#and also real switching because Virgil has switched sides

[stormoflina]

LOVED the new video omg everyone was so amused with Domi 😭

the fans' faces when they realized who were there with them are priceless. my fav reaction was the last one, cutest family eveeeer.

u are gonna love it!

Omg, anon, I don't know how to tell you this, but this message of yours is so sweet and heartwarming to me!! 💕 And you were so right, I absolutely loved it as well, I was smiling throughout the whole video haha. The last family!! The little girl is so cute and the dad was so real for that reaction. That would have been me lol!

Anyways, here are some thoughts, idk why I stopped doing these.

- These sm marketing teams are getting smarter, because I can't believe I just watched a 7 minute long ad for 3 hotties. I'm no better than a man. :(

- This was such an unexpected, but fun trio! I feel like the three of them are so different? yet their personalities still compliment each other. They kinda remind me of an early 2000s sitcom show, with Ali the responsible oldest child ( I know his not the oldest ok), Virg the chaotic and charismatic middle child with immense main character energy and Domi, the youngest, the mischievous, funny and cute one. Okay, I'm getting sidetracked lol.

- Wait a second, so Domi's switching side thing was a part of a challenge not even a slip of vanity and people were cooking him for that? 😭 Nahh, I was misled, next time I'm doubling down on the Domi love. They don't deserve my gf Domi!!

- Ali is so effortlessly cool. Like it should be annoying, but I can't even do that?? Him just casually playing the guitar so well meanwhile being the best gk in the world? Get out, some people just have everything.

- Virgil has a great singing voice. Again, not fair!! ( But also him saying hangari was very 😭😭)

- " I'm a blue." What happened to shame?

- "I'm Virgil Van Dijk" *mouth drops* Yeah, same. 👍🏼

- I think Virg enjoyed it a bit too much having to touch Domi's hair, but then again, who wouldn't.

#lfc #liverpool fc #virgil van djik #dominik szoboszlai #alisson becker

[hiddendreamer67]

Switching Sides

Summary: Deceit convinces Remus and Virgil to join him as disguising themselves as light sides: Deceit as Patton, Remus as Roman, and Virgil as Logan. It’s a surprise to no one when they’re caught. Afterwards, it’s discussed if Virgil has become a good person- er, side.

October Prompt #8: Switched

Check out more of my writing at @hiddendreamerwriting!

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“Ooh, would you look at that!” Remus purred, twisting his hips this way and that as he held out his wrist to inspect, playing with the golden cuff links. “Who knew my brother’s clothes were so loose?”

“Remus, if you thrust your hips in my direction a third time, I will stab you.” Deceit growled threateningly, in the process still of adjusting the prince costume to fit the more eccentric creativity. Virgil looked on, feeling a bit out of place.

“So… why do I have to be Logan again?” Virgil looked at the tie around his neck, already too tight. He went to loosen it, but a look from Deceit made him stop messing with it.

“Because I’m the only one who can play Patton.” Deceit stood up, dusting off the light blue polo he wore. It was strange, seeing ‘Patton’ act so calm and collected. It was obvious ‘Roman’ was still Remus, what with the way he kept wiggling his eyebrows, but it was still odd to see Remus without his mustache. “I would also be the most convincing Logan, but you have no pep and Remus has no morals.”

“Morals are boooooooring.” Remus groaned. “Let’s set some houses on fire!”

“Remus, if we pull this off, Thomas will listen to all your ideas.” Deceit assured him, wrapping an arm around Remus’ shoulders.

“What? No!” Virgil immediately protested. “That goes against my job, keeping Thomas safe!” 

Deceit frowned, coming closer to Virgil. “I was lying to him.” He explained quietly.

“...oh.”

“Now Virgil.” Deceit looked him dead in the eye, and Virgil shifted uncomfortably at seeing Patton’s face so serious. “You’re losing your touch. You’ve grown soft with them.”

“No, I...I haven’t.” Virgil defended himself lamely.

“Yes you have!” Remus piped up, not attempting to be subtle about your eavesdropping. “You didn’t even try to give a witty comeback there! You used to be all bark and no bite and now you’re not even a bark.”

“I’ll bark you right up a tree.” Virgil groaned, rubbing his forehead. “What? No, I- whatever. Creativity isn’t my thing.”

“I know- it’s mine.” Remus gave a smug little twirl. “Oooooh, I’m so excited to be center stage again! We should really switch things up more often.”

“We can’t, the others are never going to be okay with this.” Virgil warned.

“The others are never going to know.” Deceit gave Virgil a pointed look. “And so long as we pop in so that Thomas doesn’t actually summon them, Thomas is never going to know either.”

“What, you don’t think he’s going to suspect something when ‘Patton’ is telling him to do the opposite of yesterday, ‘Roman’ is unbelievably horny, and ‘Logan’ is a stuttering mess?” Virgil knew himself well enough to know he was no Logan. 

“Stop thinking of worst case scenarios.” Deceit instructed him, which was basically equivalent to telling a human being to stop breathing. “Thomas hardly listens to Logan, simply use some slang incorrectly and he’ll never suspect a thing.”

“And what about you two?” Virgil raised an eyebrow at Remus, who was looking beneath Roman’s clothes. “I doubt Dukey over there will be able to keep it in his pants.”

Deceit grimaced, seeming to be thinking along the same lines. “Yes… that might be our biggest challenge, but I have a few excuses up my sleeve. Mostly framing it as a change brought on by Thomas’ lack of ability to get a boyfriend.”

“So you’re going to guilt trip him.” Virgil’s expression darkened.

“It’s hardly a lie.” Deceit scoffed, which was rich coming from the embodiment of deception. “Why do you think Remus even exists? All those suppressed hormones had to be bottled up somewhere.”

“I think you mean whore-moans.” Remus teased.

“He did not.” Virgil deadpanned.

“But don’t you get it? It’s got whores and moaning! Man I’m really good at this pun thing, maybe I should be Patton.” Remus mused.

“No!” Deceit snapped. “No more switching around. I’m Morality, you’re Creativity, and you’re Logic.” Without another word he disappeared, and up above Virgil could hear the faint beginnings of his act.

Virgil frowned, glancing up and wondering if he should go get the light sides after all. He wasn’t a dark side anymore, they would listen to him… right? But was that what’s best for Thomas? Should Virgil be even worrying about what’s best for Thomas if Thomas was so clearly becoming a bad person? A normal human wouldn’t have nearly so many dark aspects of himself tucked away. But giving the controls over to the subconscious didn’t feel very safe, either.

Virgil’s frown deepened, fiddling with the tie again. Logan would know what to do- the real Logan. He’d know the best logical solution, even if Roman didn’t like it and Patton hated him for it.

“They’re never going to trust you again.”

Virgil’s head snapped up. Remus was grinning at him cheerfully from across the room, making Virgil feel like a cornered mouse. It was clear Remus had noticed the way Virgil was fondling the tie.

“Especially not Thomas.” Remus crowed. “Not after this. You know Logan doesn’t like others playing with his toys.” 

Virgil growled, watching Remus sink out to join Deceit above. He hated that that moron was right- it reminded him of the few times Roman had an admittedly good idea. 

The anxious side shook his head. He really was growing soft- why should he care if Thomas didn’t trust him? He didn’t need to trust him. Virgil did what he needed to do to protect Thomas, for better or worse. And if Thomas would be more willing to see Virgil’s reasoning if he was ‘Logic’... perhaps this really was for the best. Logan was always able to keep Patton and Roman in check, surely Virgil could do the same with Deceit and Remus. It’s for the best.

Despite telling himself this, Virgil felt a sick feeling in his stomach as he rose up to fill the final spot.

“Logan’s here!” Deceit cheered, in a way that Virgil could almost believe it was Patton. Almost.

“Yes, hello Patton.” Virgil greeted awkwardly, shifting to try and adjust his posture. Logan stood up straight, he didn’t slouch. “Thomas, what’s…” Virgil trailed off, his words caught in his throat for a moment as he looked to the human himself. Thomas was looking to him with such pure confusion, in a way that made it clear that he wanted answers and trusted no one else to tell him the truth. 

Even on the best of days, Thomas never looked at Virgil that way. Anxiety had to be kept at a distance and feared.

“Cat got your tongue, Nerdy Numby?” Remus tilted his head curiously, and Virgil caught a dangerous glint in his eye clearly urging Virgil to speak.

“I seem to be… out of the loop.” Virgil cleared his throat, forcing himself to meet Thomas’ expression. Oh good lord, now Thomas was looking at him with concern, too. Thomas was concerned for him! Well not him, but Logan, and- “What seems to be troubling you, Thomas?”

Thomas frowned, looking around at the three of them. “...you’re acting weird.” He decided.

Tug.

“Whaaaaaaat?” Remus laughed awkwardly, in a way that perfectly resembled his light brother’s insecurities. “Thomas, I would never hide anything from you!”

“Roman, you’re freaking me out.” Thomas winced. “You’re kind of sounding like…”

Tug. 

“Roman’s not feeling very well.” Deceit wrung his hands nervously, the picture of an innocent lamb. “It’s all this talk of being good or bad or grey, it’s got him feeling… not so glittery! And I mean, how can a person really be grey, you can’t be a color-”

“Patton, you’re deflecting again.” Thomas pointed accusingly 

TUG. 

Virgil’s eyes widened in sudden recognition of the tugging sensation in his gut, recognizing the pull of a summoning. “Thomas, you’re getting quite anxious.” Virgil said, a bit louder than necessary as he gave the other two a warning glance.

“And that’s just it!” Thomas threw his arms up in exasperation, the tugging getting even stronger to the point where Virgil had to cling to the stair post to stay upright. “Of course I’m feeling anxious, you all are acting like- like kooky cookies and yet despite this unpleasant feeling that something is absolutely wrong Virgil is nowhere to be-”

CRASH!

All heads whipped around to Virgil, who had been all but thrown against the wall in his usual spot. He groaned, slowly standing up. The glasses he wore were skewed and the tie had become ruffled in the chaos of so forcefully changing spots. Well, guess that was one way to tell when Thomas needed him.

“...Logan?” Thomas murmured, looking hurt and confused as Virgil hunched in on himself. 

“Yes?” All dark sides froze, a chill going up their backs as the real Logan popped into place. He gave Virgil a considering look. “...why are you in my garments, Virgil?”

“Wait, Virgil?” Thomas looked around, giving all sides present a wary glance. “What about you, Patton?”

“I’m just as confused as you are, Kiddo.” Deceit shrugged meekly. Thomas gave Logan an inquisitive glance, wanting the truth. 

“Deceit!” Logan exclaimed, revealing the impostor with an exuberant point of his finger.

“Oh dear, nothing gets by you, does it, Logan?” Deceit rolled his eyes, folding his arms over his chest as his scales reappeared. 

“And you’re Remus!” Thomas accused, pointing to the one in princely garb.

“Yours unruly!” Remus grinned, his mustache reappearing. “My brother’s a bit tied up at the moment.”

“Don’t wink when you say that.” Virgil groaned. 

“Thomas, it appears that the previously subconscious aspects attempted to trick you into believing they were Patton, Roman, and myself.” Logan informed him, stating what was now the obvious.

“Well yeah, thanks Logan, I got that far.” Thomas squinted at each impostor in turn. “I mean, I’d expect that from you two, but…” Thomas’ gaze fell on Virgil, and Virgil felt the immediate urge to sink down into the subconsciousness forever. “Why’d you do it, Virge?”

“I…” Virgil’s tongue felt like sandpaper, and he focused on taking off the glasses instead of answering the question. 

“I’m quite curious about that, as well.” Logan admitted, looking at Virgil intently but not yet with judgement. Virgil closed his eyes, wishing he wasn’t about to destroy all of that trust.

“...you really should keep better track of your sides, Thomas.” Deceit spoke up, drawing all attention to him as he inspected his nails. Or were they still Patton’s nails? “They’re getting too easy to manipulate.”

Virgil raised an eyebrow, on edge and wondering what sort of scheme Deceit was plotting now.

“First it was Patton, then Roman, now Virgil…” Deceit tsked, looking up to Logan. “I think Logic is next to be knocked down a peg, don’t you?”

“Impossible.” Logan informed him with a scoff. “Knowledge and reasoning are not so easily swayed as those who base their crucial functions on the unsteady structure that is emotions and- ugh- feelings.”

“I doubt that there’s not a chink in your armor.” Deceit hummed. “After all, Virgil had Thomas fooled that he was a good side.”

“Virgil is a good side!” Thomas insisted, and Virgil’s heart couldn’t decide if it wanted to swell in size of shatter entirely. 

“Is he?” Deceit looked unconvinced. “How incredibly naive of you. I think Virgil is as good a side as you are a good person.”

“I… I am a good person.” Thomas said slowly.

“You hesitated!” Remus was quick to point out happily. “Come now Thomas, join the dark side, live a little looser.”

“Virgil and Thomas are equally good, considering ‘goodness’ is a social construct and arguably meaningless.” Logan didn’t seem to be filling either with much faith. “Despite Virgil’s strange actions today, his record indicates that he intends to protect Thomas. For this reason, we can conclude that he has a ‘good’ average, so to speak, despite morality not being mathematically quantifiable-”

“Logan, we need English, buddy.” Thomas interrupted.

Logan sighed, but he took a moment to readjust his wording. “Thomas, you trust Virgil to be good, yes?” 

Thomas looked to Virgil, staring at the anxious side for a very long time. “Of course I do.” He said finally.

“Then he is, inevitably, good.” Logan gave a decisive nod. “We are only figments of your consciousness. Our capability to be helpful and sincere is dependent on your perception of us.”

“And what about Tommy-Boy himself?” Remus argued. “If he’s bad, we’re bad.”

“Perhaps, but-”

“No butt’s about it!” Remus joked, giving a cheeky grin.

Logan gave him an unimpressed look, not a fan of being interrupted. “Perhaps, however, we have been figuratively running in circles deciding if Thomas is a ‘good’ or ‘bad’ person. The fact of the matter is we have no control over how others view him morally. It becomes not an issue of who Thomas is, but rather who you trust him to be.” 

Logan turned, his attention now focused to Virgil. “It is logical to have fears about how others will view Thomas, but worrying excessively will drive Thomas to be unproductive and miserable, stuck unable to decide for himself. Sometimes it is necessary to take a step back, reevaluate your purpose and trust others to do their function. Taking control of responsibilities that are not your own will only hinder the system as a whole.”

Virgil coughed, awkwardly rubbing his neck in shame. “That uh… that’s a real long-winded way to tell us to ‘stay in our lane’.” 

“Oh Logan, I’ve been thoroughly scolded.” Deceit bat his own hand sarcastically, looking no less repetitive. “How you’ve thwarted me again. I certainly won’t be back.” With this ominous note, Deceit sunk out.

“Bye Tomma-lomma-ding-dong, see you in your dreams~!” Remus waggled his fingers, sinking out as well.

“Please don’t.” A weary Thomas sighed, wondering what Remus would have in store for him tonight.

Virgil shifted, feeling uncomfortable. “...guess that’s my queue.” He felt uncomfortable and wanted to leave, but at the same time a small, desperate part of him willed anybody to stop him, to say he hadn’t forever screwed up the meager amount of acceptance he had gained the past few years.

Uninterrupted, Virgil sunk out, and a moment later Logan was beside him in the mind palace as well.

“Please return my articles of clothing to my room once they are cleaned.” Logan instructed. 

Virgil cringed. “Yeah, sure thing.” The clothes felt uncomfortably exposing now, showing far too much skin. Virgil didn’t know how Logan could stand being so vulnerable. “...Sorry.”

“Apology accepted, Virgil.” Logan nodded in thanks. “I will see you tomorrow.” 

“You will?” Virgil did little to hide the surprise in his tone. 

“Yes?” Logan gave him a confused glance. “You and I are critiquing Roman’s suggestions, are we not?”

“I… kinda thought you’d never want to see me again.” Virgil admitted. 

“That very idea is absurd.” Logan adjusted his tie. “We occupy the same mind, it is impossible to avoid contact entirely.”

“No, i mean…” Virgil groaned, rubbing his hand down his face. “I totally was an ass today! I tried to switch back to my old habits, and I almost hurt Thomas.”

“...but you did not.”

“But I could’ve.”

“You did not.” Logan insisted. “It is logical for you to have relapses into less than ideal behaviors, but regardless of your darker habits it is clear that you are no longer the individual you once were. Your old allies made that clear today.”

“I...I guess they did.” Virgil wasn’t sure how to feel about that. The isolation was- good? It meant he was a light side, at least in their eyes. 

“In your case, I would be more worried about the mental images you have now supplied Thomas.” Logan allowed himself a sly smirk. “I’m certain Roman will be quite amused when a lot of strange materials appear in his half of the dream workshop tonight, likely featuring you as a typical ‘nerd’.”

Virgil went ghostly pale, realizing his fatal error. “...oh no.”

Logan chuckled, giving Virgil an only slightly awkward pat on the back. “It is… reassuring to have you on our side, Virgil.”

#october 2019 #switched #sanders sides #deceit #deceit sanders #remus sanders #remus #virgil sanders #virgil #logan sanders #logan #I hope everybody feels in character and this makes sense #get it because its about switching as in pretend switching #and also real switching because Virgil has switched sides #thomas sanders #thomas

[this-is-a-name-dont-worry]

So I've been thinking about dark side Logan.

It's a trope that was used a lot, Logan that decides "Fuck it, I'm sick of nobody listening to me", and leaves to join the dark sides. It makes for a cool story, and it's a nice exploration, but I don't think a canon dark side Logan would be like that.

Because this version of the trope goes at it with the idea that a side can chose to be a dark (or light) side, which... I don't think they can. They can wish to become a light side, they can wish to become a dark side, but there are no internal switch. The thing with dark/light is that these appellations were made up by Roman, and in the end there are no real differences between a light and a dark side.

Well, besides one. A dark side is a side of him Thomas doesn't like, a side he doesn't want to listen to.

Logan is not listened to. And he does not like it, so why would he want to join the sides who have to use tricks to be listened to?

But it's not the sides who decide. It's Thomas.

And right now, Thomas is not listening much to Logan.

Let's say, due to frustration, maybe orange's influence, and a growing denial of his own feelings, Logan snapped one day. He tells to everyone the negative things he thinks of each, but not in a angry shouty way, no, in a cold, emotionless way ("emotionless". you can hear him talks faster as he goes on, see him piercing each new targets with his eyes. but it's not enough for Thomas, also upset, to notice). He is being particularly "I'm better than everyone here", is hitting where it hurts. Thomas calls him out, but it only angers him more, so he starts saying things that he doesn't even think, just to hurt. Patton and Janus try to stop Logan, but he only gets more upset at Janus. Thomas yells at Logan to stop this, and at this point, Logan's mind is too fogged by his anger to act rationally. He says that if Thomas complains, well too bad, because he's just telling facts. He is logic, he doesn't have feelings, and he tried to sugarcoat his thoughts for way too long. Thomas is at a critical point, he has to do something, and this something is dropping the act and give Thomas true logic, true facts.

"Well maybe I don't want that!"

"What?"

"Maybe I don't want your 'true logic' if that's what you do!"

"Thomas..." Janus tries in vain to calm him down. He's not even heard.

"Surely you're kidding. What would you do without me?"

"Well, if you think that logic means being cruel and hurting the people I care about, I don't want it!"

There's a moment of silence, as what Thomas just said sinks in. Neither he or Logan calms down, but a shadow of understanding crosses over Logan's face.

"I see. So you don't want me, then?"

"If you're like this, yes."

"But you need me."

"Sometimes, like sometimes I need to lie. But I don't have to listen to what you think is right!"

"Say it then."

".... leave. I don't want to hear from you anymore."

Patton starts telling Logan's name, he can fix this, but Logan is already gone. Thomas blinks in surprise.

"Oh you fucked up," informs Virgil.

It's not the side who chose if he's dark or light. It's Thomas.

anyway i think Logan's dramatic dark side outfit should be reminiscing of a butler. servant who comes only when called to do something to help the master, whose opinions and feelings are put asides, and honestly it works better for them if they don't have any so they can serve better. And despite that, they are oh so important, because they take care of everything. They are an important role above all else, and the fact they're individuals come way, way after.

EDIT: there's art now. made by @thereibi-art

#sanders sides #logan sanders #ts logan #i accidentally wrote a fic at the end. again. #anyway please people join me on this angst train #thomas sanders #dark side logan

[delimeful]

(dont) take this the wrong way (5)

warnings: injury, blood mentions, past psychological&emotional&physical abuse, ptsd, sickness

-

Virgil woke up, which was only unsurprising for the few moments it took him to 1. realize that his head was pounding and 2. remember the two very large reasons why.

His eyes flew open, and he found himself half-submerged in a shallow pool of cool water, surrounded by flat ledges of dry rock. The sound of ocean waves lapping against the cliffside echoed around the cavern, which was dimly lit by overhead cracks in the ceiling.

In one of these beams of paltry light, Logan was slumped over on his side, glasses askew. Virgil’s relief at seeing him was instantly overshadowed by terror at what could have happened to the human after Virgil had gone and gotten his skull knocked against rock.

His headache worsened, and he lifted a hand to press against the sore spot, pausing when he found more of those stiff bandage strips wrapped around his head.

The soft sloshing of water seemed to be enough to startle Logan into wakefulness, and the human brightened slightly at the sight of him. “Virgil. It’s good to see you awake. Are you feeling any pain or nausea?”

“What happened?” Virgil replied in lieu of the real answer, which was ‘everything hurts’. “Where are we, I thought we were dead for sure—!”

