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Chapter Text

“Waking up at 6am should be banned.” Virgil mumbled as he still lay in his comfy bed, his husband marching around in the darkness preparing for work. Logan chuckled along as he placed on his watch and his wedding ring. “I still can’t believe you can talk to people before 7am…”

Virgil stretched, feeling utterly blissful after the time he managed to spend with Logan last night. The two men were in a typical homosexual relationship, lived alone and were in their mid-thirties – it was the perfect situation and circumstance for them to do whatever they wanted to do together whenever they were free. This was the perfect life. “I love you Sherlock.” He eventually whispered, spotting his husband beside him sit down and stroke his hair. The fond look Logan gave his husband was irreplaceable.

“I love you too – especially when you look at me like that.” Logan spoke quietly due to the time but there was so much adoration in his words. “And I’ll miss you too.”

Logan worked as an executive for a governmental organisation – a highly pressured workplace that paid very well and he loved it a lot, but he was away from home most of the day. Virgil worked from home as a therapist with his own office in the garden of the house that looked like a shed to everyone else. It was the kind of life the pair could only dream of when they started working as college graduates. But now they had their perfect life and had reached every milestone they set out – their lives were complete.

After quite a few minutes of staring into each other’s eyes Logan’s phone alarm chimed the Doctor Who theme. “Right, I have to get going. Cheerio.” Logan stood up, giving Virgil a soft kiss before he endured tough travels to the nearby capital city. Virgil kept the kiss for as long as he could – but soon Logan’s hands left his cheeks and his lips felt cold and empty.

But Logan leaving meant Virgil could sleep some more before his workday began. He couldn’t remember exactly what his dream was about, but it was something involving Logan being utterly adorable and perfect. When Virgil’s alarm beeped, he groaned and moaned, sitting up and preparing for his work day himself. The thing that kept him sane was that Logan will be returning in the evening with stories to tell and hugs and kisses to give.

*****

It was early afternoon and Virgil was having a break between two therapy appointments to make himself coffee and stand idly in the kitchen. There was nothing else to do in the two bedroom house when he had no visitors or Logan. It was too quiet.

There was no noise in the entire house but Virgil’s own sigh. Sometimes he missed the days he had roommates but now he was an actual adult and no-one his age slacked adult commitments just to lie on the sofa for eight hours and watch TV like his flatmates did in college. Work just took too much of adults’ lives.

Sometimes he wished he still talked to his family so he could invite his parents to live with him and his husband – they had the money and room to do that. But unfortunately Virgil’s parents had not spoken to their only son since he came out in college. He could see his neighbours, but they also didn’t understand him that much as they were all families with quite a few kids and that’s all their world view was. They had no common interests. The more he thought about it though the more he realised he needed somebody to talk to on days like this when his husband was at work.

Virgil didn’t realise he had been staring at his coffee for around five minutes until he heard a knock on the door. The knock wasn’t the sharp type the door knocker made so was probably the type of knock made by a fist. He paused, wondering if Logan had returned early and forgotten his house keys – but there was another knock again. The clock showed his next patient wasn’t due to arrive for another hour, and they knew the common courtesy wasn’t knocking at the front door anyway. Yet another knock came – Virgil couldn’t help but open the door.

At first Virgil looked straight ahead, only to see nothing, and then he looked down. Staring up at him was a round-faced curly haired toddler sucking his thumb and swaying slightly. Virgil looked up again and stepped past the young child, looking out to the nearby street and shouting. “Hello? Anyone lost a kid?” He projected his voice as loud as possible and expected a frantic parent running up to him and thanking him – such a situation had happened before in public spaces when he was in view of curious wondering kids. “Hello?”

There was a tug on Virgil’s sweatpants and the young child was looking up at him again. “Where’s your Mom or Dad kiddo?” Virgil knelt down to be level with the young boy who was wearing a light blue t-shirt and jeans, he also had huge black glasses that gave the man a slight remembrance of his husband’s appearance. The boy looked around and then dragged his thumb out of his mouth.

“Mommy goed bye-bye.” He said simply, pointing down the street that lead to the exit of the cul-de-sac. That’s all he said though – and that lead Virgil even more confused and wondering how such a young kid got to his doorstep.

“I guess I need to call someone to pick you up.” Virgil sighed, sitting on his driveway and watching the toddler from the corner of his eye. The child didn’t seem to care about his lack of mother and was wondering around the driveway picking up nearby rocks. “What’s your name kid?” Virgil shouted at the toddler, for a moment he looked confused and then shouted back ‘Patton’. When asked his age Patton held up two fingers – also with short hesitation. Within the hour a social worker collected the toddler, took Virgil’s details, and just like that Virgil was left alone and in silence again to continue his work.

*****

At 6pm Virgil was cutting vegetables to cook dinner, expecting Logan home any time soon. He missed his husband a lot today. Just as the chopped vegetables were added to the stew the door opened and a tired Logan walked through. “Evening Starlight… Oh, what’s for dinner?” Logan smiled, placing his briefcase by the door and giving Virgil a kiss.

“How was work?” Virgil chirped with a smile as he glanced into Logan’s brown eyes. Beautiful doe shaped eyes that Virgil adored… And that reminded him of a toddler he met that day.

“Definitely entertaining as always.” Logan’s words were laced with sarcasm but his gaze laced with love. “Apparently my proposal of equal pay for our young workers was too outlandish for the financial accountant that graduated high school in 1976. Even better – he disregarded student debt because ‘kids should learn budgeting’.”

Virgil scowled along before trapping his husband in a kiss. Logan kissed back eagerly and leant in, leant in so far that Virgil fell against the counter. “Pff… OK I don’t want to burn myself sweetheart.” Virgil kissed his husband’s cheek chastely and smiled, turning back to the food he was making even though Logan wasn’t letting go yet. “Have you missed me today?”

“I always do.” Logan’s arms went around Virgil’s waist as he watched him cook with fondness. He wanted to take off his tie and get changed into comfy clothes but he didn’t want to let go of the cutie in front of him. He had to pinch himself to believe he was cuddling into a handsome man like Virgil at night.

It was a comfortable silence for a few minutes until Virgil served dinner, setting the simple meal on the dining room table and lighting the nearby candles just for the hell of it. Sometimes it was nice to just make a romantic evening out of nowhere. Logan’s small smile watching the display of affection was beautiful. “How was your day Starlight?” Logan murmured, his cheeks resting on his fist as he sat, glancing up at the love of his life.

Virgil giggled as he sat opposite his husband and rolled his eyes. “Eventful, actually. I found a kid on our doorstep.” Logan looked up from his food hearing that and gave a confused expression.

“Did you let them in? The place doesn’t look too wrecked…” He looked around the house from where he was sat just in case a child would pop out of nowhere. It was communicated in their six years of marriage that they would never need to expand their family. Logan wasn’t that fond of kids and even less fond of mess – so pets weren’t living in the household either. It was just Virgil and Logan and they enjoyed it that way.

A soft smile escaped as Virgil stirred his stew. “No, social services collected him, everything seemed fine. I won’t lie that he was cute though. He looked like a little version of you.”

“Really?” Logan raised another eyebrow again, taking a sip of his stew before speaking in his usual gentle voice. “I’m pretty sure Roman will tell me if he birthed another crotch spawn – that’s the only way a child could have any resemblance to me.”

Deep inside both men knew Logan didn’t mind his nieces and nephews. It wasn’t the type of adoration where Logan treated the kids as his own since there were three of them and one of him, and all of them had Roman’s energy levels. But Logan did love his little brother that spawned them and tolerated the high number of kids if it made his brother happy. ‘That’s what a big brother’s job is’ he’d say, ‘he helped me during my tough time so I’ll repay by showing his kids they have an extended family to rely on if anything were to happen’. Yeah – Logan could get quite dark in his inner monologues. But like everyone else Roman lived far away from the couple, further from the city, so Virgil didn’t see them that often either.

“That tasted delicious darling.” Logan chirped, a wide smile on his face as he wiped his chin. After finishing his meal he placed his bowl in the dishwasher and grabbing a dessert of Crofters jam. He sat by Virgil and kissed his cheek. A few fingers traced down Virgil’s neck as he turned his head. “Are you busy at all tonight?”

Logan’s lips tasted of strawberry jam and his smile was irresistible. That night ended like most of the others – lots of cuddles as they slept and they whispered to each other how much they love each other as if it wasn’t allowed. Even if Virgil had lonely days he would never change his life because of the evenings. The evenings were irreplaceable.

Chapter Text

“Yes, I’ll download TikTok.” Virgil laughed as he faced one of his teenage patients, a smile on his face as he watched the young teen finally open up about the friends they met online that were much better than the friends they had at school. They knew everything about the online world and about every app so they diagnosed their therapist as a TikTok lover. “Does next Wednesday sound good? When’s your robotics club this year?”

Virgil was just finishing his session when he got a phone call from the local social services. Luckily his patient had only just left so he could answer the call, he sat on the bay window in his therapy shed and hugged a leg as he listened in. He was needed when he was next available to give a witness statement about Patton – his mother still hadn’t been located.

So of course Virgil got in the car straight away to the office he was told to go to. It was a police office Virgil knew well as there were a few therapy offices inside that Virgil used to work in during his grad school placements. Now he was happy he worked at home and didn’t have to deal with the awkward co-worker chatter.

There was one person that stayed at this particular therapy office after the placement, so while he was waiting for the police officers Virgil gave his friend a visit. “Hey Em?” He called as he walked into the one therapy office with lights on – a play therapy centre. The room was decorated in pink clouds and Steven Universe posters so it was definitely his friend’s office.

And almost immediately Emile appeared from a corner and ran up to Virgil for a hug. “Oh my God Virgil! What are you doing here?” He cheered with the usual wide smile on his face. Emile and Virgil were best friends when they were training together – they never lived together as Emile was already married to the college campus barista when they met but they treated each other like brothers nevertheless.

Before Virgil could explain what was going to happen he heard a familiar little voice run up to him too. “Hi-Hi!” The little voice shouted and tugged on Virgil’s jeans and staring up at him again was Patton.

“Oh – Do you know this man Patton?” Emile cooed and knelt to Patton’s height with his usual smile. Patton nodded excitedly and sucked his thumb again as he swung side to side.

“He found me!” Patton said proudly, only pulling his thumb out his mouth for a second but his eyes had not left Virgil since he arrived. Emile’s face immediately pulled a wider smile and a gasp. He ushered Patton away to carry on playing before excitedly whispering.

“You’re going to foster him? That’s what’s in the plans for little buddy at the moment – oh I can’t wait to see you take such a fatherly role!” Emile was almost bouncing but Virgil could only raise an eyebrow confused. He definitely wasn’t a foster parent – wasn’t there a load of paperwork to sign before that? And the idea Virgil would be placed with such a young child seemed alien too. At least teenagers had an adequate way to communicate. There was a reason Virgil only just passed the play therapist placement. But Emile was still chatting excitedly and watching Patton run about and chase himself with all his superhero dolls. “Virgil you’re going to be such a good guardian for the little guy. Does Logan know?”

“I didn’t know until now Em, who told you that?” Virgil eventually managed to utter out and Emile paused. It was some police officer that oversaw Patton’s care and would prefer the toddler to stay and bond with as few people as possible – and apparently Patton has already bonded with Virgil.

Patton was stood beside Virgil again and staring up at him. “Case and point.” Emile giggled shyly, trying to call Patton to his side but he seemingly refused and instead just stared. “I do think you should consider it. I certainly don’t regret fostering – I’d take this cutie off your hands if I wasn’t managing a full house.” Patton accepted his cheek squished but got even closer to Virgil and held onto his jeans. The inner therapist inside Virgil could see the toddler’s hope in his eyes looking at Virgil and confusion looking at everything else. He needed a place to stay like every child did. “Oh… I know that sympathetic look in your eyes very well!”

Virgil squished Patton’s cheek and he gave the cutest and biggest smile he could manage on his face. Such a smile meant Virgil couldn’t help but smile back. “I guess I’ll ask Logan about it.” He managed to whisper out just before he was called by the police officer to an interview room. And after he gave a witness statement, he was given the opportunity to be a prioritised foster carer of the bright eyed little boy he found on his doorstep.

*****

And soon Virgil was sat opposite Logan for dinner, soft candles lit again, the evening was just like the last week. The only change was Virgil had cooked vegetarian pasta rather than beef stew. Virgil was watching his husband intently and was trying to figure out how to phrase this life change; his worrying thoughts were paused when Logan looked up from his pasta and smiled. “You look cute sweetheart. Slightly panicked – but cute.” He giggled, making Virgil laugh slightly too and finally look away from his lover. Logan kept watching his husband with a loving look. “Do you need to talk about something?”

“I’ve been thinking…”

“Well, that’s unusual. Should I be worried?” The husband interrupted quickly as he finished a mouthful, making Virgil roll his eyes and finally lean back to relax as he communicated what he wanted – or needed – to say.

“You know I told you about that kid I found on the doorstep?” Logan nodded, his smile falling slightly but only for a moment. The change of expression made Virgil take a deep breath before continuing. “I had to give a witness statement and they… Want us to be the foster carers.”

The scoff that escaped Logan made the nervous man flinch. “Don’t worry about that Starlight, they definitely have other options. They probably just realised we’re in a two-bedroom house so they thought they could manipulate us to reach their demand.” Logan stood and cleared his plate, collecting Virgil’s too as he had stopped eating for a while since he was speaking. “I’m sure they’ll still give us updates on the kid because of the ‘sentimental value’ of finding a toddler on our doorstep. Kids just cause that reaction in people somehow…”

As Logan marched away to the kitchen to wash the dishes Virgil followed. “If we have the room why don’t we help? It’s not Patton’s fault he’s in this situation.”

The plates crashed and Logan took a deep breath. “Why are you only mentioning this after four years of marriage? What happened to our idea of being childless?” Logan almost growled as his hands grasped onto the sink. The couple had been married for four years and dating for three. During discussions of their future they agreed they’d rather focus on themselves and their careers rather than the picket fence lifestyle. This was new territory and Logan wasn’t liking the thought of it.

But Virgil was a therapist so he was used to spotting emotions in people by a quick glance. And when Virgil watched his husband angrily spit out all the negatives of having a child in their care he could only spot one thing – the scared, overly worried man he met when he got his first patient after graduating. That was the first Logan he ever saw, the Logan that feared coming out to his family and disappointing them, wanted to avoid failure at every turn so was slacking at his dream job, and he was avidly against the idea of a soulmate until he found one in the therapist’s chair.

“Logan.” Virgil found his stern voice that made the man opposite him silence immediately. “Take deep breaths for me please.” Logan did as he was told, the anger communicating through tears rather than words as he looked down. But any shame he was thinking was conquered when Virgil reached for his hands and held them, a small smile on his face as they met eyes. “As you already know, your feelings are valid. If you don’t want to foster I’ll call them up and refuse – he’s the type of kid that’s in high demand for his adorableness. So… if you want just us it will be just us.” Virgil’s kiss on Logan’s forehead made him finally smile. “I love you.”

“I love you too.” He whispered, his voice slightly raspy but the men just connected foreheads and enjoyed the silence around them. That silence was disturbed by Logan himself. “How long does it take to become a foster carer?”

“If we foster Patton we can enter the fast track and get him here in a month after some paperwork and references.” Virgil spoke clearly and slowly, watching Logan’s eyes calculating and thinking. Was he actually going to consider it? Virgil’s smile became wide at the thought, although he was trying to hide it. “And with the detail the social system knows now it’s not permanent at all. As soon as a family member is found and approved Patton returns to them.”

Logan’s eyes were wondering and exploring his mind as he held a confused look. Virgil could only be silent and grasp his husband’s hands – he tried to hide his hope but that was almost impossible. Deep inside Virgil knew his husband would be a great father if he just put his mind to it, he was already an amazing uncle even though he avoided thinking that way.

“Yes.” Eventually Logan uttered that word out before giving more clarification. “If you don’t mind, I wouldn’t mind fostering this… Patton… for a while. I want to see you happy.” One of Logan’s hands left Virgil’s grasp and instead landed on Virgil’s cheek, stroking it as Logan smiled softly at his lover.

The hurried kiss that followed wasn’t any worse than the ones they usually shared at this time of night, it was still as addicting and filled with love. This was a new step Logan feared, most definitely, but his husband’s smile made it all worth it. This was what love was.

Chapter Text

In a few days Logan had to get references to become a foster carer. Virgil already got the required references quite easily from Emile and his husband Remy that he had known since he was in his early twenties – for Logan it was more difficult. He could always ask his brother for a reference, but he also knew Roman could hit a high C in excitement if he got the news he could be an uncle too, even if it wasn’t permanent. And he didn’t want his eardrums to ring any more than they already did.

So that left Logan to ask his co-workers as he didn’t particularly speak to anyone else in his life. While some people would spout homophobic remarks if they knew Logan would be a child’s role model there was one person he knew he could ask. Their name was Janus Plato.

“Morning Lo, did the marketing department respond about the advertisement meeting?” Janus said as they sat at their desk surrounded by accounting papers and spreadsheets all over the nearby computer screen. Just like Logan Janus was a workaholic, they also specialised in finance even though Logan explored other departments too.

“I’ll get right to it… I have a favour to ask you first.” Logan was about to reveal the paperwork for foster care references Janus’ booming shout erupted from their lips.

“REMUS! THE PHOTOCOPIER IS NOT FOR… I give up with that dude.” Janus’ voice quieted as soon as they remembered who they were shouting at – the new graduate Remus Duke who was a mess to work with. He got all the work done quickly but then spent hours messing around if he wasn’t constantly supplied with tasks. “Anyway, you were saying?”

After calming his laugh Logan put the referencing paperwork on the desk. “I just need you to write a reference for me.” Logan said while Janus was distracted again by a new email. The reason they wore yellow a lot was because they had the attention span of a goldfish.

“Wait you’re leaving me?” They pouted and moaned once they answered the email all before actually looking at the piece of paper in front of them. Once they read it their eyes widened more. “You and Virgil are being parents?”

“Guardians.” Logan corrected quickly, holding his hands together behind his back as he waited for the paper to be signed and then he can figure out who else to ask. Janus raised an eyebrow quizzically and scoffed before starting to write. “It isn’t a permanent placement. I can’t do that kind of non-work commitment.”

Janus rolled their eyes and scowled playfully again, signing everything quickly before moving onto yet another spreadsheet they had to create. “You’ll be a great Dad someday Lo, don’t disregard it for your pri-REMUS!”

Just like a dog Remus came bounding over with a smile on his face and proudly holding a piece of paper in front of him. Janus looked displeased with a raised eyebrow and stern eye contact. “Hey Janus, hey Logan.” He giggled, keeping the paper close to his chest. Janus looked displeased when they said hello but Logan tried to sound more cheery – he remembered what it was like being a fresh newbie after the hecticness of college and he wanted to be as welcoming as possible. “You want a picture of my pretty face?” The piece of paper was revealed to be a scan of Remus’ acne face with a hectic smile after he face-flopped on the photocopier. Even though the picture seemed undesirable Janus took the picture and stashed it beside the recycling bin. Remus looked overjoyed even though the artwork was almost definitely going to be rubbish by the end of his shift.

“Can you go check with the marketing department about the 4:20pm meeting?” Janus commanded their lackey as they handed back the foster reference, but Remus looked more interested in what Logan was handing around.

“Can I sign that thing?” He said excitedly, almost jumping. “What is it?”

“It’s a foster parent reference form.” Logan always tried speaking softly with Remus. He was a bit chaotic at times, but Logan understood that chaos. The college alumni was becoming an adult and his childhood was becoming a distant memory – when Logan was entering that part of his life he was nervous to the core. When he was in that spot himself the businessman wished he had an older and kind mentor to put up with his weird habits and help him into adult life. Maybe Remus was like his kid in a workplace relationship even though there was only a ten-year age difference…

The second form was snatched out of Logan’s hands by Remus and he filled in all the boxes with his usual excited smile. Logan wasn’t sure if the social services would accept Remus as a reference but only time would tell with that – and Remus’ scrawny handwriting was everywhere on the form. But the form was eventually handed back and Remus ran off the wrong way to the marketing department.

“You better not raise a kid like Remus.” Janus laughed with some disappointment still in their tone. “He’s hell.”

“He’s not that bad.” Logan smiled softly, watching Remus run the opposite direction so he could actually get to the marketing department. “I should actually get to my own work though.”

*****

Virgil had just dismissed his last patient of the day and it was only an hour until Logan returned home. It was his favourite part of the day, the silence wasn’t that torturous, and his eyes didn’t leave the clock until Logan opened the front door. His only distraction was the amount of paperwork he had to fill in as he’d procrastinated until now.

Instead of Logan opening the door though there was a knock – from the knocker so he didn’t have to worry about another lost kid. He opened the door straight away and at the other side of the door was a smiling Emile in his usual fluffy cardigan and holding a giant pastel pink box. “Hi bud! Have you prepared Patton’s bedroom yet?” Emile marched in with the box and turned, only tilting his head when Virgil looked confused. “You haven’t? Well, good thing I brought all his toys!”

Emile marched further into the house and asked for directions to the spare bedroom. “Was I meant to do anything with the room?”

“Well, you need to put a baby-gate at the top of these stairs – Patton is very clumsy.” Emile continued to list off childproofing techniques that the social workers had also suggested the week previous. They were on a list somewhere and delivery of the childproofing materials was happening ready for move in day.

The door to the spare bedroom was eventually opened and Emile got a wide smile. “Oh it’s blue! That’s Patton’s favourite colour!” Blue was Logan’s favourite colour too – that was why the entire house was either blue or purple. This particular bedroom had white walls with either baby blue or birch furniture/accessories. Logan was very proud of himself when the couple designed it. “Do you have a plan to get rid of the grown up bed?”

“We have a toddler bed here.” Virgil wondered to the corner of the room where the frame and bedding of a toddler bed was stored in the closet. Emile examined the frame in silence and gave the smile of approval. “We won’t move the double bed though, is that OK?”

“As long as he doesn’t get on it, it should be fine!”

Virgil enjoyed having Emile visit and tell Virgil all about Patton’s toys. Emile was an expert at toys and children’s shows after all. It seemed like Patton had a lot of animal toys as well as stereotypically ‘feminine’ toys like dolls and play kitchens (the play kitchen was too big for Emile to carry though). “You’ll love him Vergie, trust me, you will. He’s so excited to see you.”

