Chapter Text
Patton walks into the hotel lobby, bracing himself for the paparazzi. And boy, did Patton need to brace himself. As soon as Patton stepped in, half of the flashing lights pointed themselves towards him instead of the rest of their group, smiles plastered on their faces. Roman waves him over happily, and Patton joins the group for photos. Patton shakes everyone’s hand as he goes down the line, as if they haven’t known each other for years.
Roman, the head writer, Virgil, head of photography, Janus, director, Remus, costume and set designer. And, of course, his co-star Logan. Actor. Patton swallows hard, ignoring the feelings seeing him again brings. Patton reaches out his hand for the traditional handshake. Logan stares at his outstretched hand as if it’s poisoned.
“Please, Logan? At least for the sake of the cameras?” Patton murmurs, low enough no one can hear him except Logan.
He does, albeit reluctantly. Patton stands in his spot at the end of the line beside him, pretending he doesn't see the gap he put between them as the lights flash. The paparazzi shout questions, but honestly, it’s too loud to hear any of them.
Soon, Janus is leading them back into the hallways of the tall building where they can no longer see the lights or hear the noises. We walk into the elevator, and as soon as the door shuts, Janus’ bright smile falls away, and he turns to us.
“Meeting room at 7. Go get dinner and rest up, it’s going to be a busy few months.”
The doors open.
“Bye,” says Virgil.
“Peace,” Roman says.
“Adios,” Remus adds, winking before he turns away.
“C’ya,” Patton says cheerfully.
“Farewell,” he can just hear Logan say as Patton walks into his room.
Great. This is great. Nine months here, in this gorgeous hotel suite. Nine months of Logan hating his guts.
Before that night, it was fine. They were almost friends, Patton had almost worn him down, he could tell. Then that night happened. Then Logan ghosted him for the three months they were off. And sure, most of it was Patton’s fault and he felt terrible about it. But not all of it.
Patton sighs, running a hand through his hair. It’s no use thinking of this, he has to act like everything is normal, like everything is fine, like his chest doesn’t feel like exploding when he looks at Logan.
First step, make Logan not hate his guts again. Maybe what he needs is a peace offering. As soon as he has the thought, he knows exactly what to do.
A trip to the grocery store later, he sets down a jar with a little sticky note on it in front of the door across the hall from him. Then he knocks. Before the door opens, he disappears back into his room.
“Ah, Crofters. My favorite,” Logan says, just loud enough that Patton can hear through the door.
It’s then Patton realizes perhaps he should have added a note, saying it’s from him.
Fool, Patton thinks to himself.
He’s wrapped in a blanket watching the Kids Baking Championship when he hears a knock.
“Patton, let’s go, it's dinner time!” comes Roman’s sing-songy voice through the door.
“Alrighty, just give me a sec!”
He stands up, brushing his short sleeve button up to smooth out some of the wrinkles. He looks at himself in the mirror, practicing his smile to make sure it’s believable.
Patton shoves on his shoes and heads out the door.
“We’re going for dinner with Virg and Logan, they’re already at our place. I told them I’d bring you,” Roman says, slinging an arm around his shoulder.
“Oh, sorry! I didn’t know we had plans.”
“Did ya check your phone?”
Patton takes out his phone. Sure enough, there are several missed notifications from their group chat.
“Goodness gracious,” he says.
“Welcome back, did you miss us?” Roman teases.
They walk into the restaurant they eat at as a group when they’re in LA, as it has food for everyone’s various dietary restrictions and preferences.
Janus and Remus sometimes come, but usually they prefer to eat at a different place or do work instead.
“Kiddo!” Patton exclaims as he sits down across from Virgil. It’s been their joke since season two when they found out that Virgil’s character was his younger cousin.
Virgil rolls his eyes at the nickname, but smiles anyway. Virgil and Logan both sat on one side of the booth, leaving Patton across from Virgil and Roman across from Logan. Diagonal, the furthest they could get from each other.
“So, who’s excited for season four?” Roman says happily.
