Phoenix by Fallout Boy
Here’s a fluff finisher. No real warnings, I know I don’t believe it either
Chapter Sixteen: Phoenix by Fallout Boy
“Ok sweetie.” Patton ruffled Virgil’s hair. “Why don’t you go lay down for a little while? And when you get up, we’ll celebrate.”
“Aren’t I a little old for naptime?” Virgil protested.
“No. Naps are awesome. Just wait until you get older, all you’re gonna wanna do is nap.”
“And you did just take some pills that are meant to make you tired.” Logan interjected.
“Alright.” Virgil pulled on his sleeves. “Maybe I should, you know, just to be doing it.”
“You’re right, you need to stop resisting a rest.”
Virgil smiled at that and walked up the stairs and into his room, they didn’t hear his door close. But Virgil was prone to forget to close his door. And as long as he didn’t sleep naked or something ridiculous like that, it was fine.
“Logan, we’re parents.” Patton pounced his husband with a hug, almost knocking him over.
“Oh, my gosh.” Logan said, stunned. “We’re parents. What if I’m a bad parent? The only example of parenting I’ve had was those two cavemen! And what if he is straight? I can’t give him advice for that!”
“Logan, you’re already a great dad.” Patton didn’t let go. “You even got Virgil to open up to you about Payton. And he really likes you. Just because your parents were the worst doesn’t mean you’re gonna be a bad dad.”
“He’s right, Calculator Watch.” Roman agreed. “Your only parental flaw is that you don’t like dad jokes.”
“But what if they were right!?” Logan pulled himself back to look Patton in the eyes, clutching his jacket so hard that he was probably digging holes in it. “What if they were right!?”
“Logan, we’ve been through this before.” Patton gently framed Logan’s face in his hands. “They were wrong. There’s nothing wrong with you, you’re not broken or damaged. And you don’t think it’s a good idea to hurt people who don’t fit in your mold. You’re already a great dad, and a way better parent than those useless circle queens.”
“And relationship advice isn’t tied to gender.” Roman rolled his eyes and slapped Logan on the shoulder. “You and Padre are relationship goals, all single people study at your feet. Except me, I’m an expert in my own right.”
“I thought you moved in with us to study us.” Logan smiled at him.
“No, it was just because the rent is cheap.”
“Ok.” Patton kissed Logan’s nose. “Come help me make a cake.”
“I was waiting for you to pull out an excuse to make dessert.”
“Well, if our baby isn’t something to celebrate, then what is?”
“You think you’re so cute.” Logan rolled his eyes.
“I am.” Patton grabbed his hand and pulled him into the kitchen.
Logan quietly watched as Patton pulled out his baking supplies.
“Ok, do you think he’ll want chocolate or vanilla?” Patton bounced up and down with his recipe book pressed to his chest.
“Chocolate.” Roman said confidently. “Everyone likes chocolate.”
“Logan doesn’t.” Patton argued.
“He eats dark chocolate, it’s just sweets he doesn’t like.”
“I tend to abstain from desserts in general,” Logan intervened. “I’m not exactly the best example.”
“I know he liked chocolate when he was a baby.” Patton considered. “But he hasn’t had any sweets since then. His tastes may have changed.”
“Good point.” Roman put his hand on his chin as if he were thinking.
“Go see if he’s asleep yet and ask him.” Logan sighed.
Patton set his book down and scampered upstairs. On his way he kicked himself for not thinking of asking Virgil in the first place. He found Virgil’s door slightly ajar (funny, he could have sworn that it was a door) and knocked on it gently.
“Honey, are you awake?”
“yeah.”
“Ok, quick question, what kind of cake do you like?”
There was a brief pause.
“Chocolate, I guess. It’s been a while.”
“Ok, and would you use chocolate frosting or butter cream?”
“I don’t know, chocolate too.”
“Ok.” Patton beamed. “You get some rest I’ll see you in a bit. I love you.”
“Thank you.” Virgil said sincerely from his end of the door.
Poor baby. Patton thought sadly at that remark.
