down with blond hair. Which was a slight shock, actually... this was Virgil, wasn’t it?

“I don’t know who you are, or how you found me, or what you want to do with my hair!” a voice- Virgil’s voice- yelled from the shadows. Roman suddenly understood how Virgil had felt back in that prisoner tower in France.

“Why don’t we make a deal?” Roman said. “You let me out of your... hair... and I help you with whatever adventure your little heart desires.”

“I-” Virgil stood frozen, caught off guard for a moment as he glanced at Pascal. “...Deal.”

This Virgil was odd, definitely, but more familiar than all of the others. Roman began to think himself mad until they found themselves in a boat, floating in the middle of the sea beneath a sky of floating lights.

“All at once, everything is different-” Roman cupped a hand against Virgil’s cheek, seeing all of the love and vulnerability in his eyes. It was a lovely sight. “-now that I see you.”

They were so close to kissing until he saw them. Apollo and Jericho on a nearby shore. He shouldn’t have looked. He should have just let himself kiss Virgil. He shouldn’t be pulling away right now. He inhaled with a sharp breath, loathing the feeling of his own free will being taken from him as he began to row towards the shore.

“Ro...man?” Virgil asked. “Is everything alright?”

Roman shook his head, pulling himself back into reality. Back into... fiction. This was all fiction, and he had to remember that. “Yeah, yeah I just... Yeah. I just need to deal with something for a moment. I’ll be quick.”

He pulled up to the shore, hoping to deal with things amicably, grabbed the satchel, and headed to where the twins were. “Ah! Good to see you two!” Roman lied, watching carefully as Apollo sharpened a makeshift knife.

“Hear you’ve been holding out on us, Sanders,” Jericho said.

“What?” Roman said. “No, the- the crown is right here!” he said, holding the satchel up. “You can have it!”

“What’s more valuable, Sanders?” Apollo asked, rising as he and Jericho began to corner the prince. “The crown? Or the boy with the magical hair?”

“How- How do you?” Out of the corner of his eye, he could see moonlight reflecting against familiar green scales. She was between phases, but why? Roman didn’t have time to question any of the problems before him when suddenly a force hit his head and everything went black.

The most horrific dream he had was this one. It was one thing to know that your friends are mourning for you. It’s another to see the body they’re mourning over.

He wasn’t dead, exactly, but the overall sight looked more like a coma than a nap. The room was completely empty except for the ghost of Roman... and her. “Why are you here?” Roman asked, his voice deep and almost at a growl. “Haven’t you given me enough pain showing me this?”

The Dragon Witch said nothing, only carefully touching the scales on her arms and watching them with confusion. She poked and prodded higher up her arm, wincing with pain as she did so but never acknowledging Roman.

“Answer me!” Roman yelled, tears welling up in his eyes.

The Witch’s head snapped up and she met the trembling Prince’s eyes. He looked as pained and confused as the first time she had cursed him. Funny, how nostalgia always hits at the most inconvenient times. “Roman, don’t you get it? I can’t change the curse once it’s cast,” she said. “I can only alter... minuscule details.”

Almost on cue, Deceit shuffled into the room, fidgeting with his gloves and keeping his eyes glued to Roman’s sleeping face. “It was just a dream,” he muttered to himself. “It was just a dream.”

“Will he be alright?” Roman asked.

The Dragon Witch flicked her wrist towards Deceit and instantly he fell into a tired trance. The Dragon Witch mumbled something to him in a language that Roman had never heard before. Wordlessly, Deceit turned around and walked away. He was almost robotic. “Of course he’ll be alright,” the witch said, “there’s no reason for him not to be.”

“He won’t remember any of it?”

“Not one second.”

Roman let out a deep breath and slowly nodded. “As for the others...?”

The Dragon Witch shook her head, walking out of the room and seeming to pull Roman along with her. He passed through Logan like air and watched the Logical Side freeze where he stood and began to look around cautiously. “They weren’t there. God, Roman, how vicious must you think me to be in order to curse all of Thomas?”

“I have no idea if anything you just said was even remotely grammatically correct.”

“Fuck grammar,” said the Dragon Witch.

“Fair enough.” Roman saw Virgil come down the stairs from his bedroom, quickly diving into the kitchen and then running away. He looked like he had been crying. Or having a panic attack. Roman swallowed the lump in his throat. It was probably both. “How has Thomas been without me?”

“At a bit of a creative block, at first,” the Dragon Witch told him, glancing towards the two traits still quietly talking to (and comforting) each other in the corner, “you aren’t gone, Roman, just napping. The others, though? Mr. Morality over here has been a wreck.” A small cackle left her lips as Roman’s attention fell on the tired Patton.

“Don’t insult him,” Roman snapped. “Hurt me, torture me, rip all of my happiness away from me, but never insult them or I swear by Odin’s eyepatch I will make sure your death is one you cannot revive from.”

