#it’s also a bit crude from Remus | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

snowdice · 2 years

Text

742 (Full 2022 Big Bang Fic)

Fandom: Sanders Sides

Relationships: Virgil/Patton (romantic, but could be read as platonic)

Characters:

Main: Virgil, Patton

Appear: Janus, Logan, Roman

Mentioned: Remus

Summary:

Virgil Sanders died alone on a hill at the edge of town by his own hand near the end of his senior year of high school. Patton had never known him; he was also the last person to see him alive.

Despite having barely ever talked to Virgil, Patton never could get over the boy’s death and he could never get rid of the sketchbook Virgil had pressed into his hands before running off that day. It didn’t matter that the number of drawings of Patton himself was… a bit creepy given the context that they hadn’t really known each other. The sketchbook was always somehow a comfort to him.

When Patton is mortally injured, he finds himself reaching for that comfort and suddenly ends up in his old high school with a dead boy standing front of him. Now, it’s a race against the clock to survive a danger Patton had no memories of being in last time with a boy who knew more about him than he really should. If they’re fast enough, maybe this time, no one has to die.

Notes: temporary major character death, suicide (temporary and self-sacrificial, not because of mental health reasons), a bit of gross out stuff (a character walked through what is in essence digestive fluid of a giant slug monster)

This fic is 4 chapters + an epilogue which you can find all on this post. I am posting it all as one lump today for the @ts-storytime Big Bang 2022 event and then will post them by chapters later down the line on my blog and on AO3.

A special thanks to @kiapet2 for being my beta reader and to @easy-meta-knight for the artwork. It was fun working with you!

Check out the awesome artwork for this fic here!

Chapter 1 Coffee Lemonade

“Uh. Could I try the iced coffee lemonade, please?” Patton asked, pointing to a small chalkboard to his left. It was sitting on the counter next to the cash register and had all the seasonal drinks written on it in impressively neat cursive.

“Sure.” The girl working the till must have been a new summer hire, because Patton didn’t recognize her from last spring. Her fingers still seemed a bit hesitant on the cash register buttons and she referred back to a slip of paper taped behind the counter a few times while punching in his order.

“That’ll be $5.32,” she said, looking back up at him.

Patton made sure to smile at her extra wide even though he’d honestly been interested in one of the brownies in the display case and hadn’t wanted her to push the total button quite yet. It didn’t matter. He’d be sitting here for a while anyway; he could just get one later.

“Lemonade coffee,” Patton mused while handing over a couple of bills. “That’s an odd one.”

She glanced at him while counting the money. “Yeah, people seem to be divided on whether they like it or not.”

“I don’t usually get to try the summer specials here,” Patton said. “They usually switch them out around when classes start, and I always just miss them.”

“Yeah,” she said, handing him back his change.

He stuck a dollar in the tip jar.

“I think the owner is changing them out next week at some point,” she said.

“Guess I’ll have to come back a few times this week to try the other specials,” he said, gesturing to the board. “Don’t want to miss my chance.” It wouldn’t be a hardship. He loved this coffee shop, and he was living closer to it this year than he had been the last.

Logan had said taking his favorite coffee shop’s location into account when choosing an apartment was ridiculous, but Patton knew having to walk by his favorite study spot to get home every day would increase his productivity in the end (even if it would probably be a drain on his wallet). Logan, who would drink crude oil thinking it was his coffee and thought the periodic table was enough decoration for his classroom given it was colorful, did not understand this concept.

“Mmm,” the cashier replied dismissively. It was not in a rude way, but she clearly wasn’t interested in continuing to talk to him much more. That was fair. She didn’t know Patton yet. She probably would get to know him if she continued to work at the coffee shop through the school year.

Shooting her one last smile, Patton stepped away to find a table.

The coffee shop felt eerily empty for this time of day. Patton wasn’t used to being in town when the university was not in session. Up until this year, he’d lived in the dorms and wasn’t allowed to move in until a predetermined date and time the week before classes started. This year, he was able to move into his apartment at the beginning of August.

Logan had helped him move in over the weekend but had had to be back in their hometown by Monday since it was the last week of the summer class he was teaching. So, now Patton was alone in a city that was a whole lot emptier than he was used to without college students crawling all over it.

He was used to this coffee shop being filled to the brim with students studying. Today, however, there was only one guy with a laptop in the back and a mom with two young children taking up one of the two couches.

Patton chose to sit at his favorite spot near the window. From it, he had a perfect view of a small park to the left of the coffee shop. Bunnies and squirrels frequented the little grassy area. He had a tally table in his planner from last year where he’d always count how many of each animal he could spot during his hours at the shop. That… had not been the intended purpose of the planners Logan always got him for each school year.

Doodling was also not the intended purpose of the planners, but doodling in the new one was Patton’s plan for the afternoon. It wasn’t like he had any coursework yet! (Not that he ever actually wrote assignments down in the things.)

Reaching into his bag, he pulled out his new planner as well as a blue pen. Logan had handed the planner to him yesterday right before leaving. It was a gift he had been giving Patton every school year since Patton was 8 and Logan was 16. Things had changed a lot since then. Logan had gone off to college and started a doctorate program, their parents had died, and Logan had come back home and done his best to take a more parental role towards Patton, which had been awkward and hard. And yet, Patton could always count on getting a planner gifted to him every August.

It was fundamentally a Logan sort of gift, but he’d taken Patton’s tastes into consideration when picking it out. It was a cute little thing that looked nothing like the planner Logan toted around for himself.

The spirals holding it all together were larger than necessary and painted a bright shiny gold. The paper inside was sturdy, but colorful. Each month had a different color scheme, and the pages were littered with inspirational quotes. The cover was a light pink and had a bunch of flowers and cute cartoon bees on it. In curly letters right in the middle of the front cover there was a quote that read, “You will never ‘find’ time for anything. If you want time, you must make it.”

It was pretty. Patton appreciated how much thought probably went into picking it out.

It almost made Patton want to use it for its intended purpose.

He cracked the planner open and flipped to the page with the day’s date. The page was meant to be a spot to write down his class assignments and general daily tasks, but Patton always preferred to just remember those things without a planner, or maybe to use cute sticky notes for the most important things. (He had cupcake and animal shaped sticky notes for this purpose.)

Instead of using it to plan, Patton used it as a mini journal/scrapbook/sketchbook. He wrote his thoughts down where assignments were supposed to go, glued flyers or ticket stubs from events he went to in the ‘Goals’ section and filled the rest of the empty space with doodles.

He wasn’t sure what to write about his day yet, but he was thinking about bunnies, so he started doodling a bunny next to the word “Monday”.

After a minute, the cashier, having forgotten to ask his name to put on the cup, awkwardly waved to grab his attention and called to him that his lemonade coffee was finished.

Over the next half hour, Patton sipped on his drink and continued his bunny doodle. Intermediately, he glanced outside to see if there were any real bunnies hopping about. He didn’t see any, but he did see two squirrels. He marked both down in his new tally table at the front of the planner.

The lemonade coffee was pretty good. He would miss it when it disappeared next week, but alas, time must march forward. Surely at least one of the fall specials would be just as good.

Patton had always loved their fall specials, ever since he’d found this coffee shop halfway through the fall of his freshman year. Though he’d found love for the winter and spring drinks as well, there was something special about the fall.

He finished his bunny doodle and took a sip of his drink, looking at his sketch. It wasn’t a perfect drawing, but Patton had been improving ever since he’d decided to start learning to draw. It at least looked like a bunny. He couldn’t have said the same thing if he’d tried to draw one a few years ago.

Looking at his okay bunny made his brain itch to look at another drawing though, and he found himself reaching down to grab his backpack. His hand brushed over the only other thing in his bag, and he felt himself smile slightly as he grabbed a proper sketchbook.

He shoved his planner to the other side of the table and moved what was left of his drink to the window ledge, just to be absolutely sure there was no chance of anything spilling on the sketches.

It was one of those fancy sketchbooks, the sturdy kind made for real artists who made art that people would want to preserve. It looked exactly as it had when it had first come into Patton’s possession despite Patton carrying it around in his backpack every day and flipping through it often. Its preservation wasn’t just the effect of how well it was made; Patton also was very careful to take proper care of it. It was the least he could do.

He reached for the cover with reverent fingers and carefully opened the sketchbook. It was instinct now to flip to his favorite drawing in the collection. He drew a finger down the side of the page, not touching the actual drawing for fear of smudging it.

He knew it was just in his head, but the page felt warm to the touch, like the late afternoon sunlight perfectly captured on the page bled into the paper and transferred to his finger.

This was one of the few drawings that took up an entire page. Most of the pages held an average of 4 distinct drawings, and some held up to 10. It was enough to squeeze 742 different drawings into the 100-page sketchbook. Patton knew the exact number not because he’d counted (though he had looked at each and every one of them multiple times), but because each picture was labeled with a number from 1 to 742.

Patton’s favorite was number 37.

Some people might say it was vain for his favorite picture in the sketchbook to be one of himself, yet it wasn’t about Patton thinking highly of himself, not at all. There was something… else that drew him to this drawing in particular.

It was done entirely in colored pencil. Patton hadn’t known until he saw this drawing that one could do that with just some colored pencils.

In the picture Patton was sitting on the floor, leaning against the couch in the living room of the house he’d grown up in. He was bent over slightly, with a small smile on his face and glancing off to the right. There were 8 cards in his hands, and his favorite mug was sitting on the table next to him. The sunlight hit the left half of his face, glinting slightly off the metal part of his glasses.

He looked happy in the picture. He looked comfortable and at home.

Some people might say the picture was creepy considering Patton had never invited the artist into his home. He’d never shown him his couch or his favorite mug.

It…it probably was creepy. The whole sketchbook was probably creepy, especially with how much Patton himself featured in it. Especially with how it came to be in Patton’s possession.

And yet… and yet, whenever he touched its cover, whenever he looked at the pages within, it didn’t feel creepy. It didn’t feel wrong.

He’d never been able to get rid of it. He’d never even considered getting rid of it. He hadn’t ever even told anyone what it was.

He didn’t know how to describe what he felt when he looked at the drawings. They made him feel sad, but also somehow warm, like a hug from a loved one on a really bad day. Even though he didn’t have any memory of the situations he was drawn into, they somehow felt familiar. They were like photos you might find in your grandparents’ house from when you were much younger. You might not remember the picture being taken, but it felt right, like it did indeed happen to you. It felt nostalgic.

Looking at the pictures in the sketchbook, flipping through its pages, made it feel like the book was alive-unlike the person who had filled it.

Virgil Sanders had been a tragedy in Patton’s hometown of Kairos Hill. One night in Patton’s senior year of high school, the 17-year-old boy had climbed the hill on the outskirts of town in the middle of the night and proceeded to slit his own wrists.

His body had been cold by the time he’d been found the next day, after his foster family had reported him missing and the police had found a stolen car at the base of the hill. Rumors said there wasn’t even a bit of blood left in the body, all of it having been absorbed into the earth before the cops found him.

What people didn’t know was that earlier that same day, as school was getting out, Virgil had shoved this sketchbook into Patton’s hands and had run away before Patton could get a word out. It was very likely that Patton had been the last person who saw him alive. He hadn’t told the police this. He hadn’t told anyone this.

It wasn’t until after Virgil was already dead that Patton had actually cracked open the sketchbook. He’d found hundreds of beautiful, detailed drawings, including over three hundred of Patton himself, though not all were as grand as number 37.

Patton had never known Virgil, at least not for real. The boy had transferred to Patton’s high school at the beginning of their senior year, and Patton would only retroactively know he’d come to town because his parents had died in a fire, and he’d been placed with a foster family.

He’d been quiet from the accounts of people who’d known him better than Patton had, including Logan who had taught him. He’d never talked without prompting. Patton’s friend Roman had even been partnered with him for a history project the day of his suicide. Patton vaguely remembered Roman being mad at him because he’d refused to work on it at all. In fact, he’d apparently pretended to have to use the bathroom during class and then never came back.

Of course, why would you work on a history project when you planned to be dead long before it was due?

That was really all Patton knew about him. Yet for some reason, he’d cried the first time he’d flipped through these pages. As soon as he’d hit picture 10, he’d had to stop, because he’d been hit with a wave of sudden melancholy and had broken down in tears. It had just been a simple blue butterfly, but something about it had made him sob so loudly that Logan had come to check on him upstairs.

He could look through the pictures without sobbing now, at least. Patton let himself look at picture number 37 for a few minutes before beginning to flip through the other pages.

He wasn’t sure how long he was absorbed in the pages of the sketchbook. He didn’t pay attention to the sound of the door behind him opening with the soft tinkle of a bell or the sound of the girl at the counter and a man speaking to each other.

It wasn’t until Patton’s name was spoken that he looked up.

“Patton Heart,” the voice said, making Patton jump. He put his hands over the picture he’d been looking at defensively as he looked up.

He immediately recognized the man, though it had been over a year since they’d last met.

The man tilted his head. “You draw?” he asked.

Patton slammed the sketchbook closed immediately at the inquiry. “Yes,” he said.

“It’s very well done,” the man said.

“Thank you.”

After a moment, the man slid into the seat across from Patton without asking if it was okay. Patton pressed his lips together.

Janus Lial had always unnerved Patton, but he’d never been able to pin down exactly why. He didn’t seem… bad. Patton liked him in the way one might like a poisonous snake when it was behind a glass wall at a zoo. As long as it stayed back there away from him, he could appreciate it. Unfortunately, Janus often did not stay away from Patton enough for comfort.

He had a weird aura about him, and he always seemed to know more than what he was saying. He always seemed to know that Patton knew more than what he was saying.

Janus was a police officer who had come to town to investigate Virgil’s death. Maybe it was just because he was from out of town, but he’d always been one of the few adults that seemed to care that Virgil had died. The boy’s foster parents hadn’t seemed to care. Most of his teachers didn’t seem to care. Yet, for some reason, the man who, as far as Patton knew, was a stranger to the boy did.

…

Then again, Patton had been a stranger to Virgil too, but he still cared.

Janus had stuck around the town longer than the other investigators. He’d also tended to look at Patton more than the other investigators had. Even after the investigation into Virgil’s death had been officially closed, he’d still shown up in Patton’s hometown every so often and like a magnet, he always seemed to somehow run into Patton whenever he was within 20 miles of him. At least that’s how it seemed.

“It’s nice to see you again,” Janus said.

“Mmm,” Patton replied.

“What are you doing in the city?”

“College.”

“Ah, yes,” Janus said, leaning back in the chair. “That makes sense. How is university life?”

“Semester hasn’t started yet.”

“Hmm.” He waited for a long moment. The silence was familiar from their many interviews after Virgil’s death.

From what Patton had gleaned, because Virgil had been a ward of the state, special agents from out of town had needed to do an independent investigation of his suicide just to be sure. The town had been crawling with the agents for almost a month. They’d interviewed everyone in town whether or not they’d known him.

Janus had been the one to initially interview Patton. Then he’d interviewed him again. And again. Despite the fact that there wasn’t any record Patton had ever interacted with Virgil, Janus had kept wanting to ask him questions. Only Patton had known about the sketchbook, but it was like Janus had somehow known Patton was holding something back. Perhaps Patton had just been a bad liar and he’d picked up on that.

Eventually he’d stopped calling Patton in for formal interviews, but even then, Patton had noticed the man’s eyes linger on him the rest of the time he was in town. Every time they’d spoken then or in the years afterwards, it had still felt like he was being interviewed.

Like right now.

“Could I see that?” Janus asked, looking at the sketchbook with curious eyes. He was reaching forward before Patton answered.

“No,” Patton snapped, a curl of defensiveness in his chest. Janus’s hand retreated from where he’d just touched the cover as though he’d been burned. He shook out the hand with a grimace.

“My apologies,” he grumbled.

“They’re private,” Patton said.

Janus stared at him for a long moment, calculations going on in his eyes. It made Patton want to squirm. “Yes, of course,” he said.

“Did you need something, Officer Lial?” Patton asked coolly.

There was a long pause. Janus seemed to be waiting for something from Patton, but Patton did not fill the space in the conversation left for him.

“No,” he finally said and got to his feet, “but if you ever need me…” He set a business card down on the table next to Patton.

It wasn’t the first time Patton had been given that exact business card. He was pretty sure the first one he’d gotten from him was still tucked in the back of Virgil’s sketchbook right now. He and Patton met eyes for a long moment. “I like your rabbit too,” he said.

“Janus,” the girl behind the counter called. She’d remembered to ask for the customer’s name this time, Patton noted. Janus turned away without another word and grabbed his coffee from the counter. The sound of a bell followed him out of the coffee shop.

Patton reached over and closed the planner with the bunny drawing on it.

He’d planned to stay in the coffee shop a little while longer, but he didn’t really feel like it anymore. He just wanted to go back to his apartment and watch something on Netflix. Maybe he’d order something for dinner.

He carefully slid the planner and sketchbook into his bag. He threw the bag casually on his back only using one strap. With one last smile and wave at the new cashier, he left the coffee shop.

His apartment was only a few blocks away. He was thinking about his plans for the rest of the week as he walked. He’d been out of town for three months, and there were a few restaurants he wanted to visit that he’d been unable to go to for a while.

Logan had helped him unpack most of the things for his new apartment, but he still had some clothing he had to put away and some posters to hang on his walls.

He also needed to get more groceries than the bread, milk, and peanut butter he and Logan had picked up at the corner store.

Maybe he’d order some pizza from one of the local shops tonight. When he was with Logan, they always had to compromise on something boring like sausage or pepperoni, because they had very different tastes. Now that it was just Patton, he could get as many green olives, banana peppers, and globs of spinach on his pizza as he wanted.

He could see his apartment when it happened, though he wasn’t able to figure out what “it” was exactly. His mind provided the word “earthquake,” but the city was nowhere near a fault line. The sidewalk under his feet crumbled out from beneath him suddenly and he toppled forward, smacking his head against the ground before he could do anything to prevent it.

He lay there stunned for a long moment, vision blurry and very confused. The world was still rumbling around him, and he could hear screaming and something… else.

Was there a bomb or something? He didn’t know. All of the air had been pushed out of his lungs and it was difficult to suck anymore in. His glasses were no longer on his nose which might have explained at least some of the blurry vision. He tilted his head to look around for them and decided that probably wasn’t the only reason his vision was blurry with how his head ached.

He didn’t see his glasses when he looked, but his eyes did catch on his backpack. It was still hanging on one of his arms, but it had otherwise been flung away from his body. There was a hole in the bottom that he was sure hadn’t been there when he’d packed it at the coffee shop. The hole also had black edges to it, making it look like the hole had been burned into it.

He could just see the edge of the sketchbook poking through the hole.

Without knowing why, maybe just because he was used to reaching to the sketchbook for comfort, he stretched out a hand towards it. His fingers landed on the familiar warm cover and…

“Hey Patton,” a voice said, and to Patton’s surprise, he was suddenly standing up. He took a startled moment to take a breath, something that had been difficult a moment before. “This is for you,” the same voice said. Patton blinked as the same sketchbook he’d just been reaching for was shoved into his arms.

Patton looked up in surprise only to see the face of a boy who was supposed to be long dead looking back at him. He turned away just as he had almost 3 years ago.

“No!” Patton yelled, and he tackled Virgil Sanders to the ground.

Chapter 2: Here Again

They smacked into the ground hard, though not as hard as Patton had hit the ground only moments before when the sidewalk had crumbled underneath him.

Wait…

What was happening?

His mind was having trouble catching up to what was going on, trying to draw a logical line between the last thing he remembered and what was happening now.

He’d gone to his favorite coffee shop, had started to walk home, and had fallen because of… something. Now he was in an empty hallway. Not only that, he seemed to be in an empty hallway in his old high school.

He hadn’t even stood up from the first time he’d fallen. Yet, he’d just fallen again. He was on the floor. He… He was…

“Huh?” Virgil Sanders sputtered. Patton shouldn’t recognize his voice. He’d seen his picture thousands of times at this point, but he didn’t know his voice. Maybe Patton had heard him speak once or twice when a teacher had called on him, but he couldn’t have recalled what he sounded like only 5 seconds ago. Yet, at the same time, somehow the voice was familiar despite the fact that they’d never held and actual conversation before he’d died.

Virgil was dead, but he was also talking to Patton.

“Patton?” Virgil continued when Patton froze. “What?”

Patton looked down at his shocked and confused face. He looked exactly like the school picture they’d put in the newspaper after he’d died, down to the frown on his face. Patton had cut the picture away from the rather impersonal obituary on impulse one day. He still had the photo hidden in a book on his nightstand. He’d never been able to bring himself to throw it away. Not when the person in the photo was dead.

The person in the photo was laying under Patton and staring up at him.

The person in the photo was dead. And he was laying under him.

Patton didn’t know how those two concepts could coexist, but he did know one thing. His hands turned to fists in the front of Virgil’s shirt. “You can’t!” he cried.

“Can’t… what?” Virgil asked, his eyes darting over Patton’s face.

“You can’t die!”

Virgil’s mouth opened a bit, making him look like a very confused fish. It’d be funny in any other situation.

“H-how do you…?” He trailed off, studying Patton for a long moment. “Do you remember something?”

“I remember everything.”

“How do you…” He paused, biting his lip. “What exactly do you remember?”

“I remember you die,” Patton said.

He looked confused. “You mean you remember I’m going to die,” said Virgil.

“No, I remember you dying!” Patton said, grip tightening even more in the front of his shirt against his will.

“But I… haven’t died,” Virgil said, face twisting into a frown.

“But you’re going to!”

“But I… but I haven’t.”

“Yes!” Patton looked down at the clearly not dead boy. “…No…?” He grimaced. “I don’t know. I’m confused.”

“Yeah, I’m pretty confused too,” said Virgil. “I feel like we’re having two separate conversations. What exactly do you mean by ‘I’m going to die’, or have died or whatever?”

“I…” Patton said. He took a breath and gathered his thoughts for a moment. “Today’s March 15th, right?”

Virgil nodded.

“You died… die today,” Patton told him. “You give me your sketchbook and then no one sees you ever again. They find your body on the hill at the edge of town tomorrow morning.”

Something funny flickered across Virgil’s face.

“Tomorrow?” he asked like he’d never heard the word before.

“Yeah,” Patton said. “You died today, and they found your body tomorrow.”

Virgil still seemed lost for a second, but then he seemed to shake himself. “Wait, so then, are you saying you’re from the future?”

“I,” Patton said, stopping to think for a moment. “I guess I am.”

“Like, the real proper future, not like from 10:37pm tonight?”

“Yeah,” Patton confirmed. “I have no idea how it happened, but it’s been 2 and a half years since you died for me. I… something was going on. I don’t know. I hit my head and then you were here and giving me the sketchbook. Again.”

“You’re from the future.” Virgil leaned his head back against the linoleum tiles with a clunk; his eyes stared blankly at the ceiling.

Patton winced at the noise.

“What even is my life?” Virgil asked. It did not sound like he was talking to Patton.

“Worth living,” Patton immediately said.

Virgil’s face scrunched up; he turned to squint up at Patton.

“Look,” Patton began to blabber, “I know we don’t exactly know each other, but I’m sure many people do care about you, even if you can’t see it. Even if for some reason no one does right now, I’m sure many people will care about you in the future. You seem like a nice person. I could be your friend. You don’t need to-”

“I’m not suicidal, Pat,” Virgil sighed, cutting him off. “Not really. Not like that. I am planning to die today, yes, but it’s not like… I don’t want to die.”

“You don’t?” Patton asked.

“No,” he breathed. “I really, really, don’t. Don’t get me wrong, life’s not great right now. I miss my mom and dad. My foster parents are kind of cold. I’m a bit behind in school and I don’t have many friends in town, because I wasn’t in the best headspace when I moved here. I don’t want to die though.”

