Wind Symphony: The Sequel (Sometimes Labels Shift Series)
Fandom: Sanders Sides
Relationships: Logan & Virgil, Logan/Patton
Characters: Logan, Virgil, Patton
Summary: Virgil gets his first ever clarinet. This is a very stressful day for him. He doesn't even know the prices!
This is a dealing with events set after my story Sometimes Labels Fail.
Notes: Superhero AU (not that it matters), past child abuse
(Original prompt from @carolofthebell a looooong long time ago.)
Virgil flinched at the sound of the bell as another customer exited the store. He couldn’t help but be jumpy considering the amount of expensive merchandise within accidently elbowing distance.
He’d been usure about this venture from the beginning and was even more so now that they were actually in the music store.
Virgil had auditioned for and made it into the intermediate band for the spring semester, a step up from the lowest level band he’d been in before. Both Logan and Patton had congratulated him for this more than they probably should have and then had taken him out for ice cream.
It wasn’t until about a week later that Logan brought up the topic of buying him a better clarinet.
“The school rentals are of good enough quality,” Logan had explained, “however, if you’re going to play more seriously, it would be beneficial to get you a better one. It would also afford you the opportunity to practice during the summer, so you can audition for the senior band next fall.”
Considering Virgil had only just managed to get into the intermediate band, he thought that was moving very, very fast, but Logan had shut down that protest by reminding him that even if he didn’t manage to get into it next year, he surely would in his senior year, and it was an investment. Virgil’s protest that said “investment” was far, far too expensive was also ignored by both Patton and Logan.
Now they were here in a music shop on a Saturday morning, and Virgil didn’t know if he’d ever been this stressed. (And he’d been shot before.)
He’d never been in a music shop before, and he couldn’t help but tug anxiously on his sleeve as his eyes darted around to all the different, very very expensive instruments hanging on the walls. He didn’t even want to touch the shelves of sheet music, worried that he’d somehow knock them over and trigger an avalanche of costly equipment.
Patton and Logan clearly did not have the same anxieties, strolling through the shelves like this was a Good Will instead of a specialty shop.
Virgil followed them with a caution befitting a man creeping around a sleeping dragon to steal its eggs.
“Hello,” said Logan upon making it to the very back of the store where an older man with wide rimmed glasses was standing at a counter.
“How can I help you?” the man asked.
“We’re looking for a beginner’s clarinet.”
The man’s eyes instantly drifted to Virgil. Virgil chose not to dive behind the nearest shelf (since it held pricey looking ticking metronomes) and instead attempted to hide in his hoodie.
“I have a list of brands that are of interest,” Logan said, pushing a list over to the man.
The man glanced at the list and blinked, seeming surprised. Virgil was sure Logan had been shockingly thorough in his research.
“However,” Logan continued. “We’d like Virgil to have a chance to make the final decision.” At that, Logan looked back at Virgil and noticed he was hanging back a good 10 feet. He waved Virgil forward and Virgil reluctantly shuffled over.
“Of course,” the man said, his eyes on Virgil even more now. “I’ll get a few down for him to look at.” The man turned away to walk into the back and Virgil let the breath he’d been holding out.
Patton settled a hand on his shoulder and Virgil almost jumped out of his skin. The hand jerked back.
“Sorry,” Virgil said.
Patton hesitated and then, careful to choreograph his movement more this time, he returned the hand to his shoulder, giving a reassuring squeeze.
“You don’t need to be stressed, honey,” Patton said. “It’s just a clarinet. It won’t bite you.”
“It’s expensive,” Virgil stressed.
“You don’t need to worry about the cost,” Logan said. “I have already budgeted for more than enough to cover any expenses we incur here.”
But why he had done that was still a mystery to Virgil. He didn’t bother asking. They’d already tried to have that discussion many times before.
“Speaking of, is there anything else you need?” Logan asked.
Virgil shook his head.
Logan raised an eyebrow in response. “Reeds?” he asked. “Cleaning equipment?”
Virgil shrugged. Technically, yes, he probably did need those things.
Logan nodded as though hearing Virgil’s thoughts. “We’ll make sure to get all of that as well. Patton, why don’t you go look around the store for things you think he’ll need while Virgil and I test out the instruments.”
“He’ll buy the entire store,” Virgil pointed out as Patton almost immediately turned to start looking at the store’s offerings. Patton glanced back at him with a teasingly annoyed expression. He was not distracted from his task for long, however.