“Pinched a nerve, huh?” she asked, completely apathetic to Roman’s glare. “Fine, geez, whatever.” She snapped her fingers and Roman woke up back in Corona.

“It’s him!” a guard yelled.

Roman’s vision was blurry but he could see that he had been tied to a sailboat with the crown in hand. Guards were climbing onto the boat, untying Roman but making sure he didn’t escape. He had to follow the script.

He had to follow the script.

He had to...

He picked his head up in a moment of realization and they untied his hands. He didn’t have to do jackshit. Roman cracked his neck and shoulders, nudging guards away from him as he drew his arm back, holding the crown. “You want it?” he yelled, throwing the crown onto the land. “Go get it!”

He punched one the guards, knocking him off of his horse, and rode away towards the forest as quickly as possible. Halfway into the woods, he turned on a separate course away from the tower and dismounted the horse. He hid behind a boulder and watched palace guards follow a riderless horse. The horseless rider then ran as fast as his legs would take him until his pulse was pounding against his head and his throat was burning as he tried to take in air. He found the tower and stopped for a moment, letting his breathing even out as adrenaline coursed through his veins. He began to scale the tower.

“Let him go!” Roman announced, letting himself in through the tower window.

“Ah, our guest is here early, isn’t that nice, Sunflower?” the Dragon Witch cooed. Scales were running up the side of her neck and across her arms. “You shouldn’t have broken character,” she hissed, running her blade into his side. She ripped the blade out as quickly as she had inserted it and let Roman fall to the ground in pain. “I warned you,” she hummed, dropping the knife and leaving him there as she grabbed the chain that Virgil had been tied up against and tried to actually him away.

“Hmmph!” Virgil struggled against the pull, managing to remove the cloth from around his mouth. “Let me heal him!” he yelled.

The witch glanced to Roman with a raised eyebrow. “He’s not worth it, Darling. Just leave him to the rats.”

“No!” Virgil yelled. “If you take me now, I will spend the rest of my life struggling and fighting, but... if you let me heal him, I’ll go willingly and never go against anything you ask of me.”

“No,” the witch seethed.

Roman’s head was pounding and his breath began to leave him. He didn’t have the energy to get up.

“Then,” Virgil said quietly, Roman could see him slowly untying his hands, “you leave me no choice.” He grabbed the bloody dagger that lay next to Roman and brought it against the witch’s thigh. The witch screamed out in pain but clicked her fingers, “sinking down” back into the imagination. Roman knew exactly why she left; this was the end. There was nowhere else to go after here, and he was about to die. Again. Motherfucker.

The blade fell to the ground and Virgil stared in shock. He glanced over towards Roman and quickly rushed to the dying man’s side, freeing himself from his chains as he did so. “Roman, I... I’m so sorry,” he said, tears welling up in his eyes. “You never should have come here.”

“I can’t believe you stabbed that bitch,” Roman said through weak breaths. “That was... kinda hot.”

“Roman, you’re dying.”

Roman took in a sharp inhale, his muscles tensing around his lungs. “Perhaps... I am, but... without you, there’s no life worth living.”

“Roman,” Virgil breathed out, gently pressing his hand against Roman’s face.

“Just kiss me, Virgil. Please.”

“Roman...”

“Virgil,” Roman said hoarsely, placing his hand on Virgil’s. “Please.”

When their lips met it wasn’t warm or loving. It was sad and melancholic. It was an ending, but who was to say if it were happy? Roman took some relief in knowing that any of his suffering would fade away along with the man in front of him.

“Virgil,” Roman mumbled one more time, but he wasn’t in the tower anymore. He sat up, several roses falling from his chest. His skin was no longer perfect but uneven in tone and with brown freckles across his arms and hands. He looked more human than art and, for the first time, he was happy to admit that.

“I see that you’re awake,” Logan said, looking up from his Nook. He held a disinterested facade, but there was a softness to his tone and a smile that he couldn’t hide.

“How long was I out?”

Logan set down his Nook and let out a deep sigh. “About two weeks,” he said quietly. “I- We... We were all very concerned.”

“Two weeks?” A beat settled throughout the room. “Oh.”

“Is that...” Patton stood in the doorway hesitating only for a moment before running towards the bed and throwing himself onto Roman in a tearful hug. “You’re okay! You’re... ALIVE!”

“That I am,” Roman said reciprocating the hug. “I most certainly am.”

“L, what’s all the com-” Virgil’s jaw dropped and his eyes were already filling with tears. “-motion.”

“Virgil!” Roman said. He slowly maneuvered his way over to the other. “I... I’m so happy to see you.”

