Chapter Text
So far, Logan's day had been hellish. The presentation he had spent all night working on had been postponed last minute, meaning that he was exhausted for no reason whatsoever. He had thus fallen asleep for half of his morning lecture and was missing a heck of a lot of notes he would need to borrow from a classmate. And just to top it all off, he had bashed shoulders in the dormitory hallway and spilled his coffee all over his shirt, meaning he had to turn around to change, was running late to his next class, and had no coffee.
He cursed under his breath as he neared the door, hearing the professor's voice already addressing the class, and pushed the door open, giving a small nod and a quick 'sorry' before settling in the nearest seat. Logan had chosen the 'Introduction to Art and Design' class as an optional extra. Something slightly less mentally taxing than his five-year astronomy course. A chance to relax and indulge in a hobby he rarely made time for anymore.
As the professor continued her presentation outlining the outcomes for the course, Logan's eyes settled on the only other kid not watching her intently. The intense purple pigment to his hair made it difficult not to be drawn to him. He seemed the artistic type. Grey and black plaid shirt with the sleeves rolled up above his elbows layered over a purple t-shirt to match his colourful head, ripped black skinny jeans and old black converse with designs of thunder clouds and lightning bolts scribbled all over the soles and toes. He had brought a pack of chalk pastilles along with him and was already frantically scribbling in a sketchbook in shades of purple, blue, pink, and black, fingertips smeared with them and arm imprinted with colour where he must have leaned on the drawing. Logan sat up straighter, trying to get a look at what he was drawing, but the boy’s backpack blocked his view.
“…just to give you a basic understanding of art and design this next semester,” Logan tuned back in to the professor’s speech, tearing his eyes away from the purple haired boy. “Today we will begin with something a little fun and expressive. I’m going to pair you all up to create a painting which expresses your interests. You will have three classes to complete this, so I recommend meeting outside of class on occasion as well.”
Logan deflated slightly. He despised teamwork. Rarely was the work distributed evenly, and it generally ended with Logan himself doing most of the work. His edgy, chalk-covered classmate seemed to be thinking the same thing, judging by the scowl on his face. They locked eyes for a moment and Logan shook his head and sighed. The other responded with an eye roll and a lopsided smile which made Logan’s heart beat slightly faster in his chest. He smiled back before breaking eye contact as the professor continued.
“Since I doubt that many of you know each other, please raise your hand when I call your name,” she said, beginning to read out the randomised pairs. Everyone shuffled their seating to begin planning with their partners and eventually Logan was forced to vacate his seat.
“Logan Sanders,” his head shot up as his name was called and he raised his hand slightly, “and Virgil Black”
“Hey, specs! Looks like you’re with me,” Logan followed the sound of that voice and found himself staring, once again, at the purple haired boy. Virgil. Perhaps this paired project wouldn’t be terrible after all.
---
Once everyone had been paired up, the professor had allowed them to leave the classroom to work wherever they chose, which is how Logan and Virgil found themselves in the campus coffee shop, sketching out ideas for their painting, discussing which artistic style would best represent them, discussing majors. Virgil, it seemed, was not in fact an art student, but a psychology major studying on a scholarship. And he had not only allowed Logan to ramble about astronomy for much longer than he had expected, but even seemed interested, stopping him from time to time to ask questions.
“Do you want a refill on your Americano?” Virgil asked, picking up his own mug, “I mean, I’m going up for more coffee anyway.”
Logan smiled, “That’s very kind of you, Virgil. It would be much appreciated.”
He watched the other take their cups back up to the desk and order more drinks before dipping his head to study their designs. Virgil had suggested finding a way to blend their majors together in a clever and artistic manor, but so far they were having no luck with the actual execution of the project. Especially considering all the planning time they had wasted on chit chat. Though Logan had to admit that it was a welcomed change to enjoy the company of an assigned partner, even if it did hinder their productivity just slightly.
“Here you go, spaceman,” the psychology student smiled, handing over a steaming mug. He settled next to Logan again and took a sip from his own mug. The way he held the liquid in his mouth for a moment – seeming to hesitate before gulping it down – suggested that he didn’t actually enjoy the taste. Logan suppressed an amused grin, deciding it best not to bring it up. He picked up a pencil, drawing another rectangle on their page of ideas and sketching out another scene of the two of them lying in a bookshop, surrounded by books on their favourite topics, and sheet music on Virgil’s side.
“This is more difficult than I had imagined. Combining the interests of two people who have only just met is no easy task,” Logan sighed, dropping the pencil again and resting his chin on his hand.
“No, I think we’re on to something, actually. I like the books. But what if we went back to the earlier idea with the galaxy and the constellations as well? Maybe have that pouring out of the pages?” Virgil suggested, sighing as his phone buzzed. Then buzzed again. And again. He sent a quick reply, setting it down on the table beside him, “My roommate. He’s on his way over. I kinda promised we’d have a pizza party and movie marathon tonight.”
Logan huffed out a laugh, “I think our roommates would get along brilliantly. But your idea sounds incredibly interesting. Do you think you could come up with a sketch for next week?”
Virgil nodded, “But, I mean, you could always just add me on Facebook? So I can send you the sketch and you can let me know what you think? Give me your phone and I’ll find myself.”
“Oh, um, yes. Social media. That works too,” Logan fumbled in his pockets for his phone, unlocking it and bringing up the search bar of Facebook before passing it to Virgil, who sent himself a quick friend request and passed the phone back, glancing up first at Logan, then behind him at the doors.
