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tempobaekh · 4 years ago

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Rating Penthouse: War In Life characters

I asked my followers on Instagram to give me Penthouse characters to rate and my thoughts about them so I thought to post it here as well. Now this is my personal opinion about how I feel about the characters and how much I will rate them

⚠️⚠️THIS CONTAINS A FEW SPOILERS⚠️⚠️

My Instagram: Tempobaek

Logan Lee

10/10

Lemme just say I love him SO MUCH

LOGAN LEE BEST BOY

I absolutely loved his character and the fact that he was one of the few people who wants justice and is honest made me love him even more

Him playing Go Hu Dong was amazing as well and I didn't recognize him at all at first like he played it so well with the accent, costume and wig and everything

His accent and language switch in between English and the Busan accent Korean was so fucking sexy🥵

✨Mr. Joo✨

My man was also smart with his revenge

He was also serving amazing LOOKS every episode in the two seasons and I loved every single one of them

And I'm going to be honest here, after watching the preview for S2 ep13 his laugh was creepy in one of the clips and after reading a few theories I lowkey thought that he would be the next villian

I regret suspecting him now

But instead of that they gave us a bigger plot twist and blew up our man with a bomb😩

He literally went ✨LiGhT iT Up LiKe DyNaMiTe✨ (I'm so sorry)

I would've rather have him be a villian than die in the bomb

I MISS HIM ALREADY AND LOVE HIM SO MUCH😭

DID I MENTION THAT I LOVE HIM

Joo Seok Kyung

7/10

Another one that annoyed me angered me so much🙄

Like she was ruthless and had no mercy when it came to bullying and putting people down that she thought were a rival or putting people down in general

She didn't change even when Rona died

She also went as far as to like cheat her way to win the Cheong Ah Art High School trophy and blackmailed Cheon Seojin to win the trophy

But there were times where she would show emotions and those would be often her break down and weak moments

And those moments would really show how she is broken inside and puts up a careless and brave image, she is someone who needs healing even though healing takes time

I also saw someone saying like 'oh Seok Kyung hates her mom so much'

Yeah she hated her mom but she didn't hate her to death like she didn't wish death upon her

Seok Kyung was heart broken when she heard Suryeon's death and that showed that she still loved her mom even though Suryeon didn't give birth to them

I was heart broken when I saw that she cut her hair because here was no one there to tie it for her bc Suryeon loved Seok Kyungs long hair and that's why she didn't cut it but after he mothers death no one was there to tie her hair for her

I started seeing her in a different light after a while bc again it showed that he character was very broken emotionally and needed healing

I'm interested about seeing more of her character development after the last ep where she defended Rona

Also my girl is so hot, another one that was serving amazing looks

Joo Seok Hoon

8/10

He was lowkey annoying at first ngl

Like my man was just🧍🏻‍♂️

It annoyed me so much how he defended his sister so much, fell for her tricks, covered up for her and did anything she said EVEN though its wrong

But after some time I understood that he cared for and that she was the only family left to him

I mean Seok Hoon hate Joo Dan Tae so he doesn't counts and Suryeon was dead at the moment

I will still not forgive him for bullying Seol A even though he regrets it

It also annoyed me how he didn't stood up for Rona at all in the first season even though he liked her

By he got so much better in S2, he was even part in the revenge plan

He is literally the human CCTV camera in Hera Palace like he knows more than even the viewers know

The way he was protective of Rona when he found out she was alive was so aDORABLE

And my man was amazing in the last episodes

I love him

Cheon Seo Jin

4/10

THIS WOMAN MAKES MY BLOOD FUCKING BOIL

Like I sometimes just was to 🤜🏻👩🏻

But sometimes I wanna hug her😩

Idk I feel like she became a horrible person bc of greed and that he father and mother placed too high expectations for her

Instead of praising her for her accomplishments her parents wanted her to do more

Maybe that's why she was desperate for love and affection and found that in Joo Dan Tae even though he pretended to like her

But that definitely does not dismiss her horrible actions

But also the harsh past made her the could hearted person, like she left her father to die

She felt more care towards her daughter after she almost lost her because Eunbyeol tried to commit suicide

She was in alot of pain and you could see it in her cries and when she was on the phone with the person

Soyeon's acting was amazing in that scene

She started to care more about her ex husband and daughter when she saw how much Eunbyeol was suffering and she realized that she genuinely liked Ha Yoon Chul hwen she saw how horrible Joo Dan Tae was

I did feel bad for her sometimes but after seeing that she didn't change I really didn't feel any sympathy for her

She needs therapy

Girlie was shocked when the doctor said she is losing her voice like bestie you are screaming every episode

She was also serving amazing looks every episode

Ha Yoon Chul

5/10

The first male character I simped for

Like I am not going to deny it but he is hot🥵

But the first few episodes he was an absolute asshole and greedy

But I never expected him to be Yoonhee's ex boyfriend

I did like him a tiny bit when he saved Yoon Hee from Kyu Jin

His entrance in S2 with the helicopter was damn hot

And I WAS SO SHOCKED WHEN HE SAID MEET MY WIFE OH YOON HE

LIKE YAY MY SHIP IS SAILING

I spoke too soon

His character development and fighting skills were hot as well

He was ADORABLE with Rona and Yoonhee

I seriously thought that Rona was his daughter

BUT THAN AT THE CHEONG AH FESTIVLE OOF SIR I WANTED TO PUNCH HIM

I WAS SO MAD WHEN HE SABOTAGED RONA'S PERFORMANCE

I began hating him after that💀

Like he went 📈📉 with his character development

AND THEN HE CLEANED EUNBYEOL'S MEMORY FROM THAT NIGHT LIKE SIR SKSHSKSHKS SHE DID HAT TO YOUR DAUGHTER

I actually asked my dad what he thought about what Yoon Chul did and this was his reponse:

"If you look at it from a parents perspective they would want to do anything if they saw their child in pain like he did but I would've also scolded her and had a conversation with her about why she did it instead of wiping her memory from that night like he did. "

So that's that

I LOVED IT WHEN YOON HEE CAME WITH THAT BLOW AND TOLD HIM RONA WAS HER DAUGHTER

Jonghoon's acting was chef's kiss in that scene

I was going to rate him a 4 but I gave him that 5 when I saw how he was at court, he admitted to his wrong doings but also still had feelings for Yoon Hee

I wanna see his reaction in s3 to Rona now bc now that he got to know that is his daughter I wonder how he will be

Lee Kyu Jin

1/10

AN ASSHOLE

USELESS

WHY IS HE HERE

Like I have nothing to say about him rather than I hate him and that he useless just like his wife and son

HE IS LITERALLY NOTHING WITHOUT HIS MOM

I'm only giving him that one bc he was funny in the episodes

THATS THE ONLY REASON HE IS THERE JUST FOR COMEDY PURPOSES

Go Sang Ah

0.5/10

ANNOYING 2.0

USELESS 2.0

ALL SHE DOES IS SPEND HER HUSBAND AND MOTHER IN LAW'S MONEY

LIKE SHE AIN'T EVEN WORKS

UNLIKE KANG MARI

The only thing she does is gossip

And spills the tea☕

SHE IS LITERALLY NOTHING WITHPUT HER HUSBAND AND HIS FAMILY

Giving her a 0.5 bc she is kinda funny eh

Lee Minhyuk

0/10

ANNOYING 3.0

USELESS 3.0

ASSHOLE 2.0

Idk if it runs in the family but again he is useless

And a dumbass

He also nothing without his parents

Why is he there tho like you ain't even funny

All he can do is cause trouble

And bullied Jenny

His dumbass slipped and broke his own arm and blamed it on Rona smh🤦🏻‍♀️

Sometimes I just wanna 🤜🏻👦🏻

Also my dude was trying to sound all intimidating by saying

"Oh Jenny's father is a scary man, yOuR dEaD BaE rOnA"

Like dude worry about yourself bitch you are dead first for bullying Jenny

But like I hate the character but LOVE THE ACTOR HE IS SO HOT OMFG

Joo Dan Tae

0/10

ANOTHER ONE THAT PISSES ME OFF SO MUCH AND MAKES MY BLOOD BOIL

SOMETIMES I DONT WANNA 🤜🏻 I WANNA 🔪

LIKE I HATE HIM WITH A FUCKING PASSION

I DONT CARE ABOUT HIS PAST OR ANYTHING HE IS A GREASY, GREEDY, PSYCHO, OBSESSIVE MANIPULATIVE, POSSESSIVE PSYCHO

Like I legit thought he was nice in he first ep and then I saw him kiss Seojin and-

Me: 🤨😧😃🤮 MY EMOTIONS WENT LIKE THAT

LIKE HE IS SO FUCKING POSSESSIVE OVER SURYEON, AEGYO AND SEOJIN LIKE ITS DISGUSTING

I WAS GETTING YANDERE BEHAVIOUR FROM THAT OLD MAN

PURE TRASH

Bae Rona

9/10

I LOVE HER NOW

RONA BEST GIRL

She was also annoying at first and was very ungrateful

But over time she got better, still a tiny bit annoying sometimes but better

When she came back from the US I WAS LIKE GIRL NO YOU FINNA RUIN THE PLAN

I do feel bad for her bc she went through alot with bullying, her mom going to jail not only once but twice, her getting to know that Yoonchul who she started liking sabotaged her performance, and also literally almost dying

My girl has been through a lot

AND WHEN SHE RUNNED TOWARDS THE STAIRS OUTSIDE WHEN EUNBYEOL WAS CHASING HER I WAS LIKE GIRL RUN TO THE HALL YOU RUNNIN OUTSIDE

I am excited to see her reaction to getting to know that Yoon Chul is her dad

Part 2 is also posted!

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anotherloganstan · 4 years ago

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The Hurt - DRLAMP

Summary: Janus has become to feel a little more left out of the group, it hurts him so much but perhaps he’s hurting himself more than the others are hurting him after all.

A/N: Thanks to @treeni for commissioning this piece and also to @candied-peach who this is written for as well, enjoy!

Warnings: angst, self-hatred, pining, hurt/comfort, getting together (with the others already in an established relationship)

Word count: 3k

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Janus is a lot of things, sarcastic, harsh, a liar, a little mean when he needs to be, but also emotional. But those walls were built up so high they even rival Logan’s own, well, before the somewhat recent development that is. And Janus was hurt. Painfully, deeply so. It hurt to see them together. To see them all together. The way Patton pulls each one of them into a hug only to hesitate when it came to Janus, that hurt. The way Virgil would make each and every one their signature drink only to ‘forget’ Janus’, that hurt. The way Roman would ruffle their hair, place the most delicate kiss onto a forehead – aside from his brother who more often than not got an affectionate slap over the head and a laugh – it still hurt. The way Logan will sit curled up close to another, holding hands while he reads, that hurt. And the way Remus, he closest friend, took off and left him for them, perhaps that hurt the most.

But he could not show that, could he? He was strong, a force to be reckoned with, spiteful, petty, and yet still hurt.

Many nights he spent alone, listening to giggles and laughs, loud conversations between the thin walls, sharp tears stinging his eyes and sniffles muffled by his pillows. It really, really hurt. The deep pain in his chest stabbing, aching, irrational, absurd. He was jealous. So very painfully jealous. Not of any of them in particular, no, he was jealous that he wasn’t a part of whatever they had, this closer, more intimate relationship that clearly, he was not worthy of. They did not want him, they did not need him, he was nothing to them, nothing but someone, something, to use, a convenience, to be there whenever they needed him to be of service and nothing else.

He could not help those painful, poisonous thoughts from plaguing his brain, his thoughts, his dreams. It got him down.

It’s a movie night, Janus is certain, the loud singing from the twins and Patton, the boisterous giggling, even the undignified screeches of ‘hey!’ from Virgil and Logan every so often. Janus is missing out but then again, he wasn’t invited. It is late anyway, too late to join them. Maybe he should simply go to bed, he won’t sleep but he’s not doing anything else either, other than wallowing in his own self-pity and depressing thoughts.

He gets up, puts on one of his favourite silk robes and decides that he looks decent enough to be seen and walks downstairs, even just to see what’s going on. Even just, for a moment, to feel like he’s involved.

But it is a bad idea. Seeing Roman sat on the floor between Patton’s legs, the other man playing with his hair in a way that must be soothing as Roman’s eyes are closed blissfully, yet a smile on his lips and giggles still slip past. Beside Patton is Logan, leaning against him but talking lowly with Virgil beside him – probably about something that set them all off laughing in the first place. Remus then beside him, well, half atop of Virgil who simply chooses to ignore him and his maniacal laughter for the most part.

“Shh, be quiet, we don’t want to wake Janus up,” Patton scolded the seemingly endless giggles from the others but unable to stop himself from snickering as Remus unceremoniously falls off the couch and onto the floor between his fit of laughter.

“Don’t worry, I’m already awake,” he says, deadpan and serious, if only to mask the slight hurt of once again not being invited nor included to one of their group hangouts.

“Oh, Janus, we’re sorry!” Patton apologises immediately, hand over his mouth to cover the remnants of his laughter. And Virgil at least has the decency to kick at both of the twins to get their attention, giving them ‘a look’ which they must understand as ‘shut the fuck up immediately’ because they fall almost completely silent.

Great, now he’s ruined their fun.

“It’s alright, Patton, I was awake already, continue, it seems like you were all having a good time,” he says, unable to stop the bitterness from seeping into his voice. God, he is such a bitch.

“Ah, we apologise, Janus, we assumed you were having a ‘self-care’ day as we hadn’t seen you all morning and this afternoon,” Logan explains from his position half on Virgil’s lap and half on the couch leaning against Patton.

“Right,” Janus responds, unsure of what else to say, should they not have assumed? Should they have come to him to ask if he was busy? Maybe that would have been nice, but he knows he would have been intruding much like he is now.

So, he lies. Again. Like he always does.

“Quite right, Logan,” he continues, at least attempting to sound somewhat unfazed and confident and content, “I have just come for a glass of water then I think a bubble bath and face mask is in order. Please do enjoy your movie.”

They do. Or at least Janus assumes they do. He gets his unnecessary glass of water from the kitchen and takes it back to his room, listening as they resume their movie, and the giggles start up almost as soon as he leaves. That only stings a little. He tries to brush off the feeling that maybe they are laughing at him. They would not, he knows, but the voice in his head tells him that anyway. He takes a bath regardless to keep up appearances and not to seem like such the filthy liar he actually is. They all hate his lies anyway.

He catches them again a few nights later. Perhaps they are not caught, after all this is all their kitchen, but Janus, again, feels as if he is intruding on something intimate. Date night, he presumes. Virgil on his usual place atop the countertop, in a slightly more formal purple jumper and jeans, sticking his fingers into something sweet whenever Patton, in the adorable pink apron, turns his back to scold at Remus for touching the hot trays. Roman sits at the table, poised and as beautiful as ever, clearly dressed up for the event, adding garnish to what must be their starter course. Logan sits beside him, stirring together some sort of dressing for the salad, listening but not participating to the conversation Roman and Virgil are having from across the kitchen.

“Janus, come in,” Logan says, having clocked him the moment he came to be at the doorway.

Janus flushes, unable to stop himself, the hurt and guilt combining, yet the invitation warms him just a little.

“I wouldn’t want to impose,” he responds, almost sheepishly. He feels very underdressed in front of them all, even Logan seems to have made an effort (though he doubts of his own free will).

“You wouldn’t be imposing, we’ve made enough for all six of us,” Logan says, the barest hint of a smile gracing his features and Janus is sure he wants to make Logan smile like that and more in the future.

“I shouldn’t, you all should be able to enjoy your date night without the need to babysit me, I would merely get in the way,” he tries, hoping that his raw emotion is not slithering through his somewhat humorous words.

Logan sighs. And Janus cannot help feeling as though he is the source of this disappointment, this frustration. But he does not say anything.

“What our nerd is trying to say is we want you here,” Roman interrupts, voice as loud as before, bringing the attention of others onto Janus who merely wishes he had not come at this point, “you can’t be imposing if you have an invitation, sorry, you’re not even cool enough to gate crash anyway.”

The good-natured insult makes Janus almost reconsider. Almost. Lost for a moment in thought, barely a smile on his face until it drops suddenly. He shouldn’t let himself feel too comfortable around them, especially on their date night, least he fall victim and break his own heart with false hope.

“I shan’t tonight, boys,” he says after a moment, all eyes on him, and he avoids looking at their faces – hoping to not see a look of disappointment or even more so a look of relief at his departure – “have a lovely night though.”

With that he is gone.

It is a few days later that he breaks. All the feelings trapped inside of him, festering inside of his soul and willing to break free. It was the glimpses of kisses, becoming the background for sensual touches and too long hugs, of soft whispers he definitely was not supposed to overhear, to the sounds of shrieked laughter from down the hall and loud conversations he had no part it. Their own little lives he had- has no part in.

They are in the living room again, music on low and the bursts of chatter flowing down the corridor and Janus’ curiosity gets the better of him. Sticky notes stuck to all their foreheads and smiles on their faces – that he tries to tell himself they all do not drop when he enters – playing some sort of silly game.

“Janus!” Patton exclaims at the same time Remus shrieks “I’m not a chicken?”

“Sorry for interrupting, I’ll just go.”

“Wait!” Roman raises his voice from between the grumbling amongst Remus and Virgil with Logan as a somewhat bored mediator.

Roman is at his side in an instant, having no issue manhandling Janus to face him, his smile big and infectious, almost making Janus believe he wants him there, but he knows he’s just being polite.

The other goes to say something before his face changes and what comes out instead is, “are you okay?”

And they have not asked that for a while. And Janus is not sure for the real answer. So, he lies. As always.

“I’m fine.”

It came out harsh, clipped, angry.

“You don’t seem it, are you sure?”

“I said I’m fine, leave it at that.”

“Okay,” Roman relents, “I mean, you don’t have to go just because we’re all in here, we do realise that you don’t spend so much time with us anymore, and that’s okay! Just, you don’t have to go because we’re in here too.”

“Yes, Roman, I do. You wouldn’t understand.”

“What wouldn’t I understand?”

“Any of it. I just… I can’t be around you all, it’s too much.”

He stops just short of telling Roman that it hurts. It pains him.

“Janus,” Roman begins, voice soft and gentle, not wanting to spook Janus, “you know you can tell me anything and I’m here for you, right?”

And Janus is sure if Roman held out his arms now that he would merely fall into the hug, cry and collapse against the romantic and let everything out.

Instead, he responds, “of course, Roman,” and takes his leave despite everything telling him to stay.

Alone, again, once more. You would think he has become used to the silence and the loneliness, sadly not. He lies on his bed, lights out aside from the small lamp on his bedside table, dressed for bed yet not tired, no, merely exhausted. He considers getting up for a glass of water (and telling himself he definitely will not change his mind and reach for the wine once in the kitchen) but then there is a knock at the door. A sharp, pristine, calculated knock.

Had it been anyone else Janus may not have opened the door, not in the mood for a loud, over exertive interaction. But he knows Logan stands on the other side of the door, perhaps alone, perhaps not. Janus does not know which he would prefer in all honestly.

He gets up and unlocks the door all the same, opening it to reveal Logan as he assumed, in his navy sleep shirt and shorts, and Virgil, looking a tad more tired and sheepish than the other, in a black tank top and joggers.

And Janus does not know what persuades him, but he opens the door further and says, “do come in, it’s not at all late.”

Virgil falters for a moment before trailing behind the seemingly oblivious Logan. And, well, Janus could make a joke about how he never anticipated these boys in his bed, but he decides against it.

“Janus, we are sorry for the late interruption but we thought it best to come and talk to you regarding, uh, the other day and we assumed that you would not appreciate being cornered by all of us so myself and Virgil thought it wise to approach you alone, apologies if this is an uncomfortable subject matter for you but we deem it necessary,” Logan explains, eyes on Janus as Virgil seems to be suddenly very interested in the black silk sheets.

Janus all but forces a casual smirk and wills his tone to remain calm as he closes the door and stays standing as far away from the others as possible, “I understand, my outburst the other day was most certainly uncalled for and will never happen again, forgive me.”

