#the characters do what they want to do and apparently virgil decided he didnt get enough screentime before i guess

[liemonyellow]

this is a gift (it comes with a price) - chapter 5

read on ao3

one | two | three | four | five | six | seven

Summary: A wild Remus emerges! (Finally!)

Chapter Warnings: disturbing descriptions and imagery (bugs/insects, mentions of blood and injuries, mentions of murder and gore), innuendos, cursing, panic attack

chapter 5: remus

Remus was on vacation.

He was still technically on the job, of course, but he was letting Thomas have a bit of a break from all the worst parts of himself, especially after all that fuckery with Janus and the wedding. He couldn’t resist sending along some of his juicier suggestions to Thomas, but he’d mostly refrained from following up with them. It wasn’t hard, since he knew he’d come up with much better ideas later anyway. That and he’d forgotten half of them already. Remus had been working so much harder, better, faster, and stronger ever since J-Deceitful decided to shake things up like a jar of very angry, exploding bees with the whole courtroom thing. And now that all of that was over and Janus had convinced Thomas to listen to him for once, the snake had asked Remus to lay low for a bit to let them all recover. He agreed, though not before taunting him a bit about evil twins and slimy serpents. The pained, shaken look he’d gotten in return was delicious.

Remus wasn’t actually all that angry - he’d been trying to get Janus ‘Classy’ ‘Nothing Is Black And White’ Sanders to call him ‘evil’ for years, to little success - but tearing down his brother with it? Not cool. Only Remus got to do that.

Besides, Remus felt he deserved the break. Steering clear of everyone who was pissing him off, likely to piss him off, or might piss him off was probably for the best, and the intrusive thot was trying to enjoy his freedom and solitude.

Or at least, he was, until last night.

There he was, in full Dukey regalia underneath a neon pink bathrobe, curlers in his hair, wearing a stylin’ pair of Warby Parker shades, reclined on a lounge seat on a glittering beach littered with the carcasses of washed-up sea creatures and rotting algae, sipping on his drink (he’d been craving so much alcohol lately), and watching the turbulent waves wash ashore in the moonlight. He was particularly enjoying the way the seaweed swayed within the water, like hungry tendrils of some eldritch beast waiting just beneath the surface, ready to seize and consume whatever unwary prey came too close, when Roman stormed in just after midnight, only to stop in utter bafflement when he stumbled into the sand and saw Remus. It was a great look on him. Then he had to ruin it by demanding a duel.

Remus had raised an eyebrow at him then. It was an unexpected but not unwelcome interruption, and Remus was starting to get bored anyway, so he snapped his fingers, returning his room (and himself) to its normal state of perfectly organized chaos, and they began to fight.

It became quite clear from the ferocity Roman displayed in their ensuing sparring that his brother was letting off quite a lot of pent up emotion. Well, that, and the very loud thoughts that Remus could hear clamoring through his own head.

Oh, Roman. Thank god you don't have a mustache…

Raging.

otherwise,

Resentful.

between you and Remus...

Relentless.

I wouldn’t know who the evil twin is.

Red, like fresh, hot blood spilled on white snow. Remus snapped his fingers. The blood disappeared, and Roman’s wound was healed, but the red lingered in his mind.

Now, Remus wasn’t unaware of the particulars of the last episode. He thought Roman was being a drama queen, as per usual, and it wasn’t like it wasn’t obvious which of them Thomas actually thought was evil. Still, his brother wasn’t exactly in the best state of mind at the best of times, so Remus had kept his distance. It wasn’t like anyone would miss him. And if they wanted to seek him out, god forbid, they knew where to find him. And Roman had.

They fought for a good couple of hours, hardly taking breaks and healing their injuries with another snap of the fingers. Perks of being a figment of Thomas’s imagination, Remus supposed. Remus changed the scenery every so often, sometimes mid-swing, just to keep Roman on his toes. Roman didn’t seem to notice much.

And if Remus had decided enough was enough and his taunts and teasing gradually became advice on how to silence unwelcome, intrusive thoughts, well, whatever worked. Eventually, they slowed, then stopped, and Roman had asked him a question.

Remus answered him.

Roman left.