“I...I...” Tears fell from Virgil’s eyes and suddenly the two of them were in a tight embrace. Logan would have told you that Virgil had initiated the hug; Patton would have informed you that Roman had been ready to take Virgil into his arms from the moment he had stood up.

“We have a lot to talk about,” Roman mumbled into Virgil’s neck.

“I don’t care,” Virgil said. “Not right now. I need to know that this is real first.”

Roman tried to listen for Virgil’s heartbeat but his own was beating in his ears even louder. “Me too,” Roman said, pulling Virgil closer and inhaling the scent of lavender on his jacket. “Me too.”

“Let’s give them some privacy,” Patton whispered quietly, taking Logan’s arm and leaving the two behind.

“What happened to you?”

“I highly doubt you’d believe me.”

Virgil moved away from Roman to stare into his eyes. He had to make sure this wasn’t just a dream. “Try me.”

Roman let out a deep breath. “I was cursed by a Dragon Witch.”

“That sounds ridiculous.”

“I know, but-“

“I believe you.” Virgil took a seat in the bed and patted next to him. “Tell me about it. How’d you wake up? It’s not like anyone kissed you.” He was teasing but Roman couldn’t help the blush that came to his face.

“She... said that I needed to confess my feelings to someone. And then... made me do that a lot.”

“Pretty sure I’d end up resenting that person if I had to face him that much,” Virgil teased.

“Yeah,” Roman said with a forced laugh, relaxing against the mattress. “But I don’t. I just... fell harder only for him to not recognize me again.” He watched Virgil’s face but his own face was burning, giving away his bravado. “I still need to make sure this is real.”

“Roman, what are you talking about?”

Roman held Virgil’s hands tightly in one of his own, letting the other brush against Virgil’s cheek. “I was... blind before. Virgil, you’re... my anchor. I always thought you held me back, but you held keep my stable, grounded. You’re wonderful.” He leaned infinitesimally closer but left the Grand Canyon between their lips. “But I need to make sure this isn’t just another one of her tricks.”

“What are you asking?” Virgil asked in so hushed a whisper it barely left his throat.

Roman’s eyes went from Virgil’s lips to his eyes. “Can I kiss you, Virgil?”

Virgil tried to swallow but found that his mouth was horrifically dry. He gave a small nod and soon felt Roman’s lips on his own.

It wasn’t like the kisses before. It wasn’t smooth or warm. Virgil’s lips were chapped and neither of them moved out of fear or maybe something else. It was only a couple of seconds before Roman pulled away.

“I’m sorry,” he said quietly. “If you don’t feel the same, then I’d hope we can pretend this didn’t happen.” He stood from the bed and began to walk away but felt a tug at the fabric of his shirt at the last minute.

“Roman, wait,” Virgil said. He quickly stood but with his terrible posture, he was a few inches shorter than the prince. He pulled Roman down by the neck and kissed him. It was messy and rough but it was human and genuine as he kissed back Roman savored every single moment of it.

When they pulled apart they were at a loss for air with their foreheads pressed together.  “I may not be cursed, but,” Roman spoke softly, not bothering to open his eyes for fear that it may all wash away, “this certainly feels like a dream.”

“You’re such a sap,” Virgil said pulling him into another kiss. And then another. And a future with more and more kisses after that. It wasn’t an ending, but it was certainly happy, and that’s all Roman could have ever asked for.

[angel-scythe]

I need you : Chapter 10

Hello!!! 

Chapter 10, already? OMFG!!

I really hope you’ll love this chapter. This one has... CAT!!! <3 

You know how to do... smash the door to see the cats or just keep reading!! |   °|

“I’m a little robot, short and strong. Here are my handles, just turn me on. When I get all warmed up, watch me go. Sometimes fast and sometimes slow.”

Niles knew the song by heart now because he was used to hear it since six days. At least, he noticed it since six day.

He was doing a lot of progress, at least he felt it that way, and was able to know how many days had passed, however he loved the erasable board saying “I’m there since 11 days” so they kept it. In fact, that helped him a lot because he felt like he was more linked to the reality with it…

He had bought the bedroom furniture and was a bit eager to have them. He hadn’t leaved the sofa for now. He wanted to wait his new room for that.

But progress didn’t make everything. He still didn’t eat lot and needed to have Gavin with him when he walked. And for the bath too… though it was a pleasure to be in his arms. He loved the cuddle and hug moments, loved the kiss and the long regards they could share. Why did he never have a relationship before?

And despite the progress and the burst of joy the GV200 could bring to him, the sadness around his heart was still there. He felt exhausted quickly, sometime he couldn’t find the happiness, even when Gavin cuddled him and sometime he hated himself…

His favorite Android in the world had brought a lot of change in six days but damn, it was only six days. No wonder why yesterday he stayed in the couch, doing nothing. He even didn’t walk or ear that day and when Gavin had tried to force it out a bit, he had felt even bad. Yesterday, he had looked National Geographic for hours… They had done a little break for lol cats but that didn’t cheer him up. Not Gavin’s laugh, not his arms around him… Nothing.

