#in which i am virge and logan and she was thomas

[gammija]

I drew this five days ago, but didn’t have time to post it here till today! Based on the convo me and my sis had while waiting for our plane to America, which was delayed by four hours -_-

#in which i am virge and logan and she was thomas #thomas sanders #sanders sides #ts virgil #ts logan #ts thomas #virgil sanders #logan sanders #drawing #death mention #flying #gammijart #doodle comic #being in america is a weird experience #i cant believe movies are real #virgil #logan

[stillebesat]

Scales (6/7)

Sanders Sides: Logan, Deceit, Virgil, Roman, Patton Blurb: Deceit hadn’t expected his absence from the Mindscape to be noticed by the others…until Logic knocked on his door. Fic Type: General Warnings: Shedding (snake style), Minor Injuries, Minor Pain, Touch Starvation, Death Talk Taglist in Reblog.

To Catch Up: Prologue Chapter 1 Chapter 2  Chapter 3 Chapter 4 

Deceit had never thought of his scales as being beautiful. They’d made him a freak. An outcast among the others even among the Dark Sides. Their color always the same ugly shade of yellow green as the crayon in a Crayola pack. A visible sign of Thomas’s dislike of him. 

Sure, they were always slightly brighter, slightly less ugly right after his sheds, but he’d never thought of them as…

Deceit licked his lips, frozen in place as he stared at the new patch of scales Roman’s technique had revealed. 

Scales that--that were--Deceit could only think of them as beautiful. Iridescent. Shining like precious gems. The old sickly yellow had vanished, replaced instead with a vibrant display of golden yellows fading into emerald green which in turn faded to obsidian black.

Gingerly, not quite believing that this was real, he pulled free of Virgil’s grip to lightly touch the exposed patch, his fingers running over the smooth edges.  

“Whoa.” Patton whispered, his own hand hovering above Deceit’s. “You have rainbows on you, Ly!” 

He paused, heart skipping a beat as one finger hovered over the black areas of his scales. Morality was right. Where the scales had darkened, he could see rainbows shimmering across their surface. 

Rainbows. A visible sign of acceptance. 

He couldn’t believe it. Believe that--that they would appear...on him. 

“Almost.” Logan said, leaning forward to rest his head on Deceit’s human shoulder, breath ghosting across his cheek as he spoke. “It’s probably part of the composition of the scales and the light refracting off of them that--”

“They’re so...bea--bright.” Deceit whispered, unable to bring himself to speak the word ‘beautiful’ out loud. He was a Dark Side. He wasn’t meant to be...to be--”

“Bright? They’re perfectly glowingly gorgeous, my Lion King.” Roman proclaimed. “Exactly like a true Dragon’s scales should be!” He gave him a soft, pleased smile. “You have dragon scales.” 

He had dragon scales. 

Creativity’s idea had worked.

The tightness in his chest eased.

He could finally get his shed off.

“Well...if we’re all done gawking.” Virgil said, raising an eyebrow to Roman as he pulled at the sleeves of his hoodie. “Perhaps we should get a move on? I was under the impression Dee’s shed should have been off like...three days ago.” 

“Correct.” Logan cleared his throat as he pulled back, leaving Deceit’s shoulder feeling bare and cold. 

Deceit swallowed, human hand twitching as he fought the urge to pull Logan near again. It was...unexpected, this...feeling. How quickly he’d grown to like having the others touching him. He just wanted to--to--

As if reading his mind, Logan rested a hand on his shoulder, gently squeezing it. “Since the test has obviously worked, what do we do next, Roman?” 

Creativity grinned, spreading his arms wide. “Well. First I need to set the proper scene.  The commons is hardly warm enough for this to work properly.” 

Deceit blinked, looking around the living room. He couldn’t see why it wouldn’t work here. “Scene?” Couldn’t Roman just conjure more ash to--

“A beach!”

Virgil made a face, pulling his hoodie over his head, hiding his eyes. “Oh goodie. Heat stroke.” 

Roman shot him a look. “That’s what summer clothes are for Emo Edgelord.”

“Nope. You are not getting rid of my hoodie!” 

“Wasn’t planning on it Dark and Stormy, You’ll have a hoodie just watch--” Roman snapped his fingers.

The living room vanished in the blink of an eye replaced by the view of an ocean with waves gently lapping against the shore. 

Deceit inhaled, automatically lifting his head up to the sun burning overhead, his body already warming under the intense heat that was much stronger than what he could create in his room. Yet...he glanced from the corner of his eye to Logan. The sun’s rays weren’t as penetrating as he’d expected them to be. No...compared to the fire emanating from Logan’s steady hand, the sun’s heat barely seemed to scratch the surface. 

“MY EYES!” Virgil complained, jerking the hood of his now light purple jacket over his head as the carpet of the living room shifted to the same opalescent volcanic dust Creativity had conjured earlier. “ROMAN!” 

Dust that felt so soft and warm...that it took all Deceit’s control to not bury himself in it then and there. 

Even if he did have dragon scales, he wasn’t the Dragon Witch. He wouldn’t copy her. No. He wouldn’t! He---

“Hey! I can’t control the brightness of the sun, Dr. Gloom!” 

Virgil hissed, glaring at him under his hood. “You’re Crea--”

“I know what I am. That doesn’t mean I can make the sun darker! Especially not if we want--”

“A Beach party!” Patton pumped his hand in the air, now wearing blue swim shorts with white hearts on them. “Come on Virge! We can bury LyLy in sand-”

“Ash.” Logan corrected softly in Deceit’s ear as he again moved, carefully urging him to lay down. 

Ash that felt really good against the shed right now. At least better than the sweat sodden blankets he’d been under earlier. 

Despite his best intentions to not copy what the Dragon Witch apparently did, Deceit didn’t need any further urging before he rolled onto his left side, wriggling to bury himself into the soft opalescent dust as quickly as possible. He let out a soft sigh of pleasure, his tense muscles already relaxing. 

He had to admit...this didn’t feel half bad.

“-and turn him into a mermaid sculpture!” 

Roman chuckled, shaking his head as he moved with practiced grace to help partially bury Deceit, making sure his neck and head were supported while also ensuring that none of the shed was showing and that he could still breathe.. “Mermaid Deceit. That’s something. Though I would think more of an Eel--” 

“What about a Naga? That’s more fitting for Dee’s style.” Virgil muttered, carefully mounding the ash up around Deceit’s head, covering his hair as he raised an eyebrow to him.

Deceit made a face, careful to not get any ash in his mouth as he resisted the urge to stick his tongue out at Annie. He much preferred having legs thank you very much.

“A Naga?” Patton asked as he energetically pushed ash up and over Deceit’s stomach to cover the shed there.

“Half snake, Pat?” 

“Oh...well--”

Personally, and Annie was well aware of this, Deceit had always been drawn more to spiders than snakes. But with his scaled complexion and Morality’s now known fear of arachnids...it wasn’t a topic he felt he could bring up. 

He closed his human eye, slowly exhaling as he went still, his shed covered fingers digging deeper into the ash as Logan settled next to him, gently running his fingers through his regular hair.

 “Why not go build a sand castle or play in the ocean or something?” He mumbled, leaning into Logan’s hand as his fingers continued to run through his hair. The others could go have their beach party while he just--

“And just LEAVE you?!” Morality demanded, sounding scandalized as he patted Deceit’s leg. “No siree, mister! We’re. Staying. Right. Here!” 

“It���s not like this will take as long as the Dragon Witch.” Roman said with a shrug. “Just be sure to not move too much. The shed will only come off without issue if it’s evenly and properly dried out before we remove it.”

It made sense, though it still didn’t make sense that the others were actually wanting to...stick around to help him with this. “How long?” He asked, half curling up so his head was pressed against Logan’s leg, taking more comfort in having the Logical Side near him. He knew Lo would prevent the other three from doing something stupid and this-- 

This felt...felt so nice. Having them around. Not...screaming or being horrified. He never would have thought that they--that they cared--that this---would happen. That they would help a Dark Side like this. That they would consider him to be...Family.

“Well--depending on what size she is when the shed takes her...it can last up to a week before I’m called in to help--” 

“A WEEK!” Virgil repeated.

Deceit opened his human eye, tilting it so he could see Anxiety. “If mine can take up to three days at my size...it’s not surprising it could take her longer.” Though he would have to arrange to...see...if not meet this Dragon Witch at some point. He’d been under the impression she was a full dragon. Perhaps there was more merit to the ‘witch’ part of Dragon Witch than he originally thought. 

“Exactly! And I mean...that’s just what she’s told me.” Roman looked away. “Honestly, I do believe that she’s not being fully truthful on how long it actually takes. You know...to keep me from taking advantage of her during that time.” He ran a hand through his hair, a slight frown on his face. “Like I’d strike a worthy opponent when they’re down.” He mumbled in such a way Deceit was sure no one else was meant to hear it.

“But he’s already been this way for six days Roman!” Virgil hissed. “Are you saying we have to wait one more for it to work?” 

“That is currently unknown. With the change in his scales, Lyal’s timeline may have altered.” Logan shrugged a shoulder, trailing his fingers down the side of Deceit’s neck. “There really is no way to know for sure how long this will take until his next shed when we can give him the proper setup from the onset.” He reached, adjusting his glasses, eyes sparking with interest. “I would expect with how quickly the ash worked on his test spot, that we should not have to wait long though.”

True. Deceit flexed his fingers underneath the ash, the corner of his lip quirking upwards. His mobility had always been extremely limited under the shed. Being able to move his fingers now before doing anything to get rid of the shed had to be a good sign.

“So we just...wait?” Patton asked, fidgeting as he piled ash up and over his legs even though Deceit had no scales there needing to be covered. “Then use the brush--” 

“To remove it, yes.” Roman confirmed. “I can show you how to do it so it won’t hurt-- I mean, it took me a time or two with the Dragon Witch nearly biting off my head to learn how.”

“And with how long Lyal’s been in shed, we do not want to mess this up for him.” Logan cut in.

Deceit swallowed, heart skipping a beat. No...he really--if this was all some sort of trick--if Roman had made this all up. He’d--He’d---

“Oh yah. You do not want to get on Dee’s dar--well darker side.” Virgil said. “You do not want to see that--”

“Well I’m sure our mighty Lion King here will be less snappy at least, he doesn’t have the fangs after all to---”

Deceit raised his human hand, heart pounding in his ears as Roman fell silent, his hands hovering over his mouth just shy of completely covering it as everyone else froze.

“Ly?” Creativity breathed out softly.

If it had been his scaled hand doing the controlling, Roman wouldn’t be able to speak at all. 

“I don’t really need fangs now do I to express my displeasure?” He asked, trying to smirk though he could feel his lips trembling as he met Creativity’s wide eyes before letting his hand fall limply back to the ground, freeing the other from his control. 

He let out a shaky breath, pressing the scaled side of his face back into the ash, closing his human eye to block out seeing the others. 

A mistake. He shouldn’t have reacted so. They wouldn’t want---Creativity was helping him! And he’d just! He shouldn’t have--but THIS COULD GO SO WRONG. 

“Lyal.” Deceit jumped, eye opening wide as Roman gently pressed his palm against his cheek. “I promise you. Nothing will go wrong. I’ve had years of experience helping the Dragon Witch now. Your scales will be perfectly pristine when this is over.” 

So he said. But Creativity wouldn’t have to live with the consequences would he if this didn’t work right.

His scales malformed.

His arm left useless.

His face--

“Dude.” Virgil laid a trembling hand on his elbow, squeezing it. “Stop with the internal panicking already. We’re not going to let anything go wrong.” 

 “He has a valid reason to be worried, Virge.” Logan said before Deceit could do more than bare his teeth and hiss at the former dark side. His fingers trailed through Deceit’s hair. “We are asking Lyal to put a lot of trust in us currently. This is a huge step. For all of. One with an uncertain outcome for him.”

Roman scoffed, rubbing his thumb along Deceit’s cheek.  “Uncertain! What do--I told you! It’s exactly like the Dragon Witch!”

“We’re not going to hurt you, Ly.” Patton whispered, patting his knee. “We’re FamILY! We’ll be very very very careful with your scales!” 

It was one thing to hear it.

Totally another to let them--Deceit jerked, crying out as a wave of ice seemed to cascade through him like an avalanche. COLD! He rolled onto Logan’s lap, flinging ash onto the others as he pressed his face against Logic’s chest with a sob, grabbing onto his arm in a white knuckled grip, seeking to soak up every inch of warmth that Logic could give him.

Logan immediately wrapped his arms around him in a firey embrace compared to the glacier of ice running down his side. “Lyal--”

“COLD.” He gasped out through gritted teeth, his shed covered arm held close to his chest as he stared down to the now blackened shed that made him look like a partially burned corpse.  

The test spot hadn’t felt like this. It had been warm! 

Something was wrong. 

IT HAD GONE WRONG.

He had to get it off.

NOW.

He released Logan to grab at his ash covered shoulder, fingers digging at the shed before they were abruptly blocked by a currying brush appearing in his hand, sending a cloud of ash flying off his shoulder. 

“Gently, Decepticon.” Roman commanded softly, carefully pulling Deceit’s arm away from his chest. He offered him a calming smile as he placed his own brush on Deceit’s wrist, quickly working over the area with an experienced hand, the shed flaking away just like it had before, revealing scales that looked exactly the same as the ones on his stomach. “It probably feels like you were just dipped in a bucket of ice, but you don’t want to tear it off like that band-aid do you?” 

Deceit bit back a whine, shaking as Roman’s brush changed to a toothbrush to delicately work on his fingers. Cold was normal? HOW COULD IT BE NORMAL? “N-n-n-no.” 

“Then do what I do.” Roman said, eyes silently pleading as he worked the bristles over a knuckle. “You’ll be fine.”

He--he just--Deceit forced himself to copy Creativity and move his own currying brush in small circles, despite everything within him screaming to just tear it away.

This was a delicate process. He couldn’t rush---Deceit whimpered, his body trembling violently as another wave of ice washed through him, skirting around the areas already freed from the shed.  

He hated this. HATED IT. This wasn’t like the other sheds at all. Was this gonna happen every time?? “Can’t this go faster?” He hissed out. 

It was cold. So cold. He could barely feel the sun blazing over his head now. Only Logan’s heat against him had--

He stilled as warm fingers trailed along his scaled cheek. “Remember you’re not alone, Lyal. Not anymore.” Logan said into his ear as he gently scrubbed at the shed near Deceit’s ear with his own soft bristled brush. 

“That’s right!” Patton said, going for his side, working near his naval. “You’ll be free from it soon enough, sport. Many hands means less work!”

“Makes light work.” Logan corrected. “Though I suppose your sentiment works as well, Pat.” 

“Is there a procedure for hair, Princey?” Virgil asked hesitantly from behind. “I can work on that.” 

Roman hummed, glancing up to his hair, before shaking his head. “Not that I’m familiar with. That’s one thing that’s different from the Dragon Witch. She’s never had anything happen with her hair if the shed took her when she was more human.”

Virgil exhaled. “That’s so not helpful.” 

“Hey!” 

“Don’t worry, Princey. I’ll---figure it out.” Virgil said, flashing a comb before he set to work on the waxy covered bits of his hair.

Deceit took a steadying breath, his own attempts to free his shoulder becoming less frantic as he got distracted watching the others work, freeing more and more gleaming multi-colored scales from the shed. 

His fingers twitched one by one as Roman carefully freed them, revealing nails that had darkened and grown sharp, looking more like talons than human fingernails. 

“Those feel alright?” Creativity murmured, looking up to meet Deceit’s eye as he finished with his thumb. “Move them around. Open and Close. Did I miss anything there? A stray piece of shed caught in a crevice?” 

Deceit flexed and wiggled his fingers before clenching them into a fist, the talons scraping along his palm, but not drawing blood despite there being no scales there. 

“Seems fine.” He whispered, careful to not move his head too much so that Logan and Virgil wouldn’t accidentally hurt him as he let his hand fall open, noting how pink his palm was compared to the scales on the other side. Again he pressed his talons against the flesh. 

“Careful.” Roman warned. “I’m pretty sure you can draw blood if you try hard enough.”

True, even regular human nails could do that. “Talons.” He said, unable to hide his disbelief. He had talons now. 

“And...maybe a horn?” Virgil offered. “There’s a...bump here. I thought it was just a clump of hair stuck together, but--” 

Deceit stiffened before forcing himself to relax. “You’re kidding right? Please say you are.” That was just another--WHY A HORN!?

“I’m not actually. Feel for yourself.” 

He really didn’t want to. Why a horn?! What next? Wings? A TAIL? How much of a dragon exactly was he supposed to become with Thomas’s supposed growing ‘acceptance’ of him?! 

Letting his brush fall to the ash, he reluctantly reached up with his human hand, so as to let Roman continue working on removing the shed on his arm, to his hair. “Where?” 

“Here.” Virgil guided him to a spot a couple inches above his ear. 

Calling it a bump was an understatement. Deceit made a face as he felt the sharp point of what could only be the beginnings of a horn. “WHY?” He complained, dropping his hand, digging his fingers into the ash. 

He didn’t WANT horns. The talons were enough to deal with! Why did there have to be a horn too? Would it grow longer with each subsequent shed he went through? How long before he wouldn’t be able to wear his hat?! 

“Like I said before, dragons are much cooler than snakes.” Roman said, working on his elbow. 

“You’re not the one with the horn, Princey.” Deceit shot back, tilting his head as Logan began working on his ear. 

At least with snake scales he only had to worry about the scales and his hair! He didn’t have the first idea on what sort of care a horn needed, or the talons or...or even the dragon scales themselves!

“I’m sure the Dragon Witch can teach you!” Patton said, giving him a bright smile. 

Great. Being taught by a figment of the imagination. What next? 

“I think Patton’s done with your chest, Lyal.” Logan remarked, brushing the back of his neck. “If you would be so kind as to turn over, we can better access the shed back there.”

He exhaled, twisting to rest his head against Logan’s chest so he could give the others better access to his back. So help him if they discovered a wing back there. 

Still….this...this wasn’t so bad. 

With Roman coaching the others whenever they hesitated the process was going a lot quicker than it would have had he been attempting to remove the shed by himself.

He ducked his head, watching the rainbows dance across the blackened parts of his scales as the others worked, a shiver running through him as he felt the brushes vanish in favor of soft cloths being rubbed against his scales.

If this was what being part of the FamILY meant…having everyone work together like this...to help him.

Perhaps it wasn’t so bad to be...accep--included. 

“Lyal.” Logan’s breath ghosted over his scaled cheek. “I’m going to remove the shed cap over your eye, do not move.” 

A faint pressure around his snake eye and suddenly bright sunlight streamed into it, nearly blinding him. Deceit winced, tears blurring his vision as he blinked for the first time in nearly a week, easing the irritation of having had it open for so long.   

“And done!” Roman proclaimed with a final swipe of his polishing cloth, gesturing for Virgil and Patton to sit back, though both appeared reluctant to do so, their fingers lingering on his scales.

He couldn’t blame them.

Creativity snapped his fingers, a large mirror appearing in his hands as he tilted it so that Deceit could see his reflection for the first time. 

Deceit froze. Staring wide eyed at the image confronting him.

And he’d thought he’d forgotten how to breathe before. 

“So~? Whatcha think?” Roman asked, fidgeting in place.  

Deceits shakily inhaled, as he slowly brought a hand up to his face, feeling the smooth scales there as he pushed away from Logan, shivering from the lack of heat as he sat up to get a better look at his new scales shining like a hoard of gemstones in the sunlight. 

Beautiful.

He couldn’t look away. “Is...is that really...me?” He asked in disbelief.

It had to be hadn’t it? This wasn’t some sort of cruel trick? 

Virgil squeezed his shoulder, smirking in the mirror. “It’s surprising isn’t it?” He said, softly. “What changes when you’re accepted.” 

Changes. Had Virgil--but this couldn’t--this was really was him? Deceit moved his taloned hand, the one in the mirror copying him exactly as he ran his fingers along his cheek, delicately touching the now pointed tip of his ear, before running up through his hair that now had golden highlights similar to Virgil’s own purple ones, feeling the obsidian colored horn barely visible there. 

And then there was his eye, no longer a cold pale yellow, the iris seemed to dance with an inner fire, flickering between orange and gold as an array of emotions rushed through him. 

Beautiful.

He--He was…

Deceit ducked his head, blinking rapidly as his eyes burned with unshed tears.

A Dark Side shouldn’t cry. Shouldn’t appear weak in front of the others in front of his--

Family. 

“You--” He swallowed hard over the lump forming in his throat as he ran his hand down his scales. Free. Finally free of the shed. He lifted his left hand, stretching it fully out and flexing his fingers. Watching as the rainbows shimmered over the scales. Unmarred. Working perfectly.

It--it---He looked up to Roman, Patton, Virgil and finally Logan their heat signatures now haloed around them now that his sna--dragon eye could see them properly. “Thank you.” He managed to choke out.  

Without their help--he had no idea how he could have--what would have--if he hadn’t come--if Logan hadn’t convinced him to--

Roman relaxed, offering him a nod and a soft smile in return.

“Of course, LyLy.” Patton said his own eyes shimmering with tears as he grinned wide. “We’re here to help you no matter what.” 

“And since the major crisis appears to be over.” Logan said, a tinge of awe in his voice as his fingers ghosted along Deceit’s scales. “We should now focus on the more minor issue of getting you something to eat. Maybe that soup I mentioned earlier.” A small smile played on his lips when Deceit’s stomach chose that moment to growl loudly.

He flushed, watching how the reds in the rainbows on his scaled cheek grew brighter than the other colors right before the mirror vanished, leaving him staring directly at the delighted look on Roman’s face. He looked away. “Ah...probably.” 

Already he could feel his mouth watering at the thought of having something warm going down his throat. Soup would do for now. Though honestly---Pizza too would be good--no he’d better be careful to not eat too much solid food right away after so long a fast.  

“Eat?” Virgil raised an eyebrow. “Now?”

Deceit shrugged, grimacing as his stomach growled again. “Yes? I...haven’t since--” He gestured to his scales.

“Wait.” Virgil grabbed his wrist, the shadows under his eyes growing dark. “You’re telling me...you haven’t eaten in SIX days?”

“WHAT!” Patton cried, shooting his feet, sending up a small cloud of ash as he did so. “No! No no no we can’t have that mister!”

“Why in the world would you--” Virgil demanded.

Deceit rolled his eyes. Oh, like Anxiety was one to talk about not eating for long periods of time! It wasn’t his fault he missed a week. “I can’t when I’m shedding, Annie.” 

Would it be the same now though? With his scales now taking after a dragon’s instead of a snakes? 

“Well, we can’t have you wait a second more LyLy! Soup’s coming. Hold on. I’ll be right back!” Patton turned, the beach scene shimmering around him as he vanished from sight. 

“Perhaps while Patton is getting that...it would be best for us to return to the living room, Roman.” Logan suggested as he too moved to his feet, offering a hand for Deceit to take. “Lyal will probably be more comfortable resting on the couch while we wait for his long overdue meal.”

Roman scoffed, raising his hand towards the sun as if to grab it. “Couch?! Living room?! How dull!”

Deceit glanced up to the sun as he took Logan’s hand, shakily getting to his feet. “Honestly...compared to the excitement I’ve been through today…” He barely flinched as Logic scooped him up into his arms, holding him securely before his knees could buckle again. 

Logan shot him another small smile. “Save your strength.” He cautioned.

Deceit sighed and nodded, resting his head against Logan’s chest without complaint, enjoying how the warmth was less...antagonizing to him now that he was free from the shed. “Dull sounds rather good to me Roman.”  

“Total Mood, Dee. Anything to get away from the fire demon in the sky.” Virgil said, again adjusting his lighter hoodie over his eyes.

