Hi everyone -
If you're reading this you might have noticed that I put this story on private for a few days. Recently I discovered that an app on the app store has been profiting off of my work and many others' without consent. Seeing as this fic has taken months of my time, suffice to say I was quite frustrated. If you use any app that allows you to read AO3 fics, please delete it.
Ao3 allows you to download fics as PDFs. That isn't something that you can do often with fanfic, and I'm hoping no one misuses the feature, but please know that I pour my heart into these fics and it hurts so much to know someone else is taking credit for them.
Love,
Nox
~~~
Duke wasn’t disruptive.
Sure, he’d acted out a lot as a child, but so had Roman, so had Anton. When three little boys who are all the exact same age learn that the easiest way to stress out their parents is to create absolute chaos, that’s what they do. As opposed to, you know, reading.
While Roman had focused that into his acting and Anton turned into a famous, constantly-traveling, pretentious critic, Duke remained, left to his own devices.
And when left to his own devices, he could do marvelous things.
Beyond the Thanksgiving incident, Duke had managed to take down a group of ten teenagers in laser tag by himself, mark the high score on most of the game consoles, and that was only at the arcade. He excelled in science in school, not because he was particularly good at math or memorization, but because he was determined to try everything that the rest of the class didn’t want to do. In first grade, he was the first to create a bubblegum ice cream that not only matched the flavor, but the chewy consistency as well. By sixth grade he had managed to fit his remote control car so that it could shoot the little Nerf gun while driving with the press of a button.
Not to mention the fact that he nearly set off the smoke alarm every time he microwaved things, but that was beside the point.
For some reason that Dylan couldn’t quite fathom, Duke had a particular interest in the security camera man.
Dylan was the only employee Duke could not immediately reach. He never came out when Duke was doing something. Virgil wasn’t too isolated now, and Logan had a tendency to race out quickly if something chaotic was happening. Thomas generally just liked to watch things go down, leaving Logan as the authoritarian.
Unlike the others, Dylan didn’t try to control Duke. He knew to let Duke ride out whatever hyperactivity he had in his system instead of interrupting it. Unless the two were in a staff meeting, Dylan was in his control room, voices from podcasts flowing gently from the tiny speaker on his desk. If Virgil wasn’t available to talk (which was increasingly becoming the case), Dylan tried to keep his distance from the others. He just wasn’t the social type.
Which made it all the more exciting for Duke.
One morning, Duke skipped into the security control room. Dylan didn’t bother to look before lazily asking, “What are you doing in here? You’re supposed to be watching the arcade from the ground.”
“How did you know it was me?”
“I set up a camera near the door. Don’t tell Logan - it’s not one of the authorized cameras.” Dylan mumbled, switching camera displays on the main screen. “You’re supposed to be on the ground.” He repeated.
“What’s the point if you’re watching the cameras?” Duke leaned over Dylan’s shoulder.
“So I can tell you to run after whoever’s trying to climb the machines instead of doing it myself and letting the rest of the arcade go unwatched.” Dylan rolled his eyes. He seemed to have this conversation with Duke quite often.
“Hmm. Makes sense.”
“You’re getting paid by the hour, you know.” Dylan grumbled.
“And what if I’m on my break?”
“Your break is exactly at noon, and you know how strict Logan is about schedules.” Dylan shrugged, making Duke move his chin from Dylan’s shoulder.
“Don’t you ever get lonely up here?” Duke asked, poking the Freddy Fazbear hat that was on Dylan’s desk. Aside from the hat and a few personal items, Dylan’s desk was mostly barren.
“I’m an introvert. Greetings are enough for me.”
“Jeez, didn’t your parents teach you anything about manners?” Duke complained, sitting on the desk. Dylan glanced up briefly at the triplet before his eyes returned to the screens.
“Don’t recall yours did either.”
“I’m offended.”
“Are you?”
Duke looked down at Dylan. “How can you not pay attention to me?”
Dylan sighed, closing his eyes. “I figure you’ll wear yourself out in attempts to annoy me, so I’m just waiting for that to happen. Now, get off my desk and go back to work.”
“Meanie.” Duke pouted, but granted the other man’s wishes. If he wanted to be boring and not talk, then that was that.
He’d find another way to get Dylan to talk to him. He just needed time.
~~~
When Roman had returned to the arcade to finish off his last few weeks as a security guard, Duke decided to remain in his position. The only problem was that Roman didn’t particularly like working with his brother, and while Logan argued that they needed to be professional, he’d taken one look at the chaos they caused at Thanksgiving and closed his mouth.
So Duke agreed to change positions.
Although, Logan’s idea of changing positions was placing Duke in the back, with Dylan. Out of all the employees, Dylan was one of the few that stayed level-headed even when things got bad. If anyone could handle Duke, Dylan was the one.
