Hello, fellow Fanders! So... THERE'S A NEW EPISODE! I definitely didn't scream when I saw and then end up super inspired to write this chapter. Okay maybe. This chapter is mostly Logan angst, and it's longer than the other two, but I think sacrificing consistency for more content isn't an issue. As always, reviews are incredibly welcome, and thank you to those of you who have already reviewed!

Chapter warnings: bullying; discussion of using a plastic unicorn toy to recreate a medieval torture/killing people device (need I say, Remus is in this one)

Stay safe, and enjoy reading!

...

The rare warmth of the day before didn't fade throughout the next week or two; the temperature plummeted overnight instead. But Logan had checked the weather ahead of time and planned for it, making him one of the few people at school who had a reasonably warm coat that morning. It was hard not to feel at least a tiny bit smug about it. Still, that meant he had to go to his locker before class, and Roman was late enough to the library-again-that he was running short on time as it was.

He was closing his locker when he heard the footsteps and whispering. By the time he got his lock closed, they had caught up with him. Logan swallowed his dread and turned to walk off to class, but an all-too-familiar senior blocked his path. Logan had never bothered to learn his name. It wasn't worth it.

"Where do you think you're going?" Whatever the guy's name was, he clearly had never heard of the concept of personal space. If Logan had cared to count every hair in his greasy beard, he could have.

Logan stared straight ahead, not making eye contact. He wanted to refuse to acknowledge the guy's presence, but he could feel at least three others surrounding him. He didn't have much of an option but to respond, even if the question had a stupidly obvious answer. "Class."

Snickering rose from the boys. "No," said the one right in his face, "I don't think you are."

Before Logan could decide whether or not it would be a particularly awful idea to say that yes, he was going to class, a flash of movement in the corner of his eye stole his attention-and then his glasses. One of the others must have taken them, but he couldn't be sure because he couldn't see. He couldn't see. He could only hear them laughing, hear them jeering, hear them saying words that couldn't stick in his head as his blood boiled-

Your blood isn't literally boiling. Calm down. They want a reaction, so you have to not react. Otherwise they win. But it already felt like they had won, he couldn't see a thing, just colorful blurs moving every which way too fast. His glasses could be anywhere. Don't react. Don't react. Don't react.

A new voice cut through the cacophony and the sounds of the world cut out just like his sight had. Logan couldn't hear what it said, but he recognized it quickly; it was Janus, the first person in years to force him to put effort into winning a debate. They had philosophy together, but the teacher had kept them in separate groups after the first month made it clear that they were an unstoppable team. But Janus was also something of a troublemaker from what Logan heard, a rumor he could never confirm because Janus was never caught. And Logan didn't know what he had just said. He figured it was a fifty-fifty chance as to whether or not Janus would help him.

None of the boys responded. Logan heard footsteps, but he couldn't tell whose. No matter how hard he squinted, he couldn't make any of them out. He hated feeling so exposed. He couldn't do anything, and all it took to render him defenseless was removing his glasses.

Dead silence. For a moment.

Then, footsteps hurrying away, scattering down the hall the way they'd come. Logan looked towards them, even knowing he wouldn't see a thing. What was going on? Had they quieted down so they could steal his glasses for good without him knowing? Had Janus taken them and sent the boys away?

More footsteps.

He was sick of footsteps.

Then his glasses were back on his face, and he could see-he could see Patton's face. Patton's wide, concerned eyes. Patton's caring smile shadowed by a worried frown. "Lo! Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, Patton." Logan tried pulling away from the hands on his shoulders, scanning the hall for any sign of what had happened while he was as good as blind. There was nothing, but at the end of the corridor, Janus watched them, leaning against the wall. When their eyes met, he gave a brief nod and turned to leave.

Patton was still talking, but he wasn't listening; it was probably just questions he didn't want to answer and kind words that wouldn't make a difference. Logan shrugged his hands away, intent on following Janus. He had to thank him, now if there was time. He checked his watch; class started in under two minutes. Logan hesitated. There was still a chance he could talk to Janus and still get to class on time if he hurried-

Patton caught his arm. "Logan?"