“That is not at all what we mean, Janus,” Logan responds after a beat, “and I think you know that deep down.”

Another pause.

“What exactly do you mean then?” Maybe his tone is too harsh, volatile, defensive. He can tell by the way Virgil flinches ever so slightly.

Logan opens his mouth to say something but clearly thinks best of it and closes it again. And Janus has never been more angry with himself than now.

“What Logan is trying to say is, well, you’ve noticed that we’re all kind of, uh, together-ish, well, mostly and we want to say that… we’d like to, I don’t know, extend the invitation to you too, fuck, that sounds really fucking formal,” Virgil finally grits out, voice quiet and rough, clearly nervous as his fingers pick at the sheets and he meets neither of their gazes, “we like you a lot, Janus, and we realised that we’ve kind of been dicks to you without even realising it and, well, that’s shitty of us and we’re sorry but we want you in this fucked up little relationship of ours too, it’s not the same without you.”

Janus, well, he laughs. He can’t help it, a short, sharp laugh escaping him before he can stop himself. He is sure Virgil is overly anxious especially now and he would not be surprised if Logan got up any moment and punched him in the face.

“Sorry, I just- it is kind of funny how I always thought you all never wanted me, you never needed me, I just assumed that, well, you were all doing just fine without me and you made that all very fucking clear,” he says, voice wavering, “I felt so, so excluded and you all just did nothing. I was so fucking alone, I had no one, you left me Virgil, you left us, and- well, fuck, Remus left and then I had no one. So, excuse me for feeling a little pissed off at you all.”

He sighs, runs a hand through his messy bed-head before coming to sit at the bottom of his bed across from the other two.

“I love you all, I do, individually and in some ways different to others but I loved you all and it hurt me so much to see you all go, it broke my fucking heart, and I don’t know if it’s fixable.”

They’re both looking at him now, softly, gently, beautifully.

“But I was jealous, so very jealous.”

He lets himself cry, silently, wiping away the tear trails with his bare hands. That is until each of his hands in captured by either man on his bed with him. Virgil’s hand is soft and warm, comforting, and familiar. Logan’s is cold, his fingers longer and able to touch more of Janus’ own, it makes him feel secure in a new way.

“We’re sorry.”

“I’m sorry too.”

They talk. All of them. Sometimes together, sometimes just two or three of them. Janus is slowly opened up to their relationship dynamic that is far more complex than he would have imagined. And he realises he does not want to kiss all of them in that way, only wants to hold some of them, touch some of them more intimately. But he wants all of them in their own special ways. He becomes closer to them all over time.

He kisses Patton on the forehead for the first time and the father figure bursts into tears and does not let him out of a hug for at least an hour when the others find them. He’s fond of holding Virgil’s hand, it is almost how they used to be but different, more open and accepting of their emotions, it is nice in a way Janus would never have thought of before. He enjoys kissing Roman, gently on his mouth, or even just catching his cheek, it is soft and the romantic flushes before offering a sweet kiss in return or, heaven forbid, a kiss on his hand. As for Logan he enjoys his presence, leaning up against one another late at night or early in the morning when the others are still in bed or occupied, reading or listening to music, there is a soft, unspoken love and gentleness between them.

Then there is Remus. For a while, the other does not dare come near him alone out of fear. And Janus understands the same feeling. Regret, guilt, abandonment. But when he finally gets Remus alone, gets his arms around the other’s torso and buries his head into the crook of his neck. He never wants to let him go again.

He never wants to let any of them go.

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kieraelieson · 4 years ago

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Centaur AU 2

Continued from here

Thomas was immediately concerned when he heard the commotion from a distance. Yelling, and loud thumps, and it certainly seemed to be coming from the centaur stable.

He hurried to get there, opening the door to find that it was very much one of the centaurs.

“Thomas! Help!” Patton said, looking very concerned.

Roman was pressed into the back of his stall, very pale and silent.

Logan was gone entirely, his stall left open.

And the last centaur let out a shriek, and there was a loud bang and a cracking sound as he kicked against the door.

“What happened?!” Thomas asked.

“The person who came to get Logan threw something into his stall,” Patton said.

“Get! It! Off!” The centaur shrieked again, and then there was a rustling, and a whole round of kicks against the door and walls.

“I can’t get him to calm down, and he’s going to hurt himself!” Patton said, wrapping his arms tight across his chest.

Thomas carefully went to the stall and ducked down, reaching up just his hand to unlatch the top door and open it. As soon as it was open, a hoof flew over his head, proving that he was right to have ducked.

“Hey, hey, I need you to calm down just a bit. Just a little, ok?”

“Get it off!” The centaur yelled, and he spun around where Thomas could see his face, white and panic-stricken.

“I want to. I want to get it off. I want to help you. But I can’t if you don’t let me. It’s ok. I’ll help you. Just stand still for me, ok?”

He held still, his flanks heaving and trembling, but he wasn’t kicking anymore.

“Alright, I’m gonna stand up, and I’ll move really slowly. You don’t have to do anything, just let me open the door. It’s unlocked now, I’m going to swing it open. Just really slowly, you don’t have to be scared. I’m just moving slowly.”

The door was open now, and he hadn’t moved yet other than almost violent trembling. Around one ankle was tangled a plastic bag, which Thomas suspected was the problem.

“Alright, I see the bag. Is that what you want me to get off?”

He nodded sharply, and his front half bobbed up a bit. He scrunched his face up, digging his fingers into his arms as the bag shifted and rustled.

“I’ll get it. I’ll get off. But you have to not kick me, ok?”

Again he nodded.

“I’m walking closer to you, and I’m going to touch your shoulder. I’ll slide my hand down your leg so you know exactly where I am. You can lift your foot and I’ll get it off.” He reached the centaur, and set his hand on his shoulder.

The centaur flinched, shying away, and then trying to suppress another kicking spree as the bag moved again.

“It’s alright, it’s alright. You’re doing well. You’ll be ok. Let’s try one more time. I’ll touch your shoulder, and then move down and get the bag. You’re doing very well. I’m very pleased with how you’re standing still.” Thomas set a hand against his shoulder, but didn’t stop talking. “This isn’t a very fun time, but you’re doing so well. It’ll all be over in a minute. We’re almost there. Just lift your foot for me. There. There, it’s off now.”

Thomas shoved the bag into his pocket and stood back up slowly. He set his hand back on the centaur’s shoulder, pressing against it gently, but firmly, and stroking carefully.

“You did very well. I’m proud of you. You did so well standing still. It was very good.”

The poor centaur was still trembling all over, his breath whooshing in and out in heavy gusts. His coat was very damp with sweat, and if it dried like that it’d be uncomfortable to him. But first he needed to calm down.

“Can you tell me something? Can you tell me something you see?” Thomas asked gently, stepping back to give him some space.

“H-hay.”

“Good. Well done. What’s something you can hear?”

“You.”

“That would make sense. What about something you can smell?”

“Umm…” It took him a few seconds, but Thomas could see his shivering start to calm as he focused on the different sense. “There’s the soap smell.”

Thomas couldn’t smell anything like soap, but he nodded. “That’s good. What about something you can feel?”

The centaur stamped his foot, and Thomas was glad he’d backed up. “It still— it’s gone but I feel it.”

“It’s alright. It’ll go away eventually. You’re doing well. Is there anything you can taste?”

The centaur shook his head, but then said anyway, “it’s bitter.”

“Very good. Thank you. Do you feel a bit better?”

He nodded, but the grip on his arms didn’t relax, and he wasn’t looking at Thomas.

“Unless you’d really rather not, I think you’d be more comfortable if I brushed you down.”

The centaur stepped away from him, pressing against the other wall. But he didn’t say no immediately, just stayed there, and finally asked. “With what?”

Thomas almost dreaded to know what could possibly have been used on him before to get that kind of reaction. “Is there a brush you prefer? I’ll use whichever one you pick.”

That seemed to really get his attention, and he stared at Thomas, ‘why would you do that?’ written plainly on his face.

But he still looked away to answer. “There’s a purple one…”

Thomas nodded readily. “I’ll go find it then.”

He carefully walked out of the stall and went to find the brush. Patton mouthed a ‘thank you’ as he walked past, and Thomas gave him a quick little nod. The purple brush was finally found buried under a whole pile of other stuff, and Thomas decided that as soon as he had a good hour or two he was going to reorganize everything so he could find things more easily. The brush was a very, very soft one, and probably wouldn’t be the most effective for cleaning without water, but at this point in time, trust was better than clean.

By the time he got back, it was clear that the centaur was very nervous again.

“Can I come in?” Thomas asked, holding up the brush and his empty other hand to prove that he was coming in peace, and as asked.

The centaur frowned, and didn’t answer for a long few seconds. “If you try to hit me I will take out your kneecaps.”

Instead of focusing on the fact that people had clearly been hitting the centaur, Thomas chuckled slightly. “Well, I’m pretty attached to my kneecaps. I think I’ll try to keep them.”

The centaur moved a little, into the center of the stall. “Alright.”

Thomas very slowly opened the door, and walked very, very slowly over to the centaur. His arm moved in very slow increments before the brush ever touched the centaur, and he could feel his stare boring into him the entire time. Despite all this, he still flinched when the brush touched him. But Thomas just very carefully started brushing. Slow, and smooth, and very gently.

The centaur never once looked away from him, but he gradually calmed, even starting to relax. Until someone opened the stable door and he stiffened immediately, eyes going wide.

Thomas was done anyway, just still trying to help him be calm and comfortable, so he walked out of the stall and shut the door. The other person was going straight to Patton’s stall with a halter, opening the door quickly.

“Excuse me,” Thomas said, letting some bite into his voice. “What are you doing?”

“I need him for the party,” the man replied curtly, throwing the halter over Patton while Patton gave a little, quiet frown.

“He hasn’t eaten yet, and you can’t just take him.” Thomas said, torn between the knowledge that he needed to do what he had, and also the wish that he’d fed them first.

“Look, man, the schedule is on the wall, you should feed them on time. It can’t wait, I’m taking him.”

He shoved the door open and it banged against the wall, startling the other centaur.

“You can’t just come in here—“

“Thomas.” Patton said, very quietly, but the man yanked on the halter, glaring intensely at him.

“You had better not be doing that by the time we get there.”

Patton wilted, nodding silently, and let himself be let out.

Thomas didn’t trust a single word out of his mouth not to be far too loud and disgusting to be said in the situation, and he held himself back, absolutely seething.

For the next several, long minutes, there was not a single word said, and no one moved.

“I’m sorry.” Thomas said, his words coming out clipped. “I’m very angry right now. I’m going to get you both some breakfast, and then I’m going to organize the supply closet and calm down.”

It was a very solid hour later that the closet was reorganized, even with him moving quickly and angrily, but it did help.

He went back into the main stable, and closed Patton’s and Logan’s stall doors.

“Are you still mad?” The one centaur asked quietly.

Thomas shook his head. “I’m still very upset that Patton was treated that way, especially when I think that he might be being treated like that right now. But I’m not going to snap at anybody.”

Roman stepped forward, leaning against his door. “That… means a lot.”

Thomas nodded. “Well, I don’t want to be caught unprepared again. Is there anything I can do to help you be ready for your competition tomorrow, Roman?”

“Well, it’d be nice to practice a bit.”

Thomas nodded, glad to have something else to focus on. “Yes. Where do you practice, what do you need?”

Roman smiled, clearly still a bit upset himself, but also pushing past it. “We can go to the same paddock, I can do it there.”

Thomas nodded, still struggling a bit to break out of the bad mood. He turned to the other centaur. “Do you need anything? Wait— would you want to come with us?”

Both Roman and the other centaur were clearly shocked by the offer. “You… don’t think I’ll run away?”

Thomas frowned slightly. “You guys seem awfully preoccupied with running away, especially since you don’t seem to actually want to do it.”

The centaur crossed his arms, looking away and frowning. “Well… if it… if it was someone else… I’d try to.”

Thomas suddenly realized how very much trust they’d put in him already. It was a lot. Really a lot.

He nodded very slowly. “So… would you want to come?”

The centaur’s frown got bigger, but he nodded.

“You’d have to have a halter on,” Roman said. “And Thomas would have to hold onto it the whole time.”

“I know that!” The centaur snapped. “What, do you want me not to come? Worried you’ve slipped and I’ll see it?”

Roman gasped. “I have Not slipped!”

The smirk on the other centaur’s face was the closest thing to a smile Thomas had seen yet.

“I’ll get the halters, and put food in Patton’s stall, in case he comes back while we’re gone.”

The centaur still went rigidly stiff as Thomas approached him with the halter, but Thomas handed it up to him, and let him put it on himself, which seemed to calm the issue almost entirely.

As the three of them walked out of the stable and towards the paddock, even though the one centaur kept shying away from nothing and sometimes startling, they had many pairs of eyes fixed on them. Thomas suspected that the centaur had been confined inside for a long time, not trusting even the times when they might have been genuine in wanting to let him go outside.

As they reached the paddock, away from the other people and animals, and full of lush grass and very aside and open, Thomas suspected that this would quickly become one of his favorite places.

“Can I just run to the end and back before I start?” Roman asked, his walk getting to be just a bit bouncy and excited.

“Yeah, absolutely,” Thomas said, grinning and unbuckling the lead from the halter. “Have fun with it!”

Roman smiled brightly and took off, breaking into a full gallop almost immediately and letting out a whoop halfway down the field.

Thomas figured, especially as the centaur wasn’t indicating that he’d like the halter to be off, that he should not unclip it, lest ‘helpful’ people come running up to stop him from ‘running away’. So he just started walking down the field, and the centaur seemed pretty content to walk near him, and watch Roman have fun.

Roman ran for a while, and then started in on much more complicated things. Thomas knew of dressage, but not many details at all, and so it was both confusing and mesmerizing to watch Roman practice.

He stopped them maybe two hours later, when the sun was getting to be very hot, and took them back to the stable.

He saw Patton immediately when he walked in, and ran to his stall. “Patton!”

Patton reached out and hugged him over the door. “Thomas! I was so worried, especially when I saw Vi—uhhh— my friend’s stall was empty! I thought something bad had happened.”

“Nope, nothing bad!” Roman said cheerfully, walking into his own stall. “Just some practice.”

The other centaur also seemed to easily manage getting into his own stall, as well as taking off the halter and hanging on the door. Though Roman was having much more trouble reaching the buckle, since it was squarely in the middle of his back.

Thomas helped him get it off and put them away.

“Now. I think all three of you would do well with some kind of brushing or wash, and then I think I’ll call and discuss this schedule.”

Roman and Patton nodded easily, but the other centaur was more hesitant. Thomas decided he could be for last. Maybe, with the incredible steps they’d already taken, once he saw how much Roman and Patton enjoyed it, he’d let Thomas really get him clean.

Patton was rather sticky again, and Thomas had to get the sponge and the water, but Patton gave him this little trusting smile, and didn’t make any sort of fuss, though he still flinched a little when the water splashed in the bucket. But then Thomas just brushed him down, and Patton was very relaxed and happy.

He snagged Thomas in a surprise hug as he was leaving the stall. “Thank you.”

“You’re very welcome, Patton.” Thomas said, turning around to hug Patton back properly.

Roman grinned. “I’m next!”

Thomas was very, very glad that they were actually looking forward to it. It was always something enjoyable with Remy and Emile, something they looked forward to, and did with each other when he wasn’t available.

Roman was fun to groom, too. With how pretty his coat was, and his happy little shuffles sometimes, and especially when Thomas caught him trying to subtly watch and grin.

“Do you want your tail braided again?”

“Yes, please! Truly, Thomas, you are the best groom any of us could’ve asked for.”

Thomas felt his cheeks grow a bit warm. “Thank you, Roman. I’d really love to be.”

Roman was far more subtle than Patton had been as Thomas was preparing to leave his stall. Just angled a bit and a shift of his arm to be more open. But Thomas knew what he was going for and gave him a hug too.

And then the last one. Thomas just went to lean on his door first.

“So. If I’m being perfectly honest, I’d really like to give you a complete wash with shampoo and everything, but I’d take a no, if you really aren’t comfortable with that yet.”

The centaur shuffled around, frowning down at the ground.

Patton suddenly peeped up over the wall, though this one was built up taller, so he had to be up on his hind legs to do it. “You know, yesterday he washed Logan, and Logan even stayed asleep the whole time. He’s super gentle.”

Thomas smiled at the praise. “I really would try to make it comfortable for you.”

He still looked conflicted, but finally shrugged. “Fine.”

Thomas was more than incredibly impressed with how far they’d gone in only two days, but also very glad. “Thank you. Would you rather in here, or we can do it in another stall, so that yours won’t be damp underfoot.”

“Another one,” he said, his tone more than a little anxious.

Thomas opened the stall door and went to warm up some water. When he got back, the centaur was in the stall next to Patton’s, and Patton was holding his hand and talking quietly. And that was just adorable.

He turned as Thomas approached, but Patton grabbed his other hand too. “It’s alright. Just focus on me, ok?”

The centaur nodded, but his eyes were wide and a subtle tremor started running over his body, even as he turned back to Patton and squeezed his hands.

Thomas tried to keep the water sounds quiet, but he still flinched, and shied away as Thomas got close with the sponge. He set it against the centaurs side and he stepped away, one hoof slamming into the ground with enough force that it would certainly injure Thomas if it had landed on his foot or been aimed at his leg.

“It’s alright,” Thomas reassured quickly. “You’re doing pretty good.”

The tremor grew into a persistent tremble, but he didn’t say anything.

“I’m going to touch you again with the sponge,” Thomas said, realizing now that he should’ve been more verbal about the process. “But I’m not putting any more water in it. It’s soft, and only a little wet still. Here we go. And now I’m just going to move it along your side. There. Very good. You don’t have to stand perfectly still, it’s alright to move a little bit. You’re doing very well. I’m going to get it wet again, but we’ll move slowly. It’s alright. Just water. It’s not very cold, and I only have some, cause I squeezed out half of it. It’s going to touch you again, just a bit higher than last time. There you go. Well done, that was much better than last time. I’ll move it along your back, nice and slow. There. See, it doesn’t feel so bad. You’re doing very well.”

Thomas spared a look at Patton as he soaked the sponge again. The grip on his hands was very tight, probably a bit painfully so, but Patton was smiling softly, murmuring soft encouragements and praises.

“I have some more water, and I’m going to put it closer to your shoulder this time.” Thomas said, moving very slowly as he was being watched intently. There was still a flinch, but the centaur didn’t move away this time. “That was very good. I’m going to move the sponge around your shoulder now, just really slowly and gently, get it all wet. And now I’ll move down your leg a bit, I’ll be as careful as I can. That’s very good, thank you. Alright, I’m done there, I’ll get some more water.”

The centaur never really relaxed while Thomas wet his coat, but the tremble slowly faded.

“Alright. I’m going to get the shampoo, and then I’ll come back.”

There was a short, cut off sound, and Thomas waited.

“Don’t-Don’t pinch,” the centaur said, starting to tremble again.

There came that anger again, which Thomas was incredibly careful to keep all traces of off of his face. “I won’t. I promise. There may be some small tangles, but I promise I’ll be as gentle as I possibly can, and if it ever hurts you, just say something and I’ll stop immediately.”

He looked like he didn’t believe Thomas, but he nodded anyway.

Thomas got the shampoo, and brought it over. “Are you ok with this kind?”

The question seemed to confuse the centaur, and he shrugged.

“Alright, I’m going to start up at the top of your back, and work my way down and around. I’ll just use my hands, alright?”

The centaur shivered, but nodded, and Thomas started working, extremely careful to be gentle, and working in small circles, massaging the shampoo into the coat in the way that was the only thing that made Remy properly melt, other than coffee. And slowly the centaur really did relax, so that rinsing didn’t seem to cause him hardly any distress at all, and during the drying and brushing there weren’t any problems.

Thomas was still incredibly relieved to be done, and to see the centaur’s coat clean and dry and smooth.

“All done. How does it feel?”

The centaur nodded, biting his lip. “Um…” There was a silence for a few seconds, and then he held out a hand to Thomas, not quite looking at him. “My, um, my name is Virgil. It’s nice to meet you.”

