#intrusleep | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

naminethewriter · 8 months

Text

How It All Began

Chapter Two: Living Legend

Masterpost | Previous | Next | Ao3

Story Summary: Remus, son of a simple fisherman, had worked hard to become the captain of his own pirate ship. And in his humble opinion, it was going great! His crew was small but reliable and they had just stolen something that could them some nice cash from a military vessel they happened to cross on the open sea. They just needed to hide it somewhere until it was safe to sell. How lucky for them that they come across a nice, uninhabited island.

Little did Remus know just who he would find on that little piece of land and how it would change his life entirely.

Content Warning: Innuendo, Reference to Past Trauma, Past Parental Death

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

Remus set off to the island again early the next morning. He hadn’t slept much, the sound of bones breaking upon hitting rocks bouncing around in his head the entire night. Instead of fruitlessly fighting his insomnia much longer, he got up with the rising sun, stuffed the box containing the seal into a satchel, found Sloane already up and about and dragged him along to the rowboat.

As he had done yesterday with Patton and Elliot, Remus left Sloane at the beach to look for a hiding place by himself, this time choosing an entirely different direction from the day before. He was looking for a spot that was easy to remember but hard to get to – he didn’t want to bury the box, because one, that was totally cliché and two, he really didn’t want to do all that digging – so a cave or hollow tree would be perfect.

It took him a while before he found an opening between two cliffs that looked somewhat deep. It was small and dark though, squeezing in there might not be the smartest move. Before he could even try, he was startled by a voice.

“You will not fit in there.” In a very reminiscent way, Remus spun around to face… the guy from yesterday? They stared at each other until Remus found his voice again.

“Wha- How? I killed you!”

“Falsehood. The injuries from the fall killed me, not your… bullet I believe they are called?” Remus just continued to stare at him in disbelief.

“Who the fuck cares how, you still died!”

“Indeed.”

“So how are you here? Are you a ghost? Am I being haunted?!” That thought honestly excited Remus a bit. He tried to look closer, maybe he could see through the guy now but nope, same as yesterday. Not even his clothes had changed.

“I am not a ghost. I died and then came back. I do not see how you are not understanding the situation.”

“Dead people don’t just come back to life!”

“That is true.”

“Then why did you?”

“Because I am immortal.”

“What?” The man cocked his head to the side.

“Do you not know of the legends of Immortals? When I was young they were quite commonly told.”

“Of course I know the legends!” Remus sputtered. “If the Elemental Spirits find one worthy, they can grant even a human the gift of immortality like the sirens. But they’re just that: legends! Like I expect some random guy I shot on a random island to just come back to life!”

The stranger nodded in understanding as if this was a typical discussion topic and he hadn’t just turned Remus’ entire world view on its head.

“I suppose that is true. Though considering you are a man of the sea, I had expected you to have some experience dealing with sirens, so I am surprised this comes as such a shock to you.” Remus was once again at a loss for words. Sure, as many others had, he had hoped that the stories were true, that humans could gain immortality the sirens had from birth, but there had never been any proof. All accounts of supposed Immortals were dubious at best. The Elemental Spirits were known to dislike humans, even before they took over the lands and destroyed many forests. It was the main reason the seas were dangerous to travel, the Spirits would not let humans take more control.

For an immortal to be in front of him now… it was a dream come true! A switch flipped in Remus’ brain and his wariness of the stranger simply evaporated. Instead, excitement shot through every fiber of his being at the realization that the one thing he had feared was impossible for him to achieve was directly in front of him. A real Immortal! He got to meet a true immortal human being! A grin broke across his face and with quick steps he made his way over to the man who was now the one to look startled.

“That means you met the Spirits? The real deal? And they approved of you? You really can’t die no matter what??” Their faces were now inches apart. The man blinked at him, the sudden change in his demeaner had probably thrown him off, before he took a step back and cleared his throat.

“Yes to all of those questions. Unless the Council deems me no longer useful and revokes their gift to me, I will revive no matter the injuries.” Remus’ grin grew impossibly wide and he let out a loud cackle. Then he grabbed the man’s hand and shook it wildly.

“Name’s Remus, Pirate Captain, and you’re going to tell me everything right now.” The man eyes him for a moment before pulling his hand back and rightening his glasses.