“But what if we had an epic midnight beach party instead?!” Roman asked as he lowered his hand, the sun moving down towards the horizon with the gesture.

“Ohhh.” Virgil rolled his eyes, pushing his hood back. “You can make the sun set whenever you want and yet you can’t lessen the intensity of its heat?” 

“Hey!” Roman whirled pointing a finger at Anxiety. “Having Heat without Light is rather difficult to manage Dr. Gloom! The right conditions had to be met for Lya---”

“Yah, yah. Heat helps the shed, gotcha.” Virgil exhaled, glancing up to the stars that were appearing in the sky as the last rays of the sun vanished.

At least he still had Logan’s heat to rely on with the sun now gone. Deceit fought not to shiver. “What does this...party entail exactly?” He asked. 

If it was just sitting in the dark staring at the stars, he’d have to do a hard pass. Not even a thick blanket and Logan’s stories about the constellations would be enough to convince him to sit in the cold so soon after finishing the shedding process.

“Well, I was thinking we could have a fire.” Roman snapped his fingers, a roaring campfire appearing near enough to Logan and Deceit that he could already feel the heat from the flames.

Deceit reached out with his scaled hand, humming as the fire warmed his skin. Not as hot as the sun, or Logan’s body heat, but it was...nice.  

“Can’t have our Halfling Dragon getting cold now can we?” Creativity said with a wink. 

“But you can have me die from heat stroke?” 

“Oh hush, Count Dracula. I kept your hoodie! You can’t tell me--”

Halfing Dragon? Deceit made a face at that. Just because he had the dragon scales and the talons and the horns and…okay, he’d have to think of a better argument on why he wasn’t a...Halfling. 

“Ooooh a campfire! Perfect!” Patton exclaimed, suddenly popping back into view, once more in his normal clothes, with a large pot in his hands. It shifted to what looked like Virgil’s Halloween Cauldron complete with a thin metal handle as he moved to the flames. “I thought I smelt the smoke! I can easily make the soup over it like in those adventure stories!” He said as a pole and hook appeared for him to hang the pot on so it hung directly in the middle of the fire. 

Patton studied it, making minute adjustments to the pot before nodding to himself in satisfaction as he pulled out a long wooden spoon to stir the contents inside. 

“Exactly! We could even watch a Western movie!” Roman exclaimed as a large screen appeared behind him, the fire growing smaller so as to not compete with the light shining on the screen showing the Disney logo as the ash rose up around them forming large couches for everyone to sprawl on with a multiple of blankets piled nearby. 

“There’s a Disney movie that’s Western?” Virgil asked, raising an eyebrow. 

“Why yes, Zorro.” Roman grinned, looking pleased with himself. “The Lone Ranger was made by Disney was it not?”

Anxiety smirked. “My my, Princey. You can actually watch shows that aren’t a cartoon?”

“HEY!”  

Deceit’s nostrils flared, and he leaned towards the pot as the scent of chicken noodle soup wafted over to him, ignoring the other two’s bickering. “That smells awf--” He cut off, making a face as he quickly corrected himself. “Amazing, Pat.” 

“Lying?” Logan asked in an undertone as he sat both of them down on the couch nearest the fire so that Deceit could stay warm. “I take it the compulsion is coming back now that the shed is over?” 

Deceit exhaled as he adjusted his position so he was more comfortable resting against Logic. “No.”

Great. Now he’d have to be more conscious of how he spoke to the others again. Why couldn’t the shift to dragon scales have altered that particular quirk of his? That would have been extremely helpful. But nooo. He had to grow a horn instead.  

“Mhmmm.” Logan raised an eyebrow, eyes glittering with humor. “Pretty sure that’s a falsehood, Lyal.” 

Deceit stuck out his tongue as he grabbed a blanket to pull over them. “Forget what I said.” 

Logan chuckled, his fingers again running through his hair, moving in slow circles around the small horn. “I know.” He said softly. “You can’t always not lie. As Logic, I won’t forget that. I promise, we’ll work with you as your FamILY so it won’t be an issue.” 

Family. 

Butterflies danced in his stomach as Deceit partially curled up to make room for Annie to sit by his feet like a silent guardian gargoyle, watching as Roman and Patton worked together to get the soup and the movie ready.

He had to admit, he was growing rather fond of the concept. 

To Be Continued Epilogue

#Scales #stillbesat #Sanders Sides #Deceit #Logan #Roman #Virgil #Patton #Logic #Creativity #Anxiety #Morality #shedding tw #minor injuries tw #minor pain tw #touch starvation tw #death talk tw

[resident-fungi-fren]

Rainy Gays

Summary: Virgil hosts a radio station with Janus, and since it’s the only station that runs in their small town, just about everyone listens to it. 

He still didn't expect one of those people to be his soulmate.

Ships: Intruxiety (Virgil and Remus) and hints at Roceit (Roman and Janus)

Read on Ao3

Chapter 1 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Good morning gaybies and gentlethems, you’re listening to Rainy Gays Radio, and we’re your hosts, I’m Janus,”

“And I’m Virgil, clearly the superior host, and that’s why it’s my turn to talk about the weather. Let’s see, looking outside, there’s some clouds, oh shit is that a bird? Nope, false alarm, it’s just another cloud. Rude little shits, pretending to be birds. That’s false advertising. Anygay, it’s supposed to rain later this week, so we really will be rainy gays then.”

“Wow, what an original joke Virgil, you totally don’t use that one every time it rains.”

“Nope, never in my life, shove off Janus.”

“Why Virgil, I’m wounded. I thought we were friends, and now you betray me? I never thought you’d be the one to stab me in the back, my dearest friend, how can I go on without you?”

“Perish.”

“Well, just for that, I’m not paying for coffee later. You can buy your own latte.”

“Rude, how dare you revoke my caffeine privileges, and on today of all days!”

“Wow, what a subtle transition into today’s caller topic, you’re a master of subtlety.”

“Shut-“

“No. Today’s topic is what everyone’s talking about. The new drink over at [INSERT COFFEE SHOP NAME HERE], the only coffee shop in town, and therefore the lifeblood of said town.”

“What would we do without it?”

“Perish.”

“Bite me, you’re not allowed to use my tactics against me.”

“I just did darling~. Now listeners, here’s your chance to burn no more than ten minutes and call in, tell us all about your thoughts on the new drink, Virgil dear, remind me of the name?”

“Black Hole Latte, I think it’s supposed to be blackberry or somethin? I haven’t had my coffee yet today, is it showing?”

“Yes dear, you look like shit.”

“Wow, thanks.”

“Anytime darling. You know the drill by now, we’re taking callers starting, now.”

“Here’s our first caller, that’s quick, people must be extra bored today. You’re on air now, spill the tea. Or the latte.”

“Hey, it’s Thomas, have either of you tried the latte?”

“Not yet”

“Negative Thom-a-roony.”

“Well, it’s not bad, it’s definite blackberry, but honestly I’ll be sticking with my usual, I’m not a huge fan of branching out.”

“You gotta mix it up sometimes, keeps things exciting.”

“Indeed, variety is the spice of life.”

“Yeah, I’ll keep that in mind, but for now me and my regular coffee are going to chill in the nice safe bubble.”

“You know man, that’s such a mood.”

“Thank you for calling Thomas, lovely to hear from you again.”

“Anything to burn a little more time away from work. Speaking of which, I’ve gotta go there now. Later!”

“See ya. Say, we’ve known Thomas for a few years now, does anyone know what he does for work?”

“Of course we do, he’s uh, hmm, actually, I don’t think we do. A real enigma, that man.”

“Yeah, he’s a real tough walnut to crack.”

“Here’s our next caller, you’re on air now.”

“Hey kiddos!”

“Hey Pat”

“Hello Patton, aren’t you at work right now?”

“Yeah I am, but I just wanted to let you both know how proud I am, you’re doing great! And I tried the new latte on my way to work, it’s super yummy! I think you’d like it, Virge, it’s got some nice fruity notes! Just make sure you don’t drink it too late or you’ll never sleep!”

“Will do Popstar.”

“That’s all, love you both!”

“Love you too Pat”

“I do as well.”

“See you both later tonight!”

“And that was our resident puffball, Patton.”

“At least she didn’t drop another pun, I’m not sure how many more Logan can take.”

“Yes,  we might have been in need of a new soundboard tech had Patton not resisted the temptation to pun.”

“Oh shit there’s been another caller waiting.”

“Oh dear, sorry for the wait, you’re on air now.”

“Really babe, keeping the sole provider of coffee waiting?”

“Oh it’s just Remy.”

“Just Remy? Careful Virgil, or you’ll be getting decaf for the next week.”

“Please forgive my sins, oh merciful coffee god.”

“Relax, I didn’t call just to blackmail you. I just wanted everyone listening, which we all know is pretty much anyone, that if I hear any shit about my new latte I have no qualms about putting you all on decaf for the next two weeks, so think carefully before you call.”

“Remy, I do think that’s considered censorship, which is in fact, illegal.”

“So is fishing off a giraffe in Idaho, that didn’t stop me then, and this won’t now.”

“Wait, you went fishing off a giraffe? In Idaho? When exactly did that happen?”

“A story for another time, I’ve got a coffee shop to run, later babes.”

“Alright, later-“

“Oh, one more thing, some weirdo came in and ordered it and poured in half a bottle of green Gatorade, and it was the most interesting thing that’s happened all day.”

“Did you say Gatorade?”

“I did, and now I’m saying bye, see ya, sianara, farewell, later bitch.”

“Wait who- and they’re already gone. Well, now I know there’s someone new in town, no one here would ever add anything to one of Remy’s coffee.”

“Excellent deduction Virgil, you should start a true crime radio.”

“You’re right, I should.”

“That was sarcasm, you’re not allowed to quit on me now.”

“Yeah yeah I know, but a guy can dream.”

“Dreaming is for the weak and the innocent, and you are neither.”

“I’d get mad but you’re right.”

“Did you just admit that I was right?”

“Oh look a new caller, how convenient-“

“Virgil answer me damnit- hello you’re on air now.”

“You know, I thought the coffee was good and all, but it was much better once I added my usual shot of Gatorade.”

“Did you just say- oh dear I think Virgil might need a trashcan.”

“Wow Virgil, do always make that wonderful gagging noise? I’d like to see what other noises you can make, with that lovely voice~”

“Dear random stranger, I think you broke my co-host, and possibly my back as well, seeing as I just fell out of it”

“Is that what that thump was? I was almost concerned for a moment.”

“Who the hell puts Gatorade in their coffee?!?!”

“Oh Virgil, glad to see you’ve recovered.”

“Don’t you play innocent, I will end you on air.”

“Wow, the sexual tension between the two of you is reeling right now.”

“Uhh, no thanks. Janus and I go way back, there’s no romance there, plus, we’re not soulmates.”

“Yes, Virgil is a dear friend, and while I love him, it’s purely platonic, and we’re happy with that.”

“Cool cool, does that mean Virgil’s single?”

“That’s what you got from that?”

“Yeah, you sound like you’re pretty hot.”

“I think you broke Virgil again, Gatorade stranger.”

“Oh, my name’s Remus! Though Virgil can call me whatever he wants, lover, dear, daddy, all acceptable.”

“Dude, you’re on the radio.”

“Oh, I’m very aware of that fact emo.”

“How do you know I’m emo?”

“You sound like it Gerard Gay.”

“Fair point.”

“As riveting as this conversation is, I think my brother is gonna stab me if I keep talking, so bye for now!”

“Why is your brother- and he’s gone, okay.”

“Final caller, you’re on air now, please don’t flirt with Virgil again”

“Is that what he did? I’m so sorry about my brother, Remus has zero filter.”

“Dude it’s fine, surprisingly we’ve gotten weirder calls.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, one time we got a telemarketer for a lingerie company.”

“That is weird, but trust me, doesn’t even touch on what Remus is capable of.”

“Good to know.”

“If he turns out to be a frequent caller, will you keep calling to apologize? You do have a lovely voice, so I wouldn’t be disappointed with the arrangement~”

“Oh I, um,”

“Stop flirting with the callers.”

“Callers? Do you do this often?”

“Only when they sound like a sunrise personified.”

“I’m hardly a sunrise, but yes, I wouldn’t be opposed to calling in again, Remus’s contributions aside.”

“Oh my god, I know the show is called Rainy Gays, but please stop flirting before I vomit again.”

“Apologies Virgil, we’re almost out of time anyway. Any chance I can get a name before we have to go, my dear?”

“Oh, Roman, my name is Roman.”

“A name fit for royalty~”

“Janus I swear to god-“

“And that’s all the time we have, for now, tune in later for your daily traffic report and water cooler conversation.”

“We’re not done talking about this-“

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

Virgil glared at Janus as he packed up, the smug bastard smirking every time their eyes met. They had no right, looking so self-satisfied, how dare they flirt so smooth when Virgil was cursed to be an eternal gay disaster?

He huffed, and Janus snorted, and he threw them a glare.

“You could at least pretend to be sorry.”

“But Virgil, that would be a lie, and I would never lie, it’s a blatant mark on my character!”

“We both know that’s a load of bullshit.”

Logan walked out of the sound room, rolling his eyes. “With the way you two carry on, it’s no wonder the listeners think you’re romantically involved.”

They both gasped and spluttered, grievously offended. “How dare-”

“Just try not to flirt with the callers so much? You’re both incorrigible.” He straightened his tie, and slung his bag over his shoulder, heading out. “Don’t forget to lock up, we don’t want another raccoon breaking in.”

“Logan, don’t say such things about Virgil, his eyebags and crummy food choices don’t warrant name-calling!”

Janus just smirked when Virgil hissed at them.

“Plus, his hissing is distinctly cat-like.”

“You little-” was all he got out before he threw his balled-up scarf at them, which they caught with ease. Smug bastard.

He ruffled through his bag, then his coat pockets, then his bag again. He sighed, and scrubbed his hands through his hair. “Have you seen my keys? I can’t find them, and Joan will skin my alive if I lose another set.”

Janus sighed and pinched the bridge of their nose. “Virgil, have you ever considered getting a keyring? Or something to keep track of them?”

“Hey, I do! I got the stormcloud one, remember!” He protested sheepishly, “but then I lost that too. It’s with my keys, wherever those are.”

“Virgil, you are a disater, how are you still allowed to live on our own?”

“I have you and Pat as neighbors.”

“Fair enough, your keys are hanging on the key rack, right where you hung them up when you got here.”

“Oh.” He sheepishly proccured his keys, and then held the door open for Janus once they were ready, and the two headed home together.

“You taking the bus?”

“Not today, it’s quite nice out and I have the energy for it, a walk will be good for me, and for you too, a little vitamin D won’t kill you ya know.”

Virgil gasped dramatically, feigning offense. “Exxxxxcccuuussseee you! That bright motherf***er,” he pointed to the sun, “is absolutley trying to kill me. Skin cancer, sunburns, heatstroke, cataracts? All from the sun!”

“Virgil the sun doesn’t have an vendetta against you, it has one against all of humanity.”

“Bold of you to assume he’s human!”

The voice came from behind them, making them both jump, and Virgil couldn’t help what blurted out of his mouth, truly it wasn’t his fault.

“MOTHMANS LITTLE HOE! WHo the F*** STILL SNEAKS UP ON ME!?!?!”

He spun around, and dropped his jaw as he layed eyes on the most drop-dead gorgeous man he’d ever seen. Was showing that much skin even legal?

The man gasped and looked down at his wrist, and his eyes widened before he looked back up at Virgil, grinning. “Well well well, looks like you’re my soulmate, Gerard Gay!”

Virgil sighed, “f*** me and my big mouth.”

#ts sides #tss #rainy gays #virgil sanders #ts virgil #janus sanders #ts janus #Logan sanders #ts logan #patton sanders #ts patton #roman sanders #ts roman #character thomas #ts thomas #Remy sanders #ts remy #remus sanders #ts remus #dukexiety #intruxiety #roceit #I wrote this instead of sleeping #my writing #crow writes

[tulipscomeinallsortsofcolors]

LAOFT AU in which TSS/CT/TS Shorts exist part 4: When everyone learns about loaft

A/N: Before we get started, I just want to say that if you want more of this and other laoft content, you should follow me! me brain is constantly very brrrrr about this AU so I’ve got lots of ideas in my head 

tw: mentions of untagged triggers (it didn’t actually happen), brief cursing. 

“Uh, guys, could you get in here for a second?” Roman calls from the bedroom. Mawmaw and Linda were currently out getting ice cream, something about “not letting Dorothy be the favorite.” Whatever the reason, it was probably best for this conversation to not be held around Linda. 

“Yeah, what’s up?” Patton asks as he, Logan, and Virgil enter the room.

“Roman, are you ok?” Logan says, sitting right next to him, though Roman isn’t sure he saw him move.

“Uh-”

The answer was no. Of course it was no. What Roman had just found was something so unbelievably impossible, he was sure he was hallucinating. There was no way something like this existed. He didn’t get very far, just read far enough to know for sure what it was.

“Roman, sweetheart, you gotta talk to us,” Patton said in a calming voice, “Was it something on your phone?”

“No. I mean yes, but not like that. It wasn’t untagged triggers or anything, just-” Roman fumbled for the right way to say it, “Just look at it yourself.”

Roman handed the phone to Patton, Logan and Virgil looking over his shoulder.

“What the hell?” Logan says taking the phone in his hands.

“I’m sorry,” Virgil says, “But did Thomas accidently leak our entire lives while we were not looking or…?”

“I just- I- I don’t know?” Patton stammers lamely.

“Do you think someone from town wrote it?” Roman suggests, “Maybe they took the, frankly terrifying, tale that is our lives and just tried to use it for clout? Hoping we wouldn’t notice?”

“No, look,” Logan says, “Look at how it’s written. The narrator is omniscient, and therefore the author would have to be, too. There’s no way anyone in this town could know what everyone of us is thinking. It’s impossible.”

“Then how-” Virgil starts.

“I don’t know. I have no idea how anything like this could happen.” Logan cuts him off, “Thomas’ fans don’t know what town he lives in, and they certainly don’t know anything about it. We haven’t read much, but from what we have seen, it’s certainly accurate.”

“Should we?” Roman asks, “Read more of it, I mean.” Three immediate No’s chorused back as soon as he asked the question.

“Yeah, didn’t think so…” Roman trailed off.

“But, seriously guys, how could something like this happen?”

“A prophet, maybe? Certainly someone with Precognition, or even just some sort of Clairvoyance.” Logan suggested. 

“Uh, say that one more time in English, please,” Patton requested, both him and Virgil looking utterly confused.

“Future Vision or other Psychic abilities,” Roman clarified. 

“Oh. Well, you really could have just said that the first time.” Virgil muttered.

“But, wait, is that even possible?” Patton questioned, “Is Seeing even, like, a real thing?”

“Yes,” both Virgil and Roman said at the same time, one with fear, the other with excitement. 

“Ok, then, why don’t we just find their- wait-” Patton said reaching for the phone again.

“What are you doing?” Roman asked.

“Bio check. Just because this person might be able to kill us doesn’t mean we can’t respect their- or his, actually- his pronouns.” Patton chirped.

“Oh, ok. Well then, finish what you were saying,” Roman prompted.

“Oh, right! Well why don’t we just try to, I don’t know, find her, see if he can See, and then question her about it accordingly!” 

“No. Absolutely not,” Virgil chimed in almost immediately, “I don’t even have those kinds of powers. I don’t even have the ability to Give those types of powers. People who have those types of powers are frankly, terrifying. I don’t want to fuck with that.”

 “Wait, have you ever fought someone with those powers?” Roman sat up curiously.

“Once. Exactly once.”

“And they-”

“She said she went by Tulip,” Virgil said cutting Roman off, “Or Violet, he said that he responded to pretty much all flower names.”

“So she’s an absolute icon, got it,” Logan deadpanned, causing a snort from Roman. 

“Uh, Virge,” Patton said, handing him the phone. Virgil’s eyes scanned the bio at the top of the screen.

“Fuck me gently with a goddamn chainsaw.”

“We need to tell Thomas.”

---

V: aksdjALKSJDALKSJ i am in HYSTERICS this is so freaking good poppy omg XD

#laoft fic #not mine #Anyway I'm not 100% sure if submissions keep tags but *shrugs* #putting ME in a laoft fic what a galaxy brain take #longpost #submission

[lovelivingmydreams]

A story by heroes and villains

Virgil Anker: better together

Virgil learns to accept help from others.

“Ugh! I am done!” Virgil glanced up from his assignment to see Roman let himself fall back into his chair with relief. Their first study session had gone rather well. They should probably reserve one of the discussion booths next time. The poor librarian had needed to remind them to be quiet multiple times. They’d just had too much fun. But Virgil could understand Roman’s exhaustion. It was time they wrapped things up. “Give me a sec, I have to finish this thing for English,” he muttered absentmindedly as he focused once more.

“Want me to read it trough for you?”

Virgil looked up in surprise. “You don’t…” he started. He didn’t even know why he was feeling like he’d done something wrong right now. Picani might be able to help him figure it out during their session after Virgil got back from his trip to the zoo with uncle Thomas tomorrow.

“We’re here to help each other Virgil. If I didn’t want to help you I wouldn’t offer. I thrive on being of help to my friends. It’s no trouble.” Right. Roman was like that. For everyone, not just him. It was okay to let him help. Virgil found himself smiling a little sheepishly and nodded. “Alright. You can read it when I’m done,” he allowed quickly turning back to his work.

When he finished his essay he looked up to find Roman in the zone. Which was excellent. It made it easier to sneak up on him. Apparently those with ADHD were extra susceptible to his cloak. Did he have proof for that? Well it was more of a hypothesis, but he had no means to test it. It made sense though.

And Roman had yet to prove him wrong.

Virgil cloaked himself, moved to stand right next to Roman and looked over his shoulder. It looked like he was designing a fashion line. Trans girl dresses, Pansexual messenger bags… as well as formal clothing inspired by broadway and Disney characters it seemed. He dropped his cloak.

“Seems I’m not the only one who can draw up some clothes.” Virgil had to stifle his laughter when that observation nearly made Roman jump 4 feet in the air.

“Will you stop that!?” he hissed.

“Not a chance,” Virgil chuckled as he picked up Roman’s sketches.

“This looks good though… You ever thought of becoming a fashion designer?” he suggested casually, allowing himself to imagine starting a brand with Roman someday.

“You are a genius!” Roman exclaimed, making Virgil’s heart jump.

He played it cool though. He’d gotten good at that over the last two years. Pretending that Roman’s smile didn’t turn his insides upside down. “It’s the least I can do. I sent in the designs like you said… I’m kind of excited.” He was. He hoped to catch a glimpse when he went out tonight.

“I’m sure next time you see DreamPrince on the news he’ll be wearing your design.” It was nice, having someone believe in him like that. Other than his dads that is.

“We’ll see,” he smiled as he handed Roman his laptop.

“Well,” Roman announced after a while. “I think you can hand this in with confidence Virge.”

Virgil felt himself relax at that. Roman wouldn’t say that if he didn’t mean it.

“So… I recall something about pizza? I’m starving!”

Virgil chuckled and lead the hungry Hispanic to the restaurant he’d suggested.

Virgil reminded himself over and over that this wasn’t a date, but it was very hard. Especially when, near the end of their meal Roman suddenly started acting nervous. “So… Um… There’s this… Shoot wait a minute,” Roman got up and picked up his phone.

“Si mama…? Que?” Virgil watched Roman look at his watch and jump.

“Perdona! I’ll be there soon.” With that he hung up and took out his wallet. Rambling all the way.

