Patton is the rich aristocrat who decides to give up his life of leisure and become a pirate captain. Loves adventure, fancy outfits and being the dad to his very confused crew.
Roman is Pattons scribe who wildly embellishes their actual adventures to make them more ~dramatic~ when not helping Patton with his relationship woes he can be found avoiding actual pirate work and sketching all the cute sailors
Vigil is a legendary pirate who is board of his own reputation as a blood thirsty bad guy and is weirdly drawn to (/immediately hopelessly besotted with) Patton and his insane but wholesome way of doing things.
Logan is Virgil’s right hand man who is the only one who seems to actually know how to sail a boat and can’t understand WHY Virgil has suddenly lost his mind and is acting completely illogical. Short and filled with rage.
Human AU /fake dating AU Intruality or pre relationship Patton/Janus/Remus
okay so Patton Sanders is away at collage and he is a Good Boy (tm). He volunteers Saturday, goes to church on Sunday, arrives 30 min early for his 8 am Monday lecture and brightly asks how everyone’s weekend was. He brings home made cookies to his seminars and lets everyone copy his notes and is always polite and kind to everyone he meets.
Unfortunately, a lot of this gets him labelled as weird, childish, naïve etc etc
Which he can cope with when it’s strangers, but he can’t help but get annoyed when it comes from his family.
He’s got three big brothers. Roman and Logan are both massive overachievers, Roman is super social and has had an endless parade of boyfriends, Logan claims he isn’t social but runs like 5 different clubs at his college and has an endless parade of minions. Both of them have a bad habit of talking over Patton and not truly listening to his contributions. Virgil’s a bit more chill but he’s completely overprotective and treats Patton like he’s a kid who can’t survive on his own. (Early episode vibes).
So there's some family obligation (mom wants them to...take grandma to the... old folks .. .church picnic? IDK something) and everyone just straight up assumes Patton will go because 'its not like he's doing anything else' and its just one step too far and Patton just blurts out "UM actually I'm busy that day. With Larry."
Which...who tf is Larry?
After that Patton maybe gets a bit addicted to the Larry excuse. Can't bring cookies because his boyfriend Larry licked all of them. Can't help you move this weekend, going to SeaWorld with Larry. Oh wait SeaWorld's unethical? Yeah he knows, it's a protest. Larry's going to dress as an ochrea and scream at people. Cant lend you the money - Larry needs it for bail.
(This might not have escalated so much if Patton wasn't TERRIBLE at lying, juts blurting out the first nonsensical thing he thinks of, but also has such a reputation of goody-two-shoes-ness that no one suspects him of lying. But everyone is very concerned about his association with Larry.)
The only person who knows Larry is fake is Patton's roommate Janus, who was there when Patton was on the video call and originally came up with Larry. He thinks the entire thing is hilarious and does absolutely NOTHINHG to reign Patton in, frequently helping him maintain the ruse/ escalating it further ("Patton would DIE if he knew i was telling you this, but the real reason he can't come to your birthday is Larry's old prison injury is acting up again..."). This whole thing has brought them closer than any of Patton's prior attempts at bonding with his roommate so he's a bit pleased.
Things go wrong when his brothers insist he bring Larry home for thanksgiving break. He's already told them that Larry got disowned by his family (seemed easier than making up a whole supporting cast) and is unemployed so he can't think of a great excuse (and his brothers are VERY insistent) so he ends up agreeing.
Patton and Janus get drunk in their room to toast the end of the Larry ruse. Janus insists Patton should just get a friend to pretend to be Larry to keep the game going but Patton says his only real friend is Jan and his family already know what he looks like (he has a pretty distinctive face tattoo) so that cant happen. Jan say's in that case lets just hire someone on Craig'sList to be your badass brother bothering boyfriend and Patton laughs and then has no memory of the rest of that evening.
So Patton drive's home. Hungover and resigned to having to come clean about lying for months and months. And when he walks in the door his mom hugs him and says “oh! Larry got here just before you! You never told me he had a moustache!”
So then a guy Patton has never seen before in his life is planting a big ol sloppy kiss on his cheek and yelling 'Heya honey bunch!!" and his brothers are in the background looking like they're about to have a collective breakdown and um.
He really just needs to get 5 minuets away from his family and 'Larry' so he can call Janus and ask what the fuck have you done, but with Larry clinging to him like an octopus and his brothers refusing to let them out of their sight that's almost impossible
bonus points!
