Monday, August 21, 2023.
11:24 PM
Seven cried himself to sleep in Logan’s office chair while Logan tries to go over everything that happened to Thomas.
Thomas walks away from Seven, goes missing, winds up in a shack with Xena, gets taken out of that shack and isn’t seen again. They need to find out where that shack is. Maybe if Xena chooses to go to Logan’s house, he can question her a bit more there.
Logan hears the door to the building open. Lila and Officer Oliver Wilson walk in, laughing and joking with each other.
Logan makes sure Seven’s still sleeping and he quietly walks out of his office. Oliver and Lila look like they’ve had a few drinks.
“Can you guys quiet down?” “Why? Nobody’s here.” Lila says with her laugh drifting down. Logan folds his arms and sighs, getting ready to tell his sister that Seven’s back.
“Actually, um… Seven’s here.” Lila’s jaw drops as she walks closer towards her brother. “Seven? Like, your ex best friend Seven?” “Yes. Him.” Logan states. Lila smiles. Although Logan and Seven were best friends, Lila and Seven always got along, too.
“That’s great! Why is he here though? You guys haven’t talked in-” “Six years, I know. He’s here because Thomas Ledger happened to be his husband.” Logan tells her.
“Thomas was gay?” Oliver asks. “Why the fuck does that matter?” Logan asks back, getting defensive. Lila puts her hand up to stop Oliver from talking back.
“So, Seven was married to the victim. Not good.” “Yeah, I know. Oh, and he’s also hired.” Logan mentions, pushing past the both of them to grab his jacket.
“Excuse me? You hired the victim’s husband?!” Lila freaks out. Logan shrugs as he puts his jacket on. “Seven was desperate for answers and he had information that helped with the case. Now, I’m going home. If you want to see everything we have, check the notebook in my office.” Logan tells Lila.
Before she can say anything back, Seven comes out of Logan’s office, rubbing his eyes. Lila smiles at him.
“Sev! It’s good to see you again, buddy.” Lila says, hugging him. Seven hugs her back and smiles as much as he can at the moment.
“It’s good to see you, too. Logan, where are you going?” Seven asks, letting go of Lila. Logan walks over to Seven.
“I’m going home. It’s almost midnight and I gave Xena my address. If she’s there, I have to be there. Do you want me to drop you off?” Logan asks him. Seven shrugs and yawns.
“Do you have beer at your house?” “Yes.” “Then let’s go.” Seven tells Logan, walking out of the building. Lila shakes her head and smirks. “He didn’t change.” “Not really. Are you guys gonna hang back here?” Logan asks Lila and Oliver. Lila nods.
“Yeah, we drank a bit too much, so we’re probably gonna stay here tonight.” “Wait… are you guys a thing or something?” Logan asks the both of them. Their faces get red and they immediately get defensive.
“Us? A thing? No…” Lila says. Oliver agrees with her. “Yeah, man. I’m just, y’know… a police officer doing his job.” “Doing your job is getting drinks with my sister?” Logan asks. Oliver stays silent.
“Exactly. Anyway, I love you, sis.” Logan tells his sister, leaning down to kiss her on the cheek. “I love you, Logan. Have fun getting Seven hammered.” “It won’t be very fun.” Logan says, walking out of the door.
Oliver and Lila look at each other, laughing again. Oliver holds Lila as they start to make out like they did at the bar.
—
Logan catches Seven smoking a cigarette while leaning against his car. “You drink beer and smoke now?” Logan asks, unlocking his car. Seven takes one last puff and he throws his cigarette on the ground, stomping it out with his boot.
“I’ve been going through a rough patch, if you haven’t noticed.” Seven jokes, getting in the passenger’s seat. Logan gets in the driver’s seat and he starts up the car.
“Sorry about today. I know it was rough for you.” Logan tells Seven. Seven nods, looking out the window.
“It’s cool. I assume every day’s hard for you, y’know. You save people everyday but you also die almost every time doing it. It’s gotta be rough.” Seven mumbles. Logan shrugs as he drives off.
“It’s normal at this point.” “Yeah, but those scars you have are badass. That’s gotta be a plus.” Seven tells Logan. Logan chuckles at Seven.
Seven gets curious and looks over at Logan. “What was your hardest case?” “Mentally or just hard to work on?” Logan asks. Seven shrugs and then chooses. “Mentally.”
Logan scratches his chin as he keeps driving. He’s went through so many cases at this point and he’s only twenty. Eventually he finds the hardest case in his memory. The one that drained him so terribly.
“Uh… there was this one case I took on. I think I was eighteen and Lila was on vacation and I assumed I could do it alone. A single father came in and told me that his seven year old daughter was missing and he didn’t know what happened. On the day she went missing, she was riding her bike down the road in a yellow raincoat.” Logan starts. Seven takes a deep breath in because he knows these kinds of cases are never good with children.
