Who: Veronica Mars, Logan Echolls, Leo D'Amato What: An unexpected conversation Where: V & Leo's house When: Sunday morning Warnings: mentions of character death, alcoholism, sex Status: complete gdoc
The party went well. Veronica obviously had fun and he thought Leo did a good job organizing everything. Logan enjoyed a few drinks throughout the night, but getting fucking wasted spoke more to high school Logan than current day Logan.
Logan crashed on the couch. He stayed relatively sobre, and once Leo brought V up to bed, he wanted to get a start on cleaning. Before Logan crashed, he managed to clean up all of the food, plates, and garbage.
He woke up at 9:45 to a quiet house. Obviously, he started coffee so Leo and V didn’t have to worry about it. Logan helped himself to some water and looked outside to see how much cleanup still existed. Huh, he thought. Logan accomplished more cleaning the night before than he thought.
After looking around, Logan was all set to head home for a shower, when he heard a door open.
***
Veronica woke up with the first hangover she’d had in more than a year, ever since Leo accused her of turning into her mother. She definitely hadn’t missed the pounding headache or sour stomach, but the party last night was completely worth it, so she also didn’t have any regrets. The sunlight streaming through the windows made her head hurt worse and she contemplated rolling over and going back to sleep. Since Leo was no longer in bed with her, decided to drag herself out, hoping that he’d gotten coffee started.
After pulling on a clean pair of shorts, tank top, and pulling her hair up in a messy bun, she made her way downstairs, trying to recall the end of the party. She couldn’t. Her last memory, which was fuzzy and vague, was of someone, she assumed Leo, carrying her into the bedroom and making her drink some water.
She emerged from the bedroom and headed downstairs, surprised to find Logan in the living room. “Oh. Hey. You’re still here. Everything okay?”
***
Leo had been vastly relieved that the party had gone well. Veronica seemed to have had a good time, as did everyone else. He had drunk a little more than he originally set out to do, but what the hell. It wasn’t like they did this all the time. He had still gotten up before Veronica and managed to get a shower in before she so much as moved. He was brushing his teeth when he heard her finally get up.
He also heard sound from the living room so he decided to follow, toothbrush still in his mouth.
*** When Veronica greeted him, Logan smiled. “I wanted to be gone before you two got up this morning. I made sure to brew coffee for you two, given I thought you might be hungover. I decided to clean after you two went to bed, and then felt too tired to head home, so I crashed on the couch. I figured you two would not mind. I didn’t move the furniture, because I wasn’t sure what you rented and what you borrowed.”
By this time, Logan wore his shoes and definitely wanted a cup of coffee. He turned to Leo, “Great party, man. Call me later if you need help moving any furniture.” To Veronica, “Happy Birthday again.” And then, from a little lack of sleep and autopilot, Logan leaned in to Veronica and added, “I love you. Bye.” He kissed her…
***
“All right, love you too,” Veronica said, going up on her toes to return his kiss, her body operating on muscle memory more than anything else.
She pulled back and stared at him, then over at Leo, then back to Logan. “Oh my god. I need caffeine. I’m so sorry.” That was directed at Leo, though it was obvious that Logan was in just as much shock as she was about what just happened. Clearly it wasn’t something either of them had planned.
***
Leo had smiled around the toothbrush at Logan and waved to say thanks then turned to go back to the bathroom….only to stop dead in his tracks for what he just saw and heard. The toothbrush kind of stuck out of his mouth as he stared from Veronica to Logan and back to Veronica. His stomach did a little flip flop.
“I -eed a mi-ute,” he said as he held up a finger then went to the bathroom to finish up. And possibly puke.
*** “Fuck!” Logan’s hand went to his mouth as he looked at Veronica and then at Leo’s retreating form.
“I am so so sorry. Shit! I...can kiss you too, Leo? This was a definite lack of sleep and autopilot. I should go. I...shit.” Logan didn’t know what to do. “I would never hurt you Leo. You mean way too much to me for me to ruin anything between you and V.” He knew his cheeks reddened and fuck. Just shit.