And now, he hated himself because yesterday, he had kind of give up…

Yesterday he was asking himself if he deserved Gavin. Today, it was still the same. The GV200 was always doing things for him and him… Him he couldn’t even try. Gavin said he needed him but Niles couldn’t be sure about that. He was the tick sucking the Thirium from his body…

For once he wanted to do something for him…

God. They had bought stuff for his bedroom and he even didn’t buy him clothes! That was like he saw an object in him!

What a detestable person he was…

“Gavin?”

“Yay?”

“Can you check if there is tuna left in the cupboards?”

“Hungry?” Gavin smiled, looking happy.

He opened the doors to seek after them. There was still a lot of closed jar and can there.

“Not really.” He didn’t eat yesterday and wasn’t hungry at all today… “I just thought we could go in the park and feed the stray cat.”

“I’d like that!” Gavin let out happily.

Niles couldn’t help but smile, relieved the idea pleased him.

The GV200 gathered himself and looked his Human above his shoulder, his brow frowned and his LED turning yellowish.

“But do you feel like you’ll be able to do it?”

“I wish.”

“Don’t do too much, okay?”

“We can take break?”

Gavin sighed and walked toward him with two tuna can in his hand and letting that cupboard door open.

“I know you want to prove something to you but if you go too fast and see what you can’t do instead of what you can already do…”

“Okay…” Niles sighed.

“I’m sorry… I didn’t want to hurt you.”

“The playground,” the man said.

“Hu?”

“Let’s go to the playground then! It’s not far away.”

Gavin’s LED became yellow, showing he was calculating the itinerary. So Niles specified with a ‘the Bennett Playground’.

“Three minutes away…” Gavin said under his breath.

It was a big thing for Niles so the GV200 got a lot of doubt but that didn’t look so far away. The Playground looked perfect!

“Let’s go!” he said with a smile.

  First, they had to change. Niles was wearing mittens, a black turtle neck, a jeans and a comfy vest with a hood. Even if Gavin said he couldn’t get cold in any way, Niles asked him to change his clothes. He really wanted him to feel good so the Android had chosen a hoodie, a jean, some boots and nothing else. Everything was dull, black, grey or dark blue. However, now they were up to leave.

Gavin helped Niles to get up from the bed were they dressed up then they walked together   to the door and from there, the man looked to the lift. He wanted to walk there by himself but it wasn’t a good thing. They had just two streets to walk up but Gavin was true, he needed to take his time.

“Come here.” Gavin passed his arm around his waist and brought him against him. “You’re alright? That’s okay?”

Niles nodded as he closed the door. “You’ve the tuna, right?”

“Yes!” The Android leaded him to the lift and let him call it. “Did you already think about getting an animal? I read somewhere that helped a lot because you need to take care of the ball of fur.”

The man looked him as the elevator’s door opened with the househusband, having three children and a layer-wife, who smiled to them. He lived three stories above Niles’ apartment.

“I thought you had move out,” the man confessed when Gavin had pushed on the right number.

Niles shook his head.

“It’s nice to see you around!” he said with a warm tone.

Stern nodded a bit then looked toward Gavin. “You want a cat, isn’t it?”

“What? No!” he said. “Well, yes. That would be awesome to have a cat but honestly, I thought about a fish or a rat. God! I could see you with a rat!”

“Or we kidnap a cat at the park.”

Gavin laughed.

“If I may, just look around, some people gave the late bunch of kittens. Well… just sayin’. Didn’t want to disturb you.”

Niles looked toward him. “We’ll see.”

He really wanted to make Gavin happy. And the Android had his own problem. He knew it by the way he always sung that song. For him, it was a kind of loneliness. With a cat, maybe even a stray or abandoned cat who needed love, that will be perfect. Good for them.

For Gavin.

The Android bent toward him, his cheek almost against his cheek. “Is it okay?” he muttered.

The man nodded.

For now, he was totally held by Gavin. The GV200 was strong. Of course he will never let him fall but he was still scared about that.

That pissed him off.

Really.

Since they were there for at least twelves level, the househusband chatted with them, talking about the best place to have a kitten, talked about his kids, their project… He still thought Niles was a Detective. He knew his job because of his wife. Somewhat, that disturbed Niles because that only reminder him how much he had lose in less than one year. Fortunately, Gavin was a sweetheart and he oriented the chatting over food. And when the lift opened at the ground level, as if it was perfectly normal, he said to them they were a cute couple. And finally, they split on the sidewalk.

“Do we talk about that?” Gavin said.

“I’m not sure there is much to say. It’s just one of my neighbor. Can’t remember his name and I’m sure he doesn’t know mine. I hate lift. Always a bunch of idiot and they want to chat with you.”