“I did not believe that it would still be continuing this long,” Logan says. Patton takes that like a punch to the gut. Does he not want to be here?
“Really, Logan?” this time it’s Virgil speaking. “You’ve seen the data, you’ve seen how popular our show is. Surely you would have guessed?”
“I… did not consider that,” he concedes.
“So!” Patton says brightly, attempting to steer the conversation away from this. “What did everyone do over their break?”
“Glad you asked!” Roman responds. “I wrote the entire new season! And edited it. And started a spin off.”
“Well, color me impressed!” Patton says happily.
“Impressed isn’t a color. How would one color you impressed?” Logan says, refusing to look at Patton.
When it’s clear Patton isn’t planning on responding, Virgil answers, “It’s a saying. Patton’s just saying that he’s impressed,”
“Ah. I see.”
“Wait a minute… Roman, did you consider giving yourself a break? And taking care of yourself?” Patton asks.
“Nahhh, who needs that.” He grins.
Virgil rolls his eyes again. “I read. And slept.”
“What about you, Logan?” Roman asks.
“Oh. Nothing much. I read, as Virgil did, and I visited my family, as they requested.”
Patton stares at him. He wasn’t even doing anything, and he couldn’t be bothered to reply to him?
Logan looks up, meeting his gaze for the first time. And there’s… nothing. Just cool indifference, like they’ve never met. And Patton's heart sinks to his stomach. Roman can sense the mood souring, and he quickly changes the subject. They talk, but as soon as they’re done eating, they all make excuses and head back to the hotel in pairs, Logan and Virgil first then Patton and Roman to prepare for their meeting. Patton’s chest still feels empty.
Patton shakes his hands nervously, waiting for everyone else to come for their first meeting of season 4.
“Jeez, man, you good?” Roman asks as he walks into their meeting room. Virgil walks in beside him, a tray of coffee cups in his hand.
“Yeah, yeah, all good. Just some new season jitters, y’know the feeling,” Patton lies. Patton's not nervous about the new season. What Patton is worried about is-
“Tea, Patton?” Virgil asks, sliding a cup his way.
“Thanks, Virgil,” Patton say with a smile. “You’re the best.”
Patton cups his hands around the cup, letting the hot steam fog his glasses and calm his nerves slightly. Patton's still leaning over the cup when he hears the door open again.
“Hello,” someone says. Logan. Patton freezes, refusing to look up. Maybe he’ll disappear? “Are we waiting on Janus and Remus then?”
Nope, he’s still there. Patton forces himself to look up. And there he is, in all his buttoned up, precise, perfect glory. He doesn’t spare him a glance.
Patton avoids looking at him, choosing instead to greet Janus and Remus as they walk in, completing their team. They’re a small group, everyone versed in all the roles as they all act in their series, “Royal Tensions.” It’s not just them, of course, but it’s mostly headed by those six.
“So, now that we’re all here, there are a few things I’d like to go over today,” Janus starts, glancing at Patton for a second. “First, rehearsal starts tomorrow. Is everybody ready? Practiced your lines?”
Everyone makes various nods and sounds of agreement.
“Alright then. Has anyone seen the news recently?”
A sense of dread starts to form in Patton’s chest
“What?” Virgil asks. “Do I need to be worried?”
“No, not you,” Janus replies. The dread rises. “Patton, Logan? Check your alerts, please. Everyone else too.”
The media can’t possibly know about what happened, can they?!
Patton checks. “Oh dear.”
“This is absurd,” Logan adds, glancing up from his phone.
“Royal Tensions or Star Tensions?”
“Tensions Turn Internal At Royal Tensions?”
“Logan Berry and Patton Light’s Secret Feud - The Inside Scoop”
“What did you two do?!” Roman demands.
“Nothing,” Logan replies. “All these articles are going off is a few photos and out of context quotes,”
“That’s true, but still, why do you two look so unhappy in these anyways?” Remus presses.
“Uh…,” Patton starts, unsure what to say.
