Constellation

2. The meaning of love

Google translated this chapter title as "what is love" and rick'n rolled me. The nerves. (this title is from a phanfic)

Also, you cannot imagine the whiplash I get from translating this at the same time as Of Chains and Silence. It's like "Logan has a crush on his friends! He thinks it's unrequited and panics over it! Oh no! Cuddles!" vs "Logan had been trapped in a deadly magical world for years and is awaiting death"

"Are you sure that's enough?"

Logan put his brush in the bucket of phosphorescent paint, turned cautiously on his stepladder, before crossing his arms to send Roman his most discouraged, annoyed, tired gaze.

He barely blinked.

"It's just that I've never seen so few!"

"You did tell me that this scene was supposed to take place in a big town in Vystra,"

"Yes, but..."

"And as I explained to you many times, my dear Roman, densely populated areas, not protected by a canopy, produce abundant light pollution which obscures most of the stars. Therefore, I only painted the brightest or the closest. Hence why there, according to you, 'aren't that much.'"

"Did you paint that one constellation you hate?"

"I don't hate it, I simply find that a cluster of just four stars shouldn't be considered a full constellation, and they don't even look like clover leaves. But, yes, I painted the two brightest stars or the constellation. As is realistic."

"But it's not as pretty," Roman whined, crossing his arms like a young child.

Logan congratulated himself on the dim light (that made it easier to distinguish the stars painted on the false ceiling) and that Roman was looking elsewhere, because he was adorable like that, and Logan's face had surely shown that feeling. Still, he glanced around the rest of the set room to make sure no one had caught obvious fondness on his face.

When he met the raised eyebrows of a young Naga holding an armful of costumes, he cringed. Bad idea, considering he was standing on the penultimate step of a ladder.

He gave a brief cry as he rocked back, and the dark room turned upside down when...

"Oomf!"

When his head stopped spinning, Roman's delighted gaze appeared in front of him. A Roman that was currently holding him to his chest, one arm behind his shoulders and the other under his knees.

"Logan! When you said this was going to be done fast I wasn't expecting you to just skip all the steps!" he laughed.

"I could have hurt myself badly and is that how you react?" Logan asked, his voice just a little higher than usual.

"But as long as I'm breathing, you will be kept safe! You have nothing to fear, my spectacled bird of paradise."

"Yes, yes, okay, well done- Hey!"

Without stopping his grandiloquent affirmations, and especially without putting Logan back on his feet, the young Roy walked towards a corner of the room where he let himself fall on a couch. Logan bounced a bit as they landed, before blushing even more when he realized he was sitting across Roman's lap.

"You're lucky the paint didn't spill," said the young Naga girl, placing the last costume back on its hanger. "Don't be too late, Ro, we're doing a reading of the second act in 20."

If Logan had finished his classes for the day, his friend hadn't, since his acting lessons lasted until the evening. Which had allowed Logan to come and help him with the sets, and maybe, just maybe, distract himself from the upcoming conversation with Virgil.