***
As Leo walked away, Veronica closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths. This… was not good. She honestly didn’t even know what had come over her. Or Logan. They’d been hanging out the past couple of weeks without any whisper of sexual tension or anything hinting towards their former relationship and she thought that would continue with no problems. Now they had a problem. Even if it had just been both of them operating on autopilot and habit, she knew it wasn’t something Leo would just be able to brush off.
She opened her eyes and held up a hand to Logan. “Let’s give him a minute,” she said. “Do we need to talk? I mean… I thought we were okay with the whole friends thing, but… if we’re not, I need to know.” Nothing that Logan had done made her think that was carrying a torch for her and she knew that his friendship with Leo was genuine, so this whole situation was just… unexpected and confusing.
*** Logan took V’s questions seriously. Obviously. And he knew Leo needed a minute.
“You and Leo..” he stopped and started, “I love you both. But yes, I am more than happy with friends. My feelings for you aren’t really any different than my feelings for Leo. I promise.”
This hadn’t even crossed Logan’s mind before the kiss happened.
***
Veronica’s eyebrows lifted slightly when he said that he had the same feelings for her and Leo. They’d never been friends back in Neptune and she hadn’t realized that they’d bonded that much here. Still, it seemed like they were on the same page, so that was a good thing, they just had to hope that Leo would understand and not hate them both forever.
“Okay, good,” she said, scrubbing her hand over her face. “I’m going to go get coffee. You want a cup?” She had a feeling he wasn’t going to leave until he could properly apologize to Leo and they all probably needed caffeine, or something stronger, for this.
*** In no way did Logan want to mess up Leo’s and V’s relationship. He made peace with their relationship and hoped to one day have one like theirs. Goals.
“Yeah. Feeling pretty happy I made coffee for you two.” Logan waited until V poured some in a mug for her, before helping himself.
Logan wanted to leave, but not before he could properly apologize to Leo.
***
Leo had taken more time than it took to spit and rinse his mouth out. He had heard Logan call out to him. Leo had just chosen to act like he hadn’t. What the hell was going on? He thought they had worked all this out. He thought everyone was ok with being just friends. Now there was kissing and I love you’s? His stupid mind flashed back to moments while they were playing mini golf, and he looked at himself in the mirror. “....holy shit.” He had to go back out there.
Leo at least put on some clothes before he slowly walked back out. This might be too much for him to fathom without coffee and that was reflected in the puzzled frown on his face. He looked at Veronica then Logan then addressed the empty space in front of him. “So are we a threesome now?”
***
Of all the ways for Leo to react that Veronica had run through in her mind for the past few minutes, that was not one of them and she choked on her coffee as she stared at him in confusion. It wasn’t like the concept of polyamory was new to her or anything, it just honestly hadn’t even occurred to her as a possibility in this case. And this would look a lot different from her previous experience if it was actually going to be a thing.
“Leo…” she said once she could breathe again. “Nothing has happened between me and Logan. I don’t even think we’ve seen each other aside from when you’ve been there. Neither of us know where that came from.”
***
Logan decided to keep drinking his coffee and then refilled once he emptied his cup. He finally stopped stalling for time. “Um. Let me say again how sorry I am.” A thressome? That seemed out of left field. Or, maybe not as Logan thought about it.
“Look, I love you two, whether or not the feeling is romantic, I don’t know. V is one of my oldest friends. You’re the first guy friend I’ve had outside of Dick who...well...isn’t Dick since Duncan took off.” He took another sip of coffee and shrugged. “You two feel like home to me. But, I would never hurt your relationship.”
***
Leo nodded. “I know.” He gave them a reassuring smile. “I’m not thinking anything like that.” Logan’s declaration of emotion made he going quiet for a moment. Then… “See? Things like that right there.” He rubbed at the back of his head with that puzzled frown on his face as he paced toward the kitchen.
