Hello hello! I’m so excited to present my secret santa gift for @strongindependentcheesecake for the @sanderssidesgiftxchange ! I tried to combine your first two wishes, and I’m pretty pleased with how it turned out. I hope you have a wonderful holiday season and a happy new year!
Summary: Roman and Remus co-own a bookstore, The Royal Bookshop. The others come and visit them often, though there seems to be some confusion among the employees on who Roman is actually dating.
Roman hummed quietly to himself, shifting some books over on the shelf to add the newest inventory. They had just gotten the first of their holiday shipments in, and while he usually manned the counter or sat in the office working on paperwork, Elliot was in today and had trouble bending over repeatedly. So, they were manning the counter and had put everything in the system while Roman worked to shelve the new books they got in.
From where he was standing, Roman couldn’t see the front door or counter over the shelves, so his only warning that a customer came in was the bell above the door tinkling and Elliot saying, “Hi, welcome into the Royal Bookshop! Do you need any help today?”
Roman was already making his way towards the counter but sped up with a grin when the customer spoke.
“Oh, no thank you. I’m actually looking for Roman?” The voice was even and calm, and when Roman turned the corner, Logan was standing next the counter, his laptop bag hanging from his shoulder.
It was early November, so he was clad in a sweater that Roman was pretty sure belong to Patton, and one of Virgil’s scarves was hanging from his neck.
Elliot was saying, “Oh, I can call him for you—” but didn’t get to finish before Roman was speaking over him.
“What do I owe the pleasure, my bespeckled nerd?” He swept forward, gathering Logan into his arms. Logan went easily, resting a hand on Roman’s chest.
“It’s 1:30, which is usually your lunch break. I thought I’d come by and treat you to lunch at the café around the corner?”
Logan was flushed slightly, and Roman couldn’t help the besotted smile that overtook his face, which just made Logan’s face go a deeper shade of red.
“You spoil me, darling,” Roman said, pressing a kiss to Logan’s forehead. He turned to Elliot, who had been watching the interaction with confusion.
“Elliot, this is my boyfriend, Logan. Since he’s a sap, he wants to take me lunch, do you think you can man the shop on your own for a bit?” He ignored Logan sputtering next to him, squeezing his waist.
Elliot shrugged, looking a little apprehensive. “I guess, yeah. I can call you if anything happens, right?”
Roman nodded, “Yes you can. I’ll be down the street, and inventory’s done for the day, so you just have to worry about customers coming in.”
“Ok, then I’ll be good. Have a good lunch!”
Roman grabbed Logan’s hand and dragged him from the store, making sure the sign out front was still propped up as he did. He swung their hands between them as they went down the street, humming again quietly.
“Has Elliot already had their lunch?” Logan asked, readjusting his laptop bag.
“Yeah, theirs was at noon. We also have some snacks in the office if they get hungry.”
Logan nodded, holding open the door for Roman as they arrived at the café. “That’s good. We could have brought them back something if they hadn’t.”
Roman laughed quietly, bumping Logan’s shoulder. “You mother hen. If you’re worried about them, I’ll buy them some chips. I might anyway, for leaving them at the store alone right before holiday season starts.”
“Is Remus not there?”
“No, he had a migraine, so I made him stay home.”
Logan hummed, his brow furrowed in concern. “I might head over there after this then, to make sure he’s eaten.”
Roman’s chest felt warm, fondness coursing through him at Logan’s concern. He was such a mother hen, making sure they all were taking care of themselves. It didn’t help that Janus more often than not teamed up with him. The two were a force of nature in their own right, let alone together. Roman grabbed Logan’s hand and squeezed.
“He’ll appreciate it.”
They ordered and ate, and Logan walked him back to the store. Roman endured the light teasing from Elliot and went back to the office to keep working.
Remus was back at the store the next day, his migraine having abated enough for him to face shelves and work in the office. Roman wasn’t happy about it, wanting Remus to feel fully better before he came back, but Remus had waved him off.
“We both own this store, I’m putting in my own fair share. Besides, if it gets worse, I can pass out on the couch in the office. Or on the floor in the kids’ section, that carpet’s super soft.”
“You’re not passing out in the kids’ section again, Remus. Last time the kids drew all over you.”
Remus grinned, lifting his sleeve to show one of his tattoos, a snake wrapped around a bundle of flowers. “They inspired my newest tattoo though!”
There was a snort from behind the shelves, and Kai, another one of their employees came around the corner holding a few holiday books in their arms.
“Yes, because you should let kids decide what should permanently go on your body.”
Remus nodded, “Yeah, that’s what I did!”
Kai huffed, shaking his head. “Alright man, you do you. Do y’all want me to put these on the display shelves at the window or on the front table?”
“The table,” Roman said, “The window still has the local authors display up, and I’d like to keep it for another week or so.”
Kai saluted with one hand, wandering off towards the front of the store. There was a moment of quiet, before a startled, “Oh, welcome in!” filtered back to the twins.
When the customer responded, they shared a look, and Remus grinned before shoving Roman into a shelve and racing towards the front. Roman sputtered and had to catch the few books he knocked off, and after he put them back, headed towards the front as well.
When he reached the front of the shop, it was to Remus swinging a man around in circles, ignoring the shrieking from the man and Kai’s startled look. It wasn’t until Remus finally put the man down that he could make out Janus’ disgruntled features.
He reached up to adjust the sun hat he had on—despite it being mid-November and cloudy outside—but didn’t stop Remus from wrapping his arms around him from behind.
“Hello, dear,” Janus said, resting his hands on Remus’s arms. Remus wiggled in place, smushing his face into the side of Janus’s head.
“I’m going to assume this guy is your boyfriend?” Kai said, absentmindedly rearranging the books on the display table.
Remus and Roman snorted at the same time. Remus smiled brightly at Kai and said, “Gross! He’s my QPP.” He tapped two small pins on his jacket, one pin of the ace flag and the other the aro flag.
“Oh shit, my bad.” Kai rubbed the back of their neck, looking sheepish.
Janus waved him off, “It’s not a problem. What will be a problem, is if my boyfriend doesn’t come to say hello.”
At this, he made grabby hands at Roman. When Roman got close enough, Janus cupped his face and kissed his cheek, humming when Roman did the same.
“What.” Kai said, face blank the way only pure confusion can cause. Remus cackled before giving out a dramatic fake wail, pulling Janus away from Roman. Janus went willingly, letting Remus swing him around a bit as Remus played up the dramatics.
“He stole my partner right from under my moustache!” Remus said, his voice pitched like he was going to cry. Roman sputtered, but Remus just began to make noises like a dying cat.
Kai put their hands up, turning away to go deeper into the store. “Not my problem, bye!” He said, disappearing around the shelves.
“Oh, don’t be ridiculous dear,” Janus said, gently patting Remus’ arms where they were wrapped around his waist, “If anything, I’m playing the long con here to snatch him from the other three.” This was said with a lack of irony, considering that Janus still had a lipstick smudge on his cheek from Virgil, and was wearing one of Logan’s button ups over his shirt.
“Remus don’t make me seem like a homewrecker! I’m going to have to explain that to Kai now.” Roman sighed but couldn’t help the smile twitching at the corners of his lips as Remus kept up the dramatics.
“If he thinks that Remus is being serious right now, then I worry for your hiring choices,” Janus drawled, patting Remus’ arms again to make him quiet down. Remus did, tucking his head over Janus’s shoulder.
“Although,” Janus continued with a smirk, “he isn’t too far off. We did start dating after Remus and I became partners.”
“You guys have been partners since freshman year of college! I’m not a homewrecker,” Roman huffed, crossing his arms.
“Well duh, Ro, if you were, we’d have had a long and bloody battle by now,” Remus said, “I’m just playing, and you know Kai knows that.”
Roman sighed and took a step forward to grab Janus’s hands. “Yeah, I know. I’ll probably still talk to them though.”
He never did end up talking to Kai, as the holiday season seemed to ramp up immediately after that day. Shipments began coming in almost every day and foot traffic to the store increased, causing the twins to get their holiday help in early.
Remy wasn’t upset about it, saying something about “double the pay, working here and the coffeeshop at the same time.” Remus made sure his schedule wasn’t too overloaded though, so that Remy could take breaks away from work when he needed to.
Today, the twins were both couped up in the office, trying to slog through the different inventory sheets they had gotten.
“I swear, Hatchette either needs to get better quality boxes or laminate their inventory sheets. I’m working with a puzzle here.” Roman said, trying to piece the torn-up sheet back together. Hatchette Publishing boxes always came torn up and damaged in some ways, which meant the inventory sheets and books came damaged too. The number of books that they had to send back because of Hatchette was annoying at best and a loss of money at worst.
Remus only hummed, highlighting one of the sheets that Roman had passed him earlier as he checked to make sure everything was in the system. He worked with a narrow-minded focus that only appeared when he was at the shop and working with the business side of their store. Remus finished the sheet he was working on and reached for another, only to find the stack empty. He blinked, coming back to himself, and seemed to register what Roman had said.
“Oh, no, yeah they suck. Is that the last one?”
“Yeah, then we’ll be done with yesterday and today’s shipments.”
Remus stood and stretched, before shuffling the sheets he had finished together. “Then I’m going to go grab a coffee real quick. You want anything?”
“Can I get a mocha?”
Remus clicked his tongue in acknowledgement and headed out of the office. Roman kept working, finally managing to put the sheet together and get the items on it in the system and marked off.
He grabbed the stack of books that had been held back due to the sheet being so torn up and made his through the shelves. About halfway through the stack, Roman heard the bell above the door jingle, and startled when, instead of the usual greeting, Remy said, “We don’t welcome your kind here.”
It was followed immediate by a “Fuck off,” and a loud cackle, so Roman just rolled his eyes and finished shelving the books in his hands before going to the front counter.
As he got closer, he could make out the sounds of playful arguing, which made sense considering that it was Virgil standing at the counter.
They were holding Roman’s mocha in their hand, and still had their apron on, meaning that Remus had most likely pulled them away from their shift to hand deliver Roman his coffee.
“I’m sorry,” Remy was saying, “but we don’t carry The Guide to being Emo here. Maybe you could try the local Hot Topic?” His voice was sickly sweet, the smile on his face an over exaggeration of a customer service smile.
“You can’t talk to me like that, I’m your boss,” Virgil replied, their scowl just as exaggerated.
“Technically, you’re only my boss on Wednesdays through Fridays. Roman and Remus are my bosses right now,” Remy said, trying to swipe the coffee out of Virgil’s hand.
Virgil huffed, turning towards Remus with a pout. Their eyes lit up when they saw Roman behind him, but they kept the pout.
Remus snorted. “Can’t help you there, V, he’s technically right.”
Virgil immediately turned towards Roman, and Roman, ever the pushover when it came to any of his partners, caved.
“Remy, be nice to Virgil, even if they aren’t your boss right now. They’re still my partner,” Roman kissed Virgil’s cheek, taking the mocha out of their hand and taking a sip.
Remy sighed in disappointment, and Roman couldn’t tell if it was because he got told to stop or because he couldn’t have the coffee.
“Alright, I guess I’ll be nice.” Remy said, leaning back in the chair behind the counter. He almost overbalanced and tipped over but caught himself.
“None of you saw that!” He said, his face red.
Virgil snickered, “Sure, and I won’t be telling Emile about it when I get back to the coffeeshop.”
Emile was another one of their holiday workers they borrowed from Virgil, though he mainly only came if they were super busy or one of the others called out. He was scheduled for the next day, actually, since Elliot couldn’t make it in. Emile was also Remy’s boyfriend and loved to tease him.
Remy’s face went a deeper shade of red. “You will not! He won’t let me live it down unless I make brownies.”
“So, make brownies?” Roman said, leaning against Virgil’s side.
Remy groaned, “They’re so messy! They also use so many dishes, I hate making them.”
“Your problem would be solved if you didn’t make it from scratch.” Virgil said, stealing Roman’s mocha to have some.
Remy gasped, scandalized. “I will not use a box mix! They’re fine, but they aren’t as good as ones made from scratch.” After a moment, he added, “Also Emile can tell the difference now and it won’t work.”
“Sucks to suck, Remy. Better stop at the store and get supplies after your shift then!” Virgil said, tapping the counter a bit.
Remy groaned again, and they laughed. Virgil stayed a bit longer before they went back to work, and then it was back to prepping for the holiday season.
The next day saw both Emile and Roman at the counter to handle the amount customers coming in. They worked through lunch, not having a moment for Roman to send Emile on break. They finally got a calm moment, but right as Roman went to send Emile on his lunch break, the bell above the door signaled a new customer. Roman suppressed a sigh and turned, only to light up as he saw it was Patton that had come in.
Patton was wrapped up in one of Janus’s puffy jackets, his face mostly obscured by a scarf that could have belonged to any of them, and his curls poking out of one of Roman’s beanies. He was holding a lunch sack in his hands and was stomping some of the snow off of his boots on the doormat.
“Pat, it’s not that cold out,” Roman said, trying not to laugh. Patton looked up, pulling the scarf down to reveal a bright grin.
“It is for me! Southern California doesn’t get much snow, so this is new.”
“You say that like you haven’t lived here for close to decade at this point.”
Patton just shrugged and dumped the lunch sack on the counter.
“Even so. Anyway, I brought y’all some lunch, since I knew today would be busy! Emile, I made sure that your sandwich was gluten free, and it’s wrapped in its own bag in this one,” he said, starting to unpack the sack. “How are you, by the way? I haven’t been able to stop by the coffeeshop in a bit.”
“I’m doing well!” Emile said, taking his food with a smile. “Finals went well, I’m enjoying the break. I’ve also almost managed to get Remy’s brown butter snickerdoodle recipe out of him, so that’s fun.”
Patton gasped, stars in his eyes. “You have to share that with me if you get it! Nothing I find online is near as good.”
Emile laughed, “If I get his permission, I’ll let you know. How’re you?”
The two continued to chat, and Roman left them to it with a kiss to Patton’s hair as he grabbed Remus’s sandwich and brought it back to him in the office. They were getting closer Christmas, and Remus was trying to figure out what days they could close after the holidays compared to the last few years.
Looking at the different spread sheets Remus had made of doing cost comparisons and sales and employee hours from the past three years made Roman’s head hurt, but Remus enjoyed it, so he left him to it with a pat on the head and a reminder to drink some water when he ate his sandwich.
A few days later they were in the full swing of things, and all hands were on deck. While it wasn’t the first time that all four of their employees worked the same shift, it was the first time this season that they had needed to do so.
Emile and Elliot were at the front counter, Remy and Kai were working on facing the shelves and restocking when needed, and Roman and Remus were both rotating between the front of store, the office, and the shelves as the others took their breaks.
At one point, both were at the front counter, though Roman was considering letting Remus switch with Remy or Kai. He never liked working the front, the constant barrage of customers often leading to a burnout of Remus’s social battery. Remus kept waving him off though, so for now Roman was leaving him be.
He finished bagging the books he had in hand, handing them off to the customer with a “Thanks for coming in, have a happy holiday!” and turned towards Remus.
Remus was tapping the counter with one hand, ringing up a different customer’s order with the other, his smile looking forced. Roman waited for Remus to finish the transaction, giving the customer a quick smile as they left.
“You doing okay, Rem?” he asked, pitching his voice a bit low so the customers looking at the displays nearby couldn’t hear.
Remus nodded, humming low in his throat. “Yeah, I’m fine. I might take a break soon though, get some food or something.”
Roman nodded. “That’d be a good idea. Maybe make a coffee run.”
Remus hummed in acknowledgment, and when they hit a slow moment, he slipped away. A minute or so later, Remy joined Roman behind the counter.
“Remus is making a coffee run, did you want anything?” Remy asked, a text conversation with Remus pulled up.
Roman shrugged, motioning for a customer to come to the counter. “I wouldn’t mind a coffee, but he doesn’t have to get me one.”
He greeted the customer, and as he checked them out another line formed. He and Remy worked through it, Remy only having to leave once to grab some more bags from the office.
Roman smiled at the couple he just checked out, sending them off with a “Have a happy holiday!” before calling the next customer to the counter. He didn’t look as they approached, bringing the transaction screen back to beginning to start their order.
“Hi, did you find everything all right?” He said, turning to the customer, only to light up as he came face to face with Logan and Janus. Logan was setting a drink onto the counter, Janus holding two in his hands.
“Oh my gosh, hello! What are you two doing here?” Roman asked, only accepting the cup when Logan slid it towards him.
“Remus stopped at the coffeeshop, said you all were in need of caffeine,” Janus said, passing back on of the cups to Logan.
“We thought it would be nice to bring them to you all, see how you were doing.” Logan finished. Instead of drinking out of the cup, he slid it over the counter towards Remy.
Remy looked surprised, picking up the cup questioningly. “I didn’t think Remus would actually get me anything.”
Logan’s brows dipped, “Of course he would, he said you all would need it. That isn’t limited to just Remus and Roman.”
“I know, I know, I’m just—surprised I guess,” Remy said, taking a cautious sip. He hummed in appreciation, drinking half the drink down before he resurfaced for air. “Ok, so I needed that more than I thought.”
“Damn right, you guys haven’t really stopped today, have you?”
They all jumped a bit at Virgil’s voice. They appeared from between the shelves, Patton, Remus, and the rest of the bookshop employees following behind. Roman took a quick glance around the areas of the stores he could see, and Remus shook his head when they made eye contact. No customers were currently in the store, then.
“I mean, we’ve had some breaks, but it’s been pretty busy today.” Elliot said, taking a sip of some iced drink. They were less than a week out from Christmas, and people were hitting that point of desperation in getting gifts.
“Then it’s a good thing we brought you all a caffeine boost!” Patton said, “Hopefully it’ll help y’all get through the rest of the day.”
He approached the counter, and with a quick, “Hi honey,” he kissed Roman on the cheek. Out of the corner of his eye, Roman saw Kai jerk in surprise, and Elliot choked a bit on their drink.
