#something inconvenient happens and he's like it's okay you're pretty and somehow that works

[spicycreativity]

Howl - Chapter 1

Rating: Teen

Fic Content Warnings: Blood, injury, suggestive content, alcohol use

Characters: All

Pairing: Analogical, background Moceit because apparently I can't help myself

Add'l Notes: dw if you don't know what a loup-garou is or how the lore works; all is explained in the story / Have I ever been to Louisiana? No 💕Did I write an entire story set in rural-ish Cajun Louisiana anyway because I hate myself? Yes 💕 / If you're from Louisiana and noticed any screw-ups, pls correct me so I can fix it

It also comes with a playlist! For ambience, not necessarily for the lyrics

Summary:

Two things happen to Virgil Landry on Halloween:

1) Logan Doucet, his longtime friend and slightly-less-longtime crush, asks him out

2) He becomes cursed to spend his nights as a half-man, half-wolf monster: a loup-garou

Despite his new affliction, Virgil strives for normalcy all the way up until he can't anymore and everything falls apart.

The floorboards creaked in their familiar pattern as Virgil paced over them, his feet sliding around awkwardly in his over-the-knee boots. He was supposed to meet Logan alone in an hour, an hour! His heart thumped painfully under his ribs. What did Logan want?

Virgil yanked his phone out of his pocket to re-read the message for the 85th time, ignoring a few new messages in his assorted group chats:

Logan: If it's not inconvenient, could you meet me early at the Plaza tonight? Maybe 6:30?

Virgil: yeah sure 

Virgil: everything OK?

Logan: Yes :-)

What did it mean? Was everything okay? Or was Logan just lying to make him feel better? Because if so, it wasn't working. Virgil ran his hands through his hair, careful not to smudge his makeup. It had taken him an hour and a half to perfect his vampire makeup in the mirror and he didn't want to risk messing it up.

With a sigh that turned into a groan, Virgil threw himself down on his couch. It made the walls rattle, nearly displacing a few trinkets on his crappy, rickety shelves. He heard a tell-tale scrape above his head and knew that his favorite painting had gone crooked again. God, this place was a wreck-- Just like Virgil. He made a mental note to ask Patton for help patching up the leaky roof. It was as good a time as any, as they were well out of rainy season, but it did seem a little rude. What was he even supposed to say? Hey, Patton, I know carpentry is literally what you do for a living, but could you help me for free since I'm broke and sad? Thanks, bud. Yeah, right. He sighed again and tugged at his medallion, a rusted old thing with a glass gem in the center. He had picked it up from a thrift store months earlier in anticipation of Halloween, but maybe he should have made some effort to restore it. It smelled strongly of rust and decay and felt terrible between his fingers, all oily and sticky.

So far, the only saving grace of the day was that it wasn't raining now. Virgil had spent his workday in silent anxiety, eyeing the storm clouds through the shop window and rubbing a small piece of sunstone between his thumb and forefinger. It seemed to have worked, as the clouds had dispersed a little and allowed the watery light of the autumn sun to peek through.

Virgil's phone lit up with a few more messages in his group chats: Roman having hysterics over some detail of his costume, Janus and Remus discussing how to avoid the small army of toddlers that always ran rampant at the Halloween parade. Virgil ignored them all. He was in no mood to be friendly, would probably snap at them. Logan hadn't said anything since his message to Virgil, which he had presumably sent on his lunch break. The question haunted Virgil, that great unknown lurking behind him and instilling a fear that no ghost ever could: What did Logan want?

Virgil set his phone down and leaned forward, heaving a sigh that turned into a yawn. Great. Whatever. That meant he was on the verge of hyperventilating, his breathing already irregular. Damn it, Logan knew better than to leave him hanging like this! They'd known each other for so long and he'd always been more perceptive to Virgil's needs than the others.

Especially lately… They'd been spending more time alone, and Virgil couldn't deny the sweet, warm giddiness that enveloped him every time they were alone together. First meetings were always his favorite, seeing Logan's face light up with a smile. He hadn't dared to think that Logan might feel the same way, but it was getting harder and harder to keep his fantasies on a leash. Worst-case scenarios and best-case scenarios dueled in his head: Logan kissing him, Logan telling him they couldn't be friends anymore, Logan confessing, Logan announcing that he had some incurable disease.