Remus considers himself a method actor and refuses to respond to anything but Larry/ stop pretending to be Pat's boyfriend even when they're alone
Pattons mom is, inexplicably, completely charmed by Remus/Larry and wont stop telling him how much more confident and happy Patton has been since the two of them got together
his brothers are all horrified by Remus/Larry
Patton does eventually get in contact with Jan who is like...okay yes maybe i wrote the criaglist add after you passed out but in my defence i was extremely drunk at the time
Patton tells his mom that Janus wasn't invited home for thanksgiving (which tbf, is true, because his family's in freakin' europe) so of course she insists that he drive over an join them
this does not calm anything down, as he pisses off Virgil within the first 20 seconds of arriving, but he does distract everyone to give Patton more chances to sneak away with Remus
eventually Patton has a bit of a break down/ rant to Remus about the whole situation and Remus finally drops character to comfort him and is like "I don't get why you need to lie about yourself anyway?? Like I've spent this whole weekend learning about you and you're awesome the way you are??"
Patton: HEART EYES EMOJI
Anyway so eventually OBVIOUSLY they fall for each other and fake boyfriend becomes real boyfriend
Remus and/or Jan deliver some sort of smack down speech to the bros about how they need to have more faith in Pat/not treat him like a child etc etc
Patton learns to stand up for himself and also realises he's so lucky to have so many people who love /care about him even if they are all completely ridiculous
platonic or pre relationship LAMP + platonic (or romantic tbh) Demus, Fantasy AU, Circle of Magic (Tamora Pierce) AU
Universe primer for anyone who has not read the books:
Universe where some people are born with magic, with varying degrees of power. Some people get academic magic, where the magic comes from the person, and some get ambient magic, where the person can 'tap into' the magic of something in their surroundings, normally through performing a craft (eg cloth weaving, smithing etc).
Academic magic is much easier to see and children with magic are normally detected early and trained in how to control their powers. They can choose to study to be mages at universities/temples. it is more common and, in general, more powerful than ambient magic. Ambient magic is much harder to spot and can be harder to control, as practitioners are constantly bombarded by magical energy from their surroundings. it can 'get away' from the user and cause problems if they don't learn to control it. Normally taught via apprenticeship by another mage with the same craft.
Actual Story:
Roman (dancing magic), Logan (water magic) and Virgil (weather magic) are all kids with ambient magic who arn't discovered until they're much older (13+). None of them were aware they had magic and had just resigned themselves to being 'weird'.
inevitable tragic backstories:
Roman's family are nuovo-riche and have always been resentful of mages, who they think look down on normal people. They have a 'children should be seen and not heard' attitude and are basically waiting for Roman to be old enough to marry a suitable girl/ take over part of the family business before they will be interested in him. He is absolutely forbidden from singing and dancing/generally making a nuscience of himself, but he can't help but feel he gets good luck for the day whenever he's able to sneak off and dance...
Logan is a street kid with a reputation for always knowing which water pumps are working and safe to drink from. This is enough for one of the local gangs to take him in even though he's not strong and has bad eyesight, although he can see clearly when he looks at reflections in water. His whole gang end up being rounded up and arrested after robbing the wrong rich guys house, but Logan manages to escape through the sewers, ending up alone on the wrong side of the city....
Virgil is a noble and hears voices. His family care about him but are also terrified of anyone finding out that their heir is 'mad' so he is locked up in his room for most of his life. He was tested for magic as a little kid but they didn't find anything, they don't realise he's hearing voices on the wind. When Virgil was little he got incredibly angry with one of the servants, for reasons he now can't even remember, and said he hoped she would die. That evening, she was killed in a freak storm whilst walking home. Even though Virgil didn't know he had weather magic at the time, he still blamed himself and is absolutely terrified of storms as a result...
All three of them get found and rescued by Janus, an academic mage who specialises in 'finding hidden things' amongst other seer related skills, and brought to a temple to be trained. None of them can fit in with the other children (a mix of academic magic users and non magic kids who are training as adepts) so they're moved out of the dormitories and into a cottage on the temple grounds. Janus and Remus (a plant mage who is always covered in dirt) are the adults living there who become their main teachers.
Janus and Remus are trying their best but like....there is a REASON they haven't taken on apprentices before, let alone kids with as many issues as these three. And the kids do not get along. at all. Roman's too loud, Virgil's too quiet, Logan doesn't trust anyone. Things in the cottage are ~tense~
Patton is another kid adept in training who is being raised at the temple. Whilst there, it's discovered that he also has ambient magic - in cooking. This is a much more common, mundane form of magic than the overpowered, rare magics that the other three have. But it does mean he gets extra 'lessons' in the temple kitchens at odd hours, and ends up meeting and bonding with the other three separately.