Remus thumped Elliot’s back, and Roman leaned around Patton to give them his full attention.
“Are you okay?”
Elliot cleared their throat, their face flushed. “Yeah, yeah, I’m fine. Just—caught off guard.”
“At what?” Remus asked, though he didn’t look as confused at Roman felt, some sort of realization seeming to cross his face with a mixture of delight.
Elliot’s face got redder as they stuttered out, “Well, I, um, that is I didn’t, I don’t really know, well—”
“How many boyfriends do you have?” Kai burst out, confusion clear on his face. “I thought you were just dating Janus, but I guess Patton too? But Patton and Virgil were holding hands when they gave me my drink? What’s happening here?”
They had set down their drink at this point, leaning on the counter as if it was the only thing keeping them up. Remus began cackling, and Janus and Virgil laughed along with him. Kai’s face was growing steadily redder, but they seemed to calm when Logan patted their shoulder.
“The confusion is understandable.” He said, but before he could continue Remus cut him off.
“He’s in a torrid affair with all of them,” Remus said, his grin wide enough to show all his teeth.
“Oh, be quiet, you gremlin,” Roman says, exasperated. He turned back to Kai, explaining, “I have four partners. You’ve all met them at some point, I swear.”
Remy nodded, while Emile, Kai, and Elliot shook their heads. Remy did a double take at Emile not knowing, saying, “Babe, I knew because I work at Virgil’s shop, like you do. How did you not know?”
Emile shrugged. “I knew Virgil and Roman were dating, and that Roman and Patton were dating, but I didn’t know they all were dating. I get they’re in the store a lot, but I had just assumed they were close friends.”
Virgil snorted. “That’s because I know how to not flirt while I’m working.”
“You flirt with me when you come here though!” Roman protested.
“Ah, but I’m not working when I’m here, aren’t I? That’s on you, sweetheart,” Virgil said, giving Roman cheesy fingers guns.
Roman huffed, exasperated, but he could feel the smile tugging at the corners of his lips.
“You’re a menace,” he said, leaning against the counter. The bell above the door chimed as someone walked in, and Roman gave them a quick greeting before turning back to his partners.
“Back to the grind, I suppose. Thank you all for bringing us something to drink, I appreciate it.”
The others gave similar replies, and Roman’s partners gave varying responses back, ranging from a bright “You’re welcome!” from Patton to a simple shrug from Virgil.
“We’ll see you and Remus tonight for dinner?” Logan asked, “It’s Janus’s and I’s turn to cook.”
“Wouldn’t miss it, Specs,” Roman replied. Remus nodded.
“Alrighty, then we’ll head off and let y’all get back to your work.” Patton said, darting forward to give Roman another kiss on the cheek. The rest of Roman’s partners followed suit, and Remus gave Janus a quick squeeze of a hug before the four left the shop.
It was quiet for a moment, before Kai asked, “How did you all get together?”
Remus grinned, immediately launching into some dramatic telling of the group’s college days and how Roman “fought for their hearts in a bloody battle of subterfuge and dumbassery” while Roman denied and agreed with parts in turn. At some point, the customer that had walked in checked out with their purchases, only giving a quick bemused glance towards Remus as he acted out what Roman could only guess to be he and Virgil’s first meeting and subsequent fight.
Their employees were all enraptured with the tale, though they seemed more amused by Remus’ dramatics rather than the actual story. Roman shook his head, doing a quick sweep around the store to check it was empty and putting a ‘Be Back Soon!’ sign on the door. Remus wouldn’t be done with the story for another half hour at least, if he was only just getting to Roman and Janus’s first date. They all could take a break, he thought, beginning to usher them all towards the office. It was the holiday season, and what better way to spend a quick break than by listening to a story about love and joy?
Hello! This is my Secret Santa gift for @ldsbibliophile !! I hope you had a wonderful holiday, and I hope you enjoy this! Happy reading! @sanderssidesgiftxchange
Word count: 3003
Warnings: None that I can think of!
***
Virgil shifted a bit, slowly coming to consciousness as he registered that his shoulder was sore. There was an arm around his waist, and he opened his eyes to see the back of Logan’s sleep shirt covering most of his vision. He blinked a few times to get the gummy feeling in his eyes to go away, taking in the soft glow of the Christmas tree over Logan’s shoulder. He tried to shift again, but the arm around his waist tightened. He glanced down to see it was Roman’s arm, and absentmindedly patted it as he realized he was sleeping on the floor of the living room. That explained why his shoulder was sore, at least.
The night before, Virgil, Logan, Roman, and Patton had decided to have a small Christmas movie marathon for Christmas Eve, setting up what was essentially an extreme pillow fort in the living room. Janus and Remus had been invited, on the condition that Remus wore clothes, but both had dipped out after a few movies to celebrate the holidays in their own way. That left the four of them to sprawl out on the floor, drinking the last of the hot chocolate and putting a few movies up in a queue so that they didn’t have to get up.
He didn’t really remember falling asleep, really only realizing that at some point Roman had tucked himself up against Virgil’s side while Logan snored next to him. He had only hummed a little, reaching across Logan to pat at and grab Patton’s arm, and then the next thing he knew he was waking up.
Virgil shifted again, slowly stretching to dislodge Roman’s arm without waking him. It took a few minutes, but eventually he had enough space to slide out from between Roman and Logan. He stood and stretched again, moving around the other three and the mess they all had left to head into the kitchen, grabbing his phone on the way. He glanced at the clock on the microwave, grimacing at the 8:00 that blinked back at him. This was the earliest he had woken up in ages, and Virgil had no doubt it was due to the uncomfortableness that was sleeping on the floor.
He started the coffee pot, pulling down mugs for the four of them. He also grabbed the tea, knowing that Patton and Roman would probably want to have tea before they ate instead of coffee. Virgil didn’t bother getting any food out, since Patton and Logan had said they had a Christmas surprise for the others.
As he waited for the coffee to be ready, Virgil hopped up on the counter, kicking his legs as he scrolled through Twitter, switching to Tumblr when there was nothing interesting on the former. He jerked in surprise when the coffee started pouring, breaking the relative silence of the kitchen. Pouring himself a cup and mixing in some creamer, Virgil hummed quietly to himself.
It was peaceful, being the only one up. The world seemed asleep, quiet and tranquil compared to the craziness they usually got up to during the day. If Virgil wasn’t so much of a night owl, he would’ve tried waking up this early more often. Virgil snorted at that, knowing that this was a rare thing and he would return to getting out of bed at 11 like usual tomorrow.
He moved back out into the living room, moving around the still-sleeping sides to settle on the window seat. It was big enough to hold two people, three if they squeezed in, and covered in a few pillows and several blankets from Patton’s room. In the real world, this seat didn’t exist, but Virgil and Patton had asked Roman to conjure it years ago. Logan hadn’t understood the desire for one, but had quickly become the one to use it the most, especially when it rained. Remus and Janus had liked it as well, once they had joined the others upstairs, Janus claiming the whole ledge for himself on particularly sunny days.
Virgil opened the blinds a bit, just enough for him to look out the window without casting light on the others, not wanting to wake them. He huffed out a laugh when he saw the world outside, covered in a thick blanket of snow. Either Remus had given the mindscape a rather tame gift, or Roman had managed to conjure a white Christmas in his sleep, as it hadn’t even been cold enough for snow when they had gone to bed the night before.
The sun had just started rising, casting a soft golden glow across the yard. The snow glinted in the light, and the trees were dipping under the weight of the snow. Virgil looked out across the snow, already imagining the pleading eyes Patton and Remus would cast on the rest of them to go out and play in the snow. He laughed quietly at the image of Janus bundled up in several layers of jackets and scarfs, glaring at the rest of them from the porch.
His laughter cut off abruptly though, when he heard quiet shuffling from behind him. He turned to see Logan doing the same shuffle-stretch combo he had done to get out from between Patton and Roman, blinking slowly as he looked around for his glasses.
“Your glasses are on the coffee table, L.” Virgil whispered, and Logan gave a slightly groggy nod and thumbs up as he sat up.
Logan managed to escape the cuddle pile, standing and stretching fully, before grabbing his glasses and sliding them on.
“Good morning, Virgil. You’re up early.” Logan said, walking over to give Virgil a kiss on the forehead. Virgil hummed, leaning into it.
“Yeah, it’s a miracle.” Virgil grinned up at Logan, pleased when Logan snorted. “Coffee’s on the pot, if you want some.”
Logan’s eyes lit up, and he muttered a quiet “Thank you” before giving Virgil another forehead kiss and heading into the kitchen.
The sounds of pans and food being set out slowly filtered into the living room after a few minutes, and with it the last two sides started to wake up. Patton groaned and he stretched, and Roman rolled over with a grunt, throwing one arm over his eyes and swinging the other around until his hand caught on Patton’s arm. He squeezed it, and Patton gently patted his hand. With a sigh, Roman let go, and Patton was free to move over to kiss Virgil’s cheek with a hum before going into the kitchen to help Logan.
Virgil snorted as Roman continued to just lay on the floor. Despite his princely appearance and gentlemanly manner, Roman was the absolute worst at waking up in the morning, and tried to stay in bed as long as he could before Logan came knocking with talks of schedules and plans.
Roman didn’t actually get up until Patton came back out of the kitchen a few minutes later with Roman’s mug. Only then did he sit up, accepting the cup and a kiss on the top of his head from Patton. Patton giggled, patting Roman’s shoulder as he walked away, and Roman sighed as he took a long drink from his mug.
When he resurfaced for air, he seemed much more awake, and Virgil smiled at him as Roman stood and stretched, sure that the look on his face was entirely too sappy for the early hour.
Roman grinned back at him, moving over to the window seat to give Virgil a kiss that tasted like chamomile before settling on the window seat across from him.
“Good morning, Creeping Beauty.” Roman said, cradling his mug close to his chest. Virgil snorted, waving his mug of coffee in greeting.
“It’s a Christmas miracle that you’re awake and up before 9 am.” Roman shot back, and Virgil outright laughed. Roman grinned, nudging Virgil’s leg with his foot. Virgil nudged him back, which resulted in Roman deciding to stick his leg straight out and prop it up in Virgil’s lap.
Virgil decided to be generous in the name of the holiday season and not push it off.
Roman leaned back against the wall of the window seat, sighing and closing his eyes. They sat in silence for a bit, Virgil just watching the world outside while Roman dozed lightly, until a thought struck Virgil and he tapped at Roman’s knee gently. Roman hummed, opening one eye to peer at Virgil.
“Hey, was the snow outside your idea?”
“Snow?” Roman asked, pulling the window cord to bring the blinds up. He gasped in delight at the snow outside, beginning to gush about how it was perfect and lovely and he wanted to paint how the sun reflected off the snow and trees and he need a photo right now where was his phone--
“Roman.” Virgil cut him off, passing his own phone over so that Roman could get some photos. “I’m guessing this wasn’t you in your sleep then?”
“I wish it was,” Roman said, turning Virgil’s phone this way and that as he took photos, “but usually the projections I make when I sleep aren’t this thorough or long-lasting once I wake up, unless I took a nap in the imagination. It was already here when you woke up?”
“Yeah,” Roman handed his phone back, and Virgil saw that he had already sent them to himself, “I thought it was either you or Remus, but it seems too tame for Remus. I would expect a snowman massacre from him, at least.”
Roman laughed, shaking his head. “I mean, you’re not wrong. I wouldn’t put it past him to have done this as a present to the four of us though. Or he has a surprise out there that won’t appear until we step outside.”
Virgil groaned, dropping his head down to his chest. “Oh boy, I can’t wait.” He said, voice deadpan.
“Can’t wait for what?”
Patton had poked his head out of the kitchen island window, but before either could answer he caught sight of their yard. “Oh! The snow is so pretty! Do you think we can go out later after presents?”
Virgil and Roman started laughing, and though Patton looked confused, he laughed too, just happy that they were happy.
“Anyway, I was supposed to say that breakfast was almost ready. Do you two think you can get Janus and Remus?”
Virgil got up from the window seat, stretching out as he nodded. “Yeah, I can call them up. I don’t know how hungry Remus will be though, if he managed to convince Janus to let him swallow their roast chicken whole last night like last year.”
Patton just sighed and disappeared from the kitchen island window as Roman sputtered, “What? What do you mean, swallow their roast chicken whole??”
“Have I not told you about that? Ok, so it started at Thanksgiving…”
And so the morning went on. They called up Janus and Remus, who was upset that Janus hadn’t let him mess with their dinner, but immediately perked up when he saw what Logan and Patton had prepared.
It was a large spread of pancakes, cinnamon rolls, bacon, and other breakfast foods, with enough crofters to satisfy Roman and Logan, all spread out across the table and counter. Remus managed to hoard half the pancakes from the rest of them, claiming that he loved Patton’s pancakes the best so he should get more of them. Roman disputed his claim, which led to the two of them arguing good-naturedly through the rest of breakfast, not noticing when Janus and Virgil both stole their pancakes straight from their plates.
They all managed to convince Logan that the dishes could wait until later, as Patton promised to wash them before lunch. They began to open presents, Logan going first. He loved the books and blanket from his partners, and grinned at the chess set that Janus had given him. Remus gave him a slip of paper which just read “1 free pass to experiment on one of my creations in the imagination” to which Logan outright smiled.
Patton received handmade plushies and bath bombs from everyone, giggling at the fact that the plushy from Roman and the bath bomb from Remus both changed colors in his hands. The twins pouted at each other from across the room for having similar ideas, but they were appeased by Patton’s gushing that he loved both presents.
Janus had gotten a few philosophy books from Logan and Patton, a fancy engraved cane and cuff links from Roman, and a photo album of the Dark Sides’ younger years from Remus and Virgil both. He had teared up a bit flipping through it, but quickly brushed them away when Remus leaned against his side.
Most of Remus gifts were along the lines of free passes to do what he wanted, such as “Add whatever edible thing you want to dinner” or “choose the theme of the next movie marathon” though he cackled at the “Experiment and blow up something in my room” pass from Logan. He also received a Wreck this Journal from Roman, and Remus grinned as he flipped through it.
Roman had received different art supplies from his partners and Remus, though he gushed at the fancy calligraphy set that Logan had included. Janus had given him a full self-care set, bath bombs and lotions and facemasks, and Roman had just smiled at him and given him a small nod in thanks.
Virgil was last, and part of him dreaded having all eyes on him, but most of him was excited to open his gifts. From his partners he had received a large heated blanket, some fuzzy socks and a gift card to get more music or audiobooks on his phone. Janus had given him some more sewing supplies with a pattern book, and he grinned. When he turned to Remus, Virgil’s brow furrowed at the embarrassed look on Remus’s face.
He leaned forward and tapped Remus’s leg gently. “What’s up, Re?”
“Well, my gift isn’t really permanent?” Remus started, tugging at his sweater sleeve. “I mean, it’s real, you can see it, but it won’t last for a long time.” At Virgil’s confused look, Remus groaned and looked away, flushing.
“Do you remember, when we were younger, when we watched White Christmas? And you had said that you wished it would snow in Florida during the winter, even for just a few hours?” Remus tugged on his sleeve again, and then gestured at the window.
“I, um, I made you a white Christmas.”
Virgil blinked, looked between Remus and the snow outside. He vaguely remembered the night Remus was referring to, but not everything. It was a few years after the Light Sides and Dark Sides had been separated, and all Virgil truly remembered was loving the looks of the snow on the trees and the buildings in the movie, and saying as much. He didn’t remember what Remus or Janus had replied with, but clearly Remus had remembered more than he had.
The six of them had been slowly making amends, and this was the first holiday season that all of them were present for. They had all made an effort to make it good, and Remus had made him something that he had only wished for as a kid. Something that he hadn’t mentioned in years, but that still spoke for the friendship the two of them had had.
Remus had started fidgeting more as the silence had worn on, and that just wouldn’t do. Virgil shifted up onto his knees, shuffling closer to Remus to wrap him up in a hug.
“Thank you, Remus. I really love it.”
Remus hugged back, tucking his head into Virgil’s neck. They stayed like that for a moment, before Remus shoved him away with a sharp cough.
“Enough of the mushy stuff,” Remus said, looking away and rubbing his neck as if that would hide his blush. “Let’s go outside, I want to shove snow down Roman’s pants.”
Roman squawked in protest as the others laughed, Patton jumping up to get everyone’s coats. They all changed, slipping on shoes and hats and heading out into the snow. Virgil laughed at Janus, his bundled up appearance matching the image that had been in Virgil’s head earlier that morning.
Stepping outside, Virgil sighed, looking at the snow. It was still unbroken and peaceful, but that didn’t last long as Remus charged past him, Roman thrown over his shoulder and yelling at him. Remus chucked Roman into the snow, a white cloud poofing out around him.
Virgil laughed, ducking as Roman threw a quickly made snowball at him. It hit Logan, which started an all-out snowball brawl between the twins, Logan, and surprisingly enough Janus. Virgil settled on the porch swing to watch them go at it, and Patton joined him after a minute.
Patton’s back was covered in snow from the snow angel he had made as soon as he had stepped outside, but that didn’t seem to bother him as he settled next to Virgil and leaned against him.
“This is fun.” Patton said, grabbing and holding Virgil’s hand. Virgil entwined their fingers, leaning his head against Patton’s.
“Yeah, it is.”
In a few minutes, a stray snowball will hit Patton, and he’ll pull Virgil into the fight with him. In about twenty minutes, both Roman and Janus will start complaining about the cold and demanding cuddles from their respective partners, and the six will head inside. Roman will commandeer the couch, tugging Virgil and Logan into his lap as Patton leans against his side, while Remus and Janus will curl up in the armchair next to them, all of them ready to watch more Christmas movies until lunch. But until then, Virgil and Patton are content to watch their partners and friends play in the snow from the porch.