“Logan, biologist and botanist. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance.”

~~~

“So how long have you been immortal?” Despite only just having properly met the man in front of him – Remus, if he remembered correctly – Logan could already tell from the expression on the man’s face that he would not rest until he had answers to all his questions. His green eyes were wide open and curious, a look Logan knew he had often worn himself as a young child and lost sometime on his way into adulthood.

Regardless, if Remus was going to question him for hours, they might as well be comfortable.

“Before you start your interrogation, would you like to accompany me to my camp? I can make us some tea and we could sit while talking.” The other blinked, obviously not having expected the invitation.

“Yeah, sure! Whatever gets you into the mood, four-eyes!” He wriggled his eyebrows in what Logan could only guess was supposed to be a suggestive manner. He decided to ignore the innuendo.

“Then please follow me, it is not far.” Logan turned around and headed deeper into the jungle. He’d been on this island for almost ten years now, he knew every nook and cranny, no need for a compass. Remus followed close behind him with loud steps.

“You can answer while we walk though, right?” The pirate captain apparently was not a patient person but that was unsurprising. Over the years, Logan had learned that few of his kind were.

“Very well. You asked about how many years it has been since I have gained my immortality, correct?”

“Not in those words but yeah.”

“I can’t say with absolute certainty, I spend a lot of time alone so keeping track of dates is not something I do diligently, but I can estimate that it was around 140 years ago.” His companion whistled.

“And you’ve been here the entire time?”

“No, I have relocated a few times once my research concluded.”

“And then you just go looking for another place to do the same thing again? Sounds pretty dull.”

“It is anything but dull,” Logan responded more sharply than he had intended. “I do this work because I enjoy it, it’s what I always wanted to do with my life.”

“And that’s why you sought out the spirits? To give you more time to do your research?”

“I didn’t seek them out which is probably why they chose to accept me.” They arrived at his camp just in time for him to dodge the follow-up questions Remus surely had in mind. His home was quite simple, and he liked it that way. It was a clearing, small enough to still be mostly covered by the canopy of the trees above to give shelter from the simpler rainfalls but big enough to give room to move around in. He had set up a fire pit in the middle of the space with an old but durable cauldron held up by some sturdy branches above it. It was currently empty; he would need to fetch water from the stream nearby.

“Please, make yourself comfortable.” Logan motioned for Remus to sit on his bed which was essentially just a collection of moss on a flat stone but being blessed by the Spirits meant more than just gaining immortality and said moss was as soft as the finest mattress money could buy. His bed, along with a large chest containing his few sets of clothes, notebooks, and other personal items, was located underneath a naturally formed stone awning that kept him completely protected from the occasional storms. He stored most of his food supply in a cave not far away where the temperature and humidity were much stabler than out here, thanks to his blessing.

“I will fetch some water, if you know how to use flint to start a fire, I would appreciate the assistance. More firewood is over there.” It was a small stack of logs and twigs inside a hollow tree nearby. Logan grabbed his bucket, also wooden, and headed towards the stream. With his free hand he made sure that the key to his chest was still on his person. He shouldn’t be gone long enough for the pirate to pick the lock.

The babbling of the water always had a soothing effect on Logan. The gentle sound calmed him and he took a deep breath. He hadn’t expected Remus to react the way he had. He didn’t get visitors often, he never had on any of the islands he inhabited after making his deal with the Spirits, and when he did, he tried not to engage. He talked to Remus the day before since he feared the other could get hurt in a moment of carelessness and he had similar motivations earlier as well. The few others he had talked to before also met him with suspicion, in rarer cases with curiosity but most of those encounters ended with Logan’s death. Pirates were ruthless after all, and soldiers often assumed the worst of him. Merchants didn’t come to places like this.

So to have Remus believe him and be excited about talking to him was something new to Logan. And he was entirely out of practice regarding his social skills. His only contacts were Janus and occasionally Virgil but neither sirens were super friendly with him. And then there was his patron, a spirit of the earth on the Council, but he spoke to her only every few years.

Having a human in his camp? Exciting and worrying at the same time. He shouldn’t leave him alone for too long.

Logan took another deep breath before kneeling by the water’s edge and dipping the bucket into the stream to fill it up before making his way back. To his surprise, he found Remus actually crouching by the now lit fire, watching the sparks with a delighted expression on his face.

“Thank you for your cooperation,” Logan nodded to him as he carefully filled the water from the bucket into the cauldron to avoid killing the flames accidentally.

“No problem! I’ll never say no to a bit of arson!” the pirate grinned at him.

“I see. Is that a part of the reason as to why you chose your profession?”

“Not really but it definitely was a plus! I just wanted to be on the seas, and being a merchant’s errand boy seemed boring, as did becoming a fisherman – I mean my father was one, so I knew it wasn’t exciting most of the time – and I was going to off myself before even thinking of joining the naval forces. Becoming a pirate was just the most fun in my opinion.”

“You are quite odd,” Logan commented after pausing for a moment. He meant nothing bad by it and judging from the grin on Remus’ face, he hadn’t taken it as an insult.

“So I’ve been told!”

“I hope you don’t mind me asking some personal questions. I am quite curious about you.”

“Wow, you’re blunt! If you wanna take this to your moss bed, I would be down!” The pirate captain wiggled his eyebrows suggestively and Logan couldn’t fight the blush that spread across his cheeks.

“That was not what I was referring to,” he clarified after clearing his throat. Remus cackled.

“Yeah, I know. I was just messing with you, though I do mean that I am totally open to tango with you, if you did want to.”

“Please, let us get back on topic,” Logan sighed and the pirate seemed to understand that he reached a limit.

“To answer your question: I don’t mind you asking some stuff in return. Though if I don’t wanna answer something, I won’t. Of course, that goes for you, too. I’m not gonna be too nosey.”

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome! Now, tell me more about how you met the Council! They’re the big bosses of the Spirits, right?”

“They are a collective of spirits that act as a sort of government, yes. Most of them are older than we could possibly imagine. They keep the balance of the natural world.”

“That is so fucking cool! And how did you end up meeting them?” Remus was leaning very close to him, staring at his face with an intensity that made Logan a bit uncomfortable. Thankfully, the water in the cauldron was now boiling, so he could flee to fetch two cups and the tea leaves. He put the leaves in the cups, then carefully added the water before handing one of them off to Remus and moving to sit on his bed with his own. Remus followed but decided to sit on Logan’s chest instead, creating some much-needed distance between them – well, needed by Logan at least.

“I will not go into detail,” Logan started, staring at his cup while it brewed, trying not to dive too deep into painful memories, “but I was brought along by someone against my will. Why exactly they took me, I do not know, I was barely conscious, but I believe my captor thought having a sacrifice might be a good back-up plan if his meeting with the Council went sour. I don’t think he lived long enough to offer.” He chanced a quick glance up at Remus who was sitting eerily still as he listened.

“When I regained my bearings, I was alone with the Council. They asked me questions and I answered honestly. I was quite afraid. But they understood that I bore no ill intent and thus offered me a deal. A chance to do the research I always dreamed of doing, for as long as I wanted, as long as I shared my findings with the Council.”

“Why were they so interested in your research? You said you dabbled in biology and botany, right?” Logan nodded in confirmation, making Remus narrow his eyebrows. “Shouldn’t they already know everything you could find? They’re basically nature itself, right?”

“Yes, most of my findings are simply confirmation of what they already know. But nature is unpredictable and so there are some developments – mutations if you will – that even the Elemental Spirits aren’t aware of. Nature adapts and that can happen in many unexpected ways.”

“That’s so fucking cool,” Remus cheered, kicking his legs like a child. Logan smiled, glad to share his passion with another and receive a positive response. Even back during his studies he had rarely met like-minded people. He took a sip of his tea before asking the pirate a question he’d been wondering about.

“Do you have any background in academics? You said your father was a fisherman, did you receive any education? I’m afraid I am not knowledgeable of the current rate of literacy amongst the populace.”

“You talk funny,” Remus snorted. “But yeah, that’s fair, I guess. I did learn how to read and write as well as basic math but not much more than that.” Logan noticed one of Remus’ hands fiddling with his shirt at his chest but decided not to pry.

“Were you a special case or is that the standard education nowadays?”

“Standard, I think. I mean, I could have gone to school longer, but it wasn’t really my thing. Ro stuck around longer, but he was always the smarter of the two of us.”

“Who is ‘Ro’ if I might ask?”

“Roman, my twin brother.”

“Is he part of your crew?” Remus barked out a laugh.

“Fuck no. He’s too righteous for that. Nah, he’s a sailor, works for whoever will hire him last I heard. Well, not everyone. He stays away from any military vessels, we both learned young what shitheads they are.” By now, Remus was tightly gripping at his shirt and Logan couldn’t contain his curiosity any longer.

“What is under your shirt?” A poorly phrased question, he quickly realized. Remus looked shocked for a moment, seemingly not having noticed where his hand had wandered before a wide grin split his face and he leaned closer to Logan.

“If you wanna see me with my clothes off, you could’ve just asked,” he teased. Logan sputtered for a moment, face bright red, before he managed to protest.

“That is not what I was referring to and you know it!” The pirate leaned back and laughed loud and long. By the time he stopped, Logan’s blush had mostly receded.

“Sorry, that was just too good for me to pass up.” Remus wiped a tear from his eye. “But I guess it’s only fair now that I spill the tea.” Jokingly, he raised his still steaming cup, but placed it on the ground without letting any of the liquid escape. Afterwards he pulled on a chain around his neck, revealing a locket from underneath his shirt.

“This is a family heirloom of sorts. My dad had it made for Mom in place of an engagement ring since it was cheaper and they couldn’t really afford more. Later, he got another one made on Mom’s request so they could match. She said it made her feel better about sending him out to sea. Ro has the other one now and I kinda see where mom was coming from. Knowing he has the other makes me feel like we’re connected still.”

“That is a wonderful story, Remus. I am sorry if this is overstepping a boundary, but am I right in assuming your parents have passed?”

“Yeah.” The pirate looked solemn and Logan had to suppress the urge to grab his hand in support. “Ro and I were away; we were doing an apprenticeship to learn to sail on something bigger than a fishing boat. There was a pandemic in our hometown. By the time we heard and made our way back, Mom had already passed. Dad had managed to survive the illness, but it left him severely weakened. He was bedridden when we saw him. Told us that Mom said sorry she left without saying goodbye. That he was sorry he wouldn’t stay either. Ro and I sent him off. I never expected him to make it long without Mom, he basically worshipped her. If Ro and I had still depended on him he might have been able to pull through, but I guess he didn’t have much to live for anymore.”

“My condolences.” It was all Logan could think to say.

“It’s been a few years, I’ve come to terms with it,” Remus waved him off, though his smile was wavering. He put the locket back under his shirt. “Anyway, let’s switch to less depressing topics! How does reporting back to the Council work? Like do they summon you or something?”

“In very rare cases,” Logan explained, glad as well that they changed the direction of discussion again, “but most of the time they send a representative, usually two sirens that go by Janus and Virgil.”

“Sirens?!” Remus eyes were wide and he leaned closer. “What are they like?” Logan raised a brow.

“You’re a pirate. Surely you have encountered sirens before.”

“Nope, actually! At least not up close! We know better than to sail into their territory. I’ve seen some shapes that I think were sirens but I can’t say for sure. I always wanted to meet one!”

“You seem to be very interested in anything that has to do with Elemental Spirits.”

“Duh! It’s fascinating stuff!”

“I think so, too, but most see them as a bother more than anything else.”

“Yeah, I know. Really stupid in my opinion. Like they were here before us, we’re the ones intruding. They’re just defending what’s theirs.”

“I am glad you think so as well. I always found it incredibly rude how people talk about nature like it is something we need to fight instead of adapting to co-exist with it.”

“Exactly!” They smiled at each other, though Logan broke eye-contact when he felt his blush return. He cleared his throat.

“To answer your question about Janus and Virgil: they both are rather brash. Janus dislikes humans and staying on the surface too long, especially on sunny days. Virgil is skittish, and though he doesn’t necessarily dislike humanity, he fears us to a degree, so he’d rather stay away from the surface as well. He does come by occasionally to just chat which Janus is much less likely to do.”

“A siren fearing us sounds strange to me.”

“Well, as far as I understand it, there are Siren Hunters out there that specialize in capturing them. And siren scales are quite valuable, with their immortality and regeneration, if they are trapped, it is likely to end in torture for them.”

“Oh, I fucking hate the Hunters. Total dicks. Think they’re the shit, better than anybody else. Shot one in the head once, his face as he realized what was about to happen was so funny.”

“Please tell me more about your travels. I am quite curious to hear about the daily life of a pirate.”

“Sure! But you gotta tell me a bit more about your research too!”

“Gladly.”

~~~

They talked for hours about Remus’ life on the sea – even a bit about his childhood adventures with his brother – and Logan’s time as an immortal. Remus noticed that he avoided talking about his life before that for long, all he learned was that Logan grew up as the fourth son of a noble and after finishing his studies at his university didn’t get the funding for his passion project, so he worked as a navigator for hire to try and fund it himself. The pirate didn’t press him for more details than he was willing to give, they had only just met after all.

“I should head back to the ship soon,” Remus commented once he saw the sky turn orange through the canopy of trees above him. Logan startled, apparently not having noticed the passage of time.

“I apologize for holding you up for so long. Your crew must be worried.”

“It’s fine,” Remus waved him off, though he did get up to his feet, Logan close behind. “This isn’t the longest I’ve been away from the ship. They’ll send a squad if it gets dark though, so I should get back before then.”

“I agree, that is for the best. I would prefer the wildlife to remain as undisturbed as possible. Where is your ship? I can guide you back.”

“I mean, I got a compass, so I’ll be fine on my own.”

“I would prefer to guide you, it will be faster and again, it will cause less disturbances.”

“Yeah, I guess that makes sense. We’re anchored on the south-western coast.”

“Very well, then please follow me.” Logan walked off, back into the jungle, and Remus hurried to follow him.

“Can I come back tomorrow? And bring a friend?”

“Just one?”

“Yeah. I’m sure the others would be curious, too, but Pat is the calmest one amongst them, as well as the one most interested in the topic.”

“Very well. If your supplies allow you to stay, I do not mind.”

“They should. I think.” Logan looked back at him with a doubtful expression. “I’m gonna check in with Pat on that to be sure, I promise. And I still need to hide this thing now that I think about it.” He gestured to the satchel at his side. Logan stopped and fully turned towards him.

“How big is it?” Remus pulled the box containing the seal out of the bag and showed it to the immortal, who looked it over once. “I believe I know a good place to store it. I can show you tomorrow.”

“That would be awesome, thanks.”

“My pleasure.” They continued on their way for a few more minutes until Logan stopped again, pointing further ahead. “We are not far from the beach, just continue straight ahead. I will meet you here again in the morning.”

“Got it, thanks, Death Defiant!” The nickname made Logan scowl, and Remus laughed as he jogged passed. True to Logan’s word, the captain soon broke through the tree line to a by now familiar looking beach. There was a rowboat pulled up on the sand but instead of Sloane, Remy and Emile waited for him.

“There you are, Capt’n,” Remy yawned. “We were starting to worry.” Considering that his First Mate sat on the beach leaned against his boyfriend, both wrapped in a blanket and looking very relaxed, Remus found that hard to believe.

“Yeah, yeah. I know I’m probably getting chewed out by Patton, let’s just head back.”

“Do we have to?” Remy whined, cuddling closer to Emile. “I don’t wanna move.”