“So sorry Virge! Time got away from us I’m afraid. I swear I intended to give you that ride… Can you call your dad… You know what? Just use the change to take the bus or a cab or something alright? My treat! I’ll call you later!” he promised as he tossed down a few bills before rushing away. Leaving Virgil behind a little stunned. Maybe it was a family thing? It looked urgent.

He took the bus as it was cheaper and there was a stop in his new street.

The house was nice. Though Virgil wasn’t used to it yet. Especially now, when his dads weren’t home, it felt weird being here. Luckily he didn’t plan on staying too long.

He texted his dad while getting dressed. By the time he left the house, he got a reply.

“Don’t wait up. Patton and Thomas say hi. Thomas wants to remind you of the trip to the zoo tomorrow.” Virgil smiled, he didn’t know uncle Thomas was going to be there too… Maybe these projects were just poker nights with the boys. He might have to ask them about it when they got home.

Regardless, duty called.

Virgil was starting to think that he might need to do take a break from turning in evidence for a bit. The criminals were getting agitated.

“I say we attack now! They are weak! We can take them down easily!” he heard one guy suggest. No, turf wars were a bad idea. Clearly he hadn’t thought about maintaining the power balance enough. Good thing he was about to even the playing field again. All these idiots had to do was get caught on his camera with something very illegal, preferably saying the bosses name or any clue the police could use for some kind of big bust.

The leader of this troupe seemed rather well respected. Virgil had learned to spot the difference between the ranks, and if this guy wasn’t answering to the big guy himself, then he was pretty close.

“Boss says we have a truce until the rat is found,” The big dude in question stated.

A truce? Was he that much of a threat? Should he feel flattered or scared?

The tugs argued back and forth a bit more and Virgil was seriously considering just getting out of here. Maybe he could trip up some lower tier members. Or go back to helping lost travelers for a while. Just enough to make the higher ups relax again. They wouldn’t rebuild their ranks too much if they thought it was an inside job or something. Right?

And if they’d realized someone was giving the cops everything they needed to stop them, they wouldn’t plan anything major for a while. Unless the boss was stupid.

Suddenly Virgil saw a figure descend from the roof. He made a hero landing, straight from a superhero movie.

Virgil’s eyes widened. It couldn’t be…

“Do you gentlemen have permits for those weapons?” Dream Prince asked with a deep, booming voice as he rose up, wearing the full costume Virgil had designed. Including the cape. What was he doing here? Stupid question. He was government sanctioned. The chief was on the news a few days ago claiming him as one of theirs.

Which meant she probably asked him to look for Virgil. Does that woman never give up?

The gang was confused by his appearance. One of them calling the young hero ‘prince clown’. Virgil was too far away to see it, but he was willing to bet the clown in question was not too pleased with that.

With a gesture from the leader the gang was silenced. “Sure kid,” he said in a voice that made Virgil stand on high alert. “Got mine right here.”

Or find the stories of Logan and Roman in the Master post

Before Virgil could react in any meaningful way, Prince had shielded himself with his cape and the leader fired at least four rounds at him. The hero was unharmed though. The sounds of bullets falling to the ground the only evidence that they had ever left the barrel in the first place.

“Well now you just pissed me off. This is brand new!” Prince complained as he dropped the cape. And Virgil had to admit, it looked very cool. “I suppose you won't surrender peacefully?” he deduced.

The sound of guns being armed was his only answer. Which was stupid. That was already shown not to work. But sure, shoot with more guns. Don’t actually use your brain or anything. Prince let out an annoyed sigh as he hung his cape from a water pipe. “Fine.” And just like that, he sped towards the criminals through a rain of bullets.

It seemed like he had it handled, and Virgil was pretty sure that he would notice he was there no matter how well he cloaked himself if he got involved. And if he was here to look for him and bring him in for whatever the chief had planned…

Still, he couldn’t make himself just stand by.

He jumped in and helped disarm the criminals and caught a few punches, Prince seemed unlikely to dodge. Pretty soon he felt like Prince was adapting his fighting to his presence which told him that he was in fact spotted.

Soon the gang was down on the ground and their disassembled guns were on a pile on the floor. Virgil returned to the shadows once the sirens lit up the alley.

Prince donned his cloak once more and walked up to where the leader laid, showing off his boot.

“So… how does it feel to get your butt kicked by a guy in heels?” Virgil’s eyes widened as he saw Prince show off the boot. He was wearing the heeled boots? Sure he pulled them off, but that wasn’t a smart move. He couldn’t have had that much time to practice with them yet. Virgil sent the design on Tuesday. Unless… Maybe he’d worn heels before? That was a possibility. Though crime fighting in heels couldn’t be comfortable… Still, it did make the whole thing extra cool, Virgil had to admit.

Suddenly Dream Prince looked up at him and gave a playful wink. So he had noticed him. And he could see him even though he was cloaked right now… Or not quite. He wasn’t looking directly at him. So he knew he was there, just not where exactly.

“Good job Dream Prince. We've got it from here,” one of the police officers who’d come to make the arrests told Prince. The young hero turned to him and bowed.

“It's my pleasure to be of assistance to the police of this fine city.” While he turned around he made a gesture with his hand. Virgil could tell he was being asked to follow.

Part of him wanted to run the other way. But he was curious.

He wanted to take a good look at the costume. He wanted to scold Prince. He wanted to give him a message for the chief. Maybe find out what she wanted from him.

So he followed him all the way to a rooftop.

The city lights illuminated Prince from the back, his cape floating in the wind.

Virgil wished he could take a picture. Roman would love this.

Prince took a step forward and bowed for him. He was really sticking to this Prince thing huh?

“Greetings Phantom. I must thank you for the assist now and three months ago. I am Dream Prince, he/him if you please. A pleasure to officially meet you.” So he had figured out when they’d met.

Virgil couldn’t help a chuckle. He was still cloaking himself. He’d never talked to someone like this before so he had no clue if and how that affected his voice.

“Phantom huh?” Hmm. He kind of liked it. Sure it confirmed that prince was here due to chief. But it was a cool nickname.

“Sure you can call me that. He/him… mind telling me what that was about? I thought you officials weren't let of your leash unless you could be responsible enough to not get yourself killed?” Did he sound a bit catty? Maybe. Was what Prince did idiotic? Absolutely.

Prince didn’t seem to agree. “Says the guy who has half the criminal underworld out for his blood.”

Virgil looked away. Damn. He’d hoped Prince was going to live up to Virgil’s original nickname for him. But he was no idiot.

“Do you have something against the program?” Prince pressed.

“No I…”  Virgil tried to steady himself. It wasn’t Prince’s fault that he was pissed at his boss. “Sorry I’m just pissed at the cops for sending you, I guess,” he admitted reluctantly.

“Yet you chose to follow me up here?” Okay, so he really should give this guy more credit.

“Um… Well… I just…” He couldn’t tell him he was curious about him. That would give away interest on his part and he was not ready to let anything personal slide. He hated being put on the spot like this. Damn, this was not helping the stoic, mysterious guy aura he was going for.

“You interrupted my stake out!” he recalled. Right, one of the reasons he was mad at Prince. The lecture he’d interrupted with his observations.

“Do you know how long it takes to work my way up the ranks? First I have to find a low level runner, then I follow him to his boss, that guy to his and so up the ladder I go. I was getting real close to the big guy of this group. And now…” Sure, he had been thinking about needing to go more low profile for a while to let the rumors simmer out. But still.

“I apologize,” Prince replied sincerely with another bow. It was hard to be mad with this guy. Perfect hero material. “I merely intended to help. They were talking about killing you.”

He appreciated the concern really. But he overlooked one crucial detail.

“And now there is a price on your head! The leader of that little club is like two steps away from the big boss. They won’t be happy with you taking him in.” He couldn’t let him get himself on the bad guys’ list. Not because he thought he needed to protect him. Or maybe a little. When had he started feeling responsible for Prince? Was this how his dad felt? Why he’d tried to keep him from being overly self-sacrificing as a kid?

“You got dirt on them?” Prince wondered.

Virgil rolled his eyes. “Yes… But that’s not the point. They have no clue about me. Not really,” just some guesses and rumors. “But you are out in the open.” They’d know who to go after with him. “This is not your kind of mission Royal pain. And now that you are out, you can’t expect me to hold your hand any longer…” Virgil got distracted when Prince crossed his arm and smirked smugly. “You’ve been looking out for me all summer huh?”

That smug little… Fine he got him there.

He rolled his eyes with a scoff, trying to dismiss the statement. “It’s not like I came looking for you.” He just… Did the right thing when they met up.

Prince was the one dreaming if he thought he felt any kind of responsibility towards him. He was just trying to… To be someone he could be proud of. That was why he was doing this. To not feel week and useless. To help people, even if he couldn’t always help those he felt closest to.

“Still… Thank you…” Prince said gently, about to step forward again. But then he cringed and clutched his head. “Ow!”

The young hero sounded more annoyed than in pain.

He pressed a finger to his ear. Communicating with whoever was on the other line no doubt. “One. Loud. Two. Rude! I am in the middle of something! And did you seriously remotely reactivate my com?” Virgil could hear him hiss in the communication device, dropping the regal persona completely. Virgil bit back his amusement.

“I am fine, not a scratch on me,” Prince replied annoyed. “I’ll call you when I’m done here.” And then he seemed to take something out of his ear. He was so lucky Virgil wasn’t a bad guy or he’d just made it a lot easier on him to take him out.

“Sorry,” Prince sighed. “My mentor is… intense at times.”

“Mentor?” Virgil wondered. He’d heard about the GTA program and it’s monitors in the past. But mentors… that sounded a bit more one on one than just people who told you what to do.

“One of the people helping me practice my powers, test my limits. Comes with the program. It’s not just a babysit and a nice suit,” Prince joked.

“Oh…” Virgil didn’t know what to say to that. It was… Something he’d been wanting for a while now. For a way to test all that he could do. To figure out the shield, push the limits of his cloak and try and use his healing for others. Someone to help him strategize, to talk with when he’d had a tough night. But unless he was ready to come clean with his dad, that was out of his reach.

“Listen, I admit I was sent by the chief. But I didn’t come here to recruit you. I wanted to thank you and tell you… If you ever need someone to talk to, to help you figure something out… I’d be more than happy to oblige. No need to tell me your name or anything about yourself.”

Virgil looked at the offered hand. Maybe, it wasn’t impossible after all.

He considered his options. But it seemed like there was no catch to this offer. So he closed the gap and shook his hand.

“I’ll see you next time,” Prince offered kindly before letting go and running straight of the rooftop as if there was a walkway just for him.

Virgil smirked. Maybe he should wrap it up for tonight. Prince and the other heroes had the area covered. He’d collect the information he had on the tugs that were arrested tonight. Next time he saw Dream Prince, he’d hand that information to him.

If things went well… This could be a good partnership.

End of this part. Meet Janus and learn his side

@cirishere​ @hestianerd1 @moonlightshow00 @naturallyunstablegamer @alias290 @meowthefluffy @frida0043 @angelic-cali @selenechris @theblackveilinreverse

#sanders sides #ts sides #virgil sanders #roman sanders #prinxiety #logan sanders #patton sanders #janus sanders #tw: guns #tw: violence #tw: gunshot #hero au #fic

[wisherbysharlight]

Can’t Deny It, Who You Are Is What You’re Feeling

Word Count: 5685

Pairings: Demus, LAMP(and all variations thereof)

Janus is trying to settle into his new role as the makeup artist for a small off-off Broadway production, but he can't seem to figure out the relationships going on in the troupe, let alone what he has going on with the eccentric set designer...

AO3 Link

Janus squinted at the side of the stage. He should definitely be trying to make himself useful, it being only his second day, but he had just finished an eye test on Valerie and he was fairly certain he could pass off his staring as making sure it looked right where she stood in the spotlights. Hell, that’s what he’d been doing originally, before getting side tracked by the male lead sliding off the stage to the crafts table, where he’d sidled up to Patton, the costume designer Janus had met yesterday. Patton had beamed like Christmas had come early and promptly started breaking off pieces of his muffin to feed over his shoulder to the man who was now firmly attached to his back with his arms around his waist, visibly giggling the entire time. They looked carefree and besotted with each other in a way that made an ugly curl of envy build up in his stomach, but he couldn’t look away once he’d started. At least, until the props master interrupted him, that is.

“They’re tooth-rottingly sweet, huh?” Janus would deny the sound he made til his dying day, but he was fairly certain it could only be described as a yelp. The prop master cackled, holding their hand out to shake, which Janus took, grateful for the distraction. “Hey, it’s Janus right? I’m Talyn. Could you come back this way and give me a hand with moving some of these bigger pieces over to the wings for the next scene?”

“Oh sure Talyn, I don’t have anything until my next stage test in an hour or so,” he assured, carefully pasting a smile on his face that he hoped looked genuine.

Talyn threw a thumbs-up over their shoulder as they went towards the workshop and Janus took the opportunity to look back over at the crafts table where Valerie had now joined the two during a break and was laughing brightly as the actor playfully picked Patton up, throwing him over his shoulder to head over to the drinks table, and Janus could hear the shrieks even from his distance, “Rooooman, oh my goodness, you put me down right now, you big show-off!” Huh, so Mr. Leading-Man was named Roman. Good to know.

“You’re just so easy to toss around, Patton-cake. Maybe stop being so cute and I won’t be so tempted,” Roman shot back, opening a can of apple juice with an overexaggerated casualness.

“I’ll get you back for this, you heathen,” Patton cried, changing tactics to poking and tickling at Roman’s sides.

The laughter could still be heard even in the back wings of the auditorium where the workshop was, and Talyn had to raise their voice to be heard as they worked to finagle a fake-flower covered arch through the doorway, “Thanks for the help. The set designer, Remus, is out shopping for supplies today and he’s usually the one who actually moves this kind of stuff, but the director needs this for some sort of choreography today.”

“No problem at all,” Janus assured again, eager to prove his usefulness. “Happy to help when I can.”

By the time they finished getting the bulky prop to the proper side of the stage, the break was over, Roman was back onstage with Valerie, Patton had gone back to the far wings of the stage to continue working, and Janus had a new actor to meet and a fake scar to attempt to do in a transition that lasted less than 10 minutes.

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Less than a week later and Janus once again found himself squinting to the side of the stage, but this time it was up higher in the sound and light booth. Actors were scattered throughout the theater, running lines with each other, and the Technical Director seemed to be taking the opportunity to work with the Lighting Technician on setting up a few cues. Nothing out of the ordinary, most of the productions Janus had worked on in school worked the same way, no, the interesting part was just how close the Technical Director was to the Lighting Technician in the booth as they worked. They seemed to be able to communicate without speaking at all, effortlessly moving around each other and flicking different settings and somehow coming out with the correct configuration without ever saying a word.

The ease around each other was palpable, and that was what caught Janus off guard. He’d worked with the TD, Logan, once, and that interaction had been succinct, professional, and brokered no nonsense. Now, though, Logan’s shoulders seemed to loosen up the more time he spent up in the lighting box, and every once in a while, when the technician was triple or quadruple checking a light, Janus could see the TD huff and roll his eyes teasingly, then dodge an equally teasing swat to his side or shoulder. And he’d smile , a real smile, not a smirk or a placating pleasantry, and Janus felt that nasty longing that was tinged green with jealousy snake up into his throat again.

He forced himself to look away, finally, just to see Roman sitting in the makeup chair looking thoroughly amused and he was suddenly glad he’d chosen to wear a full face of makeup today, not just covering his left side like usual, because now he could at least hope that his thick foundation would cover up the way his face flamed up at getting caught staring at a couple again . “Hello Roman, did you need something?” he asked, going to his workstation to avoid having to look at the actor’s smirking face anymore.

“Hmm? Oh. Yes, yes, yes, I did, I was wondering if I would be able to offer up my time for you to practice the second act’s possession effects, as I know you were saying it would be difficult to practice on a dummy, and I am much further ahead in my memorization than the others,” Roman rattled off, and when Janus turned back to him, he quickly averted his eyes from the lighting box. Hm, so apparently he wasn’t the only one looking, that was interesting…

“That would be great actually, thank you. Getting that pallid coloring done three times in one intermission is going to be tough unless I do it a few times ahead of the show, I appreciate it.” He brought his rolling cart over to the makeup chair and crouched in front of Roman, watching carefully without giving away that he was focused on anything other than the makeup. After the third time Roman’s eyes strayed towards the light box he decided to speak up, “What’s the lighting technician’s name? Haven’t met him yet.”

“Oh you mean Tall, Dark, and Moody? That’s Virgil, him and Logan grew up together so they’re pretty used to each other by now, it’s really great to watch them work,” Roman enthused, and that made more sense, Roman was just appreciating the well oiled machine. “We all send Logan up there when it looks like he’s ready to murder the next person to say ‘slightly behind schedule’. Or when Virge gets new cues and gets so overwhelmed he starts gnawing on that giant hoodie he’s always got on. They really good at chilling each other out.”

Janus absorbed all of this as he brushed a small test bit of gray over Roman’s cheek bones, mulling it over and ultimately content to just let Roman talk. By the time he was done with the ghostly sheen, he had learned that Logan, Virgil, Patton, and Roman all went to college together and all joined the budding troupe together straight afterwards, even though they all had offers for separate larger companies scattered across the country. It was clear that Roman would talk about his little group forever if he were allowed to, had spent almost 10 minutes alone enthusing about some cosplay work Patton did in college with this adorably smitten twinkle to his eye, but Janus had to let him up from the chair eventually. When he stepped back to admire his work, though, Roman didn’t make any moves to get up. “Spent all this time talking about us, how about you? What brings you to our humble little company instead of some larger agency?”

Janus startled a bit, not used to getting asked anything about himself. “I suppose I was intrigued by the premise of the play, and wanted to do more hands-on work than most agencies allow new graduates.” It wasn’t quite a lie, and Roman didn’t need to know that this particular theater had been Janus’s saving grace growing up, how he owed the owner, Thomas, everything, how…

“My brother is the exact same way. Not happy unless he has full, creative control over his sets,” Roman laughed, and Janus tilted his head curiously. “I mean it’s better that he has an outlet for his thoughts. You don’t wanna know what he gets like when you try to stifle him, woo boy. Much better he swing a hammer at the scenery than at my head.”

“It was a wiffle ball bat, I only hit you once, and you didn’t even have a concussion. And beside that, you practically dared me to.”

Janus spun so quickly his beanie tilted slightly, and he fidgeted with his gloves to hide the fact that his heart was racing, but his face remained carefully even, “Remus. Speak of the devil and he shall appear.” The man had a way of blending into the shadows until you least wanted him to jump out at you. Janus had been too startled to even react the first time, but Remus had taken it as though he wasn’t scared at all and was now determined to make him scream. Luckily, Janus had great experience controlling his expressions, the few times he’d been caught daydreaming observing relationships around the theater notwithstanding.”Were you looking for Roman or are you just here to bother me?”

Remus swooned dramatically, “Bother! You wound me! Nono, Joan sent me, they want Roman on stage to help Virgey-poo calibrate the acoustics after I, er, nudged one of the speakers over. Accidentally, of course.”

Roman rolled his eyes and scoffed, “You pissing Virgil off has never once been an accident. But I’ll head over there before Tickle-Me-Emo has a heart attack.” He turned to Janus, patting him on the back, “Good luck with him, don’t let him near anything sharp or he’ll try to cut his own bangs in the name of creating a new hairstyle.”

“I can handle him just fine,” Janus drawled, and pointedly ignored the suggestive look Remus gave him in return. Instead, he focused again up on the lighting box where Virgil seemed to be ranting, hands flying in front of his face, as Logan patiently listened. Roman finally got up on the stage and Virgil started messing with the sound board, forehead creased in concentration, and Janus pretended there wasn’t a tug in his heart when Logan leaned over to smooth the skin out just between his eyebrows with his thumb, earning himself a small but genuine smile, before heading back down to work.

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Three weeks into rehearsals and Janus was really getting the hang of his new life. He and his roommate, Remy, the publicity manager for the theater, had moved into a new apartment closer to the theater with Remy’s boyfriend Emile, as between the three of them they could now afford more than what basically amounted to a shoebox. He’d made friends, something he’d thought was somewhat of a pipe dream before. He absolutely adored his job. Two to three times a day he would snag actors to do test runs of looks and see how they turned out on stage, tweaking things here and there when he could. The rest of the time he would help out around the theater, helping Logan with keeping Remus in line and on schedule(Remus would sometimes demand only Janus be allowed in his studio, and Janus had found that Remus was much more bearable when he felt he was paid attention to. Pleasant, even, if a little random and impulsive), shopping for props for Talyn, running lines with Valerie or Roman or Terrence or the background actors when the others were busy, or, most often, assisting Patton in costuming.

Apparently, Patton was supposed to have an assistant but they’d had a family emergency and Patton had brushed off the idea of trying to find someone else on short notice. Janus had noticed, of course, that Patton came in earlier and stayed later than almost anyone else and so he went out of his way to help where he could. He had some basic sewing experience and worked well as a sounding board for Patton to bounce his ideas off of while he worked, and Janus was thrilled to be able to be helpful. He had also noticed Patton was more willing to take breaks if he thought Janus needed one and Janus was not above being a bit dramatic with his yawns to get Patton to relax for a few minutes. He’d become fond of the guy.

He’d just gone to the craft table to grab something Patton would eat, intending to goad him into taking 15 minutes off. He’d gotten a bit sidetracked when Remus decided to “stumble” into him, leaving a large forest-green handprint right in the center of his chest and loudly declare that he needed to take it off (Janus made a note in his head to spend the next day in his workshop, he was definitely looking for attention, and he was missing the rowdier man a bit besides), but he had still only been gone about 20 minutes, so he was surprised when he heard another voice coming from the sewing room aside from Patton. “- and we need to make sure Valerie’s weighted dress is done before next Wednesday, she needs to rehearse the choreography with the added material-”

“Lolo, relax. I’ll get it done, I promise,” came Patton’s voice, light and almost teasing in a way Janus had never heard before. He’d almost describe it as… flirtatious? But that didn’t make any sense… “You’re starting to sound like Virgil with all that fretting. You know me, you know I never break a promise.”

“Y-yes,” and now Logan sounded flustered, which really was out of character, “Of course, Patton, I just wanted to make sure you had all the resources you needed and were not overextending yourself-”

Patton cut him off again, and this time Janus got the impression he was very amused, “I’ve got everything I need, right here, Mr. Berry. I even promise I’ll do something to relax tonight, sound good? Pick up a bottle of wine and have a night in, maybe watch a movie, something to really decompress…” Janus got the distinct feeling he was missing something, because Patton was speaking as though he had a completely different meaning behind the words, but they seemed completely innocent.

Janus finally decided to head into the studio then, feeling like he’d been eavesdropping on something private, and when he saw Patton he was leaning against his desk casually, no indication in his body language at all that he’d been flirting like Janus thought he’d heard. He thought maybe he’d been mistaken, but Logan was adjusting his tie even though the knot was perfect, like always, and had a very faint pink to his cheeks that he would have missed if he weren’t paying attention. He lightly cleared his throat before speaking, “Hello Janus. I was just heading out. Thank you for assisting Patton with keeping to the deadlines, it is much appreciated. Patton, we can continue our discussion later.” Patton smiled brightly, looking like the picture of innocence, and waved as Logan headed back towards Remus’s workshop and Janus repressed a wince. Yeah, he’d definitely visit tomorrow if Logan was going to get on his case about deadlines too.

He pasted a smile on, making sure not to indicate he’d heard anything before coming in, “Hey Pat, I grabbed some cookies and tea from the craft table. Remus sends his regards.” He gestured wryly to the graphic tee shirt he held in his hands, still grateful he’d worn an undershirt today.