Roman's terrified of messing up in front of adults and acts loud and obnoxious in his efforts to be 'perfect' (or at least better than the other two) (even though he can't sit still and meditate AT ALL and he knows that drives Janus crazy and he's totally going to kick him out and send him back home to his parents and and and- ) but Patton is just another kid, and Roman can sneak off at lunch break to meet him and just play and dance silly jigs without worrying about it being perfect. And Patton will always clap and whoop and reward him with home made toffees (his parents never allowed sweets) which give him this like. confident feeling he's never had before.
Logan meets Patton whilst trying to steal extra food at night. Logan doesn't trust adults At All and finds all the rules and regs of temple life baffling, but Patton makes sense to him - Logan needs extra food and Patton needs protection from bullies in his dorm. It's a good trade, even if Logan gets in trouble for 'accidentally' soaking some snooty adepts on their way back from the library. Patton gives Logan biscuits which never go stale, even if he hoards them in his room for weeks, and starts teaching him to read in exchange for stories of life outside the temple. He also accidently gets Logan addicted to jam.
Virgil absolutely hates leaving his room but R&J give him one chore which forces him to go outside: collecting breakfast from the kitchens in the morning. Patton notices Virgil looks terrified of entering the busy kitchen, so he starts meeting him outside with a basket of food. Eventually Vigril's starts coming earlier and earlier so he can stand and chat with Patton for longer before he goes back. he doesn't really get WHY Patton likes him but the morning conversations quickly become the highlight of the day. Patton brews him his own bled of tea which gives him this feeling of calm, even during a storm.
ANYWAY. Eventually SOMETHING happens which puts Patton in danger (i'm thinking....Pirates? Fire in the Kitchen? Bears? idk) The other three have to work together to rescue him and end up finally bonding as a result. After that they start hanging out as a four whenever they can. At some point Janus starts inviting Patton along to their group teaching sessions since he's a good influence on the other three and then he starts staying for breakfast/ lunch / dinner until one day Janus looks at Remus and is all "...do we have a fourth child living in this cottage?" And Remus just sighs at him like. Honey. You're meant to be this all powerful seer how did you not notice we essentially adopted this kid three seconds after he tasting that soup he made. And Janus grumbles but like. He loves these kids he wants them to be happy and Patton is TECHNICALY in need of a teacher too, even if he's got way more control of his powers having grown up in a temple, he is still a kid, so its not totally unreasonable he should move into the cottage.
And it was really good soup.
Story about the Power of Friendship And Also Home Cooking
for the fic titles!! I’m Falling (interpret however you want muehehehe)
Angel and Demon AU Moceit + maybe Analogical?
Virgil is a newly minted guardian angel. His first assignment is a scruffy looking do-gooder named Patton whose on the brink of becoming disillusioned/ burnt out by all of his charity work and activism and need someone to help him take care of himself as well as others.
Virgil disguises himself as one of the college age volunteers at Patton’s soup kitchen in order to get close to Patton and talk with him (as well as spying on him when he’s in angel mode).
Virgil’s not totally sure how its best to help Paton, so the assignment’s taking a while, but they’ve become friends and Patton doesn’t seem to be getting worse so he’s fairly optimistic.
BUT THEN Virgil’s (self-appointed) BFF Remus decides to visit. Remus is a cupid, although no one can figure out how he’s not been fired from that job since he tends to make inappropriate matches just for fun and causes chaos wherever he goes.
Remus jokingly (?) suggests the cure to Patton’s problem is getting laid and aims his bow at Patton and the first person he sees him talking to.
Unfortunately that person is Janus. A ‘business developer’ (who is totally NOT part of the mafia nooo) who is only at the soup kitchen to subtly imply Patton should be selling the building to him before something….happens to it….
Virgil panics. Tackles Remus. Bow goes off. Suddenly the do-gooder and the wise guy are making googly eyes at each other, falling head over heels in love instantly.
Virgil now needs to figure out how to undo cupids arrow before the infatuation blooms into real love, disrupting Patton’s destiny and getting Virgil kicked off the guardian team before his first assignment’s even done.
Would becoming a fallen angel on his first job be some kind of record?
Bonus points:
· Remus’ ‘bow and arrow’ manifests as a straw and spit balls
· Logan is a cross roads demon who Janus originally made a deal with to move up the ranks in his crime syndicate very quickly. He is Not Happy that Janus is so distracted by smooching Patton he hasn't been carrying out all his various Evil Tasks on schedule.
· Eventually ends up teaming up with Virgil to break up the couple.
· They are both terrible at it.
· Possibly end up falling for each other??
· Remus’ Human disguise is hot pants and a leather jacket.