“The captain has spoken, love, up you get.” Emile unwrapped the blanket and gently pried Remy off of him who let out another whine but complied.

“Fine! I was getting hungry anyway,” he pouted before climbing into the rowboat. Emile rolled his eyes at his dramatics but followed. Which left Remus to push the boat back into the water, but he managed it without much struggle. Remy and Emile were lighter than they looked.

Back on the ship, Patton indeed scolded Remus for remaining gone for the whole day and especially for leaving Sloane behind (Sloane himself didn’t seem to have minded it, actually).

“Did you at least find a good hiding spot?” Patton sighed, probably having noticed that he wasn’t getting through to his captain.

“Not yet, but I did find something far better,” Remus grinned. Patton tilted his head, looking like a confused dog. “I’m gonna show you tomorrow. Everyone!” he called, getting the attention of his crew that had gathered on the deck in preparations for dinner. “We’ll be staying here one more day! Or like half a day, we can afford that, right, Patton?”

Patton looked annoyed to be asked that after Remus had already made the announcement but nodded.

“Do we get to know why?” Missy asked.

“Nah, it’s a secret for now!”

“Figured.” The crew turned back to what they were doing before, all knowing better than to question their captain when he gets like that. Remus was so proud that they knew him so well.

“Now, let’s get some food, I’m starving!”

5 notes · View notes

what-aboutno · 2 years

Text

They're on a date :]

Happy birthday @r-r-raf :D!!

#Once again I have drawn some ✨remsleep✨ for your birthday akdkd #hope you like it :D #and have a great day!!#you are so cool and talented and amazing #ily <33 /p #remsleep #sander sides #remus sanders #remy sanders #ts remus #ts remy #intrusleep #i haven't posted anything sander sides in so long akskd i almost forgot how to tag this #zara's art

112 notes · View notes

viviarts-c · 3 years

Text

This week's Fic Rec Friday goes to Ex Ignorantia by @not-so-innocent-bi-sander (AO3)! Very short, super hilarious!

Read it so the comic makes sense!

#sanders sides #remus sanders #janus sanders #roman sanders #remy sanders #thomas sanders #ts sides #roceit #intrusleep #fan art #my art #fic rec friday #ex ignorantia

448 notes · View notes

anonymous-gremlin · 3 years

Text

Sides in a Eah au

Roman:

Royal

Son of The Queen of Hearts and King of Hearts

Also screams "Off with their head" when not liking something

Speaks riddlish when angry

Destiny: Thinks it's being the next monarch of Hearts, it's actually being the next Prince Naveen

Remus

Rebel

Son of Queen of Hearts and King of Hearts

Speaks riddlish often to annoy people

Went an entire week without speaking English, only riddlish

Can speak with the narrators

Later qpr with Remy

Destiny: Thinks doesn't have a destiny, actually the next queen of Hearts

Logan

Royal (switches to Rebel later)

Son of Pinnocio

Says he doesn't have emotions, definitely has

Can't lie, if he actually believes the lie he can

Thinks he won't complete his destiny

Understand riddlish (he finds Wonderland interesting)

Destiny: Being the next Pinnocio

Janus

Rebel

Son of Dr Facillier

Gets villianized often

Actually wants to follow his destiny but finds that other should get to choose

Great at knowing when someone is lying

Crush on Logan but will deny it

Destiny: Being the next Facillier

Patton

Royal

Son of Tiana and Naveen

Loves frogs

Best friends with Logan

Wants people to follow their destiny that they are assigned too

Crushes on Roman secretly

Destiny: Being the next Tiana

Virgil

Royal

Son of Jimmy Cricket

Has anxiety

Tries to help Logan achieve his destiny

Destiny: To be the next Jimmy Cricket

Remy

Rebel

Child of Sleeping Beauty

Has dated most of the school

Had a thing with Roman for a short while

Knows so many secrets

Insomnia

Acts like they don't care they don't have a destiny, definitely cares

Later qpr with Remus

Destiny: None, actually the next monarch of Hearts

Emile

Royal

Son of Flora

Mom friend

Someone give this dude a break

Just wants everyone to get along

Has two cousins

Destiny: To be the next Flora

#sanders sides #ever after high #sanders sides au #roman sanders #remus sanders #logan sanders #patton sanders #janus sanders #virgil sanders #remy sanders #emile sanders #cartoon therapy #vines characters #tss #eah #lociet #intrusleep #royality

56 notes · View notes

aidensm8 · 4 years

Text

A RemSleep comic based on an [angst prompt] by @anxiously-creating (Congratulations on your milestone, friend ^u^)

[Comics Masterpost]

General art taglist below

@nerdy-emo-royal-dad @the-anon-of-honey @ethicc-allycomprised @what-aboutno @moxy--sanders101 @tiny-blue-guitar @varthandi @queen-of-all-things-snuggly @cemmy @full-of-roman-angst-trash

Feel free to ask to be tagged or untagged from the list ^u^

#art #sanders sides #remus sanders #roman sanders #ts roman #ts remus #creativitwins #ts remy #remy sanders #intrusleep #remsleep #comic #angst #tw crying #tw angst

1K notes · View notes

chibisidesm8 · 4 years

Text

I was rewatching SU and just.... this happened.

#sanders sides #doodlem8 #ts remus #remus sanders #remy sanders #ts remy #intrusleep #remsleep

456 notes · View notes

dyke-remy · 3 years

Text

Remy has been gone for 37 days!

So I guess it’s time to talk about the actual plot to the Fake love AU (the drawings for the AU can be found here: 1 2 3 4 5)

Okay so Janus is the main character and there are a shitton of Jan ships in this (Yes I made a chart). So Jan finally moved out of his toxic household a few months ago and moved to a new town. Now he’s an awkward lonely librarian with a huge gay crush for his coworker Logan bc hey he has been in the closest for the past 22 years of his life he’s gonna be gay for any cute guy he sees.

Only problem is that Jan has 0 self esteem and is sure no one will ever want him....And also Logan (he/they/starself, poly, bi) is married to Patty (she/her trans, poly, bi) so Jan is 100% he has 0 chance. HE’S A FOOL! Lo has been flirting with him for months!!!

So Jan is out sulking and drinking one night and he sees a pretty guy sitting alone in the corner. Maybe if Jan wasn’t wasted he would realize they guy was crying but now instead he goes up and slurs out

“Hey wanna go to couples counseling and see how long it takes until the counselor realize we don’t know each other?”

The guy goes along with it. The guy is Remus (he/him, trans, gay, ace)

So they starts meeting up once every second week to go to Dr. Picani and these bitches have a great time screwing with Picani and every time once the session is done Jan wants to spend more time with Remus but he’s too anxious to ask. This is the closest thing he’s ever had to friendship. He doesn’t wanna ruin it by being pushy.

Also Jan and Rem meets Remy (disabled gay enby) at the conselour bc their therapy session is always right before or right after the guy’s counseling session. Both Janus and Remus fall head over heels for them bc the Remy charm is unstoppable. All while Jan starts having feelings for Remus too. (Sadly Remy already has a boyfriend and they are very defensive about him)

So now Janus has 3 crushes on 3 different people. Will Janus stop being a gay dumbass? Will we learn anything about Remus’ past?? Will Remus’ famous chaotic lesbian twin come into town? WHERE THE FUCK IS VIRGIL IN ALL OF THIS???

Learn all that and more in the Fake Love AU!!

(btw here’s the shipping chart)

#countdown #fake love #trust me there is a LOT more to this Au #specifically about Remus and Remy #janus sanders #remus sanders #remy sanders #logan sanders #sanders sides #loceit #logicality #desleep #dukeceit #demus #resleep #intrusleep #remsleep

42 notes · View notes

werewroammin · 1 year

Text

#sanders sides #cartoon therapy #remy sanders #losleep #rosleep #sleepxiety #intrusleep #sleepceit #sleepality #remile #thomsleep

25 notes · View notes

moxy--sanders101 · 4 years

Text

valentine's day is tough

audio from here

#my art #the goldbergs is such a good show guys dont @me #sanders sides #eye contact tw #scopophobia #(? is that what it is?)#roman sanders #remus sanders #janus sanders #patton sanders #remy sanders #sleep sanders #intrusleep #remsleep #moceit #roceit #(?)#my animatic #literally nobody asked for this or will understand this but i enjoy it so shhhh

254 notes · View notes

naminethewriter · 8 months

Text

How It All Began

Chapter Six: Precious

Masterpost | First | Previous | Next | Ao3

Little did Remus know just who he would find on that little piece of land and how it would change his life entirely.

Content Warning: Bickering, Sex as a Conversation Topic, Exploration of Ruins

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

“Would you stop staring in the water, Pat! Just relax, everything is fine!” Remus called over from the steering wheel. Their chef had been at the railing for the past hour, watching the waves as if he could see an impending attack if he looked hard enough. They were about three hours into Siren territory now and so far none of them had seen a single scaled tail. The runes seemed to be working.

“But..!” Patton tried to protest but Remus cut him off.

“No buts! Go prepare dinner or something if it has you so on edge.”

“Oh, let him watch, Capt’n,” Remy commented from the other side of the deck, himself staring at the waves. “It won’t do any harm.”

“Don’t tell me you’re also scared,” Remus deadpanned. Remy looked over, his dark-tinted glasses for once pushed down his nose but he was too far away for Remus’ to see his eyes properly. His first mate quickly turned away, pushing the frame back into place.

“Nah, just curious. Always wanted to see a siren, you know how it is. Actually kinda surprised you’re not down here with us.”

“Corbin needs to take breaks you know,” Remus shrugged. Patton, now having wandered over to Remy, huffed.

“He’s already met one, so he doesn’t need to look anymore.”

“Wait, hold on, pause!” Remy yelled, looking between Patton and his captain. “What the fuck do you mean he’s met one already?!”

“Language!” Pat protested but Remy ignored him in favor of leaning on his shoulder.

“C’mon, spill the tea!”

“I… can’t?”

“The hell does that mean?!”