Patton beamed and took a cookie, looking all the more innocent when he bounced a bit on his toes, curls catching in the light as they moved with him, “Woo! You rock, we definitely earned a few cookies today!” He tilted his head curiously at the stain, then nodded like he’d decided something, “I can definitely get that out, by the way, just need some vinegar and washing soda. Re does stuff like that to Roman all the time. Leave it with me and it’ll be perfectly fine by tomorrow!”

Janus smiled again, feeling taken care of in a way he hadn’t in a long time, and it felt more real this time, “Thanks Patton.”

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Janus was making good on his promise to himself the next day, lounging on a chair next to the open door of Remus’s workshop even though it was technically his day off. He came into the theater every day no matter what just in case anyone needed assistance, but it was nice to not feel guilty for not doing his own work. He people-watched between the points where Remus would ask for his opinion on a piece or start up a seemingly unrelated conversation, letting the silence fall when Remus needed to focus. He’d been watching Virgil up in the tech box, messing with the settings for the lighting of one of Valerie’s solo scenes while she rehearsed. He had that focused crease in his brow again but he didn’t look nearly as murderous as when Remus screwed around with his speakers, so Janus didn’t feel the need to get Logan yet, but when the door opened behind the engineer he’d still been expecting the technical director to come in.

What happened instead was much more confounding to Janus. Patton burst through the door, looking worn down and cranky, and paced the room a few times with his hands waving around. Virgil took his headphones off without turning around and nodded along, not breaking focus at all but still responding from what Janus could see. Then, seemingly out of steam, the costume designer maneuvered around cords and computers over to Virgil’s chair and promptly ducked under his arm and threw a leg over Virgil’s before burrowing his face into Virgil’s neck. Virgil didn’t flinch at all, continuing to focus on the lighting of the scene by simply arranging Patton slightly on his lap so he could tuck his own head over his shoulder.

At some point in the performance on stage, Valerie and the director aimed a thumbs up at the light box, and Virgil gave a self satisfied smile as he leaned back and finally wrapped his arms around Patton in return.

“Jannie?” Remus called, sitting back from his stage setting, a beautiful star-lit grove, “Do you think you could make me look like a werewolf?”

Janus blinked at him for a couple moments, not knowing how to respond, before he just  shrugged, “Sure. Might look a little weird with your mustache though.”

Remus nodded, once, with finality to it, “How about a tentacle monster?”

“Same answer,” Janus replied, quicker this time now that he knew where Remus’s head was at.

“Huh. I think I’d like to try being a tentacle monster at some point. Could probably terrify the shit outta Roman. Not to mention all the benefits of tentacles.”

Janus laughed, charmed as always by Remus’s ability to just say whatever he felt like without hiding anything, “You name the time and place and I’ll be there, Remus.”

Remus gave him a blinding smile and Janus felt his breath catch a bit. God, this whole thing was so stupid but he couldn’t bring himself to care at all. He found that he’d do just about anything to make Remus smile like that again. “It’s really nice to have a partner in crime now,” Remus enthused, twirling his paintbrush without a care in the world if he splashed himself with paint.

“Yeah, Re, I get what you mean.”

By the time Remus had gone back to work splattering a blood stain artfully over a tree in the middle of the otherwise beautiful landscape, Patton had left the tech box and Virgil was back to his computer with his headphones on.

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It was one week til opening night, and Janus had been sent to find Remus, who had apparently announced he was going on a quest for inspiration which alarmed pretty much everyone who knew him, but instead he’d stumbled upon Logan, alone in the orchestra pit, looking like he was ready to scream as he tugged at the padlock on a crate. Janus made his way over and tapped Logan on the shoulder lightly, “Hey, everything alright?”

Logan’s eyes were fiery as he responded, and Janus was just a little bit taken aback, “The previous production group left the alternate curtain ropes in this container, nicely labeled and everything, except the box has this godforsaken lock and I do not want to have to pay for bolt cutters. Or have the time to buy them before dress rehearsals. It’s rather… infuriating.”

Janus laughed a bit and knelt down next to the box, pulling his wallet out of his back pocket and taking a long thin piece of metal out, “You don’t have to do that, rotation locks like this are ridiculously easy to pick.” He manipulated the piece of metal up under the last rotation dial and pressed up, trying to listen for the click even though Roman and Valerie were rehearsing their final duet up on stage. He finally got the lock to pop open and turned to show it to Logan, only to find him thoroughly distracted by the scene on the stage.

Janus could understand, he had no interest in Roman Prince( his brother on the other hand...) but even he thought the way he was waltzing Valerie around the stage was a bit hypnotizing, the lyrics soft and sultry and romantic for the final number of the performance. Logan seemed to be completely entranced, singing along under his breath to Valerie’s piece and following their movements carefully. His eyes were filled with nothing short of adoration as he swayed to the music and as Janus watched carefully, the movements matched up fairly evenly to Valerie’s part in the dance as well. Logan didn’t look away until the director had called for a cut for adjustments. He shook himself slightly, seeming to remember all of a sudden that Janus was there, and flushed brightly as he took the lock from Janus, “Oh. Um. Thank you, very much. Where did you learn to pick locks like that?”

Janus could practically envision his mask slipping into place, covering the memories of manipulating the door to the theater open for what must have been the hundredth time only to come face to face with the new owner…

“Oh it’s barely a party trick, just something I picked up along the line. Let me know if you need any more street-rat techniques,” he brushed off with a wry grin, waving a hand dismissively, “Anywho, any chance you’ve seen Remus around?”

Logan eyed him a bit critically for a moment then seemed to choose not to push it further, “Yes, I believe I saw him lurking back by your station actually.”

Janus repressed a disappointed sigh at himself. Of course, Remus had come looking for him if something had upset him. He took off for the makeup room quickly, leaving Logan behind to stare up at the stage again while Roman began rehearsing the solo piece of the song. He didn’t miss the small wink Roman aimed down at the pit when the director had turned to answer a question, and filed that bit of information away with Logan’s admiring gaze to analyze after he’d made sure Remus was alright.

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Janus was not used to anyone being in his station before him, but he was starting to become used to being surprised, so he didn’t even really react to seeing Roman and Virgil commandeering one of his makeup chairs, Roman’s hands buried in Virgil’s long black and purple hair, twisting it into intricate braids as they argued fiercely. “No, Virge, you don’t get to say ‘American Idiot’ is your favorite Broadway song. That doesn’t count.”

“It totally counts. You wouldn’t say ‘Honey, Honey’ doesn’t count, even though that’s just an ABBA song!”

“Don’t you dare bring Mamma Mia into this, that is a classic!”

“So is American Idiot!”

“Girls, girls, you’re both pretty,” Janus droned, smiling at the Venti Iced Mocha sitting on his rolling tray, ice not even melted yet, with a little doodle of a green dragon blowing fire at what he could only assume was Roman on one side, and a python wearing Janus’s signature beanie on the other. Virgil and Roman both turned to glare at him and he smirked back, lounging back in his chair and taking a long sip from his coffee in a loose impression of Remy, “What are you two doing in my domain aside from attempting to drive each other up the wall?”

“Princey was having a minor meltdown about opening night tomorrow, so I told him he could braid my hair,” Virgil told him, squinting curiously at the cup like he was trying to make out what the doodles were.

“Not true! Virgil was freaking out about opening night, not me, and he asked me to braid his hair,” Roman whined, though Janus noted that the whole time Roman’s hands never stopped moving and Virgil seemed to lean further and further into them, both their shoulders relaxing more and more as the braids took a more concrete form, “Though I will admit it is somewhat of a ritual for us at this point. Been doing this since freshman year of college when Virge first started growing his hair out.”

“Barely had enough for one braid back then, you would just do it and take it out over and over again while I ran lines with you,” Virgil commented fondly, fidgeting with the end of a piece which was left down.

“And I didn’t have the skills which I do now, of course.”

“Oh, no doubt. Maybe I’ll cut it so you could test that theory.”

“Don’t you dare!” Janus looked up from his thank you text to Remus(he’d responded with a giant squid emoji, followed by a dirty joke about proper thank yous which Janus found unreasonably funny), tilting his head curiously at Virgil’s smirk and Roman’s blush. “I-I mean, it’s your hair, obviously, but it definitely suits you being grown out.”

“Alright, alright, I’ll leave it be. Just for you,” Virgil shot back, and Janus felt like he could see the years of friendship in his smile.

Roman and Virgil stuck around for another hour until the director got there, ribbing each other over everything from music preference to sleeping habits to, bizarrely, the dark undertones of Disney movies, not even noticing when Janus slipped off to Remus’s workshop to have his own minor meltdown about opening night, lost in their own little world.

(Remus already had a hammer and some messed-up pottery out, actually encouraged him to smash stuff, cheering him on enthusiastically, and Janus thought he might have found his own pre-show ritual. He didn’t even realize he hadn’t felt envious of Roman and Virgil’s easy camaraderie and teasing affection at all until he was lying in bed that night.)

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Janus made a downright embarrassing shriek when he felt a mustache rub against his neck and Terrence broke off from their conversation to the living room with a playful eye roll, leaving the other two in the kitchen. “Come on Re, don’t start anything you can’t finish in public,” he teased lightly, patting Remus on the cheek, the adrenaline rush from three successful shows, the pure joy at being officially offered a full time position within the theater troupe from Thomas (from Thomas , who took a chance on the high school dropout who snuck in to the theater to use the big mirrors and the real theater makeup and listen to music echo through the empty stage. Thomas who so generously gave him the recommendation letter he needed to get the scholarship to cosmetology school. Thomas who found him a roommate so he wouldn’t have to stay with an older brother that didn’t understand him at all. Thomas who had seen his talent for deception and pushed him to turn it into art. Thomas who Janus owed his entire life to...) and the three vodka sodas in his system making it difficult to even begin to hide his flirtation, especially since he was fairly confident at this point he wouldn’t be rebuffed.

He felt more than heard the laugh that followed as Remus pulled away, still leaving his arms wrapped around Janus’s waist, a testament to the comfortable something (Janus refused to call it a relationship, even in his head, lest he burst the perfect bubble of happiness) they’d fallen into, “Come on Jan, you can’t deprive me of finally getting revenge on my brother for the years of cast-party-brand PDA he’s put me through.”

Janus stiffened and he turned to face Remus quickly, bracing himself on Remus’s chest when he started to trip a bit out of tipsiness. He also blamed the tipsiness for his lack of ability to cover up his curiosity, “PDA? What do you mean? I’ve spent the last 6 weeks trying to figure out who would end up with who in that group, but Roman’s already seeing someone?”

Remus smirked at him, clearly enjoying a less-inhibited Janus, and didn’t audibly answer. Instead, he laced their fingers together(Janus was not blushing like he was a middle-schooler. He wasn’t. If his foundation just so happened to help hide that lie then so be it.) and led him back towards the living room where a particularly rowdy game of beer pong was being played with Logan and Virgil on one side with only one cup in front of them and Joan and Talyn on the other with two, all four of them looking like a giant weight was off their shoulders with the last show of the first weekend over and done with and four whole days before the next one. Patton and Roman stood behind Logan and Virgil’s side, alternating between making ridiculous and distracting movements and singing along to whatever was playing through the speakers. The other team missed both their shots and Virgil snagged the balls, handing one to Logan before holding the other behind him. Patton leaned in and blew on the ball, then leaned further to press a kiss to Virgil’s cheek with a visible giggle while Roman mimicked his motions with Logan. Oh, ok, that kinda made sense for how the pairings worked out, he supposed…

Janus’s head tilted in confusion as Roman and Patton promptly switched positions and repeated their actions before they actually fell back. Logan and Virgil then glanced at each other from the corners of their eye, smirked, and sent both balls flying in unison. They didn’t even circle the rim, sinking easily, and the room erupted in chants to “chug” that Joan and Talyn took good naturedly on one knee as they emptied their cups.

Janus wasn’t watching the prop master and stage manager, though, instead focused on where Logan had apparently flung himself into Virgil’s arms in celebration, wrapped his legs around his waist, and promptly kissed him like he was trying to devour him, glasses tilted with no attempt being made to adjust them. Patton laughed brightly and tugged on Virgil’s sleeve to bring them both over to the couch with a practiced ease that said this was a fairly regular occurrence, Roman practically skipping as he followed. Logan transferred to Roman’s lap once they were settled, kissing him with the same amount of barely-restrained hunger, and Patton took his place in Virgil’s, pressing small kisses up his throat at the same time as he hooked his pinky with Logan’s and nudged his feet under Roman’s thigh, at which point Janus looked away, blushing furiously at just how shameless they all were.

He turned back to Remus with wide eyes just to find him openly laughing at him, “How long have you spent trying to figure that out, hm? For someone so smart you’re kinda a dumbass sometimes.”

Janus pouted, still feeling flustered and embarrassed that he’d somehow missed the idea of polyamory, but in the back of his mind he was delighted that the angry green jealous monster was no longer clawing at his insides at seeing so much open affection. He finally had someone who replaced that nasty curl with fluttering butterflies. Someone who gave a shit about him, and who was darkly hilarious and creative and didn’t hide anything but didn’t push Janus to be completely open in return. Someone Janus could truly see a future with, someone he felt he could trust.

He made a calculated decision, and his mouth turned up in a smirk as he grabbed Remus’s wrist and tugged him over to the pong table, “Tell you what, Re-Re. You help me win and you can have as much revenge as you want.”

Remus’s eyes went dark but his smile was blinding, “And if we lose?”

Janus grinned back, sharp and wicked, and easily sunk his first ball despite Remy’s boyfriend Emile jumping around ridiculously on the other side, “Guess you’ll just have to keep up so we don’t.” Remus’s grin widened even further at the challenge and he nodded resolutely, focus zeroed in.

For all the talk of revenge, they didn’t even notice Roman’s indignant squawk when Remus pinned Janus to the wall before Remy could even take the last cup off the table.

#ts lamp #analogical #logicality #prinxiety #moxiety #royality #logince #demus #sanders sides #sanders sides fic #sorry if you saw this on ao3 already lol #i wanted it in this format too #my writing #dukeceit

[teacupfulofstarshine]

pattonella part 10: in which the author cannot write a fight scene to save her life but attempts to do so anyway

cw: cartoon/fantasy violence, injury, passing out, death of unnamed background villains, swearing

part 1 // part 2 // part 3 // part 4 // part 5 // part 6 // part 7 // part 8 // part 9 // read it on ao3!

in the end, it’s patton who stays behind. 

“you don’t have any battle experience,” virgil says. 

“you don’t either!”

“i’ve been trained in self-defense my whole life,” virgil says. “i used to have to spar against dorian when he was learning. and i have magic to compensate for when my skills fail me. you don’t have either of those things.”

“not to mention, roman will become distracted enough when he sees us ride to his rescue,” logan says. “if he realizes you are there as well, his distraction will be heightened, and the likelihood of his injury will increase.” 

virgil watches patton open his mouth to argue, tense his shoulders, and bow his head. “you’re right,” he says. “but - but roman is my - my - i care about him, and i care about you too, logan, and - and virge, you’re my brother! what if something happens?”

“nothing is gonna happen to us, pat.” virgil holds his hand out, and a shimmering purple hexagon appears over his palm. “i’ve got magic to shield us and keep us safe. logan and i will come home safe, and we’ll bring roman back to you alive. i promise.” 

patton wrings his hands anxiously, reaching forward and making small grabby hands at his brother. virgil surges forward and pulls him into a hug, wrapping one hand tightly around patton’s waist and letting the other one weave up into his hair. “it’s okay, pat. just wait here with nate, and i promise we’ll bring roman back.”

“i trust you,” patton says. “i always trust you, you know that. i just - i’m -”

“hey, you’re talking to the living embodiment of anxiety,” virgil jokes. patton laughs wetly into his shoulder. virgil leans back and presses his forehead to patton’s. it’s the most intimate display of love and trust between family, one that had taken virgil years to be fully comfortable with. patton exhales shakily. 

“i trust you,” patton says, softer this time, he kisses virgil’s forehead and smiles, eyes watering. “come home safe, okay vee?” 

“of course, pat.”

“i love you.”

“i love you too, pat.” 

patton looks to the doorway, where nate is waiting. virgil smiles when he sees patton’s family crest sewn over nate’s heart. patton squeezes virgil’s hand before following nate out of the armory. virgil exhales and turns to look at logan. the second prince has a crossbow strapped to his arm, two quivers slung over his shoulders, a box of crossbow bolts on each hip, and a proper bow in his hand. 

“that’s a lot of weaponry.”

“these are the weapons in which i am most proficient,” logan says. “do you have a weapon of choice?” 

virgil looks at all the weapons hanging on the walls. there are halberds bigger than he is, morning stars so heavy he doubts he could lift them, battle axes with blades thicker than his arm. he carefully selects a slender basket-hilted sword and straps the belt around his waist. he also pulls a few daggers off the wall and tucks them into the straps on his belt. 

“an interesting choice of weaponry,” logan says. “knives take a great deal of speed and skill to use properly in battle.”

“you’ve got one, don’t you?” 

“my weapons are primarily long-range,” logan says. “they are fired from horseback. i do not engage in direct combat if i can help it. that is not my area, not like it is roman’s. i do far better with the strategy of war than the actual fighting.”

“bet that’s why you’re so good at chess, huh?” virgil teases. logan smiles and steps forward. 

“i find that i would very much like to kiss you now, virgil.”

“i think that’s acceptable,” virgil says. logan gently holds his face with one hand, and virgil leans into logan’s long, cool fingers. his thumb strokes gently beneath virgil’s eye, and then logan leans in and kisses him. their noses bump together, and when virgil loops his arms around logan’s neck his fingers brush the fletching of the arrows.

“nothing is going to happen to roman,” virgil says. “nothing is going to happen to you. i won’t let it. i’ll die before i let that happen.”

“please do not die,” logan says, voice strangled. 

“i don’t plan to.” logan looks like he wants to argue more, but virgil kisses the words right out of his mouth.

*~*~*~*~*

thomas comes down to see them go. 

he watches logan saddle up his dappled grey horse, watches virgil tentatively pat the nose of his black horse, watches them load up saddlebags of supplies. logan is wearing chainmail, leather gloves, and leather arm guards, but virgil doesn’t have any armor on. 

“is that wise?” thomas asks. logan turns to face him. 

“virgil insisted that he did not want to be weighed down with armor.” 

“i notice your armor is fairly light as well.” thomas tries not to sound disapproving. judging by logan’s facial expression, he has not succeeded. 

“virgil has layered additional protection spells on both of us. heavy armor will only slow me down.” 

“patton is not with you.”

“he has less combat experience than we do, so he is staying in the castle.” logan’s face darkens with emotion so quickly that thomas can’t pinpoint what exactly he’s feeling. “thomas . . . please keep an eye on him?”

“of course, lo.” thomas wants to hug him tightly, wants to press his face into logan’s hair and beg his little brother to come home safely, but they are in the very public courtyard and he thinks it unwise. instead, he grips logan’s shoulder and squeezes just a touch too tightly. “be careful.”

“i always am,” logan says softly. 

thomas watches logan mount his horse, taking the reins with an expert hand. virgil takes a few more tries to get onto his horse, gripping the reins a little more tightly than logan does. he wathes them kick their horses into action and canter out of the castle courtyard. 

he curls his fingers tightly in the hem of his shirt and exhales a short, sharp prayer to whatever god may be listening. please, let them come home safe. all of them.

*~*~*~*~*

the village roman left to defend is roughly a day or two’s ride away from the castle at a measured pace. when they break at noon for lunch, logan spreads a map out and weighs it down with two rocks and curses. “this is nowhere near enough progress,” he curses. 

virgil looks up at him, and logan tries to release some of the stress from his tone. there’s no point in taking out his frustration on virgil; it isn’t his fault. “i know that there is no way for us to know when your vision will occur, but the sooner we can get to roman, the sooner we can protect him. what if we get there, and your vision has already transpired?” 

he kicks angrily at the grass, and virgil sets down the bread he’d been eating. logan feels a hand on his and a head leaning against his shoulder, and he exhales slowly. “roman is my baby brother,” he says softly. “even though he is the captain of the guard and he is the knight, i have always seen it as my responsibility to care for him and keep him safe. when - when our mother -”

logan cuts off, swallowing once, twice to control his emotions. “when our mother passed on, roman was . . . too young, really, to remember her. but thomas and i, we remember. we were there, shortly before the illness took her, and she made thomas promise to take care of me, and she made me promise to take care of roman. i take that very seriously.”

“i get it,” virgil says. “i take care of patton, even though he’s older than me.” 

“he is my brother,” logan repeats. he feels stupid for not being able to articulate his feelings more clearly, but virgil nods against his shoulder. 

“i understand.” 

he gently kisses logan’s neck, which makes logan shiver, and steps away. “maybe i can help.”

“what do you mean?” 

“i’m magic, l.” virgil carefully approaches the horses and lifts his hands. purple light begins to swirl around him, escaping in wisps from his fingertips and shining from every lock of his hair, which ruffles in some nonexistent wind. the horses toss their heads nervously, but virgil speaks a single word in that ancient, lost-to-time magical language, and they calm almost instantly. 

virgil lifts his hands, and he speaks. 

logan has studied many languages extensively. his role in life has always been perfectly clear: thomas is the crown prince, destined to be the next king; roman is the knight, the protector; logan is the diplomat, the lawmaker. even if he cannot speak a language, he can usually understand or at least recognize it. 

he doesn’t think anyone has ever heard the language virgil speaks to use magic. he doesn’t even know if virgil is consciously aware of the fact that he is speaking another language. logan can’t tell a noun from a verb from an adjective when virgil speaks, but he usually gets so enthralled in the way all of virgil’s speech flows together seamlessly to look for individual words. 

logan is not prone to figurative language. however, he thinks that if he had to assign a simile to his feelings when he listens to virgil speak magic, he would probably compare it to an orchestra. he could listen to pick out each instrument and its contribution to the whole, but it disrupts the collective genius of the whole. for once in his life, logan closes his eyes and stops trying to actively examine every single piece of the input he’s receiving. 

he just listens as virgil speaks. 

virgil finishes the spell with a flick of his wrists. purple magic speeds out from each hand and coils around the hooves of the horses before dissipating into sparkles. “what was that?” logan asks. 

virgil’s hair settles around his face, and when he turns to look at logan his irises gleam with the faintest spark of purple. “a speed spell, with any luck. i never really had any formal magic training, so for the most part i just kind of guess? i dunno, i concentrate really hard on the effect i wanna have and then the words just . . . come to me.” 

logan means to ask virgil if he can run some tests on this phenomenon once they have rescued roman and returned home safely. what comes out of his mouth is, “you are the single most fascinating creature on this planet.” 

virgil’s pale skin flushes pink to red to scarlet, and he rubs the back of his neck. “oh - geez, l, i - uh - really?”

“i would not say it if i did not mean it,” logan says earnestly. virgil’s eyes skitter from his shoulder to his ear to his face, and logan steps forward to kiss him gently. 

“we - we should finish eating,” virgil says. “and we should get going.”

“i agree.”

*~*~*~*~*

virgil breathes a quiet sigh of relief when he realizes that his speed spell works. the countryside passes them by in streaks of blurred color, even though their horses don’t appear to be moving any faster than a normal canter to either him or logan. when they dismount outside the village, virgil feels faintly dizzy, but logan is right there with a steadying hand on his elbow. 

“do you hear that?” he whispers. 

virgil does not, but logan slides his bow off his shoulder and grips it tightly. “distant fighting. i do not see any signs of conflict in the village, which means it must be elsewhere.” his hands shake ever so slightly, and virgil reaches up and takes logan’s free hand in his before he knows what he’s doing. 

“it’s okay,” he says. “we’re here. we’ll find ro, we’ll keep him safe, we’ll bring him home, okay?” 

logan lets out a long, controlled exhale. “okay. you are right, of course, my love.” virgil feels a pleasant fire curl in his chest at the nickname. “is the speed spell still on the horses?” 

