#but ​the one from remy rides again is SCARY SCARY

[apple-jorts]

Petition to shoot norm down with a loaded handgun

And juandissimo, cupid can be spared for now 🩷

he has the worst fronts views.

Fop in general just has really bad front views

[ironwoman359]

You Don’t Own Me (You Don’t Even Know Me)

Chapter 4

Navigation: Ch.1, Ch.2, Ch.3, Ch.4, Ch.5, Ch.6

Summary:  As the son of a Baron, Roman Sanders always knew that when he married, it would be due to a political arrangement rather than true love. Still, when he is sent away to marry an older, more powerful Earl, he is determined to make the best of his situation. Despite the Earl’s indifference towards him, Roman forges ahead and prepares to become the best husband he can possibly be, making new friends along the way. But when his fiancé’s demeanor turns from cold to cruel, Roman must shift all of his focus to survival, and find a way out of his marriage before it’s too late.

Ships: Logince, side Moxiety and Dukeceit

Content Warnings (overall): arranged marriage, abuse, attempted sexual assault, murder, poisoning, character death, hurt/comfort, angst Chapter 4 Warnings: possessive behavior, verbal and physical abuse, angst, allusions to abuse and murder 

Word Count: 4067

Read on AO3: here!

A/N: Co-written with @5-falsehoods-phonated​, check out his masterlist here and check out mine here! 

---

“And when I tried to get down, Remus spooked the pony and it bolted, with me still clinging to the saddle for dear life.” 

Virgil snorted, then immediately brought his hand up to cover his smile. 

“You wound me!” Roman said dramatically, placing a hand on his chest. “Eight-year-old me was certain that his life was going to end, and you’re laughing?” 

“I can’t help that the mental image of you dangling off the saddle of a pony and screaming your head off is the funniest thing I’ve seen all week,” Virgil replied. 

“Be nice, Virgil!” Patton scolded, even as he fought back giggles of his own. “I’m sure it was very scary at the time!” 

“You’re telling me,” Roman agreed. “I wouldn’t set foot near the stables for a month.” 

“I can’t believe that after all that you somehow grew up to be a competent rider,” Virgil said. 

“Well, I probably wouldn’t have if it weren’t for my older brother Remy. He started taking me with him when he went out on his rides; I felt a lot safer riding double with him than I did by myself.”

“Your brothers sound wonderful,” Patton said, smiling. 

“Oh, they’re the absolute worst,” Roman said. “But also I love them more than anyone.” 

“I hope we’ll get to meet them at the wedding!” 

Roman’s smile went brittle around the edges, and he forced himself to nod. 

“I hope so too,” he said quietly. 

Patton’s brow wrinkled, and Roman knew that look, that was Patton’s “I’m worried about you” look, and as much as he had come to view Patton and Virgil as his friends, he wasn’t sure if he was ready to get into the whole “my twin brother ran away from home to escape noble life and I haven’t seen him in years and might never see him again” topic with them just yet. 

“Well this has been great,” Virgil cut in suddenly. “But it’s getting close to midday; I need to get back to work, and you need to get to your little lunch date.” 

“Excuse you, it is a perfectly professional business meeting!” Roman protested, and Virgil rolled his eyes.

“Sure it is. That’s why you meet with Logan every single day and always perk up or get this silly smile on your face whenever you mention something that he said, most of which has nothing to do with business.” 

Roman gave Virgil a deadpan look. “Do you really want me to retaliate right now?” he asked, glancing pointedly at Patton. 

Virgil’s cheeks flushed pink, and he waved Roman away. 

“Go on, then!” he said. “Go have your perfectly professional business meeting.” 

“I will!” Roman said primly, but as he stood to leave, he shot Virgil a grateful smile, and Virgil nodded in return. 

After parting with Patton at the house’s entrance, Roman made the short trek down to the library alone. He hadn’t been sure how he would manage living at the Howard Estate at first, but his life had settled into a predictable yet comfortable routine since the engagement banquet. 

Patton brought breakfast to his room every morning, and after Roman insisted several times that he preferred the company, Patton now stayed to eat with him most mornings. After breakfast, Roman changed into his riding clothes and the two headed down to the stables together, where Virgil was waiting for them with Angel. Roman took his morning ride, and Patton and Virgil did whatever it was they liked to do when they were alone together. 

When he returned, Roman helped Virgil groom Angel, and the three of them often fell into easy conversation with one another. At midday, Roman took his lunch in the library with Logan, and he spent the afternoons on his own, exploring the mansion or indulging in his creative hobbies. All in all, his days were mostly pleasant, until dinnertime, of course. 

His nightly dinner with Lord Howard was, to his disappointment, the most boring and uncomfortable part of Roman’s day. It became clear to Roman after a few attempts of engaging with his fiance that Lord Howard wasn’t even slightly interested in talking with him; what he wanted was somebody to talk at. Roman sat, night after night, and listened to the earl rant about frustrating business partners, idiotic city officials, and even tiny annoyances like a scuff on his boot or a fly in his office. It was difficult to not feel like an emotional punching bag, and Roman always left dinner exhausted from playing the polite, doting fiance that Lord Howard expected him to be. 

Roman stepped into the library, and smiled when he saw Logan sitting at a table beneath a window, the afternoon sun casting golden beams of light through his long hair.

At least there were more positives than negatives to living at this estate. 

“Ah, Roman,” Logan said, smiling as he approached. “Excellent timing, I was just beginning to review my weekly report for Lord Howard. Would you care to assist me?”

“Always,” Roman said, sitting down across from him. 

They poured over the receipts and summaries and work orders together, and Roman couldn’t help but marvel at the sheer amount of work that Logan did every single day. 

“Honestly, Logan, you do almost too much for the earl. Especially considering what he pays you.” 

Roman had seen the payroll receipts for all the staff, and he couldn’t help but be a little insulted on the servants’ behalf. One of the ways Lord Howard kept costs down was clearly at the expense of his staff. 

“While I may agree with your sentiment, the fact of the matter is that if I did not do all this, the estate would fall apart,” Logan said. “And regardless of any...personal feelings about his lordship, there are far too many people who depend on him and his estate for me to consider stopping.” 

Logan paused, frowning as he scanned a document, then sighed. 

“For instance, his lordship neglected to sign off on a shipment of new armor to the city guard, despite my reminding him to do so three times in the last week.” 

He scrawled something along the bottom of the document and set it aside, and Roman raised an eyebrow. 

“Was that Lord Howard’s name you just wrote?” 

Logan fiddled with his glasses, and he glanced around the room before answering. “This is...not the first time that his lordship has neglected his duties on what he perceives to be minor issues. I, uh...take the liberty of correcting such oversights for him.”

“You can forge his handwriting?” Roman translated, and Logan nodded sheepishly. “That’s amazing!” 

Logan blinked, looking up at Roman in clear surprise. “I...it is?” 

“Are you kidding me?” Roman exclaimed. “Of course it is...you’re so talented, Logan, really. I’m not exaggerating when I say you’re wasted as a secretary.” 

“Oh...well, thank you, Roman,” Logan said, his cheeks flushing slightly pink. “I must admit, you also have far more potential than his lordship would care to acknowledge.” 

“I’ll get him to see sense soon,” Roman insisted. “Then maybe together, we can make some real changes around here!” 

“I wish I shared your optimism,” Logan said with a sigh. “But I am glad to share your company, at least.”

It was Roman’s turn to blush, but before he could think of a reply, the sound of footsteps caught his attention, and he looked up to see Patton approaching their table. 

“Sorry for interrupting, Kiddos, but I’ve been asked to fetch Roman here and get him ready.” 

“Get me ready?” Roman asked, and Patton nodded. 

“His lordship requests your presence at a business meeting he has in an hour with other estate holders. I’ve been instructed to dress you for the event and bring you to his lordship.” 

Roman forced down the twinge of discomfort in the back of his mind at the earl choosing an outfit for him like he was some sort of doll, and grinned as he got to his feet. 

“You see, Logan?” he said. “This is our chance!”

“If it is a meeting with other nobility, then I’m afraid I won’t be present,” Logan said. “Lord Howard does not wish for...commoners to be present at such negotiations. He instructs me on what measures need to be taken afterwards.”  

“That’ll be the first thing we change then, once I make him see reason,” Roman said. “You’ll see, this is going to be the start of something great!” 

“I hope you are right,” Logan said with a small smile. “Good luck, Roman.” 

“Thank you, Logan,” Roman said as he followed Patton out of the library. 

I’ll certainly need it. 

--- --- ---

Roman fidgeted uncomfortably in his chair, shooting a glance over to the earl to make sure he hadn’t noticed. The silky fabric that his pants were made of stuck uncomfortably to his skin and made his legs itch horribly, but he had been in similar attire before and had had plenty of practice in the art of keeping his poise while screaming internally. Thankfully, even though he was seated right next to Lord Howard, he had yet to draw his attention. Howard had been too occupied bragging about his various business exports for most of the meeting to pay much attention to him. 

Even through his discomfort, Roman had been learning a lot about his fiance, dutifully keeping mental notes on everything he heard, from which parts of land he had inherited to which ones he had bought or negotiated into owning. Overseas businesses and local investments both let his power reach farther than one might first suspect, and all that put together was what kept the Howard Estate with its acres of land, sprawling mansion and extensive grounds and highly specialized staff all running smoothly. 

It was a lot to manage, so it made sense that Lord Howard had Logan figure out most of the work and only signed off on the most important things himself. Having someone as competent as Logan run things in the background so the true estate head could make the actual appearances as the business leader was a strategy many nobles used to keep their properties under control. 

Craning his neck to look up at his fiance from his lower seat, Roman furrowed his brow in thought. He wondered just how much Logan did that the earl never saw anything about until he reaped the benefits of it. Sure, Logan was extremely capable, but relying entirely on one person to manage everything seemed a bit foolhardy to Roman.

Tuning back into the conversation, Roman perked up as another lord gestured stiffly at a stack of documents in front of him, smooth calculation clear in his tone of voice. Negotiations were something Roman had always prided himself in handling, and handling well. He had often spoken circles around his own father in their practice debates, and it was rare that Roman participated in a discussion without gaining something in his own favor. 

As neither party at the moment looked particularly stressed, Roman figured with a slight twinge of disappointment that such measures shouldn’t be needed this time. He would have liked to show off just a bit and make Lord Howard see what a useful asset he could actually be in their marriage, but he supposed that could wait until a more appropriate opportunity.

“I have most of the influence in this field anyway. Signing your bit of land over to me now would cause fewer problems for you in the future; especially if I don’t have to take it by force when I’m looking to expand.”  Punctuating his statement with a firm tap to the papers, the opposing lord sat back with a satisfied smirk.

The icy glare Lord Howard fixed him with was enough to wipe the smirk fully off his face, however, and he tilted back slightly as the earl leaned forward to fold his hands smoothly in front of him. 

“I’m not in the habit of signing away what’s rightfully mine, Lord Rilken, Baron of Vilvik.”

Roman flinched slightly at the way he practically spat the other man’s title…a title he shared, and had never once felt insecure about until this very moment. The way he spoke to these men, these people in positions of power, like they were nothing but dirt to be brushed off his own much more impressive riches- it was enough to make Roman want to run all the way back to his own estate and beg for another way, plead to wait for someone else to ask for his hand or to find someone himself. He stiffened in his seat and shook the irrational thoughts away. 

No, this is how one played the game when negotiating important matters. Put up a cold and intimidating front until the other person backed down or bent to your own suggestions. If anything, Lord Howard's act was admirable; it almost immediately shut down any arguments, even if it hardly held any semblance of tact. Realizing this would be a good opportunity to show his skills, Roman leaned forward and placed his own hands on the table in front of him, gaining the attention of the opposing business owners quickly.

“It might prove advantageous to you both to simply form a partnership and share the land and business potential it holds. With as much power as the both of you hold over this branch, you’d be able to expand much faster and reap more benefits than you would if you spent all of your time attempting to take control over the others’ sections.” Pleased with himself, Roman glanced over to Lord Howard, expecting at least to have impressed him since he hadn’t really had the time to explain all that he had been trained in and what he could bring to the estate with their union. 

However, as he met Lord Howard’s eyes, ice ran through his veins. The earl was glaring, staring him down like a particularly resilient bug that he could hardly wait to smash beneath a steel-toed boot. The room went so quiet that Roman could swear that the other nobles were holding their breath, and glancing around in his peripherals, he saw everyone sitting around the table gawking at him as if he’d just committed high treason. Had he really said something so wrong? Was this not what was customary, nay, expected behavior of the soon to be co-owner of the estate? Shrinking down slightly as his ears burned red, he finally lowered his eyes as the earl turned away. Roman heard him take a deep breath before saying in a deliberately controlled voice:

“You must forgive my fiance, he hails from a country estate you see; he isn’t accustomed to the way things work here yet. If you would be so kind as to excuse us for just a moment so that I may explain a few things?” Not waiting for an answer, the earl stood and held out his hand for Roman to take. “If you would step into the hall with me, dearest?”

Recognizing the order under the request, Roman stood quickly and took Lord Howard’s hand, wincing at how tightly he was gripped and practically dragged out of the room. The door was opened just a bit too forcefully to calm his nerves in the slightest and he watched as Lord Howard seemed to barely refrain from slamming it back closed, instead closing it with deliberate calm before whirling around to face him and jerking his hand out of Roman’s to tower before him.

“Let me make this perfectly clear, you do not speak out of turn in these meetings. You do not speak above me or-”

“But I didn’t! I was only-” Roman didn’t register what the dull smacking sound echoing in his ears and making them ring was until pain bloomed and spread from his lower jaw to his entire cheek. Raising his hand to his face in disbelief, he felt a bit of wetness and looked to see blood on his fingertips. Fear and horror twisted in his gut as he realized one of Lord Howard’s rings must have caught on his cheek and opened a cut. His jaw ached and his teeth felt numb; the blow had been hard enough to rattle them in his skull. Romans looked up and flinched as he saw Howard’s hand still raised to strike should he choose to speak again, and he shrunk in on himself in an attempt to seem too small to expend more energy on.

“You,” The earl spat, “do not speak above me, or make suggestions on my behalf. You are not here to offer up useless opinions that were not asked for or needed. You were brought into that room to sit obediently and look pretty on my arm and that is the full extent that your role will ever be. Have I made myself clear?”

Roman hesitated for just a second too long, and Lord Howard reached down to grip his chin, tipping his head so he had no choice but to look his assailant directly in the eyes. “My dear, I believe I asked you a question, and I expect an answer.”

Biting back a whimper Roman nodded as much as he could with his face trapped in the steely grip. “Yes my lord, I understand perfectly. I apologize for overstepping, it won’t happen again.”

The answer, as demeaning as it had felt to say, seemed to appease the still seething man, and Howard dropped his chin and stepped back with a wolfish smile. 

“Very good, see to it that it doesn’t. Now, I believe we’ve been here long enough. If you’re done blubbering, you may join me.”

Startling a bit at the choice of phrasing, Roman hesitantly reached up to touch his face, wincing as he realized there was more than just blood on his cheeks. Taking a deep breath, he carefully wiped the tears away before plastering on a small smile and moving to stand just behind the earl. He was loath to go back into the room like this, humiliation and blood reddening his cheeks, but he didn’t dare speak up for fear of more punishment. As Lord Howard opened the door and moved back to his place at the head of the table, he hardly spared Roman another glance, and Roman had no choice but to meekly follow. 

Sitting down, Roman realized most of the people at the table were staring at him like one would a fresh kill, their expressions a mixture of pity and approval while they averted their eyes. Sinking down even lower as the meeting resumed, he realized this was to be the second part of his punishment. He was to learn and remember his role as Lord Howard’s betrothed and eventual husband. Sit still and look pretty, step a toe out of line and be punished, and make sure everyone in the room knew that the power held over him was just as absolute as the power the earl held over everything else. 

“I’m pleased to know some people still know how to keep common folk in line. Truly, the disrespect-” Roman’s ears rang as someone close by whispered to another just loud enough for him to overhear, making him want to sink down even lower and let the floor swallow him. 

The meeting continued on for what seemed like forever, but unlike before, Roman didn’t absorb a single word of what was said. The voices of the other lords washed over him as he sat as still as he could, hands clenched in his lap to keep them from trembling. When at last Lord Howard stood, Roman almost stood up next to him, but caught himself just in time and sent a questioning glance up at his fiance. 

Lord Howard’s lips curled into a smile, and he held his arm out to Roman in invitation. Roman swallowed down his revulsion and stood, slipping his arm into the earl’s and schooling his face into a pretty smile. Lord Howard covered Roman’s hand with his own, and Roman’s skin burned at the touch. 

“Well gentlemen, this concludes our discussion for the day, I do thank you all for coming.” 

One by one the nobles stood, nodding to Lord Howard as they filed out of the room. Roman’s cheeks heated as several of them swept their eyes over him as they passed, their gazes lingering on the bruise blooming on his face. When at last, every one of them was gone, Lord Howard turned his attention to Roman, all false pleasantries gone from his expression. 

“I trust that after today, any...confusion about your role here has been cleared up?” he asked, his voice low and dangerous. 

“Yes, my lord,” Roman whispered, and the earl smiled. 

“Good. Now go clean yourself up. Dinner is at seven o’clock sharp, and I expect you to look presentable.” 

“Yes, my lord,” Roman repeated, and as soon as Lord Howard dropped his arm, he practically bolted from the room. 

He hurried through the corridors of the mansion, head down and eyes stinging. When he finally reached his room, he all but slammed the door behind him, and collapsed to the floor, his shoulders shaking as he released the sob he’d been holding back for the past hour. 

He let himself cry, for how long, he wasn’t sure, not only for the sting on his cheek and the shame that came with it, but for every doubt, every grief, every pain that he’d pushed down and bottled up over the past month.  

After everything he’d been through, everything he’d sacrificed, was this really his fate? Chained forever to a man who only saw him as something to own, to display, to use... 

Roman lifted his head slowly. 

“Remember all that we've taught you, and you'll do fine." 

His father had taught him everything he knew about business, about politics, about matters of the state. He knew how to act with decorum, how to spot an opportunity, and how to charm a room while negotiating, all thanks to his father’s teachings. 

But now, with tears running down his face and a bruise blossoming on his cheek, he remembered another set of lessons. 

Lessons his mother had given him as a teenager, after time had run its course and he was no longer the slightly awkward, gangly kid he had once been. 

“You’ve grown into a handsome young man,” his mother had said to him on his eighteenth birthday. “Your father believes that when you are married, it will be purely for political reasons. You need to know that this may not be the case.” 

Roman had tried to forget the lessons his mother had passed down to him, had told himself that he would never need them...but here he was, sobbing on the floor, the first of what he knew would be many marks on his skin if he didn’t tread carefully. 

Roman learned everything he knew about running an estate from his father, but he learned everything about acting from his mother. Thanks to her, he knew how to conceal his emotions, how to smile when his stomach rolled over and how to sigh when his skin burned. He knew how to mold himself into the perfect husband, because if he did not let himself be molded he would find himself broken before it was too late. 

“Too late for what, mother?” the younger him had asked, eyes wide and horrified, and she’d smiled in a way he’d never seen before. 

“Did I ever tell you the story of how your grandfather died?” 

Roman knew what situations were most likely to result in “accidents,” what weapons were easily concealed and what poisons were difficult to detect. He knew how to pluck a nose hair to bring tears to his eyes and slap his cheeks so they appeared flushed. He knew how to appear calm and collected when he was suffering, and how to appear stricken with grief when all he felt was relief. 

He had been preparing for marriage his whole life...every kind of marriage. And now that he knew the kind of husband that Lord Howard really wanted, he knew exactly what kind of husband he was going to be. 

Even if he wouldn’t be one for very long. 

--- --- ---

Previous | Next 

Everything Taglist: @poison-lyra​, @spacevirgil​, @mirror2thespirit​, @stormcrawler75​, @backatthebein​, @bubblycricket​, @callboxkat​, @theinvisiblespoon, @fandomsofrandom​, @hold-our-destiny, @broadwaytheanimatedseries, @grey-lysander​, @leaves-and-bounds @storytellerofuntoldlegends, @funsizedgremlin​, @iaminmultiplefandoms, @slightlyobssesive​, @today-only-happens-once, @fluidityandgiggles, @faithfreedom-art​, @theymaynotbedenied, @redone0-0dreamer​, @lamp-calm-sanders​, @heythereprincey​, @evetheodd, @thedundundunnnsong, @fandomloverangel, @i-read-by-lamp​ @msu82

 Sanders Sides Taglist: @spacevirgil​, @nerd-in-space​, @littlemiracle05​, @silverrhayn​, @starsinger​,@callboxkat​, @fantasyandfairfolk​, @fanartfunart, @dwbh888, @analogical-mess, @hold-our-destiny, @broadwaytheanimatedseries,  @nightmarejasmine​, @sanderstalker​, @storytellerofuntoldlegends, @a-lexicon-of-words​, @llamaly​, @funsizedgremlin​, @punknerdmusings​, @hikariyukino​, @milomeepit​, @theymaynotbedenied, @sassy-in-glasses, @musicphanpie-b​, @fluidityandgiggles @asymmetricalgarbage8888, @lamp-calm-sanders​,  @bibbidi-bobbity-booyah, @damienswifeolicitydallysgirl, @felicianoromano, @chaosfamder, @dorkoverse, @idontevenfreakingknow22​, @shortandfantastic​, @the-gilbird​, @raygelkitty​, @your-heads-not-in-the-gutter, @opaque-puppet @ravenclawicecream​, @ladyartemisia28​, @awesome-and-unique-username​ 

[sanderssidesfanfiction]

If There’s A Place I Could Be - Chapter Forty Three

If There’s a Place I Could Be Tag

March 12th, 1998

There wasn’t anything hugely important about it. It wasn’t Remy’s birthday, or Christmas, or any other holiday. It was just a regular day, and that was what made this so special. Toby had come home from school with a tiny recipe book which he had given to Remy. “Obviously, that’s not the end-all be-all of recipe books, but it’s something to start you off so you’re not stuck with ramen every time Mom makes you cook your own lunch or dinner.”

