“Howdy doodie, ghostly gaggle, how goes it?” Remus asked, reappearing in their commons, keeping his voice a low almost whisper, despite his buzzing energy, careful of disturbing Virgil.
He’d been laid across the couch, his head in Roman’s lap, who was absently playing with his hair, a slight frown on his face as he gazed at Virgil’s too pale, too still form. He was a bit surprised, to see Patton and Janus were gone from the room, he figured they’d be hovering like a pair of mother hens, though he wasn’t as surprised to find Logan missing, no doubt he was trying to figure out what exactly the living occupants of the house had done to their little shadow.
“Hey, Rems.” Roman murmured noncomitally in response, not breaking his focus on Virgil for a single moment, and he frowned, slipping onto the armrest behind Roman, perching atop it, wrapping his arms around Roman, resting his head on his shoulder.
“It isn’t your fault, Ro.” Roman huffed, shaking his head.
“But it is! I drove him away, I’m the one who said those hurtful things, I was scared, and so I scared him, and Janus was right, who am I, to make him more afraid of himself than he already is?” Roman’s voice cracked, and Remus could feel the remorse and guilt practically radiating off of Roman.
“But you didn’t mean it, Ro. I know you didn’t. I say shit all the time I don’t really mean, and you still forgive me for it. This isn’t any different.”
“It is so. I’ve known you for over a century. Nothing you could say would drive me away, but I keep thinking…”
“A dangerous pastime, I know.” Remus quoted, making Roman huff again, a tinge of laughter to it, that he counted as a win, along with the small flicker of a smile.
“What if you had said that, about me, when you first were drawn here? How different, would it have been? I was so far gone, already. If you’d treated me as I treated him, I don’t think I would have come back from it.” Remus hummed, thinking.
It was true, that by the time he’d wandered to the property, drawn like a moth to a flame by the unstable energy, the swirling miasma of hate and negativity and power, Roman had been barely recognizable as a human soul. He’d burned so bright and angry, instead of becoming a wraith, he was more likely to become a banshee, to howl to the winds, to rampage and scream and tear until the sound sent the place crumbling down around him. The edges of corruption were there, sinking into his spirit, and Roman was right that the wrong move would have sent him over. It was one of the very few times Remus had been patient in his life, weathering the worst of Roman’s rage, the worst of the power directed his way, at his invasion of the space, until Roman had worn himself out enough he was nearly lucid, enough to understand that Remus didn’t mean any harm, anyways.
“I don’t think so.” He said, ponderingly, Roman stiffening in surprise. He slid off the arm of the couch, idly standing and tapping his chin as he thought. “I don’t think that would have broken you. I think it would have made you mad. Angry. Angry at me, which would have been just as effective, as the more… gentle approach I took.”
“Remus, me being angry was the whole problem!” Remus shook his head fervently.
“No no no, you being angry at your family was the problem. You resenting being stuck in a place you hated was the problem. You were directing all your emotion at something intangible, at a memory of a thing that didn’t exist anymore. I think if I’d given you something to hate in the now, given you me, to really, truly rage at, it would have brought you to the present. It would have made you realize what was past is past, and there’s nothing to be done about it. I think we would have gotten to the same place, just down a different road.” He looked up, nearly laughing at the slightly awestruck expression on Roman’s face, before shrugging and smirking. “Or you would have lost your marbles entirely, who’s to say?” Roman snorted, freezing as Virgil shifted, though he didn’t wake, merely rolled over onto his side. “He’s a lot like you. There’s so much emotion, bottled up in there. Loathing and sadness and fear, of course, but under it… under it all is rage, Roman. I don’t think he even realizes it’s there, but he’s burning with it. I think that’s what he’s really afraid of, all of that anger, that he’s directing at himself, until it implodes.”
“He needs to acknowledge it’s there at all. That he has a right, to his anger. He’s been forced to hide everything for so long, Rems, it’s no wonder it’s all trying to escape, that he doesn’t know how to handle it, doesn’t even recognize it.”
“He’ll get there. It’s all still so new to him, Ro, he needs time. You’ve had a century to deal with your baggage. He’s had a few months, most of which he spent hiding. The best you can do is apologize, and make sure you’re here for him. Now, stop worrying so much, and try and relax. The kid is empathic as hell, your stress is making him stress.” With that, Remus vanished, leaving Roman alone with his thoughts, and Virgil, who did have a slight crease to his forehead, a slight downturn to his lips.
“he’s right, you know. You’ll get there. And I can’t wait to see it.”
…
“Remus! What-“ Logan cut himself off, eyes wide as he looked upon the scene. He’d been a bit worried about Remus’s silence, since the summoning, that always meant he was up to something, but this… this is not what he expected.
Thomas was on the floor of the basement, tongue sticking out of the corner of his mouth as he drew in chalk, having marked out the rough outline of a circle, a few sigils already in place, Remus hovering over his shoulder.
“Alright, now, copy this one.” Remus drew a shape in the air with practiced ease, the glowing thing pulsing for a moment, before slowly fading away. Thomas leaned back over, copying the pattern. “So this one is basically another protection one. Not that the ghosts here are intending to hurt you, but it’s better to be safe than sorry. It’ll keep any power from the circle from rebounding back on you, if it snaps.”
“It can do that?”
“Yuppers, and it isn’t always pretty. These things are powerful, kid, and so are the spirits you summon. If the circle is too weak, it won’t be able to contain them, too strong, and it’ll sap everything from them. You got lucky, the first time, in that the power rebounded onto Virgil, instead of you.”
“Remus! What are you doing?” He hissed finally, Remus turning his head one hundred eighty degrees to face him. grinning.
“Oh heya, teach! Just tutoring my newest student!”
“You shouldn’t be telling him any of this! This is dangerous! He could hurt himself, he could summon someone he doesn’t mean to, you should be discouraging this!” Remus snorted.
“You know I’m always one to entertain a bad idea.”
“What!? You think this is a bad idea?!” Thomas asked, looking between Remus and the space he seems to be staring at, where he’s sure another ghost is. If he squinted, he could almost see the outline of something, like a heat haze over asphalt, the wavy distortion of… something. He heard Remus continuing to bicker, but slowly, another voice started to trickle in, though it was distant, like an old radio broadcast, crackling and popping with static.
“-puts all of us at risk!” He hissed sharply, pressing a hand to his temple at the rebounding voice, echoing through his mind, and for a moment, the form was crystal clear, a sharp featured man, dressed a bit old fashioned, like something out of his grandparent’s photographs, eyes flashing and fists clenched in anger. For a moment, the being’s eyes glanced to his, widening minutely as he met them, looked right at him, then he blinked, and it was gone.