“no, it dissolved when we got here. i could try and put it back on?”

logan shakes his head. “conserve your magical energy for the fight. if we can hear the battle, they cannot have gotten too far from us. we will lead the horses into town and ask if anyone has seen the prince.” 

virgil takes his horse’s reins in his hand and walks beside logan. as they enter the village, logan’s entire demeanor changes. he pushes his shoulders back, lifts his head, sets his jaw; his eyes become hard and focused. he looks less like logan, virgil’s . . . boyfriend? fiancé? partner? . . . and more like the kingdom’s second prince. 

a young woman looks up from sweeping the street in front of her house, catches sight of logan, and immediately drops into a deep curtsy. “your highness!” logan lifts a hand in greeting. 

“rise,” he tells her. “this is my consort, virgil. we are looking for my brother, his highness prince roman, who was dispatched here with some knights eight days ago to resolve a bandit situation.” 

“his highness lead the knights and some of our able-bodied villagers into the woods to ambush the bandits,” she tells them. “we hear the distant fighting, but we have no news. they left mid-morning.” 

logan nods. “thank you.” she curtsies again as logan swings up onto his horse. virgil grips his saddle and pulls himself up onto his own horse as best he can. “virgil, we must hurry.” 

“yeah.” 

they follow the path into the woods, hearing the sound of battle grow louder and louder. logan stops abruptly, dismounting and tying his horse up to a nearby tree. “we will be faster and less conspicuous on foot,” he whispers. virgil quickly dismounts and ties his own mount next to logan’s. he draws his sword, flexing his fingers around the hilt; logan pulls an arrow from one of his quivers and notches the arrow. 

virgil listens to the battle grow louder and louder and prays that they aren’t too late. 

*~*~*~*~*

dodge, roll, parry parry thrust slash shield up and block , spin and counter, thrust forward and bash and bring your sword up and then down, flat on your back with the wind knocked out of you, no time to recover bring your sword up now and block the strike, kick out and knock him down, spring up, sword down - 

roman loses himself to the rhythm of the fight. he can feel claire at his back, feel the adrenaline singing in his veins. these are his people; he swore an oath to defend them. he cannot let them down. he will not allow himself to be defeated. 

in the corner of his eye, he sees movement behind him. there is movement all around him in the chaotic ocean of battle, and he has to focus on the three bandits bearing down on him from the front. he has no time to turn and look behind him, and then -

an arrow sprouts out of the neck of the largest bandit. he gasps, chokes, drops his weapon and fumbles for his throat as he drops to his knees. roman is confused. he doesn’t remember bringing any archers in his encampment. he squints at the arrow and realizes that it’s fletched with dark blue. 

only one archer in the kingdom uses such arrows. 

the other two bandits grip their weapons more tightly. roman lifts his sword, and then -

“roman, get down, NOW!” 

roman whirls around in time to see an enemy archer in the trees. they fire, and he freezes; he can’t get out of the way in time, he won’t make it -

the arrow strikes a shimmering purple hexagon and drops harmlessly to the forest floor. behind him, roman hears a dull metallic thunk, spinning on his heel to see the weapons of the remaining bandits hit a wall of purple hexagons. two more dark-blue-fletched arrows sprout from their necks, and they drop like flies. 

logan is nowhere to be seen, but the enemy archer falls out of the tree with a cluster of arrows in her chest. virgil bursts into the clearing, hands glowing bright purple. he draws the sword hanging at his hip, and purple light spirals down the blade. “come and get me, motherfuckers!” he shrieks, head wreathed in purple fire, eyes glowing. 

bandit after bandit falls to logan’s arrows, but none of them can seem to find where, exactly, the second prince is. virgil is swarmed by bandits, but he stabs his sword into the ground and produces a shockwave of purple magic that sends them all flying. the wounds he leaves glow with purple light, and any bandits bearing such wounds stagger to an unconscious halt within minutes, no matter how slight the wound. 

virgil slashes his way across the battlefield. his hair whips around him, and a string of rotating purple hexagons swirl around his body. whenever an attack comes towards him, whether it be an arrow or a sword or a fist, a hexagon detaches from the string and grows and blocks the attack. roman can feel himself beginning to flag, but he finds himself face to face with virgil. he lifts his glowing sword and touches the tip to roman’s chest. 

roman inhales sharply as strength and vigor begin to flood into him. “i have dispatched the enemy,” virgil rumbles. “take their energy and drive them out.” roman connects the power in hie veins to the comatose bandits on the forest floor and grins. virgil smiles back at him, feral and unhinged, and whirls around to bring his sword crashing down on the head of a bandit attempting to sneak up behind him. 

another arrow blooms from the shoulder of a nearby bandit, and roman raises his sword. 

*~*~*~*~*

the battle goes swiftly with virgil and logan’s assistance. 

roman hoists his sword high over the clearing as the last of the bandits flee and fall beneath his forces. “victory!” he cries. the rest of his knights lift their weapons and echo his sentiment. he sees claire across the battlefield, wincing as she makes her way over to him. 

“are you injured?” 

“a few cuts, probably a mild sprain. i’ll be alright, your highness. you?” 

roman looks down at his arms and inhales shakily. there are a few small cuts littering his hands and forearms, but as he watches purple light travels across them and leaves clean, unbroken skin in its wake. he looks up to see virgil, still glowing with an almost unholy light, sword almost too bright to look at. 

“i have more energy than i can contain,” virgil says. his eyes are solid purple, glowing as he stares at roman. “if his highness permits it, i will heal his knights.”

“will it hurt you?” roman asks. 

“i have the energy to spare.”

roman looks at claire, then back to virgil, and nods. “do it.” 

virgil nods. “as you wish.” he turns his back to logan, heaves his sword up with two hands, and drives the blade into the earth. another shockwave of purple magic ripples out over the battlefield. instead of damge, however, this one bathes roman’s knights and the villagers who’d accompanied them in soft purple light. gasps of shock echo across the battlefield as tendrils of magic wrap around any injuries sustained in battle and carefully heal them. 

“roman!” 

roman whirls around to see logan drop from a tree and sprint across the battlefield. he’s breathing heavily; there’s a slice on his cheek from where his bowstring must have rebounded, and his fingers are bruised and rubbed raw. logan drops his bow and grips roman’s shoulders. 

“are you alright?! have you sustained any serious injury?!”

“what are you doing here?” roman asks. 

“virgil had a vision,” logan says. “you were struck by an arrow and killed in battle. we could not let that happen, roman, i -”

roman drops his sword, decorum be damned, and throws himself forward to hug his brother. logan stiffens at the sudden contact, but quickly melts to hold him tightly. “i was so scared,” logan murmurs. “i know you are a competent swordsman, but when virgil told me you were fated to die, i -”

“i know,” roman murmurs. he pushes his face into logan’s neck; his brother is sweaty and too-warm, but roman refuses to let go. “i know, but i’m here. i’m okay.” 

logan pulls back and studies him critically. “are you injured?”

“i was.” 

“what do you mean, wa - virgil?!” 

virgil slowly approaches them, still surrounded by ethereal purple light. “beloved,” he says. logan swallows, hard. “you are injured. allow me to help you.” he steps forward, brings his glowing hands up, and pulls logan into a deep kiss. logan’s eyes widen in shock before slipping shut. virgil supports logan as he dips him backwards, and purple light travels through logan. roman watches his cuts seal up and his injuries heal themselves. 

logan brings a hand up to touch his lips when virgil finally breaks the kiss. “i . . . you . . . wh . . .”

virgil smiles. it’s different than the feral grin he’d had in the heat of battle; this one is soft and loving. “beloved,” he says again. virgil blinks, and the purple light dissipates from him all at once. he sways on his feet, looking completely and utterly exhausted, and pitches forward into logan’s arms. 

“virgil!” logan gasps, catching him and slowly lowering them to the ground. 

“shit, is he -”

logan already has two fingers on his neck looking for a pulse. “his pulse is weaker than i would like, but he is breathing. i suspect he overexerted himself during that fight. i have never seen him use that much magic at once.”

“the doc will be able to help him, right?” 

“most assuredly,” logan says. he looks up at roman and sighs. “would you care to return home, roman?” 

roman thinks of patton, bright and smiling, running to greet him in the courtyard. he pictures sweeping patton off his feet and spinning him around and showering his round face in kisses before connecting their mouths and thoroughly reacquainting himself with the taste of his beloved. 

“yeah, lo. let’s go home. 

#starshinewrites #sanders sides cinderella!au #pattonella!au #romantic analogical #romantic royality #platonic TLAMP

[ask-childrenofmothernature-au]

well i can’t wait to meet logan bc i have so many questions

"Yup!"

Thomas had been listening to them for the entire walk, not paying any attention to their surroundings, so he was a little surprised when they were suddenly standing outside a large cabin.

And just in the nick of time, it seemed, because as they approached the door, it was suddenly yanked open, and there stood Virgil, appearing ready to venture out into the snow.

"Roman, Remus, have either of you seen Patton?" To say that Virgil sounded concerned would be an understatement. "We can't find him anywhere and-" He cut himself off suddenly, having looked past the twins and spotted his little brother...in the arms of a human.

"Explanation. Now."

"Virge, it's ok! Momma sent me out to get him, she told me to bring him somewhere safe." Patton flew out of Thomas' arms and changed back to his human form, about to try and calm Virgil.

In a split second, though, Virgil was in his animal form, and he full on pounced at Thomas, knocking him flat on his back, much like how Remus had earlier. Except, unlike Remus, Virgil had claws pressed against the human's neck, daring him to even try to move, let alone fight or get away.

"You aren't welcome here." Virgil said, glaring daggers at Thomas, who was completely frozen in place. "You will never be welcome here." His claws pressed down, nearly puncturing the skin, and Thomas was fully convinced he was about to actually die this time.

"That's enough, Virgil. Let him go."

Everything had gone still and silent in response to the calm, clear, and concise order. It took a moment, but Virgil eventually did as he was told, stepping away from the poor human. He changed to his himan form before storming back inside without another word.

Not a second later, Patton was at Thomas' side, helping him sit up, comforting him, and checking for any injuries.

"I apologize," the unfamiliar voice spoke up once again, growing closer, "Virgil is not fond of your kind, but that is no excuse for his behavior."

Thomas finally looked up, his eyes meeting a pair of deep blue ones that peered at him through a pair of reading glasses. The man held a hand out to him, which Thomas accepted, and helped him up.

"I am Logan. It's a pleasure to meet you."

It took Thomas a moment to process what was going on, still a little dazed. "Oh, um..Thomas. And it's nice to meet you too."

-----

Logan is open for asks.

Let me know if I need to add anymore trigger warnings.

#sanders sides #thomas sanders #ts virgil #virgil sanders #ts logan #logan sanders #tw threats #tw death mention #major story part

[thebestworstidea]

Make A Wish

(Part One: Falling Star) (Part Two: Crash and Burn)

On Ao3

After almost a year I manage to finish the Third Part in this Series. Each part getting longer and longer. This part clocks in at 11,000 words and change. So much for a short one shot, am I right?

Warning for naughty language, mostly care of Remus.

-----

Logan had insisted that Thomas stop the camera. He tried to insist that Thomas eat something and lie down in bed, despite his normal cautions about not eating before bed time. For a prolonged foray into the mindscape, it would be better for Thomas if his body was comfortable, and that meant being in a safe environment and not hungry. They had managed to compromise with Thomas laying on the couch, slowly eating Doritos. Then they had all settled deeper into the mindscape, discarding the fourth wall, and allowing Patton to put Thomas’s head in his lap and pet his hair. It appeared to be soothing for Patton as much as Thomas.

“I mean, they’re friends now.” Thomas pointed out. “Can Virge just snap Roman out of it on his own?” 

“If it was a normal fantasy, it would be probable.” Logan answered. He went on, but Thomas’s attention drifted. 

Janus was still standing on the landing, with his arms crossed over his chest, holding his elbows, and occasionally squeezing, staring into the distance. Thomas wasn’t sure he was blinking. The Sides always got a little further into uncanny valley the further he retreated into his own head, and more than just the stretchy-arm. Sometimes Thomas forgot they were technically imaginary, and not just very weird roommates, but times like this reminded him. Logan kept glancing back at him, still in his ‘traditional’ place next to the stairs. Unless they asked him a direct question, Remus was pacing from the window to the foot of the stairs and back, mumbling to himself under his breath, and gesturing expansively. Frankly that was more disturbing than Janus’s lack of blinking, though in a different way.  Thomas realized that Logan had stopped talking, and looked back at him. Logan sighed, deeply and punched the bridge of his nose. 

“What was the last thing you heard, Thomas?” 

“Uh… depth and immersion.” he said after a moment. He did not deserve Logan’s patience. “Which is different from the thing with your rooms.”

“Close but no, it’s not entirely different, just different enough. Thomas, I really cannot advise going forward with this idea.” 

“But… What if instead of pulling Roman out, Roman pulls Virgil in? What if they both get lost in the Imagination, and don’t ever come out again?”

“... I think your anxiety is demonstrably unaffected.”

“I’m serious, Logan.”

“That’s my job.” Logan tipped his head, and Thomas smiled a little, reassured by the faint smile in Logan’s eyes as his joke worked properly. 

“I’ve already left Roman alone too long, Logan.” Thomas said firmly. “If I can’t call him here, then I have to go to him.” He frowned. “It’s like going to the mind palace, right? I can figure it out without you if I have to-”

“Do not!” Janus startled in place, then smoothed himself down. “I mean, if you really want to be overdramatic, but I don’t think any of us suggested that you’d have to go to those lengths.” He looked over at Logan, who looked back at him.

“Kiddo, we want Roman back as much as you do.” Patton said soothingly. “So of course we’re going to go with you, we’re just trying to make a plan.” 

“I don’t know why.” Remus mumbled, “No plan survives first contact with the enemy.” 

“That quote means you need to be flexible, not that you shouldn’t plan, darling.” Janus sighed. 

“Eh both works.” Remus stretched backwards, and kept going, until he was peering out between his feet, a terrifying combination of a rag doll and a circus contortionist.  “Now, I know what you’re thinking, and the answer is yes, I can in fact suck my own-”

“I wasn’t!” Thomas interrupted, despite the fact that the thought had totally crossed his mind. Janus shook his head slightly, the faintest of smile on his face. Remus remained in pretzel mode, looking comfortable enough. “I’ve eaten something, and I’ve thought about it, and yes. I want to go to the imagination. I want to find Roman. I need to talk to him.”  He took a deep breath. “How do I do this?” 

Remus rolled across the floor and collided with Logan, knocking him over. They were a tangle of limbs for an oddly prolonged moment, and then Remus was  bodily hauling him up and dusting him off with a bit too much enthusiasm.  Logan kept trying to swat his hands away and missing. 

“If Remus is finished for the moment.” Logan said at last. “Getting into the imagination is fairly easy, especially with Creativity present.” 

Remus grinned and opened the door under the stairs. 

“This way.”

“A cupboard under the stairs?!” Thomas exclaimed.

“It varies from day to day.” Remus stepped in, and they moved to follow. Strangely there was room, as they stepped into a dusty, unused room that contained nothing but a large wardrobe on the far wall. Remus strode towards it confidently. “This is Roman trying to keep us out, by the way.” This time he let them all go first, pressing from behind to push them further, deeper into the wardrobe. 

“Hey, I thought we weren’t going to lie about ourselves any more.” Patton commented, shoving past a coat. 

“What?”

“I sure don’t want to go back into the closet.” he responded. Thomas couldn’t see who groaned, but he was pretty sure he was one of them. They came out into a wintery forest. This time Janus pressed forward, pointing at a ring of brightly colored mushrooms, the inside of the ring being full of lush green grass. 

“That’s the next one.” He said, and stepping inside had them enveloped in the warm, bright light of a sunny day. There was nothing but grass around them, golden and knee deep. At the edge of the field stood a big blue box. Logan started towards it immediately and caressed the sign on the door for a moment, before opening it and stepping into the darkness inside. It took Thomas a moment to force himself to step into blackness that he couldn’t see anything in, but he did.

He found himself falling, weightless for a long moment, the fall too gentle to really scare him, a faint blueish light catching his attention and then- his feet were settled on a brilliantly colored floor. His sides were ranged out in a semi circle around him, and the floor looked like stained glass, a giant round window, picturing what appeared to be Roman, asleep. 

“Okay, I have to ask, is this going to go on much longer?” He asked, his voice echoing a little bit. 

“Honestly, it’s never been this hard before.” Patton said, sounding a little worried. “Usually it’s just a few doors if he’s trying to keep us out.” 

“Yeah, he’s really into it.” Remus laughed, and leapt into the air, impossibly high. 

“Wait, what are you-” Before Thomas could finish the question, Remus had come down with a crash in the center of the platform,  mace first, and the window shattered into brilliant shards of light. Thomas ducked covering his head with his hands but… didn’t fall again.

Tentatively he looked up, and they were in a shallow cave. Weak light came in the entrance, as Remus stood back up, silhouetted by it. 

“Ah. Here we are.” He chuckled, and gestured grandly towards the entrance- or exit. “Welcome to the Imagination.”

Walking into the imagination made Thomas feel a little like he’d imagined Dorthy feeling when she emerged into Munchkin Land. 

It was a little too sharp and intense, like an image captured by a high definition camera. However, it was still… lacking something he’d expected. No that wasn’t it. It felt like something was wrong. 

Patton sighed beside him, and on the other side Logan made a sound of frustration. 

“Well, so much for hoping Virgil’s presence did something.” 

“Holy shit.” Remus exclaimed, more directly. “This is some desaturated Game of Thrones bullshit. Even I don’t pull this gritty palette crap.” 

And Thomas realized, yeah, that was it. He’d expected brilliant technicolor, like the Wizard of Oz, or maybe Disney Movies, but instead the rolling countryside had a faded look, like it had been shot through a filter. 

“It isn’t always like this?” he asked. 

“No, it’s only been like this recently.” Patton said sadly. “It usually gets overcast when Roman’s sad, but this is different.” It was overcast, clouds rolling across the sky. But that wouldn’t cause the world to look like this. A pathway led downhill, away from the cave, towards an overgrown gate with no fence, next to a dirt road. Thomas thought he could see a castle in the distance, but wasn’t completely sure. He headed down the path towards the gate anyway. For some reason, he felt compelled to open it and walk through to the road, instead of walking around it. Well, there was a ditch, so maybe it was better this way. His feet had barely gotten onto the road when there was an explosion of expletives from behind him. 

“Oh you have got to be fuckin’ with me.” Remus groaned from the back of the group. “He’s really got a hold of this area.”  His exclamation of disgust got everyone’s attention, and they watched as he made scrapeing motions at his clothes, which rippled and changed from white, to black, to white again. “Consent, Roman, you little shit.” Remus growled “I’m still your fuckin brother and you do not get to do it to me.” The shape and decoration of the clothing didn’t really change, though the teeth transformed from pearls as he swiped at them. It was still rufflily, sparkly, and accented in silver and green. Only the main color changed. “You son of a bitch!” he whined, and seemingly gave up for a moment. The brilliant fabric made the strip of white in his hair look brighter. Then suddenly he made a tearing gesture, which jerked the entire ensemble back to normal for several seconds. Then it blinked back to white again. “SON OF A BITCH.” he repeated.

“Now, Remus.” Patton started as Logan snorted. 

“A classical reference, fantastic.” 

“This is binary fuckin’ bullshit he’s got no right to force me into.” Remus snarled, and pushed through to the front of the group. “I’m going to hit him so hard he fuckin’ resets.” He pointed, and even the metal of his mace was a shimmery polished silver. “I’m gettin’ my evil twin label back! If there can be only one, it’s gonna be me, because at least I’m not an asshole about it!” He continued growling a critique of Roman’s creativity “couldn’t even do the subversive white-clad-villan thing, no, had to go classic black armor with gold trim, just so everyone gets the message, ‘this guy will betray you’” Remus stopped and started undoing his belt. “Fuck it, I’ll do this naked-”

“Do not!” Patton yelped. Remus looked at him crossly. “Keep that grumpy-butt in your pants, mister.” 

“You’re not the boss of me-” he started

“I am!” Thomas put in. “This is not a clothing optional area!” 

Remus looked even more put out. 

“... the worst part is you’re probably right. Don’t want my balls pixelated, that itches like hell.” 

“Are you sure?” Thomas asked. 

“Well, we can check-” 

“Noooo!” Thomas waved his hands, and Patton put his hands over his eyes. “I’m just saying if Roman’s trying to be a villain, then-”

Remus snorted and cinched his belt shut again. 

“Tommyknocker, it’d take more than a nervous breakdown for Roman’s mind to stop fading to black after kissing. This-” he gestured at the setting “is still Disney Channel. I mean, he might get as far as Adult Swim, but having shorts painted on over my cock and balls still doesn’t sound like a great time. Admit it, you’d hate being a Ken doll.” he reached down and unsubtly rubbed his crotch. “Ah. Still there.” 

“Remus.” Janus sighed. “Focus.” 

“I’m very focused.” he gave another rub, cackling as everyone found somewhere else to look. Well, except Janus who only made prolonged eye contact. 

“We’re going to kill your brother, remember? Secret mission and all that.”

“Right!” He snapped his fingers, and four horses thundered out of nowhere, hides like burnished bronze, wearing bridles that looked more like muzzles, their reins slender, clinking chains. “Watch your fingers, they don’t care that they aren’t carrots.” 

“Ponies!” Patton said gleefully. Logan looked at the animals dubiously. 

“Must we?” Logan sighed. 

“Oh we must, we must!” Remus giggled. “Off to the castle to rescue the princess or some bullshit like that.” 

“I can’t ride a horse.” Thomas said nervously. “Can you guys ride horses?” 

“Here we can.” Logan said, “Dream ‘logic’.” he said that like it was a dirty phrase.  “You should pick one of us to ride with.” 

“If you want to try on your own, I can ride with Remus.” Janus offered. “Horses lack subtlety.” He stared at them with vague distaste. 

“We can ditch a horse if you wanna get your arms around me DJ.” Remus vaulted into the saddle with an enviable show of athleticism that Thomas was absolutely sure was beyond him. “You know I don’t mind.” 

Thomas had been rapidly weighing the pros and cons of Logan verses Patton riding double. He paused in that to watch the oddly glistening figure that was Remus pull Janus up in front of him on the saddle, tucking his arms around the liar and his chin over his shoulder. 

If Roman or Virgil had been there, Thomas would have picked one of them instantly, Roman would know what he was doing, and Virgil would have been careful enough to keep him safe. He watched Patton spin in a circle as he tried to mount the horse before finally managing to do it, and went over to Logan. Logan gave him a brief overview of the basic functions of the tack and instructions on how to mount up, holding the horse still so he could before carefully climbing up in front of him. 

“Uh, any chance of a riding helmet?” Thomas asked nervously, as he wrapped his arms around Logan. 

“Nope! Just keep your arms and limbs inside the ride, Tommyboi.” Remus laughed, and turned his horse down the road, heading towards the castle.  The other horses followed without any seeming instruction.

It wasn’t long before the road narrowed and plunged into a dark forest, creepy and overgrown; but Thomas was pretty sure it was lifted directly from Snow White. That was kind of comforting, like Roman’s hand on his shoulder. Thomas hadn’t realized how much he missed talking to his Creativity. It wasn’t always a full manifestation, sometimes just a gentle mumble of a conversation in the back of his brain that a psychologist probably would have a field day with.  Of course, then there was this… tightening his grip on Logan a bit he let his mind drift back and felt the cushions of the couch beneath him. 