And in all honesty Virgil was excited to see the little toddler again, as he hadn’t since he gave his witness statement. It was Logan he was probably worried about the most. Sure, the pair had agreed becoming Patton’s foster parents were a good step but Virgil’s anxiety was trying to convince him the worst would happen. Logan would panic about everything and hate living with a child, and he’d hate his life and ask for divorce. Virgil would hate if that were to happen.

The front door opened and a shout was heard downstairs from Virgil’s amazing husband. “I’m home My Star, where are you?”

“We’re in the spare bedroom Logie!” Emile shouted back, probably spotting Virgil’s anxiety as he was setting up the toddler bed beside the double bed. When Virgil got anxious he often went on a silent autopilot so Emile was used to stepping in and speaking for him. The noise of footsteps came up the stairs and soon Logan was stood in the doorway with a soft smile. “Patton would love this blue bedding!”

There was an undeniable proudness in Logan’s eyes as he looked around the room. He had already removed and hidden all the glass decorations and expensive objects but now seeing the room covered in toys seemed alien. Alien but interesting – like finding extra-terrestrial life. But he sat next to Virgil on the floor and wrapped his arm around him, kissing his cheek. Virgil just quietly examined the toys he was given. “Well, I hope while he’s here we can keep him safe and adequately happy. He doesn’t need any extra stress being away from home.”

“Who says he isn’t finding his home here?” Emile cheered, but both men opposite him only paused and Logan’s arm grabbed onto Virgil tighter. “Oh, don’t get me wrong. He’s not permanent for now – but it’s always possible we can’t find a family and he has to stay in your care.”

“When we come to that we’ll come to it. That wasn’t in our agreement with you or each other.” Logan snapped quietly, staring down at a horse toy in a stable dollhouse. Luckily Virgil was stroking his hand to calm him and that made Logan’s heart flutter. Emile moved on quickly and gave the men a few more warnings and advice before leaving. For the rest of the evening and night Virgil and Logan cuddled up to each other, talking through the things they needed to do before Patton arrived when they were happy to, but mostly they were held against each other and kissing.

That night Virgil was being an insomniac (as usual) and facing his husband during the dead of night. He liked doing that a lot when Logan was asleep, he just looked so peaceful and happy when he dreamt. “I love you.” Virgil whispered to his fast asleep husband with a smile, giving him a chaste kiss as a reward. “Patton will love us too.”

Logan’s took a deep breath in his sleep as he brought an arm around Virgil’s waist and pulled him even closer. That simple sleepy action reassured Virgil he was never going to be single again. This was the best way his life could have been written.

Chapter Text

This day was one of the rare days Logan had no work and Virgil had no external meetings to attend. He even had no therapy appointments in fact – because it was a very special day today. The day Patton was moving into the married couple’s house.

As Virgil was trying to wake himself up with a cup of coffee, leaning on the counter and facing the window to the garden, he felt a warmth wrap around him and a kiss on the cheek. “You’re up early sweetheart.” The warmth whispered as Virgil felt fingers brush through his freshly washed hair. He leant into the soft touches and smiled, receiving yet another kiss on the cheek. It wasn’t that early – it was 11am – but Logan was still sleepy and very cuddly as he was working late the night previous. “How did you sleep?”

“Quite well actually, I’m quite excited for you to meet Patton.” Virgil faced Logan to smile but Logan looked less pleased – or just tired. He only cuddled more and buried his face in Virgil’s neck. The warmth was delightful to have, even better than the coffee Virgil was still holding. “Wow – you must be tired babe.” Virgil held his coffee with one hand so he could raise his lover’s hand from his waist and give it a kiss. “You’ll be dressed by the time Patton’s here right?”

Logan tiredly revealed his face and mumbled an agreement under his breath, nudging Virgil’s face to the side to give him a peck of a kiss. “Luff you.”

“Love you too.” Logan smiled so cutely when he heard those words just like he smiled during the wedding day. He gave another soft kiss and smiled at his husband for a long moment. “Don’t worry about Patton, OK? We’ll do great.” After another sleepy and slightly sloppy kiss Logan finally let go of his husband and marched upstairs to shower and get changed. Virgil made his way to the home he’d pick Patton up from in the late afternoon.

*****

The place Patton was staying looked like a normal house – but it was a group home for very young kids. Eventually the social worker let Virgil into the house where three toddlers were playing together in the living room – another was being held and fed baby carrots. “Patton has not shut up about being with you.” The social worker giggled as she showed Virgil around the small house. They went up some stairs and entered a small room with two beds in. And on one of the beds was a smiling Patton.

“Mr Ver-gill! Hi-Hi!” The toddler jumped off his bed and ran over, his arms reaching up and his smile contagiously cute. Virgil couldn’t help but pick him up and as soon as he was in Virgil’s hands Patton pointed back to his bed. On the bed was a small blue suitcase packed to the brim with Patton’s clothes and personal belongings. “I missed you!”

“Are you excited to come to my house bud?” Virgil asked the toddler who was fascinated looking around the room with his thumb in his mouth as if he’d never seen the room before (even though the social worker assured this place had been his home for a month). If Patton liked this room he’d probably love his room in Virgil’s house where there were dozens toys and everything was meticulously cleaned as Logan was a neat freak.

The toddler nodded shyly and held onto Virgil’s t-shirt as he held his suitcase. The social workers waved him goodbye as he was leaving and he waved back, shouting ‘bye-bye’ and asking if his big-person-friends can come for playdates. “Oh course they can Patton.” Virgil squished Patton’s cheek as he buckled him into the blue fluffy car seat also given by the social workers. Patton still looked so excited and asked many questions about where Virgil lived.

“Do you have a wife Mr Ver-gill?” Patton eventually chirped after telling Virgil how he’d love to be in a house with millions of pets so he could be raised by wolves like the boy in the Jungle Book.

“I have a husband, his name is Logan.” Patton silenced at that, probably trying to comprehend a man having a husband in his little head. It wasn’t his fault he probably had a lack of exposure to different families – hopefully staying with Logan and Virgil for a while will help him conclude that gay people were no different than others and could be great parents.

“Is Mr ‘ogan nice Mr Ver-gill?” Patton said again with a thumb in his mouth, fiddling with the cat t-shirt he was wearing. Virgil couldn’t help but smile at him through the wing mirror at the little cuteness he was bringing home. Even if it was only going to be for a little while.

“He’s very nice! And you don’t have to call us Mr – Logan and Virgil will do.” Patton nodded excitedly at that but stayed silent, watching the road beside him with all the buildings zooming past as the car travelled from the city to the outskirts. The toddler was swinging his legs a little as he was fixated on the window – the kicks hit Virgil’s chair slightly but unlike he thought before, he didn’t mind. As long as Patton felt happy and safe.

Patton seemed amazed by his new house, looking at it as if it were a castle in a fairy-tale even though he’d seen the house before. That was probably the same reaction he first gave when he suddenly appeared in the driveway before Virgil knew of his existence. He kept close to Virgil with his thumb in his mouth, and as soon as he reached the front door he knocked. But unlike the first time Virgil was there to open the door for him before fist hit wood.

Inside the house Logan was sitting on the living room sofa with his laptop (probably typing an email, he never escaped work). Patton must have been scared, or at least nervous, as he ran back to Virgil as if asking the man if it was alright to go forward. Once he was ushered he walked into Logan’s view. Logan only raised an eyebrow and placed the laptop off his lap. “Hello.” He said simply, but Patton would not look at him.

It was only when Virgil knelt down that Patton risked a look at the strange new man. “This is my husband kiddo, Logan.” The man chirped, smiling at his husband who tried to copy the smile back. Logan had yet to smile at the nervous little kid though. “Do you want to introduce yourself to him?”

Patton shook his head again and got even closer to Virgil. “Alright…” Virgil thought for a moment, looking around the room. At the corner of the room was a toy chest the couple had bought under instructions of the social worker – a blue box with dolls and cars as well as a doctor-teddy playset. “Do you want to play in the corner over there?”

Luckily Patton was quite an independent player so he seemed pretty entertained with his dolls while Virgil cuddled up to his soulmate. Logan was always willing to bring an arm around him as he watched Patton play and explore around the room without looking at anyone. “I told you I’m not destined to be a father.” He whispered softly, reminding Virgil of one of the many panicked rambles that passed through his lips before this moment.

“Give him time.” Virgil whispered back, kissing Logan’s cheek and waving at Patton as he walked past. He was like a cat, exploring every corner and wall before feeling secure in the room.

So the couple did give Patton time to settle and play (although he did encourage Virgil to join in on his games before he had to do some work). At dinnertime Logan was cooking some mac and cheese, putting it into the oven and watching Patton chat and play. He was telling Virgil about a story he read and pretending he was a superhero and Virgil was grinning wide and encouraging him. Virgil actually looked happy about this, and Logan never wanted to rid Virgil’s happiness. But since he wasn’t good with kids… Did that indicate an end to their relationship? No, that was illogical. He loved Virgil and Virgil loved him. There was only one last thing to try.

Logan knelt nearby Patton once he fully occupied himself in his superhero game: being both the villain and the hero. He grabbed a princess doll that had been abandoned on the floor and copying Patton’s actions. The toddler seemed interested in this older man playing with him. “You can be the damsel ‘ogan!” He shouted, bringing the hero doll in front of the princess doll and making all sorts of cackling noises. “Imma get you!”

“Oh no! Please save me hero!” Logan put on a high pitched and slightly whiny voice that was unusual for him but Patton seemed to bounce off it, saving Princess Lily-Pad from the evil Frog Prince. And Virgil seemed to enjoy watching them too from the side-lines as he was smiling with a hand on his chest. He felt as proud of Logan as he would a son, but he was watching his soulmate play with a little version of him. Almost like a little son… No, Patton wasn’t a permanent placement so he shouldn’t think like that. Even if it was adorable.

Before Virgil realised where he was in the real world he saw Patton in front of him with a wide smile. “You can be Superman!” He gleamed before running back next to Logan and being the mean bad guy. A cute, mean bad guy though. The three could only play for a few minutes before the timer beeped and mac and cheese was ready for the family to enjoy.

*****

The dinner was a lot earlier than other dinners the family had before, and soon after dinner Patton began winding down and not being as hyper. Logan organised what pyjamas Patton should wear while Virgil bathed and brushed the toddler’s teeth (even though he demanded more chocolate and that request could be heard throughout the house). But the spare bedroom was quiet as Logan searched through the wardrobe – he didn’t even think clothes could get so small. Sure, Patton was small for his size, but these clothes were tiny. Eventually a fluffy white pair seemed to suffice, and a sleepy Patton was being carried by Virgil into the room. “OK, this is your room bud and our room is right next door.” He pointed to the door of the other bedroom and Patton gave him a sleepy nod. “Don’t be afraid to come to us if you need to. We know this is all new and scary.” As soon as the duvet covered Patton he was passed out and fast asleep.

He looked so cute as he was asleep – Virgil thought he might be even cuter than Logan. Now he finally understood why parents kissed their kids’ foreheads when they put them to bed. It seemed like the perfect situation to do something like that – but Patton wasn’t his kid. That’s what his parents should do.

“Virgil… We should go so we don’t wake him up.” Logan’s voice was far away from the sleeping child, he stood straight and looked at the toddler with only a focused look. Virgil smiled back softly and finally stood. He kissed his husband’s cheek instead of the child he was living with, then his lips with extra caution. And Logan seemed extra receptive of the lip kissing. “Good thing we still have the rest of the evening, hm?” He giggled, dragging Virgil out of the room and giving him another kiss before he could respond.

Chapter Text

Usually Logan woke up in the morning with Virgil cuddled up to him, strapped to him like a koala, getting any skin-to-skin contact he could before Logan had to disappear for the day to make an income. He always enjoyed night-time cuddles, although he’d never reveal that. It just felt so secure to have someone who wanted to get that close to you and made you so relaxed you could fall asleep. Virgil was soft and cautious when he cuddled both when he was asleep and awake – and Logan really did desire that care twenty-four hours a day.

This moment was not like all other previous nights though. As Logan slowly stirred awake he noticed the usual lump on his chest was a lot smaller and the grasp was a lot tighter. When his eyes finally opened he spotted a blurry version of the sleeping face of his foster son, Patton, lying on top of him. It had been two weeks and Logan often forgot he had a foster son. The toddler’s glasses were on and he didn’t seem to want to let go one bit. Logan could sit up at least and clear his vision with his own glasses, finding the time to be 6am, and Virgil was still passed out and trapping the man by an arm around his hips. This… was a weird situation to be in. It still didn’t feel right.

Luckily he was freed by Patton starting to stir and wake. His eyes were half lidded but he stayed clasped to Logan with a smile. “Why aren’t you in your bed Patton?” The man said simply, he wasn’t going to sugar-coat his questions just because the person he was speaking to was born the same year Prince Harry got married. The toddler yawned and shuffled a little closer to Logan’s chest.

“Nightmare…” He mumbled slowly, rubbing his eyes and yawning again. “Will I be here forever?”

“No. You’re going to return to your parents soon.” Logan managed to untangle himself from Virgil’s arm as he stood up. Patton looked less than pleased at the answer he received and sucked his thumb shyly. The pair eventually got to Patton’s room and Logan placed him in bed – but he didn’t seem to need sleep. “Do you want a bedtime story?”

“I’m hungry.” Patton said plainly, getting out of the bed and toddling around the house until he reached the stairs. The toddler stopped, staring at Logan expectantly. Virgil and Logan did have railings on the stairs but they were too high for Patton to reach and the wall was uneven. It was yet another thing the house-proud man had to change about his abode because of a small human his husband felt protective over. “Help?”

Logan did as told, holding Patton’s hand as he went down the stairs step by step. It was slow and somewhat tedious but Patton seemed to enjoy holding onto someone and was looking around the house once he reached the bottom floor. Logan wondered to the kitchen, getting a slice of toast for himself as well as a coffee because he really didn’t want to be up at this time. “I’m hungry!” Patton appeared out of nowhere again and whined. Unlike the previous day he didn’t seem to be entertained by playing on his own with the dozens of toys Emile brought for him.

“I’m making toast.” Logan’s voice showed his tiredness as he sipped his coffee, but Patton was satisfied with that answer and waited. The toaster revealed the bread and after applying his favourite Crofters jam Logan turned to the side. “Do you like toast buddy?”

The toddler nodded and tried reaching up at the spare toast that was usually reserved for Virgil (he liked cold toast). Logan found one of the plastic plates and put the toast on it, spreading butter over it. “This!” Patton shouted, trying to drag the glass jar of jam off the counter too. Logan swatted the hand away and carried the two meals to the table, placing jam on Patton’s toast too. While the toddler struggled to get on the chair at first he eventually managed it with an accomplished smile. “Why you sad ‘ogan?” Patton chirped, grabbing the toast by the jam, and speaking with his mouth full. Logan only raised his head and sighed to himself before answering quietly.

“I’m not, just tired. I’m not used to being woken up at this time.”

The two continued to eat in silence, Patton entertaining himself by rolling the plastic cup he had his juice in around the table once he drunk all of it. Should Logan be engaging with him at the moment? He knew developmentally Patton needed every moment to be a game but that just didn’t feel right for the older man to do now. He just wasn’t a father figure.

Once Patton finished eating he leapt off the chair and had his eyes on the cabinets his level under the counters. “What are you doing Patton?” Logan chimed but he was ignored. Instead the little boy opened one of the cabinets that held all the household’s pots and pans. “Patton can you not do that please?” Ignored again, Patton had one thing on his mind. The pots and pans were stacked quite delicately in there so Logan knew it wasn’t safe, but before he could stand and drag the toddler away Patton got a hold of one of the pan handles at the bottom and it all came toppling down.

Patton began crying and his scream erupted through the entire house. Logan scooped him up immediately and tried to speak over the wails, rocking the child side to side and touching the place on his head the pots and pans hit. “It’s OK, it’s OK…” Logan spoke very quietly, eventually deciding to reach into the freezer and grab a bag of frozen peas. Once the bag was placed on the toddler’s head he quieted a little but continued to lean in.

“What happened?” Virgil managed to yawn out, although he looked more panicked than tired, as he ran into the room. His eyes immediately landed in the small toddler in his husband’s arms and a weird feeling in him made him smile. “Hey Patton, everything alright buddy?”

“I’m sorry. It was a-accident…” The toddler mumbled, holding onto Logan’s night t-shirt like his life depended on it and keeping his head as still as possible. Virgil kept quiet, brushing his fingers through Patton’s hair slightly and keeping an adorable smile. He looked adorable at every facial expression he pulled though.

“There’s no need to be sorry kiddo.” Virgil was such a natural therapist – even when he woke up less than five minutes ago. He had large bags under his eyes and a yawn escaped almost every sentence but he continued to reassure the nervous toddler. “Just tell one of us if you feel a little poorly OK?”

Patton nodded shyly, turning into Logan’s neck and accepting the half-tried cuddle Logan gave. Virgil kept an eye on the toddler but used it as an excuse to sleepily cuddle into his husband too. And, with no falsehoods, Logan found it nice. He’d prefer to just have Virgil but this would do. After a few minutes the toddler spoke again. “I’m sleepy…”

Finally – Logan could sleep again. Although Virgil was cautious, like he always was, the couple eventually placed Patton back into his soft light blue bed and went to bed themselves. And after a few cuddles and kisses and ‘I love yous’ they drifted off to sleep for the two hours until Logan had to head off to work.

*****

Before long Virgil was sat in his office facing one of his regular patients: a mother of two young kids. When Virgil didn’t have Patton he found himself feeling out of place around the kids conversation as a lot of his patients were parents. This particular parent was a mother, and luckily she loved being a mother and was just entering therapy to help and inspire her kids. Now, he Virgil felt like he could open up more around her and she was an amazing role model.

“Aww he looks like such a cutie!” The woman cooed as her therapist revealed a picture of Patton. “Are you sure you’re not keeping him?”

Virgil shook his head, he had been asked that question a lot already and he only had the toddler for a few days so far. At this current moment said toddler was stored away indoors – he had been placed for an early afternoon nap before this appointment so he wouldn’t be disturbed.

“Anyway..." Virgil had to continue his job, but he looked at the picture of Patton with a smile for a second. "Tell me about Ava’s science fayre!”

The patient excitedly chatted about her oldest child’s science fayre, and Virgil was fully involved in the conversation until he heard a knock on the French windows. The person speaking immediately stopped and gasped. “Is that the angel? Oh… He doesn’t look right…”

Patton was very pale and very shakey, a small pout on his face and he was obviously snuffling. Virgil opened the door quickly and knelt down. “What’s wrong kiddo? You’re not in trouble whatever you say.” He whispered, stroking the tears falling down the child’s cheeks as he reached out for the man in front of him.

“I had a nightmare.”

Virgil looked back to his patient who let him go hearing Patton’s small mumble, she cooed about how cute the toddler was before the pair went into the house and up to the little boy’s bedroom. “Do you want another bedtime story or can I just tuck you in and go back to work?” At this moment Virgil wasn’t concerned with being a good parent and instead getting paid. This was probably the first time in years he had been distracted from work and he wasn’t ready to see what would happen if the distraction lasted too long.

“I’m sorry…” Patton mumbled, sitting up and cuddling his legs instead of lying down happily like he had the night and morning before. Virgil sighed and sat at the end of the bed with him. “I can do it myself…” He eventually whispered – although he still looked completely shellshocked and not sleepy at all.

The therapist smiled and accidentally let a ‘thank God’ escape him lips as he really wanted to get back to work – but luckily Patton didn’t hear. He thought he was facing away from the toddler but Patton seemed to have a look of doom as Virgil walked away, then looked down and sucked his thumb. He hugged even tighter into himself as if he had nothing else to hold onto to reassure himself. The toddler wished he did though. At moments like this all Patton wanted was someone to hold and tell him everything was alright and he wasn’t bad. But Virgil must think he’s bad now, right? He disturbed the big man’s chat with the person that needed him…

But as tears began flowing Patton was scooped up by Virgil’s soft arms. “I know, I know…” He mumbled, stroking a hand through Patton’s hair and waving him side to side. The toddler was scared to speak and just hugged into the man who held him some more. Being held was a new feeling and he didn’t mind it. “I know you’re scared, and I know you’re annoyed at yourself for being scared at a nightmare but you have no need to be! It’s still a totally normal and valid way to feel though.” Virgil’s voice was so soft to listen to – it was a trait Patton adored. He could listen to his voice forever and ever!

“How about we play together while I work in my office?” Eventually Virgil said the question that made Patton smile wide. Virgil’s work room had a lot of toys and books the therapist used for his patients and Patton always wanted to play with them but he wasn’t allowed because the shed was always locked. And Virgil’s patient didn’t mind letting the little boy toddle about. The toddler took quite a bit of Virgil’s attention but he didn’t mind as long as he was smiling. By the time the patient left Patton was sat on the therapist’s lap as they sat together on the bay window – Virgil reading a story to the toddler about frogs.

Chapter Text

"So... How are you finding fatherhood my friend?" Janus collapsed on their friend's desk with a cheeky wink, facing a tired looking but focused Logan. They were definitely enjoying the experience of seeing their friend in this state, and they hadn't yet had the chance to quiz their friend on the joys of parenthood as the stern-faced businessman had been on paternity leave for a couple weeks.

Logan sighed for a second and rubbed his forehead. The last time he was tired like this was the day after his wedding day. "It's not fatherhood – just a foster placement. He's sweet though." Janus was a chuckling mess, probably because they were far away from Remus, but they were equally excited to see their best friend enter the stereotypical next step of adulthood. "He woke me up earlier than my clock – wanted some toast or something."

"Sounds like a cutie to me." Janus mumbled, bringing out a lunch from their bag which made Logan tiredly raise an eyebrow. In all the chaos of the previous morning Logan forgot to make himself lunch and forgot to stop at the train station (most of the time he drove to work, this time he didn't want to be a danger to society and took public transport) to get himself some food.

For a second Logan sighed and softly facepalmed his desk, staring at his emails before logging off. "I have to clock out and get food. Not heading home until later."

"I'm coming with, I need to hide from Remus." Janus smiled and packed up their things, also standing. The new employee had been hidden for the entire of the day thus far – Logan only saw him once when he asked for more doodle paper. "There's a pop-up market in the food district. I heard the reviews are great."