“I mean let’s face it. You two have history.” He smirked toward Veronica. “We have history too but older history.” He got to the coffee to pour himself a cup. “But there’s been subtle undertones of wink wink nudge nudge for a while now.”
*** Veronica was going to protest Leo’s comment about the subtle undertones, but she realized he was right. They had been joking about Logan taking them on a date and on her sharing Leo with him. But she’d assumed those were just jokes. This wasn’t like with Steve and Bucky. Leo and Logan didn’t have that kind of history. They were only connected because of her.
“I... “ she faltered, trying to figure out how to put her thoughts and feelings into words. “Is that something either of you would actually consider? I mean… it honestly hadn’t occurred to me until Leo said it, but… “ Veronica sighed and shrugged. “Maybe it should have since I’ve actually done it before. I just… this situation is so different from that…”
Did she want that? It wasn’t something she’d be against, certainly. Could it actually work for her again though? In some ways, it seemed like tempting fate to even try.
*** Logan busied himself to again stall for time. He poured the rest of the coffee into his mug and prepped more coffee to brew. In fairness, he only brewed enough coffee for two people the first time, since he planned on heading home right away.
So V spent time in a polyamorous relationship? “I...fuck I don’t know.” He rubbed his jaw. “I mean, yes, I would consider it. In this circumstance of course, not necessarily in general.” He eyed Veronica curiously. “You did this before? I assume here.”
He didn’t judge Veronica. He recognized her life continued here without him. Hell, some of her life here started before Leo. But would a relationship with the three of them actually work? His heart said yes, but his brain yelled at him to go home, shower, and stop drinking coffee.
***
Leo knew about Veronica being with two other people here. It was before he got here, and they had disappeared. It hadn’t been a good time, but it had been what brought them together. The question was: How did he feel about it? Possibly surprisingly, he could take it or leave it. He’d never been with a man before, but not because he wasn’t attracted to men. He just never had the opportunity presented to him.
He sighed. “Look, this doesn’t have to be so melodramatic.” Logan and Veronica were entirely stressed out about this and that definitely wasn’t how to start any kind of relationship. “Nothing needs to be decided now. Take a few days. Think and maybe drink on it. We can revisit this when neither of you are panicking.”
***
“I’m not panicking,” Veronica said. It was a weak protest though because she kind of was. It has taken her a long time to get to a place where she was comfortable trying a relationship again with Leo and the last thing she wanted to do was blow that up. A part of her would always love Logan and maybe here, away from all their baggage in Neptune, and with Leo in the mix to prevent them from falling into their old destructive habits, maybe they could actually make it work. Was that fair to Leo though? Or to Logan? Selfishly, it would be a great solution for Veronica.
She turned her attention to Logan, realizing that she hadn’t told him anything about her previous relationships in Madison Valley. “So remember when I said that there was other stuff that contributed to my downward spiral after losing you at home?” Veronica took a long drink of her coffee and then a deep breath before plunging ahead.
“I was married here,” she explained. “His name was Steve. We had a semi-open thing with his best friend Bucky and, while she was here, Bucky’s wife Kara. All of us shared a big house, with a couple of teenagers we adopted, a golden retriever,” here she paused again, her eyes getting a little wet and her voice thick with emotion, “and Steve and I had a son named Keith.”
This was a lot, she knew, and this hadn’t exactly been how she wanted to tell Logan, but if they were even considering some kind of relationship, she knew she had to put all of her cards on the table so he’d understand what he was getting into. “A little more than a year and a half ago, the dome sent me home. I lived through a few years there, including you and I getting married and losing you.” Now there were tears on her cheeks, but she barely noticed them.
“When I got back, only a week had passed here. I found out that one of the scientists had been working on trying to figure out how to control the dome and there was some kind of accident. About fifty people disappeared at the same time I did. Including my entire family.” She stopped again and took a shaky breath. “Unfortunately, I was the only one who came back.”