“The next time, make them believe you’re mute or deaf!”

Nines looked him grinning.

“You’re stupid.”

“I’m stupid?”

“Yeah.”

“Really?”

“Look at what you said.”

“Joke on you! You can’t look something you’ve said! Who’s the dumbass now?”

“So you think I’m the dumbass?”

“Hu, yes! Who think I can look what I said and who refuse to be deaf to be out of problem?”

As they were talking, fighting a bit in the cold wind, Gavin perfectly knew they were walking. And Nines even didn’t feel it as he was helping him to lift his own weight in a tender way.

“It’s a way to talk, an expression. Do they don’t learn that to robots?”

“Maybe they do but I couldn’t learn it? No wonder why they threw me away!”

“I’m glad you say it first,” Niles smirked.

“You little shit!” Gavin said before lifting him suddenly, forcing him to pass his arms around his shoulders with surprise.

It was the first time he was actually lifted.

Well, he certainly was when he was really young but as soon as his mother could have stop, she did and after he was holding and lifting Connor when this one wanted contact.

“Ah, you’re speechless now!” Gavin grinned.

“Sorry, it’s the first time I see an idiot, I’m fascinating.”

“I’m idiot now?”

“Yeah.”

Gavin moved his hands and Niles hung at his shoulders but he never fall since the strong hands were around his thighs.

“Asshole,” the Human let out with a chuckle.

“It keeps coming better!”

Holding him with one hand, he pointed out to something and Niles looked. First, he noticed a passer-by throwing them a look. Suddenly, it came out to him they were outside and it wasn’t good to show such expansive love. And certainly not with an Android.

Though that make him felt a rush of rebellion because he hated being judge and when he bent a bit to kiss Gavin, he didn’t do it. How could he even think about that? Using Gavin.

He was an asshole…

“Yeah?” he let out, throwing a little look on the direction.

“You see that?”

Niles looked it then behind them. He didn’t saw that. He had passed more than the middle of the route.

“Ready to continue?”

“Yeah.”

Gavin smiled and put him down. Niles didn’t say a thing when the Android passed his hand around his waist and they started to walk once again. He didn’t say how he had felt good in his arms because… in a way, for him, it was really weak. He didn’t think Connor was weak when he wanted that because he had a really cute and shy nature. But him, needing to be strong, It looked like a bad thing…

So he stayed quiet as they walked and there… the route seemed way longer.

“What day it is?”

“Twenty-seventh, why?”

“Day of the week?”

“Saturday.”

Niles could get why he saw kids around, playing with balls and running around. And those holographic band that closed the road to let the child played in security.

Damn! He should have looked before they left the home.

They would never have a cat coming with all those kids around. They were so noisy.

Ugh, Niles guessed he’ll end up like his mother, hating his own children if he got them. She always said he was her favorite but she preferred him like you wish you’ll have the cholera instead of the pest.

“Why?”

“I just didn’t know what day it was.” He frowned. “The last time I remember a day, it was the tenth May and it was a Monday… All the weekend, I didn’t want to go to work and…”

“You didn’t go,” Gavin guessed.

“I’m not proud of that…” He looked down. “I felt so bad about that, I wasn’t able to go to work the next day…” This time, he watched the kids happily playing. They were so innocent… “When you’re kids, often, you don’t want to go to school and you fake being sick. I never did that in my entire life. Worst, I already go to school even sick. I never understood what happened.”

“You needed a break.”

“It had been so long… And you saw what happened yesterday.”

“Niles…”

“Yes?” he asked.

They were almost at the park. Just one or two new paces.

“Walk to this table.”

Gavin pointed out a green table surrounded by two benches. It was ten feet away. The mere idea make Niles’ head swirl. He had walked so much, only because his weight was lifted. Because he could count on the other strength.

Ten feet… He will never do that.

“Niles!”

The man looked him.

“You can do it. You walked this entire route. And you already did it. Remember when you opened the door to Connor?”

“It was way less.”

“Niles Stern? I thought you had a bit of courage!”

The Human clenched his jaw, feeling shiver.

“I won’t let you fall,” Gavin added, seeing him shake a bit.

Niles forced himself to nod but he didn’t felt like it at all. He gulped and then moved from Gavin. He started to walk and glanced toward the trees nearby, hesitating to approach them. And finally, he didn’t because… he didn’t need them.

He needed Gavin.

And Gavin was there.

He could do it. It was ten paces. Ten paces alone. That didn’t seem so much…

One pace. Two paces. Three paces. Okay, that started to be a lot. His legs were a bit shivering. Four paces. Five paces. Could he do it? He looked the bench and clenched his fist. Gavin was there. If there was any problem, Gavin would help him. Six paces. Seven paces. His legs were numb. He wanted to walk quicker to be there faster but he force himself to not to because that would also exhaust him quicker. Eight paces. Nine paces.