I don't know if your still using the prompt list but if you are, #7 immediately followed up by #4 with Prinxiety please :)
Hello!! Sorry for the delay in getting this out, but as we’re all aware, the world’s been pretty crazy and I haven’t had much energy to write. I’m kind of considering this a 2.5 to my By Any Other Pet Name verse, though it’s honestly long enough to be a part three. Thank you @angelablue for the request, and I hope you enjoy!!
Part 1 - Part 2
Warnings: None that I can see, but please let me know if there are any!
Word Count: 1252
***
Virgil sighed. “I’m bored and I’m blaming you. How did you convince me to do this again?”
“I convinced you, Sour Puss-in-Boots,” Roman started, tapping one of Virgil’s combat boots with his own shoe, “because I wanted to make Patton and Logan confess their undying love to each other and I needed help.”
“They’re already dating, though.” Virgil said, watching Patton and Logan from the top of the stairs. The two were in the living room, quietly talking as Logan watched Patton knit, his book closed in his lap.
“I’m well aware of that, Virgil, I lost a bet to you about it.” Roman muttered. He leaned forward, and Virgil had a short burst of impulse to tug Roman back to keep him from tumbling down the stairs. He ignored it, knowing Roman had better balance than that.
“However,” Roman continued, “Dating does not equate to true love. Their cutesy nicknames and endearing honeymoon phase are admirable, but it doesn’t make up for the drama and flair of a true romantic affair!”
“I don’t think Logan and Patton are ones for dramatics.” Patton giggled below them, and Logan grinned at him, leaning over to kiss Patton’s forehead. Roman cooed at Patton’s blush, not deterred by Virgil’s doubts.
“They may not be, usually, but when one is in the throes of love, they do crazy things,” Roman threw his hands up, gesturing around has he talked. “They will go to great heights, defeat terrible foes, put themselves in embarrassing positions, preform wonderful deeds, just to look at their love and say, ‘I love you!’”
As he said the last line, Roman turned towards Virgil, making eye contact as he said the last three words. For some unknown reason, Virgil felt his face flush, and Roman’s eyes widened. His cheeks turned pink, and Roman cleared his throat before turning away.
“Uhm, yes, they will do many things to show their devotion.” He ducked his head for a split second, and Virgil couldn’t make himself look away.
“What we need to do, though, is make the two glasses-wearing lovebirds admit their undying love to each other, however we can!” Roman seemed to come back to himself, turning to Virgil with a bright grin. Virgil felt his face, which had been cooling down, get hot with a blush again.
“Will you help me, My Chemically Unbalanced Romance?” Roman asked.
Virgil furrowed his brows, huffing out a breath as he thought. On one hand, it could go terribly wrong, and Logan and Patton would get upset with them and possibly break up. On the other, more likely, hand, Virgil and Roman would simply embarrass themselves and the other two might tease them for a while and stay together. As Patton’s giggles filtered up to them from below, Logan’s quiet laughter underneath it, Virgil shook his head.
“Why not? It may be fun to watch you make a fool of yourself.”
Roman sputtered, and Virgil snickered. This was going to be fun.
***
Their first course of action, apparently, was to figure out the other’s schedules.
“We already know L’s though.” Virgil said, leaning against the counter. “He has it posted on his door so that we don’t bother him when he’s working.”
“Oh, I never pay attention to that, he’ll answer my questions whether he’s working or not.” Roman said. He was sat at the table, furiously writing something into a notebook, a few pens scattered around him. He glanced up at Virgil with a slightly sheepish grin. “To be fair, my questions are usually about scripts and stuff, so that may be why Specs doesn’t mind, but my point stands. We may know his work schedule, but we don’t know his schedule outside of that, and I don’t know about you, but I can’t make sense of what Patton does in a regular day outside of mealtimes and movie nights.”
Virgil snorted, pushing off the counter to join Roman at the table. He looked down at the notebook, seeing that Roman had been making a master schedule of what the four of them did during the day. He grinned when he saw the largest purple section was just labeled “Nap?? Existential dread??”
“First off, Pops doesn’t really have a set schedule.” Virgil plucked the light blue pen out of Roman’s hand, marking out a few of the lines Roman had. “He mainly monitors Thomas’s emotions as a background function and will manage the short-term memory hall while L manages the long-term memory hall with you.”
“I know all of that already,” Roman said, just short of whining. “But what does he do outside of that?”
“As far as I’ve gathered, chores around the house or hanging out with one of us. Or just chilling in his room. I think he takes as many naps as I do, honestly.”
Roman hummed, idly crossing out the “Existential dread” of the largest purple section and rewriting it to be later in the day. “Ok. I might have to watch him for a few days to see if I can get anything concrete, but if not, this will work.”
“What’s this for anyway?” Virgil asked, doodling some swirls in the corner of the notebook page. “And shouldn’t you have Janus’s and Remus’s schedules on here too?”
“This is so we can coordinate our plans better, so they have a higher chance of working.” Roman added some zigzags on top of Virgil’s doodles as he spoke, “Logan’s attempts at giving Thomas a schedule might not be working, but it is useful. I don’t have the other two’s schedules because I frankly don’t think Remus has one and Janus is too sneaky for me to even want to attempt to figure his out.”
Virgil laughed quietly, shaking his head. “Don’t be fooled, Janus has less of a schedule than Remus does. Remus’s is just full of chaos and pranks though, so it balances those two out.”
Roman hummed, picking up the red pen to add the little amalgamation of shapes they were making in the corner of the page. He overlapped the swirls and zig zags, giggling a bit when their hands bumped into each other. Virgil snorted, dropping the light blue pen and grabbing the navy one to outline the swirls he had already made.
They got so invested in their little creation, that it wasn’t until Roman leaned forward and knocked heads with Virgil that they realized how close they had gotten. Roman laughed again, apologizing, but Virgil was too distracted by the way the kitchen lights, as bright and slightly yellowed as they were, were catching Roman’s hair and lighting it up in a halo. His face flushed, and he swallowed roughly.
Roman smiled at him, his cheeks slightly pink from laughter, and shook his head a bit.
“I didn’t knock you to badly, did I?” He asked, and Virgil silently shook his head no. Roman hummed, seeming pleased.
He began to gather his stuff up, sliding the pens into the bright red and gold pencil case they had come from. “Good, don’t want to hurt you too bad and make you lose the few braincells Logan was willing to share.”
With that, he gave Virgil another bright smile, and headed out into the living room. Virgil stared after him, the image of Roman laughing, bright and happy and beautiful, stuck in his brain. As the last descriptor he had used registered with him, Virgil felt his face warm even more, and his heart start racing.
Hey guys!! It’s my birthday today (20 years old!!) and I wanted to share a story I’ve been sitting on for a bit. It’s another installment in the baby!virgil world that I wrote about here! If you guys want to see more of this verse (bc I have more in my brain, I just don’t know if y’all wanted to see it) feel free to send an ask or request something! I’m probably gonna also reblog some of my older work tomorrow as a ‘be proud of what you’ve written’ gift to me, so look out for that!
Pairing: familial DLAMPR, some hinted at Logicality
Warnings: a broken vase, a baby crying, kid!sides (they’re all 13, though Patton and Logan act older), baby!Virgil (he’s a few months old)
Word count: 1103 (shorter one!)
Logan sighed in frustration, scribbling out another conflict in his planner. With Thomas reaching the end of his time in middle school, Logan had thought it important for him to start planning his days. It would get him in the habit of time management so that when he reached high school, Thomas would have an easier time of transitioning into the harder workload. What Logan hadn’t accounted for, however, was Thomas’s easy-going nature landing him into agreeing to go to so many things.
It seemed like every time Logan had figured out a good schedule for the upcoming week, a new conflict or event or assignment would pop up to throw a well-aimed wrench into Logan’s carefully crafted schedule. He didn’t even know why he cared so much, he liked some of the things that Thomas wanted to do, but the planner was important to him, and so the planner would be used.
Laughter rang out outside his bedroom door, and Logan’s shoulders relaxed. The sounds of his fellow sides having fun never failed to ease his frustrations, and he was happy they were having fun.
The laughter abruptly cut off in time with the sound of a crash, and Logan’s shoulders tensed right back up. They tensed further when the sound of Virgil wailing rang through the mindscape shortly after. His fellow sides also never failed to annoy him, it seemed.
He pushed away from his desk to go tug his bedroom door open and survey the damage. Roman and Dee were standing by the remains of what once was a vase, arms already up in a placating gesture, while Remus was holding and trying to calm a squirming Virgil, who was still wailing.
The poor side had only manifested a few months before, and the littlest things would set him off. It never made it easier to see him crying, but Logan ignored the tugs on his heartstrings to level a disapproving look at the older boys.
“We didn’t mean to!” Roman cried.
“It was an accident!” Dee chimed in.
Logan sighed and took Virgil from Remus, who gave him willingly. Virgil quieted, now only crying loudly instead of wailing. The sounds of hurried footsteps came from the stairs, and Patton came flying down the hallway, apron tied around his waist and one oven mitt still on.
“What happened? Oh, Virgil, you poor thing.” Patton reached forward to smooth some of Virgil’s hair back. His cries quieted a bit further, but he was still clearly upset. Patton turned towards the others, his own disapproving look in place.
“Boys, what happened?”
They all began to speak over each other, but Dee forced the twins’ hands over their mouths to speak.
“We didn’t mean to! We were playing with Virgil as knights and he was a dragon witch and Roman got to close to the shelf and knocked the vase off on accident!”
Patton squinted, glancing between the boys. When Roman didn’t look affronted at being the cause of the vase breaking, he sighed and nodded.
“Alright. If it was an accident, then no one’s in trouble.”
They all sagged in relief, and Logan turned his attention back to the crying baby in his arms. He bounced him a little, glancing up at Patton for advice.
“Do you want me to take him? He can sit in the kitchen with me while I make lunch.” Patton reached for him but paused when Virgil gripped onto Logan’s shirt and made a broken noise.
Logan bounced him again, making wordless noises in an attempt to calm him.
“It seems he doesn’t want to let go. It’s no problem, I can keep him with me while I work.”
Patton furrowed his brow. “Do you want to risk your room affecting him? He hasn’t even settled on a function yet.”
Logan hummed, swaying slightly as Virgil’s cries turned to whimpers. He glanced at the boys shuffling in place, then thought about his planner.
“I can work in the commons, if that would ease your worries. He’ll only be in my room long enough for me to grab my things. It may even calm him enough for us to get him some water.”
Patton nodded, and Logan ducked into his room. As he guessed, Virgil’s whimpers turned into snuffling, and Logan couldn’t help but hum sympathetically.
“There you go. That was all so scary, wasn’t it? It was such a load noise, and for someone not expecting it, it must have startled you harshly.” He scooped up his planner and pencil and slipped passed Patton pointing the others towards where the cleaning supplies were, gently scolding them even as he bent down and began picking up the larger pieces.
Logan kept cooing at Virgil as he descended the stairs. He dropped his things off in the rocking chair that Patton had manifested for himself, but Logan had been frequenting enough to affectionally claim as his, and then moved into the kitchen. He filled Virgil’s sippy cup with water and helped him drink it, absentmindedly cleaning some of the tear tracks and snot off Virgil’s face with his sleeve as he did.
When Virgil was done, he settled down into the rocking chair, resting Virgil against his chest as Virgil began to nod off, exhausted from the flood of emotions. Logan began working on his planner once more, humming quietly and rocking to help Virgil fall asleep.
Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Patton leaning against the railing, staring in Logan’s direction, and he wondered briefly why he had paused on the stairs, but dismissed it as Patton getting distracted by something. Patton made his way down the rest of the stairs, pausing by the chair to ruffle Virgil’s hair gently as he went into the kitchen. Logan glanced up, flashing a brief smile at Patton as he passed.
Patton stumbled a bit, and Logan eyebrows dipped down. Maybe he should inspect the floor for loose floorboards. It wouldn’t do for one of the younger ones tripping and hurting themselves, it would only make Patton more stressed than he needed to be.
He focused back on his planner as the soft sounds of Patton finishing lunch added a comfortable background noise to the otherwise quiet commons. With Virgil sleeping against his chest and Patton in the kitchen, there was a peace that Logan hadn’t been able to find in his own room. Even when the other three came down to inspect what Patton was making for lunch, Logan was still able to finish the week’s schedule with more ease than he had been having earlier.
Hi, I wrote this in one sitting last night because the thought of Deceit freaking out about the whole ‘hitting Roman on the head with a morning star’ thing that Remus did. Technically inspiration from a text post that @coconut-cluster and @very-virgil made? I had the thought and then I saw the text post, so this was made. (I’m in a hurry, so I’ll add the taglist later!)
Trigger warnings: Deceit (sympathetic), Remus (appears briefly and asks some mild random questions), mention of a head injury and medication, please tell me if there’s anything else!
Word Count: 1520 (just like my eyesight before senior year of high school)
Deceit flipped the page of his book, enjoying the quiet that so rarely fell upon the darker side of the mindscape. He had sent Remus to Thomas almost an hour ago, and he was hoping he could finish the chapter of his book before the other side came back. He was about to turn to the next page, feeling almost giddy at how close he was to the end of the chapter, when he felt another presence enter the common room.
“Have you ever thought about snake butts?”
Deceit sighed and shut his book. “Remus, I see you’re back.”
The eccentrically dressed man popped up from behind the couch, arms spread wide.
“Ya caught me! So, snake butts?”
Deceit ignore the question as he stood, setting his book down and heading towards the kitchen. He grabbed a mug and started the coffee machine, and briefly debated putting something stronger in it before he answered.
“No, I can’t say that I have. How did your talk with Thomas go? Did you convince him to be more honest with himself?”
Remus leaned against the counter, propping his head on his fists and kicking one leg into the air. “Nah, Logan did that better than I could. I did knock Roman out of commission though. Unfortunately, he stood back up.”
Deceit, who had absentmindedly been nodding along, not entirely surprised at Logan’s success, froze. “Pardon?”
Remus shrugged. “He stood back up. Say, what if you put unground coffee beans into your coffee, wouldn’t that be an extra kick?”
“Remus, focus. What do you mean, ‘he stood back up?’ What did you do to Roman?”
“I hit him over the head with my morning star so I could get Thomas’s attention.” At Deceit’s horrified look, Remus did an over-exaggerated shrug. “What? He’s fine, he was just out for most of the video. I thought you were all about dramatic entrances.”
Deceit cursed, told Remus to stay put, and quickly sunk out of their side of the mindscape. Remus blinked in surprise, shrugged, chugged the rest of Deceit’s coffee, and proceeded to fling himself backwards over the edge of the couch to watch tv.
When Deceit rose into the light side of the mindscape, it was to find Roman sitting on the couch with Virgil sitting on one side, holding his hand, Patton on the other securing an ice pack to the back of Roman’s head with some gauze, and Logan sitting on the coffee table across from them holding a first aid kit. They all looked up in surprise at Deceit’s entrance, but before they could say anything, he was already crossing the room and batting Patton’s hands away from Roman’s head, talking all the while.
“I can’t believe he did that. Actually, I can, he’s a mess and honestly needs more supervision, I should have come with him or given him stricter instructions, oh my goodness he hit you with a morning star, what the hell.” He quickly unwrapped the gauze and removed the ice pack, muttering “Sorry, sorry,” when Roman hissed in pain. He quickly hissed in sympathy when he saw the angry bump, but thankfully it didn’t look to bad. Deceit was still upset at how big it was, though.
“Why did it swell up so much? Why didn’t you guys do something earlier, or pause the video to see if he was alright?” Before the others could even open their mouths, he plowed ahead. “Right, right, check on Thomas first, you all had the video to shoot and I doubt Remus would’ve sat still long enough for you all to do something. How did he even get that morning star back, I locked it away before I let him go, I’m going to have to childproof the safe, aren’t I? Ugh, I wish he actually thought ahead of the next ten seconds for once in his life, I might ground him for this, unbelievable, the audacity to try to permanently hurt one of you.”
Deceit sighed roughly, a contrast to how gently he replaced the ice pack and rewrapped Roman’s head. Once done, his hands fluttered around Roman’s head, unsure of what to do. He didn’t see the slightly exasperated but fond expressions the others gave him, but he did see Roman reach up and grab his hands. Roman turned, nothing but amused fondness on his face.
“Dee, I’m perfectly alright. Just a slight headache and a bump, but I’ve already taken medicine and Lo made sure I wouldn’t get a concussion.” He squeezed Deceit’s hands, Deceit only faintly noticing that he had forgotten his gloves in his panic to check on the fanciful side. “I’m okay, truly.”
Deceit, though he couldn’t detect a lie, couldn’t help but glance behind him to Logan, who gave a slight nod. His shoulders relaxed, and he briefly squeezed back.
“I didn’t think you would care, Dee, seeing as you sent Remus up there.” Virgil said, but there was no heat behind his words, only a sort of smugness and a careful questioning tone that had the snake-like side tensing and ripping his hands from Roman’s to tuck them under his cape, turning the human side of his face away to hide the blush he could feel forming.
“Well—well, I just… I am a form of self-preservation after all, wouldn’t it make sense to check on one of the sides that helps with Thomas’s career? And, and to see of the other sides that he works with are doing their jobs correctly, too?”
It was a weak excuse and he knew it, and from the snorts and quiet giggle he heard, the others knew it too. The human side of his face burned from the force of his blush. Someone began to lightly bat at his cape, trying to pull his hands back out, and he turned to see Patton leaning over the side of the couch to reach for him.
“Don’t be embarrassed, kiddo! It’s okay to care!” Patton tugged on his arm again. “Come on, come sit down.”
“Patton is right.” Logan set the first aid kit down and moved to sit next to Patton, who quickly snagged his hand.
“Despite your more…” He waved a hand through the air, “eccentric actions in the videos, we are aware that you aren’t the bad guy you attempt to portray yourself as. As for Remus, he is certainly not the first side to get a tad bit too… excited during one of the videos.” Logan grimaced, but smiled when Patton leaned into his side.