It was nice for Logan to wonder around the market with his best friend at his side, not having to worry about making sure an extremely clumsy toddler didn't die. Janus found a Hungarian food stall and had some langos and Logan found a Japanese stall for some sushi – and the pair sat opposite each other of a table chatting about the random things they always chatted about. "I know kids are clumsy as fuck." Janus spoke while they stuffed their face with cheesy bread. "Any funny stories about Pat yet?"

"He hit himself with pans the first morning I had him." Logan mumbled, still feeling the tiredness. He was so tired he had given up with using chopsticks (a skill he mastered in childhood due to his upbringing) and instead resorted to a wooden fork that made the fish taste odd. "He went back to bed straight away luckily – after a crying fest – but he didn't seem too majorly hurt."

"Pff – only the best foster parents cause their toddlers to get injured on the first day."

The smile cleared off Logan's face. Janus was right in his sarcastic sentence - it didn't seem well if two new foster parents gave Patton an injury on the first day. It could even be misconstrued, and Virgil and Logan could hold serious criminal charges – especially Virgil. He could destroy Virgil's life because he was so tired and stupid in the morning... And now he was panicking just like Virgil would do. "I'm sure it will be fine Lo." Janus mumbled, giving their friend a soft smile and quickly moving the conversation onto another topic. "Want to get anything while you're here?" Janus chirped, looking around at all the stalls around them. This market only appeared once of twice during the summer and sold lots of different things from food and sweet treats to clothes and stationary.

"Virgil would want something..." Logan spoke softly, calming himself down and examining everything around him. "He has a sweet tooth for dark chocolate, and if I get him a new hoodie he'd look so adorably happy, oh what if I get him a new eyeshadow palette?"

Janus laughed at their friend's freaking out over his husband. When together they acted like an old married couple but when alone Logan freaked out about Virgil like they were middle school crushes. It was utterly adorable. Logan was forgetting about one new member of his family he needed to account for though.

"And Patton? Your son?" Logan paused in his tracks and looked confused for a second before Janus corrected themselves. "Your foster son. He should get something too."

"Yes, of course." The man mumbled, looking at the nearby stalls again, he had no idea what any kids would enjoy. But out the corner of his eye he could see a crochet store – decorated in pastel greens, blues and pinks with everything made out of some kind of knitting. After eating Logan made his way over there. There were so many little toys and trinkets, all handmade with love.

"Ooh, you two have a little one at home?" A woman in a rainbow knitted jumper cheered, facing two men wearing pride flag pins (Logan gay, Janus non-binary and aromantic) – so the mistake was easy to make. Janus scoffed playfully, shaking their head and smirking at their friend so the shop keeper got the idea.

"My mate here has a new kid in the house – do you sell any teddies?" Janus spoke for Logan as he had no idea what to say, and the lady nodded. She explained there were many different animal plushies and listed at least 30 different animals from make believe ones like unicorns and dragons to animals Logan didn't believe kids would want teddies of like a dirty rat or spider. If Logan was a child at this moment he would have adored the unicorn to the moon and back – but Patton was most likely different. "Which would Pat like bud?"

Logan examined all the teddies, they were all soft and the same price so that wasn't a concern. It was a shame the toddler didn't have that many belongings – only around 5 t-shirts, two shorts, and three trousers – everything else was supplied by the council or Virgil and Logan's pockets. Most of his t-shirts had some kind of animal on them: dogs, cats, rabbits, frogs... That gave the answer then. At the front of the pile lay a small frog teddy about eight inches in length – big enough for the toddler to hug but not too big that it would get dirty while Patton runs with it.

*****

The frog teddy fit into Logan's work case easily and by 3pm the businessman opened the front door of his house... To find it empty. "Star? Are you home?" He shouted across the living room. It was still silent. In days previous Logan would assume Virgil was upstairs in bed, working on his appointments and blasting Panic At The Disco through his headphones. Virgil was definitely not the type to leave the house without reason before they became parents; he was usually there for a greeting after Logan's hard day at work at least. Things would be different this time with a little excitable child at his husband's ankles. Maybe Virgil needed to go grocery shopping and took Patton – or the neighbours could have arranged an impromptu play date at the nearest park.

With one gaze into the garden Logan could finally see his soulmate – and the view he got was making him smile like an idiot. Virgil was laughing and cheering, louder than his husband usually saw, facing the toddler they were fostering who was running around after a ball. His trousers were covered in mud which meant either man had to do laundry yet again even though the article of clothing Patton was wearing was washed yesterday. That didn't matter though.

"'ogan's back!" Patton was the first to spot Logan at the sliding French doors, eventually arriving at the door after lots of excited swerves and reaching up for a hug. Fuck it, yes Patton was adorable even though he seemed a little annoying in the early morning. The toddler cuddled in when he was picked up and Virgil came closer for a kiss too.

"How was work sweet-jam?" Virgil spoke softly, his voice slightly raspy from all the shouting after the happy toddler and he seemed out of breath from chasing Patton around. It had been a long time since he had heard that beautiful raspy voice as Virgil usually preserved his voice during the day for his work. Patton seemed happy though and definitely not exhausted or sleepy – the happiness was all that needed to happen while he was here.

"It was good, how are you feeling today Patton? Does your head still hurt?" Logan brushed a hand through Patton's hair but fortunately he shook his head and his smile was wide. "That's great! What did you do today? Have you had your nap?" As Logan was talking he placed the toddler from his arms into the ground to reach into his business bag, but the toddler looked confused and he pouted and sniffled a little. "What's wrong buddy?"

The smile disappeared off the toddler's face quickly as he pouted and sniffled, tears arriving in his eyes and he seemed unsure of where to look. "I'm sorry..." The little boy whispered, immediately gathering the attention of the two men in the garden with him. But Virgil seemed to know what to do.

"There's no need to be sorry kiddo. Why are you sad?" Logan's loving husband spoke gently, standing directly in Patton's view with the soft smile Logan began to fall in love with years ago.

"Do you hate me?" The little boy faced the businessman foraging through his bag – looking even more desperate for affection now he was on the grass. He was scooped up by Virgil before he could fully cry though and clung to him like his life depended on it. The therapist really should note the clinginess down before Patton's next appointment with Emile. Virgil had no way to reassure the toddler apart from a repetition of 'of course we don't' as he watched his husband confused. Logan was being nothing less than adorable – he had a small smile on his face that Virgil recognised well but knowing the strict man's personality he was also trying to hide it. Eventually Patton quieted, also watching intrigued until Logan stood again with a small green fluffy toy. "What's that 'ogan?"

Logan smiled a devilish grin that Virgil wanted to kiss, but now wasn't the time. He was bonding with their foster son. "I got this frog at the market and I think it wants to play with you!" Yep, Logan couldn't get more adorable if he tried as he waved the frog's arms to taunt the toddler trying to reach out to it. When Virgil finally let Patton down he was overjoyed at the little toy Logan was holding as if he was holding the most precious thing in the universe.

"F'oggie!"

Chapter Text

“’ogan, ‘ogan – F’oggie want breakfast!” Patton was waiting at the bottom of the stairs for Logan to come down. It was Logan’s day off so he slept in while Virgil took care of the toddler’s morning until now.

Logan yawned as he was still half asleep and walked past the toddler to spot his husband stuffing cereal into his mouth. The therapist was dressed more formally than usual in a button-up and jeans – he looked so damn adorable right now. “Well don’t you look beautiful.” The man mumbled, trapping his lover in his embrace and glancing down at him with absolute love. “Why are you all dressed up?”

The gaze Virgil gave his husband was the look Logan married him for – large black eyes and cheeks stuffed with cornflakes. Too perfect not to kiss. But before lips met Virgil spoke.

“Do you have work today L?”

Logan shook his head, kissing his husband’s forehead and still holding him. Virgil looked relieved at that and placed the cereal box he was eating out of on the counter before wrapping his arms around his lover’s neck.

“Want to do anything before you go?” He asked innocently, tugging at Virgil’s shirt. Virgil tilted his head as if confused but that just made him look even cuter. Logan thanked the world everyday that he got to marry such an amazing man. “Make you feel a little more relaxed before you go wherever you’re going…”

Unfortunately the only attention Logan got was a peck on the lips and a whisper back. “He’s watching.” Beside the couple their toddler was gazing up at them with a wide smile and his teddy at his chest. It felt like the little boy was attached to Virgil’s hip, unfortunate for Logan’s love of touch. Another kiss landed on Logan’s cheek as he tried to give Patton a smile. “I have a training meeting today, I’ll be back in the early evening.” He said as he started untangling himself from the embrace he was in. Virgil then faced Patton with a soft smile. “You’ll take care of Logan won’t you?”

The toddler gave a large nod that made Virgil cutely chuckle and kiss Logan goodbye before leaving. After Virgil left, Patton demanded breakfast again so Logan carried him to sit on the counter and asked him what he’d like. This life was still alien to him as he was carving cat faces into jelly sandwiches but it was getting slightly easier to grasp by the day. The only problem was that this toddler under his care already seemed quite attached to his husband… And it would be fair to say that attachment was beginning to be reciprocated. Virgil was too soft. But reunification was the answer to the current predicament he was in and a deviation of that wasn’t in the cards and would never be. Logan wasn’t built to be an actual parent.

“There’s a knock-knock ‘ogan!” Patton shouted, trying to scramble off the counter and get to the front door as a knock came from the door. The toddler was irrationally excitable at that sort of sound like a puppy would be. The toddler was carried off the counter and given a plate of sandwiches to distract him while Logan answered the door.

Nobody was at the door though, the driveway was completely empty as if a phantom was the one to make the noise. “Hello? Anyone there?” He echoed, stepping forward slightly before he heard a crumple of his foot landing on something. He looked down and saw a simple letter with a decent sized box. That was weird – the postman wouldn’t disappear after delivering the mail even on busy days.

Patton appeared as soon as Logan walked back through the front door. “What that ‘ogan?” Logan ignored the toddler and instead sat on the living room sofa and opening the letter. It wasn’t addressed from anybody and only addressed to the house address rather than a specific person. Patton was immediately interested in the small box and opened it after climbing on the sofa.

It was silence as the two focused on opening their respective objects until Patton gasped and shouted. “Ka-Ka!” He screamed, retrieving an almost destroyed looking cat teddy from the box and waving it about before showing Logan. “Mommy gave me Ka-Ka!”

Logan had to pause for a second. “Did Mommy give you Ka-Ka when you lived with her?” The toddler nodded and held both F’oggie and Ka-Ka to his lips in a cuddle – then wondering off again to find more toys. This left Logan with this mysterious letter that was likely to have come from Patton’s mother… Should he wait until Virgil’s home to open it? Should he make sure Patton’s far away or should he invite him over in case he misses his mother? But before Logan could make any decisions he saw his fingers tearing the envelope he was holding to reveal what was hidden underneath it.

Dear residents of house 36,
I dropped my son off at your house because I couldn’t take care of him – and I’ve heard he’s doing well with you. He’s an amazing little boy and I miss him already.
That being said – I cannot take care of him. I cannot give details into why but please don’t report this letter or try to find me as that will not be in Patton’s best interests right now. Patton’s best interest is to be with you as you can financially and emotionally support him and his dreams.
Thank you so much for taking care of my little boy (and I hope he enjoys the rest of his life with you),
Patton’s Mom

The rest of Patton’s life… With Logan and Virgil. That’s a minimum sixteen commitment from this current moment and most likely more since Patton will of course need support beyond high school age. That’s Logan spending his fiftieth birthday shopping for prom outfits instead of preparing for early retirement and daydreaming of living abroad with his pension and soulmate. That’s Logan actually being a Dad.

Logan’s fists trapped the piece of paper between his fingers as he clenched – the paper crumbling underneath his anxiety as he stared ahead of him in absolute shock. Patton wasn’t going to his mother again. After crumbling the paper enough Logan stood and stuffed the letter in the very back of a forgotten drawer and locked it. This wasn’t going to be an issue if Logan just pretended he didn’t read it… Right?

“Why you ang’y?” Patton was beside him again, great. The toddler wasn’t looking up at him with his usual happy look though – he in fact looked scared. A normal parent would reach down and hug him and reassure him but Logan couldn’t manage that. He was too exhausted right now for this so he turned on the television to the first kid’s movie that seemed to captivate the little boy. After giving the command for Patton to stay watching TV Logan went upstairs to shower and avoid thinking about the letter.

*****

Just after lunch Logan sat on the sofa with his laptop in front of him with a spreadsheet, Patton was beside him demanding he read to him or played with his toys. “I have work kiddo, I can’t right now.” Logan repeated for the tenth time. It was just one spreadsheet he had to organise but the almost constant interruptions were really stretching the time out. Usually Patton wasn’t this demanding but maybe he was still insecure about Logan’s apparent anger – or he was used to Virgil being at his beck and call for playtime constantly. Virgil was adorable when he played with the toddler though so that expectation was allowed.

“Knock-knock!” Patton shouted as he heard another knock on the door again. Virgil wasn’t going to be back for a few hours, Logan was praying it might be Patton’s mother realising the letter was a mistake and coming to collect her kid but that was equally unlikely. When the door was opened it revealed a completely surprising visitor: Roman and one of his kids, the three year old Thomas.

“Book Germ! How are you buddy?” Logan was trapped into a hug by his little brother and placed Thomas on the floor. The boy looked around confused at all the new toys that had definitely not been there before. Even though it had been two and a half months since Patton moved in with Virgil and Logan, Roman had yet to be informed because well…

“IS THAT A CHILD?”

Yep, there it is. Roman’s constant excitement. Patton had a thumb in his mouth and was holding both F’oggie and Ka-Ka, tilting his head and watching the man that was smiling wide at him and making unintelligible squeak noises. Roman and Logan did look almost like twins but were complete opposites. And Patton seemed to understand the difference immediately.

“Hi little buddy!” Roman knelt to Patton’s height and spoke in the chirpy way he did with his own kids. Patton seemed receptive of this - but he kept his eyes on Thomas as if he was an alien. “I’m Uncle Roman! What’s your name?”

“You’re Roman.” Logan corrected quickly, standing straight between his brother and his foster son and whispering so only Roman could hear. “Patton is just a foster placement, don’t give him hope that he’ll stay when he’s going back.” Maybe if Logan said that enough it will actually happen.

Roman pouted hearing that and looked back at Patton. “Does my brother take good care of you? He’s not always Mr Strict Necktie Dude.” Patton nodded, but Thomas seemed to have enough of the introductions and dragged Patton away to play. Thomas was as extroverted as his father and was very bored with his older siblings in elementary school. He probably needed a new play-mate. “Be careful outside Tommy.” Roman called as the two toddlers made their way to the back garden, then was distracted momentarily by fixing his bisexual pin.

For a short second Logan believed all the freaking out in his little brother had subsided – but he knew his brother too well to fully believe that. Once both boys had disappeared Logan’s shoulders were grabbed and Roman looked like he was about to explode.

“What. The. Fuck.”

“It was Virgil’s idea.”

“And you agreed?” Logan tried to look as straight-laced as possible while his brother had a devilish smile. “I swear that man performs magic on you – maybe that’s why he dresses in all black as he’s some kind of witch… Good witch though. You make a good foster parent.”

For a moment Logan watched his little brother flutter on about the joys of parenthood and he wondered if it was appropriate to disclose the information given in the letter. Roman began being a parent straight out of college so he was the closest to a professional in the subject Logan had and he could give him advice on how to battle his thoughts around this new life change. The only problem with that was that Roman was one of those people that always wanted to be a parent – he spent his childhood collecting a dozen baby dolls and getting them up to feed them in the morning like he was running a cult at four years old. People never entered parenthood without any plans or desires and let it all go smoothly. It was something Logan will deal with himself.

Roman was still excitedly chatting while watching his son out in the garden kicking a ball around with Patton following. “Oh Specs he’s so cute – I bet as soon as Mom sees him she’ll say he’s exactly like you. Do you have the family photo book?”

“I haven’t told Mom about this purely because she’ll freak out as much as you.” A small smile got onto Logan’s lips watching his little brother with glowing eyes – the same glowing eyes Virgil had started to give Patton during their days together. The look he should be giving Patton if he was meant to be a father. “I think she wants more grandkids.”

The father smiled wide and whipped his head back to his brother. “You need to give me details about how Virgil persuaded you though – I need his magic power skills in my life.”

Chapter Text

When Virgil returned from his day in the city he expected to see Logan working with Patton by his side watching TV. He didn’t expect to hear a booming voice as soon as he arrived home, recognising Roman’s voice immediately and hearing two little giggles by the two brothers’ feet. “Hey Emo!” Roman shouted as soon as he heard the door open. “How was your day away?”

“Tiring.” Virgil said simply as he placed his bag down on a nearby chair, smiling as soon as he saw Patton and his new cousin Thomas play together happily. It felt sweet watching a friendship bloom between the two of them. The whole day had been quite different from previous events Virgil attended before. Even small talk – usually small talk surrounded what family each person had at home and it felt nice for Virgil to finally say he had a son and husband rather than making up a lie about being in touch with his family or pretending he was recently married. Having no kids seemed acceptable when Virgil had only just found his soulmate and gotten married in his late twenties. Now he was reaching his late thirties it was expected he had a family at home that was bigger than just his husband.

Patton’s eyes glowed as soon as he realised who walked into the living room and he was attacked with toddler hugs. “Vir-gill! Play with us!”

*****

After some time, with his husband and brother-in-law joking with each other after dinner, Virgil was taking the small toddler in their care to bed. Patton was utterly exhausted after playing all afternoon with his new cousin (Thomas had already been taken home by his mother when he started feeling a little sleepy). It was adorable watching Patton play with someone his age and talk about all his toys and games he likes to play with someone who could understand his point of view. They seemed to get on well.

“You need to let go of me before F’oggie falls kiddo.” Virgil whispered, watching Patton’s fists slowly separate from Virgil’s shirt and clutch onto his frog teddy. It was getting more difficult for Virgil to safely hold the toddler the more teddies he collected but he shouldn’t question it. The cat teddy was probably a hand me down Roman gave him as a welcome present. “Do you like your new cat teddy?” Virgil chirped, stroking Patton’s golden hair as his eyes watched his teddies half-lidded.

“I miss Mommy…”

Why did he say that? There was no training session he attended to become a foster carer that gave a tutorial to how to respond to this statement. It was too late to call Emile especially as he was in the situation himself right now – this wasn’t like the 3am panics Virgil usually had about everything. “Why?” Virgil eventually managed to chuck the question out. Patton turned to him and kept the cat teddy to his lips.

“She gave me Ka-Ka for my birthday!” He said proudly, waving one of the cat teddy’s paws. Patton might be the cutest toddler out there when he was in a happy sleepy mood.

Virgil should ask his husband about how Patton got a hold of ‘Ka-Ka’ when as it definitely wasn’t in any of the belongings he was abandoned with. He didn’t want to stress the toddler with questions like that so just stroked Patton’s head and turned on the nightlight. It was likely Ka-Ka was given by Emile if the police found something – Virgil wasn’t informed very much on the police investigation. “Night kiddo.”

“Why was ‘ogan ang’y today?” Patton chirped again, his eyes beginning to close even though he was desperately trying to keep them open. Virgil paused in place and watched the toddler for a while but luckily he seemed to give clarification. “He was ang’y when I got Ka-Ka…”

“I’ll ask him.” Virgil said quickly while sleep finally overcome Patton’s endless questions. Before Patton fell asleep completely though the therapist knew there was one thing to say. “But he wasn’t angry at you. No-one is angry at you for anything you’ve done.”

Patton sleepily nodded before beginning to snore. Patton’s mother must miss him too – he was the cutest and most affectionate little boy that you couldn’t help but love. The more time Virgil spent with the little boy the more he considered adoption, if not adopting Patton he’d love to adopt another kid in need of a home or a family.

But Logan didn’t want that. Whenever anyone complimented Patton on anything Logan would make sure the person knew that the toddler was just a ‘foster kid’. It must hurt Patton – and it hurt Virgil too. Now he had an idea of what being a father was like he really wanted it with the person he adored to the world and back.

Logan looked so happy being away from Patton. He was sat opposite his brother, sipping a glass of red wine and finishing an entire jar of Crofters jam with Roman – not surprising honestly. “Hey babe…” Virgil whispered, wrapping an arm around his husband’s waist and giving him a kiss on the cheek. “Do you really need to eat all that?” He giggled and wiped the edge of his husband’s lips before giving him a kiss.

“Ew bro you’re so gross!” Roman screamed, throwing a spoon at his older brother that hit his temple. Logan only rolled his eyes and finished his mouthful. “I swear you two need to get a room.”

Logan raised an eyebrow. “We have a room – we have many in fact.”

“You know what I mean.”

Virgil collected the plates from dinner while the two brothers chatted some more and shared jokes and taunts, going to the kitchen to wash them. It was nice to hear the two men laughing in the background – Logan didn’t laugh so loud that often unless they were alone. The man looked so relaxed and happy even though he before looked stressed taking care of Patton when Virgil returned from work.

Was it worth rubbing that smile off his husband’s face by asking about what Patton said? No, it wasn’t. Probably Patton was just a nervous toddler and Logan was just tired or something. Now that Patton was in bed it was Virgil’s time to focus on his husband and give him as many kisses and cuddles as Roman will allow. But then Roman will have to head home and he can spend the entire night feeling like the luckiest man in the world under Logan’s touches.

*****

Another day of work, another triple dozen emails to search through. At least the office was quieter than his house had become now he had a toddler. There was the low sound of casual chatter between desks and the printer or scanner moaning every few minutes but it was the kind of environment Logan loved to be in. But like all good things the businessman couldn’t make peace for long.

“Hey Lo, I need your help.” Janus said lowly in the whisper like everyone else. They seemed more concerned than usual but that might have been because of the extra stress seeming it was near a very important meeting. Logan nodded softly and smiled. “Remus seems a bit – off. I can’t find out why but you seem to have a special bond with him, can you ask him what’s up?”

The offices did seem a little too quiet, Logan just assumed the new graduate had taken the day off work. He nodded anyway and stood, following his friend, and Janus kept on chatting about how Remus had been quiet and on his phone all day – ignoring his duties. It was nice to see them actually care about the young man that Logan felt a mentorship over since he was hired.

