Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Day 2 song/stars

He had miscalculated. That was the only explanation for what was happening, or not happening. Yesterday he had set up a surprise for their 4 year anniversary, no they weren’t dating, it was the anniversary of their friendship. Which are just as important as romantic bonds! But that doesn’t matter right now because he messed up, obviously, given that he had not seen the other at all after the surprise. Logan was wrong again and he was hurting, so he did the only thing he could think of and turned on the radio.

“There's a million, billion, trillion stars

But I'm down here low

Fussin' over scars on my soul

On my soul

On my soul

On my soul

On my soul, I am so

Infinitesimal, oh

They say it started with a big bang

But they say it came out of a small thing“

“Lately, I've been, I've been losing sleep

Dreaming about the things that we could be

But baby, I've been, I've been praying hard

Said no more counting dollars

We'll be counting stars

Yeah, we'll be counting stars

I see this life, like a swinging vine

Swing my heart across the line”

Virgil was hopping around flapping his hands in excitement. He got a present from his crush slash first friend Logan! It was custom and pretty and just nerdy enough to make it the perfect debate anniversary gift! Which was already kind of nerdy but it was also sweet just like Logan, no Virgil was not biased in that opinion it was the truth. But anyway he was so happy that he didn’t notice that he had been listening to peppy music all night and now it was late morning. He was too caught up in his jittery happy energy to feel tired.

“I feel your love and I feel it burn

Down this river, every turn

Hope is our four-letter word

Make that money, watch it burn

Old, but I'm not that old

Young, but I'm not that bold”

“They say it started with a big bang

But they say it was really just a small thing

Strangely I'm feeling like a big bang

'Cause I've been making mountains out of concaves”

Logan didn’t cry, well he didn’t cry often but having his best friend ignore him was too much to bear after all the year had thrown at him, then it was logical to cry. So he turned up the music and let the tears flow, tomorrow he would go back to just being coworkers with Virgil and hope that the anxious side would be civil as well. 

“And did you know that when you really get close

Nothing really touches, bro, just kind of floats?

So when you think it might just come to blows

Just so you know, it won't, because it can't, bro”

“And I feel something so wrong

Doing the right thing

I couldn't lie, couldn't lie, couldn't lie

Everything that drowns me makes me wanna fly”

He should make Logan something to show how much he loved his present, something to show that he listens when Logan talks… The local nerd had been talking about the science of baking, maybe he could find one of those cookbooks with the fandom cookies and cakes? No that’s too generic, wait! hadn’t he seen a cookie book all about using jam and jellies!? That would be perfect! Now he just had to find it again and conjure it up. That wouldn’t be too hard! 

“Oh, take that money, watch it burn

Sink in the river the lessons I've learned

Take that money, watch it burn

Sink in the river the lessons I've learned

Take that money, watch it burn

Sink in the river the lessons I've learned

Take that money, watch it burn

Sink in the river the lessons I've learned

Everything that kills me

Makes me feel alive”

“There's a million, billion, trillion stars but I'm down here low

Fussin' over scars on my soul

On my soul

On my soul

On my soul

On my soul, I am so

Infinitesimal, oh”

  Reluctantly Logan went back to work for the day, checking and rechecking schedules and logging in info that needed to be remembered for later. The music played in the background as stray tears blotted the odd calendar or paper. Work was always there, it never ignored him.

“They say it started with a big bang

But they say it was really just a small thing

Strangely I'm feeling like a big bang

'Cause I've been making something out of nothing

Like my soul, just like my soul,

You think it's so infinitesimal”

“Lately, I've been, I've been losing sleep

Dreaming about the things that we could be

But baby, I've been, I've been praying hard

Said no more counting dollars

We'll be, we'll be counting stars”

Virgil was rocking it with this return gift, he found the book and it’s sequel, conjured them into the mindscape, wrapped them and even found a big black shimmering bow to put on top! Yeah he was totally nailing this! He couldn’t wait to see Logan’s face!

