Chapter Text
Logan sighed for what felt like the 100th time since they had been in the grocery store. Roman was dragging him up and down every aisle, grabbing almost everything he looked at. Both of them were pushing a cart and they were filling up quickly.
“Roman, we don’t need this much food. This is excessive.” Logan sighed yet again, placing a hand on his temple.
“You know those two can eat, especially Pat! I don’t want to not have enough! They always provide everything! We should at least help!” Roman argued. They turned down the baking aisle, Roman determined to help Patton restock a bit from all the treats he made for them. He spied a huge bag of sugar up on the top shelf. “Ooo Logan! Grab that bag!” Roman pointed upwards.
“Roman… I am not that much taller than you. I am not going to be able to reach it.” Logan did his best to reach for the sugar, but was no where near tall enough. “And even if I was… I would not be able to bring that large of an item down in a safe manner.”
“…Not to assume or anything. But can I offer you two a bit of assistance?” They heard a voice from behind them and turned to see a rather tall man standing there.
“Yes please, good sir! Would you mind grabbing that bag of sugar?” Roman happily agreed. The tall man easily retrieved the several pound sack of sugar and placed it in Roman’s cart.
“Thank you, sir.” Logan turned and actually took a moment to get a good look at him. He had graying hair, but it was apparent that it had been a very soft honey brown. His frame was small, he was a thin and wiry man, probably in his late 40s or early 50s. There was something about him… It clicked in Logan’s mind. His eyes. The man turned to Logan and they locked gazes. The man had such bright, warm… Green eyes. He knew them well… They looked exactly like Patton’s eyes.
Roman noticed Logan studying the stranger and began to look at him more closely. His body type was so familiar to him. He was thin but not fragile… He was built like… Virgil? Roman began picturing Patton and Virgil standing next to him and realized he was right between their heights.
“…Did I do something, you two?” The man looked a little concerned. He placed his hand on the back on his neck in awkward concern. Roman was taken aback at the familiar gesture.
“Oh no… It’s just… You… You remind us of…” Roman began. The man’s eyes widened.
“It’s… Uncanny.” Logan added, still studying the man before them. The older man became very still and spoke in a hushed whisper.
“Do… Do you know my son?” He had a pleading look in his eyes.
“Son? As in… Singular?” Logan raised his eyebrow.
“…I’m not sure what you mean by that.” The man’s voice was shaking.
“You remind us of a pair of brothers we know… Tall like you. One that’s built like you… The other… That looks just like you.” Roman said slowly.
“…A Pair… Of brothers? …Two? I don’t… I can't…” He raised his hands to his face and his eyes went unfocused. Like he had to figure out how to breathe and think all over again.
Roman and Logan looked at each other, completely unsure what was going on. They gave the strangely familiar man a moment to calm down, waiting patiently for him to come back to them.
“… I have a lot that I have to go think about. But… Here…” He reached into his pocket and pulled out his wallet. He took out a business card and handed it to Logan. “Can… You please give this to my son… My sons?” He turned around and walked quickly away, straight out of the store.
Logan looked down at the business card. It read, above his contact information:
Vincent Small
General Contractor
“Why do I feel like… Something… Very bad is going to happen?” Roman said quietly.
They silently finished their shop and took their multiple hundred dollars of groceries off to Patton’s house.
—
Eventually they arrived at their destination and carried in the first trip of groceries.
“Welcome back you two! You didn’t have to get so much!” Patton smiled cheerily, the two Towers brothers walking into the kitchen. They barely registered that Patton said anything and just went back to the car. Virgil and Patton shared a concerned look as they went and helped grab the rest of the groceries. They quickly put the food away but Roman and Logan were still acting strange. Patton and Virgil ushered the two shorter men to the couch, gently leading them to sit down comfortably. They crouched down in front of the couch, putting them all at a similar eye level. Virgil was silently stroking the back of Roman’s hand and Patton had gently placed his hands on Logan’s knees.
“Guys… What is wrong? Are you two ok? You are acting strange.” Patton asked sincerely. Roman and Logan slowly looked at each other, Roman nodding his head toward Logan. Logan slowly drew in a breath and took a moment to choose his words.
“… We were at the grocery store. Roman wanted to retrieve something from a high shelf that we could not reach. Fortuitously, a rather tall man was walking past and gave us assistance. He…” Logan looked up from his legs and at Patton’s concerned face. Logan gently reached out to touch Patton’s cheek. “He had soft brown hair… And bright green eyes.”
“He…” Roman looked up at Virgil. “He had a thin wiry frame and… Familiar mannerisms.” Virgil and Patton’s eyes both got big as they looked at each other. Logan silently pulled the business card out of his pocket and handed it to Patton. He took it in a shaking hand and pulled away, standing up. Virgil also stood and looked at the card. Logan and Roman studied their boyfriend’s reactions.
Patton was staring at the card in his hands like it was the cure for world hunger. Like he had been wandering in a desert and someone had handed him a gallon of water. His hands were shaking a little and lip trembling.
Virgil was a completely different story. He was staring intently at the card, but looking right through it. If looks could kill, that small paper rectangle would have been on fire. It appeared as if Virgil was reliving every situation that had ever angered him in his life. Suddenly his hand darted out to snatch it from Patton but Patton immediately flung his hand in the air. Roman would have chuckled at the brotherly game of keep away if he wasn’t so concerned about the look in Virgil’s eyes.
“Virgil. Don’t. You. Dare.” His voice was firm, but somehow still sad. Patton’s hand was still as high as it could go, Virgil would have had to jump to reach it.