Janus pointed to the corner of the room where a desk was covered in punk posters from head to toe (no idea how Remus managed to ever do work on it, but he did). On a swivel chair nearby Remus was looking down at his iPhone and was typing something with no expression on his face. “Hey Remus, are you alright?” Logan spoke gently and knelt to his co-worker who only looked at him and then back at his phone. “You know what work you have to do today?”

“Uh… Emails.” He responded absentmindedly, looking at his computers where several unopened emails lay – although he seemed to have no intention of going to sort it. His voice was softer this time than all the times before and he looked lost in the eyes. “Sorry Logan, I’m a little distracted today.”

Logan nodded slowly, standing up straight again before his knees hurt. “That’s alright, do you need help answering some? You really should get something done before we have to get HR involved.”

Remus placed his phone down and shook his head, dragging himself to his desk and opening the first email of the power. Logan stayed close in case his friend needed help again as he still had that lost look in his eyes. After a few minutes Remus’ phone vibrated and he immediately picked it up again. As soon as he saw Logan was behind him he flinched and apologised. “Sorry L, it’s…” He looked at his phone sadly. “It’s my little sister. She’s trying to escape a bad relationship.”

There was never a mention of a sister from Remus’ mouth before. Knowing Remus’ age this sister possibly was still a high schooler and still at home, or maybe college aged – but that didn’t affect how traumatic this whole situation was for her and her close family. Logan could only give a small nod before Remus continued his work, typing an email quickly to the head of marketing. He understood what it was like being a protective big brother so unlike a lot of people he’d accept this anxious behaviour distracting the young man from work. The businessman was about to step away but Remus seemed to want to talk about his personal life some more and that was healthy.

“I haven’t seen her in a good couple of years.” Remus said softly, looking at his phone again, Logan couldn’t help but smile at the care the young man had for his family. “I miss her.”

“I’m sure she misses you too – but I don’t want you to get in trouble for slacking.” Remus chuckled at that, turning his phone around so he wasn’t tempted by the screen. It was only then Logan felt like he could walk away from Remus and let him work – but he was stopped yet again.

“Logan?” Remus chirped, sounding a little happier, but he still kept his eyes on his phone. “Uh… My sister needs a suitcase mailed to her house but her partner will get suspicious if it’s from her family…” Remus looked down ashamed and sighed. “If I give you the case can you post it to her?”

Logan nodded and smiled softly, stuffing his hands in his blazer pockets. “Of course.” He said quietly. Remus smiled wide at that and seemed more like his usual self – a little quieter but happy. Logan stepped away from him to do his own work but he couldn’t stop thinking about Remus’ family the entire day. Logan had a lot to deal with when he graduated college, but it was mostly unresolved mental issues that he had been pushing down since high school. But Remus had serious issues doing on in this developmentally important stage too, so Logan tried to be as understandable and sympathetic as possible.

Chapter Text

In times before, whenever Logan had to do anything, he had Virgil’s hands hugging him and stroking him and giving him addictive kisses. The more time went on the less those moments happened throughout the day – they only came at night when both were tired. Not that there was anything bad about that. It just meant Logan cherished those moments more.

Logan was wrapping a suitcase in a box for his friend as he watched his husband prepare Patton for naptime. The toddler wore a cat onesie and had each of his teddies around each arm, he leant into Virgil as the man was reading a bedtime story. Virgil looked so calm doing actions like that now. There was no longer a worry about whether Patton was feeling sleepy at the right time or whether he had been adequately fed that day – it was like a sixth sense for Virgil at least, Logan still felt quite separate from his internal timetable.

Watching Virgil be so calm, a hand through Patton’s hair like he did with Logan at night, reading the last page of ‘Mrs Piggy’s Big Day’ in the softest and most beautiful tone Logan could hear. It was a memory Logan would love forever – but not because of the child on his lover’s lap. That’s what Patton’s parents should think but…

“Let’s get you to bed kiddo…” Virgil whispered, kissing Patton’s forehead and meeting eyes with Logan which made him smile more. “Isn’t he cute when we don’t have to run after him Sherlock?” He cooed, squishing Patton’s cheek and then giving his husband a kiss. Logan could only raise an eyebrow at the whole situation – Virgil seemed to be getting way too attached to the toddler for it to only be a foster placement… Had he found the letter?

Patton stirred a little in Virgil’s arms which distracted the man from his lover. “I’ll help you after I put this little guy down.” He whispered before going upstairs, leaving Logan completely in his thoughts which he still wasn’t the best at controlling. Eventually Virgil returned downstairs with his hands in his pockets and the cheeky little smile that made figurative butterflies in Logan’s stomach.

Virgil simply tilted his head and walked a step closer to his husband and Logan couldn’t keep his hands empty of his soulmate. An arm wrapped around Virgil’s waist while his other hand focused on taping the box completely shut. “You’re so sweet for doing this for Remus’ family.”

“It’s the right thing. I’d hope someone would do the same for me if I were in that situation.”

Virgil tutted and playfully slapped the nerd beside him. “I’m not that bad.” That was true, in fact Virgil was perfect and Logan couldn’t say that enough. He was glad he found someone healthy for him that made him happy rather than falling into an unhealthy spiral that he started going on when he first met the quiet therapist. Virgil’s eyes wouldn’t leave Logan as he focused on the box – it was a look of love he often held for his beautiful husband. “You should read to Patton at night, he’s becoming a bit of a bookworm like you.”

Logan paused in his place. Cogs seemed to turn in his head for a few seconds and even Virgil didn’t want to interrupt his thoughts. He then stuttered and drew a hand through his hair – letting go of Virgil in the process. “We’re not keeping him.” He eventually managed to say, accentuating the ‘not’ of course. He never wanted to even imagine Patton finding his home here whether that was for his lifetime or just a few months.

“Of course we aren’t, but he already needs validation of love.” Virgil was being a therapist again, leaving Logan’s side to get a cup of coffee (even though it was too late for that to be sensible). It was quiet and the first thought Logan had was a memory – one of childhood he preferred to keep repressed.

*****

Logan was very young when he had his first memory – maybe around five or six as Roman was a newborn. He was attentive of Roman when he was young, he often woke up early to play with the baby wherever his parents last place him.

That was where five year old Logan was in this memory, sat cross-legged in the living room facing Roman chewing his fist on the playmat and giggling at all the colours waving in front of him. Logan tried tickling him and talking to him but expected the baby to respond. “Stitch is dancing Roman!” Logan cheered, wiggling a hanging soft Stitch toy that Roman was reaching out to. The baby seemed thoroughly entertained until the two young children heard their parents start to shout.

Roman mumbled and cooed, looking down at his kicking feet that were stuck in a hand-me-down star onesie. As the screaming got louder Logan’s older brother senses tingled and he shut the open door before the baby began crying. “They’ll finish soon Roman! It’s normal for mommies and daddies to argue like this.” It wasn’t – Logan knew that now as an adult – but as a child the struggles his mother went through were usually excused as ‘usual relationship things for adults’. “Do you want to play peek-a-boo?”

The shouts got even louder but Roman was distracted by Logan’s bad attempt at peek-a-boo and that’s all the desensitised boy cared about. All of a sudden the screams stopped and the door slammed… It was quiet. Too quiet.

Luckily it only took a few minutes for the wooden door to open again and the soft smiling face of his mother perked her head through. “Were you entertaining your brother Logie?” She said proudly, noticing her kindergartener’s slightly confused expression when he heard a car drive away. “It’s alright sweetie.” Logan’s mother immediately tried distracting her sons and closed the curtains. She then sat on the floor and cradled Roman, also pulling Logan on her lap for a hug.

In the following days Logan did wonder why his father had disappeared. He didn’t see his father again until high school and even then the visits were only over a year or two so he never got a good relationship. Roman did have it worse though as he had absolutely no memories of the other half of his genetics. Maybe that’s why he was so attached to fatherhood as an adult while Logan feared the role he would play in a young life if he stepped into parenthood…

All that mattered to five year old Logan at that point was the feeling of his mother holding him in a hug, a tight hug he realised whenever he looked back, and Roman was mumbling absolutely oblivious to the momentous moment in his life.

*****

“I’m scared.” Logan eventually managed to escape his memories to say, feeling already comforted by his husband’s soft smile.

“I understand.” Virgil spoke softly, cupping Logan’s cheeks and kissing him again equally as soft. Logan accepted the kiss and wrapped his arms around Virgil again, just like he usually did. After the kiss Logan just watched Virgil as if hesitating whether to verbalise a thought that was stuck behind his lips.

Logan kissed Virgil again instead of saying anything. It didn’t take him long to talk about his struggles since his husband had built in him a happiness to unload issues. “I can’t have a kid right now, even Patton, but I love you. I adore you to the moon and back. But Patton can’t be a permanent… member of our household.” Virgil nodded at that and smiled, reaching on his toes to kiss his husband’s forehead and reassure him, and letting his hands travel down to Logan’s t-shirt and tugging on it. The small action made Logan smile like an idiot again.

“He doesn’t have to be - but we have to treat Patton as if nothing’s wrong, just calling him a ‘foster placement’ is degrading and might give him self-worth issues later.” Virgil always spoke so clearly and somewhat happily when he talked about mental health – Logan loved seeing passion in the man he loved. “And while I do love living in this big house with disposable income and an emerging retirement fund, I do not want to see such a cute little boy in my office in a decade.”

“Patton’s health is most important.” Logan whispered as he couldn’t help kissing Virgil’s nose. “Mental and physical. Just tell me if I fall out of line again and I’ll figure out how to solve it.”

Virgil smiled softly at that. He was so happy he married Logan. “I love you so much.”

*****

Late at night Logan was still awake and walking around his house with a glass of water, thinking about whether to email the sales department the next day or the operations department. As he walked upstairs he could already see Patton’s bedroom door, covered in stickers as Virgil let him do that one day. The previously white wooden door was now covered in hearts and puppies and kittens and cupcakes – it was kind of cute to be honest. Possibly it would be like that forever… or painted over as soon as the toddler gets bored of it or moves away from the home.

It wasn’t the time to worry about that though – all Logan wanted to do was cuddle up against blankets and hold his husband as if they were the same being. Fate didn’t have that plan though. “CAPTAIN F’OG!”

Patton’s voice was screaming and giggling to himself through the door, the lights were off but guaranteed Patton had still found his toys and managed to open the box on his own. For a moment Logan just stayed by the door and listened in to the toddler’s slightly sleepy happiness and innocence at life. Logan wished he was still that innocent about bad things that went beyond the big bad wolf and evil dragons.

“Captain F’og will save you Mister Katty!” Patton was shouting and obviously running around the room by the many footsteps that were sounded. But when Logan opened the door the shouting and running immediately stopped – and Patton looked petrified. “Sorry ‘ogan…” He mumbled, looking down and clutching F’oggie and Ka-Ka to his chest again.

Now was the time. Logan had to pretend to be a Dad, just to get Patton back to bed. “No, no, it’s OK kiddo! Were you having fun?” As soon as Logan smiled Patton smiled too and looked at the man in front of him as if he just did a miracle. When Logan knelt to the toddler’s height Patton ran up to him to tell him all about the game he was playing.

“F’oggie was saving Ka-Ka from Ken because he’s evil and F’oggie’s a superhero, I made this outfit for him!” Said outfit was made out of cardboard the toddler must have found somewhere during Logan’s packing. He looked proud of himself anyway. “Can you play with me?”

“Not at the moment kiddo. It’s bedtime.” Even though Patton was pouting he didn’t refuse being picked up. He even leant in and grabbed onto Logan’s t-shirt, his eyes already starting to close. Logan felt like he had to move slowly as he placed Patton on the little bed and sat with him. It was surprising how sleepy this little boy could get so quickly, but he was still awake enough to keep his half-lidded eyes on Logan. “Do you want a bedtime story?”

Patton smiled wide and wiggled a bit to sit up even though he was too tired to do so. Logan held the little boy down by stroking his shoulder and stood to the nearby cupcake-themed bookshelf that held every single children’s book Emile knew existed. “Ver-gill says you’re-r good reader.” The boy mumbled slowly and rubbed his eyes – hopefully this book reading wouldn’t last long as Logan was quite tired himself.

The toddler didn’t seem fussy on which book was read to him, he just slowly closed his eyes and listened to Logan’s expressive voice reading about rabbits and ducks and dinosaurs. Within a few minutes little snores were escaping Patton’s mouth and he seemed unresponsive when Logan stood from his bed and stroked his hair. The curtains were shut again (Logan had no idea how the small boy managed to pull them open) and quietly the adult left the little boy in peace before heading to his bedroom again.

Chapter Text

“I’ll be home by 3pm, only a short day today.” Logan spoke slowly and kissed his husband’s forehead as he grabbed his keys. It had become a routine now for Logan to be more sleep deprived than usual as he woke Patton up in the morning and often took him to bed too – Virgil made breakfast for everyone and was there for plenty of kisses and holding. But by now, almost four months into Patton’s placement with the husbands, things were more peaceful and they had a routine.

Patton seemed happier, although he was a happy child to begin with. He was still having play-dates with Emile and the police were still ‘looking’ for his mother but since Virgil and Logan had been foster parents for a while they were allowed to have a little more free time with the toddler between shifts so they could organise days out. The previous day Patton got to see some kind of Paw Patrol performance in the city and he was still excited about that – he couldn’t stop talking about it in fact.

But Logan could finally get a break from the constant parenthood once he escaped the house. He didn’t focus on the environment around him and mainly went on autopilot as he got in his car and began to drive. As soon as he left his little cul-de-sac he hit traffic and sighed to himself. “Where we going ‘ogan?”

It was a good thing Logan wasn’t going forward as both his mind and foot hit the breaks. He looked behind him and saw a little Patton smiling back at him, holding Ka-Ka and F’oggie, with his seatbelt tied correctly surprisingly. It’s a good thing Logan kept the car seat in his car.

“How did you get here?” Patton was not a quiet kid, there must have been magic surrounding this little boy for him to climb inside and buckle himself up so quickly and without Logan noticing. But the toddler looked so proud of himself as he was swinging his legs against the spare seat.

“I climbed in all by myself and did my seatbelt and I’m ready to explore!”

Logan was rendered to silence. He could turn around and go all the way home to a definitely worried Virgil and drop Patton off again but there wasn’t enough time before he was due in work for that (he had overslept) and Patton looked so excited to travel somewhere. He’d probably be too hyperactive for Virgil to handle inside four walls while he worked at home. Therefore, the best solution would have to be call Virgil to explain everything and take Patton to work for an impromptu take-your-child-to-work-day.

His boss didn’t complain when a happy, bouncing toddler came through the office doors waving at everyone in near vicinity. “I want a suit ‘ogan! Please, please, please!” The little boy was begging his accompaniment to dress just like all the people around him in smart business gear, he obviously had no idea how expensive suits were and that they probably didn’t have many options for smaller than average two year olds.

There were still a couple stares as the usually quiet Logan walked to his desk with a child that would refuse to shut up. Patton sat happily on Logan’s desk and looked at all the stray pencils, playing with them and dropping them on the floor followed by an ‘oops’, Logan was trying to concentrate on his emails for the day and wondering how to take a toddler to confidential meetings. He wasn’t completely at peace though as he heard an ‘aww’ from his best friend.

“Logan! Is this the elusive Patton you tell me about?” Janus appeared and squished Patton’s cheek. The little boy giggled at the touch and looked up at the new person with slight interest. Even though Janus was very close to Logan they were barred from seeing the new member of their best friend’s family. Janus knelt slightly to Patton’s height to talk to him. “Hi buddy! Does Logan take care of you or is he just boring? He’s not the most fun at work.”

Instead of a normal child that would giggle and tell excited stories Patton just looked at Logan silently and continued to fiddle with the pen (avoiding putting it in his mouth when Logan dragged it away). At this reaction Janus raised an eyebrow and smiled. “Is Virgil fun?”

At that Patton nodded and finally smiled, kicking his legs slightly and looking around at all the big people in suits and fun dresses again. While Logan focused on his work Janus was happily talking to the toddler from a small distance away where they sat at their desk. Eventually it got to the point Patton was walking between the two desks trying to figure out how to entertain himself since Logan didn’t bring his toys. The footsteps were rhythmic and kept the time going until they suddenly stopped. “Hi!” Cheery Patton almost shouted, waving up at Remus.

“Hey kiddo.” Remus said softly, kneeling down to Patton just as Janus did, smirking as the toddler gazed at him with excited eyes. “Which one of these nerds is yours?”

Patton pointed excitedly at Logan, running to his side. It was only then Logan looked away from his monitor and ruffled Patton’s hair. But once Logan saw Remus and Patton together he smiled – it was weirdly nice seeing two of his ‘kids’ together even though neither would be his child. But Remus was like a work child due to the age gap.

Remus and Patton were both ridiculously pale people; Remus as he seemed to detest the outdoors and Patton was most likely due to genetics as he was constantly playing in the garden. Patton had freckles dotted everywhere on his body and now Logan could see the small brown dots under the young business boy’s eyes when he saw the pair together. And although Patton wore giant glasses he did have bright blue-green eyes – Remus had hazel eyes with a green tint.

“Hang on bud, Logan’s malfunctioned.” A muffled voice eventually dragged Logan out of his thoughts as fists knocked against his forehead like he was a smooth door. Patton was giggling and holding both teddies to his lips. “There we go. Back to normal Lo?”

“Yep, yep…” Logan said after a pause, looking at Remus and Patton together again, smiling at each other as if they’d known each other for a long time. “You need help with anything?” He managed to chirp out. Remus seemed to suddenly remember he wasn’t there just to entertain a toddler.

The expression Remus gave when he remembered something was exactly like Patton’s – a wide smile and cheesy smirk. He brought out a piece of paper given to him by the finance department. “What does this mean?” He pointed at a column filled with negative and positive numbers that would seem impossible to decode for the naked eye. Once everything was thoroughly explained Remus placed the papers away again and smiled mischievously at a bored Patton waving F’oggie’s arms. “Can I take care of him today Lo?” Patton perked up as Logan nodded nonchalantly. “Okie-dokey – you want to be my junior assistant today little guy?”

Patton shouted a ‘yeah’ and just like that the two ran off to cause chaos. Janus turned their chair with a raised eyebrow and sighed. “Remus’ mischief will be double as bad now.” They mumbled, watching Remus in the distance teaching Patton how the photocopier worked. It was a short silence before they came closer to Logan and spoke again. “They look weirdly similar.”

“You see that too?”

Janus nodded, watching the two curiously. People were even approaching Remus as he supervised Patton and asked if the pair were related, maybe thinking they were brothers or something, but Patton was happy to tell everyone that he arrived with Logan. Logan would then get a confused look and a smile once they had eye contact before walking away and hiding in a meeting room. Every so often Patton would spot Logan looking at him and wave, Remus would also wave back before letting Logan (and everyone else) work in peace by getting the toddler to help him with the menial tasks the new employee had to suffer through.

“I think you’ve fostered the cutest kid in the system.” Janus laughed, watching several also relatively young employees get distracted from their work too. One of them shouted about how they’d never believe such an introvert the financial manager Logan could have such a sociable son. “Is he allowed to call you Dad? Because I’m pretty sure Dahlia will get that word out of him if she continues snooping into your parenting style.”

“The courts said that would interfere with the investigation.” It still felt alien that everyone in his work was pointing him and saying ‘Dad’ (even weirder when the courageous ones said ‘Daddy’). At least Patton didn’t seem to encourage it and looked confused, maybe even slightly scared, at anyone who asked anything about his ‘Dad’. Now was the time for Logan to interfere.

Logan came behind the most intrusive question asker, Dahlia, with a soft smile that tried to seem non-threatening. “Is he distracting you Dahlia? I have to apologise.” He said softly without any tone that sounded angry – only Virgil was a master of sounding non-annoyed though so the young PR assistant ducked her head and apologised.

Patton was sucking on Ka-Ka’s ear and looking down until Logan was level with him. Most likely Remus had left him alone for a minute to either go to the bathroom or do a task that couldn’t involve toddler supervision – but this was the first time Patton looked scared in this place. “You want to join me at my desk until Remus is back or did he tell you to stay here?”

The toddler came closer to Logan as if cowering as more co-workers came to talk to him. Yeah, this was way too much for the little boy. “It’s alright Pat…” Logan whispered, picking Patton up and giving a short glare to anyone who came close. The pair reached Logan’s quiet desk and all Logan focused on was the toddler on his lap (very unusual for him as usually once he faced his work computer he wouldn’t leave until everything was done). “Do you mind telling me what’s wrong?”

Patton shuddered and kept any material close to his mouth as a comfort, possibly regressing back to a previous state of mind from way before he met Virgil and Logan. “I don’t wanna have a Dad…” He said quietly, only quiet enough for Logan to hear. Yeah, the businessman understood that feeling. Patton cuddled in and stayed beside Logan for the rest of the day, eventually having the courage to retrieve some pieces of paper to help and waving shyly at anyone stopping by. He had a peaceful nap in the warmth of Logan’s lap and before he knew it his fun day out was done.

After dinner Patton was allowed to watch one movie while Logan and Virgil talked about their day and cleaned up. “Did you enjoy it though Lo?” Virgil laughed at his husband who was complaining about how much more people talked to him when he had a toddler under his supervision.

Logan looked into the living room where Patton was watching My Little Pony and chanting a song about unicorns. He looked so happy and excitable but that memory of the nervous little boy once he heard ‘dad’ was stained in Logan’s mind. It was the first time he saw himself in the kid he’d been living with. “He was more peaceful than I thought. He, um,” Logan paused and looked at his husband who was focused on the dishes. Once Logan revealed this unusual behaviour he knew the therapist would analyse every bit of Patton’s behaviour from then on and that could be overwhelming. “He seemed a bit scared when my co-workers started calling me ‘Dad’ around him. I’m not sure if it’s because we don’t use that here or maybe it’s something… Else…” Virgil immediately knew what Logan was alluding to and nodded, shaking the bubbles off his hands, and moving closer to give him a quick kiss.

“I’ll tell Emile when Pat visits him tomorrow.” He whispered softly, giving Logan another two kisses on both cheeks. Logan smiled at him and wrapped his arms around his lover like he always did. After yet another kiss, this time by Logan, Virgil smiled. “You did well today though. I’m super proud you didn’t freak out at him – I did when I realised he was missing.” Logan loved hearing someone was proud of him. Even better when the person proud of him was his soulmate and one-and-only.