“What do you want to do about them?” Virgil cuts in.
“Well. Logan, Patton,” Janus starts. We both look at him. “Is this true?”
“What? No, of course not!” Patton says immediately. Mostly true.
“That’s absurd, Janus!” Roman exclaims.
“I had to check,” Janus says with a shrug.
“How do they fix it?” Virgil asks, straight to the point.
“I mean, do they even need to? The media is going to say what it wants anyways,” Remus adds.
Janus sighs. “Well. It would look a lot better for us if this wasn’t the case, which I have been assured it’s not. So the best course of action is to show the media Logan and Patton’s hidden closeness.”
“So?”
“Go for lunch tomorrow, on break. Alright?”
“Okay,” Logan agrees.
“Okay,” Patton agrees.
This will be fun.
The next day, Logan is waiting at the table with the air of a man who has better things to do. He probably does.
“Hey, Logan,” Patton says, sliding into his chair.
“Hello, Patton,” Logan replies without looking up.
“Could you at least look at me? I’m not Medusa.”
Finally, Logan looks up. Again, the cool disdain. Patton pretends it doesn’t hurt. “Alright. What would you like to talk about?”
“Maybe the elephant in the room?” Patton says.
Logan looks around. “Where?”
Patton laughs. Then remembers who he’s with, and the smile drops off his face. “Metaphorical elephant, Logan. It’s an idiom for a big subject that’s yet to be addressed.”
He used the fancy language because he knew Logan would like it more. He can’t help it, okay?
“Ah, I see. The subject being what happened, er”—he waves between the two of them—”between us?”
“Yeah. Listen, Logan. I’m sorry about what happened, I shouldn’t have–”
“I apologize as well. Now that the issue has been negated, shall we just forget that it ever happened?” Logan says, cutting Patton off.
“Yeah, okay.”
The waiter comes before they figure out what to do from there. Her gaze lingers on the two of them a minute before getting to business. Logan orders a garden salad and Patton orders the spaghetti, as usual. Jules, the waiter, glances at them one more time before turning away.
“So, shall we seal the deal and shake on it?” Logan stands up, going for a handshake.
Patton stands too, but smothers Logan in a hug. Patton’s lips brush Logan’s ear as he whispers, “Much better than a handshake, right?”
When Patton finally releases him, Logan is flushed red.
“C’mon, I’m not that bad. I’ll get you to admit it one day, eh?” Patton teases with a smile as they sit down.
“I, er, that is to say,” Logan trails off, adjusting his glasses.
“So anyways, what did you actually do on break?”
Logan looks up, confused. “I told you, I read and slept. I visited my family. Again, as I previously stated.”
Patton rolls his eyes. “Really, Logan? I know you, much as you like to pretend I don’t. And there is no way in this gosh-darn world that for three months you sat around with your family and read some books.”
Logan stares at him. “I didn’t… think anyone would catch that.”
He raises his eyebrows. “Really, Logan? You thought I spent four years unsuccessfully attempting to be your friend without catching on to your routines?”
“Well it wasn’t. Completely unsuccessful? I mean, we are sitting here right now, having lunch.”
“Because we were ordered to by Janus for our media presence. You didn’t exactly choose to be here,” Patton says.
He ignores the sting he gets saying this out loud. For a moment there, he could almost pretend that Logan actually chose to be here, that he wanted to be around him. But no, of course not, that’s just Patton’s silly heart for you.
“Well, it’s not so bad now, is it?” Logan says. A smile almost, almost appears on his face. It becomes Patton’s life’s mission to get him to laugh.
“Here’s your food, the garden salad for you,” Jules says, placing it in front of Logan. “And the spaghetti for you.”
Patton and Logan speak at the same time. “Thank you.”
She walks away.
“Well.”
“Well.”
“What do we do now?”
“Logan, have you never been to lunch with someone before?”
“What! Absurd. I have,” he protests.
“Mhm. I have a joke for you, alright?”
“Okay…” Logan says cautiously.