No matter how bad it got, he was lying on his couch with his eyes closed. He could still taste the chips. 

He opened his eyes back up to the haunted forest. Then closed them again when a spider the size of his head dropped down from a tree, and Remus 'helpfully’ smashed it like a pinata.

What filled it did not make him happy in the least. 

But at least that was the worst that came out of the trees, though he kept thinking he saw something out of the corner of his eyes, moving just out of sight in the dark of the undergrowth. 

When Roman had talked about his castle in the imagination, it had been in the middle of a bustling town, full of life and cheerful villagers, each going about the motions of life in a fairy tale. As they approached, they saw that this castle was isolated from the nearby village, perched on a cliff over the sea. It did kind of look like the kind of castle Roman would design, somewhere between Cinderella’s and The Beast’s castles, with the addition of  an imposing curtain wall that looked a great deal more realistic. The walls of the castle were still pale, with tile roofs a disturbing blood red, long banners flying from them.  It was silhouetted impressively by a setting sun that cast crimson along imposing towering thunderheads that loomed on the horizon. 

Logan started complaining about the lack of realism, and Thomas patted his stomach soothingly, where his arms were still wrapped around him. 

“I just hope we don’t have to climb up to the top of that tower.” Logan grouched.

“Don’t worry, Logan.” Thomas said. “I’ve been listening to The Adventure Zone in my down time, there’s no way Roman hasn’t installed fantasy elevators.”

“I am not completely sure that’s reassuring. It seems to me that would lack the safety measures important in elevators, and given his current mood, ‘the tower of terror’ seems a more likely inspiration for any lifts.” 

“Well, I did feel better but it’s gone now.” Thomas sighed. 

Logan coughed. 

“Well. There are many elevator-like crane apparatus that were used historically. I don’t see any reason why there might not be a perfectly safe ascension device in there.” 

“Thanks.” Thomas mumbled, resting his head on Logan’s shoulder. 

“Backslash ‘s’?” Logan asked suspiciously. 

“What?” Thomas blinked “No, I’m serious, not sarcasm. You can’t… use that in a verbal conversation, Logan.”

“Darn.” he sighed. “I was hoping for clarity. There’s not room for a lot of that in verbal communication.”

“Most people use tone.” 

“That’s hardly universal or quantifiable!” 

“Yeah.” Thomas said sympathetically, because sometimes it really was hard to tell when people were joking, even in person, even if he’d known them for years.

“How irritating.” 

“Hey, we got a roadblock ahead.” Remus called. 

Thomas looked up to see a group of villagers with, yes, pitchforks and torches, blocking the road up to the castle. 

“Great.”

“We can run them down?” Remus offered.

“No!” Patton said immediately. 

“Well not with that attitude we can’t.” Janus said mildly, leaning back against Remus lazily. 

“No!” This time it was Thomas, not Patton. “No one is running anyone down;”

“Unless absolutely necessary.” Janus added. “It would be really efficient if we did.”

“No.” Thomas repeated. “Stop it, snake boi.” 

Deceit chuckled, and Logan heaved another sigh.

“Case in point.” 

“Let’s just… see what they want?” Thomas suggested. “Logan, can we get closer?”  As they approached the road block, a figure who looked vaguely familiar, though Thomas would not have been able to remember their name at a party, stepped forward, farming implement held warily out.

“Are you here to defeat the tyrant and his dread sorcerer?”

“Oh good, Virgil’s here.” Patton said at the back of the party. 

“‘Tyrant’.” Remus snorted at the same time. 

“We are uh, in fact here to, uhm, deal with them.” Thomas said awkwardly. The crowd started talking among themselves. 

Logan sighed. “Improv, Thomas, it’s a basic acting skill you should have a handle on.” 

“Hey, my creativity’s a little messed up at the moment.” Thomas poked him in the ribs. “I’m doing my best here.”

“I have faith you can do better.” 

Thomas honestly felt a little touched. The spokesperson for the mob spoke up again. 

“We have come to the conclusion that you appear to be in a better position to do something than we are. So we are trusting you not to make this worse.” they frowned. “Some of us remember that things were not always like things are now.” 

“I can’t make promises, but we will do everything in our power to make things better. It’s not supposed to be like this.” Thomas said with a little bit more confidence. 

“If you make it to the castle before the sun goes down, then the gate will still be open.” 

Thomas looked over at Remus. 

“You know how this works, right? Can we make it?”

“Racing the sunset? Like dramatic bitches? Oh we’ll make it. But just barely.” 

“That’s just how it works.” Janus agreed. 

“I don’t like the sound of ‘racing the sunset’” Logan grumbled. “You cannot outrun light, and sunset is a measurable and regular phenomenon.”

“Oh, but there’s one thing faster than light, Lo.” Patton offered. 

“I don’t believe that anything has been found-”

“Darkness. It’s always there first.” 

“That isn’t accurate, it-”

“Well, given that, perhaps you light boys should try to keep up, huh?” Remus called. He’d skirted the crowd, which was pulling back towards the walls of the village. “Drama can only stall for so long.” He dug his heeled boots into the horse’s side and galloped away in a cloud of dust. Patton’s horse startled into movement behind it, and Patton did a credible rendition of a Whilem scream, managing to stay in the saddle. 

“I apologize for this, Thomas.” Logan said quietly, as the horse they were riding jolted first into a dash, then a run, galloping after the others. If he’d thought he could have gotten back on his own, Thomas would have fled for the real world almost immediately. He closed his eyes and clung to Logan while the wind tore at his hair like he’d stuck his head out of a moving car.

It was strange, he could almost picture the world around him, the castle looming closer and closer as the horses thundered up the road. The problem was that having his eyes closed made him want to go back to his couch- to not be in the encroaching shadow of an ominous castle. 

Thomas forced his eyes open, looking up the road at the looming form of the fairytale castle. His legs and arms hurt from holding on. Ominous red-shaded lamps framed the gate they were approaching without slowing down. If he looked closely, he could see Roman’s emblem on them. They cast enough light to bathe the area as though the sunset was shining right through the castle making the arch of the gate glow. 

“Uh Logan?” He said, looking ahead of them. “The gate’s closing!” 

“Of course it is.” Logan sighed, exasperation heavy in his voice. “Trust in Roman, Thomas. What will be the most dramatic thing?” 

Patton’s horse had pulled ahead, and dashed through the gate, with Remus and Janus hot on his heels. The gate kept closing as they galloped towards it, and Thomas’s heart was screaming as they clattered through to the courtyard, convinced that if he’d tried he could have reached out and touched the closing gates as they passed through. He did yelp as the slam of gates behind them startled the horse they were on into a rear. Logan forced it down, but Thomas could feel himself slipping. Just as the slam of the gate faded, there was a horrible metallic rattling sound, and a portcullis fell over the wooden gates like a mouth snapping shut. 

“See?” Laughed Remus “Told you. Drama. Ro’s as predictable as a little golden book.” 

The horses snorted and stamped, snapping teeth that were suspectly sharp behind the muzzle-bridles. Logan slid down, steady after only a moment and did his best to hold the horse still so Thomas could slide down. 

Thomas did, but his knees went weak and he ended up on the cobbled surface of the courtyard. 

“Careful there, Lo-ne braincell.” Remus called. “Don’t want his brains bashed out on the rocks. It’s not like intestines, it’s all attached, can’t re-coil it.” 

“I have it under control.” Logan said, sounding only a little strained. “It would be easier if you had summoned less fractious mounts.” 

“I gotta be me!” 

A hand closed around Thomas’s elbow, helping him back to his feet, and Patton smiled, patting his back. Turning around he saw Remus shooing the horses into a stable that stood to one side, another one of those ominous lamps lighting the entrance. 

The courtyard was entirely in the shadow of the castle, which loomed above them, looking dark, even though it was made of white marble. Streaks of red sunlight peeked between the towers, then faded away even as he watched. Lights flickered on in windows seemingly randomly. Very faintly, Thomas could hear the flapping of the banners above them, and the breath of the sides around him. 

“There’s no one here.” Logan said, sounding slightly confused. 

“What do you mean?” Patton asked. “We’re here.”

“A castle of this size would require staff to run and maintain. But it’s empty.” he paused, then added. “‘Yeet’?” 

Thomas turned in a slow circle, taking the courtyard in, and he had to admit, Logan was right. Except for the five of them, the castle was void of all life.

“Sup.” 

Thomas yelped. 

“Whoa, nostalgia.” Virgil sniggered, from where he stood at the foot of the stairs that led up to the main door of the castle. “I almost missed that.” 

“You’re okay!” Thomas started forward, but Patton beat him, dancing back and forth in front of Virgil. 

“Hug?!” he asked, rubbing his balled hands together, desperately holding himself back. 

“Patton, it hasn’t been that long-” Virgil started. Then he sighed. “Fine. A little one. Because I’m not actually mad at you.” 

Patton threw his arms around Virgil and squeezed. Virgil rolled his eyes at Thomas. 

“If you want in, you’d better get here before he lets go, because the hug shop is closing after.” Thomas absolutely took the opportunity to hug Virgil. He didn’t usually end up deep enough in the mindscape to touch the sides in the first place, and Virgil hugs were special edition to boot. He pulled away as soon as Virgil patted him between the shoulders, and tugged Patton away as well. 

“I am super glad to see you though. We were worried that something was going to happen to you.” 

“Nah, I’m fine.” 

“Have you found Roman?”

“Yeah.” 

“How’s he?”

Virgil made a noncommittal noise. 

“He’s Roman. Living the drama, brooding in thunderstorms- there’s been like four since I got here, and I have not been here that long.” They could hear the rumble of thunder in the distance, and a flash of lightning momentarily put the towers into sharp relief instead of disappearing into the gathering darkness. 

“Well time is nonlinear here, so that’s not a good indication.” Logan said thoughtfully. 

“But you’ve talked to him?” Thomas asked 

“Yeah.” 

“Can you take us to him?”

“I don’t think he wants to talk to you.” he said it to Patton, but he was looking at Janus and Remus. “but, not gonna lie, that is objectively hilarious.” Virgil said and pointed at Janus. 

“What?” 

Virgil tapped his head, and then like a switch everyone noticed. At some point Janus’s hat had turned white, and no one had noticed. He stepped behind Remus, took it off and stared at it. 

“Is nothing sacred?” Janus grumbled petulantly. 

“It’s okay, DJ. I’m gonna get him good.” Remus said, and kissed the top of the liar’s head before the now snowy white hat was returned.  

“It’s fine. It’s not a big deal.” Janus lied smoothly. Hiding behind Remus had done nothing but call attention to himself, he realized as he stepped out. 

“I didn’t think you really wanted to be a ‘white hat’” Virgil smirked. 

“While I didn’t choose the villainous style, it ‘chose me’,” Janus adjusted his gloves. “I am somewhat attached to the aesthetic at this point. You, after all haven’t completely abandoned your dark persona. I don’t see why I should.” 

Virgil just scowled at him. 

“Maybe because you are, in fact, evil?”

“Are you really the one to make that call?” Janus asked, raising his eyebrows. “Judge not, lest thee be judged?” 

“Virge? Is Roman really trying to be a villain?” Thomas asked. Virgil continued to glare at Janus. 

“I guess? He’s got the look down, but.” he shrugged, playing with the edges of his sleeves. “Well, he hasn’t had anyone to be villainous at.” 

“What about the village?” Patton asked. “They seemed pretty spooked.” 

“It’s their job to be spooked.” Virgil waved a dismissive hand. “He tried to terrorize me a bit, but not going to lie, it didn’t have the kind of bite I was used to back when he actually tried to kill me.” 

“Wait, he actually tried to kill you?” Thomas said, aghast.

“Yeah, that’s what the sword was for.” Virgil looked a bit confused. “How could you not know this?” 

“Ro-bro’s just as violent as I am.” Remus volunteered. “He’s just got a Pop-up blocker.”

“That sounds super weird, but that is a dad nickname and kind of a funny image.” Patton allowed. “What he means is I always tried to get him to stop trying to hurt them and just stick to… chasing them away.”

“Also Patton had for a while the opposite of Remus’s effect on the area around him. Any damage got negated to a sort of cartoon bandage immediately.” Logan said thoughtfully. “The lack of realism was… unsettling.” 

Patton rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly.

“And of course, our dear Prince was never very good at taking direction in the first place, so we could compare scars all day if we were so inclined.” Janus waved a hand dismissing it. 

“I have no idea what goes on in my head.” Thomas breathed. Remus cackled and opened his mouth. One of Janus’ hands slapped over it.

“A thought to explore at another time, or better yet, forget.” 

Thomas had to admit that was probably a good idea. 

“So Roman’s okay?” he asked Virgil. “Just upset?”

“I think he’s a little more than ‘just upset’’” Virgil frowned, looking at his feet. “He feels betrayed, hurt, lost and scared, among other things. Which makes him feel bad, and bad is evil apparently.” 

“Sounds like you’re the right person to help him deal with all that.”

Virgil snorted. “It is kind of my specialty.”

“But I’m really worried about him, so…” Thomas gestured, “Can we see him?

“Yeah well,” Virgil put his hands in his pockets, and looked away from them. “What if I agree with him?”

“What?”

“Not about the villain thing, that’s just him being royal the only way he can, a royal pain in the ass of a drama king.” Virgil glowered at Janus who just shifted in place, keeping his face neutral. “I warned you, over and over. Not to trust them. You trust me to keep you safe. You accepted that’s what I wanted, and it is, and I’m trying to do it. Trying keep you safe from them.” he gestured to the other dark sides. “And YOU’RE NOT LISTENING.” For a moment the shadows around him came alive. He took a deep breath and shook his head. “Why?” 

“What makes you so special, Virgil?” Janus said. “Not that I want a full family welcome, I don’t mind staying in the background. But why shouldn’t I want what you have?” he gritted his teeth and hissed slightly, smoothing down the front of his jacket. “I’m sorry. I led you astray and I hurt you, and the only excuse I had was that I thought I was doing the right thing at the time.” He took a step forward and gestured between them. “I can’t help what I am. What Thomas makes of me. But I still only want what’s best for him. And if the best way to get that is…” his face twisted “Honesty, then I’ll give that a shot.” 

“Why should I believe that? Why should any of us believe anything you say?” 

Janus’s nostrils flared and he rocked back.  

“It’s a close thing, Virgil, but you’re normally more rational than Roman. So let me ask you simply- is there anything I could do to convince you of my sincerity?” 

Virgil’s eyes flicked up to the side. 

“No.” 

“I see.” Janus’s nostrils flared again, and he sighed. “... nothing for it I suppose.” stretching out his hand towards the floor, the hooked black staff they’d seen before appeared. Virgil took a step backwards one hand going behind his back, and his body stiffened as Janus twisted the hook to the left and slid loose a few inches of blade.

“Jeezy creezy.” Thomas said quietly. “Has that always been there?” 

Janus turned the staff and held it, crook and exposed blade towards Virgil. Virgil stared at it for a long moment, eyes flicking back up to Janus.

“Go on. Take it.” 

Virgil reached out with his right hand, keeping his left behind his back, and wrapped his hand around the handle, drawing the rest of the blade out of the staff. It was shorter than Roman’s blade, and completely straight. The rest of the staff dropped, bounced once on the floor and disappeared. 

“If I can’t convince you, we can’t work together for the good of Thomas. Which, believe it or not, is all I want.” He took a step forward, holding the blade between two gloved fingers, and setting the point against his throat, right above the dip of his collar. “Because we lack trust.” 

“Fuck Dee-” Virgil said, arm trembling, he stepped back, and Janus stepped forward, maintaining the contact. “I could kill you-” 

“Yes. That’s the point.” 

“No the point is I can’t trust you, not that you don’t trust me-” His arm was shaking more. “This doesn’t prove shit!” 

“Trust has to start somewhere.” Even though his fingers could have hardly stopped the blade if Virgil had chosen to thrust, Janus still dropped his hand. He took a deep breath, and the point dug into his skin, just a bit. No one said anything, just staring at the standoff. Even though he was trembling, Virgil didn’t lower his arm either. He glared out from between his bangs and eyebags.  “I’m sorry.” he repeated, so quiet that Virgil might have missed it if he wasn’t looking at his face.

“YOU CAN’T JUST SAY THAT.” his voice crackled. 

“I don’t know what else I can say.”

“You didn’t do anything wrong.” the volume was low but it still crackled when he spoke, and Virgil grimaced, drawing a deep breath. 

“Now that’s just completely untrue.” Janus said mildly, like he didn’t have a blade to his throat.

“I hate you because I’m scared, okay? Personal scared, not anxiety scared.” Virgil’s arm flexed, and Janus tipped his head just  bit to breathe better, not removing the blade from his skin. “And I… I wanted you to fight for me. But you just said that if it served me better to go to the ‘light’ side, I should do it. That I wasn’t needed in the dark.” 

“I said.” Janus breathed. “That you didn’t need to be dark.” 

Virgil moved the blade- making everyone breathe a sigh of relief, though that didn’t last long as he gestured wildly with it. 

“And then I was afraid that if I didn’t hate you, like the lights hated us, then they’d hate me, and no matter what I’d get pushed away, and then I’d have nowhere to be. I’d live in exile in the figment suburb and no one would talk to me ever again. Which sounds pretty good when you first say it, but not at all if you actually picture it.” he dragged his free hand down his face. 

Patton shifted uncomfortably, looking guilty and kept glancing over at Logan, who just looked like he was facing a word puzzle with one too few pieces. 

“I’m scared that I’m going to lose what I have now, because I was a dark side. Because I still am, even if I’m trying to do the right thing, I’m bad at it. I’m scared of what’s going to happen next, if you’re going to be around. And it is so easy” he bared his teeth, and it was definitely not a smile, the canines too pronounced and all of his teeth sharper than Thomas’s.  “To go from scared to angry. And to get so angry I only could hate you. It’s not like you make yourself easy to like.” he added.

“And hate leads to suffering.” Logan supplied. They all stared at him. “What? ‘Fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, and hate leads to suffering.’ It’s the path to the dark side. Star Wars. Yoda.” 

“Or away from the dark side, in this case.” Remus snorted. 

“Okay, you’re a nerd, but not wrong.” Virgil allowed. “I’ve definitely been suffering. And it’s stupid. Because if you’re accepted, all of you, knowing what you are, then what did I hide for? Does my suffering even matter? I thought… I was special. Just for a little. That I could make that jump.” 

“Virgil, I am very sorry but I am going to hug you really hard unless you tell me not to before I get there-”

“Patton, wha-” 

Patton crashed into Virgil, and wrapped his arms around him. “You were, and are always special.” he said forcefully “I am so, so sorry Virgil. I’m sorry I ever made you feel like that.”

“It wasn’t… it wasn't just you, Pat.” Virgil mumbled, not pulling away. Falling from his hand, the blade from Janus’s staff hit the floor and disappeared. 

“No but. I’m responsible. Everybody listens to me more, because Thomas feels things so strongly, so I need to be more careful what I say. It’s not enough to be silly and fun. I can hurt people without meaning to, or with the best intentions. But I still hurt them. And I have to take responsibility for that. Like a real grown up, not just playing pretend.” 

“Hey, don’t get too grown up.” Thomas protested. “I mean, I could do without the enthusiastic moral dilemmas, but I like you the way you are, Pat.” He switched his focus. “And that goes for you too, Virgil. You can be hard to take, but I’ve gotten used to it. It’s… actually a lot easier for me to deal with anxiety, when I have a face to put to it, especially a friendly one.”

Virgil raised a skeptical eyebrow. 

“Friendly?”

“Gah don’t just… do that thing.” Thomas gave a little shudder. “Yes, friendly. You’re a friend. You’re my friend. Not just my anxiety.” 

Virgil sighed, and let his head drop to Patton’s shoulder. Patton hugged him a little harder. 

“Roman needed a friend pretty badly. I just… I got it, you know? Sometimes you just get caught up in what you don’t  want to be, so you just go in the opposite direction no matter what.” He straightened up and pulled away. Patton let him go and stepped back himself. “I don’t think I’ve been the best friend lately.” 

“No, you’ve been fine-” Thomas started to object.

“Not just to you. I’ve said some… shit.” his eyes skittered over Janus and Remus, focusing on Logan. “Logan- I… I’m sorry. You may not be easy to deal with, but you definitely had my back, and I lashed out at you. I do that a lot.”

“Shortness of temper is a common symptom of anxiety disorders.” Logan said dismissively, hiding behind his stoic shield. 

“See- like that. Fuck.” He pushed his bangs back. “Let me apologize for lashing out at you, while we’re having this giant stupid sorry circle, okay?” 

“Thank you. But you don’t need to apologize. I am above petty emotions. I’m just glad you’re aware of the problem now.”

Behind Logan’s back, Janus mockingly flapped his hand like he was working a puppet, rolling his eyes, as a forked tongue flicked out in a brief blep. Everyone understood, and no one said anything.  They could deal with Logan’s issues another day. 

“Sure, let’s go with that.” Virgil sighed. “I’ll try and stay aware of it.” 

“That’s all I can hope for.” he paused, and looked downward. “For what it is worth… I accept your apology, Virgil.” 

The corner of Virgil’s mouth came up, an affectionate little smile. 

“Thanks.” 

“Yay sharing is caring just like syphilis.” Remus rolled his eyes so hard Thomas almost expected to see them leave his head. “Hey, Virgilicous, just so you know; I mean I know this was a whole big drama-boy bullshit? But if you’d slit his throat, you’d follow him down.” Remus said in a purely conversational tone. “That being said, can we just” he made walking motions with his fingers. “Get on with our audience with his royal pain-in-the-ass?”

“I’m sorry your dis-grace did you have someplace to be?” he sneered. 

“I got places I’d rather be, including an actual midden, not just an emotional one.” 

Virgil heaved a big sigh, and looked at Thomas, Logan and Patton.

“Do you think it’ll help?” he asked, looking a bit lost. 

“I have to try.” Thomas answered. “If he’s hurting, I have to try to do something. I wasn’t in a great place to see how he felt when it happened. But I can’t just let him-”

“Fester.” put in Remus.

“...well… yeah, I guess.” 

“I’m helping.” Remus said cheerfully to Janus and Logan who shared an exasperated look. 

“He is hurting.” Virgil said quietly. “Fine. This way.” He turned and headed up the steps, pushing the huge doors at the top open with both hands. They left the dimly lit courtyard, the sky too overcast to show any early stars or moon, and followed him into the castle proper.

Within a few steps, the faint light from the few lamps in the courtyard was gone. Somehow they could still make out Virgil’s outline, faintly visible in a nimbus of violet light that illuminated nothing. 

“Remus, do you think you could provide a little light?” Logan’s voice came. “I’d rather not collide with any furniture.”

“Sure, Doc Dork. I think I can do that right now.” There was a noise more like a crack than a snap, and candelabras sprung to life one after another along the edge of the entry hall, burning faintly green. 

“Ow!” Patton yelped, squinting a bit at the sudden light. Now illuminated, there was still a bit of resemblance to the Beast’s castle, though less worn down. The polished floor sparkled a little like there were pieces of mica embedded in the dark marble. Despite Logan’s concerns there wasn’t much furniture at all, a few end tables between closed doors holding decorative objects. 

The entry hall was easily two stories high, ceiling decorated painted panels, between them the columns were topped with either gargoyle-like angels, or angel-like gargoyles. Remus peered at them crossly, and Thomas had to look away as too many eyes looked back at him. At the end of the entry hall was a wide staircase, softened by a scarlet velvet runner rug, edged in gold, and pooling at the foot of the stairs, inviting like an inverted arrow. There was a landing, about a story up, and two flights of stairs that went in opposite directions to a gallery around the edge of the hall, and presumably off to other wings. 