Thomas felt a sudden intense rush of awe and excitement and affection all at once, and it made it hard to slow his motion in reaching his own hand out and taking Virgil’s. He was already smiling so wide his cheeks hurt. “It’s very nice to meet you, Virgil. I’m Thomas.”

Patton clapped, making little hops and beaming at them both. Virgil was clearly embarrassed by all the attention, and turned away, but he had a smile that couldn’t quite be hidden either.

Thomas left them alone for a bit to put away the supplies, and then cleaned Virgil’s hooves before letting him back into his own stall. Thankfully, there were no problems with that process. Virgil stood still and calm, and it was quick and easy.

Next he was going to try and figure out what he could do about the schedule.

He pulled the calendar off the wall and frowned down at it, flipping through the next few months. For now he was just focused on Logan, though later he’d examine the others’ as well. It seemed that Logan did three separate things. One seemed to be a kind of contest, and was scheduled every Saturday and two Wednesdays. The second he had to look around and find another paper tackled behind the calendar to explain, but it seemed that it was a charitable thing. Logan would pull a heavy cart, and people would pledge to donate based on how far he pulled it. That one was only twice monthly.

But the third was the most confusing, and filled up almost every other day. It was only represented by an acronym. FHVSN. and he couldn’t find anything else about it, though he did find more details on Roman’s contests and medical records for each of them, as well as something clearing Virgil for riding after an injury when he was a colt.

Finally, he just decided he’d have to call and ask. He would have to ask to cancel the activity anyway, so he might as well ask what it was.

So he took a deep breath and dialed the number.

“Hello?”

“Hello, this is Thomas Sanders.”

“Oh, Thomas! Are there any problems?”

“Yes, I’m looking at the schedule, and I don’t know what one of these activities is.”

“Oh, you don’t need to worry about that. You don’t have to take them there, they’ll be picked up.”

“Yes, but one of your centaurs has too many activities scheduled.”

“Oh? No, I’ve seen the schedule, it’s quite reasonable.”

“He has five days off for the whole month. I don’t mean to be rude, but that is not reasonable.”

“No, that’s not right. When I last saw it, Merry had the most activities scheduled, but those are just parties, they aren’t too much for a centaur, and there aren’t that many. There was once. Perhaps you’re looking at an old calendar.”

“No, this is current, and he’s not the one I’m talking about.”

“Oh. Well, then I’m not sure what to tell you. Perhaps it’s something a previous groom set up. I tend to let the grooms have a lot of leeway. It may be something other than what you’re thinking. Why don’t I give you his number, and you can work it out with him. I trust your judgement.”

“O-ok. Thank you. I would appreciate the number.”

Thomas wrote down the number and then hung up, more confused than before.

But at least he knew now that he would likely be able to change things outside his own behavior. He’d felt so helpless about it the day before.

So he called the other number, but he didn’t get an answer. He tried a second time, but also no answer.

“Well, I guess I’ll try again later,” he said out loud, aware that the centaurs were probably all listening to him.

The next few hours were just some cleaning and occasional calling again, but never with an answer. Perhaps the previous groom had changed his number?

Finally Thomas fed the centaurs their dinner, wondering if Logan always got back so late. It was almost time for him to go home, and still Logan wasn’t back.

“Is this usual? Shouldn’t Logan be back?”

“No,” Roman said grumpily, picking at his food. “It’ll be a while yet.”

“They take him out before the groom gets here, and bring him back afterwards,” Thomas said incredulously. “When does he get cared for?”

“We try and help however we can,” Patton said. “But most of it waits until his day off.”

Thomas frowned. “This isn’t right. I don’t know what I have to do to fix it but it will not stay like this.” He paced back and forth along the wide middle aisle. “The people in charge don’t even know what he’s doing, but it can’t be healthy. And… I’m just very angry about how you all have been treated. I don’t want to worry you, because I’m not upset even a little with any of you, but it’s possible that, as I’m finding out more about what’s been going on, that I might express that I’m angry. And I want you all to know why. It’s not right the way you’ve been treated. Not even a little bit. It makes me very angry. And I want it to change. As soon as possible.”

A sound made him go outside, just in case, and he was glad that he did. Someone was leading Logan back. Logan was plodding along very slowly, his head down. He was in a typical harness for centaurs that were to do some kind of very hard work, which held his arms close to his torso, able to move a little up and down but not out. And he had blinders on. What he could have possibly needed blinders for Thomas couldn’t imagine.

But, as much as all of his impulses were to hurry Logan inside, away from this person, he leaned against the stable wall casually.

“Hi.”

“Hey, there. You’re new, right? He didn’t come harnessed this morning, and it’s a damn pain to get those things on him. Just leave them, save us both some trouble.”

“I am new. What is it he does?” Thomas asked, accepting the reigns without another look to Logan, something he knew he would be apologizing for later.

“Oh. Yeah, it’s like a horse race, with the betting an all, but instead of speed it’s strength. This one makes a whole heap of money, I’ll tell you that.” He punctuated his words with a slap to Logan’s rump, but Logan didn’t seem to react at all, and Thomas suppressed his own reaction.

“Oh, yeah, I guess they’re so rich, they have to make their money some way,” he said, trying to chuckle.

“Oh, nah!” The man said, shaking his head with a grin. “Nah, it’s for the grooms. You’re pretty green to get a cut, but give it a month or two, help keep him healthy enough to do well, we’ll cut you in.”

Thomas smiled, hopefully managing to hide how very sick he felt. “Wow, how much might I get cut in for?”

“Ehh, you know, probably something small at the beginning, 5% or so. We can’t pay you too much, the last few grooms went and bailed on us!” The man laughed, clapping a hand on Thomas’s shoulder. “But you’re different, I can tell. Someday you’ll get up even to 25.”

“How much would that be?” Thomas asked.

“Gotta know all the details, huh? Well, it’s pretty hefty. I’d say that first cut might even be $500-$800 a week.”

Thomas let out a whistle. “That much?”

“Yeah! You just keep doing your job and waiting. You’ll get in.” The man turned away, walking back with a pleased swagger.

Thomas led Logan inside the stable.

“Logan, I’m so sorry. I promise you I didn’t mean a word I said.”

Logan didn’t react, the look in his eyes distant and unfocused.

Thomas grabbed a stool and started undoing the harness. Logan just went mostly limp, running on some kind of exhausted autopilot. Thomas got all the gear off of him, guiding him until he laid on the bed, and getting a brush to brush him down quickly, and dry off the sweat before it dried on him.

Virgil peeped out of his stall, hiding behind the half-closed door. “Can I see him?”

“What?” Thomas said, his mind too mixed up to process quite right.

Virgil shuffled awkwardly. “Can I see Logan? Go into his stall?”

Thomas only hesitated a few seconds. “Yes. Yeah, let me open your stall.”

“I can get it.”

Apparently Virgil’s previous claim to be able to get out of his stall if his arms were free was true, as he seemed to have no problems reaching and turning the latch, even though it was placed specifically to be hard for centaurs to reach.

Virgil trotted into Logan’s stall, sidling up close to his side and just leaning against him. Logan let out a long, slow breath, and seemed to slip into a deeper sleep.

Thomas went to the phone. It might be late, but if they’d pick up, he was dealing with this tonight.

“Hello? Yes. Were you aware that one of the previous grooms has been sending your centaur out regularly to be gambled over in races? He’s been keeping the money and splitting it between those running the races and other grooms. He has. I was just asked if I wanted to join in the scheme. I would like to call the police and also a doctor to give the centaur a thorough exam. Yes. Thank you. I’ll be here early tomorrow.”

#centaur au #character!thomas #character thomas #logan sanders #roman sanders #patton sanders #virgil sanders #remy sleep #emile picani #my own work

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battle-of-roses · 3 years ago

Text

When Rome Burns : Part 1

TW : Logan Roy's A+ Parenting, Manipulative Logan

By @your-gay-cousin-clover

---

With a certain hint of trepidation, Tom starts dressing himself to meet up with Shiv in downtown New York. The plan was pretty simple for the day: meet up with Shiv, find a gift for her father, put on his best Midwest honourable fellow personality and charm the pants of all her family. He stopped for a moment in the middle of his bedroom, standing there in his white button up, boxers and black socks, biting his lip on whether to take the gold ring, he’d picked out a week ago, to the party. After all this time he had spent with her, ever since their whirlwind romance in Hong Kong, he was sure that she was the one for him. His soulmate, the-one-who-he-got, his loml. The question was of when?

The party would be a good place to propose. Lavish surroundings, her entire family, and a pretty pricey ring to show his commitment to her. All eggs in your basket, he’d say if- when she said yes. And it would all be fine and okay. He starts to daydream for a moment, his dreams flying higher than just becoming Logan Roy’s son-in-law, maybe he’d join in the business himself. He would swoop in, take over one of the main branches of Royco, maybe ATN and continue the family business until he had his own billionaire kids à la Shiv.

Beep! Beep!

His fantasies suddenly dashed down into the floor. He jerks and reaches to the phone on the table to receive the call. It’s Shiv.

“Hey honeybee,” he says in a sweet-syrupy tone that he hoped conveyed his affections accordingly.

“Where are you?”

He immediately frowns. Her tone is clipped sharp, a razor’s edge, threatening him to not speak a word off their usual script.

“I’m … ahh… just getting dressed. Oh, oh, how formal is the even supposed to be? Do you think I could sneak in a tartan tie pattern to impress your Dad?” He tries to detract from her irritation.

“The fuck, Tom? Don’t be silly. Just wear whatever you want, you’re not a pre-schooler. It’s a formal event, but don’t wear anything weird or embarrassing.” Her words just kick up a latent anger in him that he press down as per usual. It’s alright, maybe it’s her job that’s got her stressed.

He tries another jovial voice for a size. “Ok, love-,” he continues, but there’s no Shiv on the other side of the call. Just him and the dial tone mocking him.

Right.

Nothing weird or embarrassing.

He drops the ring into a drawer of his bedside table and shuts it close.

—

The day goes in its own pace and Shiv makes a hasty apology about her signal getting dropped in the elevator. He waves it off, he always goes. There’s no use holding on a grudge with his future-wife-to-be, on silly things like one too many passive aggressive words and brushed off endearments. And so, here he is now. Standing in the middle of an opulent penthouse living room, chatting pleasantries with Marcia, hands sweaty as he tightens his grasp on the gilded box with the watch.

It had been pretty expensive to purchase on his own. He and Shiv were comfortable, sure. But they - no, he wasn’t Olympus rich like the Roys, America’s number one conservative messiah. He hopes it’s enough. Enough for a job at ATN, enough for Shiv, above all, enough for Logan.

His fucking future hung on a balance because of a little ticking metal machine.

Ding!

There. The elevator’s number stuck still on their current floor and his breathing picks up. Everyone else collects around the door to waiting as the metal door open, but he stands back, alone. For a split second, he’s swallowed up in all the gold, gild and glamour around him and he simply can’t breathe.

He sticks out like a sore thumb in the middle of all this. No matter how brave, how much of a fucking asshole he pretends to be. He does not deserve to be here. He’s what? Got a few hundred thousand in his savings, while collectively in front of him stands the 3rd richest family in America. He just wants to bolt and never come back.

And in the same fleeting moment, the doubt hastily vaporises as Logan Roy himself steps into the view amidst loud yells of “Happy Birthday!”.

The moment he sees Logan, it’s something of oh, that echoes in his head. Like oh, he’s just an old man. And he indeed looks frazzled, startled by the sudden cheers. But he whispers something to Marcia, who takes his coat and hands it off to one of the numerous maids hurrying around the house.

And then he straightens up to face the crowd. There’s something in his eyes that makes Tom want to shrink back against the patterned wallpaper. Something fierce, something very calculating. He watches as Logan makes his way through the crowd of his children and nods absent-mindedly at everyone’s greetings.

“Shiv,” Logan says, turning to Shiv, his back to Tom “Where’s Wambsgans? I thought we invited him.”

Shiv’s expression falters for a second, perhaps debating whether her father’s joking or not. It’s clear, he’s not, when the beat of silence extends between them. She smiles back again, radiant. And gosh, Tom loves her so much.

“He’s behind you, Dad!”

Tom didn’t have much time to be mortified as Logan turned to him and stuck his hand out to shake. Awkwardly balancing his watch box on one hand, Tom tries to make grip firm and solid. Logan gives him two shakes and quickly removes his hand.

“Wambsgans, you’ve got a strong grip. Trying to break an old man’s hand, eh?”

Fuck. Of course, Logan Roy would be above all masculine handshaking bullshit that the Wall Street posers were really into. Logan knew he was the king of the world, didn’t need to prove it to any Tom-Dick-Harry on the street.

Logan’s already turning away from him, but Tom tries to swallow his foot down the throat trying not to make his first impression even worst. He lets out a laugh, but winces internally. Too braying, too harsh, too corny.

“Well, you’re not that weak, Mr Roy-“ He tries. He does. But Shiv already looks disappointed and Logan’s barely listening to him. His time to prove himself is running out.

Ding!

Everyone turns to look at the elevator again. Kendall Roy steps out the lift with his ex-wife and children in tow. He’s wearing that same black blue outfit combo, just like the one on Forbes, proudly declaring him as the HEIR WITH THE FLAIR. Tom has read Kendall’s entire wikipedia enough times to know that the stress marks and the lack of the photogenic smile was simply because of his age.

Drugs - Divorce - Demotion.

Yet like every American hero billionaire, Kendall got the second chance that could only be afforded to the rich and now, most probably, he was going to the Successor to the entire media conglomerate. Even then, Tom wouldn’t say that he exactly envies the other man.

“Ken!” Logan’s voice somehow sounds surprised as well as disappointed. “I didn’t think you’d come. Did we close the Vaulter deal?”

Kendall’s stance becomes a bit wooden as he reaches down to accept his father’s embrace. His ex turns to Marcia and hands off a wrapped box with a pleasant smile. The kids run off with Grace’s kid and Kendall stands there looking a bit unsettled as he answers “oh, no, no Dad. They’re still hammering out the details. I took a break to wish you on your birthday. Not sure how many more there might be.” The conversation mills a bit around the two, everyone leans in a bit to hear.

“You did?” Logan repeats with furrowed brows. “Well, where’s your cousin? I thought he’d rather come than you.”

Kendall looks taken aback for a moment. Everyone tries another round of conversation, but Tom simply nods along to other’s words as he tries to figure out information about the cousin. A cousin? Shiv’s never mentioned a cousin being involved in … well, anything.

“Greg?” Kendall asks, his voice uncertain. Logan looks him in the eye and shares a sardonic grin. “Yes, Greg. Unless Marianne happened to suddenly stop by. What’s he doing? Wasn’t he with you this morning?”

Kendall seems to shrink into himself under his father’s gaze. “Greg’s..” he starts and stops for a moment. “Greg’s with the team in the building. He wanted to finish the deal before joining the party.”

“Shame.” Logan says, “But good for him, as soon as we wrap up this deal the better. Anyway, kids, can I talk to you alone for a moment? I just want you to sign something.”

All of them exchange glances with each other, the meaning of which Tom is too novel to understand. All of them quietly follow in the steps of their father. The rest of them stare.

“So,” Marcia says, clapping her hands together. The sound echoes in the eerie silence devoid of birthday wishes. “Let’s get started on lunch shall we?”

—

On the way to the “game” which was highly requested in a cult-like chanting, Tom abruptly turns to Shiv and asks “I didn’t know you had cousin working at Waystar?”

She ceases typing on her phone and looks up with pinched brows, seemingly in thought. Tom watches the city go by in a blur from Shiv’s side of the window and waits. “

“Oh,” She says “You mean Greg? Yeah, he’s like my second cousin. Uncle Ewan’s only grandson, although I don’t think he’s seen them since he was ten? He’s chief strategist at Royco. You’ll see him soon enough when you join.”

A when, not an if. And immediately, Tom’s heart lifts. He fights a grin on his face and catches Shiv’s eye. She smiles a bit, the stress from her face falling away for a second and turns back to her phone.

All was well.

—

All was not well.

Tom kind of looks like an idiot. At least in his own head, he’s been lugging around the watch box the entire evening. Right now, he’s standing behind Logan and Shiv like an obedient puppy waiting for Shiv to call upon him. The rest of the family is setting up the baseball game while the groundskeepers looking on fascinated.

Tom pretty much feels like them.

“So, about Tom,” Shiv says and Logan seems to be considering her words. Tom’s ears pick up, his hands turn sweaty again and he fidgets with the box in his hands. He imagines he can hear the watch tick inside like a time bomb.

“Hmm…” Logan replies, peering out into the distance. Kendall’s already gone into the wind, about half-an-hour ago, his ear glued to the phone talking to “Greg”. Tom waits for that syllable to end and simply waits.

“What do you think about putting him under Greg?”

Despite the short distance between him and the duo, he hears an undercurrent of something sinister his way. Something almost amusingly cruel.

“Wh-why Greg? Isn’t that - like isn’t he already busy with the buyings and everything else? And surely you don’t expect Tom to be his assistant? He’s much more experienced in business.” Shiv’s protest add a bit of tension to his mind.

What was the deal with this Greg? It was almost as if he was some kind of a boogeyman to Shiv and her siblings. But someone that Logan clearly approved of, but there was something very odd about the whole missing cousin.

It was as if being put under the cousin would somehow be bad for him. Geez, was he some kind of a hardass?

“No, no. I’m sure Greg’s not to busy to welcome your boyfriend into the family business. He can help guide Tom and put him in a fitting department. Not to busy to help family.”

Tom expects Shiv to say something. To put off Logan’s plan and for a moment, she does. But instead, she stops and frowns.

A beat.

Tom takes it as his cue to step in with the box.

This better work.

—

#ficlet #part 1 #When Rome Burns #WIP #writing wip #tomgreg #tom x greg #Greg Hirsch #Cousin Greg #Tom Wambsgans #partial Tomshiv #Succession #Succession HBO #alternate universe #AU

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cottonwoolsocks · 4 years ago

Text

Roman’s Berry Jam

AO3 | Masterlist

Summary: It was only a matter of time before the next Side was given their own Crofter’s Brand jam, and there was little surprise when it was awarded to Janus. Janus deserved it. No Side was more fitting. At least, that was what Roman kept telling himself.

Or; Remus makes his brother a present to try and cheer him up.

Word Count: 2969 Genre: hurt/comfort, canonverse Characters: Roman, Remus, Janus, others mentioned Relationships: Creativitwins, platonic Janus & Roman & Remus

Warnings: food theme, slight gory imagery mention

If I need to tag anything else, let me know!

inspired by this post by @julia-loves-cupcakes because there was no way i could just leave roman like that :(

disclaimer i am thoroughly confused by the correct terminology for this wonderful fruit spread (jam? jelly?? confiture????)(/j), so i shall be referring to it as ‘jam’. hopefully that clears up any related confusions!

———

It came as a surprise to no one when it was announced that Janus would be getting the next Crofter’s flavour. He was well liked, and quick-witted, and a Dark Side, which made for a diverse branding appeal following Logan, the stoic and straightforward Light Side.

When Thomas told Janus the news, Janus had shocked everyone by practically bursting into tears as he clasped the jar, eyeing it as if it may break and scanning the room for any signs of a set-up, a prank, a cruel fabrication. But Logan and Patton, the only other Sides present, had simply smiled, and congratulated him, and voiced their approval. The simple glass jar became almost symbolic of Janus’s acceptance and place in the group.

Janus deserved the achievement.

No Side was more fitting.

At least, that was what Roman kept telling himself.

It would have been ludicrous for Roman to assume he would be next. After all, Roman? He was just another Light Side like Logan—just another character who had been there from the start: who was the same, really, in the eyes of business and branding.

And besides—Roman berries just didn’t exist.

Loganberries were the ideal signature, and snake berries the perfect next equivalent—neither recipe contained either of the named fruits, but that was insignificant to the wider appeal; it was sufficient for display, and advertising, and portraying a certain image, which at the end of the day was what was important.

Roman understood the importance of appearances. He understood why Janus was the ideal next choice.

