Chapter Text
Logan was a bit of a loner. He preferred staying in and reading or studying subjects for fun, rather than going out and partying or spending time with other people. He was very comfortable on his own and hadn't needed or wanted a friend or companion for as long as he could remember.
When he moved to the small town of Twisted Pines his main reason was the low light pollution, meaning he could use his telescope to see the stars better at night. It was also a way to escape the prejudices of the people he'd grown up alongside and finally gain the freedom he'd always wanted.
The first day went by uneventfully and he kind of over did it with lifting the heavy boxes full of books out of his car.
As he began moving more boxes on the second day he winced a bit, his muscles sore from the previous day but he couldn't stop as he'd hoped to get everything unpacked as quickly as possible.
"Hey there, you look like you could do with some help." A cheery voice suddenly said and when Logan looked up he saw a man who could only be described as a walking smile.
He was dressed in a bright blue shirt with a grey cardigan and a pair of basic looking jeans. His warm brown eyes were behind circular framed glasses and his blonde hair sat in neat curls.
Seeing such a bright smile almost made Logan want to shield his eyes, but instead he answered "I can probably do it by myself."
The man chuckled slightly. "That's probably true but a helping hand would have it done quicker. Besides what are neighbours for?"
Despite his want to deny the help Logan found himself accepting and the man held out a hand to introduce himself.
"Patton Sanders at your service."
"Logan Cato."
"Well Logan, welcome to the neighbourhood!" Patton said and went to lift one of the boxes.
"Careful, it's full of books and really..." Logan trailed off as Patton lifted it effortlessly.
"Where do you want it?" Patton asked with a friendly smile.
"Oh, in here." Logan said, quickly brushing what happened aside and gesturing into his new place.
Patton carried the box through and set it down carefully where Logan pointed, his smile never once faltering.
"I'm sure together we'll have these boxes moved in no time."
"Sure." Logan replied and as they both worked on shifting the boxes he couldn't help but feel a bit self-conscious. He was struggling with lifting most of them and Patton treated them as if they were filled with pillows.
He knew he wasn't exactly the strongest, in fact his parents used to joke that if it weren't for all the books he carried that a gust from a birds wings would knock him over.
Seeing this stranger carrying these boxes so easily was still quite jarring.
"There we go, that didn't take very long at all."
Logan was pulled out of his thoughts as Patton set the final box down inside and he blinked in surprise. It sure had taken way less time than he'd expected.
"Thank you for your help." He said, sending the man a polite smile.
"No problem, me and my husband are always around if you need anything."
The casual admission of such a thing was a pleasant surprise to Logan and his nerves of moving somewhere that may be worse than his hometown lessened substantially.
"I'll keep that in mind, I should really get started on unpacking now but it was good to meet you." Logan said, his polite smile becoming a bit more genuine.
"Sure thing! I'll leave you to get settled, see you later!" Patton replied with one last beaming smile and left.
Logan watched him for a few moments, long enough to see him enter a house down the road, and then shook himself out of his thoughts to focus back on unpacking.
Unpacking was tedious but Logan was nothing if not methodical and eventually by the time night fell he'd successfully found a place for everything.
The temptation to use his telescope was high, but his body was aching and his eyelids heavy so he instead chose to get some much needed sleep.
The next morning Logan was awoken by someone banging on his door and he quickly slipped out of bed and went to see who it was.
Outside he could see a moustached man with a half-assed ponytail, a couple days worth of scruff on his chin and torn clothes using his fist to hammer on the door.
With an annoyed sigh Logan threw the door open.
"What exactly do you want?"
"Oh..." The man said as he took in Logan, blinking a few times before giving him a crooked grin. "Whoops, I seem to have the wrong house, my bad. Who are you and how long have you been here?"
"That's a lot of questions from a random stranger who just woke me up." Logan snapped, he was fairly cranky before his morning coffee and he was not impressed at being woken up so rudely.
"Not a morning person huh? Or did I interrupt something?" The stranger smirked a bit at their own last question.
"What you interrupted was my sleep! Go away!" Logan growled through gritted teeth and went to slam the door, but the man caught the door with his hand and held it open.
"You're a bit of a firecracker aren't you? Most folks are intimidated by me but you seem alright, the name's Remus Sanders."
Logan's scowl faltered a bit as he recognised the surname. "Sanders? Are you Patton's husband?"
Remus let out a bark of a laugh at that and shook his head. "Fuck no! Good old Patt Patt is married to my brother Roman. That's actually who I was intending to bother at this early hour but apparently I fucked up."
"How exactly did you manage to mix that up? Surely your brother has lived at his place of residence for a considerably long time, to the point where you'd know which is his without really needing to think about it at this point." Logan replied, confused at the explanation.
"I'm on hour 35 of no sleep, I sort of pulled an all nighter and my judgement and perception are a little fucky wucky." Remus explained with a grin.
"That's dangerous for your health in so many ways." Logan said, mildly concerned.
"Oh come on, don't tell me you've never stayed awake through the night for some reason or another. Besides it's really the only way to get the best view."
"Best view?" Logan asked with a curious frown.