Remy looked at the book in his hands almost reverently, and grinned. “Thanks, Tobes!” he exclaimed. “This looks like it’ll be a huge help! Making ramen is kinda relaxing, but it does get old after a while. This will help a lot.”

Toby gave him a smile and a one-armed hug. “I’m glad you like it. Now, I gotta scram and figure out how to explain to Mom why I need a ride to my girlfriend’s house, but I hope that sometime soon we could try a recipe in there together.”

Remy was touched. “Yeah, I’d love that,” he said.

  September 11th, 2001

It started with a ripple but soon tore into the entire coffee shop. They had seen it on the news, gotten a call from someone who knew someone who was involved. The Twin Towers were going down in flames. The Pentagon had been attacked. Everyone was bustling around, talking about it, trying to call loved ones to make sure they were all right, trying to get their coffee fast so they could pick up their kids from school and hug them tight and never let go. Remy’s head was reeling as he heard the news. He didn’t live near New York City, and Washington DC wasn’t a hop skip and a jump away, but it was still startling to hear about.

Startling was an understatement, but Remy didn’t have the words to describe what he felt. He scratched the back of his neck as he continued working on his shift. He had a job to do, no matter how much he didn’t want to do it. He worked and worked, making coffee after coffee and passing out pastries as needed, and he knew that he wouldn’t be able to sleep well tonight.

At the end of his shift, Remy had just hung up his apron and Emile walked in, looking dazed. He took one look at Remy and pulled him in for a tight hug, which Remy desperately returned. “You heard the news?” Emile asked.

“Yeah. Obviously, you did too,” Remy said.

“Mhm,” Emile confirmed, voice sounding small, and scared, and uncertain, and that terrified Remy to no end.

They broke apart and Remy said, “Let’s just go home.”

“Yeah,” Emile agreed.

They got in Emile’s car, but Emile wasn’t starting it. Remy looked at him. “Emile? You okay?”

Emile stared at his lap and shook his head. “This has me thinking...” he started, but stopped. “I just want...” Another beat. “I don’t want to miss my chance with you.”

“What do you mean?” Remy asked, heart starting to beat harder.

“I mean...I mean life is short, and we never know when it’s going to end. I don’t want to land in an early grave without telling you that I love you,” Emile said. “Because I do. I do love you, Rem, more than words can say. That’s why I fought back so hard when you said what you did. It hurt more coming from you than anyone else. I don’t...I don’t want to live without you, Rem. I want you by my side. And as more than a friend. I want...I want to love you for the rest of our lives, however long or short that may be. And I know commitment is scary, but...there’s no one else I’d rather commit to.”

Remy stared at Emile in shock. “You’re saying that you’d, like, marry me?” he asked.

“Hypothetically. One day. If you wanted. Not right now, obviously, I’m not proposing, but...I want to be your boyfriend, with the option of maybe, one day, being your husband,” Emile said. He turned pink. “Is that weird?”

Remy leaned over and kissed Emile softly, but with every ounce of adoration and desperation he felt combined. Emile kissed back, placing a hand at the nape of Remy’s neck. When they pulled apart, Emile lightly squeezed the back of Remy’s neck. “I take it that’s a yes, then,” Emile said.

“Definitely. Yes,” Remy agreed. “I really want to be with you, too.”

Emile offered Remy a shy smile and they finally drove home. Remy squirmed where he sat, clearing his throat. “Kim was going to be moving her practice the week after this one,” he said. “I’m not sure if she’ll be doing that anymore.”

“Well, we can always find someone else in the area,” Emile offered.

Remy shook his head. “No offence, Emile, but I think I’ve made all the progress that I can make. At least, right now, you know? I know not to dump everything on you, and I have coping strategies for when the uh...the flashbacks pop up, and I know how to be a little more open-minded to other people’s experiences. I don’t want to rehash everything with an entirely new therapist, when I don’t exactly need one, you know? Other people need that time more than I do, and besides, I think I’m mostly well adjusted other than a few...uh...hiccups.”

“Obviously, I can’t force you to go to therapy,” Emile said reluctantly. “And we’re not in a position where if you don’t go I risk seriously hurting myself helping you. But I do wish you’d reconsider.”

“I know you do,” Remy said. “And I get it, really. But when it comes down to it, I’m just...I know I’ve said it before...but I don’t need a therapist, Emile. I don’t think I’m cured, but I do think that I’ve processed everything that can be processed at this point in time.”

“Therapy isn’t just for processing trauma, it can help you with the little things, too,” Emile pointed out.

“Well, yeah, but what little things are there, other than our occasional fight and my occasional stress over work? Those don’t happen often, like I said, and other people need that time more than I do,” Remy said.

“I don’t want to start an argument,” Emile said as they pulled into the parking lot. “I just request that you keep it in the back of your mind. Sound good?”

Remy nodded. “Yeah. That’s fine.”

“You’re going to forget this conversation even happened by tomorrow, aren’t you?” Emile asked knowingly.

“Probably,” Remy agreed. “Anything I don’t want to address I just bite the bullet if I have to or else I ignore it until it goes away.”

“That’s not very healthy,” Emile said, voice pitched just a little too high to be normal.

“You can’t exactly stop me,” Remy sang at the same pitch.

“I know,” Emile sighed. “And I try to not let it get to me, but sometimes you really do worry me, Rem.”

“I know,” Remy said softly. “And I appreciate the fact that you care. But I can handle a lot of things well on my own, remember?”

“Yeah,” Emile said. “Although that stomach flu you had last week was not one of those things.”

Remy pulled a face. “Tell me about it. I’m just glad I got a clean bill of health on Friday. We need the money for rent.”

“Ugh, don’t remind me that money is tight, please,” Emile groaned. “I’m stressed enough.”

“Today is a stressful day,” Remy replied simply.

An awkward silence hung over them as they stepped into the apartment and put their things away. Emile came out of his room around the same time Remy did, and they looked at each other uncertainly. “We already know what’s going to happen if we turn on the TV, don’t we?” Emile asked.

“Unfortunately,” Remy sighed.

The silence took over again. Emile cleared his throat. “Want to drown our sorrows in cartoons?”

Another long pause. “...Sure, why not.”

Emile grabbed some movie or another, Remy wasn’t really paying attention, and he settled on the floor seeing as how they had yet to get a TV stand and therefore buying chairs wouldn’t help them whatsoever. Emile put the movie in and settled next to Remy. Remy scooted closer. Emile looked over at him curiously. Remy took Emile’s arm and wrapped it around his shoulder, nuzzling into Emile’s side. “You’re just a giant cat,” Emile said with a fond smile.

Remy stuck his tongue out at Emile and Emile laughed. “You even do the tongue thing! You’re a cat!”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Remy said, but he was smiling and nuzzling further into Emile.

Emile laughed softly and pressed a kiss into Remy’s hair. “Shh, the movie is starting,” Emile said.

Remy rolled his eyes and rested his head on Emile’s shoulder, feeling thoroughly exhausted. This was why he was letting Emile putting on some movies and cartoons for them both. He didn’t have the mental energy or the will to watch normal TV, his brain wouldn’t comprehend words on the page like they normally would when reading a book, and he hadn’t slept soundly since Emile and him had broken up. Even when he was sick with a stomach flu, his sleep would be interrupted by vomiting or fever or chills. He hadn’t gotten a good night’s sleep in a month, so having cartoons on to watch if he could even stay awake made things simpler. Easier to follow. Low-stakes games that didn’t feel rushed or forced. It was dumb, but it was comforting.

Well, no, it wasn’t dumb, purely because it was comforting. It was why Remy reread his favorite comics, why he reread books when he knew the ending. Everything turned out all right in the end; he didn’t have to worry about the characters dying an unforeseen death or really going through anything he couldn’t handle, because he had been through it all already. He knew what was going to happen. And Emile derived similar comfort from cartoons.

...Huh. That explained a lot. And also made Remy feel a bit like a dick for not understanding that for a year.

Emile shifted underneath Remy and Remy opened his eyes. When had he closed them? “Hey, sleepyhead,” Emile lightly teased. “I need to pee. You mind?”

“Hm? Mm-mm,” Remy hummed, sitting upright.

Emile put a hand on Remy’s shoulder and offered him a smile, a murmured, “I’ll be right back,” and a gentle squeeze.

Remy watched Emile go and leaned back against the wall. He looked at the TV, which had been turned off. Apparently, he had slept through the entire movie. Whoops.

Emile walked back over to him and leaned against the wall. “Do you want to head to the shelter to help out tonight?”

“Wouldn’t we miss dinner?” Remy asked.

“There’s ways to help out other than cooking. Childcare, helping people with paperwork for food stamps and such, or even helping with finances, either the shelter’s or the individual people there,” Emile said. “Usually the childcare dies down after dinner, but when the kids’ parents have to talk about something serious, someone has to keep the kids occupied. And besides, we might not get there before dinner wraps up, but it never hurts to just talk to Bernie and see what he might need help with in the future.”

“True,” Remy allowed, stretching his legs. “I’m just not full of energy at the moment.”

“Yeah, but that’s why we should go. Most people won’t, and they might not help today, when lots of people will need help.”

“I know,” Remy agreed, standing. “We’d better get going if we want to be there soon, though.”

Emile offered Remy a thankful smile and Remy offered him a hopeful one back. They had been on good terms again, falling back into their old routine like nothing had happened. Though Remy couldn’t deny there was a certain shift in the dynamics since their fight. As he grabbed his jacket, he wondered if it was just what had happened today that made Emile behave differently, or if this would stay. The fact that they resumed dating would definitely remain, but Remy found he liked this new feeling. It wasn’t like they weren’t equals in their relationship before, but something seemed a little different about today. They seemed like...partners.

Obviously, they had been partners before. That was how relationships worked. But more than the sense of partners in crime. More than the sense of passionate declarations of love, or simple lingering touches on each other’s bodies when they wanted to discreetly show affection. This partnership felt like it would last through fights, through trouble, through any and everything. Even through a break up. Remy felt like this partnership wasn’t just something between him and Emile romantically. If he inspected it closely, he was a little surprised to find that it ran deeper than romance, deeper than platonic love. This was a bond he hadn’t experienced before. It wasn’t a familial bond, but it felt similar. Like he and Emile had somehow always known each other and never wanted to be without each other in their lives. It was cliché, but Remy could have sworn that...this was what soulmates should have felt like.

[wastelandcrown]

logan lark’s adventures in trying to appease his parents

CHAPTER 2: meet the plastics (but more stressful emotionally)

Summary: Logan Lark is a fairly average high school student. By all means, he should be impressing his parents on all grounds. Except...he doesn’t exactly have a social life. So after his parents give him puppy dog eyes, he decides to join the local theatre's youth production. Good grief...His life is about to get weird isn’t it?

Warning: Potential ooc behavior, Roman is a theatre brat to the highest degree (Sorry Roman stans), Remus being Remus

Notes: This fic is based off an idea from @under-the-blue-moonlight. Logan makes a Friend, Roman is a Brat, and the experiment finally begins

Pairings: Eventual Intrulogical, Eventual Rociet, Eventual One-Sided Logicality, Platonic Analogical, Platonic DRLAMP

Word Count: 2057

As soon as he arrives he realizes he probably should have mentally prepared himself more. Janus opens the door to the men’s dressing room, and he gets a small glimpse of the chaos. 

Roman is loudly and dramatically singing along to some musical theatre song playing over the room’s speakers, Remus is playing a game of cat-and-mouse game with a kid Logan didn’t notice before for a cup of coffee, and Virgil is perched on one of the makeup benches with his knees pulled up to his chest and a Nintendo switch in his lap.

“Boys,” Janus begins, and only Virgil looks up, “I invited Logan-” 

At that, Roman halts in his tracks and wildly gestures at Janus, “You deceitful little harlot! You told me you were going to intimidate him!”

“I did, I’m very scary.” Said harlot replies, then looks at Logan to back him up. 

So Logan nods because there’s no use in lying to them. He had intimidated him for a short time, though he never thought it was bad-natured. 

With a huff, Roman turns on Logan, “If you even think of auditioning for the lead-”

“That won’t be a problem. I intend to get the smallest part possible.” 

Janus smiles at him with that, “See, Roman? Not a bad guy, just a newbie.”

Roman is about to speak again when Remus crashes into him and they both end up on the floor. 

“Remus get off!” The shorter brother screams with a push, “I’m getting dust all over me!” 

Remus cackles and springs up to stand, he doesn’t bother brushing himself off but offers Roman a hand, “Just for that, I’m gonna sweep and pour all the dust into your pants!”

“Don’t you dare!” He shouts again but takes Remus’ hand nonetheless, and then begins to brush himself off. 

Confused, Logan speaks up, “Why did you crash into him in the first place? He was fairly easy to avoid?”

“I’m just unpredictable like that!” Remus says to him, then with the same vigor as before continues to chase down the boy with the coffee cup. 

After another five or so minutes of Remus running around, he managed to tire himself out and laid on the floor underneath Virgil. The boy with the coffee, who introduced himself as Remy, sat down with Roman and Janus to discuss the show. Things were fairly quiet, and Logan was still standing by the door. Janus, Roman, and Remy were much too busy to call him over, but Remus gave him a smile and beckoned him to join him and Virgil. With another deep breath, he walks over and takes a seat. It would be important to gather information for his chart. 

“Hey, nerdy wolverine! You looked like a lost puppy over there!” Still on the floor, he looks up to Logan in his chair.

He blinks slowly, then nods, “I...suppose that’s one way of putting it.”

“Can you blame him?” Virgil mutters, “It’s his first day and he has to deal with all of you.” 

“I am a fucking delight to be around, Virgil!” Shouts Remus, sitting up straight and pouting at him. Then he gets up all the way and sits on the counter with Virgil, kicking his long legs like a child. 

“I don’t believe we have been formally introduced,” Logan begins, looking up at Remus, “My name is Logan Lark.”

The taller boy tilts his head to the side, and grins, “Do you have a stick up your ass or is that just how you talk?” 

“I-Why would having a stick up my behind affect how I talk?” Logan asks and adjusts his glasses. 

Both Virgil and Remus laugh at that. While Virgil’s is soft and he hides it behind his switch, Remus throws his head back and cackles. Logan watches, and he notices the exceedingly sharp canines in Remus’ mouth. He doesn’t know why he’s watching in the first place. Perhaps his strangeness is particularly captivating up close. 

“He’s asking if you’re uptight.” Virgil offers him, and then Logan gets it. 

He shakes his head, “I don’t think so. Just boring.” 

“Awe, Logie!” Remus coos at him, “I bet you’re super fucking interesting! And if not I can always corrupt you and make you interesting!” 

Logan wonders if he could. Despite his boundless energy, extreme bluntness, and extravagant ideas of fun, Remus seemed nice. In a weird way. 

“Logie?” Virgil asks with a scrunched up nose.

“It’s a nickname, dumbass!” Remus shouts with a scowl.

“I don’t mind.” 

This seems to set off a debate about the merit of Remus’ nickname choices between the pair on the bench. While they debate, Logan eats his granola bar. He hadn’t been thinking when he said he didn’t mind. He did mind, or he usually would. Nicknames were usually given to him maliciously, but he hadn’t minded them from Remus. It seemed in character, despite the little he knew about his character.

 Unknowingly, he had drifted into his thoughts, only realizing when Virgil waved a hand in front of his face. 

“Think it’s time for actors to get to work.”

Logan smiles as he snaps back to reality, “Oh-Thank you.” 

He pauses when he gets up and gives Virgil a nod, “I wish I had known tech was an option.”

“It usually isn’t, but you’re quiet enough for Joan to let you hang out in the booth when you want.” Virgil gives him a small smile like he knows Logan is not having a particularly great day, then turns back to his game. 

He reminded himself to breathe again, as his chest tightened when he approached the others and sat down. 

They spent the next few hours listening to the soundtrack and discussing who they would cast, what roles they wanted, and their skill sets. To Logan’s surprise, the music was actually very interesting to listen to. Hip-hop and rap were not what he was expecting. Though, it wasn’t unpleasant. He actually found himself enjoying a lot of music from the genre and hearing a musical in the style was refreshing. His father, bless his soul, mostly played things akin to The Sound Of Music. 

“So, Logan,” Janus asked pointedly, “What can you do? Theatre speaking.”

“Does it matter? He wants ensemble!” Roman sighed, rolling his eyes. Logan made note of that, Roman-types are certainly going on the bottom of his chart. 

“Our ensemble has to be good, Roman. Not just you.” Hisses Janus, rolling his eyes as well. Roman and Janus seemed very similar, though he much preferred Janus. He seemed like a team-player. 

He cleared his throat to speak, then his voice choked anyway as he began, “I am able to sing, though I feel for this show it is important to share that I can rap.”

“No fucking way!” Exclaimed Remus, who now looked like a kid in a candy shop. He couldn’t be angry at his surprise, it is shocking. He wears a necktie. 

“What Remus said!” Chimes in Remy.

With a strange look in his eyes, Roman sputters out, “You can rap!?” 

“Is it that surprising?” Of course, it was. He spent nearly the rest of the afternoon proving to the others that he could rap. At some point, Janus had sarcastically asked if he would consider auditioning for Hamilton, and this made Roman nearly explode. Figuratively. 

By the time the afternoon was over and the others were going home, he had been worn out by the social interaction and overall exuberant energy. Sitting in the lobby now, waiting for his father, he saw Virgil and Patton coming out of the theatre together. 

“Logan!” Patton exclaimed and ran over dragging Virgil by the sleeve, “How was your first day!”

“I think it was probably tiring, he spent the afternoon with the idiots.” Scoffs Virgil, and Logan nods in agreement.

“Yes, Virgil is right. I’m exhausted and we barely did a thing.” Logan mutters, undoing his tie slightly. Had he been this tired all day? 

“Oh goodness, that sounds awful! Do you need a ride home?”

“No, I’m waiting for my father. He works in the building.”

“Okay! Make sure to get a good sleep tonight, tomorrow I’m sure Janus will put you through the wringer!” Patton smiles brightly at him and walks off.

Before following, Virgil gives him a look and then hands him a slip of paper, “That’s my number. Text me when you need a break tomorrow.”

Logan is stunned silent and all he can do is nod while Virgil catches up to Patton. 

He’s too tired to think, so he simply rests his head against the back of the seat until his father arrives. His father probably realized how tired he was, so he didn’t talk to him much. They got in the car, got food, and went home. Their apartment smelled amazing when they got home. His mother had been baking again. When he all but collapsed onto the couch, his mother handed him two cookies with jelly on them and he smiled. As he sat and ate, his mother and father sat next to him watching TV. He was about to get up and drag himself through his nighttime routine when his mother began to run a hand through his hair and pressed a kiss to his forehead. 

When he woke up the next morning in his bed, he knew he had fallen asleep on the couch. He hadn’t realized how exhausted and stress-ridden he had been yesterday, but a full night's rest had helped significantly. Now that he was much less tired, he took out the paper with Virgil’s number and put it into his phone. Showering, dressing, making coffee and toast, his routine was simple but it made him feel a lot better. Then he remembered the chart, and he finally felt like himself again. With his focus renewed, he had an hour now before he had to leave with his father. He managed to make himself lunch and pack a small bag in fifteen minutes, before getting out his pens and a fresh notebook from his desk. 

On the front of the notebook, he quickly wrote “Hamilton Performance Experiment”, and then got to work. The first six pages were reserved for a later time when he could further write in them. He assumed his time would be spent most with Patton, Roman, Remus, Janus, and Virgil. So, each got their own page, then an extra page for others he would meet. If they became important, he could give them their own page and write the page number next to their name. On page eight he began his chart. It had everything a good chart should. Clean black lines, an x and y-axis, a title. Perfectly organized. He decided to organize by week, so on the x-axis, he wrote down each day of the week. The y-axis was numbered one through ten on a scale of how easy each person was to be around. Using different colours of pen, he made a small key and put a small coloured dot to assign each person to a certain number ranking. 

Roman was firmly placed on zero, he had nearly made Logan want to throw himself out of a window. Literally. His ego was so enormous that it overshadowed every other thought Logan may have had about him. Patton was a seven. Though Logan did not particularly relate to his bubbly personality, he was very helpful. He did not seem the type to slack off either, though he would need further research to confirm that. Virgil was a ten, without any doubt. Calm, quiet, and helpful to him. If he could work with people exclusively like Virgil he may never have an issue again in his life. Janus was a five, as he had been helpful but he seemed much less altruistic in his help. Logan admired his ambition, it seemed like he had the show's best interests in mind. Then there’s Remus...He had Logan stumped. He was certainly wild, but he wasn’t horrid to be around. Logan puts him as a five, for now, because he feels like he needs much more time to figure out Remus. 

When he got into the car today he felt much more prepared. He had food, an ally in Virgil, and his notebook. Maybe today would be better. 

[nostalgic-pancakes]

Room 73- Chapter 1/8

There is a being that lives in the chemistry building of Haley-Dove Secondary. It has been there longer than anyone’s living memory, and nobody questions it anymore.

Pairing/s: (Eventual) Romantic Prinxiety, Loceit and Pintroverts/Karrot Kings, Queerplatonic Intruality and platonic DLAMRT(N) with mentioned background Kailliot. Romantic (married!) Remile and mentioned Sanders Shorts characters.

Read on AO3!

Word count: 2950

Warnings: Mentioned bullying, allusions to the foster system, perhaps minor disassociation? Paranormal elements.

Other notes: So many thanks to my Beta (!!!) Juicyboxers for looking through this fic for me- and teaching me so much stuff about dialogue!! So if you notice that the dialogue here is better than the dialogue on my other stuff, than thank him!

Anyways, without further ado... (tinny drumroll)

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

There is a being that lives in the chemistry building of Haley-Dove Secondary. It has been there longer than anyone’s living memory, and nobody questions it anymore.

It’s a strange one, a space completely fuzzed out by something resembling static, but if that static could exist, could take up space, be real in a way static really can’t be.

The being lives on the third desk to the right, second from top, room 73. It seems to be on friendly terms with the thing that sometimes screams in the courtyard and the witch who lives in the woods surrounding the town. It doesn’t seem to like the slamming locker much, but it doesn’t hurt anyone, so nobody cares.