Virgil grabbed his phone and jumped to his feet. He couldn't do this anymore, couldn't sit here and torture himself. He would just leave now. He would rather arrive freakishly early than face another minute of this self-inflicted torment 

He double and triple checked he had his wallet and his plastic fangs, which he

was planning on putting on later. The medallion bounced against his exposed chest as he walked and he wondered briefly if it might be more trouble than it was worth. He could always swap it out for one of his pendants, maybe amethyst to calm his nerves. But it looked so good against his skin, falling perfectly in the deep V of his flowy white poet shirt. Unlike his other necklaces, it screamed vampire. And Janus would tease him if he caught Virgil wearing a subpar costume, and then Roman would join in, and Remus, and it would turn into a whole thing . He could wear the stupid medallion for one night.

 -

Virgil regretted this decision as soon as he got his moped going. Even at its 30 mph crawl, the heavy necklace bounced against his chest in a maddening rhythm. At least it was distracting. Every time he started to worry about Logan, the erratic tap-tap-tap of cold metal on his chest brought him back to Earth.

It was a long ride into town down a windy country road. He hugged the shoulder as best as he could despite the lack of traffic; Virgil's neighbors were few, but they all liked to take corners at frighteningly high speeds. The one person who did drive by honked at him and flashed their lights. Virgil's heart dropped and he nearly flipped them off before he realized that they liked his costume. It occurred to him then that he must look pretty absurd: A vampire riding a purple moped, cape fluttering on the wind.

Upon reaching the Plaza, Virgil did a few laps around downtown, smiling at the spiderwebs decorating Vaillant City Hall. Another lap revealed that empty parking spots were already becoming scarce, so Virgil pulled into one and checked his phone. Nothing from Logan. Just more hysterics from Roman, and Patton's best attempts at comfort. Virgil rolled his eyes. Maybe Roman did need some tough love. He scanned through the messages to orient himself, to make sure he didn't look dumb, and then typed out his reply.

Virgil: look, Prince Charming. 2 rolls of body glitter is more than enough. Stop freaking out

Roman: That's DOCTOR Prince Charming to you

Virgil: :*

He put his phone away, tucked his keys in his pocket, and forced himself to walk slowly toward the Plaza. He was still excruciatingly early, but maybe he could pop into a bar or grab a coffee or even swing by his work-- Oh.

There, standing by the reflecting pool with his hands in his pockets, was Logan. Virgil smiled despite his nerves and sped up. Leave it to Logan to somehow be earlier than early.

"Hey, Data," Virgil said once he was in earshot.

Logan's face lit up, and even the yellow contacts he was wearing couldn't mask the fondness in his face. "Evening, Virge," he said. His smile dropped too quickly and he kept his hands shoved in his pockets. Virgil surveyed all this with dread. Was he reading too much into it? Most definitely. Could he stop? No way.

"Everything okay?" Virgil asked, tugging at his medallion and turning his nervous gaze upon the placid waters of the reflecting pool. Great. Now he had two awesome reasons to be nervous. It was an old Vaillant legend that anyone who disturbed the waters of the pool would be cursed, and Virgil did not mess with curses. He usually took pains to avoid the Plaza, even if it meant he had to take the long way to work.

"Yes, Virgil," Logan said in a voice that was far too breathy. He cleared his throat. "As you know, we have been friends for a long time. I…" He paused, blinked. "I forgot what I was going to say."

"Jeeze, Lo," Virgil tried to tease. "You're making me nervous."

"But I--" Logan ran a hand through his hair. "Virgil. I had prepared something far more eloquent than what I am about to say, but I can't seem to remember it at the moment. Forgive me if this comes across as confusing."

"All good," Virgil said, making only a minimal effort to hide his confusion. The medallion was cold and oily under his fingertips, but he couldn't stop messing with it, tugging at it, rattling the chain. He needed some outlet for all this nervous energy.

"We've been spending more time alone together and I

thought-- I wanted--" Logan touched his face and Virgil realized a second later he had tried to push up his glasses, which he wasn't wearing. Oh, how cute. "Virgil, I would like to go steady with you."

A rush of vertigo smacked into Virgil with such force that he had to take a step back just to keep his balance. "Go steady?" he heard himself say. "Like-- Like, boyfriends?"

