#meanwhile the only thing getting logan through his day is roman showing up

[ashtonisvibing]

logince coffee shop au

where logan's a tired and worn out barista/college student

and roman's a small musician who only goes to the shop to see his muse (logan)

gimme a bit, i'll write something

#ashton is talking #logince #logan sanders #roman sanders #mother fucker doesn't even like coffee #he just goes there to see the cute barista #meanwhile the only thing getting logan through his day is roman showing up

[the-sympathetic-villain]

A Life For A Life - Chapter 5

AO3 | First | Previous | Next | Masterpost

Prompt by @local-space-case:  Prince Roman and his two loyal friends, Patton and Logan, are on the  hunt for a dragon. Meanwhile, Dragonshifter!Janus  is just trying to  find the right herbs to cure a sick/injured  Dragonshifter!Virgil. Bonus  points for Anxciet and/or Protective Remus.

Word Count: 3053

Chapter Warnings: Minor violence/threats, Sexual Innuendo, Blood, Injury, Effects of Poisoning, Mentions of Death, Kidnapping (Let me know if I need to add anything!)

---

    “Now, I can get behind a little self-flagellation but this is just pathetic.”

    Roman blinked in shock as the sudden echo of an unfamiliar voice filled his ears.

    His aim had held true as the arrow wavered through the stale, cave air and the dragon had stilled in just the right moment. He'd been prepared to let out a breath of relief. Yet, he found himself staring dumbfounded at the arrow that had stopped short of its target mere inches from the dragon’s face.

     A shadowy silhouette gripped the arrows shaft, having apparently stopped it in midair. Chills crept down Roman’s spine as the figure turned toward him with a toothy, white grin.

     “Come now. It's just rude to murder in someone else’s home.” The figure chuckled as he twirled the arrow in its unnaturally long fingers. “Unless, of course—You're the host.”

     Roman flinched as the figure's hand twisted, sending his own are headed back for Roman’s chest.

    “Roman, no!”

    “Lo!”

     Logan and Patton’s voices were muffled as a sudden wave of blue light shot illuminated the cave walls. A minor shockwave sent Roman stumbling back as the arrow headed for his chest shattered into a dozen pieces and clattered harmlessly to the ground.

    “Oh, our pathetic prince has friends. Does he?”

    The pallid figure traipsed toward him with a dangerous sway in his step. Dark circles accented the creature’s dangerous sneer, sending Roman stumbling back to clumsily land on the ground.

    He would nearly have mistaken the figure for a man, if not for the black pulsing veins etched into his white skin. Its eyes were white and without pupils and long black feathers seemed to hang from behind his ears like talismans.

    “Come now,” The beast purred.

    His sudden movements sent a fresh wave of fear across Roman's body as he started to scramble away. The movement was cut short as a hand caught his ankle, pulling him back until he turned to stare up at unnerving creature.

    “I love me a good meet and greet. Call your friends out, princey boy .”

    Roman bit his lip. “Logan—”

    “Don't make me drag them out by their toes.” The man cooed in a lilting tone that immediately  shut down any thoughts of rebellion in Roman’s mind. “I'd hate to have to hurt them.”

     Roman scowled at the creature’s smirk. “Logan, come out please.”

    The man's eye glimmered as he wagged a patronizing finger at Roman. “Don't forget the cute one. I wouldn’t want to leave anyone out of the fun I’m about to have with you.”

    “You bastard. Leave Patton out if th—"

    The man cocked his head with a condescending smirk, flourishing his hand. Roman’s hands shot to his throat as the muscles suddenly constricted. He heaved in a breath, unable to speak as the man leaned forward, head resting in his hands as he watched Roman suffocate with a infuriating grin.

     “Don’t hurt him, please.”

    Logan’s calm voice resonated against the walls, approaching slowly as Roman craned his neck toward him.

    “We're coming out like you asked.”

    Roman felt his heart pound in his chest at the seriousness in Logan’s tone. He could see Logan’s arm tucked protectively around Patton, eyeing the scene with caution as they stepped into the faint light.

    “Oh, goody-goody gumdrops.”

    The man jumped to his feet as breath flooded Roman’s lungs. His hands reached to the ceiling as he took a step towards Logan.

    “So glad you can join us.”

    “Stay back.” Logan's hand glowed with a faint blue light as he growled a warning at the creature. “I will not ask twice.”

    Tension seeped into their bodies as a brief moment of silence hung between them. The orange glow of the embers reflected in Logan’s eyes as the blue glow of his palms lit his face from below.

    His ferocity sent a shiver across Roman’s skin as he stared at the man he loved. He knew Logan cared for few things more than he cared for Patton, but to see the fury in full force was a staggering sight even for Roman.

   “Funny. You've got that nerdy look about you. I really thought you'd be the smart one.” The creature chuckled as pupils returned to his eyes, glittering  green as his eyes narrowed in Logan. “Are you really prepared to face a god with that cocky attitude?”

    “A god?”

    Roman’s heart sunk as Logan’s confidence faltered. He could see Logan hesitate as the creature approached, leaning into his face with a snarky smile.

    “You look like the type of nerd who'd know all about these things. Come on, don’t tell me you skipped studying the stories of these hills?” The man’s smirk grew unnaturally wide as he peered over Logan’s shoulder at Patton. “The gods buried themselves in the earth to give rise to the great creatures of the earth. Abandon all hope ye who enter here. Yada, yada, boring mumbo jumbo.”

     “I'm aware of the stories.” Logan’s lips pursed slightly. “Forgive for my ignorance. Which story is it that you supposedly from?”

    “A non-believer. Huh?” The man's lip curled into a dangerous smirk. “You’d best start believing in legends, Mr. Tense and Broody. You’re living one."

    Roman watched as Logan  pulled Patton closer to him, trying not to show how much Remus’ responses had unnerved him. “You didn't answer my question.”

     The man smiled, almost as if he was impressed by Logan’s bravado, before giving a dramatic bow towards Logan. “Remus, God of all creatures of the Dilonn Forest, scaled and slimy alike. At your service.”

    Logan’s expression fell as his eyes darted to the amber-scaled dragon whose stoic eyes were now watching their every movement.

    “We didn’t mean to—”

    “You didn’t mean to follow an injured beast as it fled from your grasp?”

     Logan swallowed the lump in his throat as he clenched his jaw. “That's not—”

    “All while carrying deadly weapons intended to kill said beast?”

    “I—”

    “Wait” Roman interrupted Logan's wavering protests, raising his hands in surrender as he leapt nimbly to his feet. “Logan never intended to do anyone harm. Only I intended to hunt the creature—"

    “Oh, I'll get to you in a minute.” The man waved off Roman’s   protests with a brusque gesture before turning to face to glowing amber eyes of the golden-scaled dragon. “But first, I’d like to hear from the one who spurned my creations most.”

    Roman stared in shock as the dragon raised its head in apparent indignation at the man's remark.

    “One bad day and you’re suddenly willing to throw away the gifts I’ve given you?”

    A wave of heat rushed over Roman’s arms as the beast let out a huff, all but rolling its eyes as he curled tighter around the man in its nest.

     “Bullshit. That punk would never want death for you. Even if he was gone, he'd roll over in his grave seeing the way you—Hey!”

    The man jumped back as a ring of flames burst forth from the dragon’s nostrils. Heat singed the air of the cave until the beast turned his head to rest his jaw on the unconscious man in his grip, ignoring the supposed god addressing him.

    “I'm not done with you—"

    The man continued to chastise the fearsome beast as though it were no more than a naughty child, allowing Roman to catch his breath. For the first time, Roman was able to take a long glance at the dragon’s hostage.

    He was young, at least a few years younger than Roman himself. His clothes were tattered and worn, barely held together by an amateur selection of purple and blue patchwork. Dark and disheveled hair covering shades of purple on his face. At first Roman worried they may be bruises, but leaning closer, Roman felt dread sink in his stomach as the recognition finally clicked in his mind.

    Purple scales.

    “You know what? Fine.”

    Roman’s eyes shot up as the man who claimed to be a god stepped forward to the body of the injured man in the dragon’s grip.  The beast’s golden eyes were devoid of hostility as the man approached. It seemed almost reluctant to move, clinging to the man in its nest like he was the most important thing in this creature’s life.

    “You win.” The man who called himself Remus stepped forward, voice full of melancholy as he stared down at the limp body of the man with purple scales. “I hate to see a good life cut short like this."

    The man's hand raised in a flourish and the air cracked like thunder as the unconscious man jolted upright with sudden breath. His eyes were wide as his head spun side to side taking in the scene surrounding him. Roman could see him suck in another breath, on the verge of hyperventilating when the dragon’s head curled back to him.

    “Jan, what's going on—?”

    Roman’s grip tightened on his bow. Despite all he'd seen, he still didn’t trust the wild beast not to turn on the kid on a whim. He prepared to lunge forward to protect the stranger, but the action was cut short as a raspy laughter filled the air. The man’s face broke out into a smile as he started to speak in a language Roman had never heard.

    No fear showed in the man's eyes as he threw his arms around the beast's head. Though the beast's head alone was nearly half the size of him, the man didn’t hesitate to close his eyes and press his forehead to the beast's temple. To Roman’s surprise, the beast responded with a series of grunts that seemed to match the man’s foreign tongue.

    “Are you speaking to it?”

    The words stalled in his mouth as the man tensed with fear at his voice, looking almost like a feral cat as he bared his teeth at Roman.

    “Him.”

    Roman’s brow furrowed. From the way he'd been speaking, Roman had half expected the man not to understand the Common tongue, but the single word the man had uttered only served to confuse him more.

    “What?”

    “I'm speaking to him.”

     The man’s snarl curled aggressively on his lips as his eyes narrowed on Roman's bow. He spoke in a heavy accent, spitting out the words with a distinct hiss.

    “Relax,” Roman tucked the bow on his shoulder and held up his hands, taken aback by the man's haste to angry words. “I'm not here to hurt you.”

     “The arrow you put through my gut says otherwise, wyrmkiller.”

     The man moved as if to approach Roman but the beast's tail curled tighter around him as if holding him back.

    “Let me go, Jan.”

    A deep growl resonated in the dragon’s throat. The sound was soft and almost sad as the beast’s jaw came to rest in the man's lap.

     The vitriol in the man's words dropped to a guilty whisper as he turned gaze to meet the beast's eyes. “I'm fine. I promise.”

     Roman's jaw dropped open as the amber scales started to shift. A subtle shimmer trailed up the dragon’s thick skin, muscles changing with grace until what say before him was not a beast, but a man, holding the other in a gentle embrace.

     Much like the man with the purple scale, this one's face glittered with a golden color, trailing up the man's face to slitted eyes. As the shift slowed, Roman could only stare in shock as tears fell from the eyes of the man with the golden scales and his arms curled tighter around the man in his arms.

    Stifled sobs filled the air as Roman’s eyes dipped to the waist of the injured man, finally noting the dark stain and tear on the front of the man's clothing.

     “The arrow—” Roman’s throat suddenly felt dry as realization sunk in his stomach. “I'm sorry. I didn't know you weren’t—"

    “Keep your empty words.”

    “But—"

    The man in purple’s growl drowned out Roman's pleas, letting loose a string of foreign words that Roman could only guess were swears. “Don’t lie to me. You’re only sorry because now I look like you.”

     “No!” Roman held up his hand. Hesitantly, he cast a guilty glance at the pair of men clutching each other as they stared up at him in abject fear. “I—Maybe, but I didn’t know you were intelligent—"

    “You piece of sh—”

    “Hey, I just put that body back together.” Remus chided as the man curled forward, voice stalling as he held his stomach. “Don’t go fucking up my blessing already.”

    The man glared up Remus. He was angry, yet his rough movements reluctantly slowed as he reacted to the creature’s concern. His purple gaze dropped to the ground as he rose to his feet with his partner’s help. With a weary glance at Remus, he pulled his hand away from his abdomen, staring blankly at the speckles of blood on his hand.

    “Fine. Can we leave?”

    “Not yet, my fair-skinned fiend. You know how this works. I just pulled you back from the brink of death.” The shadows around Remus’ eyes grew dark with a sudden rush of power. “You’re not out of hot water yet, Virgil.”

   Roman shivered as a growl resonated deep in the throat of the amber-scaled man, Janus. He crouched defensively as if intending to lunge at the smirking god, but to Roman’s surprise, Virgil raised a hand to stop him.

    “What do you want, my lord?”

    “Oh, so formal! You really  know how to get a man all hot and bothered—”

     Remus' reached towards Virgil in a flirtatious gesture that was cut short as Janus snapped his teeth at the forest god's hand, snarling like a wild animal.

    “Careful, Jan. You don’t know where those fingers have been.”

    “Would you like to find out?” Remus cooed, leaning into Janus’ face as the man snarled at him, letting loose a string of what Roman assumed were more foreign swears.

    Roman flinched as Janus’ statement ended with a deep growl and his golden eyes darted up to Roman.

    “Of course, I'm not letting the prince off the hook. He owes me a pretty piece for striking down one of my beautiful creatures.”

    Remus chuckled as he raised a hand in the air, flourishing a hand toward Roman. The moment elicited a gasp from his lungs as Roman felt himself pulled forward against his will.

    “In fact, our dear prince is going to be the one to set things right for you, lover boy.”

   Roman gulped as he found himself face to face with the angry, slitted eyes of Janus as the dragonshifter loomed over him. A snarl curled on the man's lips, exposing a row of sharp teeth that sent a shiver across Roman’s skin.

    “Personally, I'd love to get little more creative with your punishment,” Remus' lip curled into a dangerous smile. “but seeing as Virgie's living on borrowed time, I'm willing to cut you a break. You catch my drift?”

    “What?”

    “Well, seeing as the lot of you are prepared to slit each others throats, I'd like to propose a new game." Remus purred reaching an arm around Roman's neck. “Work together or pay the price. A life for a life—”

    Roman’s heart sunk as Remus spun him around to face Logan. His eyes were wide, arm tucked around Patton as he stared helplessly at Roman.

    The man's hand snapped behind Roman's ears and he blinked. In an instant, Patton vanished before his eyes and Logan spun on his heels, desperately looking for his brother.

    “Pat—What did you do to my brother?”

     Logan lunged at Remus, but the god sidestepped him with an unnerving amount of speed, chuckling as he smiled cruelly at Logan. Seeing the dangerous glimmer in the man's eyes, Roman lunged forward to catch Logan’s waist, stopping him before Remus could do anything worse.

    “Lo, stop!”

    “He has Patton—”

    “I know.” Roman whispered, pulling Logan into his arms as he let out a pained gasp. “I know.”

    “Do you really think I didn't figure out who made the poison who brought down Virgil?” Remus cocked his head with and indifferent look in his eyes. “As far as I'm concerned, you’re as guilty as our prince.

     “Patton did nothing. If you hurt him—”

     “Cutie's safe and he'll stay that way if you follow my instructions.”

    A loud groan interrupted Remus' rambling. Roman’s head spun around just as Virgil’s knees gave out, collapsing in Janus' arm. His scales were dark against his pallid skin as his partner whispered to him.

    “See, Virgie's not out of the woods yet and I can’t take him where he needs to go. ” Remus’ voice dropped, sincere as he approached the young dragonshifter. “If he doesn’t reach the silver spring in Doragon Valley in three days time, my magic will fail him and your poison will take his life.”

   Roman blinked, feeling Logan still in his grip as Remus raised a hand to the dragonshifter’s cheek. His breathing was unsteady as he leaned his head back into his partner’s shoulder.

   “But Doragon Valley is in the center of the city.” Roman breathed, chilled by the implication of Remus’ words. “The spring is sacred ground.”

    “Exactly, I may be a god but my reach only extends to the edge of the forest.” Remus whispered, turning his hand from Virgil to extend it to Roman. “So, here’s the deal. Take Virgil where he needs to go and save the life you sought to steal or I keep the kid forever.”

    Logan dropped his gaze, going limp in Roman’s grip. Roman could feel his partner’s nails dig into his arm, his chest heaving with grief over his missing brother.

    “Roman, please—”

    “Deal.” Roman interrupted Logan’s breathless plea. “Whatever it takes, we're bringing Patton home.”

    “Thank you.” Logan whispered, taking a small breath and allowing his head to sink into Roman’s shoulder.

    “Good.” Remus smiled, casting a glance at Virgil. “You'd best get moving then. You don’t have much time to spare.”

     With a snap, Remus was gone. An uneasy silence followed  as they stared at their reluctant new allies, lives of those they loved most hanging in the balance as they started their journey.

---

A/N: Alright, that’s the end of my spree writing on this so there won’t be an update immediately after this one, but hopefully I’ll cycle back soon. I can’t wait to write these poor boys having to actually try to work together ~~

General Taglist:

@justanotherhumanstuff @im-an-anxious-wreck @shadowyplaidpurseegg

A Life For A Life:

@arodynamic-enby @pixelated-pineapple @simplestoryteller @bloodymari-0666

#sanders sides #sanders sides fic #sanders sides fanfiction #sanders sides fanfic #ts roman #ts remus #ts logan #ts patton #ts janus #ts virgil #dragonshifter!virgil #dragonshifter!janus #logince #anxceit #intruality #...eventually #A Life for a Life #villain writes

[trashyswitch]

Day 6: The Supernatural Side

Logan and Virgil come back to the big house they visited prior, and they hang out with the ghosts again.

For @kanene-yaaay

Part 2 of The Naughty Ghosts

Logan and Virgil were sitting on the old couch that was at the old victorian style house, and were enjoying the way the whole room sparkled when the flashlight’s glow hit the glass on the chandelier.

Patton was secretly sitting beside them too, and was enjoying the look too. It looked so shiny...so luminescent...Almost as much as it looked when it was turned on all those years ago…

“Is there any way we can light up this chandelier again? Maybe turn on the power and fix the cords?” Virgil asked Logan.

“It would be risky...But I suppose we could try.” Logan replied. “How long has this chandelier been unlit?” Logan asked.

Patton grabbed the notebook and started writing his answer down. Then, he showed it to Logan:

[A very long time]

“Do you know specifically?” Logan asked. Patton took a moment to write again.

[What year is it?]

Logan looked at Virgil. “It’s...2021.”

Patton looked at the two of them, the paper frozen in place. Then, the paper dropped out of the ghost’s hands and onto the couch.

Logan widened his eyes. “That must’ve been surprise.” Logan reacted.

Patton quickly picked up the notebook and wrote something out. Then, he showed them:

[102 years ago]

Logan widened his eyes. Now it was HIS turn to be surprised! “101 years?! That’s...just before the 1920’s!”

Virgil looked at the notebook. “How...did you die?”

Logan turned to Virgil and frowned at him. “Why would you ask that?”

Virgil put his hands up. “Sorry, I didn’t know it was a bad time…”

Patton showed them the notebook.

[That’s alright. It is not a bad time in any way.]

Logan smiled.

[Have you heard of influenza?]

Virgil read it and widened his eyes. “The flu…”

“Yes, we have both heard of it.” Logan replied.

[It was terrible...no one coughed into their napkins. The influenza spread to us and killed all of us one by one. I was the last person in this house...]

Logan could feel tears welling up in his eyes. It was so sad…

[But, I don’t understand why we became ghosts.]

Logan nodded and smiled a little in sympathy.

“So...you became ghosts in this place…” Logan said. “Did people ever try to buy the house after you?”

Patton started writing again. Then, he showed it to Logan.

[People tried to buy the house. But Roman and Remus scared them off with their antics. They believed the house was haunted. And they believed as well, in all the old evil ghost stories.]

Logan smiled at this. “Where are the kids, by the way?”

Suddenly, a pair of fingers had tazed Virgil’s sides. Virgil yelped and jumped up, holding his sides. “Ow! Who tazed me?!”

Patton’s notebook seemed to have shook a little, implying that Patton might’ve been laughing. On top of that, the hand that held the pencil, was up roughly at Patton’s mouth, covering up the giggles.

Logan giggled as well. “Wow...Come on out.” Logan told them.

In response to that, Logan felt a ticklish sensation on his belly. Logan widened his eyes and doubled over a little as laughter started coming out of him. “Ohohohohoho! Plahahahayihihing lihihike thihihis, huhuhuhuh?” Logan reacted.

Roman started writing something onto Logan’s back.

‘Y-E-S.’

Logan smiled at this and reached out to grab him playfully. “Come here you!”

Roman just sank into the hands, and Logan quickly felt a pair of hands tickling his armpits.

“EEHEhehehahahahahaha! Wahahait WAHAHAIT!” Logan laughed and giggled, holding onto his belly as he laughed.

Patton showed Logan the pad of paper:

[They’re not gonna wait.]

Logan squeaked and jumped off the couch, trying to get away. “Now now now now now, quit that! Get off me! Why are you so interested in me?!” Logan asked.

Patton showed him the notepad again:

[They like you!]

Logan stared at the notepad. “I…”

Logan suddenly squawked and scooted his body backwards with his feet. “STAHAHAP THAHAHAT! OHOHO NOHOHOHOHO!”

Virgil looked at his flailing brother and smiled. “I’m enjoying this very much.”

Patton smiled and showed him the notepad.

[Has your brother always been the tickler?]

Virgil nodded. “Yup…So this is a new experience.”

Logan was laughing and giggling as it looked like his feet were being held down and tickled everywhere. His upper body was stuck in place, and he was flailing his arms around wherever he wanted.

Patton turned to Virgil. [Does he like it?]

Virgil looked at Logan and tilted his head.

Logan had a big smile on his face. He was only laughing, and wasn’t saying anything that would imply that he hated this. Virgil smiled eagerly as he realized that yes! He probably does like tickles!

“He used to like it when he was younger. I know that much. But...It didn’t occur to me that he’d still like it.”

Patton wrote something down and showed him the note on the pad of paper.

[Roman liked being tickled.]

Virgil turned to the invisible children that were tickling Logan with a smile on his face.

“Really now?” Virgil reacted calmly.

[Yes. He always loved it.]

Virgil smiled brightly and watched the three boys play.

Virgil looked at Patton and grabbed the flashlight. “Can I see you by any chance?” Virgil asked.

He shined the flashlight into the direction of Patton, and widened his eyes. Wow! It...There was at least an outline!

Patton giggled and moved around with the pad in his hand. He wrote something down.

[Can you see me?]

Virgil smiled. “A little bit!” Virgil grabbed out his phone, turned on the flash and took a picture. When the picture was taken, Virgil looked at the photo and…

Holy- There was a perfect photo! It was like he was actually there!

“Patton! Look!” Virgil reacted, showing him the phone. Virgil let go of the phone the moment he felt Patton’s hand weight on it, and let him look at the photo.

It was a perfect rendition of what Patton looked like through the flash of the camera.

Patton gave Virgil the phone back and grabbed the pad of paper. He started writing in it again. He showed Virgil:

[I love it!]

Virgil smiled proudly.

Meanwhile, Logan was being given a break from all the tickles. He was a sweaty, giggly mess on the floor, surrounded by two little kids that you couldn’t really see. Patton smiled and looked at the three boys playing together. It was just so cute!

“Hey Logan! I was able to get a picture of Patton!” Virgil told him.

“Wait, really?” Logan asked.

Virgil showed his brother the picture of Patton. Logan smiled and looked at the floating notepad and pen. “You’re so...handsome!”

Patton placed the notepad onto his heart in appreciation. He quickly wrote and showed him a response:

[Thank you!]

Logan smiled and grabbed the notepad and the hand that held it.

If Logan could see him, he would see a big blush showing itself on Patton’s face. And if Logan could see the kids, he would likely see the two of them whispering and giggling between each other about Logan and Patton.

“Well...I suppose we know what you look like now.” Logan said. “Now to get pictures of the kids!”

Suddenly, a bunch of footsteps and fading skidding sounds filled the room. Virgil bursted out laughing at the sounds as he immediately understood what had happened:

Roman and Remus didn’t exactly want their picture taken…

Patton giggled at this and shook his head as he wrote on the notepad. He showed Logan the page:

[They refuse to have their picture-]

Logan gently moved the notepad down. “I know…” Logan told him. “We don’t need to take pictures of them yet if they don’t want to.” Logan told him.

