#why is a bug burning in hell? im so sorry but its complicated

[stormclawponyrises]

played gartic phone with the comic creators the other day, thought id share some of my pieces im proud of

(longish post)

"Did you get the update?"

"Jimmy Fallon: What inspires you?"

I can't remember what the prompts were for these two but it made a lot more sense in context:

[anemonenemerosa]

It said three people

Hello fellow people and Hazelnoots (love it),

 This is a drabble I got inspired from the lively discussions and brain-cell sharing at the SW-Discord with @im-oknutzy-trash, @bkfstclubmember and @icaughtfeelsagain

Thank you so much for beta-reading @unadulteratedpaperparadise

O'Knutzy alternative getting together:​

The characters and the world that is Sweater Weather/Coast to Coast belong to the wonderful @lumosinlove.

It said three people

Summary: Finn does not know what nature is, Logan has a plan and Leo is cold.

Warning: It gets a bit angsty.

 ____________________________________________________________

"Ok, we are lost." Finn stated for the fourth time in ten minutes.

"No, we are not." Logan answered for the fourth time in ten minutes with an exasperated groan that drew a chuckle out of Leo, who was walking behind them.

"Of course, we are. Here is nothing!"

"Harzy?"

"Knutty?"

"Do you know how places outside from cities work?"

"Why?"

"Because most of them do not have civilisation... that's, like, the whole point, y'know."

"But how do you know where the hell we are?" Finn turned around himself, gesticulating wildly.

"There are markings on the path? And we have a map?" Logan gave him, waving with the map just as madly as Finn with his arms.

"But-"

"Fish, you desperately wanted to go hiking and camping for once in your live. Get it together and enjoy the sounds that are not traffic and the air that is not half exhaust fumes." Logan snapped playfully and sped up his steps.

They walked on quietly for a few more minutes until Finn voiced the presence of another aspect of nature.

"Ugh, there are bugs everywhere and dirt... so disgusting."

Logan just groaned again, burying his face in his hands while Leo started to laugh, exclaiming "City-boy!" in-between breaths.

They went on like this for a while. Logan and Leo trotting along while Finn complained over every little bug or twig or root that bothered him. Being in the woods was always described as freeing and peaceful but if just one other little beast bit him, Finn would burn that whole thing down.

Just when he considered digging though his backpack for a lighter, Logan stopped at a small clearing.

"Alright, let's just stay here for the night." Leo nodded happily and went to unpack some stuff while Finn had a hard time believing that they were not just joking.

"Here?"

"Yeah. Harzy, get that tent out." Logan was already in camp-mode, puttering around with stuff Finn had never laid his eyes on.

"Like, in the middle of nowhere? In the woods?" more gesticulating.

Leo laughed again "Yes, Finn. What did you think we would be doing while hiking? With a tent?"

With that, the other two continued unpacking while Finn dawned that this was a lot less peaceful and freeing than he thought. He was ripped out of the re-evaluation of his vacation-plans by Logan, adding another coffin nail to his camping adventure.

"So, we have two rolls of toilet paper and a foldable spade. I put them besides the tent -that is still not standing." Logan glanced meaningful at the folded tent in Finns arms, who just stared back in shock.

"A SPADE?"

"Yeah?" Logan just shrugged. "You dig a hole and then you take a shi-"

"Ok, Ok, OK. I got the concept. Why do people do that again? It's completely gross!" Mortified, Finn tuned away, finally setting up the tent. Behind his back, he just heard Leo giggling "City-boy" over and over. He was pathetic, wasn't he? But to hear that giggle, he would do it again. No. Nope. No. Don't think about it.

"Have you started on the tent, yet?" Logan asked airily, knowing exactly that Finn was lost.

"Yes."

"How's it going?"

"Fine." Finn looked up from the mess of fabric and stakes, not missing the teasing glint in the eyes of his best friend. He braced himself for endless chirping, but Leo just got up, leaving a little fire in a stone circle* (please read end notes) under Logan's supervision and helped him setting up the tent while an awkward silence fell upon them. It seemed to sink in that they all have to share that one tent.

The silence was broken by Leo. "Harzy..."