“Then why do you?” Patton asked.

“I’m just,” he said; there was a hitch to his voice. “I’m really tired, Pat. I’m not getting anywhere. I literally can’t keep going anymore.”

“That… sounds suicidal,” Patton said.

“It’s not,” Virgil said. “It’s… you have no idea how much I’d like to see tomorrow right now.”

“Then why are you going to die?” asked Patton.

“I don’t have a choice. I’ve tried so many different things so many different times. I literally don’t think I can go any more rounds, and I’m scared of dying, but I’m more scared of what could happen if I run out of energy to keep this up.”

“Keep what up?” Patton asked. “Rounds?”

He sighed, and finally moved to push Patton off himself and sit up. He looked to the side and reached out an arm. The sketchbook had fallen and skidded to land next to him when Patton had tackled him. However, he froze the second he touched the cover.

“What the hell?” Virgil pulled the book into his lap, looking down and staring at it like it was an alien.

“What?” Patton asked, looking at the book himself. It looked the same as it always had.

“How did it-? When did it-? Why?” Virgil sputtered, sliding his finger along the cover.

“What?” Patton repeated more insistently.

“It’s become a praetectio somehow.”

“Uh,” Patton said. “What’s that.”

Virgil glanced at him and then back at the book with a frown. “It’s a type of protection charm,” he answered, “one of the strongest types.”

“A protection charm?” Patton asked, confused.

Virgil turned to blink at him. “Right,” he said. “You wouldn’t know about any of that today.”

“Huh?”

Virgil exhaled heavily. “Alright,” he said. “Let’s do the spiel one last time. My name is Virgil Sanders. It’s a little hard to believe, but please hear me out. Magic is real, and I’m what’s known as a mage. Except I’m not really a mage, because you have to study a certain amount to be considered one, but both of my parents were mages. I have magic in my blood and some amount of knowledge about how to use it.”

“This town,” he gestured with one hand to the air around them, “is currently in danger. It will be destroyed, and everyone will die at 10:37pm. I don’t know how to save it. Or, at least, I don’t know how to save it permanently. The only thing I am able to do is a band-aid. When the town was destroyed the first time, I panicked and my magic responded, putting the entire town into a time loop. It takes me back 12 hours before everything ends. The only thing that persists through the time loops are my memories and…” He held up the sketchbook. “This. This is a time anchor. It was the closest object to me when everything went to shit, and my magic latched onto it. It’s what keeps the time loop stable. It also helps me keep track of the loops. Every day before 10:37pm, I make sure to draw a picture to remind myself of that day, and I label it with the number of loops it’s been. The picture I draw remains even when the loop resets. Currently, there are 742 drawings. We have gone through 741 versions of today before this one. Yes, we have had this conversation multiple times.”

“You’re stuck in a time loop?” Patton asked, alarmed.

Virgil smiled slightly. “And you always are the only one who believes me, first try. Though,” he added, “if you just time traveled yourself, it’s probably even easier to believe.” He paused with a contemplative look on his face. “That brings up the question as to how you time traveled. What happened to get you here?”

“Hmm,” Patton said. “You said something’s weird about the sketchbook, right?”

“Yeah, it’s not a time loop anchor anymore. Or, well, I think it still is, but it’s not just that.”

“Well,” Patton hedged. “I had touched it right before I ended up back here. I’d gotten knocked over and was dizzy and confused, but I saw the sketchbook in my bag. There was a weird hole burned into the bottom of my bag that hadn’t been there before. I reached for it and suddenly was here.”

Virgil looked down at the sketchbook. “Oh. “His eyes widened in realization. “It must be… the praetectio, it must be for you.”

“For me?”

“You must have been in danger in the future. The book was trying to reach you to protect you.”

He looked over at Patton, something funny in his eyes.

“I must have… when I gave this to you, I somehow charmed it to protect you. I don’t know how. I don’t even know how to make one. I didn’t even think I had enough magic left for anything, let alone something this powerful.”

“But why did it send me back in time?” Patton asked.

“I’m not sure. I guess since it was also a time anchor, time travel is in its repertoire of how to protect you. It apparently saw that as the best option in that moment.”

“So, it protected me from whatever was going on in the future?” Patton asked.

Virgil scowled down at the book at that. “Well, it didn’t do a very good job of it,” he scolded the cover. “You were supposed to protect him, not take him back in time to a time where he was almost eaten by a giant slug!”

“Giant… slug?”

Virgil stopped glowering at the book to look up at him with a grimace. “Yeah. We’re currently in the… well, it’s not really a mouth. It’s a stomach, kind of, but it’s not in the slug. It’s like an outside stomach… thing. We’re in the that of a giant magic slug monster.” He shuddered a bit and then seemed to gather himself at least somewhat. “It’s gross,” he said. “It’s a horrible death. For everyone. Everyone in town dies. Except for me for some reason. Parent death magic things, I think. I don’t know. I haven’t actually studied any of this for real.” He sighed. “I know more about it now than I did 700 rounds ago, but there is literally one beginners magic book in this entire town and it’s the one that I brought with me. I have read it so many times and it is not sufficient for this situation. Honestly, your brother has been more of a help figuring out what’s going on than that book, despite him having a maximum of 11 hours with the knowledge that magic even exists.”

“You know my brother?” Patton asked.

“At this point, I probably know everyone in this town better than they know themselves.”

“So then,” Patton said, “all of those drawings in your sketchbook. Those were real? You knew me?”

Virgil’s cheeks suddenly flushed a bright red. “Oh right,” he coughed. “Uh, well, see…”

He curled into himself, his shoulders hunching and his hands coming up to hide his face.

“I was not expecting to be alive to see a version of you who had seen those pictures.”

“They’re very good,” Patton said.

“I have literally never shown anyone my drawings before except my mother.” He curled up even tighter; his goal seemed to be to become part of the floor, “and there are so many pictures of you.”

“Well, I really liked all of them,” Patton said.

“Ahhh,” he softly screamed into his hands. Patton couldn’t help but be amused at him with his reddening face and form trying to disappear into his hoodie. He’d pulled his hands into his sleeves to make sweater paws which were pressed to his face.

“Sorry,” Patton said, trying and failing not to smile. “I didn’t mean to invade your privacy.”

“No,” Virgil said into his hands. “I wanted you to have it. I just did not expect to have time to face the mortifying consequences.”

Patton’s smile faded at the reminder of what he’d planned to do. “Why are you planning to die today?”

Virgil breathed out, his shoulder slumping instead of hunching now. “Like I said, I’m tired.” A hand rubbed over his face. “I only have so much magic, and since I’m the one keeping the time loop stable, my magic reserves aren’t resetting when time does. They’re basically empty at this point.”

His fingertips tapped against the sketchbook lightly in an anxious pattern.

“I may have reversed time hundreds of times for everyone else, but that doesn’t give me unlimited time. I’ve tried everything I can do from within this town, and everything to try to get out of town. Nothing has worked, and I know if I keep going, eventually the loop will fail. And eventually… eventually is really soon. I may have even been pushing with this one, but I…”

His voice broke then, and this time his sweater paws were not hiding a red, embarrassed face.

“I wanted a chance to say goodbye, and then to reset it all one last time, so you wouldn’t have to live with it afterwards.”

Patton felt his heart drop. “Oh.”

His hand reached out and he brushed a knuckle across the hands still hiding Virgil’s face. Virgil peaked teary eyes at him when he did.

The lurch in Patton’s chest didn’t feel like just casual empathy for a stranger. “Oh, honey.”

“I’m protected from being killed by the slug. It doesn’t even really know I’m here because of the protections around me,” Virgil said, “but if I do it myself… well, with my magical heritage, my magical essence is worth about 5 towns filled with normal people of this size. I don’t know a lot about the monster trying to feed on us… on you, but I know it feeds on innate magic in blood. I’m pretty sure if I bleed out on that hill and it feeds on that blood, it won’t have enough room for the town and it’ll just go. At least, that’s what I’d hoped would happen. Even if it doesn’t work, at least I did everything I could.”

He shot a half smile at Patton.

“And it does work, apparently,” he said, gesturing at him. “That…that’s nice to know.”

“No,” Patton said at his resigned tone. “No, you can’t. You’re not allowed to give up.”

“Patton, there is literally nothing I can do. I have nothing left.”

“Well,” Patton said, “well, you did that!” He pointed at the sketchbook in Virgil’s lap. “You made that, didn’t you? You thought you had nothing left when you started this last loop, but then you did that.”

“I don’t know how I did this, Pat,” he said, tapping his fingers lightly on the cover again. “I don’t know enough magic to even know if the magic used to make this is different. It could be coming from another source and if it is, I can’t consciously tap into that. All I know is I can feel myself draining, and that the time loop has been getting unstable these last few times. It’s been taking longer to reset.”

“You have to keep trying,” Patton stressed.

“No,” he said firmly.

“Yes!”

“We’ve had this conversation before,” Virgil said, frustrated. “I’ve made up my mind. You and your brother and Roman, even my foster parents who barely care about me… everyone in this town are not worth risking just for me. It’s the only thing that could work and it will work. If you’ve seen tomorrow, then you’re proof of that.”

“I won’t let you!” Patton snapped.

Virgil just sighed, tiredly. “This is why I didn’t tell you today,” he said wistfully.

“Please don’t give up,” Patton begged. “You’ve already come so far.”

“And gotten nowhere,” Virgil argued, turning his head away. “Literally, nothing I’ve done has changed anything.”

Patton watched him for a moment. His face was impassive, but his fingers were still tapping that anxious rhythm on the sketchbook.

“But,” Patton said slowly, “but that’s not true anymore. You have done something that’s changed things. Things are different right now.”

He reached out and put his hand on the sketchbook next to Virgil’s. “I’m here. I’m from years in the future with extra knowledge that didn’t exist in this loop until right now and we have this sketchbook charm thing. That has mean something. It has to give us something else to try. You can’t give up when, after all of these tries, something has finally changed.”

Virgil didn’t respond.

“You made this book to protect me. It’s not going to bring me back here just for you to die on me again.”

“Yeah, well, it’s probably a stupid protection charm,” he spat. “It’s from my stupid magic, so it’s not like it has any idea what it’s doing.”

“Mister, you’ve held this loop together for what’s functionally years. Don’t you think it’s time for you to give yourself some credit?”

That got Virgil to finally look at him; he slowly turned to face him, a pinched, almost annoyed, expression on his face. “Really?” he asked.

“What?” Patton asked innocently.

“Do you know how many time puns I’ve heard over the past 12 hours times 742, Patton?”

“Puns are never a waste of time,” Patton said.

“Stop.”

“What?” Patton asked. “Is it ticking you off?”

Virgil put a hand over his face, but Patton could see his hidden smile.

Patton smiled too and let his hand slide across the sketchbook to cover the hand Virgil had left on the cover. “You made this protection charm,” he said, “and it sounds like you made it because you care about me a lot. Enough to befriend me over and over despite the time puns. Would any part of you have made this in a way where it could hurt me?”

Virgil looked at him and swallowed. “No,” he said softly.

“You know, even the first time around, when I didn’t know we knew each other, it still hurt me. Even when you were just a name in the local newspapers and a few sketches in a sketchbook, it hurt. My memories of whatever happened through all those loops might not be up here,” he tapped the side of his head, “but I’m pretty sure I’ve always known deep down that I cared about you. Even years later, I suddenly saw your face again and…” he trailed off and to prove his point, a wave of feeling washed over him. He had to bite his lip to prevent tears from spilling down his cheeks.

“Patton…” Virgil said. He closed his eyes. “I’m sorry I did this to you.”

“Don’t be,” Patton said. “Don’t you dare be sorry. I should be sorry for not figuring out a way to fix it the first time.”

“It’s not your job to fix it,” Virgil said.

“It’s not your job either,” Patton said. “You’re, what? 17? You didn’t deserve to have to go through all of this and you don’t deserve to die. It’s not your job to keep a time loop going to try to save the town but…” Patton paused and squeezed Virgil’s hand that was still laying on the sketchbook. “I’m asking you to try one more time anyway. One more try for me. With me. Please.”

Virgil looked at him for a long few moments, almost like he had all of the time in the world, when in reality the clock was quickly ticking towards its end. He turned the hand under Patton’s over, so their palms met and then squeezed his hand.

“Okay,” he said. “One more time for you.”

“Thank you,” Patton said, squeezing his hand back.

“Okay,” Virgil said again. “If we’re going to try this again for real, we need to do a couple of things.” He glanced at his watch and hissed out a breath. “We only have seven hours.”

“Well, then,” Patton said with a smile, “we’d better move fast. What do we need to do?”

Chapter 3: Magic Book

“Logan!” Patton said, bursting into Logan’s classroom.

Logan was seated at his desk, two neat stacks of student’s papers in front of him and a red pen in hand. It was a familiar sight even though Patton hadn’t seen it in the 2 years since he’d graduated high school. It was a little strange to see him younger. Logan hadn’t aged too much in the last couple of years, but the sudden jump back was still a bit odd.

Logan jumped at Patton’s abrupt entrance, looking up sharply.

“Ah,” he said after a moment, adjusting his glasses. “Hello, Patton.” He glanced curiously at Virgil who was hanging back in the doorway. “Are you ready to go home?”

“No!”

Logan blinked at him. “Pardon?”

“We need your help,” Patton said.

Logan glanced at Virgil again and set his pen down. “With what?”

“With Virgil,” Patton said, reaching back to pull Virgil fully into the room.

“Hello, Mr. Sanders,” Logan said with a nod. “Did you need help with the class content?” Though even as he asked it, his brow crinkled in confusion, obviously knowing that didn’t quite add up.

“No,” Virgil answered.

“Then what do you need my assistance with?”

Virgil sucked in a quick breath through his teeth like he was bracing himself to stick his hand in boiling water. “I’m in a time loop,” he said.

Logan just stared at the two of them for a long moment, seeming to be trying to figure out if this was some elaborate joke of the youth.

“I have proof,” Virgil said before Logan could gather himself to say anything. He pulled the sketchbook out from where he’d tucked it under his arm and set about flipping through it. He landed on a page that had drawing number 102 on it.

It was a sketch that Patton recognized, of course, but he’d never paid too much attention to it. The picture was one of the simpler ones in the book, though it took up an entire page. It was a simple blue bird sitting on a tree branch larger than its own body. It was looking to the left with a string in its mouth.

Virgil took a few steps forward to plop it down on top of the papers Logan had been grading and then quickly retreated back to Patton’s side.

For some reason, after looking at it for a few seconds, Logan nodded. “Oh,” he said. “Then what is it that you need?”

“I need your big brain to help us figure out what to do,” Virgil said. Then, he paused. “Please?”

“Very well,” Logan agreed. “Close that door behind you.”

Virgil did so, and then turned to start digging through his backpack.

“Here,” he said after pulling out a textbook sized book with a dark blue cover. He nodded at one of Logan’s desk drawers. “May I?”

Logan pushed back his chair slightly to give Virgil access to the indicated drawer. Virgil immediately pulled out Logan’s collection of sticky notes and set down the textbook. He quickly started flipping through it, sticking different colored notes in what looked like random places from what Patton could tell.

Logan watched him intently the whole 5 minutes it took for him to flip through the book. Virgil then exchanged the sketchbook still open in front of Logan with the now sticky note-riddled book.

“We’re being eaten by a giant slug,” Virgil said. “That should get you caught up.”

“Ah,” Logan said, still seeming a bit bewildered, but he did dutifully turn to the book and opened it to the first marked page. “Alright.”

“What was that?” Patton asked when Virgil stepped away.

“Me pre-notating the book with his color system takes his time to get all of the relevant information down from 1 hour to 20 minutes.”

“You memorized how Logan takes notes on your magic book?” Patton said, honestly amazed. He’d lived with the man his entire life and Patton still had no idea how his system worked.

Virgil shrugged. “I’ve done this a lot of times,” he said, looking very, very tired.

“Do you want coffee while we wait on him?” Patton asked, waving at Logan who was reading intently by now.

Virgil smiled. “Sure.”

Patton hadn’t been in Logan’s classroom for a few years, but he still remembered where his brother kept the good coffee supplies locked up and safe from students and coworkers.

Virgil tried to help, obviously knowing just as much about Logan’s coffee stash as Patton, but Patton shooed him into a seat. He looked like he needed to conserve as much energy as possible.

Patton filled the coffee pot all the way up, planning to give Logan some as well.

“I had a lemonade coffee earlier today,” Patton said as he watched the dark liquid start to dribble out of the machine and into the pot below.

“A lemonade coffee?” Virgil asked. “Like a warm one or…”

“Iced,” Patton said. “It’s, er, it was August. There’s a coffee shop I like near the university I’ve been attending. They have specials and that was one of their summer ones. I was about to start my third year.”

“Sorry,” Virgil said.

Patton turned to him. “Why are you sorry?”

“My magic dragged you back here,” he said. “You had a whole life going and it just plopped you back here in my mess.”

“It’s not your fault,” Patton said. “Besides I…” he trailed off for a moment. “I think I was probably dying there. Everything was weird and confusing, but if the sketchbook resorted to time travel, I think me almost dying is probably why. So, being back here is better than the alternative, slug or no.”

“Still,” Virgil said. “Even if you survive today… again, you’re probably trapped in this time. You wouldn’t be able to go back to the life you made.”

“I’d be able to get back,” Patton said, cheerfully. “Just the long way around.”

Virgil didn’t say anything.

“And what about you?” Patton asked. “With 742 pictures and 12 hours per picture that…”

“I really don’t want to calculate the number,” he interrupted.

Patton looked at him sadly for a moment but didn’t push. Virgil didn’t offer anything else to break the silence, so they stayed quiet until the coffee pot finished running.

It wasn’t until after he was already handing Virgil a cup of coffee that he realized he’d automatically added 1 spoonful of sugar and a dash of coffee creamer to Virgil’s cup.

“Sorry,” he said, reaching halfway back to the cup he’d just set down, unsure if he should take it back or not. “I didn’t ask how you like it.”

“It’s fine,” Virgil said, his eyes lingering on Patton’s hand as he withdrew it fully. “That is how I like it.”

“Oh,” Patton said. “Uh, okay.”

He turned away and quickly put 2 spoons of sugar and a bit more creamer into Logan’s cup before walking it over to his brother. Logan was flipping through the book at an alarmingly fast pace, a sort of awed look on his face that he only got when reading about new dinosaur fossils being discovered.

Patton poked the back of his hand. “Coffee,” he said, and Logan’s hand automatically came over to take it without him looking up.

Patton stepped away and returned to Virgil. Virgil had his eyes closed and he looked almost like he was napping in his chair, but his mouth opened when Patton drew near.

“Coffee’s one of the few things that never gets old,” he said.

“Is it?” Patton asked, amused.

Virgil nodded. “You learn to appreciate things like that.” He opened his eyes to look at Patton. “Most things can’t retain their beauty forever. You start to see the flaws in your favorite painting in the art room. Your favorite song on the radio starts to get boring. Your favorite snacks you pack in your bookbag get old. Even the sunset gets boring once you’ve seen the same one so many times.” He took another sip of his coffee. “Some things don’t lose their beauty though, no matter how many times around you go.”

“What are some others?” Patton asked.

Virgil tilted his head up to look at the ceiling for a moment before saying, “Birds.” He nodded to himself. “There’s a couple of birds that have a nest outside the history room. I think one of them is going to lay eggs soon. The nest looks like an actual wreck. I’m pretty sure they’ve used gum wrappers for it and the male bird’s chirping is off. It sounds like it’s shrieking half of the time.”

He tapped his fingers against the desk, thinking for a couple more seconds, eyes still on the ceiling.

“And the song they’re learning in third period band,” he continued. “To be honest, it did start to annoy me at one point, but it ended up coming full circle and I enjoy it again. I could probably pick out each instrument’s part by now. One of the clarinets is always flat and the drummer misses the beat during the reprise, but that almost makes it more fun.”

Then, he tilted his head back down to glance at Patton.

“And you,” he said.

“Me?” asked Patton.

“No matter how many times I’ve met you,” Virgil said. “There’s still something more to learn about you. You’re always surprising me and they’re always good surprises.”

“Oh,” Patton said, face warming just a bit.

“Except for the fact that you like pickles,” Virgil said, looking away. “For that you are a creature of darkness that should burn in hell.”

Patton giggled a bit and Virgil smiled back.

“That’s why so many of my drawings are of you,” he admitted. “You always manage to inspire me.”

“I, uh, yeah, I guess that… makes sense,” Patton said, stammering a bit at the sentiment.

“Also, Roman’s about to barge into the room.”

“Wh-”

The door to the classroom slammed open half a second after Virgil spoke, causing Patton to jump despite the warning.

“Patton, where have you been?!” Roman asked, dramatically flinging his backpack onto the nearest desk. “I’ve been waiting at the flagpole for hours.”

Patton didn’t remember this day perfectly, but considering school had let out less than 30 minutes ago, he doubted the validity of the complaint.

“You and Logan are supposed to give me a ride home since Mom went to the city to see Remus’s art exhibit”

“Ah, sorry Roman,” Patton said. “We’re a little busy…”

“You?!” Roman said accusingly, pointing at Virgil. Virgil’s head hit the desk with an audible thunk. “What are you doing here? You ruined my entire day by abandoning me and our history project, you know that?”

“God, if I knew I’d have to talk to him sometime today, I wouldn’t have done that,” Patton heard Virgil mumble into the desk.

“Roman, could we possibly use our inside voice?” Patton asked, patiently.

Roman turned to pout at him, pointing at Virgil again. “He…”

“You know the movie Before I Fall?” Virgil asked.

“The one where the girl dies and ends up in a time loop?” Roman asked.

Virgil pointed to himself, his cheek still on the desk. “My life.”

Roman’s nose scrunched up. “You expect me to believe you’re in a time loop? He scoffed. “That’s why you abandoned me this morning? What game are you playing?”

Virgil just groaned. “I could never convince him if I left history class,” he grumbled.

“He’s telling the truth, Roman,” Patton said.

Roman turned to him. “You can’t possibly believe that.”

“I 100% believe that,” Patton said, reaching forward to pat Virgil on the back.

“What makes you so sure?” Roman asked.

“Well, I don’t remember the time loops like Virgil here,” Patton said, patting him again, “but this morning I woke up in my new apartment getting ready to start my third year of university, and this afternoon I ended up back in high school right next to Virgil who’d been dead for years. So, I’m not going to question when someone tells me funky time things are going on.”

“What’s this about you being from the future?” Logan inquired, looking up from his desk.

“What do you mean he’s been dead?!” Roman asked.

“Giant magic slug monster,” Virgil said. “Going to eat the town. Magic sketchbook helps me time travel. I was planning to die to save the town. Patton got the magic sketchbook. Patton time traveled.”

“What?” said Roman.

“And this giant magical slug would be the stellmax creature in this book, yes?” Logan asked, ignoring Roman.

“You’re verifiably the smartest person in this town, Logan,” Virgil said.

“I presume you do not happen to have the next book in this series?” Logan asked.

“Nope,” Virgil said, popping the ‘p.’

“Ah.”

“And before you ask,” Virgil continued, “there aren’t any other magic books in town, and we’re currently trapped in town with no way to contact the outside world.”

“And I suppose…”

“Yes,” Virgil said. “We spent a whole 7 rounds in here coming up with every possible solution until you ran out, and I’ve tried them all. Except…” He trailed off, glancing away, “the last one.”

“Which is?” Logan prompted.

“The one where I slit my wrists to put it in a magic food coma.”

“And that’s the future I’m from,” Patton interjected.

Logan thought for a few long moments. “So, we’ve apparently exhausted every avenue with Virgil’s knowledge,” he said, pressing his fingertips together, “and the knowledge available within our physical constraints. So, there’s no use attempting to go down any of those paths. I will not come up with anything new with those limitations. Therefore, any chance we’d have to fix this issue would come from your knowledge, Patton, as you are the only new variable.”