"If you are amenable to that," Logan said, furiously running his fingers over the piping on his uniform. "If not, I-- We can pretend this never--"

"Yes," Virgil interrupted. "Yes, yes, yes. Logan, I do want that."

"Oh," said Logan, his face breaking into a smile. "Good."

Virgil clenched his fist around the medallion wondering if it was too soon to ask for a kiss. He took a breath and felt something give with a quiet snap. The broken chain snaked along his neck, dragged down by the weight of the pendant. Virgil watched in silent agony as the necklace landed in the water of the reflecting pool with a quiet splash. "Shit."

"Allow me," said Logan, already in motion.

"No!" Virgil caught his hand and held it. "The curse." He realized what he had done and let go of Logan's hand.

"I don't believe in such things, Virgil, but if it's important to you, then I'll leave it."

"Thank you." Virgil stared down at the water and sighed through his nose. He'd already disturbed the water. Would it be better to leave the necklace or take it out? Littering seemed more disrespectful, he supposed. So he bent and grabbed the necklace before he could change his mind. "I'll, uh, de-curse-ify myself later."

Logan nodded, looking preoccupied. "Let me know if I can help. I might be able to repair the chain."

"Actually," said Virgil, stuffing the wet necklace into his pocket, "I was wondering if maybe, um…"

"Yes?"

"Can I kiss you?"

"Please do."

Virgil closed his eyes so he wouldn't get weirded out by Logan's contacts. He had been expecting a short kiss, sweet and chaste, but Logan's hand tightened in the loose fabric of Virgil's poet shirt and his teeth grazed Virgil's bottom lip. Fuck propriety, then; the Plaza was still fairly empty. Virgil raised a hand to grab a fistful of Logan's hair and ran his tongue along the edge of Logan's lip.

They were interrupted by a wolf whistle and golf claps. "I'll be damned." Crap. Why did it have to be Janus? He was never going to let Virgil live this down.

Virgil pulled away so fast it made pain shoot through his neck. He exhaled sharply and covered the area with his hand for all the good it would do, turning to face Janus with a blush blooming on his cheeks. "What are you supposed to be?" he asked, looking Janus up and down. Janus had always been unnecessarily private about things that really didn't matter. He had evaded all of Virgil's attempts to guess his costume, and now presented wearing an old-fashioned suit including top hat, gloves, and cane.

"Don't change the subject," said Janus, dismissing Virgil with a wave.

In true vampire fashion, Virgil snarled and bared his teeth, then remembered something. "Oh, shit, my fangs!" He dug in his pocket for them, leaving Janus to do… whatever he was going to do.

"Logan, I presume?" Janus asked. Virgil stopped in the process of sticking on one tooth, heart hammering again. Janus and Logan had never met, and they could both be… a bit much in their own ways.

Logan nodded. "Logan Doucet." He held out his hand for a shake.

Janus took it. "Thank God you didn't bother to paint your face, else Virgil would have more than smudged lipstick to contend with. You've got some on your mouth, by the way."

"Thank you," Logan said stiffly. He withdrew his hand and used it to wipe away the lipstick stain on his face. "Nice to meet you, Professor Moriarty."

Virgil's eyes darted back to Janus, who smiled. "When I'm not acting as the Napoleon of Crime, you can call me Janus. Janus Bellefontaine."

"Where's Remus?" Virgil interjected, looking around. "Didn't he ride with you?"

"He got waylaid by some angry mothers because his costume made their kids cry," Janus said, nonchalantly running a

fingertip over the brim of his hat. "He'll be along." To Logan, he said, "Virgil tells me you're an accountant."

"Yes," said Logan. 

"And you haven't killed yourself yet, so I assume you must like it."

Virgil busied himself sticking his fangs onto his canines so he wouldn't worry about the conversation at hand. A sideways glance at Logan revealed that he seemed to find the comment amusing, thank God . "I've always been good with numbers. People, less so."

"Never would have guessed," Janus said, and Virgil didn't have to look at him to know he was smiling that crooked, tight-lipped smile that might have been genuine or might have been mocking. Asshole. "Well, if you have any rich clients, send them my way, won't you? I sell nice suits to dumb men with low self-esteem and too much money and I'm always on the lookout for another rube to swindle."

