#paats

Behind Patton’s shoulder, the other werewolf— Roman?— was peeking out past the doorway, making sheepish eye contact with Logan, and silently but exaggeratedly mouthing what looked like an apology. It made a confusing addition to an already alarming situation.

Virgil himself felt as though the rug had been yanked out from beneath him. First, some semblance of a conversation and even a near-apology from the guy he’d been convinced would horrifically murder him for the past week, and now Patton was, what, defending his property from his packmate?

“What in the world do you think you’re doing?” the giant in question continued, lips curling up in a barely-suppressed snarl.

“We were simply having a conversation,” Logan replied, sweeping a hand back slightly to indicate Virgil in the ‘we.’

Virgil just barely managed not to flinch, remaining perfectly still instead. Patton’s gaze flickered to him for a moment before returning to Logan somehow more intense than before.

“Was it really just a conversation?” he asked, firming his stance as though to say that he wasn’t going to let this go.

Logan’s shoulders rose a few millimeters defensively, but his demeanor only grew icier. “I wasn’t aware that you were the only one in this household who was allowed to try and communicate with the human.”

“Communicate with--,” Patton stepped forward, “You looked like a scavenger bearing down on a pup! Why would you corner him like that?”

Logan clicked his tongue irritably. “It’s impossible not to corner him, he’s a human! Being in the same room as a creature that small and slow could qualify as ‘cornering’!”

“You know what I mean!”

Still hovering in the doorway, Roman was grimacing, glancing between the two of them as though watching a particularly heated tennis match.

Virgil felt more like he was watching bombs go off, the argument too loud, too harsh, too reminiscent of his months in conditioning. Each sharp gesture or cutting glare registered as wrong-bad-hisfault, electric-spark phantom pains building up in the back of his skull. He swayed on his feet.

“He’s terrified of you, and you’ve certainly given him plenty of reason to be!” Patton shouted, and the room went quiet and suffocating, Virgil’s survival instincts dragging his attention back to the present.

“He told you.” Logan’s voice was monotone, but it sent terror racing down Virgil’s spine worse than any growl. His mouth formed the shape of protesting words, I didn’t I swear I didn’t, but no sound came out, his lungs constricted by the tense certainty that this was it, this was really how he died.

Patton shook his head, some of the anger fading from his frame, washed away by misery. “I guessed, Logan. The pieces were all there, sitting in front of my face, but I… I didn’t want to see the full picture.”

There was a terrible, fraught stretch of silence, and then Logan’s gaze slid to the side, going distant and glassy. “How long do I have to pack, then?”

“What?” “What?” The other two giants asked, voices overlapping.

“I understand. I’m being evicted for my transgressions,” he forced through grit teeth. “How long do I have?”

“Logan, no,” Patton replied fretfully. “We’re not kicking you out, you’re part of this family! We want you here!”

“I don’t believe the human I tormented will agree,” Logan bit out, but the words were double-edged with guilt, cutting back against himself. “Forcing him to share a residence with me would be cruel.”

Cruel.

There was a sharp, bitter sound, almost unrecognizable as a laugh, and Virgil only realized it had come from him after every eye in the kitchen turned his way. His chest seized with panic again, and he crumpled to his knees.

“Vee!” Patton gasped, and steps thundered closer, a hand hovering overhead--

“Don’t!” Virgil managed, the cry cracking halfway through. He curled in on himself, as though presenting a smaller target and begging would do anything but diminish him in their eyes even more. “Please don’t.”

Patton paused above him. “Don’t-- Don’t what, kiddo?”

Don’t grab him, don’t touch him, don’t look at him. How was he supposed to explain? They didn't understand anything.

“Don’t,” he said again, and flinched away from each of Patton’s movements.

“I-- I don’t understand,” Patton started weakly, and this time it was Logan that cut him off.

“Forcing him to share a residence with me would be cruel,” he repeated slowly, like he was puzzling each word against Virgil’s reaction to see how they fit. “Forcing-- Oh. Forcing him to stay where he doesn’t feel safe… would be cruel.”

A beat later, Patton’s shadow retreated from him entirely. The bands around his chest eased slightly.

“Let me go,” he choked out, each word bringing back memories of singed hair and tingling skin. “Just let me leave. Please. I didn’t want to be bought. I’m a person.”

A beat of silence, and then a set of footsteps rushed out, followed shortly by another set, leaving him behind. The fragile threads of Virgil’s hope dissolved back into nothingness.

“Leave and go where?” the last giant in the room asked.