It lingers, at that desk, watching boys and girls and everyone in between study the sciences as the years go on, seeing the building as a boy’s school, then a bomb shelter, then a public school classroom, watching. Nobody knows what the being is, really, but it’s there, so nobody will say anything.

Across the country, three people grieve quietly.

…

”BEEP, BEEP, BEEP”

“Shu-Shuddup, Pat...” Groaning slightly, Janus lifts his covers from his head, just a little, to flip the bird at his brother, who clearly understood the concept of ‘don’t wake someone up before sunrise’. “...lemme sleep.”

Pat doesn’t seem to realize this, clearly and he continues making obnoxious beeping noises at him. Stupid Pat and his relentless cheer never letting Janus brood enough to fit the aesthetic.

“Alright Pat, let’s get up then. Besides, this has to be better than middle school.” Janus feels bad almost immediately for bringing that up because Patton’s eyes cloud over some, before clearing themselves up and his brother smiles again, a little wider, beckoning Janus out of bed.

“Pat, could you pass me my cape?” asks Janus, holding out his hand expectantly. He’s moderately surprised when there’s nothing there after a few seconds. He glances over, and his brother’s looking at him a bit cheekily.

“Aww Janny, couldn’t you possibly go without it for our first day? You wear it all the time!” Patton replies, picking up the cape and throwing it to him, Janus catching from below. It’s routine.

“No, and you know it. Now, slacks or skirt?” asks Janus, sifting through the small clothes pile Patton kept out for the week

“Skirt, please! The one with the suspenders?” “You have no taste”

“Says the guy wearing the cape, Jan.” when Patton takes the skirt, it brushes against the wall first, promptly setting off a chorus of whispering flowers gossiping. Jamus is really, really lucky that Patton hasn’t realised that that’s a viable way to wake him up.

Deeming themselves acceptable, they both go downstairs, with Patton skipping down the steps more than anything, and Janus trying to avoid the cracks on the eighth, sixth, and second steps. The shadow in the creaks always snarled at him if he stepped on a crack, and it was, frankly, annoying.

Emile and Remy were already in the kitchen, Emile making (slightly charring) breakfast and Remy brewing coffee while simultaneously downing his fifth cup of the stuff, shifting from foot to foot to some mid-2000’s pop playing from Emile’s phone.

“Hey there, small fries! It’s eggs and toast for breakfast, so gobble up before you go- breakfast is the most important meal of the day!” Exclaims Emile, as soon as he catches sight of Patton’s yellow skirt in the stairwell. Remy looks up from the coffee pot, acknowledges Both Janus and Patton’s existence, then nods and brings out two more mugs, one yellow and black and one yellow and pink onto the kitchen island, next to the Steven Universe and ‘I’ll sleep when I’m Dead’ cups respectively.

“Hi, Emile! I’m so excited for today- do you think Jan and I could make some friends today?” asks Patton, still smiling as he elbows Janus for the latter part of that sentence. Janus turns around, knocks the perpetrator’s elbow, and grins, sitting down to accept his burnt eggs and coffee while Patton gets his burnt eggs and sugar concoction. Remy takes up the seat on Patton’s other side, grunting as he downs his sixth cup of coffee and Emile swoops into his husband's space, plucking the empty cup from Remy’s hands and not letting him get a refill. Remy grumbles a bit, but there’s no real malice- this is routine, always has been, as long as there have been witch-hazel plants growing along the house and as long as Remy and Emile have known each other.

Emile plops down with his breakfast and his coffee mug- always too much milk- and turns to face Patton, straightening his sweater vest, beaming in a way that fools a lot of strangers into thinking that Patton’s actually biologically related to him.

“I think you two can, Kiddo! With the right people, you and Jan could set the world on fire!” he cheers, and even though the smile’s a bit smaller around the end, the statement is sincere.

“Hey, arson is fun.” quips Janus, and Emile gasps, but clearly is holding back a grin, while Remy is straight-up (nah) cackling, as Patton chokes a bit on his eggs at the deadpan delivery. Janus doesn’t make an expression, just puts another bite of eggs in his mouth, scraping the edge of the plate with his fork. He cringes at the sound some, but it’s over in a second, thankfully.

It’s only about ten minutes later that he and Patton are at the doorway, book-bags packed and ready to go, with Remy and Emile waving, does Janus finally realize that yeah, High School is starting, and he’s terrified. A year without Patton at his side constantly is crazy- they only have two common classes, and that means this year will have the longest amount of time they’ve ever been away from each other since meeting every day. Patton’s scared too, Janus can tell, because the hand that he’s using to play-guide Janus around (“Because you’re a SLOWPOKE!”) grips tighter and tighter every metre closer to the bus that the two of them get, till it’s nearly bruising, the same colour of the whispering flowers down by the creek.

But they make it to the bus in time, and it’s good that Patton and Janus are holding onto each other so tightly, because of the swarm of kids piling in. Without that grip, they might not have been able to snag an empty seat to sit in together, right across a kid their age, sitting with his back ramrod-straight, wearing glasses and… going through this year’s textbooks? Nerd. But hey, Janus likes dissecting Shakespeare, so what can he say?

The bus starts going, from dirt paths in the residential area to a better built road as they all get closer to the main town, with the offices and shops and buildings and well, the school. Everyone looks a little exhausted, and some even look a bit excited, but nobody here is really memorable except for textbook-kid. Midway through the ride, as the view of the woods on everyone’s right starts thinning out a little, the witch who lives there waves, and her daughter, who’s apparently on top of the seats, in the luggage shelf (because buying buses from airports makes total sense), hangs upside-down, grinning wildly with her tangerine-colored hair falling out first, as she waves to her mother, still wearing her gathering-dress. She vanishes again soon after, lugging herself back up, but that’s no matter. She seems happier there anyway.

As the sun starts to rise in earnest, a lot of the night plants growing along the bus poles start shrinking away, letting the morning glories take centre stage for a while as the bus pulls over into the schoolyard, with the kids who took their bikes here already in their classrooms or on their way there, it’s a bit of a frenzy.

Janus takes a look at Patton, whose nerves that had been kept at bay for the moment while taking the scenery coming back in full force, and tries to smile for him. His brother deserves that much. Patton relaxes, and gives Janus’s hand one last squeeze before getting off the bus, and immediately hunting for his homeroom. 9-D, Janus thinks. He’s in 9-C himself. He sighs and trudges forward, seeing the witch’s daughter and glasses-guy enter the same classroom and hoping this doesn’t end like middle school.

…

Logan and Virgil Varma are in no way looking forward to school. Never have, really. Brings too much back about being too ‘weird’, or ‘scary’.

“Pssh, other kids are scarier” mumbles Virgil darkly under his breath while putting his bike away. He notices Logan behind him, fresh off the bus, putting his biology textbook in his bag (more like stuffing it, but Virgil isn’t about to say anything)

“Virgil, I do not think that you should say things like that when ‘other kids’ can hear you, especially if I could hear you-” Logan’s cut off by Virgil, who smirks.

“Three feet away, I know, L. But you have one thing nobody else does-”

“Superhuman hearing!” They finish off together, knowing this routine by heart and then some. Logan giggles, and Virgil automatically feels better than before for making that happen. His smirk turns into a bit more genuine of a smile as they finish the walk into homeroom together, in the same room for once, thank fuck. Virgil really needs to thank his Mom for pulling that off. She really pulled some strings for Logan to have a better year this time ‘round.

9-C. That’s his and Logan’s homeroom. When Virgil looks inside, he sees a… decently eccentric class lineup. There aren't many high schoolers in this place, so there’s only about ten people here. Hildi, who he’d hung out with in middle school, who waved at him enthusiastically, fiery hair flying about. It’s infectious, so Virgil smiles a bit back and waves too, albeit a little less excitedly. Well, there’s one person Virgil knows.

There’s a person just behind her who’s dressed up like a nineteen-twenties mobster, with the yellow-black aesthetic and cloak. He has a giant scar along the left side of his face which looks a bit like snake scales, so Virgil’s going to dub him ‘Snek Boy’ for now. There’s two people next to him, too. One looks like the ‘Chad from the horror movie’ archetype incarnate, and is flicking spitballs at the other kid in front of him, who smiles and passes him a stim toy. That person’s most likely an introvert, with all the pins on his stuff. Well then hello, fellow pintrovert.

Virgil inhales, knowing that he’s about to run out of time to stay at the doorway without looking weird, and takes the seat just behind Logan. Back row, no sun from the window. Logan turns back to face him, and Virgil does his best to smile reassuringly. He’s… relatively sure it worked, because Logan smiles as well, adjusts his glasses and turns back to face the front of the class, where the teacher enters. They look decently severe, tall, and wearing a tweed coat over a sweater vest, in extreme contrast to his dark skin tone. He puts his files down, cleans his glasses and turns up to face the class.

“Hello. My name is Corbin Robinson, and I’m your homeroom teacher for this year. I use he/him pronouns!” the severe expression tapers off into a bit of a smile as he finishes off his sentence. “Now, could all of you come up here and introduce yourselves? Preferably with your preferred name, pronouns and one fact about yourself that pertains to your personality!” he takes out a notepad, and steps to the side. Chad walks up and clears his throat after about ten awkward seconds.

“Uh, hi! My name’s Brian. Brian Cornwall. I use he/him pronouns. This is my boyfriend’s jacket! We’re wearing each other’s jackets for good luck today!” Ch-Brian finishes. He’s blushing furiously by the end of his statement, but the entire room (Virgil included) is clapping for him anyways, so he ducks down a bit to go back in his seat. Professor Corbin’s looking at Virgil now, and what is he gonna say what if he’s dumb and says something wrong and--

Hildi hops up to the front of the room, and Professor Corbin’s attention is on her for the moment. Thank god. She winks at him, and he smiles weakly back.

“Hi! I’m Hildi, the witch’s girl and I use she/her pronouns! Fun fact about me… uh, I once got to find out who’s hand the disembodied hand in plaza belonged to- Some guy called Andy from the thirties.” Hildi finishes with her hands crossed on her heart, the typical greeting that her coven uses. Virgil nods and crosses his hands as well.

Professor Corbin’s eyes wander around the class, to find whoever hasn’t spoken yet, and they land on Virgil. Since Hildi’s gone up, the eyes stay there. Virgil takes a steadying breath, and fiddles with a loose string on his hoodie.

“H-hi, I’m Virgil. Virgil… Sanders.” Great he’s already fucking this up why did he do this--

Okay, breathe. In two three four, hold two three four, out two three four five six seven eight.

“I use he/him and they/them pronouns, but I don’t really mind whatever you do end up using for me, and uh… fun fact about me?”

“I’m a twin, and my twin’s the coolest person on this planet.” he finishes, and tries his best to smile over the nerves. He feels good, though, praising his brother. Logan smiles, properly now, even as he burrows himself into his shirt best he can. Virgil smiles back, and makes his way back, trying to get his breathing back under control. It works, and he’s breathing just fine by the time Logan walks up, shoulders set.

“Hello,” he waves. “My name is Logan Ejiah Sanders, I use he/him pronouns and am Virgil’s twin. A fun fact about me is that I only use blue coloured stationery.” Logan finishes, clipped as ever. He’s careful with what he shares these days, and using solely blue stationary is something that can just be summed up as a personality quirk, instead of something wrong, the kinds of wrong that made teachers sigh and avert their gaze or puff irritably or what made him cannon fodder to other kids.

Logan’s nervous, and Virgil wishes that he could’ve done something sooner.

The introductions slip by after that, Janus, he/him, vitiligo scar, Nico Flores, they/faer, aspiring writer, because Virgil’s too floaty to care. Hildi passes him a floating earbud, and he takes it.

…

Roman really doesn't know what to expect from high school. In the stuff he reads and watches, it's portrayed as this ecosystem with really strict rules. His family calls it the most idyllic time of their lives. College students call it hell. So yeah, Roman's confused.

Remus is in a different class entirely this year, which isn't weird, so he doesn't know why he thought that? Stupid brain.

Roman was already in a shitty mood, having had to skip out on seconds of bacon because he'd already eaten too much this morning and might have to miss lunch later for club sign-ups, which is terrible. He's hoping that at least his class isn't too bad this year. Haley-Dove is a small town, but small doesn't always mean nice. He'd know.

(Roman can't get the words out of his head anymore.)

Both Mitchell and Croft were forced to change schools from Haley-Dove Secondary but what if there are new people?

Roman shakes the thoughts out of his head. School. First day. Homeroom. Class 9-D. This is doable. Just breathe, 4, 7, 8 and walk into the classroom. You can do it Roman, where's that confidence? Wait don’t answer that question just GO--

bump

“Hi! Sorry, I was so clumsy. Hey, I’m Patton!”

Roman first needs to decode that sentence before answering. Okay- Patton, sorry for bumping into Roman. Okay. Greeting, so greet back. Performance time, baby!

“No problem, Patton! I’m Roman!” Patton visibly cheers up in front of him, skirt swishing sideways a bit in the wind. Patton notices Roman looking at the skirt starts talking again.

“Uh.. he/him pronouns- but my gender is weird, yanno?” Roman did not know, but it seemed to matter to Patton, so he nodded and smiled a bit.

“Tis alright! I use he/him as well! Now, what homeroom address have you got, dear Patton? Let us make haste!” Patton giggled at Roman’s antics, meaning it was working. Good. Both of them fish into their pockets for a piece of paper they got at the entrance, unfolding it. Roman’s reads 9-D, as expected, along with Pattons’s.

“Hey- this means we’re in the same class! Woo-hoo! That means one new friend, huh kiddo?”

“Kiddo?”

“Sorry, I call my friends that.” Patton looks sheepish, as if he doesn’t expect Roman to react well.

“Oh no problem, dear Patton! I look forward to going through this year with you!” they both giggle, and Roman actually feels like they can be friends- Remus will be proud.

“Well, I am too! C’mon, let’s go- we’re already a bit late for homeroom.”

Roman looks at the clock- 8:02. They are officially two minutes late. Remus is probably in class already, if not just to pull a prank on the new homeroom teacher, meaning Roman had better get to class already.

“Yes! Onward! To academic achievement!”

…

The chemistry room is a little cold all of a sudden, and something has clearly woken up.

School’s in session, everyone. Hope you’re ready for this.

[jwillowwolf]

Magic and Miracles - Chapter 7

Sanders Sides Big Bang fic, Chapter 7!

< Previous Chapter | Next Chapter > | Masterlist

Summary: “Roman’s right, Remus. That’s not a frog. It is a moss slime.” Logan stated.

“It’s hideous.”

“Hey! How dare you be so mean to poor little mossy.” Remus said, holding the slime to his chest.

Warning/s: food mention, nightmare.

Characters: Logan, Virgil, OCs, Roman, Remy, Remus, Patton, Janus.

Tag List: @theimprobabledreamersworld @remy-please-come-back

Read on AO3

7 | School Holidays

“Eye spy with my little eye something green.”

“A tree?”

“Yep!”

“Remus, you can’t just keep picking trees.”

“Says who?”

“Says me. It’s too predictable.”

“I spy an idiot.”

“Why you--!”

“Can someone put me out of my misery?” Virgil asked over the twin’s bickering.

Everyone was feeling exhausted, despite riding in a carriage all morning. But they had been stuck in the carriage all morning. They were beginning to regret winning that vacation, or at least the travelling part. It had of course been exciting when they first found out, but now they were all cranky and wondering if Remy’s surprises were all meant to torture them in some small way.

“How about we play a game that isn’t eye spy?” Everleigh suggested.

Roman nodded vigorously. “Please.”

“How about charades?”

“There are eight of us packed in here, Pat, we don’t have much room for charades,” Janus pointed out.

Patton frowned and thought harder. “Broken telephone?”

“I think we’re all too close for that,” Roman said.

“Yeah, plus Willow has an unfair advantage,” Remus pointed out.

“And you don’t, Miss Elf?”

“Touche.”

“Yeah, so, that won’t work. What about word-chain?” Roman suggested.

“What’s word-chain?” Logan asked.

“Basically, we each take turns saying a word one after the other to form a sentence. I’ll start! Once.”

“Upon?”

“A.”

“Time.”

“There.”

“Was.”

“A.”

“Butt!”

“Remus!”

“What? It’s not against the rules.”

“Can’t you use a different word?”

“Fine… Once upon a time, there was a posterior~”

“You little-- oof.” Roman -and the others- lurched forwards as the carriage stopped. “What was that?”

Before anyone could do anything, Remy opened the carriage door. “Okay kids, we’re here!”

“Why did we stop so abruptly?” Janus asked.

“We’re here, and that’s all that matters.”

Virgil gave him a flat look. “You couldn’t figure out how to slow down, could you?”

“You’re wasting your vacation time people!”

Everyone got out of the carriage and looked around to see that their surprise vacation destination was what looked like a lovely rustic little cabin in the middle of the woods, beside a gorgeous lake.

Patton gasped with delight. “Can we go swimming there?!”

“Sure, buddy, but let’s take our stuff inside first,” Emile said as he got down from the carriage.

“We really get to stay here?” Willow asked.

“Yup.” Remy nodded. “Courtesy of Mr Picani.”

“Wait, really?” Roman asked. “You guys own this place?”

Logan nodded. “My grandfather built it long ago, but dad wanted to be a baker so we couldn’t live all the way out here.”

“No offence Mr Picani, but this is way cooler than your bakery.” Remus declared.

Emile laughed. “I have to agree with you, Remus. This place is better than anywhere else.”

Everyone followed Emile inside of the cabin, which was quite clean, apart from some dust here and there. The cabin was one long room, with a living, dining room, and kitchen all together open plan style. There were also two nice sized lofts on either end of the cabin, that could be used as bedrooms.

Remy and Emile were each going to have their own room while the kids slept all together sleepover style in the living area downstairs. Once the kids had taken out their sleeping bags and claimed themselves a section of floor, they headed over to the lake. Patton was racing ahead of everyone and ran straight into it until his entire body was submerged. When he resurfaced again, he began splashing around and giggling like a little kid.

Remus laughed. “How’s the water, Pat?”

“Incredible! You guys have got to get in.”

“Last one in, is a rotten egg!” Roman shouted as he ran to join Patton.

Janus ran too and tripped him up, but then Roman grabbed his ankle so he fell too. Remus jumped over both of them and then basically dove into the water. Willow ran around Roman and Janus as they wrestled to be the first one up and into the water. Everleigh laughed at both of them as she ran by, while Virgil and Logan only smiled.

“Are you two going to get in or what?” Remus asked.

“I bet you five silver they wrestle their way into the lake,” Virgil said.

“Ten silver that they continue to wrestle after they get to the water,” Willow replied.

“Deal.”

Logan found himself suddenly splashed. “Hey!”

Everleigh just giggled manically at his angry glare.

“Oh, it’s on!” He splashed her back, and she shrieked, diving out of the way so the water instead hit Remus.

Instead of getting mad though, Remus grinned from ear to ear and yelled, “Water fight!”

Then all hell broke loose; metaphorically of course. Everyone began splashing and using water spells to soak each other, laughing loudly all the while. Later, after they’d expended most of their energy, they all went to the shore and Remy and Emile brought them some lunch.

---

“--and then you do this and, viola, a perfect flower crown!” Willow said, holding up their creation.

“Ooh, these are all so pretty.” Patton squealed.

Everleigh held hers up with a frown. “I think I did something wrong with mine…”

“That’s alright. My first flower crown completely fell apart when it held it up from my lap,” Willow reminisced. “Here, you can have this one.”

“Really, oh! Thank you so much!” Everleigh said, accepting the crown. “How do I look?”

“Like a true summer queen,” Willow answered.

“Hey guys, look I found a frog!” Remus declared.

Roman shrieked and jumped into Janus’s arms. “Oof-- hey!”

“That is not a frog!”

“Yeah, it is! Look.” Remus held the green creature up to Roman’s face, causing him to lean closer to Janus and make them both fall over.

“Roman’s right, Remus. That’s not a frog. It is a moss slime.” Logan stated.

“It’s hideous.”

“Hey! How dare you be so mean to poor little mossy.” Remus said, holding the slime to his chest.

“Uh, Logan, are those slimes at all dangerous?” Patton inquired.

“No. In fact, they play a key role in the ecosystem.”

“Which means you should put it back where you found it, Remus.” Roman declared.

“And you should get off me before I burn you to a crisp, Roman.” Janus snapped.

“I can’t take them back, they’re family.”

“You just found it.” Virgil pointed out.

“Exactly. How could I abandon them after only just meeting!”

“I don’t think Remy or Mr Picani will let you keep, Mossy, Ree,” Willow said.

“But they’re so cute. Who could say no to this face!”

“Anyone with half a brain.” Roman huffed.

Remus just stuck her tongue out at him childishly.

It took a while to convince him, but eventually, Remus was persuaded that Mossy would be happier staying at the lake.

---

The teens were all sleeping peacefully in the lounge area. They all had their own little sleeping bags and were curled up nice and warm, with only the soft glow of dying embers from the fireplace, illuminating the room. Everything was quiet, apart from Roman’s gentle snores, and the distant sound of croaking frogs.

Then a blood-curdling scream tore through the peaceful atmosphere and woke even the adults in their respective lofts. Willow jumped to her feet and stood in a fighting stance, Janus grabbed a log from beside the fireplace and lit it like a torch, Roman reached for his katana, Virgil jumped straight up and was now hanging from the bannister of one of the lofts, Logan and Everleigh were standing back to back with their firsts up, and Patton was beside Remus trying to shake her awake.

After a moment, everyone realised that it was Remus who was screaming so unsettlingly. He stopped with a gasp when Patton finally managed to wake him up. She looked around the room with wide eyes and began to cry as she realised it had only been a dream.

“...It didn’t happen… It didn’t happen…” he muttered between sobs.

Patton rubbed her back soothingly. “Remus...?”

“Thank the Gods… it’s not real.”

Roman paled. “What’s not real?”

“I- it- it was terrible,” Remus choked out. “A greedy soul betrays the heart, the world you know shall fall apart. Your only hope is to find the miracle that time left behind.”