“Take a few deep breaths,” Logan advised, shuffling closer to the pool and offering a hand. Virgil took it gratefully. “We’re not currently in any danger. I believe we’re at the home of the seal-hybrid mer, if—“

“We’re what?!” Virgil’s voice dropped to a horrified double pitch, his grip on Logan’s hand instantly turning crushing.

“Ow,” Logan said in a pointed monotone. Virgil eased up before his claws could turn the human’s palm into bloody ribbons. “Let me finish, please. I’ve managed to work out a rudimentary method of communication, and as far as I know, we’re not currently at risk.”

“From the giant mer-eating monsters that literally kidnapped us, you mean?”

“Yes, that was the potential risk I was referring to.” Logan pulled Virgil further upright, reaching out with his free hand. “More importantly, you’ve been out for some time. Will you allow me to take a look at your injury?”

Virgil shuffled a little closer, allowing the hand to make contact with him. He had traversed currents of all temperatures, but in chilled still waters like this, Logan’s warmth was more than welcome. “I dunno how that’s more important than our inevitable, rapidly-approaching deaths, but sure, fine. Knock yourself out.”

“I will not? You are already dealing with a likely concussion, I see no reason to double that number.” Logan squinted at him like he was concerned that the head wound had taken a worse toll than he’d thought.

“No, it’s-- it’s just an expression. Don’t actually pass out, or I’ll freak out.”

“Ah,” Logan acknowledged, his hand twitching like he wanted to grab something before returning to carefully peeling the bandages away. “My apologies. Colloquialisms are not my strong suit.”

Virgil blinked back at him, because five syllable words were a little much even when he wasn’t concussed. “No worries?”

Logan continued to gently probe the back of his head. A sharp pang made him jerk away with a muted hiss, his vision blurring with pain as the sharp motion only agitated all his other cuts. He waved off Logan’s apology before it was fully formed. “S’fine. What’s the damage?”

“The bleeding has stopped, which is a good sign. It’s swelled significantly, but the cool water is hopefully helping reduce that as well. The best course of action now is for you to rest and recover in a dark, quiet place, ideally for at least two full days.”

“Yeah, but that’s not happening unless we get away first,” Virgil shot back, irritably twitching his fins down as Logan rewrapped the injury. The human let out a slow breath.

“Virgil. I believe the situation isn’t as dire as you think.” He settled back on his heels, back stiff as he spoke. “Our captors have shown no signs of aggression or hunger, even with the significant bleeding from your head wound. It’s possible--”

“It’s not possible!” Virgil cut him off, scowling fiercely. “That doesn’t mean anything. They’re playing some kind of sick game the way they always do, and if you let them trick you, you’re going to lose!”

Logan looked back at him inquisitively, still not getting it. “What evidence are you basing this off of? I was under the impression that you’ve spent only marginally more time in their company than me. Have they attempted to trick you in the past?”

“Yes, no, I mean--,” Virgil groaned, pulling at his bangs. “They don’t have to say it. That’s just how giants like them operate. We’re smaller, they can do what they want to us, we don’t get a say in it. You escape or you die.”

“Yet, we’ve been in their admittedly less-than-ideal care for over 24 hours, and they haven’t hurt us or made any indications they intend to hurt us.” Logan gestured expansively, his hand a bit wobbly. “That’s a rather long time to pretend, and for what purpose? If it was what they desired, we have been easy targets for a meal from the moment they relocated us.”

A rather long time to pretend. Virgil swallowed down a hysterical laugh, feeling dizzy. If a day of false niceties was all it took to buy his trust, he’d have never gotten away from his first encounter with a giant mer. “You’re— you’re human. You don’t know anything about this.”

Logan frowned. “I may be human, but that does not make me an idiot. Even with a language barrier, body language and expression are invaluable tools for communication, and I’ve been doing very little but observe them while you were unconscious. Virgil, if you just tried talking to them—“

“No!” he snapped, curling in even as his fins flared wide and threatening. He wouldn’t do this again, wouldn’t be subjected to the world’s most torturous game of catch and release, wouldn’t be lured back into too-tight hands by false promises and meaningless apologies. He couldn’t do that again.

Measured, rhythmic tapping on the back of his hand slowly brought him back to the present, cool air and Logan’s steady voice by his side. His throat was closed-up-too-tight, his gills too far out of the water to switch lungs— but the rhythm was counted out over and over, breathe in, hold, and out.

“There you go,” Logan said as Virgil took in another long, shuddering drag of air. “Well done.”

The air smelled like iron. He realized that somewhere in the past few minutes, he’d dug his claws into the soft sides of the human’s hand, drawing blood. He pulled away as though he’d been burned.

Logan didn’t even twitch, still searching his gaze intently. “Are you with me?”

Virgil nodded stiffly. “Yeah, I— fuck, I’m sorry.”

“No, I shouldn’t have pushed you. I didn’t realize— but I should have.” A deep, resolved breath. “It’s okay. I’ll find you a way out that doesn’t involve interacting with them.” Logan’s gaze went distant and hazy with thought, and Virgil hesitantly drew closer, pulling a bandage free to wrap around his bleeding hand.

… He was really warm. Clammy, too, and he’d been sitting in a cold, wet cave for hours, hadn’t he? Had been completely drenched for even longer.

“You’re sick,” Virgil said, and Logan took a moment too long to refocus on him. How had it taken him so long to notice? “That’s why you need me to talk to them. You need to get home.”

“My illness is no more severe than your injuries,” he deflected, adjusting his glasses clumsily. “Right now, the priority is getting you away from triggering circumstances. If my suspicions are correct, I will be fine regardless.”

Right. His suspicions, based on his willingness to trust his own abductors. He’d trusted Virgil, too, back in those tunnels. He’d known that he might be abandoned and he’d freed Virgil anyways, taken his hand anyways. Gotten hurt for his trouble.

He’d get hurt worse if Virgil left him here.

“... Yeah,” Virgil said, tucking the edge of the bandage in carefully. “But you should sleep for now. We both should. You said they haven’t done anything yet, right?”

“Yes, but…,” Logan’s brow was furrowed slightly, as though he knew something was off, but wasn’t quite sure what. “I mean, you do need rest. If… If you’re sure.”

“I am,” Virgil replied, curling against the edge of the pool and pillowing his head on his arms to hide their shaking. “Get some sleep, Specs.”

—

It was early morning when Patton woke to the splash of something small dropping into the water from his air room.

The room wasn’t overly large, being designed only for occasional use when he needed some extra oxygen in his system. It was also quite a few caves up above his sleeping den, but with two delicate little guests staying over, his senses were on high alert. He disentangled from Roman, who had been clinging to him for extra warmth, waking the shark mer in the process.

“Mwha’huh?” he asked groggily, and Patton chuckled at the way one side of his hair had been pressed into a tangled bundle.

“I think they may be awake!” he reported quietly, and Roman perked right up. They had originally hovered in the room over the two of them, only leaving after the human-- busy tending to the tiny mer’s wounds-- had gotten too fed up and used charades to shoo them away, leaving them with nothing to do but sit around and think about how badly they’d messed up. As such, they were both more than eager to start fixing things.

Upon popping up into the air room, however, they found only the human, lying completely still apart from the slow rise and fall of his chest. Deep in sleep, with an empty pool at his side.

Roman and Patton exchanged a panicked look, and ducked back underwater to search through his home and see where, exactly, the injured mer had gone.

It didn’t take long to spot him. The mer had practically every fin and frill puffed out, even the ones that were still injured. The threat display as eye-catching as they got.

He was hovering in the opening of a vent crevice, one that helped circulate seawater through the caves. It was small enough that if he vanished through it, they wouldn’t be able to stop him or see where he was headed. He knew it, too, staring them down with sharp defiance rather than absolute terror.

“Don’t move,” he said, as though they hadn’t both frozen at the sight of him. “I’m going to-- to make a deal with you.”

“A deal?” Roman asked, and received a sharp, wild-eyed glare for his troubles.

“Yeah, a deal. The other one is sick,” a slight jerk of the head toward the air room, “so he won’t last long here. Probably already too far gone to even play a single game.”

Patton was torn between concern (the human was sick?) and confusion. Game?

“But I’m fine. I’ve had much worse than this.” The mer drifted back slightly, closer to the crevice. “If I leave now, you’ll never find me, and then Lo-- the human will die, and you won’t have anything to play with.”

A creeping sense of dread overcame Patton. He still didn’t know what was going on, but it was sounding more and more like something was seriously wrong here.

“So, a deal. You take the human back to where you found him, and I’ll stay-- I’ll stay here,” his voice cracked painfully, but he ignored it, staring at them with a desperate sort of intensity. “With you. I won’t try to get away or anything. I-- I swear.”

“Get away?” Roman asked, his voice going high with the same sort of horror that currently swamping Patton. The mer ducked back at the sound, gaze flitting between them, some of that terror returning.

“I will! I’ll leave, if you-- you can either have one or none, that’s the deal, I’m not kidding. I’m not!” His fins flared wider, blood beginning to leak from some of them. “He’s human anyways, he can barely even swim, you don’t want him--”

“Kiddo,” Patton cut in urgently, raising his hands peacefully and trying not to wince when the mer flinched, “if he’s sick, of course we’ll take him back to where he can get help. No deals necessary, okay?”

The little guy didn’t look reassured at all. “I want to watch. I have to see you put him back, where other humans will find him, or else the deal’s off.”

He didn't believe them. Patton exchanged a helpless look with Roman, who finally nodded.

“Of course,” the shark mer said, “You are more than welcome to accompany us back to the mainland where Patton found him, provided that you’re not exacerbating your injuries.”

The mer hissed at him, a tiny, reedy sound. “And whose fault is that?”

“Irresponsible human fishing vessels?” Roman tried, and then wilted under both Patton and the mer’s looks when the joke fell flat. He cleared his throat. “It is, of course, mine. I wanted to apologize for the way I manhandled you before. Regardless of my intentions, it was unbefitting behavior, and it hurt you. I am truly sorry.”

He bowed with a little flourish, moving slower than normal. The mer stared at his bowed head apprehensively, and then covered the look up with a distrustful scowl.

“If you’re sorry, get Logan out of this place before he gets any worse,” he finally replied, and Patton nodded and went to retrieve the human-- Logan, presumably.

Glancing over his shoulder as he left, he could see the way the tiny mer’s fins had settled just slightly, not quite as frantically overextended as before.

It was a start.

#sanders sides #ts virgil #ts logan #ts patton #ts roman #mermaid au #my writing #dont take this the wrong way #dtttww #writing #g/t #virgil sweetie what the fuck #- logan next chapter

[oneletteredwondered]

One of the Boys

Virgil is a new tenant to an apartment complex and his landlord seems real nice. He told Virgil that should he ever need anything fixed to just give a call. He managed to get over the anxiety of calling someone for help, now he needs to get over the gay panic he experiences every time his landlord sends ‘one of the boys’ over.

Pairing: Everyone has a crush on Virgil who is also gay for everyone.

Warnings: panic descriptions from talking over the phone/to new people. Possible second hand embarrassment, swearing

Prompt pic at the end.

--

In all fairness, Virgil loves his new place. Way more than the old place he used to live at least. At least here the walls weren’t cracked and seemed sturdy enough that he wouldn’t be able to hear his neighbors through them. While he does his sweep of the place, writing down anything that might be wrong so the landlord can’t blame them on him, there’s barely anything broken or messed up. A clear step up from his old apartment.

“What you say Oogies?” Virgil nods to the black cat lounging on the cat tower after he’s finished his walk through. The cat stares at him, he stares back. They blink slowly at the same time and Virgil puffs out a breath. OogieBoogie wasn’t fond of the move. Complaining loudly at every jostle of the cat carrier. Virgil wanted to let her out but couldn’t until all his stuff was moved in for her safety. Seems like he’s forgiven.

“Come on lazy bones,” He finagles the cat out of the tower and she curls over his shoulders, paws dipping into the hood of his hoodie, and purrs. He smiles and scratches at her chin. For the most part she blends into the patterned fabric, her grey stripes the only thing that pop out, and even then only barely.

Virgil locks the apartment door, cat on his shoulders, and walk-through papers in hand. They walk their way around the complex and to the main office building. Virgil almost hesitates, thinking maybe he should go tomorrow morning at a better time, but OggieBoogie nuzzles his head encouragingly.

“Yeah okay,” He whispers to the animal, knowing she’s smug as he opens the door. It’s fluorescently bright. There’s no one at the front desk. Virgil takes two steps, and nearly backs out, when a friendly face pops out of one of the offices.

“Oh Virgil!” Virgil lets out a sigh of relief. He recognizes the elderly face 

“Hey Mr Sanders,” He gives an awkward wave. The cheery man laughs.

“You may call me Thomas you know,” He says smiling at his cat and waving to the animal. She blinks at him.

“Right, yeah, course, Mr. Thomas yeah,” Virgil says. Thomas gives him a fond smile but doesn’t correct him. Thank god. Thomas helped him fill out lease papers when he first came to check out new apartments. Honestly a blessing as Virgil had no idea what he was doing. Bonus that Thomas professed the place to be queer friendly as well. Virgil hung up his rainbow flag in the window the moment he found it.

“Oh I brought the walk through papers back,” He hands them over and Thomas takes them happily. 

“Everything good so far?” He asks. Virgil nods, nothing on there that he thought needed fixing, at least right away.

“Oh,” Thomas says softly. Virgil tenses and Oogie starts purring on his shoulder to comfort him.

“Are you having problems with the lights?” Thomas asks, very sincerely. Virgil shrugs a little and Oogie shifts to accommodate his motions.

“Not really, nothing serious,” He tries to play it off. Thomas pouts at his papers.

“Some of the plugs not screwed in properly, not working, a light out in the laundry area,” Thomas ‘tsks’ as he reads off Virgil’s writing. He perks up and offers Virgil a bright smile.

“No worries at all! I’ll send one of the boys over to fix it.” He offers Virgil a wink and riffles through his pockets. He pulls out his wallet and inside it a business card for the office that he promptly hands over.

“You ever need anything fixed, do not be afraid to call ya hear?” Virgil just nods, taking the card with him.

“Wait the boys?” He finds himself questioning. Thomas smiles again with a flippant wave of his hand.

“It’s the name of the contractor company I have hired here for the apartments. Someone should be over in about an hour to help you with the lights.” And with that Thomas is walking away to his own office, leaving Virgil to go back to his new home.

“Shit,” He mutters as he now realizes. Company coming over, and his new home is a mess. He walks quicker than he normally does to try and clean a little before ‘one of the boys’ makes it over. Oogie is not as impressed.

--

Virgil does well distracting himself. He organizes the boxes and even rearranges the hazardously brought in furniture to his liking. Oogie is lounging in her cat tower again, watching him try not to be frantic. He’s in the middle of putting some tupperware containers in the cabinets when there’s a knock on the door.

He wipes his hands on his jeans to make sure they’re not sweaty, and opens the door. Somewhere in the back of his mind he debates slamming it shut but in the end remains frozen with the front door wide open. Cause there in front of him is an absolutely gorgeous guy, hair slicked back and a cunning smile.

“Good afternoon, my name is Damien. Mr. Sanders said you needed help with some of your lights?” His voice sounds like silk and though there’s a long scar across side of his face, it takes nothing away from his beauty.

“Uh yeah.” Virgil says awkwardly.

“Yeah, yeah,” He says even more awkwardly and moves to the side to let the guy in.

“Much appreciated,” The guy, Damien says. Virgil can’t tell if the dude is cheeky or not, but damn is he flustered trying not to stare at his arms and the way he moves in those white jeans. Who wears white jeans to fix things? Virgil should send them a thank you note.

“Which plugs were having issues?” Damien asks then and Virgil decides words are not needed just this moment and deigns to gesture as best he can. Damien smiles at him and sets to work straightening some of the plugs out and replacing one in the corner when he notices a crack in the casing.

“Excuse me, miss.” He hears Damien say and peeks over his kitchen counter to see Damien gently nudging Oogie away from some of his tools. Virgil whines.

“Oogies come on let the man do his job,” Virgil goes over and scoops the cat up, petting her head to keep her from getting annoyed that she couldn’t continue with her curiosity. Damien laughs though and stands, now taking out the walk through Virgil so diligently wrote not 2 hours ago.

“You said that some of the plugs don’t work and that some of the switches don’t lead to anything?” He glances at Virgil with just a hint of a smirk. Virgil hugs Oogie a little tighter to keep his gay panic from spiraling.

“Yeah just seemed weird? I didn’t know if it was something wrong or what,” He says with a shrug, trying to seem nonchalant. Damien lets out a small laugh and waves Virgil to follow. He pulls out a small plug in light and pushes into one of the sockets Virgil said wasn’t working. He flicks the switch on the wall and the light pops on.

“Oh,” Virgil says and wants to die of embarrassment. 

“Well now I feel stupid as fuck,” He says. Damien lets out another laugh, flicking the light twice more to demonstrate.

“It’s to save power that some of the switches lead to the plugs. Nothing broken there. You’re not stupid because you didn’t know.” He takes back his light and once more gives Virgil that sly smile. The worst is he smiles in a way that makes it seem like he knows what he’s doing to Virgil, which is just rude. Except he’s not, Damien is insanely polite which does not help Virgil in the slightest.

“Is there anything else I can help you with?” Damien asks as he puts the last of his tools back in the case.

“Nah. I’m good, thank you,” Virgil says, determined not to make a fool of himself this time. Damien nods his head.

“Have a good rest of your day then. It was a pleasure meeting you,” And this smug bastard winks at him and closes the door behind him. Virgil lets Oogie fall to the floor, picks up the nearest pillow, and screams into it. At least he can do it with proper working lights.

--

Virgil is freaking out. There’s no other way to put it. He is freaking out. So he got a little lazy and didn’t do his dishes. He’s been working so often and never found the energy to keep up. He decided he had a dishwasher for a reason, and even though he felt bad because the machine wasn’t even full, he ran it, and now there is water over the floor. Shit.

He sits on the couch, legs bouncing, with his phone in his hands. Thomas’s number is on the screen, ready to be dialed at the press of a button. Virgil still isn’t sure if this counts as a proper emergency. He managed to clean up most the water with some of his towels, but water is still coming out. Maybe if he just keeps rinsing out the towels and waits for the cycle to be done, he can pretend it never happened.

OogieBoogie jumps into his lap. She kneeds at his leg and is put out when he doesn’t move right away to pet her or give her proper access to his lap. She bumps her head against him and pushes her way to his chest, knocking his phone with her foot in the process.Virgil hisses at the action and ruffles her face in revenge.

“Hello?” A very faint voice calls out. Virgil swears softly and picks up his phone.

“Uh Mr Sanders Thomas?” He says into the receiver, then pulls it away to stare at the ceiling to briefly wonder what is wrong with himself.

“Yes?” Thomas says on the other line.

“It’s Virgil from Unit 16 B.”

“Virgil! How are you?” Thomas doesn’t sound put out that Virgil is calling him, which is a good sign so far. Virgil takes a deep breath, hands working methodically though Oogie’s fur.

“Doing okay yeah, how are you?” He says, it’s important to be polite. Thomas laughs.

“Doing good over here. What can I help you with?”

“Uhm, my dishwasher is leaking? And there’s water on the floor and I don’t know how to fix it. You said I could call if something is wrong and I just, yeah.” Virgil shrugs to himself. Thomas gasps on the other end.

“Oh no! That won’t do. I’ll send one of the boys over to help clean it up.” And Thomas hangs up. Virgil stares at the phone, then at his cat, then back at the dishwasher. He really doesn’t want Damien to see him embarrassed like this  again. He buries his face in Oogie’s side and lets her purr calm him down. He must be there for a while because soon enough there’s a knock on the door.

Thankfully, it’s not Damien on the other end. However, it’s another incredibly attractive guy with a wild smile and even wilder hair that makes Virgil tense up because how. This one wears a shirt with the sleeves ripped off to show how ripped their arms are, and again, white jeans, though this time, the jeans are not as white as they once were, evidence of the work that has been done in them.

“Afternoodle! I’m Remus. The Sander’s Man said something was wishy-washy with your dishy-washy?” His smile in untamed and Virgil stares at him dumbly trying to understand what the hell just came out of his mouth.

“Yes?” He ends up asking more than saying, and moves over so Remus can come inside.

“Much appreciated, now what is gong on here?” Remus smirks down at the mess of the kitchen with his hands on his hips.

“I just ran the dishwasher and water started coming out. I was in the kitchen when I felt it on my foot.” Virgil explains as Remus moves some of the soaked towels over. He finagles the machine to open, something Virgil was too scared to try.

“Oh boy, I see. Give me one hot second here hot tamale, and I’ll get this all cleaned up.” Virgil isn’t sure what he should be more flustered by. Being called hot by a hot guy, or the fact the dude flexed while talking and there is some serious definition in his arms. So Virgil just nods as Remus skips out to the maintenance golf cart outside the door, and brings back in a tool box.

Virgil watches from over the counter as Remus pulls out the racks and practically crawls his way into the dishwasher. Virgil decides it’s a good time to walk away so he doesn’t end up staring at Remus’s ass while he works. That’s not proper behavior for someone who is trying to help.

It’s a few minutes, one colorful yet not quite a swear, and a victory noise later that Virgil feels okay going back to the kitchen area.

“Oh! Hello~ pusspuss!” Virgil gets to watch the exact moment Remus looks up to see Oogie staring at him working. Virgil scoops the cat up.

