#kinda dukeceit

[quackkaz]

Remus, teasingly : Come ooooooon, I'm one of the most responsible people you know!

Janus : I agree. Usually, when something happens, you're the one responsible.

[naminethewriter]

How It All Began

Chapter Four: A New Deal

Masterpost | First | Previous | Next | Ao3

Story Summary: Remus, son of a simple fisherman, had worked hard to become the captain of his own pirate ship. And in his humble opinion, it was going great! His crew was small but reliable and they had just stolen something that could them some nice cash from a military vessel they happened to cross on the open sea. They just needed to hide it somewhere until it was safe to sell. How lucky for them that they come across a nice, uninhabited island.

Little did Remus know just who he would find on that little piece of land and how it would change his life entirely.

Content Warning: Clay Construct that fails to emulate human anatomy, References to past Abuse, Riddles

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Logan was quite nervous. Janus had returned a few days after their last conversation to inform him that his patron wanted to speak to him in person about the request he made for Remus. She would arrive on the island the next day when the sun was at its apex to speak to him. It was just about time and Logan was pacing up and down his campsite. He was confident in Remus’ sincerity when making the request, he was unsure of whether he could properly convey as much to his patron.

Yes, he had talked with Lady Ala many times before but that still didn’t change her intimidating presence when he did. She was on the Council of Elemental Spirits for Nature’s sake! He could never meet her completely relaxed.

A rumble shook him out of his thoughts. No more time for worrying. She was here.

The ground under him vibrated as a mound of earth formed on the other side of the fire pit. It grew taller and taller, about seven feet before it formed humanoid features, a head with long hair and kind eyes on a slender body, smooth as the clay it was formed from. The limbs were just a bit too long and didn’t bend quite right which, along with the sheer height, made for an unsettling sight.

“Logan,” a melodic voice spilled past freshly formed lips that moved but didn’t have a mouth to conceal. “I hope you have been well.” Logan shook himself from his stupor and bowed. He had seen this process a few times before already, but it never failed to stun him.

“Yes, Your Grace. I haven’t been lacking.”

“Good. Good.” She smiled, her lips stretching too far along her face to seem human. “I am pleased to hear you make a request of us. I am always willing to hear you out, you know?”

“Yes, of course.” Logan did know that. Lady Ala had made it clear early on in their partnership that she wanted him to be comfortable in his new life since he had proven himself worthy of it. Still, Logan struggled with asking for more than the bare minimum he needed. His moss bed was something he had only been comfortable asking for after around fifty years of serving her.

“Though, this request isn’t technically for you, correct?”

“Indeed. It is for a… friend of mine.”

“You do not sound sure of using that title for him.” Her voice was as serene as before, but Logan felt like there was an edge to it. It must just be his nerves talking.

“We only briefly met but I do believe he is sincere. He spent a lot of time asking me questions about my… situation and was very forthcoming with personal information.”

“You spend such brief time together and yet he asked something so important of you?”

“It was a rare opportunity. There are few like me out there and there was no guarantee that we would meet again.”

“Is that what he told you or what you simple believe to be truth?”

Logan faltered. “He… did not tell me so outright but he implied as much before. And I do believe his intentions to be sincere. He does not wish to exploit you.”

“How are you so sure, my dear Logan? In such short time it is hard to find a person’s true character.”

“With all due respect, Lady Ala, but I am well acquainted with the sort of man who would seek you out solely to satisfy their greed.” Logan looked up at the clay construct that his patron had chosen to speak through. “I spent three years as their prisoner, unable to leave their ship. I know their eyes, the words they speak, the way they twist their words to present themselves in a better light. I know the ones that try to act like they pity me, that try to fool me into trusting them to get what they want. I spend three long years suffering under their hands. Remus is not like them. He is honest in his curiosity. He does not hide his blemishes. He has embraced who he is and forges his own path no matter what others say. He does not wish you harm or seek to exploit you. He is simply curious.”

Lady Ala was silent for a long moment, watching him from her high vantage point but Logan didn’t shrink under her gaze.

“You speak very highly of this person.”

“Yes, he is one of the most impressive people I have ever met. I think he deserves a chance to prove himself to you as well.”

“Very well. I will grant him a chance.”

“Thank you, Your Grace.”

“How could I not be intrigued by a man that you chose to put your trust into, my dear Logan? I was worried you were growing lonely recently.” She watched him attentively. Logan knew she saw him as one of her ‘children’ and that she cared about him more than his research, even if not everyone on the Council shared that sentiment. But he couldn’t see her in that light at all. She was superior to him, a being higher than himself, he couldn’t familiarize himself with her in that way. And she respected that, thankfully.

“I am very satisfied with my living conditions here, Your Grace. Janus and Virgil are companionship enough for me.”

“If you say so, I shall believe it.” She nodded her head and straightened her posture, towing at her full height over him. “Now then. In regard to the trial the human you call Remus shall face, along with those he travels with, I will leave it to Janus to deliver the quest. He will be his last judge. You will relocate as planned. You are not to provide aid to this human.”

“How could I aid him if I am away from here? I will be gone before he returns.”

“Indeed. However, I shall share with you the details of his quest. You are not to leave aid for him here when you leave.”

Logan frowned slightly but nodded. “Understood.”

“Good. Then listen.”

~~~

Two hours later, Logan walked across the island, following along the creek upstream. From what Lady Ala had told him, the trial Remus had to overcome to prove his worth wasn’t all that complicated, even if he knew that the instructions themselves would be presented in a riddle. Still, Remus was an intelligent man, Logan had no doubt that he would be able to figure out what he was meant to do. But there was one part of the trial that he supposed Remus could use some advice on. Lady Ala had forbidden him from aiding Remus in his quest, but Logan was sure he could leave a simple book recommendation behind for the pirate to find, right? He arrived at a familiar cliff and stuffed a ripped page from his notebook into his pocket and started climbing.

Once he returned to camp it was time to start packing. His time here was up. He just hoped he would encounter Remus again on another island somewhere out there.

~~~

Almost half a year. Remus hated that it took them almost half a year to return to Logan’s island. The damned navy wouldn’t give up controlling ships entering harbors in order to find the seal until last month. Being a pirate in general during those months had kinda been a pain, but they managed just fine. And now the whole thing had passed, and they should be able to smuggle the seal to a good buyer without much problem. Not that Remus cared that much about it anymore, he just wanted to see Logan again. The man had been haunting his dreams and maybe not just because he was an Immortal.

Maybe Remus just thought his eyes were pretty.

He was gay, fucking sue him.

Anyway, they were approaching their destination at a steady pace and should arrive there before noon the next day. Remus was so excited he considered not sleeping for the whole night. Which was a stupid plan, especially since he had already been sleeping less these past few days due to being too excited. He suspected that his crew knew they weren’t only returning to grab the seal but none of them had asked him any questions. He and Patton hadn’t told them anything about Logan so far and Remus didn’t want to share with them more until he was sure they would actually get the chance to prove themselves to the Elemental Spirits themselves.

A knock on his door pulled him out of his thoughts.

“Come in!”

His door opened but a crack before Patton’s voice floated over to him, “You’re decent, right, Captain?”

Remus snorted. “Yes, Pat. I got all my clothes on, don’t worry.” The cook peeked inside, only stepping across the threshold when he saw that Remus hadn’t lied.

“We’ll be at our destination about two hours after sunrise according to Corbin,” Patton reported with a small smile.

“Good.”

“The others are wondering how long we’re going to be docking there this time.”

“I have no idea, Pat. I guess it depends on what Logan’s got for us. If it’s just a straight up ‘no’ then I guess we would stay for like a day or two to chat, maybe introduce him to the rest of the crew if he’s chill with it. If it’s a ‘yes’ though… Well, then there’s no telling where it will lead us. As Logan said, we’ll have to prove ourselves worthy to meet the Council and whatever we have to do to do so? We’ll do it.”

“I understand. So, I’m telling the others to be ready to take off again whenever?”

“Yeah, pretty much.”

“Okay, got it.” Patton nodded while fiddling with his sleeves. “Are you really sure about this, Remus?” He asked quietly, almost too quiet for Remus to hear. He knew Patton had his doubts – well, he still had his doubts about their whole profession, but this was another other level of danger. Him using his name instead of his title just stressed how much it was on his mind.

“I’m super certain, Pat. If you don’t want to come along then I understand, of course. We’ll set you off at a good harbor.”

Immediately, Patton shook his head. “No, I promised I would stick with you, no matter what and I meant it! You saved my life, I’m staying.”

“Patton, I…”

“No, I know. You don’t see it as a debt and neither do I, I just want to help you.”

Remus sighed. “Yeah, I know. I just don’t want you to force yourself into danger for my sake.”

“I’m not. I want to meet the Spirits, too. I’m just worried what will happen if things go wrong.”

“Oh, I’m sure they will!” Remus laughed, winking at Patton. “But whatever happens, I’m sure we can handle it. We always managed before, haven’t we?”

“I wish I had your confidence,” Patton chuckled weakly. “But okay, I’ll give your orders to the crew. Try to sleep, Captain. Tomorrow is going to be a lot.”

“Yeah, I know. I promise, I’ll try to sleep. Goodnight, Pat.”