Janus squinted. “What?”

“That’s what they said. Over and over again, while she…” Remus froze, a sob rising in his thought.

“What did you see, Remus?” Patton asked gently.

Remus took a deep wobbly breath. “A woman... She looked beautiful, yet old. Her eyes were dark and held what looked like centuries of wisdom... She was wilting before me, like a rose. Dying in front of me and I couldn’t reach her... None of us could.”

“We were all there?” Willow asked.

Remus nodded. “...But it wasn’t enough.”

“It was probably just a bad dream,” Remy said. “A really bad dream.”

“Perhaps you’re nervous about school.” Emile offered.

“How does that work?” Remus inquired.

“The woman could be representing magic, something old and beautiful. All of you are learning magic and maybe you’re nervous about getting enough knowledge to pass the second test.” Emile said.

Remus’s breath began to even out. “I guess that makes sense.”

“Whatever caused this, I think the best idea, for now, is to just calm down. How about some hot chocolate to help ease everyone’s nerves?” Emile offered.

Everyone nodded and sat down to relax. Janus took the wood he’d set alight and remade the fire in the fireplace, significantly brightening the room, while Emile got some hot chocolate made for everyone.

“I thought you’d grown out of those nightmares,” Roman commented.

Remus smiled weakly. “I’m still young at heart.”

“This has happened before?” Willow inquired.

“Well, I’ve had scary dreams, yeah. Woke nearly everyone in the castle when it happened as a kid. They haven’t been that frequent or… clear, lately.”

“Perhaps it’s the stress of being in an unfamiliar place,” Logan said. “Something that might help to keep you from getting worked up again, would be doing something you’re familiar with. Something that you’ve used to comfort yourself before.”

“My mom used to sing us back to sleep with lullabies,” Roman remembered. “But I can’t remember the words…”

“Do you know the name of the song?” Janus inquired.

“Uh… no… does anyone else know any lullabies?”

Everleigh frowned. “I’m not much of a music person.”

Patton shook his head. “I only know a handful of sea shanties.”

Logan and Virgil also shook their heads no.

“Well, Janus knows one,” Willow said.

“Why are you pulling me into this?”

“Because I can. The song is an older one that lots of people from Evergreen Valley would know, but I’m not sure if it’s well known elsewhere,” Willow explained.

“You’re talking about Running Wild, right?” Janus asked.

Willow nodded affirmatively.

Remus cocked his head to the side. “Running Wild?”

“It is a special song. A lullaby of sorts that has been passed down many generations.” Janus explained.

“Can you sing it?” Everleigh asked.

Janus bit their lip. “It’s meant to be accompanied by violin-”

“We have a violin.” Emile interrupted. “It belonged to my father. It’s a touch old, but should work.”

“Perfect. I can play it while you sing, Jan,” Willow said with a grin.

Janus glared at her a moment then sighed in defeat. “Fine…”

Emile got out the violin and handed it to Willow, who tuned it for while Janus got in position to sing. Everyone gathered in a semi-circle, like a proper audience, and waited patiently for the show. Then Willow began to play...

“Running wild in the sweet, long grass

Running wild where my heart is free at last

Running through the trees evergreen

Running to where my heart is keen

“I’m running, running without end

I’m running, running adventure round every bend

I’m running, running forever more

I’m running, running to see what’s in store

“Running though this world so wild

Running like a joyful child

Running here in the gold sunshine

Running in the cool rain divine

“Hmm~ Hmm~ Hmm…”

After that, no one had any nightmares, in fact, all that the kids dreamed about were peaceful forests and running wolves.

---

Logan woke to the sound of laughter and joyful voices, accompanied by the smell of fresh bread and fried bacon. He opened his eyes and scanned the living area to see who was awake. The twins were still knocked out, along with Willow and Virgil. In fact, it looked like the sun was only just rising outside, so whoever was up, had to be among the morning people of the group. Logan sat up and looked to the kitchen area, where he saw Janus, Everleigh and Patton were preparing breakfast.

"Morning sleepyhead!" Everleigh chirped when she saw Logan was awake.

“Good morning,” Logan replied, getting up properly from his bedroll. “I didn't know you all could cook.”

"We couldn't, but we woke up early, and your dad offered to teach us," Patton answered. "He and Remy went to get water from the creek for us quickly."

"Janus wasn't going to join us, but then they got to punch bread dough and we tricked them into joining us," Everleigh chuckled.

"I don't think you could trick Janus into doing anything he didn't want to," Logan commented.

Janus shook their head. "Why are you and Will always exposing me?"

Logan laughed. "What are friends for?"

"Did someone call me?" Willow asked, sitting up and rubbing their eye sleepily.

Everleigh gasped. "Oh my gosh, you look so cute."

Willow blinked her eyes open and cocked her head to the side. "Hmm?"

"I, uh- you look lovely in the morning," Everleigh said with a dark blush covering her cheeks.

Willow smiled. "Thank you, you look pretty too."

Everleigh somehow blushed even harder at that.

"You can get some more sleep if you want, Will," Janus said.

"Hmm, sleep." Willow looked at their pillow and laid back down. "Goodnight…"

Some soft snores a few moments later, indicated she was fast asleep again. Logan raised an eyebrow and looked over to Janus.

"What was that?"

"If she's still sleepy when she wakes up, then it's almost like she's drunk. Which is why they weren't nervous to tell Everleigh she's pretty." Janus explained.

"Why would she be nervous about that?" Everleigh asked.

"For the same reason you're still blushing," Janus smirked.

"I- I am not."

"Ev, we can all clearly see your blush," Logan said.

"That doesn't mean I have a crush on Willow."

"No one said you did'" Patton pointed out. "That's so sweet though."

"Shhhh, they're right there," Everleigh whisper shouted.

Janus shrugged. "She obviously reciprocates, so I don't see any issues with her hearing."

"Well, how would you like it if I exposed your crush on Roman?"

Janus's eyes went wide and then they looked away. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

Patton gasped. "Double cute! Both of you would make cute couples with your crushes."

"I don't have a crush on Roman," Janus said.

"Geez, you're bad at lying about this," Logan commented.

"Well, when are you going to finally confess your feelings for Virgil?" Janus asked.

"Considering I have none, never."

"Liar~," Everleigh said in a sing-song voice.

Patton gasped again. "That's four fabulous couples! Oh, we should all do a group date sometime."

"I almost forgot you're dating Remus," Janus said. "How did that happen anyway?"

“Honestly I have no idea, but I love him very much.”

After that, the conversation focused on Patton and Remus instead of the others, much to Logan’s relief. He really didn’t need to have that conversation about his feelings again.

---

The group had decided to build a bonfire and collected every single stick they could find for it. They piled everything on the shore by the lake, to make sure they didn’t accidentally set fire to something else, and as the sun was setting over the mountains Janus lit it with their fire breathing. No one had seen them breathe fire yet, apart from Willow, and they were all very impressed, especially Roman.

“Hey, bro, don’t look now, but you gay is showing.”

“What?! Gah! Remus!”

The twins ran around for a while, Remus cackling the whole time like a mad person. The others began roasting kebabs and marshmallows over the fire.

“This is the perfect atmosphere for telling stories,” Everleigh commented.

“Do you have any?” Virgil asked.

“As far as I know, she has an infinite supply, with how many she tells,” Logan said teasingly.

Everleigh flashed him a glare but was fighting a smile at the same time, so she wasn’t too intimidating.

“What kinds of stories do you know?” Willow inquired.

“All kinds. Tales of adventurous knights, daring heroes, brave travellers, cheerful bards, sorrowful poets, tragic romances, haunting horrors-”

“Did you say horrors?” Remus asked, skidding to a halt and causing Roman to crash into him suddenly.

“Yeah, I love scary stories. There’s nothing like a mild horror to get your blood pumping.”

“Tell us one then.” Virgil urged.

“Uh, are you guys sure you want to go straight to horror stories?” Patton asked timidly.

“Don’t worry, Patty-cakes, you can hold my hand and I’ll keep you safe from your fears,” Remus declared.

“Promise?”

“Promise.”

“Alright then, let’s hear it,” Janus said, motioning for Everleigh to start.

“Once there were two brothers, Jack and John. They were very normal little boys who loved to play hide and seek. One day, while visiting their grandmother’s house, they decided to play their favourite game. Jack went off to hide and John was seeking him. He looked for a very long time, before he came to a spare room, where he thought he saw something moving in the closet.

“John lept forward and grabbed what he believed to be Jack’s wrist, saying, ‘I finally found you! I found you.’

“John struggled to pull on the wrist, as the person in the closet pulled back definitely. After a few moments, John heard a voice behind him.

“‘I give up. You took too long.’ There in the doorway was little Jack. looking very bored and definitely not in the closet.

“John was so surprised, that he let go of the wrist and fell back, flat onto his butt. He looked up at the closet with wide eyes, then back to Jack, then back to the closet, before getting up and slowly backing up out of the room. After that day, John never went back into the spare room, and he made Jack promise to never play hide and seek ever again.”

“Did Jack see what was in the closet when he let go?” Patton asked.

Everleigh shrugged. “If he did. He never said anything about it.”

“It was probably a bat or something,” Remus declared.

Logan raised an eyebrow. “What makes you believe it was a bat?”

“They love hiding in dark places and could definitely freak out a small child.”

“John thought he was holding his brother’s wrist,” Virgil pointed out. “How big of a bat do you think was in there?”

“Well, bats can get pretty big,” Remus shrugged. “Then again, maybe it was just a murderer hiding out.”

Patton squeaked in fear and pulled his knees into his chest. “You guys don’t think there’s any murders hiding out here, do you?”

“Of course not, Patton. The scariest person here is Remus.” Roman answered.

Remus grinned. “Why, thank you, dear brother.”

“That wasn’t a compliment.”

“It was to me!”

“Tell us another story, Ev,” Willow requested.

“Perhaps something a bit more lighthearted this time?” Patton added.

Everleigh nodded. “Okay, sure. How about the legend of the Miracle?”

Virgil perked up. “I haven’t heard that one in a while.”

“I’ve never heard that one. What is the Miracle?” Remus inquired.

“A creature almost forgotten by time. A legend true enough that it was once known to every elder and child in realms. No one knew truly where it came from and where it went is an even bigger mystery, but what it did changed the course of history forever.

“Three thousand years ago, the miracle lived openly in this very kingdom. It met with nobles and peasants alike, using its unparalleled healing abilities to make even those at death’s doorstep return to their healthy, happy selves. People came from near and far for help with not only their ailments but also other dilemmas. The Miracle was wise from many years of life and could easily council them. Not forever though.

“One day a king came to ask the Miracle to heal his daughter, but the Miracle refused. The king was so upset that he had the Miracle arrested and held captive in the dungeons. The Miracle used its unknown magic to break out, however, killing several soldiers and the king as it went.

“After that, no one dared to go near the Miracle and so it left the kingdom. At least, everyone assumed it did. It seemed to vanish off the face of the earth. Never seen again since its escape...”

“Why wouldn’t the Miracle heal the king’s daughter?” Patton wondered.

Everleigh shrugged. “That’s never been explained in any version I read.”

“Perhaps it couldn’t?” Willow suggested.

“It’s skills were greater than any sorcerer ever known. It could have easily cured anything.” Virgil stated. “From what I know, the princess died shortly after her father, and her younger brother took the throne instead.”

“The poor girl,” Patton said, wistfully looking off into the distance. He quickly perked up again though when something caught his eye. “Fireflies! They look so pretty!”

“Let’s catch them,” Remus suggested.

“Let’s see who can get the most!” Willow added on.

Nearly everyone jumped to the challenge and chased after the lighting bugs. In fact, only Virgil and Logan were left at the bonfire. Logan looked over at the taller teen curiously.

“Not joining them?”

“I don’t feel much like running,” Virgil confessed. “You?”

“Likewise… Do you know the story about how the stars came to be?”

“Hmm, I don’t think I’ve heard of it. Didn’t they just poof into existence alongside everything else the gods made?”

“Actually, the gods didn’t make them at all.”

“Who did then? Wait, tell me the story properly.”

“Alright then. When the world was still young there were only two lights who occupied the sky. The Sun and the Moon. They stood watch over humanity for the gods, each taking turns every few hours to be sure that they didn’t get too tired. The humans had decided to label these watches; day for Sun and night for Moon. During Sun’s watch, they would work, play, and do all sorts of things outside in the bright light. While during Moon’s watch, they stayed safe in their homes, hiding from the shadows, and sleeping until Sun returned.

“Moon would never say anything about it, but Sun saw how dejected they would look after their watch. Sometimes Moon would even accompany Sun during their watch and look down longingly at the happy humans enjoying Sun’s light. Sun’s light was much stronger than Moon’s, so of course, they did a better job of casting aside the shadows. Moon envied that ability. But they would never say so.

“Because of humanity’s hiding away, Moon’s watch was a lonely one. Sun wanted to accompany Moon, the way they sometimes accompanied them, but then people decided it was day since Sun so easily outshone Moon. Sun felt mournful for Moon. Moon was just as good a protector, if not better than them. But the human’s only knew that Moon’s light was lesser. Nothing else really mattered.

“One night, however, Sun came up with a plan. A brilliant plan to give Moon the company they longed for. They took from themselves a bit of light and scattered it across the night sky. These pieces came to life and were known collectively as the stars. Moon loved them dearly and finally found joy in taking up their watch. They were no longer so lonely.”

“That’s... beautiful,” Virgil whispered.

Logan had been staring at the stars as he told the story, so now when he looked at Virgil, he realised how close they were. He could see through his long dark bangs the faint glow of firelight and shimmer of stars in his stormy grey eyes. It was a captivating sight, so much so that he couldn’t bear to look away.

“Yeah,” Logan found himself whispering. “Beautiful…”

Twice, Janus had questioned his feelings towards Virgil, but this was the first time Logan found himself questioning what he felt. He couldn’t exactly describe it. Or perhaps he didn’t want to. For once, he wanted no answers, he only wanted to feel whatever this was. To just exist in this moment for the rest of eternity.

Shrieks of laughter from their classmates, however, broke whatever spell had been keeping the pair looking at each other, and the moment was over as quickly as it had begun.

Logan would later look back on that week as being full of wonderful memories. But that moment would forever stand out...

---

A/N: thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed this. I'll be posting two chapters a day until the full fic is up, so if you want to be tagged, you can just ask.

I'd love to hear what you thought about the chapter if you wouldn't mind commenting. Thanks again for reading! Here's hoping you have a magical day 💜

[kieraswriting]

Searching for Home Chapter Twenty

Masterpost 

The poor boy had stumbled along compliantly, but Emile kept being worried that he would trip and fall.

“Hey, sweetheart, do you mind if I carry you? You want to try a piggyback ride?”

The boy looked at him for a long minute, his eyes distant, before shrugging noncommittally and chewing on his lip. Emile knelt down, and Remy had to help lift the poor kid onto his back. He buried his face in Emile’s shoulder silently. 

Emile exchanged a worried glance with Remy. What had those thugs done to him to make him act like this? Emile had seen children act like this before, but only when they were extremely sick or when they’d been hurt badly or inappropriately.

He trudged along, Remy trying to crack jokes for the kid, until they made it down to the beach. 

“Hey, Remy has to carry us for a bit, and that might be just a bit scary, but we’re going to help you, ok?”

He just nodded into Emile’s shoulder. 

It was a little difficult, trying to get onto Remy and to hold on to both him and the boy, but they managed, and Remy flew them to a little cove, where Emile knew some selkies would come when they wanted to talk with humans. He just hoped that one of them was there now.

“Would you like to get in the water?” He asked.

The boy shook his head, and that concerned Emile more than anything else had. Still, he made an effort to speak calmly, and as if he wasn’t worried. “Alright, that’s fine. Can you cover your ears for me? I’m going to call and see if any of my friends are around and I don’t want to hurt your ears.”

Emile bent over a bit so that the boy could keep his balance on his back without using his hands, and waited until he’d covered his ears to let out a piercing shriek. 

It didn’t take long for a head to pop up out of the water, and then Saoirse climbed up onto the shore and shifted into human form. 

“Hey, Emmy, haven’t seen you in a while. And Rem, of course, hate you like always.”

Remy, standing back a bit, just grinned. 

“Oh, who’s this little guy?” Saoirse asked, her voice dropping to a soft coo.

“I’m pretty sure he’s a selkie,” Emile said. “We’re trying to find his family. He says he wants to go with someone named Logan.”

“Oh, I don’t know any Logan, honey,” Saoirse said sympathetically, brushing Patton’s hair softly. “But I can ask around. Do you know your mom’s name?”

Emile wished he could’ve thought to warn her before she said that, as great tears rose up in the poor boy’s eyes. He shook his head, sniffing pitifully. 

“Ohhh, baby, I’m so sorry. Come here, do you want a hug?”

To Emile’s surprise, he held out his arms to Saoirse and let her hug him. 

“I can take him with me and see if anyone recognizes him at all,” Saoirse offered. “He looks just a little… familiar… already…”

“What?” Emile asked. 

Saoirse shook her head. “Well, he just looks a bit like you two. It isn’t a lot, but it’s there.”

Emile frowned, and then frowned deeper, looking at Remy, “You don’t think…”

Remy shrugged and rolled his eyes. “I wouldn’t put it past him, knocking up a selkie.”

Saoirse covered the boy’s ears. “Hush! Not in front of the baby.”

Remy stuck his tongue out.

“If he feels comfortable going with you, I’d really appreciate it, Saoirse.”

Saoirse smiled brightly. “Of course he wants to come, don’t you, little cuddlebug?”

The boy just dug his head into her shoulder. 

Saoirse’s grin faded into a worried frown. “I’ll talk with you later, Emmy.”

She slowly waded back into the water, tucking the boy’s coat around him and softly encouraging until he turned into a seal. Only after that did she transform herself, and the both of them disappeared under the water. 

••^*^••

Just the feel of the water made Patton shiver. It felt so right, and yet so wrong. He wanted Logan more and more, no matter how kind these people were. 

The nice lady selkie still had him in a pleasant hug, spinning downward through the water and making happy, cheerful sounds at him. But Patton didn’t want to return the sounds. He wanted Logan. 

She took them down a long way, and then back up inside a cave. It was a large cave, and at the top there were openings to let some sunlight in. There were quite a few other selkies in the cave, and many seals. 

“Hello!” Saoirse said loudly. “I could use a bit of help over here!”

As soon as she spoke, spoke without changing back human, Patton had a sudden intense memory. 

He was sitting on his mama’s stomach, and they were floating along in the sun, and she was talking to him, teaching him how to speak in the way only selkies could. 

It was gone as soon as it had come, leaving Patton shivering and crying. 

“Oh, sweetie, what’s the matter?” Saoirse cooed. “Did I yell too loud? I’m so sorry.”

Patton shook his head, and tears ran faster, cause now he knew what his mama looked like. He knew, he’d seen her. The memory was fading fast, even as he tried hard to hold onto it, but he would know now, if he saw her. He was sure he’d know. 

But several other selkies were gathered around them now, trying to calm him down, and distracting him. And eventually it was just gone, vanished like it had been a dream. 

“What’s going on here?” A crotchety old lady asked. Just from her voice Patton didn’t like her, even though that was a rude way to think about someone. 

“I’m looking for his parents,” Saoirse explained. “Especially his mom, since she might have been related to us at some point.”

Old eyes scrutinized him. “Well there’s no doubt of the father, he certainly looks like a bastard.”

Saoirse clapped her hands over his ears. “How dare you! He’s just a baby! And no one likes his dad, but you don’t have to be mean to him because of it. Besides, we’re looking for his mom.”

The older selkie hmphed. “Change back, child, let me see you that way.”

Patton wiggled slightly, and Saoirse abandoned her hold on him that hadn’t really worked to keep him from hearing anyway. He changed back to human, and held onto Saoirse. He didn’t really know her well, but she seemed the safest of anyone here. He wanted Logan. 

“He does look familiar…” the older selkie said, and several of the others nodded in agreement. “But whoever she is, she isn’t with us now. And he’s too old to be from the splitting of the pod.”

“What about Aine?” A selkie asked. 

The old one narrowed her eyes, staring intently. “It might be Aine. She’s been gone long enough. Is your mother still living, boy?”

Patton thought, and the scream rang through his head. “I don’t know,” he said, his voice small. 

Saoirse changed back to human and picked him up in a hug. “Don’t worry we’ll find, what was that name, Lo-something?”

“Logan.” Patton said, and sniffed, tears welling up again. “I want Logan!” He cried, burying his face in her shoulder. 

Saoirse started asking around again, but Patton didn’t pay attention. Logan wasn’t down here. Logan would be somewhere near the city or near the river. And unless he heard Logan he wasn’t going to pay attention to anybody, cause he just wanted Logan! Just Logan, and that was it. He didn’t care that Logan wasn’t his dad anymore, he just wanted him!

[mantra4ia]

Desires: Lucifer season 5 on Netflix

Created: August 21, 2020. Last Modified: August 22, 2020.

Preface: Alright my Lucis, here’s the sitch: it’s been a minute. Life got a bit chaotic I wasn’t able to start season five quite on time when it premiered on August 21st because I haven’t finished the great 2020 Lucifer rewatch. I’m nearly done however and should be able to jump into it either later today or tomorrow, which is why beforehand I want to — as I’ve traditionally done for a few seasons — create a desires list and keep a tally throughout the season to see how many are met. I am going to try to pace myself, not binge, and watch a single episode a day so don’t spoil me. Likewise I will tag my spoilers. Here we go... #21DaysofLucifer

Season 3 and 4 Roundout - Desires Fulfilled / Questions Answered

✔We’ve seen other demons “like Maze” and a bit of what havoc they can reek. Well sort of. To be quite frank, although it was cool to see them possess the recently deceased, it wasn’t as impending doom as I was expecting. They didn’t seem nearly as disciplined or intimidating as Mazikeen, even Dromos, more bored and desperate.

✔ We’ve seen a little more or the heavenly host in Remiel. Remi was cool, if a bit intense. Her character, and her affinity to Amenadiel was a nice foil to see how far his character has come in evolution. But again like Uriel was for Lucifer, she kind of became a driving force character device to push Amenadiel’s growth. So I wonder if we’ll get to see more of her or not.