“Sorry she’s really into strangers.” He says. Though really, she hides from everyone. Remus lets out a cackle of a laugh.

“That’s fine, I’m into strangers too. So I fixed the problem here, no more soggy floors for you. Make sure to run it every so often so it keeps things going clean and unclogged.” Remus says far too quickly for Virgil to respond properly. He picks up his tools and returns them to the case. Virgil does a half-assed job of not staring at his back which is now water soaked.

“Is there anything else I can help you with?” Remus asks at the door. Virgil shakes his head.

“As long as it works I think I’m good,” He says. Remus smiles openly.

“Have a good rest of your day then!” He says and closes the door behind him. There was really no reason for him to flex as he said that but Virgil enjoyed it and no one else has to know.

--

“Shit shit shit,” Virgil is fumbling. He had to go grocery shopping and get some cat food for OogieBoogieBaby. And no self respecting trash panda such as himself would dream of carrying it back inside in more than one trip. So he’s fumbling with his arms lined with bags that would be cutting into his skin if not for his hoodie sleeves, but even then, those are falling and he wishes it wasn't so hot out.

He manages to make it to his door, shift some bags around so he can get his key out, when the bag of cat food starts slipping. Virgil can see it now, cat food all over the front porch to either collect ants, or other cats, or any other large animal. He wouldn’t feed it to Oogie, to afraid of what is on the ground and if it’ll upset her stomach. He braces for impact and for another quick trip to the store.

“Whoa!” Virgil feels the weight leave him but not the crash. He blinks at the ground, then at a pair of white jeans, then at the bag of cat food in someone else’s arms, then up to the face of a bespectacled stranger with brilliant blue eyes.

“Are you alright?” Stranger asks calmly and takes another bag from Virgil that looks ready to topple at a second’s notice. Virgil snaps out of it once it’s out of his hands.

“Shit yeah thanks,” He breathes out in a rush, thankful as all hell as he manages to finally get the door open. He pushes it with his hip and Oogie is waiting at the door for him, meowing up at him. He coos a greeting to her and sets the bags down in the kitchen, the stranger follows only to the inside door and puts the bags down there to not intrude.

“Thank you so much,” Virgil says once he’s done pretending he can carry that much. The stranger just offers him a small smile, kneeling down to let Oogie sniff his gardening glove covered hands.

“It was my pleasure to help you. My name is Logan, I’m one of the workers on site.” He says and stands. His voice is low and calming, it would make for a great audio book, and Virgil is not going to spend the rest of the day thinking about that.

“Though I do apologize for suddenly grabbing your things, I know that can come across as ‘creepy’ and I do not wish for that to be my first impression.” He pries a glove off and holds out his hand. Virgil takes it and gives it a small shake.

“I’m Virgil, and this is OogieBoogie,” He introduces himself and his cat who has deigned to jump on the counter and sniff at the contraption on Logan’s back. He gently pushes the cat away with a soft look in his eyes.

“Pleasure to meet both of you. None for you I’m afraid,” He chides Oogie gently. Virgil swallows because damn, someone interacting gently with his cat more of a heart throb than originally intended. And Logan is nothing if not simply scholarly stunning.

“My apologies again, be sure to let someone know if there’s anything we can help you with. Have a wonderful rest of your day,” Logan nods his head softly and there is just the smallest crinkle around his eyes hidden under his glasses and Virgil is so weak as he closes the door to his apartment. He’s come into contact with one too many pretty people at this complex and it will be the death of him. Still, it is nice to wave to Logan every so often as he preens the landscaping around the buildings.

--

Virgil watches as water drips down the window. It started the other day after some rains. He put a towel under it to keep some of the water from ruining anything, but it’s still going the next day. Virgil sighs and looks at his phone, Thomas’s number on the screen. He takes a deep breath and presses call.

“Hello?” Thomas answers.

“Hey Mr. Thomas it’s Virgil, from Unit 16 B.” A practiced line. Thomas gives a happy gasp.

“Virgil how are you?” Thomas always sounds excited to speak to him. It helps.

“Doing okay, how are you?” He asks, absently petting Oogie’s back.

“Good good! How can I help you?” Thomas asks in turn. Virgil looks at the window.

“Something’s up with my window? It’s like.. leaking.” He explains but not really. Thomas hums.

“Did this start up with the rain?”

“Yeah, I’ve tried cleaning it with towels but it keeps going.” Virgil says. Thomas makes another hum noise.

“Sounds like a problem with the roof. I’ll send one of the boys over.” And Thomas hangs up. Virgil isn’t as put off with the abrupt ending, expecting it this time around. He glares at the window and goes to wait for ‘one of the boys’. Oogie follows over and demands pets. It a decent distraction till a loud knock comes from the door.

Virgil opens it and it's just unbelievable how down right beautiful this guy is. His hair in perfect waves and a charming smile on his face. His sleeves are also cut like Remus's were, but far less frayed.

"Wonderful morning, my name is Roman. Our dear Mr. Sanders told me there were some ill issues with the roof is that right?" He speaks with such confident flamboyance Virgil is a loss for words.

"Yeah," Is all he manages to say. He's pretty. Way too pretty for this.

"Yeah, sorry it's over here," He turns and leaves the door open for Roman to follow. Roman laughs loud and proud and does just that. Virgil shows him the window and does not bit his lip as Roman jostles the frame showing off muscles that are illegal.

"The panes seems closed but I'll check outside as well." He turns and heads out the door. Virgil follows.

"And the roof?" He asks. Roman offers him a dashing smile, checking his tools that he attaches to his belt, holding up pristine white jeans.

"You may hear some noises for a while as I'm up there, but fear not, I'll find the problem." He gives Virgil a wink and with ease, he finds a ledge on the building and hoists himself up. Virgil does not squeak. Certainly not cause he's scared that Roman will fall, and certainly not cause he rolls his shoulders and Virgil can see his body move and god damn it he’s so not straight.

So he goes inside and pretends there’s not a real attractive guy fixing his roof. The noises of fixing continue for an hour or so, Virgil keeping busy with cleaning and some mild work emails. Then the noises stop. Virgil glances at his ceiling curiously.

"Uh, Roman?" He calls from his front door, making sure the dude didn't fall off and die.

"Be down in a moment fair tenant!" He hears. Virgil rolls his eyes and barely turns when Roman suddenly lands in front of him.

"Roof is all set. There were a few shingles out of-"

"Did you just jump off the roof?!" Virgil interrupts. Roman blinks at him and has the nerve to smiling so dashingly again.

"I dare say I did," he says as if it's no big deal. Virgil sputters at the reckless, careless, brash attitude. Roman is far too entertained by it.

"I'm honored by the concern, dearest. Just one more moment to check the window from the other side." He winks again and is walking around the building before Virgil can say anything.

He grabs Oogie and plants his face in her fur. Too gay to function. He talks to her plainly about how unfair it is that pretty boys plague his life, only to find out he can absolutely be heard through the window by Roman asking in a muffled voice.

"You think I'm pretty?" Virgil screams and hides in his room, hearing Roman laugh through the wall. This is how he dies, he decides. This is even worse than the time Damien had to tell him his lights weren’t broken, he just didn’t know how to use them. This is so much worse.

He groans loud and dramatically when there’s a knock on his front door. He doesn’t want to open it. But he does, cause it’s rude other wise.Roman stands there, smug expression and a bright smile.

“Checked everything and cleaned up some water. A few shingles out of place and a loose vent, got those all patched down. If it continues to leak it might be a bigger issue so be sure to call if it does. Anything else I can help you with?” He asks. Virgil takes a steady breath to say no.

“I think I’ve dug my own grave enough for today,” He says, further digging his own embarrassment grave. Roman gives another laugh.

“Enchanted to meet you pretty boy, have an amazing rest of your day.” And then Roman honest to goodness bows and drives off in the golf cart. Virgil closes his door softly and looks at Oogie who stares back from her perch on the counter.

“Don’t even start,” He tells the cat. She looks away like she doesn’t know what he’s talking about.

--

“Boogs! No!” Virgil does not like shouting at his cat. He doesn’t like shouting in general. But it gets OogieBoogieBitchBaby away from the wall she is using as a scratching post. She scampers off as he approaches, fingers going over the claw marks in the wall. He groans to himself.

He moved her cat tower because she kept getting onto his work papers. In revenge for disposing her from her favorite perch and sights of the room, she clawed at the wall instead, leaving a few nasty scratches behind.

“How am I supposed to fix this?” He asks where she’s run off, hearing her run around. He bangs his head on the wall. This is not how he wanted his night to go. In the end, he has Thomas’s number on his phone and piece of paper he tore to shreds in worry over what he could possibly say.

“Hello?” Thomas answers.

“Hey Mr. Sanders, it’s Virgil. I-”

“Virgil! How are you?” Thomas asks. Virgil takes a deep breath.

“I’m- I’m so sorry Mr. Sanders. It was an accident I swear.” He needs to apologize, cause if Mr. Sanders kicks him out, he’ll have to go hunting for places to live again, and who is going to take him with a cat who destroys things, and then because no one will take him, he’ll die on the streets and Oogie will eat his toes.

“My cat Oogie she got upset with me and she clawed the wall and I’m so sorry,” He says in a rush.

“Hey, hey Virgil it’s okay. It happens, our furry friends do funny things. I’ll send one of the boys over to help fix it right up, okay?” Virgil swallows a lump in his throat at Thomas’s easy solution.

“Okay,” He croaks out and then hears the click of someone hanging up. He lets his phone drop and then puts his head in his hands. He doesn’t want to be kicked out his apartment, or to have Mr. Sanders think bad of him as a tenant, or as a bad pet owner. He throws himself back on his couch. He feels so dumb.

Thankfully, there’s a gentle knock to his door. Hopefully his savior in this mess. He opens it to bubbly boy in round glasses, giving him the most cheerful smile Virgil’s ever seen.

“Hey there, evening to you, my name is Patton. Mr. Sanders said we have some kitty claws on the walls?” He asks. Virgil lets his shoulders drop.

“Yeah, I’m so sorry about it.” He says Patton waves his hand.

“It’s not a cat-astrophe, it happens. Can you show me where it is?” He asks. Virgil nods and steps back to let the boy in white jeans in, then pauses.

“Did you just make a pun?” He deadpans. And Patton giggles.

“Sorry, sorry, just slipped out. I’m pawfully bad at them.” He says with a bright smile. Virgil stares at him, then snorts into his hand.

“That was really bad,” He says but Patton just beams at him.

“Got you to laugh though.” And Patton should not sound so proud of making a stranger laugh. Virgil coughs to cover his awkward and shows him where Oogie got to the wall and Patton ‘tuts’ in response, putting down a bag of tools on the floor.

“I have just the thing to get this back in purr-fect conditions.” Patton opens his bag and pulls out some paint and calking. Virgil steps back to let him do his job, very aware that Oogie is hiding somewhere away from him. It makes him nervous to not see his cat in the area. Sure Oogie isn’t a registered therapy animal, but she does a good job of keeping him calm.

“There, al-meow-st done!” Patton smiles at him over his shoulder and adds another coat of paint to the wall, looking good as new. Maybe it’s the puns or the cute, but Virgil does relax.

“Thanks for that.” Virgil says as Patton cleans up. He giggles once more and waves Virgil’s concern off again.

“It’s no big deal, it’s what we’re here for.” He reassures. Virgil sighs and turns to the small meow behind him. Oogie is on the table staring at him. Patton lets out a squeal of happiness.

“Oh she’s precious!” He says in syrupy sweet voice. Virgil snorts again and looks between the two.

“Wanna pet her?” He asks and before he finishes Patton is shaking his head.

“Un-fur-tunately I’m allergic. But she is paws-itively adorable.” Patton coos and waves to the cat, Oogie does nothing in return but that’s to be expected. Virgil rolls his eyes at the both of them.

“Thanks again for your help,” He says. Patton beams and there are freckles on his cheeks. Freckles, too cute, not allowed.

“Of course! Anything else I can help you with?” He asks. Virgil’s turn to shake his head.

“I think we’re good now,” He says. Patton giggles once more.

“Have a claw-some rest of your night,” And that shouldn’t be funny but Virgil snorts again and Patton is proudly walking off.

--

What the fuck, what the fuck. Virgil stares at the door knob in his hand. He just went for a late walk to get his mail, Oogie joining him on his shoulders. Something rattled in the door knob when he opened it, having to actually shove the door open to get back inside after unlocking it. When he went to close the door, the handle came off in his hand before he could close it proper.

What the fuck.

He stares at the space where the door knob was and his open door. His mind immediately races to all the creepy people who can break in and steal things or kidnap his cat. Or even all the bugs that will make home in his food and hair. Nope. None of that.

“Hey Mr Sanders?” Virgil says first, his anxiety over the open door he can not close for fear it won’t open again overriding his normal fear of calling his land lord.

“Virgil! How are you? It’s very late,” Thomas yawns on the other end. Virgil winces. He probably should have thought this through considering the time.

“I’m okay, so sorry to wake you, it’s just. My door handle uh, fell off?” There’s a pause.

“Well that’s not good.” Thomas says.

“I’ll send one of the boys over.” He hangs up plainly. Virgil has enough time to worry if he made Thomas upset by calling so late, and worry Oogie somehow got out only to find her cuddled in her tower, when the bad lights from the maintenance golf cart shine through the crack in the door.

There’s an awkward knock and Virgil pulls the door open. He’s not sure who in their right mind has sunglasses on this late, but at least this gorgeous person isn’t using them to hide their bright eyes. They give him a quirky smile.

“Well this isn’t something you see every day.” They remark and Virgil has to huff out a laugh, some of his panic subsiding.

“Evening babes, I’m Remy. What happened?” He asks and goes about unscrewing the rest of the door knob, kneeling down and scuffing his white jeans that nearly glow in the darkness. Virgil tells him the lead up and Remy scoffs out a laugh of their own, giving Virgil a glance, that turns into a once over, that shakes him to the core.

“No worries, I can see the broken piece. Easy fix.” He winks at Virgil and gets a spare doorknob from the golf cart. Virgil stand idly by as he fixes it, keeping Oogie from getting too close.

“Wassup cat?” Remy asks and gently puts his knuckles to her head in greeting. She makes a noise and then trots off, satisfied with the attention.

“What’s their name?” Remy asks while he screws things back together.

“That OogieBoogie, Oogie for short, though she’s been more of an OogieBoogieBastard lately.” She meows at Virgil from the top of her tower. He hisses back at her. Remy snorts.

“Nice, I have an orange cat named Pumpkin.”

“Nice,” Virgil says back. Remy smirks at his response and keeps working. Vigil pretends the look on Remy’s face didn’t give him reckless night vibes, that he would take Remy up on if he asked, cause damn, the dude’s hot.

“May I borrow your key for a second babes?” Remy twists the knob a few times and with Virgil’s borrowed key, closes, locks, and opens the door with no problems.

“All good to go, anything else I can help you with?” He asks as he hands back the key. Virgil shakes his head.

“Nah, I’m good, thanks for that,” He says. Remy gives him a wink.

“Have a good night babes.” Another wicked smirk and Virgil does his best to close his door at a proper speed. His heart is pounding and these pretty boys will be the end of him.

--

“Hi! Welcome in, how can I help you?” Cute, is all Virgil can think when he enters the office. Pastel, is second. There’s a new receptionist at the desk, freckles and a mega-watt smile.

“Hi uh, I got a notification I have a package?” He stammers out. Oogie purrs at his shoulder, reminding him it’s okay.

“Sure! What apartment number?” Virgil rattles off his numbers as the receptionist looks in the package closet.

“For Virgil?” They ask. He nods and takes his box, keeping it away from Oogie as it’s a surprise for her birthday.

“Oh! I’m Emile by the way. I’m working in the office now so if you need anything just give us a call okay?” They’re so earnest. Virgil ends up just nodding his head, only speaking when Oogie bumps her head to his.

“Yeah, thanks,” He says and before he can make an exit Thomas appears from inside one of the offices.

“I thought I head you! Virgil, how are you?” He asks. Virgil gives him a soft smile.

“Good, and you?” It’s only polite. Thomas lets out a laugh.

“Good here too. Say, the staff is hosting a tenant party here, some games and some food, you should join us if you’re not busy.” Thomas hands Virgil a flyer with some gaudy colors. Virgil does a good job of not letting his dislike of the idea show.

“You should totally come!” Emile beams at him and it does something gay to Virgil’s heart. Virgil glances at the two of them smiling at him.

“I could stop by?” He offers not waiting to make them mad at him. They cheer and turn back to their jobs. Virgil walks back to his apartment, petting Oogie as he does.

“What did I just get myself into?” He asks her. She bumps her head to his hand in response.

--

It’s not a bad turnout for an apartment complex party. Virgil does show up, Oogie situated on his shoulders. Even though its closer to summer, He’s still wearing his hoodie if not just to give her a place to put her paws should she wish to.

There’s those plastic cheap tables lining around the pool area, boxes of pizza and some crinkly plastic containers of mini sub sandwiches sit on top. There’s a section for drinks and cups right next to. Virgil gets himself a cup of lemonade.

He glances about. Some people are playing some bean bag toss game, others are playing on the mini putt putt area Virgil didn’t even know they had. Lots of people are in the pool, messing around and splashing water at each other. He sticks to the sidelines.

“Virgil!” Or maybe not. He looks to who called his name and though he’s happy Logan called for him so he doesn’t have to be alone, he’s lamenting the fact that not only is it Logan, he’s also with Patton, Damien, and Remy. Fuck. Virgil goes bug eyed, giving himself a pep talk, helped along by Oogie making a ‘mrrp’ noise in his ear, and walks to his doom.

“Hey Logan,” Virgil says once he’s close. Patton waves as best he can with hands full of pizza.

“Sup babes?” Remy asks with damn smirk, sunglasses appropriate now. Virgil rolls his eyes.

“Damien, if you don’t remember,” Damien holds out his hand. Virgil of course remembers embarrassing himself in front of freaking sleek attractive Damien, but he isn't about to say that. Virgil takes his hand to shake and Damien flips it to bring a kiss to the back of Virgil’s hand. Virgil’s jaw drops as Patton giggles helplessly.

“Dee don’t do that!” He says but there’s not force behind it. Damien just smiles like the cat that got the cream.

“I didn’t know you two were familiar?” Damien turns the attention to Logan now. Logan just pushes up his glasses.

“I admit to helping Virgil carry in groceries more than once.” Logan says, giving Damien a look that Virgil doesn’t have the power to decipher. Patton whines.

“Kiddo you could have asked for more help,” He says. Virgil shrugs.

“Two trips are for the weak.” He and Remy tap their glasses together in a cheers.

“Yes and I’m sure dropping your groceries is also for the weak.” Logan chides and it does hit a little harder, but still Virgil taps his glass to Remy’s again in a cheers.

“Virgil!” Someone calls and Virgil is blinded by the force of Emile’s smile so suddenly in his face.

“You came!” He’s excited. Virgil nods and takes a step back. Oogie murmurs upset on his shoulder.

“Yep, I said I would and hey, free food.” He ignores the looks the others give each other and Emile just bounces.

“Well I’m glad you’re here. Me and Patton were gunna play corn-hole later, you should join us!” Patton gives an equally excited gasp as Emile gestures to the bean bag toss.

“Uh sure,” Virgil says. Emile bounces and waves, and is off to say hi to other residents as soon as he came. Virgil is reeling from the interaction and it only gets worse.

“Is that pretty boy??” Virgil hears the splash before he sees anyone but then Remus is there in his face, shirtless and in swim trunks and dear god, he has a tramp stamp.

“Hello again stranger~” He coos. Virgil musters up a hi when suddenly another shirtless person is standing next to Remus.

“It is pretty boy! How are you darling?” Roman says. Virgil has officially hit gay panic mode. If the earlier mix of suave and cute wasn’t enough to do him in, the pure amount of muscle now is going to do him in.

“Fine,” He chokes out. Remus and Roman both laugh at his answer. Great. If he hoped for any kind of saving from the others, it’s surely a dashed hope by the amused looks on their faces.

“Are you joining us in the pool?” Remus asks excited. Oogie hisses from his shoulders. Vigil raises a hand to calm her and she nuzzles his knuckles.

“Uh not today.” He says, which is the wrong thing to say.

“But another day?” Remus asks all wild excited. Roman shoves him.

“Like he wants to spend time with your gross ass!” Roman shouts playfully. Patton huffs and calls him for his language but he is ignored. Remus gasps offended with a wild smirk on his face.

“Sure he does, can’t keep his eyes off these guns,” And Remus flexes. Virgil smacks a hand to his face. Oogie dips to hide in his hood. Roman lets out a laugh and firmly shoves Remus back into the pool.

“The only gun he needs is a glock to the face.” Roman puts a fist in his hand, flexing as well. The pun does get Patton to giggle though and Damien rolls his eyes.

“Virgil I am going to get some food, would you like to accompany me?” Logan asks finally done with the nonsense.

“How do you know his name!?” Roman screeches.

“I asked.” Roman let's out an outright offended gasp for whatever reason. He doesn’t get to say another word as Remus from out of no where, runs and tackles Roman back into the pool with no such boundaries.

“Food sounds good,” Virgil says. Logan smiles softly at him.

“I think I shall join you,” Damien says looking into his cup which doesn’t look empty but who is Virgil to judge. 

“Come find me and Emile when you’re done okay?” Patton interjects before they can leave. Virgil offers him a two finger salute, and then leaves Patton and Remy to go find Emile, while he finds food.

“Idiots,” Logan mutters once they are away from the pool. Damien hums in thought.