“Uhm…” Patton looked sheepish that he had let Remus’ secret slip in a moment of irritation caused by worry.

“Don’t crowd him, Remy,” Remus called. “I told him not to say anything.” An offended noise left Remy’s throat before he stalked over to the captain.

“Talk,” he demanded. Remus snorted.

“It’s not that big a deal.”

“Of course it is! You once said you would burn down your hometown if it meant meeting a siren!”

“I don’t even care that much for my hometown.” He pushed down the impulse to reach for his locket at the mention of his old home. There was nothing for him there anymore.

“Stop making excuses!”

“Fine, fine,” Remus relented, having had his fun teasing his friend. “The riddle thing? Got it from the siren on that island. It’s gonna lead to some fun for all of us if we do it right.” Remy raised his brow, signaling him to continue. “That’s all you’re getting for now.”

“You suck,” Remy deadpanned.

“Get off my ship then.”

“You’re not getting rid of me that easy.”

“Didn’t think so.” They stared at each other for a moment, both grinning, before Remy huffed and stepped away. Despite his glasses being in the way, he could practically see him roll his eyes which was kinda a way for Remy to show his affection.

“Fine! Be like that. I’m gonna go take a nap.” With that he disappeared under deck. He acted all offended, but Remus could see him smile as he walked away. Patton had apparently left at some point as well, but Remus spotted Elliot sitting not far away, reading a book. Woodsworth’s book.

“Interesting read?” he asked, causing the other to flinch and look up, eyes wide. “Sorry, didn’t mean to startle you.”

“It’s fine!” Elliot protested immediately. They’ve been on the ship for a while now but still seemed to feel somewhat awkward around Remus in particular. “I was just so immersed; I didn’t really notice you taking over the wheel.”

“Being able to focus is a good thing,” Remus nodded, his eyes mostly trained on the horizon but flickering towards both Elliot and the compass occasionally. “Will keep you alive in stressful situations. Learn anything particularly interesting?”

“Oh, uhm…” Elliot flipped through some pages before they stopped and read a paragraph again to confirm that they understood the text correctly. “According to this, Sirens don’t have the same family structures as we do, since they don’t reproduce like us. They’re created by the Spirits and are incapable of having children actually.” Remus paused.

“But they can fuck, right?”

Elliot sputtered, turning red.

“I think so, but it hasn’t been actually addressed. At least not as far as I’ve read.”

“Huh. Keep me posted on that then.”

“Alright, Captain.” They didn’t look enthusiastic, but Remus wasn’t about to read that entire book himself. And it would do them some good to loosen up a bit.

“Go and fetch Corbin for me, I still have some stuff to prepare before we get to our destination.”

“Aye aye, Captain.” With hurried steps, Elliot walked away. Remus hummed, wondering if Logan would be able to give him a Siren sex ed lesson sometime. Left alone on deck, he pulled out his locket, idly fiddling with it to keep his one hand busy while the other ensured they stayed on course. It helped him focus and keep a clear mind. Too bad he wouldn’t be able to use it for that much longer.

~~~

The sun was setting by the time Coal Black Peak came into view, so Remus and his crew anchored some distance from shore and went to bed to start their excursion the next day. Emile, Patton and Missy had decided to stay on the ship – well, Emile and Missy had, Patton was ordered to stay behind because he looked like he hadn’t slept a wink. He tried to protest, but Remus held firm and Emile was put in charge of making sure he would get some rest.

Remy, Toby, Sloane, Corbin and Elliot all wanted to come along. The first three because it seemed more exciting than staying on the ship again and the latter two because they were interested in the temple the note had mentioned. It seemed Elliot had discovered an interest in history during their hours in the library. Remus was happy they had found a hobby.

They set over to land in two rowboats, making sure to tie them both securely once on shore since no one wanted to stay back to guard them. Considering how deep they were in Siren territory, it was unlikely that anyone would mess with them anyway. Then their long track began.

Remus figured the island was once inhabited, considering they were on their way to visit a temple. However, there weren’t many signs of a civilization left. They passed some stones with carvings on them that might have been idols or signs, but they were too overgrown and/or faded to clearly make out. While they had landed on the island not too far from the volcano, their track toward a cliff that gave them a good look at the mountain had taken them nearly two hours. The air was humid, their path steep and they were all sweating a lot.

“Where the fuck… are we even going?” Remy huffed, wiping his forehead to keep his eyes free from the moisture dripping down his head. Remus observed the volcano for a moment, trying to make out any kind of structure that might be a temple.

“The note said that there would be a temple on the mountain’s side, so we’re looking for a building of some sort, I think.”

“You think?! Gurl, I thought you knew what you were doing!”

“I read the note to you quite a few times, Remy, you got as much info as I did. You could have stayed on the ship if you didn’t want to come.”

“I thought this was going to be interesting! Not a marathon!”

“Stop complaining,” Toby grumbled. He was the fittest out of all of them and seemingly the least bothered by the climate. Elliot next to him looked a lot worse for wear. Toby handed them a waterskin which they gladly accepted.

“I tried to find more detailed records about this island,” Corbin chimed in, having regained his breath. “But there wasn’t much I could dig up. Apparently, this place is one of worship to the Spirits going back to the time before we had records. The few ‘civilized’”–he did use air quotes as he said it–“people that were here were run off quickly. The reports we have of them speak of a native tribe, but they weren’t friendly to intruders and when the hostilities between humans and the Spirits escalated, the surrounding sea was quickly claimed by the Sirens and no one has been recorded to have made it back here since. There was a brief mention of the temple but only in terms of it having been built into the mountainside close to the natives’ village.”

“Well, that tells us at least that it should be visible from the outside, right?” Sloane said from his place sitting on the ground next to his boyfriend.

“It doesn’t sound like it’s hidden on purpose, yeah,” Toby agreed.

“It might’ve collapsed though. Then we might never find it.”

“Stop being a downer, Remy,” Sloane groaned.

“The note wouldn’t have led us here if we couldn’t get into the temple,” Remus agreed. “And if we keep going around the mountain, we should find it eventually.”

“But that could take the whole day!” Remy whined. Toby smacked him in the arm.

“Go back to the ship if you’re too weak to see this through.”

“I’m not weak!”

“Prove it.”

“Fine! I’ll find the temple first!” Remy stalked off, a grinning Toby close behind.

“They are incorrigible,” Corbin sighed, as he helped Sloane back on his feet. The two of them followed the others, hands intertwined.

“Gross, open affection,” Remus joked, looking towards Elliot, who snorted lightly. “Let’s go before Remy and Toby actually try to race.”

~~~

Sloane ended up being the one to spot the rather large stone structure of the temple about half an hour later. It stood in a crevice of the mountain, overgrown by the surrounding plant life. It took them another four hours to arrive in front of it. On the way they had passed what could only have been the remnants of the former tribe’s village. From Corbin’s estimation, it had been abandoned several hundred years ago.

“I wonder what happened here,” Elliot mumbled as they took in the crumbling structure in front of them. “I mean, they didn’t just leave, right? Something must have caused them to disappear.”

“We know little of their culture, just that they didn’t take kindly to visitors,” Corbin shrugged.

“I mean, they do live next to a volcano. That could’ve had something to do with it.” Corbin rolled his eyes at his boyfriend’s comment but didn’t argue.

“Well, no use standing around here, let’s go in!” Remus grinned. He was excited to see where this would lead, even if he knew he had to give up something ‘precious’ at the end. It would be worth it to see Logan again.

“That looks like it could collapse any second,” Remy spoke up, eyebrow raised.

“So?” Toby asked, apparently in the mood to rile up the First Mate today.

“I don’t feel like getting buried alive, thanks.”

“You can stay here then. If you’re too much of a coward to go in.”

“Fuck off, I just don’t have a death wish.”

“Chicken.”

“Gurl, I’m so close to punching you in the face.”

“Try it, I dare you.”

“You’re both pretty, now zip it!” Remus huffed, pushing the two apart. They grumbled but didn’t argue further. “Nothing’s going to collapse, I promise. Let’s go.”

“How can you be so sure?” Corbin asked as they all followed their captain through the columns that marked the temple’s entrance.

“Like I said: The note wouldn’t have led us here if we couldn’t complete the task. It’s a test not a trick to kill us.”

“A test from who?”

“You’ll find out soon enough.”

“Fucking cryptic bullshit,” Remy mumbled at his side. Remus rolled his eyes but didn’t comment. He didn’t feel like arguing with him today. At least he seemed to respect Remus’ orders of not telling the rest of the crew the truth about where the riddle came from yet, even if he technically only told Patton not to say anything.

The inside of the temple wasn’t huge but for a structure built several hundred years ago, it was pretty impressive. The sun shone through cracks in the ceiling, illuminating their path. It was an empty space mostly, no furniture or statues or anything that could be described as decoration left. Or maybe it had never been there in the first place. But, same as on the outside, the wildlife had reclaimed the space with lots of plants growing along the floor, walls, and occasional columns.

Corbin and Elliot split off to inspect the walls, Sloane trailing behind them though more focused on the ceiling. Through the green covering the surfaces, Remus could make out carvings, so he left them alone to explore. There didn’t really seem to be any way for them to get lost, since he couldn’t see any doorways to lead to different rooms. It was just a big hall. The ‘heart’ the note spoke off was probably in the back then. He continued forward, Remy and Toby followed.

The deeper they went, the less sun managed to break through. It wasn’t bad enough to try and light a torch, but it did drive Remy to lower his glasses. Remus was pretty sure they must be under the mountain now, but he couldn’t make out the ceiling and the walls looked to still be the same stone from before. They walked forward for a good two minutes when something started to glow in front of them.

It was a pool of water, perfectly circular, that clearly reflected its surroundings while emitting a soft, cyan light.

“This is freaky,” Remy whispered.

“It’s a holy place, you moron,” Toby hissed back.

“It’s what we were looking for, that’s for sure,” Remus hummed. Unlike his companions, he didn’t force himself to be quiet. Sure, this was a temple, but from what Logan had told him, the Spirits didn’t care much for being revered by humans. They weren’t deities after all, at least not in the way the human gods were.

“Well, which one of you two wants to be the sacrifice?”

“Excuse you?” Remy scoffed.

“I’m out.” To make his point clear, Toby took a step back.

“What? I need to offer my ‘precious’ to the heart of the temple, and what could ever be more precious to me than my crew?”

“Fuck that, I’m not going in there.” Remy joined Toby in putting physical distance between him and Remus. The captain snorted.

“I’m just fucking with you guys, like they would ever want a human sacrifice.” Remy looked at him unimpressed, which Remus could just make out in the light glow of the water. Sadly, Remy had also put on his glasses again. He would catch a glimpse of his eyes one day.

“What are you going to use then?” his First Mate asked in slight annoyance. Remus shrugged.

“There’s only one thing I could use. Not like I could fit our ship in here.” He pulled off the chain dangling around his neck, showing it to Remy.

“You sure?” he asked, eyebrows raised. “That’s like, your one heirloom though.”

“Yeah,” Remus mumbled, stroking the locket sides. It was the only thing he had left of his parents, the one thing his father refused to take off until he pressed it into Remus’ hand on his deathbed, while he gave their mother’s to Roman. Logan’s pained expression as he listened to him recount the story flashed through his mind. “That’s exactly why it needs to be this.”

“Ro’s gonna kill you if he finds out.”

“I know.” Without further preamble, Remus held out the locket over the water and let go. It hit the surface with a low plop and he watched as it sank out of sight. It stung his chest to watch it disappear, but he had steeled himself for this moment their entire journey here. He took a deep breath and waited.

For a few moments, nothing happened.

Then a rumble.

“I knew it! It’s gonna collapse!” Remy swore, looking ready to take off. Toby held him back.

“Chill, nothing’s collapsing. It’s just an old mechanism activating. We’ll be fine.”

The water of the pool rippled and a chest rose out of its depths. For a moment, Remus hoped that his locket would come up with it, but no. It was gone and he would deal with the pain of losing it later.

The chest, made from stone, thankfully wasn’t locked. Inside, Remus found a star chart. It was too dark to make out much detail, but he could hazard a guess as to where it would lead him. Satisfied, he rolled it up and secured it on his belt.

“Alright, we got what we came here for. Let’s get out of here, I’d like to be back on the ship before sundown.” He made his way back to the entrance, Remy and Toby fell in step with him quickly after.

“You sure you’re good?” Remy asked, genuine concern in his voice. Remus took a moment before answering, drawing in another deep breath.

“I will be. Now let’s get our amateur archeologists and leave.”

“Patton better have some good food for us when we get back,” Remy huffed, trying to lighten the mood probably. “I need compensation after the day we had.”

“Again, you could’ve gone back to the ship,” Toby quipped.

“Would you get off my dick, musclehead!” The two started to bicker and Remus was grateful for the distraction. He would grieve later when he was alone in his cabin. For now, he could focus on making sure the two idiots didn’t kill each other.

2 notes · View notes

anxiousgaypanicking · 3 months

Text

not sure if anybody cares but i combed through my first sanders sides smut book (the first 100 (technically 98) chapters of smut i ever wrote, found here) and tallied how many times i wrote each ship

Ships I’ve Written:

Intrulogical: 13 Logicality: 8 Intruality: 8 Prinxiety: 6 Logince: 4 Moceit: 4 Roceit: 4 Demus: 4 Moxiety: 4 Loceit: 3 Intruloceit: 3 Royality: 3 Dukexiety: 3 Analogical: 3 DRLAMP: 3 Losleep: 2 Sleepceit: 2 Anxceit: 2 Lomile: 2 Romile: 2 Intruloxiety: 2 Dukemile: 1 Patmile: 1 Remile: 1 Rosleep: 1 Intrusleep: 1 Demile: 1 Moceitxiety: 1 Sleepxiety: 1 Mosleep: 1 Anxmile: 1 Analogicality: 1 Analogince: 1 Anaroceit: 1

#this excludes hypnovember and kinktober and the second smut book #but im still amused nonetheless #guess what my favourite ship is lmfao

7 notes · View notes

what-aboutno · 3 years

Text

No one:

Me: haha remsleep go brrrr

Art taglist (ask to be removed or added at anytime) :

General taglist: @drarrymalecsolangelo @mediocrem8 @full-of-roman-angst-trash @dramaticsnakes @imthebadguythatsfine @steampunk73 @moxysanders101

Sander sides Taglist:

@zodiacsomething @anxiously-creating

#Remsleep #Remy sanders #ts Remy #Remus sanders #ts remus #intrusleep #sander sides #ts art #Zara's art

240 notes · View notes

hottestthingalive · 4 years

Text

a storm in your eyes (lightning and dark skies)

It is then, with Virgil curled up against him, wet hair soaking Logan’s neck and the smell of hot chocolate in the air, that Logan realizes he loves a thunderstorm in human form.

His best friend.

Oh, god, Logan is in love with his best friend. And also his roommate. And also his favorite person in the whole of the universe.

(He’s pretty sure that if Virgil could hear his thoughts, and if, y’know, Virgil wasn’t the person in question, he’d roll his eyes and say, “Oh my god, they were roommates.” The idea nearly makes him laugh.)

–

Notes: Thank you so much to @snek-snacc, @smileyzs, @confused-sunflower, @xaimelarks, and all my other followers for putting up with me ranting about this story, and helping me edit. Y’all are the best!

Edit: After publishing this, I got this AMAZING piece of art from @ent-is-undecisive / @birdsongisland! Go check them out, because they’re insanely talented, and looking at this piece makes me so so so happy!

Two sequels also exist for this now!

waffles and wedding vows (promises and proof)

songs and stars and silence (of loving you)

Hope you enjoy!

Relationships: Romantic Analogical, background romantic Royaliceit, background romantic Intrusleep/rem^2, platonic drlamper

Words: 6885

Ao3

–

Logan Sanders falls in love with a thunderstorm.

Well, not a thunderstorm, exactly. As far as Logan knows (and he knows quite a lot), a tempest, no matter how powerful, cannot take the form of a human.

Still, the first time the boy with a hurricane’s eyes enters Mugnificent (the coffee shop Logan very reluctantly works at), he swears the smell of ozone fills the air.

His name is Virgil Foley, and he sweeps into Logan’s life like a summer storm, filling it with wind and chaos and unmatched wild beauty.

The first time they meet, it is 5:26 in the morning, and he’s considering revolt. Yes, he needs this job to supplement his scholarship, but being up this early is awful enough to warrant mutiny. Besides, customers are few this early in the day, and thus the tip jar is woefully empty.

The door opens with a ding

(there is a smell like lightning)

and in walks a person with dark hair tied in a bun under a black beanie, rummaging around in their backpack. Their bag is covered in pins, and Logan notes a rainbow one near the center.

“Hey,” they say, and he meets eyes the color of stormclouds, a grey bordering on purple and blue simultaneously. “Can I just get a small coffee, please? Black is fine.”

“Yeah,” Logan nods. “Name?”

They glance around the empty Mugnificent with a raised eyebrow, but reply with “Virgil,” anyways.

��Nice to meet you, Virgil,” says Logan, and he’s not normally one for small talk, but he also is sleep-deprived, and too tired to have any sort of filter. “I’m Logan.”

Virgil relaxes, and they hold out a hand for him to shake. “Nice to meet you, too. I use he/him pronouns, by the way.”

“Ah, yes,” Logan nods, returning the handshake. “He/him for me, as well, thank you.”

Virgil pays and waits by the counter as Logan goes to prepare the coffee, scrolling through his phone. There is a comfortable silence as he makes the drink, which Logan spends mentally cursing out Roman, his coworker who was supposed to arrive for work thirty minutes ago. “Here,” he says finally, holding out the cup for Virgil to take.

“Thanks.” Virgil is wearing fingerless gloves, and his nails are painted a bright purple. They shine in the fluorescent lighting. “Have a nice day, Logan.”

“You too,” he replies, and it seems too little. Logan doesn’t believe in magic, or gods, or destiny, but as he watches Virgil turn, about to walk out the door, something twangs in his chest. Despite himself, Logan opens his mouth, searching for something to say, anything that will make him stay.

He blinks, about to speak, and Virgil is gone.

A few minutes later, it begins to rain.

–

The second time he meets Virgil, it is in his psych class.

Logan has always liked psychology. It’s fascinating how the human brain works, he thinks, and even if he isn’t always so good at understanding emotions, he’s quite good at the science behind them. His appreciation for said science is the only reason he signs up for the class at all, when it has practically nothing to do with his astrophysics major.

He’s just about forgotten about the boy with eyes of a storm by the time he sits down for the first psychology class of the semester, pulling his computer and textbooks out of his own bag, and setting them before him. Logan cracks the knuckles on each hand individually, a nervous habit he’s had since he was in high school. He’s done his best to break it, but he supposes, as annoying as it is, it’s better than some of the alternatives.

Case in point, the boy from Mugnificent, who walks into the room nervously tapping his thigh while chewing at his lip. There’s a split in it, one that shines a bright red against the chapped surface, and Logan wants to wince just looking at it.

His eyes flash with recognition as he spots Logan in one of the back rows, and he pauses. “Logan, right? From the coffee place.”

“And you’re Virgil,” Logan smiles, and okay, maybe he hadn’t forgotten Virgil so much as attempted to forget him.

“Can I sit there?” he asks, nodding to the seat beside Logan.

It turns out Virgil is smart, and funny, and just a little bit snarky, and a English major minoring in psychology. He’s got all kinds of nervous habits, chewing on his lip and tapping out rhythms known only to him and drawing on every available surface, and Logan often notices a tendril of ink wrapping around one of his fingers from under his gloves.

They become fast friends, him and Virgil, bonding over a love for space and science and poetry. He starts coming to Mugnificent for coffee more often, and Roman teases Logan incessantly about it.

