#tlamp

There was a little distance between the human’s shining green eyes and the small borrower family, but the space would have to be enough.

Patton’s nails tightened on his arm with his nerves and Logan’s mind was racing with different options.

This had all gone far too wrong far too quickly.

The janitor was usually the last to leave the building, so when they had gone out to find things to aid in their survival, the last thing he had assumed was that the janitor was still there finishing up his rounds.

He could have sworn that the janitor had left by that time. They had even taken extra precaution because it was one of the few times him and Patton had allowed Virgil to come with them even though it was dangerous—especially at such a young age.

The other thing Logan hadn’t brought into the equation was how the human seemed to be so dead set on getting his hands on them.

There had been so many traps that should have been obvious. They were obvious enough for Logan to label them as dangerous but never had he once thought that it would have led to a power-hungry human searching for them.

There had been no clues that his family had even been there.

Unless the janitor was uncanny at picking out the tiniest details or there was another family that wasn’t as good at staying unnoticed or taking the things that they only needed and not what they wanted.

Logan should have known better.

He should have seen the signs and had yet been so desperate to find a way to feed his family that he had ignored rational thought and taken a risk far too great.

It should have been so painstakingly obvious and he had ignored it all.

This was all his fault.

And now they all had to pay the price.

“Papa?” The young voice brought his attention downwards, the wide brown eyes of his son looking back up to him, tearful and frightened.

The sight winded him.

“Logan, what do we do?”

There was something they could do. There had to be.

Logan didn’t know what yet, but he was going to figure something out.

The bookshelf shuddered in its entirety as the janitor dropped to his knees and began to shove at it. He winced as Patton’s hands tightened nearly to the point of being able to draw blood and Virgil’s hold shifted to grasp onto Logan’s shirt as if it was going to be their saving grace.

While panic was beginning to set in, he couldn’t let himself go. Not when there was so much depending on him.

His hand went to sit firmly on Virgil’s shoulder, reassuring the kid that as long as Logan was there, he was going to be fine. Maybe it wasn’t exactly how the situation would end up, but that’s how it was for the moment at hand.

His eyes scoured the underside of the bookshelf. Then they went to the floor, looking for something that they could pull up.

Honing in on a loose tile; Logan’s mind was made up.

Quickly, he wrapped his arms around Virgil’s waist causing the kid to squawk in surprise only to be hefted up and settled on Logan’s waist. Virgil’s hands moved to twist into the back of Logan’s shirt. He then grabbed Patton by the hand with his free one before tugging the other male behind him.

While the janitor was busy pushing at the bookshelf—seemingly trying his damnedest to get at them—he was unknowingly giving them time to get away.

He released his husband’s hand before pushing Virgil into the other’s arms. Logan dropped to his knees and began to tug at one of the loosest tiles in the floor with a desperation he’d never used before.

With a desperation he had never had a reason to use before.

Now, he was doing something that was going to save the two people that mattered the most to him. He would be doing something good.

“Logan, what—”

“Shh!” He hissed back, sharp eyes turning back up to look at them both, two pairs of startled chocolate brown eyes looking back at him.

He pushed the tile out of the way and peered into a hole that was about six inches deep. If one were to get down on their knees, it would be revealed that there was a tunnel that led underneath the school grounds and eventually out into the field closest to the road.

“This is the only way down,” his voice was sharp, but there was a deeper meaning behind it. A quiet longing. “This path should take you out of the school and close to the parking lot.”

It took half a second before Patton knew exactly what Logan was doing. “Don’t tell me you’re not coming.”

Virgil clicked in at that, wide eyes focusing on his two fathers, the tension was easy to feel between the two adults.

The look Patton got in response was enough of an answer. “Logan—”

“I need you both to get to safety,” he promised, meeting his significant other’s watering eyes. “If I lose either of you, I wouldn’t know what to do with myself.”

“I can’t lose you,” Patton shot back, adjusting the child on his waist.

Logan shook his head, the smile that crossed his features was not warm. It was sad and hurting. “This is the only way. I’ll lead the janitor away from here and it should give you and Virgil enough of a chance to escape.”