"Mh?"

"What is this?"

"A tent?" It was a tent, wasn't it? He got it from that outdoor store at the mall.

"And how do you expect us to sleep in there?"

"Oh, non. Harzy. We will never fit in there." Logan had looked up from poking the fire.

"But it said three people on the tag!" Finn exclaimed. He was very sure, damn it.

With a sigh Leo turned to Finn " Three people tents never fit three people and luggage, let alone three grown-ass hockey players!"

"Oh." Finn felt his cheeks warm up in embarrassment. Why did the guy at the shop did not warn him?

______________________________________________________________

"Alright, I'll sleep outside. That way I can see the stars all night."

Logan heard Leo offer while patting the shoulder of a slightly ashamed Finn and needed to react immediately.

"NO." He nearly shouted, making the other two turn their heads to him, questioning. "You- Erm... You freeze too fast. I'll sleep outside." Logan could not be in a tiny tent alone with Finn, he would do something very stupid.

"Nonsense." Finn exclaimed, looking worried all of a sudden. "No one sleeps outside. What if bears eat you?"

That pushed a laugh out of Logan's lungs. " Harzy, there are no bears in-"

"Or wolves... Or... or- mountain lions or venomous snakes or spiders... oh god, why did we come here?!."

While Logan was preoccupied with doubling over in laughter, he nearly missed Leo's deadpan reply.

"Finn Callahan O'Hara, do you actually know anything about wildlife?"

"Yeah." Came the defiant reply.

"Really? Because we picked this very region to make sure that all the animals you just listed do not exist here."

"Oh. Good then." Despite turning completely red, the older boy seemed very soothed by the thought of not being eaten in the night.

With that settled, Leo came over, crouching down besides Logan so close their knees were touching, sending a jolt through Logan's body, quickly followed by guilt. The blonde continued getting the fire bigger while clouds were accumulating above them, making him shiver.

"Why the hell is it so cold here? It's August."

"Bad news Pinotte, its actually very warm today." Logan joked in an attempt to calm himself down again.

"God." Leo wrapped himself closer in his hoodie and poked at the fire, before his gaze flew upwards.

"Oh no."

"What?" Finn asked, rather alarmed. He probably thought they spotted a bear anyway.

"It starts to rain."

"Naaah, it's just a drizzle." Logan reassured the younger boy. It always did a bit here.

_____________________________________________________________

It was not a drizzle. Soon they had to extinguish the fire and squeeze into the tent with their backpacks while torrential rains were pouring down outside. Neither of them could even sit upright, let alone move.

"I'm sorry guys," Finn mumbled while trying to navigate his backpack into a corner "Tomorrow, we will go back."

Logan could not stand to see his best friend like that. All sad puppy eyes and slumped shoulders. "Yeah." He said, patting Finns head as lovingly as he dared. "We camp out on your balcony and have the park as the only nature you experience, like the city-boy you are."

The puppy eyes gone, Finn smile warmly at Logan's attempt to cheer him up, but it faltered again as Leo's deep sigh waved over.

"Sorry that it's raining. I hoped for you to see the stars"

Leo looked strangely at Finn and Logan shifted uncomfortably. He had noticed the looks they exchanged but here, he couldn't ignore them. This trip was a horrible idea altogether.

Dinner consisted of cold canned beans and toast

"No Finn, you cannot make a fire in a tent. We will either burn down or suffocate."

 Getting ready for the night was awkward as hell. There was not much room and operating camping mats and sleeping bags out of the backpacks was almost as complicated as getting out of their trousers. Brushing teeth was holding the toothbrush out in the rain, simply swallowing the toothpaste and washing it down with a sip of water. Once they all were settled as good as they could, Logan looked over to Leo, buried in his bag, barely suppressing his shivers.  

"Come on Pinotte, you're freezing. Get in the middle." With that Logan rolled over Leo, who shifted thankfully towards Finn.