“He surely will,” Logan confirmed. He always said things like that with more fond amusement than actual annoyance, Virgil had noticed in the months he’d lived with them. Today, it wasn’t even that. He seemed happy that Patton was probably going to drop a bunch of cash on useless things in this store.
The man returned after a few minutes with three different clarinets. The brand names meant nothing to Virgil except that they were all ones that had been on Logan’s list. He wished he’d done his own research since none of the cases had priced on them, and he didn’t know which was the most expensive. All he knew was they all probably costed a lot.
Even beginner clarinets were expensive, he knew. That’s why most kids, even ones not in foster care, rented instruments. Even rich families often didn’t outright buy an instrument until they were sure their kid was going to stick with it.
Maybe some of the kids in Virgil’s grade with rich parents, a lot of skills, and opportunities to play at non-school functions had instruments of their own by now, but people like Virgil did not.
Yet, Logan and Patton had insisted and now here Virgil was.
The man talked briefly about the differences between each clarinet (not the prices) and what each was good for before letting Virgil test them all out briefly.
If it were up to Virgil, he’d have just messed around with each for a couple of minutes, so this venture didn’t cost as much time as it did money, but Logan insisted he play each for around 15 minutes to really ‘get a feel for them.’ The worker seemed to approve of this suggestion.
They’d been at the store for over an hour by the time he’d tried all of the offered clarinets out to satisfaction. He still wished he knew the prices, but without that, he just had to blindly pick which one he’d liked the most.
Patton returned with two baskets of merchandise ranging from useful (swabs, cork grease, and reeds) to unnecessary (a music stand and some books of sheet music from Disney movies) and inane (coasters with clarinets and musical notes on them).
Upon confirmation that Virgil had picked a clarinet, he dumped this all on the counter in front of Logan and promptly (gently) manhandled Virgil out of the store so Logan could pay.
“I wanted to at least know how much you guys just spent on me,” Virgil groused as the door closed behind him.
“You are absolutely never knowing,” he said.
Virgil bit his lip.
“Really, Virgil,” Patton said. “We want to buy it for you. The cost doesn’t matter.”
“What if I break it?” Virgil asked.
“Considering how gently you treated the rental?” Patton asked, “I don’t think you will, but even if you do, it’s fine. It’s just an object.”
“An expensive object.”
“We can afford it,” Patton said with a shrug, “and we want to give it to you because we care. Let us do this for you.”
There was an earnestness to his expression that made Virgil have to swallow. “Fine,” he agreed reluctantly, “but did you have to get the coasters?”
“Those are for me!” Patton declared. “I’m going to take them to my office, so if someone asks about them, I can brag about the fantastic clarinet player I have at home.”
Virgil blushed at the thought. “Do not do that.”
Patton just smiled.
“Patton don’t do that.”
In the years to come, Patton would very much do that.
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Hello, Dragons Here
Fandom: Avatar the Last Airbender
Author: Muffinlance @muffinlance
Rating: Teen
Warnings: Violence, Serious Injury, Child Abuse
Word Count: 4,617
Characters: Zuko, Iroh, Ozai, Azula, Ran, Shaw, Hakoda, Kuei, Aang, Katara, Sokka
Tags: dragons, ficlett
A series of prompts answered by Muffinlance:
Part 1
Anonymous asked: Zuko, banished, no crew, no uncle, no quest for the avatar. Says "fuck this" aka, if I can get back to caldera maybe I can convince my dad to take me back. Horribly wounded thirteen year old finds dragons, starts a civil war by accident
Part 2
Anonymous asked: I saw your “Zuko brings home two dragons and becomes fire lord” story (it was awesome :3). But what if Zuko got hurt somehow and the dragons went apeshit. (Cause they’re friends right?)
Part 3
@carolofthebell asked: Shaw reeeeally want to eat the earth kings bear. It’s so exotic and he’s never tried one before. Just a nibble, maybe a haunch, then he’ll know if it tastes like orca-bear or weasel-bear.
Part 4
Anonymous asked: Would you be willing to do one where the g'aang meets zuko with his dragons and is like? Wtf? Because I would appreciate the image of aang seeing thw dragons and going, can I pet em, while sokka or katara is like, can I fight dragons? No, no I cannot, and the other is going, not evil fire lord, bet. Please?
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