He really wanted Virgil to be ok, but that was going to take a lot of time. He could almost hear Logan telling him to be patient. He dumped his jacket and vest on the couch as he walked back towards the kitchen and rolled up his sleeves. He almost wished that they had stayed at the courthouse long enough to see Payton taken out in hand cuffs. But he had decided that they had punished his brother enough.
“He says he wants chocolate.” Patton chirped as he picked his recipes back up.
“I told you.” Roman announced triumphantly.
Patton gathered what he needed and contentedly mixed the cake batter. Logan just kind of watched with a pensive expression. But Logan usually looked like he was thinking about something.
“Patton.” Logan finally spoke. “I don’t want to be the one to do this to you, but I’m really the only one who can.”
“What do you mean?” Patton looked around in terror, did Logan want a divorce? But everything was perfect, they were comfortable with each other. They just adopted a kid.
“I know you’re probably hoping for Virgil to start calling you dad.” Logan continued, what a relief, he didn’t want a divorce. “But that may take a while. Until now the word ‘dad’ was used to describe a villain who wanted to hurt him. So, that’s not a label he’s going to use anytime soon, especially on anyone that he likes.”
“I hadn’t thought of that.” Patton looked down into the batter and back up again. “But I’ll wait until he’s ready. I wasn’t just going to insist he call me dad. But if a ‘hi hungry, I’m dad’ opportunity comes up, I’m taking it.”
“Even I would be sad if you didn’t.” Logan smiled
# # #
Virgil stared up at the ceiling and absentmindedly ran his hand over his stuffed bear. This was it. It was really over. His dad had finally lost custody of him. And sure, he was still worried about how things would play out between him and his uncles but nothing bad had happened yet. For now, at least, he would just have to trust that they believed child abuse to be wrong.
Besides Patton seemed thrilled to have him, and despite being hard to read, Logan seemed happy as well. And they even still thought that they loved him. Virgil moved the bears arms up and down.
“Maybe…” He said out loud to make it real. “Maybe they actually do.”
He sat up and pulled the picture of his birth parents out of his sock drawer. As he gazed at the couple, he could be sure that Payton was just using her. But he didn’t know whether she was using him as well. Granted, Payton probably didn’t have anything she wanted, he certainly didn’t have anything he wanted. Not anymore. Neither of them did anymore.
It was pointless to want something from someone who wasn’t going to give it to you anyway. And while he had to admit that he did want it, he could safely say that he didn’t need it from them anymore. His mom could have her happy family that he wasn’t a part of, and Payton could rot in prison for the next decade. He didn’t need them. He didn’t need them to want him, he didn’t need him to love him.
And as far as Patton and Logan went, at the very least they did care about him. Hell, maybe they did love him. For the longest time he had thought something like that was impossible. But he had also completely believed that people would believe Payton’s word over his. And today the exact opposite happened.
He set his bear on the pillow. His pillow, in his room. What a thought. He was home. He ran his hand over his door as he walked out of his room. A true luxury item.
Virgil lurked downstairs and wandered into the kitchen when he couldn’t find anyone in the living room. The three of them were laughing and joking about something while Patton mixed frosting.
“Virgil.” Patton called happily upon seeing him. “Come have some frosting.”
“Are you feeling any better?” Logan asked, feeling his forehead and grabbing his arm to check his pulse.
“I’m fine.” Virgil laughed.
“Hi fine, I’m dad.” Patton yelled ecstatically.
“Well, he did it.” Roman sighed.
“We knew he would.” Logan shrugged.
“That wasn’t a one off.” Patton pointed his spoon at them. “I’m gonna do that forever.”
Virgil laughed at Patton’s level of enthusiasm and Patton beamed at the idea that someone liked his jokes.
“Logan,” Roman put a hand on his shoulder. “Get ready for twice the number of dad jokes.”
“That’s twice the number of fun.” Patton dabbed a bit of frosting on Virgil’s nose. “And Virgil nose it.”
“Hey, that’s batter-ry.” Virgil teased, taking a step back.