Janus was suave, had an eye-catching colour scheme, already had well-established snake symbolism in his character. Snake berries were the serendipitous berry on the cake: the apposite mark of his acceptance into the group, the fitting next step in their story as Janus became more popular, as his character gained traction amongst fans.

Roman knew it made sense. He knew it was the rational next step, and that no Side was better suited, and that it was only practical that it was Janus who was to bear this particular crown.

So why, pray tell, was he so disappointed?

He had just assumed, he supposed, that he was more important. More popular. That the loyal prince who had been present from the beginning, who had been star of the show, loved and adored from the get-go, may hold even the smallest of loyalty cards over any who came after.

He had reasoned—foolishly, it seemed now—that his red, white, and gold design, the one he had designed so carefully to raise to perfection, would be ideal for any future product or design or endeavour that could come about—that it balanced the perfectitude of his character, of his design, yet was still bold and eye-catching enough to have an aesthetic impact.

He was a prince. And princes were popular, and celebrated, and loved.

...Weren’t they?

Roman’s hand slips away from the banister at the top of the stairwell as the light catches the label of the jar clutched in Janus’s fingers. He sees how happy, how thankful Janus is, and remembers how Janus is nice to him, Janus is his friend, and he would never wish ill upon his friends.

But as his eyes linger on Thomas’s proud face, Logan’s expression of approval, Patton’s excitement, the way Janus’s gloved hands cradle the jar—he can’t help but feel a pang of jealousy.

Of spite.

His hand slips away from the banister, and he turns and walks back along the corridor, back to his room, suggestions of a night of Disney movies dead on his lips and a request for Patton’s baked cookies forgotten, despite how long he had puzzled the previous evening to make sure everything was organised just right, that nobody would be busy, that he had no projects due so he could spend as long as possible with his family.

They know tonight is movie night.

But they have other things to think about now. Other achievements to celebrate. Such opportunities did not come by frequently, and often swept past in but the most fleeting of chances.

He understands. He does.

The door clicks as Roman pulls it shut, collapsing onto his bed and not even flinching as his ankle clips painfully against the bedpost. He breathes in the scent of his duvet, familiarity easing the tension in his shoulders just a fraction as he screws up his fists and eyes.

Princes just aren’t as popular anymore.

It is almost an hour later when there are a flurry of knocks on his door.

He has been listening to the clamour downstairs for some time now, to the celebrations, the cheesy pop music Patton has no doubt judged befitting of the occasion. Roman assumes they don’t want him there, and to be quite honest isn’t sure he wants to go and find out if there is truth in such an assumption, isn’t sure if the celebrations and Janus’s smiling face will simply be too much too soon. He knows he is being selfish—that Janus deserves this, at least—but it’s hard to feel truly happy for someone's achievements when they stand as one of the few things you thought you maybe, just maybe, had a shot at.

There is a rush of air as the door swings open and someone takes a few steps inside, trips, and stumbles inelegantly forward with a barrage of emphatically placed swear words. Roman’s head snaps up, trying subtly to dry his eyes with his uniform sleeve and hoping the redness from the tears that definitely hadn’t been running down his face until only ten minutes prior could by now be passed as exhaustion.

“What do you want?” he snaps, because when does Remus visit him other than to pull a prank, or tease him? Roman is not in the mood—that much he hopes is clear to his brother from his tone and impassive expression. Since Janus’s acceptance into the Light Sides, Remus had largely been keeping himself to himself, popping up to share his usual quips and comments but never lingering longer than necessary, making it even more abnormal for the Dark Side to be making one such entrance now.

Remus looks up, grinning and oblivious to Roman’s disapproval as he straightens his jacket to its usual devoted dysregulation and clips the eyeball decor on his shoulder back into its rightful place.

“Made you a gift!”

Something small and hard and exceptionally pointed makes a target of Roman’s eye and he cries out, batting it away and shielding his face as antagonised tears threaten to escape. He curses, scrambling upright and muttering obscenities under his breath as he glares at his brother.

Remus offers him a grin and a thumbs up as he tries and fails to surreptitiously rectify the rumpled carpet. “No worries, Ro!”

As the pain in his eye begins to subside Roman gingerly pulls his hand away, blinking through the protective tears at the still-vaguely-fuzzy outline of the offending object.

The jar, he finds, fits snugly in his palm, and through the angled glass Roman can see a red, gelatinous substance which on a good day may vaguely resemble jam, if he didn’t know Remus better than that. Scrawled words adorn a label smeared across the front, and although the letters are barely legible, years’ practice decoding his brother’s handwriting on strategically placed, lewd sticky notes and witty comments on the corners of old magazines allows him to more or less determine the phrase:

Roman’s Berry Jam.

Alongside the words is a large heart which looks to have been traced upwards of fifteen times in colours Roman wasn’t even aware could clash quite so horrifically, and a small, golden crown adorns the ‘R’ with a ruby gemstone fixed centre of the tallest spike. The red substance is smeared over most available surfaces and when Roman glances down, he sees it has, naturally, also found its way onto his previously pristine bedsheets—but he can’t find it within himself to mind.

“Is this…?”

“Roman’s Berry Jam! I thought you deserved some, since you are the brave and daring Prince Roman!” And then, more quietly, “You looked disappointed when you saw J get his jar.” He shifts from foot to foot, energetic demeanour fading slightly to something more sombre. “Is it… Did I do good?”

The lid comes off with a satisfying pop as Roman twists it, and the smell of something indistinguishably fruity fills the room.

He almost smiles but forces his face to stay neutral, afraid his delicately arranged mask of indifference will shatter the moment he shows even a sliver more emotion. Remus moves to perch on the edge of Roman’s duvet, kicking his feet back and forward off the edge of the bed. They hit the floor with each backward swing, creating a rhythmical, thunk, thunk, thunk against the carpet as Roman tentatively dips his finger into the substance.

“What’s in this, then?” Roman offers, mentally kicking himself for not coming up with a more eloquent sentence. He is appreciative, truly, but whenever a situation such as this presents itself he always seems to find himself deflecting with a joke or a well-placed distraction, no matter how much this frustrates him. “Blood? Brain juice? Cat guts?”

“All things I did consider,” Remus replies, holding up a finger, “but no. Real berries, real jam! Of some sort. Not sure what sort. There are looooads of berries in the mindscape, you see, so it probably tastes like butts, but I was rather hoping it would be pleasurable—”

“Remus.”

Roman turns to face his brother, offering a watery smile as he clutches the randomised berry mix to his chest. The red is smeared all over his hands and his duvet and his white uniform, and somewhere in the back of Roman’s mind a voice is telling him it will stain, but he simply thanks the voice and pushes it aside in favour of holding the jar even closer.

“I love it.”

Remus’s face visibly eases, a smile swelling as his shoulders relax. “Wonderful; I was sure you were going to say you hated it.”

Roman’s face morphs to one of confusion. “Whyever would I say such a thing?”

Remus’s foot rubs restlessly against his leg as he taps each of his fingers against one another, and examines the ceiling.

“People usually hate the stuff I make.”

In spite of the weight of his words, Remus’s face gives nothing away, as carefree and animated as always as his fingers dance and his feet drum steadily against the carpeted floor. A pang of regret pierces Roman’s chest, because he knows it is true. Has always known it's true, has even taken part, takes part in pushing his brother’s creations down—he practically leads the parade.

But now Roman is thinking about it, Remus portraying a face of constant playfulness inaccurate to his true emotions is no different to what Roman does constantly, is it? Putting on his brave and courageous face to disguise his insecurity?

Roman somewhat reluctantly tastes the jam.

“Sweet bear of Crofter’s,” he mouths around it. “This is outstanding!”

“Of course it is!” Remus fires back, but the anxious way he surveys Roman’s expression says otherwise as he scours for distaste or disgust or tomfoolery. “It is Roman’s Berry Jam, after all! And nothing subpar of perfection could be named after our dearest Prince!”

Roman isn’t so sure about that, but he appreciates the gesture nonetheless. Truth be told, he has missed his brother—little as he may rise to admit it. The tears of frustration have receded, leaving in their place a wateriness that he hasn’t felt in all too long, come from happiness, and thanks, and appreciation for those whom he loves.

“Say, would you be interested in a Disney night? Perhaps I’ll even allow you to share my jam.”

Remus grins. “I had disembowelment plans, but I think I can postpone them, for you.”

***

They are halfway through The Little Mermaid, a mixing bowl of Roman’s Berry Jam snug between them, when three sharp knocks echo against the wood of the door. Sharing a glance with Remus, Roman takes a generous scoop of jam and shovels it into his mouth before lodging the spoon upright in the bowl and motioning for Remus to pause the movie as he approaches the door.

Perhaps it was Patton, finally wondering where Roman has been for the whole evening, or Logan to come and share the recent good news he doesn’t know Roman is already painfully aware of. Roman even wonders if it could be Virgil, come to escape from the loud pop music still blaring from the living room downstairs to request a quiet Disney movie or for he and Roman to spend another evening painting each other’s nails, and a myriad of excuses were already running through his brain for how he might decline.

The very last person he expects to see standing uncharacteristically apologetically in the doorway is Janus.

“Buzz off! We’re vibing!” Remus calls from Roman’s bed, catapulting a spoonful of jam for good measure which drastically misses either possible target and instead splats sadly against the doorframe.

A smile tugs Roman’s lips, deciding Remus’s comment speaks enough for the both of them and turning to see what exactly Janus wants from him now.

He’s your friend, the little voice in the back of Roman’s head reminds him, which he is beginning to realise sounds awfully like Patton. His achievements are not an excuse for you to be unkind.

“Good evening, Roman,” Janus says, expression giving little away as he regards him evenly. “I would like to…apologise.”

Roman’s hand slips from its perch on the door handle, brow creasing in confusion and a healthy serving of distrust.

Janus releases a measured exhale, and continues, “I didn’t see you at the top of the stairwell earlier this evening, when Thomas presented the Crofter’s. I’ve been trying to get away all evening since then, but”—he sighs frustratedly, and his eyelids momentarily flutter in distaste—“the others were...adamant that I remain downstairs to celebrate. I was not only just able to slip away as I convinced Patton to change the music to something less repugnant.”

As if on cue, the bubbly pop music echoing from the living room switches to a more sombre jazz number, and Janus’s eyes flick towards the stairwell.

“I find it important that I inform you I did not orchestrate tonight’s turn of events, and quite frankly I believe it unjust that you were not, at the very least, consulted on such a decision, especially given your earlier enthusiasm.”

Remus tosses another spoon of jam, this one smacking directly into the centre of Janus’s bowler hat.

His eyes flutter closed as he visibly bites back a retort.

“Remus, kindly desist.”

Remus cackles and begins to load another spoon, but a subtle shake of the head from Roman has him sighing dramatically, choosing instead to sulk as he plops the spoon into his mouth. “Jam war,” he mumbles disappointedly.

Janus gives Roman a curt nod of thanks, adjusting his gloves and turning to leave, looking vaguely embarrassed. “Well, that’s all I came to say, so I shall be on my way.”

“Janus, I—”

Janus turns, looking puzzled and a little perturbed as his nose crinkles slightly. Roman rocks back on the balls of his feet, and comes to a decision, avoiding Janus’s gaze as he offers his next words.

“Would you care to join Remus and I in our Disney marathon?”

Janus’s eyes flick to one side and he waits for a moment, as if expecting for Roman to change his mind or for Remus to come charging out with another spoonful of jam aimed at his head.

When nothing of the sort occurs, his expression softens. Just a little.

“Yes. I would like that.”

Roman steps back to allow Janus through the doorway, and swings the door closed behind him with a click.

***

Remus stretches his leg out further, sprawling himself ever wider over the space available to him which consists approximately of his third of the bed and as much of Roman’s space as he can liberate without being apprehended. His jam is a success, he is spending time with Janus again, and the genuine appreciation emanating from his brother is almost palpable. Just for good measure, he smears a little of the jam onto Roman’s nose. Just to remind him he’s still there.

Roman’s nose scrunches as the substance makes contact, but he doesn’t move to wipe it away. Instead, he just elbows his brother softly, achieving more of a gentle sway while crushed under most of Remus’s weight. He smiles, and takes another spoonful of jam.

Janus shakes his head fondly. He hasn’t seen Remus nearly as often since being accepted by the Light Sides, and much as some of Remus’s more...inventive antics...used to irritate him, he has found himself missing his constant predictable unpredictability. It is nice—refreshing—to see him again: especially without the usual weight of all the words yet unspoken between them. But that is business for another time.

Roman supposes that, even if he hasn’t got his own Crofter’s flavour just yet, Remus’s Roman Berry Jam is certainly the next best thing, even with the assortment of greenery he had found in the spread that he isn’t entirely sure was intentional. It was better, even, because Roman’s Berry Jam comes with a complimentary friend-brother combo (cuddles included), an eve of Disney movies, and, finest of all, the feeling that however much he may feel he isn’t good enough, or liked enough, or successful enough, he is appreciated. And for now—for this one, anomalous evening—that is all that he needs.

#sanders sides #roman sanders #remus sanders #sanders sides fanfic #janus sanders #creativitwins #thomas sanders #rian writes #fanfic #tw food #tw gore mention #taglists to follow!#ts remus #ts roman #ts janus

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achliegh · 4 years ago

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Revenge

This is way more my element, I love writing tragedy. This is intense; this has even more TWs then before. This will be a lot of my biggest fears put into one fic and somethings that have actually happened. I won’t be telling which is which. There will be almost no comfort in this fic and it will be ending on a cliff hanger with nothing after. So, let your mind wander.

CW/TW: Past Abusive relationship, Anxiety, Depression, Panic Attack, past age difference relationship (Illegal), Violence, sexual assault, revenge p0rn

Part1 Part2 Part3 Ending1

Characters belong to @lumosinlove

Besides Luka, I made him up, don’t care for him tho

Leo and Sirius had left to talk to Coach about three hours ago, long enough that Logan was getting anxious. He and Finn were sitting on the couch trying to distract themselves by watching shitty shows on TLC. My 600lbs life was on but neither of them knew whose story it was because they weren’t paying attention.

“Should we text them and ask how it's going? I mean it’s been a long time..” Finn looked up from his phone while chewing his lip. His finger is hovering over his phone's keypad, he had created a group chat with him, Sirius, Logan and Leo. He hadn’t texted anything but was worried about Leo, he can’t get the idea of Leo stuffing himself between the toilet and bathtub while hyperventilating. He didn’t want Leo to go through that again especially not in front of people who he was close with but not as close as he and Logan are.

“I don’t see why not… I am getting nervous also.” Finn sighs and nods, kissing the Canadian’s hand that was intertwined with his as a way to anchor themselves.

Cap, Lo, Peanut and You

Fish: Hey hows it going???

7:00pm

Cap: ???

Cap: Ask Nutty

7:01pm

Lo: Isn’t he with you?!

7:01pm

Cap: I dropped him off in the parking garage like an hour ago…

7:09pm

Fish: WHAT?!

7:10pm

Finn was officially freaking out he was calling Sirius while Logan was calling Leo. Leo’s phone was going straight to voicemail. Logan called 15 times and was crying by the 5th. Finn got a hold of Sirius after the second try.

“Why didn’t you answer the first time!?” He was so scared that he was getting angry at Sirius who was only trying to help. “You dropped him off an hour ago? Why didn’t you walk him up to the apartment? You know the situation he's in! WHAT THE FUCK!” He was crying and hung up on Sirius and throwing his phone down on the floor and covering his face with his hands. Logan was still trying to call Leo, desperately clutching his phone.

Ten minutes later there was a knock on the door. The boys fell over each other as they ran to the door. To their disappointment, It was Remus and Sirius. They let them in, sitting at the island in the kitchen Remus spoke first.

“Okay, so we know Sirius was the last person to see Leo. Do we know that Leo hasn’t just taken some time for himself? He has been pretty distant lately and Sirius said he was pretty secluded when he dropped him off. He asked Sirius not to worry about walking him up.” He furrowed his brow thinking about how odd that sounded now that he was repeating it. He looked over at his boyfriend.

“It sounds weird now that I think about it.. I should have listened to my gut.” Sirius was obviously blaming himself for this and rests his elbows on the counter and puts his face in his hands. Then they hear it… Logan and Finn’s phones are going off. Finns was still on the floor and Logan's was on the coffee table. Finn got up to retrieve them. He almost drops his phone back on the floor when he sees a message from Leo. Leo. That means he’s okay. Right? He’s okay. He grabbed Logan's phone and trotted back over to the trio.

“It's from Leo!” He unlocked his phone before Logan and froze. He grabs his lover's arm and stares at his phone. It was a link to an Instagram live. He looks at Logan's screen to make sure he isn’t seeing this wrong. “It’s a link to a live…” Suddenly everyone's phones are blowing up with messages and twitter @s and dms. It was all about Leo. People saying this is a sick joke and some people even cheering something on. Finn clicks the link, he wished he never did.

On the screen was their beautiful boy, tied up, beat up, naked and sobbing. There were three voices they could hear. One was laughing, one was yelling horrible things into Leo’s face while holding him by his hair, and the last one was talking about how Hot all this was. Logan, Finn, Remus and Sirius all sat in a defining silence. The background of the video was somewhere outside. They could hear water running, they could see grass on the ground and blood. There was a lot of blood. The man holding Leos hair looked at the camera and smiled. This man had the audacity to smile as he was committing a horrible crime!. They watch him push Leo down and stomp on his head.

Leo was crying out in pain, they all heard a crack before the video went quiet. Then all three men in the video started laughing. What happened next was disgusting. They started masturbating over Leos unconscious body. After they all came onto Leo there were lights that came on in the background. They were police lights. The live Ended and nobody moved.

Logan suddenly ran into the bathroom and was vomiting while Finn just broke down falling to the ground screaming and sobbing. Sirius started crying and mumbling to himself so quietly no one could understand. Remus was still completely frozen, having no idea how to react.

Logan was crying as he threw up, he just kept heaving even when his stomach had nothing left in it. The sound of the crack was repeating in his head as he shakily sat back on the floor and sobbed. Finn was pounding his fists on the ground telling himself it was his fault. He was crying so loud that he didn’t hear the knock on the door. Remus, being the only one who hasn’t broken down yet from what he saw, walked to the door and opened it a little to see who it was.

“Is this the residence of Finn O’Hara and Logan Trembaly?” Two Police officers stood outside the door. Remus nodded and was just staring at them waiting for them to say something. “Leo Knut has been the victim of a violent crime, He is alive but in a bad condition. He's at Gryffindor Community Hospital. He's in the ER right now but I would recommend you get down there. We will be questioning him and all of you when he wakes up.” Remus nods again and quietly thanks them. He scrapes up all the boys and gets them to the car in one piece. The drive to the hospital was eerily quiet.

They got to the hospital and walked into the ER, they saw five different police officers there, talking to a nurse. Logan went up to the front desk to ask for news about Leo. They were sent over to the officers who were talking to the nurse about the injuries The young boy had acquired.

“We’re here for Leo Knut” He says to the group. The officers look at them sadly and nod to the nurse. They walk away to go sit down. One puts a hand on Logan's shoulder and shakes his head. All their anxiety is now through the roof.

“Why don’t we go somewhere more private.” She leads them into a glass soundproof room as Logan and Finn take a seat Remus Speaks up.

“We’re going to go call the team and let them know what's going on” He and Sirius go to call everyone outside the Hospital doors.

“I’m sorry this happened, I don’t know the full extent of the crime but I heard it was on a Livestream.” She looks at them sadly as she organizes the papers on her clip board and sits across from them. “ Let's talk about the injuries Mr. Knut has, The ones not to worry about too much are cuts and scrapes to knees, rope burns all up his arms, and a broken nose. The more intense injuries are the ones we are operating on right now. He has blood in his lungs along with a collapsed one, a broken collarbone and his left hand is shattered. He also has a broken Jaw and severe concussion.” She looks up at them. “It is going to take a long time and a lot of work for him to heal completely. I watch him play hockey… I can tell he's a fighter.” She smiles a tiny bit at them. “If you need anything at all ask the front desk for Cindy. Also, stay in here as long as you need.” She gets up and opens the door, she closes the door behind her after she sees that neither of the boys had moved.