"If the suits are any good, I'd be happy to," Logan said.

Satisfied that his fangs were in properly, Virgil's attention shifted suddenly to the cold, wet medallion in his pocket. Right. He was cursed. Despite his interest in the occult and the supernatural, Virgil didn't have much experience with curses. His friends weren't really the type to play around with magic (well, maybe Janus, maybe- maybe Roman) and he wasn't the kind of guy who made enemies. No one had ever cursed him before. How soon would this one take effect? Should he go home and come back? Should he hop into the bayou, makeup be damned? Did bayous even count as running water?

He was so caught up in his panic spiral that the sudden sensation of hands on his shoulders made him jump. "Fuck!"

To his surprise it was Roman, not Remus, who laughed from somewhere behind him. "What, are Logan and Janus boring you?"

Virgil looked up and flinched again. While Roman looked relatively normal in his glittery Doctor Frank-n-Furter costume, Remus, who was lurking just behind his brother, was a horrorshow of fur and face paint and fake blood. "Um…" He shook himself and noticed Patton standing a ways off, peering at Remus. Distracted, he went to introduce Patton to Remus and Janus only to learn that he and Roman had run into Remus on their way over and rescued him from a brigade of shouty young mothers.

"He's Macavity," Patton said in a tone like he was pronouncing the death of the family goldfish.

"The other Napoleon of Crime," Janus agreed. "And you are?"

"Patton Haydel!"

A pause. "I gathered that. " Janus gestured at Patton's costume, which he had also kept a secret. Virgil had been staring at it as well, trying to figure it out. Patton was wearing what appeared to be a headless bear costume, round glasses, and what might have been a cowboy hat, though Virgil wasn't 100% sure. "What are you?"

"You have to guess!" Patton said, extending his arms and backing up so everyone could get a good look at him.

Virgil stared at him, running his tongue over the edges of his plastic fangs. "I got nothin'."

Logan took a sideways step and tapped Virgil's hand. Virgil nodded, and Logan interlaced their fingers as casually as he might clock in for work. "He's Teddy Bear Roosevelt."

They all groaned. "Good work, Pat," Virgil said begrudgingly.

"You have a big wet spot on your crotch," Remus pronounced, pointing at Virgil.

Janus raised his eyebrows, turning to Virgil with undisguised schadenfreude, but Logan stepped in before anyone could say anything. "It's water. He dropped his necklace in the reflecting pool."

"Well," said Patton, "that's not good."

"You dropped something in the reflecting pool and didn't immediately run for the nearest source of running water?" Janus asked. He looked from Virgil to Logan, then to their intertwined fingers and grinned. "Ah. More pressing matters at hand?"

"Maybe it's not too late," Roman said, drumming his acrylic nails against his thigh. "We can still dump him in the bayou."

"There's alligators in there!" Virgil said. "Fuck that. You know my house is plastered with wards. I'm sure I can make it through one evening."

"Your funeral," said Remus, leering. "Let me know if your dick falls

off.

 -

Despite his friends' concern, Virgil had a wonderful evening. Logan stuck close the whole night through, and they even snuck a few kisses here and there like infatuated teenagers. Each one sent a lightning thrill down Virgil's spine and made him want a dozen more. His friends noticed in turns and either teased or cooed, but each reaction was encouraging.

Logan kissed him goodbye at the end of the night and he practically floated back to his moped. He was so caught up in his daydreams that he only remembered the curse when he caught sight of the nazar hanging on his kitchen wall. Cursing under his breath, Virgil went to his bookshelf and began to compile a few methods of curse-breaking. Did a shower count as running water? God help him, he was not getting in the bayou. Maybe he could combine methods.

A few moments later, Virgil had everything set up in the bathroom. He lit the last candle, tightened the herb sachet around his neck, and stepped into the shower. Okay, time to focus. He was washing himself free of the curse and wouldn't it be nice if Logan were here? Logan didn't believe in magic and his clear-headed confidence would undoubtedly make Virgil feel better, too-- Focus! Wash away the curse. Logan would probably help him if he asked, helping Virgil set up the crystals and making sure his candles stayed lit-- Virgil! The curse! Wash away the curse.