Summary: Twin Princes Remus and Romulus are cursed at birth with Honesty and Obedience. When Romulus, who cannot disobey any order, is told to kill his brother the next time he lays eyes on him, he changes his name to Roman and runs away. Roman joins up with a misfit group of adventures and plans to never return to his homeland. But the fae have other plans for him...
This was originally a fake fic but I decided to turn it into a real fic because it looked like fun, The fake fic can be read as a prologue.
Warnings (for whole fic not necessarily individual chapters): Violence, mind whammying/memory altering, curse of obedience related consent issues, references to sex, references to war related injuries/PTSD, references to child abuse/neglect (YMMV on that one but just in case), antagonstic-but-not-exactly villian!Janus, Extremly-moraly-dubious-but-not-exacty-unsympathetic-Remus
Chapter 1
Previous (prologue) Next Chapter 2
When Roman had first left home, he had no intention of making friends.
Romulus had never had them, unless you counted Remus in their younger days. Royal life was often one of seclusion and once his… particular problem… had come to light, his parents took the necessary steps to ensure he was as isolated from others as possible.
This was for his own good. Romulus could not protect himself. Romulus was a liability to the himself and the Kingdom. One slip before a supposed playmate could lead to discovery and disaster. His father explained this to him when Romulus was eleven, and had taken to following the young Marquis de Orenlla around like a love sick puppy when the family visited the palace.
“Suppose that boy notices,” his fathers voice was a hiss, his hand gripping Romulus small shoulder hard enough to bruise “suppose he realises you will do anything he asks, and he asks you for family secrets? Suppose he waits until your are older and orders you to favour his family, to give them position in court, to promote them above their deserved station- or to harm their enemies. Do you understand the risk you’re taking Romulus? Swear to me you will keep to yourself. Please.”
Phrasing, Romulus had come to learn, was extraordinarily important when dealing with his curse. The final ‘please’ from his father had turned the order into a request – something Romulus could technically choose to ignore. But the grip on his shoulder suggested it would not remain his choice for long. So he nodded at his father and swore to keep away and was rewarded with a smile and a hand stroking gently though his hair, before he was dismissed to go and study before his afternoon lessons.
He should have been lonely. But he had his parents and his instructors and his servants. And the occasional, highly orchestrated, public appearance wherein he would adopt a practiced air of aloof politeness, wave and make measured conversation with those who would never dare to give him an order. It could have been worse.
Still, he understood that once he left it would be necessary to speak to many more people then he had up to now. He would need food and shelter and work and direction, none of which he had had to procure for himself before.
So he prepared himself to make conversation with strangers, perhaps acquire acquaintances. He expected to find admirers once he was far South enough that he could perform with his lute without fear of recognition from the crowd. He hoped, perhaps, for some romances, some temporary but dashing companions to join him on adventures. He had read about such things during hours spent locked up in the palace library and told to entertain himself.
He had not planned on making friends. Traveling with anyone for too long, getting to know them and allowing them to learn about him – it inevitably increased the chance of them discovering his secret. Of exploiting him as his parents had warned against. It was not worth the risk.
And yet.
And yet somehow, he had acquired three.
Virgil and Patton and Logan.
Brave and kind and wise.
Not a drop of aristocratic blood between them but without doubt the most noble companions a man could wish for. When he thought of them, of how they had accepted him into their little band of misfit adventurers, his heart felt more full, his mind more alive and sharp than it had been in years. His blood buzzed with creativity and songs of friendship, love and loyalty sprang from his lips almost unbidden.
Not right now however.
Right now sort of wanted to kill them. Specifically Virgil.
Roman scowled at the surrounding trees “If there are any depressingly dressed half elves out there who want to APPOLOGISE for being JERKS the floor is open!” he called.
The trees remained silent. They had done that the last three times he tried.
Roman left out a dramatic exhale and flopped back on the ground.
The thing was. He knew, intellectually, that this wasn’t Virgil’s fault. Not Intentionally.
Virgil was prickly. And unpredictable. Last night, Roman had wailed in dismay at the sorry state for a fire the young man was building. Virgil had responded that they would be lucky if there was no fire at all, since that would mean no one would have to be subjected to Romans cooking. Roman had insulted Virgil’s hair. Virgil had made a creative suggestion for where Roman could stick the firewood he was holding. And back and forth the insults went until between them they had built up the fire and set the stew boiling upon it.
It was banter. Virgil had been giggling the whole time, Patton hadn’t interjected once to tell them to be nicer.
And then this evening they’d gone hunting for firewood together. And Roman had made some sly remark, hoping that Virgil’s fire building skills had improved somewhat overnight.