Logan reeled backwards, hand clutching at his chest, words knocked out of him. He’d seen the recognition, the startled, amazed look, on Thomas’s face, reflected on his own.
“he saw me.” He whispered, shocked into stillness, eyes darting to Remus. “how… it’s not finished, he didn’t… how did he see me?”
“He’s got raw talent, Logan, that’s what I was trying to tell you. Not just anyone can use a Ouija board and actually have it connect with the spirit realm, and that ramshackle shitty ass summoning circle? That shouldn’t have done a thing, it was so poorly constructed. At most, it should have attracted me to its energy, but instead it summoned Virgil, the one with the most power and the least desire to be seen. That’s power, innate power. I’m not surprised, that with more exposure to us, he’s starting to see you guys, hear you. I wouldn’t be surprised if those abilities kept growing. You’re in for the ride, kid, whether you like it or not.” Remus added, winking at Thomas, who was still slightly stricken, staring at where he’d seen the ghost.
“Which one was that? Or, were you? Not… not one of the ones, who used the board, and definitely not Virgil.” Remus looked at Logan, brow raised.
“Up to you, if you wanna share.” Logan inhaled deeply, just to center himself, before focusing on projecting outward just slightly. If Remus was right, that slight increase in power should be enough for Thomas to hear him, though not see him.
“I am Logan. It is… a surprise, to be meeting you in this manner. I can’t imagine having Remus as a teacher has been too enlightening.” He watched with interest as the man winced again, staring right at him, though there was no recognition this time. Fascinating, so Thomas could sense where his words were coming from, even without manifestation of a physical form.
“I mean, it was either learn or get tormented until I died, soooo…” He glared at Remus, who shrugged, kicking up his feet and floating reclined in the air.
“What? If he’s got the knack for it, it’s better he knows what he’s doing with it, otherwise he’s just a danger to everyone. If they kept fooling around how they were, they were gonna summon something a lot more powerful and a lot less friendly than they, or we, could handle.”
“I… suppose I cannot argue with that logic. But, from now on, I will be helping with and observing these lessons. I don’t trust you not to intentionally mislead him into something dangerous.” Logan countered, eyes narrowed.
“Ugh, fiiiine. I wasn’t gonna do anything too bad, anyway. Just a minor imp! Just for fun!”
“What!?” Thomas screeched again, Remus enjoying the slightly horrified look on his face far too much to care about the face palm occurring on Logan’s end.
“He is a poltergeist. He literally feeds on chaos. Any opportunity to cause it will not be passed up. And as much as he wants to protect us, he also wants to have some fun, often at the expense of the living members of the household. There’s a reason this property was so cheap. It goes on the market every few years.”
“The shortest stay was six months! A lot flies died for that victory. RIP squadron alpha. RIP.”
“I… ok. Not even gonna ask. Thanks, Logan. I’m… imma go process this. Somewhere. Anywhere.” Remus shrugged, following Thomas up the basement steps.
“Suit yourself! You know where to find me!” With a twirl, Remus vanished, leaving behind the faint scent of sulpher, just for fun. Logan rolled his eyes and wordlessly followed, his own mind still spinning.
But he couldn’t get Roman’s words out of his head.
And he’d heard the others, talking to the air, talking to him, they probably thought he didn’t, but he’d always been good at lurking in shadows, in pretending to not exist, he wasn’t surprised, he was able to mask his presence well enough no one could sense him near.
He’d heard Patton and Janus’s pleas. He’d heard Logan’s well reasoned arguments. He’d heard Roman’s apologies. He knew Roman was blaming himself, that it was tearing all of them up inside, but the thing was, Roman was right.
There were too many things, that could go wrong. Too many ways he could hurt them, too many ways he could destroy them, and he refused, he refused to drag them into his self-destructive spiral.
So, he stuck to the shadows, where no one could find him. He hid in the corners and under the couches and under the beds. He didn’t use his room, not since then they’d know where he was, and he stayed away as much as he could. He was exhausted and unfocused and half even deader than he already was, but he couldn’t let himself rest or he’d fizzle into view.
The closest he’d gotten was that night, with Patton. Everyone else had already been in their own rooms, and he felt guilty, Patton was staying out there for him, after all, and the least he could do is make sure he was comfortable. And now Patton’s words were rattling around in his skull, too, fighting against Roman’s, and he felt torn in two entirely different directions.
Maybe that’s why he found himself here, lurking in the shadows of Patton’s room, melted into the ones in the corner of the room. He heard the door open, and he took a deep breath as Patton came in, flopping face first onto the bed, slightly alarmed to hear sniffling emerging from the pillow his face was shoved into.
Slowly, he emerged from the wall, his inky, tarlike form slowly forming into something more solid, something that almost felt right, though it had been so long since he’d been anything other than a blob of darkness or a splotch of shadow. But as his form settles, it feels more and more… right.
“Pa… Patton?” He asked, voice rusty and hoarse, barely above a whisper, but it’s enough. Patton gasped, shooting upwards, and all at once Patton’s eyes were on him.
“Virgil!” he flinched back at the volume, form already destabilizing, it was harder to hold now, that he hadn’t in months. “sorry, sorry. I’m just… I’m glad to see you, kiddo. We’ve been worried.” He said softer, wanting to lunge, pull Virgil into a hug, but knowing he’d run if he did.
“so-rry. I-“ he flinched, a strange feeling coming over him, an almost nausea, almost vertigo, and he found himself on the ground, gasping as cold washed over him.
“Virgil!” he could tell Patton had yelled his name several times, but he couldn’t seem to hear right, the world was blurring and going fuzzy. Not just the world, he was blurring, his form bleeding away like a water color painting. He felt Patton’s hand on his arm, trying to say something, then the world shifted out from under him, Patton’s hand swiping through empty air as he vanished.
…
He stumbled hard, shoulder ramming into the wall, as he heaved in several deep breaths, trying to keep from full out panicking.
He felt weird. Solid. His body had weight, his form wasn’t flickering, he was leaning against the wall, but it wasn’t their wall. The house, he was in the house.
His breath sped again, remembering, shaking, crying, pulling at his hair as he screamed into a pillow, His words echoing in his head, he hasn’t been back here, not in the living room, since then, since he’d done it. He could feel the shadows darkening, starting to move of their own accord, starting to whisper.
“What the fwuh?” His eyes snapped open at the question, frantically taking in the scene.
Staring at him were two guys, both wearing twin expressions of shock and fear. Around his feet was a star in a circle outlined in chalk, a candle at each nexus.
“Summoning circle? What amateur fucking shit is this? Watched full metal alchemist a few too many times?” He choked out, biting sarcasm masking his fear and panic, trying to get the shifting tendrils of shadow slowly climbing the wall under control, succeeding in at least halting their growth.
