Sanders Sides One-Shots

A Love Set In Stone - Logicality

"Do we really have to go there? Our flight is in five hours and there are still so many far more interesting things we could go visit than some stupid statue!" Logan whined as an over-excited Roman dragged him towards the famous garden.

"Oh come on specs! We've already visited all of the museums you wanted to see, plus this was one of the only thing I actually wanted to visit and you promised me we would!" The prince like guy replied. "And stop acting as if you didn't want to at least visit the place, it's one of the UNESCO's Heritages and one of the world's most famous garden. You're just as interested as I am."

"I'm interested in the history and art that the Boboli Garden contains, not in some stupid romantic legend, which mind you, is the only reason you want to go."

The nerd sighed defeated letting himself get dragged full speed from his brother towards the ticket point.

Not many people were visiting on that hot Monday morning, so they were able to get through the line quite fast and enter the magical place.

Roman looked around with eyes full of wonder, chuckling slightly when he saw the oh so reluctant Logan eyeing some of the sculpture with interest and curiosity.

"Il Giardino di Boboli was originally designed for the Medici, an important Italian banking family and political dynasty, and was then opened to the public in 1766. It represent one of the first and most important examples of 'Italian Garden' and it's situated right behind the Pitti Palace." The guide, a tall lanky guy with thick black hair and a dark blue hat on his head, started to explain in a thick Italian accent. "The Boboli Gardens were laid out for Eleonora di Toledo , the wife of Cosimo I De' Medici. The name is a corruption of "Bogoli", a family from whom land had been bought to construct the garden. The first stage was scarcely begun by Niccolò Tribolo  before he died in 1550, then was continued by Bortolomeo Ammanati, with contributions in planning from Giorgio Vasari, who laid out the grottos, and in sculpture by Bernardo Buontalenti."

They started walking through the park, stopping at every sculpture and listening to the young guy describe it in detail.

By the time they finally got to the Upper Botanical Garden where the legendary statue was positioned, Logan could feel Roman's excitement run off of him like waves. He rolled his eyes fondly at the way his brother would go back and forth on the ball of his feet, the biggest smile he had seen in a while shining brightly on his face. He really was an hopeless romantic.

Taking his eyes away from his brother, the nerdy guy focused back on what the guide was saying.

"In front of you, you can observe Kalòs, one of the oldest statues that the garden houses. No one knows who the author of this work is or how old it actually is." Logan studied the sculpture just a few feet away from him, collocated in the center of a circular pond which had a stone structure similar to the one of a spider web, running through it in concentric circles. It wasn't hard to guess why it was called 'Kalòs', whoever the guy who inspired the statue was, he was truly breathtaking.

"As most of you already know, there's a legend tied to this particular art-work, stating that back in the time of Ancient Greece, there was a beautiful man, able to make anyone fall in love. His beauty was often praised and even compared to Aphrodites'. After receiving the new that a human's beauty was compared to her own, the goddess was angered and decided to descend on earth to kill him. When he saw him though, dancing in a field, she couldn't help but admire his breathtaking beauty, realizing that the humans were right in their comparison. So, not wanting to deprive the world of such a view but not wanting to leave the situation untreated, she settled on cursing the young man, morphing his body into stone right as he was dancing, petrifying him in the position you can still see him in now. Only his one true love would have been able to free him from his curse." The guide stopped for a second, looking at each and every surprised and loved struck expression present on the visitor's faces.

"Through the years, the name of the man went forgotten, and people just started calling him 'Kalòs', the greek term meaning 'beautiful', which is what we know him as today. This was our last stop of the tour, feel free to go closer to the statue and take as many photos as you want. If you have any question you can find me at the entrance of the park." And with that the guy was off.

Immediately everyone walked closer to the art work, taking photos holding his hand or even hugging him, as Logan held back a grumpy Roman.

"Oh come on Nerdy Wolverine, let me go! I want a photo too!" The prince like guy whined, making his brother roll his eyes. He had noticed his love-struck eyes during the whole explanation of the myth and he had expected him to act that way.

"I know Roman, but there are other ten people right now who want to do the exact same thing as you. Just wait a couple of minutes, then I'll do an entire photo-shoot if you want, but I don't want people huffing and rolling their eyes because you want at least ten photos all in different poses."

There was a second of silence between them, only interrupted by the buzzing of the people around them.

"I was only thinking of five. But fine." Roman pouted before finally settling down and waiting for the people to walk away.

When it was finally their turn after a few minutes, Roman almost literally threw himself at the statue, hugging it and leaning on it, demanding for Logan to take every photo, making the nerd chuckle and roll his eyes.

After what felt like hours, the princely and hopeless romantic guy, eventually pulled away from the art work, bouncing towards his brother to admire the results.

The nerdy guy waited patiently to the side as he looked at every take, smiling like an idiot.

"Okay, now it's your turn!" He exclaimed joyously, looking up from the phone to a wide eyed Logan.

"W-What? No, that was not what we agreed on!" He stuttered as his brother pushed him towards Kalòs.

"Oh, come on, it's just a photo! You'll have a nice and inexpensive souvenir!" He chuckled seeing his sibling shooting him a glare, before winking and jokingly adding, "Trust me, you'll thank me later."

Logan once again found himself loudly sighing as he defeatedly acquiesced to his brother request and moved closer to the statue, carefully avoiding the water.

Once he got to the center he stopped, his eyes traveling up the beautifully sculpted body; the statue was resting on a pedestal, making it slightly taller than him; the subject was only covered by a pair of what could be assumed to be underwear, leaving the toned abdomen and strong legs completely exposed. The face, stuck in the same expression for all those years, expressed nothing but serenity and calm.

He blushed, finally tearing his eyes away from the statue and took a small step closer, being careful to not touch the artwork without also not falling into the pond. When he looked towards his brother though, ready for his picture to be taken, all he saw was a bored expression.

"Really? Come on Lo, at least hold his hand! It's the whole point of taking a photo with it! And stop rolling your eyes at me, one day they're going to fall off."

He didn't respond, limiting himself to making a few faces as to mock him, before moving slightly behind the statue, so that he had Kalòs' arm in front of his chest.

Slowly he put his left hand in the statue's cold one, holding it gently, before looking up to his brother with a small calculated smile on his face.

What he didn't expect though, was for a loud gasp to be heard and a body to fall into his arms.

Hey guys! Long time no see!

Let me know what you think about this one!

Bye,

Ali c: