#saphira writes ts

[dragonsaphirareads]

They were one, once.

A being of life and death, order and chaos, creation and destruction. A being of balance, of good and evil and everything in between. He was perfect, worshipped by the humans and doting on them in return. He was their favorite.

And the other gods hated him for it.

He was struck down, not in battle but in a time of peace. Shattered into pieces along with his temples and statues. His worship soon fell out of the humans memory, and they forgot him entirely.

But what the other gods didn’t know is that two pieces remained side by side, and slowly they regained their power enough to form again, this time into two separate forms. One became the master of creation, of order and of good. The other became the master of destruction, of all things chaotic and cruel. They despised each other, and yet they were brothers. It was only by staying by the others side that they could hold their power at all. When they moved away, their strength and youth would drain from them and they would be left as mortals.

The twins refused to let that happen. They loved humanity, even though they had been forgotten. They travelled for years across the lands, using their powers to bring peace to some, and to bring chaos to others. They balanced the world, yet it was imperfect. Humanity began to change, and wars began to break out as the humans fought to gain the favor of creation and to avoid the wrath of destruction.

Even worse, the twins began to fear that the gods would take notice of them, and they knew that in their weakened state they would not be able to form again if struck down.

So they used all the power they could summon to safely escape the land. The being of creation used his power to create a beautiful castle, surrounded by lush fields and green forests, teeming with creatures of light that would not become corrupt in their care. While the being of destruction used his power to break the flow of time and space, to create a pocket where they could safely hide from both gods and humans without fear of being struck down.

Even so, they could not bear to leave the human world completely. So they created a doorway, one that would hide itself from any godly essence. One that could only be found by humans, and only if they truly needed their help.

Their last gift to humanity was a song performed in the square of a small village, their voices ringing in harmony across the land. A children’s nursery rhyme, singing of creation and destruction, of love lost, of a gods death that left only pieces behind. They sing of family, and of caring for those who care for you. They sing of endings and beginnings, and the song rings out for long after they disappear.

The humans look, but they can never find them. Soon, tales of the mysterious, godlike twins fade into legend, but their song is still sung to every new generation.

That is why, when a bakers son finds himself lost in life, he sings to himself and feels a little better. And when that stops working and he runs into the woods to find his final resting place, he finds a door tucked inside a cave deep in the forest. He knocks, and the door swings open into beautiful light. He steps into a grand hall, far more elegant than anything he’s ever experienced in his small town life.

He hears footsteps, and he looks up to see a being clad in white and gold with a red sash across his chest. A crown floats inches above his perfect hair, and his eyes are a brilliant crimson.

Another figure appears beside the first. A perfect mirror image, clad in black and silver with a sash sling across the opposite shoulder and eyes a bright acid green.

The boy tries to stammer that he didn’t mean to intrude, and that he would leave right away. The twins look to each other, then back at the boy with a grin.

“You are not here by accident, dear one. Fear not, you shall be our honored guest tonight.” Says the one in white.

“You seek change. A new life, or perhaps just an escape from your old one. We can help.” Says the one in black.

The boy is skeptical. Yet, he can feel there is something otherworldly about the twins standing before him. In the back of his mind, a faint, familiar melody starts to play, and he knows who they are.

“I am Roman.”

“And I am Remus.”

Roman smiles, holding his hand out to the boy. “Come, tell us of your life, and tell us of who you wish to become.”

The boy hesitated for only a moment, before taking the hand offered to him and nodding.

“My name is Patton.” He says, and for the first time ever, he feels like someone listens.

[tsspromptmonth]

April Showers Bring May Flowers - A Month-Long Prompt List!

Flowers can be used to express all sorts of ideas - which is why we’ve taken inspiration from them to create this prompt list! Each day is a flower and its most common meaning, with four choice days based on the color of the flower! Feel free to write for every day, or pick and choose prompts that you feel inspired by! You can also use other flowers as prompts and tag us for the event!

If you post anything for the event, make sure to tag this blog as well as use the tag #mayflowersevent so we can reblog your work! Happy creating!

Text list below

Tulips - Perfect and deep love

Pansies - Platonic love

Alstroemeria (Lily of the Incas) - Mutual support

Peonies - Compassion 

Liatris - Happiness

Gladiolus - Faithfulness

Hyacinth - Sincerity

Baby’s Breath - Affection

Alyssum - Worth beyond beauty

Carnations

- Red: Deep Love and Admiration

- White: Reverance

- Pink: Gratitude

- Yellow: Disappointment or Rejection

Sun Flowers - Longevity

Birds of Paradise - Freedom

Safflower - Good Luck 

Daisy - Innocence

SnapDragon - Deception

Larkspur - Positivity

Forget-me-nots - Promise to remember

Kalanchoe - Persistence

Iris - Courage

Hydrangeas

- Pink: Romance, heartfelt emotions, weddings, and marriage.

- Blue: asking for forgiveness, and expressing regret.

- White: Bragging or boasting.

- Purple: abundance and wealth.

Chrysanthemums - Optimism

Poppies - Sleep and death

Daffodil - New beginnings

Poinsettia - Success

Lavender - Serenity

Orchid - Elegance

Monte Casino Aster - Charm and patience 

Hypericum - Inspiration

Delphinium - Encouragement

Lilies

- White: commitment

- Stargazer: ambition and encouragement with a difficult challenge. 

- Yellow/gold: good health and healing 

- Bright red: passion

Roses

- White: appreciation for a long lasting and well-developed love between two people. No inherent romantic implications

- Pink: young love 

- Red: passionate requited love

- Orange/yellow: friendship

[forevernerdyzeldafan]

https://archiveofourown.org/works/25492699

Probably one of my favorite pieces of writing

[dragonsaphirareads]

What Goes On Behind the Camera

Day 11 of @tsshipmonth2020 Fluffuary

Ship: Anxceit

AU: Canonverse

Word Count: 1634

Summary: When they aren’t filming, Thomas’s sides get along quite well. But sometimes, the former dark sides wonder if they truly do belong.

(Like listening to podfics? You can listen to this oneshot on my YT channel here!)

“And that’s a wrap! Great job everybody!”

The sides relaxed at Thomas’s announcement, dropping their video personas. They shifted from their various spots on the couch to sit closer to each other, no longer blocked by the fourth wall caused by the camera.

Roman stood up from his throne of pillows in the corner and fell onto the couch, raising his arm so Patton could cuddle up against him. Logan shifted to the corner of the sectional, bracing himself as Remus vaulted over the back of it and landed directly in his lap. The rest of the sides were thankful that Logan had had the forethought to ask his boyfriend to wear pants to the shoot.

Deceit went to the bathroom to fix his outfit while Virgil slipped down from the top of the couch and got comfortable on the sectional. Thomas got up and went to the kitchen, grabbing some bowls and microwave bags of popcorn.

“I think your fans are gonna really enjoy these shorter videos, Thomas! This was so much fun to film!” Patton called out, and the rest of the sides agreed.

“I think so too. They like seeing you guys in more casual settings, so this will be perfect.”

“It’s unfortunate that we’re unable to show them our true interactions though.” Logan commented, hugging Remus closer as the other shifted in his lap. “Regressing back to former attitudes has been strenuous in the past.”

“In English, teach!” Roman teased, and Logan rolled his eyes.

“Acting like we did several years ago when we didn’t accept the “dark sides” has caused tension.” Logan clarified, and Patton sat up in Roman’s arms.

“Do you guys think we still think that?” He worriedly asked Virgil and Remus, who shook their heads.

“I know you guys were just looking out for Thomas, and besides, I wasn’t exactly nice either.” Virgil told them, and Remus agreed.

Thomas walked back into the living room with three brimming bowls of popcorn in his arms, smiling at his sides. “Alright, who’s ready to actually watch Frozen now?”

“I’m afraid I’m going to have to skip out tonight, Thomas.” Deceit spoke up from behind him, startling the host who nearly dropped the popcorn.

“Huh? But we were finally gonna watch the movie...” Thomas mumbled, and Deceit shrugged with an apologetic smile.

“I’ve had a migraine for the better part of today, and it hasn’t improved at all so I think it’s best if I get some sleep instead.”

Thomas hummed, pouting in disappointment. “Well that’s too bad. Maybe we should wait until tomorrow night when you’re feeling better?”

Deceit shook his head. “Don’t be ridiculous, you’ve already made popcorn and everyone’s gotten comfortable. I’ll be fine, I just need to lay down.”

“If you’re sure...” Thomas said slowly, and Deceit took a slight bow before sinking out. The host turned back to the couch, handing out the bowls of popcorn to Logan and Patton before taking a seat himself.

Then he looked around and raised an eyebrow.

“Where did Virgil go?”

~

“You don’t need to lie to them, you know.”

Deceit didn’t respond, and Virgil wondered for a moment if he really was sleeping after all. He took a step into Deceit’s room, towards the figure that was lying on the bed and facing away from him.

“You didn’t need to check on me. Like I told Thomas, I’m fine, it’s just a little headache.”

Virgil rolled his eyes, moving to sit on the edge of the bed. “If you’re actually trying to sleep, then why don’t you change into something a little more comfortable?”

Deceit growled quietly, and Virgil knew he’d hit it on the head. Deceit was still wearing his normal outfit, sans his signature hat which was sitting on the nightstand beside the bed.

“Shouldn’t you be watching Frozen with the others?”

“As if I care about that when my boyfriend is trying to seclude himself from all of us. Dee, c’mon, you know you can tell me if something’s wrong. You weren’t acting like yourself today.”

A small huff came from the lump on the bed, and Deceit shifted to lay on his stomach, stuffing his face in his pillow. Virgil narrowed his eyes in concern, reaching out and resting a gentle hand on Deceit’s shoulder.

“Seriously Dee, what’s wrong? This really isn’t like you.”

“I’m just tired... It’s nothing you need to worry about.” Deceit mumbled quietly, and Virgil moved to sit closer to his boyfriend on the bed. He propped himself up against the headboard and patted his lap when Deceit lifted his head curiously.

“Consider me worried. C’mere and cuddle with me?”

Deceit narrowed his eyes for a moment, but he eventually relented and pushed himself up, laying his head on Virgil’s chest and letting the other run his fingers through his hair.

They sat like that for a while, and it got to the point where Virgil thought that Deceit had actually fallen asleep. Until, that is, he sensed Deceit’s heart rate spike and something wet against his chest.

“Dee?” Virgil whispered, worried. He heard a small sniff, like Deceit was trying to hide it.

“I’m... sorry...” came the whisper back. Virgil’s own heart started to race - what was this, and where was it coming from?

“What are you sorry for?” He asked softly, and Deceit pushed himself off of his chest and sat up on his own, his eyes hidden by strands of hair hanging in front of them.

“I... don’t deserve this...”

“Don’t deserve what?” Now he was really worried. He’d never seen Deceit like this, or at least it had been a very long time.

Deceit didn’t respond. He kept opening his mouth to try and answer, but there was no sound that came from him. Virgil sat up, moving slowly over to him to not scare him or cause him to clam up more.

“Do... you want me to try and guess?” Virgil asked. He knew sometimes, it was easier to simply agree with something than it was to spit it out yourself. After a long moment, Deceit nodded.

“Ok... do you mean this, here? Cuddling with me?”

Deceit nodded, but the look on his face made Virgil think there was more to it than just that.

“What about... spending time with the others?”

That only got a shrug, and Virgil chewed his lip. “Ok... is it Thomas, then?”

Deceit didn’t move at all, and Virgil had a feeling he was close. He sighed, reaching for his boyfriend’s hand. “Ernest... Thomas likes you. I promise he does.”

He pulled away, wrapping his arms around himself and pulling a knee to his chest. “But... he can’t trust me.”

There it was.

“What do you mean?”

“How can he, when he never knows if the words coming from my mouth are true or false? Or if I’m hiding some big secret from him? Or... or...”

Deceit took a shuddering breath, sounding like he was near tears. “I know I’m important... I know Thomas needs me to do my job... But how can he be ok with it?”

Virgil’s heart ached at hearing his boyfriend voice his worries. It mirrored his own worries, the ones he had even now, years after Thomas had fully accepted him and the job he did.

Deceit had taken longer to be accepted - it was only about a year since Thomas had told him that he was welcome. And just as he had, Thomas had started including him in videos that were all about his personal journey. Meaning that Deceit suddenly had to revert back to his villainous persona that he’d been working so hard to lose.

What was it Logan had said earlier? ‘Regressing back to former attitudes has caused tension’?

“Ernest, will you look at me?” Virgil asked, reaching slowly to brush his fingertips against his boyfriend’s scaled cheek. Deceit took a while to move, but Virgil was patient and he waited until finally Ernest lifted his head and met his eyes.

“Thomas does trust you, and that’s because he should.”

Deceit tried to shake his head, but Virgil wouldn’t let him get a word in. “What we do isn’t always nice. Thomas doesn’t find it fun when I do my job, and not when you do yours or when Remus does his. But he trusts you, because he knows that no matter what, all we want is to protect him.”

“Virgil...” Deceit sniffed before he crumbled, falling into Virgil’s waiting arms.

“And I trust you too, Ernest. And if filming these videos is too much for you, then we should talk to Thomas. I don’t like acting like I used to either... I don’t ever want to go back to that.”

Virgil rubbed Deceit’s back slowly, pushing away the tears that pricked at his eyes. Hearing Deceit fall apart like this broke his heart.

“I can’t lose you again... not like I did...”

“And you won’t. I’m not letting you get away from me again.” Virgil told him, trying to lighten the mood.

Deceit eventually calmed down, taking deep breaths and letting his heart settle. Virgil kissed his scaled cheek gently, waving his hand to change both of them into comfortable pajamas that weren’t soaked with tears. They laid back down, Deceit curled tightly against the other’s chest.

“I really do love you, you know. I know I don’t say it that much, but I do.” Virgil mumbled into his boyfriend’s hair, and Deceit shifted against him.

“I love you too. And... I’m ok to continue with the videos. I can make you fall in love with me all over again.”

Virgil laughed, nuzzling him before closing his eyes and slowly drifting to sleep.

At risk of sounding like Roman, Virgil whispered that he already did that every day.

[dragonsaphirareads]

Language of Flowers

Day 9 of @tsshipmonth2020 Fluffuary!

Ship: Roceit

AU: Royalty

Word Count: 2749

Summary: Prince Roman had never been that interested in the Hibiscus Festival, until a young man he’d never seen before arrived at the event and he started to think maybe it wasn’t so useless after all.

(Like listening to podfics? You can listen to this oneshot on my YT channel here!)

The Hibiscus Festival was the largest celebration in the kingdoms, held every year in late summer. Nobles and royalty from the farthest reaches of the continent would travel for days or weeks for the festival.

Prince Roman of the Sun Kingdom stared out the window of his room, watching the carriages arrive by the dozens and nobles of all ages stream into the castle. Servants darted around like busy bees, always having another carriage to unload or another noble to escort to their room.

He could be down there, he knew, but he wasn’t required to meet with any guests until the festival truly started the following evening. Until then, he was entitled to simply watch.

Most of the interesting guests had already arrived days ago. He had already met with Prince Logan of the Moon Kingdom, and Prince Patton of the Earth Kingdom. He enjoyed their company - he’d known them since they were all children, so they were practically family to him.

He knew his brother felt slightly differently about Logan, though. He’d been bragging to Roman for a month about his elaborate plan to court Logan, starting with the Hibiscus Festival.

The courting rituals of the annual festival were renowned all over the land. The Hibiscus Festival allowed those wishing to court someone the chance to present them with a red flower, symbolizing their love. Those receiving a flower then had the week to consider their response, and on the final day they would present their potential suitors with a flower of their own.

A pink flower in return told the suitor that they would like to have a friendly relationship with them, rather than a romantic one. Yellow meant that they weren’t ready to commit yet, but to try again the following year. Purple was an outright rejection - to see someone walking around with a bouquet of purple hibiscus was seen as a symbol of one who would never find love.

And of course, returning a red flower to the suitor was an invitation, consent for the suitor to begin courting.

