Hi guys, it’s me. The anxious writer. So, as this security guard at my school keeps yelling, I’ve only got 15 days left before finals. So I might not update on the schedule that I want, though I will try!
Feel free to send me an ask about the story. I'll try to answer as long as it doesnt give away any spoilers!
Summary: Logan Summers: One friend, a 4.0, and a huge secret. He wouldn’t have it any other way. Virgil Mathews: barely surviving high school, let alone possibly being moved away from his one and only friend just so he gets to experience what its like to “Have a family”. Patton Pennington: can’t remember having a friend in real life, hopes that his parents taking in a foster kid can change things for him. Roman Royal: Arguably the most popular boy in school, but when he hears that the high schools are merging next year, will he be able to mend his checkered past?
Pairings: Slow-burn Analogical and Royality
Warnings: Foster system, food/drink, anxiety/nervousness, some self-deprecation, puns, injury, mentions of getting beat up, bad writing skills. Let me know if I missed any!
Tag list: @zaisling @heir-of-the-founders @rainbow-sides @3-14l59265358979323846 @spazzz32 @sanderstalker @confinesofpersonalknowledge @black-out-wonder @phlying-squirrel @scorching-scotch @queen-of-all-things-snuggly @theotherella @toujours-fidele @hamster-corn @misslilidelaney @alkimara @ccecode @nienna14 @sylveon-lover-crazyfangirl1415 @smileydog101 @am-i-heaven-or-am-i-hell @an-anxious-acquaintance Just ask if you want to be added!
To say that Patton felt excited was probably an understatement. He didn’t know a word for how he was feeling. Some sort of mix of happiness and nervousness that bubbled in his stomach making him simultaneously thrilled and nauseous. It was only a week since school had ended, but he had felt really lonely. At least at school, he was surrounded by other people, even if they didn’t care to notice he existed. At home, it was just him and his online friends. Who each had a life and their own in real life friends. He craved friends more than he would even admit to himself. When he imagined going out for ice cream, movies, staying up late at sleepovers. He felt selfish. It wasn't other people's fault that he felt the way he did, or their job to make him feel better.
He sat up and looked around in an attempt to change the subject of his own conversation. His eyes scanned the walls that had been yellow since he was a baby, some spots still had crayon and finger paint that his mom refused to wash off because of “memories”. He had never really thought of wiping them off the wall, especially because it made his mom happy when he asked if she knew the story behind a certain scribble. Usually, she did, sometimes she would make something up to make him laugh.
The other things he had on his walls since childhood was a collection of pun posters. The biggest was taped above his dresser, it had two bananas drawn on it with the quote, “Why did the banana go to the doctor? He wasn’t peeling well.” Seeing the posters always made him laugh, or at least smile on a rough day. His personal favorite was the rainbow deer, bubble letters spelling out “Oh deer! I’m queer!”
His room was one of the only to not be completely reorganized in the past week. HIs parents had wanted the house to be presentable when the boy arrived. Not that it wasn’t already pretty clean, but his parents worried. Part of Patton was glad that his room had been left untouched, another part wondered if a change of scenery would improve his state of mind. He had read somewhere that being exposed to yellow for a long time made people depressed. Or was it blue? Either way, maybe a different color would make him happy? No, that was silly.
His eyes moved to the corner where a mirror stood out like a prep in Hot Topic, being one of the only things not covered in childhood stickers. In it, he could see his brown eyes contrasting with the bright white of his skin. He had tried to tan before, it resulted in a painful sunburn that returned to its natural color in two weeks. What bothered him though, was that he had no freckles. Almost every redhead he knew had freckled, but him. Patton loved adored freckles. He developed a crush on almost all of his male classmates who had them at one point or another.
“Patton!” His mom's voice snapped him from his thoughts,
“Yeah?” He hopped off of his bed and took a deep breath, plastering a smile on his face.
“Can you do me a favor?” She asked, her voice seeming louder as Patton opened his door.
“What do you want me to do?” He questioned, walking down the hall and looking through all of the open doors. He stopped in the guest, well his new brother's room, where his mom was wrapping the vacuum cord. She looked up at him and smiled,
“Do you think you can wipe down the window for me?” The window looked spotless. “I need to vacuum the living room.” for the fourth time this week. But Patton could see the stress and worry behind her smile. He widened his own smile and slowly took the vacuum from his mom.
“Why don’t you go grab some lemonade from the fridge? He might be thirsty when he gets here, and the living room is squeaky clean.” He reassured, her brown eyes softened and she gave him a small smile.
“Alright, I’m overworking myself, I get it.” She giggled and headed to the door, “You want any lemonade?”
“No thanks, I’m good.” Once his mom was gone he deposited the vacuum into the halls closet. He walked back into the room to look for the window cleaner, only to see a car parked in front of the house. He ran up to the window, placing his hands on the glass, before taking them off and scolding himself on the imprint it left. The driver's door opened and a tall woman climbed out. Her grey hair tied in a bun that matched her suit. Heart pounding, Patton raced out of the room and down the stairs. He could see the lady and his parents on the porch as he crossed the dining room.
“Virgil really doesn’t like being touched, especially right now. He got a little beat up this morning, he’s not violent of course. Just other kids usually get jealous when another gets adopted or moved to a home.” The voice seemed extremely cold for someone who works with kids. Patton chose to stand next to Ryan as they all listened to her.
“Is there anything we should do about it?” Ryan asked, running a hand over his black hair.
“Honestly, the best thing is to ignore it. He probably feels self-conscious about it.” The lady shifted, clearly uncomfortable with standing in the heels she had on.
“Where is he?” Patton looked around curiously.