Chapter Text

The small office Virgil sat in was completely white, but the soft chairs were rainbow colours and Virgil sat on the violet one. On the white walls were faded pictures of Disney characters like Tigger, Cinderella, Baymax, and Steven from Steven Universe. No doubt Emile helped design the waiting room and was indecisive about the theme so just put every character he could think of on the walls. By now Virgil was used to waiting in this room for Patton to finish his therapy sessions but it seemed every single time he found a new character hidden behind a seat or toy chest.

It was also usually quite quiet while Virgil waited so most of the time he listened to music. Sometimes he’d see a rogue police officer enter Emile’s office or another young child enter or leave the other therapy office and then he’d have to make awkward eye contact with a pressurised parent. Luckily he was alone this time but as he was listening to ‘Welcome to the Black Parade’. He saw a bustle of officers surrounding the main reception, talking to each other, and then quite a few hastily made their way to Emile’s office. It was probably an unrelated case but it still made Virgil feel on edge knowing his foster son, and therefore he and his husband, were under investigation and had heard nothing yet.

In a few minutes Patton ran out and went straight to Virgil. “I drew a family!” Patton chuckled, showing a scribble of a small blue Patton with two bigger stick-figures either side – one dressed in a suit and the other in a hoodie. “It’s us!”

“Wow… That’s great kiddo.” Usually Patton would run towards the exit at this point but instead he sat on Virgil’s lap and smiled up at him. “Everything OK Pat?”

And just like that the door opened and closed again and Emile walked through. The therapist smiled at his father friend and went straight to him, his smirk was half-raised which indicated there was some news to tell. “Patton! Can you go help the police officers clean up my room while I talk to Virgil?” Patton nodded and ran back into the therapist office and Emile sat next to his friend. “I have some news.”

Virgil raised an eyebrow. Emile hadn’t stopped smiling so it was safe to assume this wasn’t bad news. Maybe Patton revealed something about his mother, maybe his mother was finally found, or it was just a weekly check-up with how things were going at home. “The police officers have been looking through all different records to find any information about Patton's previous family and we found something! A birth certificate – it has everything! Including…” Emile pat his legs, pretending to perform a drumroll to make Virgil smile softly himself. “His birthday! And it’s next week!”

Virgil had to pause for a second as his mind constructed all the information. “Wait… next week? How old will he be?”

“He’ll be three! Oh I’m so excited for him – can I help plan the party?”

The hoodie wearer was still in slight shock trying to process things. Should he be planning a toddler’s birthday? He didn’t know a thing about toddlers – and the only children friends Patton had were Roman’s kids or the neighbours’ families. He knew he should have placed Patton in daycare – there was lots of insecurity around Virgil's parenting style even if it wasn’t permanent.

“I can manage it myself Em, thanks.” Virgil chuckled, watching Patton run out happily with a couple of police officers by his side straight to Virgil again. Now he seemed to be excited to go home and show Logan his family picture and tell him all about his therapy (or playtime as he referred to it as) appointment.

*****

Unfortunately Virgil didn’t really get to talk to his husband about the impending birthday until the evening – he wanted to keep the event a surprise for Patton as he didn’t seem to have the ‘constant reminding every nearby adult’ trait that other toddlers had. But that meant that by the time talking about the birthday party reached Virgil’s mind again he was settled in bed with Logan’s arm around his side and Logan had finally put his book on the nightstand so he could get some sleep.

“Logan?” Virgil chirped in a whisper, his hand landing on his husband’s cheek. After a few seconds Logan opened one of his eyes and tried to focus on his doting husband even though he couldn’t see him in the darkness without his glasses. “Emile told me it’s Patton’s birthday next week – I was thinking we could do something for it.”

“I’ll buy something tomorrow while I’m in the city.” The businessman mumbled, closing his eyes again and yawning. “I’ll buy something from the both of us so you don’t need to worry about anything…”

“Aren’t we going to throw a party for him?” Virgil cuddled closer to his husband and chirped, showing his large eyes glowing up at his true love. He only did that when he really wanted something. But Virgil wasn’t much of a party planner, when he’s invited to Logan’s work events he usually hides in the snack corner, there were so many questions as to why he wanted this. “After the year he’s had he deserves some surprise party as a celebration.”

Logan seemed annoyed and sighed, kissing Virgil’s hair and closing both of his eyes again. “I’m sure the police or Emile are organising something. It’s not our place V-V.”

“It could be! We’re like father figures to him after all…”

Logan turned his entire body so he wasn’t cuddling Virgil, or even touching him. His back was instead facing Virgil and he lay his head on his hand for comfort. Virgil climbed on his back like a koala – he couldn’t sleep without Logan’s warmth after doing so for years. “Sweetie? Do you want to talk about it?”

After around a minute of Virgil being a koala Logan turned again, to his back, and spoke even though his mind was going to sleep. “I told you Patton doesn’t want a Dad. Let’s not overwhelm him too much with family things… And let’s talk about it in the morning.”

An arm went around Virgil’s waist again and that was the end of it. Logan fell asleep quickly, whispering an ‘I love you’ before he finally dozed off, and Virgil returned it. He was sure though – he was going to set up a birthday party for the little toddler in his care. And it was going to be the best party ever.

*****

“Remus for the last time – you cannot create a hot chocolate machine out of actual pieces of chocolate.” Janus marched into the canteen where Remus had settled himself next to the broken coffee machine. Remus ignored them and focused on all the little bits he separated from their proper place. “That is what you’re planning isn’t it?”

Remus shook his head, twisting a screw into some hole he found somewhere on the machine with the biggest look of focus he ever performed (even counting when he needed to actually do work). “Boss told me if I fix this, I can have it. And it’ll be a great present for my sister.” A little smile came to Remus’ face when he mentioned his sister. That was normal, when Remus mentioned his sister he always smiled widely and told stories about his childhood. Janus usually plugged out at that point and nodded along – it was only Logan that was surprisingly alright with Remus wasting time talking about family stuff instead of working.

Remus was mid-story about his little sister’s first day of school when Logan finally made his way through the office reception and straight to the office canteen. “Patton stole my sandwich.” He mumbled, storing a sandwich he bought on the way to work and ruffling his hair. “What are you doing Remus?”

“Making a present for my sister – have I told you guys about the time we broke a microwave together because we wanted to put all her dolls in it so they could sunbathe?” Remus continued chirping, giggling and accidentally hitting himself with the hammer a few times. Logan watched him fiddle with all the pieces of metal like Patton played with his Legos and dolls, examining his movements to see if he could help.

“I think you’re forgetting to put the battery in…” Logan mumbled, revealing a small black battery box that had been previously hidden by a pile of coffee powder. “Why does this need batteries anyway?”

“Oh that might be for my vibrator…” Remus mumbled as if that were totally normal. Both people beside him raised eyebrows at that and Janus’ laugh was heard in the background. “Wait, no, not like that! The sound calms me if I have an anxiety spike…” Janus was still laughing – Logan gave his friend a sympathetic, although slightly confused, look.

“Whatever floats your boat Remus, just hide it from anyone higher than me.” Logan whispered, hiding the batteries in Remus’ pocket just in case anyone was to walk past and ask about it. And at that Janus excused themselves, still mid-laugh, to go to a meeting with the sales department about a recent advertisement. This left Logan to catch up with his work-child and all the recent events he had gone through. His sister had been home for about a month at this point. “So… How’s your sister doing finally freely home?” Logan smirked and leant against the counter, Remus raised an eyebrow and continued his work.

“She’s not free of him yet.” He said simply – only sighing and tutting at himself for dropping the screwdriver. “She’s settling into her childhood bedroom though, she had her first relatively peaceful sleep since… I don’t know when she last had a peaceful sleep.”

“Has she talked to you about her thoughts around the whole situation? I happen to know a very good therapist…” Remus chuckled a little bit watching the pink arrive to Logan’s cheeks, the businessman may not show emotion that often but that emotionless wall broke completely down when he talked about Virgil. While Remus wasn’t ready for a relationship, especially now his sister was back in his life, he always did look up to Logan and his happy life with a husband and toddler.

For a second when Remus looked at Logan the older businessman seemed to hesitate, ruffling his hair before speaking. “Hey, um, I have a question… You’re young right?”

“Feeling older by the day, but yes. What’s your question about?”

Logan leant more on the counter, glancing at the coffee machine as he probably desired coffee in this moment. “It’s Patton’s birthday next week – shall I help him celebrate?” Remus gave his friend a look of shock, making a similar squeak to one Roman did when he was shocked.

“Is that even a question? Of course! Am I invited?” Excitement was showing in Remus’ eyes and he had immediately abandoned his project. “And how old’s he getting? Three? God, I’ll buy a good big present for the little guy.”

“That’s the thing! He’s already said he doesn’t want a ‘Dad’ – so would a birthday party make him think we’re trying to force a family?” Logan looked desperate as his emotions were flashing by, trying to decode the many thoughts in his mind. He always hated when his brain was like this.

“I think he’d be more upset if you pretended to forget. Birthdays are important for all kids.”

A shout came from outside the kitchen telling Logan and Remus to get back to work, and Logan’s face finally looked emotionless again, but he sneaked a smile in Remus’ direction. “Tell me the time and date of the party and I’ll be there, if you invite me. And about the whole family thing… Maybe there’s some of his family you can invite too?” Logan nodded, immediately thinking of Patton’s mother. “Good – invite them. He might feel more comfortable then.”

Chapter Text

It felt nice knowing Virgil wasn’t home alone anymore, he could hear Patton’s shouts upstairs as he was being entertained by his cousin Thomas. Instead of Logan humming along to the music playing Virgil was being entertained by Roman – and Roman was more chaotic than the toddlers.

“These banners are so sweet!” Roman shouted, admiring the design on the $2 birthday decorations Virgil had managed to find last minute. While Logan was at work and Virgil had cancelled all his therapy appointments to go on a huge shopping trip for party decorations since Patton’s birthday was coming up. Roman was a natural at making stupid designs look nice, and he didn’t work on Fridays, so he was allowed to supervise and bring distraction for Patton.

“Remember this is a surprise party Sir Sing-A-Lot – I don’t want Pat to hear anything until we bring him down to see the place.” Yeah, Virgil was so excited to see Patton’s happy face. The toddler didn’t ask for much so whenever he got anything he looked so overjoyed. Almost like Logan was whenever he got a present from his boyfriend at the beginning of their relationship. God, he looked so adorable when surprised.

Unfortunately, what came with a toddler’s birthday party was tons and tons of cleaning. Usually, Logan was the type to clean the entire house when he had nothing else to do – but even he would admit the cleaning schedule had been skipped a few times since they started fostering an energetic toddler whose favourite games were painting and water guns. It still looked presentable, just not perfect. After cleaning all the sofa cushions, putting all of the many blankets in the laundry, and vacuuming the carpet, the main task was dusting. Dusting was the most boring part of cleaning.

“What do you keep in that chest of drawers Verge?” Roman pointed to a chest of drawers beside the sofa as he searched under the sofa for missing Legos. For a moment Virgil just turned to the accent table and shrugged. It was just a small table used to store coffee mugs during movie nights while the husbands were alone – not used for anything else. Roman approached the drawer and pulled on it, but it didn’t open.

The cheery father then looked around the local area for some way to open the drawer – he was as constantly curious as the little toddlers he raised. “Yeah, honestly Princey I don’t think anything is in there. Logan keeps track of the key I believe…”

“Found it!” Triumphantly Roman held up a simple silver key, no keyrings attached as the object had never been deemed that important. Nevertheless, he excitedly ran to the drawer again and tried opening it with shaking hands. Virgil definitely chose the best brother for his introversion.

The drawer finally opened while Virgil was admiring the plenty of pictures of him and Logan that decorated the entire house. After some scrambling around Roman brought out a crumbled piece of paper, sighing to himself. “Let’s see how old this is shall we?” Roman joked, knowing the likeliness the piece of paper was just some charity promotion delivered to the house when the two occupants first moved in as loner thirty-year-olds.

But when the paper was straightened Roman’s eyes widened and his jaw fell. “What?” Virgil immediately ran to his brother-in-law’s side to see what the man was looking at… And he held the same expression. “Wait – no way, no… This is a letter from Patton’s mom?”

“And she wants you to keep him! Oh fuck I’m going to be an actual Uncle! Wait until Mom hear-” Roman’s screams were soon cut off by Virgil’s hand around his mouth and he gave an annoyed grumble as a response. It was Virgil’s turn this time to be panicked – something he was good at doing – but he was still trying to process this news.

He’d finally have the chance to be a father, and that made him excited… Logan would hate seeing this letter though. But wait, how did the letter get into the drawer if neither Virgil nor Logan saw it before? Logan must already know about the letter… Logan must have kept this big moment a secret from his husband. And Logan never kept big secrets.

"I... I need to talk to Logan about this."

*****

It took until the early evening for Logan to return from work, Roman had left and hid all the decorations so Patton was downstairs with his dolls. When Virgil heard his husband’s car in the drive he didn’t walk towards the front door like normal, he was just frozen in place as he hugged his leg and stared at Patton. Patton just looked so naïve and happy and he didn’t deserve to even think about who his parents were.

“Starlight? Are you alright?” Logan’s voice chirped as he walked through the door, Patton immediately smiling at him and running over. Still, Virgil was completely out of the situation, thinking about fatherhood, absolutely shellshocked that his husband could hide something big like this from him. He thought he and his husband had complete and utter trust in each other the day they married and way beforehand. That’s what their love was based on. “Virgil? Are you just a little tired?”

Logan was beside his husband and had an arm around him, gently stroking his shoulder and staying quiet. Stress was normal in their relationship and Virgil usually happily cuddled into his husband at times like this – this was different though. Too different.

“What’s wrong Ver-gill?” Patton was sat Virgil’s feet and looked up at the pair with wide blue eyes. F’oggie and Ka-Ka were by his side but he was more concerned with some hand-me-down Barbies given as a secret early birthday present by Roman. For a moment Virgil and Logan just stared in silence and then at each other, they didn’t want to scare the toddler but Virgil really needed to talk or he might explode.

Logan picked Patton up gently and squished his cheek. “I think Virgil and I need to talk a moment buddy, can you play upstairs and maybe clean your room?” Knowing toddlers, especially Thomas, the bedroom the pair were stored in was probably a mess. After being carried to the stairs Patton looked up at the businessman again with a thumb in his mouth, about to say something that would shock the grown man to the core.

“Will you hurt him?”

“Of course not. Good people don’t do that.” Within a few minutes Patton was shoo’d back upstairs and that left Virgil with his husband. His husband that would lie about something as big as the almost definite possibility of keeping their foster son for the rest of their lives. He seemed oblivious to the escalating situation and guided Virgil to the sofa so they could sit and chat. “Is it one of your patients sweetheart? You know I’m always here for you…”

Virgil spoke before he even had time to think about his words. “Good people lie though…” He whispered, leaning away from Logan, keeping his arms crossed. Logan was just silent, watching Virgil confused, not even trying to refute anything. That was when Virgil revealed the crumpled up letter and threw it in Logan’s direction before going into a ball himself. “Why didn’t you tell me Patton’s mom communicated to us? If you didn’t want to for me or Patton, you could have at least helped the investigation! What is wrong with you?”

Again Logan looked too quiet for being shouted at, even as he opened the letter and read it as if he’d never seen it before. “I was scared, and you knew that Virgil. I am still scared.”

Usually Virgil was quite sympathetic when Logan opened up about his feelings, but now he only gave a glare of disbelief and shook his head. “You don’t need to be scared Logan. I don’t know why you’re so insistent on being scared anyways! It’s like you’re scared of committing to an actual life with me rather than me waiting for you to get home each day.” This time Logan gave the look of disbelief. Therapist Virgil had been completely thrown out the window and replaced with the nervous mess Virgil was on bad days.

Logan knew he needed to contain his anger, and calm Virgil down too. Getting angry at Virgil would do nothing but hurt things. But he felt like he couldn’t stop the words coming out his mouth. “We had a life before this – a pretty good one in fact. When we agreed we didn’t need the perfect ‘dads with children’ lifestyle and I didn’t have to share my grown husband with a three-year-old!”

“Wow…” Virgil crossed his arms and scoffed, rolling his eyes. The Virgil that Logan used had completely left the building. “You’re really getting pissy because you have to learn to share my attention? You’re so childish!”

The environment around the couple was quiet after that – in fact it was silent. Since Virgil used to be Logan’s therapist, he knew a lot of vulnerabilities about the smart businessman. His past, his anxieties, his triggers. But most importantly Virgil knew that Logan hated the word ‘childish’, and it hurt more than anything when he was called that. Virgil just crossed a line he had never crossed before.

And he seemed to realise that when Logan took off his glasses, tried to hold his tears in with a shaky breath but he couldn’t hold the cry long enough for the exhale. He covered his face and brought his knees to his chest as he cried – hiding from the world. Just like he used to do in Virgil’s therapy office back in the city when the two men were struggling through their twenties. Before they found each other, and Logan could be assured that everything would be alright.

Virgil really wanted to apologise and bring his soulmate into a hug but he knew it would be a bad idea to do that now when Logan’s walls were up again like they hadn’t been in a while. Now Therapist Virgil was resurrected he could think about this new situation in a more logical way – Logan and Virgil had never argued quite like this before.

“I’m sorry Logan. I didn’t watch my words there.” No response, which was expected and valid after Virgil just did what he did. “I don’t expect forgiveness straight away after that show, I can stay here with you until we’re both ready to talk or I can head to my shed and you can get me when you’re ready. The choice is completely up to you.”

In previous less severe arguments, the couple had an unsaid code for their decisions at the end of arguments. If the upset person brought their hand closer to the person asking for forgiveness, it was signal for silence followed by talking through their thoughts in a calmer way. If they didn’t do that small action, it signified the person needed a little distance. Logan stayed still and crying, so Virgil nodded. “Alright, I’ll be in my shed preparing for my next session. Come join me when we can talk about this in a more mature way?”

A small nod escaped the lump that was Logan, as he sniffled having already calmed down a little. Virgil stood and walked to the garden in silence. He already knew whose session he wanted to prepare for: the nervous and scared Logan Sanders he was transported to see during that argument.

Chapter Text

To say Logan managed to comfort himself from that crying state would be a lie too, as after a few minutes of crying Patton emerged from the stairs, staring at Logan confused with F’oggie and Ka-Ka at his sides. “You OK ‘ogan?” Patton mumbled, walking over quietly and sitting on the sofa opposite the tough businessman. Logan was less of a ball while crying at this point but he still looked upset.

“I’m alright Patton.” Even though this whole Patton situation was partly caused by the toddler Logan could never be angry at him, it wasn’t his fault any of this actually happened. “I was just crying a little bit – but that’s OK…”

“You need a hug?” Patton’s blue-green eyes were glowing and when Logan nodded the toddler (for the first time) abandoned both of his teddies to cuddle the grown man that cared for him. He really was such a good kid. He seemed to fit between Logan’s arms easily and he leant in almost silently, just showing a small smile as he held Logan’s arm. “Mommy needed cuddles when Dad hurt her.”

Logan brought his fingers through Patton’s blond hair and mumbled; he wished such an innocent toddler didn’t have such complex thoughts to deal with. “Well, Virgil didn’t hurt me. Or at least not in the way you think. You don’t have to worry about that with us kiddo.” Logan’s voice was still raspy after shouting at Virgil for even a few minutes, but it seemed to give a softness in his voice that Patton gravitated to.

But Logan’s mind gravitated to the piece of advice Remus gave him surrounding the toddler’s birthday party – to invite Patton’s mom. “Do you get on with your Mom kiddo?” Logan chirped, squishing Patton’s cheek as he furrowed his eyebrows and reached out for his teddies again.

“She was nice! Dad’s scary though.” Patton spoke of this trauma like it was normal, and it probably was normal for him. Logan and Virgil’s job now was to show him that wasn’t normal. “She said she loves me, then I came here and now I’ve not seen her!” Now it was the time for Patton to look upset, but he was easily calmed by the hug he was held in and the hand through his hair. “I miss her…”

That was sorted then. Logan needed to send a response letter to Patton’s mom and invite her to her toddler’s birthday party. At the end of the letter that caused Logan and Virgil’s argument was an address that Logan didn’t recognise. It wasn’t close by but wasn’t far away either, it was from a town on the north outskirts of the city while Virgil and Logan lived north-west to the nearest city. It felt a bit too much to go there in person especially if the mother was vulnerable, so a letter would have to do and hopefully it would reach her.

But now that wasn’t the biggest priority. Logan knew his husband was waiting for him in the garden shed so they could smooth things over and fall in love all over again. And Logan just really wanted to cuddle his lover. “Do you mind if I have a private talk with Virgil in the garden Pat?” Logan mumbled, squeezing the little boy so he giggled.

“Don’t scream loud, OK?” Logan could keep that agreement, so he carried Patton towards his dolls while nodding and let him play on his own there. Talking with Virgil would probably take a while, but Logan promised he and Virgil will be back to cook Patton’s favourite meal for dinner.

*****

When Logan reached the shed he smiled a little. Virgil looked focused on the task he was doing, organising some spare notes and trying to drag a whiteboard from the supplies closet all Virgil’s secondary therapy equipment was in. This must be an important patient if he was getting the whiteboard out a good day before the patient was due to arrive for their session.

“Do you need help honey?” Logan asked, but Virgil shook his head and focused back on dragging the whiteboard. Unfortunately, Virgil wasn’t the strongest person in the world. “Are you sure?”

“I’m fine L. Please just sit anywhere.” Logan chose to sit beside the bay window so he could look out the window to the beautiful garden and house he and Virgil cultivated together. It was hard to believe there was a time Logan thought he’d never have a life like this.

Maybe Virgil wasn’t ready to talk about the argument yet, which was understandable. He was instead focused on preparing for his next patient. He had retrieved the whiteboard now and was making sure it was facing Logan – peculiar as not many patients liked sitting at the bay window, they rather preferred the sofa. Virgil then started cleaning the whiteboard until it was spotless, again something he didn’t really do unless the patient was important and/or got overwhelmed by lots of visual stimuli.

