First Day of School
Part 5 of New Big Brother
Previous - Next Ao3
Summary: Remy and Virgil go back to school.
Warnings: Food, fire, Mitchell from cartoon therapy is in this, brief talk of violence but nothing too serious, let me know of anything I missed.
-
Remy woke to the quiet beeping of an alarm clock.
Great.
He suppressed a groan before rolling over and shutting it off. He was not looking forward to today.
Still, as much as he hated first days, and mornings in general, he pulled himself out of bed to get ready.
He was only partially surprised at this point when he went downstairs to see dad guy happily attempting to sing as he made… pancakes? Something mostly brown in a pan.
"Morning, Remy," dad guy grinned when he noticed him, "Ready for your first day of school?"
"I guess."
Dad guy sent him a sympathetic smile, "Yeah, first day at a new school can be a bit nerve wracking. But hey at least Emile will be there so you'll have a familiar face."
Remy shrugged. He and Emile had gotten to hang out a few times while watching Virgil, and the guy seemed chill enough, but there was no guarantee Emile would acknowledge his existence when they were at school.
"Remy!"
He let out a small grunt as Virgil slammed into him from behind, "Mornin' kid."
"Are you ready for the first day of school?" Virgil asked.
"Ready as I can be. What about you? Excited for the first day?"
"No," Virgil's nose scrunched in distaste, "But my friends family was gone all summer and he promised he'd be back by the first day of school."
"Cool."
"Yeah, his mom is from uh… Dad?"
"Germany," Dad guy reminded him.
"Yeah Germany! So they go there sometimes to see his mom's family. He always stays too long though." Virgil pouted.
"Now kiddo," Dad guy told him, "I know you miss your friend when he's gone but he likes seeing his family. And I know his mom really does too. Remember, she only gets to see her mom and dad and the rest of her family once or twice a year. Kinda like how Grammy and Pop pop only get to visit us once in a while."
"...I guess…" Virgil admitted, "But I'm still glad he's back."
Dad guy smiled, "I know kiddo. And I bet he's excited to see you again too." He said as he ruffled the kids hair, "Now let's get some breakfast."
Remy glanced over at the pan, "Uh… Mr. Sanders."
"Yeah?"
Remy pointed at the black smoke that was quickly starting to fill the kitchen.
"Uh oh!"
Dad guy rushed over to the smoking pan just as it burst into flames. Apparently this wasn't the first time because he just as quickly placed a lid over the top before taking it off the burner. After the fire was out he turned the stove off.
He looked back sheepishly, "Well. Eggos it is then."
…
After the backup breakfast, dad guy herded them out the door and into the car.
"Normally you'll have to take the bus, but we always do drop off and pick up on the first day." Dad guy told them with his signature smile as he glanced at them in the rear view.
"And birthdays!" Virgil added.
"And birthdays." Dad guy confirmed.
The drive to Southwest Side wasn't a long one thankfully and soon they were pulling into the drop off zone.
"Are you okay with me snapping a quick picture for your first day?" Dad guy asked before Remy got out, "It's fine if you don't want me to though." He added.
"Uh… If you want I guess?"
Dad guy smiled as he pulled out his phone, "Ok, just go ahead and hop out. All you gotta do is look back for a second so I can get a picture, okay?"
"Don't forget to smile!" Virgil added.
"Whatever you say, Victor." Remy said as he gave a small salute and climbed out of the car.
After getting a picture, Dad guy gave one last wave before driving away to take Virgil to his school.
'Okay,' Remy thought to himself as he pulled out his class schedule, 'time to figure out where the hell everything is.'
Thankfully dad guy dropped him off a bit early so he had time to theoretically find all the rooms.
"Remy, hey!"
Remy looked up at the familiar voice to see Emile waving and walking towards him, followed by two others, "'Sup."
"Glad I found you!" Emile grinned, "We were all gonna compare our schedules to see if we have classes together. These are a few of my friends."
"'Sup, names Kai, he/him." The first one introduced with a casual peace sign.
"Elliot, they/them." The other chimed in.
"Nice to meet you. I'm Remy, he/him."
"We're still waiting for a few of our other friends, but we'll see them later." Emile explained, "Until then do you want help finding your classes?"
"Sure,"
…
It was a good thing Emile and his friends were able to show Remy around the school that morning because apparently whoever designed Southwest Side happened to be the same person who designed the minotaur's maze. Seriously, who puts classes A1-15 next to classes D16-24?
Thankfully he also shared a few classes with each of them. It was a bit weird having someone save you a seat on the first day but Remy wasn't complaining. Especially when he was almost late to one class because some nut job put class numbers wherever the fuck they felt like.
Seriously, who designed this school?
Thankfully the lunchroom at least was easy to find. Emile and Kai waved him down when he got there before the three of them went to get their food.
"Where's Elliot?" Remy asked.
Kai rolled his eyes, "They went to save us a table with Mitchell."
"Who's Mitchell?"
"He's Elliot's boyfriend." Emile said.
"That's one way of describing him." Kai grumbled.
"Elliot can make their own choices, we're here to help support them." Emile recited.
"Do we have to be happy about it?"
"No."
"Good."
"Going out on a limb here and saying you guys don't like Mitchell?" Remy asked.
"You'll see soon enough." Kai told him as they finally got their lunch and headed for the tables.
It didn't take long to find them sitting at a table with three others. "Hey guys." Elliot smiled when they noticed them.
"You must be Remy." A very smiley person in plaid greeted, "It is so nice to meet you. My name is Sloane, he/him, and this," he pulled the person next to him into a tight side hug, "is my amazing boyfriend Corbin."
"PDA," Corbin chided, though he did have a small smile.