Patton nodded with the notepad and wrote one more thing into it:

[Thank you for understanding.]

“No problem.” Logan replied.

The floating notepad and pen started walking away as little faded sounds filled the room. They sounded like someone was speaking in tongues...but mixed with footsteps.

Logan listened to the sounds and...started to shiver. He didn’t like how mysterious the sound was.

“Alright...And I think this is a good time to leave.” Virgil decided as he ran to the window they arrived in. “You coming Logey?”

Logan smiled, kissed the notepad (Patton) goodbye, and left. “Coming!”

Patton wouldn’t stop thinking about Logan for the rest of the night…

#ghost patton sanders #ghost roman sanders #ghost remus sanders #ghost hunter au #emotional rollercoaster #ticklefic #ler!roman #lee!logan

[anxiousgaypanicking]

Intrulogince (I’m Deprived)

“Loooooogan,” comes Roman’s drawn out whine, and Logan can only sigh as he wonders what Roman’s going to say to him now. 

“What?” comes Logan’s curt reply, not turning around his chair to even give Roman the time of day. He’s aware that regardless of what he says or how bitter he sounds, Roman will barge into his room anyway. 

And that he does, throwing open the door rather rudely, the knob slamming into the wall at the action. 

“Remus keeps-” Roman begins, only to be suddenly shoved to the floor. 

“Hey there sexy wolverine!” Remus says, with a giggle and a rather flirty eyebrow wiggle. “Are you busy?”

“Yes, actually-”

“Great! Anyway,” Remus cuts him off, strolling up to him and turning Logan’s chair himself, being met with Logan’s narrowed eyes and sour scowl. He pays no mind, instead wrapping his arms around Logan’s neck and plopping down in his lap, earning a prissy whine from Roman. 

“I wanted to sit in his lap!”

“Sucks.” Remus sticks his tongue out at his brother, before pulling Logan closer. “As I was saying, Roman and I are arguing over what movie to watch, and we want you to come pick for us!” 

“Mostly, I want you to come side with me,” Roman says with a pout, scooting to the edge of the chair and pouting up at Logan, who’s hand instinctively runs through Roman’s hair, earning a soft sigh from the prince.

Under different circumstances, he’d just tell them to settle it themselves, but both boys were looking at him pleadingly, and it’s clear they wanted him to do more than just pick out the movie. Roman was practically clinging to his calf, and Remus had a tight hold on him in general. They’d missed him. 

Well, he had been cooped up in his room for quite a while. They deserved to see him for at least a little bit. 

He knew how much both of them thrived off attention, and having the honorary position as their boyfriend, it was expected that he give him that attention (even if he was rather bad at doing so). 

He sighs. “Fine. But that means you two need to move momentarily.” 

He watches as they both smile, equally pleased that they’d convinced him to come with them, and they both hurriedly scramble away from him, allowing Logan room to stand up and brush his pants off, before he just begins walking to the living room, listening to the two roll over each other in an attempt to be the first to follow after him. 

Roman ends up succeeding, strong arms wrapping around Logan’s waist as he surveys the Netflix screen. 

“I want to watch the Princess and the Frog,” Roman says, resting his chin atop Logan’s head. 

Remus comes barreling down the stairs seconds later, having little regard for his on safety. “Yeah, well, I want to watch The Conjuring.”

“You’ve already seen The Conjuring!” comes Roman’s protest, as Remus crawls over to Logan, nuzzling up against the logical side’s legs. 

“And you’ve already seen the Princess and the Frog. Yet, here we are.” 

“Movies about romance triumph movies about horror any day!” 

“The Conjuring is a romantic movie,” Remus argues, with a huff. “Supernatural horror is like my biggest turn on.” 

“I know that’s false,” Logan says, with an eye roll. “I don’t doubt it’s on your list, but I know it’s not your biggest.” 

Remus winks in response. 

“I don’t want to watch either,” Logan then says, being blunt and honest, as per usual. “What about some sort of documentary? I’ve been quite interested in the ocean, lately. Just a minor fixation.” 

The twins hardly have to look at each other before they’re racing to the remote, rushing to turn on some sort of ocean documentary. 

It was honestly amusing how they wrestled with one another for the opportunity just to do something as simple as turn on a show Logan will enjoy. He’d discouraged their bickering, but fighting over him seemed to be their way of bonding with each other. As long as things didn’t get seriously violent, he let them be. 

“Boys,” is all he says, and they stop immediately to look at him. He holds his hand out and Remus hands him the remote, both of them rolling off each other, before climbing onto the couch, leaving space between them for Logan to sit.

Logan quickly clicks on a random ocean documentary, before setting the remote back on the table and moving to sit between the twins. The moment he does, Remus’s head falls into his lap (thankfully still attached to his body, which he had moved to lay down so he could rest against Logan’s comfy thighs), meanwhile Roman wraps an arm around Logan’s waist, pulling him close and resting his head against Logan’s. 

They both seemed content to watch the ocean documentary, and he had no doubt that both of their creative minds were expanding on a plethora of ideas pertaining to the ocean, both of them taking the theme in their own direction. 

And he was sure they’d both be eager to show him all their ideas, whether in written or art form, later. He’d eagerly listen, as he always did. 

He smiles at the mere idea, pulling both of his boys closer, the three of them content within each other’s presences.  

#intrulogince #intrulogical #logince #ts logan #ts roman #ts remus #sanders sides #thomas sanders #logan sanders #roman sanders #remus sanders #theres a lack of intrulogince out there #so im here to deposit a hefty supply #platonic creativitwins #creativitwins #agp fluff

[jungle321jungle]

Something Worth Stealing: One

“What do you think?”

Truthfully Virgil was terrified at the very prospect. There was a reason each nanny didn't last long, and Virgil had heard enough horror stories about the Ackroyd boys to avoid them at all costs when he had worked in the past. Hell the only reason he still got some to come in now and then was because the job was so high paying. Mr. Ackroyd knew exactly what he was doing advertising with all those zeroes, he was reeling in any nanny who would skip talking to peers at the sight. And now by some twist of fate that very bait was dangling above Virgil, and even worse there wasn’t anyway he could feasibly afford to ignore it. A sigh escaped his lips as he looked the man in the eye, “I think it is more than a generous offer that I would be happy to accept.”

(Virgil becomes the newest nanny for his very attracti- for Logan.)

Taglist: @angels-and-dreams @ollyollyoxinfree @gattonero17 @chumo-cookie @dreaming-always @anxiety-ismy-name @mrbubbajones @janustheliar @why-do-you-care @hogwarts-my-love

Ao3 - Masterlist

One

Virgil bit down on his tongue to keep from screaming out in frustration. He crossed the room briskly once more as he wondered- not for the first time, why was even here. Quite frankly Mr. Ackroyd should have fired him on the spot, so why was he just casually in the man’s office as if nothing was wrong? Was this a test? Leave him in the office full of expensive items to see if he’d be bold enough to try and steal one? That was the only way this would make sense, he was being tested and then if he passed maybe he’d only be fired rather than being sued or jailed. If it wasn’t that then maybe he was going to be made an example of. He’d be told off both here and in front of the rest of the staff later so no one would ever fall to Virgil’s level of stupidity ever again.

Virgil’s pacing slowed to a stop as he forced himself to take a deep breath. Now that he knew the two most likely options for the situation he’d need to practice and edit his apology six- no eight more times before his boss walked in. Mr. Ackroyd didn’t often show much emotion but maybe if Virgil repeated his sorries enough one would get through to the man and he would accept that Virgil had been more than an idiot.

“Virgil.”

The sound of his name sent a shiver up his spine as he jumped in place and turned eyes wide to where Mr. Ackroyd had entered. “Ah- hello sir...”

“Sorry, did not mean to startle you,” the man said simply as he moved to sit behind his desk. “Thank you for coming in early, and do take a seat.”

Virgil’s legs felt like led but he forced them to move forward and in what felt like robotic motions he sat. When he had Mr. Ackroyd spoke, “Now there is something I’d like to speak to you about.”

“I’m so sorry about yesterday!” Virgil blurted. “I should have never even touched your things, much less tried to steal it. I am so so so sorry! If there is any way I can make up for it-”

“While I did want to talk about my watch, and the apology is appreciated I do have a few questions.”

Virgil cut himself off and tried to regain his composure, “O-of course.”

“Why did you take my watch at all?” he asked simply. “You’ve worked here for years and I have never had an issue with you, and yet randomly yesterday you do something as out of character as attempting to steal from me. I assume there must be a catalyst for this behavior? A monetary one perhaps? Or was this just a sudden change in you?”

Virgil’s mouth felt dry as it opened and closed but with a pinch to his own leg he forced himself to function enough to speak. “It was semi spur of the moment- it had never crossed my mind to do something like that ever before!  But it wasn’t me being ungrateful or anything! This job is great I just um, well I- I...” Virgil gave a sigh and let his head hang as his hands balled into fists with frustration at himself, “It-it was money related yeah... things are- are harder right now...”

“How so?”

Virgil took a deep breath trying to steel himself best he could before he spoke, his gaze on his boss’ desk rather than the man’s face. “My half sister has a kid, and she’s stuck in a really bad situation and needed her son out of it. So... so I took him in. And well great kid as he is, I’ve never had to pay for this much before. I truly am sorry.”

“And so you teach him to steal?”

“I’m sorry.”

The silence which covered the room was heavy, only broken by the sound of Mr. Ackroyd’s finger tapping on his desk which managed to increase Virgil’s heart rate more and more. But when the sound stopped entirely, Virgil couldn’t help but bring himself to look upon Mr. Ackroyd’s face. “Virgil I trust you understand I cannot have someone who steals from me cleaning my home.”

Virgil’s heart, his lungs, and everything else plummeted to his stomach with those words, and then they proceeded to keep falling until they landed at his feet, leaving Virgil with only an empty and hollow feeling. “I understand,” he replied quietly.

“As such I suppose it is a good thing that no one outside of this room knows what you have done.”

“Sir?” Virgil asked, he wouldn’t get his hopes up yet.

“I think I have a solution to both of our problems Virgil, that is if you never even consider stealing from me again.”

“Never,” Virgil said quickly.

Mr. Ackroyd gave a nod. “On your end I assume a bulk of what you make goes to different forms of child care given your early mornings at your other job and late nights here?”

When had he even mentioned to the man having a second job? “Y-yes, I pay for both before and after school.”

“I assume you have heard that my newest nanny quit?”

Virgil gave a slow and confused nod as he tried to get a read on that unchanged face, “Yes.”

“They come and go quickly,” he sighed, “My older two can be a tad unruly. But if you would like to alleviate your childcare costs and work one job rather than two, then you can become my nanny. And while caring for my boys you can also watch over your nephew. Oh and of course the salary is more than enough. What do you think?”

Truthfully Virgil was terrified at the very prospect. There was a reason each nanny didn't last long, and Virgil had heard enough horror stories about the Ackroyd boys to avoid them at all costs when he had worked in the past. Hell the only reason he still got some to come in now and then was because the job was so high paying. Mr. Ackroyd knew exactly what he was doing advertising with all those zeroes, he was reeling in any nanny who would skip talking to peers at the sight. And now by some twist of fate that very bait was dangling above Virgil, and even worse there wasn’t anyway he could feasibly afford to ignore it. A sigh escaped his lips as he looked the man in the eye, “I think it is more than a generous offer that I would be happy to accept.”

Mr. Ackryod gave a slight yet pleased smile, “Then I will see both you and your nephew here early Monday morning.”

“Y-yes sir.”

The large mansion seemed to loom over Virgil in a way it never had before, and yet all he could do was climb out his car and resist the urge to puke. There was just too much riding on a job which seemed destined to end in pitiful failure. He had been forced to quit his job at the cafe so suddenly too (not that he held any joy for that job), but if this went south quickly he had no fall back. Maybe he should start looking for new jobs when he gets home just in case?

“How long are we gonna stand here?” Janus yawned beside him.

“We’re going in now,” Virgil told him moving forward towards the door. And then before he could falter more he inserted the key he had been given in the lock and stepped in the entryway, to lock eyes with Mr. Ackroyd.

The man glanced up from the laptop in his hands before he shut it, “Twelve minutes early.”

“Good morning sir,” Virgil started awkwardly trying to resist the urge to ask how long his boss had been standing there waiting. “This is my nephew Janus. Janus, this is Mr. Ackroyd.”

“Hi,” Janus waved. “Do you have orange juice?”

“Janus.” Virgil cut in immediately, but Mr. Ackroyd gave a chuckle.

“My boys drank the last of it with breakfast. Would you like apple instead?”

“Yes please!”

He gave a nod, “Then let's get you your juice. Virgil, the twins are in their rooms, hopefully getting dressed. I’d like you to start by getting them and Patton together and then you can bring them all to school. As for how the rest of the day will go, simply return here and care for Patton and then pick the boys up from school in the afternoon. Have them do their homework until dinner, I should be back around then. As for the general both daily and weekly schedules I have shared the Outlook calendar with you so you may review it later today. Understood?”

Virgil hoped how intimidated he felt didn't show on his face. “Yes sir.”

“Then get moving.”

Virgil didn't hesitate to hurry up the stairs and head in the direction he knew, but it was the sound of laughter which drew him to one room in particular, and after a deep breath, he knocked.

“Come in!”

Upon entering Virgil knew he should’ve just looked for another job.

The room was virtually destroyed and the culprits were in the midst. The younger of the twins, Remus, was jumping on the bed swinging about a pillow and letting its tiny feathers fly around and coat the floor. Roman meanwhile spun himself and the baby around in the falling feathers causing Patton to cackle with delight. But the older two looked his way as he entered.

“Hi Virgil!” Remus yelled. “Dad said you’re our new nanny!”

“Yeah...” Virgil said slowly, still recovering from the shock. “He also says you two need to get dressed for school.”

“In a sec!” Roman replied, raising Patton over his head.

“No, now,” Virgil tried stepping into the room. “You’re going to be late if not.”

The twins paused each watching him for a moment, before they looked at each other then back to Virgil once more. “We don’t wanna go to school,” Remus said finally.

Roman nodded in agreement, “We’re gonna be homeschooled now.”

“No you’re not. Your dad said-”

“Hey Virgil, why aren't you a housekeeper anymore?” Remus asked, hopping off the bed. “I liked when you cleaned my room, I don't lose things when you clean it.”

“T-things change,” Virgil replied awkwardly. “But where are your clothes?”

Remus gave a vague gesture towards the closet, “I don't need clothes to be homeschooled. I can do it in my PJs.”

Virgil bit his tongue as he watched the two, but slowly an idea formed in his mind. “Do either of you know how homeschooling even works?”

“Yup. You get to do worksheets and hang out,” Roman answered. “We can do them while we watch TV.”

“Not exactly. We would do lectures and then worksheets for every class probably in the library all day. Given I’m not a teacher it would take longer to go over everything so the only break would be lunch. We also wouldn't have time for watching TV or for recess, and of course you can’t see your friends.”

Roman gave an awkward cough as he shoved Patton into Virgil’s arms. “Well I guess we’ll have to go to school until you learn how to teach.”

Virgil held in a sigh of relief as the two began the motions of getting ready which let him dress the Patton. But by the time he had gotten Patton to keep on his socks rather than throw them away he had heard shouting from downstairs. So with no other option he picked up the baby and followed the sound, but his anxiety grew as he heard Janus’ voice.

“Take it back!” Janus’ voice shouted and suddenly Virgil was moving much quicker.

“You first!” Roman yelled back.

“You!”

“You!”

That was the last clear word Virgil could make out, but then again words weren’t needed to explain anything when he walked in to find his nephew on top of Roman grabbing the other boy’s face. A curse escaped his mouth as he hurried forward pulling Janus away by the collar only for Roman to jump up and lunge after. He tried to position himself before the two feuding children and to think of a better solution, but with Patton having grabbed a fistful of his hair, and Remus chanting behind him for Janus to win it was kind of hard to focus on anything.

“I believe my instructions were to introduce yourselves.”

Mr. Ackroyd’s cool voice cut through the room’s chaos in an instant sending ice through Virgil’s veins. He hadn’t even managed to be a nanny for an hour and now he would be fired. He’d probably set the record.

“Are you leaving?” Remus asked like nothing was wrong.

Mr. Ackroyd studied the room for a moment before he moved closer to Roman and bent down. Taking his son’s face in his hands. “I am. But more importantly, Roman I see no reason to continue to pay for you to take karate if you get hit in the face.”

“It's his fault not mine!” Roman said at the same time Remus unhelpfully added,

“I didn’t get hit! And Sensei said I can get a new belt soon.”

“Flying up the ranks are you?” Mr. Ackroyd smiled at him as he stood and moved over to Janus and squatted down to the boy’s height. “Can you tell me why you hit Roman?”

As Virgil released his nephew’s collar, Janus moved a step behind Virgil before he answered the question, “He... he said my name was an old lady’s.”

The man gave a hum, “I see. Now while that was a mean thing for him to say, using your fists won't fix the issue. You need to use your words, okay?”

Janus gave a nod, “Okay... sorry.”

“Not to him,” Virgil put in. “And you need to say what for.”

Janus gave a frown but even so he turned to Roman, “Sorry for hitting you.”

“Roman?”

The older twin crossed his arms and looked anywhere but at Janus’ face, “S...sorry for making fun of your name.”

“Good,” Mr. Ackroyd nodded. “Now give me a hug so I can go to work. And Virgil before you leave, be sure to grab Roman an ice pack.”

Virgil gave a nod of bewilderment and disbelief, “Yes sir.”

While Roman and Janus didn’t seem to get along from the outset, somehow not long after getting in the car, Remus and Janus had decided they were now some of the closest friends. Not that Virgil would complain of course, if they were getting along that was good for him, even if Roman sat in a moody silence for a while. But said silence broke when Janus had been dropped off. It wasn’t ten seconds after the driver had pulled off that he spoke to his twin, “Why’d you take his side?”

Virgil looked behind him at the sound of Roman’s voice in time for Remus to give a shrug. “He’s fun.”

“He hit me!”

“And that was your fault.”

Virgil was about to let them bicker and talk things out amongst themselves when Remus’ appearance caught his eye. “Remus that’s not your uniform tie.”

Remus nodded in agreement, “It’s fish shaped.”

“I can see that, but you’re supposed to wear the one that goes with your uniform.”

“That one is boring.” He looked between Virgil and the strange tie (why did kids even need to wear ties?). “Do you not like it?”

“It’s certainly... different. But I think you should wear the other one.”

“But I wanna show my friends this one.”

“Then you can take it out when you get to school. For now please change it.”

Remus gave a groan and sunk in his seat, but ultimately the nine year old did as he was told.

~~~

After the chaotic start to the morning, the mansion seemed so quiet and calm when Virgil returned. He half expected chaos to descend as the time wore on, but caring for Patton wasn't as hard as he had anticipated. The ten month old was not only adorable but he was pretty good in the sense that he didn’t really seem to cry or complain. He simply played with his little toys and babbled at Virgil (who took multiple pictures and videos to send to Mr. Ackroyd). He had been nervous at first. His only experience having taken care of a baby being those off times his sister had dropped Janus off for a night. But he had made it through the day without anything going wrong. So of course it did in the car.

He and the driver had gone and picked up Janus without issue. He had climbed in the car and instantly began talking about his day in the loudest voice he dared so not to wake Patton. It all seemed fine, until they picked up the twins.

“All day all I got were people asking me what happened to my eye!” Roman whined. “And it’s your fault!”

Janus gave him a bored look as he gestured to the scar on his face, “You get used to it.”

If the shouting which ensued was any clue, Roman didn’t care for Janus’ statement. Virgil was half turned around in the front seat as he tried to beg them to quiet down, but it was too late as Patton woke up, bursting into tears as he did. Not that the older three children seemed to notice. They carried on yelling at one another and reaching across the seats to grab a hold of one another.

“That’s enough!” Virgil interjected. “You two need to-”

“I need to kick him!” Roman interrupted.

Janus stuck out his tongue in reply, “And then I’ll kick you back three times as hard!”

“Oh yeah? Then I'll punch you!”

“I’ll just-”

“Shut up!” The harsh and loud words were out of Virgil’s mouth before he could stop them but he certainly didn’t regret it. “Roman,” he started firmly. “You will get along with Janus. And Janus you will get along with-”

“But he-”

“I don't care and I don’t want to hear it! I’m not asking for your opinions, I'm telling you what’s going to happen. The three of you are going to get along without fighting and arguing how starting right now. This pointlessness has already cost you all your electronic privileges for the evening, and if it continues more things will be taken away.” He paused and looked in each of their eyes before he spoke again. “Is that clear?”

Three identical looks of confusion and surprise stared at Virgil before each of the boys mumbled an agreement and after some probing an apology too. When they had Virgil gave a satisfied nod, “Roman calm Patton.”

“Where do you two usually do your homework?” Virgil asked after the twins had changed.

“Wherever we want,” Remus shrugged. “Can we do it in-”

“You can do it in the library,” Virgil decided for them. “Do you all have lots of homework?”

“Lots of reading,” Roman groaned as they walked. “And the book is bad!”

“Then read it quickly.”

“That’s not how it works!”

“Are you sure?”

“Uncle Virgil will you help with my fractions again?” Janus asked him. “I still don’t get it. I don’t like it either.”

Virgil gave a slight smile as he ruffled Janus’ hair. “Of course I’ll help.”

Homework time went surprisingly well. It seemed since Virgil’s outburst in the car the boys were trying to be on their best behavior. But he wouldn’t complain about that. Instead he gave the boys help on anything they needed while he ate crackers and bounced Patton in his lap.

“This is the quietest I think homework time has ever been.”

At the sound of his voice everyone turned to see Mr. Ackroyd. There was a pause before Roman was out of his seat and hurrying to give his father a hug. “You’re home early!”

“I am,” he smiled hugging his son. “My meeting was moved until tomorrow. So I’m here early.” When Roman didn’t release him, he awkwardly maneuvered to the table to pull Remus in for a hug as well. “How were they?” He directed at Virgil.

Virgil paused, “They were... they were good. Especially Patton.”

Mr. Ackroyd gave a laugh as his boys released him and he reached for the baby. “For some reason, I wasn’t particularly concerned about him.”

“How were they, really ?” Mr. Ackroyd asked as he walked Janus and Virgil to the door.

Virgil gave a slight smile, “Well today was certainly chaotic , but I managed. It took me losing my temper though.”

“And that’s fine. I find my previous nannies were afraid to be stern with the boys. In one day you have found that doesn’t work. As such you have already exceeded my expectations.”

“Um, thank you sir.”

He nodded once, “Tomorrow we can talk in more detail for now enjoy your evening.”

“You too. See you tomorrow sir.”

“Logan,” he said simply. “We’ll be working closer together now.”

“Oh, um are you sure?”

“I’m the one who suggested it.”

Virgil looked down slightly in embarrassment, “Right. Um okay.”

“I’ll see you tomorrow then. Oh, and you may call me by my name too Janus.”

Janus gave a smile and wave as they walked out, “Bye Logan!”

~~~~

One - Two

#boss and employee #analogical #logan sanders #virgil sanders #remus sanders #roman sanders #Janus Sanders #patton sanders #kid!remus #kid!roman #kid!janus #worth stealing

[little-kat07]

Unrequited Roceit, endgame logince, and endgame dukeceit idea where Roman and Janus are a double dancing and singing act (think like the musical Chicago) and are in a relationship as well. Roman is just happy to have a career with the love of his life, while Janus is MUCH more interested in fame and money- with or without Roman.

Janus: The press LOVES us! My act is wonderful and the producers can’t ignore it for long.

Roman: You mean OUR act?

Janus: Right. OUR act.