There was a portrait at the head of the stairway, larger than life, and framed by two sconces that illuminated it, displaying Roman in all his ‘evil’ persona’s glory. A black fitted, tailed coat, dripping with golden embroidery and frogging, with red cuffs also covered in gold work, black gloves, of course, red epaulets with golden fringe, apparently holding up a flowing red cape, black leather boots up to the thigh where they were cuffed in gold with red embroidery. Red pants so tight they might as well have been leggings were tucked into them. His hair had been swept back, and he wore red eye makeup. Earrings dangled from each lobe, such a dark red they looked almost black. A broach of his crest centered at the base of his throat, somehow looking ominous while being unchanged. 

“Damn.” Janus said softly, admiringly.  Remus gave him an offended look.  “What? It’s an effective outfit!” He tapped his fingers against his chin thoughtfully. “A bit stuffed I think.” 

“Do you think?” Logan asked. “I assumed it was a dancer’s belt.”

“They do have that effect don’t they?”

“I can’t believe I kept my clothes on for this.” grumbled Remus. 

“Are you guys coming or not?” Virgil asked from the landing beneath the portrait. 

“Virgil, what are you wearing?” Thomas asked suddenly. When they’d been talking in the courtyard, Virgil was dressed as he normally was; now he was distinctly not.

 Looking down at the black and silver uniform that might have very well come off an extra in the black parade, but for an added hood and a few purple plaid patches, Virgil sighed. “Atmosphere.” 

“And lipstick.” 

He shrugged. “I did that part. I’m working on compromises remember? He asked if I was staying and if I’d … join in.” He smirked a bit. “You can’t honestly think that I’m going to be completely against a little drama?” 

“So whose side are you on?” Patton asked, suddenly concerned.

“Thomas’s.” he tapped the toe of his boot against the stone floor. “Who else?” 

"Oh. That's ok then." he smiled, and hopped up the stairs towards Virgil. Thomas took another moment staring at the portrait, then followed. He ran the last time he’d actually seen and spoken to Roman over in his head, trying to think of what he was going to say. What could he say? What was Roman going to say? 

Leading them down a hallway, Virgil glanced back at him. 

“Breathe. In and out, Thomas. You’ve been doing it your whole life.” 

“Is it going to be okay?” Thomas asked. 

“I am not the person you should be asking.” Virgil shook his head, and led them up another flight of stairs, spiraling around a center column, carved with thorny roses. Behind him, he heard Janus hiss softly.

“The cape too?”

“It’s gettin’ flipping worse.” Remus growled. “F*ck.”

“I have never heard you make that noise with your mouth.” Logan said, a bit surprised. 

“Really what have you heard him make that noise with?” Patton asked. He yelped and clapped his hands over his ears as Remus let out a torrent of expletives, some balderized, some bleeped, and some making it through.

“Patton please, you’re embarrassing yourself.” Logan groaned. “I’ve heard you swear when you sneeze too loudly.” 

“Can’t hear you.” Patton retorted. “My ears are covered.” 

“Keep it down.” Virgil snapped. Then he actually did snap, and Remus choked, unable to breathe or speak. It only lasted for a moment, but that was long enough for Janus to stare at Virgil. Virgil glared back, and flicked his fingers. Remus wheezed in a breath. 

“The dread sorcerer I see.” Janus muttered. 

“Whooo boy.” Remus croaked. “Missed that, kinky boots.” 

“Just... give me a second okay?” Virgil stopped in front of a set of french doors that plainly led out to a balcony. “You don’t want to surprise Roman right now.”

The doors opened to a broad balcony that faced out over the ocean. Storm clouds danced in the distance, but now they could see the moon glowing through the clouds above them, a misty gray light. Against the railing stood a figure in a long cloak, the light turning the crimson to a rich garnet. He tipped his head as Virgil’s boots made noise while he crossed the stone, but didn’t turn around. 

“Hey, Princy. You’ve got guests.” Virgil said quietly once he was only an arm’s length behind him. 

“I don’t want to see anyone else.” Roman grumbled.  Virgil took the last couple steps forward and nudged him gently with his elbow. 

“You knew this was coming.”

“Why did you bring them here?” Roman demanded. 

“Thomas.” Virgil said like it was a full explanation. Roman drew in a sharp breath through his nose, glancing over his shoulder, and seeing Thomas in the center of the group standing just outside the door, staring at him. 

“Ah. Yes.” Raising a gloved hand he stroked Virgil’s cheek, cupping it momentarily. “It’s been fun while it lasted.” 

Virgil gave a near invisible huff of laughter, nodding and Roman dropped his hand, turning to face them, and moved forward exactly far enough that his cloak could billow dramatically behind him. Virgil stayed slightly behind him and to the left, leaning back on the railing for a moment before jerking forward, glancing over it and taking a nervous step or two away from it.

There was a long pause in which no one spoke, and the only sounds were the cracking of the pennants on the tower, the rustle of his cape, the faint crash of the ocean far below and the thunder and lightning in the distance. 

Roman’s eyes flicked over each of them in turn, coming to rest on Thomas last. Thomas wondered if it was in his head; but the skin around Roman’s eyes looked puffy, and his eyes red, like he’d spent a long time crying. Of course, with the lighting it was hard to tell for sure.

Thomas took a deep breath. Nothing he’d thought of to say on the way here seemed right. Roman deserved his best effort. 

“Roman-” Thomas started, but Roman talked over him. 

“So this is it, come to defeat the villain in his own castle? I’m so glad;” Roman sneered. “That I could bring you all together like this.” 

“Hey have you done anything villainous besides being an a$$hole?” Remus asked curiously. 

“Uhm Roman, Buddy?” Patton said “I don’t like swearing either, but could you ease up on whatever’s making his mouth do that?” 

“Oh? Am I to stop playing nice at all?” Roman demanded. He took a half step back and his hand flexed at his side, a sheathed sword appearing in it. “Because I can certainly do that.” 

“We’re not here to fight!” Patton protested. “Roman please, we just- we miss you.” 

“Clearly.” he sneered, looking at his brother. 

“Hey, don’t look at me, dope-face. I miss you all the time. Sometimes even on purpose.”  he grinned and tucked his hands behind his head. 

“Given the company you’re choosing to keep, I can’t help but feel perhaps you don’t miss me that badly.” He flicked his wrist at them dismissively. “So lovely that you visited, please get out. I have no interest in playing an outdated role that isn’t wanted anyway.” There was a sharp crack of lighting briefly illuminating the balcony. The sky hissed softly as rain started to fall, hard and nearly blinding. Roman turned away to face the sea. 

“Now wait a gosh-darn minute!” Patton protested, barely audible above the rain. “We came all this way to talk to you and you’re not giving us a chance!” 

Virgil raised his hand palm up and a cloud of purple and black glowing magic expanded from it, creating a near invisible shield and shunting the rain off of them. Roman looked at him and Virgil just shrugged. Flicking wet hair back from his face, Roman turned back. 

“Don’t we deserve a chance to try and rescue the prince?!” Patton continued. 

“Rescue from what? A growing awareness that I’m as unwanted as a parasite and a tumor?”  He gestured at Remus and Deceit. Janus was delicately flicking water off an umbrella that he had conjured and held over Thomas’s head. Remus frankly looked thrilled at the comparison. 

“Oooh which one am I? Am I the tumor? I hope I am.” He bounced in place, not minding how the rain had plastered his hair down. The white of his adulterated costume glistened, each raindrop turning crystalline and sparkling in the dim light. “Tumors are fascinating! Did you know that the average person actually gets a cancerous tumor several times in their life, and their body just-” he made a chomping motion with his hand. “Eats it back up? Oooh! Bro, you should have eaten me in the womb!”

“Remus.” Logan said. “Focus. Also we were never in wombs, unless you count Thomas's forming fetus as our genesis as well, rather than counting our creation from the development of his mind-”

“Logan.” Thomas managed pinching the bridge of his nose. “Not now.” 

“Well, what if we got a giant like, whale bladder, and stuffed me and Roman into it- or we could just make a fleshy sack big enough to-” 

“Look, I would much rather go back to what I was doing before you got here.” Roman interrupted. “Virgil’s been showing me some wonderfully dramatic music.” 

“Well, welcome to the black parade, bro.” Remus snorted. “Congrats on reaching PG-13.” Virgil flipped Remus off, but Remus ignored it. “I didn’t bring a cake to jump out of so I’m going to force feed you this angsty bullhockey until you choke on it.” he grinned, teeth white and sharp “and once you’ve puked it all back out, I’m gonna rub your nose in it.” He flourished his wrist and his mace appeared in it. “Sound good?” 

This time the twins came together and clashed before anyone could say anything. 

��Just go away!” Roman yelled, blocking the blow aimed at his head. Remus dropped and aimed the second blow at Roman’s legs, only to get kicked in the head as Roman leapt over it. “I’ve given up! Take it! You wanted attention, and it’s yours!” 

“You don’t get to decide what I want! I want lots of things!” Remus spat back. Roman’s blade lashed out and a curl of hair fell “Mostly, I want things to go back to normal. Boring is more fun to <quack> with.” 

“We just want you back, Roman!” Patton insisted from the sidelines, wringing his hands. 

“Your input is valuable in Thomas’s chosen career.” Logan offered. “Remus is not suited to it.” 

“It’s true, I’m not.” Remus laughed. “But there’s always Onlyfans.” 

“My butt is not getting on camera thanks, there’s a reason we’re shot from the waist up.”

“Your butt is fabulous and worthy of attention!” Roman snapped without thinking about it, pointing at Thomas. 

“Quite the ass-et.” Agreed Remus. 

“Oh shut up.” Roman kicked hard and Remus, not expecting it, went down with a squeak like a breaking dog toy.

“Roman what the fuck.” Thomas breathed.

“There! See! I can be a villain, I did something villainous and low and unchivalrous!”  Roman shouted. 

“You’re a diuck is what you are.” Choked Remus, voice strangled a bit. “Why is it only me!?” 

“Heroes don’t swear.” Roman said.

“I’m not a motherfather hero!” Remus countered. “You can’t just force people to be what you think they should be to fit your narrative, like you’ve always done.” 

“Shut up!” 

 “You’re still doing it! Just because you’ve flipped the script doesn’t mean you’re not still forcing people to play your game.” 

“I said shut up!” he took a baseball swing with his sword as Remus got to his feet, and sent his brother careening back across the balcony, colliding with Logan, who hit the wall with Remus on top of him.

“This Is my life now.” Logan groaned out of breath. “Rationality being crushed under intrusive thoughts.” 

“I like it.” Remus retorted, equally as breathless. “You okay teach?” 

“I am very resilient.”

“I know.” it was a leer, but Remus didn’t get back to his feet just yet. 

Roman looked momentarily horrified at what he’d done, then shook his head, fixing his ‘villain’ sneer in place. 

“I’ve made my point. Leave.” 

Once again, Thomas tried to gather his thoughts. This was all going wrong and he hadn’t even opened his mouth. 

Janus sighed. 

“I prompted this response, I should try and fix it.” He stepped forward, for a moment getting between Thomas and Roman, as he continued to walk towards him. 

“I’m not interested in your honey-thick words, Deceit.” Roman spat. “Take your victory and go.”

“A pyrrhic victory is no kind of win to my mind. Roman-” 

“Oh shut up, you’ve done nothing but lie since you slithered out of the subconscious.” He pointed his blade directly at the other Side. 

“On the contrary, I haven’t lied since I arrived in your castle.” 

Roman scoffed. 

“A likely story.” 

“Like I said, my efforts have resulted in this- role reversal passion play, and that was nowhere near my intent. I want what’s best for Thomas, and this is not it. He needs his hero, Roman. He needs you.” 

“Why should I believe anything you say? Including your claim that you haven’t lied.”

“You won’t trust me if I lie, and you won’t believe me if I tell the truth.” Janus gestured expansively. “You can see how that puts me in a box.”

“Maybe I should put you in a literal box.” Roman growled. He took another step towards Janus, who held his ground.

“Terribly sorry, but Remus put in his dibs for fighting you, and I would hate to disappoint him. You can threaten to kill me later, I promise.” He tipped his head and snorted, giving a near smile. “I…” he grimaced. “I apologize for lashing out. I of all people know even at your cruelest, you aren’t like your brother.” 

“Thank Thomas.” Remus said, finally getting to his feet. 

“Our relationship has been very rocky, mostly because I have never really trusted you either.”

“Oh that’s rich.” Roman said flatly, but his sword lowered.  “Why wouldn’t you trust me? I’m a Prince! Honor and loyalty are my thing.” he didn’t even seem to realize he was talking in the present tense. 

“And what’s another thing that goes with those words, Roman? Duty.” 

“Pfft.” Remus giggled. Janus paused, looking momentarily pained, before smoothing his expression out again. 

“Do you remember the courtroom? I made you judge because of those reasons, and that was my mistake. When you gave your verdict, Roman, you interrupted me.”

“Should I care?”

“Well, it was rude, but by doing that, I never actually managed to make my point.” He shifted in place that little back and forth sway of his. “The point was never the trial. It was supposed to be ridiculous. It was supposed to be pointless. There was never supposed to be a verdict, and I’m sorry for setting you up to make that decision on your own.” He made a small noise of disgust. “I am thoroughly sick of saying sorry.”

“You get used to it.” Patton sighed. 

Janus made another sound of disgust. 

"So what was the point?" Roman demanded. "Why set up a pointless kangaroo court?"

"Ooh that sounds adorable." Patton breathed.

"They'll drown a bitch" Remus supplied.

"The point was to show how silly the debate of if Thomas is good or not was. Thomas is good;" he dipped the first two fingers of each hand "because he chooses to act in ways he considers good." Again the finger quotes. "Even if he chooses the best good for him as opposed to the best good for the most people, he remains good. However, the idea is stuck in his head that only when he chooses good for others is it possible to be Good. It's an entirely emotional appeal-"

"Appeal!" Patton exclaimed “That's more lawyer language!" 

Janus pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. 

"Yes, Patton, but you don't appeal when you win, even if that wasn't the point. But that was why Logan had to be kept out of it. He's too much of a focused problem solver. If he’d been properly involved he would have seen through the facade, even though the actual meat of the matter had to do with emotions which he eschews.”

“I’ll take an apology for that any time.” Logan said mildly. 

“We’ll get to your issues later, Logan.” Janus said. “Do stuff your emotions back into the box you’ve allotted them for the moment.” 

“I don’t want to be in a box.” Muttered Patton quietly. 

Roman shook his head, slowly, then with more force. 

“You were right about one thing.” 

Janus cocked his head. 

“I can’t trust anything you say. You’ve indulged in your theatre, good job-” he applauded sarcastically. “I hope you feel better, trotting out placating little falsehoods as is your wont. But get out. All of you-” he paused. “Not you Virgil, you can stay.”

“Cool.”

“But if I wanted to see any of you, I would have. Take a hint.” he pointed at the door behind them. “Don’t make me use force.” There was a well timed growl of thunder, followed by a flash of lightning which back lit him impressively. “You don’t want me, you don’t need me, and I don’t need any of you.” 

“No.” Thomas said firmly. 

Roman started, as if he’d forgotten Thomas was there at all. His aggressive posture faltered a bit. 

“No?”

“No. You’re my Creativity. My Prince. My Hero. My Roman.” he took a step forward with each title. “I don’t want anyone else.” Reaching out, he put his hands on either side of Roman’s face, cradling it. Very faintly he felt Roman shiver under his touch. “Come back. We need to talk, and I was too messed up in my own problems to remember that you can each get messed up in your own ways. You always help me; and I need to remember to help you.” 

“That’s… it doesn’t work like that.” Roman protested. “We’re here for you. It… it’s not meant to be two ways.” 

The other Sides all looked away. That was more than anyone wanted to admit. They wanted Thomas’s attention, craved it.  But it was true. They were there to support him, not be supported. 

“Well maybe it should be.” Thomas tugged gently on Roman, and he came, folding against Thomas, melting into the hug. 

“Just so we’re all on the same page, if they start fucking, we’re all gonna keep watching, right?” 

“That is the complete opposite of the truth, Remus.” Janus sighed, sounding exhausted.

“I’d watch.” Remus supplied. 

“I know.”

“If you order me to do it, I’ll come back.” Roman sounded choked, face pressed to Thomas’s shoulder.

“I don’t want to order you,” Thomas responded. “I want you to want to come back, as much as I want you back. I want you, I need you, I love you. And if this is what you are now, I’ll take it.” 

“No.” Roman gave a bitter little laugh and shook his head where it was pressed to Thomas’s shoulder. “I’m not… I’m not good at being a villain. It’s hard.” 

“That’s half the fu-” Remus’ breath wheezed out of him in the same moment one of Janus’s hands clapped over his mouth. Virgil and Janus met each other's eyes for a moment, then looked away. 

“I just don’t understand.” Roman’s gloved hands clutched at the back of Thomas’s shirt. “Why does everything have to change so much? Why does it hurt?” 

“I don’t know either.” Thomas admitted. “But it’s better when you have people you love with you.” 

Roman gave another shuddering gasp. 

“I want to be there for you. But I don’t know what I’m supposed to do anymore.”

“Then finding out should be an adventure.” Thomas offered. Roman gave a wet laugh. 

“I remember. Before when the world was all adventure, and failure was just another kind of adventure.”  

Across the balcony, Remus shuddered, squeezing his eyes shut, and sympathetic tears leaking as Roman lost himself in memory and he synched with it.  He clutched at his own arms, and then relaxed as Janus wrapped himself around the Duke. It wasn’t the same, but in the end, it was all Remus had ever had. 

He watched Thomas and Roman over Janus’s shoulder, as their clothes faded back to their normal black, and the storm raging around them passed on, leaving a bright, full moon high in the sky to pop through the clouds, and then stars shining brightly as the last of the storm winds tore the clouds apart and cleared the sky.   

Their placement on the balcony, and the lack of lights in the castle made it seem like they were floating in a star filled sky. Logan filled his eyes with it, looking anywhere but the emotional displays. Patton sidled up beside him and took his hand. 

“I’m sorry I hurt you.” Thomas murmured in Roman’s ear, still holding him, there were tears in his eyes. 

“I’ll forgive you, I’ll always forgive you.” Roman returned. “But I still hurt.” 

“Then we can only learn from the pain.” Thomas closed his eyes. “But never doubt what you mean to me.”

When he opened his eyes again, they were back in his living room, and Roman was no longer in his arms, instead standing in his usual spot in front of the TV. He still wore the dramatic gold-adorned costume, though the coat was now white, and his hands were bare. He rubbed at the edge of one eye, still red from emotion, and a bit of smeared makeup.

“I must look a mess.” he sniffed.

“I just want to be clear, are you concerned about your appearance, or are you ‘trawling for praise’?” Logan asked. “Either way, while it might take some time to get used to your attire, you are as handsome as ever.” 

Roman looked surprised, and a little touched. 

“Really? Do you think I should keep it?” he twirled his cape. 

“You can if you want, but I’m sticking in my comfort zone.” Virgil said, back in his normal attire and placement. “But I’m glad you’re back where you belong, Princey.” 

“I still want to hear that music, Lilac Park.” 

“Normally I’m not about trying new things, but sure.” Virgil gave a little smile. Thomas relaxed minutely. He’d had more than enough adventure for one day. A moment later, Patton popped up. His eyes were wet too. 

“I’m so glad you’re back with us Roman.” he said. “I was setting up a welcome home meal real quick. It’ll be ready for us when we get there.” he glanced over to Thomas. “Uhm, you can join us but-”

“I think I’m just gonna order a pizza and crash.” Thomas assured him. “I mean, I’m always with you guys, the same way you’re with me. But I think I’ve had enough Mindscape adventures for the day. Maybe the month.” he added. “Roman, if you ever feel like that again, just… know you can trust me, okay?”

“I’ll keep that in mind.” he nodded, and looked over. Half hidden in the shadows on the stairs to Virgil’s left were his brother and Janus, Janus sitting on the step behind him with his arms around his neck still. Roman took a deep breath. “... Janus?”

The other Side startled, tipping the scaled side of his face in Roman’s direction, eyes wide.

“I’m sorry. For making fun of your name.”

“It’s alright Roman.” Janus airily answered. “It’s not like it actually hurt me or anything. I don’t know what I expected.”

“You should have expected it, because I’m terrible to you. Even before I coined the term ‘Dark Sides’.” 

“Fuckin’ right.” Remus muttered, still looking a bit spaced out. 

“So… I’ll do my best if you will.” 

“Are you sure you want to make a deal with a snake in the grass?” Janus retorted. 

“No. But I will.” 

Janus smiled suddenly and unconsciously. 

“Well, I’ll do my best not to abuse that trust then.”

“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves.”

Janus laughed at that. 

“Fine.” He gave a nod. 

“I’m gonna sleep for a week.” Remus groused. “I had to be fuckin’ serious and focused. Work sucks, I’m going to go back to just throwing random impulses. Smell you later.” He and Janus both vanished.

“We’re much more likely to smell him first.” Logan commented. “Get some rest Thomas. We’ll reschedule your brainstorming for another day.” 

“Yeah. See you.” 

One by one the Sides sunk down, leaving him alone. He threw himself backwards into the embrace of his sofa. Somehow he felt better, like a he’d been missing something he didn’t realize, and now it was back. 

“Peace out.” Thomas muttered to himself, and gave a small laugh, hugging himself. 

#willow is writing #Sanders Sides Fic #TS Thomas #TS Logan #TS Patton #TS Janus #TS Remus #TS Virgil #TS Roman

[tulipscomeinallsortsofcolors]

LAOFT AU in Which TSS exists Part 5

Tw: almost everything in italics is a fight scene, brief mention of slight emotional manipulation.  

Thomas’ head was reeling. After all of the information he just had dumped on him, he was a little overwhelmed. 

He had been having a pretty mundane day. Nothing seemed unusual until he heard Berry’s panicked voice over the phone. Obviously worried, Thomas rushed over asap. 

He was expecting a lot of things.

A fanfiction of their entire lives written by the only person Virgil had ever been scared of? Not on the list. 

“Ok, so what do we do?” Thomas asked frantically.

“N̸̫̆o̵͉͂t̶̥̚h̸̨̔i̸͚̾n̴̬͝g̶͖͋,” Virgil said in a distorted voice, though it sounded more voice-crack-panicky than it did threatening. He cleared his throat, “Sorry. I meant we aren’t going to do anything.”

“Come on, Virge! Not like you to back down from a challenge.” Roman said, clearly trying for encouraging, but Virgil grimaced.

-

“What are you scared, Mr. Lord of The Forest?” Tulip teased, “I mean you said it yourself, I am ‘just a flower nymph,’” 

Virgil turned around, returning Tulip’s glare. 

“Alright, then. But if you cry when you lose don’t say I didn’t tell you so.”

“Right back at you, Mister.”

-

“This challenge was one I should have backed down from years ago.”

“Ok, wow, that’s not ominous at all,” Patton chuckled.

“Yeah, no kidding,” Roman agreed, “Anyway, Virgil, why don’t you tell us more about this mysterious “Tulip” you oh so desperately want to reunite with?”

Virgil sighed. 

“Ok.”

-

Virgil landed flat on his back before he even knew what was happening. He went to get up, but was immediately slammed back down to the ground by a heavy boot. Tulip put his sword under Virgil’s chin. He heard Bell whisper something about “wishing she was Virgil right now,” but Virgil had more important things to worry about. 

Virgil drew a dagger from his pocket and tries to jab it into the the leg Tulip was using to hold him down. Keyword: trying. 

Tulip caught the blade, twisted it from Virgil’s grasp, and put it in her pocket, all in one motion. 

“How did you-”

“A magician never tells her secrets.” 

- 

 “She was Bell’s partner,” Virgil said, “I made the mistake of underestimating him. She proved me wrong.”