It was not easy but once they were all settled again, Logan found himself too close to Leo. He could smell his soap, his toothpaste and the way it made his heart flutter let his stomach knot in guilt. Mortified, he tried to turn away, but the tent was so small, all they could do was awkwardly spooning each other to even fit inside. He moved his head as far as possible against the backpacks to not touch Leo' neck. He was not allowed to enjoy that, could not risk creeping Leo or getting caught, by Finn, nonetheless.

______________________________________________________________

Leo felt heavenly warm where he was but knew very well that he was, metaphorically and now literally in the middle of something he did not belong to. Logan and Finn had something. And although neither of them seemed to acknowledge it, it was very obvious. Leo would not try to get a foot in the door with either one, as much as he wished for it, he would not ruin it for them. With a deep breath, he closed his eyes and tried not to feel these wonderful boys snuggled to either side of him. This was not what they wanted, after all. It was necessity.

______________________________________________________________

Finn was set alight with panic. He knew that sharing a tight space with Logan was bound to be awkward. Last time he slept so close to Logan, he left for Gryffindor the next day. And then Leo in all of it? What had he thought, getting both boys he had not-very-platonic feelings for on a trip in the middle of nowhere? He squeezed his eyes shut, trying not to think, just to sleep.

______________________________________________________________

Leo was the first to wake up in the morning. Somehow Finn had accomplished to turn around and was snuggled up in his arms. Also, he could feel Logan's head between his shoulder blades. While this was the essence of the few daydreams, he allowed himself from time to time, the circumstances were horribly wrong.

Just necesseties, he told himself. Don't get your silly hopes up. But he did not move. Moving meant being awake and that meant acknowledging the elephant in the tent.

Also, it was still raining. There was nowhere they could go if things got even more uncomfortable and Leo had no intentions in starting this endeavour.

After a while of waiting in this compromised position, Finn blinked blearily, rubbing a hand over his eyes. Then, he just stared at Leo, eyes wide and pressed his fingers to his own lips, nodding towards a still sleeping Logan. They tried to disentangle but there wasn't enough room to move so they were stuck in this pose. Leo gestured at his arms, wrapped around the other boy, with his head and made a face that was supposed to look apologetic, but Finn just shrugged, avoiding his eyes now. Great.

"Sleep alright?" He asked in a hushed whisper.

"Manageable and you?" Finn replied just as quiet.

Leo gave him a lopsided smile and a tiny shrug. "'t was ok, a little cold."

______________________________________________________________

They stayed like that in uncomfortable silence until there were some very quiet, suppressed sobs wafting over from behind Leo's back.

"Tremzy?" Leo tried to look over his shoulder and failed.

"Non."

"Lo, what's up?" Finn was getting worried now and he leaned up as much as he could. Emotions were nothing Logan liked to share; Especially being hurt was something even he rarely saw. But instead of an answer there was just the usual flurry of French. His usual escape-route.

"No, Logan please speak to me in a language I can understand." He turned to face Leo again, pleading. "Leo, what was he saying?"

Leo looked pained but only shrugged. "No idea, it was something Canadian."

With that, Finn carefully scrambled over Leo to get to his friend but slipped with his hand on the sleeping bag fabric and fell into the blonde, faces colliding rather painfully but lips meeting, nonetheless. Finn and Leojerked apart, then froze, staring at each other, the world around them forgotten for a short moment as both tried to figure out what played in the mind of the other. Just as Finn slowly leaned back into Leo to do something, he was ripped out of the bubble by a violent move that made the whole tent shake. Logan was trying to get out, but the heavy rain outside made it rather impossible to leave so he stifled a sob and retreated completely into his sleeping bag, only a tuft of dark hair looking out while silent sobs shook his body.

"Lo", Finn said softly and worried as hell. What had he done? He knew how Logan felt about him, knew how he felt about Logan, even if they never dared to act on it and here, he was almost kissing Leo in this goddamn prison of a tent?

Leo did not move but his eyes switched frantically between the Logan-Burrito and Finn, still on top of him.

Carefully, Finn shifted from Leo's lap towards Logan.

"Lo, please talk." Finn pleaded now. It was ripping him apart to see Logan like this but all that came out of the burrito was some choked mumbling.

Finn did not know what to do. Logan never talked to him about his feelings when they were alone but now there was Leo in the tent with them, no way to escape and something had just shifted between Leo and Finn. He was at loss, starting to tear up himself.

