Who: Leo/Logan/Veronica What: exploring the gold rush town Where: Skagway When: July 14th Warnings: references to historical atrocities Status: closed/g-doc
Logan thought it kind of hilarious that nobody in their throuple ended up rooming together. He felt secure enough in the relationship to not feel weird if Leo and Veronica ended up together in a room. At least Logan ended up with his friend, and it hadn’t been too awkward.
Today the three of them decided to spend the day together and Logan looked forward to it. He hadn’t seen a lot of them since they found themselves on the ship. Logan made sure to have two lattes aboard the ship with a big breakfast in the room, because he assumed Leo would be very enthusiastic about a gold rush town.
He dressed appropriately and waited at the ship’s entrance for Leo and V.
Enthusiastic? Well. Maybe. A little bit. But perhaps not in the way Logan assumed.
Leo arrived at the entrance dressed in jeans and a long sleeved thermal shirt. He looked…normal. But that smile on his face probably shouldn’t be trusted.
He walked up to Logan, hands in his pockets. Leaned in to snitch a smooch, then stood in silence as they waited for Veronica to show. Silence was his weapon of choice today since it would make his significant others nervous.
It was disappointing not to be sharing a room with either of her boyfriends, but Veronica was mostly grateful she hadn’t ended up with someone incredibly awkward, like Steve. She vaguely knew Chris, in that way that people who had been around Madison Valley for a long time did, and was trying not to think too hard about the fact that Logan and Leo were both sharing rooms with significantly younger women.
Veronica arrived to find both boys waiting for her because she’d stopped to grab three cups of coffee to go and was carefully balancing the beverage carrier when she joined them. “Sorry, I’m late,” she said. “I stopped for fuel.” She handed each of them a cup along with giving them a kiss on the cheek. “Are we ready?”
Logan didn’t think of Brooke that way. Not anymore. Oh he had, briefly, last year when Veronica still avoided him. But the two hadn’t stopped being friends. And, at least they had two beds.
He grinned and took the offered coffee. “It’s like you read my mind,” Logan teased, kissing V’s cheek.
“Yup. I’m ready.” Logan took a sip of his coffee and closed his eyes to savour the taste. Quite honestly, Leo’s smile kind of worried Logan. It meant he had a plan and…probably not one Veronica or Logan would like. He started to walk, happy to sip his coffee and be with his two favourite people.
Still silent, Leo smiled at Veronica as he took the coffee and the kiss. She knew exactly how he and Logan liked their caffeine so he wasn’t disappointed in the least when he took a drink. It would be a good day.
He continued to drink his coffee as they entered the old mining town. That was when Leo finally opened his mouth.
“Did you know that the population of Alaska increased five times in less than a year?” He wasn’t keeping his voice down, either. “Gold and fur. Mm-hmm.”
Veronica noticed the uncharacteristic silence from Leo and tried to catch Logan’s eye and communicate “WTF” with her expression. Something was up and it made her a little nervous. She loved Leo, trusted him, but knew that he could have a very odd sense of humor at times.
“Well, yeah,” she said. “That’s pretty much what the whole gold rush was about.” A bunch of people flocking to Alaska seeking their fortunes.
Logan definitely caught V’s “WTF” expression and offered a “fuck if I know” expression in return. Of course he trusted Leo, but sometimes Leo pulled ridiculous stunts…like turtle races.
“What V said. Did you read a bunch of stuff about it online or something?” This felt like a high school lecture. Logan located a trash can and threw out his now empty drink. “Thanks again for the coffee.”
Leo gave Logan that charming but impish smile of his before he took another drink of his coffee. He went silent again as they continued along. Picking his moment, as it were. It was chillier than it was in Madison, but Leo thought it was a nice change. Still, he shivered when a breeze blew through.
“Whew. Goes right up your spine,” he said then shook himself a little bit. “Maybe I have small pox.” He lifted a finger, and his voice. “Not unlike the indigenous people did from the invasion of uninvited white people who brought with them the pox. Flu. Greed. Alcoholism. Stole their lands. And slavery.”
There it is.
Well, that was unexpected and Veronica actually stopped in her tracks to turn and look at her boyfriend with utter confusion. “Yes, that is all true,” she agreed, trying to figure out where he was going with this. As much as she loved him, Leo was often unpredictable, and she hoped he wasn’t going to do anything that would cause a scene while they were here.