About 3 hours and a lot of tears later Cindy had knocked on the door to the glass room where Finn, Logan, Remus and Sirius were standing and pacing. Jackson and Knuny were standing in the corner watching them all pace and Timmy was sitting on a chair bouncing his leg anxiously. They were brought to a room where Leo’s information was written on the door, it pulled at everyone's heart. They all agreed to have Logan and Finn go into the room first, They knew Leo wasn’t awake and would be for a long time.

They opened the door and walked in. There is nothing worse than seeing your lover in a hospital bed with their mouth wired shut. Lo almost couldn’t look at home without crying. He felt Finn pull him into a tight hug as they cried together. This was their boy! The love of their lives!

... And they let this happen to him.

The next time they saw those baby blue eyes. They cried.

#leo knut #logan tremblay #finn o'hara #sirius black #remus lupin #sweater weather #coast to coast #lumosinlove

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maybedefinitely404 · 4 years ago

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The Boy who Sings Next Door, Pt 1

Genre: just-out-of-college AU

Pairings: Pre-romantic/romantic Prinxiety, pre-romantic Logicality

Content: general anxiety/allusions to past panic attacks, (it’s Virgil, c’mon), food mentions, a lil yappy puppy, Hamilton songs (it’s Roman, c’mon), just the boys being super gay.

Word count: 2.6k

Comments: I’ve been in a bit of a funk (not the good kind of funk) recently, and this is the only thing I’ve been able to churn out during it. It will have a part two, don’t worry. Gotta get that good Prinxiety content.

Comments (the sequel): This took almost a week to write due to said funk, so I apologize for any inconsistency that appears. I have edited this as much as my brain let me, so it should be good.

Virgil hadn’t lived there for long. In fact, it was just nearing the one month anniversary of the day his two roommates and him had moved into the townhouse complex on the grungier side of town. They were still getting to know the house; the basement Virgil swore was haunted, the crudely attached cabinets that Patton very nearly pulled down every time the shorter man had to climb the counter to reach the top shelf, and especially the upstairs bathroom’s shower that would become scalding hot if someone flushed a toilet while it was running. Janus’ shriek was something Virgil wished he could have recorded on camera.

Meeting his new neighbours was still a fear he had to get over. Patton had already introduced himself to all of them (on the first day living there, with cookies, nonetheless), and was eagerly awaiting the day when Virgil would give the ‘okay’ to invite some of them over for dinner. He was especially excited about the man who lived to their left, a professor at the university across town that Patton claimed he had clicked with.

“A professor? How old is he?”

“He looked like he was our age!”

“A professor who’s twenty two?”

“Well… maybe he’s really smart! Or has a great skincare routine!”

Despite Patton’s obvious infatuations with the guy, Virgil was hesitant to meet him. He’d already had a less than promising accidental run in with the old man living on their right, incited by Janus parking in the wrong spot and poor Virgil being the one to open the door to the screaming neighbor. It had taken him twenty minutes to calm down from that panic attack. But after too many rounds of Patton’s puppy eyes, Virgil gave in.

“Only the one guy though, and I get to have a code word in case I need to leave.”

“Okay! What’s the code word?”

“I don’t know. You pick.”

“Tiddylicious?”

“SHUT THE HELL UP, JANUS!”

Surprisingly, Virgil didn’t have to use the code word (which was not tiddylicious). Logan was a pretty great guy, if slightly lacking in the ‘emoting’ department. Patton and him got on like fire in a library, and his roommates happy wiggles the whole night was probably what gave the anxious man the bravado to stick through it. Janus even had the decency to make some honest conversation, which was a first for him. Logan eventually mentioned the fact that he had a dog, and the conversation immediately derailed into Patton squealing over the pictures he showed him. They took this as the opportunity to sneak away from the two, giving them the space they obviously needed. Gross.

There was a line stretching across Logan’s backyard; a red cable that connected to his deck and reached to the fence on the opposite side. From this cord hung a pink leash, and to this pink leash, Logan attached his dog several times a day. Virgil didn’t know what the signal was for them, but every couple of hours, the sliding door would screech open and the dog would run to the gate closing off the porch, waiting impatiently until Logan clipped on the leash and let it run onto the lawn. The first time the small dog saw Virgil on his phone in the shade of his roof, it immediately took this as a grave act of terrorism and began to yap so loud that Virgil screamed. Logan quickly came back out, explaining that while his pup may have the intimidation factor of a stuffed animal, she thought all the grass of her yard and of the adjoining houses was hers to protect, even if the terrier was just about the size of a decent Thanksgiving turkey. A few head scratches later, and the two decently bonded, enough that she wouldn’t throw a hissy fit every time he sat on his porch.

That’s where he was now, half asleep in a lawn chair with one earbud in, when the tell tale squeak of Logan’s sliding door startled him from his rest. He reached up lazily and popped out his music, smiling slightly at the prospect of another conversation with Logan. Despite their age difference (it wasn’t all that much, but just enough that he got confused stares from the elder when he mentioned the prospect of ‘stealing someone’s kneecaps’), they were starting to become good friends. His hand froze, however, as he heard a voice that was very much not Logan’s coming from the man’s deck.

“Dear Alexander,

I am slow to anger,

But I, tow the line,

As I reckon with the offense of your,

Life on mine.”

And if Virgil said he didn’t immediately feel butterflies at the soft lilting of the deep voice, he would be lying. He shrunk back into his shirt, hoping the other wouldn’t glance over the short bush between them and see his blushing face. Even if he wasn’t infatuated with whoever was letting Logan’s dog out, it wasn’t like him to try and meet someone new.

The screen door shut with a loud whap and the dog pulled at the red cord as hard as she possibly could, trying to get free pets from Virgil. He obliged, but made sure to duck back to his side as soon as the door reopened.

“Raise a glass to freedom,

Something they can never take away,

No matter what they tell you.”

He lurched back into his own house at the sound of that gorgeous voice, slamming the sliding door and consequently scaring the hell out of Patton.

“Sorry,” he said quickly, scrubbing a hand over his face.

“What’s gotten you in such a hullabaloo?” Patton squinted from his table of crafting supplies, where it looked like he was putting together more pages for his scrapbook.

“I’m gay.”

“Ah,” The older man scrunched his eyebrows together, setting down his glue stick, “For Logan…?”

“No! Logan’s yours, don’t worry,” he ignored Patton’s indignant spluttering and blushing, satisfied that he wasn’t the only disaster gay in the room now, “Someone else is at his house.”

“Someone cute?” He was suddenly very interested in his book, trying to hide his red cheeks.

“I don’t know.”

“Then why are you in gay mode?”

“His voice.”

“His voice?”

“Quit laughing at me!” Virgil snarled non aggressively, refusing to meet Patton’s bright eyes.

“I’m not, I swear!” Patton giggled nonetheless, “It’s cute! I’ll have to hear it for myself sometime.” Virgil huffed, despite his growing smile, and went to his room, too overwhelmed to wait outside for the voice again, no matter how much his heart wanted to.

A couple days later, Patton showed up in his open doorway (it was his attempt to be less antisocial, and it made his housemates happy) grinning like a child who’d just gotten a puppy.

“I just talked to Logan-”

“Oh?” Virgil smirked, closing his laptop in favor of tea.

“Oh, shush. He just said during the summer, he has these fancy shmancy teaching seminars every weekend just out of town.”

“So?”

“Sooo…” Patton wiggled a little, sticking his tongue between his teeth, “When he’s not home, his brother watches Gremmy!”

“Gremmy?”

“How do you not know the puppy’s name? And also, you’re focusing on the wrong part of the sentence! His brother is going to be there every weekend, all summer!”

Virgil tried to digest the butterflies that exploded in his gut, failing to hide his reappearing blush. “So? We don’t even know if he’s our age, or if he’s into guys.”

Patton dropped his gaze, sucking his lips into his mouth in a vain attempt to smother his smile.

“Patton?”

“He’s our age and he’s into guys,” He squeaked.

“You asked?!”

“It came up naturally!”

“How?!”

“Not important!” He was full on beaming now, hopping on his toes. “You should totally talk to him next weekend!”

“No. Nope. Not happening.”

The following Friday, Virgil found himself sitting on his deck under the roof, scrolling aimlessly through Tumblr, and it had absolutely nothing to do with the fact that he happened to see a new car pull into Logan’s spot thirty minutes after the man left. Nothing like that at all. He sipped absentmindedly on the lemonade Patton had brought him with a cheeky look on his face, trying not to think about the fact that the angel voiced man was right next door. And his heart absolutely did not begin to pound when the tell tale screeching of the screen door sounded.

This time, music accompanied the man’s singing as he hooked the dog, Gremmy, onto her leash.

“Angelica,

Eliza,

And Peggy,

The Schuyler sisters,

Angelica (Peggy) Eliza (Work!)”

Even if Virgil had only heard his voice once, it seemed fitting that he was trying to sing every part, altering slightly to nail the voice changes of every character. He curled up a little more in his chair as the man followed Gremmy out onto the lawn, music still pumping from his phone.

“Daddy said to be home by sundown,

Daddy doesn’t need to know,

Daddy said not to go downtown,

Like I said, you’re free to go.”

Virgil couldn’t breathe, but that was the heat’s fault. It definitely wasn’t caused by the gorgeous man now dancing in small circles on the grass, dog jumping at his feet as he laughed along to the music. The sudden warmth in his face was caused by the sun, not the toned muscle of the man’s arms, or the way his much too loose muscle tee showed off his tan, or how his light brown hair flopped over his eyes when he bent down to pick up a stick from the ground. All while singing; just carelessly enjoying himself.

“Angelica, remind me what we’re looking for?

(She’s looking for me!)

Eliza, I’m looking for a mind at work (work),

I’m looking for a mind at work (work),

Woah, woah, woah, woah, work!”

The harmonies were too much, his voice flawlessly adding a fourth harmony where there wasn’t in the song. Virgil jumped like a spooked cat, fleeing into the house and drawing the curtains shut hurriedly. He knew the other man had probably heard the door slam, but that wasn’t his main concern right now.

“Gay panic?”

Virgil spun around to see Janus, all too bemused, sipping Gatorade out of a wine glass. The man’s sense of class would not be affected by the time of day. “Gay panic,” He confirmed weakly, sliding down the wall, “He’s hot.”

“Let me see.”

“Janus, no, what are you doing?!”

The taller man pulled the curtain aside, humming under his breath. “Oh yeah, he is hot.”

“Jan, stop!” He hissed, trying to tug Janus’ arm down from the curtain without being seen.

“Oh, he’s waving at me.”

“WHAT?!”

“Can I wave back?”

“NO!”

Janus waved back, kicking Virgil lightly out of sight. “Let go of my sleeve, fucker.”

Virgil did, booking it upstairs as soon as Janus dropped the curtain. He flopped onto his bed with a groan that was almost loud enough to be a shriek, swearing to himself to not go outside for the rest of the weekend. And to kill Janus later. He did leave his window open though, but not because he wanted to keep hearing the snippets of song that floated up to his room every time the sliding glass next door opened. Not at all.

Virgil hated that he ended up counting down the days until Friday, and that he couldn’t tear himself away from the window until he arrived. Responding to his housemates giggles and stares with a quick flip of the bird, he took his usual spot on the deck. Because the weather was nice, and he needs a tan. No other reason. Not that he would say out loud, anyways.

He didn’t have to wait long until the door scratched open and a calm, almost haunting melody reached his ears. He’s singing along to a track again, mixing in harmonies that send shivers up Virgil’s spine.

“I saved every letter you wrote me,

From the moment I read them I knew you were mine,

You said you were mine,

I thought you were- Shit, Gremmy, no, get back here!”

Virgil jolted upright as twenty pounds of fluff landed in his chest, paws digging into his sternum. The dog looked up at him with, dare he say, smug eyes? He ran a hand through the fur on her back, holding her collar with one hand in case she decided to bolt again.

“I am so sorry! She wormed out of the gate before I got the leash on her!”

He looked up from the dog and holy hell oh my god he’s way hotter up close. Never before in his life had he wished for Patton’s bubbliness or Janus’ general aloofness, but now he would rather have any personality trait besides anxious because oh god the hottest guy he’d ever met is staring at him and he has no idea what to say.

“Well, good thing she likes me, or you’d be down a dog.” What the hell was that?

Surprisingly, the other man laughed, folding his arms across his chest. “What, you don’t think I’d be able to catch her?”

“In all honesty, probably not.”

“How dare you!” He gasped, holding a hand to his chest dramatically, “I’ll have you know Gremmy loves me!”

“I’m sure that’s why she booked it as soon as she had the chance.” He extended the dog almost comically, her too short legs waving frantically in his grip. The man took her with a murmur of thanks, giving her a stern look that made Virgil snicker. A part of him was slightly shocked that someone related to Logan could be so… relaxed. The older man seemed held together purely by stress and logic, never without a collared shirt and tie, and he would definitely never be seen in the plain white v-neck this guy was wearing really well.

“So, you’re Logan’s brother?” Where the hell was this courage coming from?!

“Yup. You know him?”

“About as well as I know any of my neighbors. So, barely. But he’s close with my roommate.”

The man’s expression turned to glee as he shifted the dog in his arms. She seemed unhappy being held when there were birds to be chased, but her struggle was lazy. “Patton, right? I’ve heard a lot about him.”

“Oh?”

He hummed happily, fiddling with Gremmy’s collar. “It’s about time Logan found someone who makes him happy. We never really understood each other when it comes to interacting with other people. He’s more secluded nerd, and I’m more…” He trailed off, waving his fingers under the dog cluelessly.

“More theatre nerd?” Virgil guessed, pleased with the way the man’s eyebrows flew up.

“How’d you guess that?”

“You’ve been singing a different Hamilton song every time you’ve taken the dog out.”

Instead of looking embarrassed or upset like Virgil would definitely be in his situation, he seemed to puff up more, almost delighted.

“Ah, I thought I had an audience! That was you?”

Virgil could feel his face turning beet red, much to his chagrin. This was it, this was the moment he died. Let the earth open up and swallow him whole, his little pride had been too wounded to continue. The man took his silence as answer enough, seemingly pleased with the reaction.

“I’m Roman,” The man grinned, holding out his hand. He took it hesitantly, the touch sending a shock up his spine that he was barely able to suppress.

“Virgil.”

“It’s very nice to meet you, Virgil.”

He couldn’t help the authentic smile that tugged on his lips as they shook hands, Gremmy dangling from Roman’s other arm like a football.

“You too, Roman.”

#lywrites #sanderssides #sanders sides #virgil sanders #roman sanders #logan sanders #patton sanders #janus sanders #hamilton #sanderssidesfanfiction

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phandom-against-onision · 4 years ago

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You have probably already informed yourself, but here is a masterlist anyway.

MAJOR CONTENT WARNINGS: BLACKFACE, SLURS, RACIST COMMENTS, CHILD PREDATORY COMMENTS, NSFW CONTENT, BEASTIALITY, TRANSPHOBIA, MISHANDLING OF MENTAL HEALTH ISSUES, OUTING AND MORE! PLEASE PROCEED WITH CAUTION.

Shane Dawson has been shown to mock black people on several occasions, saying the n word, doing blackface and creating stereotypical recurring characters.

When beginning on YouTube, Shane had a character called “Shanaynay” who was supposed to be a “ghetto-white girl”. When playing her, Shane often used ghetto stereotypes. She was a recurring character from 2008-2011. Although he has long stopped playing this character, he was continuing to sell the merch and profit off his racism as recently as last year!

He has also done blackface in his character skits, and said the n word as Shanaynay. On one of these occasions, he called an actual black woman a “n*gga bitch monkey woman”. Watch the full video for all occasions.

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Here are some additional comments on this matter.

Shane Dawson has acted inappropriately with and around minors for a long time.

He has probably done this even more than his blackface, and that’s saying something.

This clip, which went around last year, contains him calling a 6-year-old child sexy and admitting to googling CP. This is from his Shane and Friends podcast, which contains a lot of explicit clips.

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He has also asked his teenage fan to “show herself” and “shut up and twerk”. This is from 3:55 - 4:29 in this video.

One of the instances really going around on Twitter at the moment is him pretending to jerk off to a picture of the then-11 year old Willow Smith.

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A reminder that her family has not forgiven him, so neither should you!

Honestly, there are way too many occasions of this. Please check out this Twitter thread which lists a lot of times he has made inappropriate comments and did inappropriate things.

Another very distasteful thing he has done is claim to solve the murder of an actual six-year-old child, profiting off “speaking” to her spirit.

Shane Dawson has joked about bestiality on camera multiple times.

This is just straight-up weird. It went around a lot last year, but in case you’ve forgotten, here is a playlist of a few clips. He also rubbed his face in his dog’s crotch but I can’t find a direct video of that by itself.

Shane Dawson is transphobic as hell.

Watch this full video for the details where he uses trans as an insult and says tr*nny while knowing it is a derogatory term.

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Shane Dawson has promoted and supported terrible people and channels.

This has been a long-time criticism of his viral documentary series, but it is still important to remember.

Let’s start with the problems with this in chronological order.

His first viral documentary series was The Truth about Tanacon.

Tanacon, to begin with, had several issues. Despite big dreams, it failed spectacularly due to lack of organisation and preparation before the event. There were many last minute changes and it generally lacked several necessities in events. Some issues were disorganised registrations, reserved meet and greets that didn’t go through the system, clashings with VidCon (a bigger event), inappropriate content creators, adversied content creators that didn’t appear, condoms in the goodie bag, lies about free tickets, no food, no room for anything, one hallway, lack of regulation in wristbands, underestimation of guests, overly expensive merch, no cooling system, no fire solutions (meaning they kicked everyone out) and it goes on.

Despite actual people suffering due to the incompetency of Tana, Shane made her out to be an innocent martyr. This gets even worse as you realise than Tana has been exposed for several racist comments throughout her YouTube career.

Shane is clearly shown to be a terrible interviewer, presenting more as a friend than someone who is willing to find the “truth” of Tanacon. Instead of learning about Tanacon from an unbiased journalist, we get an obscured version of what happened, engineered to sympathise with Tana instead of her admitting to her mistakes.

Yet, this somehow was only the beginning of the problems with the documentary series, as the next one was with Jeffree Starr.

I don’t even know where to begin with the problems with this.

Firstly, Jeffree is perhaps the most problematic YouTuber who is still popular on the website. He has been exposed as racist, sexist, supporting of rapists, terrible to fans, transphobic, ableist, fatphobic, homophobic, insensitive to suicidal people, sexualising of minors, fascist and violent. Check out this thread here for the full details and proof of these claims.

Shane is not stupid. He is aware of these controversies, but has continued to support Jeffree. When a fan called him out, he was extremely rude and was very mad, and supporting all the hate the fan was getting.

The entire documentary series is about him befriending Jeffree, and making him out to be a good person.

Jeffree should NOT be given a positive platform like this, and he should NOT be continuing to get away with being “cancelled”. So many other YouTubers have been “cancelled” for lesser things, yet Jeffree manages to always get away with it.

The next documentary series was the Jake Paul series. This is perhaps his most controversial documentary series.

Shane is not a therapist, a psychiatrist or a mental health professional. Even though he did consult some people, they are not allowed to diagnose people based on suspicions and videos. Yet, throughout the entire series, he calls Jake Paul a sociopath, and using that label to justify everything he has done.

Jake and Logan have both stirred up some of the biggest controversies on the platform, yet Shane gave them the ability to thrive. Like he did with Tana and Jeffree, he humanised him and edited it to the audience would sympathise with Jake. He has been exposed to scam his young fans, been rude to his neighbours and cast members, made light of serious disorders like anxiety, saying the n word and doing several things for clout, such as “marrying” Tana Mongeau.

As addressed in the documentary series, Alissa Violet, Jake’s ex-girlfriend, has shared her stories of physical abuse in the Team 10 mansion in private life, yet Shane did not fully address this or even mention this to Jake in the episode after. This further proves that Shane is incapable of running a documentary series with such deep themes as he will gloss over them or not address them properly.