Roman sighed, watching the sun set and the carriages coming slower now. His birthday had been only a few months ago, and now that he was 18, he had no doubt he would be receiving countless hibiscus flowers this year now that he was of age. Patton and Logan had both received full bouquets from potential suitors the previous year, and Roman had heard murmurs of plans from many noble girls to offer him a red flower come tomorrow.

He sighed. He would be preparing a lot of pink flowers if that was the case. But better to let them know up front than to string them along.

The door opened behind him and he heard loud, obnoxious footsteps approaching before arms flung themselves onto his shoulders, and a chin rested beside his ear. “I knew you were hiding up here! What’re you doing, you love parties!”

Roman sighed again, simply staring out the window at another carriage arriving. “I’ve said hello to those I wanted to see. I’ll meet everyone else at the ball tomorrow.”

The carriage outside was small, with only a driver and two people inside. A regal looking woman with hair braided all the way down her back, and a young man dressed for a party already.

“Who is that?” Roman mused, and his brother pushed further to get a good view out the window.

“Oh, isn’t that that new noble family that just got super rich in the last year or two?”

Roman glanced back at Remus then, surprised. “What? Since when do you care about anyone that wasn’t Logan?”

“I only care cause they call her ‘The Dragon Witch’ and that’s fucking cool!” Remus defended himself, and then continued. “Plus, I heard her son is like, super fucking hot and I’m gonna see for myself.”

Remus pushed himself away from Roman, fixing his collar before running out of the room, leaving Roman alone to watch them enter the castle and their carriage pull away.

Dragon Witch... it was an intimidating name, but from what little he could tell, the woman fit it perfectly. It made him wonder what her son would be like. At the ball tomorrow evening, he’d be sure to seek him out first.

~

The opening festivities were an all day affair, although there was no required attendance until the evening ball. Roman spent the majority of the day with his brother and his friends, wandering around the town and enjoying the market stalls set up specifically for the festival.

Flower sellers were on every street corner, selling not only hibiscus flowers but all sorts of buds. Roman saw his brother eyeing every seller, and eventually Roman took pity on him and lead Logan and Patton away for a while so he could slip away and buy himself a red hibiscus.

Before he knew it, the sun was setting and they needed to get back to the castle to change into their best outfits for the party. Roman and Remus wore similar outfits, long suitcoats with a flowing cape hanging loosely from their shoulders. Roman dressed in white, red and gold embroidery, and Remus in black, green and silver.

“You’re gonna kill that flower if you keep that up,” Roman told Remus, noticing his brother fidgeting with the flower between his palms. Remus shot him a look.

“It’s better than nothing at all!” Remus teased, noting Roman’s lack of a flower to give. Roman shrugged.

“I’m just barely 18, I’ve got years ahead of me to woo someone! I’m going to wait for the perfect person, not just anyone who walks by!”

“Aww, so you’re gonna be a heartbreaker, walking around with a bunch of purple hibiscus? So cruel!”

“At least I’m not putting all of my eggs into one basket. What if Logan rejects you? What’ll you do then?”

Remus shrugged, hiding his nerves behind a wonky smile. “Then I guess I’ll die alone, just like you!”

Before Roman could retaliate, there was a knock at their door and a servant entered to tell them they were needed to begin the opening ceremony. Roman gracefully sauntered out of the room, with Remus trying to push against him the entire way.

The ballroom was enormous, and filled with nobles, servants and long tables of hors d’oeuvres. At the front there was a raised stage where the royal families were waiting to enter and begin the party.

Roman and Remus had to sneak around along a servant hallway to avoid the large crowd, but they did overhear snippets of conversation from people who had stepped out of the claustrophobic ballroom.

The twins’ parents waved them inside, urging them to hurry. Roman and Remus took their place beside them, smiling over at Logan and Patton who were already there.

Soon the curtains opened, and there was applause as the King and Queen of the Sun Kingdom welcomed their guests, inviting them to drink, eat, and dance the week away, as well as participate in the annual trading of the Hibiscus flowers, provided by their local farmers. There was excited tittering that rolled through the crowd, and Roman could feel the eyes looking in his direction. He scanned the crowd, plastering a neutral, pretty smile onto his face to mask how nervous he was about this.

He had always loved the festival, back when he was a kid. It was so romantic, the exchange of flowers and the meanings of every color. As a child, he had thought that he wouldn’t care what color he received, because they were all so beautiful.

Now, though, he couldn’t help but focus on the sea of red that was scattered throughout the crowd. What was so romantic about being ambushed by people he didn’t even know, wishing for his hand in marriage?

“With that, let this celebration begin!” The King announced, and a cheer rose from the gathered nobles. The royal families left the stage and mingled with their guests.

Almost immediately, Remus pulled Logan out of the ballroom, hiding the hibiscus behind his back. Patton and Roman watched them leave, and Patton giggled at how excited Remus was.

“Aww, they would be cute together, don’t you think?” He asked, and Roman had to agree that Logan was a pretty good match for his chaotic brother.

“What about you? Are you going to give a flower to anyone?” Roman asked, and Patton blushed slightly.

“Not this year...”

Roman raised an eyebrow, curious. “But you’ve got someone in mind, then? Aw, Pat, you’ve gotta introduce me! Who is it?”

“It’s this noble boy from the Kingdom of Stars... But he’s not 18 yet, so I can’t court him this year. But next year, I will!”

Roman grabbed his friend’s arm, shaking it playfully. “Introduce me! I wanna meet him!”

Patton giggled, and he scanned the crowd for a moment before spotting him, and he ducked and dodged through the droves of people expertly.

Unlike Roman, who was starting to find that wearing a cape wasn’t the best idea in a space like this. It kept getting caught on things, and then people would run up to him and present him with a flower, causing him to spend even more time in the crowd and allowing the cycle to repeat.

Having lost Patton, and now with an armful of red Hibiscus, Roman fought his way to the nearest hallway and collapsed against the wall, blowing out a heavy breath.

“You’re very popular, your Highness,” came a smooth voice from beside him, and Roman jumped. When he looked over, he was face to face with the young man he’d seen arriving yesterday... the son of the “Dragon Witch”.

His skin was dark, but with light colored patches around his left eye and spreading down onto his cheek and chin. His eyes were golden brown, with the left one almost seeming to sparkle like gold. He was dressed in a similar outfit to Roman, a black suit coat with gold trimmings and a capelet around his shoulders.

“A-Ah, well, I just turned 18, so they’ve been waiting for their chance!”

The young man smiled, but it was guarded. “Of course! And you’re so handsome, your Highness, I would have expected a bouquet twice this size!”

“H-Handsome?” Roman stuttered, unsure of why his heart was racing. He’d been called handsome plenty of times, but there was something about the way the word rolled off this man’s tongue that sent shivers down his spine.

It was then he saw there was a red hibiscus in the young man’s fingers as well, being twirled lazily.

“Perhaps it’s a waste of time given your vast selection, but if you’d allow me...” He leaned in, offering the flower to Roman. “I would be honored if I could throw my hat in the ring as well~”

Roman blushed, taking the hibiscus quickly. “I, ah... I’ll take it into consideration... if you’ll tell me one thing.”

The man tilted his head, a curious grin on his face. “Yes, your Highness?”

“What’s... your name?”

He blinked, then nodded and took a little bow. “Of course, my apologies. I am Ernest, your Highness. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

“Ernest...” Roman repeated, testing how it felt to say it. He found he quite liked it. “I’ll be certain to remember your name.”

“Perhaps we could spend some time together this week, your Highness? Your kingdom is beautiful, and I have never been to the castle. And who better to reveal its intricate beauties than its prince?”

Ernest was a charmer, and Roman knew that it was likely he was just sucking up to him to try and increase his chances at the end of the week. But Roman liked pretty words, so it was working.

“Only if you will then tell me about your family in return. I’ve heard that your family only attained noble status a year or two ago. I’m rather curious to know how.” Roman offered, and Ernest smiled that guarded smile again.

“Of course, I’d be glad to share our history. But perhaps... before all that, I could ask for a dance?” Ernest offered his hand, and Roman realized that while they were talking, waltz music had started to play in the ballroom.

“I suppose I could offer you one...” Roman said, trying to be coy but feeling his heart racing. They walked back into the ballroom together, and Roman was excited to find that Ernest was an excellent dancer. They spun around together long after that first song had ended, and the prince knew he should be a proper host and dance with other potential suitors... but he found he just didn’t care enough to do so.

~

Ernest made for fun company, as he found over the week of the festival. Every day he woke up early to spend time with him, taking him on a tour of the castle and of the town, pointing out his favorite things about the place he lived.

In return, Ernest told him about his family. About how they had been farmers for generations, but his mother had wanted to do something to change that. In just ten years she was able to completely change how their family was run, and in the last few years she had been getting invitations to bigger events. This was the first time they had been invited to come to the Hibiscus Festival, and it was everything he had dreamed and more.

The Dragon Witch title came from her competition, from those who wanted to destroy her reputation by insinuating she used dark magic to gain her success. It was all lies, Ernest told him, but his mother had enjoyed them, and used those rumors to inspire her appearance.

With every moment, Roman found himself falling even harder. On the night before the final day of the festival, Remus came into his room to find him lying on his bed, staring dreamily at the ceiling. He teased him, saying that out of the two of them, he never would have expected that Roman would be the one to fall in love with a nobody while Remus with another prince.

Roman wasn’t bothered for once, letting Remus talk as he daydreamed. It wasn’t expected of him, no, but he wouldn’t have it any other way.

On the final day of the festival, the party was held in the gardens of the castle. As the sun set, the exchange of flowers began. The prince would stand in front as his potential suitors lined up to receive whatever flower he had decided to give them.

To those who had offered Patton a flower, he returned a pink hibiscus to every one of them. Roman expected nothing less - it would take a truly evil person to even have Patton consider giving a purple flower.

Remus had received a few, but he of course only offered pink and purple roses in return. When Logan stepped up, he saw that he was carrying a bouquet of all pink, with one red hibiscus in the center.

Remus couldn’t contain his happiness when it was that red flower being offered to him, and they both collapsed to the ground as Remus tackled him in an excited hug.

Then it was Roman’s turn, and he looked down at his bouquet of pink flowers, with one tucked away from view in the middle of it.

He handed out the flowers slowly, but when he got to Ernest in the center of the line, he spent a moment rearranging his bouquet to retrieve that other color hidden amongst the pink.

Ernest’s eyes widened as he stared at the flower, and Roman had to hide a smirk as he moved on, passing out the rest without much fanfare.

“Really?” Remus whispered as Roman came back to their group. “But I thought you were--”

“In love?” Roman asked, letting himself grin. “Maybe, maybe not. But I want to make sure that he’s not just all talk. Besides, you told me yourself his family has only really gained power in the last two years. I want to make sure that’s going to last.”

“I hope to prove myself quickly, then.” Ernest spoke from behind them, holding up the yellow flower he’d received, and Roman turned around and smiled at him. “I’m thankful for the chance, your Highness, and I hope to rise to your standards by next summer.”

“I look forward to it!”

[dragonsaphirareads]

Smithing Hearts

Day 26 of @tsshipmonth2020​ Fluffuary

Ship: Analogince

AU: Heartsmith

Word Count: 1821

Summary: Roman is a heartsmith, the best in the business. His secret is that he puts a little of himself into every repair he does. He doesn’t get anything back, until he receives two orders back to back that are unlike anything he’s ever done before.

(Like listening to podfics? You can listen to this oneshot on my YT channel here!)

Virgil clutched his parcel to his chest, hurrying through the busy streets as his eyes darted back and forth. He was looking for a specific shop, one he had only heard about through hushed conversation. It wasn’t a place he had ever wanted to go to, but he couldn’t deny anymore that he needed help.

A small wooden sign hanging over an unassuming door caught his eye, and he double checked that nobody was watching him before he ducked into the shop.

A cheerful bell announced his arrival, and a young man stood up from his workbench to greet him. He had dark skin and messy brown hair, with a smear of something across his forehead.

“H-hello, are you the heartsmith?”

The young man grinned, taking a small bow. “The best around! I’m Roman, how can I help you?”

Virgil tensed - the cheery smile facing him was overwhelming. “W-Well, I... I’m getting married in a few weeks...”

“Oh, really? Well congratulations! That’s wonderful!”

He swallowed, picking at the paper around his parcel. “Y-Yeah, well, it’s... not all that great, actually.”

He set it down, carefully unwrapping the paper and cradling the object inside. Virgil heard the other man draw in a soft breath through his teeth, and he nodded.

“It’s been like this for as long as I can remember... But the cracks have only gotten bigger in the last few months, and I can’t fix them.”

“I see. May I hold it?”

Virgil nodded, handing his broken heart over. “So... do you think you can fix it?”

There was silence as the heartsmith turned it over and over in his hands, gently prodding at the dark cracks that ran through the very center of it. Then he looked up and smiled confidently. “Of course I can! And not to worry, I’ll have it done before your wedding, I guarantee it!”

“Really?! You think you can do it? But it’s been broken forever!”

Roman shook his head. “I’ve never met a heart that I can’t fix! Stop by in a few days and I’ll have it ready for you!”

“T-Thank you, I will!”

~

Roman got to work as soon as Virgil left. Despite his feigned confidence, he wasn’t sure if he was going to be able to meet his promise. He’d fixed a lot of cracked hearts in his time, but this was something entirely different. The heart on his table now was practically in two pieces, held together by pure willpower.

He could only imagine what Virgil had gone through in his life to cause such sizable cracks.

The heartsmith tightened his toolbelt, taking a seat and getting to work. Nothing would get fixed if he just sat there thinking about it, after all!

His shop didn’t have any windows besides the little glass cutout in the door, so he didn’t know what time it was when he heard the door open again. He’d gotten into a rhythm, fixing the smaller cracks that he knew he could fix before tackling the bigger ones.

Roman stood up from his stool, stretching before turning towards the door and greeting the man standing there. He was well-dressed and standing with his back straight - probably from a wealthy family, if he had to guess.

“Welcome! How can I help you?”

The man cleared his throat, setting a small box down on the counter.

“I have heard you are capable of fixing broken hearts, is that correct?”

Roman raised an eyebrow. “That it is! I’m a heartsmith, it’s my job!”

The man swallowed, his eyes darting down at the box on the table. “Are... you able to fix a heart that has never been able to love?”

The heartsmith blinked as the man reached for the box, taking off the lid and carefully lifting the heart inside it. Roman bit his tongue to keep from gasping - how was it possible for a heart to look so dull?

“It has been like this since I can remember. I always thought it would fix itself with time, but I’m getting married soon and it has not changed at all...”

He sighed, clasping his heart over his chest. A small, sad smile graced his lips as he stared at the empty box, his eyes unfocused.

“My fiancee is such a wonderful person... and I want to be able to be a good husband, but I cannot do that if I’m unable to love...”

Roman tried to discreetly wipe away a tear. He was a romantic, and a sucker for the stories that his customers came in with. “I’ll fix it!”

“Y-You’re sure you can?”

Roman bobbed his head. “Yes, I know I can! Please, allow me to help you!”

He nodded, placing his heart back in the box and allowing Roman to take it. “Thank you.”

“Thank me when you come to pick it up! Come by in a couple days and check on it!”

“I will see you then.”

~

After the man left - he learned that his name was Logan - Roman locked the door to the shop and turned the “Open” sign to “Closed”. He needed all the time he had allotted himself if he was going to fix both of these hearts.

He had to let Virgil’s heart sit - the special glue used in his craft took hours to dry, and he didn’t want to risk breaking it further by handling it before it was done.

Roman set Logan’s heart down on his worktable, spending a minute to observe it. He had seen dim hearts before, during his training with his mentor, but never one as dull as this. Usually, a dull heart was the result of isolation after many years, and only seen in older hearts. But Logan couldn’t be much older than Roman himself, and yet...

Roman sighed, grabbing his tools and setting them to the side, getting them ready. He would be pulling a few long nights to fix it, but he would get it done. He had promised them he would, and Roman didn’t plan on breaking his promises.