“I was going to tell you a joke about time travel, but you didn’t like it,” Patton delivers with a smile.
“What?” Logan asks. He considers it for a moment. “Oh! As in, within the joke you travelled in time to tell it to me, but I didn’t enjoy it in the hypothetical timeline where you did tell it to me. That’s a good one, Patton.”
Logan’s train of thought went completely over Patton’s head, but he nodded along as if it didn’t. He didn’t want to appear foolish.
“Your turn!”
Logan’s eyes widen. “Um. Alright. Ask me if I’m a tree.”
“Are you a tree?” he complies jovially.
“No, why would I be a tree?” he replies flatly.
“...what.”
“You see, the joke is funny because you followed through with my request even though there was no data suggesting any reason I would have been.”
Patton pauses for a minute, processing his words. “Ahh, I get it!”
This time, Logan does smile. “It’s my favorite joke.”
That tracks, Patton thinks. Out loud he says, “Give me your palm!”
“What? Why?” Logan protests as Patton reaches and pulls his hand over.
“I can read palms,” he says, tracing lines on Logan’s palm.
“That’s hogwash,” Logan disagrees.
“Mm. Don’t knock it til you hear what I have to say,” Patton says. “Your life line is long, so you have a passion for living.”
Logan scoffs.
“Your fate line is deep cause you're passionate for your line of work.”
“Yeah, not quite,” Logan says disdainfully.
“No, not the acting. I mean, you’re okay with that, but what I was referring to was your other work.”
“What? I don’t have another job.”
Patton studies him for a moment. “Not another job, but another line of work. You’re studying astronomy, have been for a few years now. That’s your real passion.”
Loan stares at him. “And you got all that from my palm?”
Patton laughs. “No, no way. I got the passion part from your hand, but the astronomy part from you, Logan. Did you think I didn’t notice? The NASA shirts, the astronomy books, the computer tabs, the stickers, the way you look at the gosh darn stars? It’s not exactly hidden, Logan.”
Logan just stares at him some more. “I… had no idea you paid that much attention.”
Patton makes a noise of agreement, continuing to stare intently at his palm. “You think practically and logically, no surprise there. And…”—Patton brushes his thumb over a part of his hand—”Poor communication skills.”
Logan jerks back partially. “Rude.”
“Relax. I’m not done yet,” he says, pulling Logan’s hand back. “Also, didn’t you just tell me this was ‘hogwash?’”
“I suppose I did. And I stand by it.”
“Hm. Your love language is acts of service. But… you have struggles with love? And, hold on. Aw, Logan, your heart line is deep. You’re devoted to someone?What’s this all about? Why is this the first I’m hearing of this?”
This time, Logan yanks his hand away fully. “Alright, I think that’s enough of that.”
Hm, Patton thinks to himself. I wonder what that was all about.
“So, astronomy, huh?” he says, obliging Logan’s request for a topic change.
Logan blushes. Actually blushes. “Er. Yeah.”
“Is that what you want to pursue then?”
He gets a faroff look in his eyes. “Yeah, I really hope so.”
“I’m sure you’ll have no problem with it. Is that what you were doing over the summer, then?”
He nods. “Yeah. Part-time degree. I’m getting my Bachelor’s in physics and astronomy.”
“I think if I could go to university, I’d want to take psychology,” Patton admits.
“You could. If I can, you can too,” Logan offers.
Patton… had never considered that. He could do what Logan is doing. Part-time degree. Sure, it takes longer, but better late than never, right? He could do it. His lifelong dream. He’d been forced to forget about when he, a fresh out of high school eighteen year old got cast as the lead in a major tv show.
“Patton? Are you still here?”
“Where would I have gone?” Patton quips, snapping back to reality.
Logan laughs. Actually laughs. “Fair point.”
By now, they’ve both long finished their meals. They paid Jules.
“So, do you think this fulfills our responsibility to the team now?” Logan asks, straight back to business.
Right. Their responsibilities. That’s why they were here. No other reason.
Right.