This issue is further seen in his documentary with Eugenia Cooney.

A warning that I have not actually seen this as I have heard it contains triggering subject material which I do not wish to subject myself to in interests for my personal mental health - I am only going off the statements of experts and viewers.

In theory, this documentary could have been brilliant. After all, it is two people who have gone/is going through eating disorders and discussing it. However, experts have said that this could be harmful and it is easy to see why.

As much as I do not like Shane, I, and experts, do believe that he had good intentions behind this documentary. However, it probably would have been better if they consulted an expert regularly throughout the documentary when handling a touchy subject. After all, many of Shane’s viewers are young and/or influential, and a correct portrayal of a subject which is terrifying and real to many people watching is very important.

Here is an excerpt from this article about how he handled this:

Other fans were concerned with Cooney's safety, given that she referred to having an eating disorder in the past tense, signaling that she may not be considering further treatment.

"She certainly looks like she is physically healthier, but mentally she still seems like she's struggling a lot and she tries to cover it with her overwhelming positivity," another comment on the video says.

Experts who spoke with INSIDER — and who have not personally treated Cooney — are wary of considering Cooney's treatment a success story.

"When we are in the midst of our eating disorder we are very, very good at wearing masks. We're very good at playing a role that is very convincing and wants to let people know that we're okay," Chevese Turner, the Chief Strategy & Policy Officer for the National Eating Disorders Association, told INSIDER."A month of treatment is just barely scratching the surface of the road to recovery. While she put on a good face and was very chipper and cheerful, I'm not convinced that's what's going on inside. How do any of us know for sure?"

While both experts told INSIDER they believe Dawson had good intentions, they also expressed numerous concerns with the way the video presented the reality of eating disorders, and Cooney's recovery in particular. Turner says having Cooney share her story could be very cathartic, but she worries how much of her appearance was intended to resurrect or preserve her career."What's essentially happening is that people are bullying her online for her looks and her body and that does have an impact, it impacts all of us when that happens. For someone with an eating disorder, the impact can be devastating. I think [Dawson is] trying to help in his own way, but probably the thing that would help the most is her having more time in recovery," Turner said.

"I don't want to speculate, but obviously her success on YouTube is a driving factor to get back to work. None of us know if she's fully capable for that work and I would want to believe that the people around her who care about her most are confident that she can handle it," she continued. "I hope that they'll encourage her to take a break."

Overall, it has been shown that Shane is unfit to handle a documentary series with his evidently extremely biased views, and he should consult more professionals when editing. Although many people would argue that he has good intentions, it is possible to have good intentions while being irresponsible. Shane is aware of his large audience, and his influence over people around the globe. He should be more careful when creating a video with strong themes which many viewers may be suffering through or offended by.

Either than his documentary series, Shane is also friends with other problematic people outside it - most infamously, Trisha Paytas.

Trisha Paytas’ brand has become being extremely controversial. However, this doesn’t excuse that she has done and should not normalise her behaviours. She has been proved to be very transphobic and homophobic, as well as racist, ableist, abusive and insensitive to people with mental illnesses and disorders, notably DID. She lives to stir up drama on YouTube and more recently, TikTok. Despite being aware of this, Shane has continued to be close friends with her and excusing what she does because she’s just Trisha.

He has also openly supported far-right people on Twitter, giving harmful conspiracies a platform on his channel.

Shane Dawson has contributed to destroying growing/popular channels.

When 20-year-old growing YouTuber Bobby Burns released a video giving valid criticism to Shane Dawson, Shane featured him on his channel and pushed him as a heater.

This was not a thing which only happened once. Shane decided to continue to feature him on his channel, branding him as a hater. However, Shane’s dedicated fanbase did not like this and began to send hate to Bobby. Due to the lack of popularity, Shane stopped interacting with Bobby and didn’t feature him in any more videos without attempting to “save his career” like he has done with so many other people.

That is not to say that Bobby is faultless. I am not that familiar with his content, but I have heard that he did contribute to his channel’s demise, which makes sense. However, as a huge content creator, it was irresponsible of Shane to take a growing channel and brand him as a negative hater. He is aware of his audience, and that is important to remember. When he has such a large fanbase, he needs to be more careful with the videos he is showing them, and the characterisations of YouTubers.

However, what Shane is going under fire most recently is his involvement in the James Charles scandal last year.

Despite denial, Shane has been proved to play an important role in the “cancelling” of James last year, encouraging Tati to upload the video and making false accusations of predatory behaviour. This was highly likely done to degrade a competitor’s palette so his collaboration with Jeffree would be more successful.

Recently, he posted these screenshots on Twitter and then deleted the Tweet.

This proves his blatant immaturity. Somehow, James, the youngest of the four YouTubers involved in the scandal, has grown up the most. Shane was a part of the downfall of James, causing him to debate suicide. His defence for this was saying that he “needed to be served a slice of humble pie the size of the fucking Empire State Building”.

James Charles is not faultless, and he should not be made out to be an angel or a martyr in this situation. However, no one deserves to have suicidal thoughts, and anyone who defends this by saying that it was the humbling he needed is disgusting.

Shane Dawson attempted to out Dan and Phil for views and clout.

As a bisexual man who has opened up about his fear of being outed when he was closeted, he should be ashamed of everything he did to Dan and Phil.

Like many YouTubers at the time, Shane used the Phandom to get views and subscribers. In doing this, he objectified and sexualised Dan to his young and influential audience. Check out this video where he said that he wanted to facefuck Dan in an orgy while watching a video where he just turned 18. In that clip, he also split up Dan and Phil into “cute” and “not cute”.

It even went to the point where he asked the Psychic Twins about the sexuality of Dan and Phil. In this clip, he accuses them of queerbaiting as well as supporting the Psychic Twins’ invasive and insensitive comments about them not dressing gay enough, diss of them refusing to go on their podcast and outing and stereotyping them. This was as recent as 2017.

There are actually a lot of other reasons why Shane is under a lot of controversy at the moment. Here were my sources, and some further reading for anyone interested:

THE PROBLEM WITH SHANE DAWSON: a thread

shane dawson sexualizing young children: a thread

One of YouTube's biggest stars made a viral 'documentary' about another YouTuber's eating disorder. Experts say it could be harmful for its subject and audience.

Jake Paul tried to use looting for YouTube views, and is facing charges. These are all the ways the controversial star has stirred up outrage in the past.

Trisha Paytas’ racism

THE PROBLEM WITH JEFFREE STAR: a thread

EVERYTHING WRONG WITH TANACON: an ongoing thread

So what from here? Shane has released an apology video, but words don’t mean anything without action. Here are some suggestions for what he could do to actually show further improvement.

He could stop doing conspiracy videos in the harmful and biased style he is known for, and delete his videos despite the views.

He could stop being friends with such toxic and controversial people.

He could donate his money and time to helping out the #BlackLivesMatter movement, and to black charities/organisations in general. It does not negate what he has done, and it is not in my place to forgive him if he does do that, but it would represent his improvement.

He could formally apologise to the parents and the family of the children he has sexualised.

But he will probably not do that. However, as a hater of cancel culture, I hope that he does improve as a person. It is not my goal to send hate, but to inform people. Sending Shane death threats or insensitive comments are the last things we need. To criticise him for doing that, then doing it yourself is hypocritical and harmful. Instead, we’ll just have to inform ourselves and wait for the future.

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s1mpletech · 4 years ago

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Welp, this took me 4 hours to write and edit, I probably screwed up all the writing of these characters cause I barely bothered to do research, and if there's a spelling error I'll think up a really bad threat to put here

LAMP- Tea time

Patton had just finished his work, His altar cluttered with jars, cans, canines, and bags of varying shapes and sizes. He slipped off his old, worn down apron and sat it aside. The place filled with the scent of warm, soothing spices. He had some time to kill after he was finished and remembered. He hadn't gotten to spend much time with the others. Sure, Patton saw them often, they all lived in the same house after all, but they never truly spent time together.

Patton skipped down to his friend's garden to gather some herbs for some tea. Everyone had been working so hard, Patton figured a hot drink would be perfect, Why not use his remaining energy to make it? He walked into the botanists garden, the smell of rich soil filling his lungs, different shades of red, green, pink, magenta, yellow, and orange covering the room, and there he was, the man sitting in the corner mending to his rich plants, he truly was a sight. His slightly grown out hair pushed back by a clip, freckles and dirt covering his face, a rustic red tunic covered with other layers of varying colors and patterns. Patton walked over to him tapping his shoulder, snapping the witch out of his trance, "oh! Patton my dear! Salutations!" Patton gave a shy wave, "Hey Roman! Do you have some spices I could borrow?" "To the right, where they always are!" Roman went back to tending his plants. Roman and Patton often crossed paths, when Patton was out of an ingredient, Roman always had exactly what he needed. Patton walked over to the spices and started plucking, a few of this, lots of that, and a small pinch of those, Patton skipped back over to Roman and gave a quick bow, "thank you so much!" Roman looked up with those passionate red eyes, "dear, no need! What's mine is yours!" Patton quickly left to head to the divination's workspace.

Knocking swiftly on his door covered with runes and symbols, "V? It's Patton, are you busy?" a small voice mumbled from inside the room "no I finished a while ago…" Patton opened the door to the room covered with notes and tapestry, tarot cards scattered across the area, the windows being covered up with pages on palmistry and numerology "Virgil this place is a mess!" Virgil responded in his grizzled voice, "I mean… when is it not?" "V you're not helping!" Patton let out a disappointed sigh "c'mon you find it endearing." as much as Patton hated to admit it, he did. Virgil was a cynical, disorganized mess of a person, and Patton loved it. Virgil had jet black hair puffing up near his left eye, his pale face covered with designs and markings using makeup that were nothing short of gorgeous. "Never mind that! I'm making tea, want some?" whether Virgil said yes or no, Patton was giving that boy tea, his throat sounded even more sore than usual "sure I could go for some tea." "Great!" Patton carefully walked across Virgil's room, making sure not to step on any important papers, even hearing Virgil hiss a few times out of fear.

"Logan, you in there?" Patton stood in front of Logan's door, Logan carefully cracked open his door, "Oh, it's just you, come in." Logan truly had the most favorable workspace, although Romans was beautiful and Virgil's was calming. Logan's was covered from head to toe in torn pages and books over astrology and moon phases, comfortable places to sit and read, a golden telescope with book after book, note after note, sketch after sketch all with dates marked nearby "I've been meaning to do more research on Earth signs." Patton turned to Logan in confusion "wait I thought-... Aren't I an air sign?" "No. Capricorn is an Earth sign." "But wasn't air the smart one?" "Well yes, but Earth signs are a lot more grounded and traditional." Patton didn't have Logan's incredible knack for astrology or his simple yet still outstanding completion. "Anyways. I'm making some tea. Would you like some?" Logan began digging through his books, finding one and flipping through pages, he knew how much Patton enjoyed quality time, which did give Logan a tinge of guilt knowing they don't talk very often "... I'm sure I can take some time off." he quickly nodded to Patton. Patton couldn't resist pulling a dopey grin, knowing he'd finally get to spend time with all his friends. He quickly dashed out of Logan's room to head back to his kitchen to start the tea

One tea making that would've probably been fun to write but I'm too lazy to look into later

There everyone was, sitting on the floor scattered with blankets and pillows. Virgil reading Romans palm as he and Logan shared slight banter over geology. Patton soon joined them on the floor with a platter of old mugs filled with dark, warm tea. They each take a mug and take a sip, melting into the pillows and blankets.

All the former tension, stress from work and responsibilities drifting away "I added rosemary, cinnamon, mint, and some parsley. This should help make studying easier." "Yep, that's Patton for you," Roman said proudly. Patton suddenly felt a head plop on his shoulder, he looked down to see Virgil half asleep, "V? How much sleep did you get last night?" Virgil gave a quiet mumble, Virgil never really had a parental figure in his life and Patton was more than happy to fill that role. He sat there stroking Virgil's back, "That's some… calming tea." Roman stopped talking to yawn a long, deep yawn "What did you put in this to make me so-" Roman stopped talking to yawn again, Patton chuckled "nothing, looks like you guys just really needed a break." Roman gave a groggy nod as Patton reached out to bring Roman into his arms as well, to which he gladly obliged and snuggled into Patton's other arm, "Cmon Logan! You're the only one not in here!" Patton said jokingly. Up to this point, Logan was silent. The tea was everything he wished for and more. He couldn't even give some stupid remark, all he could do was lay next to Roman and wrap his arms around him. Having all his favorite people together, huddled up together, finally bonding for what felt like an eternity of barely talking was nothing but perfect. Patton couldn't recall the last time he was this happy, of course, he loved nothing more than getting to work with different herbs daily, but words couldn't describe how happy he was, how much this could improve his work "we should do this more often." he whispered, to which Roman lazily responded, "if it means having this tea more I'm in."

#ts lamp #patton sanders #logan sanders #roman sanders #virgil sanders #ts fanfic #witch au

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lilith-lovett · 4 years ago

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Found Families - Home is Where the Hart is - Chapter Twenty One

New chapter. I am so sorry this has taken so long, the past few weeks have been very hectic and stressful but everything has been sorted out. Now I have been a little busy with University preparation as I am moving into my accommodation two weeks today but I will still be posting new chapters, hopefully a lot quicker than this one. I hope you all enjoy this chapter and thank you for your continued support.

Masterlist

Summary: Patton returns to work and Logan spends some time with Dot and Larry

Word Count: 8826 (I am very sorry this is so long)

Warnings: Past child abuse, self-deprecation, anxiety, disordered eating, implied physical abuse, implied depression, chronic pain, past psychological/emotional abuse, homophobia, homophobic parents , food mention (if I have missed anything please let me know)

The following Monday Patton returned to work. He had dropped off Logan and Dee at Dot and Larry’s that morning but the worry only intensified. Logan had only met Dot and Larry once and now he had to spend an entire day at their house. Patton knew they would take care of him but what if it was too soon? Logan still hadn’t fully adjusted to being apart of his family, he struggled to refer to the house as his home and now Patton was leaving him alone but he had no other options. He had used up all of his time off and needed to start his new position. So, he left Logan with a promise he would return to pick him up right after work and instructions for Dot and Larry to call him immediately if anything happened before setting off for work.

Patton loved his job. He had, had several odd jobs throughout his life. From catering and retail during his teenage years to his first ever teaching placement once he completed college. As well as his volunteer positions in many animal shelters and care homes, one of which turned into his most recent job in a supervisor role at his local animal shelter, where he had volunteered from the age of fifteen. Patton adored everyone he worked with and all of the precious puppies and kittens he got to help while working there, but once he was offered a full time teaching position - which also provided a substantial raise in his annual salary and while he knew money was not everything as a single father to four children, the extra money would help - he decided to leave. Returning to his frequent volunteer shifts and allowed a recent hire to be prompted. Patton had been an assistant teacher at the local elementary school for the past two years and he loved it. He loved the kiddos. He loved his co-workers. He loved being able to have an impact so early in their education and imbue the love of learning into them in their important formative years. He was so excited to finally have his own class. He knew at first, he would only be introducing the preschoolers to what they would expect to do be doing when they entered first grade following the Summer Holidays but he was looking forward to all of the activities he had planned for the kiddos.

Patton had dressed in his nicest shirt, in a soft baby blue colour, grey fitted dress pants and his navy blue tie decorated with little dinosaurs just for the kiddos. They always loved his novelty ties. He arrived at the school bright and early and was immediately met with the lovely office woman Josie who he shared recipes with during their break times.

“Hello Patton dear, I heard about your new position. I’m so happy for you darling,” Josie called out from her office, decorated with a variety of beautiful, brightly coloured flower in glass vase and a collection of luscious greenery. She always had the best gardening advice.

“Hi Josie. Thank you so much, I’m definitely looking forward to meeting all the kiddos,” Patton responded with a smile as he signed his name into the register book.

“How is your family, I heard you adopted again?” Josie asked. Patton’s children were a common topic conversation amongst his co-workers, a majority of them were parents themselves and Patton loved hearing about their kiddos and they enjoyed hearing about his in return. They knew of some the difficult circumstances surrounding their adoption and upbringing though Patton chose to keep certain private information to himself and they respected that, but he hadn’t been at work since he began to regularly meet Logan at the Orphanage so he expected them to have a lot of questions.

“Oh yes, Logan. He is well and so is everyone else,” Patton answered.

“That is wonderful, I’m sure you will tell me all about them at break but Madelyne is expecting you in her office,” Josie said as she adjusted her violet coloured glasses. Madelyne or Mrs Harp to the kiddos was the principal of the elementary and one of the nicest people Patton had ever had the pleasure of meeting. It showed in how she treated the kids and they loved her for it. It was refreshing. Patton had experienced his fair share of teachers who were in the profession for all of the wrong reasons. Who believed that shouting at children was an appropriate method of discipline and who punished their ‘disruptive’ behaviour instead of learning the reasons behind it. But Madelyne was different and she had built a system that supported the children both in their learning and their well-being. It was a system Patton both wanted to be apart of and help put into practise.

“Alright, I’ll go and see her right away. It was nice seeing you Josie,” Patton said pulling his messenger bag further up his shoulder.

“It is wonderful to have you back darling,” Josie replied before returning to her work on her computer, typing away happily as Patton made his way to the principal’s office.

Patton knocked twice before a voice called out from within, inviting him inside. Opening the door, he was met with the brightly coloured and pleasant smelling office of Madelyne Harp, to see her sat behind her desk which was decorated with a variety of cacti each in its own intricately painted plant pot and framed pictures on Madelyne’s own two daughters - one of which was in the same grade as Roman and the other was preparing to graduate high school - who Patton loved hearing about. Madelyne had a welcoming air surrounding her, her smile widened when she saw Patton enter. Her dark hair was braided and coiled on top of her head, secured with a yellow hair clip, she was dressed professionally in a white blouse and floral pattern wide-legged trousers, bangles and necklaces decorating her wrists and neck.

“Welcome back Patton, it is lovely to see you again,” Madelyne exclaimed excitedly standing up from her desk and making her way towards Patton, extending out a hand which he took before returning to her seat and directing Patton to sit in the seat opposite.

“It is wonderful to see you too, I am happy to be back,” Patton said taking a seat.

“And we are glad to have too, How are your children?” She asked balancing her head in her hands.

“They are really good; Roman had his birthday recently, Virgil is still practising his music, we are preparing to send Dee to preschool after the summer and Logan is settling in well,” Patton replied with a smile recalling all of the recent time spent with his kids. Yes, he loved his job but the time off gave him so much more time to spend with his children, especially Logan so he could help him in adjusting to the enormous change. He didn’t wish to reveal too much of the finer details of the adoption as it was a situation he would rather not get into it. “It has been a crazy couple of months but everything is resolved now,”.

“That is good, now lets talk about your new position. As I explained to you before, the preschool class is coming to the school for their introduction days and this will be your permanent class following the summer holidays. I understand you prepared a lesson plan?” Madelyne inquired.

“Yes, I have it right here. I am so excited to meet all of the new kiddos,”Patton replied with a smile, patting the folder in his lap which contained the colour-coordinated lesson plan and schedule he had spent the past week preparing.

“Excellent, we are so happy to have you as a full-time teacher Patton. Now, are you ready to see your classroom?” Madelyne asked standing from her seat.

“Am I ever,” Patton responded shooting up from this seat. Patton had never had his own classroom before. Most of his former positions had been merely temporary such as taking over a class while one of his fellow co-workers were on maternity leave or as a substitute due to another teacher being absent but now he would finally have his own classroom. One in which he could decorate as he pleased with his students artwork and projects, to make it as bright, warm and welcoming as he could.