~

The heartsmith was practically asleep at his workbench when Virgil arrived several days after their first meeting. The chiming of the door bell woke him up, and he rubbed at his eyes and smiled sleepily at the worried-looking young man.

“Are you alright?” Virgil asked, and Roman nodded.

“Peachy! I was up late working, but it was worth it.”

Roman grabbed his heart and offered it to him, hearing Virgil gasp audibly.

“No way... how did you do this?! It looks like it’s brand new!”

The heartsmith beamed, a hand over his chest. “I pride myself in my work! I promised you I would fix it, didn’t I?”

“Y-Yeah, but I didn’t think... this is incredible! Thank you!”

Virgil stared unbelieving at his heart, tears in his eyes. Roman smiled, but the door opening behind them took his attention as his other customer walked in.

“Oh, Logan, come in! Perfect timing, I just finished your heart as well!” Roman grinned, running to his workbench and making sure that everything was dry and set.

“...Logan?”

“Virgil? What are you doing here?”

Roman blinked, turning around to see his two customers staring at each other with confusion and a little bit of fear in their eyes. All at once, he realized that they were the “fiancee” they each spoke about.

“I... I wanted to... make sure that I could love you... I’ve been in bad relationships in the past, and they’ve left me unable to trust people... but I wanted to be a good husband! Because... you deserve it...”

Logan reached out and took Virgil’s hand, running his thumb along his knuckles. “And you deserve someone who’s capable of loving you!”

“W-What?”

“My heart... it’s never been able to love... I never thought it was an issue, until I met you. And I didn’t want you to know I had come here, because...”

“Because you both deserve each other.” Roman interjected, handing Logan his heart before stepping back. The minute he saw the brilliant red his heart was glowing, Logan started sobbing.

“Aww, L...” Virgil murmured, pulling his fiancee into a tight hug with tears in his own eyes.

Roman could only stand by and watch as they collected themselves, leaving him with a large sum of cash and an imprint of their smiles in his mind.

After they left, he locked the door behind them and sat down on his stool, reaching for his own heart that was sitting there.

If his mentor was still alive, he knew he would scold him for how he handled the tougher jobs. Roman had always been told to guard his own heart, to not let his feelings get in the way of his work.

He laughed softly, cradling his dimming heart close to his chest. It was laced with cracks large and small, filled with golden glue. “Sorry sir, maybe I wasn’t cut out for this job after all.”

~

Roman kept the shop closed for a week or so after he fixed Virgil and Logan’s hearts. He had fallen ill from using his own heart to fix theirs, more so than normal since he had fixed two hearts instead of just one.

He took a walk late one night when the streets were mostly empty. The air was clear, and it helped to lift the heaviness in his chest.

There were a few couples walking in the park with him, and there was one he recognized a little too late.

“Roman!” Virgil waved at him, walking hand in hand with Logan directly towards him. Roman quickly looked around for an escape route, but there were no branching paths and he had to accept his fate and face them with a fake smile.

“You two are out late!” He commented lightly.

“As are you. We tried to stop by earlier this week to thank you again for your incredible work, but it seemed like you were closed?” Logan asked.

Roman scratched the back of his neck. “Heh, yeah, I just got a little cold, that’s all!”

Logan hummed, then he and Virgil shared a glance. “I see... well, there was actually something we wanted to tell you, besides thanking you for your hard work.”

“And what’s that?”

Virgil took a slow breath, smiling nervously. “After we met you... neither of us could quite get you out of our heads.”

Roman raised an eyebrow as Logan finished the thought.

“We were wondering... if you might be interested in going on a date with us?”

“But... I thought you were getting married!”

They both smiled. “We are. But there’s room for one more... if you want.”

Roman had to let it sink in for a moment, but he didn’t take longer than he needed to agree.

Somehow, the weight in his chest seemed to disappear the moment he started walking side by side with the two of them.

[dragonsaphirareads]

Passing Notes

Day 13 of @tsshipmonth2020 Fluffuary

Ship: Intrulogical

AU: High School

Word Count: 3312

Summary: Logan takes an elective science course his senior year, and ends up sitting next to his friend’s crude, immature brother who insists on passing him notes every class period. Eventually, Logan realizes the hidden message he’d been missing.

(Like listening to podfics? You can listen to this oneshot on my YT channel here!)

“I still can’t believe you took a science class instead of a free period! You’re such an overachieving nerd!” Roman exclaimed as they stood around Logan’s locker. Patton elbowed him in the side as Logan rolled his eyes.

“He’s allowed to do whatever he wants with his schedule!” Patton defended.

“I know, but we could have all had free time together! And now we’re split!” Roman whined. Logan wasn’t fazed, all too used to his dramatics at this point.

“We already spend hours together after school for drama, I think you’ll survive an hour and a half free period without me.” Logan said, checking his written schedule once more for the room number before slamming his locker shut. “But if you truly want to see me more, I’m sure you could go get your schedule changed.”

Roman shook his head a little too quickly while making a face, and the other two snickered at him. Patton glanced at the clock hanging in the hall and frowned. “You’d better get going Lo, you’re gonna be late!”

Logan checked and nodded. “You’re right. I’ll see you two after school.” They waved as he headed off towards the science hallway, thankfully arriving with a few minutes to spare.

Every spot at the lab tables had a small slip of paper folded into a tent on it, and looking closer he saw they were name tags. Right, he’d heard that this teacher was a fan of arranged seating charts, especially at the beginning of a new semester. He found his name and was thankful that it was at the front of the room. Sitting in the back made it harder to focus, mostly because the students sitting back there didn’t usually care to be in class.

He took his seat and set down his notebook and pencil case, as well as the script for the spring musical that he still needed to read through. As other students came into the room, he flipped it open and skimmed the first few pages.

A minute later, the bell rang and the teacher walked into the room, welcoming them and introducing himself. Then, as he was passing out copies of the syllabus, the door opened and a disheveled, very familiar face waltzed in.

“Sorry I’m late!” He announced, and the teacher just sighed, shaking his head.

“Just... take your seat, please.” He told him, pointing at the only open seat... right next to Logan. The young man grinned, happily bouncing over to him and slamming his stuff down on the table. “Quietly, Remus.”

“My bad!” Remus sung, not at all apologetic. He then turned to Logan, still with that wide, slightly unhinged grin. “Hi Logan! Didn’t know you were taking this class!”

“Hello, Remus.” Logan greeted neutrally, suddenly feeling a small pang of regret at not taking that free period after all.

He wasn’t exactly strangers with Remus, but he wasn’t close to him either. Their interactions boiled down to the few times he and Patton hung out at Roman’s house and Remus was there. Roman didn’t exactly get along well with his twin, so he tended to spend time with his friends elsewhere.

As such, Logan didn’t know much about Remus. He knew he was loud and crude, disruptive in class, extremely creative with his language, and he was friends with Virgil and Ernest, two other seniors who were part of the drama department.

Logan wondered if the teacher had possibly placed them at the same table for a reason, since Logan was an “overachieving teacher’s pet”, according to Roman. Perhaps he thought he might be able to encourage Remus to focus.

Unlikely, considering the other kid had already pulled out his notebook and started doodling. Logan shrugged. If he was drawing, he would at least be quiet. He opened his own notebook, making notes of anything important the teacher said about assignment deadlines or test dates, ignoring the loud scratching of Remus’s pencil beside him.

That is, until there was a loud rip of paper and a moment later, something hit Logan’s elbow. He stared at it curiously, then up at Remus who had gone back to his doodling, a corner of his notebook paper conspicuously missing.

Logan grabbed it and put it in front of him, debating whether or not to open it or just throw it away. Either way, he would save it for the end of class. He wouldn’t let Remus distract him.

Two more folded paper pieces hit him over the course of the class period, and each time Logan took it and placed it carefully in the pile in front of him. He could feel Remus getting frustrated at him, but he didn’t let that bother him.

Once the bell finally rang and class was over, Logan stuffed the notes in his pocket to deal with at a later time. He grabbed his things and left the classroom while Remus was called aside by the teacher, heading to his locker.

Roman and Patton met him there, having already gotten their stuff from their own lockers.

“So!” Roman said, leaning against the neighboring locker smugly. “How was your class?”

“...Interesting. Were you aware that Remus was taking the same class?” Logan asked, and Roman blinked.

“Huh? No? Wait, he is? Are you sure it wasn’t someone who just looked like him?”

Logan rolled his eyes. “You two are identical twins, Roman. I’m very familiar with what you look like, and I had a very close view because the teacher put him next to me.”

“Aww shit, that sucks! I’m so sorry Lo, was he annoying?”

“Well, he was quiet, for the most part. He did keep passing me these notes, though.”

Patton tilted his head, curious. “Notes? What do they say?”

“Probably something gross.” Roman grumbled.

Logan pulled the ripped pieces out of his pocket, holding them in his palm. “I didn’t read them during class, so I’m not sure what they say.”

His friends each grabbed one, unfolding them as Logan finished packing his backpack. When he pulled it out of his locker and turned back, they both had odd looks on their faces. “What’s wrong?”

“Um, well... there’s nothing written on them!” Patton said, trying to be chipper. Roman rolled his eyes, showing Logan the paper.

On it was a pencil sketch of... something. Logan couldn’t actually tell what it was supposed to be - some kind of catlike creature, maybe? But it also had fins like a fish, and horns...

“Hmm.” Logan hummed, and Roman crumpled the piece in his hand, huffing.

“What the hell?! He’s so weird, you should just toss ‘em Lo, don’t encourage him by taking them.”

“Maybe you could just tell him to keep them? They are well drawn, he should draw them in a sketchbook so he can look back at them!” Patton suggested.

Logan shrugged, shoving his own shred of paper back into his pocket while Roman wasn’t looking. Sure, the drawings were strange, and they didn’t seem to be based in any kind of reality, but they were fascinating all the same. It was clear Remus had a talent for drawing - the shading on the horned cat/fish creature made it look almost real.

“We should be going - Mr. Sanders wanted us to be there early today.” Logan changed the topic, and thankfully his friends allowed it. The three of them walked down to the auditorium together, quickly forgetting about Remus and his strange behavior.

All of them except for Logan, who couldn’t quite push from his mind the excited, child-like glee in Remus’s eyes when he had passed that first note across the table.

~

It became a routine after a while. Logan would go to his fourth hour class, Remus would come in late and immediately start drawing in his notebook, occasionally passing the notes to Logan, who would stash them in his pocket. He didn’t throw them away - as disturbing as some of the sketches could be, Logan could tell that Remus wasn’t trying to gross him out. What he did want though, he wasn’t entirely sure.

He wasn’t sure, that is, until Logan was sitting backstage one day watching the actors run through the show and he pulled out one of the notes to examine it. It was some kind of tentacled monster, most likely inspired by their recent lectures about deep sea life. Again, Logan had to marvel at the technical skill behind it. Both of the Prince twins were incredibly talented, apparently, because Roman had his art hanging up all over his room and had been displayed in the school several times as well.

Something shifted behind him, and a voice spoke beside his head. “Is that Remus’s?”

Logan jumped, folding the note quickly and turning to look at who had snuck up on him. Ernest, the head of costume design, who had a knowing smile on his face.

“What did you say?” Logan asked, playing dumb. He was a little embarrassed to be caught staring at the note, even though logically he knew he had no reason to be. Ernest rolled his eyes, pointing at the crumpled piece of paper in his hand.

“That note. It’s from Remus, right?”

The stage manager quickly glanced out on stage, gauging where his friends were. He really didn’t want either of them to walk in on this conversation, especially since they had advised him to simply get rid of the sketches. Thankfully, neither of them would be on his side of the stage for a while. Logan sighed.

“Yes, it is. He’s been giving them to me during class. I’m not certain why, though.”

The costume designer snickered. “Maybe he wants to impress you with his incredible drawing skills.” He said sarcastically.

Logan slipped the note back into his pocket. “Well, they are incredible, in a technical sense. He has a very impressive grasp of anatomy and shading.” He tried to speak neutral about it, lest Ernest get the wrong idea.

The other hummed. “I wouldn’t know. He doesn’t show his drawings to anyone.”

At that, Logan furrowed his eyebrows. “What? But he’s been doing this for nearly a month now... and I never asked for him to show me his drawings.”

Ernest pressed his lips together tightly, but it wasn’t out of anger. There was something else behind it... “I dunno, Logan... you’re smart, I’m sure you can figure out what’s going on in his weird little head.”

“But you’re his friend, aren’t you?”

He laughed, walking away. “You think he tells me anything?”

Logan huffed, turning back to what was happening on stage. He did know - he had to know. Ernest was acting too suspicious to not know what was going on in his friend’s head. But clearly, he wasn’t going to tell him.

He tried to put it out of his head, but something was bothering him. Ernest had known the sketch was Remus’s, which told him that he must have seen Remus’s drawings at least a few times in order to recognize it. But if Remus was as secretive as he sounded with his sketches, then that would be difficult.

So maybe he wasn’t that secretive. Even so, there was something weird about what had been happening every time they were in class. He wasn’t an artist, but he knew Roman, and he knew that Roman was protective of his sketchbook, and almost never ripped anything out of it. If he did draw something for someone else, it was on a dedicated page that he tore out.

He threaded his fingers through his hair, frustrated. It didn’t make any sense, but then again, Remus had never made much sense to him.

Tomorrow he had science. He vowed that he would watch Remus a little closer, to try and figure out why he was exhibiting this extremely odd behavior.

~

Logan got to class early, pulling out a book and skimming it as he watched other students filter into the classroom. Then, for the first time since the beginning of the semester, Remus actually arrived three minutes before the bell rang.

As always, the other student shot a wide, toothy smile his way before cracking open his notebook, noticeably thinner than it had been a month ago, and sketching immediately.

Logan watched him out of the corner of his eye, just in case Remus noticed what he was doing, and what he was seeing didn’t make any sense.

For his sketch, Remus didn’t start with any kind of skeleton or outline, which Logan would have expected. Instead, he drew a distinct shape, and was working out from there. But it wasn’t a circle or square, like he would have thought..

It was a heart?

Logan eventually abandoned his facade of reading as he watched Remus draw, expanding the heart into a head shape, adding too many eyes and a wild mane that masked the starting shape.

By the time he was done and tearing out the drawing, it was fifteen minutes into class and Logan had done nothing but stare at Remus’s hand as he drew. He had to force himself to look forward as Remus folded it and tossed it his way, immediately starting another. Once again, he began with a heart, but this time it was much smaller and ended up turning into a nose.

Why was he drawing hearts? Was that just a part of his drawing process, or was there something more to it? Did it have to do with how he would tear out every drawing and give it to him?

Should Logan respond, now that he knew this? Remus had been giving him these notes for over a month now, and he’d never said a word. Would it be rude to mention it now, especially since he’d only noticed it because he was watching over his shoulder?

He couldn’t tell his friends. Roman didn’t like his brother and Patton was wary of him as well. And he didn’t know Virgil or Ernest well enough to approach them with something as big as this, although he had a feeling they were both in on whatever game Remus was playing.

While he was pondering, the bell rang and he broke out of his trance to see Remus bouncing out of the classroom, with three more folded notes sitting in front of him. Logan shook his head, blinking rapidly to wake himself up. As he was gathering his things, he heard the teacher call his name. “Hm? Y-Yes?”

The teacher’s eyes were concerned. “I noticed you didn’t open your notebook today. Do you need me to move you to a different spot?”

“Huh? No, why would you?”

“I saw you watching Remus this class. You’re a very bright student and I want to make sure you’re not being distracted.”

Logan shook his head quickly. “No, no, I’m not. I’m just not feeling very well today, I’ll be better next week, I promise.” He couldn’t get moved now - not when he was so close to figuring out this puzzle!

The teacher hummed, accepting his answer. “Alright then. Don’t hesitate to tell me if you think you’d benefit from a seat change.”

“I won’t, thank you.” Logan agreed, rushing out of the classroom and towards his locker where Roman and Patton were waiting. He made up an excuse of needing to ask a question about an assignment, shoving the notes deeper into his pockets. They didn’t question him, letting him know that Mr. Sanders had gotten sick and that rehearsal was canceled.