“Who’s this patient Starlight?” Virgil smirked slightly at that question, the playful smirk that reassured Logan that everything was alright. After drying the whiteboard and grabbing some whiteboard pens, he slowly made his way to his husband. With one lift of his chin by his husband’s pointer finger, Logan burst into a blush.

“He’s the most important man in my world.”

Logan giggled and tried bringing his lips closer to Virgil’s for a kiss, but the therapist had other ideas. “Ah-ah-ah, there’ll be no wasted time in this session. We need it.” Virgil walked back to the whiteboard and wrote on it in big blue letters: ‘schema’. “Now I know you almost majored in psychology in college, do you remember what this word means?”

At first Logan was too busy admiring the man he married to answer the question, but he eventually did with the goofiest smirk on his face. “It’s a little box of information that comes directly to mind when you think of a word or subject.” Virgil nodded to indicate Logan got the question correct. And memories came flooding back of when Logan was pining for his therapist. “Am I really having the schema session again?”

This was a common session Virgil used on his patients, usually to gage where their mental state was before and after discussing an important topic. When Logan had the schema session he was asked to describe what came to mind when he thought of ‘therapist’. During his first session he used phrases like ‘feeling vulnerable’, ‘being sick’, or ‘almost giving up’. And during his last he was so close to picking Virgil up and kissing him while he wrote phrases like ‘good mental health’, ‘amazing support’, and ‘forever friend’.

“Yes, you’re having a schema session. But not the type you’re used to.” Virgil smiled as he grabbed a red marker and wrote one simple word that brought Logan back to the way he felt when he saw the word ‘therapist’ for the first time. The word this time was ‘fatherhood’. “How does this word make you feel?”

Virgil held out a blue marker like usual and switched the red marker for his own favourite black one. The word ‘fatherhood’ became a mind map that Logan would add on. He took a deep breath and began to write.

Big step…

Responsibility…

New…

Failure…

Logan’s hand was shaking so he put the lid on his whiteboard pen and took deep breaths. Virgil was right beside him and examined the words, reaching out his hand which Logan gladly took. “Quite a negative schema I see…” Logan could only nod, looking down, he really should have confronted this fear head-on sooner. “Can you see what I wrote down though?”

With another deep breath Logan looked up again. This was common in the schema session, Virgil would have a separate mind map where he wrote words associated with his schema, and he’d go through why he had that word on his mind map and his patient would explain the words on their mind maps. Virgil’s conclusions were always more logical than the patient’s, and it was admirable how logical Virgil could be in Logan’s eyes.

But this time the words were on the same mind map as Logan’s. The black stuck out from the blue but purely by the colour. ‘Big step’ was also written in black, as was ‘new’ and ‘responsibility’. ‘Failure’ was added with a question mark - but one word stood out in particular.

Optimistic.

“You see, I think we can do this together. I understand you’re more scared than me because of the absence of your father but you’re not going to be alone this time.” Virgil’s hand was grabbing onto Logan’s tightly, and his other hand had abandoned the whiteboard pen to instead stroke the black hairs on Logan’s arm. “I’m ready to take this big step because I know you’ll be here with me for it. We’ll be together forever, just like we promised each other on the 4th of April 2017.”

It wasn’t the first time that date brought immediate joy to Logan’s mind, the date of his wedding to the love of his life. He would live that day all over again just to see Virgil’s beautiful smile when he said ‘I do’. They promised each other a lot of things that day – children weren’t in the equation but love was. The love that they’d pick each other up and help each other through new and old struggles and onto new, interesting ways of life.

“You really want this?” Logan wanted to assure he understood exactly where Virgil’s mind was at, and as he thought would happen Virgil shyly nodded. He really wanted to be a father with Logan of all people, it was difficult for the nerd to comprehend that. Someone actually wanted to take such a big risk with him.

The pop of the pen lid dragged both the men’s eyes from each other and onto Logan’s nervous, dry hands. “Alright…” He whispered, a small smile on his face as for the first time he showed excitement about fatherhood and doing it with the person he adored. With a slight shake in his hand he added the word ‘optimistic’ to the mind map in his handwriting. And Virgil smiled so wide. “I’ll always be scared, but I love you. We’ll do this together and help Patton grow up.”

Logan’s cheeks were nudged, and he was brought into a kiss. A soft but happy one that was reminiscent of the types they tried earlier in their relationship when even a kiss or a hold of each other’s hands was a bigger risk than sky diving off a cliff. Now those small actions seemed infinitesimal the couple were ready for a step that gave them that feeling again. The feeling of innocent love.

When the lips separated Logan and Virgil couldn’t get rid of their smiles, and they just held each other’s hands in silence for a moment before Logan realised he should really start cooking dinner. “Patton’s playing dolls inside.” He said gently, watching Virgil’s eyes light up at the mention of Patton. “And he wants turkey dinosaurs for dinner.”

Chapter Text

It was a good thing that Patton’s Mom put her ‘safe address’ on her letter to Logan and Virgil, although it was obvious that she didn’t want Patton in her life anymore. “It’s obvious she cares for Pat, it is a shame.” Virgil spoke quietly, picking up the crumpled letter and talking to himself as if Logan was there. For once it was nice that Logan wasn’t there with him, as after dinner the tough businessman and the adorable toddler went to give Patton a bath time and get him into pyjamas.

Logan’s laugh across the house this time wasn’t loud, but it seemed hypnotising for Virgil to hear. It felt just like the first time he heard Logan’s quiet laugh after a therapy appointment. Both times made Virgil’s heart beat fast and he fell in love all over again with the silly nerd he laid eyes on so many years ago.

And he’d be raising Patton with that man.

“’ogan showed me blue bubbles!” Patton came bounding down the stairs, holding Logan’s hand and immediately jumping on Virgil once he saw him. He was of course talking about the new blue bubble bath powder the pair bought him while food shopping yesterday but he didn’t need to know that Logan was incapable of doing magic tricks.

Patton’s hair was still soaking and he was still a little wet from the bath. He was dressed in the softest onesie he had that made him irresistible not to cuddle. And Patton had gotten a lot easier to cuddle over the months, maybe because he was more used to it, but he was a cuddly child that was such a cutie.

“How about we play a little before bedtime kiddo?” Logan whispered and kissed Virgil’s cheek before speaking to Patton. Patton giggled and wriggled out of Virgil’s arms, straight to his toys. “Can you start writing the letter sweetheart? You’re better at emotions.” Logan whispered again, knowing Virgil had a way with words no-one else did.

As Virgil thought through the letter (typing it so that he could easily erase anything he said wrong), he watched his husband play with the child he now finally considered his son. Logan was giggling and joking and looked more gleeful than Virgil had ever seen him – he really unleashed his inner child when taking care of Patton as he had to keep it in for all other situations. That’s why Virgil wanted to be a father with Logan (as well as adoring him deeply). He could see how healthy and free Logan became when looking into Patton’s eyes.

“I’m going to have to take a photo, Lo.” Virgil said without much thought, standing to get his phone that was charging in the kitchen. Logan stood too almost immediately, a small smile on his face that made Virgil stop what he was doing.

The businessman went to his work bag and shuffled through it. “I went to the market today.” That usually meant Logan went shopping during, before, or after his shift - which wasn’t that normal to do. He had already told Virgil he would though as he needed to buy Patton some birthday presents. “You’re getting your present soon Pat…” Patton pouted hearing that. “But I also bought a special something for the best husband in the world.”

Gifts were not an abnormal part of Virgil and Logan’s relationship, but it was usually reserved for birthdays, anniversaries, and Christmas unless Virgil got really bored during the workday pre-Patton and headed to the local mall. Logan getting a random gift for Virgil wasn’t something done often before, but it wasn’t something either felt was an issue.

Logan and Virgil were millimetres from each other, so Logan only had to whisper to be heard and cherished. “It’s a good thing I bought it now as I knew you wanted it to create memories together.” Virgil already had a sneaking suspicion of what the present was when Logan said that but he was still surprised when Logan showed a pastel purple polaroid camera. Virgil had been begging for months to have one.

“I love you so much.” Virgil laughed before his lips collided with Logan’s, ignoring the camera for a second to cherish the beautiful moment he and his husband were having. When the pair finally separated to breathe Logan had a devilish smile and twinkling eyes.

“I love you more My Star.”

*****

It was Remus’ day off work and he was spending it in the best place possible – his family home with his new coffee machine he got for his sister and his sister was sat at the dining room table in a calm silence. Remus wasn’t that fond of silence, but he’d do anything for his little sister now she was safe.

“I think you’d make a good teacher Angie.” Remus hummed softly, carrying on a conversation he’d had with his sister and parents a few days before about the young girl entering the workplace since her previous partner barred her from it. “You always liked playing with the young cousins and stuff. I think there’s an elementary class calling your name.”

Remus’ little sister, Angel, was sat on a wooden seat in a separate room from her brother – but she could still hear his voice and she was reassured by it. She was safe, no-one would hurt her, she was back to a normal life again. Well, there was one person from her past life she left and was still sadly remembering every so often. But she shouldn’t be thinking about that – he was safe now too and for her own mental health she needed to build up her life without him.

Shuffling was heard in another part of the house from Remus and Angel’s mother, responding to the clunk of the letter box as post fell through the door. “There’s a letter here, doesn’t say to who!” The older woman shouted. The noises of Remus emerging from the kitchen to the hallway came as Remus mumbled to his mother.

“Wait, yeah that’s Logan’s handwriting. Wonder why he sent me a letter…” Angel knew that Logan was an older co-worker of Remus’ that was like his home away from home, she was glad to see her big brother becoming an actual adult with such a kind mentor to help him and calm him down. Remus came into the dining room with the letter in hand, examining it and sitting opposite his sister who was calmly having a cup of coffee. He gasped excitedly as he began to open it. “Wait! Is it the birthday invite? Oh my God he does care about that kid it’s so cute…”

The letter opened to reveal a typed note – and Remus silenced. He read it in silence as his eyebrows furrowed and then he read it aloud. And when he read it aloud Angel began to panic.

***

Dear Patton’s Mom,
Before we begin I want to assure you that Patton is happy and healthy in our care. This letter does not concern that in any way. He thinks about you a lot but he’s been in therapy ever since he landed on our doorstep so he’s processing everything healthily.

You might remember that there’s a very special date for Patton coming up on the 15th of January. He will be turning three years old.

We’re planning on throwing a birthday party to celebrate. It will only be a small gathering of Logan’s family (brother and mother), two of Logan’s co-workers who Patton has met previously, and Patton’s therapist with their husband.

Of course we would love if Patton saw you, or any other family member, there who can watch him on this very important day. You can stay for as long or as short as you’d like and you don’t have to think about buying him gifts. But we believe it would really make his day to see you there.

It might also reassure your worries that he’s safe if you saw both people caring for him in person, although that can be done at any time. If you needed any conclusion from this it is that we are both open to communicating with you on your terms when you’re comfortable.

Kind regards and we both wish you the best for your future,
Virgil and Logan Sanders.

***

Remus stared at his sister in shock and disbelief, already knowing she was the only person who could be Patton’s Mom. The nervous little boy that Logan had been caring for must be his actual, real-life nephew – and he had no idea he existed until his current moment.

“You’re Patton’s Mom?”

Angel was almost rendered to tears at that letter, especially since her brother was the one to read it out. He always joked about being an uncle one day before she got into that toxic relationship. But Remus’ look softened as soon as he realised his sister was upset and he ran to hug her. “I’m sorry Rem…”

“No, no, it’s OK!” Remus interrupted his sister and spoke quickly. He understood he probably missed a lot in the four years Angel was alienated from her family, an entire child was a bit of a surprise but he wasn’t going to hold it against his sister for being scared. “Honestly, I’m glad if you left my nephew on anyone’s doorstep you left it on Logan’s. I’ve seen Patton first-hand and he’s so happy with Logan.”

“You’re not angry you never got to see him?”

Remus held onto his sister as tight as he possibly could, as if she’d disappear again if he let go. “I hear about him every day I go to work, honestly Angie it’s alright!”

At that reassurance Angel finally smiled, watching her brother glance at the letter as he tried to process this secret person. He was an uncle – a lot earlier than he expected it – but he was an uncle nonetheless. “Have you heard about how hyper he is?” She chuckled, wiping her eyes with a kitchen towel her parents had got for her when they also received this news.

“People at work compared me to him when Logan had to bring him into the office.” Remus laughed in response, watching his sister and noting all the similarities between her face and the face of the toddler newly introduced into his life. His parents were looking at the envelope and writing, quietly discussing the fact that they were grandparents too. But when they picked the envelope out a small polaroid picture fell out. “What’s that mom?”

The older woman looked at the polaroid with a soft smile and a tilted head. “Is this Patton sweetheart?”

On the picture was a smiling young boy with curly blond hair just like his mother, freckles all over his face like his uncle, and large black glasses. He was sat in a carpeted living room with toys ranging from train sets to dolls to a fancy dress frog costume. The boy smiled at the camera showing all his white baby teeth and had a cat-themed onesie on.

“That’s him.” Angel looked so fondly at the toddler in the photo, a photo presumably taken by Logan and Virgil so Patton’s Mom could have a look at her son’s smiling face. Remus looked at the photo too and tried to imagine all the moments he missed: Patton’s first word, his first steps, his previous birthdays. But now Remus was sure he needed to go to Patton’s third birthday party. “Can I go with you to Patton’s birthday, Re?” Angel chirped. Remus gave his little sister yet another hug.

“Of course.” He whispered, keeping the bond as close as he could. While Logan had a happy husband and toddler at home that he could now consider his family, Remus knew he never needed a life like that now. He had his little sister again, rebuilding her life with the distance from the old things, and that was better than any partner or kids Remus could ever want.

Chapter Text

Before Patton came, whenever there was a coincidence that both Virgil and Logan didn’t have work, they would use the time to spend together. But there was always a timetable Logan had in his mind, that habit hadn’t changed with Patton.

After a few days of thinking and having surprise therapy sessions with his husband, Logan decided he was just going to go with the flow with fatherhood and not overwhelm himself. Today that involved an early wake-up as it was the eve of Patton’s birthday and he wanted to cook the toddler’s favourite breakfast.

“Mmm… Why is your alarm on Sherlock?” Virgil mumbled and brushed his hand against his eye, lying on his side. He was in the dazed mood he usually got himself into when the two husbands spent a night together and he watched Logan with adoration that he married him. Logan smiled back just as goofily, giving his husband a peck on the lips. Suddenly following a timetable seemed to be less of a priority.

“I’m glad I didn’t have to share you last night.” Logan whispered, receiving blushing cheeks from his husband as he covered his face and mumbled. In days before Patton, if Logan set an alarm he’d be in the shower right now instead of opposite the cutie he married. As Logan brought an arm around Virgil’s waist he smiled - Patton had really changed the couple for the better. Cuddles weren’t that important in previous busy mornings as Logan always knew he’d have Virgil all to himself any time he wanted him. Even Logan could admit now that he took that availability for granted. Having Patton between him and his husband sometimes was turning out to be making the relationship even healthier as he cherished so many small moments that he wouldn’t even bat an eyelid at before.

Virgil mumbled again and shuffled closer to Logan, placing his face in the crook of his neck, and kissing his jaw, neck, and collarbone. Logan mirrored the mumble and turned he and Virgil so Logan was lying directly on his back, and Virgil was snuggled on top of him.

“This is nice.” Virgil said after a minute of silence, cherishing the soft touches Logan was giving him as if he had been touch-starved for years. “You should wake me up early more often if it means I get cuddles like this.” Tired yawns escaped both members of the couple and they basked in the silence a little more. Everything was peaceful.

Until Logan’s phone rang.

“Sorry Starlight…” Logan whispered once he heard the calling tune, moving the lump of Virgil’s body slightly so he could free the nearest hand to the bedside table and retrieve his phone. His eyes widened when he saw who was calling him. His own mother. “Hey Mom…” Logan mumbled, tired in his voice but Virgil was silent with his eyes wide open.

In all the mess of thinking about Patton’s Mom, neither Logan nor Virgil had let it slip to their own mother/mother-in-law that they had a toddler in their home and were debating on whether to adopt him. And it seemed that Roman had kept his promise of not telling the energetic older woman either as she hadn’t mentioned her new grandchild yet. “Mm… Yes, we both have the day off wo-“ Logan’s eyes widened as he interrupted himself and he caused both himself and Virgil to sit up. “You’re driving to our place? Well Mom I haven’t even cleaned!”

Panic set in for a moment, partly because he needed to make sure the house was clean and suitable for visitors (even though Virgil had done so a few days before, he just wanted to check), but part of his brain was also rambling about where and how the couple were meant to hide Patton and all his toys and hidden wrapped gifts and…

Virgil had his goofy smile watching Logan, giving him a knowing look that this was part of Logan entering fatherhood. Logan was going to do introductions at his own pace, so Patton wasn’t overwhelmed, but he’d kept this secret from his own mother too long already.

“There’s actually someone you should meet, but make sure you don’t get overwhelmed and hyper.” Logan spoke gently through the phone, stroking Virgil’s spine with his pointer finger and letting a small smile show as he heard his mother’s voice. “No, no, it’s a little more than just a pet…” Ms Sanders’ excitement could be heard ringing through the speakers as she desperately wanted to know what her oldest son had been hiding. And Logan finally felt ready to reveal it. “Virgil and I have been fostering this toddler for a while, a little boy, and it's his third birthday tomorrow.”

The typical Ms Sanders scream (that Roman inherited) echoed through the phone as the older woman continued to chat about how ‘she knew Logan was becoming a Dad’ and ‘she couldn’t believe both her boys were fathers’ all in the same breath. Logan laughed along but he couldn’t get much of a word in, Virgil collapsed back on the bed for some comfort but he didn’t escape Logan’s arm around his shoulders and Logan’s soft smile.

“Of course you’re invited to the party Mom.” Logan laughed. “And Roman too, he would break into the house otherwise.” In Virgil’s eyes his husband was irresistible whenever he spoke to or about his family, they were the most important people in Logan’s world even though he kept on saying Virgil was way above that list. Virgil knew he was a close third and he was alright with that.

But Virgil was welcomed into Logan’s family too pretty much as soon as the pair started dating. “Of course Virgil knows about the foster placement! He pushed me into it.” Logan gave Virgil a kiss on the forehead that made the therapist blush. “Do you want to speak to him?”

It seemed as though Ms Sanders was too excited about her new grandson to comprehend talking to her son-in-law, her excitement was placed on loud speaker and slowly it became evident she would be on the phone until she reached the destination and even then she wouldn’t stop talking. Logan never had the courage to stop either of his family members on a tirade so Virgil was happy to step in. “It’s been great talking to you Dot but we have to save some conversation for when you arrive!” Virgil chirped, wrapping his arm around Logan who let out a sigh of relief. Immediately Ms Sanders agreed and told Logan when her Sat-Nav said she’d reach her destination (although they had more time than that as the lady was going to buy some things for her grandchild). The call ended and Logan let a smile go, kissing his husband on the cheek.

“Are you taking a shower today?” Logan mumbled under his breath, kissing any area of Virgil’s face that was closest. Virgil nodded and stretched, preparing to leave the comfy blankets and his husband’s warm embrace even though that was the last thing he wanted to do. “You want to shower together?”

Virgil scoffed and let a smirk go as Logan lifted him out of bed. “We can’t leave Patton unsupervised L.” Logan pouted at that, although playfully as he grabbed his blue towel and jeans. He did really want a compromise though, especially seeing Logan’s hopeful expression as he spoke the next words. “But if Patton’s alright under your mom’s supervision I’m sure we can compromise and you can help me with groceries.”

*****

Patton was having a juice snack and running around the house when a knock finally came to the door that indicated a new visitor. “Who went knock-knock?” Patton chirped, already following Logan who of course would be the one to answer the door for his mother. But when Logan realised Patton was following him he paused, glancing quizzically at the toddler as if deciding his next move.

“Do you want to come answer the door kiddo?” Logan mumbled and received a happy nod from the little boy. But Logan hadn’t finished there, he ignored the knock for a little bit and knelt to Patton’s level. Transparency was something Logan wanted to keep as a parent. “It’s my mom at the other side of the door, OK? She’s a little bit hyper and might view you as those ladies in the office viewed you when you came to work with me.”

Patton tilted his head and held Ka-Ka to his lips, letting F’oggie dangle on the floor as he thought. Logan didn’t want to push anything but also had the desire to scoop Patton up and cuddle him. But then he remembered Virgil was also a safe option for the nervous little boy. “It’s alright if you don’t want to meet my mom yet, if you want to go back to Virgil and play with him then that’s fine.” Patton seemed to perk up a little at the world ‘play’ but stood still as another knock came to the door. Logan smiled at the boy and answered the door happily as always when he saw his family.

“Oh Logie you never take that long to answer the door I was getting worried!” Ms Sanders immediately came barging in, wrapping her arms around her eldest son for a hug which he endured. After a little more excited chatter about Logan getting older by the day she quieted down to an almost silence and her smile became a little less crazy. “Oh, hello sweetheart…”

Logan couldn’t help but smile when he saw Patton peeking out at the new lady from behind his leg, holding Ka-Ka close and keeping F’oggie out of sight. He didn’t say anything as Ms Sanders knelt and spoke gently. “Oh my knees know it’s been forever since I’ve done this… I’m Logan’s mom, but you can call me Dot if you’d like to. Dot like the dots on my sweater!” Logan’s mom explained her name exactly as she did with any child, showing one of the fluffy, dotty jumpers she always wore ever since Logan could remember. “Do you want to tell me your name little one?”

“Patton.” The toddler dared to respond, this time looking up at Logan who just gave a soft smile. The little boy must have been feeling courageous as he dared another question. “You Thomas’ grandma?”

“Yes! Oh, you’ve met Roman’s kids and you’ve not met me? Well, at least you have fun cousins to play with!” Patton smiled at that but didn’t say anymore, instead he held his arms up to Logan who happily tried picking Patton up even though both of his fists were clutching onto his teddies. When Ms Sanders walked inside the house she was happily greeted by Virgil and offered tea or coffee while Patton ran back to his toy-set in the living room. Logan followed him and immediately settled down to play with the little boy.

And Ms Sanders couldn’t stop smiling when she saw her son play happily with the little toddler. “You really are magic to my Logie, Virgil.” She cheered as she stood in the kitchen to drink her tea. “I don’t know how you persuade him to do things like this.”

