Chapter Text
Virgil hates mornings. He swears they’re straight from hell, and he loathes having to wake up with a burning passion. In fact, he hates whoever’s trying to wake him up right now.
“Virgil.” A voice says, shaking his shoulder.
He groans and rolls over, curling tighter into a ball. The voice sighs in frustration, and then there’s a pause. For a brief, sweet moment, Virgil’s fool enough to think they left, before he feels the blanket being rudely yanked off his body. He gasps sharply as the cold air hits him, and he opens one eye to harshly glare up at a very unamused Logan staring back at him. He cannot believe his so-called ‘best friend’ would betray him like this.
“Honestly, Virge, you know I care about you but you’re going to have to start waking yourself up eventually. We’re due in the common room in five minutes. I’ve already finished your portion of the chores, and here,” He hurriedly slips an apple into Virgil’s slack hand, making sure he’s got somewhat of a hold of it before letting it go. “Is your breakfast. If you’re not up and running soon, Ms. Thompson will kill us both. I lied and told her you were cleaning up the room, so I honestly have no idea what we’ll do when she sees it’s still a mess.”
Virgil moans dramatically and flops onto his back, closing his eyes again and throwing his arm over his face to shield his eyes from the light.
“How’re you so coherent in the morning?” He mutters sleepily, his words coming out slurred. Logan only understands him from years of practice.
“It’s noon.” Logan retorts flatly, mindlessly folding the blanket still in his hands.
“I hate you.” Virgil huffs, lazily reaching his hand up to take a bite of the apple.
“No, you don’t.”
Logan starts patting down his hair and trying to pull him up, and Virgil lets him. Once Virgil finally manages to get up, Logan glances at the time and curses under his breath.
“Ok, I have to go make sure the supplies I used today are put away, but we don’t really have much time. I expect to see you in the common room in two minutes though, Virge.” He adds the last part on firmly as he hurries out of the room, and Virgil waves him off, stretching tiredly. He does decide to pick up some stuff off the floor of the room real quick before leaving, if just for the sake of following through on Logan’s words to Ms. Thompson.
The rest of the dorm is pretty much empty, save for a few boys who are either grabbing a few things last minute or have woken up just as late as Virgil himself. When he walks into the common room a minute later, Logan’s not there yet, but an unfortunate someone else certainly is.
“Honestly, every couple who’s come in recently has loved me. How could they not? I’m just too good, I’m bound to get adopted any second now, so don’t hate me when I leave before you.” Declan stands before a small group of younger kids, bragging about himself again.
Virgil almost feels bad for him at the obvious lie. Almost. Still, you don’t get to be 15 years old and still in the orphanage by having couples tripping over themselves to adopt you. Declan spots Virgil watching near the entrance of the room and smirks.
“What? Jealous that no one wants the sad emo freak?” Some of the kids around him chuckle, and Virgil’s shoulders hunch in instinctually even as he rolls his eyes.
“No, I’m just in shock at how such a garbage person can possibly still be so cocky and self-involved.”
“It’s not just being cocky if I’m right.” Declan shoots back, now irked.
Virgil opens his mouth to respond, but he’s stopped by Logan seemingly apparating next to him with a calm look on his face.
“Declan’s right, he’s not just being cocky.” Virgil scrunched his face in confusion, and Declan looks like he’s about to agree before Logan continues. “No, he’s also being a cock in general.”
Virgil bursts into surprised laughter and has to hold onto Logan’s arm for support as he nearly hyperventilates.
“Man, I have been a great influence on you, Lo.” He says this proudly, pretending to wipe a tear from his eye as he watches Declan’s face turn an unbecoming shade of red in anger.
It seems Declan’s about to say something, but his mouth snaps shut as Ms. Thompson walks in and watches the children coldly. The kids automatically line up as she reviews each child and checks their appearance before marking them as present, offering some snide comments to a few in order to ‘boost their likelihood of adoption’. It’s an unfortunate habit she picked up in the last few years, and one that everyone hates.
When she gets to Virgil, who’d just woken up less than ten minutes prior, she tuts at his eternally messy hair and reaches out to fix it. Virgil freezes and his breath gets caught in his throat. He still can’t stand physical contact with anyone who isn’t Logan (and even that took a while), and the thought of it sends a jolt of fear down his spine. Thankfully, right before her hand makes contact with his head, a sudden voice stops her.
“Ms. Thompson!” Logan says, a little too loudly to be natural, drawing her attention away from Virgil, who surreptitiously leans back and safely away from her extended arm. Logan sputters for a moment, not having thought this next part out. “I-I was…. I was just wondering if any returning couples were coming in today?”
Successfully distracted, she pulls her hand back to grab her clipboard from under her arm, reviewing the names listed. She reads them off and Logan dutifully pretends to look interested, nodding along intently. Once she repeats this to the other kids and gives her daily warning for them to be on their best behavior, everyone scuttles off to different parts of the room.