✔ (s3) The backstory of Lucifer’s arrival in LA, finding LUX, and making a deal with Amenadiel.

✔ (s3) Cain finally went to hell, YES! Not that I didn’t like Marcus Pierce/Tom Welling, there were some great interactions there, but I just think he was a wishy-washy antagonist based on how he was written and I can’t wait to trade up for Michael.

✔ Maze finally had some happiness and attachment to this silly mortal coil and it slipped away! Why Eve why? I love Maze’s bonding with humans, Linda, Trixie, Chloe. But I love that after a Millennia of serving, and then watching Amenadiel and Linda be happy in a family unit, that she might actually make her own and my hopes were dashed. 

Things we got that we didn’t even know we wanted. SO GOOD:

Season 4 ep 8: Amenadiel bonding with Caleb and confronting community violence, police brutality, and systemic racism. It was a rough episode to be sure, but absolutely needed,

Chloe talking Lucifer down and out of a self-hatred spiral and his transformation into full-fledged devil and back again.

Lucifer playing Creep on repeat while missing the detective (even after insisting in a therapy session that “he’s not a teenager playing Adele on repeat) and Mr. Said Out B**** trying to rob Lucifer and gun point and ultimately get rich. What a fun twist.

The Dan and Maze Los X’s fight. They are wicked good at laying down the  hurt on the criminal element and I was wondering when they’d pair up again after dispatching Warden Perry.

The devil in a bar fight! I mean, it’s only fair since the ladies had their brawl. I love how this fight sequence was filmed in bursts of slo-mo from various angles, involved everything from fists, to tasers, knives, bottles, and the infamous pool cue, and they picked the perfect song for pacing (Jake Bugg, Lightning Bolt, could listen to it all day on repeat.)

Time for all good demons to go home / Enough, you will bow down to your king. Go home! (aka appropriate use of Devilish intimidation face)

Amenadiel vs Remi 

A Rocky montage with Lucifer and Amenadiel / Amenadiel’s face the first time Lucifer drives the Corvette

Lucifer at the roller derby

Chloe the YA fangirl

Maze teaching Trixie about knives, with each handle decorated in a different toy.

Amenadiel and Chloe catching up: your father is so proud of you. Like and angel BOSS!

SEASON HIGHLIGHTS:

★ (s3) Amenadiel taking Charlotte home

★ Dan being comforted in his grief by Amenadiel

★ Amenadiel’s wrath and the brotherly duo tag team to lay the hurt on the drug dealer that got Charlie killed. It’s been a while since we’ve seen warrior angel ready to dispatch anyone in his way. And it was glorious!

★ (s3) Lucifer’s almost driving lesson with Trixie “Morningstar”

★ (s3) Maze torturing Lucifer by making him think he’s the Angel of San Bernadino

★ (s3) Amenadiel and Lina helping to dispose of Lucifer’s wings

★  Lucifer kicking Julian, Tiernan’s son, through a glass pane window

★ The goodbye kiss between Lucifer and Chloe

 DIDN’T LIKE:

☒ (s3) Cain playing guitar and singing. What is he, a crime lord, a top cop, or an act that the improv club wouldn’t take? 

☒ Eve. I liked Eve, but we mostly got to see one side of her around Lucifer, and a kind of floundering an confused side when she was with Maze. The side that I would have liked to see more of was the maternal side that came out when she briefly talked about Abel or was interrogated by Trixie. That made her more layered.

☒ Father Kinley. That dude is just meh.

☒ Dan’s broken heart and rebounding with Ella. Don’t get me wrong, its a good arc, but I don’t see it lasting

☒ (s3) Abel and Reese. Those were two side stories I could have done without, although they had great moments of humor. I quite enjoyed Reese’s character, and although I didn’t like Abel Lucifer’s stick-figure comic illustration of Cain fighting with him over a rock was quite enjoyable.

WHAT I TRULY DESIRE: SINFUL SEASON 5, my BURNING QUESTIONS, and SPECULATIONS

Obviously, don’t spoil anything for me, but if any of my desires end up coming true in any of the first eight episodes maybe drop me a hint in the comments...

A big time jump. We need to see the lasting impact of Lucifer’s absence. I know that time in hell works differently per that episode where Lucifer saved Chloe and almost got stuck in a loop, but we still need enough time to elapse that the impact is felt on the mortal side. Or, we need to see the passage of time through a series of events without Lucifer, like a montage of character development. At least a year or so, if for no other reason then Trixie is growing up and I actually want to see her take driving lessons with Lucifer.

Last season Maze gave baby Charlie a gift, something she’d wished she’d had growing up, and previously had alluded to the language of demons, her many siblings, and teased her mother, the mother of all demons. Will we finally get to meet Maze’s mom Lilith (or however they address her)? And, in spite of Mazikeen’s found family, she still has restlessness and abandonment issues. Will her mom finally finally bring her peace, or will clashing with her resolidify Maze’s purpose on earth?

A Decker/Mazikeen team-up or girls night out 2.0 would always be appreciated. At this point its probably 4.0 if you count the bar fight and the bachelorette party.

Will we see tougher, scarier demons, or are they just warmup to the really scary depths of hell?

Speaking of hell, more hell. Tons of hell. I want to know the minutia of all the mechanics. If Lucifer’s gotta be down there in self-imposed exile, he may as well show us around. Pour us a drink.

Will Lucifer see Cain in Hell? Not that I’m dying to see more of “sad Cain” but it would be interesting to see a more dark or desperate or cunning side to him at least now that he’s actually neck deep in torment. Or, alternatively, I’m hedging my bets that he could be a good candidate to light the fire under Lucifer’s *** to get of hell back to the earthly realm. Even in hell, I’m betting Cain would have a soft spot for Chloe, and if news reached Lucifer that Michael were trying to abscond with his life and with Chloe, it would give Cain and Lucifer one last bit of “A-Hole brothers” common ground to bond over. Like “Brothers, am I right? Go kick, get Chloe back, I’ll still have enough guilt to torture me with in a few thousand years when you get back,”   

Will Lucifer fall into peril in hell of once again potentially getting distracted and stuck in a hell loop? Will his servants be satisfied with his return? Will Amenadiel bust him out.

Mr. Said Out Bitch needs a role reprise. He’s been in every season opener 2-4, we’ve gotten to know his undergarments very well.  Its high time we get to know his name and story. He’s put in the work!  

Amenadiel should be running LUX in Lucifer's absence. We got a tease of that in previous seasons (remember when he asked what would Lucifer do?) its time for that to come to fruition. Plus, any excuse to put DB Woodside in a suit, just because he wears them so well. It would also be interesting if, after that tragedy he’s experienced, Amenadiel will start taking after Luci. Maybe not the punishing, not yet, but wanting to seek out evil and corruption. It has been teased since s1 “fall as I did.” Perhaps he’ll start developing a taste for his bother’s line of work whereas he found it repugnant in the early days

Dan and Maze or Dan and Ella pair up. Both Dan and Maze are due for some happiness.

An Azrael reboot, when need more of her. She’s the angel of Death for pity’s sake. I don’t know if the original actress is still available or if they would have to recast, or if the character concept by Netflix would even be the same, but I need Azrael to be capable of sweet and unassuming and on a coin flip downright menacing.

More of Lucifer as a godparent, bless! And maybe a cool montage of “cousin” Trixie and Lucifer co-babysitting Charlie please.

Whilst on the subject of Lucifer and parenting, and without putting Trixie too much into harm’s way, I need to see what “I would do anything to protect that little urchin” looks like. Trixstar ride or die.

Father Frank, come back! I need a cameo or recurrent role pleeeeease.

Trixie in every episode. This is non-negotiable, much like chocolate cake. Beatrice is an all-star. In fact, I’ve decided that when Dad/God finally does show up, Trixie needs to be the one to get to know him / introduce him first. She’s been captain on the celestial cheer squad for four seasons, she’s earned this.

Who's going to see through Michael's facade first? I mean, I know that trailer shows Maze torturing it out of him, but as far as intuition goes, I've got a 50/50 split between Trixie and Linda, with an honorable mention to Dan.

If Michael is Lucifer's twin, does he have the same angelic compulsion skill set? Or something different? And will it work on Chloe or is she universally immune?

A “be like Mike” pop-culture reference. ******Spoilers: ******* all the trailers have revealed Michael already, so they owe us this for letting the steam out.

As far as pop-culture, how many movie and TV references will we get from Lucifer and ensemble this year? I expect A-game, from sci-fi to 80s action, on par with the previous likes of Parent Trap, Star Wars, Home Alone, Kim Possible, and Rocky.

Will Amenadiel’s necklace make a reappearance, even after he put it around Caleb’s neck in the morgue? Heavenly artifacts have a way of causing trouble in this show.

Will what finally learn what, if any, significance there is to Lucifer’s ring? Again, as all my fictional writings will attest, I really kind of want it to be a stolen little trinket from him Dad.

Plot twist: will we get to see Hell and the silver city all in one season, or is that too devilishly good to ask? It would be intriguing if Lucifer fell from Heaven for rebelling and now some threat like, for example, the mother of demons would pose a threat to the gates such that Lucifer was called upon to defend them. Not expecting anything Endgame level with a host of Angels popping up like sorcerers...but it is food for the imagination.

Plot twist: will Michael, duplicitous twin that he is, be revealed as the reason that Lucifer does not lie and can’t stand liars? Will be get a Michael back story? Is he perhaps the true rebellious son? see: my original fan conjecture here.

Additional links to previous recaps, roundouts and wishlists: 

Season 1: Best Moments // Season 2: Predictions, Desires, Roundout, Best Moments // Season 3: Speculations, Quick-shot summary 

[holyfuckthisfishcandrive]

Pack and See

Masterlist (this is chapter 27)

Word count: 1284

Warnings: description of creepy behavior, Virgil bites himself to cope (again) 

"Thanks," Virgil repeated as Patton parked the car.

"It's no problem, kiddo! Are you sure you don't want me to come along and help though?" he shot Virgil a smile.

He shook his head. "No thanks. I'll manage. He's not home and even if he comes while I'm there I can sneak past him."

Patton frowned a little at that. "I could help carry or something," he offered.

Virgil just shook his head and slipped out of the car.

He couldn't risk Patton seeing his skulls or any other incriminating things. It wasn't like he needed a lot of stuff either so it wouldn't be much of a problem.

Slowly he unlocked the front door and went inside.

Papa wasn't at the university, he was pretty sure about that, but he wasn't home either.

Virgil had no idea where he was but it didn't matter all that much.

He went upstairs to his room and grabbed the duffle bag hidden under his bed. He stuffed his other two turtlenecks inside, grabbed his hoodie, jeans and some other stuff, his sketchbook and pens and remembered to grab his schoolbag as well before moving on to the bathroom. Patton had already given him a toothbrush and that stuff but after a day without make-up, he already felt like he had shown the world too much and should disappear from the face of the planet. He looked like shit, so he needed a way to look less shitty. His last stop was in the kitchen. Patton had food, more than enough of it, and even some tea but he was also the kind of person to get their daily caffeine dose from coffee, not from tea. Papa enjoyed coffee too. He wouldn't miss the black tea too much. The green tea Virgil grabbed was a different story but that was his so it wasn't his problem.

When he came out about forty minutes later Patton was still waiting in the car to his surprise.

Remy would've fucked off to get Starbucks after fifteen and maybe remembered about him an hour later, Emile would've stayed for thirty and then gotten out of the car to 'stretch his legs', get distracted and wander off somewhere and his other aunts and uncles wouldn't have given him a ride in the first place but would've made their left-hand people do it, who'd usually just watch the road for other cars or any rivals. Unless maybe if the Godren told them to. But as far as Virgil remembered that had only happened once.

But Patton was just sitting there tapping at the wheel and bopping his head to some music he was listening to and when he noticed Virgil a smile spread over his face.

Weird.

Virgil dumped his bags in the back and slid into the passenger seat.

Some soft pop tune filled the car and Patton turned it down a bit.

"Did you get everything you need, kiddo?" he asked. "Did it go alright?"

"Yeah, I got my stuff. Pa wasn't home."

Patton nodded and turned the ignition. Virgil did his best not to tense.

"Kiddo, when Logan came to my shop yesterday, I told him I'd tell him when I saw you," Patton started and pulled out of the parking space. "If you don't want me to I won't text him but if you don't mind I'd like to just let him know that you're safe and that you're with me, okay?"

Virgil shook his head.

"You don't need to. I left him a note."

"Oh, okay then."

Patton parked again close to the flower shop and helped Virgil unpack his stuff.

"Do you have any plans for today?" he asked once they were done

"I was going to meet up with a mate of mine. Is that alright?"

"Of course. just be careful. If anything happens just call me, okay?"

"Okay, will do."

Virgil met Janus by the entrance of the main subway station. They weren't planning on going anywhere but it was a good spot to meet. From there they went on, just wandering through the streets, past shops and restaurants.

"So, you're staying with my uncle now?" Janus asked casually.

Virgil shrugged.

"Yup, though I rather know him through my Pa."

Janus scrunched their nose.

"If your dad is dating my uncle, doesn't that technically make us like... cousins? Fuck, that's weird. Makes those people who think we're dating so much weirder."

"Wait- There're people who think we're dating?"

Janus shrugged.

"Because we hug and stuff. And obviously that's illegal when you're friends," they rolled their eyes. "Mostly at school, so I'm not surprised you haven't heard it yet."

Virgil frowned at the thought.

"Want to rob that Sephora?" Janus asked pointing at the shop across the streets. "They're dickheads anyway."

Virgil contemplated for a moment then shrugged.

He was about to answer when the middleaged woman passing them suddenly burst into song.

"Oh, please don't rob Sephora, oh, how I adore that store even though it's racist!~"

Virgil flinched away from her.

A couple joined her in her singing, all three of them smiling too widely and beginning to move around the two of them as if in a choreographed dance.

"What the actual fuck-!" Janus swirled around as more and more people joined in until the entire street was singing and dancing. There was music coming from somewhere. They just couldn't tell from where.

The singers split into two groups, one arguing that they should rob the store, the other arguing against it.

"What the fuck is happening?" Janus hissed.

"No idea," Virgil pressed closer to them, "but let's get the fuck out of here!"

"There's an opening!" they ducked between two people and ran for the nearest alleyway.

The people kept looking at them, their eyes strangely empty and their smiles closer to grimaces than genuine emotion.

In a way, it reminded Virgil of the Other-Mother from Coraline. Smiling widely but scary. Nowhere close to nice.

They scaled the wall splitting the alleyway and the singing behind them stopped as abruptly as it had started.

"What the fuck?" Virgil breathed. "What the actual fuck?"

"Jesus fucking Christ," Janus leaned back against a wall. "So... How about we don't rob Sephora?"

They chuckled nervously.

"Yeah, best not," Virgil found himself agreeing. He bit into his thumb in an attempt to ground himself.

They moved on quickly, both teens wanting to put as much distance between themselves and the Sephora as possible.

They spent the next two hours without another incident, which Virgil was garteful for. Then Janus had to leave, because their mum had asked them for help preparing dinner and baking a cake for their stepdad's birthday.

Virgil wandered around on his own aimlessly for a little while, listening to music.

He passed an electic store and the TVs in the shop window showed a news report of what had happened earlier. Through the thin glass Virgil could faintly hear what the man being interwiewed was saying.

"... like someone was moving my body for me..."

He looked scared.

But what had cause it?

Virgil stared without paying attention for a while.

A sudden musical number in which the participants weren't in control and were barely aware of what was going on... That part had been obvious, looking back, from how mechanical the movements had been. Like puppets on an invincible string.

But what had caused this?

The TV screen suddenly went dark and Virgil found himself staring at his own reflection.

He clenched his jaw and quickly looked away.

Sometimes people tend to do that when they get an answer to a question they asked and they don't like it.

Next

Taglist:

@patton-cake , @isabelle-stars , @joylessnightsky

[death-himself]

Hidden in Shadows—Family Reunion

Summary: When Remus finds out Thomas has adopted his cousin, he just has to pay him a visit. And why not bring along his demon children as well?

Word Count: 1,668

Warnings: None(?)

(AO3 Link)

The day started with Remus frantically slapping Emile awake, patting his forehead at the speed of light. Emile groaned, swatting lazily at Remus’s hand. “What? What’s wrong?”

“Get a look at this!” A phone was shoved into Emile’s face. He blinked at the light, grabbing his glasses off the nightstand and scanning over what Remus was showing him.

It was a Youtube channel, run by a man who looked somewhat similar to Remus, with the same last name as him to go with his looks. “That’s my uncle!”

“Your uncle’s a Youtuber?” Remus nodded, eyes blown wide with excited surprise. “And he’s gay as fuck, but that’s not the point for once, look at this.” He pulled up what looked like a family photo with Thomas surrounded by three kids. Remus zoomed in on the eldest of the three.

“That’s my fuckin’ cousin! I met him once when he was four or something, I tried to get him to burn the house down!” Remy and Janus had woken up from the commotion, creeping over to listen. Janus looked over the picture, his eyes stopping on one shadowy corner. He hissed, backing away a bit behind Emile.

“Something wrong, Jan?”

“Someone’s in there.” Remus furrowed his brow, taking a closer look at the picture. He would usually assume it was just the shadows looking weird or his imagination messing with him, but you don’t just dismiss when an eight year old demon says that someone’s there.

In the shadowy corner was a very vague shape that looked kind of like a person if you squinted, tall enough to stand up on its toes and hit its head on the ceiling.

It didn’t look like much, probably not even enough to get the conspiracy theorists on it, but it was interesting nonetheless.

Emile looked over the picture for a moment. “Didn’t you guys say there was a bogeyman before you? Do you think they’re still out there?”

“Probably. What do you think they did to get kicked out by the dark bitch?” Remus asked. Remy mumbled out something that vaguely meant evil scary bitch as a form of agreement.

“The darkness never told me what he did. Just said he was bad at everything except stalking kids.” Janus answered.

“Well, that’s uh...” Emile looked back down at the picture Remus had pulled up. “Do you know where your uncle is? We could pay him a visit.” Remus shrugged.

“I think I remember. I think he lives down the street from where my dad used to live. Y’know, in that period of time after the divorce and before the die.”

“Do you still remember where that is?” Remus nodded, grabbing his jacket and backpack, already stuffing it with a flashlight, lighter, and swiss army knife before heading to the kitchen to grab snacks.

“It’ll be like an hour drive, so if we wanna go there, figure out what’s going on, and get back without your moms finding out, we’re gonna have to go soon.” Emile blinked, understanding that his moms had probably left only half an hour ago and wouldn’t be back for another six hours, but simply giggled and went along with it, getting Remy and Janus ready for the trip.

“How well does your uncle know you?” Emile asked as they pulled up in front of the house.

“I mean I visited twice with my dad when I was probably six, so...not very well!” He let Remy climb onto his back as a piggy back ride while Janus took Emile’s hand, pulling the hoodie hiding his nonhuman appearance further over his face.

They walked up to the door, Remus rapping on it a couple times before trying the doorknob. “Hey it’s open!” He turned the knob and made his way in confidently. His ears were immediately bombarded with screaming and crying, along with bags of groceries that had been placed down haphazardly on the ground.

“Roman, you’re gonna be okay, just breathe.”

“I’m bleeding!”

“Nosebleeds happen sometimes, it’s not a very serious thing, you just have to wait it out, alright?”

“But I’m bleeding!”

“Oh for the love of—Virgil could you get him some more tissues?”

“Yeah, sure.” The last voice came out as an echoing sigh and quiet footsteps came a bit closer. Remus peeked into the living room to see what was happening, only to come face-to-chest with whatever the hell that tall creature in the shadows of that picture had been.

The creature stared down at him for a moment, before backing away and growling, baring his razor sharp teeth threateningly. Remy did the same, growling from his perch on Remus’s shoulders. Emile gulped, looking back and forth in confusion, before realizing that Janus had let go of his hand and was growling as well, prepared to attack.

The unknown bogeyman seemed taken aback by having two like him growling at him, long enough for Remus to grin, peek around the bogeyman, and shout to Thomas, “Hey Uncle Thomas, looks like our demon children met!”

“Our what?” Thomas looked over the situation. “Wait...you’re Remus, right? My nephew? I think I saw you at John’s funeral.” His eyes widened when he noticed Remy and Janus. He opened his mouth as if about to ask questions, before sighing and shaking his head. “You know what? Virgil, tissues, please. We’ll deal with this after Roman’s nose stops bleeding.”

The bogeyman, Virgil, grumbled as he reached into one of the bags on the ground and pulled out a box of tissues, not taking his eyes off of the four for a second as he walked back around them to the living room. Emile smiled nervously at him, pulling Janus back over to him and holding him back by the arm.

Once Roman’s nosebleed was dealt with, they sat around the coffee table in the living room, Thomas bringing in coffee, tea, and chocolate milk for everyone. Virgil glared at Remy and Janus as Thomas handed him a cup of tea, mumbling a thank you and continuing his watch.

“It’s been a while since I saw you around, Remus. Have you been doing okay? Well...judging by all this you look like you’re doing alright.”

“Eh, was homeless for a bit, met Janus that way. Got to meet Em in person for the first time, became a father of two, y’know just your typical Tuesday.”

“You were homeless?”

“Did you not know that?”

“If I knew, I would’ve come out and helped you!”

“Oh.” Remus took a sip of chocolate milk, smacking his lips awkwardly. He shrugged. “Oh well.”

“You’re not still homeless right? You’re staying with Emile’s family?” Emile nodded happily.

“My moms are perfectly fine with it.” Relief filled Thomas’s body at that.

“Well that’s good. Now can we talk about, uh...” He looked across the table at Janus hugging Emile’s arm and trying to grab his coffee while Remy banged his cup against the side of the table and smiled at the sound.

“Oh yeah, I never introduced them! These are my precious children, Janus and Remy, they both tried to kill me when we met, but they’re my sons now. They were supposed to replace Virgil in the whole “bogeyman” department, but then stuff happened and now they’re my kids.”