“Goodnight, Captain.”

~~~

True to Corbin’s word, they anchored by Logan’s island a little over two hours after sunrise. Remus and Patton were the only ones to set off towards land this time and the captain was determined to meet Logan on his own for now. Patton respected his choice and waited on the beach. Remus entered the jungle alone and thankfully he had a good memory and a trusty compass that guided him in the right direction towards Logan’s camp quickly.

He found the path he had traversed with Logan back then, but it was different than before. More overgrown. As if nobody had walked along it for a while. A bad feeling spread through Remus’ chest and he quickened his steps. Maybe he was just imagining it. Maybe Logan just hadn’t had a reason to come this way recently. Yeah, he was sure the nerd was fine. He had to be.

Still, the sense of dread wouldn’t leave him alone the entire way to Logan’s camp. His eyes flitted around without rest, hyperaware of every movement around him, though it was mostly leaves being swayed by the rather strong winds of the day. Remus tried to take deep breaths to calm himself down but that was kinda hard to do while powerwalking along an uneven path.

Ten minutes later he broke through the line of trees into the clearing that contained Logan’s camp.

And his heart sank.

There was nothing there.

Well, that wasn’t entirely true. The indent of the fireplace was still there but it was empty. As was the space under the stone awning that had previously held Logan’s bed and belongings.

No trace of the Immortal was left.

Remus gripped the locket on his chest through his shirt as his heartbeat picked up.

He panicked.

He began to run, calling out Logan’s name in the hopes that he was mistaken. He had to be on the island somewhere, right? Maybe he had just moved his camp for some reason. That was the only explanation Remus could think of.

Well, that wasn’t true, but it was the only positive explanation he could think of.

He forced himself to not think about the possibility that his request could have led to Logan suffering the consequences. That the Council had rescinded their blessing because he had been too greedy.

Remus ran, calling and calling, but he didn’t receive an answer.

He ran around like a headless chicken for about ten minutes until he broke through the tree line again onto a beach. Not the beach where Patton was waiting with the rowboat but a small bay that was quite hidden between two cliffsides. There, Remus stopped, gasping for breath. He leaned on his knees, staring at the sand beneath him as he tried to force air back into his lungs.

“You’re quite a loud one,” a voice commented. It wasn’t one Remus had heard before, but he was sure it was just in his head, after all, no one else but him and Patton were here. And Logan. Hopefully.

“I gotta…” He heaved for air. “I gotta find him.” Why was he talking to a voice in his head? Because he needed to sort his thoughts and talking out loud helped him with that.

“Why?”

“Because I told him I’d come back.”

“Well, he’s not here.”

“He has to be. If he’s not here then… where is he?”

“If this is about your meeting with the Council, I am here to speak with you about that.” Remus head snapped up. Maybe this wasn’t a voice in his head after all.

His green eyes met gleaming gold. A Siren sat on a stone jutting out of the sea in front of him, the tail disappearing under the waves lapping at the rock. The sun caused his scales to sparkle, and his long hair flowed in the wind like some sort of goddess paintings he had seen in the few temples he had visited.

“Fuck, you’re gorgeous,” Remus breathed. Apparently loud enough for the siren to hear because he raised a brow. “Sorry, you caught me off guard.”

“Yes, I noticed. So, the deal.” The siren opened his mouth to continue but Remus cut him off.

“Wait, what about Logan?”

“Why do you care? I’ll give you your task, that’s what you want, right?” His voice was cold, and Remus remembered Logan mentioning that both of the siren’s he made regular contact with weren’t fond of humans. This was probably one of them.

“I mean, I can’t say I don’t want it but I also wanna know if Logie’s okay. He’s my friend and if my asking him for an audience with the Council got him in trouble, I don’t want to meet them.” The siren looked at him skeptically, taking his time deliberating his words.

He seemed to deem him sincere after a few moments because he reassured him, “Logan’s fine. He just moved to another isle.”

“Why? Did I do something?” Again, the siren looked surprised.

“No. His relocation was decided long before you came here. It just happened to coincide with your appearance and request.”

“So I can go see him then? Wherever he is now? You know, right?”

“I do. But I’m not going to tell you.” The siren said it with a grin, showing off his sharp teeth. Remus scowled.

“Why not?”

“Because it would make this thing rather pointless, wouldn’t it?” From behind his back, the mer pulled a glass bottle into view. From the distance Remus could see it contained a role of paper. “This holds your instructions to prove yourself worthy of being considered for an audience, as you call it.” Remus watched as he played with the bottle, suspicious of the siren’s intentions.

“What’s the catch? And what does it have to do with me meeting Logan again?”

“If you do this correctly, then it will lead you to Logan’s new home and if you make it there in one piece, you will be allowed to take on the real tests to prove your honest intentions towards the Council. A trial run, I believe you humans call it.”

“Then give it here.” Remus held out his hand, ready to catch the bottle if thrown but the siren just smiled coyly and placed it back behind him.

“Not yet, I think.”

“Why?” The pirate grit his teeth in irritation. The mer was burning daylight, he wanted to get going, to figure out where Logan went.

“Because I’m not willing to acknowledge you as a candidate yet. Logan says he trusts you, but I don’t buy it. You two met three times and one of those you killed him. And yet he wants to give you a chance to meet the entities he has sworn to protect and serve? It doesn’t add up.” The siren stared at him with piercing eyes full of mistrust. Fine, he wanted to play this game? Remus would oblige.

“What do you want me to do then? To earn your trust?”

“I have questions for you. Answer them and I might give you the bottle. And don’t try to lie to me, I can tell when you do.”

With a sign, Remus let himself fall on his butt in the sand. “Shoot.”

~~~

Remus let himself be interrogated for hours. He answered the siren’s questions, no matter how private. At least the ones about himself. The mer also tried to get detail about his crew but Remus refused to offer up their information without their consent. He figured he did the right thing there when the siren didn’t push him further. Eventually the questions stopped and they simply stared at each other for a while. Remus didn’t speak up, daring the siren to continue badgering him.

“Fine. I have to admit, Logan’s seems like a better judge of character than I thought,” the mer sighed and threw the bottle in Remus’ direction. It landed a few feet to his left with a dull thud. Remus didn’t reach for it right away, watching the siren. “What are you waiting for, pirate?”

“What’s your name?”

“Why do you want to know?”

“I just want to know. Logan told me about two sirens that visit him and I think I know which one you are.”

“Oh, really?” the other asked, brows raised again. “Enlighten me then.”

“Janus, right?”

“Correct.” The siren looked like he had bit into something bitter as his name left Remus’ lips. “You have quite the memory.”

“I tend to remember things I find interesting. And I’ve always wanted to meet a siren.”

“You didn’t look so happy to meet me a few hours ago.”

“Yeah, ‘cause I was worried about Logan more. You promise he’s alright?”

“Yes. He is fine and doing his research like he’s supposed to.” Remus glanced at the bottle before meeting Janus’ gaze again.

“And if I manage to clear your trial, I can see him again.”

“Yes.”

“Okay.” Remus got up, shaking the sand off his pants before finally going over to grab the glass container and looking inside. It indeed was a rolled-up piece of paper. He put the bottle in his satchel to look at when he was back on the ship. “Thank you,” he said to the siren that looked surprised at his words.

“Why thank me? I kept you here and made you humor me.”

“Yeah, and that was kinda a dick move, but you also gave me a way to meet my friend again, so I’ll take it.”

“You’re strange, human.”