“Any hope for today?” Virgil asks as they wander over to their old corner. Logan shakes his head.
“No.” He’s quiet for a few moments, as if trying to restrain himself from saying something. It seems he ultimately fails, because he sighs a moment later and continues. “No one’s going to adopt us both, Virgil, and it’s illogical of us to pretend they will, especially at our age. You should have taken that couple up on their offer when we were kids.”
Even though his voice is vaguely bitter, Virgil knows he’s not trying to start a fight, but is rather concerned for them both.
“We’re not going over this again, Lo. For some reason, they didn’t want you, and I’m not leaving you behind, and I don’t regret a thing. Besides, somewhere out there, there’s probably someone just waiting to meet us. I bet my life on it.”
“First of all, you give no value to your own life, and we both know it.” Logan states, and Virgil has to nod, conceding this fact. “Second of all, that’s surprisingly optimistic coming from you. Are you feeling alright?”
“I dunno,” Virgil shrugs, suddenly remembering that he was still holding the apple from earlier and deciding to continue eating it. “I feel good today. Like something important is going to happen.”
Logan squints his eyes suspiciously at him and even moves to put a hand on his forehead, which Virgil bats away, rolling his eyes.
“So, what? You’re psychic now?” Logan asks, and Virgil doesn’t respond, taking another bite out of his breakfast. "Fine, well, whatever it is, I just hope it doesn’t interfere with my work too much.”
When they were younger, Logan read up on all the different fields, taking a particular liking to both astronomy and engineering, and he’s since taken to building little engines and machines when he’s stuck inside the common room. Recently, he’s started his most ambitious project yet, drawing up plans for a type of multifaceted robot. It hasn’t been easy, or frankly even very realistic, considering their situation, but he resigned himself to simply sketching several drafts of the engine system since he couldn’t buy the parts. To his surprise, though, Virgil had somehow racked up enough money the previous year by doing other chores and side work for months until he could purchase the parts himself. He presented them to Logan on Christmas, and Logan fervently denied afterwards that he had cried.
Now, as Logan sits on his heels and observes the progress he’s made on the robot a month after receiving the materials, he feels another rush of gratitude run through him.
“Thank you again for this, Virgil.” He says for the millionth time, much to Virgil’s frustration. “I’m sorry my gift was not as significant.”
“Shut up.” Virgil huffs, but he makes a point of sinking into the oversized soft black and purple patterned hoodie he now wears. It was Logan’s gift to him, and it secretly means a lot more to him than he shows. Although they’ve been friends for years and the hoodie probably wasn’t even very expensive, this gift clearly had so much consideration put into his style and what he would like best, let alone being the first article of clothing someone bought specifically for him to call his own.
Virgil mindlessly doodles in a little sketchbook as he watches Logan work, only getting up to throw away his apple core. Eventually, they hear the door open, and a new couple comes in. This usually wouldn’t catch Virgil’s attention, but there’s something different with this couple.
The ‘something different’ would be their two apparent sons standing right next to them, looking around curiously as their parents talk to the receptionist, who marks something down as they talk.
The two boys seem to be around their age as well. Virgil can’t imagine for the life of him what these people are doing here, especially when they so clearly already have kids. He nudges Logan to get his attention, not looking away from the odd newcomers.
“What d’you think is their deal?”
“Hmm.” Logan looks up from where he’s adjusting a screw and furrows his eyebrows, watching them carefully for a minute. Virgil looks away from the others to glance at him. “Twins. They have a pet, probably. The one on the right is the overly dramatic kind, maybe an art or theater kid. The one on the left? Bubbly, the type of person that’s insufferably sweet, terribly naïve, and exceedingly cheerful. Look at the way he’s bouncing just standing there. Also, he will likely approach us at some point during his visit.”
“What?!” Virgil cries incredulously. “I call bullshit, there’s no way you could know all that. You may be obsessed with the guy, but you aren’t actually Sherlock Holmes y’know. Besides, why would they come up to us?”
“Firstly, I could absolutely be Sherlock Holmes.” Logan stops what he’s doing for just a second as he looks at Virgil from the corner of his eye. “Secondly, I should correct myself. It’s not us he’ll approach.” Virgil almost lets himself breathe a sigh of relief, but then Logan finishes. “It’s mostly you.”
“You’ve got to be kidding. You’re totally wrong, anyways. What makes you think that?”
At this, Logan finally fully puts down his work and leans back, watching the brothers for a moment before turning to Virgil.
“Well, I suppose I could try to relate it to the scientific fact that a positive charge is attracted to a negative, and they tend to say light is attracted to the dark. Simply put, Virgil, you are dressed like a living shadow, and that boy is the personification of an actual ball of sunshine.” He purses his lips now, motioning to the rest of the room. “Also, obviously, because we are one of the few here that match their age in a room full of small children.”