“It only took me a week to find her. Her body was dumped in a dumpster half a mile away from her house. Yellow raincoat was open and everything. There were traces of semen on her Hello Kitty shirt and her legs and wrists were so badly bruised. It was… terrible.” Logan tells Seven. Seven starts to tear up a bit, knowing that little girl didn’t deserve that.
“I’m sorry, man.” Seven says. Logan stops at a red light and shakes his head. “I’m not done yet. One officer I was close with told the father what happened and the police told me that I could stop looking for the man who did it. They said he’s probably far gone and the father just wanted it to stop, but I didn’t stop. I stayed up for weeks, drinking and writing and investigating. I swear, I didn’t sleep or shower once. I was just holed up in my office. Eventually, after weeks of searching, I found out a forty three year old man named Jake Alvarado was the man who did it. I went to his house with a gun, planning to kill him and go against the police.” Logan continues. Seven keeps listening, paying full attention to him.
“However, what I didn’t piece together at first was that Jake was a 6’5” 254 pound man and that I was 5’9” 160 pounds. I was also super sleep deprived and super hungover, so I was pretty loud when I broke in. Jake caught me and he shot me in the head, causing me to pass out. He knew who I was though, so he knew I’d wake up. He chained my wrists up and hung me from the ceiling. I woke up and he told me he wanted to be the one who could really actually kill me, so he took a chainsaw and cut me in half. I could feel my guts drop out of my body. It was… horrific.” Logan keeps going. Seven nods and listens, although he feels terribly bad.
“I passed out for a… very long time. Must’ve been about a day or two probably. Jake thought he killed me, so he dumped me in the same dumpster he dumped the little girl in. I woke up naked and with my body regenerated. All I felt was anger, so I ran for thirty minutes to get to his house. Broke a few indecent exposure laws, but I got there. I broke in again, found him, and caught him off guard. I slammed him on the ground and sat there, bashing his brains in with my own fist. I didn’t stop until his head was beat in. His eyes popped out, his blood, brains, and flesh were on my hand, he was choking on his blood and his teeth… I killed him.” Logan finally finishes
“Jesus fucking Christ, Logan…” Seven murmurs, taking it all in. “What would you have done?” He asks Seven. Seven shrugs and takes a minute to answer. “For Thomas? Probably the same thing.”
Logan’s car eventually arrives to his house and nobody’s there. Shame. He really wanted Xena to be there. Both boys get out of the car and Seven stares at the ground, not talking to Logan.
“What’s your deal?” Logan asks, noticing his silence. “I don’t know, I just… I’ll never be able to look at you the same anymore. You running down the street with your dick flapping everywhere? Man…” Seven jokes. Logan laughs as he unlocks the door to his house. “Yeah, it was bad.” “I bet, with your tiny white dick.” “Fuck you.” Logan laughs. Seven laughs back as they both enter Logan’s house.
Seven notices that Logan’s house is weirdly clean. And not like the clean as in a clean house. Like, Logan’s place is practically empty. There’s a desk, a TV, a couch, and another room with a bed and a TV but that’s pretty much it.
“Did you just move in or something?” Seven asks. Logan shakes his head as he hangs his jacket on the coat hanger. He then takes his shoes off by the door and unbuttons the top three buttons of his white dress shirt to take a breath.
“Hot.” Seven jokes, walking around the place. Before he could get ten steps in, Logan stops him.
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“Take off your shoes.” “Come on, man…” Seven complains. “I know your dad used to let you wear your shoes in the house, but-” “But you have OCD?” “Amongst other things, yeah.” Logan responds as Seven starts to take off his jacket and shoes.
All of a sudden, Logan hears a knock at his door. Since he’s standing right by the door, he places his hand on the door handle and swings the door open. It’s Xena. She looks exactly the way she looked hours ago, blood and all.
“Um… hi.” Xena says in a small voice. Logan smiles and opens his door wider. “I’m glad that you’re here, Xena. Come in.”
Xena walks in nervously. Seven looks at her and realizes that she was the one with Thomas. He instantly jumps up to his feet, but Logan holds his hand out, telling him not to do anything. It takes him a second, but eventually Seven winds down and sits back on the couch.
“She’s allowed to wear her shoes in the house?” Seven complains again. Logan sighs and looks at Xena. “Can you please take your shoes off? It would probably be better on your feet.” Logan asks kindly. She nods and starts to untie her shoes.
“Seven? You want a beer?” Logan asks, walking over to the kitchen. “Yes, sir.” Seven responds. Logan just rolls his eyes and opens the fridge.