"Yes, Patton?" He tried to keep his teeth from grinding together. He wasn't mad at Patton, and he didn't want to give off the wrong impression. Don't react.

For one of the few times Logan could recall, Patton's face was completely serious. "How long has this been going on?"

All year.

But then Patton would worry. He would go out of his way to care for Logan when he didn't need it, when he didn't want it, until Logan would feel like he owed him something. That was just how Patton was, especially with his friends.

But Logan didn't know how to be his friend. He could go to study groups with him and Roman and help them with equations, but he couldn't be their friend. He couldn't have Patton worry. He couldn't open up to them. He couldn't surround himself with people when people were the one thing he never understood-

The warning bell rang.

"I have to get to class." Logan yanked his arm away from Patton and walked as quickly as he could down the hall to his first class, ignoring him as he called out behind him. He pushed down the surge of grief at Patton's breaking voice, the solemnity he'd so rarely witnessed. Feelings were what got him into trouble. Reasoning was what would get him out of it. He didn't need friends.

I don't need friends.

He repeated it in his head the whole way, but it was no more convincing when he sat down than it was when Patton's face came into focus.

…

Janus had eaten lunch with Remus nearly every day that year, so when he sat down at the drama table, he was surprised to find that they weren't nearly as boisterous as he remembered; everything paled in comparison to Remus's seemingly endless energy. He would never admit how relieved he was that they made room for him when he showed up without any preamble; it was hard for even him to tell which social circle he belonged to, and how long he would be allowed to drift between them. But he'd been in drama club for as long as any of them could remember, so his seat was open.

He kept his head lowered as Roman sat down, pretending to be more interested in his lunch than anyone would be. Well, to say Roman sat down wouldn't do the action justice. Technically, Roman vaulted over the side of a nearby table, rocketed across the floor, skidded to a stop on his chair, and slammed both open palms on the table before falling out of his seat, having failed to fully stop his momentum. Janus bit back a snicker. Graceful, as always.

"I have an announcement!" Roman declared, loud enough that heads turned halfway across the cafeteria. It took a few moments for the other drama kids to put a bookmark in their conversations and turn to listen. Eventually, Roman, seeming satisfied with the attention he was getting, carried on. "This Friday, I'm having a drama party! And recruitment," he added in an undertone. Janus rolled his eyes; that was his cover for this overcomplicated date plan? He waved his hands as he spoke, as if they helped get the point across, though Janus was quite certain that ASL looked nothing like whatever that was. "My house, seven pm, in costume if you like (as usual), and if there's anyone you've been trying to get into the club, bring them. Anyone in?"

A chorus of assent rose from the table as the others resumed their conversation, or sidetracked to the party. A couple of teens next to Janus were already talking about what characters they could be.

Janus grinned. He had a time, a place, and technically he had a verbal invitation. Step one of the plan was good to go.

…

Virgil couldn't keep his leg from jogging up and down as his English teacher handed back their tests. How she'd graded them so quickly, he had no idea. He'd barely gotten his homework done last night. To be fair, though, the teacher probably wasn't stressed beyond belief about her love life.

Patton leaned over in his desk, beaming. "Good morning, kiddo!"

He tried to smile back. He really did. But smiling didn't exactly come naturally to him. "Hi, Patton."

"I'm a little nervous about how I did on this one," Patton said more quietly, nodding at the teacher.

"I'm sure you did better than me."

"If you don't stop talking bad about yourself-" He cut off his sentence as the teacher dropped his test on his desk. "I'm sure you did great."

Virgil shrugged, tugging on the strings of his hoodie. He didn't really want to talk about it.

Thankfully, Patton carried on the conversation. "What are you doing Friday night?"

He blinked. He rarely had anything interesting going on in his life, and Patton knew that. "Homework? Why do you ask?"

Patton's smile turned mischievous. "A friend of mine is having a get-together and said I could bring a friend-"

"I don't really do parties," Virgil interrupted.