Chapter Text

The city was hit by a beam from one of the Creatwins’ newest creations, the red and green brothers wanted to recreate another one of their favorite fairy-tales. Sleeping Beauty this time going by the passed out civilians littering the roads, why couldn’t they have waited for night? This was so dangerous! Nightmare had to prevent several crashes and put out more fires than they could ever be comfortable with. They were a villain, saving the day was not their jam, that was Wonder boy’s shtick! But whatever all Nightmare needed to do was find the goodie-two shoes, wake him up, and go back to his lair to nap uh scheming totally meant scheming. Anyway back to finding the hero.

It was their third loop around the municipal district when they noticed the bell tower over town hall was much much taller than it was the first time they passed by. Going along with the story the twins were copying whoever was in that tower was the “princess” that needed to be kissed to end the sleeping “spell”. Screw trying to find the hero, Nightmare had been filling in for him all day so why not skip ahead and end this all now! Yeah kissing someone without permission wasn’t something they would normally do but it’s not like they had much choice and they could apologize after, so up the tower they went.

After trying to just fly to the top and finding the openings all blocked off by vines, Nightmare was forced to go inside and walk up the stairs, so many stairs. Half-way up and the red twin, The Prince, stopped him with his signature sword drawn and a devilish smile, “Hello our dearest knight -mare! At last you have arrived to save the damsel in the tower, but first you must defeat my brother and I in battle!” With that declaration The Prince charged forward. With an eye roll Nightmare became incorporeal and let The Prince fall through them. The red twin lost his balance so taking advantage of the other’s distraction Nightmare became solid again and gave the other a swift kick to the head knocking him out, “one to go” Nightmare sighs as they continue the climb.

At the top Nightmare could see the cute library clerk laying on a bed where the bell should have been. So that was their game, the twins wanted them to ask the guy out. Idiots! They can’t ask him out as a villain, that would put him into so much danger! But before they could voice their complaints a green dragon uncoiled from the vines, “will you save the pretty princess or will he have to sleep alone forever?” It cackles in a mechanical voice. Great it wasn’t going to be easy this time, while The Prince was one to fight you head on The Duke liked to make monsters to fight in his place. The dragon reared its head back and a click made a focused jet of fire fly out of its mouth. “Then again maybe he wouldn’t mind some company~” the giant lizard purred as Nightmare rolled out of the way of the fire. What was with the fire today!? Screw today so hard, today was canceled! 

The dragon kept them at bay for a while before Nightmare saw a flaw in its metal scales, an exhaust for the burn off from the fire. If they could clog that then the machine would take itself out! A few minor burns and a sacrificed cloak later the dragon lay on the ground after burning out its computer components. “Ha! Not so smart now huh Dukey? You can wake everyone up now!” Nightmare was met with silence, “guys this isn’t funny, I played your game, I beat both of you! Now wake up the city!” They huffed to the ceiling hoping that the twins were listening. Still nothing. They let out a long and defeated sigh as they walked over to the bed, sheer fabric made the faerie lights look magical and the dark blue sheets made the clerk’s pale skin seem to glow. But instead of a face of peaceful rest the guy looked like he was in pain, a muffled whine slipping from his lips as he tossed and turned. There was no way Nightmare was going to be able to plant a kiss on this guy without putting themselves in a complicated position. 