Dylan didn’t bother protesting the change in placement. Maybe Duke was disruptive, but Dylan had met kids, people, who craved attention. He supposed that when you were a triplet everything needed to be equal: equal food, equal attention, equal love.
“You’re not going to say anything?” Duke asked as the two of them walked into the security room after the morning meeting. “Not even complain?”
“Why would I do that?” Dylan responded with a monotonous tone. He unlocked the room for the day and slipped into the darkness with ease.
“Well, ‘cause whenever I get paired up with someone, the first thing they do is complain.” Duke shrugged, sitting on top of a spare cabinet that Dylan hardly used.
“Oh.” Dylan wasn’t sure what to say. Being friends with Virgil had made Dylan assume everyone was closed off, but Duke was actually giving him clear answers. “Well, uh, I don’t… I don’t think that’s fair.”
“It’s just the way it is.”
From that moment forward, Dylan decided he wouldn’t mind Duke hanging around. After all, outcasts needed to stick together.
Time for logicality to talk about feelings for fuck's sake
Notes:
Hi everyone,
Sorry for the late update, senior year has been crazy busy and I actually haven't been able to write much. Nevertheless, here's a short chapter to tide you all over for next week.
Unbelievably, this is the last chapter before we start to wrap things up here at the Mind Palace Arcade, but don't worry! Clam and I will have a project launching shortly after involving Analogical and found family, so stick around for that! I'm so proud of this story and I thank you all for reading this far.
Nox
~~~~
Operation Smooch
[Emile]: so we have a situation.
[Dylan]: Oh ffs what’s happening now?
[Remy]: IS IT LOGAN AND PATTON
[Virgil]: ...who else could it be?
[Thomas]: Do they need a dose of laser tag?
[Emile is typing]
[Dylan is typing]
[Remy is typing]
[Virgil is typing]
[Emile]: NO
[Dylan]: I thought it was proved last time that it didn’t work
[Roman]: well it kind of did??
[Virgil]: no it didn’t.
[Roman]: no it didn’t
[Remy]: ^ but we still need to get them to talk…
[Thomas]: Well, Logan’s too stubborn to ask for help OR to reveal any feelings so we need to do something.
[Emile]: … can we turn the breakdown closet into our new problem solving room? That way they won’t have so many eyes on them.
THIS IS THE PENULTIMATE CHAPTER OF MIND PALACE???? THE FUCK?
more cohesive words in the next chapter which is our final notes for you.
thank you for being so fucking supportive
i love you all
nox
~~~
Roman wanted to believe it would be a normal, calm, Monday morning, just patrolling the arcade. He was still waiting on the director’s final casting announcements, but that didn’t mean that he wasn’t preparing.
On the contrary, it felt like his life was already changing before his eyes, and he hadn’t even moved anywhere. The directors had assigned him a trainer to prepare his body for the film. They’d assured Roman that he wouldn’t leave the shoot every day dehydrated or famished, but also warned that there were preparations in order.
Overnight, his diet changed to something one would liken to a peskitarian’s, which wasn’t awful. He actually preferred not to eat meat anyways. But this new diet made him hungrier for all the wrong things. The trainer allowed him cheat days, although all of the chips and pizza Roman and Virgil often consumed were confined to once every other week.
In addition to the changes in his diet, the trainer also had him coming to the gym every morning at five AM. While his muscles - well, everything, really - ached, Roman bit down his complaints. He’d gotten through auditioning and got the part. It actually didn’t feel like work. Soon, it was routine.
And then there was Virgil…
Truthfully, neither of them had brought up the subject. Virgil always asked questions when Roman expressed excitement about the role, but it never felt like Virgil was even there anymore. Did that mean he wanted to break up?
Across the arcade, Virgil was having a similar debate with himself. He’d told Princey that he could move with him to LA, but would he be happy there? They’d barely been dating for a few months. Was he even ready to drop everything for Roman, someone who wouldn’t be around too much if his career launched?
Virgil didn’t want to leave Florida. No matter how much he griped about the weather and the people, he couldn’t imagine being anywhere else. Besides, it wasn’t as if he could really go anywhere. He didn’t want to reset his social life in a new city.
But if they did long distance, would they ever live in the same place after this? Could they even last long enough to think about living together long-term?
What if Roman got bored? What if it just didn’t work out? What if he got tired of waiting for borrowed time with Roman?
Their relationship wasn’t even that strong, considering the amount of arguments and stubborn qualities they each possessed. The only reason they spent so much time together was because they worked at the same place, and if they stopped, would they still put that much effort into the relationship?
During one of his breaks, Virgil found himself standing in front of Dylan’s security office. When Duke opened the door, the Samson triplet noticed the look on Virgil’s face, muttering a quick excuse and walking to the lobby.