Hours later, Remus lay in his bed, thinking. Judging by the light of the Mindscape outside, Thomas was awake now, and there were things that needed doing.

Time to get back to work.

Something else was bugging him, wriggling like maggots under the skin of his mind. Remus finally paid heed to some of the other thoughts drifting like seaweed through his mind. Most of them were standard fare - what do you think would happen if you woke up dead tomorrow? - but there was one voice that felt… loud. Well, louder than usual.

They’ve lost any respect they ever had for you. They don’t actually care about you. Really, you want to have another drink now, before you’ve even had breakfast? They’re lying. They’re lying. They are lying.

This is all your fault.

Smooth and sickly sweet, like honey-drowned larvae, weaving silky golden thread in loops, around and around and around, until it chokes.

With a beleaguered sigh, Remus hopped to his feet. Time to go fix things between his brother and his one remaining best friend (even if Janus was an asshole sometimes). Possibly Virgil, too. Or.... he could make them worse. Eh, he’d decide when he got there.

Well, he would have if he hadn’t gotten distracted by a slam from the hallway and the sound of angry footsteps passing by. He stuck his head out of his own door and, what luck! It was Virgil.

Who jumped about a foot into the air at the sudden appearance of Remus’s head, held up by the hair like an executioner presenting his most recent victim.

“Holy shit!”

“Oh hi there!” Remus grinned widely.

Virgil drew back in horror, a disgusted look on his face. “Dude! Put that back!”

Remus grinned, unblinking, as he replaced his head. He cracked his neck for extra measure. Virgil winced.

“So, where are you going so early in the morning? Aren’t you usually falling asleep to your emo shit by now?” Remus exited his room to stand in the hallway, the door, eerily quiet, closing itself behind him.

Virgil shrank back and hissed. Remus put a finger to his chin in mock contemplation.

“Ooh, I know! You finally decided to-”

“No. Whatever fucked up thing you’re about to say, no. Go back to your room and leave me alone.”

“How about I don’t?”

“Gah, whatever,” Virgil said as he turned and kept walking. Remus followed him, leaning forward with hands held behind his back and eyes wide as he stared at Virgil with a little too much interest.

“C’mon, Virgy-poo, you can tell me! Aren’t we friends?”

Virgil froze for a second, then continued stomping with renewed vigor.

Right up to Janus’s door. Virgil had some excellent timing, all things considered. Remus was getting all his little ducks in a row without even trying, but now he had to consider how he was going to bash their heads in. With words, and not his morning star. Very important distinction, he’d discovered.

Virgil stopped in front of it, glaring at the pale yellow wood, decorated with some fancy, swirly bronze stuff. Though it seemed more like he was trying to burn a hole through it than admire it. He exhaled sharply. With a clenched fist, he hammered the wood with unexpected force.

He kept beating on the door until it opened, mid-swing, and Virgil barely caught himself before he smacked his fist into Patton’s nose.

Oh, my.

Virgil was taken completely by surprise. “Patton?”

Patton gave what Remus assumed was supposed to be a smile but looked more like he was extremely uncomfortable and was trying really hard to pretend he wasn’t. “Oh hey, Virge! And... Remus.”

“Heigh-ho, Pattoncake! How’s it hanging?” Remus leered.

Patton almost took a step back, but didn’t, and glanced over his shoulder quickly. “Look, it’s not a good time right now, can you maybe come back later?”

“What are you doing in Deceit’s room?” Virgil asked.

“Having a party of two with Double D, daddio?” Remus waggled his eyebrows suggestively.

“N-no! We just- I mean- I wanted to... have a... sleepover?” Patton cringed at the lie. Remus could just see Janus pulling a face at how bad it was.

Remus’s eyes and his grin widened even more, if that was possible. (It was.) “Oh, worm?”

Patton did take a step back at that, giving Virgil enough space to push past him and into the room. Then he stopped suddenly, glowering darkly at Janus, who stood there pretending to examine his fingernails as if he wasn’t wearing gloves. Remus slunk into the room after him, grinning at Patton as he passed by.

“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” Virgil growled.

