Fingers gently traced the red line against pale skin, heart hammering in Logan's chest.

It had been a few days since his breakdown in front of the school. Logan winced at the memory, annoyed and embarrassed to think back on it. It had been so unlike him, but he couldn't help it. He just missed him so much.

Logan sighed, glancing up at Patton beside of him. The two of them were standing outside of the school, waiting for Virgil to get there so they could walk home together. Virgil had something to do with his family later on, so they couldn't spend much time with each other after school but they still wanted to walk together. Logan and Patton had still planned to hang out with each other for a little while, and while Logan loved the time he spent around Patton and Virgil he was nervous. He planned to try to talk with Patton about something serious he had been considering the last few days, and he didn't know how he might take it.

"Hey guys," Virgil said as he approached the pair, Logan stopping his thoughts long enough to respond along with Patton. The three of them talked together as they made their way towards Virgil's house, though Logan didn't contribute much to the conversation. He still did his best to listen and answer when the two of them spoke to him, so they wouldn't become suspicious. The one thing he didn't want to do today was worry Virgil.

"I still really wish I could spend more time with you guys today," Virgil sighed as they finally stood in front of his house. Patton smiled over at him, pulling him into a tight hug.

"We already spent all weekend together! I think we'll all be okay being apart for one afternoon, and we can still always text each other." He pointed out with a laugh, pressing a kiss to Virgil's cheek, an action that still never failed to make his cheeks burn.

"Yeah... but I'll still wish you were here." He said, looking over at Logan and opening his arm he didn't have around Patton to invite Logan to the hug.

"It's just for today, and then we can spend time together tomorrow." Logan told him as he joined in on the hug, also pressing a kiss to Virgil's forehead nervously and earning another dark blush. Logan offered a small smile that Virgil returned, slowly leaning up closer to Logan. Logan leaned in the rest of the way, kissing him. It didn't last long, Virgil pulling back and turning to Patton to kiss him as well.

"R-right, then I guess I'll... see you tomorrow?" Virgil said after he had pulled away from both of them, hand on the door. Logan and Patton would have been worried by how quickly he had moved away, thinking they had made him uncomfortable if it weren't for the smile on his face that he couldn't seem to stop. They both nodded, saying one more goodbye before Virgil went inside.

Patton and Logan looked over at each other, Patton laughing while Logan just smiled. Patton reached over to take Logan's hand as they started to walk back towards Patton's house. Logan listened quietly as Patton commented on how cute their boyfriend was, and how glad he was that they could be with him. He noticed Logan's silence quickly, squeezing his hand and stopping walking.

"Hey, what's wrong?" He asked, frowning. He kept his voice soft as he continued. "Still thinking about Roman...?"

"I..." Logan frowned, looking ahead of them instead of facing Patton. "I was hoping to talk once we got back to your house. Not... not here."

Logan glanced back towards Virgil's house that they hadn't gone too far from, and Patton nodded. He didn't say anything else, or urge Logan to talk immediately. He simply started walking again, Logan following quickly. It was silent between them now, instead of thinking about Virgil they were both worried about what Logan had to say.

"I am sorry," Logan said, feeling like he had ruined Patton's happy mood with his own feelings. Patton smiled over at him and squeezed his hand again comfortingly.

"You haven't done anything you need to apologize for." Patton assured him, and Logan didn't say anything else. The rest of the way to Patton's house was quiet, and stayed that way even as the two of them walked inside. They immediately went up to Patton's bedroom, sitting down together. Patton still didn't let go of Logan's hand, and he waited patiently for Logan to begin talking. Logan felt glad that Patton wasn't going to force him, letting him speak when he felt like he needed to.

Logan once again looked down to his wrist, eyes glancing over each tally that marked his arm. He looked at the two black ones, and slowly turned his attention to the third one. He sighed, tearing his gaze away from it to look up at Patton.

"To answer your question," Logan started after another minute of silence. "Yes... this is about Roman."

Patton nodded in acknowledgment, staying silent to encourage Logan to go on. Logan frowned, chewing on his lip nervously as he carefully considered.

"I've just been thinking, the last few days since I've had... this." Logan nodded down at his arm, Patton glancing down at it and looking to his own red mark. "He... Roman, he doesn't know about either of them."