“I can’t leave you here,” Patton’s voice got more determined, his hold on Logan’s arm tightened. “I can’t—”

“It’s going to be okay.” The promise was airy. It was quiet, a whisper of a future that may never come to pass. “It’s all going to be okay.”

The bookshelf shuddered again and its four legs squealed over the tiles, a harsh sound that made reality set back in instantly. Logan twisted to look over his shoulder, the green eyes of the human janitor sharpened and he felt ill all over again.

“Go,” Logan quickly urged them, “go, go! There’s not much time left.”

“Papa?”

Such a soft voice. The wide brown eyes were brimming with tears and Logan stepped forwards, cupping the young boy’s face in between his hands. A lingering touch that would say more than words ever could.

“I’ll find you both again, I promise.”

“Logan, please, this isn’t how it has to be,” Patton tried to urge again, bringing Logan’s eyes back to his own, even as Virgil held onto his father’s hand in a last ditch attempt to keep him from leaving. “You don’t have to do this.”

He did.

This was the only way he could protect his family undoubtedly.

“Yes,” he nodded his head gently, leaning in so close that the other’s breath mingled with his own. “Yes. I do.”

An influx of emotions flooded forwards but he refused to let it show, not when he needed to distract the human. Seeing such emotional weakness would only make it worse and that wasn’t what he needed right now.

As soon as Logan had pulled Patton in for a final goodbye kiss—longing and broken, full of so much agony and pain—the light broke their cover and he pulled away immediately.

Logan was quick to usher the two down into the small hidden pathway, their only attempt at getting out of this unhurt.

If he could protect them, he would have done something right in his life for once.

“Go!” He urged, nodding towards the tunnel in the flooring. “The further you get in the least likely he’s going to be able to grab you.”

Patton set Virgil down onto the ground, the hole was too deep for the kid to be able to get himself out of, but that didn’t stop him from pulling at his shirt and trying to reach Logan.

As much as he hated this, Patton knew it was for the best.

But good Christ, he didn’t want to let Logan go.

“I love you, Lo,” he grabbed his husband by the hands, making sure he was looking at him as he said those words, “please, by God, be safe.”

The words had formed on his mouth, but Logan had no time to say them back. He tugged his hands free, his heart feeling torn and he shoved the tile back over the hole and sealed them inside—away from danger.

Before he even had a chance to move, there was a shadow of a hand looming over him and a tight warmth encased the borrower completely. With a sickeningly quick motion, and vertigo right on the heels, he was yanked out into the light of the University and held in front of piercing, gleeful green eyes.

A smirk twisted onto the human’s lips.

“Boy,” the janitor grinned, causing Logan to flinch at the volume of the voice, “what a pretty price a lot of people would pay to get their hands on something like you.”

—————

Logan had been so lost in thought that he had missed when the car had shut off or even when the box had been back on the move. He was knocked over to the side with the suddenness of the movements, but there was nothing to be done about it, he guessed. He could bellyache as much as he wanted to but nothing would change about his situation.

He had been sold like a piece of property and he couldn’t say that he hadn’t.

Reality was the one thing he couldn’t ignore.

Logan could ignore a lot of things; including, but not limited to, his feelings, the way others treated him or the way he treated others, meaningless words and interactions and so forth.

But the crushing weight of knowing that he may never see Patton or Virgil again was something that was ever present, a knowledge that he couldn’t push away no matter how hard he tried or how unpleasant it made him feel.

Keys jangled against each other and a door was opened and closed. Soon, the swaying gait was replaced with the steadiness of something more solid.

A table, his mind loftily supplied to him. You’re going to be examined more thoroughly.

“Did it work?” A voice he hadn’t heard before spoke up and Logan was left to assume that it was another person that was going to gawk at him. To agree that this was the best procedure, to keep someone captive against their very will.

One thing that Logan failed to register was how much smaller this one voice sounded, how it would be easily masked if the human were to speak up.

“Were you able to do it?”