He pulls out two beers and a bottle of water for Xena. He tosses the beer over to Seven, knowing it’ll fizz inside. Seven catches it, but starts complaining again.
“Fuck you, man. Now it’s gonna explode.” “That’s for calling me sir.” Logan jokes. He then walks over to Xena and hands her the water.
“Thank you…” she says lowly. “Are you hungry? I can make something or order something.” Logan asks her, wanting her to be comfortable. Xena nods.
“Just, um… whatever you have is fine.” Xena tells him, walking over to the couch. Logan nods and walks back over to the fridge.
Xena sits down next to Seven and Seven stares at her. Xena feels uncomfortable and just looks ahead.
“You were with Thomas, right?” Seven asks, hoping Logan isn’t listening in. Xena nods. “Yeah. He was a good guy…” she mumbles. Seven nods and smiles. “The greatest.”
“Are you his boyfriend?” She asks. Seven nods. “Yeah, did he- did he mention me at all?” Seven asks, hoping he did.
“Yeah… he said that he had a boyfriend back home and that he made a lot of mistakes and that he regretted them. He also said he could’ve gotten married and that it was his dream.”
Tears start to well up in Seven’s eyes. He sniffles and smiles. “Yeah, he, uh… he always wanted to get married. Get married, have a big family… dude wanted, like, seven kids.” Seven says as he laughs. For the first time in months, Xena laughs, too.
As they wipe the tears from their face, Seven finally smells what Logan’s cooking.
“Are you making fucking steak, bro?” “Yeah. She hasn’t eaten in I don’t know how long.” “And you didn’t ask me for any?” Seven asks, offended.
“I only had one steak. I live alone.” “Be my personal chef and I’ll live with you.” Seven jokes. Logan laughs as he shakes his head. “Fuck off.”
Xena points at the tattoo showing on Seven’s arm. The tattoo says “sooner than you think” with a scythe in the middle.
“It’s like the complete opposite of Tom’s.” Xena mentions. Seven nods and then realizes that she called Thomas Tom. He doesn’t think he’s heard anyone ever call him that. It’s always been Thomas or Tommy.
“Yeah, when we were getting tattoos, I mentioned I wanted one that was grim reaper related. He worked off of that and since I always called him my guardian angel, he got an angel tattoo on his shoulder.” Xena smiles. “You guys sounded like a really good couple.”
Logan listens into this while he plates the steak. He feels some sort of jealousy formed, but he doesn’t know why. He assumes it’s because he’s never really dated anyone other than Cindy and she sexually assaulted him when he was fifteen, so he doesn’t like to think about her.
Logan brings the plate to Xena and sets it down in front of her.
“Sorry, I didn’t ask how you liked it cooked.” “I don’t mind.” Xena says, ignoring the fork and the knife on the plate and just picking the steak up with her hands. Logan and Seven don’t say anything though because they assume that’s how she was living in the shack.
“After you’re done eating, you can-” before Logan can finish, he realizes that Seven forgot about his beer and he opened it. The beer spills all over his pants. He sighs and leans his head back.
“Did you forget, or…?” “Yeah, man. Fuck.” Seven swears under his breath, taking his jeans off and leaving himself in his boxers. His boxers have narwhals all over them for some reason.
“Dude…” Logan starts, about to make a joke, but Seven stops him. “I don’t want to hear it. Narwhals are dope as fuck.”
Seven sits back down and Logan hands him his beer. “Are you sure?” Seven asks. Logan nods. “Yeah, I’m still working on getting my drinking completely under control.”
Seven opens the beer, hoping it doesn’t spill all over him. He gets lucky and it doesn’t.
“As I was saying, when you’re done eating, you can use the shower, Xena. I can give you some of my clothes since you’re close to my height.” Logan offers. Xena smiles a bit and nods. “Thank you.”
Seven takes a sip of his beer and looks over at Logan.
“Hey, Adler. Why don’t you ever use your full name?” “What do you mean?” Logan asks, confused. Xena also turns to Seven, confused.
“Well, I mean… your full name’s not just Logan Adler. It’s Logan Ellis Adler-Kane, but you just go by Adler. It’s like you remove your mom’s last name completely. Why?” Seven asks.
“I thought it was just Adler.” Xena chimes in. “Exactly! He doesn’t even use the Kane part, and it was his mom’s last name.” Seven says. Logan shakes his head and takes a breath.
“One, stop talking about my mom please. She’s dead and I don’t want to talk about it, but two, it’s because Logan Adler sounds more heroic than Logan Kane and I’m an investigator. I have to sound heroic.” Logan informs them.
“Or you could just go by Adler-Kane…” Seven mumbles, taking another sip of his beer. However, Logan hears it and snaps back at him.
“Yeah, okay, Seven Alex Solace. Alex is the whitest middle name ever.” “I’m half white, dickhead. At least my last name isn’t hyphenated.”