“More like who the fuck,” Remus muttered, spotting Logan standing with a palm applied directly to his forehead, clearly already at his limit with everything. And it was only a quarter past eight in the morning, that had to be a new record.

“Nothing at all, Virgil. You know how I just love having uninvited visitors barging into my room in the morning.”

“Cut the bullshit, Deceit. I don’t know what you’re planning, but I’m putting a stop to it.”

“And what makes you think you can stop me?”

Virgil’s expression darkened and his voice deepened even more. “Roman told me what you said,” he snarled. “About him being evil.”

That shut Janus up. Remus watched Janus’s hands clench, trembling, as he straightened his back, eyes widened in anger.

Oh, Roman. Thank god you don't have a mustache. Otherwise, between you and Remus, I wouldn’t know who the evil twin is.

The words rang loudly in Remus’s mind, just as they did so many countless times last night in Roman’s, just as they did in Janus’s now, drowning out everything else in a fever pitch. Remus smirked. Looks like the show was finally about to begin.

“Virgil-” Patton started to say, only to be silenced by a sharp, maniac glare from Remus. Oh, how he enjoyed this power. He wondered if Janus got a similar thrill from it. Who was he kidding, of course he did, have you seen the way he acts and dresses?

Virgil didn’t notice any of it, incensed as he was. “Fuck you. At least Thomas needs Roman. Unlike you.”

Janus paled, his anger disappearing like a bucket of chum in a sea of starving sharks. His trembling became much more obvious. He blinked rapidly, eyes shining.

Remus’s grin was starting to hurt. “What’s wrong, Jay-nus? Can’t take what you dish out?” he said quietly.

Janus seemed to notice him, then. His eyes took on a terrified glint, as if he’d stumbled upon a fresh corpse at the foot of a murderer in a horror film. He took a step back. Then another. And another, where he hit the bedframe. Virgil followed him step for step, teeth bared in a snarling growl, only to stop short when Janus slid to the floor and clutched his head as if in pain.

Your face ruined my day.

Janus’s breaths came in shorter and faster as he hunched over, holding himself tightly. His other arms came out to wrap around his knees and head, blocking out the rest of the world.

Lying is already bad enough!

Patton and Logan rushed to his side.

Why is he still here?

“Janus? Janus, can you hear me?”

I don’t want to be a bad person.

"Give him space, Patton.”

Did you forget that he’s evil?!

“Janus, just- just breathe, okay?”

Thomas doesn’t need you, snake.

Remus watched his best friend suffer through a panic attack with hardly a twitch. It was thrilling, in a way. He’d never seen Janus like this. No one had. Janus liked to seem unflappable and in control, even if he ruined it with his own inherent dorkiness, but he’d never broken down like this where people could see.

Well. Sometimes you had to break something to make it better. Remus was pretty sure he was the only one who really understood that.

Virgil stood there, stunned. He turned to Remus, who only raised an eyebrow at him, silently daring him to do something about the scene he’d caused.

The poor little emo looked so lost. And then he suddenly didn’t. He walked up to the trio kneeling on the floor.

“Hey,” he said, as gently as a chainsaw. He winced. Patton and Logan hovered protectively in front of Janus, uncertainty in their faces.

“Hey,” Virgil said again, softly this time, kneeling down. Patton hesitantly looked between the two, then stood up, pulling Logan with him. They stepped back several feet, ending up right next to the Duke, who crossed his arms as he watched, fingers tapping frantically on his sleeve like fleshy jackhammers trying to dig into his skin and find those maggots. Logan gave him a scrutinizing look, then, hesitantly, placed a hand gently on Remus’s shoulder.

Remus froze completely. His shoulder burned.

“Is it okay if I touch you?” Virgil asked, his voice low. He reached out a hand oh, so slowly, waiting for a reply.

It was a moment before Janus nodded, face hidden in his lap. Virgil took one of Janus’s gloved hands and held it gingerly, rubbing the back of it with his thumb. “Hey, let’s just breathe for a bit, okay? Breathe with me?”

Janus’s breath stuttered as he tried to comply.

Evil.

“You’re doing great. Can you talk?”

Janus shook his head.

Ruined.

“That’s fine. Just- just keep breathing for me, okay?”