Roman soon meets Logan, a Broadway director who offers them an audition for a play. Musicals and Theater isn’t usually what they do, but they need the money. During the audition-

Logan: *clapping* That was amazing!

Roman: *breathless* You really think so?

Logan: You are going to go far in the world with that kind of talent, Roman. We’ll see you at the first rehearsal.

Janus: Wait- what about me?

Logan: Janus... you were amazing. You have so much talent, and it really pains me to say it’s not what we’re looking for. I’m sure there are lots of other directors who-

Roman is PAINFULLY oblivious to the fact Janus doesn’t care about him, so he stands up for his ‘boyfriend’.

Roman: What? You can’t reject him! Logan, I’ve been by Janus’s side in our career for decades. Either you take both of us or neither.

Logan: I... I suppose we can find a role for Janus.

Roman and Janus travel from Atlanta to New York, where their career is supposed to start.

Logan can tell Janus doesn’t care about Roman, and is heartbroken that Roman would stand up for the snake so easily. But he’s not supposed to get involved with the personal affairs of actors, so he tries not to think about it too much. 

He has a hard time with that since during rehearsal, Roman won’t stop being so fucking adorable all the time.

Logan: Hold on, Roman, could you-

Roman: Okay okay so I know what you’re going to say but I DIDN’T MEAN TO RAISE THAT LAST NOTE, It just felt really right and I can totally stop, but I actually had a little riff on the end there I wanted to do if I could and I know it’s really confusing and I’m rambling but please?

Logan: ...I was going to say move a bit to the left, but go ahead.

Janus is VERY AWARE that Logan and Roman have chemistry, and normally he wouldn’t care since he doesn’t actually love Roman but this time, his ticket to fame and glory is riding on the fact that Roman stays with him, so he tries to intercept their relationship.

...at the very same time that Remus, (who is Logan’s brother in this AU and i’m so sorry to intrulogical shippers) wants Roman and Logan to get together. He has been waiting for Logan to find love for so long and he is NOT about to let some snake boi take away his brother’s happiness.

So, Janus and Remus have a huge, unspoken battle over getting Roman and Logan together OR keeping them apart. Remus sets them up to be alone together, Janus sabotages it or gets there at the exact time and drives Roman away. 

Janus: What is your PROBLEM?

Remus: What is MY deal? Uh, bitch, what is YOUR deal? 

Janus: My financial and social future depends on Roman and Logan staying apart. I need Roman to get me to fame. YOU need to stay out of it.

Remus: Logan is my brother who up until this point was lonely as fuck. I’m not letting you break his only chance at happiness. You don’t even LOVE Roman!

Janus: Can you not talk so loud? Someone is going to hear us.

Remus: Maybe I WANT THEM TO!

Janus: *puts a hand over Remus’s mouth* Keep quiet, rat.

Remus: *licks it*

Janus: EW!! EW EW EW- WHAT THE FUCK, REMUS?

Remus: *cackling*

Roman hears.

That’s really all you need to know- He was right outside when Remus and Janus had that conversation. He stormed back to his room of the hotel and waited for Janus to come back, where they broke up and Janus took his things and left.

This is where things get interesting...

Remus: *knocks on janus’s hotel room door* Uh... snake?

Janus: *muffled grumbling* *opens the door* Yes?

Remus: *trying to smother his worried feelings* Hey snake bitch! I noticed you haven’t tried to... sabatoge any of my plans lately.

Janus: Y e s.

Remus: ...and I was just wondering why? I-I mean I just feel like you’re planning something. What are you planning? 

Janus: ...your futile attempts at being aggressive amuse me. I’ll tell you.

Janus has been feeling strange lately. He tells Remus how he and Roman go together- They had been best friends in highschool, and Janus actually did like Roman once. They used to be an inseparable couple, it was only when Janus realized Roman had talent that could bring him glory, did he begin to stop caring. Now that they’ve broken up, it’s hard to say whether Janus MISSES Roman- because he doesn’t, not really, it’s not about Roman as a person. He missed the feeling of being cared for by someone, being held like fame and money didn’t matter, those little moments Janus missed so achingly much because he thought he would ALWAYS have them- and now he doesn’t, and he doesn’t know what to do with himself.

Remus: ...why did you tell me all that?

Janus: My life feels pretty shitty at the moment and I don’t see how spilling my guts to someone who’s already familiar with my less than pretty personality could bring me any lower.

Remus isn’t quite sure what to do with this information, he’s spent his entire time going up against Janus and hating him. Now he doesn’t see what he knew as Janus, he sees a confused and self-depreciating person- and he feels bad. But he knows he SHOULDN’T, he shouldn’t feel bad because Janus is the bad guy, Janus is the villain in the story-

But he isn’t anymore. This is what the villain looks like AFTER the fairytale, after the hero beats them- confused, lonely, and... crying?

oH my god, Janus is crying, do something, help him, holy fuck, nOoooOOO-

Meanwhile, Logan comforts Roman. 

Logan: ...I should have done something. I KNEW that snake was bad news. Now he-

Roman: I’m quitting.

Logan: I- what?

Roman: I’m quitting- Janus still has his role in the play, I don’t want to spend another second looking at him. He can have his fame and his money, I don’t care about revenge, I just wanna go home.

Logan: But- Roman, no- You have so much talent! You could show him up, get famous, spread your story in the papers and never have to deal with anything like that again-

Roman: I’m sorry, Logan- I’m not mad at him. I couldn’t care less about what happens to him- I’m going home.

Logan: Back to Atlanta??

Roman: Yeah... *sniffle* Atlanta. Or maybe Marietta, or somewhere in that area. Northern Georgia, basically- I don’t know how I can go back to Atlanta right now, not with all the memories and stuff.

Logan: But... Roman... what about me?

Roman: Huh?

Logan: I-I mean, what about everyone else? Virgil, Patton, and Remus- you’re just going to leave all of us behind? (he laughs, almost hysterically) how- how am I gonna find anyone on the face of the earth who can fit your role?

Roman: Oh, come on Lo. I’m sure anybody can fit my role in the play, it’s a simple character and-

Logan: N-Not that, Roman- Your role in our lives? How am I- How am I going to find anyone I love like I love you?

Cue crying confession, adorableness, all that Jazz. Logince pining FINALLY comes to a close- And the rest of the fic would focus more on the Dukeceit aspect.

Remus, at some point, comes to the glaring realization that he ENJOYED bickering and fighting with Janus. He almost stops BREATHING when he finds that, in fact, he likes JANUS. 

Like, Like-likes janus. (No, the L-word isn’t available yet sorry lmao)

Janus figures out pretty quickly that he likes Remus but he just came out of an awful relationship in which HE was the manipulative one, and he really isn’t in the mood to focus on romance right now. Partly for fear that he’ll hurt Remus like he hurt Roman, and partly because nOT EVERYTHING HAS TO REVOLVE AROUND ROMANCE, HE STILL HAS BILLS TO PAY AND JOBS TO WORK, YOU HEATHENS-

Anyway, we have a couple of chapters dedicates to healing the tear in Roman and Janus’s platonic relationship. Janus works hard to try and show Roman he can be trusted as just a friend. (When I say works hard I mean WORKS HARD. I mean, remember what he did? It’s gonna take some work to sift through this.) Eventually, Roman and Logan (newly dating) have a little talk about Janus’s attempts.

Logan: I just- I get that he’s trying to heal it, but... I don’t know. I think I’m just being protective because you two dated once and I thought, if you fell for him once... you might again. And then, he might hurt you again, or even WORSE, he won’t hurt you at all and I’ll have lost you to him permanently.

Roman: ...guess what?

Logan: What?

Roman: When I look at him, I feel nothing!!! :D

Logan: ...nothing?

Roman: *grinning* Nothing at all! Now that I look at him, he’s not even cute!

Logan and Roman continue to burst into laughter.

One day, this happens:

Roman and Remus: *being lovable chaotic idiots*

Logan: *sighs* Why do we love them?

Janus: No clue.

Logan: *eyebrow raise*

Janus: waIT WAIT Okay look I didn’t mean Roman, okay, I- I meant Remus, and- Wait no I- UGH! *slams head on table*

Logan: *smirks* You like my brother. I knew it.

Janus: I’m so sorry I keep falling for people you know.

A couple chapters dedicated to having funny group bonding time, until this happens-

Janus: *acting on stage* If only someone were to look at me with the eyes that Jeremiah does with Her, I might finally be complete and live on to learn to love. My heart-

Remus: *from the audience* I will!

Janus: *pauses and turns to look out* What?

Remus *waving frantically* I’ll look at you with eyes! I’m not sure how else I would look at you, so I’ll do the eyes!

Janus: ...What?

Remus: *groans* JUST DATE ME ALREADY!

Janus: *taken aback* Uh. Okay.

Remus: Wait, seriously?

Janus: Darling, just shut up, I’m doing a scene here...

Remus: :D

And they all lived. Happily ever after? Who knows. But they lived, and that was enough for them.

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

Do what you will with this idea! Tag me if you write or draw something though-

Reposts are appreciated!!!

#sanders sides #tss fandom #tss #tss fanfic #logince #dukeceit #demus #trashnoodle #ts logince #ts fanfic #sanders sides fic #ts dukeceit #ts demus #i'm bored

[omgyouatetheprincess]

Rain ⟿ prinxiety

I was listening to Rain by Ben Platt (which you need to listen to because it’s truly amazing) and I couldn’t stop imagining Roman and Virgil dancing along to it, so I wrote something for it :)

pairing ⟿ romantic virgil/roman

plot ⟿ During a storm, sometimes it's safer to not hide under trees, and instead dance under the rain. Roman and Virgil have a fight, but there may be one way to salvage their relationship

warnings ⟿ censored cursing (like three times maybe), mentioned past roceit and anxceit, unsympathetic!Deceit

word count ⟿ 4382

ao3 link ⟿ https://archiveofourown.org/works/29260683

If he could literally glare daggers, Virgil's ceiling would be gone beyond repair. As Derek Sanders sang the chorus of 'I'd Hate To Be You When People Find Out What This Song Is About' with raw emotion, Anxiety huffed and blinked back angry tears. He shouldn't be here, he should be on that date he had set up, but no - something just had to go wrong. Something always had to go wrong. That's just how things work when you think you have a chance at happiness. It happened with Janus, and Virgil was an idiot to think it wouldn't happen with Roman.

Roman, as annoying and boisterous as he was, had managed to intrude his way into Virgil's heart over the many months he had been trying to court the former dark side, and the latter gave in. Whether because he was curious, bored, or actually developed feelings for the prince, Virgil didn't know why but he agreed to go on a date with his pursuer. One date turned into two, two turned into five, and soon six months had flown by of them dating. Sometimes Creativity set them up in the Mindpalace, where his only limitation was himself, or they settled for simple movie nights in each other's rooms. Either way, Roman was the one who always put in the effort, and for once Virgil felt motivated to plan something special, it being their 'anniversary' and all (though he refused to acknowledge it as that).

But when you light a fire in the woods, it's bound to burn down.

Figuratively, of course. There was no literal fire, but there may as well be considering how burnt Virgil felt on the inside. All it really took was the smallest ember, something so small you wouldn't think it would be a problem. In fact, something so small that in all the anger he was in after, Anxiety forgot what the first spark was - all he remembered was the smoke and then the flames.

"Just move on, dude! Janus lies to everyone, it's literally who he is." Virgil yelled, getting annoyed at how many times Roman mentioned the snake. The two had a ... messy relationship, to say the least, though no one, not even the two involved, knew exactly what, but then the princely side dropped Miss Lie-gon one day. He realized Deceit was playing him all along, big surprise to no one else, and when Lee and Mary Lee tied the knot, Roman and Janus severed their ties. They weren't together, or even go on dates, but the selfish serpent would flirt with the prideful prince, butter him up, and Roman soaked it all up like a sponge. Being told exactly what he wanted to hear made it easy to trick him, even if the two had the same goal - the callback.

Roman scoffed as his hand flew to his chest. "Move on? You have no idea what I'm going through." He screamed back, just as annoyed at the audacity of the man in front of him, the man who set up a blanket fort in Roman's room to surprise him with a movie night, which had now been abandoned admist all the crossfire and was starting to cave in, spilling popcorn all over the floor, making a crackling background noise to their fight.

It was Virgil's turn to scoff, and he threw his arms in the air, feigning defeat. "Well, f*ck me gently with a chainsaw, you're right! It's not like Deceit and I have a history or anything, it's not like we were in a relationship before you two were or anything, it's not like he made me feel like gum on the bottom of his shoe or anything!" Sarcasm dripped from his words as he ranted and raved. "Oh wait, except all of that did happen, so I know exactly what you're going through. But do you see me still bringing him up after months?"

Neither Logan nor Patton know what compelled Virgil to leave the others, though Patton was convinced it was because Virgil had a fear of the dark, but after weeks of getting closer, Virgil entrusted Roman enough to tell him. Deceit loved the attention, and would usually seek it from Virgil since Remus could be, well, a bit much at times, but that led to Virgil thinking they were dating. However, Janus only cared about one side and that was himself. He was never emotionally there for Virgil, would insult him but not in the joking way like Roman did, and was overall a sh*tty person to be around. Virgil felt worse and worse with each day and knew that it was affecting Thomas too, so he made the decision to leave the source of his problems. It was tough since he had depended on Janus for a while, but when the Light Sides showed Virgil real love, only then did he realize that what he went through with Deceit wasn't healthy, and that he never wanted to feel like that again.

And that was why it took Roman months to score a date with Virgil. He didn't want to make another mistake like before. Anxiety knew Roman was different than Janus, and literally had hundreds of love letters telling him how much Roman wanted to be with him, cared about him, wanted to make him the Chemical to his Romance, but knew that one day the sh*t would hit the fan again.

Roman spat that Virgil was just like Janus, then there was more screaming from both of them before Virgil kicked down the last of the derelict blanket fort and sunk out into his room. And that was where he stayed for the rest of the night and the following day.

His playlist of angsty, angry songs that he was saving for a rainy day finally fulfilled its purpose. Music had always calmed Virgil, or at least made him feel better, but now it somehow made him feel... lost. Whenever Virgil had anxiety attacks or was feeling like a trash bin overflowing with waste, Roman would sing to him to ease his mind. So now, music just made Virgil miss his prince.

Vindicated by Dashboard Confessional played for the fourth time, and Virgil tore off his black headphones, throwing them and his phone down onto the messy clothes pile on his floor. His head fell into his hands, wanting nothing more than to go back in time - to stop the fight or stop the dating, he wasn't sure which one. Or maybe just to stop himself from getting rid of his music because the silence was overbearing.

Well, almost silence.

Virgil heard knocking at his door, and felt himself pale. His throat felt raw from screaming Paramore into his pillow all night, but he still cleared it and looked up from his hands.

"Who is it?" He hated how broken his voice sounded. There was no response. "Hello?" Still none. Groaning, Virgil stood on two shaky legs, feeling light-headed, and approached the door like a dear might approach a man with a net and gun. Half of him hoped Creativity wasn't on the other side, while the other half prayed it was.

Slowly, he unlocked the door and opened it the tiniest bit to see who was interrupting his moping, but there was no one there. Confused, Virgil opened it a little more, and a movement caught his eye - the flapping of paper. Someone had taped a folded piece of paper to his door. Taking the note, Anxiety anxiously looks up and down the corridor before retreating back inside his room.

The paper was pink and smelled like strawberries, just like all the love letters Virgil had stuffed into a box underneath his bed, which meant it was from the same sender. Did he dare read it?

Chewing his lip, he contemplated unfolding it. Meanwhile, another side was just as nervous as he was about the note.

Roman sat on a throne he had temporarily summoned in the Mindpalace and bounced his leg. Why did he think this was a good idea? He had ruined everything with Virgil, why would Anxiety want to see him again? It seemed like a good idea half an hour ago, but now Princey had the tightest knot in his stomach from the anticipation.

The idea first came to him when he was rewatching Ben Platt's Netflix special to comfort him. The Broadway actor's songs felt special to the theatre kid since he related Virgil and their relationship to them. But one song in particular stood out this time. The words alone contributed to their lives, but the chorus prompted a thought in Creativity's head. Anxiety had once said that, as sappy as it was, he'd love to dance in the rain one day, but Roman knew his hair would get messed up so they never did it.

But if Roman's stormcloud wanted to dance in the rain, then that's exactly what he'll do.

Digging out the special paper he used to write love letters to his crush, Roman wrote in a purple glitter pen:

"Please meet me in the Mindpalace ASAP. - Princey"

Princey didn't bother writing an apology, figured it would mean more if it was in person, and used the nickname Virgil had given him. Then, leaving the fallen down mess of blankets in his room, he stuck the note to Virgil's door, knocked a few times to get his attention, and hightailed it to his second favourite place, his corner of the Mindpalace - his first favourite being Virgil's room.

And that was where Roman waited for his Night in Black Armour, his mind filled with doubts and words he shouldn't have said. He tried to distract himself by going over his plan mentally, but his intrusive regrets repeatedly made themselves known. He tried to rehearse his apology, but his insecurities reminded him that he didn't deserve forgiveness.

How much time had passed? Roman summoned a small pocket watch, which showed that an hour had passed since he arrived. Did Virgil not read the note, or worse, did he ignore what was written? Sighing, the prince on the brink of tears stood up, and was about to sink out, when something felt different all of a sudden. Being the controller of this part of the Mindpalace, Creativity could tell who was in there and what they summoned, and right now he wasn't alone in there.

"Where're you going, Roman?" A bitter voice called out, but when Roman looked around the town he had created, he couldn't see the person it belonged to. "Got something better to do?" The snide voice that was full of hatred and fire that hadn't quite yet been put out seemed to be all around Roman, almost as if to taunt him. It had been so rare that Virgil used his name instead of a nickname, and it hurt more than it should have. Did Virgil come just to break him more (which he felt he fully deserved), or was the prince imagining it?

With a wave of his hand, Creativity got rid of his throne and a small hopeful smile blessed his face. "You're here." He breathed, not sure if it was a statement or a question.

As if to answer, a figure emerged from the shadows behind one of the buildings and looked around, admiring the scene. Or just avoiding eye contact. Roman had created a town at night, the lampposts illuminating the cobble streets with a soft purple lighting, giving the scene a gentle magenta aesthetic. They were on a long winding road, but behind Roman was a big, open town square with a fountain.

Still not looking at Roman directly, Virgil cleared his throat and crossed his arms. "Let's just get this over and done with, I haven't screamed my lungs out to All I Wanted yet." He joked humorlessly. Truth be told, the moping side wasn't exactly sure why he had come, wasn't sure what he was expecting.

After working up the courage to read the note, Virgil sat and started at the curly handwriting for what felt like an eternity, but honestly was however long 'The Ice Is Getting Thinner' by Death Cab for Cutie was. There was nothing Virgil wanted right then more than to see the side he had grown attached to, but the worst case scenarios were of course the first thing he thought of. Maybe Roman would humiliate him in front of Logan and Patton, maybe banish him back to the dark sides (he was dramatic like that, so it was definitely a possibility), or maybe he would take mercy on poor Anxiety and just end whatever they had by telling him how much he hated him.

Roman had traits in common with Janus, but while they were Janus' flaws, they were what made Roman great. His stubbornness was the reason Virgil took a chance on him, which led to the happiest days of his life, his confidence made Virgil start to love himself too, and his passion for things he loved made every date, or even just every day, an adventure. And Virgil would rather throw himself into Oogie Boogie's lair than let someone as incredible as Roman go.

Letting out a relieved breath and smiling like Hamilton when Eliza forgives him, Princey took a few cautious steps towards Virgil, even though he was still a few buildings away from him. "Okay, but first - we're gonna need these." He snapped his fingers, and a raincoat appeared on both of them.

The sudden change startled Virgil a little, and he jumped slightly before looking down at his outfit. The coat was semi-opaque and tinted violet with his logo patterned on, which was similar to Roman's, which was red with his own emblem. Anxiety looked up at Creativity, raising an eyebrow, but before he could ask what they were for, a song began playing from somewhere. Having listened to an album that reminded him of his prince a thousand times, Virgil recognized it straight away.

"You say you've been through this before, you gave away all your secrets to someone who up and left you in pieces," The dramatic side began singing, and Virgil had to stop himself laughing - of course Roman would try and win him back by serenading him. He sang the next line, looking a little bashful. "I know the feeling, believe me.

"I know the prices you gotta pay, I'm sacrificing my freedom and all just to get somebody to see me. Nobody said it was easy." Every so words, Roman would take a step closer towards Virgil, who would occasionally take a step back.

Pretending not to notice, a humble smile replaced Princey's (rare) serious face, and he put a little more zazz into his movements, almost like dancing. "My heart's been broken and broken and broken and broken, but I keep-keep on hoping and hoping and hoping and hoping that if it keeps on breaking and breaking and breaking and breaking then one day it'll open and open and open and open and open for you-"

You'd have to be a robot, or Logan, to resist laughing at how ridiculous Roman looked right now, and Virgil was too stubborn to show that he was entertained, so he turned slightly to hide his face. If the literal embodiment of pride and ego was willing to make a fool of himself like this, it must have meant he was serious, right?

"Hey!" Stopping his 'walking', Roman stood in the middle of the street with his arms out, and the emo turned to look at him again. "I know we've both been afraid! But we can't run from the wind and the thunder when we're dancing under the rain, the rain, the rain!"

On the appropriate lyrics, the wind picked up a little and the faint rumbling of thunder could be heard. The storm could be a metaphor for their current situation, but maybe they could ignore the conflict by just enjoying the moment. On the third 'rain', the grey clouds littering the night sky began to weep on the quiet town, and Virgil couldn't help but gasp and flinch at the coldness, not that he minded. Flipping the hood up over his head, mostly worried about the eyeshadow he reapplied a few minutes ago, the darkly-dressed side was suddenly glad he swapped his usual ripped jeans for some comfy sweatpants.

However, Mr. Perfection seemed completely unaffected, not even bothering to cover his 'award-winning' hair. He walked towards Anxiety, who was hugging himself, and stopped when he was within arms reach. "Hey! I know we got what it takes. Ain't gonna run from the wind and the thunder when we're dancing under the rain-" Roman extended a hand towards Virgil, who looked down at it like it was both a lifeline and the shark in the waves. "The rain-" Cautiously testing the waters, Virgil put his small, pale hand in Roman's soft and slighter tanned one. "The rain! We're dancing under the rain!"

Pulling his stormcloud closer, Virgil didn't stop the laugh that escaped his lips, which caused Roman to join in too while slowly moving backwards with a spring in his stride. This wasn't going up in flames like either of them feared it would. Not to mention, Virgil was smiling again - dear Fairy Godmother, his smile was the sappy romantic's Kryptonite, and his immortality.

"Breathe deep, let it wash over you." It was almost getting hard to sing while Roman was beaming enough to light up a stadium, but he continued, leading the man he was hopelessly devoted to into the centre of the town with lots of free open space. Virgil did what the lyrics told him to, taking a deep breath, and when he exhaled he let all his worries, all the negativity he had been feeling just flow right off of him. He immediately felt better. "We're slowly becoming lovers, I promise you we won't be like the others."

The rainfall went from a trickle to a pour, but neither of them minded. It was true they had been getting closer over the past few months, and as much as Virgil tried to ignore it, he was falling in love with Roman, something he never would have expected. At first, it scared him how quickly these strong emotions came, but now he fully intended on embracing them. He wanted to show how he felt, show that he wasn't mad anymore and that he was sorry for what he said too, show that he wasn't afraid of being with Roman.

As the other side sang the next line, Virgil reached up to run his hand through the fairest prince's hair as joined in with a loud, confident voice.

"We won't go running for cover!"

It clearly took Roman aback slightly, who's eyes widened and smile spread from ear-to-ear. Taking advantage of his speechlessness, the shy side used the lyrics to convey how he felt too.