And Virgil had turned round and snarled at him to “shut UP Princy. I don’t need you to help me – just, just get lost.”
Virgil didn’t know about the curse.
Romans mouth had dropped open in surprise. And before he’s had time to close it, his feet had spun round one hundred and eighty degrees and marched him away from his friend, away from the path, deeper into the heart of the forest.
His feat had carried him on a winding route, over one shallow stream and through an extremely dense thicket of brambles that left Roman desperately hacking away at the thorns in front of him before they could shred him to ribbons. He had eventually stopped after an hour of relentless marching and sprawled at the foot of an impressively knotted oak tree.
Unsurprisingly, his surroundings were totally unfamiliar. The trees grew so thick here it was impossible to see more than twelve feet in any direction. He was well and truly lost.
Roman had spent an unsatisfying few minutes ranting to the trees about elves and their unpredictable mood swings and marching and blisters and curses and Virgil’s still subpar fire lighting skills until eventually he had run out of steam and settled himself down for a good sulk.
Phrasing was important. Virgil had told him to get lost but he hadn’t said to stay lost. And now that he was lost, there was nothing to prevent him being found again.
Patton was an excellent tracker. The idea of sitting around waiting to be rescued stung Roman’s pride, but his feat had already been aching from the days travel before his unintended march. His stomach growled, the smattering of cuts from the brambles burned, and evening was already turning to night. The most sensible thing to do was for Roman to stay where he was and wait to be found.
Assuming they wanted to find him.
Roman bit his lip sharply to try and banish that line of thought. They wouldn’t leave him.
Although, he drew his legs up and wrapped his arms around his knees to fend off the evening chill, There was a strong chance they wouldn’t find him tonight. Patton had looked exhausted when Virgil and Roman and left on their hunt for firewood, in fact he’d been falling behind all day and –
Oh.
Patton and Virgil were born in Krutova and Finaley’ed respectively. Two small neighbouring kingdoms, politically insignificant and famous only for their densely forested landscapes and their intense dedication to wiping each other off the face of the Earth. For the past eighteen years bloody war had raged between the two. Roman had never asked directly, but he was fairly certain that this conflict was where Patton had acquired his enormous broadsword, his limp and, quite possibly, Virgil.
Neither of them liked forests. They carried extra tension as soon as they stood under the shadows of the trees. In addition to that, the uneven terrain aggravated Patton’s hip, sometimes leaving him hissing between his teeth with every step.
Roman had been walking up front with Logan all day, arguing the merits of modern Raspanzean poetry compared with the old masters. He had thought they had called a halt to the day a little early, but was tired enough himself not to question it. And really, since he and Virgil had been on fire and cooking duty last night it should have fallen to the others today…but Virgil had scampered into the woods as soon as Patton was settled on his bed roll, and Roman had gone chasing after.
Virgil fretted. He fretted after all of them, but Patton most of all. And Roman had chased after him when he was already stressed about his best friend and then started needling him about his fire making skills.
Roman groaned and pressed his face into his knees.
Maybe he was the jerk.
“It sounds like it.”
Roman sighed, hating the whine in his voice as he replied “but he still shouldn’t have taken it out on –“
Romans head snapped up so fast he hit his skull hard against the oak tree behind him. Wincing he twisted his head left and right, but the area remained deserted.
He frowned. Perhaps he was more exhausted than he thought –
“You certainly are over tired little Prince,” Roman made a sound which he refused to think of as a shriek and scrambled to his feet.
Standing not three feet- two feet – five feet- three feet from him, stood – hovered - sat – stood a figure in – black – yellow- black – shadow – gold - black. He- she – it – he? Laughed sweetly and stepped – slunk – prowled – flew – stepped closer
And drew back abruptly as Roman held up his dagger between them.
Roman’s sword was the best he could buy, made of blended steel with a bronze handle. He cleaned and sharpened it religiously and practiced often. It was beautifully made and perfectly balanced, suitable for a solider but ideal for a traveller in who knew how to use it.
Romans dagger was old and brittle. And more than once Logan had tried to surreptitiously throw it out and convince him to replace it with something usable.
But it was made of pure iron and it kept the scowling fae at bay.
Looking directly at the fae made something in Romans stomach twist. But he kept his eyes at a squint and held the dagger firm between them, even as his arms shook from the effort.
“What do you want from me?” he gritted out
“What do I want?” The fae’s face would not quite settle, the edges shifting and billowing, but when he smiled Roman was certain he saw fangs “You’re the one trespassing in my home, little Prince, I should be asking you”
Suddenly the fae was as close as he could come, his face less than an inch from the daggers edge. Up close, Roman could see two eyes clearly, one black and one pulsating with a sickly yellow light. “Come to make a deal with the devil, Princey?”