Now Leo, very carefully leaned over Finn to put a hand on the burrito. "Logan. I think you should talk about what is wrong. I promise you I will never tell a soul what happened in this tent."

That made Logan's shaking still a little and a part of his head slowly re-emerged from the sleeping bag, eyes red and puffy, wiping his nose with his sleeve.

"I can't." He said very quietly.

"Why not?" Leo asked calmly.

"I – I don't want you guys to hate me."

"Lo, I could never hate you" Finn exclaimed and reached out to Logan but as teas were spilling out of his eyes again, he stopped the movement.

Finn knew that Logan would not talk on his own, so he needed to make a start. But how? Hey Lo, remember we've been pining after each other for years now? Yeah, I started to fall for Leo here while my feelings for you have not changed in the slightest. Nice, huh? Not an option.

Instead, he just lunged over as good as he could and hugged the Logan-Burrito, burring his face in the fabric.

They were all stuck in here for the time being. Logan could not escape and somehow Finn felt elated about it despite it being probably cruel towards Logan. The elation did not last long as he felt Leo shifting and turning his back to them, possible only because Finn and Logan were closely pressed together, and his heart ached. He was ripped into two directions, wanted Logan to understand, really understand that he loved him, no matter what but also tell Leo that he wanted him there, in his life, with him. Finn craved both and he was freaking out.

______________________________________________________________

"Leo?" Finn asked hesitantly from behind Leo's back.

"'S fine, I'm sorry I cannot give you more privacy but really, I promise I won't spill a thing." That was something Leo had expected sooner or later but not like this. Not being forced to witness both men he fell for finally getting together, leaving him out.

______________________________________________________________

"I know what is between you." Logan said between sobs.

"What?" Finn asked but he didn't have to. His stomach just dropped out of his body into the void.

"And- And I'm not mad at you. I know I kept you waiting for too long without even the hope of becoming more and- and I understand but it hurts so much." It all came out in a flurry and Finn had a hard time following before Logan broke into another round of sobs.

"No. Lo, no you don't understand." He tried to calm Logan down but the more he petted the brunette's head, the worse it got.

"What is there to understand?" Logan's voice rose a bit as he stuck his head out of his burrito. "I've seen it for a while now, the way you look at each other, but witnessing..." He trailed off, seemingly not daring to finish the thought.

"Lo, no. We are not together or something." Finn felt Leo flinch against his back and bit his lip. This was a disaster.

"What- but-" Logan looked more confused than hurt now but he had no idea how Leo was doing behind his back.

Finn took a deep breath. And then another. Apparently, he was the one who had to spill first.

"Alright. If this all goes down in flames, let's just leave it all in this tent. We literally burn it down and go on OK?"

"How comes you want to set things on fire all the time? What-" but Finn pressed his fingers to the other boy's lips.

"I love you Logan. I've loved you for so long, I can't even remember how it is not loving you." He had to take another breath as Logan's eyes widened. They had never said it out loud.

"But I also fell for Leo a while ago. And I know- I know that makes me a horrible, selfish person but I can't help it and I cannot decide between the two of you. Please don't be mad at me." Tears started spilling out of his eyes.

______________________________________________________________

Leo had the feeling his heart had stopped and he was dead now. Finn liked him? Slowly, he turned around to see Logan's gaze flicker between Finn and Leo

"I love you, Finn and I- Me, too."

Too? Leo thought, not daring to believe his wildest dreams might actually become true.

"You like him?" Finn asked, baffled.

Logan nodded slowly and now they were both looking at Leo. Leo, who could not believe that was happening. He bit his lip in an attempt not to cry and just nodded, grabbing both their hands and pressing them to his chest

"But... but can we do that? How does that even work? Is that legal?" Logan was getting panicky again.

Leo grabbed Logan at his sweater to pull him over but ended up pulling himself into the middle instead.

"We can do what we want." He mumbled into Finns shoulder, smiling dumbly.

Logan laughed wetly. "Do I get it right that everyone of us likes the other two and was afraid of admitting it?"

