#grieving!patton

The four youngest are all sat at the small dining table, a plate of nice hot food before each of them. Logan stands out of the way, leant against the sideboard, his nose in a book, making good use of the time as he waits for a spot to come free so he can prepare his own evening meal.

Remy has barely stood still all day. Even now, he keeps going back and forth carrying something or other and finding somewhere to put it. They may have had to get rid of a lot of stuff but there’s still a lot to put out. When he passes by the table for the fifth time and sees Roman’s food still untouched, he leans over and firmly taps on the table beside the plate.

“Eat.” he orders firmly before continuing on.

Logan glances up and catches sight of Roman, twisted in his seat, glaring at Remy’s back as he walks away, completely ignoring his meal and having that look Roman always gets when he’s about to say something stupid. Oh lord.

“Roman,” Logan starts, but he’s cut off as there’s a scrape and a clatter and Roman leaps to his feet, jabbing an accusatory finger at the eldest brother.

“HOW CAN YOU LEAVE US!” His angered shout drowns out everyone else, pulling everyone’s attention to him as Remy freezes in place and stares at hi min shock.

“I-”

“Don’ lie!!” Roman barks, “You don’t have a bed! There’s a trunk in your car!! You can’t leave!! We need you!!”

Patton’s hands fly to cover his mouth while Virge flips his hood up and draws it close around him. Dylan seems unbothered but refuses to look at anyone and Logan places his textbook aside  as he steps forward. Remy raises his arms in figurative surrender.

“I barely sleep, having a bed would be pointless.”

“Then what about the trunk?” Dylan mumbles without turning. He’s figured this out a long time ago, and been sitting on his question since thn.

“I’m going out of town for a few days. But I’m coming right back.” he hastily adds as they all react. “It’s just a trip. It’s temporary. I swear I’m not leaving!”

“Then where are you going?”

In that moment, the eldest brother glances between them all. They all look crestfallen and he really wishes he could get away with not telling them. Not because he wants to lie to them, but because it will only complicate things.

Remy sighs in defeat.

“What else shall we watch?” He asks as the credits roll, “Maybe an adventure story?

Before he can continue though, the TV shuts off and Logan, who has the remote, shakes his head.

“I don’t think so.”

Roman pouts, crossing his arms.

“Why not?”

Logan doesn’t say anything, he doesn’t have to. Instead he points to the other end of the couch where Remy’s eyes are closed, his head drooped, mouth open and breathing even. He’s fallen asleep and they all look at him in shock.

Remy has always had trouble sleeping (and no doubt college only made it worse), but throw in the last few weeks, moving home, helping Virgil, he’s probably exhausted and the fact he’s asleep is an actual miracle. Best not to put on another film and risk waking him.

Since there’s still a half-finished bed, Roman and Logan disappear to finish building it, while Dylan clears up the mess their dinner made. Patton and Virgil stay put, quietly talking, Virgil in a position of too high of risk of waking Remy.

Remy heads to the kitchen to help Logan with ordering the pizza, while Patton heads towards the couch. Roman has kicked off his sneakers and laid out across it, flipping through the channels on the TV while Dylan is leant over the back. 

“Feet.” Dylan says as Patton approaches. Roman shifts his feet up so there’s space for Patton to sit down, but he doesn’t move to sit up. Patton sits, hands rubbing together nervously as he glances over his shoulder towards the bedroom.

Roman catches a glance of Patt’s face and though he’d had a few ideas for movie night brewing, he figures today is probably a day when they should give each other a break.

“You know what we haven’t watched in a while?” he says, speaking a little louder than normal, even for him. Virgil will definitely be able to hear him. “Nightmare Before Christmas.”

Patton turns . Nightmare Before Christmas is Virgil’s favourite movie and Roman knows that better than anyone, the two of them having ocassionally argued over some of the finer points of it.

“I think that’s a great idea.” Dylan agrees, equally loud, as he pokes Roman in the side.