His hand touched the table and he moved his feet, sitting in the bench.

He was blinking. A feel of relieve and unbelievable rushing in him.

“I did it,” he said under his breath.

He wanted to say it to everybody.

He heard Gavin’s laughed and for a second, he felt dumb but the Android was happy. So happy. He sat next to him, stepping over the bench and took him in his arms. It was so powerful, so good. Niles hugged him back, his heart bouncing in his chest.

“I… I did it without you, isn’t it?”

“Oh you betcha!”

Niles was relieved and he pulled back to take his phone. He needed to warn Connor. So he typed quickly a message and sent it with a strange feeling. He closed his eyes, refusing to feel shame for that pride.

He felt a kiss on his cheek and he couldn’t help but smile.

“Thank you.”

“Why? I don’t do a thing.”

“You did kiss me. And I like your kisses.”

Niles opened his eyes and looked the GV200 which smiled a bit, looking more uneasy.

“Can I?”

The man nodded, closing his eyes and offering his lips. Gavin’s hands came on his cheeks and he felt a tender kiss on his forehead, then his temples, his nose and suddenly, he didn’t want a passionate kiss on his lips… he wanted to feel all those butterfly kisses, letting Gavin travel on his cheeks, met his chin, discovered the shape of his jaw, coming back to his nose to offer some love to his eyelid.

He couldn’t open his eyes, living in a strange world for a moment.

“Gavin… I…”

“Connor?” a voice asked.

Ah! That was long since someone mistook him for his lovely brother. He was a big taller and everybody said you could also feel his assholeness on his face, plus there was his eyes… but there, sit, eyelids closed and blessed by a strange love… maybe you could think he was the sweet and cute one.

“Connor…” the voice said again.

“Come on, that’s not Connor! Are you phckin’ blind?”

Niles opened his eyes and looked to the tiny voice’s owner.

Gavin was harsh, he liked that in him but for a little boy.

When he felt the eyes on him, the kid dashed to him and hugged him. The GV200 narrowed his eyes.

“I was sure it was you!”

“Are you secretly Connor?” Gavin said under his breath, leaning over the man.

Niles was about to reply when he realized the face was quite familiar. It had changed with the time and the fact he had passed six months cut from the world came back like a tsunami, shaking him with violence.

“Cole, do you remember me? I’m Niles, Connor’s twin. We met one time.”

The tiny boy looked him as he was still hugging him and seemed doubtful but suddenly, he smiled and nodded.

Did he saw his eyes, his look so dismissive? Or was it something else?

“Yes, I remember you!”

“Are you there with Hank?” Niles asked.

Gavin looked him, his LED flickering yellow as he was browsing the information and… received some. How was Niles about that? He looked a bit unhorsed. He could see the man was trying to act… normally.

That didn’t suit him well.

That fake smile, that way to bend toward the kid.

Connor should be really cute when he did that because there was something in him but Niles? That didn’t fit. Not like that…

“I’m here with mommy! I thought you were Connor so I wanna come because I miss him. I don’t see him often. But he’s soooooo nice.”

“That’s right. He’s really cute.”

“Yes! Last time, he bought me a biiiiiiiig Ice cream.”

“Ah, he’s sweet. When was that?”

There, Niles looked more like itself.

“Cole?” a voice called.

The tiny boy looked over a lady looking around, worry on her face.

“You should go there,” Gavin said. “Your mam is waiting for ya.”

Cole looked to his mom and nodded. He stared Niles with a bright and wide smile. “Connor bought me the Ice cream in August! I’ll be happy to see you again! Say ‘hi’ to Connor for me, please!”

“I’ll do it.”

The child ran toward his mother, calling for her.

Niles sighed heavily.

“You did great! I’m sad he knew Connor because trying to kill someone is certainly the next step for you!”

“We’re former cop.”

“That’s why we know how to do to hide and run!”

“Problem,” Niles said, looking him.

“Yay?”

“I can’t run.”

Gavin smiled and took him by the waist, helping him to turn toward him. “Then, I’ll carry you.”

Niles closed his eyes.

The GV200 jumped because he received a lot of information really weird.

“You don’t feel good? I say something I shouldn’t? I didn’t mean… Ah! Humans!” he said, clenching his teeth.

“It’s okay, Gav’.”

The Android looked up toward him.

“It’s okay if I call you Gav’?”

“You give me my name, I guess you can do whatever you want,” he replied. “Gav’ is cute,” he added.

Niles looked a bit uneasy and watched around. The weather was cold he was younger, he’d wished for a hot cocoa. Not anymore. But he felt his hands becoming a bit red, the tip stinging a bit.

His phone rung and he looked it. It was from Connor, of course.