Janus nodded. Virgil shifted a bit, pulling a little away, and another of Janus’s arms shot out to grab the other’s sleeve.

Lying.

“I’m not leaving! I’m sorry, I should have said. I just want to sit down. Do you mind if I sit next to you?”

Janus tugged insistently on Virgil’s sleeve. Virgil let Janus pull him down next to him.

Why?

“Is this okay?”

Janus leaned into Virgil, loosing a couple of his arms to wrap around and cling onto the purple side. Virgil held Janus with the same intensity. They sat there, holding each other for a while.

Bad.

“I’m sorry. Really. I actually came here to apologize, if you can believe it. I know I wouldn’t.” Virgil said, his voice low. “I just- I guess I just panicked when I saw Patton. Assumed you were up to something again. Like, uh, like back when we were younger, you know? You and Roman had all those plans on how to make Thomas the coolest, most famous person in the world. They were pretty bad, but still. You two were always so dramatic about everything.”

Janus’s breathing was evening out.

Evil.

“I really am sorry. I know you’re just doing your job. Trying to look out for Thomas, in your own way. Even if your way fucking sucks. Shit, sorry.”

Janus’s form jostled a little as he gave a huff of amusement.

Snake.

“You know how I’ve been, like, hiding in my room? I was thinking. A lot, actually. And then, when I talked to Roman last night- This morning? Nevermind, it doesn’t matter- he said some things that made me realize how much I missed…”

Janus wasn’t moving but for the slow and steady rise and fall of his shoulders.

“He, uh, he told me Thomas accepted you? And you told them your name? I couldn’t believe it. You must have been pretty desperate to do that. And, yeah, that was a real wake-up call.”

The voices were finally fading. Not completely gone, not yet, but no longer so loud they drowned out everything else. Remus closed his eyes and let the peace linger. Logan’s hand was still on his shoulder. It still burned.

“I was so surprised. Why would they give him- give you a seat at the table? And then I had to ask myself, why do I think that you don’t deserve it? And that sent me down this whole other rabbit hole...”

The silence was deafening. Patton was fidgeting, eyes darting this way and that, never settling on a single thing for too long before returning to Janus and Virgil. Logan watched the proceedings stone-faced, but the slight squeezing of his hand on Remus's still-burning shoulder gave away his unease.

“Because you’re Anxiety, and I’m Deceit,” Janus said with a sigh, sitting up and pulling out of the embrace, tucking his extra appendages away. “Lying always made you nervous. And the way I treated you in the past didn’t help. I thought if I could keep you and Remus under control, Thomas would be happier. Fit in. Not be a target. Clearly it had stunning results.”

The corner of Virgil’s lips twitched. “Not for lack of trying.”

The room fell quiet once more. Janus sighed again.

“Virgil, I’m sorry. Sincerely. I know any confidence we had in each other is gone at this point, but I hope from now on forward we can at least try to work together without everything devolving into another shouting match. For Thomas’s sake, if nothing else.”

“Yeah,” Virgil said after a moment, “same. I’m sorry, too. I shouldn’t have shouted at you first thing in the morning. I almost forgot how much of a bitch you can be.”

Janus chuckled at that. Remus rolled his eyes and yawned loudly, stretching his arms and shaking off Logan’s hand and the burning touch. It had been, what, fifteen minutes? Everyone else turned to stare at him.

“Fuckin’ finally! I thought you two would never kiss and make up!”

Virgil shot a disgusted glare at him. “Ugh, shut up, Remus!”

Janus chuckled again, shaking his head. He got up, offering a hand to Virgil. Virgil eyed it for a moment, eyes flicking up to see Janus raise a quizzical brow. He took it and let Janus pull him up.

Janus turned to Remus. “Remus.”

Remus looked him up and down, raising an unimpressed eyebrow and propping one of his arms on his hip. "Janus."

Janus took a breath. "I-"

"Gee, that's great, JD, but don't you have someone else to do first?" Remus asked loudly, pretending to examine the nails on his free hand. Maybe he’d turn them into claws later. Nice, long, sharp ones that could slice stone, cut diamonds, gouge out wide, yellow eyes...

