To The Stars Who Listened (Sanders Sides Fallen Star AU)
After drunkenly making a wish on a shooting star, Logan Sanders got more than he was expecting when the star fell from the sky and into his living room. Now in human form, the star by the name of Patton claims he is there to help grant Logan’s wish.
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Pairings: Logicality and Prinxiety
Chapter summary: Roman’s struggle with the accursed writer’s block is a difficult one, but maybe what he needs to make a break through in his writing is something new? Maybe to find some inspiration from an unlikely place?
Warnings: Mentions of drinking and of getting drunk, writer’s block, lack of self care-[hygiene/eating/drinking/etc.] (I think that’s it, but please let me know if there’s something I missed!)
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Roman sat at his desk with his face buried in his hands. An entire day had gone by and inspiration had barely tapped him on the shoulder. He’s tried everything, but lo and behold the sun sets on yet another uninspired day. He cursed himself as his eyes threatened to close once again, but then again he hasn’t slept in a couple days. To think, just a couple days ago he had been nagging Logan to get some rest. Then again, based on the fact that Logan never comes up with stories (let alone get drunk on his own), Roman figured he definitely needed the rest more than him.
“And I thought that I was the master storyteller.” Roman huffed out before standing from his desk and stretching his arms out before stifling a yawn. His muscles felt stiff from spending all day at his desk and man did the small action feel like heaven. Another thing that would feel like an angel’s heavenly kiss right now would be the feeling of his head on his pillow while he knocks out on his bed, but sadly he had work to focus on. He let out a small sigh as he stared longingly at his bed before walking to the bathroom. Maybe splashing his face with cold water could wake him up a bit? Hopefully this time would be successful since he’s been splashing his face with water almost every hour with no luck.
Roman was quick to turn the faucet to its coldest setting before cupping his hands under the water with a sigh. He looked up from his hands and nearly jumped backward at his reflection. It was just so unlike him! His hair was messy and tangled (essentially an abomination), his eyes had dark bags beneath them (definitely not designer), his tan skin was certainly paler than usual (it wasn’t all that noticeable since his skin was still naturally dark but he could tell his gorgeous glow was gone), and he was still in his Mickey Mouse pajamas that he had put on over a week ago. His precious hygiene routine had clearly been thrown out the window along with his creative spark. If he didn’t have his inspiration and creativity, along with his practice for perfect hygiene and good looks, then who was he?
He let the water that was in his hands fall into the sink as he let out a frustrated groan before he shut the water off. No amount of rinsing his face was going to help him write a story, so he stomped back to his desk and sat back down. His tired mind kept wandering back to the story Logan had come up with. Maybe...Maybe a shooting star was just what he needed?
He got up again, stumbling a little this time from the lack of sleep, and made his way around his apartment making sure to turn off all the lights. He remembered how Logan would ramble on and on about light pollution or something like that when they were younger, so he smiled to himself after completing his task. Of course, now sleep was calling out her sweet song to him, and it made it slightly harder to navigate his messy home in the dark.
Roman opened the patio door and stepped out. Immediately he started searching the sky for any signs of a shooting star. With any luck he could at least wish away the pain in his royal ass that was his writer’s block. He’d do anything for inspiration at this point, even fight the accursed Dragon Witch from one of his previous books.
After searching and searching as best as he could with the naked eye, he let out a frustrated noise. This wasn’t going to work. Of course it wasn’t going to work! Standing out here and procrastinating wasn’t going to work!
Roman shudders at the thought and scrunches his nose. That sounded an awful lot like something Logan would say, but totally ten times harsher. At least he would give some helpful advice like telling him to go to sleep on time, to drink water, and remind him to eat. It was kind of strange that he hasn’t heard from him since his drunk phone call. Hopefully he was doing okay. Maybe he should call him later to check up on him?
Suddenly he felt his black cat, Sugar, purr as she rubbed her head against his leg. Was her bowl empty again? He should check it before getting back to writing. Even if he put off his own meals, he’d rather drop and suffer the pain of a million deaths than neglect his child.
With a sigh he bent down and pet the small cat before looking up at the sky one more time. He silently prayed that he could make his wish, but felt pretty hopeless. It would be just his luck if he never saw another shooting star in his lifetime.