“Still, I should have more control over him.” Deceit said, cautiously sitting in between Patton and Roman when Patton patted the seat cushion. Virgil leaned around Roman to tap Deceit’s leg, a frown on his face.
“Hey, no, don’t blame yourself for him. I just did that, and they all told me off about it. You do your best to protect Thomas and us the way you know how, just like I do, and just like the others do.”
“Right,” Roman chimed in, “Shakespeare knows that my brother is a handful, and if he doesn’t want to be controlled you can’t force that, nor can you blame yourself when he does something out of hand.”
Deceit hummed, leaning back into the couch. “I suppose you all are right, as much as it pains me to say it.” He grinned a bit when Virgil snorted.
He moved to stand, saying, “Well, I best be getting back and making sure he hasn’t wrecked the place. By the way, nice job today, Logan.”
He was stopped by a hand on either arm, and both Roman and Patton were giving him a hopeful look.
“No, come on, stay! We were about to start movie night; you should join us!” Patton said, giving him puppy dog eyes as Roman did the same. Virgil gave him a shaky but hopeful smile, and Logan, to his credit, looked mildly interested in what Deceit’s answer was going to be.
Deceit opened and closed his mouth a few times, unsure. “…Someone needs to keep an eye on Remus.”
“He’ll be fine for one or two movies, and you know that, Dee.” Virgil said, leaning against Roman, who had amped up the puppy dog eyes to maximum. Deceit wavered for a moment, before sighing. “Alright, one or two movies sounds fine.”
He sat back down, grinning as Patton cheered and pressed himself to his side, pulling Logan with him. Roman and Virgil did the same on his other side, and he felt himself relax as Logan pulled up Netflix on the tv. Maybe, he mused, he should come to this side more often, if it led to reassurances and moments like this.
A few hours later, after he had extracted himself from the sleeping cuddle pile the light sides had made, he took in the casual chaos Remus had caused in his absence and made a mental note to lock Remus in his room before he left next time. Spotting five empty coffee mugs, he sighed and began to clean up. Or, at the very least, hide the coffee.
Here’s my secret santa work that I did for @cuddlebeargames ! It was a lot of fun to write!
Warnings: Descriptions of injuries, fighting, mentions of blood, pirates
Word count: 13245
Summary: Neighboring kingdoms, both in need of a treaty to help themselves: one needs the resources the other can provide, the other needs the strength and protection the other boasts. They each have an eligible heir: the resourceful kingdom’s second son, the golden boy who doesn’t have to worry about taking the throne as his intelligent older brother has it handled, and his twin is off leading the navy while he himself is in charge of the guard. The strong kingdom’s first born, heir to his throne, wary but kind, able to see dangers that his fathers might overlook, who relies on the kindness and guidance of his two advisors: a bright, friendly man with a penchant for baking, and a cunning, resourceful person who suggested the arrangement in the first place. The two princes agree to the arrangement, knowing it will help their kingdoms, even if they don’t know if they will even get along. When they meet, it seems like their marriage will just be one out of need and convenience, but as their worlds begin to come together as one kingdom is put into danger, the two find that they may not be only what their kingdoms need, but what each other needs.
******
Roman huffed, running a hand through his hair as he looked out the carriage window. The scenery was pretty, he supposed, but it wasn’t enough to distract him from the annoyance that had slowly been building in his chest since Patton had arrived in his kingdom.
Now, this annoyance wasn’t at Patton, of course not, that man was a sweetheart. No, the annoyance sat at his employer, Roman’s fiancé.
Prince Virgil of the kingdom of Anslem had been betrothed to Prince Roman of Aristeia for all of two months, and Roman had yet to even see the other man. The kingdoms had decided to merge on the basis of need: Aristeia had plenty of resources that Anslem needed, and Anslem had the protection and strength that Roman wished his kingdom had. So, the two kingdoms set their two eligible heirs together in a betrothal that would unify the kingdoms.
Virgil, as the sole heir to the throne of Anslem, was the only choice. Roman, on the other hand, was second born, and not for the first time wished that his older brother Logan wasn’t so focused on his studies and duties to the crown to be the one chosen. Or even his younger twin brother, Remus, could have been a good choice, if he ever stepped foot on land and off his naval ship. As it were, Roman was captain of the guard, and, as his father had calmly explained to him when he had whined, he would be able to provide a strategic and analytical perspective to the Anslem guard after his wedding.
The betrothal hadn’t been a problem then, when Roman had learned he would still be able to be the captain of the guard. He was actually excited for it; getting to see a whole new kingdom, meet his future husband and see if he would have the fairytale life that he had read about when he was younger. When he learned that Virgil was supposed to come to Aristeia first, he did all he could to prepare a welcome that befit a prince, especially one that would later be his husband.
When the carriage inscribed with Anslem’s crest had first arrived, Roman wasn’t sure what he should expect from Prince Virgil. He knew the other was serious, but kind, and that Virgil always took time to make decisions. So maybe, he was calm, confident? Would he be tall and serious, only to be sweeter behind closed doors, away from prying eyes? Or would he be kind on all fronts, unafraid to show affection and love to those he cared about?
Whatever it was, the short, bubbly young man that stepped out of the carriage hadn’t been it. The man had introduced himself not as Prince Virgil, but as one of his advisors, Patton Mayfield. He had apologized on behalf of the Prince, stating that he had been caught up in his lessons and wouldn’t have been able to step away for too long. Patton had also said, quietly enough that only Roman would hear, that Virgil had been worried about making a fool of himself in an unfamiliar land, and that had been enough to quell the initial burst of hurt that Roman had felt when Patton had first arrived.
The annoyance stayed, though Roman couldn’t focus on it long as he showed Patton the kingdom. Patton was too kind and bright to keep any negative feelings the focus for too long in his presence. Even if he wasn’t, the way he had zoned in on Logan when they were first introduced and had seemed to make it his mission to shamelessly flirt and turn Logan varying shades of red whenever they talked was too amusing to keep Roman’s annoyance at Virgil the forefront of his mind.
But here, alone in a carriage that was carrying him to his betrothed’s kingdom, Roman let himself feel annoyed. He understood the importance of learning how to run a kingdom, he had seen Logan stress out about everything he would have to know to run Aristeia, but he still would have liked some warning about Virgil not coming. Even just a messenger before the carriage pulled in, so that Roman wouldn’t have had half the guard pulled to greet who he had thought would be the Crown Prince of Anslem.
As the carriage began to go through the village that surrounded the castle, Roman took a deep breath. As he exhaled, he let the annoyance in his chest go out with it. He knew that meeting Virgil annoyed would not be a good foot to start their future together with, and he wanted to avoid conflict if he could.
Roman looked back out at the village and smiled. It didn’t seem so much quaint as it did homely, and the friendly people and children running after the carriage with laughter reminded him so much of the town by his own castle that Roman couldn’t help but have a joyful disposition as he pulled into the castle gates.
Stepping out of the carriage once it had stopped, Roman had expected some fanfare, or a small collection of the guard, but there was only one other person in the small courtyard, who Roman could only assume was the other advisor that Patton had mentioned. They couldn’t have been more Patton’s opposite if they were actively trying, Roman mused has he walked the short distance to greet the other. Tall, sleek, and with a splash of lighter skin around the left side of their face, the other advisor would have been intimidating if Roman wasn’t convinced that he could easily use them as a weightlift.
They looked him up and down, brown and green eyes flickering over his form before meeting his gaze.
“Greetings, Prince Roman. My name is Dee, my pronouns are they/them. Come along.”
With that, they turned and moved towards the castle. They began to talk over their shoulder as Roman scrambled to follow them.
“Your belongings will be brought to your room shortly. Prince Virgil apologizes that he could not greet you personally, but he has other matters to attend to that could not be put off. He will meet you at dinner tonight.”
Dee led him to his chambers, a large bedroom with a washroom and separate office connected on either side of the bedroom. As Roman set his own satchel down by the bed, Dee stayed in the doorway.
“Is there anything you need at the moment, your highness?”
“No, thank you, Dee. That would be all.”
Dee nodded, the perfect example of professionalism. “I will be back to collect you for dinner.” With that, they shut the chamber door, leaving Roman alone once more.
Roman stared at the door a moment, then snorted. “Truly Patton’s opposite.” he muttered.
Patton hadn’t been professional at all, unless he was in the presence of Roman’s parents or one of the servants. If it was just Roman or Logan with him, he had been friendly and over excited, barely forgetting to properly address either of them, unless he was trying to get Logan to fluster. Dee, though, seemed like they had no other mode but to be an advisor to royalty. If Patton had not told Roman that they were related before he had left, Roman would have assumed that Dee and Patton had never even existed in the same vicinity.
Sitting on the bed with a sigh, Roman looked around the room again. It was nice, and the bed was comfortable. Glancing over at his satchel, Roman decided that his next course of action would be to take a nap before he even looked at any of the work he brought with him.
***
Roman woke with a start, blinking in bewilderment at his door, which was now swinging wide open. Dee stood in the threshold, smoothing down they’re shirt as if they hadn’t just thrown the door open.
“Can I help you?” Roman asked, sitting up. For a moment, Dee looked embarrassed, but they’re face quickly smoothed back out to indifference.
“You weren’t answering the door when I knocked.” They said, as if that explained anything.
“I was sleeping?” Roman replied, though his voice lilted up at the end in confusion.
Dee nodded once, then began to usher Roman out of bed and make him look presentable.
“I apologize if I disturbed you, your highness, but we do have to get going to dinner. Prince Virgil will be in attendance.”
Roman brightened, and quickly smoothed out his hair. Changing into something nicer than his travel clothes, because it appeared as if the servants had gotten all his belongings unpacked and ready for him while he was napping, Roman followed Dee out the door and to the dining hall.
It was small, being the familial hall rather than the banquet hall, but it was warm and still seemed lively, despite only one other person sitting at the table. Prince Virgil was alone at the table, sitting across from the only other place set up for a meal.
If it weren’t for the fact that Roman was tired and somewhat annoyed at how he had been woken up, he felt that he would have fallen for the other prince right then.
Because Roman has eyes, and Virgil was gorgeous. Pale skin, dark hair that looks like it would swoop into his eyes if it wasn’t held back by the small circlet that he was wearing. And those eyes, dark and mysterious and just the perfect shade of oak brown that would have had Roman weak at the knees if it weren’t for the way they were darting back and forth across the room as if Virgil was looking for an escape route.
Dee gave him a small push further into the room and announced Roman’s presence, and Roman didn’t miss the way that Virgil tensed. He tried to give the other prince a reassuring smile, but from the way Virgil broke eye contact, he assumed it didn’t work.
“Dinner will arrive shortly.” Dee said, pulling out Roman’s chair and pouring him a glass of wine. They swept out of the room, and it descended into a silence that was not so much uncomfortable as it was awkward.
Roman opened his mouth to say… anything, really, but Virgil beat him to the punch.
“I apologize for not being able to meet you this morning or go to your kingdom.” He said, his voice deep and smooth. He plowed on before Roman could say anything in response. “I had lessons, and then this morning there was a small meeting about a crop failure in one of the outer villages, and then I had to get ready for another meeting, and at that point you were already here and—”
“Virgil.” Roman interrupted gently. He hadn’t been annoyed before, and even if he was, it would have disappeared in the face of Virgil’s clear nervousness at meeting Roman.
Virgil’s mouth clicked shut, and he ducked his head. When he didn’t attempt to say anything else, Roman began.
“It’s okay. Patton was great company, and he had explained that you couldn’t get away. Believe me, I’ve seen what those lessons are like, I don’t blame you for not being able to escape.” He smiled, then shrugged. “As for today, I was able to take a nap, though I didn’t get any work done like I had planned.”
Virgil had lifted his head as Roman had talked, and now looked interested.
“What work do you have to do?”
Roman beamed, pride coursing through him. “Training regimens. I’m the captain of the Aristeia guard.”
Virgil’s eyebrows shot up, and he looked impressed. Roman did his best not to preen, but it was a close thing.
“What led you to being captain of the guard?” Virgil asked, leaning forward in interest.
“Well, with Logan being trained to rule the kingdom, Remus and I were taught to command different parts of the country under him. I took the land-based militia, while Remus trained to lead our naval division.” Roman explained, glad that they were getting along.
“Right, you all have some of the largest ports on the southern end of the continent.” Virgil said, seemingly proud of himself for remembering that. Roman bit back a grin, inexplicably pleased that Virgil was knowledgeable about his kingdom.
The rest of dinner passed like that, light conversation to get to know each other. Virgil went on about the tediousness of some of his lessons, doing a rather good impression of Dee telling him that it would be “important to the future of the kingdom, for Virgil to actually know the history of it,” while Roman explained Patton’s increasingly obvious attempts to woo Logan, and Logan’s increasingly amusing embarrassment and confusion at said attempts.
After dinner, Virgil took Roman on a small tour of the castle, hitting the main areas that he might interact with during his stay, namely a library, a ballroom, some smaller rooms like studies and reading rooms. It ended in the garden, a small, rather sparse area with a few neatly trimmed bushes and trees and some flower beds.
It was a far cry from the large garden that Roman’s mother tended to when she had less busy days, that was teeming with every bush, tree, and flower that she had wanted. Roman ran a hand over one of the bushes, smiling at a memory of his mother elbow deep in soil, with her handmaidens flitting around like bees, distressed at how dirty she was making her dress.
He laughed a little, casting a small smile over at Virgil. “My mother would have a field day in your garden. She loves gardens overflowing with life and plants, and I think she would try to add about a hundred more trees if she saw how few there are.”
Roman had hoped it would cause Virgil to laugh, or talk about his own fathers, who he had yet to meet. Instead, though, Virgil bristled, a frown flitting across his face.
“She must worry more about her garden than her kingdom’s defenses, hmm?” Virgil’s voice was barb wire wrapped in cloth, and Roman startled, confused irritation lancing through him.
“At least we have the resources to have a large garden.” Roman shot back, brows furrowed.
Virgil didn’t hide his anger this time, opening his mouth for a moment before suddenly deflating. He ran a hand down his face, shoulders dropping.
“We’re getting married.” He muttered, sounding like he was reminding himself that rather than telling them both.
Roman couldn’t keep his mouth shut, though, and he always had a bad habit of needing the last word.
“Can’t even take a compliment.” He muttered, loud enough for Virgil to hear him. Virgil immediately reared back up, anger and confusion fighting for dominance on his face.
“Where was there a compliment in any of that?” He demanded, shoulders hiking up as he stepped closer.
Roman matched him step for step, and soon they were almost nose to nose. “I don’t know, maybe when I said my mother would enjoy your garden?” he asked, unable to keep the condescending tone out of his voice.
Virgil scoffed, “You said she would want to change it!”
“That’s how she shows her interest!” Roman through his hands up, moving around Virgil to head back inside.
“Where are you going?” Virgil asked, whirling around.
“To my room. I’m not going to argue with you about this.” Roman replied, without turning around. Footsteps followed him, and Virgil appeared at his side.
“I’ll show you the way back.”
That was the last Virgil said to him, leading Roman back to his room and leaving without so much as a goodbye. Roman huffed, crossing his arms as he stared after Virgil. He wasn’t sure if he would be able to be married to someone who would so easily argue with him over such small things.
***
The next week continued the same, the two trying to talk and ending in arguments. Virgil had apologized the very next day, stating that the garden was something he and his fathers had worked on when they all had the chance to meet together, and Roman had apologized for continuing the argument instead of trying to deescalate it. Virgil had made a small comment that he had liked Roman’s passion, which made Roman turn red, but the apology didn’t solve every problem.
They were still arguing about anything they seemed to disagree on, from simple things like what type of pastry was better to more complicated, like what Roman should be doing in his training or what Virgil should focus on in lessons. Most of it was inconsequential, nothing that couldn’t be smoothed over with an apology or a few hours away from each other, but they still seemed to argue more than they talked.
It was during one such argument that Roman met Virgil’s fathers. Later, he wouldn’t be able to say what the argument was about, but Roman would say it probably wasn’t the best way he could have met them, but hindsight is only twenty-twenty.
They had been in the dining room again, having just had lunch, when Dee had come in, more serious than Roman had seen them be in the week he had been in Anslem. They had simply announced that Kings Remy and Emile wanted to have an audience with both princes, before walking out, expecting Virgil and Roman to follow.
Virgil furrowed his brows, muttering, “Why couldn’t they have just met us in the dining room?” but followed Dee none the less.
Roman couldn’t keep his nerves at bay, thoughts racing through his head. Why had they wanted an audience instead of just having a meal with them? Patton hadn’t made them out to be incredibly formal, saying that the kings were kind and just, though Remy could be a bit sassy. Had something happened? Were they calling off the betrothal? Was his family in danger?
The latter thought made Roman feel a weird mix of sick and protective, but the former made him oddly upset, more so than he thought he would be. As much as he and Virgil argued, he was beginning to enjoy the others presence. He couldn’t think of anything he had done that would make them call off the betrothal and future wedding.
They entered the throne room, both kings sitting regal and serious, making Roman’s nerves double. King Remy was the more intimidating of the two, lean and tall enough that he seemed to be towering over Roman, even as he sat on his throne. His clothing was dark, a black cloak resting over his shoulders and gray tunic. His husband was the opposite, a cream-colored vest over his white tunic. Patton had claimed that King Emile was bubbly enough to rival himself, but the serious gaze and worried eyes hidden behind his glasses was anything but.
Roman took Virgil’s lead, walking in time with him until they were just in front of the thrones, though Dee held back, standing near the door. King Emile gave him a quick smile, but it did nothing to untie the knot in Roman’s stomach.
“Prince Roman, it is a pleasure to meet you,” King Remy began, “though I wish it were under better circumstances.”