“Sorry, we’re all just blindly accepting emo boy’s magic slug story?” Roman asked Logan. “Even you?”

“He had the code,” Logan replied.

“The code?”

Logan turned away from Roman without any more explanation. “What information have you acquired since the last time you experienced this day?”

“Uh,” Patton said, biting his lip. “Well, a lot. It’s been years. I wouldn’t even know where to start.”

“I’d imagine,” said Logan, “that the more pertinent data would likely be temporally near the relevant incident.”

“Uh…”

“What happened directly after the end of the time loop?” Logan clarified. “The future where Virgil dies?”

“Well,” Patton said. “I didn’t know there was a time loop or that anything,” he waved his hand at the book in front of Logan, “magic was going on. Plus, it’s been years, so I don’t really remember things exactly.”

“Anything you can remember is more information than we’ve had up until this point,” Logan pointed out, sitting forward.

“Right,” Patton said, closing his eyes and attempting to cast his mind back as far as it would go. “Okay. So, from what I remember hearing, Virgil’s foster parents called the police after he was gone all night. That’d be tonight. They ended up finding him on the top of the hill outside of town. He’d, uh, slit his own wrist and bled out which I guess was the plan to overfeed the slug.” Patton twined and untwined his fingers with each other. “It was a big story,” he said. “Everyone was talking about it. Since Virgil was a ward of the state, special investigators came into town to investigate his suicide.”

“Special investigators?” Logan said. “State police? FBI? CIA?”

“Uh,” Patton said with a frown. “I don’t know. I’m not sure if they ever said.”

“And how did they investigate?”

“Er,” Patton said. “They came in trucks the next day. There were a lot of them, actually.” He paused to think. “Actually… I think I remember Ms. Jenkins, our neighbor,” he added for Virgil’s benefit even though Virgil might already know her, “saying she saw them earlier in the day before the news of Virgil’s death broke.”

“Interesting,” Logan said, “but it’s also possible the news had just not broken publicly.”

“Yeah,” Patton agreed. “I don’t know.”

“And what happened that next day?”

“Hmm, well, they interviewed pretty much everyone in town who’d ever looked at him once.”

“That’s quite the investigation for the supposed suicide of a teenage boy, ward of the state or not,” Logan mused. Patton let his eyes flicker open as Logan turned to Virgil. “You know far more about magic than the rest of us, do you know if there could possibly be a magical organization that would help in issues such as a stellmax attack, or at the very least one that would clean up the damage after one?”

“I…” Virgil said. “I mean, maybe. I know there is a magical society. Mom and Dad used to talk about basically a council of people that acted sort of like a governing body.”

“A governing body implies there are very likely people working for them. Considering the general public is unaware of magical goings-on, it is even more likely there is some sort of clean-up crew that came into town to investigate what had happened and ensure no one knew anything was amiss with Virgil’s death.” He thought for a moment. Then he looked at Patton. “Did they interview you?”

“Yeah,” Patton said. “Actually a few times, more than most people.”

Logan titled his head. “Why?” he asked.

“I’m not sure exactly,” Patton said. “There was one investigator, Janus Lial. He seemed to think I knew something about Virgil or was connected to him more than I was letting on which was, sort of true, I guess.” He glanced at the sketchbook sitting innocently on the desk next to Virgil’s hand. “I didn’t know how much at the time, but it was true that I was hiding the fact that Virgil had given me his sketchbook right before he'd died.”

“Ah, yes, the sketchbook,” Logan said, following Patton’s gaze. “I assume since you marked the section on ‘time anchor’ that this is your time anchor.”

“Yeah,” Virgil said, his hand reaching over to flip idly through a few pages before letting it close again. “It’s the only physical object that remains unchanged through the loops.”

“Wait,” Patton said, an idea slowly creeping into his mind. He wasn’t sure if the sketchbook remained the same only within the time loops or with time travel in general but… He grabbed the sketchbook from Virgil’s grip.

“What?” Virgil asked, startled as Patton started to flip through the pages.

“Janus gave me his business card in case I remembered anything else after my first interview. I stuck it in the back of the sketchbook in case I ever decided to come clean about it. I don’t know how the sketchbook works, but if it can keep things like pencil markings and paint through time travel, maybe it’d also keep that.”

He flipped to one of the last pages where the business card had been stuck and basically forgotten about all of those years ago. The business card was there, though it wasn’t a business card anymore. It looked like an image that had been printed on the page, but it still had all of the information the card had once had.

“It’s here.”

“So,” Logan said. “If he really is a part of some agency that cleans up magical messes, we could contact him, and perhaps he could help.”

“Yeah,” Virgil said. “Slight problem. He’s definitely outside the city and any message trying to go out of town will be blocked.”

“Right,” Logan said. “So, we would have to somehow get out of town in order to call him.”

“Which I’ve already learned many, many times is not possible with what we have in town,” Virgil said.

“But,” Patton said, “we have something extra this time.” He gestured to the sketchbook laid out in front of him.

“The sketchbook?” Logan said. “I understood that it had been here the entire time.”

“Yeah,” Patton said, “but Virgil accidently gave it an extra magical boost when he gave it to me.” He looked at Virgil. “It’s a protection charm basically, yeah?”

“It is,” Virgil said, his eyes starting to narrow.

“And it’s for me. So it’d work best with me.”

Virgil’s lips pursed, clearly not liking where this was going. “Well, yes.”

“How’s the slug keeping us in town?” Patton asked. “You said it basically swallowed us, right, so we’re in something.”

“Yeah, it’s like a membrane covered in stomach acid.”

“Would stomach acid burn me if I was holding this?”

Virgil narrowed his eyes at him “Absolutely not,” he said. “You are not doing what I know you’re thinking about doing.”

“It sent me back through time to save my life once,” Patton pointed out. “I think it could get me out of the mouth of a slug monster.”

“There’s no way we could know that,” Virgil said, standing up from the desk. “Magic interacts weirdly with magic. The slug eats magic! For all we know, it’d just swallow you and the book whole, and we’d all be doomed, without even a time tether.”

“The sketchbook was enough to undo the damage the slug did over and over again. Why couldn’t it get me through once with the extra boost?”

“That’s not how it works!” Virgil said.

“Sorry, what is this protection charm?” Logan interrupted.

“It’s called a praetectio charm. I’m not even sure how they’re made, let alone how I managed to make one, but I did for Patton.”

“Well,” Logan said. “The stellmax is a formidable threat from what I discerned from the passage I read on it, but it is by no means a cosmic horror or undefeatable.” He looked at Virgil who looked quite cross at that statement. “Perhaps it seems so at this point to you based on your inability to defeat it permanently with your current knowledge and resources, but if this protection charm is truly powerful, it might work.”

“I’m not risking Patton for a chance.” Virgil argued back. “I agreed to try one more time for Patton, but not if it risks him.”

“Could someone else use the book to get out?” Roman asked.

“Volunteering, Princey?” Virgil asked skeptically. Roman narrowed his eyes and Virgil snorted. “Leave your hero complex at home. It only works for Patton.”

“Even if it doesn’t work, can’t you just undo it?” Roman asked. “Isn’t that how time loops work?”

“Even if I have the magic for another round,” Virgil said, “there’s no guarantee that the time loop will still work the same on him when he’s from the future. Or if he manages to get out of the town, I’m not sure if resetting time would bring him back into town or if he’d get trapped outside. I don’t know what memories he’d have or what could happen. Not to mention if the time anchor gets destroyed.”

“We have to try,” Patton said.

“No,” Virgil said, blankly. “We don’t.”

Patton decided he was done sitting at a desk and looking up at Virgil. He stood himself and grabbed the sketchbook, clutching it to his chest. “I have to try,” he decided. “Come along and help if you want.”

Virgil frowned at him. Patton frowned back.

“I am a scientist,” Logan said, interrupting their frowning contest. “We will not throw him directly into stomach acid and see if he explodes. We could perhaps just have him stick a finger in and see if the proposed plan is even viable.”

“It’s not worth the risk. I should just handle this in the way I know will work.” Virgil looked directly into Patton’s eyes. “The way we know will work.”

Patton scowled at him.

“You mean, you die?” Logan confirmed.

Virgil clenched his jaw. He nodded decisively.

“Have you considered,” Logan said after a moment of thought, “that you are not the only autonomous person here. I know it is hard to remember in the best of times, let alone when you have repeated the same day so many times that people begin to appear like computer programs, but outside of this time loop, people are people. They grow and change and make their own decisions. Patton is the only person outside of this looping day you have met in a long time. You should listen to him. It is his choice to risk possible harm when it could save lives, just as you have made that choice yourself multiple times.” Logan titled his head, peering at him from behind his glasses. “It’s his choice to try, and I think the person he’s trying to save is worth the risk.”

Virgil stared at him, clearly surprised. “…When did you become a philosopher, dude?”

“People can always surprise you,” Logan said with a small smile.

“Apparently,” Virgil agreed, still clearly a bit thrown. He looked back at Patton, who did his best to look determined. Virgil sighed after a moment. “We test to see if it’s even possible,” he conceded. “If it’s not, we go back to plan A.”

“If it’s not, we try something else,” Patton insisted.

“Sure, Pat,” Virgil said, clearly not agreeing, but not arguing. That was enough for now.

“Just so everyone knows,” Roman butted in, “I still am not 100% believing this, but let’s see what I think when I see the giant slug mouth.”

Chapter 4: Hill to Die On

The party of four loaded into Logan’s car to drive towards the hill at the edge of town. Patton let Roman sit in the front seat, wanting to sit in the back with Virgil. Virgil looked nervous, though really, Patton had never known him to not look nervous. There was a soft itch in the back of his head that said he’d known this for much longer than Patton could actively remember. Patton slid his hand over and let Virgil hold it during the ride.

Roman spent the first half of the ride fiddling with his phone. “Okay, so,” Roman said after a bit. “I’m still not sure if I believe the whole giant magic slug thing, but I tried to call Remus and both of my parents, and they won’t pick up. Remus hasn’t answered any of my texts all day, but I didn’t think anything of it. Though now that I think about it, he’s chronically on his phone.”

“People don’t question the phone lines being down unless they already know something’s wrong,” Virgil explained, squeezing Patton’s hand. “It’s part of the slug’s magic. It doesn’t want its prey to realize anything is wrong, so it projects a light mental field. It’s also why you can’t see it.”

“Or maybe Remus is just being flaky.”

Virgil shrugged. “I’ve honestly never met him. I wouldn’t know. All I know is what you’ve told me about him. It doesn’t sound like he wouldn’t text you back for a whole day.”

Roman went back to fiddling with his phone, a bit more nervously this time.

“He’s starting to believe me.” Virgil leaned over and spoke softly so only Patton could hear him. “If he’s starting to question the phone lines, he’s starting to think the story’s plausible.” Virgil sighed. “But, he’s so much more stubborn when I’m a jerk to him in history.”

“He can hold a grudge,” Patton said, amused.

Virgil half smiled, but then the smile dropped a moment later. “I don’t like you risking yourself,” he said softly.

“Well,” Patton said, “I don’t like you risking yourself.”

Virgil frowned. “It’s different.”

“How’s it different?” Patton asked.

“I’m already dead,” Virgil replied. He looked down at his and Patton’s entwined hands instead of looking Patton in the eye. “For you, I’ve been dead for years.”

“You’re not dead though,” Patton argued. He squeezed the hand in his. It was a little chilly, and Patton wasn’t sure if Virgil was naturally cold or if the origin of the chill was the same as the origin for his pale face and tired eyes. Yet the hand was still very obviously attached to a living boy. “You don’t feel dead. You never felt dead even when I didn’t know you.”

Virgil didn’t have a retort, and they spent the rest of the ride to the hill in silence, though they never let go of each other’s hands.

They had to park at the base of the hill and make the trek up by foot. Virgil carried the sketchbook in his arms. Patton couldn’t help but think about how Virgil had once walked up this hill without anyone else by his side. He knew the Virgil beside him hadn’t taken that walk, but a very similar version of him had. Patton wondered what he was thinking when he climbed over the fallen branches on the footpath. He’d probably been scared, Patton thought. Scared and alone.

There was nothing clearly wrong with the landscape to Patton’s eyes when they crested the hill. Yet still something seemed… off. He couldn’t put his finger on it, but something wasn’t right.

“So, where’s this giant slug monster?” Roman asked.

Wordlessly, Virgil bent down and picked up a small stone. He threw it a few feet in front of himself. Yet instead of falling in a typical arch and bouncing down the hill, it stopped suddenly in midair. Then, it started to slowly slide down.

As Patton watched, the stone seemed to pull away whatever illusion there was around them. As it slipped down an inch, it revealed a slimy, greenish-yellow, pulsing wall behind it. Gravity fought against a sticky web-like substance keeping the rock attached to the wall. It slowly continued its descent towards the ground, revealing more and more of the wall as it did. When it hit the ground, the reveal didn’t stop. Now that Patton could see the wall, more and more of it came into focus with every blink.

It wasn’t a wall. This was the stomach of the slug, and it stretched far left and right and curled over their heads.

“That’s the slug,” Virgil explained, though he really didn’t need to. “Or at least its mouth/stomach thing.”

“Stomach,” Logan said. “It’s an everted stomach. Very few animals have them. Even less use them to eat and not to expel inedible food. It’s similar to how a starfish eats clam shells. It will pull open the shells until there’s a slight crack, before forcing its stomach into the shell. Then, it will partially digest its prey alive before sucking it and the stomach back inside its body.

“Ew!” Roman said. He’d already been looking a bit squeamish at the slug being revealed, but now he looked on the verge of throwing up.

“In this case,” Logan continued. “We are the clams.”

“Thanks,” Roman said. “I’ll be sure to have nightmares about that for the rest of time if I survive to dream again.”

“I’m guessing the webby stuff is the stomach acid?” Patton asked. His nose scrunched up. The longer he was able to perceive the slug stomach, the more and more a putrid smell started wafting from it.

“Yeah, it burns like hell,” Virgil confirmed. “I only tried to touch it a few times.”

Patton nodded determinedly. “Hand me the sketchbook,” he said to Virgil.

Virgil clutched the sketchbook closer to him. “I’m not kidding,” he said. “Touching it really hurts, and you most likely won’t get a reset.”

“I’ll just go pick up the rock and see if that works,” Patton promised. “It’s probably already somewhat dry by now, so I’ll just get a taste first.” Patton internally winced at his own phrasing. He did not want a taste of the green goop coming from the slug’s stomach wall.

“What if it still burns you? What if the stuff on the rock is too dry and then you’re overconfident and get burned when you touch the actual stomach? What if it works for a small amount of the acid, but then when you’re halfway through it starts eating through the protection spell and you die anyway? I’m not powerful. I’m not even technically a mage. What if my magic fails you?”

“You are plenty powerful,” Patton said. “Your magic hasn’t failed me before, has it?”

Virgil stared at him for a long moment.

“Come on,” Patton said. “One step at a time. Let me pick up the rock.”

Virgil looked away, but he did hand over the sketchbook.

“Thanks,” Patton said, grabbing it.

He took a breath and turned towards the wall. If he’d thought the smell was getting bad a few feet away, it was nothing compared to how horrible it started to smell as he approached. He swallowed back bile and was careful to maintain his balance as he crouched down near the edge so as to not accidentally fall against the stomach wall. He carefully reached out with the arm not holding the sketchbook and picked up the rock that Virgil had thrown. It was still covered in slime and felt… very unpleasant against his skin. He felt a slight tingle and the sketchbook warmed under his touch, but it didn’t hurt at all. He held up the rock for the others to see.

Virgil was frowning despite Patton’s skin not burning, probably because it wasn’t burning. He knew that meant Patton was going to try more. In fact, Patton turned to the slug’s stomach wall and cautiously put his hand against it. He was able to push his fist slowly through the slimy wall like it was a particularly stiff, very, very gross wall of Jell-O.

“Patton!” Virgil scolded.

“I’m fine,” Patton said, drawing his hand back. The stomach wall closed in around the hole he’d made almost instantly, with a wet squelch. Patton’s hand was now covered in the slimy stomach acid and smelled distinctly of vomit. “Ew,” he said, holding the hand as far away from his face, and in particular his nose, that he could.

Virgil came towards him, and Patton put his slime-covered hand behind his back, remembering it was supposed to burn anyone who didn’t have magical protection. Virgil grabbed Patton by the arm clutching the sketchbook and dragged him back away from the wall towards the others.

“It’s fine,” Patton promised. “It doesn’t hurt at all. I think this will work. I think I can get out.”

Virgil looked very distressed by this. “I still don’t think… this isn’t a good idea.” His eyes traveled to the already almost closed hole in the stomach wall. Then, he looked back at Patton. “You shouldn’t… You don’t have to do this.”

“I do,” Patton replied simply. “I really think I do.”

“He will be fine,” Logan assured.

“You don’t know that,” Virgil snapped, turning to Logan.

“Perhaps not 100%,” Logan conceded. “I know very little about magic, but logic says if the spell on the sketchbook is holding for now, that it should continue to hold long enough for Patton to get outside. The stellmax’s stomach, while difficult to get through because of its acid, is not particularly thick. Honestly, putting his fist through like that likely went about a quarter of the way. It will hold, Virgil.”

“And it’s a better chance than the alternative,” Patton said. “You have to let me go.”

Virgil said nothing.

Logan leaned forward past Virgil, who was still clinging to Patton’s arm, and in an unusual show of physical affection, kissed Patton on the forehead.

“You’ll be fine,” Patton’s brother declared.

“I will be,” Patton said, nodding decisively.

“Don’t forget to take off your glasses,” he said, “and here.” Logan offered him a handkerchief. “Put it in your pocket for once you’re through.”

“Thanks,” Patton said, taking the piece of cloth and stuffing it completely in his pants pocket. He more carefully put his glasses in his shirt pocket. “I wouldn’t have thought about that.”

Roman went in for a hug then, and Patton screeched, turning away and curling to keep away the side of his body covered in acid. “Side hug Roman! Side hug!”

“Oh… right,” Roman said. Patton slowly uncurled and Virgil released his not goopy arm to let Roman awkwardly side-hug him.

Then Patton turned back to Virgil. “I’ll be right back,” he promised. He leaned forward and kissed him on the cheek.

“You…” Virgil said and then trailed off. “You really have to come back,” Virgil said. “Tomorrow isn’t worth it without you.”

“I know the feeling,” said Patton with a ghost of a smile and an ache in his chest he couldn’t quite pin down, and then he turned away, back towards the wall. He took a step away from the group, towards where he’d been standing before.

He took a deep breath and grimaced at the putrid smell but held it anyway. He clutched the sketchbook in one arm and put the other up in front of him to try to somewhat clear a path as he walked, not that it did any good; the gooey substance swallowed his arm as he pushed up against it. With one last internal “ew,” he closed his eyes and forced himself to step inside the wall.

The worst part was it was warm. It felt like he’d stepped into a vat of warm nacho cheese, but this was something that he definitely did not want to open his mouth and taste. When he took a second step forward, the substance around him seemed to solidify even more, turning from feeling like walking through Jell-O to walking through warm peanut butter. Crunchy, warm, peanut butter.

He was almost afraid he’d get stuck as the substance became more solid and sticky, squeezing in on him from all sides. However, just when he thought he’d either have to turn back or risk getting actually stuck, he felt the sketchbook start to radiate warmth up his arm. The substance gave way abruptly and Patton fell straight on his face, rolling slightly downhill before he managed to stop himself.

Not willing to risk opening his eyes or mouth yet, he blindly reached for the handkerchief Logan had given him. He wiped off his mouth the best he could, which was honestly far from as much as he would have liked, before he was forced to take a breath. He gagged, wiping at his mouth more and doing his best not to breathe through his nose.

He eventually gave up wiping around his mouth and started scrubbing at the goop around his eyes. It was hardening, unfortunately. When he thought he’d done the best he was going to, he peeled his eyes open. He grabbed his glasses from his pocket and stuck them on his face.

He glanced at the wall he’d just walked through. He could not see the other side, but he could see a black Patton-shaped mark that looked like a burn. The wall was slowly trying to fix it, but it seemed to be struggling with that more than it had when Patton had just pushed his arm through. Patton patted the sketchbook in thanks, still not letting go of it. He didn’t doubt that if he let go of it the acid would still try to eat him alive, even outside the slug’s stomach.

The sketchbook, for its part, also had some goop on it, but the slime had rolled up into little balls like water droplets might gather on car windshields during the rain. He was able to flick them mostly off and turn to the page that had Janus’s business card embedded into it.

He awkwardly tried to wipe off his free hand with the already dirty handkerchief, the other hand still clutching the sketchbook, but eventually just decided to grab his phone out of his back pocket and hope the protection of the sketchbook extended to a device in Patton’s hand.

The screen lit up like normal when Patton tapped at it, so it at least hadn’t instantly broken. He unlocked the phone, silently thankful that he never did get around to changing the lock code he used even when he changed phones.

Now that the phone was no longer in his back pocket, he carefully settled on the ground with the sketchbook in his lap. He dialed the number on the business card and put the phone on speaker so he wouldn’t get it messier putting it up to his ear. He settled it on top of the sketchbook.

“Hello. What?” The voice that came over the phone was snappy, but also familiar. Patton had never been so relieved to hear the man’s voice.

“Is this Janus Lial?” Patton asked, just to make sure.

A pause. “Yes. Who is this?”

“My name’s Patton,” Patton said. “I’m from Kairos Hill.”

There was a sharp intake of breath which prompted Patton to take a much more relieved breath. If the town name got that reaction, that was a good sign.

“How are you calling me?” Janus demanded.

“I got out,” Patton said. “I used a sketchbook. Virgil, my friend, made a protection charm thing out of it, and I was able to walk out of town.”

“Okay,” Janus said, voice just a touch frantic. “Alright. Where are you right now?”

“I’m at the top of the hill on the west side of town, right outside the, uh, slug stomach if you’re able to see that.”

“Yes, I can see that,” Janus said. Then Patton heard him saying something muffled to someone else. “We’re just a couple of miles from there on the main highway. We’ll be there in a minute. Okay, Patton, was it?”

“Yeah,” Patton confirmed. “You have until 10:37pm.”

Other sounds could be heard in the background now, voices and the sounds of vehicles. “Can you tell me what’s going on in town?” Janus asked.

“Virgil made a time loop,” Patton said. “The town’s been looping over and over again. I managed to get ahold of your business card in the future. That’s uh, even more complicated than the time loop, but I got your business card. We thought I could probably get through the walls of the slug thing’s stomach if I was holding the protection charm Virgil accidently made me, and we were right.”

“A time loop, huh?” Janus asked. “That’s a lot of magic. Very impressive.”

“Yeah,” Patton said softly, “but he’s getting really tired.”

“I’d imagine he would be,” Janus said. “It’s okay though. We’ll get it sorted.”

Patton nodded even though no one was there to see it. “What are you?” Patton asked.

“We’re called the MIU. It’s our job to deal with things like this. We’ve been trying to get through to Kairos Hill since this morning, but the outside shell of stellmax’s are hard to crack. We tried to find the mouth but couldn’t. That’s usually the only chance you have to get in or out. I assume that’s where you are.”

“Probably,” Patton said. “I don’t really know too much about it.”

“We did check there,” Janus said. “I’m surprised we somehow missed it. It seems like a slightly different species than what we’re used to. It’s still something we’ll be able to deal with if we can get inside though, I’m sure.”

Patton could already hear a few vehicles approaching, though it was a bit difficult to see when he was sitting, and there were a few trees about.

“We’re almost there,” said Janus.