Madelyne lead Patton from her office to the main portion of the building, passing by various other classrooms, exchanging greetings and small talk with the teachers who inhabited them, all of them old friends who he had worked with closely in the past. Before pausing in front of one classroom in particular, it was relatively large considerably the typical size of a first grade class, its walls were bare and striped of all of its previous artwork. Desks were grouped together and spaced out throughout the classroom, each with the name of one of the children taped to it, as a seating plan. Patton’s desk was located at the front of the classroom, it was empty apart from a large computer but Patton could already envision how he would decorate it; picture frames with photos of his family and friends, plants and flowers, his planner (which he was forcing himself to use more regularly as he was a terribly unorganised person) and he couldn’t wait to get started. A pristine white board and smart board were placed on the wall adjacent to his desk, a collection of colourful board pens in a container just below it, all ready to start writing out his lesson plan for today.

“It’s pretty plain right now but I’m sure you will brighten it up soon enough,” Madelyne said leaning against one of the desk, closest to the front of the classroom.

“It’s perfect!” Patton exclaimed taking a seat at his new desk.

“Well I’m glad you like it, it will be yours for the next school year,” Madelyne said with a smile as she stood, making her way towards the door. “Now, the children will be arriving soon and I need to get ready for the assembly. I’ll see you there Patton,”.

“Yes, bye for now,” Patton said with a wave as Madelyne left. Yes, the assembly, it was the first meeting he would have with the new kiddos. He couldn’t wait.

With Patton returning to work Logan had to stay with Dot and Larry along with Declan as unlike Roman and Virgil he was not currently attending school. Patton had explained his reasoning for not immediately sending Logan to school, being that he wanted Logan to further adjust to living with him and since it was approaching the end of the school year he wouldn’t gain much from attending prematurely which Logan disagreed with. He hadn’t attended formal education since he was six years old, primarily taught himself from textbooks while living with his parents and at the orphanage (though he had support from Maggie) and he had studied everything he could from the textbooks Maggie had given him before he left. Logan needed something to do. But he couldn’t argue with Patton’s decision. Logically it made sense though he despised the feeling of aimlessness. Patton had promised him that he would be enrolled in school the following academic year and he had arranged a meeting for him with the principal of the school, which happened to be Elliott’s father, to discuss his re-entry into education in September. Three months away.

Logan was used to being left on his own. His biological parents did it often whenever they were working - which was fairly often - he relished those fleetingly moments of freedom while his parents were away. Though he continued to spend those moments studying out of fear of his parent’s wrath but without the crushing pressure of his parents criticising his every move. However, he knew Patton disliked the idea of leaving Logan in the house alone as he had expressed this to Logan. He didn’t mind the idea of being left alone as the amount of social interaction he had, had lately was beginning to overwhelm him but Declan was also with him and he did not trust himself to look after a toddler and it appeared Patton did not want to either so he had to stay with Dot and Larry. It was another opportunity to be able to build a relationship with them, however, it was also another circumstance in which they could reject him. He would also be spending an increasing amount of time with them as a result of Patton’s work schedule and as a result they would be further exposed to Logan’s rather unconventional behaviours and habits. What if he had one of his outbursts? What if the anxious and illogical portion of his brain took over his mind? Would they take back all of the kindness they had previously shown him? No. He couldn’t think negatively. Dot and Larry had been nothing but kind and accommodating to him and he was extremely lucky that they had welcomed him into their home.

Patton had dropped off Logan and Declan at Dot and Larry’s house before making his way to work. Dot and Larry’s house was only a short distance away from Patton’s but couldn’t be more different in style and decoration. It was significantly smaller than Patton’s house which was understandable considering they were a household of two and Patton had children yet it was just as bright and colourful as Patton’s and just as filled with memories. Picture frames covered almost every wall and surface, mostly of themselves and Emile in various locations but there was also a considerable number of Patton and his family over the years. Other decorations included small ornaments, a variety of greenery and blooming plants in decorative vases. Declan had already made a mess on the floor with the assortment of toys he had brought with him for his entertainment. Logan had also brought a small rucksack with him containing a couple of titles he had yet to read to keep himself occupied and out of Dot and Larry’s way so they did not have to satisfy himself as well as Declan, who Logan knew from experience had a very short attention span and it would only be a manner of minutes before he grew tired of the items Patton had provided and began to search for another means of distraction. But for now, he appeared content in his play.

“Okay Logan, make yourself comfortable. We don’t have anything specific planned for today but if you need anything at all please just let us know,” Larry said before he sat down on the floor with Declan and joined in on the play.

“Did you bring anything with you Logan?” Dot asked hanging up her coat and sitting on the sofa.

“Yes, I brought some books with me,” Logan replied pulling the rucksack off of his shoulders to show to Dot.

“Wonderful, I’m guessing you are a little bookworm,” Dot said in a jovial tone. Logan at first did not recognise the term but from association he deducted that it was a term used to refer someone who enjoyed the action of reading books, though he didn’t know how to feel about being referred to as an insect but he assumed from her tone she did not intend it to be hurtful.

“I suppose so, I do enjoy the activity of reading,” Logan answered, he had always loved reading ever since Maggie introduced him to the world of fiction. Losing himself in the words, slipping from his bleak existence into a fantastical world of wonder and intrigue, exploring diverse and unique characters who could take him on an adventure, if just for a short while but he relished in those moments. Alone, just him and his book, his surroundings fading away into a comfortable nothingness that his mind could shape however he wished. It was his escape.

“So do l. Ah, come with me, I want to show you something,” Dot said standing from the couch, gesturing to the stairs before making her way towards them, presumably urging Logan to follow.

Logan had little idea of what Dot wanted to show him but deducing from their previous interaction he assumed it was related to books. Larry did not follow, remaining on the floor, occupying Declan while Logan was lead upstairs. Glancing around at the walls enclosing the staircase, more photographs caught his attention. They ascended the stairs as he did, the figures within them reversing in age as they did. Seven figures, to five. Three. Four then two. Most of them he recognised as Patton, Patton’s children, Emile and Dot and Larry themselves though the one of the faces was foreign to him but he did not mention it. He followed to the upper floor and into one of the closest rooms. Revealing a library inside. Albeit a small library more akin to a study but Logan was so astounded by the sheer number of titles, he did not care for the correct term. Dark wood shelves stretched from the floor to the ceiling hiding the wall from view, they were filled with books. Young and old, worn and new, a variety of fiction and non-fiction titles in all genres and categories. In the centre of the room, stood a similarly coloured wooden desk, free from all decorations apart for a solitary picture frame. Adjacent to it, a lavender coloured armchair, positioned diagonally against the window, a large grey knitted blanket draped over the back of the chair and decorated with two mustard yellow cushions.

“Welcome to our home library,” Dot announced gesturing to the shelves with a proud smile. “Larry and I both love reading and our little collection has certainly grown a lot. I adore gothic literature, the Brontë sisters are a personal favourite of mine and I can tell you that Virgil certainly didn’t get his taste for books from Larry or Patton,”.

As Logan perused the shelves, he recalled seeing similar titles on Virgil’s bookshelves though not to the extent of Dot’s collection, his appeared much more age appropriate. However, the shelves were not only taken up by fictional novels as there was also a substantial number of non-fiction titles of various topics such as; psychology, computer science, the human psyche and technologies. He guessed some were former books for Emile’s - considering the subject matter was closely related to his field of study and work - but that did not explain the rest.

“Are these yours also?” Logan asked pointing to the shelves which held the non-fiction books.

“Oh no, they are Larry’s, most of them are about computers or some such things. He is the tech genius in this family, I am hopeless with all of that,” Dot responded with a chuckle. Logan had received his own knowledge on technological systems and equipment exclusively from books with very little interactions with any electronic devices. Maggie owned a laptop and cellular device, she often brought them with her to work and at times allowed Logan to study them and use them for research purposes for information he couldn’t find in his textbooks. “Do you also like non-fiction?”.

“I do. I particularly like scientific practises and research journals though they do not provide the same sense of escapism as fiction does,” Logan answered as he continued to study the various books on the shelves, both fiction and non-fiction, some of which he had read many of which he hadn’t.

“It does indeed, reading gives us a place to go when we are stuck in reality,” Dot said which made a lot of sense. When Logan was trapped with his parents, he would read everything he could get his hands on for a few fleeting moments of happiness before it was torn from him again. When he was trapped within the orphanage, he treasured the books Maggie gave him and spent every free moment he had in the wondrous world of the stories he read until the was forced to return. “You can borrow any of our books any time you like Logan, I know they will be safe in your capable hands,”.

Logan did not know how to respond. Again they were giving him more. Despite the fact, he had barged him way into their family and lives and was undeserving of of their gifts and hospitality. He doubted they would listen to his protests considering the kindness they had bestowed upon him so far, so he remained quiet. A few moments passed, of Logan continuing the browse the collection as Dot watched on, before the door to the library open revealing Larry with along with Declan perched upon his shoulders, clutching his snake stuffed animal in his fist.

“Hello, we were wondering where you had both disappeared to. Admiring our library I see?” Larry questioned removing Declan from his shoulder, placing him on the floor and rubbing his shoulder so if it caused him pain.

“Yes, it is a rather impressive collection,” Logan answered.

“It is and it is one of my favourite rooms in the house,” Larry said glancing wistfully around the room. “The one thing we both wanted when we were looking at house, was our own personal library and now we have it,”.

“Read!” Declan exclaimed running over to where Logan was stood, tugging on the fabric of his trousers.

“Oh, would you like me to read you a story Dee?” Larry asked, crouching with some difficultly to Declan’s height.

“No, Lo-Lo read to me,” Declan insisted continuing to tug persistently at him.

“I think Logan would rather have some time to himself Dee darling,” Dot said attempting to reason with the headstrong toddler.

“No, it is alright,” Logan interrupted. “ Declan and I often read together, it wouldn’t be a problem to do it now,”

It was true, ever since the first night Logan arrived at Patton’s house when he read to Declan in order to calm him down, it became a near daily occurrence. Declan at any hour would simply appear, book in hand or choose one of Logan’s books for him to read and they would sit in the armchair - which appears to have inadvertently become Logan’s - for however long it took for Declan to either fall asleep or lose interest which rather surprisingly the former was more common.

“Oh well then, we’ll leave you two to it,” Dot said with a hint of surprise in her voice, ushering herself and Larry out of the room. “You are welcome to stay in here and we’ll call for you when it is lunch time,”

Dot and Larry left and Logan was left with Declan, looking up at him expectantly. He took a seat on the armchair and assisted Declan in climbing into the space left beside him but he chose to instead sit on Logan’s lap as he often did with Patton and was bouncing with excitement. Logan opened his rucksack pulling out one of the three books he had brought with, his bookmark poking out from the pages, he opened it allowing Declan to hold the bookmark and began to read.

Patton stood at the side of the assembly hall with his fellow teachers as the kiddos were herded into the hall and directed to sit in their designated year group. He was brimming with excitement and nerves. There they were. His new class. He actually had his own class. He couldn’t wait to get started. He could see it all now. His first lesson. Their first school trip. The Halloween, Christmas and end of year party. Patton knew he would try his darndest to make it perfect for the kids. He was quickly broken out of his day dream by the sound of Madelyne’s voice ringing out throughout the hall.

“Good morning children and welcome to our wonderful school, my name is Mrs Harp and I will be your Principal when you all return after the summer holidays and it is time to start the new school year,” Madelyne announced with a bright smile which was returned by many of the new students. “Now, you are all here today to get a taste of what you will be doing in your new classes and give you the opportunity to meet your new teachers, especially our brand new first graders and I’m sure will all do amazingly and will continue to do so throughout your years at our school,”.

Madelyne continued her speech, discussing the curriculum, the school’s core values and their importance, went over the school rules and what was expected behaviour wise from every student, gave a brief introduction to the other staff members they would be regularly interacting with; dinner ladies, support workers and various others and set out the activities for the day, explaining the times break and lunch would be and when they would be collected at the end of the school day.

“And now all of that is out of the way. Are you ready to get started” Madelyne asked the assembled children, her voice carrying throughout the hall. A resounding ‘Yes’ from the children answered her question. “Excellent, let’s start with our soon-to-be first graders. Allow me to introduce you to your new teacher, Mr Hart,”. Patton waved, stepping out from the line, identifying himself to the kids.

“Hiya everyone, I’m so excited to finally meet you all. Now, if you could all stand up for me and line up single-file, I’ll take you to our classroom,” Patton said barely able to contain his excitement as they all stood together and shuffled into line, it was a little wonky but a line nonetheless and they all looked up at him with their bright eyes, waiting for their next instruction. “Okay everyone, follow me,”.

Patton turned, flashing a smile at his fellow teachers who stood on the side waiting for their own classes, he received a couple of smiles and a thumbs up in return, as he walked the children all shuffled behind him, excitedly whispering to each other which only made Patton’s smile grow wider. They were already becoming friends. Eventually, they made it to their classroom.

“Okay everyone, before we go in I need you all to put your bags and jackets away. Everyone should have their own compartment and peg with your name, lets do three at a time, okay?” Patton said pointing of the first three children in the line, then the next, until they had all neatly put away their belongings and were waiting patiently to enter the classroom. “Let’s head in,”.

All the children shuffled into the classroom, talking animatedly to each other, gasping in wonder at the scale of the classroom and the bright colours which decorated the walls and the carpet. They all gathered towards the front of the classroom by the board and sat cross-legged on the floor, glancing up at him, waiting for their next instruction. Patton took a seat at his desk, swirling around on his spiny chair to face the children, the register ready on his lap.

“Good morning everyone, it is lovely to meet you finally, I’m so excited to start working with all of you,” Patton said clapping his hands together in excitement. “Now, today will be an easy, breezy day of everyone just getting to know each other and doing some fun activities. Okay, lets start with an exercise to help everyone learn each others name and get to know each other. I’ll go through the register and call out your names and when you hear your name you can say an interesting fact about yourself, do an funny dance move or just wave to everyone, if you would like. For example, hi, my name is Mr Hart and I like puppies and kittens or my name is Mr Hart…”.

Patton raised his arms and began waving them in the air, once he spoke, inducing a chorus and squeals, giggles and laughter from the children which brought a warm sensation to his chest as he looked upon their smiling faces.

“Okay, lets get started. Lilly Adams,” Patton announced and the bubbly, blonde, smiling girl seated at the front raised her arm.

“My name is Lilly and I like puppies and kittens too!” Lilly exclaimed her pigtails bouncing with the abrupt movement. Patton almost squealed aloud at how adorable she was. Patton loved having boys but had secretly always wanted a little girl.

“That’s wonderful,” Patton said beaming a smile at Lilly. “Okay , Blair Anderson.

Patton continued down the register, calling out each name as they told either a fact about themselves or did a funny action. A few of his personal favourites were Jacob’s elongated tale about his various fish and Maddie’s very impressive cartwheel, though he did have to warn her against it as she very nearly cartwheeled into a table, potentially injuring herself and others. Though it was quite impressive.

“Okay last name, Oren Wood,” Patton called out and a silence fell over the classroom as the children looked around for the named pupil, who never spoke up or raised their hand. Patton assumed they were perhaps shy and didn’t want to speak up in front of the entire class. “If you don’t want to speak, can you raise your hand so I can see who you are?”.

After a short pause, a small boy seated right at the back meekly raised his hand before quickly retracting it and averting his eyes to the floor when people began to turn and look at him. Patton noticed the discomfort from the attention placed on him, he suspected me may be anxious about the change in the environment or the activity itself and didn’t wish to contribute to his anxiety any further.

“Oren, you don’t have to talk if your don’t want to, how about a hand motion?” Patton said with a snaking motion of his hand and arm, hoping it would encourage Oren to do the same. “Can you do that for me?”.

After a moment of hesitation, Oren raised his trembling hands and begins to move them in very specific motions, pointing towards himself before raising his hands to his mouth and pressing his index finger and thumb together repeatedly. The rest of the children whispered to one another in confusion but Patton recognised the actions as sign language. ‘I like birds’. To be specific. He hadn’t been informed of any children who used sign language but luckily he had learned it in high school and continued to hone his skills throughout the years, in order to communicate with some of the children he had worked with in the past and was currently teaching it to Virgil so he would be able to communicate whenever he became non-verbal or didn’t want to talk. It was a very valuable skill.

“Oh you know sign language, I do too!” Patton exclaimed and responded in sign language while also speaking allowed for the benefit of the other children. “I like birds too,”.

A small smile crept into Oren’s face as Patton responded in sign language and it made Patton’s heart swell with pride at the sight. Patton continued with his lesson plan, directing all of the children to their new seats, allowing them to make friends with her new elbow partners before progressing with his plan. Initially going over the general classroom rules, based on behaviour both in class and in the playground towards other students and himself, the curriculum they would be following once they returned after the summer and his own expectations. As they listened with intense curiosity and a look of wonder on their faces as he described everything the future held for them within his classroom, as he could feel his excitement building. He was actually doing this. He had his own class. And he couldn’t wait to get started.

“Logan…Declan…Lunch is ready!” Larry called out from downstairs just as Logan had finished reading to Declan who was beginning to grow restless and agitated with hunger so a lunch break was welcome.

Logan descended the stairs with Declan held securely in his arms, careful not to jostle him or make contact with any of his burn spots which appeared to be bothering him so not to cause him any further discomfort. He set Declan down on the floor who sprinted towards the kitchen table, where a series of flavours of crofters were laid out in preparation for lunch. Larry assisted Declan into a chair and began to help him prepare his food, a sandwich slathered in a thick layer of strawberry jam.

“Patton told us you liked Crofters, it seems to be trend with you boys,” Dot joked taking a seat at the table, a steaming cup of sweet smelling tea in her hands. “Go head, pick anything you’d like,”.

Logan took a seat at the table, directly in front of Dot and adjacent to Declan. An empty plate and glass set in front of him, a variety of jars of Crofters, a loaf of seeded bread and several flavours of juice were also laid out for him to help himself to, though he specifically chose to wait until everyone had served themselves before serving himself. A blackcurrant jam sandwich and a glass of water, cutting it into appropriate sections before eating, with little question from Dot or Larry. They filled much of the conversation with humorous anecdotes from their rather interesting lives, basic small talk and thankfully very few questions directed towards himself. He much preferred listening to them talk without having to contribute.

“Oh, that reminds me, Emile should be arriving soon,” Dot said once she had finished her own meal before removing her plate, along with Larry’s (which was also empty) and Declan’s who had only left the crusts of his sandwich, much of the jam staining his face and hands. While Logan had two near perfect quarters of his sandwich remaining on his late. “I’m sure he will want to talk to you Logan,”.

Logan had talked to Emile very little since arriving at Patton’s, outside of their initial meeting which was also quite brief, merely an introduction before he had to leave and much of their interactions since then had been similarly short. Primarily involving Emile asking Logan how he was doing, to which he replied with a simple yet calculated answer to prevent any further questioning. To be entirely truthful, Logan had purposefully been avoiding communicating with Emile, primarily out of fear of what he would ask. Considering he was a therapist and commonly uncovered the true meaning and emotions behind a person’s words and Logan would rather that not happen. So not to expose his true feelings and fears to anyone else as he believed if Emile discovered anything about it he would immediately relay it back to Patton which would severely impact his view of Logan. He didn’t have any ill-feelings towards Emile but his anxiety certainly heightened whenever Emile was present and now he was coming over with the intention of talking with Logan. He lost the remainder of his appetite.

“Are you finished, Logan?” Larry asked gesturing towards his plate.

“Oh yes, thank you,” Logan said allowing Larry to remove his plate, only receiving a brief look of concern but didn’t question him for which Logan was thankful. Everyone relocated from the kitchen table to the living room to wait for Emile’s arrival. Declan had returned to playing with his toys on the floor, Larry was cleaning up the kitchen and Dot was sat of the sofa, a pair of thick needles in her hands entwined in a cream coloured wool. Logan decided to take a seat on the adjacent sofa, bringing out one of his books to read until Emile’s arrival.

They only waited a short while before Emile arrived, Dot, Larry and Declan immediately got up to greet him, while Logan merely closed his book and stood. Back from the remainder of the family who gathered by the door as Emile entered, dressed in his usual shirt and tie combination presumably coming from his place of work, his unnaturally coloured hair neatly combed to the side which was quickly dishevelled by him running a hand through it.

“Hello, Emile dear,” Dot exclaimed immediately wrapping her arms around Emile’s torso, as he was considerably taller than her, which he returned with a bright smile before catching the gaze of Logan.