"So...?" Patton questioned softly, wondering where Logan was going with this.

"So, he thinks that the two of us just care about Virgil, and that Virgil only cares about us. He thinks that we... that none of us love him." Logan carried on, face red. He hadn't said it out loud until then, that he loved him, and it felt awkward despite it being the truth. "But what if we... We showed him?"

"Showed him?" Patton muttered, surprised by the suggestion.

"Yes," Logan nodded, taking his hand away from Patton's to reach out and touch his mark again. "Show him our tallies so that he... he knows we care."

"I don't know, Logan." Patton said honestly, frowning. "I-I really want to! Don't get me wrong, I just... do you think he'll listen to us?"

"I don't know." Logan sighed, looking back up at Patton again. "But isn't it worth it to try? Even if... even if it doesn't change anything, even if it doesn't fix things for him and Virgil won't it just be better if he knew that we cared about him still?"

"Yeah.." Patton looked down, sighing as well. "I just..."

Patton felt tears welling up in his eyes, glancing back up at Logan and opening his arms to silently ask for a hug. Logan responded immediately, wrapping his arms around his boyfriend and holding him close. Patton leaned into Logan, closing his eyes to try and fight back his tears while Logan asked him what was wrong, apologizing for upsetting him.

"It's not your fault..." Patton insisted, shaking his head. His hands gripped the back of Logan's shirt tightly as he pulled him as close as possible, trying to focus on anything other than his tears. "It's-I'm just... It's selfish. I'm being selfish."

"What do you mean?" Logan asked, tracing shapes on Patton's back to try and distract him, and calm him down. Patton felt the first few tears fall from his eyes, and then they wouldn't stop. He tried to calm down, tried to breathe but he couldn't help but worry.

"What if... W-we just started to feel happy with Virgil around... What if he-what if we lose him?" Patton managed out, sob escaping him. "What if he doesn't want to be with us after he has Roman again?"

"Patton..." Logan frowned, wondering where the thought even came from. "He wouldn't do that. He loves us... We both have the black tallies to prove that."

"I know, I just..." Patton pulled back from the hug slightly to wipe at his eyes. "I'm scared. Things just started to look somewhat good for us, and... I really, really want all four of us to be happy. I'm just scared that maybe us going over there... what if it has the opposite effect?"

"We have to try," Logan whispered after a while of contemplative silence. "For us, for Virgil... and for Roman. He should know that we still care about him."

"Yeah..." Patton sighed, hiding his face in Logan's chest. "We... we should do it. We should tell him. Are... Do you want to tell Virgil what we're doing?"

Logan shook his head. "No. I don't want to get his hopes up, and I don't want to worry him. If it works out, then we'll tell him."

"Yeah... Yeah, that's probably a good idea." Patton agreed, sniffling. "When should we do it...?"

"We could go... now?" Logan suggested carefully. "I know, it's really sudden. You don't have to, I just really want this all to be over with. I want him to finally know."

"No, I agree. We should do it." Patton agreed quickly, surprising Logan. He drew in a shaky breath, closing his eyes. "Just... I just need a few more minutes to calm down first, okay? Then we can go."

"Alright," Logan nodded, resting his head on top of Patton's, pressing a kiss to his forehead. The two of them sat there in silence, nervous about what was to come but feeling determined as well. They were finally going to talk to Roman again, and they would do whatever they could to convince him to listen.

Ooooooh big things are happening lol. What'd you think will happen next?

I'll try my best to get the next chapter out tonight, but y'know. No promises because I'm the best at getting easily distracted. I will start working on it immediately after hitting upload though! I swear! Let me know your thoughts on the book so far, and how you feel about being so close to it being over. (Don't worry tho it's not like, super close to being over it'll probably get close to 50 chapters)

Also, thanks so much for reading this book guys. It's only just hit me this morning just how many of you read this(more people read this than my oneshots book now! That's insane!) so like????? Thanks so much!!!!!! It terrifies me to know that I have so many people who I might potentially let down but I hope you like what I'm doing lmao. Anyways, I love all of you guys. Remember to take good care of yourselves. I'll get to work on the next chapter now! Bye!-Bob