“Okay,” Patton replied. He forced himself to his feet and looked in the direction of the noise. He waved with the hand clutching his phone when he saw a line of black cars.

Despite the hill not having a road or good terrain for a car, the vehicles seemed to have no trouble pulling up to the top of the hill. Janus was the first person to get out of one of the cars. He beelined straight to Patton. However, he hesitated, not getting too close.

“I assume since you’re covered in digestive fluid and holding a sketchbook and cellphone that you would be Patton,” Janus said.

Patton nodded.

“Someone get him something to clean off with,” Janus barked to the other people getting out of the cars.

They spent about 10 minutes cleaning Patton off, first with a hose thing that made the goop ball up like it had on the sketchbook. They also made him drink some horrible tasting milky liquid just in case he’d accidently swallowed any of the acid. (Patton was thankful for it no matter how bad it tasted; at least he knew it wasn’t slug digestive goo.)

He was able to put the sketchbook down after that and they let him into the back of one of the trucks to take a real shower. He was given a clean hoodie and some sweatpants that were too large afterwards.

When Patton stepped back out of the truck, Janus was staring at the still slowly healing Patton-shaped burn mark on the wall.

“That’s where I got out,” Patton said. He’d grabbed the sketchbook after his shower and was holding it against his chest again.

Janus nodded and turned to him, looking Patton up and down. “You are absolutely covered in magic,” he commented.

“Well, I did just walk through a magic slug,” Patton pointed out.

Janus shook his head. “No,” he said. “You’ve definitely been around a mage for quite some time.”

“Virgil said he’s not technically a mage yet,” Patton said.

Janus raised an eyebrow. “I think he qualifies if he managed to pull off what you said he did.” His eyes darted to the sketchbook then. “That must be a very powerful protection charm.” He tilted his head. “A praetectio if I’m not mistaken.”

“It is,” Patton confirmed.

“Those are very powerful things. It burned away the stellmax’s shell,” Janus said. “To be fair, it’s weaker near the mouth than other areas, but it’s still impressive. Would you mind trying to use it to get back through? With the appropriate equipment this time, of course. It will cut down on the time it takes to get us in.”

“Sure,” Patton said, even though walking through the horrible sludge again didn’t sound especially fun after having just gotten clean.

Luckily, it turned out that the equipment Janus had mentioned meant that Patton wouldn’t have to get all gross again. A little box was clipped to his shirt by a woman at Janus’s bequest. When the box’s button was pressed, a suit came out to encase Patton. It looked kind of like an astronaut suit but was a bit slimmer and missing an oxygen tank on the back. It also somehow adjusted to account for the sketchbook clutched to Patton’s chest, covering the book as well as Patton’s hand.

He was told that if he tapped the button three times, the suit would fold back up into the box automatically in a manner that would keep the liquid on it from getting on anything, which was a vast improvement over Patton’s clothes from before.

“You’ll go first,” Janus told him, also outfitted with one of the packs along with a case Patton didn’t know the use for. “That protection charm will only really work if you’re holding it. You burn a path and I’ll follow.”

“I can do that,” Patton agreed with a nod.

“Then, let’s go,” Janus said.

Patton still closed his eyes when approaching the slug’s stomach wall. He pushed against the still struggling to close hole burnt into the side, and it gave under pressure. The same warmth from the sketchbook from earlier started up, and the stomach wall gave even more. He could feel Janus’s covered hand grip onto his arm as he followed Patton into the hole he was making.

Walking through seemed quicker this time. Patton couldn’t tell if that was because he wasn’t agonizing over the goop pressing against him, or if it was because he’d already forced a hole here once. The further they went the easier it began to be to move through the wall, going back to that Jell-O consistency from the inside.

Patton stumbled out onto the other side of the wall after a few slow steps, Janus coming quickly behind him. He opened his eyes, but the entire front visor of his suit was covered in the goop. Blindly, he felt for the button that would make the suit retreat and pressed it three times. There was a startling snap and whirring sound as the entire suit folded up back into the pack, leaving Patton completely clean.

“Patton!” Virgil exclaimed. He was already right in front of him. Logan and Roman were hanging back a bit still. “Are you alright?”

Patton shot him a grin. “Still a bit nauseous from…” he waved his hand at the wall and continued to try to forget the bit that definitely went in his mouth, “but I’m good and I brought back up.”

Virgil turned to face Janus who had also deactivated his suit. “Janus, I’m guessing?” Virgil asked.

“Yes, and I’d presume you are Virgil,” Janus said.

Virgil nodded.

“I hear you made a stable time loop to save this town,” Janus said with a head tilt, his eyes scrutinizing the boy in front of him. “I’m impressed.”

“Uh, thanks,” Virgil said. “It was more instinct than anything.”

“Well,” Janus replied, “that’s what magic is a lot of the time.” Janus took a step forward to clasp him on the shoulder. Virgil wavered under it, and Patton didn’t think it was because Janus was particularly strong. Janus seemed to come to the same conclusion. “I’ve got it from here though,” he said. “You can sit down and rest.”

“How?” Virgil asked, shrugging off the suggestion to rest.

“It’s actually relatively easy to get rid of a stellmax,” Janus said, though then he paused. “At least, it is from the inside with the correct equipment and knowledge. Basically, I just need to inject it with a toxin to make it release the town and then my team on the outside will work on containment.”

“Oh,” Virgil said.

“I’ll tell you more about it once the threat is gone,” Janus promised, “if for now you sit.”

“Come on, sweetie,” Patton said, tugging on his sleeve. Virgil let Patton guide him to a small patch of grass. Patton pulled him down onto it while Roman and Logan stepped over to stand over them and watch what Janus was doing.

Janus opened the case he’d brought and pulled out 6 metal triangles about the size of Patton’s hand. He set them all up near the slug’s stomach wall and then backed up towards their little group. A few seconds later, all 6 of the objects shot up like fireworks and exploded near the part of the stomach that curved over them.

There was a weird shrieking noise on the wind, and then the walls of the slug were suddenly gone, revealing the same group of cars Patton had seen on the other side and the sunset in the distance.

Virgil slumped against Patton as soon as the slug disappeared. “Is it really gone?” he asked.

“It is,” Janus confirmed.

“It’s over,” Patton said.

“Cool,” Virgil said, and then passed out cold on top of Patton.

Epilogue: A Brownie in a Coffee Shop

“Don’t be boring,” Patton complained.

“I’m not boring,” Virgil replied, taking a sip of his own coffee. “Coffee is good.”

“Coffee is good,” Patton agreed. “I have coffee, but having the same coffee every day is boring.”

“You don’t have coffee,” Virgil said. “You have an abomination.”

“Just try it!” Patton insisted.

“No.”

Patton pouted, but Virgil just avoided his gaze, so he didn’t give in and try Patton’s coffee lemonade. Patton had been trying all month to get him to try it, but he wouldn’t.

It was the middle of July, and it was a month before Patton and Virgil started their third year of university. It had taken Patton a lot longer to get to that third than he’d expected.

He and Virgil had ended up getting an apartment in their first year, Patton not wanting to do dorm life again with a bunch of freshmen and Virgil not liking the idea of showering with a bunch of strangers.

They didn’t usually go home to Kairos Hill for the summer. Virgil didn’t care to visit his old foster family, and Logan traveled a lot since he’d gotten a job with the MIU.

“Their summer specials are really good,” Patton said when Virgil gave him no attention.

“So is their plain coffee,” Virgil said with a snort. He was still avoiding Patton’s gaze, bending over to grab his sketchbook out of his backpack.

The sketchbook he pulled out was almost full, but not quite. Logan would be coming by in a few weeks to wish them well for their next year at college and would doubtlessly bring by a fresh one just as he’d get Patton a new planner. Virgil usually took a year to fill a sketchbook if he gave himself a whole page per drawing instead of cramming multiple onto one page.

The sketchbook with 743 drawings crammed into it was in Patton’s backpack at the moment, even though it had long been finished, with one last drawing made 24 hours after the giant slug monster’s eventual defeat.

“Roman will drink your abomination when he comes to town,” Virgil said, twirling a pencil between his fingers as he studied a blank page.

“But I want you to drink it!” Patton insisted.

“Mmm, sucks.”

He still would not look at Patton and Patton’s puppy dog eyes, even when Patton loudly huffed.

Roman was coming to town in a few weeks along with his twin brother Remus. Both of the twins were working with the MIU these days. They’d ended up joining up independently, since apparently some of Remus’s ‘behavioral problems’ that had gotten him expelled from their high school had been magic-related.

Janus was coming too. The MIU initially hadn’t been able to figure out what had happened in this city in the original timeline. Yet, after moving here for university, Virgil had spent a good amount of time researching and by the end of their first semester, he’d found a moth dragon egg in the city sewers. Janus had been impressed as no one else had been able to catch it. Virgil had been deemed the ‘bug expert’ to his and Logan’s chagrin. (Logan’s because a slug was not a bug.) It would have hatched to disastrous results in a few years if they hadn’t caught it.

Even though the threat that they assumed had almost killed Patton once was gone, there was still going to be a MIU presence in the town through the beginning of September.

Now it was still July though and when Virgil still wouldn’t give him attention, Patton sighed and reached for his planner.

They worked in silence for a bit. Patton peaked at Virgil’s drawing ever so often and couldn’t help but forgive the slight of Virgil not trying Patton’s coffee lemonade when he saw the sketch coming to life on the page. It was of Patton once again.

Virgil was invested in his drawing, not even pausing to sip on his coffee which was saying something for him. Patton felt his heart squeeze looking at him and instinctively reached for the sketchbook in his own bag.

The first drawing Patton could fully remember watching Virgil draw (though sometimes when he was on the verge of sleep other memories of the same thing drifted across his mind just out of reach) was the last one in this sketchbook.

It was a picture of the sunset the day after the time loop broke, and it was a perfect rendition from what Patton could remember. Most of the page was dedicated to that sunset, but in the corner, he could see a somewhat vague shape that he knew was Patton himself.

He’d watched Virgil sit in the grass drawing that picture. Virgil had looked at it for a long moment once it was finished and then closed the sketchbook. He’d given it to Patton permanently then. Patton had a lot of other drawings everywhere in their apartment to look at these days, but he still found himself opening this sketchbook often. The protection charm still buzzed merrily under his fingers.

“Are you going to eat that brownie?” Virgil asked curiously after looking up from his sketchbook.

“Yes, I’m going to eat my brownie!” Patton said with narrowed eyes. “Don’t even think about it mister.”

Virgil looked at him, and Patton did not look away quickly enough to avoid Virgil’s puppy dog eyes that were somehow even more potent than Patton’s own.

Patton sighed. “We’ll split it,” he said. “But only this time, mister.” It was a lie. It wasn’t the first or the last time.

Virgil grinned.

#sanders sides #moxiety #virgil sanders #patton sanders #tsss #logan sanders #roman sanders #janus sanders #adriana writes #742 #temporary major character death #temporary suicide #not pieces fic #gross out stuff

46 notes · View notes

daydreamerdisease148 · 1 year

Text

Jay's Wolfstar (Sirius/Remus) Rec List

Someone asked for a wolfstar rec list. It took me a bit to weed out some of the ones that have it as a side pairing, but here it is for anyone that is interested! I did end up cutting a ton of them out because I think it makes more sense to just rec the writer themselves-I had A LOT of them saved from one person. Some of these are also entire series, not just one fic. The full list is under the read more! Sorry in advance for not having any descriptions (they got deleted by tumblr) but if anyone wants my take on any of them, just ask! MIND THE TAGS AND WARNINGS!!!

~Rec List~

FAVORITE AUTHOR: crushofdoves

FICS:

Have Time to Grow by Queer_and_trashy

Measured by saintgarbanzo

Discards verse by picascribit - SERIES

Coming Back Together by Notmycatsname -SERIES

Something Beautiful by orphan_account

A Whole Queer County Fair by saintgarbanzo

Be My Baby by pixelated (prettyremus)

Living it All by orphan_account

Marauder Ink by jennandblitz - SERIES

Out of Stock by jennandblitz

Elucidation Practice by montparnasse

Amateur Cartography by montparnasse

73 Aberdeen by Mici (noharlembeat)

A Picture is Worth A Thousand Lies by mysid

Our Blood, Still Young by templeg

Forever is a State of Mind by orphan_account

Aging Gracelessy by orphan_account

That One Time Sirius Orion Black Stole a Baby (and Remus Lupin was not amused) by common_tongue

A home at last by Januaryskies- SERIES

All Hail the Outlaws by orphan_account

Songs of Lovers by orphan_account

Fluidity by BetweenLines55

a jacket's tale by nightswatch

Muse Verse by remuslives23

A Wolf's Heart by mizdiz

Living Like We're Renegades by orphan_account

Tumblr Trash by orphan_account - SERIES

Nox by bliiinding

No Reckoning Made by A_factorygirl_69

Match.com by fingerprintbruises

He Said it That Knew It Best by Lexin

This Thing I Did Last Summer by kittymoon

Crude and Proud by beesandjam

annual honesty by hauntologies (tigrrmilk), tigrrmilk

When It Alteration Finds by Polkat (aralias)

A Kneeling Lover by DeathjunkE

No Understanding No Sound from Above by kyuuketsukirui

Sneaky-Bastard Mornings by sheafrotherdon

#wolfstar #siriusremus #jay speaks #my rec lists #hp fanart fec list #KILL ME I JUST DELETED THIS BY MISTAKE #i'm never using tumblr mobile again

6 notes · View notes

mimssides · 4 months

Text

Life on Crow Avenue: Part 35

Read on AO3

Masterpost | Taglist | Masterpost LoCA

First | Previous | Next

___

Remus fiddled with the cup of coffee in his hands. As of now he was sitting at the living room table in Logan’s apartment and didn’t really know what to do now. Logan and he had gone upstairs half an hour ago, maybe a little more.

Before that, they just had sat in the hallway and Remus wasn’t sure what he was supposed to make of all of it. They hadn’t started talking and Logan didn’t seem ready to strike up a conversation quite yet, but still, he felt like he wasn’t being of much help. That didn’t change when Logan asked him to escort him upstairs, made him a cup of coffee and then said he needed to freshen up.

That had been around fifteen minutes ago. Remus couldn’t fault him for taking his time in the bathroom. After today he would want to take a long bath as well.

He was tapping his foot repeatedly on the floor and glimpsed around the living room. It was a rather minimalist environment, but it seemed lived in. Weirdly comfortable despite the lack of the knickknacks Remus appreciated so much in Patton’s place. What also seemed a little bit out of place were the pieces of furniture after Remus took a second glance at them. Everything, except for the dark navy couch and the maroon armchair looked like it was rather old. In very good condition still, but the table he was sitting at, had old sat-in glass imprints on it, as an example. Things that could have come from an antique store or something along those lines.

It was weirdly charming and stirred up his creativity. There was story after story hidden in each creak and this liveliness and mismatched nature came so unexpected from a man like Logan. But then again, what did Remus know about him really? Was it fair that he thought this furniture was unusual for Logan when he hadn’t even known for certain that he was trans? Had one anything to do with the other?

Remus needed to be honest with himself. He needed to take a long breath and stared down his cup of lukewarm coffee. Nothing about this had to do with him. He hadn’t invited Logan’s sister to come here and wreck everything. He hadn’t done anything to cause this. This was not about him. This was about Logan who had been caught off guard and deserved better. Who was not angry or bitter about Remus knowing and also knew that it wasn’t his fault. No need to panic.

Light fell into his view. He turned to see how a shadow fell down the hallway and approached the entrance to the living room. Remus watched closely and forced his shoulders to relax. And then the small figure of Logan peeked around the edge of the doorframe. His tired expression was mellow, and the hint of a grin sat on his lips as he looked at Remus.

Remus’ shoulders were decidedly not relaxed anymore. All restraint in his body was used to keep himself from gaping as he looked at the freshly showered man in front of him in an oversized grey t-shirt, black leggings, and navy blue slippers. The glasses were cleaned and shiny, and the dark brown hair stuck in every direction in small curls.

Remus didn’t remember if his mouth had ever felt so dry before. He scrambled for a tiny smile too and then got up quickly as he saw him getting closer to the table. Before Logan got to ask what he was about to do, Remus pulled out the chair at the top of the table and motioned for him to take a seat.

Perplexed Logan stared at him but sat down. His confusion morphed into amusement, and he chuckled when Remus kept standing like an awkward high schooler who just met their partner’s parents for the first time.

“Who would have thought that you would be so well-mannered?” Logan joked lightly and broke Remus free from his awkwardness.

Easily Remus sat down again and said while lazily gesturing with his right: “I have to keep ya on your toes, right? If I’d always be so crude and deliciously naughty it loses its effect after a while, and no one would want that.”

Logan laughed once more before they fell into silence. Remus kept his eyes trained on the table as everything in Remus shouted to look up and watch Logan some more. He needed to see those tiny curls again. He needed to see him in this oversized shirt which made him look so comedically small and cute. But he couldn’t. Or he shouldn’t. This was the worst possible moment for his mind to fuck with him. It was far more important to support Logan in, well in any way really that didn’t involve him being too close to him so he couldn’t touch him.

“You know,” Logan’s voice cut off Remus’ thoughts and he looked up from the tabletop, “I had planned for a while now to come out. I never expected this to be the way it would happen.”

Remus nodded easily as he watched Logan’s expression close off some more.

“I mean, who would expect that?”

“Well, for an overthinker like me, it seems a bit uncharacteristic to not expect it. But then again, I haven’t seen her in years. She simply hasn’t been on my mind for a long time.”

Remus gave a small huff of agreement and shifted a bit more on his chair. He still had coffee. Slowly he drank some more of it and then stared straight forward. How could a sibling do something like this? Of course, over the years he had met a lot of people who had shitty siblings, who wouldn’t talk or see them anymore, and yet to see someone do something cruel and unfair to their own brother seemed so outlandish to him.

“Which book caught your attention?”

Remus blinked. He looked to Logan who wasn’t looking at him. His eyes were directed to the spot where Remus had stared at before and Remus followed them. Apparently, in his quiet drifting off in thoughts, his stare had landed on the bookshelf and Logan understandably must have assumed that he was looking at the book collection he displayed for all to see.

Not knowing why, more in the spirit of saying something to say something, Remus said: “I didn’t really look at the books. Mind drifted and all. But the shelf is nice. It looks pretty old.”

The chair at the head of the table was moved back. Remus watched Logan stand up and walk to the shelf. He laid his hand on the wood, let his fingers run over the side and smiled for a second before he turned back to Remus.

“It is quite old, in fact,” Logan said emphatically but not overtly so. “It was made in the Victorian era for an upper-middle-class spice trader from London. The man moved it with him when he immigrated to New York, which must have been a logistical nightmare and a thorn in the eyes of everybody boarding the same ship this man was on. He got a house, married and one of his daughters took over the house when her parents both had passed. She lived there for about twenty years before she couldn’t maintain the house anymore as she grew older and decided to sell everything since she had no children or other family members who needed or wanted anything. Over a few sellers, this shelf eventually landed up in an antique store.”

This sounded like Roman going through a monologue he had practised 27 times already but was still eager to repeat another 20 times, which wasn’t something he had expected to hear from Logan talking about a piece of old furniture.

“Hello there, Mr Antiquarian! Where did you hide that secret passion of yours until now?” Remus asked playfully.

Logan’s look softened and he lowered his head for a moment with a gentle grin. With a light air around him, he walked back to the table and explained: “It’s not solely a passion.”

“Oh?” Remus probed eager to get away from the bleak atmosphere from before.

“Well, it was job-related. I was able to get a position in an antique store. The man who employed me was happy enough to have a student, who was able to do some proper research for the pieces he gathered and sold. I got to learn quite a bit about the history and sometimes was roped into helping him restore a few little things. It was a good time. Helped me finance my top surgery and the testosterone.”

Neither man looked at the other for a moment. Logan smiled down at his table as Remus tried and failed to scratch off some loose skin around his thumb. Mildly he cursed under his breath and stuck his thumb in his mouth as it started to bleed. Logan saw it immediately and scolded him with a weak huff and told him that he would get him some disinfectant spray. A few minutes were spent disinfecting Remus’ abused thumb and Logan then went on to make both of them a new warm drink. Remus couldn’t take a second coffee so Logan made them black tea. Remus watched him walk back and forth between the dining table and the kitchen, the previously wet curls now dried down and whipping up and down wildly with Logan’s forceful steps.

Remus hadn’t noticed it before, but Logan had the habit of walking around pretty loudly. But now that there was no other background noise, he could focus on that. It was weird how much louder Logan was in comparison to Roman. Roman was much harder to hear if he wasn’t talking or carrying something around which made him become short of breath. And even so, Remus usually was well aware when Roman was around or not. He had some kind of aura going that made everybody realize that he was there. In a way Logan was very much the same; he simply amplified it by walking around like an elephant.

A steaming cup of tea pulled him back to reality. He took it, murmured thanks and blew the steam away to take a tiny sip. It was scalding hot, but he didn’t mind. It was a good burn. Slowly he put it back down and casually looked up again only for Logan to be watching him intently. Immediately he looked away again and he could almost feel Logan furrowing his brows at his odd behaviour.

“You keep looking away from me and I don’t understand why. Has this revelation led to you figuratively seeing me in a different light? Is there a problem with me being trans?” Logan asked matter-of-factly.

Remus whipped his head around and shook it forcefully. He looked into Logan’s eyes and opened his mouth only to get distracted by a little curl which stuck out wildly. His cheeks began to burn, and he wanted to sink into the floor. To be swallowed by the earth and burn in lava or be crushed by the drifting plate of the continents.

Weakly he gaped for another breath of air but didn’t manage to get anything out. Logan simply tilted his head to the side in curiosity. It made him look about fifty times cuter and Remus wanted to die. Why was he looking at him like this? Why did he not seem upset but curious? Why on earth did he have to have curly hair and look absolutely stunning when they were starting to dry?

“I don’t know what to say,” Remus settled on eventually. “I mean, I-”

“You knew.”

Remus gulped. How was there no anger or judgment in Logan’s voice? How was he keeping a level head despite all of this?

Remus nodded and met Logan’s eyes. Weakly he admitted: “I did. Well, I assumed. Because I did google your therapist, and she works with trans people mostly. So, it made sense.”

“Well assumed.”

“Thanks.”

Remus took another breath and asked: “Why are you not upset with me?”

Laughing. Logan was laughing. It was a delightfully clear sound at first before a few snorts interrupted the bell-like sound and pulled Remus in even deeper.

“I see no reason to be upset with you,” Logan began and lifted his hands to stop Remus before he could disagree. “You were kind and cordial with me even though this whole situation clearly distresses you. You are being an excellent friend and are trying to figure out how to navigate the confirmation of sensitive information. Nothing about that would be upsetting.”

He could just stare at Logan. The smile on his lips turned into a playful smirk and Remus felt the need to kiss him stronger than ever. How would it feel to touch those pretty curls, his hands running over his soft cheeks, Logan’s hands dug deep into his back, leaving marks, showing the world that Remus belonged to him-

The feeling of Remus’ phone vibrating pulled him out of his thoughts. With a gulp, he fished it out of his pocket and read the message Roman had sent him.

___

“I do not think that all of us should go,” Janus insisted anew.

This time it wasn’t Roman who turned around to tell Janus otherwise but Rémy. The man rolled his eyes as he pressed a cardboard box into Virgil’s hand and stemmed his hands in his hips.

“Listen closely,” Rémy said, “when the man says that you four are invited to go up, and don’t have something more important going on, you go up. It’s the least you can do after what the poor thing’s been through.”

Janus pouted and looked for Roman to support but his boyfriend unhelpfully lifted his eyebrows as to say ‘See? I was right.’ Before Janus could speak up once more Roman took his hand and pointed to the box Rémy had handed to Virgil.