“So I’ve heard. Can I go now?” The siren waved his arm as if to shoo him off and with an eye roll, Remus walked back into the jungle. Behind him he heard the splash of Janus diving back into the water. He really hoped that one day he could bombard the siren with his own questions, but for now he had a seal to collect, a crew to return to and a piece of paper to pull out of a bottle and decipher. He pulled out his compass. Time to find his way back to the creek.

~~~

Around two hours later, Remus pulled Patton into his quarters. He had told his crew to set sail towards the harbor where he hoped to sell the seal. Meanwhile, he and Patton would see what was given to them by Janus.

“And you’re sure Logan’s fine?” Patton asked for the third time after Remus pulled the door shut behind him.

“I think we can trust the siren’s words, yeah.”

“I don’t like it.”

“Me neither, but there’s nothing else we can do. This—“ He held up the glass bottle. “—is the only clue we have, so let’s concentrate on that.”

“Yeah, you’re right. I just worry,” Patton sighed, sitting down in a chair in front of Remus’ desk while the captain sat behind it.

“I know, Pat. Let’s get you distracted.” With a grin, Remus held up the bottle, fully intending to smash it against the desk to break it open.

“STOP!” Patton all but screamed, eyes wide. “Captain, that’s a horrible idea! The shards would be everywhere. They will hit us!”

“Oh, right. Oops?” The other glared at Remus but didn’t say more. Instead, he took the bottle from Remus and inspected the neck and contents.

“I think the paper is wrapped tightly enough that it will just slip out if we pull the cork.”

“Boring!”

“Want me to get Emile so he can lecture you about safety procedures again?”

“Don’t threaten me, Pat, this is my fucking ship.” Despite his words, Remus’ tone was more akin to a whine than actual annoyance.

“Then don’t put yourself in harm’s way over a stupid message in a bottle.” Patton pulled out a corkscrew out of his pocket – he really carried that around with him? – and gently shook the paper out. It fell into his hands, and he handed it over to Remus who eagerly pulled away the piece of twine keeping it rolled up. It wasn’t very big and only a few lines were written on it. He read it out:

“To find where you need to go, visit the roaring mountain lying between the Mouth of the Ocean and the Ever-Frozen Isle. Offer your precious to the heart of the temple standing on the mountain’s side and then the stars shall guide you to your destiny.”

Both of them were quiet for a moment, trying to process the words. Remus read the note over and over while Patton stared at the ceiling in thought.

“I think I know what they mean by ‘Ever-Frozen Isle’,” Remus muttered, squinting at the paper in his hand, “but what the hell is a ‘roaring mountain’ supposed to be?”

“Couldn’t that mean a volcano?” Patton questioned. “I don’t know a lot about sea legends apart from what you told me since they weren’t common where I come from, but we did have some about volcano outbreaks. And in those there would be verses like ‘the mountains roared and the flames followed’ or something along those lines.”

“Hm, makes sense, I guess,” Remus hummed. “Then what is the ‘Mouth of the Ocean’?”

“I never heard of it. What do you think the ‘Ever-Frozen Isle’ is?”

“It’s a common legend about an Island in the south seas where it’s always winter. It’s supposed to be super beautiful but getting there requires sailing through quite a few hazards, not to mention that you need to be prepared for the freezing temperatures once there, so there aren’t many records about it.”

“Fascinating!” Patton was on the edge of his seat listening to Remus. “I would love to see it; I’ve never even seen snow!”

Remus laughed. “Maybe someday we’ll go there if we can find some stuff to protect us from the cold.” The other beamed. “Anyway, this will require research, I think. We’ll ask the others if they can think what any of this means but even if they do, we’ll likely need more precise coordinates and maps.” They’d most likely need to visit a library. Remus hated places that forced quietness. Patton looked at him empathetically.

“Maybe it won’t be so bad. Let’s see what the others think first? How much are we telling them anyway?”

“Just that we got something interesting going on and that they’ll get the details later. I don’t want to get their hopes up.”

“I understand,” Patton smiled weakly. He didn’t like secrets, but those were his captain’s orders, so he would stay quiet on the subject. He was about to stand and make his way to the door to gather the crew but suddenly stopped short. “Did you get the seal?”

Oh right. Over all of Patton’s worrying over Logan, he had forgotten to check the box he had retrieved from the hiding place the Immortal had shown them. He pulled the wooden container out of the satchel and placed it on the desk in front of him. Patton leaned closer to peek inside. Remus opened the lid to find the seal where he had left it, as well as a piece of paper that hadn’t been there before. He pulled it out, unfolded it and began to read.

Dear Remus (and Patton),

I apologize that I am not there to greet you, but I must to continue my research elsewhere.

This has been planned for a while and I cannot stall it any longer, nor do I truly want to.

If you are serious about your request, I am sure we will meet again soon.

Speaking of which, I was told not to aid you and I shall refrain from doing so, however, I wanted to share with you a rumor I heard while still at court before my time with the Spirits.

Back then there was talk of a book, written by a rather well-known researcher on the subject of Sirens and their culture. The man, Frederick van Woodsworth was his name, I believe, had been believed to been lost at sea for many years before he miraculously returned one day. He spoke of having been saved by a siren and living alongside them for a long period of time. Of course, he was deemed insane for his claims, after all, it was widely believed back then that Sirens are nothing but bloodthirsty creatures out to kill humans. Woodsworth was ridiculed and cast out.

He wrote his experiences down in a book and attempted to publish it but was detained for treason. The copies of his book should still exist, however. I heard of one of them being kept in the library of Marblerock Port, not far from here. It’s probably not accessible to the public, however.

I hope you find use in this tale.

Until we meet again,

Logan

Remus stared at the letter with a raised brow.

“What the fuck is he trying to say with this?!”

“I’m not sure,” Patton hummed, suddenly standing behind him and reading over his shoulder. “Maybe he just thought you might find it interesting since you told him you’d like to meet a siren one day?”

“I don’t know. I feel like he’s trying to tell me something, but I have no clue what.” Remus squinted at the letters, trying to will them to reveal their secrets to him. Nothing happened, sadly. “I don’t have the patience for riddles! And now I have two!” he groaned. Patton pat him on the shoulder.

“Let’s look on the bright side! You and I already have some leads on two parts of the riddle and I’m sure the others have something to contribute, too. And if we need to do some research anyway, going to this specific library works just as well as going to any other, right?”

“Yeah, I guess. Let’s see if the others can prove to me that it’s beneficial to keep them around.”

“That’s not nice!” Patton protested, but Remus was already moving past him.

“Relax, Pat. It’s just a joke. They could all break a leg tomorrow and I would let them stay, you know that. Hell, they can haunt me if they want, I still wouldn’t want to get rid of them.”

“Yes, I know,” Patton giggled, following his captain out of the room and up on deck.

“Okay, chucklefucks!” Remus called out loudly. “I’ve got a riddle for you and if you can help me figure it out, we can go on the adventure of our lifetime!”

[pheonix-inside]

Guys guys guys. I have an idea for a Sanders Sides hero/vigilante/villain fic. With the characters, their arcs, and the basic plot all figured out.

I got this idea yesterday at like 2 am. I think I was given magic.

Anyway time to write about teen vigilante Roman realizing that being a superhero isn't actually as wonderful as the thought, and learning more about his family than he ever thought he would. Yippee.

[halfhissandwich]

Ok I legitimately made myself curious with my own post of Roman writing analogical fanfiction, so this is what we’re doing: if the sides were aware of the ships of themselves, what would they ship? (Ft too much analysis from yours truly)

Logan: I like imagining that every side in the moralogince trio ships the other duo that’s not them, so that would mean Logan would ship royality (which makes sense, he’d probably think “what dorks, they would be a nice couple”). I also think he is the only side who would ship Moceit just because he can see the progression and he thinks it’s sweet. I also see him shipping Dukexiety for literally no reason other than “spooky.” He also has this weird thing: “I don’t want to date Janus, but I would ship loceit”

Roman: Oh you know analogical is his otp. He shipped logicality (to go along with the moralogince thing) until Accepting Anxiety, and then he claimed his title as the number one analogical shipper. I can’t really see him shipping anything else, maybe dukeceit since they’re both “villains” in Roman’s eyes

Patton: Logince, he wants them to be married. Patton just… ships everyone with himself. I can kind of see him shipping loceit since both of them are more serious and smart, I also see him casually shipping analogical but nowhere near as much as Roman does. Basically uh, Patton likes Logan ships.

Virgil: I will never forget the livestream where Virgil wrote a Dukeceit fanfic. Virgil ships Dukeceit—it’s the only Janus ship he will ever tolerate. He also might ship Intrulogical just because Remus and Logan can kinda have mad scientist vibes but Virgil’s not really big on shipping Janus or Remus with anyone really, besides each other. (Also I think he ships logince but I have no reasoning to back this one up)

Janus: Hot take, Janus would die for royality. He loves royality as much as Roman loves analogical. He chills in his room, everyone thinks he’s plotting something evil, no. He stole Roman and Patton plushies and he’s making them kiss. He also kinda likes prinxiety because he thinks it’s fun how much they hate him, but his main ship is royality, he loves the cute besties to lovers thing and he will never ever admit it

Remus: … yeah you all saw this coming, he definitely ships roceit. His brother and his best friend, Remus definitely ships them just because they’re the ones he likes the most. Plus, the ✨drama✨. I also think he ships anxceit bc damn he wants his friends to kiss and make up.

[ax3-e0ns]

What's the bitularity au? The one in the dukeceit hair post?

Heyo, sorry for taking forever to answer this; but outside of that I'm glad you asked! Okay the basic concept of Bitularity AU includes the characters of Sanders Sides, Inside Out, and Slay the Princess all coexisting within one world.

(I've yet to decide if I'm gonna give all the characters their own names or if I'm gonna just stick to source on this specifically)

However! There is a twist! The world itself functions as a cross between Soul Eater and Steven Universe. This specifically refers to characters both being able to summon their own weapon, and be able to shapeshift. This works really well for characters like The Thorn, who now has an additional level to being able to summon her own knife.

Or characters like The Razor, who can just become the knives. This opens the flood gates for characters designs of all sorts... and gives me free reign to give Janus multiple arms as often as I want-

I do need to kinda throw myself under the bus on this, though. The hair image brought up is this post. Unfortunately this post isn't really cannon to the Bitularity universe anymore.

This is because, prior to adding Slay the Princess and Inside Out to the mix, the AU was reworked by that point where all the characters would be in a polycule. But by the time I added additional properties to the mix I decided to go back to the original concept of the main relationship focus being on Patton Sanders and Remus Sanders, as by adding the additional bits of inspiration I had two options: either make the main focus one property and everything else as just set dressing (which I am not the biggest fan of doing tbh) or go back to an earlier set of plans that can have the issues in there be ironed out with these additional characters? I basically chose to kill one darling and then revived another one.

(I ultimately feel that this is for the best since this way I can have fun with expanding the narrative and create some character interactions I think would be really enjoyable.)

This also means I can work with having an antagonist that would absolutely work way better than whatever main villain I was trying to cook up, the Narrator.

So yeah, thanks for coming to my TED Talk.

[oatmealdaydreams]

The Gay Returns!

I totally didn't forget about my playlist series, nooo-

A Reminder: these playlists are my own. They're just songs that remind me of the Sides + other characters. Not their actual/official playlists.

I included all pairings that have at least 1 song. Most of them have very few or only one song. Some of them have more, but that's only a few pairings.

[virgil-my-emo-son]

Lavender and Rosemary

Dukeceit Week 2024 Day 3, Cats!

