HELLO NAUGHTY CHILDREN ITS PLOT TIME!
I’ve been really exited to mush these two plots together for a while now so I hope I pulled it off! This is also where the actual lamp starts, so get hype! Logince is still gonna be a bit of a focus, but I’m really exited to write all these dynamics as they develop. I’m a worried this was heavy handed and a lil ooc on Roman’s part. Also, I’m a big ol cheater with names. I kno.
also. The oranges line was inspired by a real experience from yours truly I shoot u not. :/ like I literally was handed an orange.
—- denotes pov change! The povs are alex (anx), Patton, then Logan if it’s unclear.
If you want to catch-up, all the fics are tagged ‘bulletproof’ on my blog!
Warnings: hicky mention, ableism mention
The sandwich wasn’t bad, if he was honest. It was better than the microwave ramen Alex had been living off of, anyway, which didn’t take much. But hey, if your standards were low you get disappointed a lot less, right?
Alex looked up from where he was hunched over his plate. Patton Moe, as he’d introduced himself, was a talker.
“Most people at work call me Moe, since it’s be to obvious that the place was named after me if they called me Patton. I mean talk about getting a big head, right?”
Alex just nodded along, occasionally making noises of agreement or sympathy, or snarky comments. He wasn’t much of a talker, never had been. Sitting around, eating free food (he gave up paying when he found out the guy owned the place,) not really participating in conversation, looking at some dumb cheery idiot do cute shi- wait.
/when did I start thinking umbrella guy was cute?/
Alex looked at him, trying to pay more attention. Patton was talking about a local farm he’d been buying from. Apparently they let him pet the baby goats. Apparently, petting baby goats is life changing, because Patton had a look on his face like he was talking about witnessing a miracle.
“And Jodie said the little guy liked me! Can you believe it? He just followed me around all day head butting my leg till I paid attention to him! I didn’t even give him food or anything! It was the sweetest! And-”
Alex spaced out again for a bit, watching him talk. He had never been a fan of optimists. Especially squeaky optimists, who did things like buying local and carrying bright umbrellas.
They always seemed nice, at first, always fighting for a good cause, but as soon as they got to know you it was 'you should really come to yoga with me’ and 'have you tried this kale from my friends garden it’ll really help’.
It made him want to scream things like 'yes, I know vitamins are good for you, but an orange won’t cure my depression, martha.’
But Patton didn’t seem to care about that. He wasn’t teaching a lesson, there wasn’t a moral to it, he was just… really exited that a baby goat liked him. Alex shrugged off the glimmer of hope.
/he probably just doesn’t know you enough. Once he finds out you aren’t vegan or whatever he’ll act just like the rest./
He tried to ignore the sinking feeling in his stomach as he watched Pattons dimples light up his face. Ok. Yeah. Maybe cute was the right word. Unfortunately.
Patton was halfway through a story about how he fell into the feed bin because he was trying to get the goat to stop eating his shoe when the door chimed. He looked up, expecting another late lunch customer, but did a double take, perking up even more before falling into a sympathetic frown.
“Logan! It’s been too long- oh no, honey what happened?”
The sweet hearted busker he met earlier looked at him funny.
“He looks calm to me.” Alex muttered into his food. (He ate like he thought someone was going to steal it. It made Pattons protective instincts go haywire, and he had to ignore the urge to follow him home to stock his fridge. Or. Haha. Stalk his fridge. Focus, Patton, dang it.)
After giving himself a mental smack on the head, he turned back to his friend. He would be the first to admit that Logan was hard to read, but after years of slowly getting him to open up with free pastries and suggesting decaf when his eye bags got overly pronounced, he considered himself literate.
Loganrite.
Nice one.
(Focus, Patton.)
Logan let out a long breath, pulling a up a chair and crumpling into it. His posture was too loose, his fingers tapping too fast.
“That bad, huh?” Logan nodded. Patton got up, tutting gently.
“You try to relax, I’ll get you something to eat, ok? Oh!” He whirled back around to the table.
“Probably not a great time for introductions, but, Alex, this is my old friend, Logan! And Logan, this is my new friend, Alex! He might be a little prickly and introverted at first… you know what, you’ll get along great what am I talking about.”
Patton shot them a brilliant smile and fussed his way back to the kitchen, collecting empty plates and cups as he went.
Logan tried to pull himself together, noticing the other man at the table for this first time. He must be more upset than he thought, if he missed details like that.