“Patton. Give it to me.” Virgil’s voice full of malice.
“Virgil. Don’t you want to know?”
“After everything, Patton? After all this time? You can’t be serious.”
“Why can’t I? You aren’t curious? You don’t want to know anything?” Patton’s voice was getting angrier, but still maintaining a consistent level of pain.
“No. I don’t. Not after what Nan told us. There’s no way. He… He left us, Pat. After mom…”
“You wanna talk about Mom?! Fine! Let’s talk about her! What was she like, Virgil? Huh? WHAT WAS SHE LIKE?!” Patton exploded, the two on the couch never having seen anything like this from the normally gentle Patton.
“…Patton. Don’t do this. You know… You know I don’t remember.”
“AND WHY DON’T YOU REMEMBER HER? TELL ME. SAY IT.” Patton’s eyes were full of water, but his voice dripped with acid.
“…Patton…” Virgil had completely dropped his guard.
“Say it, Virgil. Say it.” His voice dropped to just above a whisper. But the threat hadn’t left.
“…She died, Patton.”
“When.”
“Pat…”
“WHEN.”
“…The day you were born.”
“Exactly. Maybe i’d like to chance to meet ONE of my parents, Virgil. THE ONE I DIDN’T KILL.” Patton stormed out of his back door into his backyard.
Virgil looked down at his feet and raked his fingers through his hair several times.
“…Damn it, Pat… Damn it, me…” He muttered quietly and looked around the room, suddenly remembering that Roman and Logan were still seated there at all.
“I… uh… I guess I have a story to tell.” Virgil said weakly.
“…Take your time. If you need a moment… Or if you need to go to him..” Roman said quietly.
“..No.. Pat… Pat will be ok. He just needs some time.”
Virgil pulled up a chair to face the couch and sat before them. He took a moment to collect his thoughts, cradling his head in his hands. He drew in a breath and sat up a bit, still slumped forward.
“…Patton and I are only 11 months apart in age… Almost exactly. Our mom, from what I’ve been told, was rather young. Our father… wasn’t around. Our grandmother absolutely hated him… She is the one who raised us…. But… uh… I don’t know. Maybe it’s silly that I’m still so mad at him.. I can’t blame Pat… It isn’t his fault. Nan was just so adamant that he was a bad man. That he couldn’t be bothered to show up when I was born… And that when he found out about Patton he disappeared off the face of the earth. Didn’t even come to Mom’s funeral. She died… She wasn’t strong enough to handle us being born so close together. We were both big… You probably would’ve guessed that though… But… Pat was about 15 pounds when he was born… And.. She couldn't…” Virgil was just rambling on, his eyes starting to water. He wasn’t the emotional type and it broke both their hearts, especially Roman’s, to see him like this.
A hand gently came down on Virgil’s shoulder and he looked up to see Pat standing there, his face streaked with tears. He fell to his knees beside Virgil and they stared at each other for a long time.
“… I’m sorry Virgil… I just.. I…” Patton choked out. Virgil just looked at him and pulled him for a hug, wrapping his thin arms around his bear of a little brother. They stayed for a moment, pulling apart to go back to looking at each other.
“….We will always have each other…” Virgil said with a small smile. Patton’s eyes brightened a little bit.
“…even when everything else is gone.” Patton finished with a small smile through the tears. It clicked in Roman and Logan’s heads why they had gotten those tattoos.
“Wait.” Logan suddenly said, all three of them looking over to him. No one spoke. “…Something doesn’t make sense.” He slowly added.
“..What?” Patton said, his voice still shaking. He was looking at Logan as though he had the ability to either fix all of this… Or destroy everything he held dear.
“Your father… He doesn’t know about Patton.” Logan slowly spoke. A wave of realization passing over Roman’s face.
“That’s right!” Roman popped up from his seat, surprising the others around him. He began to pace a little. “When we mentioned he reminded us of someone we knew… He asked if we knew his son… We corrected him to sons… And the world crashed around his ears. There’s no way that…”
“….But Nan said…” Virgil looked lost.
“…She hated him, Virge. She HATED him… She must have.. To keep him away from… But…” Patton’s face was a mixture of hurt and hope.
“To.. But…” Virgil still couldn’t handle the information.
“Virge… I know you feel like you owe Nan… She took care of us and she didn’t have to do that. She kept us together… But she was a very angry woman, Virgil… There’s a reason you have panic attacks. There’s a reason you have triggers. There’s a reason you don’t feel comfortable eating a lot of the time. There’s a reason why you almost never go out with your arms or legs bare. And there’s a reason why you feel safer in the dark than in the light. You have to understand… There’s no way we ever would have gotten the real story from her.” It was Patton’s turn to hold Virgil this time, he trembled even in his brother’s strong embrace.
Roman’s eyes had grown wider with every sentence Patton had spoken. He could feel his heart shattering at what Virgil had been through. He wanted to go to him, hold him, tell him everything would be ok. He wanted to help. But this wasn’t his moment. Patton had him. Patton was who he needed right now. He gently grabbed Logan’s hand, Logan acting as his rock for now.
“It’s up to you… Big brother. It’s your decision. You’ve always protected me. You make sure I don’t get myself hurt. I trust your judgment. I always have. I’ve always looked up to you.” Patton smiled and handed the business card to Virgil. He stared at it a long moment and then looked up into his brother’s eyes before cracking a small smile.
“…You don’t look up to anyone, Pat. You’re the biggest guy around.” Virgil joked with a half smile and sparkling eyes.
Patton just chuckled a little and pulled his older brother in closer to him, ruffling his hair a little.
“No one… Except you.”