After a few moments of Virgil sitting in what had been Duke’s seat, Dylan turned his chair. “Alright, I’ll bite. Seriously, what’s up with you? You came in this morning looking like a kicked puppy.”
Virgil scrunched up his nose. “No, I didn’t.”
“Not the point. Are you here for advice, because I have five words: Remy is better at this.” He said, ticking off his fingers as he said the words.
Roman goes back to chasing dreams, and Virgil isn't so sure of their future anymore.
Notes:
This is the beginning of the end jesus
I'm so unbelievably lucky to have you all supporting this. I still haven't finished writing everything (I'm actually low on stock chapters oop) but we're at the final stretch. Thank you so much.
Peace and love,
Nox
~~~
“Take one, Roman.” Virgil said behind the camera.
“Hello, my name is Roman Samson, and I will be auditioning for the role of Taylor Johnson.”
LOVE
that's it
i forgot to update last night
I'm sorry
don't forget to comment
Nox
~~~
Ten days before Valentines, a gift appeared in Roman’s locker.
Normally, he wouldn’t think much of it. Despite his reputation of being a theater nerd in high school, gifts seemed to appear out of thin air around this time of year. But since the little crown had been given to him a few months ago, he found himself daydreaming of a secret admirer.
So when the first present came, he was eager to start the chase.
The first present was a bundle of playbills that sat neatly in his work locker. They were all from local plays, nothing too big, until he got to the last one. A near mint-condition playbill for the original New York Wicked cast.
Roman’s jaw dropped open. Carefully setting the bundle aside, he rummaged through his locker for a note and found… nothing. The corners of his lips pulled down into a frown, and he sighed, putting the playbills into his bag and going on with his daily routine as a security guard.
The next day, his suspicions grew even more. That morning, he found a sceptre bearing a red jewel on top. Just like last time, there was no note.
He’d ask Dylan, Roman decided, and set off to find his fellow security guard. He knocked on the door once, then opened it and knocked on the door frame.
“Dylan, do you know who’s been leaving things in my locker? Could you, perchance, help me review the footage?”
Dylan jumped slightly at Roman’s voice, but quickly slumped in his swivel chair, turning and taking a long sip of his soda. “Sorry, but we don’t have a camera in the staff room.”
“You don’t? Isn’t that a huge blind spot?”
“That hallway is employees only anyway. Why, is someone stealing things?”
“Someone’s been leaving… er, presents, in my locker. I was hoping you could help me figure out who has been doing it.”
“Nope. Good luck.” Dylan said, and Roman was left to his own devices.
On the third day, a small plushie appeared. Miraculously, it was a custom toy: the dragon-witch Roman loved to tell the kids about. This fueled his determination even more.
He went to the next person who he thought could help: Remy.
Hi everyone,
Thank you for your kind comments last week, it was a hard week this week too but I managed to write a chapter and a half today so I really think I'll have written the ending chapters by March/April. It's been a weird couple of weeks but we're building up stock chapters again and I'm so excited.
I love you all - don't be afraid to send asks on @tooattachedtofiction on tumblr!
Nox
~~~
Roman went into radio silence for the rest of the trip. To be fair, he was supposed to hop on a flight less than a few hours after his audition, but even the morning of, he was quiet.
True to his word, Virgil picked him up from the airport, and nearly crashed the car several times before they reached Roman’s apartment.
“So? How was it?”
“I mean, I think it went well. I still need to wait for another call back, considering the role is a main role for a major movie. I don’t know how many auditions I’ll need to go through before I know I’ve got the part.” Virgil grabbed Roman’s suitcase from the trunk, placing it on the ground before starting to lock up the car.
“Did they say anything?”
“Hollywood auditions are different than what I expected, but that’s normal. I mean, La La Land was pretty spot on about the audition process. But they were smiling when I finished, so I’m hoping for the best.”
Roman unlocked his door swiftly and pulled Virgil inside, tugging him closer until they landed, sprawled out on the couch, their legs tangled together.
“Three days wasn’t short enough.” Roman breathed out, trying to be closer, closer. He pulled Virgil in for a long, needy kiss, gently locking his arms around the other man’s neck.
“We can’t even spend three days without each other.” Virgil laughed as Roman started to plant kisses all over his face. Finally, Virgil pushed himself off of Roman with another laugh.
“Go take a shower, I’ll be here when you get back. Takeout?”
“Pizza!” Roman called out as he disappeared into his room.
~~~
It was only when the night was over and Virgil returned home that reality slapped him in the face.
What if Roman got this job? Would he move away? For how long? Permanently? Would the movie do well? And if it did, would he never come back?
And what if Roman asked Virgil to come with him? To drop everything, learn about a new industry? One that was shady and full of rumors and high stakes? Would he say yes? Would he leave the arcade?