"It's a small party," Patton tried. When Virgil only grunted, the grin faltered. "It would be good for you to branch out a bit. Besides, I don't know the others, and it would be nice to have you there."

That made Virgil pause. He didn't like parties. But he liked the idea of Patton alone at a party less. Here was something he could do to be there for Patton instead of the other way around. So he said, "What time?"

Patton's smile returned full-force. "Seven. I'll pick you up!"

Virgil nodded, not bothering to fake excitement. What had he gotten himself into?

But seeing Patton smile kept him from regretting it just yet.

…

After that morning's confusion, Logan spent the rest of the day off-balance, and he was barely on time to every class. He kept on losing focus. He knew he wouldn't fall behind from one off day, but it still bothered him. School was what he was good at, he couldn't let anything interfere with that. Still, he found himself counting down the seconds until his last class would let out and he could be alone to process his thoughts.

That last class happened to be philosophy.

It took more willpower than he would've liked to admit to keep from turning around to look at Janus in the opposite corner. He hadn't gotten a chance to talk to him all day. He had to thank him, to find a way to acknowledge his help; it was the least he could do. The sooner he tied up the morning's loose ends, the better.

The class droned by. Every minute that passed seemed to add another fifty seconds to the clock-which was ridiculous and obviously impossible. Feelings. They never made sense.

The final bell rang, and for once Logan was one of the first to stand up and grab his backpack. He slipped through the crowd of students headed for the door until he was in front of Janus, and that was when he realized he'd forgotten to figure out what exactly he was going to say.

For the first time that day, his brain came to the rescue. Say his name to get his attention first. "Janus? Hello."

Janus paused and glanced at him. As usual, his face was unreadable. "Afternoon, Logan."

Just thank him outright. No point in figuratively beating around the bush. "I wanted to thank you for helping this morning."

His eyebrows twitched together and he shrugged. What did that mean? People make no sense. "There's no need. Those four are idiots."

Logan tried not to bite his lip. What was he supposed to do with that? Offer to make it up to him. Actions are often more important than words. "Still, if there's ever anything I could do-" Janus was already raising a hand to cut him off.

Then someone else crashed through the door. "DEE!" Logan flattened himself against the wall as a blur of black and green barrelled through where he used to be standing and tackled Janus, who somehow didn't topple over.

"Hello, Remus," Janus mumbled as he pried the other off of him. Logan's interest piqued at that. He'd never met Roman's infamous twin before. All he knew about him was from Roman's tales, which were bound to be biased, but according to them, Remus was both disturbed and disturbing, not to mention spontaneous, morbid, and utterly insane, all of which made him mortifying. He'd always been interested to know how much of that was true and what Remus thought of Roman, but the opportunity had never presented itself.

Remus began talking a mile a minute, and Logan, figuring there was no way he'd get a word in now, began to slip away. In theory, he'd quietly exit and find a way to resume his conversation with Janus tomorrow.

In practice, he ended up knocking over the teacher's box of random toys he'd collected for some reason with his backpack, causing them to spill out across the floor. Don't react. Three tiny bouncy balls scattered across the room and vanished from sight. Anger is pointless. A green and pink slinky rolled away under a bookshelf. You're pointless.

Without a word (to be clear, unintelligible battle cries do not count as words), Remus jumped over a desk in pursuit of the bouncy balls while Janus grabbed the broom in the corner and went slinky-hunting. Logan scooped the nearby toys into the box, reflecting for the millionth time on how useless they were.

Remus came bounding back surprisingly quickly, juggling the bouncy balls even as he skipped across the desks. For all Roman had said about his brother, he'd neglected to mention his talent. Janus came back with a dusty slinky and tossed it into the box with finality.

Logan forced something like a smile. "Thanks."

"No problem, Logan," Janus said.

Before Logan could put it back on the shelf, Remus snatched a plastic unicorn out of it, holding it up to his face and scraping his eyes over every inch and tapping the tip of the horn.

Logan set the box back in place. "What are you doing?"