“But not wrong,” He says.

“They aren’t right either.” Logan snaps back.

“Should I go?” Virgil asks as they are clearly not talking to him. Both Damien and Logan look at him scandalized.

“Certainly not!” Damien says and gives him a slick smile. Virgil swallows down his lemonade to keep his throat from clogging up. He spends some time talking to the two of them, making sarcastic comments and opening up. Oogie pops out to lick his hair at one point.

At that, Virgil finds Emile somewhere, letting them know he’ll be right back, wanting to drop Oogie off at home. He’s comfortable enough here to not need her reassurances, besides, she’s tired from napping and needs to go home to sleep. With some ‘hurry back’ wishes, he’s off back to his place.

He makes sure Oogie is comfy and goes to leave, finding Thomas waiting in one of the golf carts outside his door.

“Need a ride?” He offers. Virgil laughs and joins him in the small vehicle.

“Virgil if I may, I have a favor to ask of you?” Thomas says seriously. Virgil nods his head as his lungs refuse to let him breathe for fear of the favor.

“Please be kind to my grand kids yeah?” Thomas asks, an earnest look in his eyes. Virgil isn’t sure what he’s talking about, but then he looks up. All of the boys who have been coming in and out of his life to fix his home are there staring and waiting for him to get back with the same look in their eyes.

Oh. Virgil thinks.

Oh no.

--

AN: Lol that multiship life

Edit: now with a part 2

#virgil sanders #polyamsanders #deceit sanders #remus sanders #logan sanders #patton sanders #roman sanders #remy sanders #emile picani #anxceit #dukexiety #analogical #moxiety #prinxiety #sleepxiety #virmile #fic #my post #everyone has a crush on virgil cause i said so #one of the boys au

[moonlit-flowerfield]

What's the story of evil like?

If you've heard of the Vocaloid songs "Daughter of Evil", "Servant of Evil", "Regret Message", and "Re_Birthday", it's the overarching story of those four songs!

To explain the story with the Sanders Sides characters:

Before the Sides were sides, some of them were real people. The main 6 sides are of them (since we know Thomas has way more than 6 sides), as well as Thomas' side of Lust (I'll get there.)

When human, Kathryn (Thomas' Lust) was part of a royal family. However, she always went against the queen's orders, so the queen told her she'd never be taking the throne.

When Kathryn was around 17, she got twin brothers (Roman and Remus), and man was she happy. So what if she doesn't get the throne, she's got brothers!

When Remus and Roman were 3, however, the king divorced the queen and took Remus from the castle. The queen kept Roman and Kathryn, effectively doing what she could to keep "the troublesome child corrupting the future king" from being a problem. Due to their ages (and magic), Roman forgot about Remus' existence.

Not long before the twins turned 14, the queen passed, declaring Roman king. Naturally, Roman needed to pick a hand worker and Kathryn was helping him pick. She noticed Remus was in the batch, brought it to Roman's attention, and voila. The twins were gonna be reunited. Kathryn woke up early the day Remus arrived to catch him up and let him know things (like how Roman couldn't remember he had a twin and such).

Roman at first seemed to be a good ruler, being relatively nice and benevolent. Even threw a ball to meet his fellow royals from other kingdoms. He met Logan (king of the Coftes kingdom{the Blue kingdom}), and effectively fell in love at first sight.

Unfortunately for him, Logan had fallen for a man in the "Green" kingdom, a young pauper named Patton (who was really nice and kind and yadda yadda, it's Patton).

Roman, throughout a few months, basically becomes like his mother and gains the nickname "Son of Evil". He's taking everything from his people, ending lives because they weren't on board with his ideas and is just a tyrant.

Remus had to do some errands in the Green kingdom, and with Kathryn along, ends up meeting Patti and also falling for him. Virgil calls Patton over, since he lived and worked with Patton, and yeah yeah.

To quote Servant of Evil, "But we know all good things must come to an end." Roman learned of Patton and Logan, and deemed that the whole Green kingdom (and in very specific, Patton) must pay. Remus got the special request from Roman to finish Patton off. And he loves Roman too much too much to not go along with what he's told to do. "So then tell me my sun, just what caused these rains to pour?"

Disgusted by Roman's actions, Kathryn goes to her friend and the kid Remus was raised with, Janus, saying "start the revolution. I'll make sure you get to Roman." Janus wasn't thrilled with the idea, but everything that Roman had done also caused the end of his father's life, so he needed to save more from the senseless slaughter.

Logan was (understandably) infuriated at Patton's clear murder, and offered his kingdom's service to it.

Remus confronted Kathryn about the uprising, to which she simply said "you have a choice to make in life. You can either help the one who doesn't need it... Or fight to create peace." She even told Remus to run, to get away while he could, before going to guide Janus and Logan to Roman's room.

Remus wasn't going to have it. He did everything to look exactly like Roman (he doesn't have a moustache yet, they're 14), and got in Roman's clothing. He then grabbed his clothes, and told Roman everything. That they were twins, that he'd die if he stayed. That they could switch and Roman can change. Roman, heartbroken, did the switch and fled as Remus.

Not one of the three nobles arresting Remus believed he was Roman. Logan could tell by the air he held himself, Janus was raised with Remus, and Kathryn could see the longing in his eyes. About three days later, "Roman" was beheaded for his crimes.

Roman ended up living with Virgil, and lived at the edge of the ocean. He remembered something Kathryn taught him, a little myth. "Write your wish on paper and fold it in half, in a little bottle it goes. Give it to the sea and one day you will see, your dreams will bloom like a rose." He often took his little bottle with a paper and threw it into the ocean.

Remus, on the other hand, found himself in the afterlife, locked away in a box for his sins. He heard the lullaby Roman sang for Remus.

It's a lot to write and this is already a super long post but I'm doing a fic that kinda covers all of this. As soon as it's written you bet I'm posting it.

#sanders sides #patton sanders #logan sanders #remus sanders #virgil sanders #roman sanders #janus sanders #story of evil au

[remuscore]

Can we have more info about Taco Bell AU Roman, Virgil, and Logan? No pressure if you don't want to

Oh yeha totally I love talking about them!!

Roman and Logan were already together for two years before getting together with Virgil.

They’re all queer platonic!!! Roman and Virgil became real good friends and later their feelings got more complicated.

Virgil almost constantly has a crisis over his identity and switches between labels and status as an aroace person, but what he does know is that his feelings for Roman and Logan are definitely not just friendly.

Virgil’s comfort level in romance and sex also fluctuates, but one of the things that stay the same is that he’s more than happy with hugs and kisses. Sex has always been iffy though.

None of them are uncomfortable with calling each other boyfriend/partner. They all agreed that their relationships deserve those labels (Roman and Logan especially).

Roman and Logan live together, but Virgil doesn’t. He’s still fairly new to the relationship so he’s not quite ready for that, but he sleeps over so much that they have a part of their closet and dresser for his clothes and other things.

Roman did struggle for a moment with the whole polyamory thing. Logan already knew they were and Virgil had also just discovered it, but had less issues with it than all the other stuff about his identity. Roman’s issue was more that he was raised with really toxic stereotypes about polyamory and gay relationships so he was battling his own stuff.

They do talk about their situation a lot. Just because of Virgil still working out a bit of his identity and both Roman and Logan being new to a three sided relationship.

The only issue they have is trying to figure out and explain Virgil’s relationship with Thomas lmao.

#it speaks #analogince #taco bell au

[iclaimedtobethebetterbard]

I have more questions if you're still doing them!! How did Virgil and Logan start dating? How did they go from being nemeses to trusting each other with their alter egos and being really soft and cute?? (in case you can't tell I lov them sm) Also how/when did Janus find out that Logan was dating Virgil (if she does know about them, that is)?

OHOHOHOHOOHOHOOHO YESSSS i love them sm too thank u for this question i am delighted

[ask me questions abt the backstories/lore for my if you’re going my way, i’ll go with you fic]

analogical beloveds below the cut:

OKAY SO. they met when virgil moved to sandersville to start up his villainy career. virgil was 22 and logan was 23. logan had been working with the heroes of sandersville for 3 years at this point and doing hero work in general for 5; virgil was fresh out of college and had only done a very little bit of villainy work on the side, but was powerful enough that he was able to beat a lot of much more experienced heroes anyway. virgil and logan quickly became each other’s official nemeses, because none of the other heroes or villains were powerful enough to be a real challenge for them.

fast forward to them, ages 26 and 27. virgil has been the official leader of the villains for a couple of years now, logan is technically not officially the leader of the heroes yet but he really is in all but name at this point and Everyone knows that when the current official leader steps down logan will take their place (which happens actually just a few months after this). virgil and logan have both only become more powerful as they become more experienced, and they pretty much keep apace of each other and are very evenly matched. logan actively maintains his alter ego and puts a lot of work into making that identity seem convincing; virgil has an alter ego, but has slowly been using it less and less since becoming the leader of the villains, because he’s so powerful that he barely feels the need to keep his identity secret.

both of them happen to download the same dating app at about the same time. both of them use their alter egos for their profiles because of how much hassle putting their super identity on a dating app would be.

they match.

virgil is like “oh, he’s cute” and like swipes right without thinking about it too hard.

logan, meanwhile. is just kind of. sitting in his apartment staring at his phone. for a really long minute. very much wearing a face that says “I Should Know Better.” he looks through virgil’s profile again. swipes through all the pictures virgil’s uploaded. reexamines the bio and the list of interests and hobbies and whatever. just to double check that he’s certain. and yeah. this is, like, Super Definitely his nemesis. he should 100% not be even entertaining the notion of this. it’s ridiculous.

…he’s hot, though.

…logan swipes right.

(to be clear, virgil was subtle enough when filling out his profile on this app that nobody else ever figured it out; logan only realized because of supergenius powers and bc he already interacted with virgil so much at work. but he realized, like, Immediately.)

they begin chatting within the app and quickly switch to some other social media’s dms, bc they immediately get along really well and are very interested in each other. they plan a date. it goes really, really well. part of logan is internally screaming the entire time, but “but virgil is really cute and nice” is a strong enough argument to make the screaming side of himself easy to ignore fksdjfhglsf. after this first date they 1) make plans for another date 2) exchange phone numbers and begin texting and facetiming. both being very careful to avoid facetiming during work. virgil thinks it’s really lucky that logan never texts/calls him at a bad time that could reveal his identity.

after their second date also goes really well, logan is like “yknow what. he’s really nice. and really cute. and really into me. and i like his personality. i no longer care that he is my nemesis. im just going to see where this goes” and he asks virgil to kiss him <3

they begin dating regularly, and spending the nights at each other’s places, and so on; they are exclusively seeing each other but have not quite made it official that they are boyfriends. this goes on for about a month and a half.

as this goes on, virgil finally begins to piece together little things he’s noticed here and there, and begins to notice that hey, he’s anticipating dr logic’s attacks and witty one-liners a lot better because they suddenly seem much more familiar, and huh, dr logic’s voice is pretty similar to logan’s, and wow, it’s kind of weird that logan always seems to be free at the same times virgil is, almost like he’s also working on a super’s schedule. that’s weird.

for a while his anxiety makes him second-guess himself and think he’s looking into it too hard. but eventually there are enough little coincidences (and logan is kind of intentionally making those happen, he wants to make their relationship official and thinks they should definitely be on equal open terms about their identities and draw boundaries around that Before they make their relationship official, but also he feels like sitting virgil down and being like “so. i know who you are. here’s who i am” would be a little Much and probably freak virgil out. so he’s trying to get virgil to notice it on his own). eventually there are enough little coincidences that virgil can’t deny it anymore and is Sure that his nemesis and his maybe-boyfriend are the same person.

virgil proceeds to have an extensive moral quandary about what to do with this knowledge. because he likes logan So Much and doesn’t want to break up. but logan is a hero apparently and virgil thinks probably it’s against the heroes’ morals or ethics or whatever to date a villain. but also he definitely can’t date logan without telling him about this. that is Too Big of a secret to allow for a healthy long-term relationship. but he doesn’t want logan to hate him or think he’s evil. but maybe it would be evil to intentionally hide this from logan and “manipulate” him into dating virgil. etc etc etc. virgil keeps this up for so many loops around and around and around with himself. eventually he comes to the conclusion that he should tell logan.

so he did. he had a whole big confession full of like “i know youll probably never trust me again” and “im sorry i should never have kept this from you” and “i swear i was never trying to trick you everything youve seen from me was genuine” and “i understand if you never want to speak to me again” and so on. logan very politely waited until he was done and then was like “i’m so glad you finally figured it out. would you like to be boyfriends” SDHJFKGSDLDGLF. obviously after virgil got over being shocked he was like “yes Please but also What Do You Mean You Knew.” cue a makeout session ft. a very flabbergasted-but-delighted virgil and a very satisfied-over-getting-everything-he-wants logan. it is Entirely Possible that the makeout session then progressed,,,,, further, with logan Immediately seizing the opportunity (now that they both know who the other is) to be like “please use [insert one of virgil’s powers] to [describes way he has fantasized about virgil using said power on him in the bedroom]” and virgil being like “,,,,,,,shit that’s a really hot idea, okay” fsdkjghkldg

and then they spent a few days on and off discussing boundaries and exploring different plans for how to make their relationship work. they toyed with one or the other of them switching sides, and with the idea of retiring, but ultimately both of them liked their jobs so much, and also logan was like “i am the best leader out of any of the heroes working rn and would run this city so much better than any of them, and frankly you are a softie and are not that good at villainy but are very good at keeping all the other less morally chill villains under control, so i think we should both keep our jobs” and virgil was like. very half-jokingly offended and like “Excuse You i am SO evil and villainous” but also was like “yeah that’s a good point.” so they ultimately settled on the secret-relationship plan. and agreed to keep their work relationship pretty much how it had been before, just with less actually trying to hurt each other when fighting and with more very flashy dramatic fake punches instead and so on. they proceeded to immediately have a lot of fun with dramatically being each other’s nemesis still lol.

outside of work, it was actually very easy for them to then start becoming so soft and tender and domestic and silly and trusting with each other, because they had established some of that dynamic while they were dating before making it official, and also because they were at this point just so familiar with each other that it was very easy to let that familiarity translate into fondness and quickly love. they also were super intentional about making lots of time for each other outside of work and being very cute and soft and tender together. bc of the deliberate separation between work and relationship, they both put So much work continually into keeping their relationship healthy and maintaining open communication and trust and just investing so much in their relationship, and are so intentional about it, and as a result are just. so trusting and domestic and in love and well adjusted. it’s great.

over the next couple of years, logan also proceeded to continually be like “your [insert piece of tech the Nightmare uses] is shit, let me make you a better one” until almost all of virgil’s tech, including his security systems, are all made by logan. they are, admittedly, much much higher quality now. and logan was nice enough to make the security system have a setting where it will attack him if he’s in his dr logic suit. he obviously Could disable all of virgil’s defense systems really easily now, but like, he won��t, and he could have done that with the old stuff that wasn’t his own designs even easier anyway. he also did virgil’s top surgery for him about a year after they got together. they Have talked about getting married, but feel like creating legal documentation of their relationship is a risk neither of them would like to take at this point, so they are instead very happy in their committed partnership (they had their 8-year anniversary a little while before the fic started). they’re vaguely planning to save marriage for whenever they both feel like retiring from superwork, a couple decades down the line.

virgil did kind of abandon upkeeping his alter ego altogether shortly after they started dating, because again, he’s powerful enough that he didn’t feel the need to do that anymore. so like, usually he’ll wear normal clothes while going on dates with logan, but also he doesn’t make any particular effort to conceal his identity. when they spend the night with each other, sometimes they do that at the Nightmare’s lair, and sometimes they do that at logan’s alter ego apartment. virgil does not ever visit logan’s dr logic apartment, but logan spends the bare minimum of time there necessary to make people not wonder about his alter ego anyway, so that’s not a big deal.

aaaand as for your second question 👀 that is a spoiler, but i am also very weak, so if you would still like to know i am happy to tell you via dm lol

#peregrin answers #peregrin said a thing #if you're going my way i'll go with you #star tag!!!! #iygmw lore

[gumnut-logic]

His fingers played with the edge of the bandage.

It was the usual type. He was familiar with the texture both from previous injuries and from dispensing the wrapping to rescuees and the occasional brother.

Scott had been gentle.

Grandma had been kind.

But it was his hand and injuries to his hands always put him on edge.

His hands were so integral to who he was that the chance of permanent damage was a real fear.

One that haunted him.

Despite that, he was willing to sacrifice if necessary. The stakes in the life and death game he and his brothers played was worth it. He was willing to give everything.

But at the back of his mind that chance absolutely terrified him.

And this time it had been close.

So close.

The breeze tickled his unkempt hair, his unstyled curls bugging him as they brushed against his forehead. He should go back to the villa, climb the stairs and fix his hair, but it was awkward, ambidextrous or not, and to be honest, he wasn’t feeling it.

The volcanic rock under his butt was unforgiving and it wasn’t long before he was uncomfortable and had to shift. His arm in its sling hurt as he moved and he didn’t need to look at the time to know his meds were due.

But again, he wasn’t feeling it.

He just wanted to sit and let it all drift away.

But Virgil Tracy had four brothers, all of which were emergency responders and quite capable of labelling him as such an emergency and responding fast.

So, it wasn’t long before there was a soft step and the rustle of clothing as his big brother sat down beside him on the clifftop.

“Whatcha doing?”

It was casual and kind, but it said everything.

“Just sitting.”

He could feel Scott’s eyes on him, but Virgil didn’t want to do anything. He felt spent, exhausted.

Tired.

Ever so tired.

A hand slipped gently around his shoulders and he was pulled to his brother’s side.

Virgil let himself be moved, closing his eyes as his head dropped onto blue cotton.

“It was a close one today.” Scott’s voice was quiet and Virgil realised he had probably aged his brother by several terrifying years.

“Sorry.”

“Not your fault.” A sigh and the arm around him tightened just a little. “I’m just happy you’re okay.”

Virgil let a breath out, but didn’t say anything.

They sat there for some time, the only sounds the wind, the waves and the occasional bird.

His brother’s shoulder moved as he breathed, just a little.

“You know, you don’t have to do this.”

Virgil frowned. “Do what?”

“Work with International Rescue.”

“What?” His head came up, eye wide and seeking Scott’s.

His brother faced him, expression serious, but his blue eyes were soft.

Virgil’s heart was beating faster than it needed to. “Why? What do you mean?”

Scott tilted his head, his eyes drifting off of Virgil’s and out towards the ocean. “I…mean…this life isn’t your only option. You don’t need to risk so much.” His hand gestured at Virgil’s sling.

His frown grew so tight, his head throbbed. “We all risk equally. Me no more than any of us.”

Scott’s shoulders dropped and he looked down at his hands. “Virgil, why did you join International Rescue?”

Virgil straightened. “Why? You know why.” What the hell was going on?

A hand landed on his arm. “Just hear me out, okay?”

Virgil’s lips pressed together and he stared at his brother, holding back the protest that was clogging his throat.

The hand squeezed gently. “You’re my brother, and I love you no matter what. It’s just…sometimes…I wonder if you joined because you felt you had no choice or Dad pushed you into it.” The last bit came out in a rush and Scott’s eyes were so apologetic, Virgil realised this was a question that had to have been haunting his brother for a long time.

“Why would you think that?” The words fell from his mouth as he stared.

“Well…” And Scott broke eye contact again, preferring the ocean. “You were always so into your art, art school, those piano recitals.” He waved a hand randomly. “You have talent, Virgil. You love it.” A breath. “I do what I love. I just sometimes wonder if you felt you couldn’t.” A guilty-looking shrug. “That perhaps you followed me because you thought that was the thing to do. Or maybe Dad said something…” His brother stopped talking, leaving the thought hanging, but his lips twitched as if he was desperate to ask further, the blue of his eyes worried.

Voice quiet. “How long have you thought this?”

“Um…since you said ‘yes’?” The smile was half-hearted and a little sad. “You’re my little brother.”

Those four words said it all, and, as always, Virgil felt that flash of pride and love at being one of only four who could lay claim to that exclusive title of Scott’s ‘little brother’.

He drew in a breath. “Yes, I am, and, yes, I will follow you anywhere. But I am my own person and I do make my own decisions.”

“I know, Virg. It’s just…it wasn’t the obvious choice, okay? One minute you’re in art school, next minute you’ve switched to engineering. It was sudden and…well, not obvious.”

Virgil shifted where he sat and his arm twinged.

He ignored it.

“Mom was an engineer.”

“Yes, she was. But you’re not Mom.”

That set Virgil glaring. “And you’re not Dad.” He drew in a breath. “I don’t get it, Scott. What’s your point? I made the decision to join International Rescue of my own volition. This was my choice and I would make it again a thousand times over. I can do good here. Much more than I could mouldering away in some studio painting wall decorations. This has always been the case. I thought I had proven my capabilities. Are you questioning them?”

His hand and arm were really beginning to ache.

Scott held up both his hands. “No! God, no, Virg. I just wanted to be sure this is what you wanted. I saw you today. That blade nearly took off your hand. The thought of…” Scott swallowed. “I’d hate to see you unable to do…what you love.”

Virgil stared at his brother. His fingers found the edges of the bandage and began fiddling again. “Ditto, Scott. You think that thought hasn’t occurred to me in regards to you? To any of us? Gordon nearly lost everything…again. What makes me so special all of a sudden?”

“You’re not special. I was just worried.”