Imitating the little dance/walk Creativity did earlier, Anxiety guided him backwards, grinning like a true man in love. Which was exactly what he was. "My heart's been broken and broken and broken and broken, but I keep-keep on hoping and hoping and hoping and hoping that if it keeps on breaking and breaking and breaking and breaking then one day it'll open and open and open and open and open for you-"

It didn't take long for them to get into the wide area, and when they did, the lights changed from a purple hue to an intimate pink. A mischievous smirk graced Virgil's slightly red face, and as he yelled the next word, he jumped in a puddle, splashing himself but mostly Princey, whose jaw dropped. "Hey! I know we've both been afraid..."

"But we can't run from the wind and the thunder when-" Getting over his initial shock, the song turned into a duet, with both of the sides singing from their hearts. Roman took both of the usually dismal side's hands and began to swing the two men around in circles. "We're dancing under the rain, the rain, the rain!"

And that's exactly what they did. Together, they danced under the pouring rain as they continued to sing together, not caring about the puddles they were stomping in or the cold they weren't feeling - only each other. "Hey! I know we got what it takes, ain't gonna run from the wind and the thunder when we're dancing under the rain, the rain, the rain. We're dancing under the rain!"

They say that couples should finish each other's sentences, but Virgil and Roman were above that. As the song broke into two parts, the prince and the panic perfectly completed it, with the theatrical Thomas Sanders side taking the over-the-top part and the more modest mental-physical personality singing backup, which he didn't mind. Either way, they completed each other.

"Broken and broken and broken and broken, but I keep, keep on hopin' and hopin' and hopin' and hopin' that if it keeps on breakin' and breakin' and breakin' and breakin' then one day it'll open and open and open and open and open for you."

"We're dancing under the rain! Dancing under the rain, woah!"

Perfectly, the two voices joined to finish the last two choruses together. They were in unison, almost like they were one, and the dancing only got more in sync, with added twirls and footwork - Roman and Virgil danced like no one was watching, just the storm clouds above and the moon in all her glory.

Virgil would swear on his Fall Out Boy vinyls that he had never been happier in his existence, which is saying something for the embodiment of anxiety. He had never had someone cared for him like this before, and he had never not hated someone so much. As someone with a crippling fear of judgement from others, he sure was pretty carefree at that moment, spinning in the rain with a prince, both of them drenched to their cores.

If someone asked Roman to describe how he felt in that moment, he wouldn't be able to say - the moment was indescribable and he would give up all his playbills to frame it and hang it in a museum like the priceless artifact it was. It could be argued that, as well as creativity, he could represent romanticism and romance in general, which meant he was easily prone to developing strong feelings, but what he felt for the emo constantly on his mind didn't need a reason for him to know it was real and the greatest feeling he never wanted to let go.

The tension was rising, and they were both excited to finish the song, because even though this brought them so much more closer than ever before, they both wanted to see what would happen at the end.

"-We're dancing under the rain." Virgil had stopped singing, and while Roman continued, he stared at the man in front of him, the man he loved with his whole emo being. "The rain," Those lips, slightly pink from the cold, were like a siren lulling in this helpless sailor. And he wanted to drown at the hands of it. "The rain, we're dancing under the-"

Roman never sang that last word. Before he could, Virgil grabbed the front of his raincoat and pulled him towards him, pressing their lips together. Fireworks exploded somewhere, whether they were literally there or not neither of them were sure, but the sparks were electrifying. The rain didn't only stop, but the free-falling droplets froze in the air around the couple. It was like the whole Earth stopped for them to savour their first kiss.

It was perfect for Anxiety and Creativity. It didn't matter if the former had slightly chapped lips, it didn't matter if the latter still had his arms awkwardly out mid-dance, the kiss was the most perfect thing to either of them. Maybe they both were sappy for each other. Finally, Roman moved his arms to Virgil's shoulders, then felt the other's hands on his waist, holding him close.

Eyes closed, chests warm and time stopped, their lips moved purposefully together with the passion of a great typhoon and the sweetness of a petal on a stream. Fifteen seconds felt like fifteen lifetimes together, and when they unfortunately but inevitably had to resurface for air, their faces could light up all of America with how much they were smiling. Virgil rested his forehead slightly on top of Roman's (he loved teasing that he would be a little taller than the prince if he didn't slouch so much) and let out the lightest laugh.

"So you're not mad at me anymore?" The insecure side asked, looking bashfully at the emo he had just serenaded and got his self-proclaimed 'Vogue-worthy' hair messy for - at the exact time that said emo spoke.

"I love you."

Instead of replying, Roman's eyes widened to the size of magic mirrors and he held his breath, almost as if he was scared to make another sound and hear Virgil take it back. But he didn't. "I'm sorry, I know you probably really wanted to say it first, but I was scared I'd run away before saying it, which-" Clearly, Anxiety was having a fight with himself about whether he should take flight, and Roman held him impossibly closer to keep him safe in his arms.

"I love you so much."

Virgil's rambling came to a swift end, and he stared into the other's eyes after he confessed that to try and see if there was any sign of deception, and when he realized there wasn't, he pounced forward for another kiss. Hearing those words had lifted so much weight off of both of their shoulders. This kiss was shorter this time, mostly because Roman pulled away. He lifted his arm and sneezed into the crook on his elbow, and realized they were still out in the cold rain, which was falling normally again.

They both laughed, and Virgil held out a hand. "Come on, let's get out of here. His royal sickness can recover in his room, right after we rebuild that blanket fort,"

#prinxiety #virgil sanders #roman sanders #unsympathetic janus #unsympathetic deceit #past roceit #past anxceit #ben platt #song fic #dancing in the rain #kissing in the rain #angst to fluff #prinxiety angst

[wroammin]

a hero’s welcome

word count: 1445

warnings: self-loathing, panic attacks, crying, slight gore (because remus)

summary: roman hides out in his room after the events of putting others first. the other sides try to show him how much he’s missed in their own special ways.

once again, happy birthday to the man, the myth, the himbo: roman sanders

it takes weeks for roman to come out of his room after janus reveals his name.

the others worry almost constantly about his well-being, but after multiple failed attempts at convincing him to come out for movie nights, video recordings, or even just food, they can only hope that roman will come around on his own eventually.

and he does. slowly.

it starts with a few missing disney movies from the TV cabinet, a half-eaten jar of logan’s off-limits crofter’s (which both logan & remus swear they did not touch) left mysteriously on the kitchen counter, and then, on one particularly late night for logan, a brief, silent encounter with a bleary-eyed prince in search of a cup of water.

logan notices roman is looking more bedraggled than bedazzled, with wrinkles running all across his costume and dark-colored bags under his eyes that are eerily reminiscent of virgil’s eyeshadow.

no words are exchanged, but as logan carefully hands roman a glass which he’s filled nearly to the brim, roman knows no words are necessary. he can practically recite logan’s self-care spiel by memory anyway.

eventually, the disney movie collection in the TV cabinet dwindles down to a Frozen DVD (which they’d all recently rewatched anyway), and the old, dusty VHS copy of Black Cauldron (which roman’s never particularly liked). seeing as it’s his personal favorite disney movie, virgil tries not to feel too offended by that.

what virgil can’t stop himself from feeling, however, is worry. it’s not an unfamiliar feeling to him, of course, but it doesn’t make him any less uncomfortable.

he tries all of the usual things to calm his nerves: sitting on strange surfaces, fiddling with a fidget cube, rewatching The Nightmare Before Christmas, napping excessively, and—naturally—blasting music through his bulky headphones.

but even with My Chemical Romance screaming out of his speakers, virgil simply can’t ignore the alarming absence of that familiar, sash-framed figure. 

despite his quarrelsome quips with the prince, virgil can admit that there’s always been a certain... comfort to hearing roman’s boisterous voice belting broadway ballads down the halls, or seeing him dash off on another adventure to defeat the dragon witch for the umpteenth time. 

it’s when virgil’s sullenly staring at roman’s usual spot, in the corner of his room, that an idea suddenly strikes him. 

the next morning, roman sneaks down to the living room in the early hours of the day after deciding that rewatching Frozen (again) doesn’t sound so bad after all. he opens the movie cabinet to find a bit of a surprise in the form of a The Nightmare Before Christmas DVD with a scrap of paper taped hastily to the cover. the chicken scratch scrawled onto the sheet is hard to decipher, but he manages to see it reads:

“i have my own backup copy and i’ll hit play at 8pm tonight. you can do it too, so then we can sort of watch the movie together. i’ll let you pick tomorrow’s movie, if you want to, but fyi i will be picking black cauldron the next time it’s my turn. -virgil”

roman smiles subtly as he makes his way back up to his room, the first flicker of joy he’s felt in a while.

he sits down to watch the movie at 8pm, just like virgil instructed. 

for the next night, he chooses aladdin, and for the night after that, he begrudgingly agrees to watch black cauldron. 

twenty minutes into the film, virgil hears a haste knock at his door. before he even knows what’s happening, roman is shuffling inside and curling up on the couch next to him. 

unsurprisingly, the tired prince falls asleep before the movie finishes. surprisingly, virgil doesn’t actually mind all that much. 

meanwhile, patton has nearly eaten his way through the entire cookie stock in the pantry.

it’s not a healthy coping mechanism for his sadness, he knows, but it’s not like he can just go and ask roman to conjure up some puppies for him instead. patton sniffles at the thought, which serves as a painful reminder of how roman was always there for him when he was feeling down, and how patton can’t do the same for him now.

the others hold an intervention for him after logan finds him sobbing over some reheated spaghetti because it made him think of roman. virgil then explains how he’s been watching movies with roman, and how patton can leave some snacks for the prince in the cabinet along with a note if he wants to send a message. 

that very night, patton stays up past midnight to prepare some spaghetti with extra, extra love (& cumin) for roman. he draws him a card and writes a message inside, then sticks it to the top of the tupperware container containing the spaghetti using glitter glue. 

upon discovering patton’s care package beside virgil’s usual note inside the cabinet, roman feels his mood suddenly shift.

he thinks of the days he spent sobbing for hours inside of his room and staring in the mirror and pacing back and forth and staring in the mirror and laying on his bed and staring in the mirror and working through the tears and staring in the mirror and then slicing a line clean through the mirror with his sword and watching his reflection split in two.

those weren’t good days.

but then he thinks of patton’s pleading, hopeful voice whenever he would call him down for movie nights, video recordings, or food.

maybe patton wasn’t lying when he said roman was loved. maybe it wouldn’t be so bad to see him and the others out in the open again. maybe there were better days ahead.

remus, however, doesn’t wait around for roman to feel better. as always, he continuously swings by his brother’s room whenever he feels like it and leaves whenever he pleases.

still, his visits aren’t as fun anymore. perhaps he just doesn’t have the energy, but roman no longer bothers to shriek at remus to get out of his room or to push remus off his desk when he drapes himself across it.

not even the severed, mutilated head that remus kindly leaves on roman’s pillow elicits its usual slew of creative curse words, so the duke decides to step up his game.

he skips casually into roman’s room one late afternoon, lazily swinging his morning star at his side and whistling a jaunty tune. as usual, roman doesn’t spare him a single glance. he’s staring down at some kind of crayon-covered card.

it only takes one hit to knock roman out, but dragging him into the living room is a much more difficult process.

the other sides are already waiting, just like janus promised they would be. they rush over and prop roman up on the couch. patton gives remus a few reprimanding words, virgil sends him a couple scowls, and even logan looks on with more disapproval than usual, but they quickly forget their anger at him as soon as roman groans groggily and slowly blinks open his eyes.

remus takes that as his cue to leave. janus is waiting at the top of the stairs.

“so you’re sure that this plan of yours is going to work?”

janus scoffs. “of course i am. though, have you considered that perhaps you’re just not as annoying to your brother anymore?”

“have you considered that perhaps i could start leaving chopped heads on your pillow instead if your ‘master plan’ fails?” remus shoots him the prettiest, toothiest smile he can muster.

janus’ expression darkens. “well. i suppose it’s a good thing i’m certain it will work, then.”

the sound of laughter bubbles up from the living room. janus doesn’t bother to hide his satisfied smirk.

“i’ll say, when you told me you could help me get roman back to normal, forcing him to attend a party was not what i had in mind.”

“do i even want to know what you had in mind?” janus gives him a quick side glance.

remus’ eyes light up. “well–”

“rhetorical question, remus. ugh, maybe i should start saying ‘figuratively’, as well. anyway, yes, i thought it was about time roman stopped sulking. so, what better way to get him out of his room than by having a, uh, hero’s welcome of sorts for him?”

“well, i got him out of his room by dragging him by his feet.”

janus sighs, wondering why he even opens his mouth to speak anymore. 

his plan better work.

though, judging by the sound of patton and logan’s exhasperated sighs as roman and virgil argue over which movie to watch, he has the sneaking suspicion it will.

#me looking at the warnings on this like hm yes. this is totally fluffy birthday material #also if anyone has any idea what’s going in this lmk because i have No idea and i’ve read it like thirty times #and remember to roast me for any typos you find #sanders sides #thomas sanders #roman sanders #logan sanders #virgil sanders #remus sanders #patton sanders #janus sanders #roman angst #bullet fic #sanders sides fanfiction #fanfic #emma’s stuff #crying #long post

[bewaretheidesofmarchyall]

Soulmate Shenanigans

So, lucky me, I found this list of prompts!

Unlucky me, it was for a September event. Surprise, surprise, this is not September

That isn’t going to stop me from doing this, though!

So, without further ado, prompt number one!

Your Soulmate’s name is written on your wrist or palm

Warnings for death mentions galore and drowning, as well as something that isn’t drug use, but if drug use is a triggering topic for you I wouldn’t recommend you read

Not as angsty as these warnings would suggest, but there is still Angst

I don’t know how it got angsty I just work here

World building

The first recorded instance of a palm mark was when Lady Natalia of Venice nearly drowned in a canal

She’d been on her way home from a party alongside her fiance when she “tripped” (the word “tripped” here means “Was pushed by her fiance for financial reasons”) into the river. Her husband-to-be quickly exited the scene, leaving her to be weighed down by her skirts and die.

Angela (forger of swords and mixer of poisons, just happened to be in the neighborhood when she heard a scream and a splash) had other plans. She dove into the water, saving Natalia and cutting her hand in the process.

The two women spent a good deal of time together after that, the scientific Natalia claiming that she only wanted to know why her name was on Angela’s hand.

Some historians claim that the two were platonic soulmates. While this is possible, and platonic soulmates have a long and wonderful history, no one with common sense believes this to be the case

They exchanged love letters that were quite clear that the attraction was a romantic one.

Some historians also claim that there isn’t enough evidence to suggest that they killed the fiance.

Those historians are wrong.

Anyway, in modern days 97% of the population has a palm mark with the name of their soulmate

The tattoo industry has never had so many illegal opportunities

When your soulmate dies, the name doesn’t scar. It doesn’t blister, burn, or black out. All that happens is a thin, impersonal line crossing their name out. Some people don’t notice who they lost for days.

There’s a process to remove palm marks. However, it’s illegal and possibly fatal for the soulmate being removed.

Our Characters

Roman: Roman was confused by the name of his soulmate.

Who names their kid “Janus”?

Am I soulmates with a roman deity? The heck?? SO MANY QUESTIONS AND SO LITTLE ANSWERS

Roman was so excited to have a soulmate. He kept entire journals filled with things he wanted to tell Janus, part diary, part scrapbook, and part love letter. He would doodle hearts around his palm mark.

One night, in April, Roman went to sleep. In the morning, there was a line across his palm.

His soulmate had died, and he hadn’t even seen the line drawn. He broke a little.

Enough said.

Roman took the passion that he’d had for his Janus and channeled it into his acting. If he couldn’t get love, he’d get a fucking Tony Award.

Remus: Remus had been annoyed by his brother’s complaining.

“Oh, boo-hoo, my soulmate has a rare name. That means that as soon as I meet him, I’ll know exactly who he is! Roman, DO YOU KNOW HOW MANY PEOPLE ARE NAMED LOGAN”

Remus was annoyed that his soulmate had the audacity to have a common name. In theory, he could date all of the 18,000 Logans in the country, but does he really have the time?

He and his brother bicker about this for a solid seven years, until the argument abruptly ends. Ever since then, he’s been on his brother’s side in everything he can.

Logan: It made total sense for Logan to not have a soulmate.

His soulmate would have been unlucky, being stuck with a know-it-all like him, at least according to most of the people he knew.

This was a simple solution to the puzzle.

It wasn’t helpful to waste time wishing for a different one.

Janus: Janus had a whole plan for when he met his soulmate.

He wrote it down in 10th grade

Step 1: Wear gloves

Step 2: Find Roman

Step 3: Say something witty

Step 4: Remove gloves, revealing palm

Step 5: This little mystery is over and done with, and hopefully my soulmate isn’t boring

This was how a lot of Janus’s plans would work. Solid ideas, but missing bits and important pieces. This includes his heist plan he scribbled out on a napkin on an April day.

Step 1: Find local con-artists

Step 2: Pretend to be a person with money (which I obviously do not have)

Step 3: Scam them

Step 4: Don’t get murdered on the way out

Step 5: Profit

He pulled off steps 1-3 with ease, but step 4 proved to be a sticking point.

As he escaped via the river, with money in his hands and a “so long, suckers!” on his lips for drama, he thought nothing could go wrong

Fun fact: It’s rather common for con artists to fatally give away their positions by yelling “so long, suckers!”. Just ask Odysseus as he sailed away from the Cyclops.

The con artists shot wildly at his boat, blowing it to pieces. As he went down with the ship, he barely had enough time to think this can’t be happening, and fuck this and I’m going to die at the same age as Philip fucking Hamilton and I really don’t want to go to hell before his lungs filled with water and his heart stopped.

And Janus died.

For a solid two minutes.

Technically, death is when your heart ceases to beat. Even though people have been revived after their hearts have stopped, it is death, and enough to draw a line across a sleeping Roman’s hand.

Janus, however, was saved by an old man, who dragged him out of the river and forced the water out of his lungs. The old man took one look at the teenager and decided that he needed better role models, which is how Patton took Janus under his wing and saved his life in more ways than one.

The Actual Plot

Roman is in a city production of Hamlet. His brother is in the audience, his friend is fixing the lighting, and he’s ready to go.

It’s a pretty good performance, by all accounts, but especially according to Janus.

He’d already been watching the main actor intently, smiling from the mezzanine, but he was even more intrigued when he read the playbill and realized his name was Roman. He could barely pay attention to act five as he planned out the lies he’d tell to get backstage.

Somehow, he didn’t get caught sneaking around, and managed to catch a glimpse of Roman’s hand in a mirror. Janus. He really is his soulmate!

Janus walks over to Roman, says something that isn’t as witty as he would have liked (but not as bad as it could have been), and removes his glove.

Now, he expected his soulmate could have a variety of reactions. He didn’t expect Roman to yell “Not today, ghost!”, throw a prop skull at him, and sprint out of the theater. Janus caught a glimpse of the line through his name.

He was reasonably sure that he wasn’t dead? He could see his reflection in mirrors, he could consume salt, people tended to notice his existence!

Jan didn’t have much time to mull over this, as he was about to be forcibly removed from the greenroom. Logan just wanted to fix the lighting and live his life, but when strangers break into the backstage and upset Roman...

Jan skedaddles as Logan chases him out of the building. The nerd has almost caught the intruder when he runs directly into a man in a green jacket holding a coffee cup full of ketchup

Why did he have a coffee cup full of ketchup?

Remus and Logan bicker as Janus escapes. When Remus realizes Logan’s name, he asks a few questions, but Logan quickly shows his two blank palms, and the matter is settled.

Everything seems over and done with.

Meanwhile, Roman is freaking out. His mind is essentially in a loop of The fuck? The fuck? The actual fuck? He’s completely unsure of what to do. Is he seeing ghosts? Does he only believe he’s seeing ghosts? Is he sane or not?

Remus checks up on his brother at around 3 am, only to find him, exhausted, and writing in his old soulmate journal. Roman tries to explain what just happened, but the narrative told isn’t exactly coherent. All Remus can gather is that

1. His brother thinks that his dead soulmate is alive

2. This is because some guy snuck backstage and told him that he was the dead soulmate in question

3. This was probably the guy Logan was chasing

Remus convinced Roman to go to sleep, and walked out of the apartment with blood on his mind. He was sure that his brother was being manipulated.

This guy might not be dead now, but he would be soon.

Meanwhile, Janus proves that he can, in fact, cross a salt circle, so he must be alive! Right?? He also can’t get a certain actor out of his head, and wonders what his next move should be.

Remus recruits Logan to help him do some investigation in case Shady Liar Dude shows up. They go on several stakeouts together, in equally improbable locations. Maybe the two of them got too far into the secret agent aesthetic. Logan had always wanted to be a detective as a kid.

They fall for each other, and fast

Roman is spiraling, and a chat with Remus has him convinced that he was wrong, and Janus really is dead. He curses himself for believing in the pretty fairy-tale. Yes, because love wins in the end and they all live happily ever after. He has a performance tomorrow.

And it’s really time he got rid of the old scar.

You don’t hang around Remus without knowing where the black market locations are. It’s relatively easy to find the cure for palm marks.

He paces around backstage, holding a journal in one hand and a small bottle in the other. The warning that destroying the palm mark destroys the soulmate causes terror to rise in his throat, even though he knows that Janus is dead and can never read his love letters no matter how many stars he wishes on.

He finally makes his choice when Remus and Logan visit him before the performance. They give him looks of pity. He doesn’t want to be pitied.

According to the label, effects should take place over the next several hours. So, he waits for Janus’s name to disappear from his hand.

Janus managed to hustle someone with orchestra seats for their tickets. Despite not getting off on the right foot with his soulmate, he isn’t going to let him go that easily. And Roman’s brilliant performance that night just reinforces that. If he was good weeks ago, he was a star now. Janus was transfixed.

When the curtain call came, Janus was the first on his feet for a standing ovation. Remus and Logan noticed him, and pushed their way through the applauding audience. Both of them almost hoped that he’d get away again so they could continue spending time together.

Roman notices him. They lock eyes. Janus waves as though to say Hi, I’m here, apologies for the awkwardness of our meet-cute, but coffee? Roman gives him a look of disdain, as if to say I can’t believe I thought you were my soulmate, you con artist. He intends to look away and bask in the applause, but before he can do that, Janus collapeses.

Roman is confused at first, and then it clicks. That’s his soulmate. That’s his Janus.

And he killed him.

Pandemonium breaks out. Roman leaps off the stage, Remus freezes in panicked comprehension, the crowd scatters, and several people try to reach the dying man.

Logan gets there first. His mind scans memories of hours spent in libraries, researching everything there is to know about palm marks. Why didn’t some people have them? How did you lose them? How could you get them back?

He instructs Remus and Roman to help carry Janus to the greenroom.

They race him there, everyone in a state of panic (including Logan, but more importantly he has a job to do). Logan tells Remus to run and get a few basic ingredients, and they wait. Time moves much too fast and much too slow, until he comes back.

Logan works chemical wonders, piecing together Roman’s hand until everything is stabilized.

A vicious scar, the type you’d except if your soulmate was really gone, forms on Roman’s palm, and it will stay there for the rest of his days.

Janus comes back from death’s door for the second time.

After The Drama

Logan and Remus eventually move past the “but I don’t have a soulmate” “and yet I still am in love with you” dithering and go on a date that isn’t for the purpose of stalking a supposed stalker.

They go to the aquarium.

Meanwhile, there’s a lot to work out between Roman and Janus. From “wow, you’re not dead” to “wow, I nearly murdered you”, we don’t have time to unpack all that.

But they do get coffee. And they talk.

Soulmate stuff! I really like soulmate aus, despite not liking to write straight up romance

It’s weird

Anyway, hope you enjoyed!

