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The first time Virgil meets Logan, he’s only five-years-old and young enough that he hasn’t made any kind of transition yet and still presents as a girl. He’s wandering through the elementary school library with a backpack beside him, absolutely overflowing with books. Pressed up against the edges are a couple of changes of clothes and a full bag of saltines.
“Hi,” Virgil says, because Logan is pulling books from shelves that are bigger than ANY books he’s ever tried to read. “I’m Virgil.”
Logan doesn’t respond to him.
“Hi,” Virgil says, much louder and much more impatiently. “I’m Virgil.”
“Okay.” Logan drops a book into his bag. It’s got a word on it Virgil can’t read yet, which is frustrating because Virgil likes reading and he likes to think he’s better than anyone else at it in the whole world.
Besides his mommies of course. And his teacher.
“What’s your name?”
“Layla. Goodbye.”
Before Virgil can even blink, Logan is gone.
…
The second time Virgil sees Logan, Logan is in their town library looking at books Virgil thinks no 12-year-old should really be looking at. But what calls Virgil’s attention to him isn’t the piled-up advanced Magics, Physics, and Math textbooks he has in front of him, but just how bright his eyes are.
There’s actually a blue aura shining out from them. It hits the top book in his eight book pile, Principles of Quantum Physics, and makes the slightly pop up words reflect at the carpeted floor, brightly enough that Virgil can make out distinct letters, though not full words.
Several other people are staring at him as well. Their eyes glow, some red, some orange, and a couple of greens, but it’s all light Virgil has seen plenty of times before, and as expected, as the light traveled down the rainbow, the amount of glow dimmed. Virgil’s own is purple and it's much brighter than most other purple eyes but darker than any other green or yellow or red he’s ever come across. He has been brighter than a couple of blues, much to his satisfaction. He’s nowhere close to Logan’s.
If Logan notices the attention, he certainly doesn’t react to it.
This time, Virgil doesn’t go up to him. He’s not five anymore; it’s no longer socially acceptable to just go up to random strangers and introduce himself. Instead, Virgil takes a much more reasonable approach and watches him from behind the shelf, peeking out from between two books on Mage knows what. Logan picks out another five books- The Arithmancy of Shadowbane, Eclipse, The Power of Prophecy, Data Analysis in Astrophysics, The Scroll of the Stars- and checks out.
The Librarian, at the very least, does not at all look surprised by just how shiny Logan’s eyes are.
…
The next time Virgil sees him, Logan is actively surrounded by eight people, all with glowing red eyes so bright they would easily scare off any average wizard. Combined together might equate to half the light Logan shines.
It’s almost painful to look at.
“I know you know where it is!” One of the red-eyes shouts at him, shoving Logan back up against a wall.
“Have you tried checking your pocket?” Logan deadpans. He doesn’t seem the least bit worried, despite the fact that all eight tower over him.
“Fuck you!” The boy winds up for a punch then thinks about it and puts his hand down. “Tell me where it is!”
“It’s in your pocket.”
This time, the boy actually does try to punch him. His hand makes it about an inch from Logan’s face before his entire body freezes in midair.
Time magic is not the most difficult magic to master, but it’s decidedly very finicky and most people don’t think you should start trying to learn it until you’re at least 21-years-old, just to ensure you have a strong magical base.
Logan is 15.
And that spell he used is one of the most difficult time spells Virgil knows about.
The other seven boys back up and Logan casually steps around the main boy's arm and reaches into the boy’s pocket. He pulls out a ring with a rather large diamond on it. Logan steps back and slides it onto the boy's finger.
“He’s not very interested in diamonds,” Logan says, completely calm. “If you really want to come to an agreement, I’d try and find garnet. Those have been very popular lately.”
Logan takes two steps back and drops the spell. The boy's fist goes flying and he stumbles over himself before pulling his hand with the ring up close to his chest.
“A garnet?”
“It’s hard to bargain with Death using his own stone.”
…
Logan’s 17 when he enters Virgil’s shop.
Virgil quite likes his shop. His mom, Udali, spends the most time taking care of customers but Geniverre, his mama, is the best at making the products.
It’s Udali who greets Logan when he opens the door. Virgil is stocking some of their newest charms when he enters and he wouldn’t have bothered turning around if the shelf next to him hadn’t lit up blue.
“Hi, welcome to Charmin’! Is there anything you’re looking for in particular, Honey?”
“I’d like a job.”
Virgil turns around.