"Of the cosmos! The stars are fucking incredible around here, if you know where to go and when." Remus elaborated.
Logan's tiredness vanished at the mention of stars and tried not to appear too eager as he asked more.
"Where do you go?"
"The best of the best views is out in the Twisted Pines themselves, there's a bit more elevation and no light pollution, but it's a trek to get there so you've sort of got to camp or pull an all nighter like I did." Remus said. "It's very easy to get lost in that forest though so a newbie like you shouldn't venture out there without a guide or something."
The excitement Logan had felt dwindled at the idea of needing to rely on someone else to experience such a thing and he would likely have to satisfy himself with whatever view he could get somewhere less strenuous to get to.
"So how do you know Patton?" Remus asked, pulling Logan out of his thoughts.
"He helped me move the rest of my boxes yesterday."
"Just moved in then? I could show you around if you want."
Logan wasn't sure how to react to the offer, his still tired brain struggling to keep up without his usual coffee and the fact Remus clearly shared an admiration for the stars.
Throughout his life he'd never really bonded with anyone when it came to his interests and he'd always felt like an outlier, never really fitting in with his peers or even his family.
He'd always been the 'weird kid' who most people avoided or looked down their noses at and being by himself had become normal.
The very idea that this stranger he'd just met was offering to spend time with him and show him around was so bizarre, and the casual way this man had gushed about watching the stars reminded Logan a bit of himself in a way.
Usually he'd only ever allow himself to go off on tangents about things around his parents as they were less inclined to judge him.
"Most people would probably be offended at the silent staring, but I'll take it as a compliment." Remus suddenly said with a grin and Logan realised he'd just been stood there for a few moments.
"Apologies, I was thinking about something, I didn't intend to be rude."
"No need to apologise, I'm used to being stared at most of the time anyway, plus I could see you were thinking up a storm."
"I'm usually a little better at conversations but it's early and I've not had coffee yet." Logan admitted.
"We could always go disrupt my brother's morning and get some coffee from Patton?" Remus suggested.
"That's not necessary, I'm capable of making my own."
"Fancy making enough for two?"
"I... Um..." Logan trailed off, unsure how to react to this man inviting himself in for a morning coffee when he'd just met him.
"Tell you what, you tell me your name and make me a coffee and I'll take you out for dinner tonight, what do you say?"
Logan blinked a few times, reeling from the fact he'd not yet introduced himself properly and the offer of dinner.
Was this man flirting with him or was he just being welcoming?
Despite enjoying his own company Logan found himself tempted to take Remus up on his offer.
"My name's Logan Cato and I'm unsure why you would want to take me out for dinner."
"Well Logan, think of it as my way of apologising for waking you up at this ungodly hour and thanking you for the coffee." Remus said smoothly with a smile that momentarily stunned Logan as it completely transformed his face.
"I've not made you any coffee though."
"No, but there's still time."
"I..."
Remus chuckled to himself at how uncertain Logan was. "If you're not comfortable with a stranger in your house I get it, I won't invade your home or anything, but I do insist you still come out for dinner with me later tonight. I can show you around and still apologise for waking you up so rudely."
"Um... Sure I guess." Logan said hesitantly, blinking a few times as Remus once again sent him a disarming smile.
"I have a brother to go bother but I'll swing by at 6pm and don't worry about paying, it's my treat."
With a wink and a wave Remus strode away and Logan watched as he headed to the same house Patton had the previous day.
Logan watched just long enough to see him drum on the door with his fists and when the door was opened he pulled a man in a onsie into a headlock.
"Remus!" A voice shrieked and Logan quickly closed his door to try and block out anymore of whatever argument was about to happen.
What just happened?
He was going back over the conversation in confusion as things had happened so fast his poor tired mind had struggled to keep up.
There was no real chance he'd get back to sleep so he dragged himself to the kitchen and made himself some coffee, hoping the hot drink would help him think a little better over what had just happened.
Being woken up so rudely and so early hadn't been pleasant, but Remus had been genuinely apologetic or so it seemed.
Then there was the offer he'd made of showing Logan around and then topping it off with taking him out for dinner tonight?
Did this count as a date or was Remus just being nice?
Logan had never been on a date before so he had no real comparison for what that would look like.
Gulping down some coffee Logan sighed and shook his head.
He was overthinking things. There was no indication that Remus was even gay, let alone that this offer of dinner was a date.
Sure his brother was gay but that didn't mean Remus was, Logan just needed to calm his thoughts down and think about things more logically.
Remus had knocked on his door accidentally and this was just his way of apologising, like he'd said himself. It was perfectly normal for someone to offer to buy something or do something in order to apologise for something.
Dinner as an apology for disrupting his sleep seemed perfectly reasonable.
The offer to show him around was also reasonable as Logan was new to the area and had already interacted with Patton who was Remus's brother-in-law. It only made sense that Remus would feel comfortable helping him.
The whole family was probably just like that and Logan was being rude to assume Remus had anything but neighbourly friendliness in mind when offering such a thing.
Twisted Pines was a brand new place and the comradery and social demeanour was probably very common amongst those who lived in town.
Small towns were usually a tight knit community and Logan just needed to get used to being a part of something like that.