Alex was finishing off one of Pattons sandwiches, slouched in the chair, black hoodie covered in crumbs. A guitar case was slung over the back of the chair. He was eyeing Logan carefully from above giant dark circles. He clearly didn’t sleep much.
Logan was intimately familiar with eye bags. He had made a color key at some point. Alex was somewhere near purple-green, on his way to practically having a bruise all the way to his cheek bones. Logan had seen those in the mirror too many times to not recognize them.
That wasn’t a voluntary all-nighter. That was a 'couldn’t sleep if you tried’.
“What.” Alex spit, accusingly.
Logan shifted his gaze.
“The guitar case. I’ve seen you busk here before.”
Alex shrugged.
“Yeah. Probably. So?”
“You’re good.”
He blinked, sitting up in his chair slightly.
“I’m- what?”
“I said-”
“No I heard you. I just. Uh. Thanks? I guess?”
It was Logans turn to shrug.
“It was just an observation. You know, Patton would hire you if you asked.”
Alex scoffed.
“Yeah, I’m not great a waiting tables. Keeping a smile on my face for that long hurts my face. And my soul.” Logan brushed off the hyperbole and went on.
“I meant as a musician.”
Alex furrowed his brow, but didn’t say anything, so he continued.
“Patton has hired live musicians before, for the patio or indoors. I haven’t seen him do it in a while, but it might just be him forgetting entire aspects of his business again.”
He let a small smile curl his lips, leaning in closer.
“He forgot they had a coffee machine for 5 months until he stubbed his toe on the box in the back room.”
Alex let out a small laugh. “I feel like you’re lying to me but I also feel like that could have happened.”
Logan pulled out his phone.
“I have evidence. I record him admitting it whenever he does something particularly scatterbrained. There’s a 'days since our last moe disaster’ board in the kitchen, too.”
Logan smirked. “But he never remembers to change the day number.”
Alex chuckled, leaning in to listen to Patton being coaxed into telling the phone what he did. They listened to a few recordings together, Logan feeling the heaviness from the morning lifting off his shoulders.
Alex was funny, quick witted, and more than ready to poke fun at Pattons antics. His dry humor was the perfect distraction, and Logan found himself hoping more and more that Alex would start playing regularly indoors.
Eventually, all the food was gone, and Alex was hefting his guitar back over his shoulder, looking out the window. “Looks like the rain cleared up… I should probably take the spot again before someone else does.”
Logan bit back disappointment.
“You’ll look into what I said, right? About the job here?”
Alex looked at him. Logan wasn’t good at reading emotions, but he looked surprised, then it melted into something soft, almost sad, that Logan couldn’t name but it made him want to pull Alex back down into the chair and not let go of his hand.
“Uh. Yeah, I’ll. I’ll think about it.”
Alex gave him a little smile, then headed outside to set up. Logan heard Patton bustling around the kitchen, cars running through puddles outside, the bubbly music spouting from the radio. He saw Alex start playing, and stretched his senses to listen, catching a note or two occasionally.
He tried to focus on clearing his email, but it was no use when his frustration with Roman started creeping up his spine again. He watched Alex play out of the corner of his eye until Patton came over, a gentle hand on his shoulder and a large pile of food.
The more upset he got, the more food Patton gave him. He must look really upset, judging by the plate. Or maybe Patton was just in 'dad mode’ today, trying to feed everyone he met. Logan always paid for it all, but Patton never charged for what he didn’t finish. The leftovers usually went into Pattons fridge for the next time Logan needed a change of scenery.
He started to eat, telling Patton bits and pieces of what happened between bites, when something caught his eye. Alex had stopped playing, and was talking to a well put together man with white slacks and a red button down shirt, who looked strangely familiar.
The man turned to hand something to Alex, and the collar of his shirt slipped, revealing a dark bruise. A very familiar dark bruise. With teeth marks.
Logan stood up very suddenly, a storm crossing his face. Patton broke off mid sentence as Logan strode across Pattons plants and swung open the door. Roman had spotted him and, seeing the now pretty obvious rage, elected to make a run for it.
“I- think about my offer, I should really go-”
“ROMAN?”
Logan hated it when his voice broke, but it had the desired effect. Roman flinched back, pushing sunglasses back up his nose instinctively.
“Yup. Time to go.” He made a swift retreat to a black car waiting on the corner, followed by Logans glare the whole way. The car sped off, leaving Logan to run a hand through his hair aggressively on the curb.
Alex looked from the card in his hand, to Logan, to the car retreating down the street, and back to the card.
“I have so many questions.”