“Well, you don’t need to be. I made the decision. Would do so again.” He paused. “I follow you, Scott. I always will. But I do so of my own choice, in my own way.” A breath. “And I am doing what I love.”

Scott’s eyes caught his and held them a moment, before his brother pulled him into a hug. It was rough and tight and Virgil had to hold his breath as his arm yelled at him, but it was well meant.

It was Virgil who pulled away, forced to by his hand protesting louder by the second. To top it off, he wasn’t fast enough to mask the reason and Scott picked up on it.

“What’s wrong?” But Scott’s eyes were on the sling and the question was redundant. “Back to the villa.”

“Scott-“

“Don’t argue. That was an order.”

Virgil rolled his eyes. “We’re not on duty.”

Scott pushed himself to his feet and offered Virgil a hand. “Since when has that mattered?”

A grunt and Virgil ignored the hand out of principle, unfolding and standing up with a creak. The fact that hand had to grab his good arm to keep him from toppling over because he managed to over-balance was annoying.

The hand did not let go and nudged him towards the path to the villa.

“Since when does ‘follow you’ mean ‘must do as you say’?”

“Since you chose to do it.”

“Didn’t choose that.” But it was mumbled and stupidly fond.

It wasn’t part of his choice to join International Rescue at all. It was a choice made by birth and birth order and the fact that even now, in his thirties, Virgil still kept a little hero worship for his big brother.

He would follow Scott wherever he led, even if it cost Virgil everything he had.

Because it wasn’t just about doing what he loved, but also who he loved.

And he loved his brother enough to give him everything.

-o-o-o-

#thunderbirds are go #thunderbirds #thunderbirds fanfiction #Virgil Tracy #Scott Tracy #nuttyfic reblog

[melissa-s23]

Private lesson

Sumarry: Janus try to decieve himself into a timeline where he can save his friends. He does not expect reality to offer him an opportunity to prove himself.

Word count: 3127

Characters: Janus Sanders, King creativity Sanders

Warnings: Sword fighting?? Idk please tell me if you think something else should be added here.

Author’s note: MY FIRST ONESHOT EVER COMPLETED! Yes! And the honor goes to @rondoel ‘s King!AU! ( @kingcreativityau ) :D Now: are the characters OOC in this? Most probably. Do I really care about it? Only a tiny bit. I only started to post Sanders Sides content here recently, but I’ve been a fan of the series for a few months now so I had time to read a lot of fic... however I’m still not sure on what I got wrong so if you have any criticism, positive or negative, please let me know! Lastly, this was at first supposed to be an animatic (on the song called ‘This is war’) but I have NO TIME to draw and lot of time to write so enjoy! When I do get time, I might try to animate a certain part of it that I don’t think I nailed that well in the fic. Anyway, I’ve been rambling for long enough. ENJOY!!!

-----------------------------------

Janus stood there, in the empty training room. Since King's return, he felt very conflicted, and he hated himself for it.

The king was merciless, he cursed Patton to make him look like a toddler, he removed Logan's vocal cords, he cursed Virgil into torturing himself into deadly downward spirals, and...

And he was very spiteful, he was angry... because he'd betrayed him.

Janus clenged his fist. He couldn't help but remember the look of betray and rage that his King gave him when he discovered his team-up with Logan. Those orange eyes that could burn him down on the spot. Those oh so intense eyes... Damn it, he was back at it again. This is over now. His king was gone. Now it was the King. The tyrant. The side who hurt his friends.

He was standing in the empty room, looking at his reflection by the mural mirror. His now half-half face looked so tired. Was he really this tired ? He was probably very very tired... but he'll rest later, as the memory of his most recent wound was still fresh in his head, replaying this utter humiliation, he just couldn’t sleep. Anger soon filled him up.

He could have tried to stop him. He could have tried to save his friends, and instead he just... froze. He just let it happen like he couldn't do anything. And he knew how to fight ! He knew how to defent himself for crying out loud ! He could've done something, and instead... Nothing ! He recalled the scene, bit by bit. How Logan stood at his left, how virgil was just behind, how the king was looming over them, despite being 10 feet away from them. He remembered every movement, every word, and every second of that moment like it was written in his metaphysical blood.

And in a second, it was like he was dragged back to this hell again.

And he would not let it happen a second time.

He summoned his cane and raised it up at the memory of King. His mind wandered off now. He had to imagine how he would've react. Would he summon his sword or take full creative control to just trap him ? He wanted to think he had a chance, so he chose the sword scenario.

And just like that, the imaginary fight was on. Step forward. Left. Right. Dodge. Go protect them. Put up a fight. He would have rushed toward the tyrant and aimed for the head, the sword would've get in the way and he could uses the top of his cane to project himself back to the group. Go. Dodge. Pare. Block and Dodge and Move fast and Dodge again and Block and pare and send it back. The world was spinning around him and the fight got more and more intense. He may have his eyes closed, but he knew perfectly where he was in the room, and he was completely in his daydream. Left and Right and Block again and Forward and Left and Block and backward and spin and swing the cane for it to stop only an inch away from the face of his enemy. He would have been a threat, and he would have been able to save his friends from the King.

He didn't expect, however, to be met with the actual King in front of him when he opened his eyes.

Janus' eyes widened and he immediately cursed himself for backing up. Great. He was all about putting up a fight and a second later, he was cowering. ‘Talk about blowing smokes.’ He at the very least kept his glare from fading away. He couldn't be scared of him. He couldn't show it. He was simply surprised... He had to make that a challenge for him, Deceit was not a side you could see right through, after all.

« You seem to have a quite... Interesting dancing style » King spoke, an almost mocking grin showing as he looked down at Janus. Crap. Did he knew ? Was he there the whole time ?

As the tyrant lift his hand, Janus snaps back into reality, setting his guard up and putting a stronger grasp on his cane. Only for the object to sudenly float in the air, shining with bright light and transforms into a sword that Janus grabbed back before it falls on the floor. This left only more confusion in the half-snake, confusion which turns into alert when he lifts his gaze back at the King only to be met with another blade. He jumps back.

« W... What ? » Janus was lost.

« Wouldn't you try and learn an acutal fighting technique ... » King's voice was composed, but also slightly amused at Deceit's confusion.

«... instead of the poor travesty I just witnessed ? » until it all vanished in favor of annoyance.

Janus tried to process the words as King switched his position for a dueling one. His sword in front of him, his torso on the side and his feet dug on the ground. Was he.... what ? What was happening ?? One thing sure was that he invited Janus to mirror his behaviour. And so he did, taking a deep breath, and standing still while carrying his sword to cross the others. And before he figured out what to do next, King took three blows and sent Janus' sword flying through the air and crashing on the ground.

« Whoa wHoa WHOA ! Hold on ! » Janus lifted his hands in defense and gulped as the blade of his enemy got dangerously close to his throat.

He then heard a chuckle, and the blade finally got away from his neck. « It was just too tempting. » He snapped his finger and the sword flew right back to Janus' hand, who was still confused.

« Alright, for real this time, I let you give the first blow. »

Janus hesitated, still not sure if the scene before him was really happening, but quickly composed himself. He came back to mirroring King's posture and came with a serious expression. He quickly analysed how he could start and how he could win the fastest. When he assumed to find a way to win quickly, he lifts his sword up and went for it.

Boy, was his assumption wrong.

He thought he'd move faster, but the moment the sword swingged on the left, King's weapon caught him off guard, and it only took two quick slays for Janus' to fly in the air again. He felt baffled and humiliated. And the amused smile from his opponent didn't boost his ego at the moment.

« How ? » He didn't understand. Even his instincts weren't nearly as fast as the King, and the tyrant didn't get the chance to train in years !

He only got an arrogant giggle in response before the sword flew back to Deceit's hand. Janus frowned deeper and dug his feet in the ground, ready to jump. King did not miss, nor cared for deceit's threat.

« Again. » He simply ordered. He only had to move his arm to be back to his initial position. Was there a point to it ? Or did his tyrant just liked to put him through this childish show of superiority ?

For some reason, Janus obeyed.

And lost.

Again.

« Try again. » the King ordered.

The other obliged.

After the 4th time the sword flew back into the yellow side, he had to face it : This was happening. King was training him to sword fight. And he just... accepted it ??? What ?? How was this happening ? Usually, he would try to bite back, make some remark, try to hurt him, but here he just... went along with it. And King seemed pleased with that. He looked...content. He looked satisfied with giving Janus private lesson. This moment...  against all odds... felt... not as bad as he expected.

The more they fought, the less cold the tyrant was, and the less tense they both get. King stopped trying to bring him to his knees and instead looked like he a professor, excited to give his student something to work on.

Of course, he would never admit it, but in this instant, in this moment of intimacy and challenge devoted from any animosity... It was calming, it was like a fresh wind coming after a heat wave of chaos, and the adrenaline that came from the fight was giving him enough energy to savour every second of it.

Wait.

No.

No no no no no.

He wasn't enjoying it. He wasn't enjoying it at all. He could not appreciate what was happening : the sadistic bastard was bellitling him and humiliating him right now ! And worst part is ? He couldn't even do anything about it ! Because King is so freacking good at sword fighting and Janus' main weapon has been turnd into a sword for crying out loud. There was no time to lust over past relationship !

And another game lost.

« I told you to pay attention to what was happening high up. Looking at my chest is not going to do much if you want to predict where or when I'm going to hit next. I thought you'd know that. »

« I was simply lost in another train of thought, I hope you could forg- »

DON'T.

FINISH

THIS WORD.

'You be submissive, god dammnit.' He thought to himself before clearing his throat and returning to his cunning voice. He had to keep his distance.

« I don't need you to tell me that. I was simply lost in thought. Do you really I am this much of an idiot ? »

« Well, you didn't prove me otherwise yet so. » He chuckled low and got ready for yet another one. « En garde. »

Even though he couldn't hide the joy he was feeling at the moment, he could mask it behind his usual calm appearance.

« And how many times are we going to do this ? » He asked, his tone playing between teasing and bored

«Until you get some actual fighting skills. » King answered, playing along.

« Ouch. I think I prefer the wounds caused by your sword. »

« Well then hurry up and grab your weapon. » Damn it. Why did they seem to get along of all sudden ?

« As you wish. This was merely a warm up. » he lied

« I do not doubt it any second. »

And just like that, the conversation became non-verbal again.

…

Truth be told, neither knew how long they've been fighting. Was it an hour ? Three hours ? 20 minutes ?

Truth be told, neither cared.

All janus knew is that he was getting better and better, almost becoming a challenge to the King , and the other side seemed glad to step up and fight with more intensity.

And both completely forgot to hide their excitement.

Janus started to tease king, even when he was clearly losing, and the other responded with as much sarcasm and complicity. The two glared at each other with malice and playfulness the whole time. And both couldn't help but smile.

And just like that, it felt as if they never left each other.

When he was younger, Janus and his king would play around with wooden swords, roleplaying like two ennemy seeking vengence in the most childish way. Janus sometimes would fake losing so he could see his king's proud smile which was worth losing 10 times again. His king would sometimes lose and janus would feel a feeling of acomplishment that was very strange to him, in a pleasant way. And at the end, they would most of the time lay down on the green grass and just talk about everything and anything.

And right now, he felt like he was playing with his king. Only the swords weren't made of wood anymore, and it was more professional. But still, it felt the same.

And it felt ...pleasant.

He could hear himself laugh just like when he was younger, and if he listened closely, he could feel king chuckle just like his king.

And it felt … nice.

From the talk, to the movement, both were on edge, calculating every move and waiting for an opportinity to strike. It was an amazing strategy game combined with pure raw strenght. And King's fighting style was both very classical and yet creative. He was very crafty and Janus only had to rival with his own tricks. They were in the moment, living fully the present.

And it felt...

And dear lord, it felt so, so good.

He could feel himself fly as he dodged, he could feel fire in his vein when he was about to strike down, he felt his head spinning, yet everything around him was so crystal clear, it was like a dance. A disturbing, aggressive, cold and passionate dance.

A dance...

They used to dance before.

His king and himself.

Most of the time, when they were done fighting, they would lay down on the grass. Most of the time.

Sometimes, he could have the biggest honor of all.

'Now, my dear, would you enjoy a waltz with me ?' his king offered his hand

-'I don't want to step on your foot again'

-'I told you you didn't hurt me ! Come now, it's not your job to be scared.'

despite his defensive approach, he adored those dances.

-'Alright, I'll dance with you. '

How did it go again ?

1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3.

Left, right, right, wait no, was it left again ?

1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3

step up, forward, step back, and one turn and another. His king would have his hand on Janus' shoulder and Janus would have his hand on his king's waist. And they would dance, and the music filled the air, and his king would have made a room just for them to dance.

1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3

Turn around, then left then back up.

1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3

Then caught in their trance

1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3

They would just spin around, and turn and spin and spin again and everything was  spinning around them and they could only see each other and the whole world was spinning and it was just them. Just the two of them.

And they would smile and they would laugh and everything was still spinning around them and it was blissfull, passionate, affectionnate and in they would join their hands once more and their finger would interlace and once their hands was only one thing, they would lift it in the air with bravery as a victory for their hapiness.

And he would lift his hand in the air, with his king.

And they would lift their hands, hold together, in the air.

And they would yell a victory choir.

King's sword fell on the ground.

And he had his hand on King's chest.

Oh lord, he was too close to King.

Their faces were only two inches apart.

And Janus visibly forgot how to breath.

King was staring with wide eyes, clearly not expecting Janus to send his sword flying nor getting this close. None of them dared move an inch, and none of them could breath.

What... what just happened ?

How could Janus get so caught up in his dreams that he erased whatever was happening in front of him ? And how did this stupid dance from years ago helped him beat the King to his game ? And how could he, despite everything,  try to search for his king's eyes in the tyrant that stood in front of him ?

Right now, the King's red and green eyes were  flickering into orange glimps and his look was just tearing Janus up from the inside. He looked ready to cut his throat open if he had his sword in hand.

And yet …

For only a moment, only for a single instant, did Janus find his King shining through the side in front of him.

Sadly, this bloom inside of Janus' heart got cut fast as thorns grapped him and pulled him far away from his The King, and before he realized what was happening, the thons just gripped tighter and tighter, making Janus unable to hide the jolt of pain.

He struggled, trying to get away from the grasp, but they only tightened and eventually, he stopped, gasping for air. He tried to look back at the tyrant, who was simply observing with a serious expression, the joy of the past moments seemingly dissapeared the moment Janus got too close. And now, he was back to being a threat. Without looking away, he move forward, with slow steps. Janus tried to manage a sentence but the pain was too high for him to form anthing coherent. Eventually, The King was in front of Janus, and the yellow side swore he was about to get killed right on the spot, but instead he just kneeled down, grapping back the sword that flew away.

Oh.

He got up and, with the other hand, brushed over the blade. Without looking away from it, he spoke : « You fought well. » He lift his eyes to meet Janus, struggling not to faint, and determined to look at him with rage. The corner of his lips twiched into the smallest of smirk and he turned back, opening the gap between the two.

And as the King took his steps, Janus' eyes widened, realizing what King was about to do.

'No.'

'No. Not again.'

'Don't leave. '

'Please'

'Don't leave me again. '

He turned into a snake to got away from the thorns and rushed towards him, ready to grip his cape. Anything. Anything but that. He was so close...

But the thorns got Janus back before he could make it.

He couldn't even hear his own grunts of pain. All he could listen to was the sound of footsteps, and a windblow that made King dissapear. Janus froze in place.

And the silence that grew in the room was deafening.

After what felt like an enernity, the thorns let go of Janus, who simply fell on his knees shaking. He hugged himself as hard as he could, and curled on himself.

He tried to fight back tears that wouldn't stop to threaten to fall.

And none of them ever left his eyes. Just like no wound ever left his heart.

------------------------- WHOOOOOO What a ride! This was really fun to write and the challenge of putting words on the visuals your head come up with is certainly something. Now, I hope you didn’t expect things for them to get better just like that, huh? ;) There is too much they need to discuss before being close to make peace, so that’ll have to wait! I have other ideas for those two so I’ll see if I get motivated to write it out. Hope you liked it!! :D

#Sanders sides #fanfic #janus sanders #king creativity #Kingceit #fanfiction #King!AU #rondoel #swordfight #The begining of Janus being a pinning disaster with a lot of emotional bagage #probably OOC #not a happy ending #Janus being a nostalgic little man #and King being conflicting as always #most probably screaming internally at the dramatic disaster in front of him #It's not easy being the king of a himbo's brain

[sohotthateveryonedied]

My ideal YJ season 4, because SOMEONE can’t follow directions and stop making unnecessary time skips that no one wants

(This is written with enough salt to fill the fucking Pacific, I swear.)

First off, no time skips!!! Why, you ask? Because we don’t fucking need one, that’s why. I didn’t turn on Young Justice because I was hoping it would be about a bunch of thirty-year-old has-beens who aren’t even in the superhero game anymore because they can’t throw a punch without shattering their hip. For every year that this show skips, my patience thins just a little bit more.

HOWEVER!!! The introduction of the Legion of Superheroes means we’ll be getting some time travel shit, right?? Some good ol’ time fuckery?? Some timeline shenanigans?? Then how about we get some flashbacks between the past and the future?? Pretty please??? There is no better opportunity to bring back all of the phantoms (literal AND figurative) of the Team’s past than to do it in a season that is LITERALLY titled “Phantoms.” Show us big milestones from the five years between seasons one and two like Dick becoming Nightwing, Wally and Artemis quitting, when all of the freshmen joined up, etc. Have the season center on linked conflicts between the past, present, and future because this is seriously the PERFECT season to do that! Connect Jason’s death to his resurrection! Connect Wally and Artemis quitting the hero gig to Wally’s triumphant return! The possibilities are limitless! And if the writers don’t take this golden opportunity for whatever reason, then guess what!! They’re dumbasses who just missed a huge opportunity that we’ll probably never get again!!!

(Also, let me just say real quick that if Artemis is in a relationship when the season begins, I’m gonna lose my fucking mind. This is an opinion thing so you don’t have to agree, but if she is dating someone to try and “fill the void” after Wally which leads to a whole love triangle thing when he comes back, I will break things. Buildings will fall. Trees will be uprooted and yeeted across nations like goddamn Paul Bunyan. Don’t fucking do it.)

This one goes without saying by now, but Wally West is going to come back. That’s happening. That’s gonna be a thing. I’m almost positive about it, unless of course all of the hints at his return in season 3 were just Voltron-level baiting, which is highly probable at this point. Still, I’m sticking with my faith that Wally will be back before the season ends. Have him be stuck in the Speed Force. Have him be stuck in the Phantom Zone. I don’t care where he comes from, just bring him back home and reunite him with his friends and family, please. Maybe then I can finally rest. (Bonus points if he’s got boosted speed and/or a red and silver Rebirth-style suit!)

Bring in Inertia, AKA Bart’s clone Thad!! I know I had a super good reason for this when @damthosefandoms​ and I talked about it weeks ago, but I honestly forgot all of it. Regardless, I think it’s an excellent idea because Bart deserves the screen time, PLUS he’s already our resident time traveler so why not give him some spotlight in a season all about time travel? And while you’re at it, introduce a wonderfully crafted character who could make the season SO much more interesting, whether he takes Bart’s place in an echo of the mole plot from season one or just as a wild antagonist who is ACTUALLY a teenager like the rest of them. (Looking at you, Lex Luthor and Deathstroke and all of you bad guys who already have gray hair and aren’t remotely interesting anymore.) (Okay, that last part was a lie because they are pretty interesting, but still. Give us some younger villains.)

Also I would really like Bart and Ed to be official because. I mean, did you see their interactions in season four?? The whole “Virgil being a seventh wheel which implies that Bart and Ed are a couple” thing?? Come on, man.

The Phantom Zone!! It’s a thing!!! Use it!!!

This one is more wishful thinking than anything, but I would really dig a huge final battle on Apokolips in the season finale. As wild and shocking as the season three finale was, I was expecting a cool battle sequence between those who were under the influence of the anti-life equation and those who weren’t that never happened, which made the ending seem a bit...empty. What better setup for a battle sequence than the entire Justice League, Team, Outsiders, and Legion fighting together against Darkseid and his minions? It would be incredible.

JASON TODD!!! OUR FAVORITE PHANTOM WHO IS ALREADY REVEALED TO BE ALIVE!!! In my ideal “Under the Red Hood” arc, they would give us a ton of flashbacks (see??? it fits in perfectly with what I said earlier about bouncing between the past and future!!) to Jason’s death which probably happened during a Team mission instead of with Batman and Joker since it’s a Young Justice-centric show and all. Then we get to see the Red Hood operating with the Light as their secret weapon or maybe even their new enforcer until, after a whole season of watching the Batfam struggle to bring their wayward son and brother home, he switches sides and fights alongside them in the final battle. Fucking splendid you funky vigilante.

Additionally, a Red Hood arc gives perfect reasoning for some Batfamily content! Let us know what Cass is like and how she joined up as Orphan before season three. And while you’re at it, let Tim get some spotlight too?? Please?? Maybe even give us some Tim/Stephanie content because the writers wouldn’t drag out a whole boring breaking-up-but-not-really-because-nothing-actually-happens-there-and-they-get-barely-any-screen-time thing for Tim and Cassie if it wasn’t for a good reason. They could show Barbara training Steph to take over as Batgirl, or at the very least have her last scene in the season be of Steph opening a present from Barbara that turns out to be a purple suit with a bat symbol on the chest. It would be spectacular.