#ts sides #sanders sides #roman sanders #ts roman #roman #janus sanders #ts janus #janus #soulmate au #logan sanders #ts logan #logan #remus sanders #ts remus #remus #roceit #roceit angst #roman angst #tw death mention #death mention tw #intrulogical

[turtletimewriting]

The First Steps Into the Adventure (Patton partners with Janus)

Summary: well it would be no good telling you what happened!

Note: AAH! Okay, I can’t really believe how many people interacted with this! Thanks! Right, so this is still basic introduction stuff, I’ll admit. This is a bit clunky but I want to give as many chances for this to be interactive as possible. 

The decision will be presented at the end!

Once again, this is inspired by fluffomatic’s tickle forest idea!

Previous Part!

_._._

Patton screwed his face up in concentration, carefully evaluating them, before he lit up and pointed at Janus, “You’re on my team, JanJan!” 

“Well good luck on your journey, lover boy,” Janus taunted with a smirk as he walked to stand beside his team leader, Virgil quickly punched his hat down over his eyes as he scampered off as well. He was violently blushing as he approached Logan and he managed to give a friendly smile. 

“Great! Now just two more things to do!” Roman announced with an elaborate flourish.

“How much more to this is there!” Janus frowned to which Patton tweaked his side as a warning.

“Well if you wish to adventure blindly without your map and a hint, then that’s up to you!” Remus cackled as he chucked paper at them violently.

Logan frowned at their map, beyond it’s very apparent unprofessionalism, it seemed fairly straight forward. It was simply one long winding path to a large childishly scribbled ‘X’. He expected something a bit more detailed from a joint creativity project but maybe that was yet to be seen. “Is my map the same as Patton’s?” 

“Yeah, if it’s like a race thing then I’m out,” Virgil snarked.

“Nah, see your map goes down this left road and Patton’s goes to the right,” Remus answered.

“Ah I get it. Left brain goes left and right brain goes ri...” Logan mumbled off as both creativities looked at him blankly. He may as well be speaking Spanish... well if Roman didn’t speak Spanish. Maybe they weren’t quite on his level of genius. 

“Anyway!” Roman called out and magicked two sealed envelopes, “Now it wouldn’t be fair to just send you into this world without any warning. So we randomly selected two of our fantastical beasts... or one of our plants to inform you of.”

Logan perked up at that- maybe the detail would be in the inhabitants of this adventure rather than the adventure itself. Patton handed the envelope to Janus as he had a very bad habit of sucking badly at opening envelopes. Janus wordlessly and without even looking, hooked his finger under the flap and opened it in one swipe. 

“What is it!” Patton squealed.

“Give me a second,” Janus answered with a glare at Logan’s team. He hooked his arm over Patton to turn them so there was no way that Logan’s team could cheat and look at their sheet, “Also be quieter. I don’t know about you but I truly don’t care about winning this.”

It was a very short page from what looked like an encyclopaedia but the information was very limited and basic. Not that they would be complaining.  

A picture showed a huge ‘Little Shop of Horrors’-esque plant monster. Remus’ influence was pretty easy to see. Janus doubted Roman would ever want to create something like that, but he did smile as he recognised that Remus would never have the monster be this pretty looking. Clearly they were much better working as a team. The plant had gorgeous pristine white petals framing a pastel pink ‘face’. The page was titled ‘Motherbloom’. 

“A large flower that’s queen of the tickle forest. She pins down her target and lifts their shirt to deliver a long raspberry on the tummy. She also uses her vines to tickle at other areas. The leafy sacs around the base of the flower holds air she uses for raspberries. The white flowers on the bush carry an intense pollen. Scientists discovered that if this pollen is transferred to other plants, the plants offspring will become tickle plants.”

Patton released a squeal that only dogs could hear. “Patton!” Janus hissed as he tried to wrangle his team leader under control.

“Ah! Aren’t you super tickly to raspberries JanJan?” Patton launched into a hug and quickly pressed a small raspberry to his neck; which totally didn’t send Janus squealing himself. 

“Aw man, you guys got the motherbloom! May come in handy that,” Roman peered over their shoulders. 

“I thought you decided which ones we got?” Patton asked.

“No, it truly was random. We put everything we created into a list and used a number generator to chose which one everyone learned about.”

“Wow, that is... very thorough of you both,” Janus complimented. Roman blushed violently at the very small compliment and awkwardly shrugged it off. 

Logan opened the envelope with a summoned letter opener and quickly withdrew the page. He frowned as he realised this was probably ripped directly from some book. Virgil leaned on to his shoulder casually to peer at the page; therefore making his brain shortcircuit. How dare his boyfriend be so casually cute and affectionate. How was he supposed to work in these conditions. Virgil already looked quite beautiful on this day. Despite how rushed he was to get ready for what Roman and Remus planned, his makeup exaggerated his slightly sleepy eyes and of course his bright almost neon green and purple eyes looked as striking as ever. He was all bundled into his jumper just in case their adventure got too cold and he was mindlessly nuzzling into the front. He was... “Well this isn’t a whole lot to go off on?”

“Wha...” Logan perked up again and stared at the page. It was titled Tickler Jelly. 

“These jellies are attracted to pool toys and swim up to them. If a person is easily targetable, they will latch on and begin tickling the target with its four large feathers.”

It showed some very typical jelly fish with obvious feathery fluttering stingers near the centre with normal, presumably, non-stinging stingers that are used to latch on to the victims. It was pink and undeniably adorable so Logan concluded this was probably a Roman creation. But then again, jellyfish were quite intimidating animals so maybe Remus suggested the concept itself. 

Remus had walked over to them with a shrug, “Would you’ve rather we didn’t give you any information to go on?”

“Well no but we may not even go into water so really this isn’t any good!” Virgil frowned.

“And now you know what could be lurking in the water! I’d stop whining if I was you! This was totally random, I don’t control what you lot found out.”

“Right! Teams!” Roman teleported back on to the platform and stood on his throne, “I wish you the best of luck in your adventures. Your journeys will be long and treacherous. But you must keep in mind that your treasures are waiting for you. If you keep a sharp eye out, you may even find hints along the way to help unlock your treasure. May the best team get to the treasure quickest. Good luck teams!” 

Roman and Remus clapped dramatically and the whole stage puffed into a wave of technicoloured smoke. 

The same stage that everyone was standing on. 

They all fell to the floor with grumbled swears. Both teams awkwardly stared at the other before Janus leapt to his feet and dragged Patton down the path. Logan, seeing this, immediately pulled Virgil into his arms and sprinted down the dusty path ahead of them. The game was on.  

Patton and Janus raced ahead until they lost sight of the other team and settled quickly into a walk. “Right, so what do we need to do?” Janus asked, he figured he better play the game properly and actually pretend that Patton made a good team leader.

“Just follow this path. By the looks of it we have to follow this path which takes us into a wooded bit then across a river before getting to the treasure. Simple!” Patton chirped as he charged on ahead. 

The world was just as beautiful as any other the creativities had created before. Despite it being the evening, it was still a warm day with a gorgeous clear blue sky. There were a few streaks of bright white clouds and there was only enough wind to prettily rustle the leaves of the trees. It was beautiful. The path was taking them past a bit of a thicker grassy bit. Trees dotted along their path with thick bushes of ferns and dry yellow grass that stretched up to their waists. 

Janus frowned as he saw the path was still tilting around a section of trees. “Can I look at the map?”

“Sure.” Patton handed it over without any fuss. 

“Yeah, wait!” Janus pulled them to a stop and pointed to the path they were following on the map. The map clearly showed that the path they were following was awkwardly circling around the wooded bit. It would probably take double the amount of time to follow the path or just cut through the wooded bit. “We should just cut through this wooded bit. We’ll end up back on the path and probably cut off a good ten minutes.”

“Oh yeah!” Patton stared at the map before flicking up to look at the path, “but we have no idea what could be lurking in the forest ready to tickle tickle tickle us!” He was wiggling his fingers and curling up to Janus. To which he totally didn’t blush. Of course he got partnered up with the literal tickle monster.

“Yes but then again we have no idea what could be on the path. We seen some butterflies flying around, any one of them could be planning an... attack on us. I don’t think we’ll be in any more danger if we cut through. Plus, don’t you think it would be in Remus’ nature to punish us for following the boring predictable option?”

“Well, we should figure this out soon. The more time we stand here arguing, the more time we are wasting...” 

Meanwhile... with Logan’s team!

“Right. Now the most logical decision would be to analyse the map and decide which is the optimal route to travel. Knowing Patton, he will be following the map blindly,” Logan pulled Virgil to a stop and summoned a compass so to actually use the map effectively. 

“Yeah but he also has Janus with him. We have no idea what they could be doing,” Virgil awkwardly tried to conceal just how hard he was panting from the short run. Logan ignored him by examining the map and looking up for any identifying features. 

“Okay so by the looks of it, we can follow the path through the plain fields ahead of us. Or we can quickly jog over that hill and there will be a public garden.”

“Why would we go through a garden?” Virgil frowned and yoinked the map away from him. 

“Well right now we are at the mercy of whatever the twins have organised,” Logan stated.

“Yeah you don’t need to remind me. Us even standing still right now could be the opportunity this weird world is looking for. We could be standing in the middle of an ant hill for all we know!” Virgil whined but Logan pressed him into his side with a gentle smile.

“All good points. I’m just saying the field could contain anything for all we know while a flower garden would only contain flowers. Therefore we know to avoid loitering and interacting with the flowers and it could be a straightforward path forward. They both lead to the same place,” Logan reasoned as he guided them slowly forward. 

“Do you want to go through the garden?” 

“I think it’s worth considering. However, I could never outshine you in thoroughly considering our options. I’ll leave the decision up to-”

“Too much pressure!” Virgil laughed and burrowed into his chest. 

“Okay then,” Logan murmured, “we could continue through the field and face whatever they have planned. Or we go through a flower garden and know we have to face tic... plants. Hmm...”

And so the adventure has fully began!!

Should Patton and Janus:

A) Follow the path.

B) Cut through the wooded bit.

Should Logan and Virgil:

1) Go through the field.

2) Go through the flower garden. 

#turtle writing #ts virgil #ts logan #ts roman #ts patton #ts deceit #ts janus #Tickling #TicklyAdventure #fluff

[i-will-physically-fight-you]

Are you going to finish the Tiny Virgil AU? Cause the last chapter ended on a cliffhanger. If you don't feel like finishing the whole thing, you could maybe give us bullet points of what was supposed to happen?

Ahaha whoops, I kinda forgot that fic. at the rate I'm going, it'll take like ten years for that or any of my other fics to get finished. Tbh, I actually have a whole outline for that one? Acantha (@theeternalspace) and I brainstormed the rest ages ago and then I took our thoughts and bullet-outlined it out.

The thing is? Like, emotionally I want to hold onto my thoughts and finish it, but if I am to be completely honest, realistically it probably won't happen. Because I wanna prioritize Gibbous over it and all.

so tldr: I'd like to write more installments, but in the case I never finish it and/or you don't care about spoilers, check the read more for what happens.

warnings: hurt/comfort, crying, morally grey sides (all sides are present so beware idk its been awhile im not up to date with how the fandom handles this sorta thing)

Chapter 5

Anx cant believe he forgot about Thomas!

He was so caught up in Creativity wanting to play with him, he's forgotten about his whole purpose

He goes to the real world, worried about all the things that could've befallen his host without his guidance

Anx is confused to be faced with adult Morality and another...side?

"Thomas?"

Thomas is big, Anx is not

This can't be real, can it? How can he protect Thomas like this?

Roman shows up, but the damage is dealt (Ro and Pat converse a bit)

Virge starts panicking and panics even more when he sees Thomas affected by it

Ro & Pat try to comfort Virge but no use

It's Thomas who gets to him. Who is...helping? Why?

"Wh-why are you so nice? I'm bad, I hurt you--I do bad things."

Thomas looks sad at that. He tries to explaining that he doesnt think Virge is bad, he can be good

Virge doesnt really understand but at the same time...Thomas loves him??

Thomas offers him a hug and he accepts it. Still so confused but at least his host loves him.

Chapter 6

Virgil ends up tuckered up in Thomas' arms

"Crying is exhausting, don't like it" He complains to Roman.

"I know. You've been very brave, little prince."

It's not that late but Thomas seems nervous. "I should go to bed." (Basically feels like if he doesnt adhere to his childhood bedtime, he'll get in trouble aka lil Virgil's influence)

Patton asks if he'd like for him to accompany him and Thomas nods

Roman and Virgil end up back in the mindscape with Patton promising to follow soon after

Roman tucks him into bed

Patton comes back, looking tired, and both Roman and Patton agree to talk with Logan in the morning about things

in the morning with Virgil still asleep, Lo, Pat and Ro talk briefly

Logan shares some theories (Age regression maybe?)

Patton tells them what's up with Thomas

Roman decides to bother the Dark Sides. "If this happened before in the past, they would know, wouldn't they? And if they're behind it this time then I can get them to stop it"

They decide to have Patton look out for Thomas again and for Logan to watch over Virgil while Roman ventures out to the Dark Sides

Chapter 7

Logan mulls over what is happening

Grateful that Thomas is going to bed early at least

He is not worried, he is Logic

Tries focusing hard on his book

Virgil wakes up, disappointed to see Logan and not Roman

Roman ventures through the dark mindscape

infodump detail on how it differs vs. the regular mindscape, quiet, silence nobody is around

"HELLO" Roman screams as his brother pops up

"What do I owe brother dear for this visit?"

Virgil is worried about Roman, but Logan placates him a bit

The two end up doing a puzzle

During which Virgil randomly hugs Logan

When Logan asks why, Virgil explains "You're scared. Hugs make me feel less scared"

Logan thanks him for the sentiment but insists he is not scared

"You're scared, I can feel it. It's okay, I get scared lots of times so you don't have to." Virgil says

And then Logan's fear dissipates

He stares at Virgil, shocked, because did tiny virge take his fear away??

And if so, if tiny virge knows how to do this, has adult Virgil been doing it without them knowing??

Chapter 8

"I know you did it" Roman growls. It makes sense really. Remus did random things for sh*t and giggles

Remus blinked "Oh! You found out about ____, didn't you?"

"What no!" Roman says, disgusted. "I'm talking about Virgil."

"Wait, you think I did it with Virgil? Mr. Emo?"

"NO!" Roman snaps. "Stop playing dumb!"

The two have a scuffle, ending up with Remus having a sword at Ro's throat (who is stuck in green goop)

"I really don't know what you mean." Remus says, "What is it exactly do you think I did again?"

Logic must hate him, Anx thinks, otherwise why would he be looking strangely at him?

but its okay, even if it really really really hurts, Anx has done it before and would do it again to keep from any of them feeling pain

He asks if Anx took his fear away and he nods

surely this must be a happy thing but Logic seems even more upset

the fear grappling tiny virge is foreign. It's so different than fears he's taken before. He finds himself drowning in it. he doesnt quite understand most of it. But there's fears about himself, Logic being scared for him, not of him. (basically oh boy adult fears are much harder to process for a child Anxiety)

Logic grips his hand and asks for his fears back

"I can't" Tiny Virge says, shaking like a leaf

Logan asks it again. Virge shakes his head "I can't, I--I don't know how!"

He really doesnt know how. Usually he just holds it all in until it explodes.

Logic echoes some of what the fear is telling him, that Logic cares for him. And weirdly, it means a lot for him to hear that Logic actually cares.

But noooo he must only care because of Thomas, right?

Anyways this is resolved somehow idk lmao and then Logan is called to help with Thomas

Virgil promises Lo he'll be okay, not wanting to stop him from being able to help their host

Logan promises he'll back momentarily

Virgil squeezes Zola and tries his best to stay calm

Previously on Rem and Ro

Roman spills the beans on whats up

Deadbeat silence

Remus then babbles about how he has no clue what Roman is talking about, but is super intrigued and wants to check this out for himself

He sinks out as Roman grabs onto his ankle, but isn't enough to stop him from sinking out.

Chapter 9

"Hiya!"

Little Anx squeaks, shadows gathering at his feet, ready to strike at....

A Green-Dressed Creativity? He dresses fancily like him.

"Princey?"

Green laughs. "No, I'm The Duke! Princey's my brother!"

And Lil Virge is kinda confused but rolls with it because Creativity pretending to be someone else/splitting himself into two is a very Creativity thing to do and isn't too worried about it.

Roman shows up, fuming

However, because of Virgil, he has to play nice

They end up having a pretend tea party

Roman finds himself shocked that Remus is decent with kids? Or at least a Kid Anxiety??

He still says outrageous things but Virge giggles at them (Basically kids really have no baseline for moral right-or-wrong, they find talk of murder funny)

Roman feels a bit guilty/regretful realizing he never played much with Remus growing up

Eventually, Logan pops up slightly frazzled

He's relieved to see the twins there looking after Virgil

Explains the situation w/ Thomas to Roman while Remus and Virgil play

Patton pops up, looking slightly weary, leading Roman and Logan to insist he take a day off from watching Thomas

Upon seeing Logan & Patton, Virgil runs up to hug Logan, but shies away from Patton

Patton tries to hide his disappointment about this

Remus tries to leave upon seeing Lo and Pat are here

but Virge clings to him, insisting he stays

The Others agree, and Remus perks up a bit.

Somewhere, there's a discussion about Virge again, late at night?

Logan reveals Virgil taking fears from him

At some point it's decided to leave Janus out of it as it's unknown how little Virge would react to him and the fact that Janus most likely knows what's up and has chosen to stay out of it

It's decided that Remus and Roman will traverse the Imagination to see if there's a solution there

Logan will be with Thomas

Meanwhile Patton will look after Virgil

Chapter 10

Patton's POV

Little Virge is upset about both Remus and Roman leaving

they try to placate him but it does little. (Telling him how they'll stay safe and they don't want him going because they want to keep him safe)

Patton's heart breaks but he has to holds back Virge.

Eventually the two have heart-to-heart

Apparently the two had a classic childhood spat, that means a lot to Virge even tho poor Pat doesnt remember the spat at all.

Pat tells them they're the best of friends now, even shows him evidence

Virge feels a little better

Sees a snake stuffy in Pat's room, asks about Dee

Patton deflects

The two end up making cookies together

The Imagination is a bust, although the twins return squabbling in a good mood

And Remus has a "present" for Virgil, who delights in it.

They chat, when suddenly Virgil screams

Chapter 11

Virgil's POV

He's been trying his best to stay calm, to hold back the anxiety gained from Logan and also the other fears swelling inside of him

But it's too much, and push comes to shove. A burning sensation occurs

And it explodes

He has a panic attack and realizes it extends into the real world

Overwhelmed and upset, he runs off.

He runs off to his hideaway and sits there

Getting bombarded with fears

He's there for what feels like hours when--

"Oh my dear Anxiety" A crooning, unfamiliar yet familiar voice says

Virgil looks, surprised, to see Deceit!! There's a lot more scales and he's wearing a funny outfit but it's him

He is happy to see him albeit sobbing into his capelet because of what happened.

Dee holds onto him going, “Shhhh everything’s alright. Shhh it’s not your fault. It’s my fault, I’m sorry—“ and Virgil interrupts shrieking it can’t be his fault, because in his mind Dee would never do anything bad and it hurts Dee to know that young Virge has so much faith in him.

"You'll hate me" But Little Virge refuses to accept that. "You're lying, you don't mean that"

"Okay, you caught me. "We stay best friends forever" OR something along those lines

Dee convinces him to bring back to the others, that they don't hate him

When they return, the others "freaking out" is a mild understatement.

Dee slowly produces tiny Virge out of his capelet.

Hisses at them to keep their distance because crowding Virge will only freak him out

Apologies and misunderstandings are made clear

Thomas summons all of them and they all have a sleepover

Virgil falls asleep snuggled between Remus and Dee

Chapter 12

Maybe Roman's POV?

Along with Thomas, they have a discussion

Dee waits a bit, before revealing that he's behind the reason for Virge's current state.

As his role Deceit, he has access to both truth and lies. One lie is that Virgil believes his kid self died and is no longer a part of him--attempting to actively repress those memories

He then points out the childish aspects of each side's function. (Maybe Logan input something about growing up and stuff)

P: "But why would Virgil think this?" J: "oh gee, I wonder why. It isn't like he was made to feel like an outcast from a very young age or anything"

Instant Guilt for all

Anyways Dee explains some mishap occurred, thus reverting Virgil back to this state

You get the sense Janus isn't telling the whole truth.

Janus says he has a way to fix things, and that's when there's a noise

"Anx?"

Virge is there, standing incredibly still, slightly heavy breathing

"Anx, it's okay, we're not upset"

Little Virge heard everything and is upset but he understands

He knows Thomas needs big him, and the others reassure him that they'll be there for him, each having a small moment with him

Then he starts glowing brightly, causing them all to be alarmed, Janus included

Chapter 13

Virgil is back and boiiiiiii is he freaked the heck out

The Others including Thomas are all there, F*CK how can he ever recover after they saw him like that?

He's both embarrassed and mortified

Not to mention it hurts to have two sets of childhood memories rattling inside his head. One that was lonely and painful, and the other that was happy but fake

He snaps at Janus and ends up fleeing in his room

He doesn't duck out

He cant do that

He just doesnt....go out. He doesn't want to hear the jokes start. He doesnt want the babying or the pitying to start.

He does his job and that is that.

(inwardly he knew this would happen, but not like this)

They try summoning him (Thomas included) but he wont come out. His door is locked.

Patton slips a note under the door but Virge refuses to look at it.

Blares MCR

Somehow Zola appears in his room, and he'd like to tear it apart or something, but he can't help but squeeze the stuffed bat tight and cry for the childhood that never was.

A week passes, and there's a very sad prince at his door

Virgil ends up letting him in because look, he's not a monster

it's very...awkward at first

but they eventually have a heart-to-heart and some snarky banter

and Virgil is very confused when Princey feels the need to apologize to him

They also discuss Janus and Virgil very reluctantly agrees to talk to him

Virgil ends up talking with Janus over tea

Janus doesn't really look at him, staring at his teacup as he explains himself

and dammit, Janus has hurt him (but then again so has Virgil hurt Janus)

But a part of him really misses him. A part of him that has always missed him.

Janus explains he just wanted to know where he went wrong in their friendship, that he went the round-about way because knew Virgil wouldn't talk to him but messed with things he shouldnt and accidentally caused Virgil to revert to the age before their friendship started fraying by accident.

He admits that he almost wanted to leave Virgil that age, to take advantage of it as a way to start again, but ultimately couldnt let himself take advantage of virgil in that way

He also apologizes, telling Virgil "Showing weakness isn't bad. I told you once that you had to stay strong and not let anyone see it, but I was wrong" and that he understands if Virgil doesnt accept his apology right away or if ever

And Virgil doesnt completely accept, not yet, but he's willing to try

It ends happily with them going down to dinner with the others. (possibly Virgil having moments with the others??)

the end

BONUS, Written Scene from Chapter 11 w/ Virge's and Janus's reunion because I was self-indulgent and wrote ahead

“Oh my dear Anxiety,” A silky voice croons, so achingly familiar.

He sniffles, raising his head to meet eyes with the much older face of his best friend; Deceit. It has to be, there is no other side whose left side of face is reptilian in nature. He’s crouching beside Virgil, only one set of arms present at the moment. He’s wearing a funny outfit, but then Deceit has always dressed funny, just like Creativity. Neither of them have ever been worried about standing out.

“Dee!” Anxiety cries out, all but flinging himself onto the older side. The velocity of it flattens the two onto the ground, with Deceit letting a small grunt from the impact. He’d be more worried about possibly hurting Deceit if he wasn’t too busy bawling his eyes out into the strange cape Deceit is wearing.

Deceit strokes his hair, so soft and gentle. Then two sets of arms hoist Anxiety upwards, settling him onto Deceit’s lap. Deceit hugs Anxiety, cocooning him in a warm embrace. For a moment, everything feels normal again. As if they’re all kids still and Anxiety had sought Deceit for comfort after a bad nightmare.