“What’s wrong?” Virgil demanded, his shoulders tense. Remy gave his son a look, and Emile picked up where his husband had left off, cutting to the chase.
“We’ve received word from your parents that Prince Remus and his men were attacked coming into port.” Emile said. “His ship and a few others made in back, but several where taken captive.”
Roman had frozen, his whole body going cold. Was Remus injured? What if it was severe, or fatal? What if he didn’t make it?
Roman faintly registered a hand on his back, and felt a brief flash of gratitude for Virgil checking in with him, but it was quickly swallowed by his fear.
Emile had continued talking, either not noticing or ignoring Roman’s expression.
“The pirate in charge of the attack seemed to imply that they weren’t finished yet. The next day, Prince Logan and Mr. Mayfield were attacked just outside the city gates,” there was a faint gasp from the back of the room, and Roman could empathize with Dee. “Though the attacker wasn’t caught, they were able to injure Prince Logan, leaving a similar message as the pirates.”
First Remus, now Logan? Roman’s ears were ringing slightly, and the pressure on his back grew as Virgil stepped closer to support him.
“Your parents are requesting that your visit be extended to keep you out of harm’s way,” Remy said, eyebrows furrowed in concern. “They also requested assistance from our guard, and implied that you would be able to accurately describe what they would need to bolster their protection.”
That snapped Roman out of his daze, and he squared his shoulders in determination. This, he could do in his sleep.
“They’ll most likely need whatever they can get.” He said, looking King Remy in the eye with a seriousness that the king matched. “Any guard you can spare, as well as any navy you may have. If these would-be attackers are truthful in saying that they’re not done yet, then Aristae will need proper protection.” He was quiet for a moment, then nodded once.
“Which also means they’ll need their captain of the guard.”
It took a moment, but Virgil caught on to way Roman meant.
“What? No, Roman, you’re not going back there!”
“Yes, I am!” Roman snapped back.
“No! They attacked your brothers; you could be next!” Virgil exclaimed, sounding both worried and desperate for Roman to agree with him.
Roman looked him dead on, steel in his voice.
“Exactly, they attacked my brothers. I protect my own, and I’m not going to let them go without my help.”
Virgil studied him for a moment, and Roman didn’t waver. Virgil huffed, then nodded.
“Alright. Then I’m coming with you.”
“What?”
“Really?”
Remy and Roman spoke over each other, though Roman sounded more delighted by Virgil’s response than Remy did. Roman beamed at Virgil, happy to have him willing to assist his family. Remy looked ready to lock Virgil in his room.
“Virgil, no, you can’t go. What if you get hurt?”
“What if Roman does?” Virgil shot back. A small zing of fondness shot through Roman, but he ignored it for now. They still argued too much, Virgil’s apparent protectiveness over Roman none withstanding.
Remy looked ready to argue with his son more, but Emile put a hand on his shoulder to quiet him, a strange, small smile on his face. Roman couldn’t tell if it was amused or fond or both, but from the way he was studying them, he softly assumed it was both.
“Relax, love. If Virgil goes, he’ll get to see the kingdom, control our guard, and protect his betrothed all in one go. He’ll be okay.”
Remy pursed his lips, but finally nodded. Virgil grinned at his father, and Roman stared at his smile for longer than he meant too. He snapped back to attention when Remy spoke.
“Alright. Okay. Okay. You can go, if!” He pointed at his son, leveling with a soft glare, “if you promise to be careful.”
“I will, don’t worry.” Virgil smiled softly, and Roman found himself distracted once more. “Worrying’s my job, remember?”
Remy only hummed, amusement shining in his eyes. Emile grinned at his son, then addressed Dee in the back.
“Dee, will you help them gather what they need? I assume you’ll be joining them as well?”
Dee stepped forward, shoulders tense but voice steady. “Yes, your majesty. I will go begin preparations now.” They swept out of the room, and Roman bowed while Virgil thanked his fathers before they both quickly followed after them.
Within the next few hours, they were able to get a sizable guard ready to go, with more scheduled to follow in the next few days. The kings of Anslem stood on a balcony watching over the preparations.
Remy was still unsure of Virgil joining Roman, and even of Roman going, but Emile reassured him that it would be fine.
“Besides,” Emile say, watching Virgil gather the guard with Roman’s help, “You really think we’d be able to keep either of them here? They’d sneak out as soon as we looked away.”
“I know,” Remy sighs, watching as the two argue over what weaponry they should pack. “They seem to work together as much as they argue.”
“It’ll serve them well, I think.” Emile muses, a smile at the corners of his mouth.
***
The ride back to Aristeia was quiet and tense. Roman knew he should be planning, or at least doing something other than looking out the window, but he couldn’t keep the worry in his chest at bay. Were his brothers truly alright? What if his parents hadn’t mentioned everything?
Across from him, Dee wasn’t much better, sitting ramrod straight and looking forward at nothing. There was some sympathy for them, as Roman’s parents’ letter hadn’t mentioned much about Patton past him being with Logan, but no mention of his being hurt were good, right?
Roman could feel the unease and concern radiating off of Virgil next to him, but he couldn’t bring himself to reassure the other prince. After a few more minutes of silence, Virgil leaned forward to put a hand on Dee’s knee.
“He’ll be okay,” he said. He leaned over a bit, just enough to put some of his weight on Roman’s side. “They all will.”
He gave them both a small smile, then leaned up and away. Roman briefly missed the weight and heat of Virgil leaning against him, but turned his focus back to his brothers. He found he had enough focus now to start planning how he was going to assimilate Virgil’s guard into his own, and sent Virgil a small smile of his own in thanks for the help.
***
When they arrived at the castle, they’re immediately ushered into the infirmary. They’re greeted by Roman’s parents, King Mitchell giving him a quick hug while Queen Raya—a dark, short woman with a strong grip and confident tone—greeted Virgil and Dee. They switched, the queen kissing Roman’s cheek and moving him further into the infirmary as the king shook Virgil’s hand.
King Mitchell was tall, closer to Dee and Virgil’s height, as tan as Roman, with kind eyes and crows-feet that spoke of joy and energy, a close-cropped beard covering the matching laugh lines around his mouth. That joy and energy wasn’t present now though, as Virgil followed him to where the queen had taken Roman
Dee followed close behind them, and Virgil could tell that the only thing keeping them from pushing past Virgil and the king was their deep-rooted sense of professionalism. That didn’t seem to last though, as they came up on the two beds occupied in the private infirmary room.
Dee finally moved around the royals, all but running to where their brother was seated by Logan’s bed. Virgil watched their hands flutter around Patton’s head, and he winced in sympathy at the large bruise on the side of Patton’s face, then he turned his attention to the bed-ridden princes of Aristeia.
Logan was lean, sharp features and dark eyes that surveyed the room, though they softened when he saw Roman. His eyes also softened when he looked at Patton, though Virgil filed that away for later.
“Roman,” Logan began, trying to sit up, “It is good to see you again. I trust your trip was satisfactory—”
He cut off when he moved up further than a few inches, wincing as his hand flew to the opposing shoulder, which was wrapped in gauze. Patton turned away from Dee to gently push on Logan’s good shoulder, admonishing him quietly.
“Lo, you know the doctor said you had to stay still until the gauze could be removed.” He slid his hand down, squeezing Logan’s arm.
Logan flushed at the contact, but laid back. Looking back at Roman, he quirked an eyebrow.
“Well? How was your trip?”
Roman laughed, more of a slightly panicked bark than any of the laughter that Virgil had come to look forward to hearing in the week Roman had been in Anslem.
“My trip? It was great, lovely, who cares about that right now? You and Remus were attacked!”
At the mention of Roman’s twin, Virgil turned his attention to the one brother who hadn’t said anything yet. Remus had gauze in various places, though most looked hastily wrapped, as if they were done in a hurry. At the way Remus was picking at one on his arm, Virgil hazarded a guess that it wasn’t the first time they’d had to rewrap Remus’s injuries. That didn’t surprise him, from the crazy stories Roman had told him in between the times they were arguing. Remus was energetic, almost too much so, and had a hard time focusing on anything that wasn’t his boat, crew, or family, so seeing him not caring about keeping his gauze intact wasn’t surprising. What was though, was what he currently focused on.
Remus had an almost intense focus on Dee, tracking his eyes up and down their form as they fretted over Patton. Dee turned, probably feeling eyes on them, and made eye contact with the youngest Aristeia prince.
Virgil watched them crook an eyebrow at Remus, and Remus’s responding Cheshire grin and wink. He almost snickered at the way Dee flushed and rolled their eyes, but quickly grimaced when Remus started wiggling his eyebrows and Dee only smirked. He tuned back into what Roman and Logan were discussing before Dee and Remus got any worse.
“I am perfectly alright, Roman, there is no need for dramatics. It is only a minor graze and a non-deadly puncture wound.” Logan was saying, ignoring the affronted scoff Roman gave.
“A non-deadly puncture wound,” Roman mocked, taking on an air that seemed to be his way of imitating Logan. He dropped it though, and let some worry and panic seep into his tone. “A puncture wound is still a puncture wound! What if it wasn’t non-deadly? What if you seriously got hurt? They were targeting you and Patton!”
“Actually,” Patton said, “they were only going after Logan.”
Roman’s brow furrowed, confusion written on his face. “The bruise?”
“Oh! I got that from—”
“From when he saved my life.” Logan interrupted, fondness and pride in his voice.
Patton flushed, ducking his head, “I didn’t-no, I just—”
Logan talked over him, a proud smile on his face, eyes trained on Patton only as he recounted what had happened.
“We were taking a walk, when we were attacked. The attacker got a hit on my arm, and the only reason he didn’t succeed in stabbing my chest was because Patton deflecting the hit to my shoulder.
“It earned him a bruise in the process as the attacker knocked him to the side, but it gave the guard enough time to get to us and chase the attacker away.”
He reached forward to grab Patton’s hand, giving it a squeeze.
“You saved my life, Patton. Be proud of that.”
Patton blinked at him, seemingly stunned. “Ok.” He breathed, face red.
Roman lean over and whispered in Virgil’s ear, “The flirtee has flustered the flirter.”
Virgil tried to keep his snickers quiet, but from the way both Roman and Queen Raya were grinning at him, he didn’t think he succeeded. Logan and Patton didn’t hear him though, too caught up in each other, so that was a plus.
Roman turned to his twin, snorting at the way he was picking at his gauze. He smacked Remus’s hand away from it, effectively breaking Remus out of whatever silent conversation he had been having with Dee. Going off the flush on Dee’s cheeks, Virgil guessed he didn’t want to know.
“What about you, Ree? Are you good?”
Remus grinned at his brother, looking slightly maniacal with the light bruising around his eyes and bandages.
“Yep! I just want to go find the idiot who thought they could take my ships and get away with and it kill them, but, you know, can’t quite do that when they won’t let me out of this bed.”
“Your leg is broken, dear,” Queen Raya said mildly, not seeming fazed by her youngest’s claims of violence.
Remus’s face scrunched, and he stuck out his tongue at his mother. Roman and Logan both snorted, used to their brother’s antics, but Virgil and Patton looked mildly scandalized while Dee laughed lightly.
Remus brightened at the sound. “Here’s an idea: you all let me out of the bed, and the tall drink of water over there can help me around! Win-win for everyone.”
Dee flushed again, sputtering, and Virgil outright laughed at that.
“Win-win for you maybe,” He said, smirking at Remus, “but I think Dee would either go to fast for you, or get fed up with being a crutch.”
Remus shrugged, smile still in place. “I like a challenge.”
Dee choked, and Patton was grinning slyly at his sibling. The Aristeia family looked amused, and Roman reached over to squeeze Virgil’s hand. Virgil’s heart skipped a beat in his chest, and he chose to ignore it. After all, they had bigger things to worry about right now.
***
After ensuring that his brothers were okay, Roman had been about ready to go out on his own to find and fight the people that had dared to attack his family. He pulled himself together quickly though, and got right into planning with his second-in-command and the captain of the Anslem guard.
Virgil was a little impressed. He had seen how quickly Roman could get riled up, and to see him focus in like that so quickly startled him. Seeing how calmly and confidently he led the subsequent meeting also impressed Virgil, and made his chest stir with something he wasn’t willing to identify yet.
“We’ll need to up the amount of guards that are in each rotation.” Roman was saying, looking between his second and the Anslem captain.
His second-in-command, a young woman named Teri, nodded. “With the guard provided by Anslem, it should be relatively easy.”
Virgil’s captain of the guard, Norma, cut in. “My soldiers are used vigilant and are used to the heavy protection that Anslem needs. It might be easier to just replace your guard with my own.”
Teri looked mad and opened her mouth to say something that no doubt would start an argument. Virgil prepared for just that, but Roman lifted his hand to cut Teri off, not breaking eye contact with Norma.
Roman studied them for a moment, then said, “I have no doubt that your guard is capable, and that they will be a benefit to our guard at this time. However, my guard knows the castle and surrounding city, and would know what to look for regarding an ordinary thief or ruffian, and what we are currently facing.”
He smiled at Norma, though there wasn’t much brevity in it. “Your guard will work with my own, and when in doubt, they will defer to me. Should I not be available, I expect that you and Teri will work together to lead them.”
Norma bowed their head, though they didn’t seem pleased. Virgil made a mental note to check in with them, as he knew that they liked to be listened too and respected. He couldn’t help the pride in his chest, at how easily Roman averted an argument that, knowing Norma, would have lasted much longer than they could afford.
“What about the naval forces, sir?” Teri asked.
“They’ll be on the look out for anything that looks like the symbol Remus and Logan described, just as the guard will. Norma, would you be willing to lead that charge, as Remus isn’t currently sea-worthy?”
Norma nodded, determination clear in their features. “And should we find anything?”
“They’ll be brought in, questioned, and brought to justice.” Roman easily replied. “I want this taken care of and handled as quickly and easily as possible.”
He smiled, this one more easy-going and lighter. “I do have my own wedding to worry about, after all.”
Teri laughed, and Norma grinned slyly at Virgil, who could feel his cheeks warming. Roman was too pretty to handle, sometimes, and the easy-going smile that was now directed at Virgil wasn’t helping.
***
It had been two weeks since the pirates had appeared, and they hadn’t made much progress. There had been glimpses of the symbol throughout the kingdom, but most had been too quick for the guard to catch. At sea, there had been just as much luck, as the ships would disappear before they could track them.
Though the search had somewhat stalled, the growing feelings between Virgil and Roman hadn’t. They had been in close quarters those two weeks, making sure that their respective guards behaved themselves and got along. They had also been planning the wedding, in between moments of searching, at the king and queen’s request.
Virgil was… conflicted to say the least. They had been in close quarters in his own kingdom, after all, and those feelings hadn’t been as intense then. Sure, there were some at the beginning, Virgil wasn’t blind and Roman was insanely pretty. Honey-blonde hair that swooped over tan skin and hazel eyes… Roman was beautiful, and Virgil had felt his heart going like crazy when they had had that first dinner. It never really stopped, even as they argued and bickered. None of it had been truly malicious then, and now it had softened further.
They were arguing over what color the flowers should be, or what the reception should be like, for goodness’s sake! That was a far cry from when they had been in Anslem, and Virgil wasn’t sure what had changed. A part of him, that suspiciously sounded like Dee, said it was due to time and closeness, that they had simply gotten more comfortable around each other to let those harsher arguments end before they began.
Another part of him, though, one that had to be Patton, said it was because he was seeing Roman in a new setting, surrounded by his family and friends, and he was getting to see a Roman who was comfortable enough to be goofy and friendly and as energetic as he wanted to be.
Virgil decided it was a mix of both. Roman was willing to be loud and laugh and would smile at him more because he was in his home, with his family, and they were talking and arguing about inconsequential things. But Roman was more comfortable with him, willing to show the reserved part of him, that one that was tired and worried and just wanted to be done with the whole pirate problem.
That was another part; how Roman would work to put everything together to make their different resources and approaches to the guard work, the strategy and quick mind that would find a solution to what new problem the guard was having before it truly became a problem. His respect for his guard, and the respect they showed him in return. All of it was making the fondness in Virgil’s chest grow, and he didn’t know what to do.
He didn’t even know why he was freaking out so much! They were getting married, of course Virgil would feel something for Roman; he just didn’t expect it to be this fast. Virgil had agreed to this marriage to help his kingdom, and knew that he might eventually fall for Roman, given enough time, but it had barely been a month, and Virgil was already feeling like he could say he loved Roman. And that was terrifying, wasn’t it? What if Roman didn’t feel the same? They were engaged, yeah, but Roman could just few him as a friend, or someone that he would have to work with. Virgil didn’t want to mess anything up by going to fast.
He watched as Roman laughed with his mother, batting away her hands in an attempt to keep the flowers she had picked out of his hair, and felt the bundle of feelings in his chest pulse. He took a breath, and let the feelings go to the wayside for the moment. When this pirate mess was all said in done, then he would ponder on his feelings, and see how Roman felt.
Maybe he should also talk to Patton and Dee about this as well, if Virgil could pull them away from their respective Aristeia princes. From the way Patton was flirting heavily with a bright red Logan, and how Dee was struggling to not fall over from the way Remus was draped over them, talking to them might have to wait as well.
***
They finally caught a break a few days later. Someone was seen ducking into an alleyway near the ports bearing the pirate’s symbol, and they were apprehended fairly easily, as the alleyway they had gone in was a dead end.
They were brought it, and now Roman was pacing just outside the jail cell, were they couldn’t see him, or see Virgil leaning against the wall watching him pace. They were just waiting for Norma to get to the castle, as their ship had been in port when the pirate was apprehended.
After a moment, Virgil pushed off the wall and caught Roman’s arms in his hands.
“Calm down, it’ll be fine.” He said quietly, giving Roman a reassuring smile.
Roman smiled back, glad to have him with him. He still couldn’t keep the worry out of his expression though.
“I know, I know. It’s just, why was it so easy? If they know enough of our city to keep from getting caught for so long, why would they go into a dead end? Part of me is worried it’s a distraction for something bigger.”
Virgil rubbed his hands up and down Roman’s arms, mouth scrunched to the side.
“Well, we still have the guard on rotation, so if anything happens, there’ll be someone to stop it while we’re alerted. Plus, if this isn’t a distraction, we’re one step closer to ending this!” His lips quirked up a little, and he squeezed Roman’s arms. “Gotta look on the bright side a little bit.”
Roman’s heart swelled with affection, and he laughed a little. “Yeah, yeah, you’re right. Thank you.” He smiled at Virgil, delighting in the pink that flushed his cheeks.
Virgil scoffed lightly though, looking to the side. “Wow, you’re saying I’m right? That’s a first.”
Roman chuckled, then hummed. “Maybe, but it’s true.”
Virgil got pinker, and he dropped his hands as he leaned against the wall again. “Yeah, ok.”
Roman grinned. He knew that he was falling for Virgil, and he wasn’t as freaked out about it as he thought he would be. He was a bit of a hopeless romantic, and he had always hoped he would have a fairy tale romance, one where he swept his love of his feet, and they would have a future of love and happiness and fun.
And he did have fun with Virgil. They bickered and argued and snarked at each other, but it was harmless, and Roman honestly looked forward to it. Plus, they worked well together, and Roman loved getting to see the respect Virgil had for his people, and how he would take Patton and Dee’s advice seriously. Virgil had also been willing to show Roman his vulnerable side, and how he was truly always anxious that he would do something that would hurt his people; yet, he pushed through that anxiety to provide a calm level-headedness that worked well for his people, and that worked almost in tandem with Roman’s energy and strategic mindset.
His looks were also something that Roman had been enamored with since they first met, and that hadn’t lessened in the slightest, though Virgil’s smirk should be illegal, as it was too attractive and had almost distracted Roman a handful of times.
So no, Roman wasn’t worried about how quickly he was falling for the man he would be marrying after this was all said and done. His only worry was moving too fast for Virgil. He would flirt, yes, but he wouldn’t push the other prince into anything. He would wait to see if Virgil felt the same after the pirates were dealt with.
Roman was knocked out of his thoughts when Norma turned the corner, their face blank. He nodded at them, and they simply nodded back. He made eye contact with Virgil, threw him a quick smile, and then turned toward the jail cell that held their captive, head held high. Norma followed his lead, and in unison they stepped into view of the cell.
The captive looked young, and Roman felt his heart twist at the way they were shaking in the corner, but he ignored it. He had to look at this as a ruler protecting his people, not as a young man who wanted to help everyone.
The captive’s hair was hanging in their face, and the bags under their eyes spoke of little sleep and high stress, and their cloak seemed to dwarf them. They looked between Roman and Norma with fear in their eyes, and Roman decided to go with a gentle approach.
“We don’t want to hurt you,” he began, plowing on when the captive flinched, “and we have no intention of doing so. We just want to know what you know and figure out where our ships are.”
The captive was silent for a moment, then quietly said, “I don’t know.”
Norma sneered. “If you won’t be cooperative—”
The captive interrupted, hands up and voice panicked. “I swear! They don’t tell me much, I new to all of this! I didn’t even want to do this!”
“Then why are you doing this?” Roman asked, stepping closer to the cell. He wasn’t entirely happy with how Norma immediately got aggressive, but it was getting them somewhere.
“My parents had some debt they couldn’t pay off, and the lady said I could work with them to pay it off. I didn’t want to, but I needed to help my family!” The captive was gesturing frantically now. “They sent me here, I was given the basics of this side of it, and then was sent out to go grab supplies. You guys got me before I could do anything!”
“What lady? And what do you mean by ‘sent you here?’” Norma had gentled, seeming to understand that the kid, for they did look like they couldn’t be older than 15, didn’t know much.
“I don’t know her,” The kid began. “All I know is she’s in charge of the Anslem part of their group. That’s where I’m from, Anslem.”
They rubbed the back of their neck, “That’s why I got caught so easy. I didn’t realize I was going into a dead end until it was too late.”
Both Roman and Norma had frozen, and out of the corner of his eye, Roman could see that Virgil was now standing as close to the cell as he could without being seen.
“Anslem?” Roman repeated.
The kid nodded, though now they looked nervous again.
“Yeah, Anslem. From what some of the others explained, there’s two sides to this whole thing? Like, most of the sea stuff is Aristeia based, since you all have the ports, while most of the land-based stuff is from Anslem.”
Their brow furrowed, “I don’t really know what their goal is? In Anslem, they were mainly just stealing stuff and putting people in debt and stuff. My parents worked with them a lot and would usually pay them back with our food.”
They rubbed their arm, their eyes a million miles away. “I usually had to give my little brother and sister my portion of food, so they wouldn’t be hungry and bother my parents with it. I wonder how they’re doing right now…”
Roman’s heart twisted again, for this kid’s situation. What kind of parents would willing put their children in danger to help scoundrels like these pirates? He wanted to help this kid, and their siblings, he just didn’t know how.
“What’s your name, kid?”
Roman and Norma started, as Virgil come around the corner to stand right behind Roman.
The kid’s face paled, and they breathed out, “Prince Virgil…”
Then, they dropped to the ground, their body trembling as apologies poured out of their mouth.
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry! I didn’t want to, please don’t keep me here forever or punish me, I’m sorry, I’m sorry!”
Virgil looked stricken for a moment, but he crouched down to be on level with the kid. He reached a hand through the bars, just barely able to place it on the kid’s shoulder.
“It’s okay, it’s okay. What’s your name?”
They froze, slowly looking up. “Elliot.”
Virgil smiled at them, giving their shoulder a quick squeeze. “Hi Elliot. How old are you, bud?”
“Fifteen.”
Virgil nodded, standing up. Elliot stood too, though they looked terrified out of their skin.
“Here’s what’s going to happen, Elliot,” Virgil began, “You’ll tell Prince Roman and Captain Norma everything you know about the pirates, even if you think it won’t be helpful or useful. What they look like, where they frequent, even what they like to steal. After that, with Prince Roman’s permission, you’ll go home to Anslem.”
Here, Virgil softened, and his lips quirked up in a slightly nervous smile. “But, with your permission, you won’t go back to your parents. You’ll go to the castle and stay with mine. Your brother and sister, too.”
Elliot’s face was pale, but there was hope there. Roman’s heart swelled, and he grinned.
“You absolutely have my permission to go back to Anslem once we have all the info we need.”
“Prince Virgil, you don’t have to-I mean, if you want, I’m not going to say no, but-I don’t want to inconvenience you, I just-what if—” Elliot stumbled over their words, but they were fighting down both tears and a hopeful grin.
“You don’t even know me,” they breathed.
Virgil cocked his head to the side, a small smile on his face. “No, but I know a bad situation when I see one.” He put his arm through the cell bars again, squeezing Elliot’s shoulder. “I want to help you, Elliot. Okay?”
They nodded, a large smile firmly in place as their eyes welled with tears. “Okay.”
Roman grinned brightly. “Alright! I think for the purpose of our investigation, it would be better somewhere more comfortable, yes?”
He quickly unlocked the cell door, ushering Elliot out of the cell and down the hall, Norma and Virgil following behind.
“There’s this wonderful little reading room that’s out of the way of the main center of the castle. I think that would do well, for this, don’t you think?” Roman didn’t give Elliot time to answer, “Also, would you like something to drink? I make a mean green tea, though we can get something from the kitchen if you would like something else.”
Elliot wiped their eyes, quietly saying, “Tea is fine.”
“Perfect! I’ll have the supplies sent to the reading room shortly.”
They paused before they fully exited the dungeons, and Roman turned toward Elliot.
“Would you also like to take that dreadful cloak off? We can get you something else if you get cold.”
Elliot was already taking the cloak off before Roman had finished talking. “Yes, please.”
Roman laughed, taking the cloak and folding it, before handing it off to Norma.
“When I send for tea, hand that off and tell them to burn it.” He explained. Norma nodded, their face curiously blank.
Later, after they got all the information they could and Elliot had been shown to a guest room to sleep, he found out why.
“Sire, are you sure you’re making the right decision?” Norma asked, their arms crossed and face stony.
“Yes, Norma.” Virgil said. “I want to help them. They’re scared and don’t know anything, and I don’t feel comfortable sending them back to their parents.”
“What if it’s fake? They could just be playing us all.”
“Well, we’ll find out when they get home to Anslem, won’t we?” Virgil had crossed his arms, and he met Norma’s stormy expression with his own. “If it’s real, we just pulled three children out of a bad situation. If it’s fake, we pulled a fifteen-year-old out of a life that would only get worse.”
“Your highness—”
“Norma.” Norma’s mouth clicked shut. Virgil sighed, running a hand down his face. “Trust me, alright? I know the risks; I still want to help them.”
They nodded, and Roman cut in to say, “If it will make you more comfortable, we can set a guard up by their room, and send both Anslem and Aristeia guard back with them.”
Norma’s shoulders relaxed, and they nodded again. “If you are willing, your highness, I would like to go with them. Captain Teri can take my place on the ships.”
Virgil nodded, and Norma swept out of the room to make preparations. Virgil sighed again, his shoulders slumping. Roman stepped closer, running his hands up and down Virgil’s arms. Virgil dropped his head onto Roman’s shoulder for a moment but lifted it shortly after.
“I know Norma means well, but sometimes they’re more suspicious than me, and that’s saying something.”
“They’re trying to help,” Roman said, studying his tired expression, “But I do think you’re making the right choice.”
Virgil smiled, some of the tiredness leaving his face. “Thanks.” He groaned suddenly, his head going back. “I’m going to have to send my parents a message explaining all of this. That won’t be fun.”
Roman laughed, shaking his head. “I’ll leave you to that while I go help Norma pull some of the guard to go back to Anslem.”
He rocked onto his toes to kiss Virgil’s cheek, then turned and left the room, calling “Good luck!” over his shoulder, laughing quietly at Virgil’s stunned face.
***
With the knowledge that Elliot had shared, they were able to raid a few different bars and inns near the ports within the next two weeks, capturing a handful of pirates at each establishment.
Each pirate seemed to have different information on why they were attacking Aristeia and Anslem, though each said the same as Elliot: There was a woman in charge of the Anslem side, and a man in charge of the Aristeia side. They would usually pass information through a chain, meeting in bars and inns and alleyways so that the leaders could never be caught or traced. Roman feared that they would be at a standstill, just getting repeat information over and over again, until they raided a hole-in-the-wall bar that had been overlooked during the last raid.
It was only a handful of the pirates, but there was one interesting addition to the bunch. The man was tall and broad-shouldered, salt-and-pepper hair swept away from his face, with a close-cropped beard that made him looked distinguished. He had a scar that went through his left eyebrow and over the top of his eye, and he had the stature of a man that knew his abilities.
More importantly, though, he was the previous naval admiral before Remus.
Johnathon McLock had been forced to step down due to overconfidence that led to misconduct that verged on treason, as he had defied direct orders from the King that resulted in the loss of several hundred pounds of food and resources that were being sent to an island village that had just been made a part of Aristeia’s outer borders. He had thought that he could best the severe storm coming into port and had gone out despite King Mitchell’s orders. They had lost no men, but the loss of resources hurt the island village more than waiting a few days for the storm to pass would have. After he stepped down and Remus took his place, McLock had disappeared, though there was word that he had popped up in Anslem a few times. The last time Roman had seen him, he had been angry, his naval uniform still on and his hat crumbled and thrown into the trash.
Now though, he was wearing a torn and dirtied shirt that had been ruined in the scuffle that brought him in, his clothing dark and foreboding. The symbol was plastered on his cloak and in the breast pocket of his shirt, and McLock seemed to hold a pride in that symbol. He no longer looked angry, but more confident and defying, as if he held no fear in his capture or the consequences he would be facing.
Roman stood outside his cell, Virgil and Teri on either side of him. McLock looked back at him, smirking, and Roman felt the anger and rage he had been holding back since he had learned of Remus and Logan’s attacks surge up and threaten to pour out in waves.
A hand was placed on the small of his back, and he leaned into it, grateful for Virgil’s presence. He had told him the he didn’t need to be there, but Virgil had disagreed, saying he wanted to know who was hurting Roman’s kingdom.
Roman took a breath, let it out slowly, then asked, “Why?”
McLock seemed confused at such a simple question for a moment, but it smoothed back out into the smug confidence from before. “Why what? Come now, Prince Roman, I thought you were smarting than that.”
Roman didn’t show any reaction, and McLock’s eyebrows dipped down for a split second. Roman only cocked an eyebrow.
“You thought correctly, Mister McLock. My question wasn’t toward why you attacked Aristeia, as I can assume that it was fueled by anger over the fact that you were forced to step down for your misconduct and direct opposition to orders. My question of why was more aimed at why you attacked Anslem, and why now? You stepped down over a year ago.”
McLock looked shocked, and Roman could hear the muffled snort from Virgil. McLock seemed to have heard it too, and it seemed to be the breaking point for the man.
“You want to know why, Prince Roman?” he began, anger now teeming off his body in waves. “I attacked Anslem because they were getting smug! They boast this protection and strength, but the pirates had been stealing from them for two years! Aristeia had it coming with that incompetent brother of yours in charge of my navy. Anslem just needed to be put in their place.”
He grinned, though it looked more crazy than anything else. “I chose now because of your little engagement. What better time to tear you both down then do it when your kingdoms would be joining together? Hurt your kingdoms and get my ships back in one go.”
Roman clenched his fists, taking another breath to relax them and keep his composure. McLock was angry and disillusioned if he wasn’t willing to see that he was at fault for his removal, and that Remus was doing a fantastic job as the leader of the navy.
“Who oversees the Anslem portion of your operation? Why have they been stealing from Anslem for so long?” Virgil asked, barely contained anger clear in his tone.
McLock simply shrugged. “You won’t get it out of me. You won’t get the whereabouts of your missing ships and men either.”
Teri sneered, but Roman raised his hand to keep her from lashing out. “Oh, we will.”
McLock laughed, sounding deranged. “And how will you do that, your highness? Torture it out of me? Beat me half to death to get what you want? Will you stoop to my level to get it?”
Roman cocked his head to the side, letting a cold smile onto his face. McLock faltered at it, and Roman almost reveled in that flash of fear.
“No, we won’t do any of that. Remus will simply talk with you, and he won’t stop until you share the location of our men.” As McLock went to say something else, Roman continued, “Mind you, he hasn’t slept in a solid three days, too concerned about his men to get a proper night’s sleep. And we all know how he gets when he’s sleep deprived.”
McLock looked properly afraid now, as he had trained Remus for a while, and had seen how Remus got more wild and all over the place when he got less and less sleep. Now, the part of Remus being worried about his men was true, but he had actually been sleeping better since he and Dee had seemingly gotten together. He had been told to just let his mouth run with any thought that came through it and had been warned that McLock would think he hadn’t been sleeping. McLock didn’t need to know that though.
The door behind Roman opened, and Remus entered with a joyful call of, “Heya Cap’n! Or should I call you Pirate Cap’n now? Did you know that pirates are really at danger of scurvy? Do you know what scurvy does?”
McLock looked between Remus and Roman, disbelief and fear clear on his face. “You wouldn’t.”
Roman and Virgil were already halfway out the room. “I would. Captain Teri will be here to collect any statements you have.” With that, Roman and Virgil left the room, closing the door behind them.
Virgil immediately started snickering, and he had to lean on Roman to keep standing. Roman grinned, wrapping an arm around his waist to keep him upright.
“Did you see his face?” Virgil gasped in between bouts of laughter. “He looked downright scared! Remus can get pretty bad, granted, but that was too good.”
He wiped a tear away from his eye, grin bright. “That was a good idea, Roman. How long until you think he’ll crack?”
Roman shrugged, using the arm around Virgil’s waist to lead him to a small room off to the side that they could wait in. He settled on a small couch, pulling Virgil down with him. Virgil went easy, laying an arm along the back of the couch as Roman leaned against him.
“It’s really up to Remus. If he plays it up, it could be 10 minutes. If he doesn’t, maybe an hour? I don’t know how much of it McLock got used too when he trained Remus, and how much that went away in the time we haven’t seen him.”
Virgil hummed, bringing the arm on the back of the couch down around Roman’s shoulders to play with his hair. Roman grinned, leaning more on Virgil. Over the past two weeks, they had gotten closer, and Remus and Dee getting together in that time only helped. It lead to them trading info about Remus and Dee to give to the new couple, and that led to long conversations late into the night that would delve into random topics, eventually leading one of them to fall asleep in whatever reading room they had holed up in that time.
For Virgil, this meant grabbing a blanket and letting Roman use him as a pillow, and for Roman, this meant either carrying Virgil to his room, or laying him out with more blankets and pillows than either of them needed, squeezing into the small space between Virgil and the back of the couch.
Now, Roman was feeling a bit sleepy due to Virgil playing with his hair, and he tried his best to not fall asleep. He did doze lightly though, and time seemed to pass slowly and to fast all at once, as it didn’t seem like more than a few minutes had passed before Remus and Teri were entering the room, both with a proud smile on their faces.
Roman sat up, looking between them. “So?”
Remus’s grin broadened out, and he looked ready to leave right then. “We know where the ships are being held, and he made it sound like we’ll have to fight for them! Oh, it’ll be so much fun!”
Teri nodded in agreement. “He wouldn’t share who was in charge, though we think they’re either related or together. Supposedly, she’ll be watching over the ships, as most of the stolen goods will be in the same place. As soon as we can muster an attack force, I say we should go.”
Roman nodded and stood, Virgil standing with him. “I agree. The sooner this is over, the better. We can figure out who she is once we capture her.”
He turned toward Virgil, giving him a reassuring smile. “Virgil, you don’t have come with if you don’t want to. I don’t know how much combat training you’ve received, and I don’t want you hurt if I can help it.”
Virgil snorted, giving him a small smirk. “I’ll be fine, Ro. I trained with Norma when I had a moment between lessons.”
Roman studied him for a moment, then grinned. “I hope you realize you just signed yourself up for us sparring and sword fighting after this is all said and done.”
Virgil laughed, shaking his head. “I hope you realize you’re going to lose.”
Roman made an offended noise, ignoring Remus’s cackling and Teri’s quiet snickers as he swept out of the room. “I’ll have you know, I am a master of the sword. You will not be the victor in that fight!”
Virgil hummed, jogging slightly so that they could walk side-by-side. “We’ll see about that, Ro, we’ll see.”
***
Roman took a deep breath, letting the smell of salt and sea wash over him. He rarely got to ride on Remus’s ship, with all the things he had to do with the guard, but he enjoyed it every time he got the chance to be at sea. Something about the waves and fresh air made him feel more adventurous and creative, and even now Roman felt the urge to write about or draw the sun on the waves and the feel of the air blowing through his hair.
But, he thought as they got closer to where the pirates where supposedly hiding, he would have plenty of time for that soon. He looked to his right as Virgil and Dee stepped up next to him, and he held back a grin as he was reminded of the almost argument they had when Virgil found out Dee was coming with them.
“You’re not going!” Virgil had said, arms thrown wide. Dee had looked unimpressed.
“My prince and my partner are both going, and we both know that I could beat you in a fight easy. I’m going.” Dee had said, and Virgil had only huffed before turning away. Remus and Roman had laughed at how easy Virgil had been shut down, but Roman knew that Virgil was just worried about Dee getting hurt.
Now though, Virgil looked glad for Dee’s presence, and Roman felt a bit better himself to have more people with them. Remus and Teri were at the mast, putting together a smaller crew to wait in a smaller ship to catch any pirates that tried to escape either by boats or by jumping into the water.
Teri saluted and went below deck, and Remus made his way over to the group at the edge of the deck. He stepped up on Roman’s left, looking oddly serious. Roman nudged his shoulder, shooting his twin a grin when Remus glanced at him.
“It’ll be alright, okay? We’ll get your ships and crew back.”
Remus nodded, giving a small grin. “I know. I’m just… oddly nervous. But it’ll be fine! I’ve got you and my crew,” he looked around Roman to give Dee what Roman assumed was supposed to be a sultry grin, “and I’ve got my lucky love with me.”
Dee flushed, and Virgil snorted. “That wasn’t even that good, Dee. You’re a sap.”
Dee hissed lightly at Virgil, stating, “You won’t be much better, soon.”
Virgil turned pink, and asked, “What does that mean?” but he was never given an answer as a crew member called that they were approaching their destination.
It was a cavern in a cliff face, not far off from one of the outer islands in Aristeia’s control. They pulled in nearby, and quickly made their way over in some of the rowboats. Roman gripped his sword as they entered the cavern, taking in the line of ships with Aristeia’s insignia painted on the side, and the few that had the pirates’ symbol. He couldn’t see anyone on the ships, nor on land, but he didn’t let his guard down.
They pulled up near the largest of the pirate ships, as some of the other rowboats went to the Aristeia ships to untie them and sail them out. Hopefully this would be hassle free, and they could set up a guard to wait out the pirates’ return.
Remus and Roman went up first, Dee and Virgil following close behind. They got to the deck, and Remus said, “Kind of weird how empty it is, right?”
Roman nodded, but couldn’t reply as a woman’s voice called out, “Not empty at all, your highness!”
They were suddenly swarmed by pirates, some crawling from below deck and others swinging from the raven’s nest above. A woman made her way through the crowd, her long wavy hair tied back with a gray strip of cloth. She had a sword sheathed at her hip, and random bits of gold and jewelry hanging from her hair and clothes. She was tall, and muscular, though she moved like she was made of wind and water.
“I see you found us through my dear brother!” She said, a bright and cocky grin on her face. Well, that answered how she and McLock knew one another.
“How’d you do it, I wonder?” she said, cocking her hip to the side, “Torture? Waterboarding? Maybe even hanging him upside down?”
“Nope!” Remus replied brightly, sword pointed at her. “I just talked at him a bit.”
Before she could respond, Remus swung at her. She took a step back, startled.
“I’d like my ships back, please!” Remus’s tone was still bright, but his grin was sharp and deadly. “I’d rather you give them willingly, but I’m willing to fight for them.”
The woman laughed. “Fight you will, your highness. Fight you will.” With that, she turned away to make her way back through the crowd of pirates, snapping once. The pirates descended on them, and Roman raised his sword to fight.
***
Roman shoved another pirate out of the way, breathing hard. They had been fighting for a while now, and while more of the guard had quickly come to help, they were still barely outmatched by the pirates. Roman and Remus had been working in tandem for a bit, but when one of the pirates had thrown a thin metal net at Dee and caused a series of cut on the left side of their face, Remus had quickly diverted his attention to help Dee.
Now, Roman once going one on one with the pirates, making his way towards the front of the ship were the female McLock was standing watch over the fight, her sword still sheathed.
Roman spun around when he heard a battle cry behind him, only to see a pirate get shoved off the edge of the ship by Virgil. Virgil’s hair was hanging in his face, and he was shining with sweat. His shirt was torn lightly, and he was breathing harder than Roman, but he still shot him a smirk.
“I’ve got your back,” he said, “let’s get her.”
Roman grinned, and with renewed strength he turned and charged through the fighting crowd, making his way towards McLock. He could hear Virgil right behind him, fighting back those that Roman missed or ignored.
They got closer to where McLock was standing, and he saw her stand up straight, now watching Roman and Virgil’s progress. Roman broke through the crowd, running up to steps leading to where McLock was standing. She had her sword out now, and Roman didn’t pause his stride as he ran and swung at her. McLock blocked it, but he kept pushing her back. She turned, making her way down the other steps of stairs as she blocked each of his attacks. They made it to the main part of the deck, and she swung at him. Roman dodged it, but it gave McLock an opening.
Now Roman was having to dodge and block her attacks. If it weren’t for Virgil standing behind her and blocking her path, he was sure McLock would have turned and run. She lunged, and Roman pivoted, taking a swing at her open side. She dropped and rolled to dodge it, and Roman took the chance to step on her sword arm and keep her down. He pointed his sword at her throat, taking a moment to breath as she froze.
“Why are you stealing from Anslem and Aristeia?” He demanded, brows furrowed. Roman blinked and his face went slack when McLock only shrugged and grinned.
“I like to steal.” She said, as if it were a simple grade problem. “John just gave me a bigger scope with his whole revenge plot.”
Roman didn’t know how to react to that, and he didn’t have time to as she used her free arm to hit the back of his knee. He buckled but rolled with it as she clambered to her feet. Roman turned, hoping to block her next attack, but he wasn’t quick enough as he felt a line of fire erupt on his side.
Roman staggered, holding his hand to the large cut that ran from his abdomen to his side, and McLock cackled.
“Not so quick now, huh?” She cooed in fake sympathy, “Aww, does it hurt, wittle Pwince Roman? Does it—”
She didn’t finish as a green blur body checked her, sending her flying off the edge of the ship, though McLock caught the edge of the ship with one hand. As Roman fell to his knees and Virgil ran to support him, Remus stepped up to where McLock was holding on.
“Don’t mess with my family again, bitch.” He snarled before stomping on her hand. McLock cried out, letting go of the ship. Remus didn’t pause to watch her hit the water, instead running over to where Roman was being propped up by Virgil.
Roman’s hand was still holding his side, and he winced as Remus knees smacked the deck when he dropped down at Roman’s side. Remus’s hands fluttered around where the cut was sluggishly bleeding, his face pale.
“I don’t-I don’t—” Remus tore off his sash but didn’t seem to know what to do with it.
“Breath, Ree,” Virgil said, though Roman could feel his hands shaking from where he was holding Roman up. Remus followed his instruction, though his hands were still clutching the sash tightly.
Dee dropped down next to Remus, the crisscross cuts on their face no longer bleeding. They took off their capelet, moving Roman’s hands from the cut to press the cloth to it. Dee gently took Remus’s sash from him, using it to tie the capelet in place.
They leaned over to kiss Remus’s cheek, and then said, “It doesn’t look deep. He’ll be ok.”
Roman grinned, using his now free hand to give Remus a thumbs up. “Right! It took me by surprise, mostly. Just a trip to the infirmary and some bed rest, and I should be in ship-shape!”
Remus laughed lightly at the pun, and Virgil snorted above him. Roman turned to look up at Virgil, grinning. Virgil stared down at him, affection shining in his eyes, and Virgil said, “I think I love you.”
He blanched immediately, as if he hadn’t meant to say that. Roman beamed up at him, and his voice was laced with amusement as he replied, “Well that’s good, because I think I love you too.”
He reached up and grabbed the collar of Virgil’s shirt, pulling him down into a kiss. He giggled into it at the squawk Virgil made, and he could feel Virgil’s responding smile against his own.
Later, they talked and shared a few more kisses as Roman laid in the infirmary suite, and they decided on what they would do in the future, though the plans for the wedding took the most precedence.
Their wedding was large, as most royal weddings are, and they both were grinning the whole time. Remus, Patton and Mitchell all cried, though Roman could see Logan and Dee wiping their eyes. Next to Remy and Emile, Elliot was grinning, looking happier and healthier in their new royal garb, though their brother and sister giggling about their new older brother kissing someone could have also been a part of that. When the priest announced them husbands, Roman dragged Virgil down into a kiss by his collar, and Virgil wrapped his arms around Roman’s waist. Their families cheered around them, and Roman fought back a grin, excited to see what his future would hold.
***
They didn’t move into the Anslem castle right away. Virgil was still learning to be king, and Roman was training Teri to take his place of Aristeia’s captain of the guard. In the meantime, they moved into what was more of a lord’s estate, one that bordered both of their kingdoms.
Virgil called it the Florimond Estate and said that it would be their summer home in the future. They toured the estate, taking in the large library and several reading rooms, and a dining hall that was big enough to house both of their families, when they visited. They settled in one of the reading rooms, Roman draping himself over Virgil’s lap on one of the couches.
“It’s too bad that this place doesn’t have a proper garden for my mother to dote on when she visits. I guess that’s something we can work on, when we have moment.” Roman said, stretching out.
Virgil snorted, running a hand through Roman’s hair. “Who said anything about her visiting?” He teased.
Roman gasps, more dramatic than offended. Virgil rolls his eyes as Roman seems to melt out of his lap onto the ground, lamenting over how his husband hates his family, and how did he not see it before? Was it too late to go back, to reverse this? Oh, how was he to break the news to Logan, who had become attached to Patton, or Remus, who had disappeared on to his ship with Dee shortly after they had moved into the estate?
Virgil laughed at that, interrupting Roman’s impassioned monologue. “We might want to avoid that ship for a while. It’s too late, love, you’re stuck with me.”
“Besides,” he said, grinning down at Roman, “you wouldn’t want to reverse this, even if you could.”
Roman smiled softly back up at him, taking in the way the sun seemed to light up like a halo around Virgil’s head. “No,” he agreed, voice soft and fond in a way that only Virgil got to hear, “No I wouldn’t.”
This is an early birthday gift for @coconut-cluster !!! I saw you were somewhat stressed, which is on par for being an almost adult, and you always deserve some softTM boys, so here you go! Happy Birthday!!!!
Pairings: Prinxiety and Logicality
Word Count: 1202
---
Virgil shifted in bed, the covers pulled up past his shoulders. He had woken up maybe an hour ago but had been drifting in and out of sleep in the comfort of the quiet of his room. He didn’t want to get up, and if all went to plan, he wouldn’t have to for the next few hours. As he started to drift off again, the door to his room quietly opened and closed. He felt the bed dip next to him, and someone began to gently rub his back through the covers.
He hummed, not opening his eyes as whoever it was—Roman, probably, based off experience and the heat of the hand—hummed back slightly louder. A kiss was pressed to the back of his head and Virgil hummed again.
“Virgil, dearest, it’s time to get up.”
“No…” Virgil burrowed deeper into his bed, smiling at the quiet laugh Roman gave.
“It’s nearly nine, love. I’ve been up for two hours and I miss your darling face.”
Virgil flushed, but rolled over to look at Roman. Roman was wearing his lazy day clothes, a large white sweater that hung off one shoulder and a pair of black sweatpants that cinched at the ankles. As Roman shifted, bringing one leg up onto the bed, his red fuzzy socks came into view.
Roman smiled, taking in the spectacular bedhead that Virgil was sporting, and the almost besotted look Virgil was giving him in return.
“You should have just come in here when you woke up. Would’ve preferred waking up to you cuddling me than waking up alone.” Virgil drew a hand out from under the covers, reaching for Roman’s hand. It was warm, and the thumb that Roman began to stroke across his hand trailed a comforting heat.
Roman hummed, bringing his other leg up on the bed. “But then we never would’ve gotten up for the day.”
“Still don’t have to, Princey.” Virgil tugged on his hand a bit, trying to pull Roman down. Roman laughed and tried to pull Virgil up in retaliation. Virgil grinned, a warm feeling taking residence in his chest.
“I’m serious! You’re in your lazy day clothes. My lazy day clothes are my pajamas, I don’t even have to change! Cuddle with me, babe.”
Roman flushed at the name, giving in with a fond grin and headshake. He slipped under the covers, chuckling at the delighted sleepy smile that Virgil gave him.
“I love that you know what my lazy day clothes are.” He reached forward, trying in vain to fix Virgil’s bedhead.
“You barely wear them, they’re special.” Virgil mumbled, tucking his head under Roman’s chin as Roman’s arms wrapped around his back.
Roman laughed again, the sound rumbling through his chest. “Maybe I should wear them more often, if it leads to this.”
Virgil just hummed, already starting to drift off again into the half-conscious state he had been in earlier. Roman hummed back, letting himself drift off after pressing a kiss to Virgil’s forehead. The room descended into a comfortable, content quiet as they both slipped into sleep.
Down in the kitchen, Logan was making himself a cup of coffee. He had woken up at 8:30, not bothering to get dressed as he slipped out of bed, careful not to disturb Patton, who had fallen asleep in his room after a marathon of animal documentaries. Patton had stirred when he had gotten up, but a hand running through his hair had made him drift off once more.
Logan had passed Roman on the stairs, briefly noting that they both had decided to take advantage of the early morning and the break in Thomas’s schedule to be a bit more lax in their attire. Logan had shuffled into the kitchen, planning on making himself some toast with jam and some coffee before grabbing some of Patton’s breakfast bars for him and slipping back into bed.
He made his coffee and sat at the table to drink it, idly reading the newspaper that Roman must have brought in. The crossword was already completed in Roman’s neat scrawl, but he had left the Sudoku puzzle for Logan.
Someone came down the stairs, but Logan didn’t turn around, assuming it was Roman again. Arms draped over his shoulders, Patton’s freckled hands coming into view as his arms crossed in a loose hug. Patton rested his head on Logan’s, sighing softly.
“Mornin’, Lo.”
Logan brought a hand up, squeezing Patton’s arm gently.
“Good morning, Patton. I trust you slept well?”
Patton nodded, ruffling Logan’s hair with his cheek. “Wanted to wake up with you, though.”
His voice was still thick with sleep, cluing Logan in on the fact that Patton was still half asleep. He had probably woken up to the empty bed and had gone on a search for him. It made Logan’s chest feel warm, and he briefly wondered if he was sick. The more emotional part of his rationale simply informed him that he was fond.
“My apologies, I had meant to finish my coffee and come back to bed with the breakfast bars you like.”
He could almost feel the smile Patton gave him as he let out a sleepy giggle.
“You sure know how to make a boy feel special, honeybee.” Patton stood up, and Logan briefly mourned the loss of the comforting weight of his head against Logan’s. Patton’s arms slid so that he could rest his hands on Logan’s shoulders, gently tugging until Logan stood up and turned towards him.
Patton, whose hair was mussed and was wearing one of Logan’s sleep shirts, which he had not been the night before, grinned up at him and slid his hands around Logan’s waist. Logan put his arms around Patton’s shoulders, resting his cheek on Patton’s head as Patton hummed happily. They stood like that for a few minutes, before Patton mumbled against Logan’s chest.
“Can we move to the couch before I fall asleep like this? I want to take a nap with you before I try to see if crocheting is easier than knitting.”
Logan laughed quietly and nodded, drawing back to grab the newspaper and a book before taking Patton’s hand and moving to the couch. Patton laid against his chest, their legs tangled together and Patton’s arms around his back. Patton pressed a gentle kiss to his cheek, giggling at Logan’s blush, before resting his head against his shoulder and sighing, content.
Logan wrapped his arms around Patton, supporting the newspaper with the book so that he could pencil in the Sudoku puzzle. Patton’s yarn and crochet hook sat on the coffee table next to them, and within twenty minutes the newspaper and book would join them as Logan joined Patton in his nap.
In an hour, they would wake up, and Patton would simply turn around so that his back was against Logan’s chest as he attempted to crochet, and Logan read. An hour after that, Roman and Virgil would come down the stairs to make brunch, bickering and flirting quietly. The four would start their day, and the apartment would be filled with noise and life. But for now, it was quiet, and for now, they slept.
AHHHH!!! Here it is, the second part to By Any Other Pet Name!! I’m so sorry this took so long??? Life’s been wack over here. College is hard. Any way, I hope y’all enjoy this!! (This starts right after part 1)
Part 1 is here
Pairings: Logicality
Warnings: One mention of Remus and Deceit, mention of food (if there’s anything else, let me know!)
Word count: 3698
---
Patton tried his best not to scream into the pillow he had pressed to his face. He had been minding his own business, just idly tidying up the living room as he sang to himself, and he had taken a moment to sit on the couch when Logan had come down the stairs. That in itself wasn’t the problem, no. It was what Logan had said.