“And what’s that?”

“Sandwiches. I have some left from the morning, which I would have had to give away in an hour anyway. Thought some nutrition might do y’all some good,” Rémy said easily.

Roman looked touched at the motion and Rémy told him to knock it off, they were supposed to go up to the flat as Logan had requested it and spend some time with the bookstore owner. Roman didn’t protest after that. Instead, he took Janus' hand and squeezed it. It was about time to get going up, Roman decided and bid Rémy a good night. The café owner just bowed his head and turned. They walked up to the edge of the sidewalk, waited and, crossed as no car came. His gait was leisurely and relaxed and yet Roman could see the heaviness of today sitting in his bones as he disappeared in his shop. He himself was still holding Janus' hand and guided the two of them towards Logan and Patton’s apartment complex.

Patton was walking in front, Roman and Janus behind him and Virgil was the tail lights of their little group. They were quiet and tense. Roman tried to keep the memories which were slowly acting up in his mind at bay but felt tidbits slipping through. Every time someone had clocked him against his will, the words his father threw at the last time they ever stood face to face.

They were in front of the door. This wasn’t about him. Patton knocked. This was about Logan. Rustling from inside. He could keep it all in, for Logan, for Patton, for Janus, for Remus and for Virgil. He could keep himself in check.

The door opened and he saw his twin open the door for them. They locked eyes for a second before he caught Patton’s look and quietly went: “Come in. He’s put some drinks up in the kitchen.”

Quickly all of them filed inside, Patton slipping out of his shoes and asking Remus something, that Roman couldn’t quite make out as he looked around the flat. The room layout was the same as Patton’s but it looked much neater. Only a white clothing rack and a black shoe stand next to the door and no knickknacks lying around. It was a good fit for Logan’s personality and-

“Ah, good. You’ve arrived,” Logan said and stepped into the hallway coming from the living room.

Surprised Roman’s eyes were glued on the curls standing up from Logan’s head but couldn’t process it quickly enough before Patton gave a surprised squeal: “You’ve got curly hair!”

Logan just furrowed his brows in response before realisation dawned on him and his cheeks flushed dark red. His hands shot up to his hair and he pushed some of the curls down as if it would stop the rest of them from sticking out wildly between his fingers.

“Yes, that will make us unsee those unruly locks,” Janus dryly stated and gave a nudge to Roman from behind.

Roman stepped further into the living room, Janus getting to his side and grinning as Logan sneered at him and let his hands drop in angry fists.

“Oh, don’t you dare to comment on my hair when I have yet to see you without a hat on!”

“Rude,” Janus murmured and leaned against Roman.

Before either could continue and escalate it into a fight, Patton got between them and looked down at Logan.

“Nothing of that matters right now. I mean it looks amazing-” Roman could see a soft blush on both Patton and Logan’s faces appear - “but that’s not what you wanted to call us up about. Right? Or do you just want some company? Oh, we also brought food! Rémy gave us sandwiches from the store so that will be really helpful I think and-”

Logan took Patton’s wrist. The rambling stopped abruptly with a gulp of Patton.

“I’d like to come out to you on my terms now.”

For a moment Logan paused. His eyes fell on the box in Virgil’s arms.

“And also eat the sandwiches,” he added hastily and waved Virgil in to get closer.

The smallest man turned, still holding Patton’s wrist and led them to his dining room table. Roman’s eyes flickered over the old furniture, antiques in great condition he quickly realized, and then went back to Logan who had Patton sit down at the chair next to the top, hushed at Remus to settle back in his seat and took the box from Virgil. He glimpsed inside, mumbled something to himself and then quickly turned towards the kitchen.

“Settle. I’m right back with napkins,” Logan said and disappeared into the kitchen.

Roman shot Remus a look. His brother returned his gaze with shivering lips. Yes, Remus hadn’t dealt well with this either, Roman realised and sat down in the chair vis-à-vis from him as Janus took the seat to his side. Somewhat uncomfortable Virgil chose to sit down at the head of the table, between Janus and Patton. Unknowing glances between all of them were exchanged. Remus was just about to open his mouth when Logan returned and handed out some blue paper napkins. He also carried a laptop with him, sat it down at the end of the table and opened the sandwich boxes.

“Alright. Please grab a sandwich as I start up my laptop for the presentation.”

Roman had already reached for a sandwich, the nerves were making him hungry, but he stopped mid-movement and blurted out in confusion: “Presentation?”

Meanwhile, Logan had already opened his laptop and was typing in the password. He shot him a quick look and said nonchalantly: “My coming out presentation. I had worked on this for a while but never found an opportunity to presen-”

“And you think now is a good moment to-” Janus started but stopped himself with a sigh before he rubbed his eyes and continued - “Logan, I don’t know why you think that now is the time to do this. To even make a presentation to begin with-”

“Would you have preferred a flip chart?” Logan hissed.

That made Janus shut up. He had known it was a bad idea for him to come here. He had known that he would better have stayed away from Logan and let the others handle this. He could never do anything right by Logan and-

Gentle with a smoky-sounding voice Patton interfered: “Lo, I don’t think that Janus is trying to attack you-” He held up his hand to stop him from interrupting him - “This is about you suddenly deciding out of nowhere that you want to come out to us, after a very, very bad day. It is a surprise, you never opened up about this, not to me, not to anybody and it seems so fast for you to go all out after everything. We are just worried and want to make sure that you feel okay and not obligated to do this.”

Patton paused and looked into the round. They all nodded sheepishly and he added with a bashful smile: “And coming out with a presentation is also a little unexpected but not unwelcome. I’m sure we’d all love to listen but we just wanna be certain you’re truly okay with this. Okay?”

Logan readjusted himself on his chair. He sniffed his nose and scratched his cheek before he met Patton’s gaze.

He cleared his throat and opened his mouth. He closed it again and took a deep breath.

“I see. I- I do not think that I’m okay. Far from it, most likely. But there is very little I can do to make myself feel better, except to distract myself. And well-” he looked at his screen and then back to Patton- “I had been looking for an opportunity to share this with you for a long time now. With all of you, in fact.”

He paused and waited for anybody to say anything. No one did and his look stuck onto Remus. Wide-eyed he stared at him. As if he was something so mysterious, that he never dared to imagine to learn more about him. Alas, that would be an illusion he’d disprove quickly enough.

He turned his laptop around, stood up and grabbed a sandwich. He stood a little to the side so he could glance at the slide he was presenting at the moment(just the trans flag), took a bite, swallowed and decided to begin.

“I was born on the 4th of January 1991 to Aron and Aisha Fojtík. The woman, you were lucky enough to meet today, was my sister Delilah. She is three years my senior.”

He stopped and clicked, and a very stereotypical family portrait appeared. A darker-skinned woman, elegantly dressed, slim, very put together, stood beside a fair-skinned man, heavy-set, sitting straight on a stool. In front of the woman stood a maybe ten-year-old girl in a dress. Next to her, to the side of the man, stood a smaller girl, possibly seven, who was wearing glasses. The woman had one hand on the man’s shoulder and one on the taller girl’s shoulder. The smaller girl had her hand loosely on the man’s knee. None of them were smiling. They all looked serious.

Logan looked at it for a moment and had the next slide come up. It was a picture of the girl with the glasses, a few years later. She was speaking into a microphone at a spelling competition. Her hair was put into two long braids, she wore a white blouse and a blue neckpiece, as well as a light grey skirt.

“My father came from a wealthy background and was a smart businessman. My mother married him mostly because of these very reasons, and he took her because she was willing to stay with him and provide him with a family. All in all, their relationship was boring, listless and transactional. I rarely saw my father and thus was objected to my mother’s upbringing. Once she grasped that I had, metaphorically, a solid head on my shoulders, she had me sign up for all different clubs and courses. I profited from this and soon became class president and won in different literary competitions and I ranked decently in my academic endeavours.”

He paused and looked at the others. None of them moved.

“In 5th grade I asked my mother to enrol me in a local public school. She was sceptical until she saw how well the school was ranked and I was able to improve some of my social skills as I finally was able to mix and mingle with peers from different social backgrounds. I was thirteen when I realized that I most certainly was no girl. I-”

He shot Patton a look and suddenly began to grin. The tattoo artist had listened closely as the others had and frowned at the sudden mischievous glint in his friend’s eyes.

“Yes?” he asked confused leading Logan to chuckle.

Logan’s grin spread wider and he answered: “The next picture is from high school. The group picture from the cookie sale.”

The confusion stayed for another moment but was soon overtaken by a furious blush. Logan began to chuckle as his expression turned more smug by every passing second. And yet it soon turned softer and he reached over the table and laid his hand on Patton’s arm. The man immediately looked up with wide eyes.

“I won’t expose your old style if you tell me not to. Though personally, I find it to be quite charming,” Logan said gently.

With a pout, Patton countered: “You’d rather see me in the old clothes then?”

“Dear heavens, no,” Logan chuckled, “but just meant that it used to suit you quite well back then.”

“Okay, sorry, you’re being adorable together,” Remus interrupted not noticing both of their blushes as he stood up and tapped on the laptop screen, “but what fucking outfit did Patton wear that he’s more embarrassed about it than Lo about his body pre-transition?”

Patton sighed loudly and hid his face behind his hands. Right-out giggling Logan patted Patton’s back and shooed the flusteredness of his friend away.

“Are we denying Remus your spectacular ou-”

“You’re so mean Loooo,” Patton whined and pressed his head against the tabletop, “just get on with it. Otherwise, Remus will stand in front of my door in the middle of the night to question me about it anyway.”

Amused Logan simply pressed the button on his laptop and a group picture appeared. It was six teenagers, two taller students at the sides holding a blue banner with the words “Planning Committee Bake Sale 2007” written on it. They all smiled quite proudly, as a girl in the middle held up a red cash box. The twins and uncle and nephew duo stared at the picture for a long moment. Neither Patton nor Logan was obviously on it at first glance. Only after a few seconds Remus released a surprised gasp and connected the dots between the deep brown eyes behind the glasses of the girl with the cash box and those of Logan. He took the image in slowly; two carefully braided braids falling on his shoulders as he stood straight in a dark blue blouse and a black skirt. None of the clothing had a wrinkle in it, perfect in every way. And yet this seeming perfection didn’t fool Remus, though it made him smile. There was defiance and smugness in those eyes, maybe forced to conform to society’s perfection but eventually breaking free and writing his own rules.

He glimpsed at Logan for a moment. Yes, this man had made his own rules.

Attention back on the picture Remus looked through the students again. He still hadn’t seen Patton and wrinkled his brow in confusion. Had Logan mistaken the picture with another-

“Are you telling me you wore a cardigan in High School?”

The disdain in Janus' words and the following groan from Patton let Remus look at the taller teen holding the banner on the right side. He was the one who had a grey cardigan slung over his shoulders and was wearing a light blue polo shirt and knee-long khakis.

And he had Patton’s face now that Remus looked at him a little closer.

“Oh god,” Virgil and Roman exclaimed at the same time, while Logan started chuckling.

Remus' heart meanwhile did a flip. How odd. He truly thought that Patton would look amazing in anything.

“Good dad outfit,” Remus croaked through his confused feelings and reached over the table to hit Patton playfully in the side.

The tension was broken. Logan laughed and set the presentation aside after that. Instead, he proposed to finish eating and prepared them all another round to drink. No one objected.

They deserved a small breather.

@vexelore

@exhaustedfander

@alexisrealgay

@wolfs-feder

@just-a-neoclassical-painting

@winter-jay-official

@a-ghostlight-for-roman

@mychemically-imbalanced-romance

@whattheremus

@regalredrose

@spellingwillbethedeathofme

@sarenicide

@warcats-cat

LoCA

@arodynamic-enby

@espepspes

@bullet-tothefeels

@fukindork

@shadeofadye

@magic-but-its-green

@simonekkt

@tlhrfanfic

#sanders sides #sanders sides fanfiction #ts logan #ts remus #ts roman #ts patton #ts janus #ts virgil #eir writes #life on crow avenue #future intrulogicality #please reblog

1 note · View note

vinbee631 · 9 months

Text

5 - Opening Up, Letting the Day In, Pour You a Cup and Say “Hello, How Ya Been?”

Prodigal Sons and Daughters Alike

The rest of the week went similarly. The boys settled into the earlier wake up time and spent about as much time as they could sitting in on early classes or watching performances.

And, when they weren’t doing that, they had the rest of the week to get to know each other.

Chapter title song from Waitress (or Opening Up by Sara Bareilles if that's more your style, I guess). No comment on this chapter, it gets interesting very very soon though!

or maybe it's all uninteresting and I live in a river in egypt

“I don’t think it’s fair that we get only a week to tell each other thirteen years of stories,” Remus complained. He’d mentioned it before, but every so often, he was reminded of the cruel injustice and had to make his displeasure known.

“Well, it’s not like we can’t talk to each other once classes really start. Sure, there will be other stuff to do, but we’ll probably stilll see each other every day. Oh, and we’ll get to meet Virgil! Hopefully,” Patton added.

“Oh yeah, I almost forgot about that” Roman chimed in. “I wonder if he lives really far away or something. Honestly, I don’t really care that much, but I do wanna get to know him.”

“True, though I am kinda sad we missed out on the chance to talk to him this week, and that he’s missing out on all the early stuff. It’s been really fun! I’ve already started working on side projects with some of the kids in my classes.”

“I agree,” Logan said. “It also puts him at a bit of a disadvantage. He won’t know his way around the school, nor where is classes are. I suppose it is like regular high school in that regard, but it is unfortunate given he had the opportunity to not experience the infamiliarity so suddenly.”

“That was a very roundabout way of saying that you already care about this kid, but pop off I guess,” Remus teased.

Logan rolled his eyes at that, but didn’t fall for the bait of his teasing. He had gotten into several quite crude renditions of “debates,” all of which he was in the firm belief that he had won, not that Remus would ever admit to such defeat.

…It would be infuriating if Logan didn’t find them to be quite entertaining.

But today, he was not in the mood for another one of those discussions, so he kept his thoughts to himself, tuning back in as the others continued to speculate about him.

“I seriously can’t believe there’s nothing Dr. Picani could have told us about him. Although, he did say if we had any questions, we could go to him, but that seems like far too much effort on my part,” Janus drawled.

“That is soemthing to think about, though. Like, he didn’t give any explanation. Virigl is entiled to his own privacy and whatnot, but like… I can’t imagine he would care about keeping it private unless something bad happened.”

“Privacy and whatnot,” Remus teased under his breath, “you’re really selling it there.”

“To be fair, Emile probably knows like- how much is a good amount of information for us to know. And, I mean if you don’t wanna get up and go to his office to talk to him, we are able to text him, Janus,” Patton pointed out.

“And yet, I’m going to continue to be lazy, out of spite. I live off of the stuff,” Janus declared, smirking.

Patton shrugged, although he did spot Janus not-so-subtly hiding his phone behind his legs during lunch that afternoon, so he suspected that he was being dramatic, unsurprisingly. ‘

Aside from Virgil’s absence, he was very happy to be bonding with all his roommates already. He hadn’t necessarily been worried about not getting along, but he loved making new friends, especially from places he’d never been before.

As a kid, it was just him, at this school with his parents, or at home with his grandparents. He was homeschooled, so friends were few and far between, and mostly online. It was enough to keep him happy, but he had been looking forward to actually, y’know- attending this school and making friends with the kids in his grade.

So far, he’d only really had success with his roomates.

The kids in his track were very friendly! But when they found out his dad taught some of their classes… they ended up acting just a little differently around him. It got even worse when they figured out his mom worked in a different section of the school.

It didn’t change by that much, and certainly not to a noticeable degree to any outsider, but Patton could see it. He could tell they measured what they said around him, didn’t complain about school around him even when they had complaints, and quite honestly, avoided striking conversation with him in general.

But, when lunchtime rolled around, he could rush down to the cafeteria and greet his dormmates, who couldn’t care less if his mom taught at their school.

…Probably because most of them didn’t know, but that was besides the point!

Okay, all of them didn’t know. There was a reason for that, though. Patton didn’t normally like keeping secrets, but if he lost the chance at another perfectly good friendship, he might lose it a little.

The others didn’t seem to mind, at any rate, when he avoided questions about his family. Janus was open about his experience in a single parent household, and he’d told Patton directly that he didn’t owe them any information he didn’t want to share.

So that was… comforting, to say the least.

But anyway, he was getting way off track! If he kept worrying about something he, frankly, shouldn’t focus on at all, he was going to space out through the entirely of lunch and miss time with his friends!

They were talking about something he wasn’t all that familar with, some show he hadn’t watched, but it was more than nice to sit and listen to the twins ramble back and forth with Logan and Janus about the most important bits and the best relationships.

As Patton zoned back in, trying to figure out which season they were laying out and criticizing now, Janus caught his gaze and ticked an eyebrow up, almost asking with his eyes if Patton was alright.

He smiled gratefully and nodded, then gave up and asked Roman what the heck they were going on about anyway because he was so very lost.

And yeah, even with secrets, he was sure they were going to stay friends for a long time!

…

The closer they got to the real start of classes, the more anxious the boys became. Of course, the idea of actually going to class was starting to seem a bit daunting, but anticipating Virgil’s arrival had not gotten any easier.

The last day of their first week arrived far too quickly, and when they all woke up almost annoyingly early, Roman included, the boys realized they needed a bit bigger of a distraction than just attending more fake classes.

When they started brainstorming what to do, Roman excitedly told the others about a poster he’d seen about a nature hike that was supposed to start about an hour after breakfast.

Janus had many complaints about the matter, but his vote was discounted when everyone else decisively started getting ready for their miniature, supervised adventure!

Summers in Florida were a nightmare worse than hell itself some days, and it had rained the night before. The boys expected it to be miserably and muggy, but by some miracle the dew on the ground left the air pleasantly cool around them.

They arrived a bit earlier than everyone else, but the teachers were already there, so it was probably fine.

“Heyy, our first hikers! Good to see y’all! We have nametags if you can read ‘em, to save time instead of doing boring icebreakers, but you can introduce yourselves if ya want!”

Patton grinned, taking the opportunity to introduce himself first, and the others followed allong in various states of excitement (with Janus being at the opposite end of the spectrum from Patton).

“Well, it’s good to see you! We’re not supposed to start for about another ten minutes, so you can just hang out while we wait for some more freshies!”

Remus very elegantly flopped into the grass at the words, ignoring the morning dew that was soaking into his shorts. “Sooo, are you guys ready for tomorrow?” Roman rolled his eyes at his brother. “You’re getting wet stains on your ass, but yes! Very. I’ve already been learning a lot in dance class this week, and now we get to actually start class! It’s like, I didn’t think things could get better, but they can!”

The others agreed, and for the first time in the whole week, they stood (or sat, in Remus’ case) together in silence as the conversation trailed off into nothing.

Even Remus, who normally detested silence, could appreciate the moment for a little while. It wasn’t like they had anything pressing to talk about, and there was a lot to think about today. They could get back into talking once the hike started.

Over the next ten minutes, the small group of five roommates and the two chaperones turned into about 35 students, which led to them calling another supervising teacher and starting about two minutes later than they said.

“Alright, now that we’ve gotten that all sorted, good morning! I’m happy to see so many kids interested in getting some movement in this early! In case the nametags are a bit too far away for y’all to see, I’m Toby, and these are our other two walking buddies for the day!”

Remus missed the rest of the introduction, but it didn’t particularly matter, as they started walking right after that.

The kids had the option to walk closer to the front of the group, with the teacher that was going to narrate the hike? Or something? Maybe the plant types, Remus wasn’t sure. He opted to stay with the rest of his friends, closer to the back, so they could talk to each other or walk without the interruption of narration about plants.

Remus ended up in a walking pair with Janus. Apparently, Roman had run into one of his friends from the dance track, and Remus was more than happy to let them walk together.

The only problem was, Janus did not look particularly excited to be there.

“Hey, you good?” He asked. “I mean, I know you were the least excited to join us, but is this really that awful for you? Cuz if it is, I’d be more than happy to- uh, not be here, with you, if you want.”

Janus chuckled slightly at his stuttering. “No, it’s more than alright. Sure, I’m not the biggest fan of physical activity, but I believe I shall live.”

“Is there a reason for that? I mean, if you wanna talk about it. I know there are tons of people that just don’t like exercise, but you’re staring at the trail like it killed your cat or something.”

“Well, I’m more of a snake person…” Janus started to deflect, but for some reason, stopped himself. “But, I suppose, if you wouldn’t mind listening to me rant, I could.”

“Go for it! Much better than the nature junk the others are talking about in the front. I think I might die of boredom if I had to listen to someone talk about the eighteen different types of fucking trees we’re walking past.”

Janus laughed outright at that. “Fair enough. I suppose, well, it’s not a big deal, but I have asthma. It’s not serious, and I have my inhaler on me, please do not freak out. I simply have… a complicated history, with people, especially gym teachers, forcing me to do things they think I can handle when I physically cannot. It is… frustrating, to say the least.”

Remus winced in sympathy. “Gym teachers suck ass, I’d beat them up for you.”

Janus snorted involuntarily. “As… entertaining ast hat would be, definitely not necessary. How many supposed gym teachers could you take in a fight, anyway?”

“Oh, are we talking all at once or in rounds? Because depending on stature and the timing, it really depends. I could maybe take two of the stereotypical out of shape gym teachers at once, but I’m not very tall, so it depends,” he replied easily.

“Have you… thougth about, how many gym teachers you can fight?”

“Oh, I think about fighting all kinds of things!” And Remus was off, chatting away about the things he seemed to think about, possibly a bit too much, in his free time.

As they walked, Remus’ stream of thoughts kept Janus moving, laughing past a barely noticeable ache in his lungs. Surprisingly enough, he didn’t even need to take a break during their walk.

He wasn’t sure if it was merely a placebo effect or not, but if his friend’s excited rants were a substitute for his inhaler, Janus would listen to him any day of the week with a smile.

…Well, perhaps it was closer to a smirk, but that wasn’t the saying, now was it?

#sanders sides fanfiction #tss storytime 2023 #roman sanders #remus sanders #janus sanders #patton sanders #logan sanders

0 notes

dragonflycap · 2 years

Text

What to expect from the stock market this week

Last week’s review of the macro market indicators saw with the first week in August over, equity markets continued to show strength on both timeframes and were on the cusp of a full blown reversal. Elsewhere looked for Gold ($GLD) to continue its short term move higher while Crude Oil ($USO) moved lower short term. The US Dollar Index ($DXY) continued in a short term move lower while US Treasuries ($TLT) pulled back in consolidation. The Shanghai Composite ($ASHR) looked to continue in consolidation while Emerging Markets ($EEM) consolidated in the downtrend.

The Volatility Index ($VXX) looked to continue lower in the normal range making the path easier for equity markets to the upside. Their charts looked strong, especially on the longer timeframe. On the shorter timeframe both the $IWM and $SPY were approaching key levels to confirm an intermediate term reversal. The $QQQ continued to move higher after printing a higher high.

The week played out with Gold stalling, unable to create big separation from the 1800 level while Crude Oil bounced to retest prior support as resistance and failed. The US Dollar dropped to a 6 week low before finding support while Treasuries jumped early but fell back to remue the move lower. The Shanghai Composite found support and started higher while Emerging Markets moved up to test the June highs.

Volatility continued to move lower, entering the teens for the first time since early April. This put a wind to the backs of equities and they responded by moving to new highs. This resulted in the SPY and IWM printing their first higher highs of the year on an intermediate term basis. They join the QQQ which continued higher after doing the same the prior week. What does this mean for the coming week? Let’s look at some charts.

SPY Daily, $SPY

The SPY came into the week holding in a short term consolidation just below the June highs. It started higher Monday but gave up those gains intraday and continued lower Tuesday, basically staying in consolidation. Wednesday saw a gap up over the June highs and the move continued Friday, ending at the high of the day and week. This was the first intermediate term higher high for the SPY since the all-time high at the start of the year.