Never had he been so thankful that their director had a penchant for getting sick often. Logan ran up to his room as soon as he got home and pulled the notes from his pocket, throwing them onto his desk onto the sizable pile already sitting there. He took a seat and grabbed a permanent marker, then began opening them up one by one. In each one, he looked for any heart shapes. And as he went through, he found at least one in every single drawing he had been given by Remus. In one, a drawing of a two headed dragon, the creature had heart shapes spines trailing down its back.

A heart on every single one. No two drawings were the same besides that simple fact. He couldn’t believe he hadn’t noticed it before - with them traced in marker, they looked so obvious.

He wanted to ask what it meant, but he knew the answer was obvious. Now the only question was what he should do now.

Logan pushed the handdrawn notes away, reaching for his own notebook and cracking it open. It was time to plan, something he did best.

~

Tuesday, he was ready. His heart was racing the entire day, he was both excited and nervous for what he was going to do. Once he did it, he knew things would change. But after hours of planning over the weekend, he was certain it would be for the best.

Finally, it was fourth hour. Again, Remus came to class on time, and again, he started drawing for Logan. It was difficult for Logan to pay attention, but he managed to take decent notes and avoid looking over at Remus. Instead, he kept his eyes on the clock in the corner.

A minute before the bell would ring, he put his plan into action. Logan turned to a fresh page at the back of his notebook and he did his best to tear out a piece discreetly so Remus wouldn’t notice. He jotted something down quickly, and just before the bell rang he nudged it over to Remus, making sure he saw it.

The other student blinked, grabbing it slowly as if it was some kind of illusion, and unfolded it carefully. Then he got an odd look on his face, and he glanced up to see Logan smiling at him as the bell rang.

“Logan?” Remus spoke, the first thing he’d actually said to him all semester since that first day.

“Meet me outside?” Logan asked, holding his things with one arm. Remus nodded vigorously, slamming his notebook closed and swiping all of his pencils into his bag in one swoop.

“Do you mean it?” Remus exclaimed as they stepped outside and stood to the side.

“I want to understand you, Remus.” Logan clarified, looking quickly at the crumpled note in the other’s hand. “You’ve been giving me these notes all semester, and it took until last Friday to understand why.”

“You took forever!” Remus complained playfully. Logan pursed his lips.

“Why didn’t you simply tell me, if you were so impatient? That would have been much faster, and you’ve never struck me as shy.” Remus huffed at the suggestion, crossing his arms.

“Roman told me he didn’t want me ‘messing with’ his friends, so I decided that as long as you talked to me first, he can’t get mad at me!”

Logan opened his mouth to argue that flawed logic, then decided against it. “I see.”

“So, do you mean it?”

“Do I mean what?”

“Don’t mess with me! You gave me a note with a heart drawn on it Logan, I obviously mean do you like me?! Do you have a crush on me like I’ve had one on you for literally years?!”

That took Logan aback for a moment. Years? Really? “I’m afraid I don’t know you well enough to say I do, Remus.”

Remus’s face fell, but Logan wasn’t done. “I believe now is the time you offer to spend some time with me so I can learn more about you.”

“Are you... asking me to ask you on a date?”

Logan raised an eyebrow, and Remus laughed.

“I knew there was a reason I liked you! Ok, well then, will you go out on a date with me Logan?”

“Why, of course. It’s about time!”

[dragonsaphirareads]

Guardians of Fire and Nature

Day 28 of @tsshipmonth2020 Fluffuary

Ship: Intruloceit

AU: Royal Twins

Word Count: 1894

Summary: Despite warnings, Prince Remus sneaks down into the kitchen late one night for a little snack. Unfortunately, he meets the wrong people and ends up far away from the safety of his bodyguards, who didn’t even know he was gone. 

(Like listening to podfics? You can listen to this oneshot on my YT channel here!)

It was a little after midnight when Prince Remus snuck down to the kitchen, his personal guards fast asleep in the cots they had rolled into his room. Ever since his brother had been kidnapped for unknown reasons, the entire castle had been on red alert. There was even talk of a spy in their ranks, someone working in the castle that was on the bandits’ side.

Remus thought it was ridiculous, personally. It was obvious that Roman had just been kidnapped by chance, that the bandits had heard him coming and decided to take advantage of his helpful nature to trap him. It wasn’t a big conspiracy, like his mother seemed to think. She had ordered his guards to be at his side 24/7, even sleeping in his room.

The prince loved his guards, just as much as Roman loved his, but he needed his space. That was why he snuck out, down to the kitchens to pinch a snack for himself without Logan or Ernest breathing down his neck.

He heard someone shuffling around in the kitchen as he approached, and then hushed voices. Remus peeked around the door to see a serving girl darting around, seemingly talking to herself. Remus smiled to himself. She always gave him the best snacks.

“Annie!” He greeted, startling the girl who gasped loudly, her voice cracking.

“Prince Remus! W-What are you doing here?” She stammered as the prince flounced into the kitchen.

“I just wanted to grab a lil’ somethin’, and get away from my guards for a bit! They’re so ridiculous, they haven’t let me out of their sight since Roman’s whole fiasco! Not even to shit!”

Annie winced at his statement, wiping her hands on her apron. “I see. That must be difficult, not having any privacy.”

“It sucks! And it’s all ‘cause Roman got tricked by a little girl on the side of the road!”

She pursed her lips, gently bumping a cabinet door closed with her foot as she moved to the pantry door. “I’m sure it was a little more complicated than that... Prince Roman seemed so frightened when he arrived back at the castle.”

Remus rolled his eyes, following her slowly to take a peek at what they had in stock. “He’s such a baby though! If it were me, I would have told them to shove off, not bawl my eyes out!”

Annie chewed on her thumb nail, leaning against the pantry door. “Really? I think I would be so terrified, I would do anything they say! After all, they could hurt me really badly if I didn’t!”

“Nah, they wouldn’t dare!”

Remus tried to move forward, to not-so-subtly get Annie to move out of the way so he could get his snack in peace. But instead, he stopped as he noticed that her face had changed. Her hair was hanging in front of her eyes, and the energy surrounding her was different... darker, somehow.

“Do you want to bet on that?”

“H-Huh?”

Annie raised her head, staring at him with a smug smile and danger flickering in her eyes. “I said, do you want to bet on that? Do you really think you could be in that situation and keep up that smug attitude?”

“Annie, what are you talking about?”

Instead of answering, she reached behind her and turned the handle, opening the pantry door and revealing a hulking figure masked by the darkness of the closet. Remus stepped back in fear, and instead felt a sharp pain on the back of his neck before his world suddenly turned to black.

Before he passed out, he heard Annie’s voice above him, sneering with obvious disdain. “Let’s test your resolve, little prince. See how tough you really are.”

~

Remus shot awake, surrounded by darkness and lying on cold dirt. He wiggled and realized his limbs were numb and also tied behind his back, and there was a blindfold tied tightly over his eyes.

Wherever he was, he was alone, or at least he thought so. He tried to shift into a more comfortable position, but he wasn’t strong enough to do much other than lift his head a few inches off the ground.

There were footsteps, and then the sound of a door opening as a slight amount of light penetrated the thick fabric over his eyes. Immediately he tries to relax his muscles and pretend he was still asleep, to hopefully delay whatever they were going to do and buy some time.

A lighter pair of footsteps walked right up to him, and there was a gentle hand on his shoulder. Then that warmth left, and a voice spoke.

“Drop the act, little prince, I know you’re awake.”

That was Annie... so it hadn’t been a dream. He realized that his mother had been right - there had been a spy in the castle. And he had fallen for it.

“What do you want?” Remus asked in a hoarse voice, his throat dry from breathing in the dust of his new surroundings. He heard someone else in the room laugh as Annie shifted.

“It’s nothing personal, I promise. Your mother’s done some things that we don’t approve of, and so we’re going to hold one of her precious little boys until she fixes what she’s done.”

The other person in the room laughed again - a gruff, cruel sound. “But don’t get the wrong idea - we don’t need you in pristine condition to get what we want.”

Annie hummed. “True. We only need you alive, and just barely. So if you do something that we don’t like, we won’t hesitate to cause a few bruises. Or worse.”

“Bring it! You don’t scare me!”

Annie laughed, and there was more movement before suddenly pain bloomed in his chest, and he sucked in a breath. Someone had kicked him in the ribs, and hard.

“You can act tough as much as you want. It’ll just make it worse for you~”

“So what, you failed at getting Roman and you decided to take the other twin instead? Talk about lowering your standards!”

He was kicked again, in the same spot. Remus tried to hide how painful it was to breathe.

This continued for a while, although Remus had no way of knowing how much time had passed. Every snarky remark was met with pain, but he didn’t stop. He couldn’t stop - they would take that as a sign of victory, and he refused to let them win.

“You... really should have just taken Roman again... He would have been...the perfect prisoner... but you stuck yourself with me!”

Annie spoke up from where she was sitting in the corner, watching the entire scene. “Your brother is too much work, mostly because of those lovely little guards he has. They arrived within an hour of my people grabbing him. But it’s nearly morning, my little prince, and your guards are nowhere to be seen. Could it be they find you just as annoying as I do?”

Remus grinned, spitting out a mouthful of iron-tasting saliva. “No, they’ll come. Even if they didn’t want to, they have to.”

“You don’t sound very confident. Do you even realize how much the palace staff talks about you behind your back? You’re the most obnoxious little brat I’ve had the displeasure of meeting.”

“Why, thank you!” Remus smiled widely. “And trust me, I know. Everyone loves my brother, and I’m just the annoying sidekick. He’s the perfect prince, right down to his guards.”

Then the captive smirked. “Me, on the other hand? I attract people who aren’t bound by the same moral code as they are.”

Annie narrowed her eyes at him. “What are you blathering about?”

“All I’m saying, is that if Virgil and Patton were coming to get me? You’d have a much higher chance of making it out of here alive.”

Annie laughed harshly, and he heard her footsteps approach him, and braced himself for another burst of pain.

But it never came, and instead he felt the air shift and a voice spoke from in front of him, masking Annie’s startled gasp.

“Sorry to crash this little party, but you’re not going to lay another finger on my prince.” Ernest said, a satisfied smirk on his lips.

“What are you--! Where did you come from!?”

Remus could hear distant cries of pain coming from outside the door. Later, Ernest would tell him exactly how his captors both panicked and ran for the door, and how the man screamed when he burned his hands on the metal doorknob. He would learn about how he met his end at Logan’s hands, as the fire magic user burned his way through the entire compound, flames licking at his clothes. Ernest would tell him how Logan raised his hand against Annie, ready to kill her as well before Ernest broke him out of his trance.

“Logan, we need her alive.”

“She kidnapped our prince.”

“And we need to make sure that there won’t be another attempt. Let me handle her, take care of his highness.”

Remus barely had the energy to raise his head to allow Logan’s warm hands to untie the blindfold from his eyes. A strategic spark burned through the ropes around his wrists and ankles and then Remus was free. He sat up with Logan’s assistance, trying to shake feeling back into his limbs.

“Are you alright, your highness?” Logan asked, his face an emotionless mask. Remus silently nodded, smiling a wavering smile as Ernest lead Annie out of the room.

“I... I’m ok... it hurts... but I...”

He couldn’t get a sentence out before tears were building in his eyes, and his heart jumped into his throat. He started hyperventilating, digesting what he had just gone through.

“I was... so scared! I thought you wouldn’t come, because I snuck out and left you guys behind! I-I’m sorry! I promise I’ll never sneak out again!”

Logan blinked, life returning to his eyes as he realized that Remus was crying. “Oh, please don’t blame yourself. We failed to protect you, and that’s on us.”

Remus sniffed, whimpering. “I love you two so much... and I... I...”

Logan pulled him into a hug, mindful of the pain his prince was in. “We care for you as well. And we will be here for you, whenever you need us.”

They sat for a while, Remus laying his head on Logan’s steady shoulder until Ernest came back in. He picked the prince up in a bridal carry, instantly seeing how Remus winced.

“Are you alright, your highness? Would you rather walk--”

“NO!” Remus shouted, wrapping his arms tightly around Ernest’s neck. “No, please... I just need... you two here...”

His guards understood, and Ernest shifted his arms to carry the prince in as little pain as possible. They walked over to one of the wagons drawn by two horses, and he sat down with Remus in his lap and Logan to his left.

The prince was exhausted, and he quickly started to drift off. The last thing Remus felt before falling asleep were soft kisses in his hair from his bodyguards, and he sighed contently.

He didn’t care what Annie said. He knew that they cared about him out of more than just duty. Even if they couldn’t say it, he knew they loved him.

[dragonsaphirareads]

In planning for the next chapter of a fic I’m writing, I’ve stumbled upon an idea that quickly snowballed into a theory thanks to @strickenwithclairvoyance

The first part of the theory is that the Sides, while they represent a part of Thomas’s personality, have a tendency to “bleed” into each other when they spend time together. Logan and Virgil spend some time together, and suddenly Logan is a little more cautious and Virgil is a little more logical with his worries.

As well as this, their rooms also affect them. We know that stepping into a room that isn’t theirs will cause the Side to be affected, and start acting more like the Side they stepped into the room of. But what if every Side is affected by a room, including the one who’s room it is?

I think that when a Side steps into their room, it “resets” them back to their pure being, washing away whatever effects the others might have given them while they were hanging out. Logan becomes more Logical, Roman Creative, etc.

Now here’s the interesting part. Moving On showed us Patton’s room, and it seems to be full of happy emotions, right? But that’s not what Patton is, at least not all of him. At his core, he is Morality.

And after the 12 days of Christmas interlude, what’s the next episode? Can Lying Be Good, our introduction to Deceit and the concepts of “dark sides” in Thomas - or, said another way, the concept of good and bad within Thomas.

What a moral dilemma, wouldn’t you say?

I find it an interesting coincidence that Patton’s insistence that Thomas be a good person started after we visited Morality’s room. He always wanted to do good and be a good friend of course, but he has only gotten pushier since Moving On.

And the other sides are only encouraging it, or at least they’re not pushing against it as hard as they probably should. Logan is the only one speaking up, and isn’t it curious that he spent the least amount of time in Morality’s room, ducking out while the others stayed in there?

I think all of the Sides who participated in Moving On are still being affected by the pure “Morality” energy that Patton’s room contains. Virgil especially is agreeing with Patton that Thomas has been acting like a bad person, and Roman did the “right” thing in choosing to go to the wedding even when that should have gone very strongly against his own interest as a Side.

Is this just coincidence? I’m not entirely convinced, but then again, we only have two rooms to go off of. Fitting In was the only episode between AA and Moving On, and do it serves as the only reference to how Virgil’s room might have affected the others. They are rather cautious about offending Virgil and making sure he feels comfortable - but is that just a result of Virgil ducking out? Or is there a little anxiety wrapped up in their words?

I think we’ll need to wait and see who’s room we visit next, and if we witness any change in the Sides’ behavior, and if Roman, Patton and Thomas visit Roman’s room while Logan and Virgil don’t, we might see a very interesting clash of ideals in the episode following.

[dragonsaphirareads]

Colliding Worlds

Day 15 of @tsshipmonth2020 Fluffuary

Ship: Dukexiety

AU: Siren/Sailor

Word Count: 1939

Summary: Remus had never liked staying still. He was restless, and sailing on the ocean was a decent reprieve, but sometimes it just became too much.

(Like listening to podfics? You can listen to this oneshot on my YT channel here!)

Remus stood on the bow of the ship, feeling the ocean breeze tug at his hair, salt stinging his skin. He hung from a rope with one hand, trying to get as close to the water as he could without falling in.

So close, he could almost hear the waves crashing against the side of the hull. Since he was born, Remus had been hard of hearing. Everything was garbled and muted, like his ears were constantly full of water. But being on the ocean, there was a clarity he could never get while on land.