The bathroom smelled of candles, incense, and herbs. Almost like Virgil's workplace, except that Virgil was using lavender and his boss preferred nag champa.

He stepped out of the shower and inhaled deeply, letting the mixture of scents relax him and draw him toward sleep.

#sanders sides #analogical #sanders sides fanfic #spicypost #spicywrites #spicywrites howl #Spotify

[notthatiwilleverwriteit]

Hi 👋🏻 I hope you're doing okay and staying save with everything that is happening in the world right now. how are you coping with it? and if you don't mind answering I'm interested to know if this update didn't happen what would you wanted she li and mo backstory to be? I've seen your post that you didn't expect that, so I'm quite interested to know what you would have wanted it to be or what would you add to it 😊

Hello, dear anastasia-blue-april!

The world has definitely changed a lot in a short amount of time, but I’m coping pretty well. I had a little moment of panic in the beginning but it passed as I think the overall situation calmed down. Social distancing itself isn’t a problem for me, so all is relatively well. I do a weekly supply run and take good care of hygiene.

I hope people are following the instructions to take care of themselves and those around them. The important thing is to remain calm and patient. Everyone is having to put up with various inconveniences right now, but we will surely get through this!

Thank you for your concern, and I hope you’ll stay safe, too!

“what you would have wanted it to be”

The latest update of how SL and MGS met seemed to divide the readers. Some were happy with it while others were disappointed. The fandom had been waiting for this revelation for quite a long time, so a lot of different theories had been put together and expectations were high. Personally, I’m hovering somewhere between the two ends of the line but leaning more towards “disappointed”. There were things that I loved and found interesting in the chapter, but as you said, it wasn’t what I had expected. Now, I can roll with this version of how it all went down but overall, it left a bit of a “...wait, that’s it?” aftertaste in my mouth.

I have talked about my thoughts regarding MGS and SL’s past a couple of times by now:

Overall thoughts about their relationship

Development and what might have happened in the past

What might have happened (vol. 2)

My “main” theory of how SL and MGS were acquainted and how MGS ended up owing SL has pretty much always been connected to how MGS was treated as a child by other kids (ch. 242):

His father was in jail which automatically made him a criminal in other’s eyes. MGS was a son of a criminal, so surely he must be a bad kid, too. If something happened or went missing, it was easy for people to think that the apple hadn’t fallen far from the tree. Of course, a child doesn’t know how to handle that kind of situation. When they’re wrongly accused of something they lash out. It’s not unheard of if they even attack other kids physically which is what seemed to happen in MGS’s case. Not only was he made guilty based on prejudice but he also felt very sensitive about his family and father.

Unfortunately, that kind of reaction only made things worse for him. Lashing out and getting violent confirmed people’s prejudices after which it’s that much more difficult to turn things around. No one was listening to MGS, and all they saw were his (re)actions. He was seen as a problem child with whom you shouldn’t associate and who wouldn’t amount to anything respectable.

That’s where I imagined SL coming along in some way. My main idea was that SL was running his own group and took notice of MGS who liked to keep to himself. MGS was ostracised by others, and being discriminated against had planted the first seeds of bitterness and anger already in him. I thought SL would have picked up on that and taken advantage of his emotions. He would have offered MGS a place in his gang which had given him at least some kind of group to belong to. I don’t think it’s a far-fetched idea at all that a kid who’s being pushed out and rejected by the “good” will be picked up by the “bad”.

Of course, yet again, that would have been another step in the wrong direction. Associating with people like SL would have worsened MGS’s image and reputation in other’s eyes even further. Juvenile gangs aren’t also the ideal environment to better one’s image of themselves. I could have imagined how being involved in a gang life had stoked and fed MGS’s negative image of himself and self-esteem. He wasn’t a criminal or a bad kid by any means, but when you hear those kinds of things about yourself for long enough, you start to believe that’s what you’re good for. It wouldn’t have been difficult for SL to tip MGS over in that sense and tie him to his gang by his own volution.

Joining SL would have also made MGS owe him on a level that was pretty deep. Being picked up by someone and given a community of sorts to belong to is one of hell of a debt that’s not easily paid back, if ever. That’s not just doing someone a favor but rather you’re a part of something from that point on. And I imagined the way SL saw it, the only way MGS could have ever repaid him was his absolute loyalty. Anything short of that SL would consider not enough and betraying him after SL had “saved” him.