Roman stepped closer, meeting Virgil’s gaze stubbornly. “To go get caught again? Or die out in the first storm that catches you? Everything here is just as huge as us.”

“Better than… dying here,” Virgil spat, and then his throat closed up, deciding that was enough words for today and quite possibly forever.

“What about living here?” Roman asked, glancing after his packmates briefly with unhidden worry. “Genuine living. Not as a pet or a-- a captive. Just as a roommate. I mean, obviously you don’t precisely trust us at the moment, but a mutually beneficial arrangement could be worked out.”

Virgil stared at him with dull, confused eyes, watching as the giant got more antsy with each passing moment of Virgil’s unresponsiveness.

“Don’t get me wrong, I still find humans downright impertinent, but if you go off and die, my pack is going to be miserable and morose for more than a few moons,” he continued to ramble. “We can negotiate terms, set up rules, anything within reason to ease their guilt and your terror.

“And this way, you have a real chance,” he finished. “Think on it, won’t you?”

It seemed to be an earnest request, but Virgil’s mind had done enough rapidfire processing for one day, and was now thoroughly shutting down.

“There’s an info sticker, but I don’t see anything…” 

“Perhaps it’s empty? The former occupant may have already been sold.”

Two more voices chimed in, a little further away. Virgil’s heart quickened slightly, a primal reaction he’d never managed to get rid of. Being the subject of three giants’ attention was being under the gaze of three giants too many. 

‘Please, just go look at something else. Nothing interesting to see here, so move on to all the ones who have actually accepted that they’re pets, already.’ He thought, holding his breath and hoping against hope that those big eyes would withdraw already.

As though responding to his thoughts, the blue-eyed giant pulled away, and Virgil almost sighed in relief. Then- 

“Excuse me, is there anything in this one?” The voice asked, calling out to the giant who was running this display. Virgil’s heart sank, his whole self tensing even further as heavy footsteps signaled the shopkeep’s approach. There was a loud sigh, and he knew he’d be in trouble after this fair was over.

“Ah, this one. It’s a human, just a bit shy for its kind. Would you like to see it?” The voice rumbled, and after a pause in which Virgil imagined Blue Eyes nodded, hands descended on either side of the container.

Virgil swore quietly, grabbing for anything that was bolted down a moment too late. The enclosure was tilted forwards and rattled hard, shaking him loose from his tiny patch of fake plants. He slid along the slick cage bottom and hit the front wall with a grunt, his head spinning. 

“There we are.” The cage was set back upright, and a flick against the plastic made him flinch. “Don’t go hiding from customers, you silly thing.” 

The tone was lighthearted, but Virgil knew better. He scrambled back to his feet, turning to find that the giant was crouched to be eye-level with the container yet again. 

“Aw, lookit you, little guy! Lo, Ro, come look at how cute he is!” Blue Eyes squealed, and Virgil stepped back again, struggling not to shake at the noise. 

After a moment of shuffling, Blue Eyes pulled back and the other two giants obligingly looked in at him. His knees went weak at seeing the three of them from a further distance, immediately spotting the ears and facial markings that denoted all three of them as werewolves. Perfect. Because normal giants weren’t bad enough. 

“Uh… yeah, it’s totally cute, Pat.” The one dressed in all whites said, his voice betraying his true feelings. Virgil could see the way his lip curled slightly, and tried to feel relieved rather than terrified.       

“The heterochromia is interesting. Such a trait is rare in humans, if I’m not mistaken.” The other commented, peering at him intently through thick rectangular glasses. Virgil glared at him, and he recoiled a bit. The other giant only glared right back, outmatching Virgil easily with his terrifying red gaze.

“Let’s move on.” ‘Ro’ growled, but Blue Eyes had ducked back down to look in at him again. He didn’t even seem to notice the glare, his gaze soft and pitying. Virgil bristled, wishing they would just go already. He was tired of being ogled, and it wasn’t like they would actually buy him. 

“I want this one!” 

Virgil froze like a deer in the headlights, and so did the other two giants. He stayed frozen, though, even after the others began to speak. 

“Patton, c’mon… A human? Are you sure you wouldn’t rather go back to look at the pixies?” 

“I agree. It would be hasty of you to decide without even reviewing all your options-” 

“Nope!” Patton cut them off. “You promised to let me pick one out, and I want this one!” 

The shopkeep materialized at their side, eager to make a sale and get rid of bad stock. “Have you made a decision?” 

“...” 

“... Alright, fine. How much is it?”  