Roman squeezed his eyes shut and held himself firm, even as the shaking began to spread over his entire body.
“I am. A. Lost. Traveller.” He gasped out “I. mean. No. disrespect. To you. Or. Your court” for what felt like an eternity the shaking continued, rattling his brain and sending one knee crashing to the floor. And then it stopped.
Hesitantly, Roman cracked one eye open and looked up. The fae had, mercifully, settled its form. It had picked a face identical to Romans own, save for the yellow eye and scales that spread over its left side. A cloak of shadows hid most of its body from view, but when it moved towards Roman now it seemed to slither rather than step.
“You mean no disrespect” it nodded towards the dagger still clutched in Roman’s sweaty hands “but your bring a weapon to my home?”
“it is a shield, my lord, not a sword, despite it’s shape”
The fae harrumphed, a disconcertingly human noise, and circled Roman once. “You’re not from around here.”
“I’m lost, my lord.”
“I know that” The fae stopped in front of Roman again and rolled it’s eyes. “I meant you are not one of the town folk who trespass in my wood so regularly. You know how to speak to me.”
Roman opened his mouth to say ‘in my fathers Kingdom the Fae are welcomed, and representatives of the Saelie court attend each ball and function’ but managed to snap it closed before he made a sound. Rule one for dealing with the Fae, even those considered allies, was not to give them any information that they didn’t already know. “You flatter me my lord” he said instead.
Roman still hadn’t moved from his half kneeling pose and now the fae coiled down so that they were once again face to face. “Most humans in your position” he said, “would have already started begging for a deal to relive them of their…little problems. What’s the matter Princey, curse got your tongue?”
Roman couldn’t help the way his heart rate sped up at the faes words. But he did his best to keep his outward face calm. It was true, the first deliberate order he had received when his curse was discovered was to never talk about it, he couldn’t have brought it up to this fae if he wanted to.
But more than that – the fae who allied themselves with his father’s court had done everything in their power to remove the curses from him and his brother. Nothing had worked. “A gift once given can only be taken back by the gifter” an elder sprite in the guise of a kindly woman had told his mother. “And their gifter is unlikely to return here.”
The gifter was also unlikely to be a snake shaped creature tied to a southern forest. “I want nothing from you my lord, except to be allowed to leave your home” Roman intoned honestly. He had wondered, for a moment, when the creature had called him Princey – but Virgil and the others often called him by that nickname. If this was a lord of the forest he could have heard them when they passed by.
The fae stared at him for a long moment. And smiled. “Liar.”
Roman frowned – “what-“
“Roman!”
Roman jerked his head to the side, the shout had come from close by, he was sure. “Pa-Padre?”
A whisper in his ear: “time to go home Roman.” Roman quickly looked back to the fae, but it was gone. On the ground where it had been, lay a single oak leaf dyed a brilliant, autumnal, yellow.
He didn’t need to look up at the oak trees leaves to know they, like every other tree in the forest, were still a vibrant green.
“Roman! Roman are you here?”
Without much conscious thought, he reached forward and snatched up the yellow leaf, burying it deep in his pocket.
“I’M HERE. Patton? Virgil? I’M OVER HERE”
Within minuets all seven foot of Patton was crashing through the tree line and baring down on him, Virgil not far behind.
“Roman, oh my goodness we were so worried! Are you hurt? Can you stand? Why do you have your dagger – did something happen?”
“Princy! Shit are you – are you okay? I am so, - I’m really- We looked EVERYWHERE“
“I’m fine.” Roman promised ‘Its fine’ he added to Virgil, “I just – I figured you needed some space so I tried looking for wood on the other side of camp. Guess I got a little turned around” He allowed Patton to pull him to his feet, giving them both his best sheepish grin. Embarrassed but ready to laugh at himself. He really had got lost. Silly Roman.
It’s not like he could tell them about the curse.
“We’re not the far from camp” Patton told him, he glanced around frowning slightly “I’m sure we searched through here before.”
“I was trying to make my own way back,” Roman lied easily “I probably ended up walking in a circle and missed you.”
It’s not like there was any point telling them about the fae.
“You sure you’re okay?”
“I’m fine Pat, what about you? How’s your leg?”
“Oh this old thing?” Patton gave them a wide smile “it’s just fine, Ro, don’t you worry. Now I think I know a short cut back, you two follow close to me alright?” and with that the large man spun round and headed into the trees.
Virgil and Roman shared an exasperated glance. The man was clearly in agony.