“Patton, sweetheart, could you help me real quick?”
Patton froze, his heart rate skyrocketing as he could feel his face turn bright red. He had turned, seeing that Logan looked rumpled, as if he had been sitting in one spot for too long, and he wasn’t even looking at Patton. He didn’t even seem to know what he had said. Patton debated for a moment, before slowly saying, “Yes, dear?”
Logan hadn’t reacted, only walking closer to ask about some fact or information for the script, and Patton had helped and sent him on his way, getting away with calling Logan ‘hon.’ He thought that he would survive the encounter with just being called ‘sweetheart’ but then Logan had to go an call him ‘dear!’ And squeeze his shoulder! As soon as Logan was out of the room, Patton had slammed his face into a pillow to hide the blush that was no doubt taking over his entire face.
In truth, Patton wasn’t entirely surprised. Logan had been slightly out of it, focused more on the script than he was the world around him. Of course, one of his little nicknames for Patton would slip out. What really got to Patton was the… the domesticity of them. He wasn’t dense, he had heard and understood a few of Logan’s aborted attempts at nicknames that didn’t pass what Patton had termed the ‘Logan Level of Sentiment.’ Anything that was too sentimental or soft was cut off before it fully left Logan’s mouth, leaving him to say small things like ‘Pat’ or ‘Mo’ or, Patton’s favorite, ‘Patty.’ Which meant the few times he did call Patton something sentimental, even accidentally, it flustered them both.
Like the time he had Patton ‘honey.’ Patton knew that Roman and Virgil had set them up for that one, and while some part of him was giddy that Logan had seemingly called him that, the panicked way Logan had left the room had made him more worried than anything.
He knew that Logan wasn’t the best at emotions, and Patton had guessed that the nicknames were Logan’s way of easing himself into being friendlier and more relaxed with the other sides. He didn’t want to ruin Logan’s progress by pushing him to call him nicknames that bordered the sentiment level, or that seemed too romantic.
Patton leaned back with a wistful sigh, looking up at the ceiling. Oh, how he wished those nicknames would be romantic. He had liked Logan for so long and had just come to terms with the fact that he maybe loved Logan, and the nicknames didn’t help. Logan was just so sweet with them! He always had this small little smile, his eyes soft and voice gentle, and it made Patton weak at the knees every time. And that was for stuff like ‘Patty!’ He knew that it would kill him if Logan ever went further than that, but he could dream, right?
Patton pushed himself off the couch, determined. He could dream, yes, but he couldn’t push Logan. He’d let Logan go at his own pace with the nicknames, and not expect anything more from him. It was just friendliness from Logan’s side, anyway.
As he went up the stairs and towards the sides’ rooms, Patton nodded to himself with a small smile. He wouldn’t push Logan, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t talk with someone else about it.
***
“And then! Then, he called me dear!” Patton exclaimed, throwing his arms wide as he fell back against Roman’s bed.
He had planned to talk to Virgil about it, but when he saw that the anxious side’s door was open, he didn’t even pause in his stride as he changed course to Roman’s door. There he found both sides, Roman with his hair pulled back by a headband, and Virgil with a face mask on and applying one to Roman’s face.
They had quickly pulled Patton into their little spa session, pulling his curls back and giving him a face mask as he dived into the story of what just occurred.
Roman leaned over him on the bed, giggling at his slightly disgruntled expression. “How truly awful of him, Padre, to call you that.”
Virgil nodded, not looking up from where he was painting Patton’s nails. “Terrible. How could he.”
Patton huffed, before laughing a bit. “Oh, I know it’s not bad, honestly. I just… oh, it does something to me, y’know?”
He sat up, and Virgil paused in his painting to look at him. Roman sat back, nodding for him to continue.
“Every time he uses one of those nicknames, it gives me butterflies. I don’t know why though! I like him, I do, and that could explain some of it, but the fluttering, and the way my face goes red? Those don’t make sense!” Patton pouted, tapping the fingers not painted against his leg. “They’re just nicknames. Nicknames shouldn’t make me feel like that.”
Virgil and Roman shared a look. “Pat,” Virgil started softly, “Have you considered that they aren’t nicknames?”
“What else could they be?”
Here, Roman leaned forward, resting a hand on Patton’s knee. “They’re pet names, Patton. That’s what they are.”
Patton shook his head, ignoring the little seed of hope in his chest. “Well, that wouldn’t make sense. They can’t be pet names, he has nicknames for you two, too, and I don’t see you two getting all flustered about them!”
“Patton, he doesn’t have nicknames for us.” Virgil said, confused.
“Yeah, he down right refuses to, it seems.” Roman continued.
Patton furrowed his brows, confused. Logan didn’t… now that he thought about it, Logan didn’t seem to call the other two anything but their names. The few times he did for Roman, it was usually a thinly veiled insult during an argument that he later apologized for. Logan only had nicknames—no, pet names, for Patton. The little bit of hope in his chest grew.
He sat back on his hands, suddenly breathless. “Huh.”
Roman and Virgil both smiled at him, and Roman patted his knee.
“So,” Virgil said, picking Patton’s hand back up to resume painting his nails, “What are you going to do about it?”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, what are you going to do about the pet names? Are you going to say them back?”
“Yeah!” Roman cut in, punching a hand into the air. “You should go and conquer his heart!”
Patton laughed a little, staring at his hand as Virgil added another stroke of dark blue paint. “I don’t know about conquering, Ro. What if he doesn’t like it? Are we sure I can even do it?”
“You didn’t seem to have any problem doing it earlier, and are you kidding?” Roman through his hands into the air. “He gives you pet names, for Shakespeare’s sake! Of course, he’ll like it!”
At Patton’s uncertain look, Virgil said, “At least start with nicknames. They’re personal, and it’ll give you a better idea of how he’ll react.”
“Something other than Lo or L or Specs, though, we already use those.” Roman said.
Patton hummed, thinking it over. It couldn’t hurt, right? If Logan liked them, he could ease his way into more pet names, ones like what Logan called him. And if Logan didn’t like them, and asked him to stop? Well, no harm done! Sure, Patton would be a little hurt, but at least their friendship wouldn’t be hurt. He nodded, mind made up.
“Ok, I’ll try the nicknames, see how it goes.”
“Cool.” Virgil said, dropping the nail polish brush back into the bottle and standing. “Be right back.”
“What-?” But Virgil was already out the door and Roman was picking up where he had left off, taking Patton’s other hand and continue the even strokes Virgil had been doing.
Patton didn’t have to wonder what he was doing for too long, because soon enough he could hear Virgil and a protesting Logan coming closer.
“I have work, Virgil, I need to finish the script!”
“You’ve been working all day, Logan, you need to take a break.”
“But a spa break? I don’t want-”
He cut off as Virgil pushed him into the room, and Patton was thankful for the face mask that covered his blush when he saw Logan and the events from earlier came rushing back to the forefront of his mind.
He smiled up at him, waving with the hand that Roman wasn’t painting. “Hey, Logan!”
Logan stared at him, mouth agape. After a moment, he seemed to collect himself, reaching up to adjust his glasses.
“I… I suppose I can take a small break for a spa session.”
Roman gave a quiet cheer, and Virgil grinned. “Awesome. Sit down, I’m putting a face mask on you and you’re gonna deal with it.”
He settled on the bed across from Patton, letting Virgil pin his hair back and apply the face mask with little complaint. Roman conjured them some wine, and they sat and talked for a bit. Eventually, Patton got up to wash his face mask off, but decided to keep the head band on to keep his curls out of his face.
When he came back into the room, he took a moment to stare at Logan. He was glancing through the nail polish that Roman had, his glasses pushed up into his hair. Even with the face mask, he still looked pretty, and Patton took a deep breath to settle his heart rate a bit. He made eye contact with Roman, his nails a dark purple now, courtesy of Virgil, who glanced at Logan and gave Patton a quick thumbs up.
Patton nodded, steeled himself, and said, “Hey, Lolo? Can I paint your nails?”
Had he not been looking for it, Patton might have missed Logan’s reaction. Logan froze, his eyes going wide and his cheeks flushing a light pink. It was quick though, as Logan took a breath and turned to Patton, giving him a small smile.
“Of course, Patton.”
Patton beamed at him, and he watched as the light pink turned a little darker. As he sat back on the bed, Patton let the hope in his chest grow a little bit bigger. Maybe there was something there. Maybe Logan liked him too.
Glancing at his own nails, Patton grinned, picked up a light blue polish, and got to work.
***
“Logy, do you have a sec?”
Patton had just popped his head into Logan’s room to see if he had time to help him with lunch but stopped short at what Logan was wearing. He had a three-piece slate gray suit on, a dark blue shirt underneath it. Logan was in the process of tying his tie, the black one with light blue stripes that Patton had gotten him for Christmas last year.
Patton sighed, stepping into the room. “One of those debates, huh?” he asked quietly.
After the callback/wedding debate, Deceit and Logan had taken up debating each other in the courtroom. Sometimes it was for fun, and they would just wear their regular clothes, sometimes something more relaxed, depending on the topic. Other times though, the debate would be something more serious, something for Thomas, so they would get a bit more serious, a bit more dressed up. It looked that today was a serious debate today.
Logan, who had frozen when Patton had first spoken, seemed to catch himself, giving Patton a small smile and nodded, “Unfortunately, yes, it is, Pat. I’m assuming you were going to ask for my help for lunch?”
Patton nodded, stepping closer and taking the half finished tie out of Logan’s hands. Absentmindedly finishing the knot, Patton said, “Yeah, but no worries! You have important things to do right now.”
Logan stared at him a moment; cheeks slightly pink.
“Helping you is important too,” he said, “I can help with dinner tonight.”
Patton grinned up at him, feeling light. “Okay.”
“Okay.” Logan smiled.
They stared at each other a moment, just smiling, before Logan cleared his throat.
“I, uh… I should probably get going.”
Patton started, and realized he hadn’t let go of Logan’s tie. “Oh! Right, sorry.”
He quickly tucked the end of Logan’s tie into the vest of his suit, and fixed Logan’s collar before stepping back. “There you go! Looking good, Lo!”
Logan nodded, clearing his throat again. He stepped around Patton and out of his room but paused in the doorway. “Thank you, Patton. Save me some lunch?”
“Of course!” Patton bounced on his toes once, grinning at the little laugh Logan gave. Logan nodded again and moved to head towards the mindscape’s courtroom. Patton followed him out of the room, calling after him, “You’re gonna do great, honey!”
And if Patton’s grinned widened at the way Logan tripped over his own feet a bit at the pet name? Well, Patton kept that little bit of knowledge to himself.
***
Patton hummed to himself, puttering around the kitchen. Lunch had come and gone long ago, and Patton was starting to work on dinner, and Logan still hadn’t come out of the debate room with Deceit. He was a little worried, but two knew what they were doing and knew how to take care of themselves.
He heard heavy footsteps on the stairs and then someone enter the kitchen with a sigh. He turned, expecting Virgil after a nap or even Roman, but was pleasantly surprised to see Logan, still in his suit. That surprise was quickly replaced by concern at Logan’s rumpled appearance and tired expression, and he hurried over to the logical side.
“Lo, are you okay?” His hands fluttered around Logan’s shoulders and face, unsure where to land, but they finally settled on his arms, Patton’s thumbs rubbing up and down soothingly. Logan hummed, blinking slowly.
“Yes, I am alright, Patton. Just…” He and leaned down and forward to rest his forehead on Patton’s shoulder, causing Patton’s eyebrows to shoot up into his hairline. “Just tired.”
Patton hummed sympathetically, bringing his arms around Logan in a loose embrace. He rubbed Logan’s back, tilting his head to lean it against Logan’s. “The debate was rough, I’m guessing?”
Logan shrugged one shoulder, leaning more heavily into the embrace. “Yes and no. It was long, and arduous, and I’m hungry now, but,” Patton could feel Logan’s proud grin against his shoulder, “I won, so I’m overall satisfied with the outcome.
Patton giggled. “I’m proud of you, hon.”
He felt Logan’s grin grow wider, and Logan’s arms came up around him to give him a quick squeeze before Logan stood back up. Patton dropped his arms, taking in Logan’s tired expression again.
“Why don’t you go take a nap, Logan? I can manage dinner on my own tonight.”
The small smile Logan had been sporting dropped into a frown for a moment, and he shook his head. “I’ll be fine, Pat. I couldn’t help you with lunch, and I said I’ll help with dinner.”
“Lo, it’s fine, you’re tired, you don’t have to—”
“Patton,” Logan cut him off, reaching forward to rest a hand on his arm. “I want to help, please?”
Patton ignored the heat in his face as he scrunched his mouth to one side, thinking. At Logan’s earnest expression, and the way he had started to gently rub his thumb back and forth on Patton’s arm, Patton huffed out a breath.
“Okay. But if you get too tired, feel free to just go take a nap before dinner, alright?”
Logan smiled, small and happy. “Alright, Pat.”
They got to work, Logan leaving the suit jacket and vest folded over a chair and pushing up the sleeves of his shirt. Patton took a moment to appreciate Logan’s arms before getting back on task, giving Logan a knife and instructions to start dicing the vegetables. They mainly worked in silence, moving around each other in a familiarity made through countless meals made together. Sometimes the others would come and help, and they’d make a whole night of cooking as a family, but often it was just Logan and Patton working together.
Eventually, they were able to put what had become a chicken and vegetable soup onto the heat, and as Patton was adjusting the heat, he called over his shoulder, “Sweetheart, can you grab the timer for me?”
There was a clatter from the sink, where Logan had been putting some dishes, but a few moments later he was by Patton’s side, timer in hand.
As Patton went to grab it, Logan, voice shaky, asked, “Did you call me sweetheart?”
Patton froze, rethinking the past minute, and cursed in his head. There went his plan to be subtle.
“I—” Patton sighed, taking the timer, setting a time, and putting it on the edge of the counter before turning to face Logan. “I did, yeah.”
Before Logan could say anything, Patton plowed ahead. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable or anything, I just,” he sighed roughly, running a hand through his hair, “I’ve liked you for a long time, and you were so sweet with your nicknames, and so I tried to give you some, but I guess me liking you influenced ‘em, huh? Again, I’m sorry, the last thing I want to do is make you uncomfortable or hurt our friendship, so if you want to forget this happened, we can just—”
Logan’s hands cupped his face, and Patton cut off with a strangled noise. Logan was looking at him with such joy and fondness, and it made his breath catch in his throat.
“I don’t want to forget it, love.” Logan said, causing another noise to leave Patton unbidden. Logan leaned forward, searching Patton’s face for any sign of discomfort. His eyes flickered down to Patton’s lips, and Patton’s mouth went dry.
“Can I…?” Logan asked quietly. Instead of answering, Patton leaned forward and closed the gap, delighting in the small gasp Logan gave. He pressed forward, hands coming up to cover Logan’s, and Logan seemed to snap out of his surprise. He pressed against Patton, eyes slipping shut. He tilted his head to deepen the kiss as he pressed Patton against the counter, grinning at the happy noise that Patton made. The clatter of the timer hitting the ground startled them both, causing them to break apart.
They stared at each other, breathless, before Patton started giggling, which quickly turned into bright laughter as he collapsed forward into Logan’s chest. Logan quickly joined in, laughing quietly as he wrapped his arms around Patton’s waist. They stood there laughing for a while, and when their laughter finally died down Patton looked up at Logan with a bright grin.
“I’m guessing you don’t mind the pet names then?” Patton asked, teasing tone coloring his voice. Logan snorted, pressing a quick kiss to Patton’s forehead.
“As long as you don’t mind mine, dear.” Logan said, grin growing at the flush that quickly colored Patton’s cheeks.
Patton huffed, slipping out of Logan’s arms to pick up the timer and set it back on the counter. He was quick to jump up and sit on the counter next to the timer, looking at Logan with a grin.
Logan stepped into the space between his legs, setting his arms around Patton’s waist as Patton’s arm came up to settle around Logan’s shoulders, one hand playing the hair at the nape of Logan’s neck. Logan couldn’t keep the grin off his face as he pressed another kiss to Patton’s cheek, delighted at the giggle it caused. They stayed like that, talking quietly and sharing small kisses until the timer went off.
Logan took the soup off the heat and called for the others before moving back to Patton and settling back into their earlier positions. That was how the others found them, and they both ignored how Remus cheered as Deceit muttered, “Finally,” and how Roman grumbled as he handed a smug Virgil a ten dollar bill. They were too wrapped up in each other as they passed out dinner and continued into movie night, passing each other smiles and pet names through out the night.
***
Patton was careful in opening the door with his hip, not wanting to spill the tea and water he was holding. He could hear the sink running in the connecting bathroom, and assumed Logan was brushing his teeth for the night. He set the tea down on Logan’s bed table and moved around the bed towards his.
A few months after they had gotten together, they had asked Roman to help them create a neutral room that wouldn’t affect either of them, unlike their regular rooms do. They’re rooms became places for them to work or get away, but most nights found Patton and Logan in their shared room. He moved to set the water down but paused when he heard the door to the bathroom open.
“Love, you know you left your glasses case in the bathroom, right?” Logan said.
“Can you grab that for me, moonbeam?” Patton asked over his shoulder, setting the glass of water down.
“Moonbeam?” Logan asked, confusion and amusement clear in his voice.
Patton turned, shrugging with a grin. “Yeah. You like space, so I thought ‘moonbeam’ would be cute.”
Logan moved towards him, wrapping his arms around his waist, humming. “I do like space, but I like you even more, darling.”
Patton sputtered, flushing, then laughed as he lightly batted at Logan’s chest. “Hey, I’m trying to make you flustered, not the other way around!”
Logan grinned and pressed a kiss to Patton’s forehead. “Of course, dear. You always do.”
Patton huffed, looping his arms around Logan’s neck. He pulled him down for a kiss and wasn’t able to keep his smile at bay.