He’d grown up in a landlocked little village with his mother and twin brother. The biggest mass of water he’d seen as a child were the puddles on the dirt road after a heavy rain. So when they traveled to a port town when Remus was fourteen, the sheer size of the ocean had simultaneously excited and terrified him.

And that night they were scheduled to go back home, Remus left a note on his pillow and ran off to join the crew of whatever ship would take him.

He had been a stowaway at first, hiding in the cargo hold and simply letting the rocking of the boat lull his heartbeat into a steady rhythm. Sometimes he was caught and put to work, often with a beating as well, but Remus didn’t care. As long as he was on the sea, he would do what he needed to do.

Remus sighed, pulling himself up with the rope to climb the mast. He was eighteen now, though time passed differently on the water. For the last two years, he’d been sailing on The Dragon Witch, a trading ship captained by a man who called himself Deceit. He was a stern captain, but he appreciated Remus’s love for the sea and his willingness to do the jobs other sailors might not.

He had a little time before his shift started, so he unofficially appointed himself as a lookout until he needed to leave. He took a seat on a beam high above the deck, watching the water sparkle below him.

Then he heard a sound carrying over the water, clearer than anything else ever was. There was only one thing that he could hear that easily, and he immediately grabbed the rope to swing down onto the main deck, shouting at the top of his lungs.

“SIREN!”

The call stopped everyone in their tracks for a moment before the call was repeated, echoed by dozens of voices as those on deck scrambled for wax to fill their ears and evade the enchantment of the siren’s song.

Remus ran along, into the cabins to warn everyone on the ship to plug their ears. Then he burst into the captain’s quarters, startling Deceit who had been pondering over a book of accounts.

“Siren, captain! Straight ahead!” Remus reported, and Deceit swore loudly, slamming his desk.

“Damn it! We’re coming up on difficult terrain, I need everyone at full capacity!”

Remus shrugged. “I’m just the messenger!”

Deceit sighed. “I know. Alright, come with me, I’ll need you at the ready.” He scooped a small amount of wax from a pot in his desk drawer, hanging a glob of it to Remus as he passed him.

The teenager followed him, splitting the wax into two pieces and rolling them between his fingers, fiddling with it for as long as he could. He hated the wax, it deafened the one sound that was so clear to him and it felt gross as well.

Not to mention, siren song didn’t actually affect him. He didn’t know why, but he knew from one of the first times he stowed away on a ship. A siren had been sighted in their path, but there was of course no wax to be found deep in the cargo hold. He’d been captivated, yes, but in the way one might admire a particularly good performer. Never once had a siren song put him under a spell, like the stories told.

If he didn’t put the wax in, the other sailors would shout at him. But he needed to be able to hear Deceit’s orders, so he might have accidently dropped the pieces of wax as he ran after the captain up to the main deck.

If Deceit noticed, he didn’t say anything. The captain moved swiftly to the railing, looking out at their path with a narrowed gaze. Remus followed closely behind, letting the siren song crash into him like the waves. There was something different about it, compared to what he remembered from years ago. The song had a different... intent behind it, that was the only way he could explain it.

“Captain, I don’t think the siren is trying to crash us--”

“Well it’s going to if it doesn’t stop!” Deceit shouted back, waving him off. Remus sneered at the back of his head, huffing angrily.

“It’s not trying to lure us in!”

Deceit spun on his heel, getting in Remus’s face. “And how do you know? Do you speak siren now?!”

“I...!” Remus bit his tongue, shutting his mouth tightly. Even though he knew the captain usually liked him, he shouldn’t push his luck. Especially in a high stakes situation like this. Even if the siren wasn’t trying to lure then, most people would be enchanted by the song regardless.

Deceit pushed past him, the crew members looking up at the figure in black as he waved a series of hand gestures, indicating the sail position he wanted to steer them through the rocky banks they were approaching.

Remus backed away quietly, behind a stack of equipment to temporarily be hidden from view. The siren was still singing, and it was louder than ever. It was awakening something in him, that feeling he’d had since before he could remember. The wanderlust that had been dormant until this moment was raging like a heavy storm, and it was all he could do to not throw himself overboard right there.

Why was the song affecting him like this? Years ago, when the song had been calling to lure in food for the creature, there had been no reaction. It hadn’t been muffled by the hull of the ship, so he knew it couldn’t be that.

But this call was different. The siren wasn’t singing to attract food, it was singing to attract a mate.

Remus shook his head harshly, hitting his temples with his palms. Where did that come from?! How could he possibly know that?! And why, if that was true, would he be reacting to it?!

The pull was only getting stronger, and Remus knew he couldn’t hold on anymore. He put his boot up on the railing, standing tall and letting the breeze rush past him.

“Remus! What are you doing?!” From a distance, he heard Deceit’s stern voice calling after him, but it was too late. Remus let himself tip forward and fall from the side of the ship, hitting the water with a huge splash.

Almost immediately he could feel a burning sensation start in his toes, spreading up his legs and into his torso until his whole body was on fire.

He tried to suck in a breath and choked as water flowed into his lungs. He tried to cough harder, but it only made the problem worse. His vision was blurred and dimming around the edges from the pain.

Until suddenly, he could breathe again. Remus blinked, gasping in gulps and holding his hand against his burning chest. The teenager looked down and forgot how to take another breath.

Where his legs had just been, there was now a dark forest green tail, long and curling around itself loosely in the water. Lifting his soaked shirt, he saw his skin had gained a hard finish, almost like armor. Reaching up to his neck, he felt gills against his fingertips, and when he ran his tongue across his teeth he could feel that they had sharpened into little knife blades.

He was... a siren... but how?

It was then that Remus remembered a story his mother had told him as a child. One about his great-grandfather, who had fallen in love with a siren and eventually married her. How they had three children - one fully human, one a siren, and one that rested somewhere in between.

And about how his mother - and by extension, him and his brother - were descendants of that in between child. Born both of land and sea, torn between two worlds.

Well, with this, Remus had chosen his side. And he found that he didn’t regret it in the slightest.

As he looked around, he realized that he could still clearly hear the song, though it sounded more nuanced than it had before. He could hear notes echoing through the water, resonating through his body in a way that they hadn’t been before.

Remus grinned, baring his teeth as he took off towards the source of the song, his tail propelling him through the water faster than the ship. In only a few moments he was approaching the rocky shore of a small island, and the siren perched on one of the boulders on the beach.

His skin was pale, a contrast to his dark purple and black tail. It was almost metallic, with how it glittered in the afternoon sun.

Remus breached the water and the song washed over him. On instinct, he opened his mouth and let his own melody join the other siren.

They sang together for several minutes, harmonizing in twisting, haunting melodies before the song faded away, and finally the other siren turned around and Remus saw he had the most piercing gray eyes he’d ever seen.

“Beautiful...” Remus breathed, and the other siren blinked.

“You’re... you’re not...”

Remus pulled himself forward slightly, grinning. “Not what? A siren? Cause I think I am! I’m not sure though, this is all pretty new to me. I mean, just ten minutes ago I thought I was still human!”

“Did you... come from that ship?” The siren asked, moving away from Remus cautiously when Remus nodded.

“Yup! I heard your singing and I warned everyone! Siren song doesn’t normally affect me but this time it did, and when I jumped in the water I turned into this!”

The other blinked, then he covered his mouth and started shaking. Remus worried he was going to run away - swim away? - until he heard him draw in a breath and realized that the siren was laughing at him!

“You’re insane! No way that’s true!”

“Why are you laughing?! I’m telling the honest truth!” Remus insisted, but that only seemed to make him laugh harder.

“Because I was singing to find a mate! That means you completely changed species and threw away your entire life because you got horny!”

Remus only took a moment to process that, flashing him a cheeky grin. “I’ve done crazier things when I’ve gotten horny!”

That just made the siren snort, and Remus joined him in laughter.

“I’m Remus, by the way!”

The other siren continued to giggle, looking up at Remus with those gorgeous gray eyes. “Virgil.”

“So, Virgil, I’m new at this... since we sang together, does that mean we’re married now?”

Virgil threw a pebble at him, hitting him square in the forehead.

“Definitely not!”

Remus pouted, snapping his fingers. “Darn. Well then, mind teaching me where I went wrong?”

Virgil rolled his eyes, moving to enter the water. “Let’s see if you can keep up first, before you start courting me.”

“You’re on!”

[dragonsaphirareads]

How to Break an Art Block

Day 18 of @tsshipmonth2020 Fluffuary

Ship: DRLAMP

AU: Canonverse

Word Count: 2941

Summary: The Creativity twins usually work well together to help keep Thomas going. But sometimes, they run into a wall that they can’t break on their own.

(Like listening to podfics? You can listen to this oneshot on my YT channel here!)

“Argh!!!”

Patton paused when he heard the frustrated scream from within the twins’ room. They were working on concepts for video ideas, and by the sound of it things were not going well. He edged the door open quietly, poking his head in to see what was going on.

Roman was pacing back and forth, trodding over crumpled and ripped sheets of paper and tugging at his hair. Remus was sitting across from him, chewing on his pencil and eating the pieces that chipped off. There were notebooks scattered all around, with various writing and coloring utensils on top of them.

They didn’t notice him, continuing to argue about whatever idea they’d most recently come up with. Their voices were full of frustration and venom, snapping at each other for the slightest things. Patton knew it was only a matter of time before it devolved into a full on fight between the twins, and those took days or sometimes weeks to recover from.

He backed away from the door, silently running down the hallway and descending the stairs to where the rest of his boyfriends were lounging in the living room. They looked up at him curiously.

“Something wrong, Patton?” Logan asked.

“Art block.” Patton simply said, and the other three exchanged glances.

“I was wondering why I was feeling weird. They’re stressing him out.” Virgil told them, and they all stood up.

Thankfully, while art block was painful for the twins, their boyfriends knew exactly what to do to make them feel better.

~

“Roman?”

The prince glanced up when he heard Logan’s voice, halting his pacing and pasting a bright smile on his face, hiding his frustration at being interrupted. “What’s up, teach?”

“Would you mind helping me with something for a moment?”

“I, ah... I’m kinda in the middle of something, Logan...” Roman mumbled.

“It shouldn’t take too long. I’m in need of your creative eye.”

The compliment was nice, and the fact that Logan was actually coming to him for something was a rare occurrence. “I... guess I can take a short break.” Then he looked down at Remus, wrinkling his nose in disgust at Remus’s choice of snack. “You’re disgusting!”

“Just go and help Logan! Maybe I can actually get something done once you’re gone!” Remus shot back, shoving his foot out to push Roman away from him and out of the room. Roman snarled, stalking out of their shared bedroom and past Logan, towards the logical side’s room. Logan sighed - this was further along than he’d thought.

“So what do you need, teach? I’m working on important stuff right now so I don’t have a lot of extra time.” Roman told him as they entered Logan’s room, and he nodded sympathetically.

“Of course, I know you’re very busy and I appreciate your help. I was going to undergo the task of clearing out Thomas’s closet and rearranging everything, but I wanted to get your assistance to do so.”

Roman narrowed his eyes. “You can’t do this by yourself?”

Logan shrugged. “I certainly could. In fact, I can think of multiple schemes I could use to organize his closet and drawers. But I do not have the same sense of organization that you do, and you’re the main side who helps Thomas dress himself in the morning.”

The prince groaned, dragging a hand down his face. “Can’t this wait, teach? Is it that important that you do this now, rather than, say, tomorrow?”

“Thomas has been procrastinating this for three months, two weeks and four days. I can certainly do it by myself if you want me to. But if I do, you’re not allowed to complain at how I do it.”

Roman pouted, knowing that if he left Logan to do it himself, he’d organize it in a way that would only make sense to him. With a heavy sigh, he agreed to help him, silently promising himself to move fast so he could get back to brainstorming for Thomas.

He loved his nerd, but sometimes he had the worst timing in the world.

~

Remus didn’t end up spending much time by himself. It was only a couple minutes after Logan had called Roman away that he heard Patton shout his name from downstairs.

“Remus? Could you come help me?”

The duke was annoyed at being interrupted, but he wasn’t mean enough to leave Patton hanging. He got up and ran to the top of the stairs, calling down to him. “What is it?”

“I need help, and nobody else is around. Come here for a moment?”

Remus huffed, taking the stairs two at a time and jumping the last four to land hard on the floor, shuffling into the kitchen where Patton had made a mess of the counter. There was flour everywhere, including on his own forehead.

“What are you doing?” Remus asked. Patton rarely made this much of a mess when he was baking. Patton laughed, using his arm to push up his glasses sloppily.

“I’m trying a new recipe, but I didn’t realize how much I had to use my hands for this dough. So would you do me a huge favor and read me the next step from the recipe?” Patton pointed to the cookbook, which had a sizable amount of flour on it as well.

“Is this some kinda weird foreplay thing? You don’t need me to read a recipe, you can do it yourself. Pat, I’m busy! ” Remus told him, crossing his arms and leaning against the counter. Patton pouted, and he stopped kneading the dough to look at Remus with sad eyes.

“Are you saying you don’t want to help me? If you do, you’ll get the first taste!” He sung, tapping Remus’s nose with his dough covered hands, and Remus sighed. Nobody could fight against Patton’s puppy dog eyes.

“I... I guess I can help for a while.”

Patton beamed, leaning in and pecking Remus on the cheek. “Thank you, my twisted love! I’ll make a big cookie just for you!”

Remus couldn’t help but return his smile, grabbing the recipe and skimming through it. It was a little more complicated than just an average sugar cookie recipe, but Patton was an expert baker. This was not enough to trip him up, not to mention the floury mess he’d made in the kitchen.

“I know what’re you’re doing, Patton--”

He was interrupted by the oven timer going off, making him jump, and Patton looked over his shoulder, then down at his hands.

“Can you grab that? I thought I’d be done with this before the cake was done baking!”

“Seriously? Cookies aren’t enough?”

Patton shrugged. “What can I say, the sweet tooth is strong today!”

“And you say my diet is bad...” Remus mumbled teasingly under his breath. Patton bumped him with his hip in response as he moved over to the oven to grab the cake.

Remus continued to help Patton with the baking as he rolled out the cookies and set them on baking sheets. Every time he tried to bring up the reason for why Patton was doing this now, and why he’d called Remus away from his work, Patton would change the topic. By the time the cookies were in the oven, the cake had cooled enough to be iced and Patton gave Remus his choice of the sprinkles. The sheer amount of choices in front of him made him pause.

“I didn’t know you had a sprinkle fetish, Patton!” Remus teased, and Patton just shook his head playfully.

“I need enough for every occasion!” Patton told him, piping icing flowers onto the cake. Remus picked through his selection, pulling out a container of dark green sprinkles, as well as one with little black bats in it.

“Aww, cute! Good thing I went with green flowers, I think these go great together!” Patton cooed, and Remus blushed a little. He didn’t get praise from Patton too often - his ideas tended to be too extreme for him. It was still a little hard to believe that the precious puffball liked him enough to include him in their poly relationship.

On an impulse, Remus reached out and cupped Patton’s cheek, making him look up curiously.

“I love you...” Remus mumbled, and Patton leaned into his touch gently.

“Aww, I love you too. I’m so glad I got to spend some time with you tonight.”

“Me too... but I really should--”

“Mmm, smells good down here.” Virgil’s voice came from the stairs as he came down into the kitchen, poking his head out to get a look at the cake.

“Virgil!” Patton smiled at the anxious side, and Virgil’s mouth quirked slightly.

“Looks good, Pat. Hey, do you need Remus anymore?”

Remus glanced between both of them as Patton shook his head. “Nope! He’s all yours!”

Virgil grinned, hooking his arm around Remus’s casually. “Perfect. Hey, you wanna go running with me?”

Remus paused, glancing over at the stairs, knowing he really should go back to his room and work on video ideas. Sure, they hadn’t actually had one good idea since they started their session in the early morning, and he’d pretty much just been fighting with Roman for that last hour or so before Patton called him down. But still! He was Creativity, or part of it at least, and if he couldn’t do his job, then why would Thomas even keep him around?!

A nudge to his ribs broke him out of it, and Virgil was looking at him expectedly.

“I...”