[Congratulations!!!

Send me a pic’, please, please, please                         ]

“Do you want to take a photo’?” Niles asked.

“Yay?” Gavin replied.

[superoderick-blog]

i believe we’ll be okay | joderick

WHO: Roderick Meeks & Joe Hart (@itsjoehart) WHAT: Roderick makes his first friend at WIU. WHERE: Waldron Quad. WHEN: Saturday, November 11th, mid morning. WARNINGS: Nah!

Roderick could smell delicious food - his stomach gave an appreciative rumble as he made his way to the Quad. He could hear laughter and shouting, and he steeled himself for the rush of emotions that would swamp him as soon as he got closer. It was an awful lot of people. Hopefully nobody would be having a meltdown over brunch before school even started - a lot of happier emotions were always easier to deal with. He got in line for food - it was a long line - and sighed to himself as he looked around him. WIU really was beautiful.

Joe sighed. His toes felt crunched in his shoes, boots made specifically for the colder seasons. He missed his sandals dearly, but he knew they were meant for the warmer months (although if Joe thought he could get away with it without receiving frost bite in return, he absolutely would wear them in 5 ft of snow). Luckily, the comfy scarf around his neck gave him some inner peace to walk graciously into such a large group of new students. The food smelled delicious, and he was happy to find there were vegetarian options for people like him ( was there a super power that made you unable to eat meat?), as well as drinks like Kombucha and Coconut Water instead of soda and juice. With a hum, he joined the line for sustenance just like every other student, and happily waited his turn. His eye caught a boy in front of him. He tapped a small with lizard-like eyes in front of him and politely requested to take a step ahead of her to talk to his friend. With a smile, she happily let him through. It wasn't necessarily a lie, Joe thought. Everyone was a potential friend if you tried hard enough. "Excuse me," he was standing what he was sure was probably too close, but Joe often pushed boundaries until they were set.

Roderick turned in surprise and found himself face to face with...yeah, no, he didn't know this guy, but he felt safe enough - a cursory swipe at the guy's emotions didn't reveal anything that made Roderick any more wary than he already was--no desire to do ill-will, at least not right on the surface--so Roderick slid his oversized headphones off his ears and raised his eyebrows. "Yeah?" Had he met this guy already? Should he know his name? Roderick felt like he would remember him, if only because of all the dreads. "Do you...need something, or?"

A grin formed on pink-tinted cheeks. "No, not at the moment. Food would be great, but no complaints here." Joe shrugged his shoulders, long dreads falling all to one shoulder. "I'm Joe." He stated simply, eyes warm and hand out, expecting Roderick to shake. While he knew that some super-humans and fromians didn't shake hands simply because of something power-related, Joe didn't feel any different vibes from him, just a nervous awkwardness that came with a lot of teenagers their age. Or what Joe assumed was their age. "I like your headphones. What are you listening to?"

Roderick hesitated for a moment, glancing between his outstretched hand and the line of people around them. "Um, I'm Roderick." On the one hand, he could just do it and not be weird about it, but people got pissed when he went poking around in their feelings, no matter how much he tried not to. "And I'm an empath. If I shake your hand I'll have a way better idea what you're feeling, so if you don't want me minding your business..." Roderick shrugged, fully expecting the hand to be withdrawn. People didn't like their privacy invaded. He moved forward, following the line's movement. How much food did it take to feed like a gazillion hungry college kids? "Sinatra. And thanks. Do you like music?" Roderick blinked. Do you like music. What sort of dumbass question. Everybody liked music. He sighed through his nose and quickly caught his annoyance before it could spread to other people - he was annoyed at himself and he didn't need everybody else to be annoyed too. Stupid.

Joe frowned for a short moment, before perking back up again. "I don't mind," he promised. "Unless you mind. In which case, nice to meet you, Roderick." He grinned once more, sending out more calming emotions with his new knowledge of his potential-friend's power, "You ever go by Rick?" Following the line, Joe fiddled around with the cross that settled heavily across his chest. "I love music. I'm more of a Christian-rock and Reggae kind of guy, but Sinatra is a classic. Fly Me to the Moon is one of my mom's favorite songs." He tried again to smile more reassuringly this time, Roderick giving off more tense vibes. Maybe Joe was making him uncomfortable? "By the way," he interrupted before the boy could speak, "if you need me to like, cha cha real smooth back a few steps, feel free to let me know." A musical joke. Heat flushed to his cheeks at such a dorky callback.