"Oh, right! Sorry." Sloane said as he quickly released his boyfriend and put a couple inches of space between them.
"It's nice to meet you, Remy." Corbin told him as he adjusted his glasses, "Emile's told us a bit about you."
"All good things of course." Emile assured.
"So Remy?" The guy next to Elliot asked, "Is that short for like, Remington or something?"
"Yeah actually," Remy admitted despite himself, "I don't really care for it though. Which is why I go by Remy."
"Oh no worries, no worries. I'm Mitchell by the way. Though call me Mitchie and I'll kick your ass." He grinned.
"Call me Remington I'll kick yours." Remy fired back with a matching grin.
Yeah he was starting to see why Kai and Emile didn't like this guy. His vibes were off and they barely got past introducing themselves.
"Please no butt kicking of any kind." Emile cut in.
"Except in Mario Kart." Kai added.
"Exactly." Emile smiled before jumping on the subject change, "Have you played it before?"
"Once or twice," Remy said, going along with it, "never really got to play many games though. Consoles are expensive."
The other four got up to join the lunch line while Remy, Emile, and Kai continued talking about video games. Admittedly it was mostly Emile and Kai, but to their credit they did try and keep Remy involved so he wasn't gonna fault them for it.
"We should all hang out at some point. I have a ton of games I think you'd be into." Kai told him, "Plus my mom let me set up a gaming room, well it's technically a "media room for everyone," but I'm the one who uses it the most so it's also my gaming room."
"Sounds good."
Overall the day wasn't a total loss. The teachers hadn't quite gotten to the seriously boring lessons yet since it was the first day. That paired with the fact that Emile's friends were pretty chill, other than Elliot's boyfriend, the day actually went by decently fast.
At the end of the day, Remy found himself hanging out with Emile, Kai, Corbin and Sloane in front of the school.
"Do you wanna ride?" Sloan asked when he and Corbin were about to leave, "We're going that way anyway."
"Nah I'm good. I'm getting picked up today." Remy told him.
"Oh ok, just let us know if you ever want or need a ride. We give Emile rides all the time."
"I'll keep that in mind." Remy told them.
As if being summoned by the mention of his existence, Dad guy's blue minivan pulled into the pickup zone.
"Speaking of, there's my ride now. I'll catch you guys tomorrow."
"Sounds good." "Later dude." "See you tomorrow." "Bye Remy!"
Remy quickly made his way to the car, not wanting to keep Dad guy waiting, before hopping in the back.
"Hey Remy, how was your first day?" Dad guy asked as soon as he was buckled in.
"It was fine." Remy shrugged.
"That's good. Did you hang out with Emile? You guys are in the same grade right?"
"Yeah."
"We still have some time before we gotta pick up Virgil. Wanna go get some food? You can pick where." Dad guy offered.
"I don't care. It's up to you." Remy told him, 'God please let this interaction end.'
"Ok, well do you have a preference? Burgers? Tacos? Sandwiches?"
"It's up to you."
"You sure?"
"Yeah."
Dad guy hummed, "Ok well… what about some McDonalds? We can surprise Virgil with a happy meal, and if we're lucky maybe they have some ice cream."
"Okay."
Remy continued staring out the window as they presumably drove to McDonald's on the way to pick up Virgil.
…
They pulled up to the elementary school and saw a hoard of kids on the playground next to the pickup area behind the school. Teachers were running back and forth trying to corral the kids before their parents got there.
They got in the line and eventually reached an adult.
"Hi there," She smiled, "I just need your name and the kids name."
"Patton Sanders for Virgil Sanders."
The woman checked her clipboard before waving them ahead and talking into her radio.
Remy scanned the playground before spotting Virgil and another kid under one of the trees. An aid must've called for them because a moment later both kids were running over to a much more organized line of kids in the pickup zone.
It was a few more minutes before they pulled up to the zone but Virgil and his friend spotted them before the aid had to call them.
"Dad, can Logan come over today?" Virgil asked as soon as they reached the car.
"Sorry, Kiddo, not today. We'd have to ask his parents first. I can call them later though and maybe he can come over this weekend, ok?"
"Awww, ok." Virgil frowned for a moment before noticing Remy in the back seat, "Remy!"
"Sup kid."
"This is my best friend Logan. Logan, this is my new brother Remy." He introduced.
"Salutations," The kid said as he adjusted his glasses, "Virgil has told me a lot about you. It is nice to make your acquaintance, Remy."
"Nice to meet you too, Logan. Virgil was really excited to see you again." Remy told him.
"Alright, Kiddos," Dad guy said after a car honked behind them, "We gotta hurry up now. I'll call Logan's parents later okay?"
"Ok…" "That sounds sufficient." The two said in matching disappointment.
The two quickly said their goodbyes before Logan walked back towards the playground and Virgil climbed into the car seat next to Remy.
"I wish Logan could've come too." Virgil said as they pulled away.
"I know, kiddo." Dad guy told him, "But I have something to cheer you up."
"Really?"
Dad guy reached over to the passenger seat before awkwardly trying to pass the happy meal back without taking his eyes off the road.
Virgil gasped, "McDonalds!" He said before eagerly grabbing for the box.
"So how was your first day of first grade?" Dad guy asked as Virgil happily dug through the box.
"It was okay," Virgil told him, "Logan and me are in the same class again and our teacher seems nice. She even let us pick our own seats so me and Logan get to sit next to each other even!"
"That's great, Kiddo!" Dad guy grinned back at the kid through the mirror, "It's always nice to sit next to friends. Did you do anything special in class today?"
Remy stared out the window as Dad guy drove them back to the house. If he happened to ask the kid a few questions about his day that was no one's business but his own.