“You’re finally making friends!” he pretends to sob, throwing his arms around him, and he has to shove Roman away, rolling his eyes. Virgil is stifling a laugh behind one gloved hand, and Logan mouths “Traitor,” at him, though he isn’t really mad at all.

They fall into patterns -- psych and history and statistics together, always seated side by side, sometimes accompanied by Roman or Patton or Remus or Janus or any one of their expanding circle of friends. The two of them buy each other coffee, edit essays, go out for junk food (that Logan complains about but secretly loves) with their friends.

Virgil begs to paint Logan’s nails one night as they watch documentaries together in Patton and Virgil’s dorm room. His tongue sticks out of his mouth slightly as he focuses on the tiny white dots he’s adding, and Logan ends up loving the night sky that graces his fingers. In return, Logan styles Virgil’s long hair into a crown of braids.

“Your Majesty,” he bows as he leads Virgil to the mirror.

“If I’m royalty now, I demand a feast to celebrate,” Virgil grins, admiring his hair. “Sir Logan, this calls for pizza!”

“All the junk food you consume is going to kill you one day,” Logan sighs, but he’s already dialing their favorite pizza place.

They eat dinner seated on the floor, holding paper plates and drinking soda as they watch Cosmos. Patton returns to the dorm a few minutes later, accompanied by Janus and Roman both, and snags some of the pizza for himself – luckily, they’d thought to order extra, as soon Remus, Remy, and Emile all show up, too, crowding into the dorm room and around Logan’s laptop. The documentary is switched to Big Hero 6, Virgil showing off his hair and Logan his nails as the others admire them. Soon Virgil is breaking out his nail polish again, painting delicate puppies on Patton’s fingers, and Logan is teaching Roman how to do the same hairstyle on Emile’s curls.

It’s a Saturday night, so they feel comfortable all crashing in Patton and Virgil’s room, squeezing far too many young adults into one small space. Emile giggles that it reminds them of sleepovers they went to when they were in elementary school, and Remus points out that they ought to play Truth or Dare with a manic grin. Virgil quickly puts a stop to that, however, distracting Remus with conspiracy theories and carving marshmallows to look like Lovecraftian monsters, and Logan wants to laugh because Virgil is very much a mom friend, despite his protests to the contrary. Still, as he sips hot cocoa with a marshmallow Cthulhu staring up at him from the mug, he has to admit it was a good idea. They all get into the fun, carving marshmallows with whatever cutlery Patton and Virgil have in their room, and eventually Monster Mallows will become a tradition for all of their friend group.

When he falls asleep that night, lying on the floor in the blanket fort Patton and Roman had insisted on building, he dreams of rain and lightning, across dark skies that resemble Virgil’s eyes.

–

Logan realizes Virgil is his best friend in the middle of winter, when he shows up at Mugnificent at the end of his shift, ordering two coffees and taking them as Logan gets ready to leave. “Sorry, Roman,” Virgil says, though he doesn’t look sorry at all as he hands Logan one of the drinks and reaches out to hold his other hand. “C’mon, L, we’ve got to hurry if we’re going to get there in time.”

“Where are we going?” Logan raises an eyebrow, throwing on his coat and waving goodbye to Roman (who is saying something dramatic about a grievous betrayal) as he sips at the coffee. It’s perfect, his order exactly.

“Look!” Virgil grins as they leave the coffee shop, and it’s snowing, white flakes falling around them and coating the ground. Some of the cars nearby are already covered in it. “C’mon, we’ve got to get to the park.”

“Wait, why?” he asks. “Virgil, this looks rather like the makings of a blizzard. We should probably go back to our dorms so we can prepare if we get snowed in.”

“I know it’s a snowstorm,” Virgil rolls his eyes, and his stormy eyes are bluer than Logan’s ever seen them, shining with excitement. “Now, let’s go!”

Logan should probably argue more, but he’s laughing as he gets pulled along, the two half-running towards the park.

They slow down at the top of a hill already lightly coated with snow, and Virgil reaches into his bag to pull out a picnic blanket. “No,” Logan protests, but he’s cackling as Virgil yells “Snow picnic!” and spreads it over the snow.

“This is going to turn into a blizzard,” he manages to say, stifling his giggles. “We are going to be buried alive because you wanted to have a picnic in a snowstorm.”

“Oh, shush,” Virgil grins, flopping down onto the blanket and digging into his bag again to retrieve two bagels wrapped in tinfoil. “Drink your coffee and watch the snow with me, Logan Sanders.”

The bagel he hands Logan has Crofters jam instead of cream cheese spread across it, still warm from toasting, and Logan could kiss Virgil if they weren’t very platonic…

Well, it feels like they are a whole lot more than friends, at this point. There’s something about their relationship that feels different from the ones Logan has with their other companions, be it Remus or Emile, Patton or Janus, Roman or Remy.

Are they best friends?

He asks, and Virgil merely grins and says “I hope so.”

It’s amazing, lying there as they watch the sky, munching on bagels and sipping at their coffee and pointing out oddly shaped clouds. Virgil is practically covered in snowflakes by the time they have to leave, the wind picking up too much to stay, and Logan is no better. Still, he thinks it was worth it, even when he gets a cold and has to spend the weekend curled up in blankets, sneezing and coughing as he works on his essay for his cosmology class. Virgil gets a cold, too, and they end up on the phone together as they work, Virgil blasting music on his end and Logan parroting his roommate’s consistent reminders to take medicine, and drink some water!

Emile seems to think it’s cute, for some reason, and they tell Logan to say hi to Virgil for them, a smile playing on their lips that he’s too sick to interpret.

–

Logan has a crush on a boy in their shared statistics class by March, the one who sits three rows in front of him and two seats to the right, who has green hair and a cheerful grin. Virgil listens patiently about it whenever Logan brings it up, and when they have to pair up for a final project, he pushes him towards his crush, joining Remus instead.

He finds out his crush already has a romantic partner in a strictly monogamous relationship when they’re nearly done with the project, and Virgil shows up to Logan’s dorm room with ice cream and his laptop that night, pulling aside Emile as he comes in and whispering something to him. Emile leaves shortly after, and the two of them are alone.

“What did you tell Emile?” Logan asks later, when they’re sitting on his bed and watching trashy teenage romcoms, because, according to Virgil, “This way, you won’t associate any good movies with this.”

“Well, Patton invited him for a ‘sleepover,’” Virgil says, eating directly from the carton of chocolate ice cream, gaze shifting from the screen to Logan. “Did the moment he saw your text on the groupchat.”

Logan had texted that his crush has a partner when Roman had begun teasing him about it on said chat. Looking back, it may not have been the best of decisions, but all he wants to do right now is curl into the comforter and watch bad movies, while simultaneously eating unholy amounts of ice cream.

“It’s not a big deal,” he protests, pulling the blankets closer around him.

“Listen, L, you’re sad ‘cause the boy you like… well, you know. Anyways, you being sad is a big deal, at least to us.” Virgil isn’t wearing his normal clothes, only a pair of pajama pants and a sweatshirt (Logan knows he ran over in his nightwear, which makes him feel worse), so he can see the ink covering his hands, smudged in places.

“Why do you draw on yourself so much?” He leans over to look at the patterns of spirals winding their way up Virgil’s arms, tracing them with one finger. “That much ink can’t be good for your skin, pretty as it is, Vee.”

Virgil bats his hand away, blushing behind his curtains of dark hair, and Logan laughs. “It’s just a nervous habit, okay?” he exclaims, and Logan pokes his cheek, cooing.

“Aw, lookit you,” he smiles, and even though Logan’s heart hurts from what happened with his crush, he doesn’t think he would trade anything for his friendship with Virgil Foley. “So cute.”

“I’m not cute,” Virgil grumbles, pressing play on the computer. “Watch the shitty movie and shush, nerd.”

He gets over the boy from statistics eventually, and gets an A on the project, which Roman insists they celebrate with breakfast at Logan’s favorite diner on campus. (Logan’s pretty sure Roman just feels guilty about teasing him about it, but he goes anyways, pulling his friend aside later to tell him it’s fine.)

–

They return from summer vacation changed. Janus, Patton, and Roman are dating now, for one thing, and it’s disgustingly sappy. Emile comes out as asexual and aromantic a few days after they get back, and Logan helps them hang flags in their dorm room when they arrive a week later. Remy has switched majors, from biology to culinary classes, and Remus tells them excitedly that he’s managed to start a rather popular horror comic online. (Logan reads it, and learns Remus is quite adept at art, writing, and scaring the crap out of him. He never looks at door knobs the same way again.) Virgil, meanwhile, has started wearing far less baggy clothes and more makeup – in other words, people around campus start realizing that Virgil is actually hot, and not just a relatively cute bundle of sweatshirts.

Logan kind of feels weird about it. He knows how aesthetically pleasing Virgil is, of course – they’ve spent enough time together for him to have figured that out – but… well, Logan had realized while he was away how much he’d missed Virgil, even more so than his other friends. He tells himself it is because of how close they are, and ignores the ugly anger in his chest when people flirt with Virgil, or how his heart pounds and face flushes when they curl up to watch movies these days.

As for him, well, he’s dyed his hair a dark blue, a color so dark it’s almost black. Roman marvels over it, asking how he managed to not damage his hair in the process, and Logan doesn’t feel like telling him that he had meant to do a brighter shade, but hadn’t realized how hard it would be to get proper color without bleaching his normal dark hair. He does end up telling Virgil later, though, when Remy and Patton drag them and the rest of their friends to a party.

For the record, Logan tended to avoid such events. He didn’t see the point, firstly – he’d never been a fan of crowds, especially not ones where everyone was drunk off their asses, and he generally had too much work to do to bother with parties. Secondly, he simply didn’t care enough to look nice for such a thing, or to go at all. Logan would much rather spend time with his friends if he had to be up in the middle of the night, whether haunting the 24/7 diner a few miles off campus or playing stupid games in the woods or making fun of Disney movies while throwing popcorn at the screen and shushing each other so they didn’t get noise complaints.

But then there were Patton and Remy, social creatures who liked seeing other people and didn’t mind getting wasted to do so. Roman and Janus typically followed Patton wherever he went, so they were a given, and Remus had developed a raging crush on Remy by then, so he’d probably have tagged along even if Remy hadn’t grabbed his hand and said “You’ll come, right, Ree?” with a grin.

Well, Remus was lost to them after that, and that left Emile, Logan, and Virgil alone.

Which would have been fine! Except then Virgil had got dragged in by Patton (a difficulty of being his roommate, according to Logan’s best friend, was that Patton was very, very persuasive when he wanted to be) and Virgil had begged Logan to come for “Introvert solidarity, L! Introvert solidarity!”

Then Emile had sighed, said something about being the only responsible one, and appointed themself designated driver. So Logan didn’t even have that excuse to pull himself and Virgil out of it early.

He finds himself on a couch in someone’s house, sitting besides Virgil. Janus tells him that it is owned by someone who goes to their college but lives nearby, a summer home belonging to their parents or something. Janus says ze aren’t sure who the actual host is, and ze run off to go find Roman or Patton before Logan can ask why all of them are attending a party hosted by someone they don’t know.

Virgil has obviously already had something to drink, or he’s insanely sleep-deprived, as he has started playing with Logan’s hair. Logan’s willing to bet on the former (although knowing Virgil, he can’t be sure – he has an awful sleep schedule) especially since he’s never known the other to be so touchy, even when tired.

“How’d you get it like this?” Virgil asks, running his fingers through Logan’s curls. He’s perched on top of the couch, and though he would normally be concerned that Virgil might fall, Logan is just glad he doesn’t have to bend over so his friend can examine his hair.

He tells Virgil, and can’t help but smile as he laughs, perhaps a little more than the story warrants. They sit there in peace for a few minutes, Virgil humming along with any song he recognizes and Logan scanning the room for any of their friends.

“Your hair is so pretty,” Virgil eventually says, and Logan is surprised he can hear him at all over the noise of the music and other people. He slides down from the couch to sit beside him, reaching up to poke Logan’s cheek. “You’re pretty. You know that, right? You’re real, real pretty.”

“Aw,” Logan grins, hoping the dim lights and Virgil’s addled brain will hide his red cheeks. “What is it you say? Oh, right; you think I’m warm.”

“No, dummy, I think you’re hot,” Virgil sighs. “Get it right.”

“Why, thank you.”

“‘Course. You’re my best friend, Logan Sanders.”

“Same,” he replies, dodging Virgil’s attempt to flick him as he scans the room. “Have you seen Remy or Remus around recently?”

“Oh, they’ve been making out in that closet over there,” Virgil says offhandedly, pointing, and Logan nearly chokes. “You didn’t know? They’re so obvious, Remy’s been whining about it to me for weeks. ‘Oh, Virgil, I’m doomed to be alone forever!’ ‘Oh, Virgil, Remus is so hot, and I’m going to whine about it to you for hours!’ ‘Oh, Virgil, I have a crush on a trash rat man and I won’t stop talking about it ever!’”

“Did Remy actually call Remus a ‘trash rat man’?” he snickers, turning to look at Virgil, who is wringing his hands in mock despair as he imitates Remy.

“No,” Virgil pouts. “Wish he had. Remus would love that.”

“He would,” Logan agrees, rolling his eyes fondly. “Hey, do you want to leave?”

“Why, Logan Perfect-Hair Sanders, are you asking me to ditch a party with you?” he laughs.

“That isn’t my middle name and you know it.” Logan shoots off a text to Emile, standing and turning to grab Virgil’s hand, pulling him upright. “But sure. Will you, Virgil Emo-Nightmare Foley, ditch this absurd party with me?”

“Logan, I thought you’d never ask,” Virgil smirks. “Let’s bounce!”

They get lucky – Logan hasn’t had anything to drink, and due to how large their group is, Virgil had had to drive over Patton, Janus, Roman, and himself earlier. Virgil hands him the keys to the car, and Logan drives them to the nearby McDonalds, where they order fries and milkshakes. “Let’s go somewhere high,” Virgil says when they return to the car, grinning, and Logan obliges, driving them to his favorite stargazing spot near campus, partway up a mountain in a parking lot for an old playground.

Soon, he finds himself sitting on the hood of Virgil’s car, dipping his fries in a chocolate shake as the two of them stare up at the stars and the moon, pointing out constellations. “Look,” giggles Virgil, his head on Logan’s shoulder as he traces lines between stars. “It’s the glasses one!”

“There is no ‘glasses’ constellation, Virgil,” he points out, but the path his friend is etching into the sky does look rather like a pair of glasses.

“Well, there is now,” replies the other. “It’s your constellation! You deserve one, y’know, ‘cause you’re pretty, and smart, and nice, and funny, and you’re just the best, Lo, okay?”

“How much did you have to drink, exactly?” Logan asks, raising an eyebrow, and his friend punches him in the arm, lightly. “Ow!”

“I’m telling the truth,” Virgil rolls his eyes, pulling the blankets they’d retrieved from the trunk closer around the two of them. “You deserve a constellation. You deserve the universe.”

“Well, now we have to find you a constellation, too,” he muses, ignoring the heat in his cheeks (he seems to be blushing quite a lot lately, talking to Virgil) as he searches the sky. It takes a few minutes, and Virgil is half-asleep on his shoulder by the time he makes his choice, but finally Logan says “I found it.”

“Well, lemme see,” Virgil mumbles, opening his eyes.

He traces lines between a series of stars. “It’s a cloud,” he explains, “and a lightning bolt. Because you’re a thunderstorm, V.”

“Isn’t that a bad thing?” He’s biting his lip, suddenly subdued, and Logan feels a surge of guilt, because no one should ever make Virgil look like that, anxious and hurt and scared all at once.

“No,” he answers, fiercely enough that Virgil jumps slightly. “You’re wild, and chaotic, and occasionally a bit destructive, but you also make people feel alive. You bring rain to help things live, you bring the sound of a storm and the beauty of lightning, you simultaneously wake me up and help me sleep. You are beautiful, and inspiring, and so amazingly you, and the best friend I could ever ask for.”

“...And I thought I was the English major,” Virgil says quietly, and his face is bright red. “You have no right to be better at words than me, Sanders.”

“Well, Foley, I’m the astrophysics major, and you’re the one who started making constellations, so turnabout’s fair play,” Logan replies, and Virgil lets out a laugh at that.

Later, when the fries and milkshakes are both gone, they get back into the car and drive back to their dorms. For Logan’s birthday that year, a month or so later, Virgil presents him with a painting of the glasses constellation. He’d commissioned Remus, he explains, staring at his feet, and Logan tells him he loves it. For Virgil’s birthday, he gets a similar art piece from Roman, of the stars making a storm, and Virgil pulls him into a tight hug.

For now, though, the two of them simply sit and gaze into space.

–

Logan goes on a few dates with someone he meets at the coffee shop, named Andy. They become boyfriends. Virgil teases him about it whenever he brings it up, and eventually he stops talking about his partner to his best friend. The two of them start to pull apart, their friendship strained.

When Logan and Andy separate, Virgil is dating a girl he’s only met a few times, who shares Virgil’s English classes and wears colorful barrettes to hold back her curls.

He hadn’t even known Virgil liked her.

–

College passes by quickly. They graduate, and Logan tumbles into a job at a rather prestigious observatory. He lives in a small apartment in the city nearby, buys coffee from the Starbucks across the street every morning, settles into a routine.

Gradually, they all start to fall out of touch. It sucks, but things have been off between Virgil and him ever since Logan had dated Andy Michaels, and at the moment Logan sees his ex-boyfriend more than his ex-best friend. Their relationship had ended amicably, but still – he misses Virgil Foley, more than he’d ever like to admit.

A year or so later, Logan receives the invitation to Remy and Remus’ wedding.

It is in the fall, and Logan isn’t surprised in the least that they plan to have it in a forest, if only because he knows that the odds of Remus wanting the guests to jump into leap piles with him are absurdly high. At least they’re at an actual wedding site, so they can be inside if needed – Logan half expected, when he found out they’d gotten engaged, for them to drag a bunch of guests to a Starbucks for the event.

What does surprise Logan is the fact that Remus has apparently sent it early, because Logan is going to be one of the wedding party attendants.

He calls Remus and Remy that night, certain they’ve mixed up things, but Remy simply laughs. “Logan, you’re still one of our best friends,” he says. “Come on, please?”

“Besides,” Remus adds, “Virge will be one too, and Patton and Roman and Jan and Emile! You can’t break up the team!”

He ends up agreeing, and no matter how much Remy teases him about it later, it was not just to see Virgil again.

The wedding rolls around. Logan has managed to avoid speaking to Virgil for more than a friendly greeting and a bit of small talk through all the preparations the two of them had had to attend, but the they both arrive early on the day of, and Logan doesn’t know anybody else, and, well, he does miss Virgil.

“Hey,” he says. Virgil is nearly as tall as him in the heels he’s wearing (Logan had managed to opt out of them, convincing Remus to let him wear flats with his dress), and his green dress offsets his stormy eyes perfectly. Logan doesn’t think he looks nearly as good in the color, but he’d decided not to argue with Remy’s puppy-dog eyes. Besides, he much prefers the dress to the suits Emile and Patton had opted for.

“Hi, Logan,” Virgil replies. The tension in the air is palpable, and Logan hates it. “How’ve you been lately?”

“I’m good,” he answers.

“Oh, good,” nods Virgil. He’s gnawing at his lip again, and Logan can see the split in it even through the lipstick. “Me too.”

“I miss you,” Logan says suddenly, because he does. “You were my best friend, and I hate not being close, because you are one of the best things that ever happened to me.”

“...I miss you too.” He smooths his dress, looking out the window at the trees, and then laughs. “I’m surprised they didn’t have their wedding in a Starbucks, honestly.”

Logan can’t help but chuckle at that, especially when he spots Remy breezing past them, a coffee cup in hand and makeup only half-done, frantically trying to catch his little brothers and sister, whom he and Remus had appointed flower children. “I thought the same thing,” he admits.

It’s easy for the two of them to talk, after that, sharing jokes and telling stories and talking about their new lives. Logan feels oddly happy when he learns Virgil is single, and when he mentions how he’s looking for a roommate and Virgil remarks that he is too, it feels as natural as breathing to ask where he’s currently living. Finding out they live in the same city makes Logan feel strangely elated.

“Help!” Remus exclaims, skidding to a stop in front of them, collapsing into Virgil’s arms and only barely being caught. “I’ve lost my husband-to-be!”

“Alright, please calm down,” Logan says, exchanging exasperated looks with Virgil, who pulls Remus back to his feet. “Have you actually lost Remy, or are you just being overly dramatic?”

“He has been stolen from me,” Remus whines. “We were kissing, and then he was dragged away by my evil brother!”

“By any chance, was he dragged away to prepare for your wedding? The event we’re attending, so you two can get married? The one that most guests are expected to arrive for in fifteen minutes?” Virgil crosses his arms over his chest, eyes narrowed.

Remus’ eyes widen. “Fifteen minutes?” he asks, checking Logan’s watch, and groans. “Oh, drumsticks. Drumsticks torn right off a chicken. Bloody chicken legs everywhere.”

He darts off, and Logan and Virgil sigh simultaneously.

“We should go help, shouldn’t we?” Virgil asks, and Logan nods reluctantly. “Well, it was great to talk to you.”

“It was pleasant to speak with you, as well,” he agrees.

As he turns to go find Patton, Virgil grabs his arm. “Hey, L, save me a dance, okay?”

They do indeed dance together that night, after they watch Remy and Remus get married among the colorful leaves, and talk, and laugh, and by the end of the wedding they are good friends again.

Virgil and Logan move in together by the end of November.

–

They become surprisingly domestic, the two of them, moving into their large apartment that is close to both Logan’s job at the observatory and Virgil’s work at a publishing company. He’s not surprised Virgil has become an editor (he was always the best at it, when they exchanged essays to review), but he is rather impressed when he notes some of the books in Virgil’s room have his full name on the cover. “I write poetry, mostly,” he explains when Logan asks. “It’s… I used to use it like therapy, I guess, and I got some of it published. I’m not famous or anything.”

“That’s amazing,” Logan says sincerely.

The poetry becomes important, later, but then, it is simply something for Logan to admire, another flash of beautiful lightning in Virgil’s storm.

Saturdays become movie nights, and they order junk food and make popcorn and watch documentaries or horror movies or cartoons together. Occasionally, some of their friends will join them, and every so often, all eight of them cram into Logan and Virgil’s living room. Despite his love for the others, however, Logan’s favorite nights are usually the ones when the two of them are alone, when they curl up together on the couch and make fun of trashy films or contribute their own knowledge to documentaries or sing along quietly to Disney. It is peaceful and lovely and utterly perfect.

Logan doesn’t mean to fall in love with Virgil. It sneaks up on him, mornings of coffee for him and tea for Virgil and memes shared over breakfast, afternoons texting each other with reminders to get groceries and news from the office, nights of cooking together and dancing to the radio.

One day, when both of them have work off, Virgil pulls him out of bed, waits impatiently while Logan gets dressed, and drags him outside into a storm. They walk through the park together, enjoying the rain on their skin, both of them jumping into puddles and belting the title number of Singing in the Rain and getting utterly soaked.

They return home for cocoa, each taking a warm shower and then sitting together on the couch to watch old movies with small white krakens bobbing in their cups. It is then, with Virgil curled up against him, wet hair soaking Logan’s neck and the smell of hot chocolate in the air, that Logan realizes he loves a thunderstorm in human form.

His best friend.

Oh, god, Logan is in love with his best friend. And also his roommate. And also his favorite person in the whole of the universe.

Logan tries to get over his crush (and there’s no other word for it, as juvenile as it sounds). He really does. But it’s so hard, now that he knows it exists, especially when he has to see Virgil every single day. And he can’t just cut himself off, or leave their apartment, because that might ruin their friendship, and that’s the whole reason he’s trying to escape his feelings, because he loves being Virgil’s friend more than anything.

So he exists in this inbetween state, thrashing in the eyewall of a storm, so close to safety and danger simultaneously, trapped in chaos and uncertainty.

Logan isn’t quite sure whether he really wants to return to the eye, blissful quiet and the peace of oblivion, or if he can at all. But he thinks entering the storm itself, the danger of telling Virgil how he feels, the potential for a life with him, is equally impossible.

Eventually he decides that it is best to just ignore his rebellious feelings. It works, sort of – Virgil doesn’t seem to notice anything different, and Logan gets to keep his best friend. Still, every moment together is tinged with a sort of bittersweet sadness, the dancing in the kitchen and cuddling on the couch and meals together a harsh reminder that they are just friends.

He’s not sure exactly how his other friends figure it out, but they do, judging from how Remy and Janus tell him exasperatedly that he really ought to say something to Virgil, how Patton and Roman tell him how cute they would be together, how Remus does his best to shove Logan towards Virgil at any opportunity, how Emile tells him pointedly that repressing his feelings isn’t exactly healthy. Logan does decide that he’ll confess… eventually.

The problem with eventually, however, is how ambiguous it is. The others have realized as much, evidently, but they don’t force Logan to say something, or tell Virgil themselves, and he appreciates that.

It is a Saturday when eventually finally comes, a peaceful movie night interrupted by a phone call with Roman’s name flashing on the screen. He holds up a finger over his lips as he accepts the call, grimacing apologetically to Virgil as he steps into his own room. “What do you want?” he asks exasperatedly when he picks it up, and winces as the other line fills with noise.

“Logan, have you read Virgil’s latest book?” Roman practically screams, and in the background Logan can hear Patton squealing with excitement as Janus shushes them both.

He frowns, closing the door to his bedroom. “I wasn’t aware he’d been working on one.” Normally, Logan knows whenever Virgil is working on another collection of his poetry – he’s often the first person Virgil hands it to for editing.

“Get on your computer this instant, Pocket Protector,” says Roman, and Logan can hear his grin.

A quick search confirms it; a new book of poetry, just released by Virgil Foley. The revelation is almost painful (does Virgil not trust him anymore? Not like him?) until Janus’ voice comes over the line, hir voice sarcastic and concerned altogether.

“Way to go, love, he’s definitely not overthinking this,” ze sigh. “Logan, listen to me. I need you to go look at some of the reviews for the book, okay? Actually, no, if you can find a sample online, go read that.”

He’s operating in a haze, a robot in human flesh, and what do robots do but obey orders?

Logan barely understands what he’s reading at first, lines of poetry in the sample flashing past him. He checks the reviews, words of praise and admiration flowing through his mind, and it takes a second before he understands any of it.

Clicking back to the online sample, he starts to recognize the story being told. It is a tale of late nights and hot drinks in the morning, of pining and fear of destroying a friendship older than love.

It is Logan’s story, told through another’s words, a voice speaking of a scholar of the stars, of glasses and storms, of hugs and hand-holding and a cute barista, a boy in psych class, a friendship repaired at another’s wedding, of admiration and hope and love. A love for someone seen not as a storm, but as stars, as the universe in human flesh.

Virgil is in love.

Virgil is in love with Logan.

“I’ll call you back,” he hears himself say, and drops his phone on his bed in his haste to get back to the living room.

“Logan?” Virgil’s voice pierce the haze of his thoughts, his eyes

(a storm, wild beauty)

shining with concern, and he sits up from where he’s lying on the couch. “You okay? What happened?”

There are many things he wants to say, questions and explanations and promises, but in the end, all he says is “Can I kiss you?”

“What?” He doesn’t expect Virgil to look quite so flustered, but then again, Logan did just storm into the room, looking desperate and probably a tad deranged, and ask to kiss his best friend.

“Roman told me about the new book,” Logan says first, and Virgil’s eyes widen even further, and he can sense the incoming apology, but he isn’t done, not yet. He begins to crack his knuckles, a habit he’d thought he’d finally lost, full to the brim with nervous energy. “I’ve read some of it, and as far as I can tell, you are romantically attracted to me. Which is good, because I also harbor such feelings for you, and have for about a year now. So. Can I kiss you?”

“Isn’t it ‘May I kiss you’?” Virgil grins, playing off his feelings with humor, as always. Logan opens his mouth to apologize as his world comes crashing down, because oh, he’s messed up, oh no, but then his best friend’s expression softens, and he whispers “Of course, Logan Sanders.”

“Thank you, Virgil Foley,” he says, and abandons the eyewall for the storm.

They don’t watch any more movies that night. The two of them kiss, and talk, and kiss some more, and Virgil grabs his author’s edition of the new book from his room, and they read it together on the couch.

The next morning, they sit with their coffee and tea and talk some more, about labels and boundaries and dreams. Their friends come over for movies the next Saturday, and Virgil and Logan hold hands as they tell them they are dating.

(Roman choking on the popcorn in his excitement almost makes up for the money Logan spots being exchanged between Emile, Remus, and Patton.)

Eventually, Virgil’s latest book will gain fame, and they will end up with quite a bit of money between the two of them, especially after Logan gets a promotion. Eventually, they will move to a larger house, one a bit outside the city, one where they will have two cats and a dog and a son named Thomas. Eventually, they will get married in the spring, and when it starts to rain as they say their vows, the two of them just laugh.

But that is eventually. In the now, Logan Sanders is in love. In the now, Virgil Foley is in love.

They are glasses and hoodies, poetry written and spoken, dancing in the kitchen and cuddles on the couch.

They are thunderstorms, and they are stars.

475 notes · View notes