Virgil scoffs at this, but is distracted by movement. It’s one of the boys, clad in glasses and a bright blue sweater that has a cat and “You’re purr-fect” written on it, bounding up to them excitedly while the other one hurries behind him to keep up. Logan shoots him an ‘I-told-you-so’ look, and Virgil sticks his tongue out at him.
“Hiya!” The boy says as he reaches them. “I’m Patton, what’s your name?”
Before Virgil even has a chance to respond, his brother comes up behind him, wearing a fancy red and gold jacket over a white t-shirt.
“Patton,” He huffs, somehow sounding equally fond and irritated. “What happened to ‘let’s not split up’? You know I love exploring but you have to wait until I’m looking before you run off like that.”
Now that they’re closer, it’s obvious that if they are twins, it isn’t identical, though they look quite similar. At the very least, they’re obviously related.
“Oops, my bad, Ro! Kiddos, this is my brother, Roman.” Patton says, turning back to them, and Roman strikes a pose as he grins. “And you are…?”
“Uh…” Virgil turns desperately to Logan, who swiftly stands to greet them.
“Salutations, Patton and Roman. I am Logan, and my friend here is Virgil.”
Roman snickers, and Patton smacks him lightly on the shoulder, giving him a disapproving look as Virgil slowly sinks into his hoodie.
What brings you here?” Logan asks, vaguely irked at the slight toward Virgil.
“Our parents have always wanted to eventually adopt but they decided to wait to raise us first. Now that we can take care of ourselves and help out where needed, here we are.” Roman supplies, gesturing to where his parents are kneeling, talking to another little kid.
“And you?” Patton adds automatically, only realizing his mistake when Virgil and Logan stare back wordlessly. This time, it’s Roman’s turn to hit him on the shoulder. For a moment, they’re both afraid they’ve offended them, but then Virgil snorts into his hand, causing Logan to fight back an amused smile.
Suddenly painfully aware that he’s the only one still on the ground, Virgil moves to stand, and Patton beams at him.
“Well I think we’re on the virge of a great friendship here, huh?” As Patton says this, Logan’s smile turns strained. “Can I hug you?”
Patton’s already going in for the hug by the time he says this, and Virgil presses against the wall. Once again, Logan stops it, stepping in front of Virgil and sticking his hand out to shake. Patton’s smile falters in confusion as he pulls back, but he excitedly shakes Logan’s hand nonetheless.
“Yes, lovely to meet you both.” Logan steers the conversation away from his anxious friend. “I’ve noticed the garment you have on is feline-themed. Do you have pets?”
“Ah, I’m allergic to cats.” Patton says regretfully, but his cheery smile never fades. Logan, however, tries his best not to look bothered at possibly being proved wrong. “But I love them!”
“We do, however, have a dog at home named Elsa.” Roman adds, and Patton nods.
Logan nods along in interest, pretending to put his arms behind his back for comfort while secretly sticking a hand out. Virgil rolls his eyes but high-fives him anyways.
“Elsa?” Virgil scoffs then, and Logan steps out of his way. “Are you guys Disney nerds?”
“Disney is pure and perfect, something I don’t imagine you’d understand.” Roman sasses back in response, and Virgil narrows his eyes in intrigue.
“Oh yeah, Frozen was so pure,” He says sarcastically. “A story about how you can never trust random princes and prolonging the inevitable, because Olaf’s just going to melt when Elsa dies and the magic’s gone.”
Roman makes a variety of offended noises, raising a hand to his chest.
“How dare you besmirch a glorious movie like that, I’ll have you know that tale is about how sibling love triumphs over all!”
As Roman and Virgil get lost in their own heated debate, Logan sits again and begins to work. Patton watches him curiously as he sits down across from him.
“What’s that?”
“This? I am attempting to create a robot with artificial intelligence that can serve multiple functions.”
“You have a computer?” Patton leans forward, looking intently at his engine and fascinated by Logan’s work.
“Well, no. But the orphanage has a shared one that I am permitted to use. It won’t be very easy, and it’s likely too ambitious a project for me, but I’ll give it my best shot. I still have to finish the structure, let alone the AI itself, and I-” Logan stops himself, swallowing nervously. “Apologies, you probably don’t want to hear me rant about this.”
“No, I like it! You’re so cool!” Patton sounds so sincere, and his smile is so impossibly bright. Logan inexplicably finds himself blushing as he looks down at his hands. “What’s his name?”
“Pardon?” Logan glances back up at him as he adjusts his glasses, certain he misheard. Hasn’t he already told Patton what Virgil’s name was?
“Your robot! What’s his name?”
“It does not have one.”
“Then I’ll just call him Thomas. Hi, Thomas!” Patton waves happily at the half-assembled robot, and Logan watches him as if he’s insane.
Still, it’s kind of… endearing, if he’s being honest.
He continues to work as Patton happily chats at him about anything and everything. It slows his progress, but he doesn’t feel too bothered. The two talk until the brothers’ parents inevitably call them over, and the four wave goodbye to each other as the brothers leave.
Somehow, Logan and Virgil both find themselves surprisingly disappointed.