Then Deceit speaks, saying words meant to be comforting. They are comforting at first, until Deceit says things that don’t make sense. And Anxiety knows Deceit is a liar, that he says things that aren’t true. But he knows when Deceit isn’t lying. They’re best friends after all.

“Shhh, it’ll be alright. Shhh, it’s okay. You didn’t do anything wrong, it’s not your fault. It’s mine. I hurt you and I’m--”

“No!”

“No?” Deceit repeats.

“No, it--it--you didn’t do anything bad, you wouldn’t!” Anxiety says, nearly shrieking, “You’d never, ever, hurt me. We’re best friends and best friends don’t do that.”

A strange, choking noise erupts from Deceit. Anxiety looks to see Deceit’s human eye glistening. His best friend’s lips quiver, like Anxiety gets when he gets too scared to speak. Except Deceit is never scared. He always knows what to say in a situation, confident in ways Anxiety could never be.

“Oh, I’ve forgotten what you were like at this age,” Deceit whispers, so low that Anxiety thinks he wasn’t meant to hear it. Then Deceit shakes his head, a weird laugh escaping him. “You’re going to hate me, Anx. Or rather, you’re going to hate me more after this is all over.”

“You’re lying,” Anxiety accuses, his fingers tightening around the fabric of Deceit’s cloak, “You don’t mean that. I love you, Dee, you’re my best friend and--and...Big Me is still best friends with you, right?!”

Deceit inhales sharply, as if there’s something stuck in his throat. Before Anxiety can even grow concerned for his well being, he breaths out a long dramatic sigh.

He rolls his eyes, smirking, “Alright, you caught me.”

“I did?”

“Yes. I was only lying to scare you out of crying,” Deceit assures him, “I didn’t mean to scare you into thinking we weren’t best friends still. Of course we are.”

“G-good,” Anxiety huffs, “don’t scare me like that, Dee, I don’t like it!”

“I won’t do it again, I promise,” Deceit says, his smirk fading a bit as he takes on a somber expression, “it still isn’t your fault for what happened, Virg--Anxiety. Neither I or any of the others think it is. They certainly despise you for it.”

“Despise?” Anxiety’s heart jumps a bit, “Oh! You mean...you’re saying...they don’t despise me?”

“I don’t know,” Deceit raises an eyebrow, “Why don’t you try reaching out? See what their fears tell you.”

Anxiety closes his eyes, sticking his tongue out in concentration. If he thinks super hard, he can envision everyone's fears like spider webs, branching all over the mindscape, interconnected in some ways and in others, completely disconnected in each side's little corner.

And he is the itsy bitsy spider, that scuttles about and maintains the webs to some degree. Because a little bit of fear is good, it helps keep Thomas alive. So he traces the webs and searching for what Dee suggested. There is one thread present, in every nook and cranny of the web, he searches, even in the splinter-offs. One fear that repeats and loops through the whole network that he has never seen before.

"Oh." Anxiety breathes, eyes widening. They're not afraid of him. They're afraid for him, worried about his safety and wellbeing. Anxiety doesn't know what to think of that.

#kat answers #anon #tiny virge au #and yeah this is basically how I outline fics and stuff sorry im not too funny unlike some others in their outlines

[trashyswitch]

The Adorable Slimy Stranger

Chapter 2: Holidays With The Sides (& Pumpkin!)

The sides are nearing Christmas, and are getting ready to celebrate and share the joy with their new companion, Pumpkin!

This fanfic was suggested by an anonymous user! Thank you for the prompt for a sequel!

And this fanfic is also dedicated to Pumpkinpaw! Love you sweety!

Pumpkin had become a regular household companion within the next few weeks. When deciding what pronouns to use, the sides had put down papers that said ‘Boy’, ‘Girl’, and ‘both’, to mean they/them.

“Do you wanna be a girl? As in, a good girl?” Patton asked, pointing to the pink card.

“Or perhaps a boy? A good boy?” Logan offered, pointing to the blue card.

“Or maybe you wanna be both! Maybe ‘buddy’, or ‘good pumpa’?” Roman asked, holding up the purple card.

Patton gasped. “That’s such a cute nickname! Pumpa! I love it!” Patton cheered, hugging Roman.

Pumpkin looked at the three cards curiously for a few seconds. Right as someone was gonna speak up, Pumpkin picked up the pink card, pointed to it and tried to gurgle the word ‘girl’ as best as it could!

Patton and Roman both squealed excitedly, while Logan smiled proudly. “Girl it is. Pumpkin shall now be referred to as a female, until she shows us otherwise.” Logan declared.

“I’m still gonna call her lil’ pumpa tho! It’s perfect!” Patton added, giving Pumpkin a big hug.

“And she has at least 1 new nickname.” Logan muttered proudly with a chuckle.

To make things greater, it was nearing Christmas and EVERYONE was getting into the christmas mood!

Patton has been watching all the Hallmark movies and decorating the house with all the tinsel and lights he could summon. He also took time to hang up the advent calendars and had an elf hat on his head every second of the day!

Logan has been drinking out of christmas mugs, determining the holiday board games they could play together, and has been listening to different christmas music covers to determine the most beautiful and/or most classic versions. Using that knowledge, Logan successfully came up with the most christmassy playlist he could make, which also included songs from classic christmas films! And let’s not forget Bing Crosby and Pentatonix!

Roman has been singing christmas carols himself and wrapping up endless amounts of presents to fill the bottom of the christmas tree. He’s also spent lots of time making ornaments to add to the tree and was even sewing up adorable christmas outfits for Patton and himself! Remus even got an early Christmas outfit, which included a ‘King of Naughty’ original Grinch shirt.

Meanwhile, Virgil has been enjoying the heck outta the christmas sweaters that came out each year. This year? Thomas’s brand new Virgil-themed sweater merchandise Thomas came out with! Well...minus the scarf. Virgil found the scarf to be too much with the sweater. So, he gave it to Patton. Virgil has also been enjoying the holiday slippers! This year, Virgil was sporting a pair of hilarious shark slippers! Sometimes, Virgil would joke that ‘The sharks are hungry for feet!’

Janus has been enjoying watching the christmas baking shows and has been playing lots of christmas flash games that are always around. Super Santa Kicker, Christmas Race, Christmas Shopper Simulator (10/10, Best game of 2014!), Tattletail, Santa’s Rampage, even that crappy christmas wii game called ‘We Wish You a Merry Christmas’! All of those games were common-place.

Last but not least, Remus has been doing the elf on the shelf this year (with a small list of rules, of course.) and has been surprising people with singing and dancing christmas decorations everywhere! There was the animated singing rudolph, the twerking Santa Claus toy (Yup...Of course…), the singing and jingling christmas hat, that cringey but funny dancing/singing poop toy, an animated dancing tree, the animated singing santa in the bathtub, and everyone’s personal favorite: The Snoopy dancing plush toy that wobbles back and forth!

But everyone found that Pumpkin was ALSO in the christmas mood! The sides enjoyed seeing her reactions to the dancing toys the best, and even danced along with the toys sometimes! She waddled along with snoopy, danced left and right with the dancing tree, and sang to the Rudolph song while Rudolph sang the classic song!

Meanwhile, Patton had sewed up a christmas hat for Pumpkin. The hat had a more burgundy red color, a traditional white bottom and a white pom pom on the top. When Patton first gave it to the orange blob, Pumpkin placed it on her own head and let the pompom flop onto her face. Upon seeing the pompom, it looked as if her eyes could’ve dilated and she started playing with the pompom like a kitty. That was the best reaction they could’ve gotten from her!

One of the days, Pumpkin was sitting in the living room with the sides, watching The Polar Express on TV. This was a holiday classic that the sides loved to watch together. So joining Pumpkin in on the fun was a must! The train had just been saved from falling into the ice, and the train climbed up the spiral to the high road to the north pole. Pumpkin had slid herself over to Roman and Patton, and snuggled under the extra blanket that was beside the boys. Pumpkin was also wearing her santa hat!

Watching the pretty lights in the sky over the sea, Pumpkin watched curiously as the big conductor man talked to them about them and then uttered the following words: “There...is the north POLE!”

Pumpkin ran as quickly as her body could to the TV and reached up to the north pole on the TV. She backed up a little and held her hands on her chin as the train approached the Santa Village and The Polar Express song started playing! The song was so quick and fun, and it didn’t take long for Pumpkin to start bouncing up and down to the song while she watched the camera move under the twisting train road arches.

“Oooooo!” Pumpkin reacted to seeing the Santa city for the first time.

Patton’s heart was all warm and gushing at Pumpkin’s reactions. Roman was visibly excited about the village as well!

The christmas spirit went uphill from there. Pumpkin learned about the big old man in red known as Santa and his big bag of toys, his deers with horns, and about the big man’s magical powers! He especially loved the amount of joy that filled the sides when they talked about the man wearing red. Whoever this red-coated man was, made the sides so happy! Almost as happy as she makes them! And not only that, but the man in the red suit had a hat just like she did! She was bouncing around and clapping about that!

But excitement soon turned into disappointment when she found out she had to wait for the man in the red suit to come. She didn’t want to wait for the happy old man to come! She wanted to see him now! NOW! She whimpered and paced around the house as she struggled to wait for the old man to come. So while they waited, Logan grabbed a paper and some crayons and let Pumpkin draw a picture for Santa. While that happened, Logan wrote a short christmas letter out for her which read:

[Dear Santa Claus;

Hi Santa! My name is Pumpkin! I just found out about you and the elves in the north pole, and really wanted to see you! I’m sad that I have to wait for you to come, but I’ll try to find fun things to do while I wait for you. For Christmas, I would like lots of candy! Candy is so yummy! And skittles are my favorite! I also love Patton’s crunchy gingerbread cookies! That day, I discovered icing! And it made me bounce off the walls! I would also like for everyone to be extra happy this Christmas. I’m making people happy everyday, but now I can let you make everyone happy too.

Love; Pumpkin! ]

Logan put the letter down, and looked at the picture Pumpkin drew. It was a picture of herself tickling Santa Claus’s belly. Logan couldn’t help but giggle at how Santa’s belly in the picture made him look like he was pregnant. He also giggled at the big smile that was all spread out on Santa’s face. Logan praised her on a drawing well done, and decided to add something to the letter:

[P.S: Your belly looks very big and ticklish!]

Logan grabbed the drawing Pumpkin made, photocopied it, and put the copied version of the drawing in the envelope along with the letter. With everything ready, Logan sealed it shut. “There. Off to the North Pole!” Logan declared to Pumpkin!

Logan mailed it off in the post office a day later.

With Christmas on its way and Pumpkin stuck in a bit of an antsy wait for the magic, Pumpkin started to tickle people a little more often than usual. Any other time of the year, Pumpkin would tickle at least 1 person a day. But with Christmas around the corner and Pumpkin growing hyper, Pumpkin had started tickling all the sides at least once a day! So her tickle attacks jumped from 1 or 2, to 6 every single day!

“NAHAHAHAHAHA! PUHUHUMPKIHIHIHIHIN! NAHAHAHAT MYHYHY AHAHARMPIHIHITS! TOHOHOHOO TIHIHIHICKLIHIHIHISH!” Roman laughed hysterically!

Pumpkin tilted her head curiously, and chose to remove her pods from the armpits like he begged. Roman quickly tried to gain back his breath, but Pumpkin still wanted to hear laughter! So, she made her pod super thin like a pencil and dipped it into his belly button.

“aAAAAEEEEEEHEHEHEHEHEHE! *snort* HAHAHAHAHAHA! *snort* NOHOHOHO FAHAHAHAHAHAIR!” Roman yelled through his laughter.

Pumpkin playfully stuck her tongue out at him and started to playfully nibble and ripple her blob-like body all over his belly.

Roman’s snorts grew more frequent and his laughter turned cackle-like. It was so ticklish! He was struggling to properly breath! But it was so fun! Roman had been tickled many, many, MANY times by Patton in the past. But THIS!

Holy cow!

Patton’s tickling was NOTHING compared to this!

Pumpkin decided to give him another ticklish, jiggly raspberry to get him squealing. And squealing, she was rewarded! Roman squealed so loud and so high-pitched, that Pumpkin stopped immediately just to process the strange sound!

Roman was a laughing, snorting mess after the squeal. And Pumpkin was loving every millisecond of it. As much as she was enjoying it however, Pumpkin knew when to give the man a long, giggly break. This would involve cuddling her ticklish victim and gently tickling a much less ticklish spot on their body to keep them giggling, but also let them breathe. For Roman, this was his neck.

“Ohohohohohokahahahahahay. Thahahahank yohohohou Puhuhumpkihin!” Roman told her.

Pumpkin smiled and gave his neck a tickly kiss on the neck. Roman giggled more from that, and calmed down the moment her ‘lips’ moved away from his neck. Pumpkin kept up her giggly tickling for a little bit longer before she went for Janus next.

Now, Pumpkin didn’t quite know Janus nearly as much as she knew the rest of the sides. She had even grown to know Remus quicker, than compared to Janus! The half man half snake in yellow, was more mysterious and...preferred his lonely time. So, she gave him his lonely time for the most part. She did come around to see if he was up for a tickle or two, but often walked away empty-handed, yet gaining some progress.

Finally, after weeks and weeks of trying, Pumpkin finally gained the courage to tickle Janus for the first time. She walked up to Janus’s side very quietly...geeently snuck her pod hand under the snake man’s shirt...and gave it a quick tickle.

“eeEEP! WHAT-” Janus turned around and immediately calmed down. Pumpkin made a surprised yip sound, and backed up a little to give him space. “Hi Pumpkin. Sorry about that. I...totally heard you come in.” Janus told her.

...Oh yeah...and then there was the strange way he talked to her and the other sides. He said things backwards. Like just now: if he actually heard her come in, then why was he so surprised and jumpy?

Things like that didn’t make sense to her. But what did make sense, was his calming face. “You tried to tickle me today. You...finally tried and tickled me. And it worked.” Janus told her.

Pumpkin didn’t really know what to do. She was confused. Was anything he was saying, supposed to be backwards? Or normal? Pumpkin couldn’t tell. But all that thinking went right out the window when Janus held his arms out for her. He wanted a hug from her! There was no saying no to THAT! Pumpkin quickly slid up to him and hugged him tightly.

“Wow! You have a very snug and firm hug for a jello being.” Janus admitted.

Jello? Like that blue jiggly stuff that Logan made once?

Pumpkin let him enjoy the hug for a bit. She wanted him to feel safe in her grasp. And perhaps, she may not get any tickles in today. But the only thing that mattered now, is that Janus could be hugged now.

“...Aren’t you gonna tickle me more?” Janus asked.

Pumpkin widened her black eyes. Wait, REALLY?! HE WAS GONNA LET HER TICKLE HIM?! This was what she was waiting for! 16 days of working up to this! And now, she can tickle him!

Pumpkin happily started skittering her pods all over his sides and ribs almost immediately! “Ohoho bohohoy! Hehehere wehehe gohohohoho!” Janus giggled and let go of her so she could get more access to more exposed ticklish spots. Pumpkin happily took the offer and made more pseudopods so she could tickle more spots at once. This was like a special attack that Pumpkin would pull on someone. “aaAAAHAHAHAHAHAHA! YOHOHOU’RE SURPRIHIHISIHIHINGLY GOHOHOOD AHAHAT THIHIHIHIS!” Janus reacted in surprise.

Pumpkin gurgled happily to Janus and continued to tickle Janus wherever she could reach. The upside to having such a jiggly form, was just how well she could kneed the soft spots on her humans! This included the sides and his belly the most. Janus held his fists against his chest as his giggle fits, squeals and laughter filled his bedroom.

Pumpkin absolutely loved his laugh! It was much more bubbly and higher than she expected! It was such an amazing laugh, that Pumpkin chose to give him jiggly raspberries as well! He seemed like the kind of human that would love them! Pumpkin blew a raspberry on his sensitive belly and let her blobby, jello-like body flubber and jiggle to increase the ticklish sensation.

Janus fell into long fits of cackles! He couldn’t stop cackling! Now that he had reached the cackle-stage, there was just no going back! His laughter somewhat reminded Pumpkin of Patton’s laughter: bubbly, childish, and the musical representation of happiness. Though Janus’s wasn’t exactly like his, it was close enough.

“OHOHOKAHAHAHAY! CAHAHAN IHIHIHI HAHAHAVE AHA BREHEHEHEAK PLEHEHEHEASE?” Janus asked.

Pumpkin nodded her head and stopped tickling him almost immediately. As much as she enjoyed the sound of his laughter, she didn’t wanna overdo it. So Pumpkin snuggled herself into Janus and cooed softly.

Janus giggled at this and wrapped his arms around her. “Growing tired?” He asked.

Pumpkin nodded and snuggled herself even further into him.

“That’s ironic, considering I was the one getting tickled.” He joked.

Pumpkin let out a giggly little gurgle as she slowly succumb to her sleepiness. It didn’t take long for the tiredness to start dripping right off her and onto Janus, effecting him as well. Now Janus was growing more and more tired by the second. Janus decided he minus well cuddle himself in and get himself comfy.

It didn’t take long for Janus to fall into a full and deep slumber. It lasted a long while too. Janus didn’t expect to wake up to the smell of garlic or the sounds of something boiling. The garlic was an obvious thing to put together: garlic bread. But boiling? That could be anything!

This boiling sound would end up revealing itself to be spaghetti noodles in a deep pot. As it turned out, Patton was making spaghetti with garlic bread on the side. For Pumpkin, she was gonna have gummy worms with a new little christmas treat for Pumpkin: a Peppermint Pattie! Patton gave her one to try, and had a few unwrapped in a bowl in case she loved it and wanted more.

Pumpkin picked up the peppermint pattie first. She looked at it curiously, split it into two pieces, and ate one of the halves hesitantly. But the moment she chewed on it and actually tasted the pattie, her eyes widened and a HUGE smile grew onto her face!

Remus giggled as he spun his spaghetti. “Ihi think Pumpkin likes the peppermint pattie!” Remus told him.

Patton looked over and sure enough, Pumpkin was standing below him and eagerly reaching her pods out for more peppermint patties! Patton laughed and happily put more peppermint patties onto her dinner plate. Pumpkin happily bounced in place as she ate the gummy worms and enjoyed the taste of the brand new holiday treat.

#lee!janus #lee!roman #ler!999 #ticklefic #christmas #the polar express #santa claus #tooth-rotting fluff #literally...there is so much fluff #i swear i'm not trying to kill people #there's just tons of fluff

[nadiestar]

how about human au!moceit where some people (other sides perhaps) only know one half of the couple and assume that his partner is similar to him. so theyre very surprised when they meet the other half of the couple and hes seemingly his polar opposite. bonus points if the people get to see glimpses of a side of the half they know that they never anticipated existed

Hey! Thank you for the request! Sorry it took me so long, it was my first time writing a human au and I hope it's okay^^

I've also put it on AO3

“I can't believe we still haven't met your lucky special someone! How long have you been dating again? Five months?” Roman said dramatically as he walked backwards in front of his bubbly friend.

Patton shrugged his shoulders, his happy expression unfading.

“Stop pestering him about it Roman. He must figuratively be fed up with the topic,” Logan sighed and pulled Roman a little to the side so he didn't walk into a street lamp.

Roman winked as a thank at Logan but then quickly shot back: “Don't talk over Pat! He's able to tell me to shut up about his boyfriend if he needs me to.”

“Have to agree there, Lo,” Patton chimed in cheerily. “And I really don't mind it. He's just such a darling. I love you guys being so curious about him.”

“For being so keen on us asking questions about him, you surely provide very little information about his person. Roman step to the left, there's a mailbox.”

“What? You know plenty about him!” Patton disagreed and turned to the left into the little cafe where they were headed.

“If knowing that he's the cutest, sweetest and most adorable being you ever met counts as plenty, then sure,” Roman said slightly frustrated. “If not, we know kinda nothing about him but that. I mean how does he even look like?”

“What does he do for work?” Logan said and pulled the chair out for Patton at their usual table before he sat down himself.

“Yes, and where does he live? What are his hobbies?”

“Okay, okay! I get it!” Patton appeased and watched his two far too protective and curious friends shut up for the moment.

Just then a waiter came to their table and the three ordered their dinner. It was a tradition for them to come here every Friday and eat together for the last four years. Since then Logan and Patton worked at the same school complex, Patton as homeroom teacher for 2nd graders and Logan as history teacher for 8th graders, and Roman had opened his dance school close to the premises. They had known each other for far longer but only since then they finally got their tight-knitted comradery back.

“I guess you really don’t know that much about him. But I just much rather had you guys meet him directly and ask him all of those questions himself. It doesn’t feel right to talk over him, you know?” Patton explained and gave Logan his puppy eyed look.

That, despite Logan always denying it, had its usual very effective effect and the stern-faced man became lenient.

“It is understandable that you wouldn’t want to talk over him but…” Logan started and shot a look over to Roman who promptly picked the statement up.

“You seem to be so serious about this guy, Patty. And we just want to be sure he’s just amazing enough for you. You really don’t deserve another heartbreak, you know?”

Patton’s smile deflated a bit. Yes, he has been through enough, hadn’t he? Maybe he could let himself have some fun with this, as a treat.

And with that slightly mischievous thought in mind Patton offered to both of his friends now again with smile: “I get that. I could bring him over, now that he’s back from his last job… Ro would you mind if I’d introduce him to you all at the little party you and your brother throw tomorrow?”

Roman was quick to agree and the three dropped the topic in exchange of gossiping about noisy parents they had to deal with the last week.

___

Virgil put the soda down next to the fridge how Remus had instructed. He had brought it along because the hairdresser had asked him too, as he had too little time to go to the store and make everything ready for the party they were had tonight. Well, party was not the right word for it.

It was a little celebration for Remus and Roman, who finally had been able to afford an okay flat and get away from their old neighbourhood. Both had invited their friends and it was a first for Virgil to actually meet his friend’s twin and in extension his friends.

“Anything else I can help you with, Rem?” Virgil asked and leaned against the doorsill as Remus filled some chips in a bowl.

“Nah! You’re good! I think I’ve got everything done for later. Now we can just chill and relax until my brother’s turning up,” Remus said and ushered Virgil into the living room.

Remus came after him in a bit and put the chips in the middle of the coffee table and flopped down on the couch next to Janus. The man with the bowler hat glanced up from his phone, elegantly slid it in his pocket and then addressed his friends.

“Apologize me not helping more,” he said and looked over to Virgil, who pushed Janus’s crutch a little to the right so he could sit down in the beanbag.

“No worries man. After such a long flight anybody’d be tired. And it’s not like I did much more than you,” Virgil responded and barely caught the soda bottle Remus threw over to him.

Remus snickered as Virgil have him a pissed look while Janus smirked. Then the he told Janus: “Also, it’s just nice having you around for this! It will be fun to annoy my goody-two-shoes brother with you!”

Janus grin got a little more mischievous and he wanted to answer when suddenly Virgil took over the word.

“So, who exactly is your brother bringing along? Like are it a lot of people?”

“Don’t fret worrywart. It’s only two guys and the boyfriend of one of them. And he said that the one without boyfriend asked the same thing so I doubt we’re going to be loud and wild tonight.”

“What a pity. And I had hoped I’d be able to show you all my sick dance moves,” Janus deadpanned.

Both snickered at his comment and they chatted for a while as the afternoon progressed. They talked about how Virgil’s thrift store had been going the last month and what kind of people had come to Janus’s readings oversees. As usual a bit of bickering ensued and eventually the conversation reached its usual topic.

“So,” Remus said and wiggled his eyebrows, “how happy has your lover been having you back? Already had time for a quickie?”

Janus rolled his eyes and faltered a bit as he responded: “I’ve only come back yesterday and I was dead beat so – No quickie.”

“Oooh. What a disappointment for your Casanova,” Virgil teased and watched Janus fidgeting in his seat.

“He was quite understanding, thank you very much. And sex is by far not all we do together.”