Well there was a reason they were called Nightmare and it wasn’t just because they were a night time villain. With a blink they became incorporeal again, reaching their hand out they brushed the sleeping man’s head and just like that they were pulled into the dream. They were in the base of the Wonder family, the heroes that have been protecting this city for generations. Wonderful, the current hero’s father, was standing over a boy with the same blond-brown hair and thick framed glasses as the young man in the real world. “YOU ARE A DISAPPOINTMENT TO THIS FAMILY! WHAT CHILD OF MINE DOESN'T HAVE SUPER STRENGTH OR SPEED! USELESS, JUST LIKE YOUR MOTHER!” The ex-hero bellows at the shaking child, the kid opens their mouth but lightning quick he receives a smack to the face, “NO MORE EXCUSES! FIGURE OUT HOW TO BE BETTER OR GET OUT!” The man spat before turning to see Nightmare standing there with a glint in their eyes more deadly than a knife. “He is a kid, a kid who grows up to be so much better than you ever were” Nightmare growls as the shadows around them shift threateningly, “ He outshines your whole legacy in his first year! You could never be as great or as wonderful as he is! You killed your rivals while he strives to save them! He’s a real hero you ass!” With each exclamation the shadows clawed through the dream man until he was gone and all that was left was the crying child. THey bent down to be less threatening before he scared the kid even more.

“ He y, um, wonder-boy?” And gosh was this awkward, they had a crush on his biggest enemy AND found out the guy abused as a kid, yikes, “it’s alright now, he won’t hurt you anymore.” The kid looked up for the first time and seeing those big blue-brown eyes filled with tears nearly broke their heart all over again, “no more?” Wonder-boy breathed out like he could hardly believe it. “No more.” Nightmare promised holding out their pinky, the child ignored the offered appendage and jumped into the villain’s lap for a hug. It took Nightmare by surprise but they quickly recovered and hugged back just as fiercely, rubbing his back and planting a gentle kiss to the kids hair. A bright light burst from the spot and suddenly Nightmare and Wonder-boy were back in the real world clutching each other as the two idiots that started this whole thing cheered.

 “Congratulations!” “Woo! Get your man cryptid-face!” “”Kiss kiss kiss”” Nightmare’s face turned a concerning shade of red as the brothers teased, Wonder-boy still in his lap. “So um, should I take you home? I MEAN YOUR HOME! Not mine! Unless going home would be too upsetting for you right now then I could just drop you off wherev-'' their nervous rambling was cut off by Wonder-boy placing his hand on Nightmare’s cheek. “Did you mean it? No more?” It sounded so broken but so filled with hope, “he won’t ever hurt you again.” Nightmare put his hand over Wonder-boy’s. “I’m Virgil, and I promise I’ll protect you.” Wonder-boy blinks owlishly before smiling, “hello Virgil, I’m Logan. Thank you for saving me.” When they kissed the twins definitely got it on camera and have vowed to make it part of a wedding album as they ran away.

Next week several villains paid Mr Wonderful a visit, it seemed most villains don’t take kindly to abusive parents, who would have thought ? And if suddenly Nightmare was no longer frightening people in the dead of night? Well no one seemed to notice or care because a new hero was making headlines, Wonder-man’s new partner Dream-catcher!

Chapter Text

Day 5 vocab/skating 

Logan walked up to the imaginary skatepark that Virgil has frequented since the Crofters episode. The “ radical ” purple side skated up over the lip of the “ pool ” and pulled off a spin that put the heel end forward, “Impeccably Backside Virgil!” Logan praised, catching the other off guard causing him to slip on the board. “Dude, what?” Virgil asks dazed as Logan rushes over to help him back up, “I was complimenting your spin, it’s called a backside is it not?” The logical side looks confused in a cute puppy-Patton manner. “Uh yeah, just didn’t know you knew that. Surprised me is all.” And man was Virgil glad he was wearing thicker foundation today or else his blush would be extremely noticeable. “So why do I have the pleasure of hanging out with our number one brain cell?” Best to change the subject to something else, backside wtf, “Oh I was hoping to catch some footie with you.” Ok so not much better. “Logan are you asking to play footsie or to videotape me? Videotape me skating, not just me! That would be odd even for you.” His nervous fidgeting doesn’t go unnoticed, “Just recording your tricks for physics, only if that’s alright with you.” Logan assures. With a sigh of relief Virgil agrees.