Xena feels like they’re gonna break into an argument, so she brings something else up.
“I call the couch.” “What?” Both Seven and Logan ask. “Well, there’s only one bed and one couch. I’m sleeping on the couch, which means you guys are sleeping together.”
Logan laughs as he forgot completely about the sleeping arrangement. Seven takes a drink of his beer and starts talking to Logan.
“You better not be a perv and touch my dick, man.” “You don’t have a dick.” Logan tells him. “Yeah, and you better not touch it.” Seven responds. Logan gets confused and just shuts up.
Xena finishes her food and takes the plate to the sink. “Do you want me to get you some clothes now?” Logan asks her. Xena nods and sits back down on the couch.
Logan heads into his room and opens his closet. He looks around, eventually finding a Green Day t-shirt and a pair of blue shorts. Before Logan can bring them out to Xena, his phone starts to ring.
Logan takes his phone out of his pocket and the caller reads “Dad.” Logan answers the call.
“What’s going on, buddy?” Henry asks him. “Nothing really. It’s just been a long day.” Logan mentions.
“Why’s that? Is everything okay?” Henry asks his son. Logan nods and then realizes that his dad can’t see him nodding.
“Yeah, just-… Lila and I are on this new case. Have you heard of Thomas Ledger?” “Yeah, the kid on the news? I came across his family a few times, it’s really sad.” Henry responds.
“Well, his dad wrote us a letter and now we’re dealing with this case. I have a feeling that it’s bigger than we think it is.” “Well, don’t overwork yourself, Log. You have a habit of doing that.” Henry mentions to him.
Logan agrees with his father. “Yeah, I know… Oh, another thing. You remember Seven?” Logan asks. Henry chuckles over the phone. “The kid that was at our house all the time for eight years? Of course I remember him.” “We got back in contact. He’s actually here at the house now.” Logan says.
Henry takes a pause. “How’d you guys get in contact? I thought you said you fell out.” “We did, but Thomas was his boyfriend. Oh, and I think Lila’s dating Oliver Wilson now.” “Wilson?!” Henry exclaims. Logan laughs over the phone.
“Yeah, Wilson. He’s not a bad guy, he’s just slow sometimes.” “I know… I like him but she deserves better.” Henry says. “Try and take it easy on the guy, dad.” “Yeah, I will, I will. Alright, I have to go. I love you, kid.” Henry tells Logan.
“I love you too, dad. Bye.” “Bye.” Logan hangs up and shoves his phone back in his pocket. He walks out to the living room where Xena is.
“Hope you don’t mind Green Day.” Logan jokes, handing the clothes to Xena. Xena shrugs. “My dad used to listen to them.” “…And now I feel old. Go take a shower, kid. The TV will be waiting out here for you.” Logan tells her. Xena nods as she walks into the bathroom.
Seven finishes his beer and throws it away. “I’m serious, man. Don’t-” “I won’t touch your dick.” Logan states. Seven nods as he heads into Logan’s room. Logan follows him in.
“You really are bland, dude.” Seven says, noticing that his room is super clean as well. “I live by myself. I like minimalism.” Logan responds as he looks in the mirror.
Seven jumps into Logan’s bed, looking at him. Logan unbuttons his white dress shirt to reveal a ton of scars loaded onto his body. Seven knew that he had scars on his neck and face, but he didn’t know they got that bad. There’s huge scars on his back and a scar that wraps around his torso. Seven assumes it’s from the time the man chainsawed him in half.
“I’m fucking hideous…” Logan mumbles to himself as he throws his shirt into his hamper. “Logan, you’re not hideous, man. If you want my opinion, you’re fucking beautiful.”
Logan chuckles as he begins to take his pants off. “Am I as beautiful as Cinderella?” “If you wanna be, go for it.” Seven tells him.
Logan fully takes off his pants and Seven notices that he has Spider-Man boxers on. Seven starts laughing his ass off.
“Okay, can you not?” Logan asks, standing there embarrassed. However, Logan keeps laughing. “You judge me for narwhals and you have Spider-Man boxers? Oh my fucking god.” Seven keeps laughing. Logan just sighs and lays down next to him in his bed.
“You act so professional and you wear-” “Spider-Man boxers. I get it. I like Spider-Man, okay? Everyone likes Spider-Man.” “You fucking nerd.” Seven and Logan go back and forth with each other.
Logan throws the TV remote at Seven. “Put something on. I’m going to bed.” Logan says, laying down on his stomach and closing his eyes. “I don’t know, man. This seems pretty gay.” “Good thing we have socks on then.” Logan jokes. Seven laughs as he flicks through Netflix. Before he puts something on, Logan drifts to sleep.