“Hello mum, how are you?” Emile asked breaking eye contact with Logan as he broke away from Dot.

“Oh I’m fine, we are all good,” Dot responded returning to her seat on the sofa as Emile entered but he didn’t get far before Declan threw his tiny body into Emile’s legs, nearly knocking him off balance.

“Woah there!” Emile exclaimed in surprise as he managed to catch himself, regaining his balance, leaning down to lift Declan into his arms. “Hello to you too, Dee,”.

“Ucle Emmy!” Declan chirped in excitement, as he threw his arms around Emile’s neck, in what resembled a hug though Emile seemed some what pained by the force of Declan’s grip.

“Is your shoulder bothering you again?” Larry asked a hint of concern displayed on his face as he took Declan from Emile, which produced an expression of relief across Emile’s features. “We have painkillers and ice, if you need it,”.

“I’m alright dad, you don’t need to worry,” Emile replied gently rubbing a particular spot on his left shoulder, a strained smile appearing on his face. Emile’s behaviour perplexed Logan. He was clearly in pain yet refused the methods of short-term relief Larry provided. But why? “How are you Logan?”.

Logan jolted at the sudden mention of his name. He had spent so long attempting to read Emile that he had forgotten the true meaning of his visit. To speak with him.

“Oh, uh…yes, I mean…I am satisfactory,” Logan stuttered averting his eyes to the floor as his face grew hot with embarrassment.

“How about we take Dee to the park and we’ll leave you two to talk here?” Dot asked before disappearing into the kitchen, then returning with her bag. “Does that sound fun, Dee?”.

“Yes!” Declan shouted immediately running off presumably to collect his shoes and coat, followed by Larry.

They left a short while later, several handfuls of Declan’s toys he demanded that they bring with them on their outing, leaving Logan alone with Emile. He sat on the sofa, book clenched tight within his hands, staring so intently at the cover the words of the title began to warp and distort. Afraid of what Emile would ask of him. Hoping he could avoid the conversation entirely but that as simply wishful thinking.

“Let’s go sit outside, have you seen the garden yet?” Emile inquired Logan forced his eyes to meet Emile’s, they were bright yet soft, intense yet kind. He stood with the intention of following him outside, shaking his head in response to his question. “I think you will like, I always did as a kid,”.

Logan followed Emile outside, into the garden and just as he passed the threshold he was met with the most incredible sight. The garden was small but beautiful. The grass was lusciously green, swaying softly in the gentle breeze, surrounded by a variety of potted and planted flowers of every colour, gathering in an awe-inspiring spectrum of shades. To both the right and left of the porch where Logan and Emile stood, where two patches of earth and soil, sprouted fresh fruits and vegetables, similar to Patton’s but considerably larger with a greater variety of produce ready to be picked.

“Beautiful, isn’t it?” Emile asked gazing out across the garden, as if lost in a memory.

“Yes,” Logan answered almost breathless, without considering the question or his answer. He was simply too enamoured by the appearance of the garden but he was swiftly broken out of his daze by the painful sound of metal scraping against wood as Emile pulled out two chairs for them to sit.

A silence washed over them as they sat. Logan had assumed Emile would immediately start questioning him, he had been mentally preparing himself for a barrage of personal questions but it didn’t come. He risked a glance towards Emile and saw he was gazing out onto the garden, a wistful perhaps longing expression on his face but Logan couldn’t discern as to why. Though Emile no longer lived with Dot and Larry, they evidently had a close relationship and shared no ill-will between each other and as a result would be allowed to visit and spend time in the garden, whenever he pleased. Emile looked back at him, appearing to snap himself out of the daze he was in when he noticed Logan looking at him.

“Ah, sorry. I was just thinking about the past,” Emile said sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck as he smiled nervously. “So, how are you settling in?”.

“It has been fine, Patton has been kind and accommodating as have Roman and Virgil,” Logan answered averting his gaze once again, returning it to the closed book in his hands.

“That is good, Patton had mentioned he was worried about how you were handling the change. He also told me you had have a rough time recently, would you like to discuss it?” Emile asked. Logan didn’t, however he didn’t know how to communicate that without sounding rude. “You don’t have to if you don’t to, we could talk about something else if you would prefer?”.

“I apologise,” Logan said unsure of Emile’s reaction to his refusal.

“No, no. You don’t need to apologise, I’m sorry if I was pushing you. You don’t need to worry about not wishing to discuss personal issues, I only want you to be comfortable,” Emile said a warm smile stretching across his face. “How is Patton doing?”.

“I believe he is well,” Logan responded thankful for the change in conversation.

“That is good, he thinks I worry about him too much. He always get on at me for it but I can’t help it,” Emile said with a chuckle.

“That is understandable, you evidently have a close relationship,” Logan said he had noticed the close relationship shared between Emile and Patton, their friendship more resembled the traditional sibling relationships he read about in some of his books. He initially believed they were siblings when he meet Emile for the first time.

“Yeah, we have been close for a while, since middle school actually,” Emile said reclining back in his chair, gazing out over the garden once again, as if recalling a memory. “He has had a difficult time in life that is why I worry, he isn’t the best at taking care of himself particularly when he started adopting, especially with Virgil and Dee. So, I have been trying to keep an eye on him,”.

Logan averted his eyes once again. So, Patton had, had difficult experience with his adoptions in the past. Was he causing more issues for Patton? He had already caused so many problems for him. Was he making everything worse?

“Are you alright, Logan?” Emile asked seemingly having noticed Logan’s change in behaviour.

“Ah, yes, I am fine,” Logan said quickly, hoping for the conversation to return to Patton.

“Okay, I need you to know, Patton certainly doesn’t regret adopting any of you, he loves you all very much and would give anything to ensure you are happy and well-taken care of. Okay?”. Emile said closing the distance between himself and Logan, placing a hand on the edge of Logan’s chair.

“Okay,” Logan responded he still struggled to believe that he was nothing but a burden on Patton and his family but Emile assurances of the opposite was somewhat comforting.

“How about we head inside, I’m sure mum, dad and Dee will be back soon,”Emile said standing from his chair, gazing once again at the garden before returning inside, Logan following behind.

Once Dot, Larry and Declan returned from their outing, Emile only stayed for a short while before leaving. Sharing a hug with his parents and Declan, directing a simple wave towards Logan which he returned as he left. It was fastly approaching the time Patton would be leaving work to collect himself and Declan to take back to the house, so instead of returning to the library he decided to remain in the living room with Dot and Larry who were closely supervising Declan, who was sitting at the kitchen table, entertaining himself with some of his toys.

“So, how was your little talk with Emile?” Dot inquired as Logan sat down.

“It is very informative,” Logan responded considering how much he learned about Patton and Emile’s relationship with one another and more about Patton.

“Was it? Well that is good,” She replied lifting her needles once again.

“Actually, may I ask you both a question?” Logan asked drawing the attention of both Dot and Larry.

“Yes, of course Logan. Ask away,” Larry prompted with a hand gesturing urging him to continue, listening in rapt attention.

“How are you so close to Patton? Emile mentioned that they initially meet in school yet you appear as if you are blood-related family,” Logan inquired he had been questioning the relationship between Patton and Emile’s family ever since meeting Dot and Larry. Why were they considered ‘honorary’ grandparents and not simply grandparents? Were Patton’s biological parents not involved with with family?

“Ah, Patton did say you were a curious one. I suppose it is a rather confusing situation, so it is understandable you wondering about it,” Dot answered setting down her needles in her lap. “It’s true, we meet Patton when he and Emile were in middle school and we were going through a rough time, he was a wonderful child so kind and caring. It was a pleasure having him over so we never questioned why we never meet his parents initially but we later found out why…”.

“Patton’s parents are horrible people who did not deserve such an exceptional young man as a son!” Larry exclaimed with such intensity that Logan flinched.

“Larry, calm down, please,” Dot urged resting a hand on her husband thigh, in an effort to calm him which was effective as he quietened, averting his eyes and clasping Dot’s hand in his own. “He is right though. They were incredibly hard on him, especially in regards to his education and they consistently put him down, they never…physically…abused him as far as I am aware but I know what they did still affects him,”.

“What did they do?” Logan asked intently listening as they retold the story. Dot and Larry shared a look Logan was unable to decipher before Dot sighed and continued.

“When he was seventeen he came out to his parents as pansexual and they…didn’t take it well. They believe it is a sin to identify as any sexuality other than heterosexual, they kicked him out. They threw their only son out onto the street because of the possibility of him loving another man,” Dot said the seething anger seeping in to her tone. “That is when he turned up on our doorstep and of course we allowed him to stay with us. He hasn’t seen or spoken to them since. He made it through school without them, he made it through several jobs without, he adopted all of you without them and has been a better parent than they ever were to him. Patton became the person he is today without them,”.

“We may not be related by blood but we are family by choice. Patton’s own family did not accept him so he built a new one and we were more than happy to become apart of it, as are you Logan,” Dot continued, stretching over to rest a hand on Logan’s forearm.

Logan was silent, processing the information. He had never expected Patton to have experienced such a traumatic upbringing and abusive relationship with his biological parents, removing him from the house because of an uncontrollable factor - he didn’t know the specific term Dot used though Maggie had taught him the difference between certain sexualities as he knew very little about relationships - which he had been told shouldn’t matter. Patton was the kindest, most accommodating and good-natured person he had ever met, he had persisted in the face of adversity throughout his own adoption, supporting him throughout the difficult situation they experienced together presumably also with Roman, Virgil and Declan during their own adoptions - though he didn’t know the details of their specific adoptions and home situation - and had yet to punish Logan for his less than favourable behaviour and traits. Logan could not comprehend how anyone could treat someone like Patton so terribly.

“But he is with us now, he is away from them and they can’t hurt him any more just like your parents can’t hurt you. You are apart of our family now too,” Dot said softly squeezing Logan’s forearm, a warm smile spreading across her face as the familiar warm sensation built within his chest.

Family. He had never had a true family before. He never allowed himself to truly be apart of one but perhaps he could be apart of this one.

Taglist: @i-do-not-dislike-fudge @poems-art-darkness-n-more @alex-cain @amber1594 @darkrainbow333 @falseh0od @lovingcreatorstrawberry @mason-does-a-thing @callboxkat @tacohippy56900 @anxiousangel121 @comicsimpson @harrypotternerdprincess @cobythinks @whatschooldoesntteachyou @fandomkitty8 @coloursintheblur @read-write-inspire-repeat @clinicalawesomeness @deceit-sanders-deserved-better @scared-ghosthunter @silverstarlinedart @winterrose42 @alotofstupidstuff @imalwaysthatoneperson @glitchybina @dumbgayemo @quietwords-loudthoughts @altruistic-skittles @thecrimsonstoryteller

#sander sides au #sander sides #logan sanders #patton sanders #roman sanders #virgil sanders #deceit sanders #sympathetic deceit #Janus Sanders #Emile Picani #cartoon therapy #Dot and Larry cartoon therapy #home is where the hart is #found families #My writing #my fics

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queen-of-the-trash-planet-tm · 5 years ago

Text

Daminette December Day 2: Blind Date

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Marinette Dupain-Chang had experienced many forms of love. From platonic, familial, and romantic she stole hearts wherever she lay her feet. That was until someone stole hers, they stole her heart and only gave it back when it was broken. Who would dare harm an angel such as Marinette? Why that would be Adrien Alastair Agreste of course.

The devil himself dwelled within that boy. He stole her first kiss, first love, and her confidence in romance. Adrien was kind to others and sweet on Ladybug, but once in a relationship he became someone Marinette didn’t recognize. Possessive, hot-headed, fast to aggression, etc. could all be used to describe him.

Adrien “Sunshine” Agreste could flirt with whoever, have whatever he wanted, voice his own feelings, but kwami-forbid Marinette even suggest anything of the sort. He would lash out in the worst ways, “Why are you so clingy?” He would ask harshly, “You’re always breathing down my neck! ‘Adrien I’m right here? Stop that! Can we go out?’ It’s like it’s never enough with you!”

“Adrien... all I asked was to refer to me as your girlfriend. I didn’t ask for your hand in marriage,” Marinette responded weakly.

“I don’t like labels. You know that. Plus how would it look if I was caught dating a baker’s daughter?”

She was taken aback by that remark, “So I can pour my heart out to you, give you all of me, and all that you need, but the second I ask something of you... you can’t comply no matter how small the task?!??” Marinette was seething, “You would not only degrade me, but my family just because we aren’t as rich as you? Adrien Alastair Agreste, you can do whatever you want! It’s clear to me that you don’t love me and now I’m not sure that I love you anymore either. I wish you the best without me because you and me: don’t exist remember?”

Adrien sighed, “Don’t be petty, Marinette. There’s no reason that we can’t continue whatever this is because you can’t control your emotions.”

Marinette hadn’t said a word when she calmly walked out of the Agreste Manor, she walked all the way home without a sound or tear falling from her Crystal blue eyes. Adrien didn’t even try to stop or follow her. He believed she would come back to him no matter what he did, and he was wrong. Once Marinette was gone, there was no turning back

*Line break*

A year had passed and Marinette had turn her website, “Miss Fortune,” into her own fashion house. Adrien had tried to contact her after he realized she wasn’t coming back, but she had blocked him on everything, changed her number, blocked his number, and moved to a whole other country.

Metropolis had been kind to the French-Asian woman, it had gifted her new loves: her friends. She was blessed with Jon Kent, Felix Culpa, Bridgette Yang, Garfield Logan (they met after he went to visit Jon). She also kept in contact with a reconciled Cloé, Kagami, and Luka. She had all the love she would ever need surrounding her or just one phone call away. She’s done with Cupid. She has no need for him after he delivered her to the devil on a silver platter. She vowed that she would never find that romanticized love. And Cupid, decided to take that as a personal challenge.

“Marinette please,” Jon clasped his hands together and pleaded with the French-Asian woman, “ i’m begging you here, one date that’s all I’m asking!”

“Jon, I’m not going to go on a date with someone I’ve never met. Who do you think I am?” Marinette said while working out.

“If not for you than for me, please! It’s my best friend and I promise he’s a good guy!” Jon was practically on his hands and knees at this point.

“You know how I feel about romance,” Marinette said just below a whisper.

“I know and I respect that, but he could really use someone as beautiful, talented, and sweet like someone like you,” Jon looked like a kicked puppy.

One look in his eyes and she was gone. Rookie mistake. Marinette sighed, “ I- you know what? Fine. I’ll go on this date just for you, but I swear if he is creepy or tries anything, Jon, I will not hesitate to destroy him.”

“You have my word my queen,” he said playfully.

“ Okay Superboy,” she laughed at his remark. It hadn’t taken her long to figure out that Job and Superboy are the same person.

How was he supposed to have a secret identity when his only protection is a pair of glasses when he’s a civilian? In retaliation she had disclosed to John that she was moonlighting as a superhero as well, Longmu. With Longg at her side now, Marinette became what is known as the queen of the dragons in China.

Luckily, Marinette did not have to make a new dress for the occasion. She had previously made a red cheongsam embroidered with flowers and ladybugs on top, there was a slit on her right leg that ended mid thigh, her hair was pinned back by two black hair clips, she wore black 4 inch stilettos, and had a black handbag with a rose painted on the front. Marinette is too humble to admit that she looked like a goddess.

After finishing getting ready, Marinette had 30 minutes before she had to be at the restaurant that they were meeting at. She had outgrown the habit of being late since she had become the CEO and founder of “Miss Fortune.” this restaurant in particular was her favorite. She’d come here whenever she had the time, and knew almost all of the staff by name.

Being a hero herself, Marinette, had made reservations to be poised out looking in the front door. Having said that she did not expect to see Robin in Metropolis, only to see him disappear and find another green eyed, black haired, gorgeous boy in his wake. said boy was none other than her date Damien Wayne.

The name seemed familiar, however, Marinette couldn’t put her finger on where she had heard it from. In any case she called him towards her table, “You must be Damien! Hi, my name is Marinette,” she extended her hand to greet him.

Damien was taken aback by Marinette beauty, though he’d never admit it. He quickly recovered and took her out reach to hand. He then took her hand up to his face to kiss it, “Damian, nice to meet you.”

After they were introduced, they had fell into pleasant Conversation and were beginning to be getting to know each other. They had ordered their food and ate dessert. Even after they paid, they stayed to chat. Not wanting the night to end so soon, Damien had offered the invitation to stroll around Metropolis city park.

As they continued their stroll, they came across a would be mugger. Before Damien could act, Marinette had already disarmed and pinned the man to the floor. She twisted his arm behind him as she asked if Damien was all right, “Hey, you okay? He didn’t hurt you did he?”

“How could he when you took them down before he had a chance? In any case, thank you,” Damian was impressed by Marinette’s combat skill, but had the question of how she knew what she knew.

Superboy had shown up to retrieve the criminal, “Marinette Dupain-Cheng, you know I could’ve gotten here before he did anything! You shouldn’t put yourself in unnecessary danger!” He whined even though it was all for show. Superboy knew that Marinette could easily beat him in a fight without kryptonite. Magic is his weakness after all.

“ I know but I had some precious cargo to take care of,” she sent a wink towards Damian’s direction. Suddenly it was 100 degrees on Damian’s face.

He knew Jon would never let him live this down, but what’s this about this not being the first time she has taken down wantabe thugs. Superboy finished his mock scolding and left with the apprehended suspect to the police station. Also, she’s the Marinette Dupain-Chang, “Wait, you said you’re into fashion, right? You would let happen to be the owner of the Miss Fortune fashion house, would you?”

Marinette nodded gingerly, “Yes, that’s me.”

“My brother would die if he knew it was you I was going out with tonight. He’s a huge fan of your work.”

“I’d be happy to sign something for him. And maybe give you my number?” Marinette asked sweetly.

She didn’t know what had gotten into her, after a year of not wanting anything to do with romance why would this guy (that she’s only known for a couple of hours) make a difference. She didn’t know, but also she didn’t mind, “That is, if you want it.”

“Yes!” Damian cleared his voice, “He would appreciate that, and I would be greatful if I could have your number. And if I maybe so bold, would you be willing to accompany me on another date some time soon?”

Cupid looked at the girl how would try and defy him with a smirk. No one can resist their fate. Marinette nodded rapidly, “I would love to, Damian.”

The night came to a close with both superheroes on cloud nine. Something about the other would draw them together. Once each had their chance, they would thank Jon for setting up this blind date for them.

*Line Break*

Two years have passed since their first date, now Damian and Marinette were attending a Charity Gala for Bruce when they came across Adrian “Asshole” Agreste. He had seen Marinette by herself as Damian stepped away to mingle with his brothers for a momment and Adrien saw an opening, “Long time no see, Princess.”

Marinette didn’t even acknowledge his presence, just as he did all those years ago. He no longer exsites to Marinette. Adrien died years ago in Marinette’s mind. She’d brushed him off in search of her boyfriend.

Adrien didn’t take kindly to being ignored, “So that’s it then? You’re not even going to say ‘hello?’ That’s petty.”

Marinette continued walking, refusing to turn back to give him what he wants. Eventually she found her loving boyfriend, only to find him down on one knee in front of everyone. Marinette raised her hands to her face in disbelief, “Marinette Louise Dupain-Cheng, I’ve been in love with you from the momment I laid my eyes on you. Every day I thank Jon for forcing me to go on that blind date with you. You are radiant, brilliant, talented, and many more things. Would you do me the honors of marrying me and adding Wayne to your already long name.”

Marinette’s face was wet with tears, she couldn’t find what to say. All she could do is nod and kiss her fiancée. Adrien was seething, he had lost.

Cupid looked down again, smirking in triumph. Looks like he won against another goddess and the devil.

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A/N: This is late because I had to rewrite it 3 times. Tumblr kept deleting it and I almost gave up, but I really wanted to make the readers of Daminette December smile a little. I hope you guys enjoyed. 🥺😊

@daminette-december2019

#daminette december #damientte #damimari #maribat #marinette dupain cheng #damian wayne #jon kent #adrien agrete salt #adrian salt #blind date au

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