“Huh.” Thomas thought it over for a moment, before smiling at Janus and Remy. “Well it’s good to meet you two. You can just call me your uncle.”

“Or grunkle! That’s what you’d be to them, right Dad?” Roman spoke excitedly.

“I guess so.” Remy babbled out something incomprehensible, which Emile responded to with “No, no more chocolate milk, kiddo.” Remy whined in response. Thomas looked back and forth between the two, before taking a deep breath and deciding to ask another time.

While Thomas, Remus, and Emile caught up and got to know each other, they allowed the kids to have fun together. Janus and Logan seemed to be having a battle over who was smarter while Remy crawled around and chased Patton in what they hoped was a game of tag. 

Roman had been watching from the sidelines with Virgil in an attempt to be the mature one of the group, until Patton tagged him and he joined the game. After that Virgil didn’t seem to really know what to do with himself, so Thomas simply gestured for him to join them. “You’re closer to Remus and Emile’s age anyway” was Thomas’s reasoning.

Virgil joined hesitantly, not used to being around humans other than his dad and brothers. He listened for the most part, enjoying Emile’s calming words and tone of voice, as well as most of Remus’s sense of humor.

Soon the four had to head home. Patton hugged Remy and whispered something that only toddlers and extremely young children would understand, receiving a giggle from the three year old. Logan and Janus shook hands, having accepted each other as equals after almost two full hours of debating and arguing about taxes, houses, and other things they definitely knew nothing about.

Once they were gone Virgil, Patton, Roman, Logan, and Thomas settled down in the living room, Patton and Roman falling asleep immediately after hitting the couch. Virgil ruffled Roman’s hair, taking a deep breath. While it was nice having Remus over, he preferred it being just the five of them.

“We should invite them over again sometime.” Thomas spoke calmly. “It’d probably be good for you to have friends around your age anyway.”

“I think I’m fine with just these guys.”

“Virge, they’re not even preteens. Having people your age around you is supposed to help with social skills and all that. So...just give them a try, alright?”

“Yeah, sure. They don’t seem too bad anyway.”

As Emile drove them home, he and Remus listened as Janus described in detail how his debate with Logan had gone and how he had definitely won, while Remy dozed off, barely strapped into his seat and drool coming out of his mouth.

[greenninjagal-blog]

currently vibing in a two-week lockdown, can you share some of your favorite fics? i need some new things to read, and I've got too much time on my hands-

Aw man, same! The rest of my actual Spring Semester got turned online… Let’s see…..Fic recs for the pseudo End of the World (Courtesy of AO3, arranged by most prominent ship!) Keep in mind that my descriptions are shorter and written mostly for comedic effect than the actual fics, so if something looks interesting Click it! Get more info about it! Don’t just take my word! I tried my best to get a lot of variety of fics and topics and tropes, as well as authors that might not be as well known! Uhhh here are the links to lists I’ve already made for various other reasons check out my Fic Rec Masterlist!

I also am including various of my fav authors masterlists for funsies!

jungle321jungle’s || Max-isTired’s || TrashficParlour’s || Lefaystrent’s || Mine!

Completed Fics

A Deal in which Virgil tries to summon a familiar and gets a Circle King instead. And he’s really pretty. (Anxceit)

Love Like You in which Virgil decides to give up looking for a romantic partner and considers adopting instead. He finds more than he’s looking for with a set of twins and the man who watches over them (Anxceit)

A Dragon’s Tail in which Logan is cursed to be a Dragon by his best friends stepmother, Virgil is struggling to learn a power he can’t control, Patton who’d rather marry a servant than the Prince, and Roman has no clue what is going on but the Prince he’s supposed to be saving can probably kick his ass. (Logicality, Prinxiety)

A Game of Vice in which Remus kidnaps Roman and turns it into a game of who can come save him from his lonely tower. (Logicality, Prinxeity) 

double down with the paradigms in which Logan tries to explain away his own OCD while dealing with the emotions he has for a certain Pre-Vet. Excellent depiction of OCD, made me cry, 300/10 would read again. (Logicality, Prinxiety)

It Takes Two to Tango in which Roman begs his brother, Logan, to let him go back in time to meet a famous dancer. Falling in Love was not part of the plan. (Prinxiety, Logicality)

A favorite star in the heavens in which everyone has at least one soulmate. They’re luckily enough to have three each. (LAMP) 

Forgotten Forests and Magnified Myths in which Logan finds out very suddenly that he has the passive ability to talk to dragons. (DAMP, Remilie)

Sense5 in which five people in different countries are suddenly psychically linked together and uh…yeah fun times. (DLAMP)

Stray Hearts Are Subject To Change in which black cat hybrid Virgil plans to die very heroically in an alley and Roman completely messes up that plan by being a decent human being. (Prinxiety, Logicality)

Hidden In Shadows in which Virgil is the boogieman every adult warned you about but he doesn’t actually enjoy being scary. Good thing the three Sanders kids aren’t scared of anything. (Not so good for their very confused Dad who isn’t sure what to do about their new imaginary friend)

Paved with Good Intentions in which the dark sides agree to send Virgil to the light sides as a way to get Thomas to listen to them more. Now if Virgil can just get along with the Light sides enough to actually start making some progress…

Absent Gods and Silent Tyranny or: How Logan Learned to Stop Over Thinking and Love Everyone in which Logan is a morally grey scientist who just works for supervillains because they pay well. He doesn’t expect someone like Virgil to change that.

Series

Clouds and Moss AU in which the sides are gods and its very gay and very good. (Intrulogical, Roceit)

Colors in which Logan is an excellent Dad, Virgil is an amazing son, and the world is very colorful. (Logicality)

Labeled in which Logan is a famous superhero, Patton is a doctor, and they adopt the would-be super villain and everything is soft and lovely and I cry at the purity. (Logicality, Remilie)

Fbi!au in which the sides work for the fbi and I diligently reread these series of oneshots for a daily dose of serotonin!  (Logince, Moxiety)

Growing Old is More Fun with You in which Patton is a PTA dad and so is Deceit and they have a “rivalry”. (Mociet)

Gilded Cage in which Roman is forced to dance for the fairy queen whenever she wants it. (Prinxiety)

Renegades! in which the sides live in a dystopia and fight the government while being completely in love with each other. (Prinxiety, Logiciality) 

Love and Other Fairytales in which a couple decides to keep their changling and their actual son, a child is cursed gifted a voice that makes people do whatever he says, a boy makes a rotten deal for the sake of his friend, and centuries before any of this, a fae prince is tricked into an endless sleep by his brother. 

The Vampire Hunting Vampire in which Virgil was turned into a monster and LPR slowly convince him he’s not as bad as he thinks he is. Through cuddles. (LAMP, DLAMP)

Wasteland, Baby! in which there are things in the woods and Patton gets,,, intimate with them. On purpose! (LAMP)

Destined in which Damian has successfully ignored his Soulmates for five years and he planned on doing it for much longer but on his twentieth birthday fate intervenes with a second soultrait that forces him to come face to face with all of them. (DLAMP)

Old Gods in which Gods sometimes walk the earth and Remus is pleased to hear that people are still making offerings to him– wait that is not a goat. And other fun stories!

Sit back and watch the world go by in which Virgil is a human abducted by alien smugglers, befriends Patton, breaks out, and everyone fears humans as space orcs, almost as much as Virgil is afraid of them. 

Teaming the Pieces Together in which Thomas is a pokemon trainer and eevees just…click with him.

Tales from the Dark Sides in which the author provides a lovely hub of works where Virgil is abused by OC dark sides and DLMPR are there to help patch him up.

Uncle Emile and the Super Nephews in which Emile gets custody of his six nephews and tries to bond with them. They in turn try very hard not to tell him they have superpowers.

Cuffed Universe in which Remus is a cop chasing after a hacker, Logan breaks the laws and Virgil would just like tO KEEP ONE JOB WITHOUT ONE OR BOTH OF THE OTHERS DRAGGING HIM INTO THEIR SHIT. (Analomus)

Ongoing Fics

The Origin in which space travel via Thomas Sanders’s ship SS Revelation gets more complicated when the Planets themselves turn out to be entities who aren’t all on board with humanity spreading to the rest of the solar system. (Remile) 

Delicato in which Logan and Patton are music professors with very different conceptions of music, and Virgil and Roman are students in both their classes who just want them to kiss already. (Logicality, Prinxiety)

Coming out of The Shadows in which a small mutant child Virgil is treated as subhuman because of his uncontrolled ability to manipulate shadows up until a scientist buys him. (Royality)

Falling Stars At My Command in which Roman wishes on a star and Patton reaps the benefits while Logan unfortunately gets dragged along for the ride. (Royality) 

Sugar in which Patton has three sons and no free time to bother with a relationship while he’s trying to manage bills. At least until Roman walks into his life. Sugar Daddy anyone? (Royality) 

A Man, a Snake, and a Rat in which Logan, Deceit, and Remus become college roomates (Intruloceit) 

a.s.h.es, ashes (We all fall down) in which after Logan almost dies during one of his recuse missions, him and his partner start to dig into the superhero agency they’re employed by and stumble into something far bigger than they expected. (Logicality, Prinxiety, LAMP? LAMP)

Keep him safe in which Detective Logan falls for the owner of his new favorite bakery while his partner Roman falls for the gang member they’re chasing. Ft: emotions, a pet rat, dealing with delusions 101, trauma, and family so gooey it literally makes me melt whenever it updates. I love this fic so much. (Advertises as Logicality and Prinxiety but theres so much LAMP I can’t not put it down here)

Multitudes in which Virgil works at a coffeeshop, pines over the customers that come in, and wonders why they all tip him so well. (LAMP)

Songbird in which the only thing keeping Virgil’s parents alive is his voice: the moment the (new) King gets tired of listening to him its off with all their heads. And Virgil’s okay with that, he is…. Until three visiting nobles leaving him wishing for his freedom for the first time since he was ten. (LAMP)

Shatter in which Logan gets fed up with not being listened to, and takes some poor advice from Rage, which ends with the entire Mindscape being turned upside down and inside out. Now its up to Deceit fix it all. (aka the author decided it was about high time Deceit got some love and appreciation and I’m out here living for it.) (DAMP)

Incredible Cosmic Power in which Virgil awakens some genies by accident and they refuse to let him go back to living a relatively normal peaceful life. (DLAMP)

Plea for my New Self in which Vampire Virgil decides he wants to start over again, and goes back to college to work on coding. There he proceeds to do reckless good with his absurd amount of wealth and a “fuck it” attitude. Actually one of my favorite things ever okay. I love this one so much. (DLAMP)

Your Wish Is My Command in which Thomas accidentally rubs six lamps and becomes the glorified babysitter to six jinn who definitely don’t trust him. But its fineeee. (DLAMP)

6 Dads in which Deceit, Emile, Remus, Roman, Thomas, and Remy make a relationship work and their children aren’t sure how but go along with it anyway.

Rebel Rebel in which Thomas, a well respected man, visits the Imagination, for some pleasure business as a one time thing. Except that he keeps coming back. Maybe maybe falls in love with one, two, thr– all of the men who work there. 

A New Kind of Experiment  in which Virgil runs away from home, and ends up kidnapped by merman, and somehow he doesn’t mind that much.

Becoming His Own Hero in which everyone has to juggle their superhero lives with their regular lives and sometimes…its just hard.

don’t wanna be a tragedy in which brothers Roman and Remus get a house and subsequently find out its totally, completely, 100% haunted.

Don’t You, Forget About Me in which the author recreates Breakfast club and does it spectacularly.

Heart’s Heroes in which Patton may be a villain but that does not mean he wants to see the child heroes of the city dead.

Mortals and Fae in which Deceit barely escapes the wrath of his town when they all turn against him. Dying, he stumbles into a fairy circle hoping that with his name the fae make his death short and sweet. Big Shock for him when he wakes up with a Fairy Prince swearing to protect him.

Sanders Family in which Thomas adopts six kids and has no regrets about it.

How Not to Go About an Important Inspection in which after a devastating betrayal the crew of the USS Bifrost is docked for repairs and the crew just wants to go back to being a normal family but Command is insisting on an inspection to ensure nothing so…drastic occurs again.

Symbiotic in which certain Vampires have a vemon that leaves with victims craving getting their blood drunken. Deceit, one of these Victims, continues to burn bridges because that’s easier than admitting he might need help dealing with this. 

[witchcraft-in-wonderland]

The Baker and The Prince (Pt.11)

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

"Vi! Lo! Pat! You three make a run for it! Remus and I can handle this guy!" Roman said. Virgil was about to protest when Logan grabbed him by the arm, their eyes wide, and ran with him and Patton through the castle.

They made it to a dark hall with rows of cells, only one door seemed closed, and cries were flooding from it.

Patton walked over to the door and took a hair pin from his head. Virgil hadnt been aware that his brother was a skilled lock pick, yet here they were watching him wrench the door open easily.

"Hello? Who's in here?" Patton poked his head through the door. The two standing outside let out small gasps as a tall emaciated man stumbled out from the door, half his face covered in scales, his eyes sunken and bloodshot.

"Sweet mother of crofters. . ." Logan said, bringing their hand to their chest.

"Oh dear. . . are you the seer Presley was talking about?" Patton asked, the man merely nodded.

"Let's try and find the kitchen, he needs food," Virgil said. The others nodded, Patton allowed the man to lean against him for support.

It took them a while, but they finally found the entrance to the kitchen behind a tapestry of Presley, and four other figures with slashes and claw marks over their faces.

"Charming," Virgil said as they walked under the tapestry and into the kitchen. There was enough food for them to eat three times their body weight and still have leftovers. They only stopped eating after hearing distant roars from the trees, which gradually became anguished cries. Virgil felt himself tense, before the others could stop him he was running back to Roman's arms. He reached the throne room, where Roman and Remus stood in front of whisps of smoke that may once have been a person. Virgil practically threw himself into Roman's arms, his embrace warm and comforting, his hair a tousled mess of smoke, leaves, and grass.

"I'm so glad you're ok. . ." Virgil felt tears running down his face.

"I wouldnt dream of dying when I have you to hold in my arms," Roman whispered in his ear.

"Virgil!!!!" Patton rushed in, Logan and the seer at his heels.

"Logie!" Remus picked them up in his arms and tossed them in the air ever so slightly.

"I'm fine Pat, I'm fine," Virgil said, burying his head in the crook of Roman's neck.

"Come on! Dimitri's able to function like a person again, he says the place is going to collapse soon, he need to get out," Patton said.

"Whos-" Roman and Remus said in unison. The snake-scaled man raised a hand.

"We need to get the dragons first, they'll have shifted back by now," Dimitri said. The rest of the group nodded in unison.

It took them little time to find Remy and Emile, who were patching up injuries on six small children.

"Are you guys ok???" Virgil said, his face betraying his shock.

"We're fine, these guys helped us out," Emile said, ruffling the red hair of a child who also had scales across their face, in yellow, white, black, and purple.

"None of them remember where they came from, we promised to give them a place to stay when we got back," Remy said, looking pointedly at Roman and Remus. The twins nodded and helped guide the children back to the carriage. The ride home was much less ominous than the ride to the castle. They learned the names of the six children, Hebe, Apate, twins Adrestia and Aphrodite, Hestia, and Hera. All of which seemed attached to Patton at the moment, who was telling them stories of far away places and fairies and mermaids, all while smiling at the awed looks on their small faces.

"I wouldn't mind kids one day, you know," Roman said, sitting next to Virgil.

"They are pretty cute," Virgil said, leaning against him. He felt his eyes starting to get heavy, and decided it would be best to take a nap the rest of the way back.

"Goodnight stormcloud," Roman said, running his fingers through his hair.

Virgil didnt reply, and merely let his surroundings fade around him.

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

Tag List:

@official-lucifers-child

@oceanart123

@youtuberswithalex

@spooky-scary-virgil

@misunderstoodshadowling

@escalatingtoofast

@somehow-i-got-an-account

@i-need-you-buddy

@hedgiehoggles

@thecolorfulolive

@lonelyanxiousbean

[sanderssidesfanfiction]

If There’s a Place I Could Be - Chapter Ninety Five

If There’s a Place I Could Be Tag

October 13th, 2000

Remy resisted the urge to bang his head against the desk in boredom. His professor hated him, he knew all of this, and he couldn’t wait to get out of here so he could just chill in his dorm room, or maybe eat. He needed a break.

“Mister Picani?” the professor cut through his thoughts.

“Hm?” Remy asked, looking back to the front.

“Do you have the answer?” the professor asked impatiently.

“Depends on the question,” Remy replied.

The kids laughed, and the professor’s lips thinned into a line. “See me after class,” he said.

Remy sighed as the professor moved on. Bored and now in trouble, too.

Great.

  January 20th, 2004

Remy did his best to give a stern glance to himself in the mirror, but only wound up wincing as he saw what he looked like. He was wearing a nice suit, complete with one of Emile’s non-cartoon-themed ties. He didn’t know exactly what he was going to do today, but this look wasn’t cutting it.

“How you doing, Rem?” Emile asked from the edge of the bedroom.

“I feel like a monkey in a suit,” Remy said, gripping the ceramic counter and snarling at his reflection. “I don’t want to go into the school looking like this.”

“You know, you don’t have to impress your old business professor,” Emile pointed out. “Just because he asked you to answer some questions from the up-and-coming business students doesn’t mean that you have to deal with,” Emile gestured vaguely to Remy’s reflection. “This.”

Remy undid the tie and sighed. “I suppose you’re right,” he said. “But can I really go in there with a blouse and slacks and expect to be taken seriously?”

Emile shrugged. “If you walk in there with confidence, probably,” he said. “Besides, most of the business students already look at you like you’re a celebrity. You’ve got this.”

Remy sighed and nodded, pulling the tie out of his collar. “You know what? You’re right. I’ll save the suits for weddings,” he said decisively. He stripped as he exited the bathroom, and was in nothing but his briefs by the time he went to the closet. He pulled out a pair of slacks that made him feel more cute than sophisticated, and pulled out that wild diagonal light-blue-and-purple blouse with all the ruffles. “Now this... this I can get behind.”

Emile snickered as Remy slid the blouse down his arms. “What?” Remy asked with an embarrassed blush.

“I’m not laughing at you,” Emile rushed to assure. “I just find it funny that your business professor is going to have to walk you into a classroom full of eager students, you dressed up in a blouse and those slacks that make your butt look fabulous, and admit that he failed to teach you and you still became successful.”

Remy absorbed that information, before offering Emile a shy grin. “Okay, you’re right, that’s kinda funny,” he admitted.

Emile grinned. “See? You’re gonna kill it, Rem. I know you, and I know enough about that class from you ranting to me about it when we were freshmen.”

“If you say so...” Remy said with a little shrug. “I don’t know about killing it, but I’m definitely going to make that professor red in the face, and that makes it all worth it.”

Emile kissed Remy’s cheek and helped him with the last button on the blouse, before leaving Remy to pull up the slacks. “Ready for breakfast?” he asked.

Remy nodded, and the two of them went downstairs, Emile cooking up the eggs while Remy made the toast, because Remy didn’t want to get any grease splatter on his nice blouse. They ate in the kitchen standing up, just like old times in their apartment, and Remy hummed. “You’re getting better at eggs, Emile, I gotta admit,” he said with a little grin.

“Thank you, I do try,” he said. “It’s not fair to make you make all the meals we have, after all, not with your job.”

Remy shrugged. “I don’t mind most days, but I see your point,” he allowed.

They went to the car and Remy fidgeted only a little. He was admittedly, worried. He was an out and proud gay man at the shop, but now? He wasn’t going to the shop, he was going to a college classroom full of freshmen, who weren’t as open and exposed to things like the LGBT community if they didn’t go looking for that. And it was a little scary, thinking that today, he was gonna have to show to these freshmen what gay and successful looked like. Whether he wanted to be or not, he was going to be making an impression on these kids.

“Hey, you’re gonna do great, Rem,” Emile reassured.

“I know,” Remy groaned. “It just...it sucks that I have to make an impression on these kids, while barely being more than a kid myself.”

“Yeah,” Emile agreed. “I think if this becomes a regular thing, you’ll cringe at your first presentation eventually, but you’d get it done. You’re freaking amazing, Remy. I have no doubt that you’ll make a good impression. And if you have to make an impression, I’d prefer a good one to a bad one.”

Remy nodded, swallowing. They went to the college campus, and Remy’s ears were roaring as his heart pounded. It looked the same as ever, but it felt different to Remy, returning as not a student, not a ride, not a boyfriend, but a guest lecturer. “Oh, God,” he breathed.

Emile smiled, walking with him to the business building. “I’ve gotta get to my classes, but I’ll see you soon, okay?” Emile promised. “I love you.”

“Love you,” Remy said, getting a quick kiss from Emile before walking inside the business building.

He felt somewhat self conscious, dressed the way he was, but he walked down the hall until he saw his old professor, shaking his hand. “Good to see you again, Professor Fleming.”

“You too, Remy,” his old professor said. “You were one of my worst students, but also one of my favorites. I knew you could do something like this if only you applied yourself.”

“I guess you were right,” Remy said with a long-suffering sigh.

“What was that? Didn’t quite hear you,” Professor Fleming said with a smug grin.

“You heard me,” Remy grumbled.

“Nice to hear it, too,” he said. “Shall we go in? This will be all my business class students who are taking one hundred one level. I made sure you wouldn’t have to do this more than once over the course of the week.”

That made the whole prospect slightly more terrifying, but Remy nevertheless nodded. “Sure. May as well give it a shot.”

Professor Fleming walked in, and Remy followed behind him. The whole class quieted when they saw Remy, slouching against the professor’s desk in a bright blouse and dress pants. Remy could feel a slight heat building up in his ears. “Class, this is Remy Picani, the local store owner of Sleep Easy. Behave yourselves when you ask questions,” the professor said, giving the class a stern glance, before moving to sit in a seat in the front row of the classroom.

“Okay...right,” Remy said. “You all by now know my name, and most of you will probably forget it over the duration of the lecture. That’s okay, so long as you remember that I make a mean cuppa joe.” Ripples of laughter went through the class. Remy smiled, relaxing into a more natural pose. “Now, I want to make one thing abundantly clear: I am the exception, not the rule, okay? College isn’t for everyone, and that’s fine. But if you think you can drop out of college, start out on your own from nothing and become a successful business owner? Think again. I only got the property I did through my fiancé’s trust fund. And I only knew what I did about business because I read through all the books that were on the recommended reading list before I even went to college. So don’t look at me, go, ‘If he can do it, why can’t I?’ and try to follow in my footsteps. Not least because of the fact that I value my position as the only small business café on Main Street.” More laughter. “But go on, fire away some questions. I don’t have a structure for these sorts of things, this is actually my first lecture. We’ll go about this process together.”

A hand went up and Remy pointed to the girl. “Exactly how much math goes into running a business?” she asked.

“More than I’d like,” Remy said, laughing. “No, but. In all seriousness, it’s a lot of math. Not only to keep track of sales versus costs, but also number of people each day, reviews, and cash flow. There’s... so much math. It’s exciting, in a daunting kind of way. Like, I had the sort of mind that could have been an accountant. I would have been bored to tears, but I could do those sorts of equations. And make no mistake: you have to be good with those sorts of things in order to get through the other side of business that no one talks about.”

Another hand, and Remy pointed at the guy. “What inspired you to start the business?”

“A string of bad luck and upper management not taking me seriously as potentially becoming one of them,” Remy replied. “They didn’t want me running a shop, even though I knew everything that went into it. So I made my own.”

Another. “Why are you wearing a blouse?”

Remy turned red as murmurs went through the classroom. The professor coughed. “Let’s stick to the business side of things, please,” he said.

“No, it’s fine, I’ll answer,” he said. “I feel more comfortable and confident in this blouse than I do wearing suits. And since I’m my own boss, I can do that sort of thing.”

The questions he answered were mostly business focused, but there was the occasional jab at his dress or his sexuality. It was no secret that he and Emile had their kiss published in the paper.

One hand went up, and Remy inwardly cringed, as he could see the silver cross dangling from her neck. “Yes?” he asked her.

“Is there anyone you don’t allow in your shop?” she asked.

Remy relaxed a little. “Sure. People who are mean to the staff don’t exactly get welcomed in my shop. And then there are the loiterers, who I have to shoo off from time to time. And of course, there’s the homophobes...”

“You don’t allow people who disagree with being gay in your store?” she asked. “Isn’t that bad for business?”

“It’s a college town, I manage,” Remy said with a weak smile.

“But you’re shutting them out for their religious beliefs,” the girl protested. “That’s discrimination.”

“Actually, it’s not. Because you can choose to be accepting of gay people. You can’t choose being gay. There’s a difference,” Remy pointed out. “So I don’t let homophobes who are blatantly homophobic in my shop. Of course, hanging up queer art around the place from local artists probably doesn’t endear my shop to them any.”

“But—”

“Kid, what’s your name?” Remy interrupted.

“Shirley. And I’m not a kid,” she huffed.

Remy shrugged. “Your mental development is years of difference from mine, so to me, you’re a kid. Look. You’re in college now. You’ll find that a lot of people around you will do things you don’t agree with. A lot of people will be things you were taught were bad. And they’re not. You don’t have to join in, you don’t have to be that if you don’t want to be. But your personal opinions shouldn’t dictate anybody else’s experience. I don’t allow homophobes in my shop because I’m gay. I don’t feel safe around them, and like I said, it’s a college town. I manage. But I really don’t want you walking away from this thinking you should discard everything I say because I’m a ‘sinner.’ I may be gay, but I’m also a business man. And those two may have overlap in some places, but by and large they don’t. So don’t dismiss me right off the bat. Sound good?”

The girl sank in her seat and shrugged. “Shirley, see me after the class, all right?” Professor Fleming said. “Thank you for being understanding, Remy, I’m sorry about that.”

“Hey, I’m always trying to educate when I get the chance,” Remy joked.

The rest of the lecture went off without a hitch, and when Emile came over to drop Remy off the keys to the car, Remy felt bold enough to kiss Emile’s cheek. Professor Fleming smiled. “Would you be willing to do this again next semester?” he asked.

“Absolutely!” Remy agreed.

[ravenloveless13]

Pack Ties (Pack Ties Series)

"Pack Ties?" Remus asked, putting the kettle in his hand to turn and look at Lily.

“Yes, apparently it is a magical contract” Lily replied back as she carefully reads the large book that rested on the kitchen table while with her other hand, she was thoughtfully stroking her swollen belly “a werewolf creates this magical bond with the members of their family, that way when the full moon comes and he loses control, they would be the only ones he could not hurt”

Remus took the two cups of tea; Lily's, with milk and sugar, and his only with sugar. He brought them to the table to sit across from his friend. That was his day to "take care" of Lily because since she had become pregnant, James had become paranoid about her safety and although all the marauders knew that the redhead was perfectly capable of taking care of herself, no one in their right mind would attempt Lily's wrath in this state. They had agreed that for Jame’s and their peace of mind (because James could become a real pain in the ass when he gets worried about Lily and the baby safety) one of the marauders would stay with his wife if he had to go out on an Order mission. On that day it was Remus's turn and although he loved spending time with his friend, he was a bit nervous about it since the night of the full moon is near.

"I've never heard of that," he said once he took a seat across from Lily and handed her her cup of tea.

“Well ... apparently it is an extremely ancient ritual, but it is not entirely proven. This contract does not guarantee that the werewolf will preserve their human mind during the transformation as the Wolfsbane potion does, but it does guarantee that the wolf does not attack their family. It says that the contract links the magic of the wolf and the other person, making it feel like they're part of their pack.

"Hmmm makes sense..." Remus muttered as he leaned back into the chair and stared at his reflection in the cup of tea in front of him.

During several of his missions from the Order, Remus had encountered several wizards with the same curse as him and had observed that no matter what, they never hurt each other on the full moon.

"We should try," Lily said smiling as she closed the book.

“Hey?”

“We should try it, maybe that will help you not to have so much pressure during a full moon. We could all join you, that way you could finally spend the nights here with us instead of in the woods”

“Lily I don't think that's a good idea, it's too dangerous”

“So are all those missions that Dumbledore makes you do and you do not protest about it.” “Those are different…”

“How is that different ...? Remy, whether you like it or not, you are part of this family, we’re your pack. James, Sirius, Peter, and I care a lot about you, especially when you have to spend the full moon all alone. And now with this war that breathes us, the ingredients for your potion will become scarce and those idiots will find it difficult to accompany you. Also when Harry is born I will not allow you to get away from us. Let us try this, please. Look, the ceremony must be done under the new moon which will be super safe. James and the others can get the ingredients that we need and I'll make the potion, so you don't have to worry about a thing…Hmmm, I wonder if by drinking it now Harry will be bonded or if we will have to do it all over again when he's older? Well, it doesn't matter.”

Remus let his friend keep talking to herself while she planned and organized everything. He just couldn't say no to her and understood that Lily wanted to help him. After all, ever since she joined them and discovered that the boys had turned into Animagi to help him, she had not only kept the secret but was responsible for making and giving him his Wolfsbane potion whenever she could. Remus's mind wandered off a bit at the thought of not being dangerous to his friends. He didn't want to get his hopes up, but he couldn't deny the fact that if the potion could work, then it would take a huge weight off his shoulders. Knowing that no matter what, he wouldn't hurt James, Sirius, Peter, Lily, and soon Harry, allowing him to breathe calmly.

"So Remy, what do you say… shall we give it a try?" Lily smiled excitedly with bright eyes. It had been so long since Remus had seen her so excited about something that he just chuckled before sighing.

“Even if I tell you no because it is dangerous and maybe it won't work, I know you will ignore me and move on or worse, you will make our idiots bother me until I give in, so why deny me if in the long run you always get away with what you want?” Remus smiled and Lily approached him to hug him or so she tried because she ended up smashing her belly in his face where Remus felt the baby kick him.

"Wooo I think even Harry agrees," she agreed.

♡/~/~/~/~/~♡/~/~/~/~/~/♡~/~/~/~/~/♡

Summer 1985

Uncle Vernon's car pulled up outside the forest that looked dark and scary. The huge man got out of his car still mumbling under his mustache and yanked the back door open before pulling the little boy out of the car.

Harry let himself be dragged by the arm, too scared to say anything. He knew he had done something wrong, although he still did not understand what it had been. All he had done was ate a cookie that had flown into his hand when Aunt Petunia's friends were in the living room drinking tea. Harry had quickly learned that he could have a few extra snacks if he waited for Aunt Petunia's friends to come over for their weekly tea party because being surrounded by other people, his Aunt Petunia couldn't yell at him and wouldn't tell Uncle Vernon because she didn’t want to have to suspense her tea parties. Harry was quite small for his age, but his teacher always said that what Harry lacked in height, he made up for in cunning. And although Harry did not understand the meaning of that word, in his head that must be a good thing because his teacher always said it with a cute smile in her face instead of the typical grimace of disgust that his uncle made him every time they called him an ungrateful freak, two other words that Harry still didn't understand but made him feel bad inside.

Uncle Vernon released Harry causing the little boy to stagger a bit since they were already deep in the forest and if it weren't for the full moon, everything would be pitch black.

"Where are we, Uncle Vernon?" Harry asked, rubbing his arm where his uncle had gripped him so tightly.

"Don't ask questions boy!" The man yelled which caused Harry to turn away in fear, he didn't like it when his uncle yelled at him, that only meant that he was going to get hit or have a long time out in his cupboard, and Harry didn't like either one or the other.

“You are going to stay here freak so that you learn that you should be grateful for the ceiling over your head and keep all your freakiness under control!!”

“bu..but ... it's scary here” Harry is scared but not as scared when he sees his uncle's face turn red in the moonlight.

“But? Did you say but?!” Vernon growled before raising his hand to slap the little boy so hard that made his glasses fall off. “UNGRATEFUL FREAK!!! EVERYTHING WE'VE DONE FOR YOU AND THAT'S HOW YOU ANSWER ME!!! I NEVER WANT TO SEE YOUR FREAK FACE AGAIN!!” He yelled before turning and leaving Harry there alone sobbing as he tries to find his glasses.

When Harry put his glasses back on, he realized that he really had been left alone in the terrifying forest. Still sobbing from the blow, Harry winced when he heard a howl in the distance. He remembered that once his teacher had read them a book about animals like wolves, foxes, and owls that usually lived in the woods. Harry's favorite had undoubtedly been the wolf, but the teacher had assured them that these were the most dangerous out there and that they should never approach one or it could eat them.

Trying to ignore the pain from his face due to the slap and his little arm, Harry wiped his nose on his shirt and started walking, unsure of where to go. Maybe if he was lucky, he would find a candy cottage like the one in the story they had started reading at school. They had not finished the story yet because the teacher stopped when Aunt Petunia completed that the teacher was fully their minds with nonsense. Harry remember that his teacher stop the story when the kind old woman let the siblings stay to eat and sleep at her house. Hopefully, Harry might be as lucky as them.

The little boy walked for a long time until he felt Dudley's old shoes hurt him, so he opted to curl up next to a tree to get some rest. He felt really tired because, after the cookie incident, Aunt Petunia made her friends leave and forced Harry to clean up the backyard, which was not strange, however, what was strange for him was that his uncle came later with his face exceptionally red and forced him to get into the car. Harry didn't like the car very much because he would always feel sick or slide down from the seat when his uncle made a hard turn, which he had done all that afternoon by not knowing where to go. When night fell, the journey slowed down, Harry thought they were heading home. The truth was he didn't understand why his uncle had taken him on such a strange ride when it was clearly noticeable, from the rudeness that he kept mumbling, that he was very angry with Harry. But now lost in that dark forest, Harry understood that this had not been a fun ride because he doubted his uncle would come back for him.

The howls were heard again closer now and Harry snuggled up in fear. A wolf was nearby and he sounded angry, very angry. Suddenly, in the moonlight, a huge wolf appeared in front of Harry. It had a stunning brown fur that Harry would have liked to be able to pet if it hadn't been showing its teeth as it growled.

Harry froze and for some strange reason in his mind, he was grateful that he didn't feel like going to pee as he wouldn't have liked being eaten by a wolf with his pants wet. The wolf's footsteps were silent as he approached Harry, still growling as his nose moved frantically in his direction. Harry noticed that the wolf's eyes were a beautiful amber color that did not leave his face. When Harry felt the hot breath of the wolf breathe on him, the little boy closed his eyes and tried not to cry in fear but the tears were already running down his face.

Suddenly and without any explanation, a large and wet tongue licked Harry's face, causing the little boy to giggle when the wolf licked him again, this time down to the base of his hair which remained half stopped by saliva.

"No Mr. Wolf, don't do that," Harry laughed as the wolf continued to lick his face, however when it licked his cheek where his uncle had hit him, Harry let out a groan of pain.

The Wolf pulled away and growled as Harry was startled again for a moment as he thought he had made him angry. The Wolf began to walk in circles, growling even louder before letting out a furious howl. The boy did not move but something inside him told him that although the Wolf seemed angry, he was not angry with him.

After a while of walking in circles, the Wolf approached Harry again, staring at him. The emerald green eyes were lost for a moment in the amber gaze until a growl came out of the boy's stomach which made him look away in embarrassment. With all the fright of being lost in the woods, Harry had completely forgotten how hungry he was, after all the last thing he had eaten had been a cookie.

The Wolf who had sat across from Harry stared at him until he seemed to make up his mind. Then, with great care, the Wolf moved closer to Harry and crouched low enough for the little one to climb onto his back.

"Can I ... can I get on?" Harry asked not quite sure why he thought he understood what Mr. Wolf wanted to say to him.

With a single nod from the Wolf, Harry scrambled up onto the animal's back. Once Harry managed to get comfortable and grab onto his fur, which was actually quite soft, the Wolf got up and started trotting through the forest, not going too fast so he would not scare or make the boy fall.

As the wind was blowing Harry's hair, he wondered for a moment if he was not dreaming because riding such a huge wolf was the kind of dreams that his aunt could considered like stupid nonsense.

After a while, the Wolf led Harry to a small log cottage in the middle of the forest. Harry was a bit disappointed to see that the cottage wasn't made of sweets, but he had to admit it looked like a nice place to live. The Wolf crouched down and let Harry get out.

"Do you live here, Mr. Wolf?" Harry asked and the wolf nodded before getting up on its hind legs to open the door. It seemed unreal to Harry that a wolf could be nearly as tall as his Uncle Vernon. When the door finally opened, the Wolf nudged Harry inside.

Again Harry was a little disappointed that inside the cottage there were no chocolate tables or candy chairs as in the story, however, the boy had to admit that the place was quaint.

The cottage had a single large room where the kitchen was, a table with two chairs and a sofa in front of a fireplace that was lit. Harry also saw some stairs that probably led to a second floor and a basement, but what really caught the boy's attention was a photograph he saw on a pile of books next to the sofa.

The photo was moving! Harry saw in this a very pretty woman with long reddish hair who laughed out loud with her eyes closed as a deer went in and out of the photo making very ridiculous jumps.

‘That is indeed a silly image’ Harry thought, but for some reason, it also made him very happy. Harry didn't realize how long he'd stood there staring at that beautiful photo until he felt Mr. Wolf sting his back with his snout. Turning around, the boy found that the Wolf had brought him apples.

"Are they ... for me?" Harry asked, unable to contain the emotion in his voice and the Wolf nodded. Harry held up the two apples and not caring that they weren't candies like the ones the siblings in the story ate in the cottage, Harry devoured them. Rarely on Privet Drive aunt Petunia would bring apples or any kind of fresh fruit since Dudley hated them, however, once she "forgot" to send Harry his lunch, the teacher had given him an apple and for Harry, it had tasted delicious. The Wolf simply stared at the boy eating the fruit with such emotion and wondered when was the last time the little boy had eaten since he hadn't weighed anything when he had carried it.

When Harry finished his fruit, he spotted a trash can and tossed the apple cores there before yawning. Already calmer and enveloped by the warmth of the fireplace in the cottage, Harry started to feel sleepy. The wolf approached and without waiting for Harry to say something, he carefully lifted him from that big shirt that the boy was wearing and carried him to the sofa, where he sat him before jumping on it and putting his head between his legs.

Harry yawned again and rubbed his eye under his glasses, careful not to bruise his sore cheek. The wolf did not stop looking at him at any moment and when Harry turned to see him, he licked his injured cheek very, very carefully. That had felt different from how Mr. Wolf had licked it in the forest, for some reason Harry felt in his heart that the Wolf seemed to want to push away the pain he felt on his cheek and that only made the boy feel safe with the animal.

“Mr. Wolf ... do you think ... I can stay here with you?” Harry asked when the Wolf stopped licking his face. His cheek didn't hurt so much anymore.

The wolf's amber eyes returned to Harry's and Harry thought that if he didn't say something quickly, the Wolf might say no.

“I promise I will be good, and and and ... and I also can clean the floor and wash the dishes. I even know how to cook eggs and bacon” Harry said quickly with his hands a little shaky. He wasn't lying, he knew how to do that and more because they were the typical chores that Aunt Petunia made him do almost every day, but he still had problems cooking the bacon because it still burned a little because he was afraid of the oil since it had been burned the first time, but he couldn't let Mr. Wolf know that or he wouldn't let him stay.

The Wolf averted his eyes from Harry thoughtfully and suffocating anguish flooded the boy's chest. What if Mr. Wolf says no? where would he go? Uncle Vernon had told him that he never wanted to see his freaky face again which meant he couldn't go back to them. What would he do now that he was homeless?

A soft sob rose from Harry's chest as he hid his little face between his knees. Since he was little the Dursleys had taught him with a strong hand that he must not cry, so Harry always waits for the darkness of his cupboard to let his tears come out if he had had a bad day, and that had definitely been a bad day, at least until Mr. Wolf had arrived. Now with a full stomach and in a warm place, Harry allowed himself to cry because now he was truly alone and forever because no one wanted him.

The Wolf got off the couch and walked over to Harry to look at him as the little boy tried to hold back his tears.

"I ... don't have a home, Mr. Wolf ... please ... please ... let me stay" Harry sobbed.

It was moments like those when Harry felt the loneliest. Where he was aware that there was no one in the world who cared about him. No one would give him a cookie once in a while or worry if he would get hurt or wasn’t home or stay with him at night until he went to sleep.

No one...

Because the only people who could have done that for him were his parents, who had died in a car crash and Harry would never see them again. The Wolf moved closer to the boy and let out a groan of sadness. To Harry, it was as if the Wolf was trying to comfort him or was sad for him, which made him calm down a bit. Perhaps no adult cared for Harry but Mr. Wolf seems to and that was enough to make the boy smile again.

Harry hugged Wolf's head for a while before the Wolf leaped back onto the couch and pulled Harry by his shirt to lie on top of him.

"I promise you will not regret it, Mr. Wolf, I will always be very good and obedient ... so please, let me stay," Harry muttered, hiding his half-asleep face between the brown fur of the Wolf that smelled of chocolate.

♡/~/~/~/~/♡~/~/~/~/~/~/~♡/~/~/~/~/♡

Harry shifted a bit on the couch as the delicious smell of bacon hit his nostrils. Sitting a little sleepy, Harry noted to his delight that he was still in Mr. Wolf's cottage, however, when he looked around, Mr. Wolf was nowhere to be seen.

No, the only thing Harry saw, other than the incredible amount of books and photos that were moving around, was a young brown-haired man in the kitchen with his back to him who was whistling to himself. Harry crouched nervously on the couch. ‘Where was Mr. Wolf? Was that man the owner of the cottage? What if that man made him leave? What if he got mad at him? What if he hurt him more than Uncle Vernon did?’ Harry thought to himself.

The man turned away from the stove and turned, making his eyes fall on Harry, but instead of looking angry, Harry sees happiness in them.

"Good morning Harry," he said approaching Harry, allowing him to notice the different scars that adorned the arms and neck of that man.

"How ... how do you know my name?" Harry asked, forgetting the rule of not asking questions that his uncles had imposed onto him.

The man calmly approached and knelt down in front of Harry who was still curled up on the couch. The man's amber eyes reminded him of Mr. Wolf's eyes.

"I've known you for a long time, Harry, even before you were born," he said calmly looking at the boy with a fondness that Harry had only seen in his Aunt Petunia's eyes when he looked at Dudley.

"Really?" Harry felt something strange inside him that made him trust every word that man said.

“Yes, your parents and I were good friends, practically family.” he said as he raised his hand carefully so as not to scare Harry and stroking his hair.

“Family ... like a pack? That's the family of wolves, isn't it?” Harry asked excitedly to remember something they had taught him at school.

The man looked at him with an expression of surprise and amazement before letting out a very pleasant laugh that caused Harry to giggle. He definitely liked that man, he wasn't scary.

“You are absolutely right cub, like a pack,” said the man taking Harry in his arms, and although Harry had learned to stay away from any type of contact that adults wanted to give him because usually they always wanted to harm him.

But something in that man's eyes told Harry that nothing and no one would ever hurt him if he stayed with him, so the boy concluded that it was okay for him to put his little arms around that adult's neck as well as had done the night before while he slept on Mr. Wolf.

"What's your name, sir?" Harry asked as the man sat him on one of the dining room chairs to put in front of him a plate of eggs with bacon and orange juice.

“Remus Lupin, cub. But you can call me Moony”

[magpiemorality]

Bring It On, Bonus Scene 1

Sent by the original prompter @littlestr who basically wrote the entire scene for me. I’ve added in some extra for you!

Done in 3 chunks. Read HERE on AO3.

Warnings: injury, blood, cursing.

Main Story Bonus 1 Bonus 2 Bonus 3

-

The Date

1.

Okay so my idea is this

Patton is going on a date with his boys, at the amusement park/fair. And Remus and he goes to the haunted house.

Remus is like "Awww yisssss Patton is gonna get scared and jump into my arms and I'll be all strong and brave and make him swoon and it's gonna be perfect!"

