Chemistry - A Sander's Sides Fanfiction

- 17 -

Logan woke up with tingling limbs Thursday morning. The first thing that flashed through his mind when he regained consciousness was Patton: Patton's tears the night before, Patton's arms clutching his shirt, Patton's smile as he cuddled up in his lap. Logan smiled as he remembered the feeling.

If Logan thought he had been restless on Wednesday, then there were no words to describe how he felt on Thursday. He once again found himself eagerly awaiting the end of each period and watched each excruciating minute pass on the clock. However, this time, Logan had an idea why. He proposed to himself that it was likely due to excitement around seeing Patton again.

The two had bonded immensely over not only the past few days but especially over the previous day. Logan wanted to make sure his friend was feeling alright. What has happened to me? Logan asked himself was he walked to fifth period. Inability to pay attention, unwillingness to work, focusing on emotions of all things... It was absurd.

He arrived to fifth period as early as ever, before the first bell even rang. He looked outside and noticed that the rain had stopped. This fact disappointed him somewhat, but having the town dry out would be nice.

Roman arrived, looking different than usual. Logan couldn't quite place what it was, but he had noticed it earlier in the morning as well. However, since Logan didn't exactly know what was wrong with Roman, he decided against saying anything. Maybe he would ask Patton about it -- the boy seemed readily equipped with emotional knowledge.

As Logan got out his chemistry binder and made sure everything was in order, Patton sat down next to him. When Logan looked over, the boy gave him a weak but understanding smile and Logan replied with a similar look. He could tell that both of them were thinking about Patton's mental breakdown the day prior.

Logan cleared his throat. "You're feeling better, Patton?" he asked quietly so that the others wouldn't hear.

Patton nodded, letting out a content sigh. "Much better," he said with the ghost of a laugh. "Thank you, by the way," he added after a moment.

"It was no problem." Logan once again found himself with the unexplainable urge to touch Patton's arm or shoulder in comfort. He had been faced with similar feelings the night before, and struggled to keep his hands to himself. Their long embrace flashed through his mind again and he shook his head to clear it. What was going on with him? He didn't normally like physical contact of any kind, but apparently something had changed.

As Logan had noted before, he may not have understood many emotions, but he could feel awkward tension. There was some sort of tension between him and Patton -- perhaps the mutual knowledge of Patton's unstable state, or, more likely, the mutual memory of their shared chair together. It wasn't awkward, per se, but it was very similar.

After looking back on the previous night for the twentieth time that day, Logan felt the intense, unfamiliar sensation of a faint blush rising to his cheeks. In all likelihood, it was nothing more than a light dusting of color, but at that moment, Logan felt like a lighthouse. He willed himself to calm down and internally cursed his sudden emotional instability.

It was nothing more than shared contact between friends, Logan tried to logic to himself. I was merely comforting Patton. I am well aware of the situation; there is no need to keep rethinking it.

But it didn't help. He couldn't stop himself; every time he looked at Patton, he relived the feeling of the boy's arms around him and head on his shoulder. It would have been annoying had the excessive thought not exhilarated Logan.

When Virgil arrived, Logan noticed him pass an odd look to Roman. It seemed they were all off that day.

After an unusually quiet period of chemistry, Logan departed from class with Patton by his side. He made sure to leave before Roman and Virgil did so he could ask Patton about the two of them.

"Mine may not be the best judgement to consider," he began to Patton as the boy looked up at him, "but did Roman and Virgil seem off today?"

Patton nodded almost immediately. "I was thinking the same thing," he responded. "I can't imagine why though -- they both seemed normal yesterday."

"Something must have happened after school," Logan deduced as they walked towards Virgil's -- and now their -- lunch spot. He found himself wishing that he were better at reading people. Sure, give him an imbalanced chemical reaction? He could solve it in an instant. Give him a polynomial and tell him to find the tangent line? He could easily do it. But tell him to find out what was bothering someone? He was lost.

So Logan decided to leave Patton to the friendly interrogation and sat himself down on the planter wall without another thought. Patton sat down next to him too and flashed Logan a look that he could not understand. Before he had any chance to ask about it, however, Virgil and Roman arrived.

"Hey you guys," Patton broke the silence. "How are you? We didn't get to talk in class."

Virgil shrugged. "Fine."

Roman hesitated and blinked, his eyes glancing towards Virgil for the tiniest instant before he answered. "Okay, I guess."

Patton frowned and Logan could practically see the gears turning in his head. "Did something happen between you two?" he asked.

Both the boy's eyes widened and Virgil looked away. Roman was about to answer when Patton cut him off.

"Clearly, something did," he said, crossing his arms, "but if you guys don't want to talk about it, that's fine. I just hope it's nothing bad."

Roman cleared his throat. "Well nothing bad between us," he murmured.

Logan was positively perplexed, not quite knowing what he should take from the odd conversation. He didn't know what to make of the strange, out-of-character glances and awkwardness. Something, as Patton had voiced, was clearly different between the two, but Logan had absolutely no idea what it could be.

He didn't know either of the boys nearly enough to guess. The only thing that came to mind about Roman was the ghost of a memory about drama surrounding him, but Logan couldn't remember what it had been. Something that had happened over the summer and was passed around friend groups. Logan had caught a few pieces of it but never had enough information to make a clear picture.

Virgil, on the other hand, he knew nothing about. He couldn't even conjure up any sort of idea for what could have possibly happened between him and Roman. Maybe something similar to what had gone on between Logan and Patton the night before? That had definitely changed their attitudes towards each other, for whatever reason.

Lunch passed with an underlying tension, but was fairly normal otherwise -- not that there was a lot of data to go off of, seeing that it was merely the second day they all sat together.

After another boring period, Logan was finally able to go home. Patton came over and they did their tutoring session as if nothing had happened. On one hand, this was relieving, but on the other hand, it was slightly disappointing. For Logan and his change-sensitive mindset, having nothing out of the ordinary happen was comfortable. He knew that change was often good and inevitable, but it threw him off -- and he did not like to be caught off guard.

Or perhaps he did. Perhaps he needed someone to surprise him -- maybe that was why he was so intrigued by Patton. Because he caught Logan off guard -- because Logan couldn't understand him or predict what he would do. And that was strangely exciting. Like going on a roller coaster and being ripped out your comfort zone.

But nothing interesting happened. Well, nothing other than generally enjoying himself with Patton. He was tempted to ask Patton again to do something else, but feared upsetting him. Though he knew the fear was illogical, Logan could not force it away. It bothered him not to be in control of his own emotions -- it bothered him to not understand why they were changing.

Logan sighed as Patton cheerfully left his house. He shook his head and made his way back inside, still no closer to understanding his illogical feelings. Why does being human have to be so inconvenient?

Ahh I'm sorry I know it's filler! I hope it was entertaining anyway.

You guys are the best!