“We… we were trying to summon Patton.” The shorter one said. He huffed, vision spinning.
“Well good job, dipshit, you summoned the literal opposite of that ray of sunshine. Now get me out of here!” He demanded, teeth grit against the strange cold seeping into his bones, the dark tiredness starting to fill him.
“Um. We don’t actually know how.” The taller one admitted sheepishly.
“Who are you, anyway? We only knew Patton and Roman.”
“Uh, no. You don’t get to interrogate me after practically kidnapping me.”
“Kidnapping… you showed up!” the short one, who seemed to have an attitude.
“oh yes, because I looove getting dragged to the physical plane of existence and talking to two idiots who think the funnest thing to do is harass people who probably don’t want to have memories of their recent demise brought back to the surface!” He shouted, breathing picking up again, hands clenched into fists, shadows wavering and breaking over the room, though he kept it in enough it didn’t attack, claws and glowing eyes and teeth ready to bite.
“You’re… Virgil, aren’t you?” He flinched back at that, shaking harder. “Oh shit, dude, I’m-”
“What? Sorry? Yeah, me too, now let me out!” he snarled, eyes flashing dark voids of shadow, his shadows writhing, and he found he had the anger to control them, and he hissed as one swiped through the chalk, releasing him from its hold as he struggled to stay standing, the circle giving him a truly physical form, draining his own energy to do so.
“We aren’t fucking toys. We’re people. We all died horrifically, at our hand or at others’. So next time, leave me the hell alone.” He snapped, his shadows encasing him as the solidness faded from his limbs, as his form fell to shreds, as the last of his energy was sucked from him, realizing the circle draining him dry, the crackling electric backlash of breaking the spell hit him full force, sending him reeling.
…
He fell, unceremoniously, crashing down from the ceiling and landing hard on the floor, crying out at the pain that shot through him, his vision flickering. He felt cold, icily cold, exhausted, drained, empty, barely, barely there.
“-il…-ear me? Virgil!” Roman’s panicked voice cut through his haze, though he found he couldn’t answer, couldn’t even nod. He was so purely exhausted, he was barely staying together at all. “Oh, love… it’s ok, I’ve got you.” He felt Janus lifting him up, and realized he must have landed in the living room. He thought he should be worried about that, for some reason, but his mind was already hazing over with fog. “Logan! Patton!” He called, the spirits appearing after a moment, any reprimand at being disturbed vanishing as Logan took in the state of Virgil, unconscious and form flickering, not the usual black, but a soft, faded gray. The same kind of gray that he’d seen on the others, on himself, when the wraith was draining them of their soul’s essence. Something had very badly damaged Virgil.
“What happened?” he demanded, trying to be steady, to keep Patton beside him from panicking.
“I don’t know. He… he showed up, in my room, then vanished, like he got pulled away, I tried to hold on, but I fell right through him!”
“Then he fell from the ceiling and crashed to the ground.” Roman finished, lacking his usual bravado.
“Lo, is he-“
“No, he’s not fading. Whatever started the drain has stopped, he’s stable, if very weak. An attempt at summoning, if I had to guess. Likely, they didn’t use anything to power the spell itself, so it used Virgil himself. He’s lucky he was able to break out, as he must have, for it to hit him this hard. Otherwise…” Logan trailed off, unwilling to finish that sentence, knowing from the silence the others knew his meaning.
“He was going to talk to me.” Patton said softly, tucking back a strand of Virgil’s hair, who didn’t seem to register the motion at all, lying still and pale as stone.
“He still may. He just needs to rest and recuperate, Patton. He will be all right.” Logan reassured, resting a hand on Patton’s shoulder for a moment, before turning away, trying to hide his fondness behind a frown. “Though we should figure out what exactly they did, and stop them from doing it again.”
No one noticed the green eyes glowing in the corner, alight with anger, at the state of his friend, because Virgil was a friend, whether he liked it or not. It was long past time the humans take notice of him, after all, and this would be a much needed… learning opportunity.
…
“well that could have gone better.” Thomas muttered, shivering slightly. The darkly moving shadows had vanished along with the ghost, the circle now smudged beyond recognition, the icy cold temperature of the room slowly returning to normal.
“No kidding. How’d you know that one’s name?” Joan asked, still staring at the spot he’d vanished.
“He… the real estate agent. He had to tell me, the previous tenant, Virgil… died, here. To suicide.” Joan let out a low breath, collapsing back onto the couch, grabbing a pillow to hug to their chest.
“shit. No wonder he wasn’t happy to be here.”
“It looked like it was hurting him.” Thomas murmured, remembering how Virgil was clinging to the wall, barely staying upright.
“That’s what happens when you do your research through google search, you silly billies.” They both stared at the glowing green eyes floating above them, the slow Cheshire grin forming out of nothingness to accompany it. “Someone gets hurt.” The voice growled, and suddenly it wasn’t a single pair of eyes, it was thousands, a towering mass of writhing tentacles and blindingly black light, a cavernous maw and a million gnashing, reeking tooth beaked mouths screaming.
They both gasped for air as the vision vanished just as quick as it came, a few mere seconds, a glance at the clock revealed, though it had felt like they had been trapped with that Lovecraftian creation for hours. Thomas could still feel the vibrations of the clacking beaks, hear the echoes of distant screams, and he could tell from Joan’s horrified expression, they had seen it too.
“I’m not exactly a fan, of people hurting my friends. Especially when they can’t do much in way of defense or… retaliation-“
“We didn’t mean to!” Thomas blurted, before the sinister presence could throw them into another nightmare. “We didn’t… we didn’t mean to hurt anyone. We just… Patton seemed lonely. So we were trying to find a way to actually see him, and… and we obviously didn’t do it right. And I’m sorry, for hurting him… Virgil.” He finished, a frown on his lips, thinking of the pain on the ghost’s face. “Is he… is he ok?” He asked, heart pounding a thousand beats a second, terror racing through him.
“Well, well, well, isn’t that interesting. The human has a conscience.” The voice echoed from every direction, bouncing around the room in the most disorienting pattern, one moment directly in his ear, the next all the way in the kitchen, the next above them near the ceiling, those green eyes and grin always in the corner of their eyes, always vanishing as soon as they turned to look.
“And what about you, short stack? Got anything to say for yourself, before I decide what to do with the two of you?” Joan gulped, holding the pillow tighter, knuckles white.
“Uh. He was right. Virgil. It’s not… we shouldn’t treat this like a game. You’re people. Not entertainment. But we do really want to get to know you all… to help, if we can. Even though we’re generally pretty shitty at showing it, that’s what we were trying to do. Help.” They managed, wincing as a dark chuckle rang through the room.