It’s about twenty minutes in when Logan makes mention of “how good Virgil is at grinding ” that resulted in a coughing fit from the anxious side. After some more basic tricks the two sat on one of the boxes to drink some water, it was way too sunny not to hydrate frequently. Mid sip Logan turned to Virgil and with a s̶t̶r̶a̶i̶g̶h̶t̶gay face asked “have you ever boned before?” cue the perfect spit take moment, but before Virgil can recover Logan is apologizing, “My apologies, I know it’s a risky move and you embody anxiety but you seem to enjoy this activity so I just assum-“ With a gasp and a laugh Virgil cut him off, “Dude, it’s fine. I just grew up with Remus so I hear the word boned and expect something dirty. No I haven’t boned before, but not from a lack of trying.” Virgil just needs to remind himself and his pounding heart that Logan doesn’t mean anything by this other than probably showing he learned some new slang, calm down.

The sun is starting to progress to the other side of the sky when Virgil’s heart gets another jolt, “Virgil, would you mind pole jamming this funbox ?” It’s asked so innocently that the purple clad side tosses out a “sure” before he registers what was asked, there is no way Logan asked that like that and didn’t know how it sounded. “Lo?” The addressed side hums in recognition, “you’ve been using skater slang to flirt with me this whole time haven’t you?” Virgil accuses, scandalized by his own realization. “I have. Janus suggested the flirting with skater lingo, Remus helped me pick out which words would have double meanings” logic, the cunning, conniving, cocky jerk smirked holding up a set of index cards, “now let me ask again, would you mind Pole jamming this funbox? Or should I just be blunt and say s-“ “No no I get it! Yes? I mean totally but like dude let me take you out to dinner first! A day at a skatepark isn’t exactly romantic.” Virgil flails his hands and rambles in excited embarrassment. “By all means, but I believe we should take dessert home” Logan purrs, eyes half lidded as he starts walking away from the park and towards another part of the imagination.

Chapter Text

Virgil knocked on Logan’s door but the side neither answered physically or verbally, not too odd if he got hyper focused on something so Virgil let himself in, “Hey how’s the coolest calculat-“ he stops his greeting when he sees Logan asleep at his desk. That isn’t out of the norm but the anxiety and fear rolling off of him in violent waves was not, taking a deep breath and setting the wrapped gift to the side Virgil used his powers as anxiety to grab onto the anxious emotions of the other side.

The world melted away to a formless room, he Patton and Roman were talking and laughing off to one side while Logan was blocked off by an invisible barrier. The logical man was pounding on the invisible force with banged up fists all the  while screaming himself horse, tears (like full on Ghibli tears) fell down his face in rivets. It hurt Virgil so much to see someone who seemed so unflappable be in so much pain, so without much thought he walked over to his dream self and punched it. “Dude what the fuq?” The dream version asked as the real Virgil glared at him, “What do you mean, what the fuq? You what the fuq? Logan needs you and you’re just standing over here like nothing is wrong?!” The dream looks around confused as it rubs its jaw until it finally sees the logical side, “why can’t we hear him? Why is he just over there?” It asked even more confused , “It’s a dream and dreams aren’t logical even for logic. Probably the manifestation of a fear, that means you need to help him.” Virgil informs it. It looks from Logan and Virgil several times, “You love him. A normal reaction would be to wake up the person having the bad dream…but that doesn’t solve the problem, you want to address this fear and effectively kill it. So you must really care and love him to do this.” It says nodding, Virgil laughs sadly, “Good to know he thinks I’m that smart, but yeah I love him. So I need you to get the others to notice and all three of you break whatever is keeping him back.” It nods again at that before slipping back into its part in the fake conversation.