The daily chart shows the RSI peeking into overbought territory with the MACD rising and bullish as the Bollinger Bands® point higher. The next important levels on this timeframe are the 200 day SMA currently at 431.84 and then the 61.8% retracement of the drop from the high to the June low, at about 435.

The weekly chart shows a 4th week moving higher and a strong move over the 100 week SMA. The RSI is rising through the midline towards bullish territory with the MACD crossed up but negative. There is resistance at 428.50 and 430 then 435.50 and 437.50 before 441 and 444. Support lower comes at 425.50 and 423 then 420 and 417.50 before 413.50 and 411 then 407.50 and 405.50. Short Term Uptrend.

SPY Weekly, $SPY

Heading into August Options Expiry, equity markets responded to the inflation data with strong moves to the upside and their first intermediate term higher highs since the all-time highs. Elsewhere look for Gold to consolidate while Crude Oil continues the downtrend. The US Dollar Index continues the pullback in the uptrend while US Treasuries consolidate in their downtrend. The Shanghai Composite looks ready for a short term move higher while Emerging Markets may also be reversing higher.

The Volatility Index looks to continue to move lower in the normal range making the path easier for equity markets to the upside. Their charts look strong, especially on the longer timeframe. On the shorter timeframe momentum is starting to get a bit hot so the SPY, IWM and QQQ may be ready for a pause. Use this information as you prepare for the coming week and trad’em well.

Join the Premium Users and you can view the Full Version with 20 detailed charts and analysis: Macro Week in Review/Preview August 12, 2022

#$GLD #$USO #$DXY #$UUP #$TLT #$ASHR #$FXI #$EEM #$VIX #$VXX #$SPY #$IWM #$QQQ

0 notes

celestialevie · 2 years

Text

Take a risk // Sirius Black x f! reader

Pairings: Sirius Black x f! reader, Lily Evans x platonic f! reader

Genre: Fluff

Summary: Your best friend Lily Evans is getting married and you're the maid of honour. The best man? The nortorious Sirius Black.

Warnings: Swearing

Word count: 3.1k

A/N: Here I am once again with posting super late, lol. I am so sorry for not posting anything last weekend but I was having serious back pain I couldn't sit for long time and I just recovered from being sick. I hope you guys enjoy this!!

When the wedding invitation arrived at your adress, seeing James and Lily's names on it, made you the happiest for your best friend. Ever since she admitted to you about having feelings for James long before anyone from Hogwarts knew. The only thing that surprised you is how quickly they got engaged, but you couldn't blame neither James or Lily for wanting to lock it down after spending so many years wasted. Lily and you met back in summer of 1976 when The Evans family was on a vacation in France. You're also a witch but also half a veela, attending Beauxbatons. During the school year, we've sent each other letters but as soon as the summer starts, we're already planning how to meet up again. She became your closest friends and you were looking forward to finally meet the friendship group of James and Lily or as Lily said they like to call each other ' the marauders ', especially Remus since Lily thought you and Remus would be perfect for each other. About a month before the wedding you've arrived in England, staying at Potter's Manor per both bride and broom's request. The portkey sent you to the station 9 3/4 , from where you apparated just a bit around the corner where the Potter Manor is, incase some wandering muggles were to see you. As you walked up to the door, about to knock/ring the bell, the door flew open and the furry of red hair was all you saw before you were jumped. '' Y/n oh I'm so happy you're finally here!!'' she was hugging you tight as you laughed. '' Merlin, Lily you almost gave me a heart attack. I'm happy to be here. It would be lovely if you would let me inside so I can breathe properly. '' you chuckled as she released you from the hug. '' Oh right, sorry. Come in, everyone is excited to meet you. Well almost everyone. Sirius is currently out of town for a few days, but he's also excited to meet you. '' she leads you over to the living room where bunch of people are sitting and chatting. '' Everyone, this is y/n. Y/n this is everyone. '' Lily introduces you. A tall guy with sandy hair and scars on his face is first to get up and introduce himself. '' It's nice to meet you. You must be Remus, right? '' you shake his hand with a smile. He's definitely handsome man. '' Correct. It's nice to meet you as well. Lily told me a lot about you. '' he grins. '' Only good things I hope. '' you laugh as a slightly shorter guy with dark brown hair and brown eyes with glasses approaches you. '' Well if it isn't the famous James Potter. '' he laughs as he hugs you. '' It's nice to see you again, y/n. You look just as hideous as the first time I met you. '' you gasp in fake horror. '' Such a crude words to the only woman who's the bride's getaway driver. '' you wink at Lily, making her shake her head as she laughs. '' I forgot how riddiculous you two act when you're together. '' a shorter guy with dirty blonde hair approaches you and introduces himself as Peter. '' Oh it's so nice to meet the one marauder who is slightly rational. '' you smile at him as you shake his hand. The girls known as Marlene, Dorcas and Mary introduce themselves, before you finally get to the hosts of the house. Euphemia and Fleamont Potter. '' Hello Mr. and Mrs. Potter, thank you so much for letting me stay with you until the wedding. '' you approach them and shake their hands, but Euphemia brings you into a hug. '' It's very lovely to have another female in the house. Lily and me definitely aren't enough to keep these three boys in check. '' you laugh. '' I'm sure you manage just fine. Just wait until James give you an heir. It's gonna be even bigger mess then. '' Euphemia laughs and you all sit down and chat for a while, before Lily and James take you upstairs and show you where you will be staying. '' So this is your room for now. Sirius' room is right across from yours, and mine is just a bit down the hall. my parents' room is on the second floor so you don't have to worry about anything. I hope you like the room. '' James gives you a quick side hug before returning downstairs, leaving you with Lily. She closes the door, and the

minute she does it, both of you scream out of happiness and hug each other. '' It's still a shock to me you're actually getting married to the person you hated like three years ago. And the fact that you choose me as your maid of honour is just as crazy to me. I'm surprised you didn't pick Marlene or Mary or Dorcas.'' she gives you a mean look. '' Don't sell yourself short. While I adore all three of them, you're the one who knows all of my secrets. Of course you're the one I want to be the closest by my side. They're gonna be bridesmaids. Remus and Peter are groomsmen along with Frank Longbottom, Mary's boyfriend and he shared the dorm with boys, he's very close friend of ours. '' Lily and you sat on your bed for awhile and chatted before you decided to go back down and join the others.

That's how the next couple of days went. You would spend time with Potters, sometimes you would go on a lunch with Remus (who ended up being a very close friend, neither of you interested in other romantically). Until the day Sirius Black finally showed up, back from his trip. '' Hello family, I'm back home! '' but you were the only one there. Euphemia and Fleamont were working at the ministry while James and Lily decided to go on a date. They wanted to bring you with them, but you didn't feel like being a third wheel. '' Sorry, no family, just me. You must be the famous Sirius Black. '' you shake his hand. '' That I am. I assume you're y/n, Lily's best friend? '' you nod your head. ''Correct. I assume they didn't expect you to show up, because Lily and James are out on a date, while Fleamont and Euphemia are working. '' he nods his head in agreement. '' Yeah I was supposed to come back tomorrow but felt like coming home one day early. '' there's a moment of silence until you break it. '' Oh you must be exhausted from your trip, don't mind me. I'll be out of your way, I planned on going to explore the town. '' You quickly get your things and put on jacket and shoes. '' Oh you're not a bother at all. Would you mind if I joined you? I feel like Lily would bite my head off if I let you go alone. '' you laugh at that. '' I don't want to be a bother. I've been here once or twice before so I definitely know around the city at least a bit. '' He shakes his head. ' Nonsense. I would be happy to keep you company, let me just go quickly change my clothes and we can go then, okay? '' he smiles at you. '' Sure. I'll be waiting here. '' he quickly runs upstairs, changing into a different clothes, before rushing back down. '' Okay, I'm ready to go. '' and with that you leave the house, deciding to apparate somewhere closer to the center of town. As you're walking around the town, you're slowly warming up to him. You weren't immune to his charm, despite the rumours about him that even are going around in Beauxbatons. As much as he was charming you, you told yourself not to get attached during your temporary stay here. While it is definitely not a huge distance between England and France, it's just something you can't make your heart go through. '' Lily never told me she has such a beautiful friend. I'm surprised she kept you this long to herself. Well besides Prongs, I know you met him once or twice. '' Sirius winks at you, the heat rushing to your cheeks. '' Oh don't get too ahead of yourself. Didn't Lily warn you about me being half veela? Maybe I'm using my veela charm to seduce you. '' you wiggle your eyebrows, making him break out in laugh. '' I've been around some veelas and half veelas before, you're nothing like them trust me, I would've known if you're using your charm. '' his answers makes you raise your eyebrows in curiousity. '' Oh? I mean I heard some things about you back in Beauxbatons, I always just thought they were made up rumours, but now it makes me think, some of them might be true. '' he sighs. '' Well I did sleep with one or two of them, but nothing out of ordinary, not sure what kind of rumours you've heard about me. '' he shrugs. '' Wait are you implying they used their veela charm to seduce you in their bed? Because that is highly illegal and very wrong. '' Sirius shakes his head. '' Not at all, I was mostly just joking, both sides were consentual. '' '' Oh, okay. '' you keep walking around, just talking small things for about an hour before you decided to go back, assuming at least James and Lily have came back from their date.

The next weeks have gone by quickly. You've grown quite close to the group and it's definitely a good thing. Sirius and you have gone out a few more times on a walks, sometimes alone, sometimes with everyone else in the group, or with just the rest of marauders and Lily. He's definitely quite a flirty person and you're not sure how you feel about it. Today Lily, you, Marlene, Mary and Dorcas are going wedding dress shopping, along with the dress for you and the bridesmaids. Boys decided to go suite shopping as well, later on everyone meeting for a lunch. As you arrived at the bridal shop, you were surprised how many wedding dresses there actually was (which I know is to be expected in a bridal shop, but there's so many choices to pick from). '' Oh wow, this is a good shop you've picked Lily. Are you sure you won't be overwhelmed? Cause I'm not even the bride and I feel slightly overwhelmed. '' Lily chuckled. '' It's my second time here. I narrowed down the choices of dresses I like, so let's get to picking. '' everything was amazing, the shop assistant offered us champagne, we all enjoyed and everyone was all giggly. After deciding and agreeing with Lily on what dress she should pick, it was your turn to choose. There were many beautiful dresses to choose from, but once your eye caught the dress in y/f/c, you had to try it on. As soon as you tried it on, you knew it was the one. As you walked out to show it to the girls, they all agreed you had to pick that one. '' It's a no brainer, y/n. It looks amazing on you. '' Marlene said. While you were trying on your dress, the girls decided on a lilac colour but different styles of dresses. It was time to meet up with the guys for the lunch.

As the wedding day was coming closer and closer, the more Sirius and you grew closer. It was frustraiting that you allowed yourself because you're just waiting for one day to wake up and realise you've caught feelings for him. You going back to France the day after the wedding is the biggest reason you're refusing to allow yourself to fall for Sirius, no matter how lovely he is. Well as lovely as you can get considering all the shit he went through with his pureblood fanatic family. You adored your family, and you're too afraid what would happened if you were to move to England.

About a week before the wedding, Sirius and you were the first ones awake, so you decided to go get a breakfast for everyone together. As you're walking towards the bakery, he strikes up a conversation. '' How did you sleep? '' '' It was alright. You? '' Sirius gives a slight nod. '' It was good. So I was wondering what are your plans today, if you have any? '' he takes a short glance at you before continuing to look ahead of him. '' Well besides this short trip to the bakery, I don't think so. Why? '' you take a look at him. His shoulder lenght black hair is tied up into a ponytail, his beard neatly cleaned up, and it looks very soft, making you want to touch it. Shaking off your thoughts, you notice he's looking at you as well. '' I wanted to know if you'd like to go on a date with me. Tonight. '' It's safe to say you're shocked. You definitely didn't see that coming. '' Oh Sirius '' you let out a sigh as you stop and gently place both of your hands on each side of his face. '' I would've loved to go out with you on a date, but I have to be honest with you. I'm going back to France the day after the wedding. I can't allow myself to fall for you and then go back to France. I really like you, I do. '' you say as you gently swipe your thumb over his cheekbone. His beard was as soft as it looked. He nods, putting his hand on top of yours. '' Thank you for being honest with me, l' ange. '' You smile at him. '' You shouldn't speak french to me, it's gonna make me fall for you, we don't want that. '' he only smiles cheekily before placing a kiss on your cheek, continuing to walk forward to the bakery. It's gonna be one long week. After you come back with breakfast everything seems fine. Nothing out of ordinary, Sirius continues to act like you didn't say no to a date with him. It goes on until few days later, when right before you're about to go to bed, Lily barges into your room. '' What's going on with you and Sirius? He's not acting as his usual self around you. '' you look at her confused. '' What are you talking about? He's acting the same way he's been since the day I met him couple of weeks ago. '' Lily shakes her head before sitting on your bed next to you. '' He's different. I don't know what it is, but something must've happened between the two of you. '' rolling you eyes, a sigh escapes you. '' Fine. the other day when we went out to get everyone a breakfast, he asked me out. I declined because the day after the wedding I'm travelling back to France, I don't want to start something that would lead me to catching feelings. Which leads to heartbreak, the last thing I need. '' she sighs dramatically. '' If only you would only make your best friend's only wedding wish come true. '' she looks at you with knowing look in her eyes. '' Lily as much as I love you, my whole life is in France. And me moving is definitely not your only wedding wish. '' she scoffs playfully. '' Fine. But you will give in eventually. '' she places a kiss on your cheek and leaves your room, leaving you alone with your thoughts.

The wedding day is offically here. Since the moment we woke up, it's been hectic and chaotic. From getting your makeup done and hair, to putting on your dress, helping Lily get into her dress, taking photos. It's time for the ceremony to begin. The music starts to play and each bridesmaid gets paired with groomsman and walks down the aisle. Mary and Frank were the bridesmaid and groomsman walking before you and Sirius. '' I'm sure you've been told many times today but tu es magnifique. '' he whispered in your ear just a moment before it was your turn to walk down the aisle. '' Thank you. Tu es beau. '' a small chuckle escaped his lips, as you two walk down the aisle. The music changes and Lily along with her dad slowly makes her way down the aisle to James. The ceremony was beautiful, made you cry. Reception is amazing. James and Lily danced to the song that played on the party when she kissed him for the first time. Sirius and you danced couple of times throughout the night, you also danced with both James and Lily, even with Remus and Peter. One of your favourite slow songs started playing and you took it as an opportunity. Sirius had his back turned to you, chatting with Frank, as you tapped him on the shoulder. '' M'accordes-tu cette danse, Sirius? '' you grin at him. '' I would love to. '' he takes your hand into his and leads you to dance floor. You dance in silence, enjoying the music. '' Hey Sirius? '' you break the silence. '' Hm? '' you take a step back from him, looking him into eyes. '' I was wondering, if your offer to take me on dinner is still on? If it is, I would love to take you up on it. '' you laugh at his shocked expression. '' Are you serious? '' you bit your lip trying not to laugh at his pun. '' Dead serious. I have to give in and listen to bride's only wedding wish/gift from me. To move here to England. As long as I have all of you guys by my side, I'm sure I'll be okay. '' he picks you up in his arms and twirls you, making you shriek in surprise. '' Fuck yes, tommorow is alright with you? '' he puts you down, wrapping his arms around your waist. '' Yes. Tommorow is perfect. '' you say as you place a gentle kiss onto his lips. I guess some people are worth taking a risk for.

TRANSLATIONS:

l' ange - angel

tu es magnifique - you look beautiful

tu es beau - you look handsome

m'accordes-tu cette danse - can i have this dance

#harry potter #hogwarts #sirius black fanfic #sirius black headcanon #sirius black x reader #sirius black fanfiction #sirius black fluff #sirius black #marauders era #the marauders #sirius black x you #sirius x reader #lily evans x reader #lily evans x james potter #lily evans #jily

160 notes · View notes

midnightmusings-et-moi · 3 years

Text

mirrorball

Remus Lupin x femReader fluff

A/n: this idea came to me while listening to Mirrorball by Taylor Swift- it’s such a 🥰 song which I want to fall in love to so here’s a fic manifesting that lmao (also the gif isn’t mine;credits to the owner)

Warnings: kissing (?), Sirius being suggestive (what’s new) so 13 + , slight insecurity on part of the reader, FLUFFFFF, will make you want to attend the Yule Ball really badly

The stairs leading down to the great hall were carpeted with a luxurious royal blue. The marble railings had pearls and holly twisting around them and the air carried a serene scent of honeysuckle. Chandeliers were suspended above, casting a warm light on the delighted students. Hogwarts really was beautiful during the Yule Ball.

Taking a deep breath, you let the atmosphere calm your nerves. You straightened out your white silk dress that cut off a little above your knees in the front and cascaded down to the ground at the back. The straps closed in on where your neck and shoulders met, forming a gracefully simple halter design. Lilly had convinced you to let her do your hair- she was probably more excited than you about the fact that your crush, Remus Lupin, had asked to take you as his date to the Yule Ball. You were glad you succumbed to her incessant pleads because your hair was tied up in an elegant bun and had tiny pearls scattered across the auburn locks.

Ever since third year potions when you and Remus happened to sit together, you knew you were starting to really fall for the brown haired boy. You doubted he felt the same for you though- he was intelligent, attractive, kind and...perfect. There were so many gorgeous girls in Hogwarts so what made you special to him? Lilly however, would practically yell at you for being so “blind”. “YOU BLIND IDIOT HOW DO YOU NOT SEE HOW HE SMILES SO GOOFISHLY LARGE AT YOU?! REMUS IS HEAD OVER HEELS FOR YOU BUT YOU BOTH ARE BLOODY COWARDS TO DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT!” she would often say.

When he asked you to the ball, you felt hopeful about things...maybe just maybe he felt something too? Or maybe he wanted to take you as a friend? All these questions buzzed through your head as you slowly made yourself down the stairs. Your fingers grazed the holly clad railings as a swarm of hippogriffs raced inside your stomach. Shaking your head to clear your thoughts, you reached to bottom of the stairs where the two of you had agreed to meet. You stretched your neck and scanned the room, searching for the boy you had crushed on for nearly two years.

There he was, standing with James, Sirius and Peter who were all laughing merrily at a joke. Remus looked breathtakingly handsome. He was the tallest amongst them all, his light brown hair that you had always desired to stroke was pushed back, his dress robes were navy blue and fit him perfectly. His face was etched with the scars of his secret which you admired- you always felt honored by the fact that you were one of the people he trusted enough to tell. Remus’ eyes sparkled as he chuckled at something James had said.

All of a sudden you felt your breathing quicken and your heart ache. You couldn’t do this. ‘Am i stupid?’ You thought to yourself, ‘Why would he ever like me when he could have any girl he wants? I’m just an ordinary girl- he deserves better than me.’ Consternation clouded your mind and right then you had resolved to go back to your dorm and if not you would probably throw up on him in a state of anxiety. Now that would be embarrassing. It isn’t like Remus would miss you anyways right? He could just get another girl at the last moment to be his date- and that lucky girl would all too willingly oblige.

Just as you turned on your heel to go back up, you felt a warm hand wrap around your shoulder. You turned you head in confusion and you eyes were met with sparkling hazel ones- it was Remus. “ Y/n! You look gorgeous-wow” His sweet yet husky voice rang out, his eyes taking you in. Heat rose to your cheeks at his words. ‘He’s just being nice he doesn’t mean it obviously’ you told yourself, not letting yourself get hopeful just to be let down . “Oh uh hi there Remus. Um thanks you too” you greeted, slurring your words out, flustered. His lips curved upwards in a smile and his hand left your shoulder. He raised his eyebrows, silently asking if it was okay to take your hand. You nodded slowly, still in a daze. Remus’ large hand softly enveloped yours as he lead you to his friends.

Sirius looked away from the girl on his arm who’s name was Marlene. She smiled at you cordially and complimented your dress. Sirius’ greeting on the other hand was well- unique. To expect anything else would be out of the question though ; you had known him ever since you were seven because of boring pure blood family banquets you were forced by your parents to attend. The two of you always sought each other’s company instead of those other stuck up, nauseating witches and wizards present . “y/l/n! good day!” he said, mockingly bowing. “Don’t you look ravishing, little one” You rolled your eyes jokingly at him, trying to seem calm and respond like you normally would, “Yes hello to you too Sirius.” He joked about you him being your mentor in regards to sneaking away and pranking slimy, prejudiced, pure bloods.

“Hi y/n how are you” James greeted you sort of distractedly, looking around you. “Prongs! stop looking for Lilly jeez she said no to you five times i seriously doubt she’s gonna change her mind now” Sirius said exasperatedly. “James was hoping Lilly would be with you” Remus explained, chuckling lightly in with a mocking undertone. James crossed his arms at Remus’ taunting, “Oh don’t pretend like you weren’t worrying your arse about y/n ditching you because she was 2 minutes late” Remus scowled at his friend, red staining his cheeks.

“Awww” you giggled, sort of relieved that he actually wanted you there. So maybe there was nothing to worry about. ‘Just relax’ you told yourself. Remus returned you smile still blushing and gazed at you for a bit until he was broken from his reverie by Sirius voice. “Moony why do you look like you’re mentally undressing y/n- save it for after the ball when you can actually do it” he said winking suggestively, causing the whole group to break out in a chorus of laughter. Remus scowled at Sirius, shoving his shoulder playfully. Your face turned red as you shoved him too “Do you always have to be so immature and crude” you remarked, shaking your head in feigned disappointed. Sirius stuck his tongue out at you.

You felt Remus grasp your hand, “Let’s get out of here before i get embarrassed even more” He murmured. “Let’s go dance” You suggested before racing into the great hall, hand in hand, the both of you chuckling at you trying not to trip in your heels. The great hall was decked out in gorgeous Christmas decor- enchanted snowflakes fell to the ground, pine trees were adorned with bobbles and garlands and a thousand candles floated around, casting light over the formally dressed students and teachers. A merry chatter floated in the air, instantly having you excited for what the night would entail.

As you both made your way to the crowd, the band hoisted on the blue platform started playing Killer Queen by Queen. All the students including Remus and you starting cheering and dancing, full of energy. You grasped both his hands, reveling in the moment, jumping and dancing together, singing the lyrics till your throats were sore. As the chorus rang out, Remus pretended to be holding a mic to his mouth and sang the lyrics to you. You had very rarely seen this playfully goofy side of him and you absolutely adored it. Clenching your stomach which was aching from the waves of laughter that had overcome you, you fell to the ground, causing Remus to join you in the laughter. As his shoulders shook with uncontrollable chuckles, he reached his hand down to you, which you took. In that moment, you had completely forgotten about your anxiety and insecurities. Being here, laughing and dancing with him was enough. Nothing could be more perfect that watching his gorgeous face overcome with joy.

A few moments passed, allowing everyone to calm down and catch their breaths until the soft tune of a piano being played could be heard. All the couples took their places on the floor and started swaying slowly. “Did I tell you how amazing you look tonight?” the brown haired boy asked you as he lightly placed his hands on your waist, guiding you to the notes of the music. Maybe he did mean it? Your heart fluttered at the thought. The mirror ball above rotated slowly, casting glittering reflections on the both of you. “You look quite wonderful yourself” you said as you hesitantly placed both of your hands on top of his shoulders and stepped closer to him. You gazed into his hazel eyes, searching for something you had wanted for a long time. He gazed right back, never breaking contact. Remus’ eyes glittered in the warm light and within them you identified happiness. Yes that was definitely happiness...but there was something more. Remus’ calloused fingers were brought up to push a stray strand of hair out of your face, his hand grazing your skin ever so slightly, again giving rise to the hippogriffs in your stomach but this time they were conjured from joy rather than nerves.