“It’s the power of love, I suppose.” Virgil responded, also sipping his coffee and keeping an eye on Logan. He was the luckiest man in the world to have that man as his own.

Chapter Text

A little later in the day both Virgil and Logan were sat on the floor with Patton, Ms Sanders sat on the nearby sofa watching her son and son-in-law proudly. She felt this proud when she saw her youngest son with his newborn almost seven years ago, back when she had the excitement of Roman being fresh out of college and married to his high school sweetheart and Logan was in a serious, committed relationship with the man he’d later marry. Now she watched her oldest son with the same fondness. He looked like the good father she always dreamed of her sons becoming.

“’ogan can you read?” Patton chirped, cuddling up on Logan’s lap and holding his teddies to his lips. After being a mother for over thirty years Ms Sanders could immediately translate that small action to the little boy feeling a little tired – he had lost a lot of his energy already in the hour or so that the older woman had been in the house. Logan complied and asked Virgil to get one of the books from a small corner bookshelf that the couple must have recently installed, but then Ms Sanders remembered what she rushed into the nearest toy store to get.

The new grandmother leant down and gave the shy toddler a happy smile. “I have a present for you kiddo!” Patton perked up hearing that, escaping Logan’s gentle grasp to walk over to the older woman. Ms Sanders revealed a small toddler book, brand new, and named ‘First Big Book of Space’. “This was Logan’s favourite book when he was your age – do you want him to read to you?”

Patton nodded excitedly and grabbed the book out of Ms Sanders’ hands, running over to Logan and sitting with him. Virgil snuggled up too, probably to look at the book’s colourful pages, and leant on his husband’s shoulder. Within a few minutes Patton was lying completely on Logan and Logan gently placed his little glasses off.

“I’ll take it from here sweetheart.” Virgil kissed a peck on Logan’s lips and whispered, taking Patton and holding him in his arms. F’oggie fell but was immediately picked up again by Logan and placed between the toddler and Virgil’s chest. The pair seemed to have a silent communication as Virgil carried Patton up to bed quietly to leave Logan with his mother.

Logan seemed happy as he watched Virgil struggle up the stairs, his hands in his pockets and a small smile on his face. “You look so happy Logie.” Ms Sanders said quietly, trying not to show any hyper emotion in her voice as that would make the sentence suddenly refutable in the quiet son’s eyes. But Logan just looked at his feet, sighed, and sat next to his mother.

“Is it normal to fear fatherhood? Or is that a sign of bad things to come?” Logan mumbled, finally looking up again and straight ahead of him instead of at his mother. Ms Sanders just held a hand to her heart and chirped.

“It’s totally normal to be scared sweetie, of course.” Ms Sanders knew her son well, and knew he often overthought things unless he knew he was going to be perfect at it. But the mother knew her son was perfect at a lot of things he didn’t think he’d be good at. “I’ll tell you, both times I was pregnant with you and Roman I’d worry about how you two would grow up. Turns out I raised two beautiful young gentlemen!”

“I don’t think you can call me young for much longer Mom.” Logan laughed in return, constantly reminding his mother of his growing age as he had ever since he was a toddler. Now Logan was only a few years off forty the words had a slight impact.

“That’s beside the point.” Ms Sanders grabbed her son’s shoulders and held him in a hug, making him gasp a little and then laugh softly. “You have nothing to fear My Little Nerd-Face. Patton is safe and happy under your care for as long as you’ll house him.” Logan stayed silent after that for a few minutes. Since Virgil wasn’t back yet there was a possibility Patton had already woken up from his nap and needed reading to sleep again.

“Why didn’t Dad want a relationship with me?”

The question was said so softly and delicately that Ms Sanders couldn’t help but visualise the little elementary schooler Logan was when he was told his Dad didn’t want to see him. Since then, the man had become a taboo subject for the family and Logan had repressed most of the feelings and questions he had about that time in his life. Taking care of Patton caused all of that to resurface as when Logan looked at that happy little toddler face he couldn’t imagine how anyone could hurt or leave such a cute child with no sympathy.

Ms Sanders brushed a hand through her son’s hair and thought for a moment. “It was nothing against specifically you kiddo, you did nothing wrong.” She spoke softly. Now she was starting to see the teenage Logan, when he was dealing with all the hormones and all the angst of an absent Dad. “We were just young when we had you and Roman and he decided he didn’t want to be a parent.” Logan mumbled a little under his breath and hugged his leg, still not making any eye contact. “He changed his mind when you were in high school but he had a new girlfriend and new life.”

After a few seconds of silence Logan pursed his lips, leaning forward and holding his hands in a firm grip, as if in prayer, his eyes stationary and landed on one of the dolls Patton abandoned on the floor. Again, Ms Sanders knew her son and knew he was thinking of revealing something. “What are you hiding from your mother Egghead?” The woman chuckled, and eventually received a small smile from Logan.

“Patton is actually a little more than a foster placement.” Logan could see his mother’s eyes glow a little at just that sentence, although it didn’t reveal much. He could just say that Patton was a good kid that deserved the world somewhere else – but he knew that wasn’t the truth (and he didn’t want to see his hardworking mother lose her hope at another grandchild). “He’s a lot more than a foster placement. As you can probably tell, Virgil has absolutely fallen in love with him, and so am I, so we’re thinking of adopting him.”

The scream Ms Sanders unleashed beat Roman’s scream when he first saw Patton, and maybe broke a few sound barriers if Logan wasn’t used to the loudness surrounding his family members. Luckily she put her hand to her mouth before it properly unleashed so there wasn’t a possibility of waking Patton up from his nap, but Logan was immediately brought back into a suffocating hug he definitely couldn’t escape from. “Really Logie? Why didn’t you tell me? I could’ve introduced myself as Grandma! I would have brought him so many more presents too so your house would be full of family love!”

“We haven’t told him yet.” That short whisper managed to silence Ms Sanders again so she could listen to her son. “As of now he still thinks he’s heading back to his mom when she makes contact – she has and it seems she can’t care for him anymore. He seems to have an aversion to using ‘Dad’ and almost a downright fear of it.” Ms Sanders watched her son sympathetically as he explained all the nervous behaviour when the idea of Logan and Virgil being ‘Dad’ came into the conversation. “Adopting Patton is something Virgil and I really want to do but… It just seems that none of the puzzle pieces are falling into place now.”

Ms Sanders didn’t say anything, she just dragged a hair behind Logan’s ear that had fallen forwards and fixed the man’s glasses that had become slightly wonky from all the hugs she had to give. “I’m sure you’ll figure it out in time, you always do.” Virgil’s footsteps were finally heard walking down the stairs. He seemed more exhausted than when he spent nights sleep-deprived and planning therapy appointments, but he still looked beautiful.

“Sorry about that, Pat demanded all the new books he got to be read to him and he has surprisingly good control over his sleep.” Ms Sanders giggled at that and watched her son feel secure again, wrapping his husband around his arm and kissing his temple.

“Logan was just like that as a young boy, any repeats of the story and he’d get out of bed to run around the bedroom.” That Logan had long gone now. He was healthier now, and happier. And he was building a life beyond his mother, brother, and soulmate. Ms Sanders did love watching her boys grow up. “So… Is Grandma invited to little one’s birthday tomorrow?”

“Grandma?” Virgil questioned, tilting his head and looking up at Logan. Logan nodded and brushed a hand through his lover’s hair before explaining that he updated his mother on everything. The other husband didn’t seem to mind and answered the question presented.

“Patton’s taken the spare bedroom with his toddler bed and toys, so I’m afraid we don’t have room for you unless you sleep in Virgil’s therapy shed.” The change in bedroom didn’t seem to faze the older woman at all and she happily agreed to stay the night, reminding Logan that Roman didn’t have any spare place for her to sleep other than the living room when he felt bad. Ms Sanders was just happy to see Logan have something new in his life.

*****

It seemed like yesterday that Ms Sanders was preparing disks of bananas for a one year old Roman, Logan sat next to her as he feasted on the jammy-toast. He and his brother eventually had an addiction to that particular jam brand together. Ms Sanders had been a single parent for just under a year at this point - Logan could sense his father was not coming back. The reality of what that meant hadn’t sunk in yet.

“When can Roman have Crofters Mommy?” Logan chirped as he offered a corner of his toast to his little brother who was strapped for his mother’s sanity to a highchair. Roman had just began walking and it wasn’t an experience Ms Sanders would ever forget.

“The doctor said that sugar’s very unhealthy for babies My Little Nerd-Face, so he can’t have as much sugar as you can.” Ms Sanders spoke softly as she placed the banana pieces at random points on Roman’s highchair, watching him grab the pieces and stuff them in his mouth clumsily. Logan watched his brother with his head tilted for a moment before scooping some of his precious jam from his toast to his finger and put his finger close to Roman’s face. The baby stared at his brother as if formulating a plan. “Remember that Roman has all his teeth now too kiddo, it might hurt when he eats the jam off your finger.”

Logan shrugged and smiled, waving the finger slightly which captivated Roman enough to grab it. “It’s alright, I know he’ll never mean to hurt me!”

Roman started to bite and suck but surprisingly his elementary school older brother didn’t even complain, just kept his back straight and winced a little at the powerful bites but he kept a brave face. When Roman had eaten all the jam he cooed and waved his arms, throwing a piece of banana onto the nearby dining room table. “I’m a good big brother Mom!”

“Yes, you are Logie.” Ms Sanders smiled at her son and kissed his cheek, wiping the jam from around her son’s lips and watching his eyes glow at the little family he was going to have forever. “You definitely are.”

“And I’ll be a good Dad too! The bestest!” The elementary schooler cheered, watching Roman play with his food and scream at the top of his lungs. That love never faded even into adulthood, and that one sentence stuck in Ms Sanders’ head for years. Through Logan’s awkward teen phase with no relationships, to his coming-out after college, him introducing Virgil to his family as his shy but amazing boyfriend. Even during Logan’s wedding day Ms Sanders wondered whether Logan remembered this simple moment.

“Of course you will be kiddo.” Ms Sanders blew a raspberry into Logan’s cheek and marvelled at the cute, little giggle that escaped. “You’ll be the most perfect at whatever you want to be.”

Chapter Text

When Patton woke up the next morning he was surprised to see Virgil looming over him, but he had a soft smile so he knew it was alright. Logan was watching too from a shorter distance than usual – he usually stood by the doorway with a frowny face and straight posture but now he also wore Virgil’s soft smile and had knelt a little bit so he could reach Virgil’s shoulder. “Morning buddy, had a good sleep?”

Patton nodded and reached out his hands so he could be held by Virgil. Both Virgil and Patton’s mother liked spoiling the toddler by holding him to take him places even though he could perfectly walk himself, Virgil had a lot more times to do so though. “Should I help sweetheart?” Logan mumbled, holding Patton’s back gently so that he was secure in Virgil’s grip. He also placed Patton’s glasses on him so Patton could see the world clearly. Logan looked surprisingly calm, even his voice was a quiet whisper. “Good morning Patton. We have something to show you!”

“It’s Mommy?” Patton chirped, his mind automatically recollecting the dream he just had where he was playing with his Mommy again with lots of cakes and all the toys he had gotten from Virgil and Logan. The two men glanced at each other, and their smiles faltered, but only for a second before Patton could realise.

“Not quite, but do you want to go downstairs and see anyway?” Patton nodded and wiped his eyes, enjoying the warmth of Virgil as he held him. The husbands walked down the stairs slowly, mumbling questions about what breakfast Patton would like on this ‘special day’. Patton wondered what special day they were talking about until he saw the living room decorated in millions and billions of colours.

On every wall were white and blue banners with the corners covered in poles of rainbow balloons from red reaching the ceiling to purple on the floor. The toddler wriggled down and went straight to the balloons to hold it and hit it like a drum. Logan and Virgil must have got him a new toy!

But then Patton saw a glittery pastel blue banner right by the front door with the funny shapes he saw in all the books Virgil and Logan had read to him all these months. The two grown men seemed paused in place, holding hands and watching the toddler, their eyes curious when they saw Patton staring at the bright blue sign. “Wha dat say ‘ogan?” The toddler mumbled, running back to Logan and pointing at the new sign. Logan picked him up automatically and walked up to the banner.

“It says ‘happy birthday’!” Logan cheered, squishing Patton’s cheek but he had a confused expression. “It’s your birthday today! Did you forget?”

Patton could remember his last birthday, with his Mom in his house and his Dad had left for the day to wherever he went to when he wasn’t hurting his family. He went to a bakery to buy a cupcake and then ate the cupcake and watched a Disney movie with his Mom. He had his Mom with him like he did everyday before landing in this new land of caring men and many toys and freedom to be as loud and happy as he wanted.

“Shi… Virgil?” Logan chirped and quickly turned back to his husband, a worried look on his face. “Why are you crying Pat? What’s wrong kiddo?” Patton’s eyes were watery and weird mumbles were coming out of his mouth. He only felt like this when he was locked into his bedroom so his Mom could be hurt – but this time he had people with him. Why was he upset then?

Patton was sniffling and choking on his tears as he was held by Logan and hugged by Virgil. He didn’t seem to calm though. “Do you not like it? We can take some of the decorations down if you want.” Virgil whispered, bringing a hand through the toddler’s hair as he examined what could be wrong. One of Patton’s arms was hugging Ka-Ka and the other was empty apart from the clutch onto Logan’s pyjama top. “Oh! It’s F’oggie Sherlock.” The therapist smiled and kissed his husband’s cheek before running back up the stairs to find the dropped frog teddy. Logan took Patton to the sofa and sat with him in a cuddle, making sure Ka-Ka wasn’t dropped either while Patton was crying.

“I have F’oggie again Pat!” Virgil tried to cheer and wave F’oggie’s hands but the toddler seemed uninterested. He was still crying loudly and seemed separate from the world and Logan and Virgil’s comforts. Maybe creating a surprise party for him was a bad idea…

But the husbands stayed silent to let Patton cry until he calmed by himself, at least enough for him to speak. “I miss Mommy…” The little boy eventually whimpered, wiping his eyes again and laying his head on Logan’s falling and rising chest. Virgil knew he was the one to take this counselling as the closest therapist – and he tried to remember everything he learnt when he studied play therapy in grad school while Logan stroked the boy’s hair.

“And that’s OK kiddo, we just wanted to do something nice for you and help you celebrate your birthday!” Patton watched Virgil and held Ka-Ka close, then looked towards the garden where Ms Sanders was sleeping in the shed and not disturbing the family yet. “But it’s your day and we can do what you want. We have a couple of friends coming over today like Roman and Thomas, and Logan’s work friends too, but they don’t need all the decorations. We can take all the decorations down and tell them they can’t come if you want, it’s your day today.”

Patton perked up hearing about people coming, and he tilted his head with a small smile. He never had other people to celebrate his birthday with! Not even his Dad cared, the only people that cared were his Mom and random shopkeepers that gave him cupcakes. But now he was going to have lots of people saying happy birthday to him? It was a miracle!

“So what do you want to do today?” Logan chirped, fixing Patton’s glasses which made him smile even wider. He reached out to F’oggie quickly and held both teddies to his little chest. The husbands were soon smiling wide too.

“Cup-er-cakes an’ party!” Patton cheered, running off Logan’s lap and towards his toys to play. Virgil still leant on Logan’s shoulder and gazed up at him with love in his eyes, still amazed he managed to marry him. Logan shared the same look and thoughts of disbelief as they trapped each other in a loving silence. A kiss seemed inevitable.

The kiss was silent and only singular as Virgil leant away and stroked Logan’s cheek as a romantic sentiment. “Pat!” Patton looked over with his hands full of dolls, F’oggie and Ka-Ka. “Do you want to choose a party outfit and get ready for the day?”

*****

In a few hours Virgil and Ms Sanders were sat with Patton so that he could choose the music for the party (it was a lot of children’s songs and nursery rhymes), while Logan was doing the last cleaning he needed to do. In the background was a mix of Disney songs and Virgil trying to persuade the toddler he didn’t need three different birthday songs on the playlist.

The doorbell rang indicating the first visitors for the party were coming. “I’ll get it sweetheart.” Logan murmured and kissed Virgil’s forehead when he leant over the sofa, but he was too distracted on his debate with a three-year-old. There was no rush to get to the door as the guests for Patton’s party weren’t due to come for another hour. It was probably Roman with his gaggle of kids excited to spoil his nephew.

But Logan was surprised when he saw Remus at the other side of the door, an older couple behind him and a woman the same age as him at his side. “Oh, hello?” Logan chirped, trying to hide the confusion that Remus bought people with him, until he saw the woman’s happy glance and he remembered who she was. “Why have you brought your… are you Remus’ sister?”

“MOMMY?” Patton’s scream was more hectic than Logan had ever heard it, and the toddler sprinted from the sofa straight to the arms of the new, strange woman. Patton wasn’t like that with strangers but… was this his mother? “’ogan got me Mommy for my birthday? Dank you!” Patton’s eyes were wide and glowing as the woman held him in her arms with a look of adoration that could only be towards someone that knew him. Both Virgil and Ms Sanders looked confused as well. Logan glanced at Remus to ask for an explanation and he seemed happy to give it as the family were invited inside.

“Turns out I’m actually an Uncle!” Remus cheered in a way like Roman, as he walked with his hands in his pockets and watched his sister walk away with the toddler and chat to him about all the toys and new presents he had. “My sister had Patton while she was estranged from us with her ex, and she dropped him off at yours before telling her boyfriend she was going to leave so he didn’t – y’know – witness anything.” Just the thought of that situation caused a gloom amongst both men (and Virgil who had walked up to the pair to get the story too). Ms Sanders happily talked to the sister as if she was a close-knit member of the family, and the young mother brought out a packet of cupcakes from her backpack that Patton immediately identified as his favourite type. “Her name is Angel.”

Logan and Virgil didn’t want to disturb Angel finally seeing her son again, so stayed back and watched Patton happily chat with her and his real grandparents, Remus eventually joining in too to play superheroes. And Virgil just held Logan’s hand with a look forlorn but happy at the same time. They both new what this reunification could mean for their possibility of peacefully adopting a toddler after months of contemplation.

“I was getting used to having him around.” Logan whispered, kissing Virgil’s forehead and trying to smile at him. Virgil nodded and looked at Angel before speaking quietly too.

“Do you want to bring it up or shall I?” Of course Virgil wouldn’t create cognitive distortions of a situation as simple as Patton playing with some new people he was genetically related to. Logan grasped his husband’s hands tighter indicating he wasn’t the best to talk about leaving Patton now – he was a lot better at organising and taking care of a gathering. “Alright.” The therapist whispered, taking a step forward towards Angel and tapping her shoulder.

Angel smiled at Virgil once she was him and gave him an unexpected hug that made him flinch a little. Logan chuckled and distracted Patton away from the group to find a place to store the cupcakes. “Um… Thank you, but do you mind if we talk out in the garden for a bit?”

Virgil and Angel went out the back door quietly but Patton didn’t seem to care nor want to follow them. He was too busy showing the new people around him the amazing toy Logan gave him named F’oggie and for the first time he let someone else, in fact Remus, hold Ka-Ka so he wouldn’t get lost amongst all the new presents he was getting at his very first birthday party.

Chapter Text

Angel shyly followed Virgil out to the garden, keeping on the garden path so she didn’t disturb any of the flowers and shrubbery so delicately grown making the small garden look like a Pinterest board. Virgil engaged in small talk as they walked and explained that gardening was a relaxing hobby he had plenty of time for as he worked from home, it was a bonding activity he had with his husband, Logan, and Patton was learning how to join in too by labelling colours and identifying them. The mother added that Patton did love his colouring books in his old home.

“How is Patton getting on developmentally?” Angel risked a chirp, looking towards the therapist who presumably knew what kind of milestones the toddler should be reaching and when. The young woman was a lot less sure of that kind of thing and internet use showing happy mothers and fathers upset her when she was with her ex-partner, so she just always hoped Patton was getting the correct support out of what she could give him as a late teenager.

“He’s good! He was already ahead in some things thanks to you. When we began gardening together as he could already identify the forget-me-nots as blue. It took a little while to convince him that the columbine flowers were also blue though.” Virgil pointed to the different types of flowers as he spoke, showing the forget-me-nots were a lighter blue colour compared to the columbine.

Angel couldn’t help but smile when she saw the forget-me-nots. “His bedroom with me was that colour, and there were forget-me-nots on the windowsill.” There was a comfortable silence at that as Virgil opened the French doors to assumably his therapy shed. The small room looked like the nicest environment to be in with plenty of soft sofas and chairs and pillows to sit on. Angel decided to sit on the sofa while Virgil sat opposite on a spinning chair. He got a notebook from the cupboard and arched his back, giving a soft look to everything around him.

“He misses a lot from his old home.” Virgil spoke gently, looking at the notebook with a nice fondness before closing it again and speaking with absolute earnest. “Patton is an amazing kid. He’ll grow up to be a great person.” Those two sentences were said with such earnest that Angel had to smile. “Thank you for coming to support him.”

“I had to.” Angel chirped, reimagining the little smile on Patton’s face when he finally saw her again. And then she remembered the confused look Patton gave her when she dropped him off at the big-looking house she hoped he’d be safe at. Luckily, he was definitely safe and he seemed the happiest he’d ever been.

There was a moment of silence as Angel fiddled with her sleeves, Virgil could sense the nervousness and immediately jumped into action to recover happier memories than the ones in her mind right now. “What do I need to know about Patton?”

“What?”

“Tell me everything you know about Patton’s life with you, as much as you’re comfortable to share of course.” This man was so gentle, patient and understanding it was such a blessing; and it was reassuring to know not everyone was like her ex. There were more people kind like her brother than mean like her ex.

“Well…” Angel began, trying to decide what information the two men taking care of her toddler would have already gathered. “He really likes dogs and cats but he has a fur allergy, his favourite TV show is Sesame Street and The Muppets makes him watch the TV and nothing else until you literally drag him away from it. He’s scared of spiders and… loud noises… Oh, and he really likes old bands like Queen and The Beatles.”

Both Virgil and Angel had wide smiles on their faces and they ended up sharing stories about Patton for a few minutes more than expected, laughing and joking about the silly toddler behaviour that had become just part of Patton’s personality rather than just due to his age range. Eventually the hard part had to come though – and the part Virgil really didn’t want to bring up and wanted to sweep under the rug. But for Patton’s clarity he knew he had to.