“Pricey, Patton! What’s happening to Logan?” The dream Virgil shouts in alarm, pointing to the now bloody knuckled side in question. Both look up from their little huddle and gasp in shock, the dream versions of their family rush over and through the barrier they can’t perceive. As soon as they reach him the sound of his sobbing suddenly echo around the formless room. “It’s okay now sweet-pea, we’re here we’ve got you.” Soothed dream Patton. Dream Roman had conjured up medical supplies and was tending to the battered and bruised hands, whispering about how brave Logan had been against such a terrifying curse. For his own dream copy Virgil nodded his approval when it sat quietly next to Logan, shrugging off his jacket and draping it over the other’s shoulders. The dream shifted after that and the fear and anxiety bled away, Virgil blinked at the loss of connection to find himself back in Logan’s room.

Now that that was over Virgil calmly lifted Logan from the cramped desk over to his bed, sleeping in stiff jeans didn’t sound comfortable but that was a boundary Virgil wasn’t going to cross. After tucking the other side in Virgil decided to leave a note with the gift, just a simple “thanks for the pin, I hope you like yours- V”. He was just going to leave after that but the nagging feeling of forgetting something kept him there a few minutes more (he felt like a creep but w/e he didn’t want to leave if he just had to come back!) before he knew what it was niggling at him. Going back to the bed Virgil took off his jacket and layer it over the comforter, he summoned his old one and started seeing himself out but at a soft sound he looked back. Logan had curled up on his side clutching the purple and black jacket like Patton does with a plushie, a content sigh left the logical side and Virgil knew it was time to leave before his cheeks turned as red as a certain side’s sash.

Chapter Text

Logan woke up feeling better than he had in ages, the nightmare that had been plaguing him night after night had finally ended. His mind was foggy from the deep sleep he had fallen into after it ended so it took a while to realize he was in his bed but had no memory of making his way there, also he was still in his day clothes and that was something he’d never do. Opening his eyes he noticed a dark blob hugged to his chest, “wha- Oh!” It was Virgil’s beloved jacket, how did that get here? Had he gotten so desperate that he had summoned it in his sleep? No, it’s owner was very possessive of it since it was one of his first gifts from the light-sides. Puzzled, he put on his glasses and saw a box with indigo paper dotted in silver stars, that was also not here before he had fallen asleep. Had Virgil really been here? Was he the one that gathered him up and placed him in bed, was that why he had the jacket?! Well there was no way to know until he investigated! The present had a post-it note on it, the bottom had Virgil’s signature 𝑽 so that’s one question answered. Under the wrapper were two cookbooks for baking with jam, he had been looking for something like this! It was perfect! 

A glance at the clock showed it was early in the morning, if he was lucky Virgil might still be up! (but he shouldn’t be because that’s not healthy!) Without further Ado Logan picked up the jacket and left his room headed for the purple door down the hall. He didn’t knock loudly in case the other was asleep, it seemed he was not as the door opened seconds afterwards. “Salutations Virgil, I’m here to return your jacket. Thank you for its presents, I believe it is somewhat responsible for the deepened rem cycle I experienced.” Virgil for his part blinked tiredly before figuring out that he was being handed something, “No problem L, scent is one of those things people forget about. Like it affects moods and junk.” The anxious side reassures the other, “Next time you have a hard time sleeping let me know, I can let you borrow it or something again.” He offers. Logan looks at Virgil, really looks at him and decides to be bold. 

“I will keep that in mind but would you benefit from a similar proposition, would you like me to lay down with you so that you can fall asleep?” Logan inquires noting the rosiness of Virgil’s cheeks increase dramatically. Virgil with two sleepless nights under his belt is understandably not the best with words at the moment, “You and- but my room is- and I never said- why would- I mean your you and I’m- we-he- he knew so you know and he did it first so that means you wanted it…” the anxious side met the logical side’s gaze, “You make me feel safe and I think I love you and I think you at least like me too so yeah, please stay with me.” Now it was Logan’s turn to turn a bit red, “We should talk about this more later but first I believe you need to rest.” He steps into the room and easily guides Virgil to the bed to lay down. They end up with Virgil under the covers while Logan sat up against the headboard on top of the blankets, the sleeping side curled up against the other’s hip. It was the most peaceful either of them had felt in a long time.