“Well on you it’s dark chocolate.” Patton grinned. “Get it? ‘Cause you’re an emo?”
“I get it.”
“Ok, how can you tell if a cake is sad?” Patton bounced up and down.
“How?”
“It’s in tiers!”
“What do you call a fake noodle?” Virgil laughed.
“What?”
“An impasta.”
“What do you call man with a broken leg?”
“What?”
“An ambulance!”
“I’m in hell.” Logan interrupted.
“Ok we’d better stop.” Virgil smiled. “He might be tempted to pull out a lo-gun.”
Patton and Roman both doubled over laughing while Logan stood quietly.
“Of all the things to be genetic.” Logan smiled and ruffled his hair. “I’m tempted to think they gave you to the wrong brother when you were born.”
“Well, we fixed that.”
“I have one.” Roman announced, wiping away a tear. “What does Payton have in common with a vacuum cleaner?”
“Well they both suck.” Virgil speculated.
“Almost,” Roman corrected. “They both suck and they both have dirt bags inside.”
“Roman that’s mean.” Patton scolded.
“The truth hurts sometimes.” Logan added.
“Logan that was low.” Patton gasped. “gun.”
“Why is that so easy for you?”
“Oh, just try to be a guy named Roman and sit through a history class with him.” Roman rolled his eyes. “Or with anyone. Oh, your names are Roman and Remus, like Romulus and Remus. Are you going home to the wolf?”
“Someone should tell him.” Patton said quickly.
“Not it.” Logan held up his hands.
“Tell me what?” Roman demanded.
“Ain’t nothing but a heart ache.” Virgil took his chance.
“Tell you what Lupine means.” Patton said softly.
“I know what it means.” Roman rolled his eyes. “It means wolf, ha, ha, ha.”
“So, was it a hard birth?” Virgil asked. “Was your mom upset?”
“They were born conjoined at the chest.” Logan answered. “Like all conjoined twins who survive to term they were born through C-section.”
“Had to cut them out, isn’t that easier?”
“No, it’s major abdominal surgery.”
“Oh, that’s why she was mad.” Virgil nodded.
“Ok, your name is Virgil.” Roman accused. “They named you after a poet that I guarantee neither of them ever heard of.”
“I’m sorry, but I’m named after the perfect human, as explained in The Inferno.”
“You were named after Static Shock.” Roman rolled his eyes. “No teenager has read Dante’s work. Or Virgil’s.”
“My work is under rated,” Virgil nodded. “I need a publicity stunt.”
“Not you, Static Shock.”
“Cool, I get to be the perfect man and a superhero. Anything else you want to give me?”
“I think Virgil’s a great name.” Patton interrupted.
“Yeah, you yell ‘Virgil’ in a crowded mall or something and maybe two kids will turn around.” Virgil nodded.
“Yeah, and you’re both of them.” Roman muttered.
“Because we love him twice as much?” Patton beamed, wrapping himself around him.
“Words are losing their meaning.” Logan rubbed his temples.
“Sorry.” Patton looked up apologetically. “We’ll stop repeating that word for now.”
The timer on the oven went off and Virgil jumped a mile at the intrusion.
“The cake!” Patton let go and ran to the oven.
Patton gently set two round trays on top of the oven and switched it off. He clapped happily and bounced back over to the group.
“It needs to cool off for a while.” He announced contentedly. “How about we watch a movie while it chills out?”
Halfway through One Hundred and One Dalmatians Virgil’s eye lids started feeling heavy. He rested his head on Patton’s shoulder, relishing that warm safe feeling that he had first been introduced to in the hospital. Now he could accept something that he hadn’t dared to so much as hope for in the past. He could accept that this was normal. This was how things were supposed to be. He slid his head into Patton’s lap.
“You getting sleepy kiddo?” Patton cooed, running his fingers through his hair.
“Just a little.” Virgil mumbled.
“Well, you have had quite a day.” Logan added. “I think we’ve all earned a rest.”
“You’re gonna be ok from now on.”
“Thank you.” Virgil sighed.