I Care
Author's note: this is for @pleasedonthurtcjstar (this post). I hope that you like it.
Notice/Warnings: abusive partner/rudeness, break-up, caps, therapy, fluff
▪▪▪
Patton drove with Toby, his boyfriend, to their first appointment.
Patton glanced at his boyfriend.
Toby had his arms crossed and doesn't look happy.
"Toby?" Patton asked, looking back at the road. "What's wrong?"
Toby looked at him, annoyed. "Why are we doing this?" he asked with no interest.
Patton sighed. "You know already. We're going to this therapy session suggested by Virgil." He said as he drove.
Toby rolled his eyes.
Patton knows that he doesn't want to do this but he feels like this is a good time to do it.
When they arrived to the place, Patton checked them in.
Toby was tapping his foot impatiently as they waited.
□
Doctor Emile Picani got ready for his next appointment. "Now, who's next." He said to himself, looking at the names. "Patton and Toby? Oh! Those sound interesting!"
Emile left his office when it was almost time for the couple to enter his office.
He does this because he wants his patients (both couples and singles) to feel like they’re going to have a good time, like intro themes in shows.
It works, sometimes.
He saw the couple enter his office and waited for him on the couch.
When it was time for him to enter, he did the entrance for the first timers. Emile noticed that one of them started to smile at him while the other was confused/freaked out, which was normal for the first few times.
Emile took his seat when done. “Hello, new patients. Do you how do?” he asked calmly with a smile.
“I’m good-” the one who smiled started but was interrupted by the other said, “I’m confused.”
Emile looked at him and asked, “What are you confused about?”
“Are you a child’s therapist?”
“Toby.” the smile one said, looking at him, frowning.
“What? I’m just asking Patton.”
“It’s okay,” Emile hummed, looking at the couple as he wrote in his notes. “I’ve been asked that a lot before in the past. And to let you know, you are in the right place, I just do seasons differently than others.”
Toby nodded and rubbed the leg of his pants. “Great…” he mumbled.
Emile asked the usual questions, like ‘have you been in therapy before?’ and ‘how did you find out about this place?’
Patton told the doc that he hasn't had therapy before but for Tony, he told him that he has and thought it was dumb. “And for the second one… it was one of my friends who suggested it.” Patton said, sounding nervous.
Toby sighed and explained to Patton, “We’re doing okay. We don’t need this.”
“Toby…” Patton started, looking at him.
Emile thought it was a good time to talk about how therapy could help and not just a place to get things fixed. But before he could say anything, Toby’s phone rang. The therapist and partner looked at the phone as Toby got his phone out.
“It’s work.” Toby sighed as he got up and pointed to the hallway. “Mind if I take this?”
Toby went out of the room before either spoke as he answered the phone.
Emile and Patton looked at each other for a moment. “I’m so sorry about him…” Patton said apologetically after Toby didn’t come back after a few minutes.
“It’s okay.” he started, his voice giving comfort and smiled softly, “we can meet a different time-”
“No, please.” Patton interrupted. Emile looked at him as Patton explained, “I… sorry. There’s just a lot of things that I want to talk about… If you don’t mind…”
Emile thought for a moment and said, “I guess I’ll put you in my singles for now. Does that work for you?”
Patton nodded and adjusted in his seat. “That sounds like a plan.”
□
Emile talked and helped Patton for the past few months.
They talked about Patton's past and how things have been. They also talked about Patton’s relationship with Toby.
Emile Picani was getting ready for the next appointment, which is Patton.
He went to get ready to leave his office when it was almost time for Patton to enter the office.
As Emile does his enterice into the room, he notices that Patton looked like he was crying recently. He slowly brought his energy down and went into the room.
“Hey, Patton.” Emile quietly said as he sat down in his seat and got his pen and notebook out.
“Hi, Picani…” Patton sniffed, looking up at him.
“You okay?” Emile asked, trying to go simple and not rush.
Patton shook his head. “No… I had a bad day.”
“Want to talk about it today?”
Patton nodded and looked down, quiet for a moment. “Toby and I broke up…” Patton sniffed, wiping tears away.