Despite their misgivings, the other two seemed to fold under the pressure of Patton’s expectant stare, and Virgil felt his whole body tremble as though he’d been stuffed in a freezer. The transaction went on over his head, and Virgil could only think, paralyzed, about how he’d just been bought like a mindless animal. 

The spell broke as soon as the shopkeep reached into the container, and he urgently tried to avoid the grasping fingers, for once desperate to stay in the cage. 

“Unruly thing, isn’t it?” One of the giants muttered, only making Virgil’s stomach twist further with panicked nausea.

Before long, the shopkeep got tired of acting gentle, and in a heartbeat he was pinned against the plastic wall, fingers drawing in like a claw to pluck him up. He was whisked through the air in a dizzying rush, and then set down on a warm, fleshy surface. Another hand. He tried to scramble back, and the fingers curled up to keep him from falling off the edge.

“Hey there, lil guy!” 

When he looked up, he was faced with Patton’s bright smile at close-range. He swallowed hard, eyes flickering to the unhappy-looking werewolves on either side of him. 

It didn’t help that the human was so unsubtle about its terror. It was like living with a mouse, the way the human froze up every time Logan was nearby. He’d glanced down while Patton was hugging him and those tiny eyes had been locked on him as though… 

Well. As though he was going to eat the little thing. He was beginning to regret choosing that threat to bluff with. 

“Roman?” he knocked once, sharply. “I’m coming in.” 

Upon not receiving a startled shriek, he twisted the handle and hurried into the room, closing the door after him. Roman, sprawled out on his bed like a starfish, grumbled loudly. 

“You are talking into your pillow, so I cannot understand a word you’re saying.” Logan informed him dryly. 

Roman lifted his head up with monumental effort. “What do you want, nerd?”  

“I am here to inform you that Patton is in the process of making breakfast, and will be disappointed if you continue to oversleep.” He paused, considering. “However, what I want is advice.” 

Like a switch had been flipped, Roman twisted to sit upright, facing him with a sort of delighted surprise. “You want my advice?” 

Logan began to feel some regrets. “Never mind.”

“Aw, c’mon Specs, don’t be that way. I promise not to make fun of you too much. Hit me with it!”

“I won’t be hitting you with anything.” 

His packmate blinked at him with glittering puppy-dog eyes, and Logan simply gave him an unimpressed look before sighing, because he really did want to deal with these pesky feelings. “Fine. I assume you remember the human?” 

Roman frowned, nose wrinkling. “How could I forget? His stench is all over Patton’s room.”

“Yes, well, it has been acting… stubborn and petulant, which doesn’t make for a good pet. Since we both know how Patton is with smaller creatures, I took it upon myself to make sure that it would behave. However… I believe I may have taken it too far, and if Patton finds out...” 

He paused, trying to figure out a way to phrase ‘he’ll be mad at me’ without it sounding quite so pathetic. Roman snorted, seeming more amused than concerned. 

“Okay, I hear you, but Patton’s soft little puffball heart applies to you too, y’know? I’m sure he’d forgive you. What did you do to the little thing, anyhow? Lecture him to death?” 

Logan shifted, uncomfortably. “I… threatened to get rid of it if it didn’t behave appropriately as a pet. By eating it.” 

Roman’s relaxed posture vanished in an instant, his eyebrows lifting in shock. “Oh my god, Logan, what?”

“You heard me.” Logan snapped, crossing his arms defensively. “It bit Patton, so I figured that a threat of equal magnitude would prevent such a thing from happening again.” 

“A bite from something that small- Logan, a threat of equal magnitude would be flicking him, not threatening to eat him! I don’t even like humans, but you sound like my brother!” Roman said, his face twisting in the look of distaste he always got when his feral brother was mentioned.

Logan winced. “It was… It was only a bluff.”

“I know that, but the human doesn’t, and he’s the one that’s going to be tattling to Patton!” Roman threw his arms out dramatically, flopping back down on his bed.

Logan grimaced, running his fingers down his tie anxiously. “Then, what do I do to prevent that?”

There was a moment of silence as Roman considered, ears twitching back and forth the way they did when he was formulating a plot. He sat up, brow furrowed in concentration.

“What you need to do is talk with the human alone, without Patton there. You’ve got to convince him not to even think about telling Patton, without letting him know that he holds most of the cards here. It’ll be tough, but you’re no idiot, I’m sure you can think of something.” Roman tapped his chin. “It’ll be too suspicious if either of us ask Patton about spending time with him, though, so I’ll have to work out a way to get him to you.”

Logan nodded firmly, revitalized by the idea of a plan to deal with all this. As expected, Roman was an expert on how to weasel out of emotional trouble. 