Once the argument has calmed, they all settle into their seats, Logan sat on the floor by the couch, having been ousted by Dylan in order to stop the fighting. Roman sits in the middle seat and Patton sits on the one nearest to the berdroom. After Remy’s made sure everyone has something to drink and enough to eat, he sits on the floor next to Patton, leaning against the arm of the couch. 

Remy’s worried about Patton too. The little guy is always so upbeat, doing his best to see the better side of everything. Today has been the same, Patton carrying things back and forth, getting drinks, organising what he can, watching Virgil and Dylan closely while Remy’s dealt with the boring official bits. Remy hasn’t seen him be sad since he came back, but has seen little slips of Patton’s pep and feels the best thing he can do at this point would be to make sure his little bro knows that Remy is here for him. He’s here for all of them.

Patton grabs Dylan’s shoulder, distressed and frantically babbling but nope, way too fast. Dylan covers his ears and yells angrily.

“Stop! Stop! Too fast!”

Patton tries again but he’s still frantic, violently shaking his older brother’s shoulder as he fails to slow down. After a while though, Dylan manages to understand two words.

‘Virgil’

‘Headphones’

Sure enough, Dylan follows Patton into the bedroom where Virgil’s been for the last hour and the poor kid is curled up on his knees in the middle of the room, shaking fingers clinging desperately to his now broken headphones, tears running down his face as he rocks back and forth in place.

Inside the bedroom, Virgil has sunk further into his hoodie, if it’s even possible, and shuffled somewhat into the nearest corner, roocking back and forth, while Patton is knelt a short distance away, honestly looking a little lost.

Striding over, Remy passes the bag he’s carrying to Patton as he gets down onto the floor near Virgil, though not so close as to break the personal bubble around him. After a moment, Remy takes his sunglasses off and flips them around, offering them to the emo boy. Virgil takes them and slides them on, pressing them flush against his face. They’re mirrored aviators meaning that both Patton and Remy can see themselves in the reflection and Virge can feel less self-conscious about crying.

“You alright?” Remy asks.

Virgil slowly nods.

“Are you sure?”

There’s a pause, then Virgil shakes his head.

Remy nods. “I get it. New place, new arrangement, lot of changes. It sucks.” he looks to Virge who nods in agreement. “Can’t do much about most of it but there’s one thing I was able to do.”

Remy nods to Patton who reaches into the bag and pulls out a box. A new set of headphones. Not wireless or bluetooth, far from state of the art, but as decent a pair as he could find for his budget at the local store. And they’re black with purple detailing, definitely Virgil’s style. Patton practically beams as he sees them, excitedly stretching to hold them out to his twin who shuffles a little to get a better look.

“How much did-?” Virgil begins but Remy cuts him off.

“Don’t worry about it.” Reaching he takes the box from Patton’s hands and places it firmly in Virgil’s lap, patting the kid on the shoulder. “Just give them a look and come join the rest of us when you’re ready. I’m thinking family movie night.”

“Virgil was working real hard so I snuck a cookie to him and we were talking and he was smiling but then he tripped on his headphone wire and they fell and they broke and he started crying and I just want to hug him but last time I did that when he panicked he punched me.” Patton blurts it out in a single breath, absent-mindedly reaching for his cheek as he remembers.

Dylan props the bedroom door open, kicking the tools away from Virgil on his way to open the window opening it as wide as it will go.

Twin #2

It’s undeniable that with his positivity and good-hearted nature, Patton is often considered the baby of the family, even though he and Virgil are the same age. His soft heart makes him a bit of an easy target for bullies, though most of their words seem to fly right over his head, or roll right off his back. Still more than once, Virgil and Roman have (on separate occasions) gotten into trouble standing up against one of the repeat offenders. Even Logan has stepped up to the mark, but in a less physical way, instead disarming someone with some well placed words that made the asshole make an ass of himself.

Patton is incredibly selfless, and will always consider other people above himself he really shouldn’t do that as much as he does. Virgil is easily his best friend, and while his twin has entered the edgy emo-y phase of his life, Patton just doesn’t feel it himself. But hey they’re still the best of buds! Right? I mean yeah Virge doesn’t really like the same things that he used to, and they don’t always get along like they used to but that’s just a part of growing up….right?