“What, did you like challenge her, or something?” Thomas asked, tilting his head to the side and faintly resembling a confused golden retriever. 

“I called him weak. She, in turn, challenged me, and mocked me if I refused.”

“So, we should get Bell, find Tulip, combine our strengths, and try again,” Logan suggested, “We have a much higher chance at success if we work together.”

“Did you miss the part where he knows us like the back of his hand and can predict all of our movements?” Virgil asked.

“She can’t stop all of us. And if we have Bell with us, he might hesitate,” Logan retorted. 

“That’s a dirty trick.”

“But it’s one that might help,” Virgil considered for a moment. He took a deep breath. 

“Fine. But only- and I mean only- if Bell is cool with it. If she says no, we drop it. Okay?”

“Okay.”

---

V: poppy every time i wake up to one of these it makes my MORNING i love this so much !!!!!

#laoft fic #not mine #submission #longpost

[bonesthebeloved]

Writing Master post

AN: Here is all mt Sanders Sides related fic and otherwise so it’s easier to find for all of you. Happy reading!

Non fics/ prompt/ headcanon posts:

Sad Roman headcanons Masterpost

Random Creativitwins headcanons

Fluffy Logince headcanons

Fanfics:

All of these link to AO3 for now, I will link the Tumblr versions soon aswell however that takes a bit more digging.

The absence of a necessity  Summary: When Thomas stops lying altogether, Deceit and the other dark sides are quick to notice the effects. But it’s only made clear what kind of effect it truly has when it’s already too late…-or- Deceit disappears and the dark sides all grief in different ways. None of them able to accept that he's really gone

Least favourite to myself  Summary: Based on this prompt by transformationloveb:Ok I thought of some extra sad Roman angst for you- Ok, what I’d there’s a video where Thomas has the sides shapeshift as their favorite of all the sides (or, currently revealed sides at least). And the situation goes like this: Thomas: “You all change to your favorite side…NOW!” None of the sides change, cause, their favorite side is themselves……Nobody but Roman. Who shapeshifts into a side of your choosing. Thomas is a bit confused at this, noticing what happened. And decides: “Ok, second favorite side.” Everyone changes this time. But roman doesn’t switch to himself, It’s a different side again. “Third favorite?” Different side. “Fourth favorite?!” Different side. “Fifth?!” Different side. “LEAST FAVORITE?!” And Roman goes back to himself. Enjoy.

Red and green makes royalty Summary: Remus and Roman are in the middle of an argument when suddenly, King creativity shows up. An odd thing. Seeing as the two sides needed for his creation were gawking at him from a few feet away.

4 days and 4 months  Summary: After a fight, Roman goes on another quest to the imagination. After four days, Patton goes after him. Just to find that the issues might lay deeper than a simple feud

Absolutely nothing Summary: Work based on the poem 'Absolutely nothing' which appears in 'the perks of being a wallflower'. A story about how somebody can lose their grip on happiness and how their friends don't notice

When showers are no longer helpful Summary:Remus and Patton are in a relationship. Not a happy one but that’s okay. Those only exist in fairytales right?

For even if I'm far away I'll hold you in my heart Summary: King creativity knows he doesn't have much time left and sings one final song for Deceit who's much too young to know what is going on.

You did to me what tsunamis do to homes Summary: Patton and Remus fuse for an experiment. Then they fuse again. Then they stay fused because Patton wants them to. When the others finally find out how bad the fusion is hurting Remus, the damage is already done and they have to deal with the aftermath.

I'll write you bloody murder - Intrulogical  Summary: "Did you kill him, Lo?" Remus would convince himself that he had been dreaming it. Starting on a new book and buying him and Logan a puppy for their anniversary. Throwing clothes with the tiniest of blood splatters in the washing machine while acting like he hadn't seen the red splash. Like his husband coming back from work a bit too late and a bit too happy while smelling of fresh blood as he kissed him hello was something normal. Like knowing exactly which veins to hit and how long it would take for the victim to bleed out was part of the job. "I killed all of them."

What I am to you- Platonic Dukeceit Summary: Remus and Dee have been friends for so long that becoming anything else seems absurd to them.

Edward Scissorhands - Platonic Dukexiety Summary: Virgil and Remus have never been close. Could barely be called friends even. Virge wished for them having nothing in common.But when he starts to miss their ranting sessions, he goes to Remus his room to find if they still had some shared interests that Remus hadn't ruined for him.He found out that a shared interest existed. Or, more like, shared coping mechanism. But even for all the times, he wished the other to be dead, he never meant to hope for the other to self-harm. And he never hoped for him to do it for the same reasons either.

The tv-stand - intrulogical Summary: Logan imitating Remus in the bloopers video but they're gay and in love.

Tipsy - Logince Summary: It had started out like all of their unofficial dates had up until now. But this ended up being so much better.-Or-Logan gets tipsy and clings to Roman like a koala bear.

Chasing squirrels and sunspots  Summary: Deceit has a sphynx cat. She's a queen and snek boy would die for her.

Sharp edges evened out  Summary: Remus gets bullied at school. But luckily he has a very caring brother and two rats to cheer him up.

The last bird flew towards the south - Roceit  Summary: Deceit is dead. And the last leaves fall off the trees as poison drips from his fangs and the wounds on his arm. And Roman just holds him. And watched the birds pass by as he weeps. And Deceit is dead.

Loud talking, mushy thoughts  Summary: Roman, after being wronged by his 'family' one too many times, goes to live with the dark sides. Que protective instincts firing in both Remus and Deceit.

Everything stays Summary: When Remus finds the weapon that belonged to the original creativity thought to be long lost, he asks his brother for help to retrieve it. Based on a lovely comic by chronophobica on Tumblr and the song everything stays from adventure time.

Loved- Roceit Summary: Roman and Dee are married, soft, and use the same pet names me and my partner use. Also, Dee really wants one of the puppies Remus rescued.

Humming and plush butterflies  Summary: Virgil does weird stuff and Deceit records itDeceit has endearing stuff and Virgil knows about it.Logan is very confused by both of these things.-OR-I was soft for the lads and felt like shit so have my very first crackfic.

Complicated- Creativitwins  Summary: The twins have a complicated relationship with their father and figure it out through the years. >Tumblr version<

The only member Summary: Roman thought Virgil was in the fuck-Janus club too but realises he is in fact the only member.

AN: I’ll try to keep this updated so my work is easier to find.  (Hey @lance-alt , It’s nearing 1:30 am BUT I made it cuz you asked. Hope this helps. :) Love ya bud)

#long post #master post #sander sides fic #fanfiction #fanfic #my writing #sanders sides

[strawberries-on-the-ground]

You Scared Us, Stormy

Relationships: Prinxiety, Parent!Logicality

Summary: Virgil has a motorbike accident and Roman is terrifed for him

Warnings: near death experience, car accident, (probably false) medical talk

(tell me if I need to add anything)

AO3 Link

---

"Virgil's in the hospital."

Virgil's in the hospital. He's been in an accident and he's in the hospital.

These were the words he heard from Virgil's dad, Logan. After learning which hospital, Roman rushed to his car and as soon as he closed the door, tears started coming one after another. He drove to the hospital in the heavy rain, parked his car badly and rushed to the building.

He went to the waiting area of the operating room according to Logan's text. Logan and Patton were leaning against each other. Patton was comforting Logan who was crying softly. Patton's eyes indicated that he also had his own sobbing fit. Roman felt as if he was invading their privacy. When Patton realized he was there, Roman looked like a mess. He was soaking wet, his tears and raindrops on his face were indistinguishable from each other and his throat felt sore from crying.

"Hey, kiddo. He is in surgery."

"The doctor said that he had broken ribs and arm, they suspect muscle and nerve damage and his head doesn't seem to have any major injury." Logan explained.

"Okay, okay. Um, how are you, is there anything I can do for you?"

Patton shook his head. Roman sat in a chair facing the Sanders who seemed to calmed down. After what felt like hours, a nurse came out of the room. They rushed to him.

"Dr. Pierce will explain everything in a moment." he smiled at them emphaticly. Couple of minutes later, the doctor came out of the door. All three were waiting near the door.

"I take you are Virgil Sanders' parents?" she asked, adressing Logan and Patton, they nodded.

"He took most damage on his ribs and his right arm and, as you know, he didn't take any damage on the spinal cord but he does have minor nerve damage on his shoulders and neck, meaning he will most likely need physical therapy. We repaired his ribs with metal plates. We had a good surgery but I can’t really say anything for certain. We'll keep him in the ICU for a while, you have at the very least 3 hours before you see him in there. I suggest you feed yourselves, go home and bring clothes because he will stay at the hospital for a couple of days." she said and asked "Do you have any questions?"

"How long is he going to stay in the ICU?" Logan asked.

"At least for 12 hours. After that, we'll see how he is."

“Is he going to be okay?” Patton asked.

“We are doing everything we can and will continue to do so for him to get better.”

After asking some questions and thanking the doctor, Logan and Patton decided they would ask Virgil's uncle Thomas to bring some clothes. That seemed to be the only advice they listened to from the doctor as they didn't even think about food before Roman brought them sandwiches and coffee.

"Thank you, Roman. We appreciate you being here but you should go home and rest. As the doctor said, Virgil will be in the ICU all night." Patton put his hand on top of Roman's and smiled.

"He is right, there is no point of all of us being here. You can come back tomorrow morning and see him." Logan agreed.

It took some convincing to get Roman to go home. He went back to his car and sat there for a while to put himself together enough to drive. He opened the sun visor and took the photo on it, Virgil and Roman smiling to the camera in front of Roman's car and Virgil's bike. 

Virgil begged his parents for it for months and was extremely happy when they got him one. He promised to be careful and he was, he always wore his helmet which probably saved his life.

He got home and as his twin brother opened the door, he said "You look like hell."

"I feel like it, Remus."

"What happened?" his dad called out from the kitchen.

Roman went to the kitchen with Remus and sat in a chair. "Virgil was in a car accident."

After explaining what he knew to his father and Remus, he went to his room and Remus followed.

"Are you okay? He is going to be okay, like you said, the operation went well."

Roman sat down to his bed. "I just, I love him so much, Remus and I always thought I would have time to tell him that." Roman took a deep breath "I just- I just fell so scared for him."

"I know, Ro." Remus hugged his brother tightly. "He is going to be okay and you are going to be really happy together. Like, like building a garden together happy, you know, with dogs and cats and kids..."

"Two kids, and we're gonna have violet tulips in the garden because it's his favorite." Roman interrupted, smilling.

Remus made Roman take a shower and eat some soup after he calmed down a little more. After the soup, Roman got sleepy and with the text from Logan saying Virgil was stable, he fell asleep.

☆

Roman woke up because of a nightmare in which Virgil faded in Roman's arms. After his heartbeat got to a normal level, he checked his phone, and read the text from last night again.

Update: the doctor told us that Virgil is still unconsious but stable.

-Logan Sanders, 2:14 am

The text was sent four hours earlier. I should get up, he thought.

"Hey, Ro." Roman was greeted by his twin brother who was making coffee, "I knew you'd be up early."

☆

"You seem a lot better today." Remus commented as their father drove them to the hospital. They visited the Sanders.

"Good morning, any news?"

"Hello Ethan, thank you for coming and unfortunately no, they said his situation is still critical." Logan explained.

"If there's anything, and I mean anything, that we can do to help, do not hesitate to ask." Ethan replied.

"Thank you." Patton responded.

"I hope Virgil to gets better soon. I wish I could stay here and be useful but my plane is in two hours." Remus said.

"Back to school?" Patton asked.

"Yes, sir." he replied and and added, "Please keep me updated, Ro."

"Of course."

After Ethan and Remus left, Patton’s brother Thomas joined them and the world's longest wait has begun.

☆

Roman was going insane when the nurse came and told them that they would be able to visit him in the ICU.

“You need to go one by one though.” she added. 

She also said they each had a minute. They wore sanitary masks and other equipment. Roman went in last to see Virgil laying in bed with an oxygen mask and a lot of wires around him. Roman tried to ignore how pale he looked.

“Hey, Virge. You gave us quite a scare.” he took a deep breath and tried to keep a trail of thought, “You’re going to wake up, right? Because we have a lot to do together. We still haven’t gone all those musical festivals, we still haven’t-” he sobbed. “I-I need you to wake up. I love you. I need you.” he took Virgil’s hand. “And if you don’t love me, that’s alright but I still need you in my life, okay?” The nurse came to tell him it was time to get out. “I’ll see you later, buddy.”

That afternoon, Dr. Pierce told them that Virgil was getting better and that they expected him to wake up soon. 

☆

“Hey, Virgil.” Logan said, smiling.

Virgil was taken out of the ICU and put in a private room. He looked extremely sleepy.

“Hey.” his voice sounded like a whisper.

“How are you feeling, my little cloud?” Patton asked.

“Tired and thristy.”

Shortly after he drank the water given to him, Virgil fell asleep. He looked a lot less paler than before, Roman realized.

☆

The next day, when Roman got to the hospital, Virgil looked a lot better. Logan taught Roman how to help Virgil get up so he wouldn’t hurt his ribs. Patton went home to wash some clothes and bring new ones. After Logan sat Virgil down, he kissed his son’s forehead and went out to eat something.

“You scared us, stormy.” Roman said, smilling.

“I’m about to scare you some more.” Virgil said.

“What?”

“When the car hit, when I thought I was going to die, I realised I didn’t regret anything more than-” he held Roman’s hand and pulled him closer, “I’m not sure where this confidence comes from.” He chuckled, “I only regretted never trying, well, here goes nothing.” Roman couldn’t understand what was happenning, he couldn’t give himself hope, he felt like his heart was beating all over his body. “I love you, Roman.”

He couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “You don’t have to say-”

“I love you, too.” Roman cut Virgil off, “I’ve loved you for so long.” he said, looking at Virgil like he was the most precious being on earth. Virgil smiled, he put his hands on Roman’s waist and pulled him even closer. Roman brushed his hand on Virgil’s cheek and pulled him into a kiss.

#prinxiety #logicality #sanders sides #prinxiety fanfiction #virgil sanders #roman sanders #patton sanders #logan sanders #remus sanders #deceit sanders #prinxiety fic

[notalwaysthevillian]

Shattering Stereotypes

Warnings: None? Let me know!

Pairings: Romantic Mox and Remile established, Romantic Logince to come

Word Count: ~1.9k

Previous Chapter | Next Chapter

Read from the beginning

Chapter 9

Logan woke up before his alarm went off, deciding to just get up and shower. He’d gotten fitful sleep anyway and knew that even trying to get a few more minutes would be futile.

Knowing that today was School Color day, he examined his closet for longer than usual. There wasn’t much he owned that was red, other than a pair of jeans he’d gotten as a gift from Preston.

With a sigh, he put them on. They were tighter than what he normally wore, but that was the price he was going to pay for school spirit.

He threw on a white button up before grabbing some red and white sneakers that had also been a gift.

Convenient.

As soon as Preston and Thomas saw him, they broke out into grins.

“I knew you’d wear those someday.” Preston gestured to the jeans. “It wouldn’t kill you to show off that Sanders ass more often.”

“Dad!”

“Preston.”

“What? It’s part of the reason I fell for you.”

Thomas rolled his eyes as Preston pressed a kiss to his cheek. “You’re lucky I love you.”

“Love you too, Tommy.”

“Lo, you want Crofter’s on your - why am I even asking.” Thomas nodded to the fridge, taking the jar of jam from Preston.

Logan took the jar from Thomas. “Thank you, but I’ll make my own breakfast.”

“Is this because I don’t put enough jam on your toast?” Thomas teased.

Logan pretended not to hear him as he prepared his breakfast before heading out to the car.

As soon as Logan stepped foot on school grounds, he couldn’t help but smile. Nearly everyone in the vicinity was covered in red and white. Glancing around, Logan saw Virgil and Patton heading into the school. Virgil had swapped out his usual hoodie for a red one and his black jeans for white. Patton had on one of the male cheer uniforms, a large G emblazoned on the chest.

After dumping his books at his locker, Logan headed straight for his English class.

And proceeded to short circuit in the doorway.

How could he have forgotten that the sports teams wore their uniforms on Spirit Day?

The jersey Roman wore showed off the muscles in his arms. His pants were rolled to the knee, showing off one red sock and one white one. The socks clung to his calf muscles, no doubt gained from his many games of catching.

The two of them locked eyes as Logan managed to start moving again. Roman had smeared what appeared to be red and white paint under his eyes.

“Logan! Perfect, sit down.”

Doing as he was told, Logan froze as Roman reached out and started smearing some of the paint under his own eyes. The gentle touch was making his heart race.

“What -”

“Relax, Lo. It’s meant for your face, it’s called warrior paint.” Roman leaned in close, his breath fanning across Logan’s cheek as he observed his work.

Closing the gap here would not be beneficial.

“Alright, I know we’re not going to get much done today, so I’ll just give you a free period to work on your projects, even though I know most of you will just talk anyway.” Mx. Stokes said, before they pulled out a box. “And if anyone wants some beads to complete their school spirit look, have at it.”

Roman practically vaulted over the desks to get to the box, grabbing four sets of beads. When he came back, he draped two of them over Logan.

“Now you look like you have school spirit.” He flashed Logan a smile.

Blood rushed to Logan’s cheeks. “So...were you going to talk to anyone or did you want to work on our project?”

“Actually I drew up some ideas for costumes!”

Logan barely noticed how fast the class went by, content to listen to Roman excitedly babble about the costume ideas and their symbolism. When the bell rang, Logan jumped out of his seat, making Roman laugh.

“See you at the pep rally!” Roman called before he darted off to his next class.

The day went by in a blur, Logan opting to simply do homework instead of chat with Virgil. His purple-haired classmate didn’t seem to mind, putting on some music instead.

A high pitched squeal crackled over the PA system. “Seniors may be excused and make their way down to the gym.”

A few of their classmates headed out, Logan and Virgil packing up their things. Everyone was required to leave their backpacks in their final class, and pick them up before going home.

Not more than five minutes later, the PA system squealed again. “Juniors may be excused.”

Virgil and Logan headed out together. As they walked in, Logan wasn’t sure where he was going to sit, but Virgil pulled him over to where Patton was sitting with Remy and Emile. He noticed Roman sit a couple rows ahead with the baseball team.

Logan wasn’t really listening as they went through the opening spiel of the pep rally. It was pretty much a rundown of all the scores so far - the seniors were winning - and the times of the game, the parade, and the dance. All stuff Logan had heard, since he actually paid a bit of attention to the school calendar.

What he did notice was Roman and several other students getting up and moving down to a reserved portion of the bleachers.

“What’s going on?”

“Too busy staring, huh?” Remy asked from the end of the row, waggling his eyebrows.

Logan flushed, turning to Virgil instead.

“Dodgeball, just like every other year.”

“Ah,” Logan adjusted his glasses, watching as the freshman were unfairly pitted against the seniors. “My apologies, I usually sneak in a book and read at the top.”

“So you’re paying attention now because…” Virgil trailed off, a teasing grin on his face.

Patton poked him in the shoulder. “V, don’t be mean!”

“He’s not, you have my word.” Logan leaned forward to see around Virgil. “Congrats on the homecoming date though.”

“Thanks! Virge told me about your issue and I think if you have the guts to go for it, you should give him the letter.” A friendly smile graced Patton’s face.

Logan nodded, hearing the whistle to start the game. Everyone’s attention shifted, watching as the freshman were knocked out in a mere two minutes. Once they returned to their seats, the seniors sat down, watching the sophomores and juniors get into position.

Roman looked up into the stands, met Logan’s eyes, and flashed a grin. Logan’s heart pounded as he smiled back, but Roman had looked back to the game.

He was probably smiling at someone else.

“Did you see that?” Patton whispered. “He smiled at you!”

“No, it wasn’t -”

Virgil held up a hand. “It was totally for you.”

Blood returned to Logan’s cheeks. The whistle blew once more and he watched as Roman nearly single-handedly took out the sophomores, assisted by one or two more teammates.

“Dang, he’s good.”

“He said sometimes he pitches.” Logan replied without thinking.

“How do you know that, Lo?”

Logan turned, face flaming as he got various degrees of smirks from his friends. “He may have stayed for dinner a few times because of our project.”

Patton and Emile both clapped their hands over their mouths to suppress their squealing. Remy’s smirk vanished as he gave Emile a loving gaze, but Virgil kept his eyes on Logan.

“Dude. He at least likes you as a friend, or he would never have stayed.”

A sharp blow of the whistle had them turning back to the floor. At some point, the seniors had set up where the sophomores had vacated. The two teams were now going after each other with a vengeance. The seniors to defend their title, and the juniors to finally shove them out of the number one spot.

It came down to Roman and a senior named Steve. He was a linebacker on the football team, and built like a brick.

Steve fired a ball at Roman.

The crowd gasped as it popped out of Roman’s hands.

Roman dove for it, barely catching it before it hit the ground.

The juniors went nuts, cheering wildly. Steve headed back to the football team, high-fiving along the way.

Roman ran back into the crowd, breathing heavily. Again, he shot a grin to where Logan was sitting.

Logan buried his face in his hands as soon as Roman looked away.

“Ah, yes. The gay meltdown.”

“Remy!”

A squeal from the microphone had all of the students covering their ears. Principal Torres apologized before announcing the next part of the competition.

Solving a Rubik’s cube.

Logan’s name was called for the juniors. He headed down with four other students, clearly picked because they were the smartest kids in the class.

Smart didn’t always equate to puzzle solving.

“The first one to solve the cube will win one hundred points for their class. The second wins fifty, and the third twenty-five. Each of you will be timed by a randomly selected teacher. Any questions?” She stopped, watching as they all shook their heads. “Three, two, one, GO!”

Logan moved like lightning, blocking everything else out of his head.

“Done!”

He smirked when he realized he was the first to finish by a long shot. The teacher across from him showed his time.

Forty-five seconds.

As soon as two others had finished, the freshman and the senior, they were excused back to their seats.

“Nice job, Lo!” Patton gave him a beaming smile as he sat back down.

Virgil nodded. “I’m pretty sure we’re tied with the seniors now.”

Logan hardly paid attention to the rest of the pep rally, only noticing that the next events were one bounce and tug of war. The seniors must’ve been angry about losing, seeing as how they lost both events.

Which meant…

“In first place this year is our Juniors, with 1,340 points!”

The junior class went wild, cheering and screaming. Principal Torres quickly quieted everyone down, gave a rundown of the parade and game times for later that night, and then excused everyone.

Logan traced the paper in his pocket as he darted down the steps, trying to reach Roman. He’d give him the note and Roman could text him his answer.

The universe must’ve hated him, because Roman was swept away by his friends before Logan even made it to the gym floor.

A hand on his shoulder had him turning around. Emile and Patton were looking at him with twin expressions of sadness, while Remy looked a little peeved. Virgil squeezed his shoulder.

“I’m sorry, Lo. You could always give it to him at the game?”

Logan shook his head. “It’s too late anyway. I can’t even get a ticket now.”

“Actually…” Emile pulled a ticket out of his pocket. “I have an extra. I bought one before Rem asked me.”

Logan took it. “Thank you, but I don’t have anyone to go with.”

“Come with us!” Patton bounced on his toes. “We’re all going together and then having a sleepover at Remy’s house!”

Seeing Logan’s expression, Virgil added, “Or we can drop you back off at your place. And you don’t have to come with us, it’s just an option.”

“I...I think I’d like that.” Logan felt a sudden warmth in his chest. “I’ll see you guys tomorrow.”

#sanders sides #sanders sides fic #logan sanders #roman sanders #patton sanders #virgil sanders #emile picani #remy sanders #ts sleep #romantic moxiety #romantic remile