“How ‘bout a bet? I’m pretty tired today, so if you beat me this time, I’ll owe you a favor, for anything you want from me.”

Remus wiggled his eyebrows and licked his lips. “Anything?”

Instead of being embarrassed and pushing him away like he normally would, Virgil just nodded. “Anything.”

The duke took another moment to think, and then he smirked widely. “You’re gonna regret this!”

“Hm. We’ll see.”

Patton waved them off as they ascended the stairs, promising the biggest slice of cake to whoever won their contest.

~

Virgil didn’t often come to the Imagination. It was too bright for him, and there was an energy in the air that usually just made him anxious. But there was one part that he liked, and that was because it had been created specifically for him, back when he was still considered a dark side.

Remus had carved out a portion of his dark, creepy forest and transformed it into a running course for the two of them. The trees weren’t as twisted, the wildlife more tame, and the path was uneven but mostly clear of tripping hazards. Virgil wasn’t the biggest fan of exercise, but sometimes he just needed to run and run like there was no tomorrow, and this course was perfect for running and jumping.

Remus loved when Virgil brought him to this place. He often came on his own to run, to expel some of his own excess energy when there were too many thoughts buzzing around in his head, but running with Virgil was a different experience altogether.

“Ready?” Virgil asked, taking off his sweatshirt and tying it around his waist. Remus didn’t try and hide how he was oogling him. He didn’t show it off too often, but god Virgil was hot.

“So ready! I can’t wait to make you my bitch for a day!”

“If you can run as fast as you can jump to conclusions, then maybe you’ve got a chance.” Virgil teased, stretching his arms behind his back. If Remus didn’t know any better, he’d say that Virgil was intentionally trying to rile him up.

They both took off running, and Remus was immediately reminded just how fast Virgil really was. Almost instantly he was lagging behind, practically eating the dust his boyfriend was kicking up. Even so, he knew Virgil was going easy on him, because he wasn’t gaining ground, but he wasn’t losing any either.

The deal Virgil had offered started to matter less and less as they got into a rhythm. The forest around them offered a challenge as they ran, vaulting over tree roots and dodging hanging branches while the path itself went up and down the hills. His lungs and legs started to burn, but there was also joy bubbling in his chest and he let out an excited laugh as he jumped over a fallen log in the path. Virgil glanced back at him with a small smile on his face as he whooped in delight.

The wind rushing past his ears drowned everything else out - he forgot about his argument with Roman, he forgot about his frustration at his inability to come up with ideas, and he forgot about his insecurities about his role. He couldn’t care about what Thomas would think of him when he felt so free!

Remus didn’t even care when he reached the end of the course and Virgil was already waiting for him. Instead, he kept his running momentum and tackled his boyfriend to the ground, cradling his head as he mashed their lips together messily. Virgil didn’t fight it, instead humming with amusement as he returned the kiss, running his fingers through Remus’s wind mussed hair.

“Love you, emo...” Remus mumbled, pressing their foreheads together.

“Love you too. So, are we gonna stay in the dirt, or are we gonna get up and get some dinner?”

Remus groaned, laying down completely onto Virgil’s chest and nuzzling him. “I’m good with dirt!”

“I know you are, but I’m hungry. C’mon, get off me.”

It took several more attempts and a lot of cajoling to get Remus to move, now that he was tired from the run, but they did eventually get up off the forest floor and head back to the common room.

The other four were already there. Logan and Patton were in the kitchen preparing something for dinner - it smelled like chinese food to Remus - while Roman was sitting on the sectional with Ernest, waving his hands excitedly. They were deep in conversation about something, although Roman was doing most of the talking.

Virgil pecked him on the check before ducking into the kitchen to help the other two with dinner, leaving Remus to head into the living room and fall onto the sectional, exhausted.

“Did you have a good run, Remus?” Ernest asked, looking over at him. Remus nodded, his eyelids threatening to close.

“Mhm... Virgil’s so hot without his sweatshirt on... why don’t we have him take it off more?”

“For the same reason we don’t have this sexy snake take off his cape - cause we love them the way they are!” Roman told him like it was obvious. Remus rolled his eyes.

“We both know you’re hot for him when he wears his suit, don’t pretend you’re better than me!”

“If you want me in a suit, all you have to do is ask, you know~” Ernest sung, then their conversation was cut short as the other three came in with bowls of chicken fried rice for everyone, as well as glasses of water.

Remus shoveled down his bowl in minutes, and then a second bowl not long after. Even though he could and would eat almost anything, he had to admit that Patton’s cooking was better than a stick of deodorant.

Just barely, but still.

After they ate, they all rearranged themselves on the sectional to settle in for a movie. Remus cuddled up against Ernest, holding hands with Logan who was on his other side. Roman laid down on Virgil’s chest, with Patton next to him playing with his hair.

Neither of the twins knew what movie they had actually decided on, because they were both out cold within minutes of laying down, exhausted from the day. Unbeknownst to them, their boyfriends exchanged relieved sighs once they knew they were asleep.

“They’re so much sometimes...” Virgil mumbled, pressing lazy kisses to Roman’s head. Logan hummed, rubbing circles on Remus’s hand with his thumb.

“It took hours to rearrange Thomas’s closet, and he was complaining the whole way.”

“Remus kept trying to change the topic on me!” Patton added.

“I had no idea Roman had so many feelings about Beauty and the Beast. He was ranting for a full two hours on every little detail in the movie.” Ernest snickered.

“I nearly owed a favor to Remus... remind me not to make that bet when he’s at a hundred percent.” Virgil mumbled, smiling as Roman snuggled closer to him in his sleep.

“Do you think this was enough to break their art block?” Patton wondered aloud, and the other three shrugged.

“I suppose we’ll find out tomorrow.”

~

The twins woke up early the next morning, feeling more refreshed than they had in months. They exchanged a silent glance after they detangled themselves from the pile of limbs on the couch, staring at their boyfriends with love in their eyes.

“They’re so tricky!” Roman exclaimed once they went to their room, but there was no anger in his voice. “I hardly realized they’d distracted us from our work!”

“I knew from the start!” Remus told him, and Roman raised an eyebrow expectantly. Remus crumbled a bit. “Well, I did...but after my run with Virgil, I kinda forgot too...”

Roman sighed, plopping down on the floor and staring dreamily into the middle distance. “We’re so lucky... we’ve got the best boyfriends in the world.”

“We do... after we’re done with these video ideas, we should think up a way to thank them!”

“A giant date... it’ll be perfect!”

[dragonsaphirareads]

The Power of Imagination

Day 16 of @tsshipmonth2020 Fluffuary

Ship: Dukeceit

AU: Kid/School

Word Count: 1883

Summary: Remus goes to school one day and meets the new kid in his class. A quiet, shy boy with scars running along half of his face. With a little imagination, he helps him come out of his shell.

(Like listening to podfics? You can listen to this oneshot on my YT channel here!)

Remus hated school. He hated riding the bus, he hated sitting at a desk for hours and hours, and he hated homework.

The only part of school that he liked was recess. The playground area at school was small, but it was bordered by a line of trees that made for the perfect area to play. Every day he would race to the same spot, waiting for his brother and friends to join him from the other class.

One day, Remus was walking down the hallway towards his classroom when he saw his teacher standing outside the door speaking to another woman. Beside her, there was a kid that had scars running across the entire left side of his face and neck.

He ducked behind the teacher to get into the classroom, and he overheard the kid’s mother mention something about “bullies” and “making friends” as he passed them. Was this kid new to their class? It was the middle of the school year though, why would he come now rather than at the beginning of the year?

Remus took a seat at his desk at the front of the class, trying to lean forward and peek around the doorframe as the rest of his classmates wandered around the classroom, talking to their friends.

Then the bell rang, and there was a mad rush as everyone ran to their chairs and sat down as their teacher walked into the classroom with the kid in tow. The students started to whisper before he hushed them, raising a hand to get their attention.

“Good morning everyone! We have a new student joining us today. This is Ernest, and I hope everyone will welcome him into our class with open arms and help him catch up with his schoolwork. Can we do that?”

“Yes Mr. Thomas!” chorused the class, and Ernest kept his eyes down the entire time. He shuffled to the only open desk in the class, which happened to be the one right next to Remus.

“Hi, I’m Remus!” he whispered loudly as Mr. Thomas started to hand out a worksheet. “I think your face looks really cool!”

Ernest ducked his head, staring at his hands. Remus opened his mouth to whisper again.

“Remus, we’re in class now.” Mr. Thomas scolded lightly as he came around, tapping his finger to his lips in a hush gesture, and Remus pouted. He kept his mouth shut though, especially since Ernest hadn’t even reacted to his whispers. Was he deaf, or just ignoring him?

He kept looking over at the new kid the entire morning, studying his face carefully. The scars on his face looked a lot like when Remus scraped his knees playing and healed over, but there was also a long, deep line that ran from the corner of his mouth to the edge of his jaw that looked like it was more of a cut. Remus wondered what happened to cause it. Was Ernest actually a secret spy and he’d gotten hurt on a mission? Or was he from another world and he’d been attacked by a vicious monster that he’d only barely escaped from?

His eyes were different as well. The one on the left was cloudy and unfocused, and not the same color as his right eye. Was that so he could see into another dimension? Or did it contain magical power that he could only use when he said the magic words?

By the time the bell rang for recess, Remus was practically bouncing in his seat from excitement. He couldn’t wait to tell the others about the new kid in his class, so when that bell rang he raced out of the classroom and to their spot under the biggest tree, waiting for Roman, Patton and Valentine to join him.

It took a couple minutes for the other class to come out into the yard, and every second was torture for the impatient kid.

“You guys are late!” He shouted at the three of them as they approached. “I’ve been waiting forever!”

Roman stuck his tongue out at him, shoving him back. “It’s not our fault, we were playing a game and we had to put everything away!”

Remus rolled his eyes, waving his hand. “Whatever, I don’t care. Something exciting happened today! There’s a new kid in my class and he’s super cool!”

“Really?” Valentine tilted his head, and Remus nodded.

“Yeah! He’s totally from another world, I just know it!”

Patton furrowed an eyebrow. “What do you mean, from another world?”

“I mean that he’s totally got magic! One of his eyes is different, and he’s got all kinds of marks on his face, and it just has to be because he’s a hero from a different world who was sent here on a mission!”

Roman looked excited, but Patton and Valentine didn’t seem to understand what Remus was talking about, because they both had worried looks on their faces.

“Remus... can you show us who you’re talking about?” Valentine asked, looking out over the playground. Remus raised an eyebrow but he turned and started searching for his new classmate.

“I don’t see him...” Remus mumbled, running over to the slides and climbing up one of them to get a better view of the yard. His friends followed him, though Patton and Valentine climbed up the ladder rather than scrambling up the slide. “Oh, wait, I found him!”

He pointed, and the other three piled on themselves to see where he was looking. Ernest was sitting up against the brick wall of the school, his head down as he read a book. Patton gasped and he grabbed Remus’s arm, yanking him back and down so they were crouching.

“Remus! You didn’t say any of those things to his face, did you?!”

“H-Huh? Well, I told him his face looked cool!” He told them, and Valentine facepalmed as Patton shook his head. “What? What’s wrong!?”

Remus felt a smack on the back of his head and he whined as he looked up at his brother. “What was that for!?”

“Because you’re dumb!” Roman told him, crouching down with the rest of them. “Remus, you’re so stupid sometimes!”

“What did I do?!”

“Remus... I don’t think he’s from a different world, like you said.” Valentine ventured slowly.

“Those scars are probably from an accident he was in. He probably thought that you were making fun of him when you said that!” Patton explained, and Remus blinked.

“But... I wasn’t! I really think it looks cool!”

Roman dragged a hand down his face, huffing in frustration. Valentine crawled forward, pushing him towards the slide. “You should go apologize to him.”

“But I didn’t--”

His brother rolled his eyes and forcefully pulled him down the slides and then to his feet when Remus landed awkwardly. “C’mon, let’s go tell him that you’re dumb and then see if he wants to play with us.”

Remus grumbled, but he followed his brother over to where Ernest was sitting. The kid didn’t look up when they approached, although he did notice that his shoulders seemed to tighten as Roman cast a shadow over him.

“Hi! You’re Ernest, right? My brother said something mean earlier to you and he wanted to apologize!”

Remus growled as Roman elbowed him in the ribs, then he looked down at his classmate and saw that he had curled up tightly, avoiding looking at either of them. Remus blinked, crouching down so he was more on level with him.

“I have a question... are you secretly from another world?”

“Remus!” Roman exclaimed, but Ernest actually raised his head and stared at Remus curiously.

“W-What?”

“I told my friends that you’re totally a hero sent to our world to save us ‘cause you’ve got a special eye and scars from fighting monsters, but they didn’t believe me! So you gotta tell them that I’m right!”

Roman was glowering down at his brother, reeling back to kick him in the side. How stupid was he, saying all those things to Ernest’s face? Why, he looked like he was about to cry!

Ernest’s face twisted, and he ducked his head to hide his face with his knees. He started shaking, and Roman reached down to pull his brother away and yell at him. Then Ernest raised his head again, and they both realized he wasn’t crying at all.

“Hahaha... You’ve-You’ve got me! I’m actually a... haha... a time traveler sent from the future! I... haha... I have to change the past so the world can be saved!”

“I knew it!” Remus cheered, pumping his fists in the air. Roman chewed his lip, watching his brother lean even further into Ernest’s personal space. “You’ve gotta show us your tricks!”

Ernest blinked for a moment, then he shook his head with the faintest grin. “Sorry, I can’t. I shouldn’t have even told you who I was, anything could fail my mission.”

Remus pouted, sitting back on his feet. “Aww...”

“Do you wanna come play with us?” Roman spoke up, and both Ernest and Remus glanced up at him. “It’s more fun than just sitting by yourself, right? Or you can just read your book under the tree, if you want!”

Ernest stared at him disbelieving, then he shrugged and closed his book, getting to his feet. “I guess so.”

“Yes!” Remus jumped up and ran back over to Patton and Valentine, who were watching them from their vantage point at the top of the slides.

“I’m sorry about him...” Roman mumbled to Ernest as they started walking over. “He’s kinda stupid sometimes.”

“It’s ok... It’s better than what most people say when they see me.” Ernest smiled slightly, tucking his book under his arm and following Roman to the line of trees. They spent the rest of the recess play pretending they were valiant knights fighting against dragons and witches while Ernest sat against the tree, watching them all with a curious look in his eye.

~

“Remus?”

“Yeah?”

“You know that I’m not really a spy from the future, right?”

Remus sighed, absently drawing circles in the dirt next to him. The other class had been held in for recess that day, so Remus had taken a seat next to Ernest and they’d just talked for their outside time.

“Yeah, I know.”

“But... you’re still friends with me? Even though I lied?”

Remus nodded. “Of course! Mom told me that I was being “in-sen-si-tive” by talking about your scars, and that I should have not said anything unless you said something first.”

Ernest hummed, watching the other kids playing on the playground. “Well, I probably wouldn’t have then. It’s not something I like to talk about. Kids at my last school made fun of me for how I looked.”

“They’re idiots!” Remus insisted.

“Maybe. But... I wanted to thank you, Remus.”

“Huh? Thank me for what?”

Ernest smiled, leaning over and pressing a quick kiss to Remus’s cheek. “Just... for being yourself.”

Then the bell rang and Ernest stood up to go back inside. Remus lagged behind, touching his cheek lightly with his fingertips and grinning like a maniac.

Maybe Ernest wasn’t from the future like he’d said. But as far as Remus was concerned, he was definitely an angel sent straight from heaven.

[dragonsaphirareads]

Hidden Scars

Day 10 for @tsshipmonth2020 Fluffuary

Ship: Moceit

AU: Human

Word Count: 1719

Summary: After suffering in an accident, Ernest is worried that his fiancee no longer wants to be with him.

(Like listening to podfics? You can listen to this oneshot on my YT channel here!)

Hot. Flames clawing up the walls, through doors, surrounding him. Everything collapsing around him. His leg caught against a scrap of heated metal, and he tripped as pain surged up his calf.