Dukeceit Week 2024 is run by @imnotgrimimjustagrumpyreaper ! Also tagging @dukeceitweek ! Day three!!!

This one is a bit heavier than yesterday, trigger warning, Remus is just coming out of a hypomanic episode. Nothing serious has happened except for him impulsively jumping in a river which I imagine to be the Ohio River because I grew up by the Ohio River and it scares me lol. Remus's experiences are heavily based on my own experiences with hypomania.

However it is still quite fluffy, more hurt comfort than anything focused on the actual hypomanic experience! Their dynamic is once again very heavily inspired by TMDORG by Grim!

Ao3

Remus hit Janus’s doorbell and shifted his weight from one foot to the other, hyper aware of the water dripping off of him and pooling by his feet.

Janus opened the door and looked him up and down. “It’s March.”

“Yeah.”

“You went swimming?”

Remus shrugged. “Yeah.”

Janus opened the door. “Come in.”

Remus came in. He’d never actually been to Janus’s apartment. While they’d been hanging out in the same small circle of six people since high school, Remus had never been as close with Janus as he had with the others.

Which is exactly why he’d tracked him down on the Find My iPhone app.

Remus had already made a promise in some manner or another to all their other friends that he’d tell them if he was having a hypomanic episode, no matter how brief. And he was scared to tell them that it had been four days, four days that he hadn’t talked to them, and he was finally beginning to crash.

Remus had been so immersed in his thoughts that didn’t even realize Janus had walked out of the room until he was walking back in with a towel and a matching fluffy robe.

“Here.” Janus held them out to him.

“Thanks.” Remus gave a small smile, then glanced around for the bathroom.

“That way.” Janus motioned his head to the left. Remus nodded and walked over to the door, which did indeed lead to a bathroom.

“Do you mind if I take a shower?”

“Not at all.” Janus offered a small smile.

“Thank you, Jan.”

“Of course.”

As Remus stood under the water he’d turned on so hot it was nearly burning his skin, he was thinking about what he’d say to Janus when he went back out. He ran through a few things in his mind before he decided he didn’t like any of them and that he’d just vibe it.

He looked for a moment at Janus’s assortment of colorful bottles on the corner ledge. He saw at least three which looked like some version of body wash, so he opened the top of each one and smelled them. He decided on a rosemary and lavender scented gel in an appropriately purple bottle.

He closed his eyes as he tilted his head back into the water, letting it wash the bubbles off his skin.

Remus slipped on the robe once he’d dried off. It was deep grey and soft, with a small snake emblem embroidered on the left breast.

Janus raised his eyebrows when Remus walked back out. “You look like a cooked lobster.”

“Do I?” Remus waggled his own eyebrows. “Good enough to eat?”

Janus rolled his eyes. “Sure.” He patted the couch beside him. “Sit.”

Remus climbed over the arm of the couch to sit where Janus had indicated, hugging his knees against his chest.

 “Uncurl.”

Remus fixed him with a suspicious look. “Why should I?”

“Because I made you hot chocolate, and I’ll only give it to you if you open up and tell me what’s going on.”

Remus sighed, eyeing the black mug in Janus’s hand. He made a grabbing motion, and Janus handed it to him as he let his feet fall to the floor. He held it between his palms, looking down at the mini marshmallows.

“I had an episode. That’s why I was all wet, I had this impulsive thought to jump in the river.”

“The river?” Janus’s eyes widened. “The river’s gross. How did you not get eaten by a giant catfish or something?”

Remus shrugged. “Beats me. The water was so cold, though… it kinda snapped me out of my head. I was like, ‘what am I doing?’ Usually, I don’t have those sorta self-aware moments, but today… I guess it was just different.”

Janus only nodded, encouraging Remus to continue, so Remus continued.

“I don’t know, I told everyone I’d tell them if I needed anything, or if I got manic, or I suppose hypomanic. And I didn’t. And I was worried they’d get all mad at me, so I figured I’d go to the one person I hadn’t made that deal with.”

Janus nodded again. “I see. I’m really glad you came, Remus.” He gave a gentle smile. “I’m glad a catfish didn’t get you.”

Remus laughed. “I am too, Janus.”

“Do you want to talk more, or do you want to do something else?”

Remus considered for a moment. “I’m really tired… can I just have a pillow or something for the couch?”

“My bed’s a queen.” Janus tilted his head. “That’s definitely big enough for two.”

“Jan, I don’t want to encroach—”

“You’re not encroaching. I’m offering.”

Remus examined his face for a moment, looking for a hint of hesitation he couldn’t find. “Then, yes. I accept your offer.”

Janus smiled. “Come on.”

Remus trailed behind him into his bedroom, which was neat and tidy and yellow and black. It looked exactly like what Remus expected Janus’s bedroom to look like.

“Here, let me get you a T-shirt and some shorts, and I’ll brush my teeth, and we can get to sleep.”

Remus changed in the bedroom as Janus was in the bathroom. It all felt so domestic, getting changed from a robe into pajamas. Getting ready to sleep in a bed together.

Remus felt like he could get used to this.

Janus walked back in, pulling his long hair back into a ponytail and looking past him to the bed. “Get out of there, Python.”

Remus turned to see a dark grey cat leap off the bed, looking at him with wide yellow eyes before disappearing.

“Python? Like the snake?”

“Like the programming language.” Janus grinned. “You know I’m a STEM guy.”

“God, you are such a nerd.” Remus pulled back the grey striped comforter, getting into the left side of the bed while Janus climbed into the right.

“Can… how do you want to do this?” Janus asked.

“Um… I…” Remus swallowed. “Do you mind holding my hand?”

“All night?”

“You don’t have to.”

Janus’s hand found his, warm, stable, comforting. “Anything that will make you feel better.”

“Thank you.” Remus whispered as Janus’s other hand clicked off the bedside table light.

“Of course, Remus.” Janus whispered back into the darkness. “Do I smell… did you use my body wash? The lavender rosemary?”

“I did. I hope that’s—”

“Oh, it’s fine.” Janus squeezed his hand. “I don’t mind. Just was wondering.”

“Okay.” Remus squeezed back. “You always smell nice, I wanted to smell nice, too.”

“I smell nice, do I?”

“You do.” Remus scooted infinitesimally closer to him.

“Mm. Thank you.” Janus hummed, and Remus could’ve sworn he shifted a bit towards him, too.

[dndeceit]

I've been meaning to share more fanfic recs, and then not remembering to do that. Gonna try to make it a weekly thing on Fridays (we'll see if that sticks).

(I'll be tagging these "fander fic rec friday" if anyone would like to join me in reccing some fics they love.)

Animal Skin and Take a Bite by Willowanderer Supernatural AU. (Dukeceit, Prinxiety) Rating: M Janus and Virgil are brothers who meet a pair of intriguing twins. An amusing amount of drama (romance, mystery, patricide) ensues. Notes: I almost missed "Take a Bite" because I filter out the Underage tag, but I saw a post with art from the fic and decided to take a chance. The warning is there for mentions of trafficking involving an underage character, but nothing happens within in the fic itself. (It's also tagged for references to bestiality, but that's in the context of a hypothetical scenario involving a sapient shapeshifter, because Remus gotta be Remus. Not actually bestiality and again, nothing actually happens in the fic.)

Bonding over scales by FeelingGroovySmooth Canonverse. (Intruality) Rating: M Remus is pining for Patton. Janus plays matchmaker by roping them both into helping him with his scale-care routine. Notes: This one is so funny. Janus as a matchmaker is so underused in this fandom. I think it's rated a bit high for its actual content, I probably wouldn't have put this as more than a T (but then I also have very lax standards). (Warning though, if you have a fingernail squick like me: this isn't a shed fic so much as a manicure fic in disguise because his scales grow like fingernails. Not gonna lie, that gave me the willies.)

Here's a pair of older fics I reread recently. Pairing them together, because they have similar themes:

Rewrites and Losses by DoomedKelpie Canonverse. (Gen) Rating: T Janus wakes up in the mindscape with no memory of being Deceit. Notes: One of my favorite tropes is the idea of the Sides' roles changing over time, and this one plays with that idea really well.

Myosotis by cloakoflevitation Canonverse. (Gen) Rating: T Virgil loses his memories from the beginning of the series onward. He doesn't remember meeting Thomas in person or being accepted, and he doesn't know why Janus and Remus are so upset to see him come home... Notes: This one hurts so good. Love fics about Virgil mending things with the others.

WIPs (I don't read WIPs as often as I probably should, but these are some that have made me glad for making an exception.)

Wolfsbane by TheFoxofFiction Supernatural/Fantasy AU. (Loceit, slowburn) Rating: T Janus is a werewolf fleeing a past filled with isolation and tragedy who, after a brush with death, falls into the care of a witch (Logan). Notes: The angst in this is exquisite.

Friendly Neighborhood Criminals by LeFay_Strent Modern AU. (Gen) Rating: T Patton is a a sweet, abused puffball who manages to attract the protection of three quirky criminal guardian angels after they break into his apartment. Notes: The cutest shit, I swear to God. Putting it with WIPs for hinted intrigue down the line, but so far the chapters read as completed fics.

Me, Myself, and These Guys Who Kinda Look Like Me by LeFay_Strent Canon AU. (Gen) Rating: T A story about Thomas meeting his sides when they manifest in front of him for the first time. Notes: This one is so interesting because no one knows what is going on. The Sides don't know what they are or why they're connected to Thomas, they just know he's the center of their world, and that's...a lot for Thomas to try and wrap his head around. It's so good.

[tulipanthousa]

So Tumblr is being weird and not letting me send an ask from my nsfw blog for some reason. I was wondering, for any of your verses, what are some terms that characters in relationships use for each other that don't leave the bedroom (if you know what I mean)?

-Kytia

you cant send an ask from sideblogs, only your main, an issue we've been complaining about for ten years

Pieces verse

Logicality - theyre very switchy and they do this kind of teasing, sweetly condescending brand of degradation. Logan's not a slut he's PATTON'S adorable slut who he loves very much, and vice versa. however Logan would absolutely never use or enjoy these outside the bedroom (even if patton wouldnt care, he cares about logans boundaries)

prinxiety - okay so Roman does get in bratty moods for Virgil sometimes but its so aksjhaskjdh just precious kinda of bratting. pouty boy. feet stomper. the worst he ever gets is a "brat" dripping with fondness, and its saved for when theyre alone.

Dukeceit - most of them lol. they both talk a big game about exhibitionism but Janus is mortified by the actual vulnerability of it, so they are always at least mostly alone/at most will be overheard.

LAOFT

okay so the thing about dirty talk in laoft is that roleplay and degradation are a bit difficult for virgil and logan, who cant lie. Virgil first heard most deragatory names used during sex by humans in the context of people flinging it in slur form at greta, which pretty much irrevocably stored them in the "insults" part of his brain, so he's a no-go Logan is a little more complicated, because he knows they dont have to be insults, but he could still never manage to say them because he believes they're insult, mostly do his own hang-ups about being polyamourous leftover from when they were teenagers.

however i do have like 15% of an idea where io and remus (who have none of the above stated hangups) joking call each other whores all the time (because the entire reason io exists is because me and remus have the same sense of humor lol) and logan and virgil are Scandalized but it makes them re-examine their positions

and also so i can write the silver foxes fucking nasty

[rose-coloured-prince]

hello! i’m also a big sanders sides nerd <3

what’s your opinion on the more vanilla ships, like logicality, prinxiety, and dukeceit? i used to be super into those, but i think i eventually started to find them kinda boring??? have you experienced that or is it just me?

also do you see logince as soft or snarky? i cant décide

I wouldnt call them vanilla... just popular lol

Theyre good! I like dukeceit the most out of those three. I enjoy prinxiety quite alot too. I really only enjoy logicality queerplatonically but im trying to get back into it.

Theyre all cute and soft.

And I see logince as BOTH! They can be soft and help each other and praise each other on their skills and be a good team AND they can be so snarky and just throw insults and be so competitive! I think they would start competitions over anything just because theyre so prideful and think they know best.

I love them!

[i-am-bitterly-jittery]

Day 2: Birthday/Surprise

For @moxiety-week

Word Count: 825

Rating: Teen

Pairings: Moxiety 💙💜 implied Logince and Dukeceit

Warnings: mildly suggestive flirting, a generous amount of Pokémon puns