“Listen, Princy I-“
“I’m sorry too.” Roman cut him off. Bumped his shoulder against Virgil’s and winked. “Now lets get back to camp before Logan paces a trench in to the ground hm?”
Slowly Virgil nodded, although he was still staring at Roman guiltily. The two of them headed into the trees together, collected Patton from where he was half collapsed against an elm, and the three slowly made their way back to camp.
By the time they were explaining what had happened to Logan, the memory of the fae had faded like mist.
With a days more travel they would be out of the forest and on a path to Steveange. The largest and greatest city of the Central Kingdoms. From there they would have to chose whether to head east, towards the coast line, west to catch the merchant festivals or north, where Roman had always refused to travel.
Stuck between two pages of Romans notebook, a unseasonably yellowed oak leaf shivered.
You didn't specify a pairing but my brain defaulted to analogical, hope that's ok!
Patton owns a burger bar, inherited from his father.
His burgers are not exactly heute cuisine, but they have very generous portions for cheap so he has a good mix of regulars
Janus recently brought the pizza place across the street from them. It used to be a ~fancy~ Italian bistro but Janus was like...in this economy? And turned it into a family friendly, mass appeal, direct competition kind of place.
it is war between them.
(Did I steal this set up from bobs burgers yes probably don't worry about it)
Patton runs a discount offer, Janus runs a better discount offer. Patton does a theme night, Janus buys a karaoke machine. They're constantly trying to one up the other and win over their customers.
Logan is Patton's son who helps out whenever he's home from collage.
Virgil is Janus nephew who is working for him in exchange for living with him whilst he ~figures out what to do with his life~
The two of them meet whilst out buying ingredients in the wee hours of the morning
they instantly connect, even though they're both a bit awkward, and Logan offers to show Virgil round the town
its only after having developed serious crushes on each other that they realise the other is working for the ~enemy~
Que shenanigans as they negotiate being the Romeo and Juliet of the fast food world.
bonus - Roman and Remus are teenage part time workers at Patton and Jan's restaurants and spend most of their time escalating the feud between their bosses.
When Roman discovers the tryst he immediately declares himself Logan's love advisor and relishes in the drama of it all
(Logan: Im not taking advice from you. You're like twelve.
Roman: Im sixteen and i had two dates last week. When's the last time you went out with anyone?
If you get the chance, can you ramble about your dark/light switcharoo au for a bit? I found the tag today and it looks super interesting!
oooh okay. I haven't thought about this one for a while so this is a bit haphazard/half remembered:
(First if you haven't seen it already @sher-soc-the-famder wrote this awesome fic inspired by the first drawing and a lot of the world building-y stuff below was inspired by that :D)
· So the 'dominant sides' are Repression (AKA Patton), Ruthlessness (AKA Logan) Self-indulgence (AKA Roman)
· Thomas doesn't have contact with any of the sides except maybe Repression and doesn't realise most of the others exist
· he's not as reflective of a person in this au loll
· Thomas decided to stick with chemical engineering and ended up working for an oil/gas company, eventually pivoting to the more business side of things. He's profit and power motivated guy and a bit of a slimy wheeler dealer
· All the plot of this AU takes place in the mindscape/equivalent
· This is basically a big old castle/fortress with a surrounding city
· the fortress is mostly Repressions domain, Ruthlessness has his own observation tower and the city is mostly under control of Self-indulgence who uses it as a playground that he can twist into whatever takes his fancy
· Courage and Self preservation (Virgil and Janus) don’t have their own domain and basically hide within the city limits, trying to avoid the others and also trying not to get sucked back into the subconscious
· R&R are smart enough to realise that completely destroying Virgil would have a negative impact on Thomas ( as he makes up a lot of Thomas’s caution etc) and since they don’t see him as any sort of threat they let him scratch out an existence on the outskirts
· They don’t know about Janus, who they believe disintegrated back into the subconscious a long time ago.
· Janus is still able to hide himself form the others and would be able to hide Virgil too if he didn’t insist on constantly trying to break into Repression’s fortress, where he believes he will be able to talk to Thomas and exert some influence on him. Or at least do enough to annoy R&R and disrupt their plans
· Janus and Virgil have had many, many arguments about this.
· On one reconnaissance mission into the fortress, Virgil finds Remus.
· Once upon a time, Repression and Ruthlessness decided to split Thomas’ fanciful side in two. They were planning to keep the confidence, self interest and enough creativity to help in his job, but get rid of all the silly childish stuff like the fantasies and the need for attention and the Disney obsession.
· They hoped the less desirable traits would fade away but instead they unexpectedly ended up forming another side, with the body of a child: Self- Expression (AKA Remus).
