I Love Play Rehearsal - Sanders Sides High School AU

Crofter's

***TW: Mentions of therapy, really sad Logan, crying, mentions of Corben getting mad at Logan, implied verbal abuse, and all that jazz***

     The next day, when all the students were supposed to have gathered in their homerooms, Logan was absent. The logical student had snuck into the band room early that morning, relieved to have found it empty.

     Now, he sat at the piano, unmoving save for his fingers playing a simple, slow melody. His glasses reflected the office lights that were fixed into the ceiling and his purple hair drooped over his face. As he played, his eyes were not completely focused, aimlessly drifting across the instrument. He seemed, and was, deep in thought. 

     Of course, his friends noticed the empty seat in the classroom that day. They obviously noticed when the teacher called Logan's name and got no reply. All four of them -  Patton, Roman, Virgil, and Dex - asked if they could be excused to try to find him, only for their requests to be rejected.

      It was Virgil who heard the nearly inaudible tune and allowed curiosity to get the best of him. He ducked into the nearly empty classroom and was not surprised - okay, well, a little surprised - when he spotted Logan.

      "Logan? What are you doing here?" he questioned. Logan stayed silent. 

     "Logan!" Virgil repeated. This time, the student in question jumped. "V-Virgil!" Logan squeaked, retreating to his nervous tic of adjusting his glasses. "What do you want?"

     "Why are you in here?" Virgil asked, pulling his hood off of his head, though his eyes still remained in shadow from the canopy that was his long purple bangs. 

     "I-I didn't want to go to class today," Logan said with a sigh. "I had a rough morning."

     "What happened?" Virgil asked curiously, which was the one question Logan wanted to avoid answering. "I-" he began, taking a deep breath.

     He forced himself to make eye contact with Virgil, though tears burned the back of his eyes. No. He was Logan Sanders, he would not be seen crying. 

    "I wish Patton were here," he whispered. "I just...I talked to my parents ab-about...going to meet with Dr. Picani."

     Virgil tilted his head to one side. "What did they say?"

     Logan breathed out again, letting his eyes fall shut as if trying to block the memory out. "Sloane was all for it, happy that I wanted to figure out my feelings..." he murmured, beating around the bush. "Corben, on the other hand..." This was when he let his guard fall, his posture drooping like a time-lapse of a flower wilting. His head rested on the head music stand as a rebellious tear left a trail down his cheek. 

     The younger student walked over and hugged him tightly, sitting next to him. "Dad," he said in a comforting tone.

     "He freaked out, Virgil..." Logan's voice cracked. "Yelled...told me he wouldn't p-ay for s-something I didn't...something I didn't need, and that I was being overdramatic..." More tears escaped, despite Logan's closing his eyes in a vain attempt to stop them. Feeling Virgil's fingers run through his hair, he collapsed onto the emo student's shoulder and cried softly.

     "Logan, it's okay," Virgil whispered. Logan sat up. he kept his gaze on his hands, which rested clasped together in his lap. "If I were a father..." he whispered, trailing off. Another tear trickled down, leaving a path as if each one worked to break down Logan's sanity, tear by tear. "i would support my child in everything they wanted to do."

     "What if they were suicidal?" Virgil countered.

     "Well, of course, there are boundaries," Logan sighed, a hint of indignance in his tone. "But this is different. I only want to make my parents proud and all he did was shoot me down-" the last word was held back, captured by a sob.

     Virgil stroked Logan's hair for a few more seconds. "Oh, here," he remembered. "I made you something!" He started digging through his backpack after taking the purple bag off of his shoulders. From the backpack, Virgil produced a freezer bag holding a popsicle that was a dark shade of red, like that of a pomegranate. "Thank God it didn't melt," Virgil added before handing the bag to Logan. "It's Crofter's."

     Logan was speechless at first and then started giggling. "Thank you, Virgil," he chuckled, wiping away a few stray tears. "You're welcome," Virgil responded. "I stayed up all night making it."

     "I appreciate it," Logan smiled.