She wished she had gotten her coffee Irish.
Logan stopped when Veronica did. “Leo…are you planning on infecting us with measles or something? Is this something Clove wants you to do? Like kill us for fun and she’ll let you keep living?”
His head hurt already and he wanted a stiff drink. At least whatever happened he would experience it with the same amount of exasperation and face palming as Veronica.
Cause a scene? No. Make for an-uncomfortable-to-be-around tourist? Oh hell yeah. They should have figured that out by his impish smile.
“Nope. I’ve had my vaccines,” he told Logan. “Unlike the indigenous people of the United States. Vaccines, medicine and basic medical treatment were withheld as a method of population control. It was even worse in Alaska since the land was flattened, stripped and dug into for the gold to make the invaders rich which robbed the indigenous of plants and herbs that could treat their injuries or diseases.”
He lifted his chin as he let out with a long sigh, that stupid smile still on his face. “Yep! Proud to be an American on tour of the nations we conquered. We wrote our hypocrisy in the blood of the people we oppressed as if we hadn’t just staged a rebellion a hundred years earlier over the same thing.”
Oh boy. Veronica could feel a headache starting to form at the base of her skull. Today was going to be a long day if this was the kind of mood Leo was in. She stifled a sigh and threw a ‘help me’ look in Logan’s direction, even though she knew that it was futile and anything either of them tried would probably just encourage Leo.
“You know, Alaska is part of the United States,” she pointed out. “Has been for more than 60 years now.”
Logan wordlessly uncapped the bottle of Tylenol he brought along in his jacket pocket and then passed it to Veronica. He didn’t react, but he planned on taking Veronica out for drinks tonight with Brooke. It would be that kind of night.
He continued not to speak, because like V, he knew better. Sometimes Leo would be Leo and while Logan loved his boyfriend, he felt glad to not be sharing a room with him this vacation.
“Oh, I know,” Leo said to Veronica. By way of apology for being a jerk he leaned in to kiss her cheek. “I just think it’s a crime that we, as a nation, are still capitalizing on the abuses we heaped on the indigenous people by pushing a false history in the name of making a profit off of land that’s been raped clean of its resource.”
He looked at Logan as he reached to take his boyfriend’s hand. “But hey. Let’s see if they have totem pole snowglobes.”
“You’re not wrong,” Veronica said, though she didn’t particularly want to have this conversation right now. It wasn’t like they’d chosen to come here and exploit anyone, they were just trying to make the best of the situation. She accepted the bottle of painkillers from Logan with a smile and swallowed two dry.
Maybe she could distract Leo with thoughts of scantily clad women. “I saw something about a saloon that has a brothel tour.” Plus a saloon would have alcohol and she figured that she and Logan both needed it.
Logan recapped the bottle. He definitely didn’t want to have this conversation at the moment. In fact, he wanted to have an entire bottle of booze, Tylenol or not at this point.
“I’m game if they let us drink.” A lot. Logan didn’t handle things like this well at all. Call it the curse of Aaron, but conversations like this brought back a type of PTSD, that Logan didn’t know if he’d ever overcome. Like Logan should have the answer, but would retreat into himself instead in hopes nobody would notice him. Subconsciously he dropped Leo’s hand.
“I was more talking in generalities. Not our choice at being here.” Leo grinned at Veronica as he winked, pretty much done with his Ted Talk. He had been joking…for the most part. He just hated these kind of places since they severely edited out actual history. No, they didn’t really have a choice about being here, and he probably wouldn’t go to shore at any of the other ports of call. He’d just wanted to have a little fun with his significant others.
But his amusement flew away with the one small gesture. Leo looked down at his hand then to Logan. Hurt and confusion were plain to see on his face for two seconds then his expression shut down to Agent D’Amato On the Job. There had been one, maybe two times since he got to Madison Valley that he’d had to use that mask. He hadn’t expected to need it now, let alone with the two people he cared about most.
He had slowed down as he studied Veronica and Logan then lowered his eyes for a moment. They were right back up along with his chin when he spoke again. “You guys go ahead. Gotta find an outhouse or whatever they have. I’ll catch up.” Back on the ship.