“By the way, just so we’re on the same page with Patton’s care, are you considering reunification with him at the moment?” Angel quickly shook her head, her emotions quickly becoming sadder as she fiddled with her sleeves again.

“I had Patton when I was young with a man I don’t love anymore and can’t handle the memory of.” She spoke blandly, maybe a little sharply, but Virgil knew how that behaviour was expected from trauma. The therapist left a silence so that Angel could expand more if she needed to. “I don’t want to undergo reunification with him. I still want him in my life but I can’t be his sole carer when I have so many mental health problems to worry about.”

Virgil nodded and wrote notes into a separate notebook, then showed a smirk as he gathered what to say next. “And if your mental health improves, would it still be a case of permanent adoption or rather long-term foster care?” The therapist felt like an entire dictionary now – Logan would be proud of him.

“Unfortunately, I know from previous experience that mental health is never a ‘fully recover from’ situation.” Virgil knew that so nodded along with the impromptu patient from his possible-son’s birthday party. “I will get better but I don’t want Patton to see and get affected by me getting worse. And right now I can’t afford a therapist.”

“Good thing I offer a discount.” It was only then that Angel smiled at Virgil, but only for a second as she looked at her feet again. “That’s a very mature conclusion to draw, and you’re an amazing person for placing Patton’s needs first. I commend you.”

“I’m guessing by these questions that you’re not thinking of adopting him?”

That sentence was sad so sadly that Virgil had to share in that wave of sadness too, his eyes widening as he was seeing Angel lose hope that her son would have a secure family base. Hopefully he’d end up having the best family out there.

“It’s quite the opposite. Logan and I would really like to adopt Patton if there’s an opportunity for open adoption.” And after a few seconds of contemplation that smile came back onto Angel’s round, freckled face as she thought about having an open adoption with her son. She’d be able to work on herself and become a better person but she’ll never have to worry about whether Patton would be hurt or upset if she had open communication with his new parents. She’d love to watch her son grow up from a safe distance. “How does that sound?”

“That sounds… amazing.” Angel chuckled softly, rubbing her hands together before her eyes landed on a light blue notepad beside Virgil’s feet that he hadn’t touched since he was smiling at it while Angel got comfortable on the sofa. “What’s that?”

Virgil raised an eyebrow before looking in the same direction Angel’s eyes were going and picking up the mysterious notebook. “Oh! This is just a book of memories I update from time to time. I thought you’d want to have a look through.” Angel nodded excitedly as that and squeaked in excitement when Virgil sat next to her with the book. The pair went through each entry and blurry photo on Virgil or Logan’s phone (he was glad me had his camera now). They were both laughing and bonding over the toddler they shared as if they’d known each other for ages. Virgil was glad he met Patton’s Mom.

But after quite a while the pair were disturbed by Patton waving and making silly faces at the other side of the bay window, making Angel giggle. Behind the toddler Logan was knelt as he was trying to keep the toddler as entertained as possible. Virgil opened the door and as soon as he did the toddler ran through for his mother.

“Mom! Mom! I got a game!” Patton shouted and shook a snakes and ladders game before placing it in the corner of the therapy office. “Sad kids can use it too Ver-gill!” Patton looked around the room as if he knew the place inside out, which he did as this was a place he often played when Virgil didn’t have any therapy appointments. At first Angel was distracted watching the two men reunite again with a soft kiss and Logan’s arm around Virgil’s shoulders. “Mom?” Angel looked back at her son. “When I live with you… Can we visit?”

And there all the adults’ hearts broke in two at the naivety the toddler showed towards his entire situation. Logan whispered to Virgil to catch up on the talk they just had, and he couldn’t hold his smile down when Virgil whispered back that the open adoption was consensual. Angel watched them for a second before turning back to the toddler.

“I was actually thinking you could stay here!” Angel tried to cheer, but she was just matched with Patton’s confused expression. “You like it here, don’t you?”

“Are you bye-bye-ing again?” It was hard for Virgil to hear that squeak and not immediately run up to the boy he’d taken care of for months now, and Angel was also trying to not scoop the toddler up and instead she held both his hands and tried to smile as big as possible.

“I won’t be far away this time. You’re just going to be staying with Logan and Virgil. And they’re super fun, right?” Patton nodded and watched the two men he’d been cared for with the same confused expression. They were also smiling but stayed a distance to not overwhelm him.

“How long will I stay here?” Patton was close to tears at this point but Angel was there to wipe the tears away. Soon Virgil and Logan at either side were doing the same as they couldn’t resist comforting the little boy through this traumatic moment.

Logan spoke so gently and naturally to the small crying child. “We’ll take care of you and make sure you’re happy for all the years you’re living with us. And your Mom will come for visits and play-time whenever you’d like! She’ll be like your best friend!” At the thought of having a best friend Patton smiled – he never really had friends when he just lived with his Mom but now he had so many people loving and supporting him. Of course he’d never want to give that all up.

“Are you both my Dads?”

“Not until you want us to be buddy.” Virgil spoke this time, squishing Patton’s cheek and showing a soft smirk. Patton was really smiling now through his tears. “You can call us whatever name you want.”

Patton nodded and turned back to his mother, giving her a hug and just mumbling an ‘OK’. But eventually the party distracted the three year old as everyone was doting over him and he loved the attention. When it got near to nap-time and people were starting to leave Patton waved goodbye to all of them. And when Angel left with the rest of Patton’s family, the toddler hugged each of them goodbye and lingered on his mother, but he grinned with this hug.

The following sentence made Logan and Virgil smile and feel like they were entering parenthood. “Bye-bye Mom! I’ll see you later!”

Chapter Text

“It’s OK Patton, just take big deep breaths.”

Virgil had never seen Patton so nervous before in his little life before he knew him, but now he looked almost petrified as he sat with the Sanders couple in a big empty courtroom just before the court case was started for his adoption. His legal transfer from one family to another, although he’d never forget the amazing young woman that brought him into this world.

“You want to get adopted by us buddy?” Logan inquired, trying to distract the toddler from his worries by a puzzle which was only semi-working. It wasn’t a surprise Patton was getting adopted of course, at first he knew and it was agreed upon that Patton would be fostered for a long-term basis but soon it was decided that it would be easier in Patton’s life for him to be fully adopted and after a few of Emile’s therapy sessions he seemed to understand that and be alright with that. It was possible the little boy just felt a bit overwhelmed in such an adult environment and everything the Sanders family had been preparing for the last six months was becoming a reality.

“Can I still play with Mom?” Patton held Ka-Ka to his lips and looked at Logan with the cutest little blue, glowing eyes that made Logan want to hug the toddler and never let go. He deserved anything and everything he wanted in his life. Both Virgil and Logan nodded and reiterated as they had several times before that Patton’s family was not condensing, but rather expanding. And every single time Patton was reminded of that he smiled. “OK – I want to be adopted then.”

It was already obvious that Patton had grown up so much already with Logan and Virgil, it would be visibly painful if they had to say goodbye and never see Patton again. He was almost four years old and had already gone through what seemed like a lifetime of difficulty.

Fortunately, this court case was not going to be completed alone which was evidenced by the slam coming from the courtroom doors followed by a shriek from the family man Logan would owe settling in this entire life to. “Aww is he using the Toy Story puzzle?”

Of course Roman was absolutely ecstatic for this moment – now he could bond with his older brother over parenting things like school runs, weird moms, and temper tantrums. And he had a new kid in the family to dote over as if he was his own, and that was already evident by all the presents Patton had already got. When Logan first revealed his plan to adopt Patton, the day after the birthday party so Roman wouldn’t go hyper and ruin the mood of the party by telling Patton some shocking news, the new father was pretty sure he couldn’t breathe for a few hours due to the number of hugs he got.

“Oh really? Well Tom didn’t tell me anything about that!” Patton was excitedly telling his soon-to-be-uncle about the secrets his soon-to-be-cousin was sharing on the family sleepover a few days before (where Virgil and Logan tried and surprisingly succeeded taking care of two hyper toddlers overnight). Roman was leaning down opposite and chatting to him like the amazing little human he was, fiddling with the tightness of the tie as even though the man had reached the grand old age of thirty, he still didn’t like any kind of formal outfit thrust upon him. Logan and Virgil were used to wearing suits due to their work, and Logan had finally managed to find a little light blue suit small enough for Patton. He was absolutely overjoyed when he first saw his ‘’ogan outfit’ – and Logan knew he would do anything to watch that joy all over again.

But Logan couldn’t distract himself with thoughts of Patton’s happy face forever though, as he felt Virgil quickly grab his hand and squeeze it. Virgil was very good at controlling his nerves most of the time even though he was a very anxious person, but in times of high stress like this sometimes emotions overtook him. And Virgil really wanted to finally be a father with the man he loved. “I think the judge is arriving in a few minutes Ro…” Virgil mumbled, trying to keep his voice steady but failing. He wasn’t heard at first but once Logan repeated the happy father sighed and took his seat, letting Virgil take a deep breath and place his head on his husband’s shoulder. “I adore you Lo.”

“As do I.” Logan kissed Virgil’s forehead and brushed a hand through Virgil’s gelled back hair, before turning back to the toddler he was about ten minutes away from adopting. “And I adore you too little Pat.”

Patton gleamed excitedly and waved F’oggie on the table in giggles. “Thanks ‘ogan!”

Just before the judge came into the courtroom there was a bang from a nearby wooden double door. Logan, Virgil and Patton all flinched, and Patton brought Ka-Ka to his mouth before beginning to smile. Months ago such a noise would have made Patton scream and cry uncontrollably but this time he just needed a hand on his shoulder to make him nod before he was also shouting and screaming. “Uncle Remus! Uncle Remus!”

“Are we late? Hey Lo ‘n’ Virge, hey Pat!” Remus and his sister ran straight to the hopefully-soon family’s table, leaning down in front of Patton with the biggest ever smile. Angel stood behind her older brother and was rubbing her eyes with a green tissue. She brought both fathers into a hug and placed down a picnic basket of gifts for the toddler. Of course she was happy this was happening but she was going to miss having Patton as her son. But Logan and Virgil had reassured her that Patton would still be allowed to see his birth mother whenever she wanted to see him. “Oh! Oh! Angie has good news! Don’t you Ang?” Remus was also like an excitable toddler, interrupting the hugs and soft gratitudes to grab his sister and ruffle her hair.

Angel just had a soft smile, watching Patton open the picnic basket and introduce his new toys to F’oggie and Ka-Ka. She knew she was going to make Patton proud of her. “I got accepted into the education degree at the local community college! I’m on my way to become an elementary school teacher.”

“That’s great!” Virgil bounced off the young woman’s excitement, giving her another hug, the happiness he felt in that moment made him so beautiful in Logan’s eyes.

But the moment was disturbed when the judge came in, asking all members to take their seats. Everyone did and everyone listened (apart from Patton who was trying to show Logan and Virgil his new toys), and soon the results came. Without hesitation the judge agreed that Logan and Virgil would be good adoptive parents of little Patton. When the gavel hit the board the toddler finally looked up at the person dressed in the funny wig.

“You’re Patton Sanders now buddy, OK?” Virgil cooed, waving a toy around to play with Patton as Logan went off to do the adult things that happened after a court case. Virgil remembered being overjoyed when he became part of the Sanders family, after he started leaving his original family during college, and he adored starting a family with the man that gave him a new one now. He was watching Logan, confident and happy (as he had worked through in therapy) but now every few moments he turned back to Virgil and Patton, smiling softly at them and watching Patton play with his animal toys.

“Ver-gill the puppy can’t fly!”

*****

Patton knocked happily on the door of his mom’s home, his school backpack full to the brim of newly wrapped presents. It was Angel’s birthday – and since Patton was now in high school Logan and Virgil trusted him to take public transport all the way to his mom’s house. And Patton had to help celebrate his mother’s birthday.

“Hey Patson!” Uncle Remus, pretty much Uncle Roman’s younger replica, was the first to answer the door and immediately brought his nephew into an excited hug. He then kept level with Patton (although he didn’t have to bend down as much as he used to now) to whisper with his usual mischievous grin. “Did you get the stash?”

“That and more.” Patton responded, also whispering and trying to mirror his uncle’s smile although his smiles were always happy and innocent. Since Remus had been at the office all day and he had the memory of a goldfish he had forgotten to buy any birthday present and tasked his nearest and dearest high schooler to do the job for him (with his coworker’s money rather than his own). Patton was happy to do more shopping though. He loved going to the mall with his friends and just having normal, childish fun.

“What did you get?” Remus kept his voice down as he guided Patton to the living room, hiding him just in case even though he knew his sister was in her room marking classwork. There had been an entire discussion the hour beforehand with Remus, his parents, and Angel, trying to persuade Angel to take the day off work as it was a Saturday and her birthday – but she adamantly refused. She wanted to make sure all her kiddos were succeeding in their first grade spelling bee.

The presents were bought out one by one, Remus admired how beautifully each of them were wrapped in glittery blue wrapping paper. He could tell Logan was the one to wrap the boxes but Patton would have helped a little bit. “A few new notebooks and schedule planners, pretty pens and pencils, just all the stuff she likes!”

“Brill, mind if I steal the pens to give to her?”

Patton happily nodded and collapsed on the sofa, hiding the presents under the coffee table. Gone were the days Remus would have to constantly play and chat to his nephew to keep him in one place – the teenager now just simply brought out his phone and texted one of his high school friends. “So… how’s school going? Aren’t you a freshman in high school now?”

The teen nodded to himself and turned his phone screen off again. “It’s alright. Dad goes on and on about this crush I’ve got on this boy in my algebra class.”

Remus smirked and laughed under his breath, remembering how excited Logan got one day at work when Virgil texted him (in all caps) that Patton was in love. The two dads had become as excited as their son throughout the years. They were Patton’s constant cheerleaders over everything.

When Angel came into the living room, she immediately spotted her son and dragged him into a big hug, and of course Patton hugged back. She wasn’t concerned with the presents but rather hearing about all of Patton’s stories since they last went to a coffee shop together the week before. In turn Patton asked about her classes and got to see her happy. After years of therapy in Virgil’s office she was getting her life together.

Chapter Text

Extract from ‘The Boy on the Doorstep’, an autobiography by Patton Sanders…

***

So that is my story, although my fathers did help fill in some gaps I missed from being so young. The story didn’t end there either of course as I still had years and years of discovering myself and my identity beyond just ‘the kid on the doorstep that was later adopted’. But I’m glad Logan and Virgil were there to help all the way through it and support whatever decision I decided to make!

But you’re probably wondering where the other family members all are now, aren’t you? Well, Logan wanted me to write down that he became a good and confident father with practice (that I agree with), and he even did something he never thought he’d be able to do of reducing his hours in the office and working from home a lot more often as I grew up. Memories I have of him after my adoption often include fun days out where he’d try to educate me – like taking me to a plant nursery to teach me about photosynthesis in third grade or driving me to free-to-attend college lectures as a teenager so I could explore what my possible major could be or if I ever wanted to go to college at all when the time came. Honestly, he was pushy, but he was caring too.

Virgil was always a little more relaxed with parenting me, although he made sure I wasn’t uncontrollable but when he disciplined me, he made sure it was done in a calm way. The only time I remember him being angry at me was when I started bottling up my emotions over being bullied because of my adoption in middle school - and he wasn’t even shouting at me then. Having a therapist father was the best for my teenage years.

Should I give some context of my life beforehand? I probably should. As I said before I didn’t remember much of it, and my birth mother went through therapy throughout most of my childhood. She slowly helped me explore that side of myself though – or mainly the day I was dropped off at the doorstep.

The day started early, with my mom getting me awake at 8am when she usually let me sleep as long as possible so I’d avoid my birth father’s wrath.

My mom held me in her arms and stroked my hair, letting me fully wake in my own time as I clutched Ka-Ka. I’ve had Ka-Ka since I was born and, in many ways, the small cat symbolised my old life. He was ripped and half his fluff was gone but toddler me still adored the little thing. When I became a high schooler I took the responsible decision to store Ka-Ka on a shelf so he wouldn’t be destroyed and that’s where he’s stayed all these years.

But my mom put me into the car before I could fully wake up, putting on some Disney tunes. The song I remember playing was ‘Circle of Life’, and to this day I cannot watch The Lion King without reimagining that car journey.

The last words my mom said to me were simple. She pointed at a stranger’s house, later found to be Virgil and Logan’s, and said: “Patton. I want you to knock-knock on that door and tell the person inside I left you here.”

She then had to watch me toddle my way up this large big drive, no cars in the driveway, to knock onto this big, white door that was triple the size of me. Anything could have happened when I was left in that situation but luckily a kind-looking man in a purple hoodie answered the door. He immediately reassured me and spoke to me in such a calm way.

And that was when I started trusting Virgil.

Logan took a lot longer to trust. The first ounce of trust I gave to him was when he went out of his way to give me F’oggie. F’oggie wasn’t like Ka-Ka – he was bigger and cuddlier, all new and amazing. It wasn’t the same as Ka-Ka but it was a good replacement. After that the new father began warming up to me, and me to him.

So when I saw Logan crying one afternoon that created another core memory for me. A memory that was a replica of the many times I saw my mom crying and upset like that. That’s when I saw Logan not as this scary, strict grown man but rather someone who I could trust and give all my love to and expect it in return. Truly, that moment was when I saw Logan as my dad.

My dads would tell anyone that asked though that parenting wasn’t easy. There were still a few hardships and adjustments but they were honestly the best dads I could ask for. They cared for me and that’s all fathers needed to do.

***

“Shut the fu… I’m gonna cry.”

Virgil was choking on his words as he held Patton’s new book between his legs, as he sat in a ball on the comfy blue living room sofa, a few ripped pillows behind his back damaged through years of use. Beside him Logan was peaking over his shoulder, an arm around him as he kissed the cheek of his crying husband.

“I think you’re already crying My Star.” The other father joked, giving a loving glance to his husband before turning back to his adult son sitting on the other sofa. “This is written really well Pat, you know we’re proud of you.” Logan couldn’t stop smiling at his son, he didn’t think he ever frowned at him in the years Logan was a father. Patton was smiling back at him just as happily, his eyes on the manuscript for his new book, although it was hard to believe Logan wasn’t looking at some silly first grade drawing.

Patton’s blue eyes were still as bright as they shone when he began first grade, his smile as wide as his third birthday party. Nothing much had changed surprisingly, the couple still lived in the same house they bought in their thirties even though they were seeing the dawn of sixty, they were still as active with their family, and both parents absolutely adored their only son to no end.
“Eh, it’s alright, I might do some changes with the order so it doesn’t look like I’m just trauma-dumping the stuff about Mom.” Patton mumbled to himself, twirling his fingers abstractly as he was imagining the tale he really wanted to tell. The young man was a college graduate with a creative writing minor so he knew all the theories that his parents would never understand.

A few sniffles interrupted Patton’s negative thoughts about the amazing biography he’d written at the young age of twenty-five, and Virgil raised his head as he tried to pull an angry look through all his emotions. Virgil uttered an empty threat that seemed impossible to complete with the number of tears on his cheeks in that moment. “If you say this is badly written I’ll just cry more.”

Patton giggled his usually happy giggle and watched Logan playfully poke his soulmate’s cheek before rolling his eyes. Small Patton would never believe a man could be so kind and caring, but then he found two male angels, and now adult Patton hardly thought about the violence he heard in his early life unless he forced himself to introspect. But Logan and Virgil truly did care for each other.

“Do you need another hug Dad?”

Virgil attached himself to his son with no hesitation and clutched him like he’d disappear otherwise. But he knew Patton would never disappear. These two awkward introverts meant the world to the happy-go-lucky, dad-of-the-group, optimistic Patton.

“I hate you had a growth spirt.” Virgil eventually managed to utter out past the tears, and he laughed a little as Logan joined them in the embrace. Patton was freakishly tall seeming his biological mother and uncle were shorter than average – he surprised everyone when he just started sprouting up during high school. Now Virgil’s hug meant the man had to lean on his son’s chest. “Why couldn’t you just stay the small little toddler in my arms?”

“Because I’m pretty sure I’d collapse from exhaustion.” Logan answered back just as quickly, getting flashbacks of Patton’s many sprints when he got excited in playgrounds and theme parks and beaches. “Sorry your dad’s a little teary kiddo – it’s the time of the month.”

“Existential crisis time?”

“You know it.” The three laughed at this predicament that happened almost every single month since Patton first moved off to college. Virgil just became an emotional wreck when faced with the immense proudness he felt for his son, Logan was at times too but he learnt how to healthily hold it in. “I don’t think Thomas’ kid actually helps when Starlight’s like this.”

Again Patton was rendered to silence watching Logan carefully drag Virgil away from suffocating their offspring, speaking gentle words about how Patton was an amazing kid who had fully flown the nest now and was on a new stage of life (the same talk happened every single time Virgil got emotional like this). “Now we can be like Roman, yeah My Star?” Logan cooed as he wiped Virgil’s cheek and kissed his forehead. “You’ve reduced your work hours and I’m working towards a better pension for retirement… eventually.” Eventually will be in a few years’ time, but the talk of retirement had been in the works for a couple of years since Logan would adore just spending time with his husband again now Patton had been living away for a few years. “We’ll prepare for our next stage of life – maybe we can take a note out of Emile and Remy’s book and travel around Europe together! Patton’s happy now.”

It seemed like a better time than ever for Patton to reveal a plan he’d been having for quite a few months. He’d kept it a secret from everyone, even his parents, until he knew such a thing was going to happen. Thomas almost let it slip a few times but the pinky promise they made stayed true and no-one knew that Patton was going to start his own journey just like Virgil and Logan did around twenty-three years ago.

“I’m actually starting a new stage of life too…” Logan and Virgil immediately silenced as soon as Patton spoke, raising their heads like owls. “I’m adopting!”

Virgil started crying again and attached himself to Patton, but Logan had to hug his son this time too. Words immediately came spilling out about how far along Patton was in the adoption process and if there was anything either of them could do to help financially. “I’ve got all that covered Dads, you just need to sign a reference!” Both nearly-grandparents gleamed at the piece of paper they were given.

And a few months later Patton came to visit again with his own nervous kindergartener from a troubled past. He was called Gavin, he was the funniest little rascal, and he was absolutely adored by his new family just like Patton was all those years ago.