Virgil snorted, shaking his head and waving, and Logan turned to see a strikingly handsome young man in a white shirt – sleeves rolled up slightly like Virgil’s – a beige waistcoat, and dark navy jeans, a thin red scarf wrapped loosely around his neck. He excitedly held up two large pizza boxes, pointing frantically between them, Virgil, and himself. The psych student rolled his eyes, turning back to Logan, eyes widening at the pizza-wielding gentleman’s muffled shout of, “Disney!”
“My roommate, Roman,” he explained, packing away his art supplies and quickly downing what was left of his coffee. “He’s a little… Eccentric? But he’s harmless, really. He’s roped me into watching a bunch of Disney classics, and no doubt I’ll get his rendition of each soundtrack in its entirety. If I survive the night, I’ll PM you.”
“To his merit, pizza is more than a sufficient bribe,” Logan offered, passing Virgil his sketchbook and settling back down. “And thank you. For making this insidious task bearable. Enjoyable, even.”
“Likewise, specs. I’ll see you around,” the purple haired boy zipped up his backpack, slinging it over one shoulder and rushing out the doors to greet his exuberant friend, clapping him on the back and leading him away.
As Logan sat, sipping his coffee and trying to remember the names of his classmates from this morning’s astronomy lecture, his phone lit up with a notification from Facebook:
“Virgil Black accepted your friend request.”
---
Logan dropped his bag in his room, grabbing a pack of instant ramen and heading to the shared dormitory kitchen, an amazing smell filtering out into the hall, making his mouth water and stomach rumble. Whatever that was put his meal to shame.
He peered around the door, eyes landing immediately on his roommate’s favourite long, grey cardigan. The other boy glanced up, eyes landing on Logan and a grin spreading across his face, “Logan! You’re late home. Did you stay at the library again to study ahead? Oh! I made you an omelette if you’d rather have that than the ramen?”
Logan nodded thankfully, “Everything you cook smells incredible, Patton. Thank you.” He settled down at the table to wait, pulling out his phone to a notification from Virgil and opening it to see a short video of he and his roommate, the latter loudly singing along to ‘Let It Go’ as the former laughed and shook his head at him. “I didn’t stay late today, actually. Do you recall I mentioned that I had signed up for an art class?” Patton nodded. “Our first assignment is a paired task. And my partner is strangely… Tolerable. In fact, I might even say I enjoy his company.”
A loud gasp and Patton froze halfway to the table, “You made a friend?!” he exclaimed, feet dancing slightly in uncontained excitement. Logan thought perhaps he and Roman would hit it off immediately. His roommate placed a plate and cutlery in front of him, settling in the seat in front, “Logan, are you telling me that you’re late because you were spending time, willingly, with another human being?”
“Don’t sound so surprised, Pat. I spend time willingly with you, do I not? But to answer your question, yes. We may have stayed longer than the duration of our class, and we may not have gotten much work done,” Logan rolled his eyes, cutting into the omelette and sighing happily at the taste. He had lucked out in the roommate department, that was for sure.
“I… Am so proud of you! There is much more to the college experience than grades, Logan. I’ll admit I was a little worried for a while there that you would let this whole time pass just locked away in the library or in our room,” Patton cut a chunk of his own omelette, continuing to speak through his mouthful, “Whas ‘is name?”
Logan rolled his eyes, “Virgil. Psychology major. And I don’t spend all of my time in our room. I… Go for coffee as well. I go outside.”
He glanced down at his phone. Another notification from Virgil. He opened the app to find a photo this time of Roman with his mouth full of pizza, trying and failing to block the camera with his hand. The caption read ‘the ego maniac in his natural habitat’, and Logan huffed out a laugh at that. He sensed eyes on him and looked up to find Patton leaning across the table, staring at him and grinning stupidly.
“Soooo… Is he cute?” He asked, making grabby hands at Logan’s phone, “Let me see! Let me see the boy who can make my roommate laugh!”
Logan rolled his eyes, bringing up Virgil’s profile and wondering if it would be weird to have a quick look through his photos. Well, Patton wanted to see him, and his profile picture was a darkened, edgy grayscale edit of himself sitting on a fence playing guitar. No purple hair in sight. Shifting to the seat next to Patton and bringing his food with him, he clicked on his photos. Patton grabbed the phone from his hands, flicking through some of the more recent ones, “Ohhh, I didn’t think punk guys were your type.”
“Patton, may I just quickly point out that this man is not my love interest. He is my partner for one art project. And besides, I’m more interested in the people themselves, as opposed to what they look like,” he sighed, rubbing his temples as Patton continued flicking through the photographs. “Not to mention, even if I were interested-- Which I’m not! He’s barely an acquaintance. But even if I were, it’s likely he’s not even into guys.”
Patton paused, turning the phone around, showing him one photo Roman had tagged him in, “Here’s a photo of him kissing Roman Prince at a party.”
Logan blinked, staring in silence for a moment with raised eyebrows. Yes. They certainly were kissing. “Okay, I stand corrected. Wait. You know Roman?”
The other nodded, “Of course! Who on campus doesn’t? He started last year. Theatre kid. Gets the lead in almost every show. Got arrested once for drunkenly stealing his prince outfit from the theatre department and singing in the streets at 4AM. Now we all call him Princey. It’s great. Funny guy.”
“He got arrested?”
Patton just waved a hand in dismissal, “I went to that party. It was fun,” he mused, staring at nothing for a moment before passing Logan his phone back and returning to his food, “This Virgil looks like a nice kid. Could be good for you, Logan. Get you out more.”
“Whatever you say, Pat,” Logan scoffed, finishing his food and standing to wash his plate. He dried his hands and put the dish back in its cabinet before taking his phone out and sending Virgil another message:
“Coffee tomorrow?”