Veronica looked between her two boyfriends, feeling like she missed something since the energy was suddenly very weird. “It’s a saloon,” she said. “There’s gotta be booze.” No one would ever accuse either of them of having healthy coping mechanisms, though she had come a long way from where she was two years ago.
Frowning at Leo, she said, “You okay? Going to meet us at the saloon? We can get a table.” She almost pointed out that the saloon would certainly have a restroom, but she knew that Leo was only using it as an excuse, even if she wasn’t entirely sure why.
Like a light bulb went off in Logan’s head, he realized exactly what happened. He hadn’t intentionally dropped Leo’s hand, but an act of self-preservation came over him and he’d closed himself off. Obviously he’d apologize, but at this moment he felt entirely like Aaron. Do a shitty thing and apologize. It didn’t occur to Logan that, unlike Aaron, his apology would be sincere.
He looked at Leo and said quietly, “I’m sorry. I started to feel overwhelmed and didn’t consider how you would feel. Don’t go.” Logan would stay with Veronica and drink, because she hadn’t done anything.
None of this was helping. Not even the apology. The explanation made Leo feel like a shitty boyfriend, that he made Logan feel that way. Leo was pretty confused at the moment. This hadn’t been the first time he’d been a goofball so he wasn’t sure why this was different than the rest.
He did feel bad that Veronica was in the dark, but there wasn’t much he could do about that without creating a real scene. Not the sarcastic scene he’d created before. Leo felt the best thing to do was a calculated retreat.
“I’m fine,” he told Veronica. There was a hint of a smile that made his words a lie, however. “You two go ahead. I’ll meet you for dinner.” Then he shoved his hands into his pockets as he turned to walk back toward the ship.
Frowning as she watched Leo walk away, Veronica waited until he was out of earshot to turn back to Logan. “Okay, what the hell did I just miss?” Something happened between her boys and it was obvious they were both upset by whatever it was. She knew that Leo was lying when he said he was fine, but she also knew him well enough to know that he needed some space to work through whatever happened, so she stayed with Logan for now, planning to find Leo when she returned to the ship.
As much as she loved them both, she was glad that she wasn’t sharing a room with either of them.
Logan groaned and he really wanted to punch something. Ya know healthy coping mechanisms.
He answered, obviously trying to keep his emotions in check. “When Leo kept talking, I had a flashback to an incident with Aaron and everything in me shut down. I dropped Leo’s hand, not entirely on purpose, but like I needed a minute to not be touching anyone. I know he’s not Aaron, but it just reminded me of my mom trying to talk Aaron down on a trip.” This time Logan looked at V. “When we get back, I’m going to go to therapy. I don’t want to fall into any patterns like Aaron and you two deserve better.”
“Can I hug you?” Veronica asked, wanting to be respectful if he still needed to not be touching anyone though she wanted to comfort him. She wanted to comfort both of them and she would definitely be checking in with Leo, but this was something they needed to work out between them and she knew she couldn’t interfere.
She knew better than anyone what Logan suffered at his father’s hands and she thought therapy sounded like a good idea. In all honesty, it was probably something she needed as well. They both had too much trauma in their lives and neither had good coping mechanisms. It was why their relationship back home had so many ups and downs.
“Yeah, I’d like a hug.” Logan wrapped his arms around V. “Why don’t we have a drink and then hopefully by then Leo will be ready to see you?” Their boyfriend might need a little more space from Logan, but he’d see him and try to explain it was situational.
“Doctor Cami seems okay, even though I apparently look like someone from home.” Logan had run into Linda a few times at bars and liked her, but didn’t really want her for a therapist.
Veronica held him tight for a minute, hating that there was any sort of tension between them though she was determined to remain neutral. “We should probably get some food,” she said, knowing they both had a tendency to overindulge alcohol to avoid difficult feelings. If they ate, it would be harder to do that.
“I haven’t heard anything bad about either her or Linda,” she said. “So whatever you decide, you have my total support.”
“Food sounds good.” Logan thought he could use something to soak up all the caffeine he unintentionally ingested. And, drinking wouldn’t be healthy for either of them.
“Let’s get some food and then you should go check on Leo.” This time he smiled, a bit sadly, but said, “Thanks V.”
All relationships had problems, so Veronica was trying not to worry too much about this little hiccup. She trusted Logan and Leo to figure it out. “Anytime,” she said, tucking her arm through his as they walked the rest of the way to the saloon.