~~~START~~~

Patton told Roman that he shouldn’t be the one to keep Virgil away from his surprise party, he told him that he was no good at keeping secrets and that Virgil would see right through him in two seconds flat, but Roman had insisted. Roman and logan couldn’t do it because they had to set up the party — Roman in charge of the festive stuff and Logan in charge of the logistical stuff; Remus couldn’t do it because he would either tell Virgil about the party without trying to hide it, or skip the party entirely for shits and giggles; Janus couldn’t do it because Virgil would accuse him of trying to kidnap him as soon as Janus tried to get him to go to the party; Remy couldn’t do it because he would get Virgil too jacked up on caffeine; and Emile couldn’t do it because he wouldn’t get off work until right before the party. 

Besides, Patton was Virgil’s boyfriend, it would look weird if Patton was avoiding him on his birthday. 

So far keeping Virgil out of their apartment was going pretty smoothly, he’d put up a little bit of a fuss when Patton had begged to go to the mall, but he’d given in once he was assured that they’d go to Hot Topic. Normally, Patton would just follow Virgil around the store and let him look at things at his leisure, but today he pointed out every little thing he saw in the hopes of keeping them in the store longer. 

“Oh! Look at this!” Patton said, grabbing a Poké ball necklace off the wall and showing it to Virgil. He pressed a small button and the Poké ball snapped open, revealing a small pikachu inside. “It’s a pika-boo!” 

Virgil smirked at the joke. “That was bad, Pat.” 

“You’re right, I should have just kept my meowth shut!” 

That elicited a snort. 

“Are you a-mew-sed?” Patton grinned. “Did my pun tickle your cubone?” 

“Call me cubone cuz I want to c u bone,” Virgil whispered just loud enough for Patton to hear him. 

Patton was struck dumb by the pun as he felt his face heat up. 

Flirting? With puns? As if he couldn’t love Virgil more. 

Virgil, shifting uncomfortably in the ever-expanding silence, opened his mouth to apologize, but Patton cut him off. 

“Are you a ninetales? Because you’re hot and foxy.” 

Both of them lost it at that, giggling up a storm in the middle of the Hot Topic. 

“Pat, why?” Virgil wheezed, tears streaming down his face. 

“Wynaut?” Patton giggled, setting Virgil off again. 

It was a while before they left the Hot Topic. 

“What should we do now?” Patton asked once they were back in the busy walkway of the mall. He had a few more hours before the others would be ready for him to bring Virgil back, he would have to fill the time doing more birthday activities with Virgil. 

“I kinda just want to go home,” Virgil shrugged. “Maybe cuddle for a few hours.” 

Literally any other time, Patton would love nothing more than to cuddle with Virgil in their home, but today he had a job to do. 

“We’re already out,” he insisted. “We should do things!” 

“Like?” Virgil asked expectantly, the faintest traces of a smile pulling at the corner of his mouth. 

“Like… like… get lunch! We should get lunch! At that Thai place you like!” 

“We could just get takeout,” Virgil pointed out. “Eat it at home in front of the tv.” 

“But then it’s not special!” Patton pouted, hoping that would be enough to convince his boyfriend to stay out a while longer. 

“Well, what if,” Virgil started, a smirk that Patton did not trust creeping across his face. “What if we get takeout and go to Ro and Lo’s? We haven’t hung out all four of us in weeks!” 