Janus had stopped dead. He blinked, mouth hanging open, then, with a sharp exhale and a determined set to his eyes, he turned to Logan.

"Right. Logan. As I was saying before we were so kindly interrupted: I think I know what we need to do.”

Janus sunk out. Patton exchanged a look with a very tired Logan, who buried his face in his hands and rubbed his eyes. Virgil, hunched over, glanced up at Remus and quickly looked away when he met Remus’s eyes.

“Come on, guys. Let’s go talk to Thomas,” Patton said, sinking out after Janus.

"Oh, goody! A feel trip!” Remus said as they all followed him, wiggling as he went. Time to start bashing in some duck heads. With words. (And maybe his morning star.)

---

@mimssides you wanted a tag?

[logically-asexual]

im so annoyed about this whole remus and logan thing i can’t stop thinking about it. so a long ramble under the cut.

i finally am being able to put into words what bothers me about logan’s character development, particularly him vs the dark sides.

first of all, virgil. virgil had a whole season for his development that was kind of natural and credible. he is a nuisance in different ways, thomas recognizes he has anxiety and looks for ways to cope, which logan learns to bring up later, then virgil keeps causing trouble but makes some good points sometimes, then thomas decides to accept him for the good he brings and they all manage better. all this happens within episodes that aren’t always about anxiety. they SHOW us how the sides’ perception of him and his character have changed through the stories, instead of lecturing us about it.

with janus they kind of attempted the same thing but with a speedrun of three episodes that crammed everything together with little plot. in fact the plot is just an excuse to make every single step of janus’s developement happen, and this progress with janus is the center of the episodes. at least there is some plot, but its not as natural, we don’t see thomas struggle with him casually, we don’t see logan or patton learning information about how to deal with him. its not how a normal person would go through this. but we do see different stages of his acceptance and we see all the sides learning new things about janus gradually.

but then with remus they just pressed literally everything in one video and all the learning thomas would have to do about him and dealing with him that he did with virgil in an entire year happens in?? 40 minutes? because he (logan) somehow already knew everything and he just had to remind himself (patton and virgil) of it?

that’s how i see the dark sides’ development (?). now logan.

with virgil you could assume logan took note of what Lilly said in that first video, then logan and had thomas research about it and find strategies to later use them when they were necessary. as if Taking on Anxiety was a first step with learner’s wheels and then My Negative Thinking was thomas being able to repeat the process on his own. it makes sense. first someone teaches you and then you do it independently. you can believe there was a learning process with Logan’s help right there, beginning with Logan (and thomas) not knowing something and then researching (between videos), understanding it, to finally accepting it.

after the debate logan was still neutral about virgil, and was pushed to reflect more about his role until he disappeared, to finally come to the realization of why he was necessary, by remembering a small fact he learned while researching strategies (the yerkes dodson curve). that one isnt a streategy, so makes sense that logan just saved the info and didnt completely internalize it until it became useful. thomas learned what he was told to and then used it when the situation required it.

but with janus and remus thomas has to figure it all out on his own. except he doesn’t, because Logan already knew everything. he already knows what the dark sides represent, every single thing they encompass, he knows what the studies say about the problems they cause, he has understood, accepted, and internalized everything before the videos even start!! and then its only him telling the rest of the sides what he already learned on his own? he learned all this with the rest not being present or without it causing any emotion whatsoever? how can logan memorize all this stuff if thomas used to be indifferent towards it? you learn through connection with your emotions. it mAKES NO SENSE that logan knows all this.

also logan is defensive and gets frustrated easily. thats essential to his character. and you could see he was annoyed and bothered by anxiety in the first season. anxiety got in his way sometimes so logan also didn’t want him around at the beginning.  WHEn did logan have this development of suddently not caring at all what the dark sides do? not caring at all how remus affects thomas’s productivity while when roman does it he goes into screaming matches and even throwing stuff!!. it is stated that he does have feelings no matter how much he denies it, , then why doesn’t he feel anything At. All. when confronted by remus? why is he so calm around him? when did he learn to deal with him?