“Really?” Virgil bounced back and shot an amused look to Remus, who was just as amused by their friend’s defensiveness. “It’s all you ever talk about when it comes to him. So, it’s not our fault for jumping to the assumption that that’s all you too are after.”

Janus mumbled something indistinctively and flicked his hand before he shot Virgil a dooming look, which left Virgil utterly unimpressed.

“He is very dear to me and – well of all partners I had in the bast he certainly is the most remarkable one,” Janus stated but didn’t get any further as the doorbell rang and the door got unlocked by a very loud and energetic Roman who just had gotten home from work.

Janus and Virgil quickly looked over to the tall tanned man. He was just as slim as his brother, dark curly hair and soft brown eyes. He also was smiling but it seemed to be much less demented but a bit more flashing. Also, there was now terrible moustache over his lips which also was a very distinguishing feature for Remus.

“Hello gentlemen! It’s a pleasure to meet you all!” Roman said with a slight bow, turned with an immediate decrease of charm and flair to Remus and asked: “Have you already offered them something to drink? And you didn’t ask them to help out right? They’re our guests!”

“Jeez. You’re acting like mum!” Remus pouted and the two brothers started to bicker for a moment before Roman excused himself and said he had to change clothes.

“He’s quite the character,” Virgil said with furrowed brows as Roman disappeared in the hallway and Remus let out a huff and then a weak laugh.

“Sure is, and it’s a pest. But rather have him around than not.”

All three silently nodded at that and then Remus got up. He asked them if they wanted coffee and went into the kitchen to make some. Meanwhile Roman came back into the living room and properly introduced himself to his two guests. They had met each other before but only in passing, when one of them dropped Remus off after a long night back in the days when he still was working as a barkeeper. In the not so easy days, but that was now over and they could focus on the present.

They got along fairly well, Roman seemed a little stuck up but knowing about Remus’s past both Janus and Virgil could put one and one together and knew that it was probably just a façade he put up until he knew he could trust them well enough. And they could respect that. After a moment Remus joined them again, a coffee for Janus, Virgil and Roman at the ready and a tea for himself. He was quick to poke fun at Roman and Janus had no problem playing into the teasing and getting a few mock-offended gasps from Roman.

“When are your guests coming?” Remus asked Roman and looked over to the clock they had hanging on the wall.

“Lo is always punctual on the minute. Well, maybe a minute earlier or so but he’ll be here at seven. Patty’s gonna be late. He can’t help it,” Roman answered and shrugged.

Remus nodded at the answer and asked if he would come and help him getting dinner ready. Roman agreed and the two let Janus and Virgil entertain themselves for the next few minutes. And one minute before seven the door rang and Remus instructed Virgil out from the kitchen to get the door. With a huff Virgil got up and opened the door.

A black-haired man in a navy polo shirt and dark jeans stood in front of the door and adjusted his glasses as he saw who had opened the door.

“You’re Roman’s friend?” it came from Virgil and the man nodded quickly.

He then added helpfully: “Yes, I’ve met him when he gave a dance course in our school-” He stretched his hand out – “Logan. I assume you are an acquaintance of his brother?”

“Got that right Logan. I’m Virgil. Come in. They’re in the kitchen,” Virgil said hoping to sound not too anxious.

Logan followed and looked at the two strangers in the room. Virgil was a small man with brightly died purple hair, wearing a worn-out sweater with purple patches and black skinny jeans and had apparently known Remus since college, as he soon learnt. The other man, Janus as he introduced himself, was a man of average height and blond hair, wearing a black turtleneck sweater and slacks. Logan recognized him soon as a rather-well known YA author and got into a conversation about literature. Virgil listened amused to their bantering and shot a lopsided grin at Remus when he came out of the kitchen to greet Logan properly.

“Jay, can you come for a second? Roman needs you to taste the sauce to make sure it’s not too spice for your fragile little togue,” Remus asked his friend who got up with a huff.

“I am not fragile!” Janus hissed and walked to the kitchen as Remus rolled his eyes at his dramatics.

“I didn’t say that,” Remus mumbled and then inquired what Logan wanted to drink and brought him some soda from the kitchen.

As Remus gave Logan his drink it rang and he went to get the door.

And as Remus opened the door he was met with the sight of a bubbly, brown-haired man. He smiled widely, had freckles all over his face and a pair of round glasses. He had to look up to him and bobbed on the spot, in his sky blue cat hoodie and light brown jeans with rainbow patches sewed on the knees, and for the first time in very long while Remus found himself thinking that this person just looked objectively adorable.

“Hello! Thank you so much for inviting me to your home!” this cute little man said cheerfully and Remus simply had to smile.

“My pleasure! You’re Patton then?”

For a second the man blinked and then sheepishly rubbed the back of his head.

“Yes, exactly!”

Remus laughed and bid him in. He then wanted to introduce him to Virgil, as Patton suddenly looked over to the hallway with glee in his eyes. Curious he followed the look and saw Janus just walking outside of the kitchen and staring at the newcomer with wide eyes.

“Janny!” Patton exclaimed joyfully, ran to him and gave him a soft hug.

Bedazzled Remus, Virgil and Logan stared at the pair and their bedazzlement only grew as they saw “Jannie’s” flustered face after they parted and heard him stutter: “I didn’t know you were coming too, honey.”

“What are you saying?” Patton laughed and fixed Janus’s collar. “I’ve told you last night before we went to bed that I also was invited to the twins party! You know I’m one of Roman’s best friends!”

“I certainly heard that,” Janus mumbled and Patton promptly put a kiss on Janus’s cheek.

Virgil and Remus stared at Janus. Suave and charming Janus all red and flustered by the words of the human embodiment of a Care Bear. Meanwhile Logan had a hard time realizing that he had just met his year-long friend’s boyfriend and talked with said boyfriend about the value of romance in YA books.

“You’re fucking this muffin of a person?” Remus exclaimed and Logan finally lost it and let his glass drop and spill soda all over the floor.

Roman came right running out of the kitchen as Patton doubled over with laughter and Janus’s face turned a new shade of red.

“And apparently this muffin is quite naughty,” Virgil added with a nervous giggle and got up to help Logan clean up the mess he made.

Meanwhile Janus found his words again and hissed towards Remus: “Would you not speak like this about my partner? He’s not a child.”

“Come on, Janny! It’s fine,” Patton said with a wheeze and nudged his boyfriend’s shoulder. “I love that you apparently only told them about our sex life. You’re such a goofy man.”

“And you never told us that you moved in together!” it came from the agitated Logan who almost let his glass drop again as he gesticulated widely.

“Move in together?! How- What on earth did I just miss?” Roman chimed in and looked between Janus and Patton now finally registering that the former held Patton’s hand tightly.

“Ahh, kiddos! Don’t worry, I would have told you had we done that. Janny just stayed with me, because I picked him up last night and my place is closer to the airport.”

Roman’s mind went blank for a few seconds before he eyed up Janus again and then looked over to Patton and deadpanned: “You’re telling me that this sassy man in black is the most adorable person you’ve ever known? That’s the man? Because if so, quite honestly, I feel offended.”

At that Remus and Virgil started to giggle and the evening continued to be quite entertaining for them all as Janus and Patton uncovered the truth about each other and meanwhile casually extended their circle of shared friends.

___

@aprincehasgotoslay

@varthandi

@sickeningly-deceitful

@sammy-is-obsessed  / @exhaustedfander

@unoriginalgayboyalex

@alexisrealgay

#sanders sides #moceit #romantic moceit #Mims Requests

[the-friendly-struggling-writer]

Logan and Remus’ day in

Sanders Sides gift exchange present for @alicat54c. Hope you enjoy this story, happy Christmas and new year. @sanderssidesgiftxchange also posted on my main blog

Small warming contains:

blood, scalpels, dissection of the heart and lungs, food, and discussion of diseases.

Remus and Logan spend a nice quiet day together in the mindscape.

“Hey, Lo Lo,” Remus whispered in Logan’s ear as he popped up behind him, covering his boyfriend’s eyes with his hands. “Did you know that the ‘Black Death’ wasn’t originally called the Black Death; It was called ‘The Pestilence’ or ‘The Great Mortality’. Which rhymes with Morality. Almost spelled the same too.” Logan internally sighed of fondness. Softly breaking Remus’ hold over his eyes, Logan turned around on the couch. He had been sitting on it but the position that he had changed to was now kneeling on it, with arms braised against the back of the couch for support. The couch’s surface bending to adjust to Logan’s new position. Facing Remus, Logan slowly moved his head forward and kissed Remus on the lips, stopping him from talking for a moment.

“If you wanted to get down and dirty then you could have just said so,” suggested Remus as he winked one eye and then the other at Logan. Before he vaulted over the back of the couch to sit next to his gorgeous boyfriend. Logan in return let out a rare giggle that was reserved for Remus, and Remus only. Whenever Remus ended up making Logan giggle it made Remus’ insides all hot and sticky like they had become molten magma swirling inside the earth or maybe the melted insides of a chocolate brownie or maybe molten magma in a chocolate brownie, Logan and him could try and come up with a recipe for them. ‘That was a good idea,’ thought Remus.

“So,” began Logan as the giggling died down, “What have you got planned for this afternoon?” He asked as he set down the book on plagues that he had been reading for the past hour or so before Remus had shown up. The book must have been the thing that had given Remus the idea about the comment about the black death that he had made before he sat down next to Logan.

“I‘m not sure yet,” Remus thought for a second as he shrugged his shoulders before he next spoke, “I just came to see if you were busy or not. It looks like you aren’t so… I was wondering if I could give you something.” Logan didn’t even have time to respond before something was shoved in front of his face. Before that had happened, Logan was going to say that Remus could do so, but his boyfriend had done it before Logan could have even tried to get a word out. Sitting in a not so neat position in Remus’ hands, was a slowly beating heart, with fresh oxygenated blood running down Remus’ arms and onto the sleeves of the outfit that he was wearing. Because of its black colouring, any stains would not be noticeable at first. Well, until you caught wind of the smell of the dried blood.

“Here,” said Remus as he handed the still struggling heart to Logan, his sharp teeth being revealed as he smiled at his Lo Lo. As Logan carefully took to heart from Remus’ hold, blood began to run down the pale skin of his wrists and then down his arms.

Logan looked from the heart to his boyfriend, and then back at the heart. “Remus, is there anything pacific that you would like me to do with this?” asked Logan as he softly tilted his head to the side and brought it to eye level to get a closer look at it.

Remus gently shrugged his shoulders with a small smile written upon his face. If Roman was there he would have described the scene as his brother having love hearts floating around his head, even if they weren’t physically there. Roman would have also described Logan as having  shining stars in his eyes with the way that he was looking at Remus. Logan’s expression broke into another smile. “So it’s ok if we dissect it together then?” Remus’ own heart sped up that idea. Nodding his head in excitement, Remus almost ended up falling off of the couch. Almost. Logan carefully but quickly moved the heart into just one hand, and the other one, stained with blood, grabbed hold of Remus’ hand, pulling him up into a standing position. Saving him from falling on the floor.

“Come on then,” encouraged Logan as he pulled Remus along into the kitchen by the hand. As the pair arrived in the room Logan summoned a wooden cutting board, 3 different sized scalpels, and some plastic tubs. The last one just in case anything was needed to be put in a container or two. All of the items appeared in an organized fashion on the light brown kitchen table. The scalpel in size order on the left side of the board; The tubs on the right.

As Logan placed the heart down on the wooden board it finally stopped beating. Meanwhile, Remus had been dragging over two chairs that matched the table, getting bloodstains on the places where he had touched them. ‘I’ll clean that up later,’ thought Logan as Remus finished adjusting them in the place that he wanted. “Would you like to help me?” asked Logan, sitting in the chair to the left of the board.

“Naw,” Remus answered back to Logan, lightly bounding his forehead against Logan’s shoulder in a show of affection. Remus was just wanting to watch Logan take apart the heart, and then maybe some other things that he summoned up. “I’m good to just watch you,” he added before standing on the chair that was free and then crouched down so that he was at the same height as his boyfriend. ‘The perfect height to give surprises’, thought Remus, ‘such as this’, before Remus kissed Logan on the check. Red spreading across Logan’s face.

Logan smiled back at Remus and then turned his attention back to the activity in front of him. Picking up the biggest scalpel, Logan carefully pressed the sharp blade against the surface of the heart, slicing across the top layer of the muscle. More dark blood seeping out of the opening.

Gently placing the scalpel back into the position that it was in before, but before Logan did anything next a soft snap sound came from his right side. Turning his head, Logan to Remus who was holding a pair of plastic blue gloves. Handing them to his boyfriend Remus spoke up, ”You forgot these, I thought that you would want them.”

It was a little late if Logan had wanted to avoid getting blood on his hands, but Logan really appreciated the gesture coming from his boyfriend. Taking the gloves from Remus, both of their expressions lighting up at the simple but meaningful interaction between them. Sliding them on to his hands, Logan then held his hands on either side of the incision in the heart, pulling each side apart to get a look inside, with some of the chambers of the heart revealed.

The pair sat in silence until Remus broke it, no longer being able to stand it, before blurting out what he was thinking about. “I did you know that more blood goes to your kidneys,” he said as he poked Logan in the side, “Than your brain.” This time poking Logan’s head.

“Yes Re, I did. That’s because your kidneys filter waste products out of your blood so more does need to go through them than your brain. Did you know that the Heart on average only weighs about 11 ounces.” Answered Logan, “Also the length of time that this heart beat out of a body that you gave me was extremely accurate. Just about a minute or so.” Added Logan, as he was finishing up dissecting the heart.

“Hey Smarty, do you want to dissect something else?” Asked Remus, making it look like the heart pieces had vanished. Well they hadn’t, Remus had just moved them to his room for a project that he was going to make later that night. He didn’t know what that was yet but he would come up with something.

“What did you have in mind?” Asked Logan as he cleaned off the cutting board and the set of scalpels. Logan was happy to dissect anything that Remus summoned, as long as Remus was enjoying himself.

“Since they are related, why not do the lungs next?” Asked Remus, not expecting an answer but he got one anyway.

“Well one reason to not do the lung is,” But before he could finish that sentence he was cut off by Remus grabbing his blue and black tie, and ruffly kissing him. Which snapped him out of his train of thought.

“That wasn’t what I had meant, my Dork,” Said Remus as he pulled back. Logan’s skin heated up in embarrassment, but also from the kiss that Remus had just given him.

“Oh right,” half laughed Logan as Remus summoned a pair of lungs onto the board in front of them. Directing his attention back to the dissection in front of them, Logan then went back to work. “The name lung comes from the word ‘lunge’ which means ‘light,’ commented Logan as he cut apart part of the left lung.

“Really?” responded Remus, before he answered back with his own fact. “Lungs can float on water. Cause some air is still in there, even after you have breathed out. Also lungs are the only organ that can float in water. Well unless you drown them I guess, I’ll need to work that into an idea in the future.” Remus decided as he stared off to the other side of the room that they were in, trying to come up with a new idea.

As Remus was doing that, Logan was finishing dissecting the lungs after having a good look at them. But it was clear to Logan the Remus attention was headed somewhere else, so this was just as good a time as any to tidy up the equipment and the now dried blood stains, such as on the backs of the chairs that they were sitting on as well as the stains on the sleeve of Remus’ outfit. That would save Remus the effort of doing it later, and maybe from getting more blood on anything else as well.

“Re,” said Logan to get Remus’ attention onto him so that he was listening to him. Remus in turn made a small noise in acknowledgement of Logan. “So I was thinking since we have now done that, I was wondering if we shall get a quick snack before we move onto something else. Would that be ok dear?” Asked Logan before he stood up and tucked the chair under the wooden table.

“Yeah, of course.” exclaimed Remus as he sprang out for the chair he had awkwardly been sitting/standing on, the chair falling down and slamming it’s back against the hard floor. Remus then dashed to the cupboard to the fridge and then back to the cupboard again. This left Logan to pick up the chair and put it back into its right place. Shaking his head, Logan smiled with endearment for Remus as he watched him run about the kitchen like a headless chicken. Logan wondered if that was something that they could experiment with in the future together.

Going over to the cupboard that was next to the fridge, Logan pulled open the door and took out the half used jar of crofters. After placing it on the counter top, Logan set about making some toast for the jam to go on. Once Logan had assembled his snack, he turned to Remus who had just finished getting his own food sorted. His choice of food today was warm popcorn with some little bits of white chocolate spread across the top. It was one of the few snacks that both Remus and Patton could agree on.

Wrapping his arm around Logan's waist, Remus led the two of them into the living room. First Remus sat down on the dark coloured couch, his legs spreading across the rest of the couch. Pulling Logan to sit down in between them, Remus pulled his legs over Logan’s, trapping him there. Not that Logan wouldn't want to be there. Logan’s back softly comes to meet Remus’ chest.

“Lo Lo,” started Remus with bits of food almost falling out his mouth as he spoke, “did you know that there is a disease that can actually cause you to cough blood and stuff. Cool right?”

“Well I wouldn’t call it cool myself but Tuberculosis, if that is the one that you are talking about.” Remus quickly nodded confirming Logan’s thought process. Seeing Remus’ response Logan continued. “But it is interesting that about a third of people carry that bacterium that causes it but does not show any symptoms of the disease. Also only 5 to 10% of the third will be either sick or infectious with it at sometime in their lifetime.” Logan explained. Remus loved when Logan explained sciency stuff to him, and bringing up stuff like that always kicked off that type of conversation.

After the pair had finished eating Remus took his bowl and the plate from Logan, he then dropped them down on the carpeted floor. Leaving them to be picked up by someone else at a later time. “Oh yeah, what was the one that doesn’t let you sleep? Like at all once it starts.” Asked Remus wrapping his arms tightly around Logan’s chest. Logan then in turn moved his head into a better position that it was just below Remus’ chin.

“The one that you are thinking about is called Fatal Familial Insomnia. It stops your ability to sleep, this then makes the person suffering from insomnia to then slip into psychosis. That stops you from being able to tell what is real and what isn’t. Then over a period of time such as a few months it would kill them. There is also no cure or ways to try and treat it. Well at least not yet in any case,” Logan yawned as he finished speaking.

“Ok then, tell me about a really weird one. Like the absolute weirdest one that you are able to think of,” requested Remus as he too ended up yawning.

Logan thought for a minute before he responded to Remus’ inquiry. “Well I don’t know if it does have a name but in 1485 a disease broke out which caused people to sweat to death in a number of hours. It supposedly killed tens of thousands of people because it disappeared as soon as it had come. If that isn’t weird then I don’t know if you can get much weird when it comes to diseases,” Logan added.

“That is an interesting one,” Re commented before he summoned a green and dark blue blanket on top of the two of them. The blanket was thick and soft, spreading across the entire length of the couch. The pair both knew that there was no point in struggling to stay awake. So the pair snuggled into each other. “You want to know what Lo Lo,” Logan pushed deeper into his boyfriend. Remus yawned before he next spoke, “That I love you so much.”

Logan yawned too before he turned around onto Remus’ stomach so that he was facing his boyfriend, so they both wrapped their arms around each other. The blanket partly slipping off of them because of their movement “I Love you too, Re. I love you so much too.” Logan said as Remus readjusted the blanket back into its right place before the pair of sides slowly slipped into the darkness of the unconscious.

#franthehorsegirl's fanfics #fran's stuff #sanders sides fanfic #ts logan #ts remus #intrulogical #fanfic

[snowdice]

Road Trips and Missing Persons (Part 24)

Fandom: Sanders Sides

Relationships: Patton & Virgil, Virgil & Janus, Logan & Patton, Emile & Remy, Roman & Remus & Janus

Characters: Patton, Virgil, Janus, Remus, Roman, Logan, Emile, Remy

Summary: Patton was just getting groceries. The next thing he knew, there was a knife at his throat and he was an unwilling uber driver. Virgil’s on the run after the murder of his dad, and it’s not just his paranoia that’s telling him he’s being chased down. He has to get somewhere safe, somewhere he can trust, and all he has is a couple of stories from his dad and a name: “Green Bellow Foods and Dispensary.”

Meanwhile, everyone else is trying to find a missing 15 year old, all with different pieces of the puzzle about where he is. It really is too bad that no one is answering their phones.

Notes: Secret Agents AU, knives, carjacking, kidnapping, murder mentioned, guns mentioned, pepper spray, blood mentioned, drugs mentioned, explosions, car crashes (more to be added)

This is a fic I’ve been writing on study breaks that you have probably all already seen at this point. I’ve affectionately named it the Goblin Brain Fic because it’s helping my brain actually get motivated for studying. I’ve slightly edited it for wording and grammar, but not for content from my previous posts. Feel free to send in asks to direct it because I’m not 100% sure where this is going and you can help decide if you feel so inclined! You can see the process I went through to build this at this link.

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Part 10 Part 11 Part 12 Part 13 Part 14 Part 15 Part 16 Part 17 Part 18 Part 19 Part 20 Part 21 Part 22 Part 23 My Master Post

Logan had kept them in the meeting room for literal hours, pausing only to feed everyone except Patton and Virgil (who had actually eaten dinner). Eventually, he decided that he was satisfied with the explanations (Well, no, perhaps not satisfied, he was still very displeased with everyone except Virgil and maybe Emile, though Emile had not helped himself when he’d realized that he’d spoken both to Patton and Remus in the grocery store near Remy’s house early and he and Patton had proceeded to go off on a tangent about pasta.) and had taken them all to some of the hotel style rooms in the base.

The room Remy, Emile, Janus, and Virgil were in had two double beds. Virgil and Janus had claimed one of the beds already and were currently curled up together on it both asleep. Janus had apparently picked up Virgil’s stuffed spider from home and stuck it in his pocket. He had ordered Remy to dry the slightly damp toy with a hair dryer before consenting to laying down. The two of them had fallen asleep easily after their long days, the stuffed spider laying on the top of Janus’s chest and Virgil’s arm thrown around him loosely.

Emile had stayed up longer and taken a shower before emailing his receptionist asking her to cancel all of his appointments for tomorrow (or today as it was by now). He’d climbed into bed a couple of minutes ago, leaving Remy the only conscious one in the room.

Virgil stirred awake as Remy stood up from the chair he’d been sitting on and stepped towards the door. “Dad?” he asked.

Remy took a detour to stand by his bedside and stroke a few of the curls that were still damp from his shower away from his face. “Go back to sleep, kid.”

“Where’re you going?” he asked.

“Just gonna go grab some coffee,” he said.

“It’s night,” he pointed out.

Remy cracked a grin. “Yeah, well, you know me.” He tapped him on the nose. “I’ll be right in the mini kitchen outside.”

“Kay,” Virgil agreed, laying his head back on Janus’s chest. Janus never stirred, dead to the world in the way he only ever was when Virgil was snuggled up against him.

Remy closed the door quietly behind himself and wandered over towards the kitchen.

“Can’t sleep?” Patton asked when he stepped into the little area. The man was sitting at the small two-person table with a mug of what looked like tea and a box of Oreos.

“Having trouble chilling out,” Remy replied. “You know how it is.” Patton hummed in acknowledgement as Remy investigated the coffee maker.

“You know,” Patton said amused. “If your trying to calm down and sleep, coffee may not be the best solution.”

“Babe, do you know me at all?” Remy asked. Patton just shook his head.

“Besides,” Remy continued. “Who said I was planning on sleeping any time soon?”

“You should try to sleep,” Patton said, frown clear in his tone even though Remy was turned away, putting coffee grounds into the machine.

“Says the man already out here eating cookies at half past 1.”

“Touché.”

They were silent until Remy’s coffee was finished. Remy poured himself a cup and went to sit across from him. “Thanks for not shanking the little bastard on sight.”

Patton’s nose scrunched. “I should have known he was yours with that mouth of his,” Patton said, then he shook his head. “He’s a cute kid.”

“He held a knife to your neck.”

Patton shrugged. “It’s not the first time I befriended someone with a deadly weapon on me,” he said. He pushed the packet of Oreos over to him. “I hope you realize I’m filing for joint custody.”