Was he ready to leave his home?
The rational part of his brain took over, washing away the damage of the beer that had slowly made its way down to his stomach during dinner.
That’s a lot of what if’s, V. You’re getting ahead of yourself. Nothing’s set in stone yet.
So he tucked his thoughts away and fell into a dreamless sleep.
I started writing the final chapters the other day and I'm gonna cry I swear-
But anyways I totally forgot this chapter existed and then I saw the beginning and was like fUCK-
I'm sorry
(I'm not)
you all really pulled through with the comments and I really hope you all continue to do that, it made me smile so much!
see you next week :)
Nox
~~~
“Happy Valentines!” Patton said, skipping into the arcade. “Everyone gather ‘round, I have cards!” On top of his head, there was a red headband with hearts attached to thin-wire springs. They bounced up and down as he skipped.
“Aw, Patton, you didn’t have to do that!” Thomas said, flashing a sly smirk in Logan’s direction. The other man coughed, trying to control his reddening face.
“Of course I had to! Just because you don’t have a partner doesn’t mean you can’t get cards on Valentines.” Patton said. “Come on, hurry up! We open in five!”
“This one’s for you, and you, and-” Patton picked up the last card and walked over to Logan, his hands behind his back. The flustered manager was a few feet away from the others, checking the time on his watch every ten seconds.
“This one’s for you, Logan.” Patton said cheerfully, handing him the card.
He looked down at the front of the card. On a light blue background, Patton had written You remind me of the 21 letters of the alphabet.
Logan raised an eyebrow and lifted his gaze to Patton. “Please tell me you didn’t insert one of your puns in here. I know you know that the alphabet is twenty-six letters long.”
“Have a nice day, Logan!” Patton said, walking away.
Logan sighed, walking down to his office. He’d look at it later.
Screw it.
He’d look at it now.
Once he had safely hidden in his office, he opened the card. In Patton’s handwriting, the inside of the card finished the sentence: Oh shoot, I forgot U R A Q T! Happy Valentines, Logan!
“Yer-act?” Logan’s eyebrows knit together. “That’s not a new word, is it?”
This was Patton , Logan reminded himself. Patton used text lingo a lot. Maybe…
“Oh shoot, I forgot you are a… cutie?” He felt his cheeks heating up as he read the sentence. Normally, he would have been focused on the grammatical errors, but this was different.
Quickly, Logan shoved the card into his desk and lowered his head, burying his face into his arms. This is a mess. I’m a mess.
This chapter is definitely ridiculous, I can't even begin to explain-
IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENTS:
1) my birthday is next week so I may not update but I probably will knowing that I forget about it all the time
2) Let us know if we should make a discord server for this fic! After every chapter we can discuss it.
As always, comment, reblog, and kudos! Thank you to Clam for everything they've done for me and I'll see you next week!
Nox
~~~
Although the Halloween drama didn’t quite settle as the others had hoped, they did their best to keep things normal. Virgil and Roman were civil at best, though they avoided each other even around customers. Patton had even dryly remarked that the two were playing a long-winded game of Telephone.
After a stern talking to, Emile had apologized to Logan for his words. The conversation had turned into one where Logan confessed that while he loved psychology, he could never understand what it was to be an empath, like Emile. The next week, the younger Picani appeared with a little scrapbook that was a carefully written guide to picking up on others’ emotions. Privately, Logan had thanked him profusely.
School had just let out for Thanksgiving break, so the arcade was packed with plenty of families. Laser tag started running every half hour, and Logan had even needed to order extra stock for the prize counter in order to keep up with the influx of customers.
On Wednesday, the arcade emptied out, as most were having their lunch-dinners then. Logan had offered to give the Picani brothers the day off the night before. “I hope work isn’t interrupting your holidays. If you’d like, we can manage. Wednesday of Thanksgiving week is always quiet.”
Patton had looked at Emile. “What do you think, kiddo?”
Emile shrugged noncommittally. “It’s not like there’s any family to be with. What about you, Logan? Don’t you go home for Thanksgiving?”
“Only during Christmas, my family is from New York. It’s easier that way.”
“Would you like to spend Thursday with us?” Emile had blurted out. Patton’s eyes had widened so much that for a brief second, Logan wondered if they could fall out.
“As long as I’m not imposing-”
“Of course not!” Patton had said.
And so, the Picani brothers worked on Wednesday.
Up until the late afternoon, the arcade had been nearly empty. Remy had gone home to his family, as well as Virgil, Thomas and Dylan.
And then Duke arrived.
Duke Remus Samson could be a carbon copy of Roman, were it not for the silver streak in his hair and a mustache that could rival Blackbeard’s infamous one. Still, they shared the same looks for the most part.