Emile could just look at him, feeling sad for him. He comforted him and calmed him down before they talked about what happened.
□
For almost a year, Emile and Patton meet up and talked with the sessions. Emile helped Patton move on from the break up a few months ago.
Sometimes, they bump into each other outside of the office appointments and have lunch. They talk about shows, movies, life, their likes and dislikes.
Emile starts to realize something during this time.
He is in love with Patton.
Emile was talking to Remy, his roommate and best friend, about this whole situation with Patton. “I just don’t know what to do now…” Emile said, finishing up his venting. He laid down on the couch and sighed.
Remy looked at him for a moment and then asked, “Well, why don’t you ask him out? Since you’ve had lunch with him before, you should be able to go on a date with him.”
Emile’s eyes twitched as he looked at him, sitting up properly. “Remy, I can’t date a patient. It’s against the rules.” he explained, still looking at him.
Remy had a confused look on his face. “Why? There are some couples working in the same work areas.”
Emile sighed, knowing that he’s going to have to mention some reality to him. “Remy, do you remember when we saw that one serious video that some people on the internet joked about?”
Remy was still for a moment and then nodded. “You mean from the Try Guys? Yes…” he said, rubbing the back of his neck. “Along with the film theory video by MatPat. It’ll be bad for work and it creates problems.”
“Then you see why I can’t date him.” Emile sighed, hugging a pillow.
Remy thinks for a moment to help. His lazy eyes lit up when he got an idea and said, “I got an idea, Em.”
Emile looked at him. “Oh?”
“Why don’t you transfer him to a different therapist or wrap it up?”
Emile gave him a look of horror. “Rem, as much as I like you my friend, but why?!” he exclaimed, the horror look still on his face. “What? You told me one time that he was getting better! Also, you want to date him, right?!” Remy exclaimed back.
Emile just stares at Remy for a moment before nodding. “I do… Let’s talk about it and prepare. Just in case it does or doesn’t go so well.”
Remy nodded. "Let's prepare you to face the darkness or the lightness of thr Secret Tunnel."
□
Patton went to the office on the session day that he and Emile Picani scheduled that day.
Patton entered the Picani office when it was almost time. Patton smiled at him as Emile did his enterice into the room. “Hi, Picani.” he said, smiling softly.
“Hello, Patton.” Emile Picani said, smiling back as he got the notebook and pen ready.
They started the session and talked about where they last finished off. Before they finished the session, Patton noticed that Emile had something on his mind. “Hey, you okay?” he asked.
“Hm? Oh! I’m okay, Patton.” Picani replied, sounding reassuring.
Patton hummed softly and nodded. “I want to talk to you about something before we finish.”
Emile looked at him and the clock that hung on the wall. “We only have about five minutes.” he mentioned, looking back at Patton.
“It’ll be quick.” Patton reassured. “And it doesn’t need to be written down.”
Emile hummed, set his notebook and pen down, and looked at him.
Patton took in a breath and said, “This is the last session.”
Emile looked at Patton in surprise. “I say what?”
Patton nodded. “Yeah, I… uh… I believe that I’m better now and there’s another thing to talk about. But I want to address it unless you think that I’m not there yet.” he explained, playing with his hands.
Emile looked at him, waiting for him to tell him the other one was.
“The other one is that I…” Patton took in a deep breath before continuing, “I love you, Emile.”
Picni’s eyes widened when the words got to him. Before he could say anything, Patton said, “I know, it’s bad and VERY wrong to date your own therapist! But I just… I don’t know…”
Emile was quiet for a moment. Then he gently took Patton’s hands into his, rubbing them gently. “Patton… I love you too.”
Patton’s eyes lit up and looked at Emile, who smiled softly at him.
“To be honest, I’m proud of how much you've grown.” Emile explained, a soft glow of comfort in his eyes. “But you still need some help that I don’t have to give… And to reassure you that the thing that you did mention about patients and their therapists dating is true. Believe me, I’ve seen it happen and it’s not like tv… but I was going to transfer you to a different therapist. He is different from what I do but I believe that he can help.”
Patton couldn’t help but giggle softly, “That sounds like a plan.”