By now, Veronica was staring down at her coffee cup, not wanting to see the look of pity she knew would be on Logan’s face and probably Leo’s, even though he’d heard all of this before. “Basically, I lost two husbands, a boyfriend, a daughter, and a son all at once.” And really, summed up like that, it was no wonder that she’d spiraled hard.
*** Logan wordlessly rinsed out his coffee mug and downed two cups of water. A sudden urge to drink tequila overcame him.
He turned to Leo. “My panicking is more because of the kiss and lack of sleep, but you make an excellent point.” He ran his fingers through his hair.
As he listened to Veronica, he rubbed his forehead. “You...had a kid. And lost your whole family? Fuck Veronica.” He hugged her, because he didn’t know any other form of comfort. “I’m sorry V.” Veronica grew up here and he felt impressed and somewhat out of his depth.
He looked at Leo. “I’m happy she had you.” Inwardly he noted to take Leo for some drinks, because he knew how much effort Leo put into ensuring Veronica didn’t spiral more than she probably had.
He stepped away. “I think I want to give the three of us a try, but only if we’re all on the same page.”
***
It had to come out sooner or later. It hadn’t been Leo’s story to tell so he sat on it. He’d be right here after this when the real meltdown came. The next few days...or weeks...should prove interesting.
He gave Logan a nod and a smile before he dove into the cup of coffee in his hand. “There’s probably a lot of talking that needs to happen, but let’s all think about it for now and readdress a possible PP&V when emotions aren’t running so high.” If nothing else, he hoped that bit of stupidity got a laugh.
***
The hug from Logan made Veronica cry a little harder at first, but her tears quickly subsided when Leo made his joke and she leaned over to swat his shoulder. “Okay, I’m not opposed,” she said, wiping her eyes before getting up to refill her coffee cup. “But before we make any decisions, I think the two of you need to spend some time together. Without me. To figure out your… comfort level. And boundaries.”
She was speaking more euphemistically, but assumed they would know what she meant so she didn’t need to outright say ‘go make out’.
“And then we can regroup and discuss this further.” That would give her some time to deal with the emotional meltdown that talking about her past was sure to spark and would give all of them some space to figure out if it was what they really wanted. If they weren’t all enthusiastically on board, it wouldn’t work.
*** Logan choked on his water at Leo’s joke. “Probably wise.” He knew how difficult emotions were for V. “Either of you need a shoulder over the next few days, I’ll be around. Even if it’s someone to bring you takeout.”
“Yeah, Leo and I definitely need a little alone time. Also that way if we do make out you aren’t telling us what we should change.” Logan teased and winked at Veronica.
“I think I’m gonna head to my apartment, though. I need a shower and food to help my stomach get over the amount of acid I just basically dumped in it. I’ll bring pizza over later and check in, though?” Logan didn’t want to overstep, but for this to work he needed to be there too.
***
“I’m gonna blush. I mean it. All this….kissing. It’s more than I ever got in high school.” He knew he was going to get swatted again, but that was ok. The more Veronica did that the more in control she’d get and therefore the more comfortable she’d be.
Then he got a bit more serious as he nodded at Logan. “Same goes for you. I mean, that’s what this is all about. Even as friends. We take care of each other.”
***
“I’m spending the day on the couch watching trashy television,” Veronica said. “So you two can both do whatever.” That was her favorite way to nurse a hangover and now she was dealing with both an alcohol and an emotional one.
She never could have predicted what happened this morning, but she did manage to smile at both of them. “And we’ll talk soon.”
*** Logan smiled. “Enjoy the trashy television. Leo, drinks later this week? And definitely will stop by to help with furniture. Even if we remain friends, you both are still my family. Alright. I’m off. Later you two!”
God, he needed some video games and a shower after the last hour. Maybe a nap too.