Remy laughed. “I figured after I heard you spent over 3 hours in a car with him.”

“I’m going to teach him how not to curse and why falling asleep during a kidnapping is not ideal.”

“Well, Emile’s already tried his hardest on the first front, so good luck, and the boy likes to nap at inopportune times, what can I say?”

“Takes after his dad.”

“I am both insulted and flattered simultaneously.”

Patton giggled softly.

“But, seriously,” Remy said. “I do owe you for making sure Virgil was okay even if you didn’t know he was my spawn.”

Patton shrugged. “You don’t owe me anything.” He paused. “Well, you could buy me some cheese since I’d just bought a bunch to make mac and cheese, and it all went bad during the long car ride.”

Remy snorted. “Why do the lactose intolerant fear no god?” he asked. “But, sure, I’ll be happy to reimburse you and endorse your hedonistic ways.”

Patton smiled at him and finished off his tea.

 Despite his suggestion that Remy head to bed a few minutes before, he did not put his mug in the sink, but filled it back up with water and popped it into the microwave. Remy turned back to his coffee for a moment and immediately felt arms come around him. “Thanks for not being dead,” Patton said into his ear.

Remy chuckled and patted his arm. “You’re welcome Patty, but really what did everyone expect? I’ve got a couple of kids to raise still.”

Patton just hummed and kept hugging him until the microwave beeped. He grabbed his mug then and plopped another tea bag into it.

“So, not what you planned for your weekend, huh?” Remy asked.

Patton shook his head sitting back down. “I was going to make the mac and cheese and watch reruns of Parks and Rec,” he said wistfully. Then he grinned. “I probably would have still been awake at this hour anyway.”

“Oh, Pat. How many times have you watched that show?”

Patton just smiled at him, eyes sparkling. “We really should try to get some sleep,” Patton said.

“Yeah, well, Emmy snores.”

“And Lo kicks,” Patton said, “when he’s not trying to crush me. Not that trying to sleep in the same bed as one of the twins is any better.”

Remy snorted. “Didn’t take Logan for a cuddling type.”

“Oh, he always tries to deny it, but he’s a big softie.”

“Explains why I’m not dead all over again.”

“Hmmm,” Patton agreed. Then he grinned. “I have the Netflix app on my phone,” he divulged.

“…We’re starting with season 3.”

“Of course,” Patton agreed, pulling out his phone.

They got yelled at in the morning by Logan for falling asleep at the table.

The end! Except for the epilogue.

#sanders sides #patton sanders #remy sanders #virgil sanders #janus sanders #emile piccani #remus sanders #roman sanders #logan sanders #road trips and missing persons #road trips and everything in between #adriana writes

[iwrestlenow]

Many More To Die, Chapter 5

TITLE: Many More To Die (Chapter 5)

FANDOM: Sanders Sides (Necromancer AU)

SUMMARY:

Lord Janus is a man with a past--and a drake with a treasure to protect.

Meanwhile, Logan fades in and out of consciousness while the king and his compatriots sort some things out--including the mysterious cadet's true identity.

Something is happening in Logan's mind, magic that he can't understand at his fingertips...and the palace dungeon master is hell bent on stopping it at all costs.

SHIPS: Logince (Logan/Roman), Moceit (Patton/Janus) and future Dukexiety (Remus/Virgil)

WARNINGS: more blatant violence against children, but nothing graphic. Also, I rewrote this bastard SIX TIMES and I’m still not happy with it, but it’s a long, meaty chapter.

Also, no betas, we die like men.

NOTES: This is based on the gorgeous piece of art by @gretacticdraws that can be found here. I ended up writing a ficlet for it, and then my brain got swallowed up. Breathe at me wrong, and I’ll write more…hell, who am I kidding? I’ll write more anyway because this? Is self indulgent drivel. XD

Also located at AO3 over here.

1025, A.A.

“...are you an angel?”

Janus turned sharply at the sound of the tiny, awestruck little voice. He finally pinned it to a dungeon cell across from the shadowy corner where he'd just sold his father's favorite pocket watch in exchange for information on Corporal Mori—a guard that had a nasty habit of roughing up some of the younger prisoners of the palace dungeons.

Janus was a liar, a cheat, and a thief—but he had no stomach for bastards like that. And anyway, he was well aware the corporal was responsible for wrenching Logan Berry's shoulder out of the socket. Janus liked Logan—he was far too straight laced to be anything but forthright and fair in his dealings.

It was the main reason Janus let him get away with the lies he did tell. If Logan believed you were dealing with him in the same fashion, he'd sell out his own mother. Janus respected that, and he looked after the few people he respected.

Hence digging up blackmail on the corporal—until the boy in the cell piped up with something so ridiculous it actually made Janus laugh.

“Angels don't have scales, kid.” he sneered, pocketing the letters he'd been given before he ambled closer to the cell. The kid couldn't have been more than twelve, with a mop of dark curls and lapis blue eyes that were currently so wide with fascination they looked fit to pop out of his head.

“Have you ever seen one?” the boy asked.

Janus hesitated, then found himself laughing again. “You got me there.”

The boy beamed—absolutely beamed, smile full of all kinds of sickening things like sunshine and rainbows. Ridiculous...yet it tugged at something in Janus's chest.

“Then you don't know.” the boy continued. “You've gotta have the prettiest face I've ever seen.”

Stepping right up to the door of his cell, Janus bared his teeth, his too sharp top and bottom canines on full display.

“There's nothing pretty about me. You'd do well to remember that.” he warned, all cold venom and as much menace as he could muster to shake the weird, squirmy feeling behind his breastbone that was only growing stronger the longer this kid looked at him like...like that.

“Is that why you're tryin' to prove Corproral Mori is havin' an affair with the captain of the guard's wife?”

Janus froze, suddenly vaguely uncomfortable with the fact that he might have to kill a child.

“You heard that?” he asked as lightly as he could manage.

The boy lowered his gaze, finally showing signs of fear—shoulders hunching, breath quickening. Good.

Then he wrapped one hand around his opposite wrist, wringing lightly at it and retreating a little further into himself.

“Yeah.” he admitted softly. “I...I hate it, I hate that I'm like this, but...I hope you do prove it.”

Janus didn't need much more to connect the dots, knowing what he did about the corporal.

“Did he hurt you?”

The boy looked up sharply, eyes too wide—only this time, not with awe. He remained silent, but Janus didn't need more than that look to know, or to see red with a swell of rage that took him by surprise.

“What's your name, kid?” he asked quietly.

“Patton.” the boy replied, looking even more scared as he lowered his head again. “I...don't have a Name.”

Another child necromancer. Of course he was afraid of admitting that—Janus knew what he was expecting. Fear, hatred, revulsion.

The fact that this kid didn't get that Janus understood that...

“Show me your wrist.” he instructed. “The one he broke.”

Patton looked up again, eyes still wide—this time with confusion, did this kid have any other setting besides doe-eyed cherub?--but did as he was told.

Making a fist, Janus took a breath and called on what little magic he had. When he felt the heat bleeding into his fingers, saw the ripple of heat in the air and the coal red shimmer of energy, he extended his fist and opened his fingers. The energy fled his grip and laid over Patton's arm, glowing bright before going swiftly dark again.

“It shouldn't bother you again.” he explained when Patton withdrew his arm back into his cell and ran his fingers over it in fascination.

Looking back up at Janus, his smile was softer this time, his expression so intense and...adoring that he couldn't breathe under the weight of it.

“I'm Janus.” he said, by way of responding to that...expression before he turned around and fled the scene like a coward.

********

Two Weeks Later

“...Hart.”

“That...works surprisingly well. You'll get your books. I always pay my debts.”

“Past performance indicates this is an accurate assessment. Hence my request.”

“Oh...go back to bed.”

“Gladly.”

Janus stepped back into the shadows as Logan turned and promptly settled back down on his pallet to sleep. Much as he respected him, sometimes he simply could not stand the elitist little shit. He was still waiting for some parting jab over his shoulder for Janus's obvious display of weakness...but the longer he waited, the less he worried.

He stayed long enough to watch Logan drift off again, remaining in the shadows beyond his line of sight. He stayed, forced himself to stay, so that he didn't make an ass of himself or tip his hand to anyone that might be watching—if living in the palace had taught him nothing else, it had taught him to assume that he was never alone.

Once Logan started to snore, Janus finally let himself take off, flying through the dungeon halls that were his home—literally, as he hit the home stretch, taking advantage of his dragon heritage to propel himself forward with just a little more force and speed, letting him eat up stretches of corridor in half the time of a full blooded human.

He stopped just short of the cell he was looking for—the same one he'd visited nearly every single day since he'd met the angelic little necromancer that had managed to ignite every single protective instinct Janus had ever denied having. He hated it, hated to admit that he identified with any part of his dragon heritage, but Patton was, without question, a bright and golden thing amidst all the darkness that lived below the royal palace.

Janus had found him. Now, he belonged to Janus—and no dragon worth their weight could resist the overwhelming primal urge to jealously protect and hoard their treasure.

“Patton!”

The cot, a recent addition Janus had seen to obtaining for him, jolted with the force of a lump bolting upright, revealing a sleepy, tousled Patton blinking into the dim light of the hall.

“Janny? That you?” He hissed into the dark.

Rolling his eyes, Janus finally revealed himself, stepping right up to the cell bars. “No, it's the Animator.”

“I told you not to joke about that!” Patton admonished, flinging himself out of bed and stomping up to the bars with a scowl. “I'm twelve, I can't hear that stuff!”

“You've never quite explained that.”

Patton blinked, then scrubbed his hands over his face to banish the sleep before raking them back through his curls.

“'Cause...I can't.” he admitted. “It's...it's hard to explain? The Cleansing took my Name, but there's all kinds of little crumbs that sometimes roll through my head.”

Janus made a face at the mention of the Cleansing—the ritual used to strip a necromancer of their Name. It was horrific, painful, and it always made Janus a little bit sick.

He'd seen one take place in his life. It was one time too many.

“And that's one of those...what you said?” Janus asked.

Patton nodded so enthusiastically his curls bounced, tousling and forcing him to run his fingers through them again to sweep them from his eyes. “It's...there's something important about being twelve among the Necromata—and something bad about bad-talking the Animator. I think they might be connected, but I could be wrong.”

Janus felt his chest squeeze painfully as Patton spoke, free as a bird—like this information couldn't be used against him, like he had no idea.

“You shouldn't talk to me about that stuff.” he reminded him. “My father's the captain of the guard.”

Patton just rolled his eyes with a grin. “You won't tell him, I know that—that's why I tell you stuff! It helps you, and I know you won't use it to hurt me.”

“No, you don't.”

“Uh huh! You're way nicer than you think you are, Mister Dragon.”

“I'm a drake.”

“You're pretty.”

Patton did this every time. Every single time, and Janus...he was not capable of blushing. He did not blush, he would not blush.

“I know it's late, but I have something for you.” he blurted instead of responding, or blushing, watching as Patton's eyes widened, his smile growing impossibly brighter.

“No foolin'? What is it?”

Janus took a deep breath, warring with himself. He'd believed the stories for a long time—the evil of necromancers, that they had no souls, no morals, power hungry and constantly thirsting for fresh blood...

Then he met one. Then he was disfigured...then he met Logan, and now he had this fucking urchin that had latched onto him with perfect faith and trust, and he was so fucked up over it that he was willing to empower him. At least, if he was right and this worked.

Patton just waited. Janus lost his hesitation.

“Heart.”

The boy blinked, brow furrowing curiously.

“Heart?”

Janus nodded. “Patton Heart. They took your Name...I thought you might feel better with a new one. Something to be called, at least.”

The little pout his mouth formed had Janus's heart sinking. It was a stupid idea, he didn't like it, and it damn sure wouldn't work--

Patton's breath hitched, and Janus's attention narrowed to the boy.

His dark blue eyes were shiny with unshed tears...but he was grinning. So bright, so painfully bright that Janus had to bite the inside of his cheek to resist the urge to rip the cell door off its hinges, grab the little bastard, and hide him somewhere deeper and darker where no one else could touch him or even look at him. His treasure, his gold...

Suddenly, Patton stuck his hand out through the bars.

“Pleased to meetcha, Mister Dragon...I'm Patton Heart.”

Cursing under his breath in annoyance—not with a smile, he was not smiling—Janus reached out to shake his hand.

“Likewise—Patton?”

Patton was staring at their hands, features ashen. He was clutching Janus's hand hard enough to bruise—and he was absolutely trembling.

“Patton?...Patton, what happened? What's the matter?”

Was it his wrist? It should have been fine—if Mori came after him again...

“Janus, I...I can feel your hand.”

******** 1033, A.A.

Janus was not okay—and for the first time in his life, it was a good thing.

The north wing of the palace was reserved for ambassadors and other dignitaries—a good choice to keep prisoners, as it was well guarded and the guest suites arranged with a lack of accessible windows or too many entrances to reduce the access for assassins and spies. It was also lavish, with a spacious garden area that had high walls and sprawling lawns.

Watching Patton as Janus led him into the suite he'd selected among those available for the two prisoners to share, something restless and angry that had lingered in his gut for the last eight years finally began to relax, at least a little. Here, in the north wing, cut off from other prisoners, from cruel guards and the dungeon master, now Colonel Mori...

His treasure was finally shuttered away, locked up and safe. The dragon that took up entirely too much space in his skin was settling, knowing that his hoard was safe.

Leaning against the doorway, Janus glanced over his shoulder and dismissed the guard that had been dispatched there, content to watch over Patton himself for a short while before he would have to return to the king's side.

Patton shuffled deeper and deeper into the suite's main living area, as if frightened his steps would be too loud or possibly shatter something. His eyes were wide as ever, taking everything in—occasionally blinking hard and fast when the bright light he was no longer used to made them sting or water.

The part of Janus that had secretly grown to look at Patton like the little brother he never had was very satisfied...but the part of him that had been growing stronger over the last couple of years, the one that was haunted by those deep blue eyes and the greedy way he stole the tiniest touches from Janus through the bars of his cell...

The one that had woken up the first time he allowed Patton to touch his face, his scales...that part of him was keenly aware of the fact that they were alone, and that Patton had no fucking clue that Janus had been all but crippled by his pure heart and beautiful eyes.

“Janny?”

Shaking himself out of his thoughts, Janus regarded Patton coolly. “What?”

Patton was in the middle of the room, facing him with a strange look that Janus couldn't parse. He was either distraught or...not...distraught. Whatever it was, the emotion was intense, making his eyes water and his lips quiver, and Janus was caught between bloodlust and the tender, aching thing that tortured him these days with every single second he spent in Patton's presence.

“You remember your promise?”

Janus had to think for a second, but he finally remembered the one promise he'd made to Patton that could apply to this situation.

“...one thing, Janny. Anything in the world you could have, what would it be?”

“Swear to me you won't tell a soul.”

“Pinky promise!”

“...pure blood. Dragon, not human. For the wings.”

“Oooooh, that's a good one!”

“What...nevermind.”

“What about me? That what you were gonna ask?”

“Fine, yes! Happy?”

“Yes—'cause I'd want to get out of this cell so I could give you a big ol' hug.”

“...Seven Hells, Pat...”

“Would you give it to me?”

“No.”

“Second chance?”

“...yes.”

“Promise?”

“Promise.”

“I remember, Pat.”

Patton just stared at him, wrapping his arms around himself—tight enough that he was shaking.

With a sigh, Janus crossed over to him and, with a glance over his shoulder to make sure they were alone, opened his arms.

Patton all but flew into them, pressing his face against the scales running down Janus's throat. Janus held him lightly, carefully—they'd never been able to do much through the bars of Patton's cell, but Patton had an easier time of acclimating to touch with Janus thanks to the fact that he ran cooler than a human or a dragon. Drakes tended to run cold, courtesy of their magic.

“Thanks, Janny.” Patton sighed after a few minutes, relaxing in small measures the longer Janus held him.

Janus made a noncommittal sound, even if he was rubbing Patton's back gently, feeling like he was stealing something by holding him like this. It was perfectly innocent...but it was Patton. Pure, good, secretly conniving Patton, and he was letting Janus hold him like he was something equally good and pure and safe.

It was just more proof that Janus was a terrible person, because he didn't give a shit.

“Happy?” he asked after a moment.

Patton smiled, and Janus had to supress the urge to shiver when he felt Patton's lips curling up against his neck.

“Yes.” he whispered, just before he burst into quiet tears, falling apart for the first time in eight years while he let Janus hold his broken pieces together in comfortable silence.

********

“...sten here, you little brat, you may be waiting for the crown, but I've known you since—”

“I repeat: I know where the guillotine is. We can even slap him after! He won't feel it, but he'll flinch!”

“Remus, please!”

“What? He's basically calling the king a snot nosed child! Am I wrong?”

...voices. Voices, buzzing at the edges of Logan's self awareness, but only just...

“He is a snot-nosed child, and a conduit to boot! You can't trust the gifted—not the useless conduits, not the lying mages or the spineless Sensitives—and you damn sure can't trust a godsdamned necromancer! Now, can we please stop talking about this thing like he's remotely human, finish the damn Cleansing properly this time, and get my prisoner back into his cell?”

“Or, here's an idea—you could...say...shut the fuck up and listen to the king?”

Itchy. Everything itched. Why was he so godsdamned itchy?...

...threads. Everywhere, all over, there were dangling threads. The colors were innumerable, all glowing with varying levels of light. It was a mess...it was a massacre.

Something had been torn away, and all that was left were these threads, some long and frayed, others short and thick. All of them were brushing every part of him—soft, barely there, and absolutely maddening.

“...compulsion to simply stop living. Imagine—imagine the way you feel as you breathe. You don't think about it, it just happens. Now reverse that. To stop, to let go, to fall...that became the natural instinct. My father succumbed to the same insidious magic, I know it.”

“With all due respect, Majesty, it was clearly the necromancer. He's got power he's been hiding, and at the end of the day? That's what they do, they kill.”

“Eh, sounds like bullshit. No necromancer's ever killed anyone before.”

“You're lying. There's thousands of cases, tens of thousands over a thousand years—I've studied it! Graduated the Academy top of my class.”

“So did I—first in my class, actually, and Prince Remus is right.”

“Shut your mouth, Cadet.”

“When the Seven Hells freeze over. Read the military's historical records: they show every combat death, but none of them involved magic. Want proof? It's in the the Tomes, you'll see. Any sorcerer can show you.”

“No offense, toy soldier—I mean, you're cute as the Seven Hells, but you don't strike me as the kind of guy who can speak any of the Ethereal tongues needed to read the magicians' histories.”

“I can't speak them, not really—but I can read them.”

“How?”

“...I'm a Sensitive.”

“Well, Colonel Mori—I guess you just made yourself a new best friend. Besides me, of course...”

“...Remus, get your spitty finger out of the colonel's ear!”

“Eat my thick and juicy co...”

Warm. Logan was warm, a warmth he knew and understood—and being weighed down by something, a steady and evenly distributed weight that was foreign, but not so alien he wasn't familiar with the feel of pressure, from neck to foot.

...threads, more threads, reaching out from the source of heat and heft, tickling at the surface of his consciousness—all so itchy. He had to scratch, couldn't scratch...couldn't escape, couldn't...

Wait. The colors...that one thread, rippling with gray and white, silver and lightning...there was a matching one inside his head...

“...the plan, then?”

“The plan is, we get the necromancer healthy, and have him recall the king to life...Master Picani?”

“Emile, please.”

“--Emile, then—you were in the crowd today, with the rest of the palace mages—what do the people know?”

“The king was seen collapsing. I can tell you that I haven't heard any announcements being made...but the chit chat I picked up on as I was on my way here? Well, word has likely already been leaked from somewhere.”

“Damn it! Then the coronation will have to be arranged...and then voided once my father has been resurrected.”

“You know there is no guarantee it can be done, Majesty.”

“I do...but I have faith...”

...these threads weren't long enough. He knew where they connected to, but there just wasn't enough slack to reach the tattered edges inside his head.

He reached out, leaned out, tried to follow them back to the source—something inside, tucked neatly into the warmth and the weight pressing, cradling, pulling him back into his prison of broken threads and torn scraps...

These threads were attached to something—something whole, not the entire tapestry but a piece of the picture.

“This man is a murderer! He's a demon, a killer--”

“...King Roman? A word?...”

“Of course, Mast—er, Emile. Master Somnum?”

“It's Remy, gurl.”

“Remy—keep an eye on Colonel Mori. Help the cadet subdue him if he does anything stupid.”

“Only if I can get out of prison mage detail. Being the boss is cool? But I hate this asshole.”

“I'll see what I can do.”

“On it, Boss.”

...it was him. There was no question: it was him.

He reached into the source of heat and pulled the fragment out.

“--spineless, useless Sensitives!”

“You wanna see how spineless I am? Take another step, Colonel. I fucking dare you.”

“Oooh, catfight!”

“More like a two hit fight: I'll hit him, he hits the floor.”

“Disrespecting a superior officer? I'll have you court-martialed! Or put into the dungeons...you're too damn close to the Necromata, anyway.”

“We can't use magic, idiot stick, we can only sense or enhance it.”

“So maybe you helped the necromancer kill the king, eh?”

“Oh-kay, Colonel Morose. Back off.”

...this was going to be incredibly difficult. Reconnecting these shorter threads, weaving the ones together in a way that made sense...it was next to impossible....

“...your name, Cadet?”

“Virgil Storm, Majesty.”

“Master Somnum?”

“...he's lying.”

Just a few quick knots on this edge to hold it in place—but it wouldn't stick without...

...there. A shuttle, knotted to the corner of the scrap, carrying a heavy length of glimmering silk.

“...Seven Hells is happening?”

“Oh, well—hello there.”

“Emile? What's happening?”

“It appears that the prisoner is...chanelling.”

“I thought channeling was used to heal?”

“It is—among other things, so don't fucking touch him.”

“Cadet, shut the--”

“Colonel Mori, quiet. Virgil—what's going on? Why can't I touch him?”

“...'cause you're a conduit. You have a ton of magic and no ability to use it, so it's all pent up and shit. Touch him, and you could interfere with what's happening. Your magic, I mean...it can leak out and wreck everything.”

“Is there a spell on this blanket you brought for him?”

“Sort of.”

“What does that mean?”

“Nothing I'm willing to share with an outsider. It's sacred knowledge.”

“Oh, for the love of...”

...the work was fast, he could finish this edge swiftly—the shuttle was liquid lightning, his fingers moving of their own accord...

“..for not even an hour, and there's a jailbreak in progress?!?...”

“I...Lord Janus...how did you even--”

“I joined the assassin's corps when I was eighteen, and I killed the captain when I was nineteen to take his place. I make it a point to know everythng that happens in this castle.”

“Relax, Lord Janus—I have this in hand. Virgil.”

“What?”

“I swear, on the Spider's Thread, that you can trust me.”

“...Majesty?...”

“...Janus, Remy, get Colonel Mori out of the room.”

...it was done. It was...perfect.

It was...

“--get that thing away from him if I--”

“Colonel, stop!”

...oh, shit...

Sudden lightness. Cold, cold, cold.

The shuttle slipped through his fingers.

Pain, searing pain from head to toe.

If he lost it, he couldn't finish, he had to finish or it would slip away.

Sound, fury, crushing weight--

Fingers in his hair. Gentle pressure on his scalp.

A hand in his.

Hold on. Do not let go.

I never have. I never will.

“Loganberry?...”

The shuttle landed in the palm of his hand. He grabbed on tight--

--and opened his eyes.

#sanders sides #logince #moceit #ts logic #ts creativity #ts anxiety #ts deceit #ts dark creativity #fic #logan sanders #patton sanders #janus sanders #remus sanders #roman sanders #virgil sanders #no betas we die like men #this is all the artist's fault i'm just a hapless writer that stumbled across it #i don't even know what i'm saying anymore #my name is liz and i swear to god i will fic again