“Well, um…” Patton floundered. “They’re– uh, they’re busy today.” 

“They are?” 

“Y-yeah, Logan has that thing today. That, uh, engineering thing.” 

“Oh, right,” Virgil laughed. “‘That engineering thing’. Maybe we should see what Remus and Janus are doing then.” 

Patton opened his mouth to stutter through another excuse when he noticed the twinkle in Virgil’s eyes. 

“You’re messing with me!” He accused, pouting. 

“Maybe a little bit,” Virgil chuckled. “I couldn’t help it, you’re cute when you’re trying to be sneaky.” 

Patton pouted even more. “I thought I was doing a good job at distracting you.” 

“You were,” Virgil assured him, kissing his pout away. “But I saw the texts on Princey’s phone when I was over there last weekend. Don’t worry, I’ll still act surprised when we get to the party.” 

“You promise it wasn’t me who gave it away?” 

“I promise. Now, if I'm not mistaken, someone promised me Thai food, and I’m guessing we’ve got a few more hours to fill.” 

“Anything for the birthday boy!” Patton grinned, dragging Virgil out towards the Thai place. 

~~~END~~~

General taglist:

@royalty-of-all-things-snuggly @pixelated-pineapple @arsonic-knight @misunderstood-shadowling

[quackkaz]

Remus : *glaring at Virgil for being mean to Janus*

Virgil : Don’t look at me like that.

Remus : *grins and bites bottom lip*

Virgil : Don’t look at me like that either.

[prince-rowan-of-the-forest]

Across Land And Water, Now and Forever

1: The River Runs Dry

----

This is my @sanderssidesgiftxchange gift for @nandysparadox !! I used the prompt "LAMP as an adventuring party in a fantasy AU ' and I kinda took it and ran. I know you asked for a fic, but I hope you dont mind a lot of reading, I went overboard.

A big thank you also to @sandersarefamily for beta reading this, you are amazing and I really appreciate your help (if you want to see that art I did, it's mixed up with the chapters :) )

I'm going to post the first three chapters now, threw more tomorrow and then three more on the 25th.

I know you didn't ask for it, but I've also done a fair bit of art, I got so obsessed with this au that I couldn't help myself, so the first five (at least) chapters also come with illustrations :)

I really hope you (and anyone else who reads this) enjoy!

----

| Ao3 |

| Next Chapter -> |

----

Summary:

After Patton and Logan are selected to attend the annual meeting between merkingdoms, they expect an easy enough swim up the river to their destination. Unfortunately, for reasons unknown, the river no longer flows as strongly as it did and because of it they can't make the journey in the traditional way.

Together, along with two other magic folk who they… may have accidentally roped into their journey… must now find their way overland to complete their journey instead, little did they know that this particular adventure would change their lives in ways they could never expect.

----

Warnings: Discrimination (against magic-folk). A character gets drunk, Remus being remus for like three lines throughout the entire fic.

Pairings: LAMP, very background Dukeceit.

Word count:

This chapter: 2919

The Whole Fic: 23,452

----

----

"Patton please hurry or we will lose the tide before we make it anywhere near land," Logan said, after doubling back to pull his best friend and travelling partner for the migration away from yet another school of fish.

"Oh but they were just telling me about -" Patton said, waving goodbye to the fish enthusiastically, before turning to Logan with a sigh, "Cmon Lo, we're on this adventure together! We should enjoy it!" 

"We won't be enjoying anything if we don't arrive to the freshwater before the tide starts pulling in," Logan said, his smooth tail flicking through the water with annoyance, though he let none of that show on his face. Patton didn't respond well to anger, Logan had learnt this well over the years. 

"Fineee," Patton said, rolling his eyes so dramatically his head moved and Logan couldn't help a chuckle, "but if we're going fast I'm holding your hand, those are my terms." 

"Perfectly reasonable terms, I am objectively faster than you are, considering my dolphin ancestry," Logan said, nodding, “it would not be beneficial for me to accidentally leave you behind.”

"Well… yeah," Patton said, before smiling, "But it's mainly because I like holding your hand." 

Logan sighed, fondly shaking his head before offering Patton his hand with a small smile. 

The rest of the night was spent speeding across the ocean floor, Logan guided them, with superior knowledge of the currents- which to follow, which were dangerous, which went the wrong direction- and his ability to avoid things he knew would distract his travelling partner that made him the more apt member of the pair to lead. 

—-

"Something seems… off," Logan said, looking around. They were nearing the estuary now, but the flow of water wasn't as strong as it should be.

"What's that?" Patton asked, looking around, "I don't think I sea what you're talking about." 

Logan glared at the intonation in Patton's voice, he had been suffering at the mercy of Patton's puns all the way here. Patton just giggled, smiling innocently as though Logan hadn't just caught him punning.

"Anyway, something feels strange, the tide should be going out at this time, tell me Patton, do you feel the tide?" Logan said. Patton looked confused for a moment, but he closed his eyes and let himself float in the water a little, tail barely swaying with the ambient movement of the water. When he opened them again he looked much more concerned.

"You're right… aren't the tides supposed to be stronger here? Just before they go into the river?" Patton asked, swimming back and forth, "Do you think something is wrong with the river?"

“I… don't know," Logan said. He hated to admit that he didn't have an answer to anything, but in this case it was the only answer he could give, "I suppose we shall find out, let's go more slowly from here."

"Good call," Patton smiled, shoulders drooping with relief. 

—--

When they arrived at the river itself, they found the stream of water to be much shallower and weaker than they had expected, as though it had been blocked off further up. Whatever blockage there could be stopping the water from flowing as it should. 

"We can't swim here," Patton said slowly after they had floated, staring into the oncoming barely-current, for much longer than Logan would have liked.

"No, we cannot," Logan nodded, "it's much too shallow, we would run too high a risk of being seen by landfolk, and besides we can't swim upriver without the boost from the tide regardless." 

"What now, then?" Patton asked quietly, turning to Logan with a strange expression on his face.

"I suppose we will turn back?" Logan suggested, "Go home, tell the kingdom that we couldn't make the journey."

"We can't!" Patton gasped, “They're all counting on us to get to the meeting in the oversea! If we don't go… Logan we have to go!" 

"There could be war between the merkingdoms if representatives don't attend the council meeting," Logan sighed with a nod, "You are correct, unfortunately, we must find a way."

"Is there another way around?" 

"It would take us months, by the time we arrived it would be time for the next journey to begin." 

"What if we got legs?" Patton asked, Logan stared at him as though he had grown a second head, "It would work! We could just travel over the land like the landfolk do, we could follow the river the whole way!”

"And how do you propose we 'get legs', Patton?" Logan asked, "Neither of us have human heritage, we cannot just grow legs." 

"We could find a witch!" Patton grinned, "I'm sure a witch would be able to whip us up something perfect to turn us into land folk so that we can get across the land." 

"And do you know where we might hope to find this theoretical witch?” Logan asked, raising an eyebrow. The idea of finding a Witch seemed silly to him, where on earth would they find someone willing to help them in the short timeframe that they had? It couldn’t be that easy, right? Though Patton seemed to know something he didn’t, because he grinned.

“I heard rumours,” Patton smiled, “From the fish, there's a witch who only lives along the coast, they say the witch is friendly to non-human folk.”

“And you learned all that… from the fish?” Logan asked, staring at Patton, who smiled.

“Yeah! They’re really talkative you know,” Patton grinned, “And- well you know I can speak with animals.”

“I am aware, thank you Patton,” Logan nodded, “Did the fish tell you where we could find this witch by any chance?”

Patton nodded, before pausing, though he remained smiling, “Kinda? I mean- fish are good at rumours, but not so much at directions, they just said along the shore near here… somewhere… I think in that direction- ish?”

“‘That direction- ish?’” Logan repeated, sounding skeptical as Patton gestured, “That sounds very decisive.”

“Quit it with your sarcasm, mister!” Patton said, elbowing his arm, “We just need to look for a tower on a cliff, ok?”

“Got it,” Logan nodded, “Let's begin our search now, I don’t want to waste any more time.”

—-

It was nearing sundown by the time the pair actually spotted the tower on the cliff. Being above the sea in general was strange, even if it was only to search. The pair was glad that this area was secluded enough that no people were around to see them, but breaking the waves was daunting- especially to a merperson who’s never done it before.

“You’ve really never come up here Logan?” Patton asked, voice thick with disbelief as they swam together into the shallower waters near the beach, “Really? You’re not kidding me?”

“Of course not, why would I?” Logan asked, genuinely confused as to why this was such a big deal.

“I just thought you would have, with your infinite curiosity and everything, there’s a whole new world up here! Did you never even think about it?” Patton asked, turning to Logan as the waters became too shallow to swim properly.

“I suppose it simply didn’t occur to me,” Logan said, “Just as it didn’t occur to you that we would not be able to get to the witch’s tower to ask them for help.”

“Well I guess we could just- wait? There’s a path up the cliff, look! So maybe they come down here?” Patton suggested, tilting his head. Logan sighed, before ducking down instinctively as he saw someone race across the beach. Patton had no such qualms. Raising his hand, Patton called out as loud as he could, hoping to catch their attention. It seemed to work as his direction changed, now he was running towards them. 

"JAN" The figure yelled to someone over his shoulder as he ran over, hearing Patton’s shouts, "I found a fish person!" 

The land dweller ran straight into the waves, kicking up water, Patton faltered a little when he kept running, seeming to lunge towards them. His arms shot into the water and suddenly Patton found himself being hoisted from the surf by the stranger, he cried out in surprise as the stranger grinned, his teeth were sharp, "Can I eat this one! He looks so pretty!" 

Patton cried out again, this time even more panicked as Logan attempted to pull him back, though he wasn't able to get a firm grip without hurting Patton. He tried to struggle from the stranger’s grasp, smacking at his legs with his tail, but the stranger held firm- until, that is, another voice joined the fray. 

"Remus!" the other voice yelled from further away, "Put the merman down and apologise! Now!"

The now named Remus sighed dramatically, mumbled a sorry that was barely even intelligible and put Patton back down in the water. Immediately he swam to hide behind Logan as the new stranger approached.

"What did we talk about threatening to eat people?" the stranger said firmly, Remus seemed to wilt.

"Not to- do that?" Remus asked sadly.

"Exactly, go inside now, I'm sure you can find something else to do?" they said. Remus lit up, before immediately darting off back up the cliffside path towards the tower on the cliff. The stranger turned to the pair of merfolk still shifting awkwardly in the shallows. 

The stranger wore a large witch’s hat that by all accounts should have been too large for their head, though somehow they made the drooping brim look like the peak of elegance, the black hat was accentuated by the thick yellow ribbon tied around the base. They wore a black capelet with yellow lining that only reached their elbows but matched the hat perfectly and a dark blue tunic, accented with yellow and tied with a golden length of shimmering rope around the waist. From the rope hung charms of all shapes and colours, tied on with string, that clinked together as they moved. 

"My sincerest apologies for my companion's ill manners," the stranger said, voice smooth, "I hope he didn't startle you too much," 

“He just- he just threatened to eat me,” Patton whispered. 

“It’s how he shows affection,” the witch brushed him off, “Think nothing of it, now, what brings you both to my humble shore?”

Logan took a deep breath, pulling his shoulders back and curling his tail beneath him so that he could sit back, “You are a witch, correct?”

“That depends, who’s asking?” They said, leaning down, Logan huffed.

“Um, us, we’re asking,” Logan said, confused, “Is that not- clear from the fact I just asked?”

“I suppose I should have been more literal, I wish to know your intentions,” the witch told them 

Logan huffed. “We need help,” he told them, “We have a situation and we’d like some assistance, are you able to help us?”

“Well that really depends on the situation, honey, but let’s not stand here in the surf, hm? You may be comfortable, but my boots are getting wet,” they said. Logan looked down to find that their statement was true, their… boots… were covered in water. Though Logan was puzzled for a moment, how were he and Patton supposed to go elsewhere?

“How are we supposed to be somewhere else?” Patton asked, from behind Logan’s shoulder.

“You’re able to sit on rocks, are you not? It can be used as a common ground between land and sea,” the witch said, pointing towards the smooth rocks that lined the beach, jutting out into the sea, Logan nodded slowly, “Meet me there in a moment, if you will allow me to retrieve a few items.”

“That seems agreeable,” Logan nodded. The stranger smiled- though it looked almost sly- and turned away. As they turned, Logan noticed the setting sun glint off of scales unlike his own that had been hidden under their hat.

—-

Hours later, after the sun had set, Patton and Logan had searched the coastline for a cave in which they could sleep. The witch- who had identified themself as Janus during their earlier conversations- had given them both a vial of potion to drink when morning came that they had been told would give them the legs they needed to make their way across the land.

“Logan?” Patton asked into the darkness, Logan sighed- he had just been dozing off, “Are you asleep?”

“Not anymore,” Logan huffed, turning around to face the other.

“Sorry… I just… are we sure we can trust Janus?” Patton asked, “I know we don’t exactly have much of a choice in the matter, but I just- I’m worried we’re getting into something we don’t want to…”

“I’m sure it will be alright,” Logan said, “Janus wouldn’t risk the business for a faulty potion.”

“And their, um… friend?” Patton asked, voice small. They had only seen Remus again once after he’d rushed away the first time and that was to deliver Janus a tray of food that looked absolutely horrific, and that was being nice. For some reason the witch had still been happy to eat it, they said it tasted better than it looked and smelled. 

“Patton, please just try to sleep, we shall deal with whatever troubles come our way after we take the potion in the morning, alright?” Logan asked.

For a moment there was silence, but eventually Patton gave in, “Alright, ok, this’ll be fine, we can worry about everything later.”

“Exactly, there is a time and place for worrying about things, but this is neither,” Logan said firmly, before sighing and letting his shoulders relax, “Goodnight, Patton.”

“Goodnight, Lo,” Patton mumbled back, though he was already half asleep before he even finished speaking.

—-

In the morning the pair found themselves back on the beach, this time having pulled themselves up onto the sand, tails facing the water. Janus had met them there and sat down on a nearby rock. Finally, after they had been sitting in silence for a fair while, the witch spoke.

“When you drink the potions, the transformation will take roughly half an hour.” Janus told them, “During that time you may not want to move.”

“Why not?” Patton asked, tilting his head.

“It may hurt a little,” he warned.

“O-oh-! …Ok then…” Patton looked back down at the vial.

“I would also like to give you both a few things,” Janus told them, “You can consider it a free bonus.”

“What kind of things?” Logan asked, leaning forward and watching Janus closely as he pulled something that definitely hadn’t been there before from his cloak. 