He tried to scream, in pain or for help he didn’t know, but he couldn’t force out a sound. Then the ceiling cracked loudly, and the last thing he saw was a flaming wooden beam as it crashed down...

Ernest shot awake, hyperventilating as he tried to calm down from the dream. His skin grafts and scars ached from his thrashing around, and his right hand was tangled in the bedsheets from his desperate attempt to reach for help.

He heard footsteps rushing down the hall, and Ernest quickly schooled his breathing to a normal level as his fiancee opened the bedroom door, coming to his side.

“Are you alright sweetheart? I heard you shouting.” Patton asked, his bright blue eyes full of concern. Ernest nodded, grabbing onto Patton to pull himself into a sitting position.

“I’m fine... just a dream, nothing more. I need a shower though.” He lied, getting to his feet and holding onto the bed to keep from collapsing. Patton offered his arm, but Ernest refused, walking on his own to retrieve a change of clothes.

“If you’re sure about that... Is there anything I can do before I leave?” Patton asked, and Ernest shook his head just a little too quickly.

“Don’t worry about it, love. I’ll be just fine.” Ernest told him, swallowing the lump in his throat. “You should get going, you don’t want to be late because of me.”

Patton chewed his lip, glancing at the clock on the nightstand. “You’re probably right... but text me if you need anything, ok? I can always work from home!”

Ernest shook his head, waving him off as he went to the bathroom. “You know I will, darling. Be safe driving.”

“I will. Love you!” Patton called as he left the bedroom and Ernest closed the bathroom door, leaning against the counter as he let his facade drop.

Two months. Two whole months had gone by since the day Ernest’s office building had caught on fire, and he’d gotten stuck under burning rubble. The man glanced up to look at his reflection with his remaining good eye.

The entire left side of his face had suffered from third degree burns. The skin grafts hadn’t healed over smoothly, leaving him with a freckled, almost mottled texture to his cheek. His left eye had also been damaged beyond repair, and he could no longer see anything out of it.

The rest of his body had faired slightly better, healing much faster than his face. Even so, there was a clear line of scar tissue where the burns had healed.

The doctors told him the damage would fade over time, and physically he knew that was true. Eventually those lines would dim, eventually his grafts would be indistinguishable from the rest of his skin.

Physically, he would heal.

Emotionally, he was starting to believe he would never heal from the traumatic event. He’d spoken with a therapist at the beginning, while he was receiving treatment for his burns. Ernest had been told to schedule a followup when he felt he was ready to begin unpacking what had happened.

At first, he hadn’t thought he’d need it. Yes, he was in pain, but he had his wonderful fiancee that was so supportive and loving and he had thought that that would be enough.

But Patton had grown distant in the months since the accident. It started when he moved to sleep in the guest bedroom, allowing Ernest the full bed to sleep in. The first week or two he’d appreciated it - even the soft sheets brushing against his skin felt like fire. If Patton had accidentally hit him in his sleep, it would have been agonizing.

However, he hadn’t moved back in the weeks since then. Besides that, he’d also grown less intimate with him. Even innocent small things like holding his hand or giving him a peck on the cheek were rarities.

What was worst of all, was that he had stopped wearing his wedding ring after the accident. It was as if he had fallen out of love, but was too kind to tell Ernest honestly.

A tear welled up in his right eye, and he quickly turned on the shower and stepped inside to pretend it was only water running down his face.

It hurt worse than any burns he could imagine. He loved Patton more than anything or anyone he had ever met in his life. Patton had saved him countless times just with his thousand watt smile. To think that he might lose the love of his life...

He’d rather be stuck in that burning building again.

~

Ernest had been careless. Normally, if he took a nap, he always did it early in the day, so he would be wide awake when Patton got home. He wasn’t ready to be working a job again yet, so he did his best to keep the house in order and make sure Patton didn’t have to worry about anything.

But this afternoon he’d been overcome by a wave of exhaustion, and he fell into a deep enough sleep to start dreaming again.

Flashes of fire flickered through his otherwise serene dreams, until they started devolving into terrifying images that made him break into a sweat and cry out in his sleep. When the dream showed him the image of Patton stuck under burning rubble with Ernest unable to move and help him, he felt a tongue of fire land on his shoulder and he bolted awake, nearly hitting Patton in the face.

“Ernest! Are you ok?!” Ernest blinked at him, knowing he was crying and had no chance of hiding that from Patton.

“I... I’m...” He tried to reassure him, tell him these dreams were normal and he could handle them, but he met Patton’s eyes and he knew he couldn’t lie to him anymore.

“Ernest, please, you have to talk to me. I know you’ve been having nightmares every night, and I want to help you! Please, what can I do for you?”

“Patton...” Ernest whispered, and the other man moved closer. “Do you... still love me?”

“W-What? Of course I do!”

“Really?” Ernest hated how accusatory it came out. Patton’s eyes flashed with hurt for a moment.

“Yes!”

“I don’t believe you!”

Patton reeled back at the sudden anger, and Ernest’s heart panged at the sight of it but he couldn’t stop the flood of emotions.

“You say you do... you say it every day... but you... you don’t mean it anymore! You can’t mean it! I can’t... can’t believe...”

“Ernest... where is this coming from?” His fiancee asked softly, and Ernest felt tears start to fall from his right eye.

“You’ve barely touched me at all since... since... you don’t hold my hand, or kiss me... we don’t even sleep in the same bed anymore!”

Then his arm shot out and he grabbed Patton’s hand, pointing at his bare ring finger. “And this...”

“Ernest, stop.”

Patton’s tone was stern, but comforting. Ernest shifted as Patton wrapped him up in a hug, and it only took a moment before he completely lost it, letting out everything he’d been bottling up for two full months.

“To start... I’m sorry I made you feel like I didn’t love you anymore. I want you to know that you’re the most important person in my life, and I would never mean to hurt you.”

“So... why?”

Patton sighed. “Well, for the bed thing, I guess I just got settled into a routine. I knew you were suffering from nightmares, and I thought it would be best if you had the bed to yourself. And I stopped being intimate with you because I was worried I was going to accidentally hurt you.”

Ernest sniffed. “I’m not that fragile, you know!”

His fiancee nodded, running his thumb over Ernest’s knuckles. “I know, I know. But, Ernest, I don’t know if you understand how scared I was... When I got the call that your work had caught fire, and that you had been hospitalized... I thought I was surely going to lose you, and I didn’t know what to do.”

He blew out a breath, and Ernest could tell he was holding back tears himself. “Seeing you in that hospital bed, covered in bandages... I didn’t know what to do with myself. I just wanted to cry. But then, one of the nurses told me that I should try and make sure to keep things normal, and not bring it up until you were ready...”

“Patton... you know me. That was shit advice to follow.”

Patton laughed. “Yeah, I should have thought about that a little more.”

“And... the ring?”

He put a hand to his neck, reaching under his shirt to pull out a chain that Ernest hadn’t noticed. Hanging from the small chain was Patton’s ring.

“They told me they had to cut your ring off because your hand swelled too much, and it wasn’t able to be repaired... I wanted to get you a new one before I started wearing mine again, so I wouldn’t make you sad because you didn’t have one...”

Ernest stared at the chain. “You could have told me...”

“I should have. I didn’t think it would take this long to get a replacement. And I should have told you about the other stuff too. I guess... I was just worried about bringing it up. I didn’t want to do anything that would make it worse for you.”

They both fell silent, holding each other and letting their tears dry on their cheeks.

“So... you still want to get married?”

Patton laughed, leaning in and pressing a soft kiss to Ernest’s right cheek. “Yes, sweetheart. It would take so much more than this to make me change my mind. You’re stuck with me, don’t ever forget that.”

Ernest snickered with him, holding onto him for a little while longer. Eventually they got up to eat dinner, and spent the evening talking. Then that night, Patton laid down beside him in bed, and Ernest had his first dreamless sleep in months.

[dragonsaphirareads]

Falling Petals

Day 8 of @tsshipmonth2020 Fluffuary!

Ship: Loceit

AU: Canon/Hanahaki

Word Count: 2403

Summary: Logan starts coughing up flower petals one day and he has to figure out what to do before it’s too late.

(Like listening to podfics? You can listen to this oneshot on my YT channel here!)

It was during their weekly movie night that Logan first felt the itch. Something brushing against the inside of his lungs, causing small coughs as he tried to discreetly dislodge whatever it was without disturbing the others too much. He stood to go get a glass of water, to try and force a change, and that was when the nausea hit.

He ran to the bathroom, the door loudly slamming shut in his haste. He collapsed in front of the toilet, barely having the forethought to make sure his glasses didn’t come off as he heaved. It was a violent feeling, like he’d coughed so hard that he’d forced the contents of his stomach back up, but nothing wanted to come out.

Logan stayed there, changing between coughing and heaving until finally he felt something dislodge and stick in the back of his throat. Against his better judgement, he stuck his hand in his mouth to pull out whatever it was that was causing this.

He couldn’t help but stare at it in amazement and growing horror. How was this possible?

Sitting pretty in the palm of his hand, was a single yellow flower petal.

Logan froze where he heard a knock on the door, and Patton’s worried voice from behind it. “Logan? Is everything alright?”

He cleared his throat - the itch had only momentarily gone away, and was beginning to build again. “I’m perfectly fine, Patton. I believe I reacted poorly to the amount of junk food I’ve consumed in the last hour.”

Patton hummed through the door, not sounding fully convinced. “Really? You’ve never had that happen before... Are you getting sick?”

Logan got to his feet, locking his knees so his legs wouldn’t shake, and he crushed the petal before dropping it into the toilet bowl and flushing it. He then opened the door and forced his face into a neutral expression. “I’m certain. I do believe I’ll retire for tonight though. If I am ill, that will be for the best.”

The fatherly side pursed his lips, and when Logan looked past him, he could see the other two turned on the couch to look at him. “If you’re sure it’s just that... can I bring you anything?”

Logan shook his head. “No. I’ll be fine, go ahead and finish the movie without me.”

He felt three pairs of eyes following him as he ascended the stairs, and there was a heavy feeling settling in the pit of his stomach that did not pair well with the itch in his lungs. Even if he had wanted to sleep, he wasn’t sure he would be able to in this state.

Instead, he grabbed his laptop and began meticulously searching online for any information on what was happening to him. Thankfully, it didn’t take long to get his answer.

“Hanahaki disease?” Logan muttered aloud, reading the paragraph to himself. “‘A fictional disease where the victim coughs up flower petals when they suffer from one-sided love.’ One sided love? What kind of joke is this?”

This couldn’t be real. Yes, the sides had gotten sick before, but it was always in the vaguest of ways. Their symptoms were unique to who they were and what the issue was. They had never suffered from a cold, much less a fictional illness that existed in derivative fiction written about fictional characters!

It had to be wrong. But every attempt to find another explanation kept bringing him back to this ‘hanahaki disease’, as well as resources about the language of flowers.

He hissed air through his teeth, rubbing at his eyes with the palm of his hand. Then his lungs began to itch again, and he launched into another coughing fit which ended with several more yellow flower petals in his hand.

It was impossible, but he couldn’t deny that every piece of evidence was pointing towards him having this disease. Perhaps it was fictional, but there had been weirder things they’d done and had done to them in Thomas’s videos.

For a moment, he let himself laugh at the irony that he was the one who’d come down with the illness. Of anyone to suffer from one-sided love, of course it would be him. It was ridiculous, but as more petals filled his mouth, he decided that he didn’t have much time to laugh at his situation.

In a way, he’d known that something like this was coming. He’d started to notice recently that his body reacted extremely whenever he came into contact with a certain lying trait. His heart would begin to race, his palms would get sweaty, and it was significantly harder to form proper sentences when Deceit met his eyes.

All signs pointed to him having developed a crush. He hadn’t told anyone else - Roman and Patton were still wary of the snakelike side, and Virgil clearly had an unresolved history that he had no interest in reopening any time soon.

Logan had been ready to write it off, to let the feelings die off naturally as Deceit showed no sign of reciprocating the strange new emotions he was having. But now, as he scanned more and more sources, he realized that wasn’t an option anymore.

There were only two ways to get rid of the disease. The first was to confess their love, and have it reciprocated. There were conflicting sources on what would happen if the subject of the feelings didn’t feel the same way, but they all agreed the result was not desirable.

But it was nothing compared to if the disease was allowed to progress without treatment. According to the sources Logan found, Hanahaki caused flowers to bloom in the lungs. If nothing is done about the illness, those flowers would spread and become thorny and rough, eventually causing internal bleeding and then... death.

Logan snapped his laptop shut and threw the covers over himself as he heard footsteps outside in the hall, and only a second later he heard the door open and light spilled in from the hall.

“Logan? Are you still awake?”

The logical side stayed still, and soon enough the door was softly closed and Logan was left alone.

He didn’t sleep, though. The entire night, he pondered over his situation, and his various options. He could certainly confess his love, but what would it mean for Thomas if Deceit didn’t feel the same way?

What would it mean if he did?

On the other hand, Logan would be putting his host in even more danger if he didn’t do anything about it. Could he die? He wasn’t exactly human, but he was able to get sick, apparently. Would another Logic come to take his place, or would it be like the time Virgil ducked out, but permanent?

He couldn’t take that risk, he realized. It was a given that he would deteriorate if he didn’t take any action. It was worth the risk of confessing, as embarrassing as that would be.

Logan’s heart raced at the idea. He couldn’t do it out of the blue - he knew his nerves would get the better of him if he simply approached Deceit tomorrow. But he couldn’t wait too long, or his health would begin to suffer and his friends would most certainly notice. He calculated he had probably a week, maybe two before he would have to tell them.

They were filming a video a week from today, and Deceit was featured prominently in that script. That was when he would do it, Logan decided. After they had wrapped up for the day, Logan would ask to speak with Deceit alone, and that’s when he would confess.

He had a plan, and he would follow through no matter the possible consequences. It was in Thomas’s best interest, after all.

~

The week went by agonizingly slow. Every day more flower petals came from his lungs, increasing in frequency and quantity by the hour. On Wednesday, a full flower bud forced its way into his throat, and disposing of that under Virgil’s watchful eye was a difficult task.

They knew something was up. Logan would be foolish to think he could completely hide his condition from them. But he’d been able to fend off their questions, and he’d made it to Friday.

A few minutes before they needed to rise up and start filming with Thomas, Patton grabbed Logan’s arm and gently pulled him to the side.

“Logan... I’m really worried about you. You’re so pale, and you’ve been running to the bathroom every other minute for the last week. And don’t think I didn’t see those bloody tissues in the trash. What’s happening, Logan? This isn’t just a little stomach bug like you’ve been saying.” Patton mumbled, his grip tightening as he spoke.

Logan sighed. Of course Patton noticed, and of course he had to pick today of all days to confront him about it. If he could have just waited until tomorrow... hell, if he could have just waited a few hours, everything would have been fine!

He opened his mouth to answer Patton, to tell him everything was fine and he was on the mend, but it was then that his lungs violently spasmed and he doubled over from the force of it. Logan had to open his mouth and just let the petals fall as he coughed and hacked to Patton’s growing horror.

“Logan! What’s happening?!”

“Ha... Hana...”

“Hana-what? Logan, please, you need to go lay down!”

Logan shook his head, panting as he wiped at his mouth. “No, I can’t... that won’t help... I need to... need to speak... with Deceit...”

Patton grabbed his shoulders, fingernails digging into his skin. “What? Why Deceit? Logan, please, you need to rest!”

“Patton, please! I have a plan, it’s fine! This isn’t a normal sickness that one can just rest from and recover! It’s called Hanahaki, and it could kill me if I don’t speak with Deceit, who’s currently waiting for us to rise up and start shooting with him!”

The moral side was panicked, but Logan had to pull away before he insisted for a third time that he go lie down. He closed his eyes, ready to muster the energy needed to rise up and face what he needed to do, but before he could, they felt the air change and the other two sides appeared beside them.

“We’ve gotta find Deceit.” Roman announced, and both Logan and Patton stared at him.