And lastly, this one isn’t really relevant even though it is, but. I am more than okay with Damian Wayne not being present in this season. It’s not that I don’t love him, which I do. But the kid was an infant last we saw him, and the only way he could become Robin anytime soon is if Dick were like thirty and I’m Not Here For That. Save Damian for future seasons when you actually need new characters, rather than cramming in a million easter eggs for no reason when you already have a perfectly good main cast right there.

Seriously, Grandon. I’m fucking begging you here.

#i'm salty okay #seasons one and two gave me high expectations #they were so great that in comparison season three was...............eh #and season four just makes me nervous #young justice #yj #young justice phantoms #young justice season 4 #yj season 4 #grandon #greg weisman #brandon vietti #dc comics #under the red hood #jason todd #red hood #batfamily #headcanons #thad thawne #inertia #bart allen #kid flash #wally west #artemis crock #dick grayson #nightwing #batman #robin #legion of superheroes #darkseid

[the-cheese-writes]

I wonder ~ Prinxiety

Requested by: @_becxmoonsy on Wattpad

TW: None

Word count: 1895

{Masterpost}

----------

To say that Virgil and Roman’s relationship was complicated was an understatement. It didn’t kick off smoothly if you wanted a base to start from.

Roman had been the first to meet him, and although Virgil had, somehow, greeted him, he didn’t exactly welcome him well.

‘Hey there, Princey!’

‘Oh… kay. Can’t stand that guy.’

And those were the first words they said to each other. Obviously, they had started off on the wrong foot (which was evident in later episodes where they argue and bicker constantly), but after Roman changed, so did Virgil and so did everything else.

Whether it was subtle differences like trying to nickname each other more nicely or bigger switch ups like Virgil’s style, it was apparent that they had both changed for the better and, seemingly, each other.

But with their development, came new emotions and feelings, especially for Roman. Seeing a spike of confidence in Virgil the day he donned a new appearance, sparked something in the prince, something he had never felt before or for anyone previously for that matter.

It was… a good feeling. It was exciting and sweet, like candy, but also a little nerve-wracking and it made him giddy inside as well as out. Roman loved it and he felt it the most around Virgil. He never dared speak a word about it to anyone though. Secrets like these were best kept hidden; they were fun to hide anyway.

Unfortunately, for Roman, he wasn’t exactly the best at concealing things, which was how the cat got out of the bag. (No, don’t worry it’s not a real cat. Patton’s allergies will be fine.)

***

“Hey Virge! Whatcha doin’?” Roman said as he approached his friend. Looking up from his phone for a second, Virgil smiled.

“Just scrolling through Tumblr, as usual,” he replied, patting the empty spot next to him, indicating to Roman that he wanted him to sit down.

The prince happily obliged and when he took his place next to Virgil, he laid down onto his lap. As he stared at the ceiling, Roman wondered about what he and Virgil were. What they did with each other normally happened around romantic couples, but they were just being friends… right?

They always hugged, and cuddled together, leaned on each other’s shoulders when they needed to and spent almost every minute of every day together. The only thing missing was the kiss.

His eyes then shifted from the ceiling to Virgil’s face. It was illuminated slightly by the light emanating from his phone and his expression was so… peaceful and he was smiling a little, causing Roman’s heart to jump a few hurdles.

Virgil was gently playing with his hair, softly stroking it routinely and massaging it occasionally; these actions made Roman wonder if they would mean anything more if they were a couple.

Nothing would really need to change, right? They would continue to do what they normally did around each other except then, they would be romantically involved. Would there be anymore significance?

His eyes then flickered to Virgil’s lips: always soft, always a little chapped but always kissable. In that moment, Roman wanted nothing more than to seize his face and drown him in affection, but obviously he couldn’t do that and he pushed himself off of Virgil’s lap and away from the sofa as quickly as he could to halt anything too… impulsive.

“Ro? You good?” asked Virgil, raising an eyebrow at him in confusion at his sudden movement.

“Uh, yeah. I just remembered that I needed to do something,” Roman lied, raking a hand through his hair. “I’ll be upstairs if you need me.”

And with that, he dashed up to his room, leaving Virgil completely baffled.

Briskly walking into his room, Roman closed the door, his back facing it, and sighed heavily. He looked ahead and tried to clear his mind of any thoughts of Virgil, but there was no use. He was there, imprinted and glued and Roman would just be wasting his energy trying to get him out.

But Virgil stuck in his head wasn’t such a bad thing though; at least his mind was, in a way, doing him a favour with images of his crush.

Being the creative side he was, Roman suddenly got an idea to place the scenario that had appeared on his head on a canvas - he had nothing better to do anyway. He grabbed his headphones and played one of his playlists on Spotify named ‘Virgil💜🔮🎵’. (It was called that because he would listen to it whenever he thought of him and what they could be.)

With a snap of his fingers, Roman conjured a pot of paint brushes and some paint and set to work constructing his mind’s image.

He started with the base of the painting first - the sky - with midnight blue which faded to a lighter shade as it descended. Then, he created the grass, using black paint since it would only be a silhouette and set it just below the halfway point and in the middle, he painted a bench with two people sitting on it, who he imagined to be him and Virgil.

Roman smiled at the thought of them stargazing together with nothing to interrupt them and their picture perfect moment but the occasional breeze. After making the trees on the side and the moon in the twilight sky, Roman tied the whole piece together with the addition of stars.

During this time, the song ‘Wonder’ by Shawn Mendes played and he grinned, seeing how relevant it was to his current situation. As he dipped his brush in white paint and flicked it across the canvas, Roman sang the words, not as passionately as Shawn did, but with as much energy as he wanted - which was a decent amount.

Unbeknownst to him however, Virgil had been listening outside the entire time. After his puzzling retreat to his room, the emo followed him, but what he heard when he was just about to knock on his door was a lovely surprise.

Roman was singing, as per usual, but what he sang intrigued Virgil. At that time, it was ‘Would You Be So Kind’ by dodie. He sunk behind the door, quietly singing with him and thought about how it tailored to their relationship. He had never been vocal about it, but he had always had a little crush on Princey, ever since the beginning; he wondered if he too felt the same way.

After a couple songs and unknown duets between them, Virgil finally decided to knock. When there was no response, he opened the door and Roman was still singing - a song he hadn’t heard before, but he listened to the lyrics. 

As he stepped closer, he realised what Roman was doing and admired the painting from afar. It was absolutely beautiful and from what he could see; it looked flawless and not a single stroke was out of place. Virgil didn’t really expect anything less than excellence from Roman’s work though. As the prince, he constantly strived for perfection.

‘I wonder what it’s like to be loved by you,’ Roman sang and Virgil instantly froze. They probably weren’t, but he couldn’t help but wonder if those words were meant for him?

‘I wonder why I’m so afraid,

Of saying something wrong, I never said I was a saint.

I wonder, when I cry into my hands,

I’m conditioned to feel like it makes me less of a man.

And I wonder if someday you’ll be by my side,

And tell me that the world will end up alright.’

Virgil thought that he might be getting to the end of the song, so he shyly approached him.

Clearing his throat, he said loudly to get his attention, “Princey?”

Instantly, Roman turned around. He was fixated to the spot for a few seconds, before he took off his headphones and set his brush down.

“Virgil!” he said, smiling awkwardly. “How- how long have you been standing there?”

“Not very long. I just wanted to see if you were okay ‘cause you left really quickly downstairs,” Virgil answered, stuffing his hands into his pockets.

 

“Oh, no yeah I’m fine. I just wanted to do… this!” Roman then pointed to his artwork, showing it off and giving Virgil a clearer view of what he had seen only a little of earlier.

“Wow,” Virgil sighed, stepping closer. “It’s lovely.”

“Thanks.” Roman grinned, proud of his work. Virgil glanced at him for a moment, then quickly looked back down, both of their cheeks tinting cherry red.

“Who are they?” asked Virgil, pointing to the black silhouette of the two boys seated on the bench.

“Um no one. Just characters,” Roman replied quickly, blushing and fiddling with his fingers. Noticing his flustered state, Virgil smirked and decided to dig a little deeper.

“Hmm. They look awfully familiar,” he teased, rubbing his chin thoughtfully then turning to Roman who tried to play it off as innocently as he could.

“Oh they do? How interesting.” Virgil smirked and stared at him for a bit longer, but soon realised that he wouldn’t be getting anywhere if he kept it up. So, he tried something else.

Sheepishly, he walked up to Roman, keeping his hands in his pockets and looked at him through his bangs.

“You once told me that everything you say, do or sing has a meaning behind it. Well, almost everything. What were you singing about earlier?”

Roman turned away and fiddled with his sash. “You heard?”

Virgil hummed in response, then he sighed and decided that now was a better time than ever.

“Those words, those lyrics. I sang from somewhere. Someplace only I know and hope to share with someone one day.”

“Someone? Who is…”

Roman was on the edge of the cliff. He could see the crashing waves below and knew that if he didn’t have faith in his wings, he would plummet down, but if he clung onto that hope hard enough, he could soar through the cotton clouds and the exhilarating breeze to the ends of the earth. All it took was a jump.

So he held his breath and leaped.

“You.”

Virgil froze. His eyes widened and his jaw dropped; he was speechless, he didn’t know what to say. All these years of what he thought was once hopeless crushing and longing for something that he believed could never be, turns out he was wrong all along.

As Roman braced himself for the worst, the little smile of Virgil’s starstruck face grew and he lunged at Roman, embracing him in a tight hug.

The prince was surprised, but didn’t at all complain and hugged him back just as tightly. Even still, he didn’t want to jump to conclusions.

“Virge?”

“You wonder what it’s like? To be loved by me?” Virgil said as he pulled away, meeting Roman’s eyes. He glanced at his lips and Virgil noticed, so he swiftly leaned in and softly kissed him. But it wasn’t long before the kiss grew more passionate, making it clear to them both that they had waited far too long for this to happen.

When they eventually parted, they stayed close, gazing into each other’s eyes. Both boys then grinned blissfully at each other, satisfied in the moment that they wished would last forever.

“That’s what it’s like.”

#sanders sides #fanfic #sanders sides fanfic #brewrites #virgil sanders #roman sanders #prinxiety #fluff #song inspired

[gamequeenanya]

Prinxiety - Purple is More Regal

Rating: T

Summary: When Roman tries to give up his crown, Virgil has to convince him that he's enough. (Human AU)

Warning: Inspired by ANGST fics! Roman angst w/ a happy ending. / trans!Virgil / self harm implications / depressed Roman / implied U!Remus / somewhat intimate prinxiety? but it's playful

Two men were sitting on a bed in Roman's room. It was grand, with fancy red curtains adorning it. The pillows were feather soft, with a hand stitched R pattern. Silence permeated through the air.

"Purple is a royal colour, you know."

Roman's voice had startled Virgil, and he looked up. The man smiled sadly.

"Huh?" Virgil said. Roman seemed broken, his eyes trying desperately to show some happiness. He inched towards Virgil on the bed. When he was close enough, he took off his crown and dropped it in front of him.

Virgil looked up in shock.

"This is for you," Roman shook his head. "I don't deserve it anymore."

"What do you mean?"

Roman turned around, fighting back tears. Virgil came closer, tentatively offering his hand if Roman wanted it. The man held it.

Virgil could tell he was stressed. He massaged Roman's newly bandaged wrist lightly, and brought it up to his lips. The gentle affection made Roman smile.

His wrist had been bandaged just hours before. He'd told Virgil he'd accidentally cut himself on glass. But Virgil knew the truth. The man had run for the bathroom and had a breakdown. He'd heard his heart wrenching sobs. The only thing stopping him from offering comfort was the fact that it would hurt Roman's pride more. So he'd waited until the man recovered.

Now seeing how broken the man was, Virgil wondered if he'd made the right choice.

Virgil moved to hug Roman, his thin, small frame supporting Roman's larger, muscular one. The man hummed gratefully, wrapping his arms around Virgil too. It was wonderful, until Virgil felt a pinching pain in his chest. He winced.

"What is it?" Roman said. Virgil groaned.

"Ugh, I wore my binder too long."

"Alright, I won't look!" Roman said, turning away so as to give him privacy. Virgil took his shirt off and then his binder, tossing it to the side. He slipped his shirt back on.

"'Kay, you can look now."

Turning around, Roman saw Virgil smile up at him. His heart beat faster in his chest and filled him with bliss. Roman wrapped his arms around him and stroked his back. Virgil purred like a cat. He smoothed his fingers through his hair.

Lifting the back of his shirt up, Virgil traced his lower back. Roman stiffened for a second. He stopped.

"A little higher," Roman muttered. He didn't like how that spot still gave him pain flare ups. Virgil did so, moving up, past the "I love you, Virgil" tattoo with the heart and bat wings above it and a rose bush of thorns below it. He traced his mid back now, tickling the red dragon tattoo he'd gotten there. Roman giggled.

Virgil could feel his heart melt. How could anyone abuse this man? He felt rage build up inside him as well, thinking of how Remus had treated him; cutting his skin and calling him worthless.

He continued tracing his upper back, hoping to distract Roman from his sadness. There was a fire and sword tattoo, and next to it a smiling Sheltie, one of Roman's favourite dogs.

The man hummed in satisfaction.

That was good. Virgil thought. He'd waited for this moment for so long. Remus had convinced Roman that he was unlovable, and it took a lot of therapy to undo the damage. Virgil had confessed to him that he liked him as soon as Roman was in a proper mental state to give an honest answer. He'd cried tears of joy and embraced him.

"I love you," Virgil muttered into his neck.

Roman couldn't help giggle and turtle. He lightly pushed him away. Smiling, he said, "I love you too!"  

With his hands still lazily clawing at his back, Roman decided to return the favour. Lightly massaging Virgil's lower back, he hummed.

A tattoo was there that said "I love you Roman," with a similar design to his boyfriend's, except his heart and rosebush roses were purple. Scritching up to his middle back he jokingly petted Virgil's cat tattoo. Unlike Roman's tattoos, these didn't cover abuse scars. But they were gotten out of solidarity. He moved ever upward, stroking the bat, pumpkin, ghost, and even the scary spider tattoo.

Virgil leaned in to kiss him. Roman accepted, stroking his hair and kissing back.

Opening his eyes slightly, Virgil spotted the crown still on the bed. It was looking a little lonely, he thought. So, picking the crown up, Virgil placed it onto Roman's head. They parted their kiss, and Roman reached up to feel the crown, confused.

"You really think I am worthy...?"

Virgil nodded.

"But I'm so stupid..." he muttered. Virgil clenched his fists in rage.

"Screw the school system! And screw Remus!" Virgil said, growling. At seeing Roman’s startled expression, he looked guilty. He spoke softer. "You're so intelligent, Ro. Do you think I could ever write a screenplay? I'd have a panic attack just trying to get the formatting right! And your acting? Some people sound like cardboard cutouts, but you make it real." He looked at him with mixed emotions in his eyes.

"That's the trick," Roman muttered. "You have to become the character, and genuinely feel what they're feeling."

Virgil's eyes brightened. "And that's what I mean! Don't ever let anyone tell you you're unworthy because their analysis of you is flawed!"

Roman looked back at him and nodded slowly. Virgil stroked his hair.

"I love you, and you are good enough, understand?"

Roman chuckled lightly. He felt the crown on his head, still unsure. But Virgil's words did make him feel better.

Virgil picked up a notebook from the desk.

"Here, you can write something if you want. If it's important, I can proofread it for you."

"Alright." Roman said, picking up the notebook and a pen. He thought a while, glancing to the side, and at Virgil.

It was tough knowing he'd be scrutinized. But also he knew Virgil would never criticize his vision, just circle errors he wouldn't have noticed himself. They'd agreed upon the sorts of things Roman wanted criticized when Virgil become his beta reader. As silly as some of the ideas were, Virgil trusted that Roman knew what he was doing. Sometimes one's vision doesn't become clear until the end of the story, after all.

He wrote until his idea faded, and he put his pen down.

"Want me to see?" Virgil said. Roman shook his head.

"It's not ready yet."

Virgil nodded, understanding. He simply let Roman sit there and decide what to do next.

Roman looked down at him curiously. "Would you like to switch clothing?"

"Huh?" Virgil looked confused. "Uhh, sure."

He didn't know what his idea was, but let Roman borrow his jacket. The other man turned around, dug through his drawer, and gave him a spare Prince outfit. Virgil smiled, putting it on. He had to admit, he felt good like this.

Roman, on the other hand, looked in a mirror and sighed.

"You know, you're right-" Virgil said, cutting in before he could say something self deprecating. "Purple is a royal colour. You look good in it."

Roman smiled. "And you look amazing as a prince."

"Hey," Virgil said playfully, standing next to him. "I never said I wouldn't wear a crown."

Taking the crown off his head, Roman placed it on Virgil's. Immediately, Virgil took it off and gave it back.

"No, not your crown. A crown. So we can be husbands."

"Alright, my prince," Roman chuckled.

((3 days later))

Virgil would have been pleased with a printed paper crown. But Roman had to go all out, commissioning an actual blacksmith. After it was made, he paid the man and accepted the crown. He'd placed the crown in a box, wrapped it with Disney’s Frozen wrapping paper, and tied it with a bow on top.

When Virgil had opened the box, he gasped.

"Roman, you shouldn't have!"

He placed it on his head, finding it the perfect size. Smiling at Roman in awe, he asked him how he could ever think he'd be worthy of such a gift.

"You're my prince, and you are worthy. You are kind, supportive, and you make me happy."

Virgil blushed for the first time in a long time. "Wha...? No, you!"

Roman laughed, enjoying the cute expression on his face. He pulled out an Uno Reverse card.

"This isn't fair, Roman. I'm supposed to be the one cheering you up!"

"Life isn't fair, dear." He leaned in to gently kiss his forehead.

"Whatever."

Roman gently tickled his sides, making him giggle.

Instead of pushing him away though, Virgil pulled his hands away, but leaned closer to his torso.

"How did I ever end up with someone like you?" Roman said with a smile.

"Hey," Virgil said with a leftover giggle. "I've got five more reverse cards, and I'm not afraid to use them!"

Roman accepted his fate, putting his hands up in mock surrender.

It was so funny, he was always striving so hard for perfection that he didn't stop to think that he might be enough for someone... until now.

#sanders sides #prinxiety #roman sanders #virgil sanders #fanfiction #my fanfics #angst #hurt/comfort #u!remus

[98prilla]

Acceptance

Remus has a breakdown. 

A03

...

He’s shaking, trembling, really, curled up on the bed, rocking back and forth, arms wrapped tightly around himself, nails digging into his skin, but he can’t stop, he can’t stop, he’s so exhaustedly broken, but if he stops moving he’ll die.

 His room is a mess. He’s destroyed everything in it, all the furniture, his desk and his chair and his shelves, his morning star shattered to pieces. He’s already torn through his imagination, his castle in ruins, burned to the ground, ash scorching the air, the force of his screams blowing out the stained glass, and not in a fun way.

 His sketches are ripped and torn and scattered across the floor, his notebooks ripped in half, his paints stomped on, staining the floor in sticky puddles of colors, splashed against the walls, ruining the mural he’d worked so hard on, all mixing and melding into an ugly brown color.

 It’s ugly and disgusting and gross and he hates it, hates it all, hates himself, hates everything, everything here.

 The voices are so loud. They’re so loud in his head and he can’t drown them out, they eat away at his brain like acid oozing in through his ears, they rip at his skin with the force of a hurricane, peeling off his layers of skin, then muscle, then flesh, then bone, until he crumbles to dust, scraping him apart with his own bones, his own teeth turning against him as they clench down on his tongue, hot blood dripping between them, down his chin, and he can’t see anything, he’s lost, so lost, deep in his own head.

 He wants it to stop! He wants it to shut up, shut up, SHUT UP!

He’s choking on his blood and he coughs, spits, not caring that it lands somewhere on his bed, on his usually tidily made sheets, staining them red, red, red, too much red, and his fingers dig deeper into his flesh, more red dripping down his arms. He’s too hot and too cold and it aches and it burns and everything is too loud and too much, his clothes are scratchy and rough against his skin, his every breath in and out sounds like thunder, his own heartbeat pounding in his ears.

 He’s screaming. He thinks he’s screaming? He can’t tell if it’s him or someone else, but the sound is earth shattering, ear piercing, it gives him something to focus on, but soon his lungs are burning and despite everything his voice gives out, but there’s still too much left, he hasn’t let enough out, it’s still bubbling under his skin in ulcerous blisters. He screams again, but it doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter, because no one is coming, no one is left, no one is here anymore. DeeDee is gone, Virgil is gone, his brother is gone, Patton never liked him, and Logan barely tolerates him, he’s all alone, no one is coming to save him from himself, and it hurts, it hurts more than a knife to the heart, it hurts more than splinters in his eyes, it hurts more than tacks in his feet, it hurts more than swallowing fire ants alive, and distantly he’s aware of hoarse, desperate sobs cracking through the silence, but it doesn’t feel real, nothing feels real.

 His world is spinning, spiraling, colors blurring and blending and reality is cracking, and he can’t even name the strange horrors he’s seeing, just vague images and ideas, filled with pain, and hurt, and violence, and he cries out for someone, anyone, for Dee, please, please, please! Then it fractures into a million, billion fractal reflections and facades and broken, empty reflections, and he knows it is hopeless.

…

It’s Logan, who finds him. Remus has been oddly silent for the last three days, and though the others brushed it off, it has him worried. Still, he was hesitant to breach Remus’s walls, but Janus was backsliding, and he knows how good Remus is with the scaled side when it comes to this.