even worse: logan went through a whole arc of accepting virgil, just like the rest of them, but he still can’t even deal with Roman and Patton with whom he interacts literally every video?? he is so affected by them everytime they do something irrational, gets angry, and starts yelling about what does and doesn’t make sense. he says he doesn’t have this problem with remus because his ideas shouldn’t have an impact on thomas if they don’t let them. but when and how did he learn this? how does he know intrusive thoughts are different from other thoughts thomas has that he, as logic, doesn’t like?

logan said in the video its bad to try too hard to make sense of remus’s contributions. that sounds like something LOGIC would do. try too hard to make sense of him until (with experience and research) he realizes it is impossible and gets them nowhere, and also would end up hurting thomas more in the long run. then why can’t we see this development? how does he JUST. KNOW? how does he know before the duke is introduced what will and wont hurt thomas if this is the first time ever that thomas is hurt by him?

i can stay here complaining all day honestly. there’s so much logan as rational thinking, reason, logic, of a person (who doesn’t have any experience with therapy or believe in it, apparently) could have gone through while learning about dark sides of your personality. they dont have to show it on camera if they think they already showed enough of this process for virgil! but somehow imply that this development happened, and not just have logan suddenly be this perfect all knowing  entity that knows exactly what to do before it happens. i think logan lecturing them about intrusive thoughts for 20 minutes was a lazy decision, no matter how much work it took to write those dialogues. its lazy because it doesn’t fit with the storytelling style they chose to make Sanders Sides with, but they didn’t take the time to figure out a way to make it fit.

im going off again.again i can do this all day. but im going to stop now. sigh.

[lizartgurl]

Lizzzzzz I'm having court and Virgil feels can you pleaseeeeeeeee write a fic for them? Anything you think fits, maybe first meeting? THANK YOU ILU 💕💕

I apologize to both you and Clark if I mischaracterize Courtney, I’ve really only ever seen her in the ten seconds she was on YJ, so that’s where I set this fic.

“If you guys wanna wait right here, the makeup crew will be here in a second,” Gar grinned at them, “I gotta take this call.”

“A call that wouldn’t happen to be from a certain royalty, would it?” Bart asked, lounging across his chair and kicking his legs up in the air so that he kicked the script out of Traci’s hands and into Jaime’s face.

Virgil shook his head staring hopelessly at the sets of makeup set in front of them on a vanity prepped for ten. Yes, there were several different makeup kits for several different people, but one set alone had to be twice as big as what his sister used. Cassie was already swatching out blushes and eyeshadows like she’d seen the MUAs on youtube do (though Cassie was self-proclaimed to hate makeup, she and Virgil both found makeup tutorials strangely addicting), but Virgil decided it best to not touch the makeup at all, leave it to the experts and all that.

“Hello! You must be Mister Logan’s friends!” said a bright woman with a clipboard and headset.

Jaime took charge, the responsible oldest child on the team (seriously, they were lost without M’gann). “Yeah, I’m Jaime, and we’ve got Bart, Traci, Cassie, and Virgil.”

“I see you’ve all got your scripts, so before we can get you into costume for rehearsals, we have to do makeup!”

“Doesn’t makeup go on after you change?” Virgil asked as a fleet of assistants burst in the door behind Clipboard Lady, draping them all with black tarps and turning them to face the mirror.

“Oh no! With the full-body makeup we do here, we don’t want it to get on your costumes,” Clipboard Lady frittered. By the time Virgil looked up again, Clipboard Lady was gone, but it seemed that the Makeup Assistants had things well in hand. Cassie’s character was being dyed blue, apparently she was going to play one of Lieutenant Turk’s many cousins. Bart was getting a mohawk and bright yellow eyelids, and Traci was getting purple hair extensions for a futuristic look.

“Of course, the Asian character always has to have hair dye,” She sighed. Virgil chuckled.

His and Jaime’s characters were both humans, so they didn’t need too long in the chair. Neither did Garfield, really, after he finished his conversation of sweet nothings with Queen Perdita. The Assistants had them sit on a couch in the greenroom, with strict instructions to keep their hands off their faces, and hurried back to help paint up Cassie.

“Race for Lightspeed!” Virgil jumped up at the sound of a familiar voice. There was Courtney Whitmore, Stargirl herself, standing in the doorway.

