Dr. Picani had suggested that this would help him grieve, but Logan thought it was a pointless exercise. What good did it do him to go read about fantasy worlds he could never travel to? He'd much rather read historical documents or biographies, but no, his therapist had specifically said he should read fantasy.

He didn't know how this would help him grieve. Surely being around the things that made his late boyfriend happy would bring painful memories? Logan had pointed this out of course, but he'd just been given an explanation that this would be a good thing. According to him, it wasn't healthy for him to keep his emotions to himself the way he'd been doing his whole life. He insisted that bottling up the pain that Roman's untimely demise had brought would only lead to more pain.

Logan sighed heavily as he entered the library. The woman at the front desk looked surprised to see him; this was because he had come here very often with his boyfriend, but after his death, had purposefully stayed away. It had been several months since he sat foot in this place.

Once inside the building, he instantly wished he hadn't bothered. The library felt different. He didn't understand it, but there was something about the air that seemed thicker. It seemed quieter, as if it was mourning the loss of Roman too, but that was absurd and the intellectual young man forced himself to ignore the feelings and walked with a purpose to the fantasy section. He was certain he got another strange look from the lady at the front desk as he did so.

He looked away from the small table with a red chair and a blue chair side by side, forcing himself not to think about the person who used to sit in the former. He need to move on, that's what Roman would want, why did everyone insist he break down over him?

Logan continued to the fantasy section and stood there, not certain where to start. There were plenty of books he could read, but none of them jumped out to him; that was until his eyes landed on a series on the shelf on his right. Those were books he'd never read, having thought they were ridiculous, but Roman loved them...

Try reading something he read, let yourself feel the pain so that you can mourn him and then move on, his thoughts repeated Dr. Picani's words.

Frowning, he picked up the first book in The Land of Stories series. He began to read it but already found himself rolling his eyes. Of course Roman loved this; it was full of fairy tale creatures, magic, and adventure. He wanted to put the book back, but he forced himself to keep reading it.

It was a short book for his reading level, so he was soon moving on to the next book, and the book after that. He found himself sucked into the world, unable to put it down. When he closed the last book, he felt tears prick his eyes.

Usually he'd discuss a book with his boyfriend after reading it, and he could almost hear his teasing comments about finally giving fantasy a try, but there was nothing but silence.

Logan was frozen in place as the tears he'd been holding back for months slipped freely down his cheeks. He silently cursed his therapist for being right; it felt really good to finally cry it out. He kept himself quiet as he did so, but he didn't stop himself from crying.

The library surrounded him, lonely but loving in a way, as if it understood his pain. It would always be here for him to remember Roman when he needed to.