You had not realized how long the two of you were completely entranced by each other until the music came to a halt. The both of you were broken away from your thoughts, but remained holding each other. Then Remus spoke, never leaving your eyes, “Y/n... I don’t know how to say this. I uh I have never done this before” He said, a look of hesitance falling over his face. He took a deep breath before continuing. “You’re so wonderful in every aspect fathomable and I really like you”. Remus scanned your face, worry ghosting his expressions as you remained silent. Your face was blank, but internally you were processing what just happened. “I’m sorry i shouldn’t have-” he started, taking his hands away from your waist, but then you leaned up, taking his face in your hands and crashed your lips onto his.

They tasted more marvelous than you could have imagined- like fire whisky and chocolate. All the day dreams you had gotten lost in during classes had finally become a reality. He kissed right back placing his hands on your lower back to bring you closer to him. Your hands trailed from his jaw to his neck, feeling the scarred, warm skin under your fingers- it was perfect, he was perfect. As you deepened the kiss you felt him smile against your lips before pulling away and placing his forehead on yours, reveling in the moment. “I really like you too” you whispered, your breath hot against his lips.

Cheers erupted from around the two of you and you turned your head to see the three marauders and a group of students clapping and cheering the both of you on. “MOONY YOU DID IT!” you heard James yell out, a proud smile plastered across his face as Sirius cheered again. Your gaze fell on a particular scarlet haired girl who was jumping enthusiastically- Lilly. You smiled wide as the two of you exchanged excited looks. “I told you” she mouthed before blowing a kiss at you.

Remus rubbed your back, pulling you into his side,bringing his mouth to your ear, “Wanna go up to the common room?” You nodded, pecking his cheek once more. You could not believe that he actually liked you- you could explode with happiness. When the two of you had reached the doors leading to the staircase where it was more quiet you stopped to take your heels off that were killing your poor feet. Before you could do so, Remus swiftly swooped you up in his arms, “No need, i can just carry you up” he said flashing you a large grin. You giggled, threading your arms around his neck and with your free hand carded your fingers through his soft brown hair. “I’ve always wanted to do that” you admitted. He laughed in response. “We can sit by the fireplace, I’ll get us some snacks and we can talk. We can also do more of this” he swooped down to plant a lingering, sweet kiss on your lips. “How does that sound?”

“Mmmm that sounds perfect” You replied, resting your head against his chest. This felt like home. And the best part was that this wasn’t a dream- it was all reality.

Hi there! I hope you enjoyed. If you have any suggestions for what I should write next, let me know!

#remus lupin x reader #remus lupin #marauders imagine #marauder x reader #marauders fluff #remus lupin fluff #remus lupin imagine #marauders x reader

209 notes · View notes

spxllcxstxr · 3 years

Text

Cold to Cozy • R.L

(Gif not mine)

Request: oshdskdhkshs what about Remus being really patient, loving and gentle with the reader who’s insecure and anxious to open up to sb and be with someone after she had just got out of the toxic relationship? Sorry for my English. Love you so much. — anon

Summary: After a rough break up, you wind up at the top of the Astronomy Tower in the middle of the night. Remus joins you.

Warnings: toxic relationship mention (not with Remus), more along the lines of emotional abuse, not physical, crying, but it’s mentioned and Remus comes to comfort you, but please stay safe

Word Count: 1.1k

A.N: Relationships are hard to write when you’ve never been in one. I hope I did this request justice! Could be read as platonic since it’s more focused on like comfort and not really a relationship, but who knows? Read how you’d like to! I think gn!reader. I also still don’t know how to end these things oops. Hope you enjoy, and I love you all ❤️

****

You don’t remember why you even started dating William Mulciber in the first place.

It was a well known fact that he was a bigoted asshole, and anyone with a brain wouldn’t even touch him with a ten foot pole. The only friends he had were Avery, Rosier, and Snape, and even those three needed a break from him sometimes.

But he made you feel wanted in some twisted way—at least at first.

He would flirt with you in class and stare at you across the room instead of getting assignments done. Mulciber would comment on your figure, mostly lewd remarks that had your eyes widen in shock. But he assured you that these were compliments, and who were you to say otherwise, especially in public when all eyes were focused on you?

You’d get embarrassed and duck your head towards the ground as he and his little group laughed at whatever crude joke your little admirer thought of this time.

But he was the only boy to ever outwardly express any sort of interest in you so you felt obligated to accompany him to Hogsmede. And after your little date, even though you realized that the two of you didn’t really have anything in common and he did enough talking for the both of you, you felt obligated to kiss him in front of the entrance to the Slytherin common room.

And your relationship with him was fine for about a whole two seconds before it became damaging to your entire being.

So that’s why after only a few months of being berated and judged by someone who persuaded you that it was all out of love, your relationship, if that’s what you would call it, ended after hours of shouting and flinging insults at each other.

It’s also the reason you’re crying into your house scarf at the top of the Astronomy Tower in the middle of the cold night.

The wind bites harshly at your exposed flesh, your fingers frozen and the tips of your ears completely numb.

Your legs dangle over the side, arms looped securely around the brass banister as your tears drip into your scarf.

The striped fabric is useful in muffling any rogue sobs that manage to escape.

“Rough night?”

The soft questioning voice coming from behind you has you furiously wiping your face in an attempt to look somewhat composed.

“You could say that.” Your voice cracks as the person sits next to you.

Glancing over you can tell it’s Remus, the sleeves of his thick blue jumper bunched up around his hands. He’s shivering very slightly, but is otherwise unbothered by the weather.

He nods silently, and you can hear your teeth chatter. Shyly, you bite your lip in an attempt to stop.

“I heard about you and Mulciber.” Remus speaks up, glancing at you before quickly looking back up at the cloudy sky.

“Oh yeah?” You snort, staring at his scarred face. “And what exactly did you hear?”

Remus looks back at you, the whites of his eyes illuminated in the blue glow coming from the tip of his wand.

“That you’re, and I quote, ‘a cheating bitch.’” He rolls his eyes.

“Oh yeah, because talking to Davey Gudgeon about our upcoming Herbology project is categorized as cheating, and him snogging that sixth year behind the Quidditch shed isn’t.” You scoff, balling your fists around your scarf in anger.

Of course he was spreading lies about you to make himself look like the victim. He was never in the wrong and you always were.

“That’s terrible.” You hear him shift closer to you.

“Yeah, well, that isn’t even the worst of it.” You mumble under your breath, a frown tugging at your lips.

“You don’t deserve that, (Y/n).” He tells you softly.

“But—“

“No, no one deserves the utter shit he put you through, alright?” Remus insists fiercely.

Your throat tightens as you turn your gaze down to your fingers. Nervously, you rub them together, trying to defrost them in order to find feeling again.

“You do know that, don’t you? That what he made you deal with wasn’t love?” Remus continues to press.

Noncommittally, you offer him a shrug, still avoiding those warm honey brown eyes of his.

“I’m sorry, I’m being a little too forward, aren’t I?” Remus sputters at your lack of response. “I just get so frustrated thinking about how he treated you, but if I’m overstepping—“

“No, no, it’s fine, Remus, really.” Finally, you look up, waving away his unnecessary panic. “Just...he was my first...everything, y’know? I think he’s ruined love for me.”

Remus’ face falls at your meek response. His sandy curls wave in the wind and you watch as he tries and fails to tame them behind his ears.

“Love isn’t whatever rubbish he gave you, (Y/n). Love is this warm and cozy feeling that makes you want to wake up in the morning. And makes you want to run around laughing in the pouring rain.” He rambles, marred hands waving around as he talks. “It’s a breath of fresh air and a million little kisses in the middle of the night. Honestly, I wish I could be a little more poetic, but it’s almost midnight and my brain is fried after that Potions exam.”

He chuckles, rubbing the back of his neck.

“No Remus, that was—that was beautiful. It certainly wasn’t what we had.” You smile at him, something you haven’t done in ages at this point.

Truthfully, his little rant had a warmth blossoming in your chest, something you can’t exactly explain. You felt comfortable with him, nothing like you’d ever felt with Mulciber.

With him, it was nothing but ice, sure the occasional dull spark was ignited when his arm was slung securely over your shoulders, but that was rare.

All Remus had to do was look you in the eye and you were a melting mess.

You liked this new feeling.

“You know, you should’ve brought gloves.” He gestures to your numb fingers, shivering in the wind.

“Well I wasn’t exactly planning on going through a break up tonight, Remus.” You sarcastically retort, trying once again to bundle up your hands.

“Here, let me help.” Remus’s large hands lay atop your own, warm palms pressing against your chilled fingers.

You study your joined hands before slowly lifting your gaze back to his eyes. Your hands start to thaw.

“This is nice.” You tell him, just above a whisper.

His face is a bit closer to your own, and you can see the pink blush rising on his cheeks and tinting the tips of his ears. His nose adopts a redder hue from the brutal wind.

“Yeah.” Remus agrees at a similar volume. “It really is.”

•

All Character Taglist: @aspiringsloth20 @amourtentiaa @cherie-draco @mullthingsoverinthehotwater @catching-the-train-to-hogwarts

Remus Lupin Taglist: @lunalovecroft

#Remus Lupin #remus lupin x reader #Remus Lupin blurb #Remus Lupin fluff #Remus Lupin angst #the marauders x reader #remus lupin imagine

380 notes · View notes

nsfsprince · 3 years

Text

An a/b/o idea thats taken over the brain that I wish to write:

Intruxietlogical A/B/O au that's set in a manor or smth?

Theres Alpha!Logan(cismale), head of the manor and a very rich yet young and respectable individual of the city. Hes like 6'4 and handsome as hell, and secretly knows it(due to Remus's persistent courting) but sees no point in personally flaunting it, letting Remus take the lead in that.

Then theres his eccentric Omega spouse, Remus(nonbinary leaning with he/him pronouns), the (in)famous artist of the city. Hes unusually tall for an Omega at 5'10, crude and unworried about fitting the 'normal' societal omega expectation despite also being born to a rich family. He courted Logan, persistantly, as he loved the fact that Logan treated him with the same respect as he would anyone else and never judged Remus for who he was, and the more Logan accepted the courting the more they fell in love before marrying and bonding at like. 23-25?

Well, Virgil is a 5'1 omega(transman with he/him pronouns), age 24. Hes a feisty little thing thats been surviving the streets for too long, he's parentless and, his high anxiety keeps him safer than most omegas on their own but no ones perfect- he ends up almost getting abducted by a sketchy Alpha when a Beta named Patton storms in and saves him.

That's how Patton, Logan's brother, takes him in to treat the sprained wrist he got from the encounter, and for Remus to set eyes on Virgil and immediately decide he wants to keep and court him, too.

I could ramble alot about the months it takes for remus to flirt and fluster and break Virgil out of his shy terrified shell(because hes gone from interacting with fellow street raccoons to very weathy and very Pretty nobility and its. A Lot.

I could ramble about the way both Remus and Logan coax Virgil into staying in their home for more and more ludicrously simple reasons, just to keep courting him, and how Virgil catches on, and flusteredly does nothing to stop it bc he's slowly falling in love too

But what I Really wanna ramble about, is their bedroom dynamics.

Content warning for under the cut: a/b/o dynamics, talk/descriptions of knotting, polyamourus relationships, kinks. Lots of kinks: oralfixation, dom/sub/switch dynamics, praise kink, overstim(lots of overstim), talk of double penatration, p in v sex, ect. Let me know if i missed anything!

MINORS DNI or you will be fully blocked from this blog and my main one.

Logan is a soft but firm dom, always in control and ready to take control. He has a bit of an oral fixation and loves sucking off his loves as often as he can, happy to sate his loves while getting them to soak themselves in fresh slick. He's easily comanding when needed but also enjoys that Remus is more than willing to take control on occasion(see: regularly). He just really really likes taking care of his loves however he can, and aftercare is super important especially after some of their more intense scenes

Remus is a bossy switch, who Loves riding Logan's cock till hes stuck on his knot, or getting fucked up against a wall till his mind turns to jelly. Really likes a bit of primal play, loves riling Logan up with praising how good Logan could breed him(even tho theyre all on birth control so it really is just for the scenes) if he just pins him down and takes. On the flip side, Re also loves pinning Virgil down and driving him crazy, too.

Virgil is a near complete submissive, he's eagar to give and take as ordered and melts at any praise given. Starting out he'd been touch straved beyond belief(which has since been remedied thoroughly) and thus ended up developing a habit of dropping into subspace the moment Logan and/or Remus cradle his neck with both hands. Hes a very affectionate sub who puts so much of his trust and control into Logan and Remus's hands, and both cherish it as Virgil literally never lets his guard down around anyone else.

So, my favorite thing about their dynamic is that Remus still has a decent sized cock despite being an omega, like is actually rather big for Virgil to take, the draw back is just that Remus cant, at least naturally, Knot Virgil like Logan can. (However, its like one of Remus's biggest fantasies to Knot Virgil, and Virgil is totally in the same boat and would be Very on board with it)

This lack of natural knot doesnt stop Remus of course, infact its encouraging because he has a nearly non-existant refractory period so, literally imagine:

Virgil on his back, Virgil's head and shoulders are cradled lovingly in Logan's lap as the alpha occassionally trades kisses with both of his gorgeous omegas. Virgil's legs spread and cunt gently held nice and open by Logan's gentle but firm hands as Remus repeatedly sinks his cock nice and deep into Virgil. Slick soaks Virge and Remus's thighs, his cunt, and Remus's cock.

Every thrust has Virgil whimpering and his legs twitching with the relentless feeling of the head of Remus's cock just barley rutting against his cervix on every other pass. Just the hot way Remus has Virgil pinned into a mating press and obviously working hard to make that position live up to its name, babbling at how good Virgil feels taking his cock like a good little omega, at how easy it is to breed Virgil over and over and over again.

Then Logan enacts this little idea hes been holding onto the moment Remus starts to get close(hes trained Remus well, having helped him train to stall his orgasms for longer and longer because Remus LOVES overstimmulation). He has Remus slow down for just a moment, causing both omegas to whine, before coating two fingers in plenty of slick and slowly pressing them in alongside Remus's cock.

Virgil is slowly losing his mind(as they find out in later sessions that he absolutely has a size kink, and would happily take both their cocks at once any time hes given the chance) at the width, his eyes rolling. Then Remus is told to start thrusting again until he comes, and to ignore Logan's two fingers outside of being careful.

Virgil and Remus are so keyed up that it only takes another minute or so for Remus to start cumming, following Logan's order of pressing all the way inside as deep as he can get, at which point is Logan's cue to start curling his fingers firmly deep inside of Virgils walls.

Immediately, Virgil starts whimpering loudly as he cums, his body reacting the way it would if he were being knotted by an alpha, cunt clenching tight and sucking Remus's cock deeper as his eyes squeeze closed and his jaw fall lax, overwhelmed as his body draws out his orgasm for as long as hes knotted.

Remus is put in a mind-melting world of pleasurable overstimmulation as hes just climaxed and Virgils cunt is milking it for all hes got and he cant even move or pull out now because hes 'locked' inside. His hips and legs are trembling and he's moaning loudly because it's so hot that hes basically getting to Knot Virgil and it feels so good.

Virgil's cunt won't let him go and wont stop pulsing around the head his oversensitive cock and he really cant be faulted for the way he loses control and just keeps orgasming, his lack of refractory period as a keyed up omega just letting him squirt more and more cum and slick deep into the omega under him.

Logan's gentle and soothing, cooing reassurances to his two loves as he helps them lose their minds & fulfil their fantasies. He even uses his free hand to stroke Virgils little cock slowly, drawing out shaking whines from both of them as it makes Virgil clench harder in intervals. Remus ends up hunched over Virgil, his face tucked into his fellow omega's neck to muffle his overstimulated whimpers.

Logan draws it out for a minute or two, just until pleasured and overwhelmed tears picks at their eyes and their soft begging whimpers and mewls fill the room before slowly releasing the hold, letting the string of tension snap and watching them unravel and relax, finishing their peaks.

Remus cant help the way he struggles to pull out, so oversensitive that his hips keep hitching back in place with the way Virgils body tries to keep him there, needing Logan to pull their hips apart to fully end the scene.

Logan strokes and comforts both exhausted omegas, now fully in his element, cooing soft reassurances to both, getting up to start a bath and carefully guiding them both in and cleaning them up. The sheets are changed and both are put in soft clothing and given juice and cuddles.

Remus would probably make a comment on asking drowsily just how Logan deals with being knotted to him for in upwards of 30 minutes if it feels like /That/ the whole time. Logan would probably just smile sweetly and press a sweet kiss to his lips and say "with experience of course, perhaps we can work on that too, if the both of you would be so inclined?"

Virgil shutters and whines, too tired to get worked up again, Remus in a similar boat but nodding drowsily anyway. Remus probably wakes up sore and gets worked up all over again at the memory of why his cock of all things is sore and sensetive.

Perhaps they do work on it, perhaps Remus is trained to a take it little longer each time, no where near half an hour for the longest time, but he gets pretty close and much better at holding from losing his mind.

Maybe then they explore what it feels like for Remus to be stuck on Logan's knot, while Virgil is stuck on Remus's 'knot' with the help of a toy. Maybe then they also explore working Virgil up to take both of their cocks, and see what happens what Logan's fingers curl just right to trigger that knotted feeling to have Virgil lose his goddamn mind impaled on both their cocks as they slowly thrust in and out despite his body thinking he's already been knotted and reacting as such.

Maybe they even explore working Virgil's other hole open, just enough to take Logan's knot, and give Remus free reign to fuck Virgil's soaking trembling cunt until they can coax Virgil's cunt into taking Remus's 'knot' as well

Idk man. Just. This whole dynamic has so many hot possibilities. 💕💕💕

#not safe for sanders #nsfs virgil #nsfs logan #nsfs remus #nsfs analomus #lodukexiety #whats their ship name??#prince writes #abo au #ask to tag #edit to add the content warning bc i hadnt had time earlier to remember it let alone put it in

153 notes · View notes

thepenguinclub · 2 years

Text

3am on a School Night is the Best Time to Summon Satan

Co-written with @rozhanelle.

romantic analogical, everyone and everyone, analogical week 2022 (@analogicalweek), somewhat crack, text fic, groupchat.

Summary:

raccoon boy: u dont need to be nervous L

raccoon boy: Ure super smart

raccoon boy: ull do really good. u know all the stuff

Logan: Thank you, Virgil. That’s kind of you.

Princey: This is really heartwarming.

Princey: Which pentagram should I use? Greek or Babylonian?

raccoon boy: isnt it latin?

raccoon boy: or is that the stuff u say

Logan: What are you talking about?

raccoon boy: romans being stupid

Princey: HOW TO SUMMON SATAN

---

Analogical Week 2022

Day 7: Free Day

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

day 7: free day

Penguin: Day 7!! It's over! *cries* We both put so much work into this week and I'm so happy and proud of what we accomplished. This has been a rollercoaster of many, many, different emotions, but it was worth it and now we are free to work on our various WIPs. Thank you everyone for reading and commenting, every single one makes our day.

This was something that Rozh and I worked on a while ago, and it's still one of my favorite things I've done. Hopefully you enjoy it as much as we have!

Rozh: this is our baby. we worked on this about a year ago, when i sent a photo of a broken down house nearby where i lived, and Penguin revealed A New Side of herself and said: "oooh summoning satan time!!" me, an anxious enby: "no. i have seen movies. i know how this will end." penguin: "yess but think of all that you can do!" me: "yes but think of *your life*" penguin: "I feel like this is a conversation Roman and Virgil would have." my mind: akdjakdj yes then: we were sharing a doc and just typing. so. here this is. [heart eyes] i love this, and i hope you all enjoy reading it too :)

Roman: Princey Virgil: raccoon boy/Stormcloud Logan: Logan/Loganberry/Starlight Patton: pattoncake Janus: Snek Boi Remus: Trash Man

Warnings: swearing - bad typing from Remus, but we have written it clearly next to it in parenthesis and italicized - anxiety - mentions of the devil - mentions of blood sacrifice - mentions of explosives - crude language - ingesting potentially poisonous materials (not poisonous, but don’t drink soap kids)

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

Virgil’s Phone

🌈💗my famILY💗🌈

Princey: YALL WILL NEVER GUESS WHAT I JUST FOUND

raccoon boy: why are u awake? its three am

Princey: Thats not important

Princey: Are you gonna ask what i found

raccoon boy: no

Princey: >:(((((

raccoon boy: deal with it

Princey: Im gonna tell you anyway

Princey: Deal with it

raccoon boy: im sighing at you so hard right now

Princey: [image.jpg]

[Image description: abandoned wooden house, frames are broken down. Windows are cracked, there are black burn marks covering a good bit of it. There are trees surrounding the area/clearing. The sky is dark.]

raccoon boy: why the fuck r u outside

Princey: Thats also not important

raccoon boy: wtf roman what r u doing

raccoon boy: r u near that house

raccoon boy: roman istg

Princey: Unrelated to the house, I need to go and get Remus

Princey: Hes still at your house, right?

raccoon boy: no i refuse to let you and remus get together and do some stupid shit that will burn down the world.

Princey: Hes my brother, I can do what I want to with him

raccoon boy: y do u want him??? u never want him around

Princey: ….

Princey: No reason

raccoon boy: bullshit

raccoon boy: wtf do u want roman

raccoon boy: why do u want remus???

Princey: He won’t mind

raccoon boy: he doesnt mind anything

Princey: thisll make him happy ! Don’t you want him happy???

raccoon boy: that doesnt make me feel better

raccoon boy: remus would be happy if someone sacrificed him to satan

raccoon boy: it isnt a high bar

Princey: Exactly!

raccoon boy: ….

raccoon boy: exactly what

Princey: He would be happy if someone sacrificed him to Satan XD

raccoon boy: roman wtf ypu are not sacrificing your brother to the devil

raccoon boy: *you

Princey: I am not!

Princey: Not yet, because he isnt here!

Princey: This is his choice, Virgil. You can’t come in between true love

raccoon boy: what part of this is love?????

Princey: Remus would love this. And you are stopping him from being happy!

raccoon boy: i hate u

raccoon boy: so much

Princey: Oh please.

Princey: We all know yo love me.

Princey: you*

Princey: And you cannot stop this!

raccoon boy: i can do whatevr the fuck i want thank you very much

raccoon boy: especially if it means remus stays alive

Princey: But do we really want that?

Princey: Satan would love Remus.

raccoon boy: and patton loves ice cream

raccoon boy: that doesnt mean he should ignore his lactose intolerance

raccoon boy: just like remus shouldnt ignore life

Princey: You never let me do anything fun! Come on, Virgil! Live a little. Embrace danger!!!

raccoon boy: i am the reason you are still alive dipshit

Princey: Alive and bored! And I shall not stand for it! Not anymore

raccoon boy: oh my god why are you like this

Princey: Practically perfect in every way? It’s a question no one has been able to answer

raccoon boy: maybe because theyve been asking the wrong qs

Princey: Quiet.

Princey: Why isn’t remus answering his phone?

raccoon boy: he chugged a bottle of shampoo and has been out ever since

raccoon boy: not poisonous

raccoon boy: hair products always makes him sleepy

Princey: Do you think red paint is okay to use?

Princey: To draw the summoning circle

raccoon boy: black would be less noticable in the dark

raccoon boy: especially if its on that burned wood

Princey: I thought you said you were against this!

raccoon boy: ys the deals always have a catch and ull prob die in 10 yrs

raccoon boy: but i cant stop u

raccoon boy: so im gonna make sure u dont piss off the demon king

raccoon boy: its good to be on satans good side

Logan: What is going on? I have almost 80 notifications.