“Help, huh?” They yelped as they felt something cold wrap around their ankles, suddenly yanking them off the couch, dragging them across the floor, across the kitchen, to the basement door. Blinking their vision clear, adrenaline racing, they both practically held their breath as they watched a shimmering outline form, cringing as it was filled in with bones, then veins and arteries, pulsating flesh and decaying organs, finally a layer of skin growing over it all, putting a face to that Cheshire grin, the electric green eyes, as the being towered over them, smile wild and manic, eyes ablaze, a morningstar resting over his shoulder, his outfit some weird mix of sparkling satin and menacing velvet. They both flinched back as he leaned down, examining them, before extending a hand.
“Seems like you two can use all the help you can get. Now, if you’re gonna go full in on this, you gotta learn the basics, and if you abuse what I teach you…”
They shivered, seeing crimson blood splash across their hands, teeth ripping into their jugulars, shadowy creatures clawing them to shreds, screaming though no one else could hear, unable to move their bodies as inch by inch, their skin was stripped from their flesh, ants eating them from the inside out.
“And it’ll be twice as bad if you harm any of them ever again. There won’t be anywhere you can hide, that I won’t find you, and believe me, it’ll be a pleasure.” Their vision cleared, the images wiped away like fog on a bathroom mirror, forgotten nearly instantly, though the feeling of dread and terror lingered. “So. You in, or are you pussies?” Joan snorted despite themselves, earning an eye roll from Thomas, and a slight upturn of the lips from the being, though he still glared daggers at them. Thomas took a deep breath, accepting the outstretched hand, surprised as he made contact, and it helped pull him to his feet, solid, though it didn’t feel quite… real. Joan followed suit a moment later.
“Ok. I want to learn.” He answered solemnly, Joan nodding in agreement, gaze serious in a way it rarely was.
“Me too. If we’re gonna be the crazy ghost house people, we might as well really go for it.”
“It’s been a while, since I had such willing students. Oh, this’ll be fun!” He clapped, eyes swirling, teeth slightly too sharp.
“So… when do we start?” Joan asked, and Remus tsked.
“Patience. I have to get back before they wonder where I’ve went, and you have to start living like a normal person and not staying up until two scrolling tumblr!”
“What does that have to do with ghost summoning?”
“Nothing, just good life advice. Take from me, who’s never actually been alive!” Thomas and Joan exchanged a puzzled look.
“Aren’t you a ghost?” He cackled, a wild, howling sound, that sent shivers down their spines, as he wiped away tears from his eyes, floating on his back in midair.
“Oh, sweet summer children, you naive innocent fools, you’re lucky I’m in a good mood, otherwise it would be so very easy to break you. No, no, no, I’m not a ghost at all. I am a poltergeist!” He declared, suddenly close to Thomas’s face, gently booping his nose, those swirling eyes far too close for comfort as they stared into his. “And you may call me Remus.”
“No, Joan… Listen, I’ll call you back, no, it’s fine, I’ve just started unpacking, you can come by later…” Logan watched warily as the new human shuffled boxes around, speaking ceaselessly to someone on his phone, occasionally laughing, reassuring the person that he was fine, the drive had gone well, making idle chatter.
It hadn’t been all that long. Merely three months, but he wasn’t all that surprised the house went so fast, to a first-time owner, as well, judging by the looks of the young man. No doubt at an insanely low price, thanks to the laws dictating they disclose any deaths on the property, Virgil’s having been so recent, as well. He was sure Virgil was lurking somewhere, watching all of this, or perhaps he was hiding somewhere.
They’d caught glimpses of him, here and there. Nothing much, just a flicker of shadows, a tinge of darkness, always out of the corner of the eye, always gone before they could say a single word, and it was driving all of them a bit mad.
Patton and Janus had tried everything, to get him to come out, to get him to come back, but to no avail. They still often spoke out loud, when doing things, now, holding conversations with the air, just in case Virgil was nearby, listening, reassuring him that they were there, if he needed anything, wanted anything, they were there for him. To his frustration, Logan had also started doing it, not noticing until someone called him out on it.
And Roman. Roman was worse off than the rest of them. He was miserable, he was apologizing endlessly, trying at every turn to seek him out, but if anything, that seemed to drive Virgil farther away, the sense of his presence dwindling, the paint on his door fading and chipping off, a sign that he hadn’t been in it at all, maybe since the last time they’d all seen him, which meant he wasn’t getting the rest he needed, either.
With a sigh, Logan shook himself out of his thoughts, swapping back over to the spirit plane.
“Well?” Roman asked, laying upside down on the couch.
“Young adult, thirty, brown hair, brown eyes, named Thomas. Seems nice enough.” He reported. “Didn’t seem to notice me at all, no mentions of cold spots, hearing my voice when I spoke, seems just as oblivious as the rest of them.” He commented, noticing the tenseness fading out of Patton and Janus’s shoulders, Remus’s grin growing feral.
“Good. I like a challenge.” He sighed, ignoring Remus’s commentary.
“And… any sign?” Patton asked hesitantly. He shook his head, eyes clouding with worry for a moment.
“No. I would have expected… something, but there was no hint of his presence. I don’t know… I hate not knowing things.” He muttered, falling onto the far end of the couch.
“I know, Lo, but we’ll figure this out.” Patton answered, though his own voice was tinged with disappointment.
There were some cases, rare cases, where humans could see ghosts, speak to them, as if they were just normal, still alive people. None of them had ever met someone like that, the most they got were amateur ghost hunters, in years the house sat empty, when it had still been an old plantation house, and even they weren’t very perceptive. Some humans were more sensitive, catching glimpses of things, picking up on words here or there, cold spots, hot spots, that was more common. They’d have to wait and see, if this one could pick up on any of that.
…
In hindsight, they maybe should have been more worried, when the human, Thomas’s, friend showed up, with a bottle of wine, a cactus as a housewarming gift, and a Ouija board.
But most of that stuff was just hocus pocus, as Logan said, which set Roman off, quoting what was apparently a Disney movie.
“Roman, I am begging you to shut up.” Janus moaned. “I am trying to watch these idiots.” Roman scowled, but ceased, watching the two humans laugh as they lit candles around the board, turning off the lights, to add to the atmosphere.
“What do they think candles are gonna do?” Remus asked, continuously blowing out the small flame as they tried to light the final one.
“Probably supposed to symbolize a portal to the afterlife, or something similarly ridiculous.” Logan scoffed, still watching their actions with interest.
“Ok, who should we try and talk to?” Thomas asked.
“Uhhh, Abraham Lincoln!” Joan responded, earning a startled laugh from Thomas.
“What? Why was that your go to?”
“I don’t know, it was the first famous dead person that came to mind! What was your plan, then?” Joan asked indignantly, though they were smirking too. Thomas shrugged.
“Um. Hey. Anyone here who’s friendly and not, like, gonna go all Amityville horror on us, feel free to communicate with us, using this board.”
“Dude, they’re ghosts. How are they gonna know what Amityville horror is? Since when do ghosts watch movies?”
“I don’t know! You were trying to talk to good ‘ol Abe, I feel like you don’t have room to lecture here.” They both froze as the planchet moved. Not much, not far, but it had definitely moved.
“Did that just…”
“Hoooolly shiiit.” Joan whispered, wide eyes meeting Thomas’s. Neither of them had even had their hands near the board, much less touching the planchet.
In the ghostly realm, everyone’s eyes locked on Roman, who stood frozen, mouth agape, staring at the planchet he’d bumped against while leaning in to examine the board, as easily moved as anything he summoned himself.
“Oops?” He said, shushing Logan as the two humans started speaking again.
“Ok, um, ok, that’s normal! We probably just bumped the table! Um, is… is anyone here, with us?” Thomas asked. Immediately the planchet started moving again, landing on ‘yes’.
“ROMAN! What do you think you’re doing?!” Janus hissed, and he wrung his hands.
“I-I don’t know! They asked! It seemed rude not to answer? I haven’t exactly been in this situation before, Jan!” He fired back, their own panicking mirroring the panic going on between Thomas and Joan.
“What do we have to lose?” Patton asked softly, getting everyone’s attention.
“I am unclear what you mean, Patton.” Logan said, gaze turning to him, where he sat, biting his lip, fiddling with his cardigan.
“I mean… by answering them. What do we have to lose? We’re all stuck here, anyway. It’s not like they can hurt us. And… we live here too! Shouldn’t we get to know our new roommates?” He asked, voice getting higher in pitch with each word, until he squeaked out his question.
“Who are you?” Came the question from the humans, from the board, and Roman hesitated, looking back at everybody, asking what he should do, the question evident in his eyes.
“Fine. Go ahead. Patton’s right, I suppose, there’s not much they can do, besides leave. But I will not be involved in this.” Janus sighed from the couch, retreating to his room, to avoid whatever action was coming next. Logan nodded.
“I second Janus’s sentiments. Pardon me.” With that, it was Roman, Patton and Remus, who tried to swipe the planchet, but failed, swiping right through it, letting out an annoyed squawk.
“What?! Why!?” He screeched, Roman grinning like an idiot.
“Their opening. They said…” He broke off laughing, “They said anyone who wasn’t gonna Amityville them, Ree you’re literally a poltergeist, that stupid line is keeping you from doing shit!” He laughed harder at Remus’s indignant expression, eyes flashing with ire.
“OH, they’re gonna regret that bullshit. Imma haunt them so hard it’s gonna feel like a-“
“Thank you, Remus, that’s enough!” Patton interrupted, not wanting to know the end of that sentence, and Remus vanished with a scowl and puff of black smoke. Roman rolled his eyes, turning his attention back to the board, spelling out his name.
“R-o-m-a-n. Roman. Like, a Roman soldier? What would they be doing here?” Thomas asked.
“What would they be doing speaking English?” Joan piped in.
“Good lord, these two are slow.” Roman muttered, moving the planchet once more, Patton giggling at his remark.
“My name is Roman, you idiots.” He spelled out, “And I am not a roman.” The two humans stared at each other for a moment, before bursting into only slightly hysterical laughter.
“We just got called idiots… by a ghost! What even… how is this happening?” Thomas wheezed, trying to pull himself together, devolving into giggles every time he and Joan looked at each other.
“I mean, they’re not wrong!” Joan shot back, once they got their breathing back under control.
“How did you die?” Blurted Thomas, and Roman rolled his eyes.
“Oh my god, you can’t just ask people how they died!” Roman replied, enjoying the befuddlement on the two human’s faces.
“I’m… I might be wrong, but did it just make a mean girls reference?” Joan asked.
“Yes. And I use He/Him, thank you. If you must know, I was a civil war soldier. Fighting for the North, y’know, the right team? But my family were assholes and lived here so… here I am!” He answered.
“Oh, good. He’s anti-slavery and not a homophobe. Cool, cool, cool.”
“Is there anyone else, with you?” Joan asked, and Roman bit his lip, turning to Patton, who eagerly grabbed the planchet.
“Hey kiddos! I’m Patton!” His answer was met with instant bursts of laughter.
“Wow. Straight from civil war action to dad mode. Um. Hello, Patton. It’s… nice to meet the both of you? We’ve never really spoken to ghosts before. Uh, you guys…live here?” Thomas asked a bit nervously.
“Yuppers! But we’re all pretty friendly. Mostly. None of us are violent, or anything, though some can be a bit… startling at times.”
“That’s only a bit worrying. Oh god, now I’m gonna hear every noise and think it’s a ghost. Because it could be a literal ghost.” Thomas mumbles, shoving back his hair, Joan chuckling nervously.
“Yeah, good luck with that one, Thomas.” Joan answers, getting to their feet. “It’s late. I should probably be going.”
“What? No, uh uh, after this, you do not get to ditch me on my first night in a new house in a new town that you made me learn is actually haunted, though the ghosts do seem polite, no offense, guys, just a liiittle freaky.” Thomas said, gaze shifting to the board for a moment, and Patton laughed.
“He’s worried about us! That’s sweet!”
“He’s worried we’ll haunt his nightmares.” Roman muttered back, watching the humans argue back and forth, before finally agreeing.
“Alright. Uh, we’re gonna go to bed and try and sleep. So… talk to you later, I guess?”
“Yes please! This is fun!” Thomas chuckled a bit at that.
“I’m guessing that was Patton. Good night, Pat. Good night, Roman, who is not an actual Roman. Uhhh, you’re dismissed?”
“Are you a school teacher? ‘you’re dismissed. Get some style. Farewell, my fellow brother in arms, may your gay heart guide you true!” Roman replied, making them both break down into a giggling fit yet again, as they blew out the candles, setting aside the board as they got up to get ready to sleep, Patton and Roman returning to their own living room in the spirit world.
“Well, that was… interesting.” Roman said slowly.
“It was… a bit nice. Talking. To other live people.” Patton said softly, and Roman stopped, pulling Patton into a hug, which he easily melted into.
“yeah. It was. But it did still take quite a bit of energy. We should get some rest, as well.”
“I’m gonna stay out here for a little bit. Just… just in case.” Roman sighed softly, but nodded, stepping away.