“Oh, he’s in the car. Maybe you can show him around while I talk with your parents.” The lady suggested,
“Only if you’d be ok with that kiddo.” His dad added,
“Yeah, I’m ok with doing that!” Patton smiled,
“Great.” The lady responded monotone before turning on her heels and walking over to the car. She opened the back door, and it seemed like a couple words were exchanged before a tall boy dressed in all black stepped out of the car. He was quite a few inches taller than the lady, and it became obvious he was only a little taller than Patton, who was only around 5’8. He stayed on the stairs even as the lady came up to them on the porch. His hood was pulled over his head, hiding most of his face.
“Alright Virgil, this is Ryan,” Pa waved a hand, “Cathy, and Tom.” His mom and dad waved respectively.
“And I’m Patton!” The boys blue eyes looked him over in a way that made him nervous. He had blown it already, hadn't he? He moved to the door and held it open, “I’m gonna show you around while they talk.”
“O-oh, okay..” The deep voice stuttered, maybe Virgil was just as nervous as he was. The taller one walked around the group of adults before ducking through the door. Patton closed the door behind himself and noticed that Virgil only had one bag hanging off his shoulder.
“Is your other stuff in the car?” He asked, the taller one's eyes widened a little.
“No, this is all I’ve got,” Virgil muttered, almost too quiet for Patton to hear. It didn’t help that he had his hand in front of his mouth as he bit his thumb.
“Oh, well… This is the dining room. If you couldn't tell.” Patton attempted to lighten the mood. Virgil only nodded, eyes flying back and forth behind his dark bangs. Almost as if he were a scanner. So, Patton pointed to his left, towards the room with a large couch and medium-sized TV. “That's the living room, and the kitchen is up here next to the stairs. I’ll show you that and the bathroom first before we go upstairs, if that's ok with you kiddo- wait oops.” Patton's face grew warm. Did he really just say kiddo? Maybe he spends too much time with his dad. But now Virgil must think he’s so lame. I mean only old people use ‘kiddo’ anymore.
It was a light laugh that yanked him out of his thoughts. He looked over to see a smile on the boys split lip, and a laugh escaping from between. The laugh was bubbly and much lighter than Virgil's voice. It still held the same softness, however, and it made Patton smile despite his heart ramming into his chest.
“Sorry, my dad calls me that all the time. It just sort of, slipped out I guess.” Patton allowed himself to join in with his own laugh.
“It’s ok, I don't mind,” Virgil stated once he had managed to stop laughing, a small smile tugged his mouth to one side.
“So you, don’t mind me calling you that?” Patton repeated, trying to be sure.
“I mean I guess not, even though we’re like the same age aren’t we?” Virgil's brows furrowed,
“Well, I’m 16 as of January.” Patton shrugged, sure that the boy would be younger than him.
“I’m 16 too, as of last December.” Virgil moved the bag from one shoulder to the other, some part of him itching to move.
“Oh, so you're the oldest. Well, I guess I’ve always wanted to be a younger brother.” Patton muttered, walking towards the kitchen that was to the right of the stairway. Virgil slowly started to follow,
“Umm, if you could, not say it in public. I guess, then I’m ok with you calling me kiddo.” He mumbled causing a genuine smile spread across Patton's face.
“It’s a deal then,” he turned to glance at Virgil, “kiddo.”
“So your room is across from the bathroom, mines at the end of the hall, and my parent's room is next to the bathroom, across from the closet where our cleaning stuff is,” Patton explained as they walked up the stairs. He was extremely glad that the other teen seemed to be warming up to him quickly. Once they reached the top of the stairs he quickly struck a pose to present the room. Virgil rolled his eyes at this but walked into the room. It had light grey walls and a large window across from the door. Virgil set his bag on the bed and approached the window. Out of it, you could see the roof of the porch, his hands reached up and unlocked the window before pulling it open.
“What are you doing?” Patton asked, walking over to stand next to Virgil.
“Shh, listen.” So he did, and he could hear the adults talking.
“Is there any other things you think we should be aware of?” It was his Pa asking, he was always asking questions and trying to make sure everything was planned out fully.
“Well, usually every day after school Virgil would spend time at the library with this boy. We aren’t sure if they were dating or not, but the boy is the only person Virgil really ever hung out with. He seemed to be really anxious about moving away from the boy.” It was the lady's voice that said this. Was Virgil gay? Virgils face was as red as a tomato and he quickly moved to slam the window shut, barely giving Patton enough time to get himself back into the room.
“So are you really gay?” Patton asked, his stomach buzzed with excitement.
“So what if I am? It’s not like there's anything wrong with that.” Virgil hissed. Patton's waved his hand frantically, trying to figure out how to explain that he didn’t mean it in a bad way.
“Of course there's nothing wrong with it! I’m gay too, I was just excited. To have someone like me, for once…” He mumbled, his voice getting softer at the end. Virgil's defensive look melted and he frowned,
“I, I’m sorry. I shouldn't have lashed at you like that.” he apologized, Patton pulled on a wide smile.
“It's ok. I should've said it a different way.” Patton shook his head, “so, do you have a crush on that guy?”
“I-it’s none of your business,” Virgil whined,
“I mean, I guess… Well, he’s short.” A smirk spread across Virgil's lips. “He’s also the smartest person you’ll ever meet. He always wears jeans and a polo with a tie, like a nerd. But its cute-” he cut himself off realizing what he was saying. Before he could spout out apologies Patton interrupted him.
“He sounds great! I can’t wait to meet him kiddo!”
Hey so, in case anyone is confused.
Tom= Pattons biological father
Cathy= Pattons biological mother
Ryan= Pattons Pa, aka his not biological dad
Virgil and Pat will be sort of the main focus for the next couple chapters since thats where most of the story is developing. Though there will be updates on the other two.
