Paroxysm - Sanders Sides One Shots

Wonderful

Romantic Intrulogical, forbidden lovers
Warnings: mentions of unsympathetic!Patton.
Word count: 1240

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"How far away is this place?"

"No clue, the landscape is constantly changing."

Logan chuckled fondly. "I should have expected that."

Remus continued to guide Logan slowly through the thick forest, trying and occasionally failing to keep both of them from being hit with branches.

"I don't mean to worry you," Logan began. "But you do recall that we have limited time, correct?"

"I know, I know, we'll be there soon enough," Remus said with a wave of his hand. Truly though, he was a bit worried. He was bringing Logan to an area deep within the Dark Imagination, and if Logan wasn't back by 10 o'clock when Patton would knock on his door to say goodnight, both of them would be in trouble. The pair had managed to keep their relationship a secret for months, and they weren't about to mess that up now.

Remus let out the tiniest sigh of relief as he saw the destination up ahead. Eagerly, he picked up his speed and gripped Logan's hand even tighter. After nearly thirty minutes of walking through the dark, dense forest, they'd finally arrived in a moonlit clearing.

"Alright," Remus gushed. "You can look now!"

Logan removed the blindfold that Remus had tied over his eyes, slid his glasses back on, and looked up. Before him was a sight that seemed to never end. As far as the eye could see, there was only woods. It appeared from the way the grass-covered land seemed to drop off a few yards ahead that they were on a cliff. From this elevation, the trees below looked like juniper cotton balls. By this time of night, the woods had fallen silent, only occasionally interrupted by the eerie hoot of an owl or the snap of a fallen branch. Logan added to the silence with his speechlessness. What truly stunned him, however, was not the world below him, but the world above. The waxing gibbous moon was already high in the clear night sky. Doting the black sea around the moon were stars of subtly varying color and size, all arranged in a manner that Logan immediately recognized.

"The stars..." he breathed, stepping towards the edge of the cliff as if that would bring him closer to the sky. "They're positioned faithfully."

"Indeed they are," Remus smiled. "They perfectly resemble the October constellations."

"Sweet Carl Sagan..."

Remus chuckled quietly and walked forward to stand beside his wonderstruck lover. "Do you like it?"

"Like it?" Logan gasped. "Remus, this is... this is breathtaking. You made this?"

"With my bare hands. And magic."

Logan turned away from the masterpiece in front of him to meet the eyes of the masterpiece beside him. He took Remus's hands in his own and smiled softly.

"It's beautiful, Remus. You've done a stellar job here."

Remus looked away in embarrassment. It was very rare that anyone complimented his work. Usually the only appraisal he received, if any at all, was one of disgust or disappointment, or even fear. But Logan saw beauty in his work. He wasn't so distracted by the gruesome overviews that he couldn't recognize and appreciate the intricate details throughout each creation. Whether Logan made a conscious effort to fairly evaluate Remus or if he did so naturally was unknown to the latter, but he was grateful either way.

"Wait a minute," Remus teased suddenly. "Did you just make a pun?"

"W-Wait— no! No, that was an accident!"

Remus doubled over in laughter as Logan dropped to the ground in anguish. When he had calmed himself, Remus joined his partner on the ground and patted the other's back with a sympathetic "there, there".

Before long, Logan composed himself and turned back to the stars, then let out an aloof chuckle. "You know," he started, a tinge of bitterness in his voice. "I went to Roman's half of the Imagination during the night once. The stars there are completely random, no constellations or variation, just thoughtless pinpricks amongst the Ray and Evangeline stars, which were somehow shining brighter than the moon."

"Ha, yeah, that's Roman for ya. All about the aesthetic, never about the realism."

"Precisely." Logan paused for a moment, feeling discomfort creep through his muscles as an idea came to mind. He reminded himself, however, that it was only him and Remus there, no one else, and he carefully leaned into Remus. Gratefully and without hesitation, Remus rested his head on Logan's shoulder. Remus, ever perceptive as he was, sensed Logan's sudden shift from comfort to unease moments after leaning into him.

"Whatcha thinking about?" he questioned.

Logan sighed. "What do you think they would do if they could see us now?"

"Well, depends on who you're referring to. If Roman or Virgil saw us, they'd panic and scream and tell the entire Mind. Same for Thomas. And Patton, dear Christ, he'd have us on house arrest with the ankle monitors and everything, wouldn't let us within a mile of each other. I'll bet a percentage of my territory he would give us both a scolding for the ages, complete with religious commentary and the phrase 'I'm not mad, I'm just disappointed'." Despite the smile on his face, the thought sent a chill down Remus's spine. He could tell from the quiet hum of agreement Logan gave that his partner was equally upset. "But," Remus continued, trying to salvage the mood. "If we're being realistic, Patton would never come anywhere near this part of the Imagination, and neither would Roman or Virgil or Thomas. The only person who comes this deep in the woods besides us is J, and he already knows about us, so there's no need to get our titties in a twist just yet."

"I suppose you're right," Logan acknowledged. "It's just that... I sometimes wish our situation could be different."

"How so?"

"Well, on a broader basis, I wish there was no separation between 'Light' and 'Dark' in the first place, Thomas as a whole would be much better off without that."

"Oh, agreed."

"But if we're only referencing the two of us, then... then I guess I would just like for us to spend more time together. I tolerate the others, but you, I truly enjoy your company. We understand each other, we listen to each other, we put effort and thought into the stability and balance of our relationship. That's more than I'd dare ask of anyone else, yet it comes so naturally to us. To spend even a minute more with you each day, or to just be guaranteed a minute with you each day, would be... sublime, to say the least."

Remus hummed. Logan took on a certain voice when talking about him that he would be more than content to sit and listen to for the rest of eternity.

"One day," Remus fantasized. "We'll change things. You and I, we'll have our own revolution. We'll raise ourselves to equal grounds, and we'll finally be ourselves, whenever and wherever we want. But..." Remus slowly slid his hand into Logan's, intertwining their fingers. "How about we just not worry about that right now? Just pretend nobody else exists until ten. After we're back to where we belong, I'll call you and we can talk about it. How does that sound?"

Logan smiled and gently kissed the side of Remus's forehead. "That sounds wonderful."