“Alright. Rest well, Pat.”
…
He had been asleep for a few hours, when he blinked open his eyes at a small movement. All he caught was a deep shadow, tucking a blanket tight around him.
“Virg?” He asked softly, the shadow freezing, the room dropping in temperature with his fear, and he moved to hide away. “s okay, bud. I love you kiddo, okay? Jus want you to know.” He mumbled, smiling as his eyes drifted closed, pulling the blanket tighter with a soft sigh. “you can come talk to me, anytime. I won tell. Promise.” He felt a soft pat against his hand, then the shadow slipped away, though Patton was sure he felt a little better than before.
Logan was settled back in his stall on a freshly mounded bed of hay, more than content to look up his own books to read on the iPad. Thomas had the cell phone, so that if Logan needed, all he needed to do was get to the phone, read the number on a paper there, and call him.
Everyone else had on halters and was ready to go. Except Remy.
“Actually,” Thomas said, setting aside the last halter. “If you don’t mind giving me a ride, I don’t think anyone would insist on a halter then.”
“I’d much prefer carrying you around to having a halter on,” Remy said forcefully, holding a hand down for Thomas.
Thomas grabbed on and pulled himself up to Remy’s back. “Then I think we’re ready!”
Roman pranced around in a tight little circle. “Can we race? At least once we’re out of sight and don’t have to stay close anymore?”
“I don’t mind racing at all,” Thomas said, grinning.
They had to go a bit slowly at first, so that he could at least pretend to be holding onto all the halter ropes, but once they got past the end of the paddock, they took them all off and tied them into a bundle that Patton offered to carry.
When Thomas woke up, rather slowly, feeling itchy and groggy and much in need of a shower, it was to soft voices and little clops of moving hooves.
“And where is the rest of the food?”
“That’s all there is out here. Mostly we tend to eat the pre-made stuff.”
“I’ll have to put it on the list too then.”
Thomas opened his eyes, registering that Patton and Emile were talking.
Patton sighed. “It’s just… strange. I worry that with all of the new nice things that once Thomas leaves it’ll be so miserable and I don’t know how I’ll be able to handle it.”
“Thomas won’t be leaving. Or if he does, we’ll be taking you with us.” Emile promised.
Thomas nodded slightly, staying silent.
Patton moved, peeking over the shorter wall that separated his stall from the one Thomas was using as a bed, met Thomas’s eyes, and jumped back with a sound rather like a loud squeak.
“Oh, dear! I’m sorry, I didn’t think you were awake.”
Thomas sat up. “No, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you.”
“It’s alright,” Emile said. “Little mishaps happen, you both are fine.”
Thomas stood up and stretched, gratefully noting that Emile was making breakfast for everyone. Between yesterday and now already this morning, he could tell he was going to greatly appreciate Emile. He was going to have to find some way to pay Emile back somehow.
It turned out that setting up the rat cage was more complicated than expected, not because it would have been difficult, but because several of the centaurs wanted to help set it up, and with all of them crowding around a comparatively small space, they got in each other’s way more than helping.
But finally it was done, properly anchored so it wouldn’t have a chance of falling, and the four rats Patton had kept were placed inside.
Thomas, meanwhile, had been trying to think through the chaos. There were just too many of them to be all in the stable at once unless they were each in stalls. It was crazy, and loud, and just too many bodies all squashed into whatever space they were trying to be in.
He stood up on a bucket and raised his voice slightly. “Alright, I have a plan.”
Thomas was more than a bit groggy, having gotten up quite a bit earlier than he usually would to make it out to the stable on time. He wanted to get there before the man would come back for Logan. He’d already called the police, and they should be there around the same time he was trying to be, to catch the people behind it all.
The sun was only barely up as he unlocked the door, whispering from inside cutting off abruptly as he swung it open.
“Wha— Thomas?” Roman said.
Thomas waved, hiding a yawn behind his hand. “Morning, guys. I had to get here a bit early to help the police.” He smiled triumphantly. “We’re catching those old grooms and the people they’re working with.”
“Yay!” Patton said in a half whisper, clapping his hands gently so they didn’t make sound.
“Is Logan still asleep?” Thomas asked, lowering his voice.
Roman nodded. “He’ll sleep until he’s woken up. So will Virgil, but Virgil just likes being asleep.”
Thomas nodded, and then turned, seeing cars distantly on one of the gravel roads that crisscrossed the estate. They seemed to be white, so they were probably the police. He hoped they realized that they would have to walk a good way to reach the stable, and wouldn’t just drive around looking for the turn that wasn’t there.
“I’ll go see if that’s them.”
It turned out to be a bit of a mess catching their attention and getting them to come back to the stable, but at least the jogging around and talking to people woke him up the rest of the way. The police wanted to hide in the stable and listen to what the man would say before they arrested him, though they did already have a warrant, based on what Thomas had told them the night before. So they parked the cars where they wouldn’t be as easily noticed, and hid up in the loft.
Then he just had to wait, and not even very long, before a car with a big trailer drove up. The man walked nearly halfway to the stable before he noticed Thomas.
“Hey, there. Didn’t expect anyone out here this early.”
Thomas shrugged, going over some of the questions he was supposed to ask. “I was just thinking, you said you got all your money betting on him. Until I get my cut, I might want to put some money in the ring too. Where is he going to do these ‘races’?”
“Mhmm!” Patton nodded, hopping up a little bit like he did when he was excited.
“Just like this? Bareback? I don’t want to hurt you.”
Patton gave him almost a pouting look. “I can carry you! I promise!”
Thomas gave in. And really, he’d wanted to give in ever since the first suggestion. “Alright.”
Patton beamed, sidling up to the fence.
Thomas climbed the fence and carefully slid onto his back. Patton certainly seemed able to hold him, still managing to do his springy little hops.
“Hold on! Hold on, Thomas!”
“What for?” Thomas asked, but wrapped his hands around Patton’s waist.
Patton took off, almost immediately into a canter. They passed Roman, who was racing back in the opposite direction, and turned immediately to match pace beside Patton. “No fair! I wanted to be the first to give Thomas a ride!”
Something about the whole situation made Thomas very, very happy, and a laugh bubbled up and broke out. “I didn’t know you would actually want to be ridden.”
“Well not by just anybody,” Roman said. “But you’re different. Even Virgil wants to take you for a ride someday.”
Thomas glanced across the paddock, to where Virgil and Logan were both laying on the ground. Virgil was holding a fistful of grass above his head, and letting it fall into his mouth. He laughed again, not quite doubting.
“Let’s go see them!” Patton said, turning.
The three of them rushed up to the two, and Thomas felt like there was somehow a whole air of happiness following them, and spreading out as they stopped into a calm contentment. Roman plucked him off of Patton’s back, and Thomas let out a surprised squeak. But he was just set onto Roman’s back so Patton could flop down and roll.
He wished he’d brought a picnic lunch now. He could easily spend a long, long afternoon out here like this.
“Alright,” Thomas said, satisfied that Roman was properly off to his competition. “Logan and Virgil are sleeping, and Patton, do you know if you have anything for today?”
“I don’t think so, but I don’t really know,” Patton said.
“In that case, I’m going to try taking a quick nap and then maybe Logan and Virgil will wake up. If anything comes up, you wake me up, ok?”
Patton nodded.
Thomas ended up flopping onto a pile of hay and dozing off. It wasn’t like him to take naps, but he’d been up quite late and then woke up much earlier than usual.
Season 2 of Sanders Sides has been paying a lot more attention to wardrobe and c!Thomas usually wears something to reflect what is going on in the episode. If he’s wearing dark colours, usually a dark side will appear. He’ll also sometimes wear colours to represent the sides he’s talking to the most that episode. Christmas episodes he’ll wear seasonal colours.
SO LETS GET INTO THESE OUTFITS ALREADY YEAH?
Both Christmas episodes he chose red and white shirts. Though I’m guessing it was more in the spirit of the season than to represent Roman, though Roman led the 12 days of Sanders Sides episode, so that is just a double whammy right there heh
Both back-to-back Roman/Logan episodes he wore both their colours to represent both sides equally. The black shirt (Logan) with red flower (Roman) from WDWGOOBITM has both sides in favour. And the Crofters episode has both their colours, though blue is over top red, and I think that meant Logan sort won over
And also it’s definitely Logan’s blue shirt, as proved by the same shirt in this picture
Can Lying Be Good has the absolute perfect shirt. With the split skull he even put the skull pattern on the same side as the scales on Deceit’s face. When Deceit reveals himself, all it’s skull, and when he leaves, it’s all flowers. The brilliant part is you never see Thomas changing the design, it’s like it’s part of the mindscape, he shapes his reality with his thoughts. As his thoughts change, so does the pattern.
And with SvS, DWIT, and SvS Redux, c!Thomas wears the same brilliantly similar colour scheme in each episode because:
1. It ties the 3 episodes together as a sort of trilogy, and
2. Wearing prominently dark blue over white symbolizes his struggle with the darker parts of himself.
Theblack and white wedding tie represents his ‘black and white’ way of thinking and how he needs to change that. Nothing can be morally right or wrong, black or white, there are always nuance, or shades of grey, to every decision made.
Also note the shirt pattern in SVS carrying over to the tie in the mindscape courtroom. His dark shirt indicates a dark side influence, but the colourful flowers represent that hope is there for Thomas to do the morally right thing (even though we later learn this wasn’t a good decision).
In ATHD, Thomas obviously dressed in Roman’s colour to be bright and outgoing, and possibly look for love when going to this party. But underneath he’s wearing Virgil’s colour, indicating his fear driving him to stay home instead of facing Rico or his friends for the fight they had earlier.
Finally, the wardrobe change during WTIT is significant. Logan’s influence had him wearing a dark blue hoodie over a space shirt, which is very casual Logan, indicating Thomas would stay home and work as Logan wanted. But crazily enough, when he went to meet Nico, he didn’t wear red or light blue indicating a Roman or Patton (love or happiness) influence. He wore GREEN. Now it’s a very faded green with flowers over a grey shirt, indicating some fancifulness and a neutral stance. But the green from Remus symbolizes that Remus affected him a lot this episode. Even though c!Thomas didn’t once acknowledge Remus himself (he didn’t! go back and check for yourself, Thomas didn’t talk to or refer to Remus once, only Logan did), Logan telling him that he was experiencing intrusive thoughts was enough to affect his character.
I’ve noticed that Thomas in general is collecting more floral clothes (fanciful/fun), skulls (dark sides), and space shirts (logic). So if any of these clothes make the cut for the season finale, it may give you a hint what the episode will be about before they get into the story.
Like if you see him wearing this shirt in the season finale… DANGERDANGER ⚠️☣️⚠️☢️⚠️
((Okay after tumblr DELETED this post, I guess I’ll try doing this again.))
Something that I’ve been reading a lot in some discussion posts about Logan and that “he’s not ignored– he’s been so important to Thomas and the others and he’s been thanked and stuff why is he so mad?”
I think I can clear that up for you. But let’s review a few things:
So Logan has been the definitive mediator throughout most of the previous episodes. He was the stage director for CYBG where he was thoroughly listened to; LVP was all about Thomas learning to listen to both of his most dramatic and loud sides aka Logan and Roman and how they can work together; LNTAO is a bit of a setback for Logan but it is his understanding of how the song fit into the conversation, as well as the puppets, that caused Thomas to have his eventual epiphany about his issue going into the episode; in EP Logan is the overall narrator, explaining how all these things that Virgil finds embarrassing were actually very needed in his overall development as a child and a teenager.
SVS has a very important Logan scene that does point towards my whole point:
Logan is quick to say that it isn’t working out. This is presumably obvious by the audience. Thomas is always scatterbrained, late to things, and obviously not looking at the calendar Logan has made considering the only thing on the calendar for April 13th is the callback and not the wedding. If Thomas had been listening to Logan on a normal basis, he would’ve known that but when it’s revealed, even Thomas himself seems a bit surprised immediately jumping to that Janus is lying and must have tampered with it. The rest of the episode goes on and Logan is given the benched seat but still has his opinions put out there for everyone as Patton calls on him a time or two.
DWIT is where Logan shines. He constantly puts Remus in his place throughout the episode also while proving the point that logic is the only way to work through intrusive thoughts, and that Remus is necessary to some extent. This is also an episode that I think Logan thinks was a turning point in his relationship with Thomas. Thomas sincerely thanks him directly and calls him cool. Logan is not used to that emotional kind of sincerity from Thomas directly and I think it affected him in a way that made him proud of the work he does, more than he would normally be. Logan now realizes that maybe Thomas will listen to him a bit more.
And by listening to him, he means allowing him to serve his true function. Logan, as logic and basically organizer of all of Thomas’s mental notes, likes diligently planning things and keeping order to Thomas’s life to help him live the best life he possibly can. Logan thinks now will be the time that Thomas actually chooses Logan to be the lead side in his life. Maybe for the first time.