“Let’s go inside, Sugar. Looks like the stars don’t want to listen to me complain tonight.” He said with a small sad smile, looking down at the cat who meowed in response. He gave a dry chuckle, and turned his gaze back to the sky. His eyes widened as he slapped his hands onto the railing of the small patio porch, startling his poor kitty. Were his eyes just playing tricks on him or had he seen what he thought he saw? Could the thing that had made its way from the right side of the sky to the left have been a shooting star? Only one way to find out.
“Star light, star bright, first star I see tonight. I wish I may, I wish I might, have the wish I wish tonight….I wish I could be inspired-maybe find my muse? Anything that could help me get my creativity going again.” Roman said after closing his eyes tight, feeling hope bubble up and flourish in his chest. There was a moment of silence. All Roman could hear was the sounds of the night. Well, at least the sounds of a Floridian night which consisted of crickets, frogs, and cicadas if it’s hot enough. He honestly wished that the frogs here sounded like coquis. He’d take them chanting their own names like a choir of Pokemon than sounding like a duck getting run over but hey, Florida, right?
Roman kept his eyes closed for a moment longer and took in a deep breath before opening them. Well, he might have to wait a hot moment for his wish to come through, but at least he got some fresh air, and the stars looked beautiful...tonight?
Now, if Roman was right, he could have sworn the shooting star he had wished on had made its way to the left of the night sky, so what exactly was this really bright one tripping on? Was it getting brighter? What was going-?
“I drunkenly made a wish on a shooting star last night and that very star crashed into me…”
Suddenly Logan’s words from their last phone call rang in his ears and made sense as the star appeared to be getting brighter, as if it was heading straight towards him. A sense of panic ran through his body as he backed up into the house, unsure of what he was doing exactly, but the star was getting brighter and brighter until it was too bright and Roman was wide eyed and frozen with shock.
The impact was harsh as Roman was thrown backward, but he instinctively wrapped his arms protectively around the ball of light that was growing heavy against him as they landed onto the ground. Roman groaned in pain, his eyes shut tightly from bracing the impact. He could see the bright light fade from behind his eyelids, which he kept shut until the light was gone entirely from fear of going blind. When that happened, he allowed his eyes to fly open and his breath caught in his throat (and it wasn’t just because he had gotten the air knocked out of him).
Now, Roman wasn’t one to normally believe in love at first sight. Actually, who are we kidding? Roman was a sucker for love at first sight. He wrote about it all the time and dreamt about it daily for Pete’s sake! However, what he was feeling now as he gazed into the gray eyes of the man above him that he was currently holding in his arms was definitely different from the feeling he got when a handsome barista at the local coffee shop touched his fingers while passing him his order. No, this was much stronger.
Now, if we’re being entirely honest about the situation Roman is currently in and look at it from an ‘outside of Roman’s tired and hopelessly romantic mind’ point of view, Roman wasn’t so much gazing at the stranger. It was more of staring at him with wide eyes as he tried to breath. In all honesty, he looked like a fish out of water.
The stranger held his stare, equally-or seemingly equally-terrified. It was in that moment that Sugar decided to wander back into the house and start rub her head against her owner’s barefoot. The small action made him laugh-or at least attempt to-which in turn frightened the man, making him jump back as Roman was gasping for air while trying to wiggle his foot away from the clueless cat.
When Roman had finally managed to catch his breath, he quickly ran to the nearest light switch. Had he imagined the whole encounter? Once the switch was flicked on, Roman could feel his heart race in his chest when he saw the strange man in the corner of the room...standing on his couch? Oh, he looked scared. Roman took a slow step forward but jumped backward when he heard Sugar hiss. He had accidentally stepped on her tail and now he felt like the worst human being to ever walk the earth.
From the corner of the room the star watched as the human had jumped back in fear after hearing the creature make a strange sound. It must be a form of protection to scare off attackers.
Roman took another step forward, but this time watched where he was stepping.
“Greetings, Stranger.” Roman started to speak as he neared closer to the man. “I am called Roman and this is my home-”
Roman jumped back once again in surprise as the man hissed at him. He took it as a warning to back away. Okay, Ro, baby steps this time and-OH MY GOD HE’S NAKED.