“In the meantime though, I want pancakes.” 

Logan deflated a little at the idea of dealing with the human’s terrified stare for another meal, but he wasn’t about to hurt Patton’s feelings by ditching breakfast. “Right.” 

Popping the cage door open with ease, Patton reached in and curled his fingers around V’s form, marveling as always at the feeling of the tiny heartbeat thudding away under his fingertips. He was careful to avoid touching him with his claws, though they probably couldn’t hurt him. Patton filed them down to keep them dull, his teeth and pack more than enough to protect him.

V did his best to repress it, but Patton could still see the way he shuddered as he was lifted into the air, body tense with the strain of not panicking. He wished he could soothe the little guy, but the human seemed to respond badly to any sort of implication that he wasn’t acting perfect. Patton wanted to reassure him, but V still hadn’t spoken a single word to him, and he didn’t want to risk driving the human to further panic.

He curled the side of his hand against his chest, providing a stable wall behind V. It had taken some trial and error, but he’d found that the human was most relaxed when transported like that. It made sense, really. Humans didn’t have wings like pixies or avians, and they certainly didn’t have magic like sprites. The poor little things were defenseless this high up. 

“Okay, let’s go get some breakfast!” Patton announced cheerily. 

V tensed against his palm, little chest rising and falling slightly faster, and Patton couldn’t help but feel a twang of sympathy. The human had this reaction to the strangest things, and he could really only blame it on what the shopkeep had told him when he’d bought V. 

“You’ve come at just the right time,” the seller had assured him, smiling pleasantly as he waited for the transaction to go through. “This one used to be a handful, real mouthy.”

Patton definitely believed it. The itty bitty glare he’d sent Logan was evidence enough. 

“Luckily, he was recently put through a conditioning program, and now he’s mellowed out quite a bit. We have a refund policy of course, but I have a feeling you won’t need it.” 

A condition program. Patton had nodded along, smiling mildly, but the thought was enough to make him grimace. He didn’t want a ‘mellowed’ human. He wanted one that would speak to him and be willing to tell him what they really thought, without softening anything for fear of hurting his feelings the way Ro and Lo did. 

It was why he’d chosen the tiny human, labeled ‘V’, out of all the rest. His tiny body shook so hard with fear he was practically vibrating, but those mismatched eyes told a different story. He hadn’t given up yet, Patton was sure of it. 

Which is why it was such a shock to have him become so… docile, all of the sudden. Patton shot another worried look down at V as he descended the stairs into the commons. Sure, he preferred to not be bitten, but at the cost of V suddenly losing all of his spirit? At this rate, Patton would never hear him talk, conditioning or no.   

“Morning, Lo!” he greeted as he walked into the kitchen and saw the other werewolf seated at the counter. He leaned over to brush cheeks with his packmate, and curled his hand over V a bit more to protect him from any accidental squishing in the half-hug. The human went as still as a hunted rabbit, and Patton noticed Logan’s eyes flicker down to him for a moment before returning Patton’s gesture in a more reserved manner. 

“Good morning, Patton. I assume you slept well?” 

“Like a rock!” Patton assured him, withdrawing a little in hopes of keeping V from being spooked further. “Our favorite Prince Charming still asleep?” 

Logan raised an eyebrow wryly. “More like Sleeping Beauty, that one.” He pushed back his stool and stood, taking his coffee with him. “I’ll go wake him. It’s important to maintain a sleep schedule that doesn’t allow sleep deprivation or oversleeping.”

“Make sure you bring a lightbulb with you!” Patton called after him, making him pause on the stairs with an exasperated expression. In his hand, V peered up at him with obvious puzzlement, distracted from his fear.

“Patton, don’t you dare-“

“That way he’ll be a light sleeper!” he interrupted Logan with a mischievous grin. Logan groaned pointedly, stomping slightly as he continued up the stairs.

Delighted with the response, Patton glanced down at the human in his hand to see if he’d enjoyed the pun. V, sensing eyes on him, hurriedly looked up at him with that same neutral expression, but not quite quick enough for Patton to miss the way the mask had slipped for half a second. 

He gave V a halfhearted smile and continued on into the kitchen, carefully setting the human atop a railed ledge where he couldn’t get hurt before starting a batch of pancakes. 

As he mixed the batter, he thought about the expression he’d seen on V’s face moments before. It was like a resentful sort of terror, the vicious look of cornered prey that knew they could do nothing but struggled anyways. 

Most concerning of all, the look had been directed solely at Logan.