· Remus was kept chained up in the fortress dungeon and never allowed to grow, until he was eventually found by Virgil.
· Virgil had to convince Janus to come with him to actually rescue Remus and get them all back to their safe house, and during this mission Janus got spotted by Self-Indulgence.
· SO NOW:
· Virgil thinks Remus is the key to regaining control of Thomas. He has similar creative powers to Roman and could help them get into Repression’s fortress. He is also a part of Thomas that clearly still has the potential to grow and change, not locked into whatever roles the others have ended up with.
· Janus thinks this is an insane idea – Remus barley has any control over his creative powers (he tried to conjure a rose like beauty in the beast and ended up with a hammer). And is, for all intents and purposes, a kid – they should be protecting him not throwing him to the lions.
· Virgil agrees Remus isn’t ready YET but it still determined to train him for the right time, all whilst keeping his strange little family safe
· Lots of big brother Virgil and mom friend Janus. Remus is just absolutely beside himself happy to be out of the dungeon.
· Self – indulgence meanwhile desperately wants to see the man with the beautiful scales again. Self-indulgence is used to getting what he wants.
· Even though self- indulgence is on paper the most powerful side, what with his creativity reality warping powers, he hasn’t ever been much of a threat to la resistance as he is more concerned with himself than anything else and is too busy conjuring up gorgeous men to peel grapes for him.
· Now he’s interested in finding them, and the city they know is shifting and changing quickly as he searches.
· Meanwhile meanwhile, Repression has upgraded their threat level significantly and is also hunting them down. Like Virgil, he recognises that Remus is a significant threat to his rule, which is why he put so much effort into keeping him contained in the first place.
· Virgil still remembers when Thomas was younger and Repression had a different name. He’s convinced that if they can just rip his mask away, it will reveal all of Thomas’ true feelings that he’s been keeping down and revert Repression back into Patton.
· So, even though he doesn’t want to put Remus of Janus in danger, Virgil can’t help but be excited that Repression is being drawn out of his fortress and into the city to find them. This could be their chance!
· MEANWHILE meanwhile Janus’s scales are spreading. He’s convinced it’s a sign that he finally is disintegrating and fading away. Since they now have two out of three ‘light’ sides actively looking for them, he’s using all the power he has to keep himself, Virgil and Remus hidden and it’s making him weaker and weaker. He wont be able to keep his condition secret from Virgil for long…
· Meanwhile meanwhile MEANWHILE, Ruthlessness sits in his observation tower, watching the mind palace descend into chaos.
· He hasn’t left the tower in years, since they split Creativity, preferring to communicate with Repression though his head set when he needs to
· His tower is freezing to the point where when he does stand up, the ice on his throne cracks and splinters.
· The chaos in the mindscape is starting to impact Thomas in the real world, leaving him confused and anxious.
8.“The nightmares are just an illusion. I’m really here.” with prinxiety?
Roman may have panicked. A little. After the whole Guys and Dolls fiasco.
“I know all your dreams and fantasies…”
Except he didn’t. Or rather, he didn’t know which ones were true dreams, worthy of chasing after, and which ones needed to be left as fantasies.
“…I’m the dreamy fantasy guy!”
Every passing whimsy felt real to him. Even the ones that hurt his friends.
So he’d decided to train himself. Conjuring up more and more realistic figments in the imagination, just to get the feel of them. Playing out some of his fantasies to their inevitable unpleasant conclusion, so that he knew which ones were safe to press on Thomas.
He might have gone too far.
Roman had his eyes screwed shut and his hands clamped over his ears. He bit down on his tongue as hard as he could but still felt Virgil shift next to him. Perhaps the trembling woke him up? He felt strong arms warp around his middle and then Virgil was pulling him close. Roman ended up with his head cushioned on the emo’s chest, his ear pressing down right over Virgil’s heart.
“It was just a nightmare” Virgil told him, voice thick with sleep. “Nightmares are just illusions.”
Virgil got stuck with ‘Roman watch’ tonight. His friends rotated the duty. Or maybe they didn’t. Maybe none of them knew.
How Princy couldn’t keep reality and dreams separate anymore.
Roman flexed his ankle, feeling the soft loop of rope there. The other end was tied around Virgil’s own leg, designed to wake him up if Roman’s sleep addled brain decided to chase after an imaginary monster in the night.
Hesitantly, Roman opened one eye. He could hardly make out Virgil’s face in the dark.
Assuming it was Virgil.
Assuming there was anyone there at all.
“Hey.” The arms around him squeezed a little tighter. It did sound like Virgil. “I’m really here”
Roman nodded and tried to believe it, ears still straining for Vigil's heartbeat.