Another theory of mine that I thought could be interesting albeit perhaps less possible was about them meeting as kids before middle school. Maybe MGS and SL had started out as somewhat friends. Maybe as a child, SL had been seen as an odd weirdo by other kids, and MGS had been the one who befriended him one way or another. Maybe he would have seen SL being treated like he was and decided to stand up for him or reach out for him.

But in a lot of ways, SL was already heading in the wrong direction. It seemed like his home life was quite miserable. He also struck me as a kid who’s very peculiar but in a creepy way. Maybe his quietness and stare made other kids uncomfortable. Maybe he had violent tendencies that seemed...disturbed. I have always also had this idea that even as a child, SL’s mind just worked...differently. Maybe his sense of right and wrong was a bit warped even back then, and no matter how good of a friend MGS had been for him, he couldn’t have prevented how SL ended up. Admittedly, the whole “you owe me” and “I saved you” would have been a challenge to work into all of that, but I think it would have been interesting and given their relationship and SL’s character even more complexity.

“or what would you add to it”

As we all know, nothing that I had been thinking ended up happening. Well, I guess it’s still too early to say “nothing” since most of how their relationship progressed after SL saved MGS is still hidden from us. Maybe there will be something about how being in a gang at such a young age molded MGS as a person. But I would say most of what I had had in mind didn’t happen.

None of that is, of course, to say there wasn’t anything in the chapter that I liked. I was disappointed by the origin of “I saved you”/”you owe me” but I found MGS’s guilt very interesting. I still haven’t completely wrapped my head around it but I think carrying that kind of burden all this time definitely added an interesting layer to his character. And of course, as a MGS enthusiast, I’m always down for some of that! It broke my heart how that incident had been weighing on him so heavily and how he had been carrying it by himself. The overall themes of guilt, confession, and atonement/absolution are very interesting to me. I’m excited to see how things will progress for MGS from now on.

It’s difficult to say what I would add or change about the chapter if I could. If I couldn’t have any version of what I had thought their backstory was, I think I would change the origin of MGS’s guilt. I don’t know if I’m the only one but the deal with the homeless man and mentions of the accident left me confused. It also didn’t help that different versions of translations seemed somewhat inconsistent. It remained a bit unclear to me what were all the things MGS was feeling so guilty about exactly. I can recognize the overall “why” but details were left a bit hazy.

Either way, I would most definitely keep the idea of MGS having this crushing feeling of guilt, but maybe its origin could have been different? I had this idea that maybe MGS had accidentally done something that would have gotten him in trouble. He hadn’t meant it and it maybe hadn’t completely been his fault. Maybe it could have been one of those cases in which he would have easily come across as the responsible one. And given his situation, no one would have probably believed him anyway. Maybe it could have been something that - if found out - would have worsened MGS’s situation regarding the prejudice considerably and required his mother to get involved. Maybe MGS could have felt like he didn’t want to burden her and that whatever had happened had been his fault. Maybe he was alone in the situation and didn’t know what to do.

And that’s where SL would have stepped in. MGS would have known of SL, him being a transfer student, and his reputation but not really more than that. SL would have happened on the scene of MGS being scared and panicked and thinking he was going to be found guilty of something bad he hadn’t meant to do. Maybe SL had suggested he took the fault for MGS or “made it all go away”. He could have said it was no big deal for him and MGS could join his group since he seemed to be alone anyway. Or something along those lines. Maybe later if MGS tried to oppose SL’s orders, SL would remind him of the favor he had done and threaten to reveal who the real guilty one was.

Maybe the chapter could have still been about the homeless guy attacking MGS and him doing something in panicked-hazed self-defense that ultimately resulted in the man being knocked out or somehow injured. And that’s when he spots SL watching them...

But this chapter is what OX decided to go with, and I can live with that. It was a plot revelation that ended up becoming one of my least favorite ones, but either way, I’m happy we finally got to see this part of MGS and SL’s history. Given the pacing of 19 Days, that in and of itself is a small victory that I’m grateful for. I’m also happy about what a big development point this marked for MGS’s character and Tianshan.

Thank you for your question, dear anastasia-blue-april!

#19 days #mo guan shan #she li #answered ask