“What? Isn’t he with Thomas?”

The prince shook his head. “No, he never showed up, and then my brother popped up and said he’s refused to leave his room for weeks now.”

“And I was not going to let Thomas go there himself, so we’ve gotta go see what he’s sulking about.” Virgil added, his hands in his pockets.

In his room for weeks?

Logan stumbled away from them, towards the stairs and towards the hallway that lead to Deceit’s room. He nearly tripped as he picked up the pace, and he heard his friends call after him and then come running after him as well.

It was pitch black in the dark sides’ part of the Mindscape, but Logan could see a figure standing in front of the doorway, his piercing orange eyes the only spot of light in the darkness.

“Obsession.” Logan greeted, coughing up another batch of flower petals. Obsession’s eyes darted, and Logan knew he was able to see in the dark and so knew exactly what he was going through.

“Oh, this is too good.” The orange side snickered, stepping aside from the door and knocking on it from behind his back.

A weak voice answered from inside. “Go... away...”

“Someone’s brought you flowers, Dee! Isn’t that nice? Won’t you let him in?”

Logan didn’t have the energy to glare at Obsession, instead moving to open the door. There was something blocking it, but even in his weakened state he was able to force it open.

Deceit’s room was softly illuminated by glowing golden spheres hanging in the air, which allowed Logan to see just what sorry state Deceit had fallen into.

He was lying in bed, a mountain of ratty blankets piled on top of him. His eyes were half-lidded, and he didn’t even seem to register that Logan was in the room at first. There was a pile of something on the floor beside the bed, and when Logan sank to his knees beside it, he realized they were flowers.

Dark blue flowers and flower petals, to be exact.

“Deceit...” Logan whispered, feeling that telltale itch building up in his throat. The other side stirred, his golden eye glowing in the dim light.

“L-Logan? Why... are you here?”

The logical side couldn’t help but smile. “I heard you were feeling ill. And... I also needed to tell you something, and seeing you like this has caused my fears about it to dissipate.”

Deceit blinked slowly, trying to digest his words. “Because... I’m sick?”

“Because you seem to be suffering from the same thing I have been for the past week. Although... you seem to be much further along than I am...”

“Two... months...” Deceit mumbled, then his eyes widened and he tried to shift out from under the blankets, with little success. “W-Wait... the same... thing?”

Logan’s heart was racing, but he leaned in closer to Deceit, meeting his eyes. “A disease born from one-sided love... but it appears it wasn’t unrequited after all.”

“Logan, are you... saying...?”

“I’m in love with you, Deceit. I have been for a long time, but I was not ready to admit it to myself until recently.”

Deceit blinked again, dragging in a shuddering breath. “I... I love... you... too...”

Then he slumped, having exhausted the little energy he had. Logan stood, cradling Deceit’s head as he sat down on the bed and laid it in his lap. Deceit squeaked in surprise, but Logan’s fingers started carding through his hair and all the tension in his body released as the snakelike side fell into a deep, comfortable sleep, the thorns in his lungs dissolved the moment Logan had uttered the words.

Logan stayed there for hours, soon falling asleep himself as he enjoyed the freedom from the itch in his lungs, and the comfort from the warmth growing in his heart.

For so long he’d disparaged it, but perhaps love wasn’t so bad after all.

[dragonsaphirareads]

Holiday Warmth

Day 27 of @tsshipmonth2020 Fluffuary

Ship: DROLAMP

AU: Mythical Creatures

Word Count: 972

Summary: Dragons hibernate during the winter, stuck in their animal form as they sleep. As the rest of his boyfriends find, Ernest does not take well to those who might try to wake him up.

(Like listening to podfics? You can listen to this oneshot on my YT channel here!)

Soft Christmas music played through the house as Patton put the last few ornaments on the tree in his living room. Roman and Otto were in the kitchen decorating the dozens of cookies they had made, shoving each other back and forth playfully as Otto’s wings got in the way. The rest of his boyfriends were lounging on the couch with each other, centered around Remus. The fire spirit was a popular cuddle buddy in the cold winter months.

They were creatures of myth and legend, but even they enjoyed celebrating Christmas. It didn’t hold the significance for them that it held for the mortals who celebrated it, though. It was just a fun excuse to spend time together, eat good food and play outside in the snow that they all looked forward to all year.

All except for one.

“I miss Ernest.” Remus said out of the blue, and Patton sighed. He stepped back and surveyed his handiwork, taking note of the pile of presents that were color coordinated for ease of opening.

Logan’s iridescent wings twitched, and he shifted to sit up straight rather than lean on Remus. “It’s a shame he’s not able to join these festivities.”

“He misses out on the best cuddles.” Virgil mumbled, curling closer to Remus to fill Logan’s spot.

“True, cuddling with you in the summer is like cuddling the sun.” Otto teased, coming up behind the couch and tapping Remus’s head with the back of his hand.

“It’s not my fault I’m smoking hot year round!” The fire spirit defended, making everyone laugh. “We should do something for him!”

“We can throw a party for him when he wakes up!” Patton suggested, clapping his hands. “Christmas in spring!”

“Or we could bring the party to him!”

The other five stared at Remus with varying levels of confusion. Virgil shook his head quickly.

“That’s a terrible idea. Trust me, you don’t want to wake him up from his hibernation. I’ve got the scars to prove it.”

“It’ll be fine! C’mon, we all wanna go see him, so let’s go!”

Before anyone could try and talk him out of it, Remus transformed into a tongue of fire and shot towards the door, squeezing through the door-jam in an instant.

The others glanced at each other for a moment, then they all sighed. If Remus was really going to try and wake up Ernest from his hibernation, they should at least be there to drag him away from the dragon’s talons when he inevitably got hurt.

~

By the time the mismatched party of creatures got to the cave that Ernest was hibernating in, they could hear loud shouting echoing from inside.

“Wakey wakey, sleepy-butt! We miss your face and you need to wake up so we can celebrate Christmas with you!”

Roman facepalmed at his shouts, while the rest of them rolled their eyes.

“So, E’s a pretty heavy sleeper. Should we go in now and try to drag him away before he gets hurt?” Otto asked.

“Or we could let him learn his lesson about listening to us. A few scratches should keep him from doing this again next year.” Virgil suggested, crossing his arms and leaning against the outside of the cave to wait.

Remus continued to shout to try and wake up his boyfriend, but suddenly his cries were cut off completely. The sudden silence made the others worried.

“Did he just... die?” Patton whispered in disbelief. Virgil shook his head, although he looked nervous as well.

“No, he probably just got swatted by Ernest’s tail or something...”

“Even so, we should venture inside to check.” Logan stated, taking the lead further into the cave.

The rest of them followed Logan, who lit a small magical light in his hand so they didn’t run into each other.

Once they found the sleeping dragon, they realized that Remus had definitely been attacked, but he wasn’t exactly hurt.

“G-guys... help!” he stage-whispered from where he was pinned down by Ernest’s large claws. The position the dragon was in reminded them of the way one might shut up an annoying alarm clock.

Roman clapped his hands over his mouth, stifling his giggles. Remus pouted. “Don’t laugh! I tried to wake him up, but he just swatted me and I hit my head and now I can’t move!”

“Why don’t you turn into your elemental form?” Logan asked, and Remus lit up. He closed his eyes to do just that, but Ernest shifted in his sleep and tugged the fire spirit close, tucking him between his arm and chest.

“Aww, Remus! Aren’t you lucky~” Otto hummed. “I guess he wanted some “smoking hot cuddles” too!”

“I hate you!” Remus hissed, though he didn’t look very threatening smushed against the dragon’s side.

“Let’s go home, my loves. We can let my incredibly intelligent brother work out how to get out of this on his own.”

“What? Don’t leave me here!”

“I thought this is what you wanted? You’re celebrating Christmas with Ernest tonight, don’t worry about the rest of us.” Virgil snickered.

“Don’t worry Remus, I promise I’ll save some of the cookies for you!” Patton told him, smiling innocently.

“You guys suck!”

“Consider it an appropriate punishment for trying to wake Ernest during his hibernation. We will see you at home, whenever you remove yourself from this situation.” Logan told him, turning around to leave the cave.

Remus pouted as his boyfriends left, but then Ernest let out a puff of air and shifted again, curling an arm around Remus like he was a teddy bear.

And he decided maybe, he’d stay here just a little longer. After all, even in his dragon form, Ernest was really cute. And maybe, if he stayed, he could ensure that his boyfriend dreamt of them on Christmas Eve.

[dragonsaphirareads]

Dark Places

Day 17 of @tsshipmonth2020 Fluffuary

Ship: Intruality

AU: Human

Word Count: 1486

Summary: One of Remus’s biggest fears is losing the people he loves.

(Like listening to podfics? You can listen to this oneshot on my YT channel here!)

“Remus! In here!”

The superhero dove into cover just as a fireball screamed past his head, disintegrating the trees it hit instead. He hissed as a rogue spark landed on his skin, leaving a red welt after he brushed it away.

Virgil immediately threw up a forcefield, hiding them from view and protecting them from the onslaught for the moment. Remus panted, eyes flickering as he took stock of the situation and the condition his friends were in.

Ernest had bandages wrapped around his head, covering his left eye completely. There was blood seeping through the white bandage, but he was still fully alert. Logan sat beside him, his glasses were cracked and he had his hand over his eyes to prevent himself from accidentally using his powers on his friends. Emile was kneeling beside Remy, who had suffered a rather large burn and was laying still as his boyfriend healed him.

“Incoming!” Virgil warned as another fireball hit the building next to them, shaking the ground itself. Remus stood his ground, his heart jumping into his throat as he realized who wasn’t there.

“Where are Roman and Patton?!” He shouted, and Ernest glanced up and pointed behind him where his brother was being carried by his boyfriend, both running to get to shelter.

“What happened?!” Emile pushed past Remus as Patton laid Roman down on the ground, his white outfit stained red from a slash across his chest. Soft golden light emanated from Emile’s hands as he began healing him, and Remus immediately ran to Patton’s side to check him over for injuries as well.

“We got stuck in one of the buildings... Roman got hit...” Patton panted, his hands on his knees as he tried to catch his breath. Remus narrowed his eyes, brushing Patton’s bangs back and prodding at a scratch on his forehead.

“What are we going to do?” Patton let Remus fuss over him as he addressed the rest of his friends, seeing the state they were in. Logan stood up, keeping his eyes towards the sky.

“If I could get close enough, I could use my telepathy, but she’ll never allow that.”

“She’s been taking out every one of us that has powers that can disable hers. That’s why Remy was attacked so soon. She’ll be gunning for you the moment you leave this space.” Ernest argued.

“Then use your powers to create a decoy of me and trick her into letting me get close!”

“She’s not gonna fall for that, she’s just going to shoot you with fire and that’ll be the end of that!”

“Remus, can’t you create something that would distract her for long enough?”

Remus shook his head. “I’m completely out of power from that last attack. But I could be a decoy--”

“Absolutely not! We’re not using anyone as a decoy or bait or anything of the sort!” Ernest snarled. “We’re going to stay here and think of a plan that doesn’t involve putting ourselves in more danger than we already are!”

“Ernest, if we don’t do something quickly, there will be more innocent lives lost, we can’t simply sit around and--”

“Patton, get back here!”

The three arguing parties froze at Virgil’s scream, and they spun around to see Patton running down the street, shooting his streams of light at their attacker as he dodged falling debris.

“Patton!” they shouted, and the three of them sprinted after him after commanding Virgil to stay put and protect the injured.

“I’ll go after him and try to distract her, Remus, go with Logan and help him get close! Hopefully she’ll think it’s just an illusion and won’t care about you two!”

Remus shook his head. “Hell no! I’m not leaving my boyfriend alone, you go with Logan!”

“Now’s not the time to argue, Remus! You said yourself you’re out of power!”

“So I’m useless no matter where I go! So I’m going to him!”

Ernest rolled his eyes, but Remus didn’t care. He had a bad feeling about Patton fighting on his own, and he knew that something terrible would happen if he didn’t get over to Patton right that instant.

The next moments happened in slow motion. Remus saw their attacker wind up and throw a huge fireball directly at Patton. Remus tried to scream, to cry out and warn him, but no sound would come out. If he could just get there in time!

But his legs were as heavy as lead. He pushed himself to go faster, faster, but he could only watch as the fire hurtled towards Patton and struck him directly, enveloping him in bright red flames. His hearing cut out, blocking out everything but Patton’s scream of pain as he collapsed to the ground, unmoving.

“Patton!!” Remus screamed, falling to his knees beside him and gently cradling his head in his arms. “C’mon, wake up... wake up, please! Patton!”

Patton didn’t stir. Remus frantically tugged at his boyfriend’s clothes and hair, trying to wake him up. “Patton, please, you can’t do this to me! You can’t!” He buried his face in Patton’s unmoving chest, clinging to him in desperation.

Remus...

He heard his name, but he couldn’t move. His body shook, tears falling and soaking into Patton’s tattered shirt.

Remus!

That was Patton’s voice... but Patton was gone... was he going crazy already?

“Remus, wake up!”

~

Remus shot awake, his chest heaving as he woke up from the nightmare. He whimpered in the darkness, tangling his fingers in his sweaty hair as he tried to ground himself.

It was a dream. It was a dream. None of it was real.

There was a hand on his shoulder, and a gentle voice cut through the darkness.

“Sweetheart, are you ok?”

Remus sucked in a breath, tackling Patton and holding on for dear life. Patton’s nightshirt was quickly soaked from Remus’s tears, but he didn’t seem to care. He just rubbed Remus’s back gently, hushing him and murmuring reassurance that he was right there for him, and he wasn’t going anywhere.

Eventually he started to calm down, feeling his muscles relax and his breathing slow as his heart stopped racing.

“Nightmare?” Patton whispered, and Remus could only nod. “Do you want to talk about it?”

“I... we were superheroes, and we were fighting this person... and she... you ran out on your own... and you... oh god...”

Remus couldn’t finish his sentence, but Patton understood what he was trying to say.

“I’m right here, Remus. I’m not going anywhere.”

He sniffed, drawing in a shaky breath. “I... I know, but... what if you’re in an accident!? You don’t have control over that!”

Patton kissed the top of his head, brushing his hair back calmly. “Maybe not. Accidents happen every day, and you’re right. We can’t control that. But that’s why life is so precious, my dear. We should enjoy every moment together because we know it won’t last forever.”

He sat up, pulling Remus from the bed and towards the bathroom. “C’mon, let’s get you cleaned up and we can go downstairs and watch something fun, ok?”

Remus glanced at the clock and frowned. “But it’s three in the morning, aren’t you tired?”

“I’ll be alright. I want to make sure you’re ok, Remus, I’m willing to sacrifice a few hours of sleep for you.”

He shuddered at Patton’s choice of words. “Don’t... don’t say sacrifice, please...”

Patton blinked. “O-Oh, sorry sweetheart, I didn’t mean it like that.”

Remus swallowed as Patton flicked on the bathroom light, stepping inside and turning on the shower for Remus. He grabbed one of their fluffiest towels and handed it to him, asking if he needed him to stay while he showered. He shook his head, and Patton kissed him one last time before leaving the bathroom, promising to make them some hot chocolate for when he was done.

He showered quickly, feeling the grime from his uneasy sleep wash down the drain. The warm water helped to calm him down, but he still couldn’t completely wipe the images of his dream from his mind.

Remus changed into fresh pajama bottoms, throwing on a shirt as well as the water on his skin chilled in the air. He rushed downstairs, finding Patton on the couch already with two steaming mugs of hot chocolate on the table.

He took it from him slowly, sipping at it and letting the sweet warmth settle in his chest. Patton drank his quicker, and when he was done he pulled Remus close and spooned him from behind, pressing his chest against Remus’s back.

Remus soon found himself drifting off again, his head bobbing up and down as he tried to stay awake.

“I’m right here, Remus. I’m not going anywhere.”

Patton’s whisper comforted him, and so he leaned back against his boyfriend and closed his eyes, letting himself drift into a peaceful, thankfully dreamless sleep.