Logan: Also, it is four in the morning. Both of you should be asleep.

raccoon boy: so should u

raccoon boy: i get prince moron, but y r u awake, lo?

raccoon boy: dont u have an exam?

Logan: I was asleep. Until the incessant buzzing from my phone woke me up.

raccoon boy: ...oh

Princey: Why do you know he has an exam tomorrow?

raccoon boy: shit L im sry

raccoon boy: sorry

Logan: It is of no importance now, Virgil. I wasn’t sleeping well anyway.

raccoon boy: why not?

Princey: Do yall want a room or…?

Logan: I find myself slightly apprehensive about tomorrow.

Logan: And I do not see why we would need a room, Roman, seeing as we are texting.

raccoon boy: u dont need to be nervous L

raccoon boy: Ure super smart

raccoon boy: ull do really good. u know all the stuff

Logan: Thank you, Virgil. That’s kind of you.

Princey: This is really heartwarming.

Princey: Which pentagram should I use? Greek or Babylonian?

raccoon boy: isnt it latin?

raccoon boy: or is that the stuff u say

Logan: What are you talking about?

raccoon boy: romans being stupid

Princey: HOW TO SUMMON SATAN

Logan: Well, in that case, the most common incantations are Latin, you are correct.

Logan: The best pentagram would most likely depend on what type of demon you plan on summoning.

raccoon boy: how does that work? is it like, stronger demon, stronger pentagram? or is the difference in smt else?

Princey: How are you turning this into a classroom?

Princey: Oh, so now you’re all for it, V?

Princey: I see how it is

raccoon boy: stfu

Logan: Anywhere can be a place of learning, Roman. Although, seeing as we are still texting I don't know how this could be a classroom.

Logan: What part of communicating through instant messaging are you not understanding?

raccoon boy: jdkfjvjfkbef

Princey: -_-

Princey: So? What pentagram for Satan, pocket protector?

raccoon boy: and how is satans pentagram different from low level demons?

Logan: Well, it depends what legends you are going off of. Typically, they aren’t. Pentagrams are classically a star shape in a circle, and the only reason is to focus the energy of summoning the demon in question, so the summoner knows where the demon will appear. The more complicated designs are actually usually demon traps, to bind the demon.

Logan: Will you be binding the demon? I suggest you do so, as it can be a protection against the demon harming you. It will also stop the demon from being able to exit the circle. If you bind it, all you will need to do to dismiss the demon is a simple command, instead of a full ritual dismissal.

Logan: The demon is unable to hurt you, and you are unable to hurt it. Any physical, magical, or spiritual object crossing the circle will break the wards and the binding.

Logan: Make sure to have wards in place as well. And make sure they are not disrupted. They must be a part of the circle. If you are incapable of exerting your will unto the wards- by falling unconscious, going to sleep, or leaving the area, the wards will very likely fail, and let the demon loose.

Logan: Also, you said you were summoning Satan? Typical binding spells use substances that oppose the type of demon you are summoning. A fire demon would be sand or water, a messenger demon would be scribbled words and burned books, etc. Satan would be much more difficult, because he is much more powerful than an ordinary demon. Roman was correct, though, a sacrifice would be a good place to start, to appease him, and a blood sacrifice is as good as one could get.

Logan: However, I’m going to let personal bias in and I’m going to tell you not to sacrifice your brother.

Logan: When it comes to negotiating, it is best to ask for simple things. As it is Roman who is attempting this, I don’t have much hope. The only advice I can offer is to be sure to be very clear and precise about what you are asking for, as demons are known to purposefully misinterpret requests. Also offer realistic gifts in return. If the demon is appeased, then everything will go by much smoother. If the demon is unhappy with the deal, dismissing it can be quite an ordeal.

Logan: Do you need more information?

raccoon boy: ….

Princey: ….

raccoon boy: ….

Princey: ….

raccoon boy: im in love with you

Princey: Why do you know these things?

Logan: Well, you asked.

Princey: I didnt expect an answer like that!

raccoon boy: im not kidding right now

raccoon boy: im very in love with you

Logan: Thank you, Virgil. I appreciate your eagerness to hear my rants. You are a very good friend.

Princey: Oh my God

raccoon boy: course L. u know i like listening to u

Princey: Wait no. You have to be joking right now

Logan: Joking about what? I just told Virgil I appreciated him as a friend.

raccoon boy: yeah roman whats wrng

Princey: What the heck-ity heck? five abs and a peck?

Princey: Am I dying? I think Im dying

Private Chat: Starlight

Stormcloud: this is so funny

Starlight: I do admit, Roman is being quite entertaining

Stormcloud: “ a very good friend”

Starlight: Well, you are a good friend.

Stormcloud: u r smt else, Lo.

Stormcloud: smt out of this world

Starlight: :|

Stormcloud: ;P

Starlight: I love you as well, Virgil.

Stormcloud: sfut up

Stormcloud: *shut

Starlight: I don’t think I will.

Starlight: <3

🌈💗my famILY💗🌈

Princey: I need- I need someone to tell me if this is real?

Princey: Why is no one else awake?

Princey: What could people be doing at this time of the morning?

Princey: Did they just-

Princey: What are you people doing?

Princey: Oh my goodness.

Princey: Oh dear Disney.

Logan: Seeing as it is five thirty in the morning, I assume that they are all asleep.

raccoon boy: ROMAN!

raccoon boy: r u still out?

raccoon boy: ohmygod ure gonna freeze what is wrong with u

raccoon boy: why tf wold u b out

raccoon boy: roman what

Logan: Roman, I do hope you are inside and somewhere warm.

Princey: …

Princey: Sure, Im inside.

raccoon boy: r u iside the fucking house of doom roman

raccoon boy: thats not warm

raccoon boy: or fucking safe

raccoon boy: roman what is wrong with u

raccoon boy: i dontt think

Logan: Virgil. Virgil?

Logan: Virgil, you need to breathe. Roman is going to be fine.

Princey: shit.

Logan: Roman, go somewhere warm and safe. Preferably your house.

Princey: Yeah, on it.

Princey: Come on, Doom and Gloom. No need to worry. Peoplell think you care.

Princey: Look here, I’m in my car. I’m turning it on. And I will start driving as soon as you txt me back, okay? I’ll go home. Just let me know you’re okay.

Princey: V?

Logan: Virgil, please try your best to breathe.

raccoon boy: it’s janus, he’s calming down.

Logan: Thank you for informing us, Janus.

raccoon boy: give me a moment

raccoon boy: virgil has calmed down. he is breathing slowly and he is much calmer

raccoon boy: he says not to drive, roman. and to get out of the car

raccoon boy: also you are an utter moron.

Princey: Alright alright whatever

raccoon boy: did. did v say he is in love w/ u and u said he's 'a very good friend'

Logan: Yes.

Logan: I don't understand why this is a confusing thing to comprehend.

raccoon boy: he said he's in love with you logan.

Logan: Are you referring to the 'in' before 'love'?

Logan: It does create a difference of meaning, I admit, but I don't see why this is confounding you and Roman.

Logan: Virgil has expressed his enjoyment of things in this manner before.

Logan: "I am in love with coffee."

Logan: "I am in love with Patton and his cookies."

Logan: "I am in love with My Chemical Romance/Evanescence."

Logan: He seems to enjoy it when I provide explanations. And this was a topic which he enjoys.

Logan: His admiration was expected.

raccoon boy: did u just logic your way out of this?

Logan: There was nothing to “logic my way out of”, Janus.

raccoon boy: for someone so smart you're such an idiot

Logan: That is unnecessary.

raccoon boy: is it? i mean. you just friendzoned him!!

Logan: Janus.

raccoon boy: okay, fine, sorry.

raccoon boy: but did u seriously just do that??

Logan: If there is anything Virgil wishes to tell me, he will.

raccoon boy: riiiight. sure. of course he will.

Logan: I am glad you see reason.

raccoon boy: 🤦🏽

Princey: What should I do??

raccoon boy: well, V says no taxi cause they can be a murderer. no walking hime cause you might get attacked by a dog. no getting in your car cause you might explode

raccoon boy: home*

Princey: Thats all very helpful.

Logan: Janus, please give the phone back to Virgil.

Incoming call: Starlight

Call accepted: 6:14 am

Call ended: 6:32 am

Logan: You may drive your car back home, Roman. Please send a message as soon as you reach your destination.

Princey: Ok

Princey: Sorry V

raccoon boy: sorry

raccoon boy: i didnt mean to freak out

Logan: There is no need to apologize, Virgil.

Logan: You have anxiety. You just experienced a minor panic attack. It is natural to worry about your friends, and as a person whose anxiety is somewhat heightened it is completely understandable that you would feel a great deal of worry. You do not need to apologize.

Princey: At home.

Princey: Also yeah what the nerd said.

Snek Boi: Lo is right Virgil. You don't need to say sorry.

raccoon boy: y r u texting me we r right next to each other

Snek Boi: I don't want to wake up Remus.

Private Chat: Starlight

Starlight: Are you okay?

Stormcloud: yeah im fine

Stormcloud: thanks

Starlight: Anything for you, love.

Stormcloud: sshhhhhh no

Starlight: I love you, Virgil.

Stormcloud: i hate u

Stormcloud: j is right next to me stop

Starlight: I am merely telling my boyfriend how much I love him.

Starlight: Any of your reactions are completely out of my control.

Stormcloud: go away

Starlight: As you wish, my love.

Stormcloud: omfg

🌈💗my famILY💗🌈

raccoon boy: he wont wake up if u blow smt up

Princey: Its true we tested it once

Logan: I don’t want to know.

Princey: I wasnt offering to tell

raccoon boy: of course u were ure dying for a chance to be dramatic

Princey: How dare you

Snek Boi: We all know hes right

raccoon boy: i can hear the offended princey noises from here

Princey: ….

Princey: Shut up emo

raccoon boy: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Snek Boi: I cant believe that remus had the healthiest sleeping schedule between us

raccoon boy: he drank shampoo i dont think hes healthy J

raccoon boy: do u think hes ook? maybe we should hv stopped him

Snek Boi: V this is not his first time chugging shampoo

Princey: Yeah he’ll be up and awake and bothering us bright and early

Trash Man: YoU cAlLeD??

Trash Man: why did u screeem so loud vv

Princey: Speak the devil's name and he shall appear

Snek Boi: wtf is wrong with you

Trash Man: do u watn teh list alphabetivally or choronolgoically (do u want the list alphabetically or chronologically)

Logan: I will never understand why you have to type like that.

Logan: Autocorrect is a thing for people who don’t know how to spell.

Logan: You should try using it.

Trash Man: tihs is so mch morre fun tho it anoyys u so mch (this is so much more fun tho it annoys u so much)

Logan: I hate you.

Trash Man: i lv u 2 lolobear

raccoon boy: yeah lo lo bear

Logan: No, no, no. Please don’t.

raccoon boy: y whats wrong lo lo bear

Logan: You are lucky you’re adorable, otherwise I would be tempted to hurt you.

Snek Boi: are you talking about Virgil or Remus?

Princey: please be talking about the Emo Nightmare

Logan: I was complimenting Virgil.

Logan: Remus can go die in a hole.

raccoon boy: tnx for the compliment lolobear <3

raccoon boy: u’re not too bad looking

Logan: I appreciate the compliment.

Princey: Im dying

Princey: Im dead

Princey: This is what it feels like to die

pattoncake: oh no!!! Why does it feel like you’re dyiiing, Roman???

pattoncake: Oh. Right.

pattoncake: Good morning everyone! Looks like you were having a party

Snek Boi: You arent dying roman

Snek Boi: (Logan and Virgil might be pushed down the stairs though)

Snek Boi: Good morning Patton

raccoon boy: morning pat

Logan: Good morning, Patton. How did you sleep?

Logan: Why would Virgil and I be pushed down the stairs?

raccoon boy: theyre jealous of our friendship lo lo bear

Logan: Please cease calling me that, Virgil, or I will be forced to do something drastic.

raccoon boy: oooohh what lo lo bear

raccoon boy: what r u gonna do

Logan: While you are incredibly brave and witty, you are also as sweet as honey.

raccoon boy: what

Logan: You are the kindest person I’ve ever met and your loyalty to your friends is one of the most admirable things I’ve ever seen.

raccoon boy: waht r u doing

Logan: You are absolutely adorable when you’re sleepy, and the most gorgeous when you’re in the moonlight.

raccoon boy: shut tf up

pattoncake: oh this is so sweeetttt !!!!! me too😆

pattoncake: Vee, you are the bestest friend ever 💜💜! you’re super brave and funny and you hug me when im having a bad day and you love drawing little things and putting them in our bags which is so sweet and i feel so happy wehn i see them 😻😻

pattoncake: when*

Logan: You are incredibly intelligent even though you don’t think so, and you are an amazing musician. Your dedication to the arts and your drive to be better is motivating and I love watching you do what you love.

Snek Boi: [image.jpg]

[imagine description: Virgil in a dark room looking at his phone. The phone light shows that his face is bright red, and he is pressing a hoodie covered hand to his mouth.]

Princey: Im crying how do they not know

Trash Man: tehyre so oblivoisous its so funny (they’re so oblivious it’s so funny)

Princey: It’s torture.

Private Chat: Starlight

Starlight: You’re beautiful. I’ve been in love with you for longer than I can remember, and every day I fall more in love with you. I’m extremely happy that you feel the same way about me, and the time that I spend with you is the most important and I treasure every second of it.

Starlight: You are the most important person in this world to me and I hope it doesn’t make you uncomfortable for me to say that I would be delighted to spend the rest of my life with you.

Starlight: I love you, Virgil.

🌈💗my famILY💗🌈

Snek Boi: Virgil just threw his phone across the room

Logan: Ah. That would explain the lack of response.

Snek Boi: And he has decided to hide in his hoodie. Hes making a very high pitched noise.

Trash Man: im recorndin tihs (im recording this)

Princey: I cant believe two of my best friends are two of the DUMBEST PEOPLE IN THE WORLD

Princey: I want a copy

Trash Man: 600 dolars

Princey: …

Princey: Does monopoly money work

Trash Man: then imma need 600 1$s

pattoncake: I hope yall remember that we have school???? And are ready????

pattoncake: And Roman are you still picking me up???

Princey: …. Of course I remembered. I’ll be there in aohdaipoajdila

raccoon boy: did he die

Logan: I’m glad you’re back with us, Virgil.

raccoon boy: ….

raccoon boy: you know L u like to preten that u dont hav any feelings but really ur the sweetest most compassionate person ever

Princey: Omg its happening again

raccoon boy: and like u always know how to help me and i really appreciate that. ur super awesome and smart and thebest person

raccoon boy: and speaking of smart ure crazy smart and brilliant and the way u light up when u talk about the things u like is amazing to watch

raccoon boy: and speaking of things u like, ur obsession with crofters and the berry jam is so cute and its just anothe reason ur amazing L

Logan: ….

Snek Boi: I cant believe Ive been watching this happen for years

Snek Boi: This is ridiculous

pattoncake: its so sweet!!! 🍬🍬

pattoncake: i would compliment you too logan but roman just got here so ill be right back

Private Chat: Starlight

Stormcloud: ur so fucking pretty its a crime and the more passionate about something u get the more i fall in love with u

Stormcloud: and i am in love with u. god logan ur the most amazing person and i dont deserve u

Stormcloud: ur smart and loyal and talented and amazing and so fucking gorgeous and ur just perfect

Stormcloud: i love u more than anythign

Stormcloud: *anything

🌈💗my famILY💗🌈

Logan has changed his name to Loganberry

pattoncake: awwww for the berry in loganberry in the crofter jam u like!!!

pattoncake: and virgil said it was cute!!

pattoncake: y’all are so adorable!!!!! 😻😻

pattoncake: roman says to tell y’all that “you’re disgusting and he hates you”

pattoncake: roman doesn’t care that that isn't nice so im saying sorry for him

raccoon boy: im not surprised

raccoon boy: roman has no manners

pattoncake: now kiddo, that isn’t very nice.

raccoon boy: sry pat j is being a bitch gtg c u

Snek Boi: @Loganberry, where tf are u?

Loganberry: I apologize. I was getting my bag ready.

Trash Man: srue (sure)

Loganberry: I’m getting in the car now, I have to go.

Snek Boi: Mhm

Snek Boi: we’re waiting at the doors for you three, and its cold.

Snek Boi: were going inside.

Snek Boi: Virgil has disappeared.

Snek Boi: I hate you all so much, where did he vanish to?

Snek Boi: that boy needs a bell

Snek Boi: I swear he can teleport

Princey: Janus? Not like you to stop complaining so suddenly

Princey: You good?

Operation: Make LV canon

Trash Man: [image.ipg]

[image description: Virgil and Logan kissing against what appears to be the wall of the school.]

pattoncake: !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Princey: Holy shit

Snek Boi: I hate them

Snek Boi: I hate them so much

Trash Man: in skool!!! Scanadaolus!! Perfekt boy Lo lO Ber is k-i-s-s-i-n-g -ing bad boy VeeVee!! (in school!! Scandalous!! perfect boy Lo Lo Bear is kissing bad boy VeeVee)

Princey: How long has thi been happening??? Are they together??? Is this the first time???

Snek Boi: How tf are we supposed to know

pattoncake: they were throwing compliments at each other like confetti!!!🎊🎊

pattoncake: maybe they realized? finally!!!

Snek Boi: Did you really just call Virgil a bad boy??

🌈💗my famILY💗🌈

Loganberry: Where are you guys?

Princey: Do you have smt you want to share with us??

Loganberry: …I will not be giving you the answers to whatever paper you decidedly were not writing during the many hours you were awake this morning.

raccoon boy: L no give him whatever he wants he has the coffee

Loganberry: I will not help your incredibly unhealthy caffeine addiction.

Snek Boi: Oh my god, they're married

Princey: I MEANT THE FACT THAT WE JUST SAW YOU MAKING OUT

Loganberry: Ah. Okay.

Princey: OKAY?????????????

raccoon boy: r u ok roman

Snek Boi: What the fuck

Princey: NO?????????????

pattoncake: i think what they’re trying to say is that we’re all a little surprised, kiddos.

pattoncake: happy for you!!! but surprised.

Trash Man: were a lil mre thn surrprisedd we jst saw u sucking facces so what is goingg on i wold lik to kno (we’re a lil more than surprised)

raccoon boy: why are u surprised?

Loganberry: I, too, am curious to know why you were surprised by this.

Princey: WE HAVE BEEN WATCHING TE TWO OF YOU FLIRT FOR YEARS

Snek Boi: What the fuck

Loganberry: Exactly. I don’t understand why you are surprised when you have been watching us ‘flirt for years’.

raccoon boy: i thought it was pretty obvious

raccoon boy: i guess u guys can be pretty oblivious

Snek Boi: What

Snek Boi: The

Snek Boi: Fuck

Princey: OH MY GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD

Trash Man: tihs mihht be teh funienst tihng ever (this might be the funniest thing ever)

pattoncake: kiddos i mean this in the nicest way possible cause you know i love yall

pattoncake: but what the fuck

raccoon boy: i just screenshotted that

raccoon boy: i plan to frame it and hang it on my wall

Princey: WHY WOULD YOU DO THIS TO US

Princey: WE HAVE A GROUPCHAT DEDICATED TO YOU TWO

Princey: A GROUPCHAT

raccoon boy: aww ure a fan

Loganberry: Dedicated to us? For what?

Trash Man: getig you 2 togerher to make out of corse (getting you two together to make out of course)

Snek Boi: What the fuck

Trash Man: i tinhk yuo broke janny (i think you broke janny)

raccoon boy: hey L

Loganberry: Yes, my love?

Princey: omg

raccoon boy: do u remember that one time they all said we couldnt act or lie to save our lives

Loganberry: Why yes, actually, I do remember that. Funny.

Snek Boi: i will hunt you down and kill you.

Trash Man: jannys not brokn!!

pattoncake: that’s… not very nice, guys.

Princey: If I had known it would cause me to suffer thos much i wouldn’t have said it!!!

pattoncake: i get why ud be upset at the others, sure. but i mean…

raccoon boy: sorry pat

Private Chat: Starlight

Stormcloud: we made Patton upset

Stormcloud: what do we do

Stormcloud: do we bake cookies for him

Stormcloud: or should we get him a hypoallergenic cat

Stormcloud: logan what do we do what do we do waht do we do

🌈💗my famILY💗🌈

Loganberry: We apologize for deceiving you, Patton. We intended to get back at what the others had said, and we did not realize how this would affect you.

Loganberry: If there is anything we can do please don’t hesitate to tell us.

Loganberry: Your hurt is very understandable.

raccoon boy: im really really sorry pat

pattoncake: i know you guys couldnt have told me! I would have given it away because i would have gotten so excited.

pattoncake: i guess you two can tell me all the details and buy me ice cream

raccoon boy: deal

Loganberry: you’re allergic to lactose.

raccoon boy: we’ll find him ice cream without lactose

pattoncake: 😋🤗😆💙💜🍦 🍨 🍦

Snek Boi: How long has this been going on

Princey: I CANNOT BELIVE THIS

raccoon boy: believe it princey

Loganberry: I hate to interrupt, but class will be starting soon.

Princey: You expect me to be able to pay attention to class when this happened????

Loganberry: This has been going on for quite a while, so I don’t see why you shouldn’t be able to pay attention to your very important classes that are happening now.

Loganberry: We can continue later, although I’m not sure there’s anything else to talk about.

Snek Boi: how long is quite a while?

raccoon boy: peace out :P

pattoncake: bye virgil!!👋👋👋👋

Princey: NOTHING ELSE TO TALK ABOUT!!

Loganberry: Farewell.

Snek Bo: I hate you both. So much.

pattoncake: bye lolo! 😄😄

pattoncake: Imma go too guys, class started. Bye!!!😁👋💕💕😻

Trash Man: byyyyyyeyeyeeyetee

Princey: YOU CANT JUST LEAVE

Snek Boi: They left

Princey: I KNOW

Snek Boi: I hate them

Princey: I know. Me too

Snek Boi: Happy for them tho

Princey: I know

Princey: Me too

Private Chat: Starlight

Stormcloud: that was amazing

Starlight: I do admit, it was very funny. Although I didn’t expect to get caught.

Stormcloud: i think we played it well

Starlight: Are you still worried about Patton?

Stormcloud: a little

Stormcloud: i know he'll forgive us

Stormcloud: but i still feel bad

Stormcloud: and i cant belive i didnt think about how hed be upset

Starlight: He doesn’t seem too upset about it. And I’m sure the ice cream will cheer him up.

Stormcloud: he can act pretty well too

Starlight: I don’t believe there’s anything to worry about, Virgil. But the fact that you are worried means you’re an incredibly good friend.

Stormcloud: i guess

Stormcloud: you always know what to say

Starlight: I love you, Virgil.

Stormcloud: i love u too logan

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

Penguin: Thanks for reading! Whether you came from Rozh, from me, or because the title looked moderately appealing, I'm grateful you're here. If you haven't already, be sure to check out both of our other works for Analogical Week 2022 by clicking into the series' that this work is in! You can read my stuff on my ao3 (@/thepenguinclub)! Have a great great rest of your day, drink water, go to bed at a good time, and know that you look amazing today and that you're loved. <3

Rozh: and this wonderful (and anxiety inducing) week comes to an end! i had fun writing these up and talking them over with Penguin. you can find me on ao3 if you like. sleep if it's past midnight and you're awake only because you're reading fanfics. they shall still be here in the morning. hydrate, stay safe, snack, nap, and much love to you all <3

#ts logan #ts virgil #ts patton #ts remus #ts roman #ts deceit #ts janus #analogical #analogical week 2022 #sander sides #sanders sides fanfic #penguin writes

11 notes · View notes