“First of all, clothes,” Janus told them, throwing the first bundle to Logan before pulling out the other and tossing it to Patton. “I tried to match your colour schemes and sizes as best I could, not doing so would be a crime to fashion, after all.”

Logan tried to inspect the items Janus had thrown to him, but the witch started speaking again and he guessed it would be beneficial to listen, he could figure out the clothes later.

“Second,” Janus said before stepping forward and dropping a small pile of silver and copper disks into his waiting hand, “This is the equivalent of the extra I charged you, whilst I will accept your currency, the human kingdom will not be so lenient, if you attempt to use your own money in the kingdom you’ll likely be arrested.”

“Speaking of,” Janus continued, “Try to blend in as you move through the kingdom, they do not welcome magic folk like you both.”

"Understood," Logan said with a firm nod, before turning his attention to the potion. 

"Thank you so much for this, Janus…" Patton said, and Logan could already hear him getting teary eyed. 

"Just my duty to help fellow magic folk," Janus said with an awkward but still elegant half bow. "Take the potions now, but don't forget, contact with water will turn you back to your true selves, be careful." 

—-

It turned out that using human legs was much more difficult than Logan had first anticipated. It was an odd feeling, first of all, to have all of your weight pressing downwards and both of them had buckled and fallen numerous times for this very reason. 

Grasping the ability to move two legs instead of one tail had been another issue, and the coordination was horrendous to understand. After a long while of trying, they had agreed together that they weren't going to be perfect any time soon. Besides, it was afternoon already and they couldn't waste much more time dawdling if they wanted to arrive in good time.

So together they clamberd up the path on the hill and looked back in the direction they had swan the day before just to see spires piercing the sky in the distance, buildings dotting the vast green landscape in small clusters that got closer together the further away they were. They could see the stream that had once been river in the distance, glittering in the sunlight. It wound up and around straight through the heart of the city.

So finally, with well-wishes from Janus and Remus, Patton and Logan started down the other side of the hill hand in hand.

And as they moved through the green world they had never known before, as they got further and further away from the familiarity and safety of the sea, as they looked towards the unknown–

Logan could only think that this was where the real adventure began.

| Next Chapter -> |

[emoprincey]

dukeceit and prinxiety for the ask game?

Ty for the ask!!

Dukeceit - ship it

1. What made you ship it?

They're literally husbands, what more do I have to say /j. No but fr tho, I think it was just... their potential dynamic??? The fact that they're both over-the-top villains and I thought they'd be really good together right from the start. Also fan content, there's so much amazing dukeceit content in this fandom XD

2. What are your favorite things about the ship?

So many things... they just have an unparalleled aesthetic, I kinda see them as having a Gomez and Morticia vibe.

3. Is there an unpopular opinion you have on your ship?

Speaking of the Gomez and Morticia vibe, I like to think they give compliments in the same kinda weird way. In the kind of "you look like death" "aw thanks babe" kinda way (this goes for anxceitmus too btw).

The unpopular opinion part of this has to do with the evil twin comment. I think Janus and Remus call themselves evil and such things as a joke, so I don't think he'd be too bothered about it really.

Prinxiety - Ship it

1. What made you ship it?

Prinxiety was the first Sanders Sides ship that I actually shipped, and I was really into it for all of one week lol (I do still like them now, there r just other ships I prefer). I think it's because Roman and Virgil had the most fun dynamic right from the start. Roman was the first character Virgil interacted with (unless you count C!Thomas) and I do love enemies to lovers!

2. What are your favorite things about the ship?

I think mostly how far they've come from where the used to be. They used to despise each other, but now they're besties and they helped set Thomas up with Nico together.

3. Is there an unpopular opinion you have on your ship?

Idk if this counts as unpopular, but I kinda prefer their platonic dynamic to actually shipping them?? If I think of them being in a relationship, it's more like best friends who make out sometimes

[halfhissandwich]

Hey! Noticed your complaint about Janus ship name similarities in the tags of the rociet, and I came up with a few alternatives that are combinations of thing linked to them rather than just their names!

For example:

Rociet = RoyalSerpent? (Self explanitory)

Lociet = MindBending? (Like bending the truth)

Mociet = HiddenHeart? (Like how Jan hides stuff from Thomas)

Those are just my ideas but they're definetly more unique and distinct from one another. Feel free to come up with your own if you wanna!

Wait omg that’s so cool actually! It kinda reminds me of how some people call logicality Glasses Gays and call dukeceit Trashnoodle, that’s so cute!

I don’t really have any myself, unless you count crack ship names that make me laugh. I’ve called moceit Discount Narumitsu once or twice. I do it out of love <3

[naminethewriter]

Ich habe 558 Mal im Jahr 2022 etwas gepostet

60 Einträge erstellt (11%)

498 Einträge gerebloggt (89%)

Blogs, die ich am häufigsten gerebloggt habe:

@lost-in-thought-20

@edupunkn00b

@a-small-batch-of-dragons

@typically-untypical

@candied-peach

Ich habe 558 meiner Einträge im Jahr 2022 getaggt

#fic rec – 455 Einträge

#dukeceit – 57 Einträge

#intrulogical – 53 Einträge

#💙💚 – 52 Einträge

#💛💚 – 48 Einträge

#i love them so much – 42 Einträge

#creativitwins – 41 Einträge

#namiswriting – 41 Einträge

#i love them all so much – 33 Einträge

#💙💜 – 32 Einträge

Longest Tag: 108 characters

#i have written so much more about logan janus and remus that it's kinda unfair to compare them to the others

Meine Top-Einträge im Jahr 2022:

#5

Extra Service Chapter 1: The Guest

Finally! I had this idea over a year ago I think and yesterday I had the brilliant idea to just publish this story with chapters instead of making it a one-shot.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy this story about Remus forcing a stranger to do some self-care 💚

Here on Ao3

“Housekeeping!” Remus called as he knocked on the door to room 227. He received no answer, so he used his master key to enter the room. It was tidy enough, probably some businessman who was only staying for a night or two and was out to work. Remus liked those guys (as guests only though, he’d never get along with suit-monkeys on a personal level), they never brought much, didn’t really unpack and knew the rules that made his job easier. So he quickly fixed the bed, emptied the trash before moving on to the bathroom to replace the towels.

Honestly, being a hotel housekeeper was never something Remus thought he would be, even if it was only a side job to pay the bills. He wasn’t optimistic enough to ever think that his art would keep him afloat; at least not in his early career, his style was too unique for that. But when he thought of part-time jobs to do before his big break (if he ever had one), he thought of coffee shops, McDonalds, or other retail crap where he had to deal with Karens and other small minded assholes. He still had to deal with those here, of course, just not as much. Most of the rooms he cleaned were empty and he rarely was on food delivery duty. He preferred it this way. He didn’t mind the cleaning all that much, dirt had never bothered him. Janus had saved him by getting him this job, even if it came with strict rules. Remus could hold himself back for a few hours if it meant he could go batshit crazy with his art like he wanted to.

As Remus got back to his cart to dump the dirty towels in, he gave the room another once-over, going through his mental checklist to see if he forgot something and came up with nothing. So he closed the door and moved on to the next. Room 228. The last room on this floor. And a room that had been on his mind for a few days now.

Remus had taken up a couple more shifts recently. A co-worker had called in sick and Remus had a bit of a creative block so he had the time to spare and who was he to say no to extra cash? That meant that Remus had been here for four days in a row and that’s also why he knew that the guest in Room 228 had checked in three days ago and hung out the ‘Do not disturb’ sign. And hadn’t taken it back since. Meaning no one had been in there to clean and, as far as he knew, no one had restocked the mini bar or brought the guest food either.

Janus had told him not to worry about it. Apparently that particular guest had done the same thing multiple times before: rent out a room, locked himself in for a few days, collapsed for another and then leaving. What exactly he was doing in there, Janus didn’t know which of course peaked Remus’ curiosity. But that wasn’t the only thing that drew him to the door right this moment.

He had seen the guy checking in. He had caught his eye immediately, because not only was he devilishly handsome but also worryingly thin. The guy had taken his keys and moved straight to the elevator with such purpose that Remus couldn’t help but watch him go. And oh, what a sight it was. The guy had one fine ass. Luckily Janus had been the one to check him in, so Remus had an easy time asking him all about the mysterious man with the great ass. Of course Janus had refused to give him so much as a name. But he did tell him not to expect too much since the guy would isolate himself as soon as he got to his room. Which turned out to be true. 

Remus was now standing before the door, the number plate 228 glinting at him in the artificial light while he glared at it. He wouldn’t lie, the man’s weird behaviour and good looks had caught his attention no problem and he wasn’t above flirting with guests, much to Janus’ chagrin, but that wasn’t why he was here now. No, his main reason was that he was worried. The guy only had one small suitcase with him and the mini bar only held so many snacks and drinks, some of which were alcoholic. There was no way he was eating right in there and he was already so thin! Remus had watched his brother work himself to the edge of a mental breakdown before; he was not going to let this guy do the same, even if they were total strangers.

Now determined, he let his lips twitch into his trademark manic grin he always wore whenever he was set on something. Roman said it made him look like a mad scientist while working on his paintings or statues, paired with random patches of paint or dust on his clothes and skin and honestly, Remus didn’t mind the comparison. He snatched the ‘Do not disturb’ sign from the doorknob, placing it on his cart for the time being before knocking.

“Housekeeping!” He waited for an answer but none came. He put his ear against the door, trying to make out any sound from within but the door was too thick. He tried calling again. Still no answer. He pushed away the images of a lifeless body and the smell of rot his brain produced. The guy was probably fine, definitely not dead. Maybe passed out. Probably just really focused. Roman had done that, too, back then. Didn’t hear him no matter how loud he yelled. Yeah. The guy was fine. He must be. Because even if Remus was a fan of horror and gore, he didn’t really want to find a dead body at work. Especially since it would be on Janus’ watch and he had worked too hard to get his position to get demoted just because one guy couldn’t take care of himself.

Pulling out his master key again, he carefully opened the door and peaked inside. Immediately his worries were proven wrong, the sound of fast typing reaching his ears. The guy was definitely conscious. ‘Unless, of course, someone else had broken into the room!’, his brain supplied. ‘Could’ve killed the guy and was now trying to get info out of his computer like in the spy movies!’ Remus could feel his adrenaline rise in a weird mixture of dread and excitement. He shook his head. ‘No! Concentrate! The guy is overworking himself and you’re here to stop that!’, he reminded himself. He quietly pushed the door open further.

The room was dark, despite it being early afternoon. The curtains were drawn close and only one lamp close to the table (or was it a desk? Remus wasn’t quite sure what exactly the difference was) was emitting a soft light. The guy was sitting with his back to the door, illuminated by the screen of his laptop on which he was furiously typing. Remus was quite sure he hadn’t paused once since he entered the room, again something that reminded him of Roman’s worst days when he thought that every little break was equal to failure. Remus couldn’t see what exactly the guy was so focused on, he was completely blocking the screen from view. Not that it really mattered to Remus what it was. It could wait for a few hours. No, it HAD to wait. It was clear to him that this man was not in his right mind and needed to take a break RIGHT NOW. He just needed to get the guy’s attention.

Making noise had already proven to be fruitless. Remus had been extra loud the second time he called. Touching the guy suddenly was probably a bad idea. His reaction could range from punching Remus to him having a heart attack or something. ‘Both sound like great options! He doesn’t look like he has any muscle but what if he was actually fucking strong?! And if he had a heart attack, you could see someone die! Up close and personal at that!’ Again, Remus pushed those thoughts away, though he filed the first idea away for later. That might be something he could work with somehow. No, the best way to get the guy’s attention would probably be through sight. But he was so focused on his screen that Remus would probably have to wave his hand right in his face or pull the laptop away, both options again putting him back in punching distance.

Remus let his eyes wander as he thought (he could take his time; the guy wasn’t noticing him anyway). Finally they landed on the curtains and his grin widened as he had an idea. Sudden, bright light would definitely do the trick! But in order to get to the window front and open said curtains, he would need to pass the table (desk? Whatever!), placing the guy between himself and the door. Bad plan if the guy turned out to be an actual spy or some shit. ‘That would be super exciting though,’ his head supplied. He rolled his eyes at himself. ‘Obviously.’

But there was one more bright light at his disposal that he could utilise from his position. The ceiling lights whose switch (again, obviously!) was by the door he was standing in. ‘Wait! How hasn’t he noticed the light coming in from the hallway? If he doesn’t react to that, will this even work?’ Remus hesitated for a second, glancing over his shoulder. The light in the hallway wasn’t all that strong. While the windows were big, it was pretty cloudy outside and the lamps were shut off. The lamp in the room should be much brighter, plus it was pretty close to being directly above the guy. It should work. ‘And if it doesn’t, I can still get within punching range,’ Remus thought. ‘Hell yeah!’ his head cheered back.

So Remus placed his hand on the light switch, eyes trained on the guy to watch his reaction, and flipped it.

As soon as the light hit his eyes, the guy flinched so badly that he almost fell out of his chair. He sharply turned his head upward and practically recoiled like some cliché vampire when his eyes met the bright light directly. He also let out a sort of painful… hiss? Maybe? That’s the best comparison Remus could come up with (it sounded adorable though, in his opinion at least). The guy cursed under his breath (at least Remus guessed it was cursing, he couldn’t quite hear him, but it made the most sense), rubbing his eyes. He recovered quickly though and finally turned towards the door and, of course, Remus, enabling him to get a good look at the guy.

And what a sight it was. His ebony black hair was tousled and clearly hadn’t been washed in days. His dark green eyes were open wide, but his pupils were tiny pinpricks. The glasses he’s wearing were crooked and weren’t hooked behind his left ear properly. He was still wearing the suit he had arrived in, without the jacket. The tie was hanging so low, it almost came undone and the shirt was wrinkled by now. All in all, Remus couldn’t remember the last time he had felt so attracted to anyone. If ever.