 The room is a mess. Which is what he is expecting, to be honest, Roman’s always is too, papers and ideas and sketches hung to cork boards, plotting out his next grand adventure or novel. But this is a different kind of mess. A destructive kind of mess. Which, again, may not be unusual, until he looks closer.

 Journals. Notebooks. Beautiful drawings done in ball point pen, incredibly detailed, it would have taken hours to make some of these, and he recognizes the ripped and trampled shreds of some of them, remembers Remus showing them with pride. He can’t imagine Remus destroying them, and he adjusts his glasses nervously, taking another step deeper into the dark room, having to squint to make anything out. He fumbles around, and finally finds a light switch. It turns on green fairy lights, and all the air rushes out of his lungs before he practically sprints to the bed.

 “Remus. Remus, can you hear me?” The creative side’s eyes are open, staring blankly ahead, unseeing. He’s rocking just a bit, mumbling incoherently under his breath. He’s wearing only boxer briefs, small shivers wracking his frame, and he can’t tell if it’s from cold or shock. Dried blood covers his chin, stains his arms, and he realizes that Remus is scratching at his chest in a steady, methodical pattern. It is oozing blood, a deep X mark, nails digging deep into his flesh as if trying to claw his heart out of his chest.

  He lets out a strangled sound and catches Remus’s hands firmly, though once he’s holding them, they go limp.

 “Remus. I am going to sink out with you now.” He doesn’t think Remus can hear him, but he narrates his actions anyway, taking a deep breath and sinking out to the commons.

 “Logan?” Virgil asks as soon as he appears on the floor with Remus, setting aside his headphones. Then he catches a good look of the two of them and curses, leaping off the chair, crouching by Logan's side.

 “He appears to be in a dissociative state. He is unresponsive to both noise and touch.” He explains, voice wobbling. “I am going to fetch the first aid kit and attempt to clean off the blood to determine the extent of the injuries. Stay with him?” Virgil nods instantly, taking Remus's hands as Logan stands, shifting to kneel before him.

 “Rem. Oh, Rem, what happened?” Virgil asks softly, not expecting a response, surprised as he feels Remus squeeze his hands, eyes shooting up to Remus’s face, finding it just as blank as it was moments earlier, but his grip doesn’t loosen. He keeps a tight hold of Remus’s hands as Logan returns.

 Remus doesn’t make a sound as Logan carefully wipes away the blood, wincing at the deep scratches running down Remus’s arms, careful around the deep gash on his chest. He wraps bandages all the way up Remus’s clawed arms, then carefully sews up the gash, before packing it with gauze. Virgil is wincing in sympathy, but Remus doesn’t flinch or acknowledge them even once.

 “He’s freezing. We need to get him into clothes and warmed up. Hopefully that will help bring him out of his shock. Familiar faces and voices will also help.”

 “Janus’s room.” Virgil says automatically, grabbing hold of Logan and sinking out.

…

He's warm.

 He's wearing clothes, but they don’t scratch and scrape and dig into his skin. They’re soft and perfect.

 The voices are quieter. Still loud, still there, but quieter, and he realizes someone is speaking.

 “Rem? Can you hear me?” Virgil. His senses snap to, and he blinks, clearing his vision.

 Virgil is before him, legs curled under him on the bed, Virgil's hands in his. His eyes are wide, breath held.

 He's curled up on someone's lap, and realizes it's DeeDee, humming softly, his hands gently rubbing up and down his arms, grounding him.

 Logan is the voice. He’s sitting beside the bed, a book open in his lap, reading aloud, the even, gentle noise quieting his mind further. He lets out a deep, shaking breath, slumping back against Dee, exhausted.

 “hi.” He whispers, letting a soft gasp as Dee's hand cards through his hair.

 “Hello, darling. How’re you feeling?” Dee's voice a soft murmur, a purr against his ear.

 “Oh, ‘m fine. You know me, always getting into something or other.”

 “Remus. You were and are not fine. You have been in a dissociative state for about a day now since I found you, though it very well may have been longer as you have been absent for about three, and done significant harm to yourself in that time.” Logan, setting aside his book. He swallows hard, pushing himself out of Dee's lap, moving to the edge of the bed.

 “oh. S-sorry.”

 “For what?” He blinks, looking up at Virgil.

 “what?”

 “What are you sorry for, Remus?” He swallows hard, squeezing shut his eyes, idly scratching at his arms, before he feels someone once again take his hands. He almost whines, because he needs the pain, he needs it, it’s the only thing that helps.  

 “everything. I know I’m too much. I kn-know that’s why you left, cause I’m too loud and too annoying and too much. I can’t control myself, no matter how hard I try I just can’t and I ruin everything, and I’m not… not good.”

 “Remus. Is that what triggered you to shut down?” He picks at his bandages, before those hands corall his again, and he shakes.

 “D-dee’s gonna leave. You’re gonna leave. I’m gonna be all alone in the d-dark and it ma-kes it so much louder, it gets so loud, and I can’t make it stop, it won’t stop, but the p-ain makes them shut up, just for a bit, but it’s enough, it stops and it’s enough, and it hurts, but it’s f-fine, it’s fine! I deserve it. I can de-al with it, that’s my job, right? Handle all the bad, all the b-bad no one else wants, who cares if I can’t stop thinking what Roman would look like with his guts pulled out and strung across the bedposts, who cares if I can’t stop seeing plucking every shiny scale off of DeeDee, who cares if I try to rip my own heart out so I can crush it in my own fist, so I can never, never hurt anyone? It’s not enough, it’s never enough, it’s too much, too loud, too loud, too loud!” He screams, ripping his hands away from whoever is holding them, breath speeding as he falls off the edge of the bed onto the floor, clutching at his head and shaking.

 “nonononono No! I don’t wanna… I won’t, I WON’T! Don’t make me, don’t… I won’t hurt them, iwon’tiwon’tiwon’tiwon’t-“ Visions are filling his head, terrible, awful, horrible, and he’s clawing at himself, his face, his hands, his legs, anything, everything, because he’s bad, he’s being bad, he deserves to be punished.

 “Remus! Remus, Stop!” Virgil is pinning him down, and he snarls, kicking, fighting, gnashing teeth, then one of his hands gets loose and he swipes at Virgil with a hiss.  Virgil yelps, drawing back, and his vision clears, horrified. Four long scratch marks mar Virgil’s face, going from his left temple, across his eye, rather like Scar in the lion king. He lets out a small wheeze, scrambling back, unable to look away from the red, red, red, he hurt Virgil, he hurt him, he did that, he hurt him, he’s terrible, awful, this is why he deserves to be alone, this is what’s wrong with him, he’s not normal, he’s not good, he’s a mess and a wreck and a problem, everything that Thomas didn’t want, everything wrong with Thomas, everything wrong with the universe and they’re going to leave-

 “Ree, it’s ok, I’m ok, I promise.” Virgil, arms open, and he howls as he falls into them, clutching at him, whimpering and whispering apology after apology. “I know. It’s ok, Rem, I forgive you, I know you didn’t mean to, I know.” Virgil murmurs in his ear, rocking him.

 “I’m not leaving you, Remus. I wouldn’t ever leave you behind. I will never leave you all alone. I promise.” DeeDee, slipping behind him, wrapping both him and Virgil in his arms, and he presses tighter against Virgil.

 “It’s f-fine. I can’t hurt anyone if I’m all alone.”

 “Falsehood. You’ll hurt yourself, Remus. And that is an unacceptable outcome.” Logan, soft but firm.

 “S-so? Why… why does it matter? So what if I hurt myself? Its not… im not like all of you. I’m not important, I don’t matter.”

 “You do. Rem, you matter. I’m sorry I just… left, I’m sorry, but it wasn’t your fault. It was… a lot of things all combining, but it wasn’t all on you. It… it was mostly me. You scared me. When Lo popped up with you, there was so much blood and you weren’t talking and I thought… I just… I care, ok? I never really stopped caring, so don’t you dare give up on me. You’re the most stubborn, headstrong person I know, Rem. You’re not bad, just like I’m not bad, even if we can’t control ourselves sometimes, that doesn’t make us bad.” Virgil mumbles, holding him tight.

 “You always take care of me, Remus. I will always do the same for you, if you just ask. You hide it so well.” He curls further into a ball, new, silent tears flowing down his face as the voices finally go silent, leaving him alone in his own mind.

 “I scare Patton. Roman hates me.” He argues weakly.

 “patton has warmed up to you. He understands that you have your own intrusive thoughts, and he can see through them to your actual distress and meaning. And Roman… is difficult but he misses you more than he would ever admit. Regardless, we are not leaving you alone or behind simply because of their feelings. Not when it is a matter of safety. Your safety.” Logan replies, and he sighs, a long, shaking breath, fists uncurling from around Virgil's sweater.

 “I’ll hurt you. I have hurt you.”

 “Ah. You referring to your introduction video, when you threw a ninja star into my head and ripped out two of my teeth.” He nods, looking down at the ground. “You know you did not actually cause me any harm, Remus. I can see through your actions and recognize they are not reality. Your actions did not actually damage me in any way. You knew that would be the case, which is why you targeted me, instead of Virgil or Patton, who would take the injuries literally.” Logan counters, and he’s surprised Logan can see through him that well, even then.

 “I love you.” He mumbles. “I love you and I’m terrified I’ll go too far and actually hurt you.” Exhaustion creeps into his voice. He knows what he wants, what he’s always wanted, but he won’t ask for them to stay, he won’t obligate them like that, when they should want to run as far and fast as they can. “you should leave me behind.” His throat feels dry when he says those words, the opposite of what he wants, but it’s what’s right.

 “Remus. Would it be accurate to state the thoughts get louder and progressivly more violent and dark in nature the longer you are without contact?” He furrows his brow, confused.

 “I… I guess. It… in the dark and the quiet there’s nothing else, just my own head and I can’t get out of it.”

 ���Have the thoughts stopped now?”

 “yes, I mean, they never really stop, but they aren’t the only thing anymore, I can push them to the back of my head and only let the smaller ones slip out. It’s like a whisper when it was a scream earlier.”

 “Then why would we leave, darling?” Dee asks, and he blinks.

 “What?”

 “You pretty much just said that being around people and ambient noise makes your intrusive thoughts easier to manage, and stops you from getting so sucked in you end up hurting yourself, you idiot. So if you’re hanging out with us, yeah, they’re still gonna happen but they’re not gonna be as bad. Probably easier to control, just like my anxiety. That’s what a support network is for, Ree. It… it took me a long time, I guess, to actually learn that for myself, but it was worth it.” Virgil mutters, face a bit red, though he doesn’t miss the small, proud smile on Logan’s lips, the gleam in his eye as he looks at Virgil.

 His own mind is reeling. Of course, it’s easier to keep them quiet when there’s other noise around, of course touch is grounding and helps keep him centered in the present, of course doing things, activities, writing, drawing, helps keep his mind focused and allows him to let out the thoughts without hurting anyone, he just… he didn’t think the others would care about all that enough to justify letting him be around them.

 “I mean, I know that! I just… I didn’t think any of you would want to be part of mine.” He mumbles, hugging himself with a slight shiver.

 “Of course we will. We love you too, or whatever.” Virgil mumbles, pulling Remus back into a hug, before grinning and hefting him up in his arms, depositing him back on the bed despite his surprised screech of protest.

 He laughs as DeeDee settles beside him once again, stretching out and resting his head in Dee’s lap, legs laying atop Virgil, who snorts, but doesn’t move, simply grabs a fluffy throw blanket and tosses it over him.

 “We’ll speak to the others tomorrow. I don’t expect a problem integrating you into the group, Remus. It will be beneficial for everyone. All of us working together is what is supposed to happen, anyways.” Logan says, voice smiling. “For now, you need to rest and let everything heal.”

 “ok. Keep reading? I… it helps, I think. He mumbles, already half asleep. He hears Logan’s voice start again, steady, feels Dee’s hand in his hair, feels Virgil holding his hand, and he smiles, tears dripping down his face. He didn’t think it was possible, any of this, and it feels… good. So, so good. For once, he doesn’t think he’s going to ruin everything. For once, he thinks the voices whispering in the back of his mind aren’t him, at heart, just a side effect of who he is and what he represents. And he knows, he’s safe from them, with so much warmth surrounding him.

#sanders sides #tss #virgil sanders #sympathetic virgil #remus sanders #sympathetic remus #deceit sanders #sympathetic deciet #logan sanders #sympathetic logan #intrusive thoughts #disturbing imagery #typical remus stuff #mild blood #self harm #self loathing #dissociation #dissociative state #angst #remus angst #fluff #angst with a happy ending #hurt/comfort

[fanartfunart]

@sapony01​ commented on one of my Sides Swap posts: Can you explain their function and personality a bit better/explore them? Some are kinda obvious but some kinda confuse me

And, but of course! I’m totally open to it! (I’m mostly making another post for it because otherwise it’ll get absurdly long)

To summarize, the main idea is that they keep their personality and secondary traits they represent (Like Ego, Emotionality, ect), while further representing the Main Trait (like Anxiety, Creativity, ect)

The rest under the cut:

Anxiety

Roman: His key representation of Anxiety would befall closer to overemphasizing bravery and ignoring problems, and of course, insecurities. Thus a focus on Dangers you can Fight, and avoiding things you can’t. A emphasis on the Knight theme as a representation of bravery. He’d use ego and theatricality as a cover- a ‘be weird before people can accuse you of being weird because then it’s on purpose’ type logic.

Patton: The type of Anxiety where you emotionally over extending yourself because you’re scared of social-emotional repercussions. Caring so much that there’s no time and energy to care for yourself. Also a good representation of the Dad-Friend override for Anxiety.

Logan: A representation of over-analyzing the world like an outsider, that emotional distance that, while you’re curious of all the things around you, you can’t help but focus on the bad. Avoidance becomes a key factor and everything is categorized as bad or good off of exaggerated ‘proof’.

Janus: Very self protective to the point that things outside the Comfort Zone are almost always negative and overwhelming. Sarcasm, brittleness, and lying as a way to avoid things outside the Comfort Zone.

Remus: Overthinking creating an Anxious reaction. Basically seeing things in the shadows and over-analyzing interactions. Essentially worries cropping up out of the idea of various terrible things you can think of possibly coming at you from the smallest of hints to it. Also Knight theme because why not.

Creativity 

Logan: A more organized and analytic approach to creative works. Prone to being a literary critic. Draws from media to explain a point. As creativity would likely be the type of writer that hides details and metaphors in everything, focus on foreshadowing and the such.

Janus: Never lets anything be direct, people should be able to make their own conclusions about the meaning of the text. Probably thinks method acting is fun. The kind of actor/writer that easily shrugs on different types of characterizations that it makes other people dizzy seeing him switch between them.

Virgil: Your inner Emo Art Phase personified (everyone has at least one somewhere in there). Would prefer to be either a lesser known creator, or not let Thomas use his real name (thus Ghostwriter), because being Known is Awkward and his work can get too real, being known as a real person could detract from the art. Focus on art as an outlet for expressing negative feelings and stress relief.

Patton: Take your craft-happy relative who always hand-makes gifts and you’ve got Creativity Patton. Just wants to have fun and share the fun. Draws from positive emotional experiences for creativity because he wants to give everyone who sees said art a hug through said art. (Yes, his design is vaugely based off of Disney’s Pinocchio Geppetto aka Pinocchio’s dad.)

Remus: Take Remus as he is, and then take the ‘intrusiveness’ out of him. He basically has all the same horrifying ideas, but he doesn’t use them to make Thomas upset or anything, he’s just making stories.

Logic

Patton: Sorta a relaxed logic, understands not everything can be solved with a clean logical solution and that emotions hold a important space in people’s actions. Is that little logical voice when you’re super mad going ‘you’re mad because this, this, and this, and this is probably an overreaction to what you’re expressing your anger to, but it’s still valid.’ Prone to emotional fallacies though.

Virgil: You know any super cool teacher/professor who teaches you what the book says and then closes the book and says ‘ok now guess what, they’re also wrong, and I’m probably wrong too’?? Virgil as logic. (also why I kinda gave him the ‘tired + university hoodie’ style) Emphasizes learning from various sources and never trusting any of them 100%. Doesn’t trust his own information either, and it makes him stressed.... but like, he’s always stressed anyway so it’s chill. 

Roman: Bounces from topic to topic to learn. Very curious and easily inspired- also easily distracted. The definition of what a liberal arts education should be doing- aka, connecting seemingly unrelated topics. An Encyclopedia of very specific information. But, once he’s got a set of information it’s hard to let go of it, which makes it hard to adjust to being told he’s wrong.

Janus: Emphasis on how information is always being adjusted, and people’s biases are always present in studies and interpretation. Focuses on debunking things. Also kinda makes it hard to 100% be sure of any information presented.

Remus: Enjoys abusing the ‘technicalities’ in things. A little hard to follow in terms of train of thought. Disturbing Facts are still facts.

Morality

Virgil: Emphasis on sympathy and ‘do what you’d hope people would do for you’ moral arguments. Focus on social structure for the ground rules for moral behavior. That guy who’s constantly nice because he wished someone was nice to him, ya know? Hates the idea of being a bad person so much that it causes a lot of guilt and mistrust of the self.

Logan: Thinks of moral behavior as an equation of sorts. People do good things and that causes good things and that allows the social structure to work as it should, so do good things. Draws on philosophy and other social sciences to argue his points. Easy to readjust his thinking with proper reasoning.

Roman: Just wants people to be happy! And to be good! Emphasis on the reactions of others and how that effects your social/emotional well-being. Do good because it feels good kinda guy (he wants to be somebody’s Hero, ya know how it be).

Janus: Understands that morality is such a grey place that most anything can be seen as bad if you argue it enough. Places value on the self as someone deserving of feeling good as well, and bases moral values on what you as an individual wants to do. Also still kinda morally grey in general and probably shouldn’t always be listened to.

Remus: I Follow no Rules but My Own. Full rejection of social pressures. What precisely that means for his resulting moral standing is up to debate.

Deceit

Logan: Woorsst lair because he’ll twist truth and facts into it and it’s hard to pick out what’s the lie. Very blunt about his role as deception and its benefits and drawbacks. Very good about remembering which lies were told when and to who. Not the kind to lie more than seen necessary.

Roman: Focus on lying as acting and getting to where you need to go in life. ‘Fake it til you make it’ is his motto and it also includes mental states. Makes it hard to be honest about feelings. Very much a ‘lying to yourself’ aspect.

Virgil: Lying to avoid perceived negative repercussions. Lying still bothers him- as lying can also cause negative reactions. Focus on lying in reaction to events, less so on lying to the self. Not every lie is especially necessary though, knee-jerk reactions and fear make it very easy to lie. Lies of omission being the most utilized.

Remus: The opposite to Roman’s ‘lying to yourself’. Lying to others just to see their reactions. Uses being ‘blatantly honest’ about taboo subjects to seem honest about other things.

Patton: Lying to spare people’s feelings and being perceived well. Focus on lying or omitting the truth to seem like everything’s awesome.

Intrusive Thots

Patton: Makes emotional reactions overwhelmingly hard to gauge and control, results in terrifying thoughts and feelings with little control or filter. Gets stuck on ideas because of how hard he’s trying to push it away (yea know, like the white bear experiment).

Virgil: Thinks in problem solving, but the problems are of course, the thoughts of his own creation. Incessant about ‘solving’ the perceived problem.... not much else changes.

Logan: The Mad Scientist aesthetic is fun, what can I say? Takes facts and focuses on the scary parts, and then brings them back up on the slightest hint of relevance, and sometimes just Because. Some of it is curiosity taken into a frightening territory and gets overwhelming.

Janus: Emphasis on what happens if terrible things happened. Also likes using the ‘you’re gonna go to hell anyway just dive in with me’ argument. Occasionally pops up in a way that sounds almost nice, then turns horrifying very quickly.

Roman: Take Roman, make his ideas more Remus. He’s already Loud and Proud, just make him scarier, and a little more incessant and probably a little more arrogant for good measure.

#sides!swap #jobflop au #roman sanders #logan sanders #virgil sanders #patton sanders #janus sanders #remus sanders #intrusive thot #deceit!sides #intrusive!sides #creativity!sides #anxiety!sides #morality!sides #logic!sides #snake tw #sword tw #I forget most of the tags for these #chat a lat #reply #famart

[confusedhost-archive]

Red Has Always Been My Favorite Color

@kiingz made a post, and the tags said #i do be shipping carmen and roman because of the projection And so, obviously, I had to write something so I can finally make content again.  Carmen is @nachosforfree‘s oc for Nico’s sides, as seen here! (I have just learned that technically Ender and Elliot/@iridescentmolars came up with Carmen, but how he looks is in the linked post)

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Summary: Thomas isn’t the only person that falls in love at the mall. But, as a side, dealing with love is a lot harder than it is for humans. So Roman looks for the perfect moment to talk to this crimson cutie.  Also called the 4 times Roman saw Carmen and the 1 time he did something about it

Ships: Nico’s creativity (Carmen) and Thomas’ light creativity (Roman), background Intrulogical

Warnings: Swearing, ask to tag!

Ao3

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1.

The first time Roman saw him was across the food court at the mall.

Roman could wax poetry of a faux setting and a romantic mood as much as he liked, but his first sighting of this new special someone was no where near as exciting. The truly exhilarating experience was the one he felt in his chest when the man turned around, adjusted his gold rimmed glasses and gave him a sweet smile.

Roman was lovestruck.

He assumed so, at least, as a rhyme fell from his lips and Thomas turned to stare in confusion. It certainly made sense, he decided, as the man in the pink cardigan tilted his head delicately and whispered something into his host’s ear.