“Hey, Court!” Gar stood up and shook her hand.

“Good to see you again, Gar. Are these your guest-star friends?” She asked.

“A couple of them. Jaime, Virgil,” Gar grinned, “Meet Stargirl.”

“Sup,” Jaime waved.

“H- hi,” Virgil said as Courtney shook his hand.

“I was hoping to get another interview for Stargirl. Would either of you be interested?” Courtney’s smile was bright and coy, and it could just be his mind playing tricks on him, but Virgil was certain that she was looking at him when she asked. Courtney Whitmore was looking at him.

“Well, Virgil certainly looks interested.” Jaime muttered over his Entertainment Magazine, Gar and Space Trek 3016 splayed across the front.

“Huh?” Virgil jumped up, and Courtney grabbed his hand.

“Great! Follow me!” She dragged him out of the green room and onto the half-built set, where cameras and crew were still wandering around. They sat in the two chairs that Virgil had seen on all of her celebrity interviews, but he wasn’t a celebrity, what was he doing, thinking he could be on the Stargirl Vlog?

“Okay, Virgil, right?” His name called him back to reality.

“This isn’t live, so we can edit it all later, but I’m going to ask you a few questions about you and about the show, so don’t be afraid to be silly about it. Just let me know if you’re uncomfortable with a question, or aren’t sure how to answer. Okay?”

“O-Okay,” Virgil sat up straight, brushing off his clothes in an effort to look more presentable. He went to wipe his forehead from the sweat of the spotlight, and quickly sat on his hands in an effort to not ruin his makeup.

“Okay!” Courtney signaled her cameraman, and held up her list of questions with a flourish.

“Okay, so what we’ve been told from the producers, and from Garfield Logan himself, you, Jaime, and your other friends go way back with Gar.”

“Well, yeah. Jaime and Cassie probably know him longest, we were all on a team together.”

“What kind of team?” Courtney leaned forward intently. Virgil cursed his loose lips.

“Ah- Soccer.” That would work. Cassie was a good blocker, Bart ran really fast, and Traci was good with distractions. That covered it, right?

“Co-ed little league, right after he lost his mom. His big sister and her friends coached it.”

“Interesting. So you were there for him after Marie Logan died?”

“Well, not really. Traci and I joined a little later, but it was fun. Nothing too big, but we won, a lot.”

“That’s awesome! I have to ask, what did you guys think of him? The green skin and all.”

“Believe me, it wasn’t the weirdest thing we saw,” Virgil chuckled, “But his meta-powers- “ and everyone else’s “-really brought us together. He was like our legit mascot. And when you learn how to work as a team the way we did…that’s a kind of bond that doesn’t break.”

“That’s so sweet!” Courtney gushed. She was so sincere, it was so cute. “Speaking of Gar’s meta-powers, there isn’t any chance any of you having any meta-powers of your own, is there?”

Virgil froze for a moment, then shrugged. “Well, Traci’s ridiculously unlucky, if you’d call that a superpower.”

Courtney laughed, and he laughed with her. It just felt so easy, so natural.

“Bart was our fastest runner, but he’s super late for everything, which I’ll never understand. Jaime talks to himself, and Cassie works out all the time, because she looks up to Wonder Woman.”

“And Verge, here is always super-staticy-” Gar snuck up behind him, tapping him on the shoulder.

“Okay, I’ll admit it.”Courtney laughed again. “Well, thank you for putting up with my questions, Virgil. It’s been great to hear from you. I look forward to seeing the episode you guys put out.” She held out his hand, and Virgil shook it, the energy he put into looking good during the interview had left him in a daze.

“Here’s my number. Will you call me and tell me what you thought of the Vlog when it airs?”

Courtney handed Virgil a piece of paper, and all he did was nod like a dumbarse and smile like Dopey. As she followed her cameraman out of the stage, Courtney smiled at him, almost hidden behind her hair as she glanced back over her shoulder.

“Dude,” Gar elbowed Virgil, “She gave you her number.”

“Yeah,” Virgil agreed, still watching in the way Courtney had left, “Yeah she did.”