The sexy stranger seemed so surprised by Remus’ appearance that his mouth opened and closed a few times before he managed to speak which gave Remus a few seconds to give the room itself a once-over. It was a complete mess. The missing suit jacket and the suitcase were both lain over the bed. The suitcase was opened, and its contents strewn around the room, mainly some clothes and papers. The mini bar wasn’t closed properly but most likely empty since the (also empty) bottles and wrappers were scattered around the room. The tabledesk (‘Ha! Made a new word now!’) was also littered with papers and books, the laptop in the middle of the chaos and its charging cord buried beneath the paper. And then Remus was hit by the smell and oh boy was it unpleasant! Good thing Remus was the first one in here, he could appreciate a good stench. But it was not something befitting the hotel, so he knew he had to get rid of it soon.

“Who- why- how-?” the stranger finally started to sputter before he took a deep breath to compose himself. “Who are you and what are you doing in my room?” he croaked out, voice raw from apparent misuse. Remus was pretty sure he was attempting to glare at him but it was hard to take him seriously with how obviously tired the guy was.

“Housekeeping!” Remus called again with a wide grin. The guy blinked at him a few times, then slowly eyed him sceptically but seemingly concluded that he wasn’t lying (which, you know, he wasn’t).

“I hung out the sign. I was not to be disturbed,” he said through gritted teeth. Remus just grinned wider.

“That was three days ago, so it expired today!”

“I have never heard of such a rule existing.”

“Of course not! I just came up with it after all!” The guy stared at him as if he’d grown another head. ‘Maybe we did! You should check!’ his head called excitedly. ‘I don’t have an extra head.’ Remus answered sharply. He couldn’t afford to get lost in thoughts right now. He probably only had this one chance to get through to the guy and he was not going to waste it!

“You… just came up with it?” the guy asked slowly.

“Yeah!”

Vollständigen Eintrag ansehen

31 Anmerkungen – Gepostet 30. April 2022

#4

Self Care Can Include Many Things

Loceit Week comes around once more 😍 I’m so excited to see what everyone comes up with! There will be quite a few references my entries from last year, look forward to that 😊

Thank you @loceitweek2022 for organizing this! 💛💙

Here on Ao3

Masterpost | Loceit Week 2022 Masterpost

Summary: Janus and Logan have a project to work on. But they also need to take a break sometime. Janus knows an opportunity when he sees one.

Janus arrived in front of his project partner’s house two minutes before their agreed meeting time. Normally he wouldn’t have bothered with being punctual but Logan was annoying about stuff like this and he wasn’t up for a lecture, so he left his house early. He locked up his bike and went to the front door, ringing the doorbell. Less than two seconds later a child’s voice loudly called:

 “I’ll get it!” Then quick footsteps approached. Patton, Logan’s younger sibling opened the door and started grinning as soon as fae saw him. “Janny! Did you come to play? Can we play Mario Kart? I practiced and now I’m super good!” Janus chuckled but shook his head.

“I wish I could, Pat, but your brother and I have a project we need to work on today.” Patton started to pout and Janus quickly gave faer a pat on the head as compensation. “If we finish quickly we might be able to play a bit later. Or I’ll come over again in a few days, that okay?” Fae continued pouting but nodded.

 “If you pinky promise!”

 “Alright, if you insist.” Just as they linked fingers, Logan appeared behind his sibling.

 “Salutations Janus. I see Patton coaxed you into a pinky promise, I hope fae didn’t ask for anything unreasonable.”

 “Did not!”

 “No, fae didn’t. I just promised to play Mario Kart with fae sometime soon so fae could show me how much fae improved, right?” He grinned down at the child who nodded in agreement.

 “Very well then. Patton please go back to your activities now; Janus and I have work to do.”

 “Okay, but you need to finish quickly so we can play!”

 “I will make no promises.” Apparently Patton had expected as much since fae ran off without another word. Janus laughed quietly.

 “Visiting your house is as delightful as ever.” Logan sighed.

 “I would have preferred to go to yours but my parents are both out and Patton cannot be left alone for such a long time yet.”

 “I understand. Then shall we?”

 “We shall.” Logan led him into the house and up the stairs into his bedroom where he had already prepared enough space to work, materials they could use for their research as well as snacks and drinks. The perfect host like always.

It didn’t take long until they were both seated and comfortably at work. Logan had gone to the library to get them reference books which Janus found a bit unnecessary, they were only supposed to prepare a twenty-minute presentation on self care for health class, citations not needed. But Janus also knew Logan well enough to know that that wouldn’t stop him from doing so and he didn’t mind as long as Logan didn’t force him to read through those books. He preferred online articles.

 They had agreed to work in silence for the first fifteen minutes and then present to each other their findings and after that narrow down the examples they wanted to use and research more. Logan started, talking about how important a healthy diet and drinking a lot of water were, as well as dental hygiene. Janus listened patiently even as Logan’s explanation turned more into a rant that went slightly off topic but if he was being honest, and he didn’t tend to be often he just knew to tone down his sarcasm in front of Logan and his sibling (both often got confused with his way of speaking), he could listen to Logan talk about anything for the rest of the day. His crush on the bookworm was not really a secret but Logan was very dense when it came to romantic relationships. He hadn’t been aware of their friends’ relationship until Roman and Virgil kissed right in front of him and even then he needed to ask for clarification.

 Janus was patient though; he was waiting for an opportunity to make his move and he had a very good feeling about today.

 Logan eventually stopped himself and blushed a bit when he realised how much he’d been talking.

 “My apologies, I didn’t mean to ramble.” Janus waved him off.

 “I don’t mind. You made some fascinating points.” Logan’s face got even more red.

 “Thank you. For listening I mean.”

 Janus good feeling increased ten-fold as a plan formed in his head. He grinned.

 “No problem, Logan, I truly enjoyed myself.” He delighted in seeing Logan’s ears turning red now as well.

Vollständigen Eintrag ansehen

48 Anmerkungen – Gepostet 26. Juni 2022

#3

Don’t Think About It

Stream-of-thought fic based on this little writing game!

My prompt was “Wait, what do you mean, you kinda like me?” which game me Virgil vibes so here’s the first Prinxiety fic I’ve ever written. Enjoy 💖💜

Here on Ao3

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Wait, what do you mean, you kinda like me?” Virgil was red like a tomato, staring at Roman like he’d grown two heads. The other avoided his eyes, just as red.

 “It means that I would like to go on a date with you. Only if you want to of course!” Virgil felt like his brain stopped working five minutes ago. There was no way Roman was interested in him, they barely got along as friends!

“If this is a prank I will put you in the hospital, princey,” he growled, his fight or flight instinct kicking in but Roman held up his hands.

 “I would never joke about matters of the heart Virgil! That is a line I would never cross!” Yeah, that was fair. Virgil took a deep breath, trying to calm down. He shouldn’t go off like this, he knew Roman better than that and knew his words held true.

 “I know, sorry.” He sighed. “But you can’t spring shit like that on me out of nowhere.”

 “I mean, I was flirting with you for the last two weeks, I figured you picked up on it.”

 “No, you weren’t,” Virgil denied, flushing red again. Had he been that dense?

 “Oh yes, I was.” Roman laughed nervously. “But it’s fine that you didn’t notice, I tried to be more subtle than usual so I didn’t overwhelm you.” Great! Now Virgil was flushing for a different reason. Sometimes he hated how accommodating Roman could be. But before he could apologize, Roman kept talking. “And I don’t need an answer from you right away, take your time to think about it, I can wait a little longer.” He turned to walk away but Virgil grabbed his arm without thinking.

 “Wait!” He froze, not quite sure himself what he was about to say. Roman looked at him expectantly and the light hit his hair in a way that made it look really soft and his green eyes were shimmering, and damn Virgil was gay.

 So he thought: fuck it.

  “Let’s go. On a date,” he breathed out before he could stop himself. And as a smile made its way across Roman’s lips he couldn’t even think to regret it for one second.

85 Anmerkungen – Gepostet 21. Mai 2022

#2

Logan Lost

A while ago, @thecrowslullaby sent me a horrible challenge to start a cooperative story with the prompt

"What do you mean you misplaced [them/him/her/etc.]"

While it was intended to only be the start, I had a solution in mind, so I thought why not share that! So here is my version of the story but here is the last addition to the original thread.

I also made it a Loceit story, a little thank you to Crow 💛💙

Here on Ao3

“What do you mean you misplaced Logan?!” Janus exclaimed, staring disbelievingly at Remus who shrunk a bit under his gaze.

“I wanted to show him my new castle so we went to the imagination. I took the lead and told him about my process, you know he likes to know the steps, but when I turned around he was gone! I went back the whole way calling for him but nothing!”

“So you’re saying he’s on your side all alone?!? How many monsters do you have roaming around out there?!”

“He should be fine! All my creations know he’s not to be harmed, same as you!”

“What about injuries! Tripping hazards! Cliffs! Spikes! You have those everywhere!”

“Well, what do you want me to do?!”

“Find him obviously!”

“I tried!”

“Try harder!”

“What are you two yelling about??” Janus grimaced for half a second before turning to face the other twin with a forced smile.

“Nothing important. Remus simply… misplaced something that’s rather dear to me on his side of the Imagination. I was just asking him to retrieve it,” he hissed, glaring at Remus, daring him to say anything more specific on the matter.

“And I was telling him it’s not that easy,” Remus shot back, pouting a little. Roman looked between the two warily.

“Must’ve been something rather important to you if you yell like that,” he commented. Janus simply shrugged, not willing to say anything else. “I could help look if you tell me what it is.”

“As much as I appreciate your kindness, my prince, it is my understanding that you are not very welcome on Remus’ side and constant monster attacks would be more distracting than helpful, I’m afraid.” Roman frowned.

“Remus can just tell them off, right?” He turned to his brother. Janus stared pointedly at Remus but he didn’t need to worry.

“I could, but I’m not gonna. It’s too much fun. Plus I don’t think I could stop myself from stabbing you in the back when you least expect it.” His grin was wide and made Roman shudder.

“Fine, fine. Don’t say I didn’t offer. Good luck to you then.”

“Thank you. We better be off then. We wouldn’t want to miss dinner and make Patton worry.” Janus moved to grab Remus and pull him toward the portal but Roman spoke up again.

“Wait! Have either of you seen Logan? I can’t find him and I need his input on the next script.”

“I haven’t seen him since breakfast,” Janus said, trying to stay composed.

“Remus?” A pause and Janus prayed that Remus could keep his impulses under control.

“Haven’t seen him in a while,” he chirped finally. Technically the truth, Janus thought before again pulling Remus toward the portal.

“Sorry we couldn’t be of help, Roman, but we must be off now. Good luck on your search!” he called over his shoulder, shoving Remus through the gate and quickly following after before Roman could protest.

***********

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90 Anmerkungen – Gepostet 31. März 2022

Meine #1 des Jahres 2022

Coffee shop AU, enemies to lovers, "Get out of the way before I murder you" <3

I’m done!!! Thank you so much for the request, this was a lot of fun 🥰

Also I tried not to make this Intrulogical but the sentence just fit Remus the best and then I couldn’t stop myself ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Anyway, here it is:

Science Can Bring People Together

All heads turned as the door of the coffee shop burst open.

 “What the fuck did you do, Croft?!” Remus yelled as he stalked towards the counter where Logan, Roman and Remy were currently working. The people in line hurried out of his way except for one blond-haired woman.

 “You can’t just come in here and cut in line!” she exclaimed.

 “Get out of the way before I murder you!” The growl made even the Karen shrink in on herself and Remus passed her by without any more protests. When he finally reached his goal he hit his fist against the counter and pointed at Logan. “I want an explanation, Croft. Now.”

 “Remus, calm down, we’re working! Can’t this wait ‘till later?” Roman interjected, casting worried glances towards the other customers. Remy on the other hand, despite being their manager, watched the scene with interest. Logan raised an eyebrow before turning to his co-workers.

 “I will make the orders while I talk with Remus. Business will not be disturbed further. Step aside, Remus.” He received a growl instead of an answer but didn’t even flinch. “I will not tell you anything if you cannot act civil.” They stared at each other for a few seconds before Remus clicked his tongue and moved two steps to the left. “Thank you.”

 Roman, despite not seeming sure of the situation, went back to serving customers. He wrote the orders down and passed them to Logan who started the process of making a cappuccino to go before addressing Remus again.

 “What is it that you want from me?”

 “I want you to tell me why the fuck Mrs Linn called me into her office today to offer me a seat on the team for that stupid science contest!” Logan raised an eyebrow.

 “Adam’s parents will not allow him to participate because of his bad grades in English and Spanish. We were a teammate short so I recommended you. Did Mrs Linn not explain that to you?”

 “Of course she did! I wanna know why the hell you would do that? You hate me!” Logan held up a hand to pause their conversation while he called out the finished order.

 “For Sylas and Delilah!” A broad-shouldered man came to get the cups while Logan continued with the next coffees. He made quick eye contact with Remus before speaking. “I do not hate you, Remus. I certainly do not appreciate a lot of your… actions but I do believe you to be a very smart individual. When Mrs Linn informed us about Adam’s situation she asked if we knew anyone who could fill his spot and I felt that you are the best option we have.”

 “Why?” Remus still looked sceptical. Logan hummed, considering his next words while operating the coffee machine.

 “First and foremost, as I already stated, I find that you are an intelligent person. Second, you possess ingenuity that is heavily lacking in the rest of our team. And lastly, the theme of this year’s contest is ‘Deep Sea’ which I know to be a special interest of yours.”

 “Slow down! What makes you think I’m intelligent or ingenuitive? My grades are shit.”

 “I am aware. However, grades do not reflect a person’s intelligence but their ability to thrive in the school system. It takes more than just intelligence to do so. For Maddie!” He placed another cup on the counter before moving on to the next. “For example that Rube Goldberg machine you used for your prank on the football team last year was a very clever construction that not just anyone could have built. You have a talent for science but the environment of our school is unable to support you to explore it as such.” Remus just stared at him until Logan called out the next order. The line at the counter was thankfully getting shorter.

 “Thanks for acknowledging my undiscovered genius“ – Logan rolled his eyes – “but why would this science competition be any different than class? Mrs Linn doesn’t like me.”

 “I do not believe that to be true. She certainly is not a fan of yours but when I recommended you she was not that put off by the idea. Otherwise she wouldn’t have agreed, after all. But beside that, Mrs Linn is only our supervision, not our instructor. She prevents us from injuring ourselves. The topic of the project and how we approach it is entirely up to us. At least as long as it’s within the budget.”

 “What about the others then? It’s not just you and me, right?”

 “Of course not. But I will handle them, no need to worry.” Remus furrowed his brows.

 “The hell’s that supposed to mean?”

 “That I will ensure that they do not bother you.”

 “How?”

 “I have my ways.”

 “You’re starting to kinda creep me out, Croft.”

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109 Anmerkungen – Gepostet 23. Februar 2022

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