Logan had already been pushed to the side once when Thomas decided he wanted to quit his education to become a Vine Creator/Youtube Personality. Roman became center stage but with so much pressure on Internet Celebs, Patton and Virgil also became pretty important. Logan was last on the priority list and as a side, his wants for Thomas have been last on the totem pole so to speak. So now that Thomas has seen how cool Logan is, Logan believes he can finally get some organization and stuff done in Thomas’s life and finally be listened to for what he wants, not just what he can give.
But then, POF happens. Logan is once again pushed out of the conversation and the more important things are emotionally driven, which focuses again on Patton and Roman, with a bit of Janus included. Logan also takes offense to the fact that nobody noticed he was missing and leaves after he done doing what he always does, bringing reason to the situation at hand. I mean, that’s all he’s good for right? He can’t help Thomas in any other way apparently. All of his other attempts have failed so why bother sticking around and hoping Thomas listens to him?
Then we fall on WTIT, Logan looks so happy upon first showing up to Thomas when he wakes up. We learn later that 5am Thomas made a lot of promises to Logan about getting lots of chores and things done today. Logan is happy because Thomas is gonna listen to him and we all know how Logan feels when deadlines are met and projects get completed.
But then Remus comes into play because Thomas is distracted by Nico not responding to his text messages from 4am. Logically, most people are asleep at that time of night so worrying about someone not answering around then would be kind of silly. Logan doesn’t seem to know about Nico not responding or at least he hasn’t noticed directly what’s troubling Thomas. We know he sees everything Thomas does to an extent because of a previous episode (“Have you seen the Office bloopers?” “Yes I have seen them 15 times because I am a part of you!”) so it makes sense to assume that Logan should know about the messages.
Remus is able to keep distracting Thomas because he’s so focused on why Nico hasn’t responded to his message yet and in this way, he’s able to keep Thomas from doing what Logan wants him to do. Over and over and over again. He’s unable to eat, he’s unable to do the dishes, he’s unable to clean up the litter everywhere—Logan increasingly gets more frustrated at the fact that Remus won’t leave them alone so maybe Thomas can get something done. However, Logan is going against his own logic here.
If we call back to DWIT, Logan explicitly says:
And yet, that’s what Logan is doing here. He’s trying to stop Remus instead of finding out what the real problem is. In an attempt to finally get Thomas to listen to him and do what he wants, he’s ignoring Thomas’s actual problem: the messages from Nico.
Also something very important in this scene here when Logan is trying to get Remus to stop or just listen to him:
Thomas is looking at his phone again and we’ve gone from sad that Nico is ignoring him to anger. His eyebrow furrow in frustration and his nose twitches like his breathing has gotten faster. Then it snaps back to Logan who finally snaps:
“STOP IGNORING ME!”
The thing is, I think Logan says this without realizing exactly what he’s saying or what he’s feeling at the moment because while some of his feelings are his own, some of them are Thomas’s feelings at Nico for, as far as Thomas knows, ignoring his text messages. As seen here:
He really was taken aback by how angry he really is. Because Orange is clearly affecting him here, but I think he was using Logan to affect Thomas too.
We know that Thomas doesn’t normally get mad at anything within canon; he’s pretty passive and usually let’s things roll off his shoulders. But today, the fact that his house is a mess, he can’t seem to get anything done, Nico ignoring him, and the constant intrusive thoughts that just won’t go away and keep messing with him… it’s become too much. He actually was about to explode, which is what happened to Logan. It only didn’t happen to Thomas because Nico called him just before so crisis averted in that regard.
Remus is pleased to finally see some emotion out of Logan and responds with: “But who do you really want to scream that at?” as he sinks out, seemingly referencing the fact that Logan is upset with Thomas constantly pushing his needs as a side away.
Nico then invites Thomas out and of course Thomas immediately accepts which Logan is surprised at which basically confirms he did not know about Thomas’s Nico problems that had been bothering him all day. The conversation downstairs is the culmination of Thomas and Logan’s relationship. Thomas throws on some clothes to leave and Logan asks him about his needs, the plans they had made that day. Thomas says he will get to it eventually and even makes a joke about tomorrow Thomas or whatever before blurting out: “This is just really important.”
That is an image of a side who realizes that to Thomas, his needs are not important. What’s more important is something else… again.
As he sinks out, Logan hugs his planner. That is what is important to him, but it was made pretty clear that just because it’s important to him doesn’t mean it’s important to Thomas.
In the end card, Logan spends most of it with his arms closed tightly around his body, as if holding onto himself in the same way he did his planner. He also seems rather quiet—he speaks but his words aren’t full of that proud tone he usually carries. It’s soft and weak, or rather timid. He is happy for Thomas but he’s also upset.
The way I see it is that while Thomas and the other sides do take advice and learn from Logan all the time on his knowledge, that’s different than actually listening. Logan’s needs as a side, his organizational and planning work, is ignored all the time. Let’s put it into a different perspective.
Let’s say you had a friend. They are so important to you and you all hang out together all the time. However, the friend begins to focus on something else more and you begin to drift apart. You don’t really understand this new thing your friend loves but you continue to help them anytime something goes wrong with this new endeavor, because you love them. They come back to you time and time again for more help and while you don’t mind helping them, it would be nice if they could do something you enjoy too instead of it always being about them. You don’t say this, but it’s something you feel inside. Then one day, your friend calls you. They’ve planned all day around spending time with you! You make plans and you’re so excited for them to come over and hang out. But as you begin to do something, their phone pings. They apologize but have to respond. It’s for that other focus. You understand but it keeps happening and eventually they’re called away from hanging out with you. Neither of you have really done anything that day because of the constant distractions taking your friend’s attention away from you. At this point, you’re upset and say “but I had a whole day plan of things for us to do.” “And we will, I promise. Maybe next week. This is just really important, okay?” The friend points to the phone and then excuses themself and leaves your house.
That is the situation with Logan and Thomas.
Getting complemented for your knowledge and smarts, and getting thanks for helping in situations is great and all, but meaningful reciprocation of that same time and energy from the other party means so much and if you keep giving and giving, eventually you have nothing more to give. You feel used and useless.
Tl;dr: Logan wants a more meaningful relationship with Thomas where not only can he teach Thomas things, but also make life better for Thomas but Thomas keeps pushing Logan away in that aspect, claiming that things are just more important than what Logan needs as a side.
(This is 2000 words… I’m gonna go think about something else for a bit LOLOL)
Also note this:
Thomas is standing in front of the letter O. O for ORANGE MAYBE HMMMMMMM /jk i honestly don’t know but I find it funny out of all the letters in the words, he’s standing in front of the only O.
Okay but you know that being around a prince who constantly gestures with both his arms, the embodiment of the fight or flight reflex, and a dad with more energy than a child - Logan has just had to develop these reflexes. Nothing to do with coffee.