Logan stone still, holding a neat stack of paper, and absolutely no expression on his face. His middle finger scribbles circles on his thumb, but slowly enough that it doesn’t draw much attention.
“Well, I could always use another person out here manning the store,” Udali says, and it's not a lie because this is the most prominent Charms store in Qowood, but they’re not looking for people and Virgil knows this.
What he doesn’t know is why his mom is telling Logan she needs someone and not the person who asked ten minutes before him.
“I was actually hoping to help make Charms.” Logan's thumb gets faster. “I’ve made a couple on my own but I’m not going to get very good without an internship and you’re the best Charms place there is.”
Logan says it as if it's a fact and Udali smiles.
“I’m not very good at creating Charms, just selling them. My wife Geniverre is usually the one who does the creating.”
“May I speak with her?”
“Of course,” Udali says and that’s weird too, because Geniverre doesn’t like surprises and a random kid asking to apprentice for no reason certainly falls under that category. “Come with me.”
Virgil watches them go.
…
Logan is 17 when he creates a charm that could change the entire world.
Virgil and Logan haven’t actually had a conversation yet, but Virgil thinks it's okay because the boy has only been working with them for a week. Geniverre loves him, that much is obvious, and Virgil kind of wants to meet him for that fact alone. His Mama doesn’t tend to like new people.
But the Charm he creates is terrifying.
It’s made of glass, and small enough to fit firmly in Virgil’s hand. There’s nothing inside it and two thin pieces of gold float around it, spinning in very very slow motion.
It can’t tell the whole future, because Logan says you can't read into something that has not happened yet. What it can do, is tell parts of the future, set moments that the whole world knows are impossible to change.
It’s what the entire Prophecy department is built upon. There are few, very rare people born with glowing gray eyes and no magical control whatsoever but have random sporadic seizures that end with either their death or a badly worded poem Prophet Analysts then spend years trying to figure out. Nobody believes the future is set in stone, but they know about set points. Some very astounded people claim it's possible to change a set point.
Now, Logan has created a ball that will show you any set point in remarkable picture image detail, future past or present. He can show where past Analysts went wrong, how they went wrong, and show how the terrible poems are accurate to the t.
They don’t sell the ball, but they do report it to the Prophecy Department.
…
Virgil is 18 when he first kisses him.
It’s all rather unexpected. Logan and him are sitting on his bed, talking in whispers and pretending that they don’t want to move that extra inch closer.
Virgil wants to ask Logan to kiss him.
Logan actually does it.
He sounds as confident as usual, but his finger is drawing circles on his thumb and Virgil leans forward, and just kisses him.
He does it wrong. Logan’s lips are soft and Virgil’s are dry, not at all ready. When he ends it, he drops to Logan’s shoulder and mutters, “I was awful.”
“No, you weren’t,” Logan says and Virgil knows he’s lying but loves him for it anyway. “It's really on a scale of good to really good anyway.”
When they kiss again, Virgil doesn’t realize how important breathing is and has to end it again.
The third time however, the third time he likes to think he nailed it.
…
The number of things Logan has created that could or have changed the world are growing by the number. There are teleporters being built in every city, very strict government regulations on Space Travelers, and a complete ban on alternative dimension hoppers.
But then Logan pulls out a ring, fashioned with two back diamonds and a garnet in the middle, practically humming with power.
Virgil doesn’t know what it does. The power is comforting and when he puts it on, it spreads around him in the best way he could imagine.
There are tears in his eyes, and tears in Logan’s and after Virgil says yes and kisses and fucks the life out of him, they lay next to each other on a grassy hill, staring up at the stars Logan has taken him to visit.
“What does it do?”
“Protects you,” Logan says. His eyes are shining. “Let’s you know I love you.”
“I love you too.”
“You’ll want to consult the Set Pointer.”
“What?”
“The Set Pointer?”
“Why?”
Logan doesn’t say anything at all.
…
Virgil is 22 years old when his fiancé is stolen from his bed.
They’re still living with Udali and Geniverre, completely by choice given the amount of wealth Logan has wracked in for them over the years of his employment. The wards around the house were triggered but their actual effects were silenced, which pisses Virgil off more than he can possibly describe.
They got engaged yesterday.
Virgil does consult the Set Pointer, because Logan told him to and Logan is usually right about most things.
There’s already a set point, already arranged to begin playing.
There are a lot of things that have been odd in Virgil’s life.
Watching his own death however, may be at the top of the list.