That was before he had been put through conditioning, after one return too many. He wasn’t completely broken, but it was a close thing. He made it through more out of stubbornness than actual willpower, and his new inability to speak only showcased that all the more. He still thought the rebellious insults, but the moment he wanted to say one, it was as though his jaw was wired shut, his body working against him to avoid the punishment that came with mouthing off. 

It was what he got for being caught, he guessed. It was worth it, always, to keep his baby brother safe, but he wondered how long he would hold out before finally giving in to the voice that told him it was better to die than live a life like this. 

He jumped as a hand curled around him, automatically struggling against the grip, and Patton ruffled his hair with a finger. 

“It’s okay, buddy. I get it, it’s a new place. You don’t have to learn everything right away.” He comforted, ignoring Virgil’s squirming.

Virgil wanted to scream. He got it? As if. The giant would never know what it felt like to be an item, a piece of meat on display to be sold. It was infuriating that he would act otherwise. 

Seized by an impulse to do something, anything that would get him out of there, he opened his mouth and bit down on Patton’s index finger as hard as he could. The giant yelped, dropping him, and he landed on one of those huge legs with a wheeze. 

“Ow!” Patton sounded more shocked than hurt, but Logan appeared in the doorway quickly anyways. 

“Patton? Are you alright?” He asked, eyes immediately locking on Virgil with a less-than-friendly gaze. He immediately scrambled off Patton’s lap, stumbling away.

“I’m okay, Lo. I just spooked him a little and he bit me.” Despite the sympathy in Patton’s words, he didn’t reach out to grab Virgil again, something like wariness in his eyes. Virgil counted it as a win.

“Is that so.” Logan tilted his head slightly, and Virgil felt an immediate sense of foreboding. “Well, why don’t you go clean that up and I’ll look after the human.” 

Uh oh.

“... Alright, I won’t be a moment!” Patton said, smiling at Virgil brightly before hurrying from the room. Logan stepped in to take his place, and Virgil twisted and started running, regardless of how pointless it was.

Sure enough, a hand caught him easily, stopping his momentum in its tracks and lifting him into the air. The grip was much firmer than Patton’s. 

He was released onto the desk, and he immediately crawled back, head craned back to see the giant’s face. His ears were angled slightly downward, the first trace of emotion he’d seen from the werewolf. 

“I expect that you can understand me, so I will make this succinct. You will not bite Patton again. Understood?” He commanded, clearly expecting him to fold immediately.  

Virgil glared up at him, keeping himself purposely still. He was tired of playing by their rules.

“Nod if you understand.”

“...” 

“That’s an order. Obey.” 

The pause stretched on, and Virgil narrowed his eyes at Logan before shaking his head sharply and bracing for retaliation. No. He was done with this. He’d had enough. 

“Oh?” Logan frowned at him, lips thin with displeasure. “Well, if you aren’t going to be a good pet for Patton, there’s no purpose in you being here.” 

Virgil reeled back a little and held his breath in anticipation, curious as to if it was really that easy to get sent back. Normally it took a lot more bad behavior, especially with all the paperwork involved in getting a refund. 

“In that case,” Logan said, his hand darting in to pinch Virgil’s torso between two fingers, “It seems the optimal solution is to get rid of you.” He lifted Virgil into the air with callous ease.

Virgil’s heart seemed to skip a beat and then redouble its efforts, and for the first time, the fear overcame his chronic muteness. He forced the words out through numb lips. “You… you can’t do this to me. Patton will find out, he’ll-”

“Patton will be disappointed that his pet ‘ran away’, but he will get over it.” Logan told him, completely detached from his panicked thrashing. “As for him finding out the truth… I think you’ll find that becoming a snack means there is little leftover evidence.” 

With that, Logan opened his mouth, displaying sharp fangs and a throat wide enough to snap him up in one bite. Before Virgil even had time to process the truth of what was going on, he was being lowered slowly towards it. 

His brain kicked into overdrive, a primal desire to not end up in the mouth of a creature bigger than him taking over. He kicked and struggled desperately, but Logan seemed completely undeterred. Looking down at the gaping maw, he felt the last of his self-restraint shatter.  

“No! Stop! Stop, I’ll be good, I’ll be a good pet, I swear!” He screamed, and finally, he was pulled away from the mouth and set back on the desk in one swift motion. 

“Excellent.” Logan said, and he ignored the way Virgil stumbled back to adjust his glasses. “I expect you to uphold that promise.” He enunciated his words carefully, and Virgil could see his teeth flashing in threat. “Or else.”