"Yeah." Both, Finn and Leo replied but their similes became confused as Logan started to laugh hysterically.

"Lo?" Finn was rather alarmed by now.

Said boy was rubbing his eyes, gasping for breath. "This is hilarious. The whole situation. Like in a bad rom com and of course we all had to collapse on this horrible hiking trip."

Leo was giggling now too. "I actually wanted to back out after I realised what going hiking with you two meant but I didn't know how."

"Me too." said both Logan and Finn and now all of them were laughing loudly.

After a while, they calmed down again, and Leo spoke out loud what they all thought. "What now?"

"I don't know... I mean it's still raining so there's not much we can do..." The brunette replied casually only to get smacked around the head playfully by Finn.

"Idiot, he means with us. In general. Are we a thing now? All of us?"

"I'd like that." Logan sighed deeply. "But I don't think I'm as brave as Cap and Loops are."

"We don't need to go public." Leo countered and Finn nodded.

"But Finn... it's the same all over again. I've never wanted to hide. I still don't want to."

"So, you'd rather not be with us?" Leo strained his neck to properly look at Logan. Why was he still so reluctant? Didn't he want them as much as Leo wanted?

"I- I don't know. What if it gets out? We're not Cap, we're exchangeable... What if it gets too much for one of us, what if-"

_____________________________________________________________

"Logan, please calm down." Finn caressed his cheek because he could and this time, it made Logan calm down a little.

"We are not like Caps and Loops were. Our families can know, the team can know. We are not bound to be completely secret or completely out. It's not a light-switch, it could be more... like a dimmer." He had to pause and swallow a laugh at Logan's incredulous face.

"Light-switch metaphors?"

"No one knows if one of us gets annoyed with everything. This is why people talk. I think if we can talk about what's going on, everything will be fine. Now stop it, I'm the worry wart and you're stealing my job." Leo continued as Finn was busy stifling his laughter.

"O- OK."

"What?" Finn asked with a raised eyebrow.

"You know." Was Logan actually blushing?

"Say it." Yes, he was, and Finn was not letting it go. He needed to hear it.

"Alors,-"

"NO FRENCH!"

"Alright, alright. I want it if you two want it." Logan looked between the other two and Finn felt Leo nodding as animatedly on his shoulder as he did.

"Let's be together, then." Logan concluded with the widest smile Finn had seen in years. He felt like squealing like a little kid over a puppy.

"I wanted to do that for months" Leo whispered into Finns ear as he leaned over and kissed Logan. Finn had to bury his face in Logan's neck, breathing him in, trying to stay composed. Them kissing was the best thing he's ever seen, and he was so filled with love that his chest was close to combustion.

Their chaste, careful kisses quickly turned into heavy snogging and when Logan grabbed Finn at his collar to include him, the redhead complied instantly. However, in the confined space, moving was demanding and Leo's arm slipped on the fabrics. He lost contact to Finn's lips and buried Logan beneath himself who let out a loud oof.

After another while of trying to figure out a comfortable position to make out in a tent they couldn't even sit upright in, they gave up eventually.

"We have all the time in the world". Finn concluded after failing repeatedly to get on top of Leo without pushing Logan into the clammy tent walls, just dropping between them.

Leo and Logan instantly made a thing out of unzipping all sleeping bags to create a cuddly nest and snuggle close to Finn, one on each side. The redhead drew and arm around each of his boys, afraid to wake up from this dream, while Logan and Leo were holding hands on top of Finn's chest.

"Let's just wait for the rain to stop and go home. There, we have quite a lot of space to explore all the possibilities." Leo commented cheeky, receiving one of Logan's feared finger-jabs.

Finn kissed both on the crowns of their heads, enjoying the feeling of them burying their faces in the junction of his neck, drifting back to the most comfortable sleep he ever had.

  *Alright: Important: DO NOT JUST MAKE OPEN FIRES IN THE WOODS!!!! If you want to go on a hike, inform yourself concerning wild-camping and open fire. The rules probably change according to season and region.

Stay safe and channel your inner Hufflepuff

P.S: There will be a little different version of it on AO3 and I put the link here once its up there.