A toothy grin stretched across Remus's entire face. Logan knew grinning ear-to-ear was just an expression, but Remus came closer than anyone he'd ever seen. "Stealing," he hissed.

Logan looked between him and Janus, who seemed unconcerned, not that that made Logan feel any better. "May I ask why?"

The impossible grin widened. "For the iron maiden."

Logan's puzzlement must've been obvious, because Janus explained, "He's been banned from making crafts with sewing needles, so he'll take pointy objects where he can get them." To Remus, he added, "Are you sure that's pointy enough?"

"I can sharpen it!" He cackled gleefully and jammed the unicorn inside his pocket. "Bye nerdy wolverine!" With that, Remus grabbed Janus by the wrist and pulled him out of the classroom.

Logan stood in their wake, more than a little dazed. Remus was building a model iron maiden? He knew he probably should've been more concerned, but he mostly wanted to see it, see how accurate it was and how it worked, know why Remus had undertaken this project. He wanted to know more about Remus.

The thought surprised him at first, but he supposed it made sense. He'd heard so much about Roman's brother, enough to know he was interesting and maybe the sort of person who was worth knowing.

He didn't need people. He didn't need friends.

But Remus would make an intriguing lab partner.

…

Patton usually took the bus home, but today, Roman found him standing beside his car with a small frown fixed on his usually cheery face. He didn't mind, but it was rare that Patton instigated their spontaneous hangouts; he was the sort to plan ahead so he could make at least three times as many cookies as they would need, but less than twice as many as they would eat. Roman motioned for him to get in the passenger seat, knowing whatever was on Patton's mind, he'd bring it up a few minutes into the ride.

Sure enough, they'd just crawled out of the parking lot when Patton spoke. "Did you see Logan today?"

Roman shrugged. "Just before class, as usual. I think my science is improving!" Patton was quiet. "Why do you ask?" He softened his voice.

Patton was silent for long enough that Roman considered asking again, but he eventually said, "I think he's been dealing with some bullies for a while."

Roman pulled over, gripping the steering wheel. "What happened."

Patton took a deep breath, looking out the window. "I was running late to class and went down the hallway where his locker was. These four kids had taken his glasses, and he was just… standing there. He looked so lost. I was trying to figure out what to do, but then this kid Janus came and told them it wasn't funny and took his glasses back. The other guys left and he gave them to me." He shrugged a tiny bit. "I tried asking Logan about it, but he didn't say anything. I don't think it was the first time, though."

Roman slowly forced his hands to relax around the steering wheel, even though all he wanted to do was punch something. He knew he should say something to Patton, but he didn't know what. Eventually, all that came out was the biggest question he couldn't answer. "Why didn't he come to us? We're his friends."

Patton let out a small smile.

Roman turned. He was still staring out the window, his eyes empty in the side view mirror. "Patton?"

Patton shrugged again. "I know we're his friends, Roman, but what if he doesn't see it that way? You know he's always had a hard time connecting with people."

"So what do we do?"

Finally, Patton turned to look him in the eye. The slightest smile had touched his lips. "You're throwing a drama recruitment party on Friday."

Roman nodded slowly, hoping the action would help him see where Patton was going with this. He had hoped wrong. "And…? What does that have to do with Logan? He thinks social gatherings are frivolous," he said, directly quoting his study partner.

Patton nudged Roman's arm gently. "And we've always thought he would make an excellent stage manager." Roman looked up. It was starting to make sense. "Virgil doesn't like parties either, but I'm picking him up this Friday and getting him some friends. We should do the same for Logan."

Roman could almost feel his face lighting up. "Yes! Brilliant, Patton! I could get him to come by saying it's a study group, and by the time he realizes it's a party, he'll already be there and we'll get him to loosen up and have some fun!" For once, he thought but didn't say.

"And make sure to have some Crofters. He'll stay at the party just for that."

"Patton, my friend, you are incredible." He held up his hand, and Patton high-fived him, his tentative smile finally bursting free.

They were going to make this right.