The human dashed away and the star smirked to himself. He wasn’t very knowledgeable on humans, but he was at least a quick learner. Or at least a fast enough learner to see how to protect himself. The star’s sense of ease disappeared the moment the human had returned, but this time they were holding something? It appeared to be a piece of fabric of some sort.
“Let’s-let’s try this again, shall we?” Roman said, raising his hands to try and convey that he wasn’t going to hurt him. “I’m Roman. Roman Prince Figueroa. This is my home, and you’re free to make yourself comfortable if you’d like, but please take this first?” He said while holding out the fabric for the stranger to take.
The star eyed Roman...Roman...This must have been the human that had mistakenly wished on his star while trying to wish on the passing comet. Apparently now he wanted him to take the bundle of fabric from his hands.
Roman couldn’t help but notice the side eye the stranger was giving him. He should be the one giving the side eye right now, no matter how attractive the stranger is! He’s naked in Roman’s own home for Pete’s sake...but, maybe he’s not used to the surroundings? Or even human things? Roman let out a sigh before looking the stranger in the eye.
“Look, I know you don’t really know me and you’re probably unsure of whether to trust me or not, but you have my word that I would do no harm to you. I’m just as confused by all of this as you are and I would just really like to help you get accustomed for now until I can get my friend to figure things out-and he’s really smart, I swear! The guy is literally a walking brain. I’m sure he’ll know what to do, but for now I’m gonna need you to trust me.” he said, speaking earnestly. Who was he if not a man of his word?
The stranger furrowed his eyebrows together in thought before taking a careful step and taking the fabric in his hand to which Roman gave a small, hopeful smile. After the star examined the fabric that appeared to be a human garment of some sort, he raised an eyebrow in confusion.
“It’s a hoodie. I kinda just grabbed the first thing I could since you’re...you know?” Roman replied bashfully, rubbing the back of his neck in embarrassment. The stranger silently replied with an unamused look that seemed to say, ‘Do you really think I know?’. Roman took in a deep breath a silently prayed for a right way to say this.
“You’re-...Well, you see-...When-when humans aren’t wearing clothes they’re...kinda naked? Or nude? Whatever you know it as I suppose, but point is that’s kinda what you are...right now…” Roman mentally kicked himself for how awkward he sounded and how confusing the explanation must have been. Curse his tired mind!
“Sorry if that made no sense,” Roman began, looking away from the stranger “I knew I should have gotten some sleep.” That last sentence was more directed to himself than for the stranger to hear.
When Roman turned his attention back to the stranger, he was surprised to see the stranger looking down at their own body with a look of shock while his cheeks began to turn a mix of both purple and black, making the freckles look as if they were swimming in galaxies. Was that normal though?
“Hey, are you alright?” Roman asked, concern lining his voice. The stranger looked back up at Roman and bit the inside of his cheek before shoving the hoodie back into Roman’s arms.
“What are you-?” Roman began, confused by the action. The stranger interrupted by pointing at Roman’s shirt, then to the hoodie, and then to himself. This was definitely an odd situation, but Roman tried his best to figure out what the stranger meant.
“Do you...want the shirt I’m wearing instead?” Roman tried guessing. The stranger shook his head in reply.
“You want my shirt and the hoodie?” was met with another shake of the head from the stranger.
“Do you want something more like the shirt I’m wearing?” Roman tried again, getting a little frustrated, but again the stranger shook his head, a little more aggressively this time.
“I don’t think I’m understanding.” Roman groaned.
‘No kidding.’ The star thought to himself, half amused but mostly annoyed.
“Do you want my pants too or something?” Roman tried again and was met with an even more aggressive shake of the strangers head as well as a dirty look.
“What do you want from me?” Roman said, throwing his arms up in the air in frustration. The stranger ran frustrated hands through his hair before stepping forward and snatching the hoodie back and covering his head with it.
Roman stood there for a moment in surprise. The stranger stood there with his head covered, taking in a deep breath before pointing once again to the hoodie and then to his body. Now Roman felt like an idiot.
“You...you need help putting it on?” Roman asked. The stranger nodded meekly from beneath the hoodie. Why hadn’t Roman thought of that sooner? He must either be very tired or a true idiot...Well that wasn’t a pleasant thought.
“Right...Sorry about that-here, I’ll just-...” Roman said, taking the hoodie off of the stranger’s head before helping him slip his arms through the sleeves and then zipping it up. Thank goodness the hoodie was oversized enough to cover most of him up, but now Roman needed to find him pants. The only issue was that he didn’t have anything clean in his house since he had been procrastinating on doing his laundry. He really should have listened to Logan. At least it didn’t seem like top priority for his surprise house guest since the stranger immediately walked over to the large bookshelf that he kept in the living room.
“So, my dear-uh-what is your name by the way?” Roman asked as he watched with curiosity as his guest passed his hands over the different book titles, letting it linger over a few different ones. For a simple question, he was taking an awfully long time to answer. Did he not want to answer the question? Why was he skimming through the large selection of books? In all honesty, the star-man was very confusing just as he was mysterious. He seemed to have froze with his hand on a particular book, only turning around to give Roman a look of shock and confusion before letting out an amused huff and pulling the book out. He took the book and handed it to Roman before pointing to the title. ‘The Enclogues by Vergilius Maro’ seemed to be the book he had chosen.
“What does this mean to you?” Roman asked, which earned an eye roll from the man.
“Hey, easy there, Buddy. I haven’t slept in over twenty four hours, so do cut me some slack? My brain is exhausted.” Roman admitted, turning his attention back to the book.
The star stood there in shock. Was this human crazy? Just how many hours has he been awake for? This was something he wanted to do something about but there were some formalities to get through first. So for now, the star shook the thought from his mind and pointed to the title again before pointing to himself.
“What are you-?...Is...Is that your name? Vergilius?” Roman asked, a large grin making its way onto his face. The star nodded before using his thumb and index finger to gesture smaller, or in this case, shorter.
“Uh, shorter? Then I guess it would be either Virgil or Verge if I’m right? That’s how people refer to Vergilius nowadays.” Roman said, pondering it for a moment. Virgil smirked, watching Roman think. The man must be pretty intelligent after all, or at least he would guess so based on the fact that he actually had a book by Vergilius Maro, a Roman poet.
“So, Virgil,” Roman tested the name out “what exactly are you doing here?” and in that moment Virgil decided to retract his previous statement. Roman had a feeling that he wasn’t gonna be getting a verbal answer anytime soon, but he had a feeling that he might know someone with the answers he needed.
“You go ahead and stay here, I just have to make a quick, teeny-tiny phone call to that super smart friend I told you about, alright?” Roman said, pointing with his thumbs to the room behind the living room. Virgil simply raised an eyebrow and shrugged before turning his attention back to the bookshelf and the various titles. Once Roman saw him occupied, he dashed to his room and dialed the number from his most recent call.
The phone rang a few times, reminding Roman that it was late, but he had hope that the phone would be answered. That didn’t stop him from chanting, “Come on, pick up-pick up!” in his head until the call finally went through.
“Hello? Roman?” Logan answered groggily from the other end of the line making Roman sigh in relief.
“Hey there, Pal! Sorry to wake ya up, but I kinda have a bit of a problem on my hands?” Roman said, speaking quickly from the nervousness he was feeling now that the reality was sinking in. The line stayed silent for a moment.
“And, what type of situation have you found yourself in exactly?” Logan asked.
“Well-uh-you know how you told me about how you got piss drunk and made a wish on a shooting star only to have it fall from the sky in the form of hunky guy?” Roman replied, his voice an octave higher than normal.
“What-I-I never described him in such-such a way…-What is this about, Roman?”
“Well, it’s late and I haven’t slept in ages so I thought ‘Hmm, a shooting star sounds like a good idea right now’. I went ahead and made a wish on a shooting star, and Sugar was with me and-well, Logan, it’s raining men, hallelujah, it’s raining men.” Roman quickly finished off. “Help?”
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A/N: Sooo, I know it’s been a while since I updated, and I know this chapter isn’t very long, but here it is! I had some pretty bad writer’s block (partially from having to write about writer’s block and partially because I’ve been really busy at my new job), but now I’ve got the ball rolling again, so I’ll try to write more on my days off from work so I don’t leave the story without an update for long periods of time ^^” Lol
Hope you guys enjoy!!
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