But what Remus didn't anticipate, is that Patton's Fight or Flight response is mostly, well fight

So even before they're even in the scary part, maybe they've just entered (like where you get tickets, go through the real entrance, etc) or the second they've stepped through. Patton sees/hears something, maybe not even an actor or scare stuff, just something, or literally someone working there being like "this is the entrance"

Either way, Patton gets indeed scared, and his first response is to just scream and smack/move quickly, and Remus was sadly closest. Patton just, without meaning to, hits Remus.

Patton is ofc horrified and so apologetic and fussing over Remus but REmus is just like "....That was hot"

“It’s going to be so much fun!” Remus promises them, tugging Patton along by the hands, who tugs Dex along by his hands in a little train. 

“You just want to get handsy with Patton in the dark, you’re not as subtle as you think you are,” Dex mutters, making Remus pout at him. Patton however, just giggles at the prospect, pulling both his boyfriends closer together to link arms with them and make them all walk side by side into the queue for the haunted house. 

The queue is a little long, but they don’t mind. Remus and Dexter bicker and Patton texts Remy for a while, until it’s finally time to go in and Dex leaves them to it, planning on picking up snacks and basking in the sunshine for a bit instead. They’re given the safety briefing and while Remus gets overexcited Patton has already started chewing on his lip, jumping when Remus catches him by the waist to give him a hug and promising he’s fine with a wan smile.

Inside Patton goes into full-on koala mode, like Remus had secretly hoped, which is super great until he confesses in a small voice that his heart is racing and he’s actually very scared. Remus feels bad but he’s also a little bit sceptical because it’s just a haunted house. How bad can it be? The hall of mirrors makes Patton even more jumpy, clinging to Remus when the couple in front of them wanders ahead and vanishes, and they start hearing noises. There’s definitely some kind of jump scare waiting in the next section, and Patton starts to panic.

“What if we get hurt?! What if they misjudge it and get too close? They’re not allowed to touch us- they’re not-”

“Babe I’ll protect you, you’ll be totally fine,” Remus tries to reassure him, sliding his hand down to squeeze Patton’s firmly. Patton just balls his free hand into a fist and walks stiffly by his side.

“What if it’s real? What if- Holy shit!” It’s unusual to hear Patton swearing, but that’s not what strikes Remus first. What actually does strike him first is Patton, or rather Patton’s fist; because somehow the scare comes from behind them and when the actor shouts to surprise them Patton spins neatly on his feet and plants a solid hit on the nearest thing. 

Which unfortunately is Remus. 

Remus staggers slightly, blinking in a daze and touching his nose. Patton gasps, hands flying to cover his mouth, open in shock. They stand there frozen for a moment before the actor asks if they’re alright and quickly ushers them to the emergency exit upon seeing Remus’s bleeding face. As soon as they get outside Patton starts sobbing incoherently in between stammering apologies, but Remus is just quiet, unnaturally quiet, gently probing his nose with a faraway look in his eyes as he watches his boyfriend.

“Oh my gosh you must be so mad at me! We need to go to the hospital!” Patton exclaims.

“... That was hot.” 

Patton’s mouth moves silently, brain malfunctioning slightly. Remus grins at him, lighting up his face and looking slightly crazed with the bloody nose. 

His expression turns serious right after though, voice distorted nasally by the injury. “But we gotta work on your right hook babe, that’s gonna put your knuckles out if you do it again.”

2.

They decide to leave the haunted house after that, and meet up with Dexter, who has two cotton candies in his hand (either one for Remus and one for patton or both for patton, maybe one ifs for remus but patton gets it anyway cause he finishes his own very quickly and then just looks at remus' cotton candy wantingly and who can resist that)

Dexter sees Remus face and is like "OH MY GOD DID YOU GET INTO A FIGHT? DID SOMEONE TRY TO HURT PATTON?" But gets told, by a still swooning and grinning remus, that it was Patton at the haunted house.

".... I could have told you taking Patton to a haunted house was a bad idea..."

“What the-” Dexter’s mouth drops open, forgetting about the cotton candies he’d bought for them both when he sees the macabre sight of Remus, still with blood all over his face and Patton with tear tracks on his. “What happened?! Who hurt you?! What- was there a fight?! Is Patton o- are you okay?” He hands the sticks over to Remus who huffs and rolls his eyes, only mildly offended. Patton puts up with the fussing with a tired smile as he blushes in embarrassment. 

Remus interjects, hearts in his eyes as he gazes at their boyfriend. “Patton happened. It was awesome, Dex, you should’ve seen him! One scare and bam, he hit me right in the face! Just like that!” He sighs dreamily and Dexter looks him over, pulling a tissue out to wipe the blood away, holding Remus’s chin still when he tries to protest and keep the ‘warpaint’, as he dubs it. 

“Well of course he did. Have you met Patton?”

They go and sit in a grassy section to calm down, sprawling out in the sunshine and enjoying their cotton candy while Remus retells the story over and over again, embellishing more and more each time until Patton is a glorious warrior god fighting to defend poor hapless mortal Remus from evil and Remus is a tragic victim to love and war. Patton has yet to stop blushing, and he groans in embarrassment as Remus refuses to stop complimenting him.  

He feels a bit better when Remus lets him have his cotton candy because he ate his way too fast and besides, as Remus points out, he’s talking too much to focus on enjoying it anyway. 

(It’s a ruse, Remus decided graciously give it to Patton from the moment he saw his boyfriend longingly eyeing it up, shortly after finishing his own...)

3.

Bonus thing

They go to the tunnel of love, but there's only two seats, so Remus just lifts Patton up and places him in his lap. Maybe Dexter and Remus argue about who should get to have Patton in their lap, but in a friendly way

"Why do you get to have Patton in your lap?"

"I was quickest, you snooze you loose, also I'm strongest"

Okay I also imagine that Remus just likes carrying Patton around.

"YOU'RE TOO PRECIOUS AND IMPORTANT TO WALK! THE GROUND DOESN'T DESERVE YOUR FEET!"

Also Dexter starts to work out JUST so he can also carry patton around.

After their break they enjoy the rollercoasters for a while, glad to do something together to forget about the ill-fated start to their day. Their day-te, Patton says with a grin and a wink, and that’s how they know he’s back on form again. 

The last stop of the afternoon is the Tunnel of Love, and the ride attendant looks awkward and uncomfortable as they bicker at the front of the queue about who has to sit where. 

“Uh I’m not technically supposed to allow all three-”

“Hey watch it bozo, I’m negotiating with my boyfriend and his boyfriend over here...”

“Okay fine, can you just... get in the boat? You’re holding up the ride!” 

They tumble in at last and Remus is first, which means that as soon as Patton climbs in after him he takes the golden opportunity to pluck his boyfriend off the seat into his lap. Dexter scowls at them and Patton leans over to give him a conciliatory peck on the lips as the boat starts moving, shrugging helplessly with Remus holding him captive. 

“This is so unfair. Why do you get to have Patton on your lap?!” 

Remus grins at him shamelessly. They never did quite lose that edge of competitiveness between them. Patton not-so-secretly loves it. Remus and Dexter secretly feel the same way. “Because I’m faster and stronger than you, slowpoke. Git gud.” He sticks his tongue out and squeezes Patton tighter when the boat rocks as Dexter tries to kick him, laughing as their boyfriend squeals in his arms, breaking into loud laughter. 

Patton actually ends up sat across the two of them, thoroughly against all the safety advice, with his body cradled by Remus’s arms and his legs thrown up into Dexter’s lap where his boyfriend can draw soothing patterns on his stockings. He’s almost asleep, yawning and snuggling down as they both gaze adoringly at him, and when the ride ends he pouts and lifts his arms until Remus lifts him off. 

Dexter watches with barely concealed jealousy as Remus refuses to put Patton down again, carrying him easily on his back all the way to the bus shelter. It’s totally not the reason he ends up demanding Remus help train him in the gym the very next day, citing a desire to grow stronger. 

Well, not the only reason. 

[nostalgic-pancakes]

Room 73- Chapter 2/8

Ghosts are met, friends are made, D&D is planned and Patton remains a fashion icon.

Pairings (Chapter specific now because this is how we do): Sibling-y Moceit, Platonic Loceit (eventual romance), platonic intruality (eventual queerplatonic), sibling-y Analogical, brotherly Creativitwins (Remrom don’t interact please)

Read on AO3

Word count: 2869

Warnings: Dissociative episode, minor panic attack, bullying implied, foster system mention, small description of cafeteria food (I think that’s it? tell me if there’s more)

Other notes: Ask me questions about this au! I like those! (I also take writing prompts)

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

It turns out, the guy in a skirt’s name is Janus, like the Roman god, not Janice, like the stereotypical seventies name. This is something Logan only knows because apparently he said Janus’s name wrong, and the other felt the need to correct him. Does this happen frequently? Or is this just another one of those ‘Logan-Things’? He doesn’t really know the difference with new people, and Halry-Dove secondary is just full of those at the moment.

Well, Janus is in his next class, AP Chemistry, so he may as well get to know him better, so that the ‘new person’ designation can be removed, for better or for worse.

(please please please be better, he doesn’t know if he could go through that again)

The spotify playlist in his ear has gotten to the next ad cycle, and the ad voices are so filtered and saturated, that he has to take his earbud out. Logan’s twin bops his shoulder when he takes off the blue earbud, and shrugs a shoulder.

Are you okay? Virgil’s asking. He thinks he probably is. This much nervousness is normal because he can calm himself and think about other things to calm himself. He is, most probably, fine. Nodding to Virgil, who pulls the corner of his mouth up into a grin, Logan enters the chemistry classroom and his brother keeps walking to the next room- Creative Writing, with that one red person that was in front of him on the bus.

The chemistry classroom is almost exactly what he expected it to be, albeit a little less full than he thought. He’s not early, so he knows that this is the full class strength of about five. He rationalises this as the fact that Haley-Dove Secondary is a small school and will therefore not have many chemistry pupils.

Janus is there, occupying a seat with two extra chairs on either side, clearly meant for other people. However, the other people in this class have all sat down, and Nico Flores is already on one side. Logan stands, having no clue what to do.

“Logan? Logan?” he snaps awake from his ‘Think-Logan’ state and tries to find the source of the voice. It’s Janus, who’s pointing to the unoccupied seat on his left, motioning for him to sit down. Is this a trick?

This could be like before. Don’t.

That part of his mind has a point. But-

This could not be that.

The second part of Logan’s brain is louder. He sits next to Janus.

“Hi Logan!” says Nico, opening faer pencil case and digging around for their hexagonal drawing tool. Right. Organic Chemistry. He’d forgotten that. Logan doesn’t think he packed it, but he may as well check.

Nope, he did not pack the hexagonal drawing tool. For all intents and purposes, he is fucked. He hears the slamming locker from outside.

Suddenly, there’s a tap on his shoulder. He manages to resist the urge to flinch, and looks over at who tapped him. It was Janus, but Nico’s looking at him with a...friendly (?) expression, like the ones Virgil used to show to everyone when they were kids. Janus, however, has something in his hand- a hexagonal drawing tool. An extra, as shown by the fact that he has another, a bit more used than the one being offered to him, but a hexagonal drawing tool nonetheless.

“Are you sure?” he asks, and Nico looks at him as if he just said that he planned to inhale the sun someday. (that would be interesting, but he would die so no) Janus nods, a bit slowly, but it seems genuine. Mom usually thinks that kind of thing is, and she’s almost always right when it comes to this kind of thing. So Logan takes the hexagonal drawing tool, just barely not stuttering through a ‘thanks’.

Throughout the class, everyone seems to refer to their hexagonal drawing tools as ‘hexa’s’ or simply ‘tools’. Since both of these phrases are simpler to say than ‘hexagonal drawing tool’, Logan ends up sticking with tools. Janus keeps complaining, however, of an itch in the back of his neck coming from the seat behind him. Nico says the same, however not as frequently. Logan doesn’t feel it himself, though he refrains bringing up that it might be because both of them are wearing clothings which touches the backs of their necks, like the back of Janus’s cape (?) and Nico’s pink turtleneck. This goes on for most of the lecture, though the complaints taper out by the last ten minutes of the hour.

Most of the class had left the room by the end of the class period, though he and Janus had volunteered to stay behind to clear up the supplies and wipe the board. That’s when it happened.

“Hh...hisss-- HI-HissssSSss”

Janus had whipped his head around the second he heard the noise, cape swishing along with him and making the strange ‘ffwpph’ noise. Logan himself only turned around once Janus’s eyes widened, indicating that the object of his surprise was a little behind Logan, and a bit to his left.

Except, there wasn’t anything there. Not really. Not in a way that there should be something.

Instead, it looked like what the world did near a fire- a bit swirly, as if rippling in the air. Like what would happen if TV static had something resembling a physical form, except maybe without the unsettling ant feeling.

It kept hissing, like the TV static Logan hates so much, and based on what Janus’s facial expression looks like, both of them hate it. And neither of them know what to do, so they bolt. Well, it’s more of Janus snapping out of his stupor, grabbing Logan’s wrist and sprinting out into the hallway, but they manage to exit nonetheless.

It doesn’t really catch up to him, not really, not until Janus is waving with a shaky smile and getting off his stop, gripping a boy in a suspender skirt’s hand tightly enough for that hand to become even paler, and Virgil’s booped his arm for the fifth time in one bus ride asking if he’s okay, do you want water, how’re you feeling? and answering monosyllabically to each inquiry.

It really doesn’t hit him until he’s home and in his pyjamas frantically googling what he saw, because he saw it it wasn’t fake someone else did too and--

there’s a hand, Virgil’s hand, entering is vision and--

Wiping away a tear off of his face. Logan was apparently crying, then. Not a new sensation, but a markedly unpleasant one, either way. Virgil looks scared again, like he did back when--

No. Not today.

Logan takes his twin’s hand, tries to make it a hard touch that Virgil can feel, rather than something intangible. Logan’s head starts to clear with the more gentle touches- Virgil’s hand on his face, later on top of the one gripping his own, Mom running her seamstress hands through his hair and Amma Holding him from behind, keeping him upright, steady.

Why was Janus so nice?

Why would he lend Logan the tool? Does he want something?

What was that?

Was he dreaming?

Has he finally gone mad?

Was it real?

Logan doesn’t know. He doesn’t know and he hates the not-knowing so much because what if he makes a mistake? What if something goes wrong and he messes it up because he didn’t know enough, wasn’t good enough--

“Lo, what happened?” he asks, and Logan wants to tell him, but he’s scared that maybe he’ll be wrong, that Virgil will think it’s false. Virgil moves his hands up from Logan's, to his shoulders.

Wait. This entire town is a hive for supernatural activity.

The hands on shoulders becomes a hug.

Virgil’s best friend is a witch. Why wouldn’t his twin believe him?

You are worthy, Logan. You are worthy. You are worthy.

Logan steels himself. “I saw something, today.” he says, catching Virgil’s interest immediately.

“There was a...something? In the chemistry room? And...it hissed.” His twin furrows his eyebrows- not disbelieving, but contemplating, like he does with that tabletop game he likes so much. He’s thinking about it, properly.

Finally, Virgil looks up and bonks his forehead against Logan’s. “I’ll talk to Hildi and see if she knows anything, okay?”

Logan nods freverently, flopping onto the other side of the bed. Virgil laughs a bit, and pulls the duvet over Logan’s curled form, and Logan grins right back. It’s not at full strength like it’d be if he was happy, per se, but it’s getting there for sure.

Virgil smiles a bit wider at his twin’s face, and huddles right next to him. “Hey, can I tell you about the red guy in creative writing? His name’s Roman.” and he does. Roman seems nice- Logan hopes that that’s how Janus could be, maybe.

Right now Logan doesn’t need to worry about maybe-friends or scary things in chemistry classrooms, because his twin’s right here. What could possibly be there to worry about?

…

Patton thinks that this first week of school is going pretty well, thanks! His classes are all with people he knows at least to a surface level, nobody’s been outright mean so far (or even mildly mean, which is...new) and Janus made a new friend!

(Patton’s always been good at making friends, just not keeping them) (He always needs to leave, eventually. Who could want a fucked-up kid who’ll age out in a few years anyway?)

So all things considered, classes have been good and Remy and Emile have been nice so far! (even though that could change, stop getting COMFORTABLE!) Patton’s new friend, Remus, has also been pretty cool, even if he’s different from any other friends that Patton has had in his life.

Case in point, right now.

“Pat! Pat! Didja know that some frogs can FREEZE in the winter?” Is the conversation opener that Remus thinks is a good idea, dashing over to Patton’s side as soon as he has his food in tray and trying to get seated without his skirt flying up. It’s a pink poodle skirt today, with dark blue constellations on it, and it’s till his mid-shins, so Patton had thought that he wouldn’t need leggings or something.

Well, as Janus seems to be communicating through his eyes, bad luck.

Patton finally manages to get his skirt into the seat-slot and sit down, and puts up his smiley face again to face Remus, who almost seems to be vibrating. It makes the smile on his face a lot less fake-feeling.

“Yeah, Remus, I did. Even if they’re blood doesn’t freeze over, they’re mostly frozen for months!” and Remus visibly lights up again, glad to have engaged in his tangent. Does nobody else ask him this kind of thing?

The other people at the table end up joining in the conversation, though diverting it a bit to stay out of ‘disturbing’ and more into ‘mildly strange’. Logan, one of the other new kids, is talking to Janus about the whole point of the Trolley Problem, which Patton makes a point to look up once he gets back. He wants to know. Virgil and Remus’s brother, Roman, seem to be bickering as usual (whatever this new ‘usual’ is), but without any bite.

Lunch is going fine, whiling away the minutes eating school food which looks like it was made out of clay but tastes fine, at least.

“Okay, so when I came out, I realised that on the off-chance of me ever having a kid, I’d give them the most neutral name possible, so that it wouldn’t be too big of a deal.” started Virgil.

“Yeah, same here- I’ve never had to come out, but I just think that it’s such a terrible idea to subject anyone to hating their name, especially as a kid!” that’s him.

The conversation continues that way for a while, flitting from topic to topic, until Roman makes a joke ragging on the fact that Voltron took the definition of Paladin too far to make sense anymore.

“Hey! Why do paladins wear chainmail?” oh hey, Patton knows this one! It’s from some random D&D jokes page.

“Because it’s hole-y armor!” he replies, and immediately Virgil’s looking at the two of them like he has an idea. Logan’s not necessarily exasperated, per se, but he's clearly seen that look a couple of times before.

“Do you guys play Dungeons and Dragons?” Virgil asks, already fishing through his backpack for a notebook, half-eaten tray forgotten. Roman nods vehemently, like he was just looking for a reason for this conversation to come up, but not before hesitating a bit too long, deer-in-headlights style. It takes Remus elbowing his brother to calm him down and nod.

Virgil and Janus haven’t seemed to notice, but Logan’s looking at Roman strangely. Before Patton can say anything, Virgil’s found a blank page in his book and is jotting things down while talking really quickly, eyes gleaming like Remus’s when he finds something particularly gross to scar the entire Advanced Bio class (including Patton) for life. This one is more excited than scheme-y though.

“Okay so sincewealllike--”

“Slow down, Jack and Sullen, we have no idea what you’re saying.” quips Roman, and Virgil seems to gain a lot more awareness at that, proceeding to slow his roll, the gleam in his eyes never fading.

“Okay, Janus, Remus Patton- do any of you know what D&D is?” Patton nods, making himself grin a little wider, Remus sighs in affirmative, and Janus replies with a simple ‘‘Yes, and?”, while trying to look dignified, even though he’s bouncing his knee like mad. It’s adorable, really. Virgil starts grinning, something that Patton’s never seen and automatically makes his heart soar a bit like Flappy Bird.

“Okay, so we all know D&D and probably can learn how to play it, right? Right. How about we tried playing a campaign together?”

Roman squeals and Remus whoops, chattering on about not having played in ages and looking for a way to get back into it. Logan smiles, pushing his glasses up as Janus slowly unfurls his grin as they all make their affirmations. Virgil is positively bouncing in place now, eyebags no longer the most prominent thing on his face in comparison to that smile, radiant and making everything around patton feel less fake.

Virgil waits till he’s calmed down a bir before glancing at his (frankly incomprehensible, what is that handwriting?) notebook, and starts throwing around ideas with his twin, Janus and Roman, who are perking up more and more by the second, while Patton and Remus lean a bit closer, feeling slightly amused. It’s a dangerous thing to think about, that he and Janus could actually become close to these people.

Nothing lasts forever, anyway.

…

Janus didn’t really want to be back in the chemistry room, especially after everything that had gone down last time, but he was a highschooler and subject to the construct of education and schedule-keeping like everyone else, so it didn’t seem like he had a choice.

Well, at least he had Logan, who had (maybe? probably.) become his friend in the past week of school, for at least however long Jnaus had here. He wasn’t a good kid, so probably not long.

Either way, chemistry class was going as normal. There was still an itch on the back of his neck, and Logan felt it too, sitting where Nico was last time, while faer sat where Logan did. Class went normally, with the two of them trying to keep their cool while class happened and hopefully able to get out before anything else happened (again). It made sense, that with his luck, that would not work out.

Once again, everyone else left as soon as the bell rang, and Logan and Janus were the only people left to clean up. Brilliant. Absolutely peachy. Delightful. Maybe he should stop snarking so much. Nah, it’s fine.

So he and Logan were clearing out supplies, packing their own things and wiping the board, hoping to god that the hissing thing wouldn’t come back, when they heard a voice.

“Hello?” What the fuck.

Logan looks back first, this time and sees the static thing again. Except, it’s not? Well, it is, but it’s like the static took on the form of a person, maybe a teenager from what the two of them can make out. And that teenager? Looks very, very confused. What a mood.

With Logan a little it frozen into place, it’s Janus who eventually walks up to the thing (person? What is his life anymore?), and pauses.

“Hello.” but there’s no reply.

“You heard that, right?” Janus turns back to look at Logan, only to see him holding up his phone, presumably recording the whole ordeal. Logan widens his eyes and starts grinning, the way he did when he showed Janus his tool, spray-painted blue by his mom and Virgil.

“Virgil is about to have such a ball with this.” he relies, a bit awestruck, and sends it to his twin, and someone named Hildi. On that note…

What the fuck is Janus supposed to tell Patton?