Roderick's mouth quirked into a smile, though his brow knitted in confusion. Joe Christian Music Guy talked a lot. That wasn't a bad thing, necessarily, because Roderick didn't mind listening, he was just never sure where to start with people like that. "You're okay." Roderick promised, amused more than anything. With this many people around, a difference of a few inches wasn't going to be much, but it was nice of him to offer. "Christian-rock and Reggae? That's cool." So the stereotype wasn't totally false - he wondered if Joe Christian Rock Guy had pot-leaf decorations in his room. "People mostly just call me Roderick," he added with a shrug, "but I don't mind the nickname, I guess." He'd been called way worse things. "Um, are you...a first year too?"

Humming, Joe reclaimed his place closer to Roderick again after his acceptance of the distance. If he didn't mind, neither would Joe. "Yep! Just got here. I climbed that tree in the main courtyard since I had some time to kill after doing my Sunrise-Yoga in the parking lot." He pursed his lips. "How about Rod?" Pausing, Joe claimed Roderick's eyes again, seemingly forgetting himself for a moment. "For a nickname, anyway."

Roderick raised his eyebrows as Joe spoke. Tree-climbing at sunrise? Man, college was something else - there were so many things about that he wouldn't do even if forced, and here was Joe Christian Rock Guy doing them voluntarily. "I guess I don't mind either way," Roderick said with a shrug of his shoulders. "Call me what you want." The line moved forward and they were finally close to the table - Roderick grabbed two paper plates and handed one to Joe, followed by a Never-Dirty Napkin and an all-in-one utensil. "I wonder how much of this stuff isn't actually hand-made," Roderick mused quietly, mostly to himself but also to Joe. "It's crazy what food replicators can do nowadays."

Joe nodded along, piling vegetables and dressings onto his plate. The crowds of people around them grew larger with each passing minute and Joe hummed thoughtfully. “You want to go eat somewhere more private?” He gestured to a grassy knoll a bit further away, knowing that the people would further Roderick’s empathetic abilities. “Grab some of those cookies too,” long fingers pointed to chocolate chip and m&m cookies, and he smiled.

Roderick glanced around them, momentarily distracted - the bodies carried emotions, and it felt like they were pushing up against him. It wasn't new, by any means, but the people themselves were unfamiliar, and thus their emotions were - at least for a moment - overwhelming. But then Joe was asking him to grab cookies, so he focused on that - he loved cookies - and willed the pressure of everyone else's feelings to ease as he finished piling his plate. "Over there sounds good." Roderick agreed, moving toward the hill Joe had pointed out. Even that little bit of distance would help with the ambient emotion; just Joe's feelings wouldn't be too bad. He got comfortable and sat down, then offered Joe half the cookies he'd grabbed. "Good idea."

Joe let the happiness seep from his bones as they plopped down together. He always enjoyed company, and he was sure that the positive emotions shouldn’t be too overwhelming for Roderick. “I figured this would be better than being bombarded with everybody’s feelings. I’m sure it can’t be easy walking in the fog of people’s day to day lives,” he murmured, stacking his cookies and munching on a carrot. “Is it difficult to maintain?”

Roderick couldn't help the little smile as he focused on the shift in Joe's emotions. Either he was genuinely elated to be doing what they were doing, or he was focusing on his own happiness on purpose to make Roderick more comfortable. Either way, Roderick was touched. "I wouldn't call it maintaining, exactly," Roderick said around a bite of hot dog. He swallowed and considered before he spoke again. "It's hard to focus. Like how sometimes you accidentally eavesdrop on someone else's conversation, because they're talking loudly right next to you? It's kind of like that. But everybody is talking loudly, and you literally can't help but listen." Roderick shrugged. "The harder part sometimes is not...like, meddling, I guess. Making someone not sad if they're unhappy. Because that's...like, I don't know why someone feels a way. It's not my business. People should feel however they feel." Roderick munched on some chips. "It's weird, but it's also all I've ever known, so it's just kind of how it is."

Joe hummed thoughtfully, listening to Roderick's words with interest. "Oh, so you kind of imprint on people if you're not careful? That has to be stressful." Joe smiled reassuringly, "I'm pretty good at projecting myself, even if I don't have a cool power to go along with it." Winking, Joe began to gobble down his food. It had been a long morning for him already, and the only think he'd had was his oats for breakfast. "After a while, he spoke up again, unable to help himself. "You must be very strong to deal with so many people at one time. You looked a little overwhelmed in line - no offense - and I'm glad that I took the step forward to talk to you. You're really nice, Roderick."

Roderick blinked; he could feel the absolute sincerity with which Joe spoke. He meant it. Roderick could tell already that Joe wasn't like most people - and to him, this just solidified that fact. "You're really nice too, Joe," Roderick said, once he'd swallowed his mouthful of Fromian No-Bake Cake. "I dunno about being strong or not but...thanks. And thanks for talking to me, man. I was kinda worried about making friends here," Roderick admitted with a slight shrug. It was rare that he find someone he could just be with, and he appreciated it more than he could express - at least to someone he'd just met. "You don't need powers to be awesome, dude."