He wanted to be lovestruck, that much he knew. He wanted something like his brother’s, something more than the tug at his heartstrings that he felt every time Thomas fell for a new guy. He wanted love because it felt right.

So he locked eyes with the man in the pink sweater while Thomas tried the same. He wiggled his eyebrows and tried to get a point across as Thomas dropped his head into his hands. He grinned in satisfaction as he got his new crush to laugh, and felt a warmth in his chest grow, a feeling that was beautiful and powerful, and felt much better than the bare scraps of love Thomas’ crushes let him feel.

“Talk to him!” Roman would hum, hoping the interaction would get him closer.

“Just walk up!” He huffed as Virgil pushed Thomas away.

And perhaps it was selfish, to want Thomas to spend time with someone just because of the pretty boy that came with him, but Roman felt something so pretty bubble up in him when the side so much as glanced his way, and he thought that maybe -  maybe  - he’d let himself be selfish this one time.

Then Thomas went to the washroom and stared at himself and talked and spoke from his heart and everything Roman and Virgil has asked him to do and Roman felt something else, so unlike the feeling he’d become used to, build up in his chest that hurt so, so, so much more than it should’ve, and he wondered if he was doing something wrong.

A man came out of the washroom stall, and Thomas lied, and Roman felt the lump in his throat grow.

Virgil got upset, and Thomas was rude, and Roman felt his eyes prick with tears.

Thomas’ crush - Nico, they learned - was alone now. No handsome man in gold rimmed library glasses and a pink sweater and a sun stitched onto his breast.

Thomas and Nico sat down to talk, and Roman felt his heart sing with Thomas’ love.

It was far more dull of a song than he remembered.

2.

The second time Roman saw Pretty Pink was when Thomas and Nico went on their first proper date. It was a simple date, only a walk along a trail in the cold afternoon. It was fall now (Or “Halloween: The month,” as Virgil had dubbed it), and the leaves were slowly changing color, giving a lovely new look to the trail’s normally green and brown theme.

“It’s prettier now,” Logan said, curled up on the side of the couch, a heavy blanket tossed over him.

Roman nodded from the kitchen as Virgil made a noise of vague agreement from his spot lying face down on the other half of the sofa.

Roman brought himself over to the living room, mug of hot chocolate warming his hands, and kicked Virgil’s thigh lightly.

“Move,” he hummed, bringing the mug to his lips and taking a loud, if not impatient sounding sip (Virgil likely wasn’t paying much attention, so it likely hadn’t gotten across, but it was the thought that counted).

Virgil turned to look at him, eyebrows raised. “Sit,” he said, getting a bit more comfortable. “I really need the weight.”

Roman shrugged and plopped himself down onto Virgil’s lower back and crisscrossed his legs.

He looked at the tv screen, with it’s wonderful view of the beautiful trees and Thomas’ very focused view of Nico and his red face (Roman liked to think it was because Thomas had made him blush with a smooth line, but his whole was a terrible flirt, so it was far more likely to be from the cold).

Something danced just out of Thomas’ vision though, and Roman furrowed his brows and took a quick sip of his hot chocolate-

-and nearly spit it out when Rainbows and Sunshine stepped into frame. He looked exactly the same as he did last time Roman saw him, except this time he was closer, and as such, prettier, and making it a lot harder to choke down his drink then it could’ve been.

Roman held his mug up with one hand, hoping to keep any of it’s contents from spilling out, and pressed his other fist to his mouth, coughing heavily into it. His throat burned, and he grimaced, rubbing it carefully.

“Holy shit, Roman,” Virgil said, trying to look back at him. “Are you good?”

Roman shrugged, forcing up another cough in hopes of it clearing his airway. “It’s nothing, really, I’m just- surprised.”

Both Logan and Virgil stared at him for an awkward moment, before looking at each other and sharing a silent conversation. Roman looked very deliberately at the screen (and maybe also at the pretty guy walking with Thomas and Nico, although if his eyes happened to catch, that wasn’t on him) rather than his two fellow sides.

“Surprised,” Logan said dryly, his mouth quirking up into a smirk as he looked over at the tv and the two very similar looking men on it.

“Yeah,” Roman squeaked, sounding far less confident in himself as he saw Virgil glance at the tv, Logan, and him in slowly dawning realization.

“You have a crush,” Virgil breathed, looking extremely excited for some (hopefully not blackmail related) reason.

Roman looked at the inside of his mug rather than at his friends and hummed a noncommittal sound. All it took was one glance up at the tv screen while Pretty Pink looked Thomas in the eyes, and Roman buried his face in his free hand in hopes of covering his blush.

He wasn’t sure it was working.

Logan grinned. “Oh, I can’t wait till your brother gets back, he’s going to  love this.”

Virgil rolled himself out from under Roman, falling off the couch in the process. “Hey, I don’t mean to like, be a jerk or anything, but I think this is really cute and as your best friend-“ Roman made a quiet sound of mild disagreement. “-It’s my job to make fun of you for this.” Roman made another, far louder and offended, sound of disagreement.

Roman shook his head. “There is totally something a problem with this relationship, and I don’t know what it is, but Logan is going to tell me and it’s going to make it so that you do not get to make fun of me.”

Logan snorted. “Absolutely not, this is your crush, and as little as I want to get involved with your love life, I think you should go for it.” He grinned down at the green stone that hung from his necklace. “It’s what got your brother and I together, so I’m certainly going to give the advice I can to you.”

Roman made a whining noise and Virgil hummed sympathetically.

“It really sucks to suck man,” he said comfortingly, though the words weren’t as kind as Roman thought they could’ve been. Virgil looked over towards the front door with a grin. “I do really enjoy the thought of you just going outside and saying something real quick, but you’re very nervous right now, it’s cold outside, and I’m starting to think you’re ceasing to function.”

Virgil was right, because of course he was. Roman glancing at the tv every three seconds to look at Nico’s side was turning his brain to lovestruck mush. And with mush for brains, Roman’s supposedly carefully crafted defense was a weak, “He’s very pretty.”

Virgil snorted. “Okay, lovebird, I think that’s enough of Thomas’ date for you. Next time I see that guy, I’m shoving your ass out the front door to greet him though, got it?”

Roman sighed as the tv clicked off, but shrugged none the less. “I’m not going out there without a fight, I hope you know.”

Both Logan and Virgil laughed, the latter elbowing Roman in the side. “I know! It wouldn’t be you if you didn’t.”

3.

The third time Roman saw his crush was when he was with Patton.

Padre was trying (and failing) to make cookies, often misreading the instructions and adding too much of something.

The tv was on in the living room, showing Nico and Janus sitting on the edge of Thomas’ bed as the man himself recited his lines for the new play.

Part of Roman wanted to be out there, but he and Janus were in a bit of a fight, one that neither of them were interested in apologizing for. At some point they’d settled on a switching schedule, changing who got to be Thomas’ critic every time he practiced (Roman was quite sure they’d gotten to a point where neither him nor Janus would actually be upset with the other should they work together, but it would be awkward, and he didn’t much feel like dealing with that).

Roman grinned as Patton managed to spray batter in his face, slipping off the counter to try and help wipe a droplet off his face. “Take a break, padre, I don’t know if the kitchen can take any more of this,” Roman laughed.

Patton frowned at the flower and sugar scattered across the counter and his arms. “This is true. I  do really want cookies though.” He turned to look at Roman as he snapped his fingers to get rid of the mess. “Can you summon some? The ones you summon always taste  great .”

Roman put a hand to his chest. “How kind of you!” He brought his other hand up as a tray materialized on it and bowed down to reveal the perfectly crisped cookies to Patton.

Patton giggled and took one of the still warm snacks, taking a bite and giving Roman a thumbs up. “It’s awesome!”

Roman smiled in return. “Now, let’s eat these on the couch and see what mistakes we can catch Thomas make.” Patton nodded enthusiastically, though Roman was pretty sure it was at the prospect of eating cookies in the warmth of the couch.

“Actually,” Roman handed the tray to Patton, “Go sit on the couch, and I’ll make coffee.” As the fatherly side dropped onto the couch and began creating a nest for himself Roman called to him, “Oh! Tell me if anything interesting comes up!”

Patton only just finished touching up his area when he stared at the screen, confused, and hummed, “Roman, something interesting just popped up.”

Roman rolled the phrase through his mind, wondering if there was a pun hidden inside, and glanced at the tv screen, took a double take, and squealed.

He was there. He was  there.  He was there.

It was his nameless crush, sitting beside his whole and watching Thomas fumble over his words. Amusement shone in his eyes, and he leaned over to whisper something to Nico, making the human stand up and ask Thomas for the script.

Janus looked over at the other side, tilting his head to examine him.

Roman and Patton, on the other side of the tv screen, were in chaos. Roman was avoiding looking at anything but the coffee, blush deepening every second that passed. Patton was staring at the tv, mouth running a mile a minute.

“Is that-? Roman is that the guy Virgil was telling me about? Is that the guy you have a crush on? Am I supposed to push you out the door? Virgil told me that was what  he was going to do but I don’t really want to. Should you go out and talk to him? Wait actually, for sure, for sure, that’s your crush-?”

Roman buried his face in his hands as Nico grinned and told Thomas he would read the other character’s lines. “Patton,” the princely side groaned, “I’m this close to combusting.” He held up a hand and held his fingers so they almost touched.

Patton blinked, then covered his mouth. “Oops!” He gasped through his hands.

Roman waved him off. “It’s whatever, but I’d much rather watch Thomas’ mediocre acting skills then discuss this with you.”

“Don’t you mean watch your new  cru -“

“Patton!”

Patton giggled, leaning back into the couch and stuffing a cookie in his mouth. There was a moment of silence, just long enough to make it feel awkward, and Patton turned to Roman and opened his mouth.

Janus, on the tv, cut him off.

“Who are you?”

Both Patton and Roman snapped to attention as the other side blinked in surprise. “Oh, me? My name’s Carmen! I’m Nico’s creativity.”

Roman bounced, excitement running through his veins as Janus held his hand out. “My name is Janus. I’m Thomas’ deceit.”

Carmen smiled. “It’s nice to meet you, Janus!”

“Absolutely dreadful  to meet you too,” Janus hummed, letting Carmen sort out the sarcasm.

Carmen paused, and Roman and Patton exchanged disappointed glances. Roman couldn’t help but flap his hands when his crush spoke next. “Do you know of a side wearing all white with a red sash?”

Janus carefully didn’t react, but his lips tilted up and he leaned back. “Oh? Are you looking for Roman?”

Carmen nodded. “I want to talk to him.” A hand came up to play with the chain on his glasses. “He looks like a fun person to be around, you know?”

“He’s certainly exuberant,” Janus agreed. “Do you want me to tell him something for you?”

Carmen looked down at his hands for a moment, contemplative. “No, no I don’t think so. I just want to talk, face to face.” His eyes flickered up to where Thomas and Nico were giggling, faces close. “Thank you for the offer though, Janus.”

Janus didn’t respond, looking at Carmen carefully. After a pause, he narrowed his eyes in almost suspicion, but said nothing, only relaxing in his spot.

“Have a good day, Carmen,” Janus said, standing up swiftly. “I highly doubt Thomas will be doing any proper acting anymore.” He walked over to the door and lay a hand on the doorknob, pausing. “I’ll make sure Roman comes out next time he sees you out here.”

Carmen smiled. “I can’t wait to meet him.”

Janus tipped his hat and opened the door, shutting it quietly behind him. He turned around, freezing when he saw Patton and Roman’s eyes on him. There was a minute of awkward silence before Janus marched toward the stairs. “You better have heard that, Roman.”

Roman blinked. “Was- Did you do that for me?”

Janus snorted. “Of  course  not, Roman, I’m  definitely  the type for small talk with some random side.”

Janus made his way up the stairs and out of view, and Roman recognized his attempt at an apology. It wasn’t a sorry, but it was Janus trying to reconcile. The least Roman could do in return was meet Carmen next time he saw him.

 4.

That next time ended up being about a week later, when Roman was laughing with his brother and Logan. They were in the living room, the tv turned on for background noise and a nest of pillows strewn about the floor for Roman’s comfort.

“Remus!” Roman snorted, attempting to pull yet another pillow from the mustached menace’s hands. “Remus, give me the pillow!”

Remus gave a sharp tug, sending Roman tumbling face first into the couch. “No,” he said, grinning.

Logan pulled his boyfriend closer to him, angling in for a kiss, and stealing the pillow when Remus went soft.

Roman cackled at his brother’s pout. “You know what?” He asked, falling back into his pile of fluff. “I’m gonna let Logan have it.”

Remus gasped in mock hurt, even as his mouth twitched up into a smile. “How could you? First my brother! Then my boyfriend! And then my brother again!”

Roman rolled over onto his stomach to look at the tv. “Sucks to be you I guess,” he sang.

Remus leaned back, crossing his arms. “It  does suck to be me,” he whined.

Logan pulled his boyfriend close, cuddling into him. “The pillow was a trap to get you to cuddle me,” he hummed into Remus’s chest.

Remus grinned. “Well then! Consider me trapped!”

There was a pause as Remus and Logan curled into each other, and Roman inspected the tv. He watched Nico as he leaned over the desk, pencil scratching.

He wondered if Carmen would come out soon.

“Hey, guys,” Roman hummed, eyes still on the screen. “What did you do when you found out you liked each other?”

Logan shifted to look at him. “We talked it out. Why?”

Remus laughed. “You kissed me and then said that you’d wanted to do that for a year. My response was ‘same.’ That’s not talking it out.”

Roman turned to look back at the two. “I feel like despite the fact that you’re the only couple I can ask, you’re the exact wrong people to talk to.”

Logan sighed. “I think you might be right. We’re disasters.”

Remus nodded. “Hell yeah, but,” he turned to look at his brother. “Why do you ask?”

Logan looked Roman over for a second before shooting up with a gasp. “I didn’t tell you about Roman’s crush yet!”

The twins froze simultaneously.

Remus tackled his brother with a shout, finding himself sitting cross-legged on the other side’s back. “You didn’t tell me about your  crush? ” He huffed, flicking his brother between the eyes. “That’s illegal.”

Roman shrugged, glaring at Logan. “Be gay, do crime, right?”

Logan smiled. “Remus, come here, let me hug you, and we’re going to talk about Roman’s crush.”

Roman whined loudly as Remus settled himself in Logan’s arms. “You guys better not make fun of me,” he said, looking back at the tv.

“Don’t worry,” Remus sang, “We will!”

Logan sat his chin on his boyfriend’s shoulder, a laugh rumbling from his throat. “So first, you need to know is that it’s not any of us.”

Remus nodded, looking confused, but patting Logan’s leg. “That’s fair, the hottest side is already taken.”

Logan grinned. “Not a celebrity crush either!”

Remus tilted his head, brows furrowed. “Wait,  not a celeb crush?”

Roman narrowed his eyes. “Are you dragging this out on purpose or are you torturing me on accident?”

Logan huffed. “Come on, let me have this.” He waited a beat. “Anyway, it’s one of Nico’s sides. The creative one, I think.”

Remus blinked. “Wait, you’ve seen Nico’s sides?” He stared at the tv, eyes narrowed. “Is it him?”

Roman turned around, eyes falling onto Carmen, sitting on the counter of Thomas’ kitchen, watching whatever Thomas and Nico had put on the tv to cuddle to. A strangled noise escaped his throat and he buried his face into his knees.

“Oh-“ Remus said, surprised. “He’s, like- gay.”

Logan snorted. “He’s never even met him properly.”

Roman groaned, flipping off the boyfriends. “I don’t want to yet.” Far more muffled: “I’m scared.”

Remus frowned, reaching an arm up as if to put it on his brother’s shoulder. He stole it back after a moment of hesitation.

“Hey, Ro-bro,” Remus tried, “You wanna hear a story?” He didn’t wait for an answer. “Okay, so there were these two guys who were  really fucking gay for each other but they didn’t talk too much. Why? Because they were dumb.”

Logan made a noise of disagreement.

“Because the system was rigged so they couldn’t see each other often,” Remus amended. “So at one point, when they had the chance, they decided to have a talk. Nothing bad, nothing good, just spending time with each other. It was whatever they wanted.”

Logan squeezed his boyfriend tight, nuzzling his head into the crook of his neck. “It wasn’t big, it wasn’t really special, or anything like that, but...” Logan paused. “They knew where they stood with each other. It was the first step in their relationship and it meant that they could do everything else, could escalate to more. It was because they did that one talk first.” He sighed, a hand coming up to play with a lock of Remus’ hair. “Everything we are right now, it’s because of a  talk , Roman. It’s important that you can communicate with him comfortably, because you need it.” He brought his hand down to clasp with his boyfriend’s. “You need to talk to him, Roman. Please.”

Roman looked up at them, close physically and emotionally and tried to imagine himself in their place. With Carmen wrapped around him and their clasped hands and just knowing, without a doubt, that they loved each other. That they trusted each other, that they cared.

He found, with a jolt of surprise, that he couldn’t.

He couldn’t because they were  right . He needed to take a first step, a step outside his comfort zone (and hopefully into Carmen’s arms). He needed to talk to him.

“Hey guys?” Roman looked up at his friends, eyes shining with hope. “Thank you. I’m gonna talk to him.”

Remus grinned, squeezing Logan’s hand. “Go get him Ro!” He squealed, leaning into his boyfriend.

Logan, from behind him, nodded at Roman. “Have fun,” he said, a soft smile gracing his face.

Roman walked out the front door, listening as Logan and Remus joked to each other behind him.

“Oh wow, they just- they grow up so fast-“

“Yes, your brother is certainly growing a pair.”

Roman closed the door behind him, smiling. He knew they were proud of him. Now he just wanted to do something to earn that pride.

 5.

The fifth time Roman saw Carmen, he was star struck. Seeing him through a tv screen or from across a cafeteria was so different from now, only feet apart, with nothing but empty air between them. Carmen, here, now, in the dark of the 9:00 night, glowed. His hair seemed to emit it’s own light, a soft pink casting shadows around the room.

He turned to look at Roman and the princely side’s breath caught in his throat. His eyes, a deep, beautiful, chocolate brown before, were bright, sparkling like cider, and looked like a million different colors reflecting off of each other. Rimmed with gold glasses, he made Roman think of copper - under appreciated but so, so, pretty.

Roman smiled softly, walking forward until he stood in front of Carmen. He pat the spot next to him. “May I sit here?”

Carmen nodded, lips pulling into a smile, freckles shifting, reflecting their own light. There was a moment of silence, and then Carmen spoke. “You’re glowing.” When Roman looked over, Carmen flushed, looking down at his hands. “I know it sounds weird but-“ he snuck a hand over to grasp at Roman’s in a light grip. When Roman made no move to stop him, he pulled their interlocked hands up, Roman noticing the soft trails of pink that followed Carmen’s fingertips. “You  shine.” Roman realized after a moment that Carmen seemed to think that it was  him who was glowing. Perhaps he was right.

Roman let out a quiet laugh, whispering, “Bright like a diamond!”

He took Carmen’s hand carefully, bringing it down to look at the glitter painted nails. “You’re glowing too, you know?” His eyes were drawn back to the light in his hair. “The tips of your hair, your freckles, your eyes...” he trailed off, a warmth in his chest growing.

Carmen smiled. “You’re a bit of a poet, aren’t you?”

Roman leaned forward, embarrassed. “Sometimes, if I have a sort of muse.”

Carmen sat there for a moment, processing Roman’s words before letting out a squeak. “You-!” He curled into himself, falling into a fit of giggles.

Roman smiled at Carmen’s flustered state before tilting his head with a small frown. “I just realized something, you know.” Carmen paused, looking over. “I’ve never properly introduced myself.”

Roman stood up and took one of Carmen’s hands in his own, bowing down to touch Carmen’s hand to his lips. “It’s wonderful to meet you, my good sir, and it would be my greatest wish fulfilled if you could tell me your name.”

Roman knew his name already, of course, thanks to Janus, but he wanted to hear it here, now, spoken to  him for the first time. “My name is Carmen,” he hummed, pulling his hand, interlaced with Roman’s, to his chest. “Now, my prince, would you be willing to tell me yours?”

“Roman,” the side said quietly, distracted by their sudden closeness.

There was a moment of silence, before Carmen’s face split into a grin. “Oh my gosh, that was just like out of a Disney movie-“ he giggled pulling Roman an inch closer.

Roman gasped. “You like Disney movies?” He grinned, a squeal building in his throat, and the former tension disappeared, swapping for bright eyed excitement.

Carmen clapped his hands together, laughing. “Of course! What’s your favorite? Mine is probably Finding Dory, but only because Nico has been watching it a lot lately.”

Roman flapped his hands in excitement, mouth opening and spilling out everything he knew about the four movies he thought might’ve been his favorite in that moment.

When Carmen’s eyes shone with interest rather than boredom, Roman thought he could tell him he loved him, just like that. He didn’t though, preferring this easy talk about whatever they wanted to anything that might have happened should he say something wrong like that.

They talked for hours, their excitement never dulling, conversation only stopping when Nico leaned up to kiss Thomas with a quiet, “It’s late, I should go.”

There was no kiss, no confession, not there and not then. They’d only  just properly met, after all. But it was love, and they both knew it.

It was going somewhere, because they’d taken that first step.

#Roman sanders #Nico Flores #Writing #Logan sanders #Virgil sanders #Intrulogical #Patton sanders #Sanders sides #4+1 #Remus sanders #janus sanders #God I'm so sorry this took so long #swearing