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Logan sat on the opposite side of the couch as his best friend. Their feets had been playing together, Patton’s blue and pink cat socks a splash of color to Logan’s Black and tan attire. The two friends were polar opposites, but that didn’t stop the two in their nearly twenty-two years of friendship.
Even though Logan had been into science, even as a kid and Patton was more of an active kid, they had a really strong bond. They had been born just a few days apart, and Logan was born a few weeks early, while Patton was nearly a week late. Logan, socially, couldn’t tell what people were feeling, and Patton could talk a kid down from a major panic attack.
Polar opposites, but they were like a magnet.
Logan and Patton’s mothers met at the hospital, and the two boys were basically inseparable from then on. They went to the same Daycare, same summer lessons, and the same school district. They had hit the jackpot when they got accepted into the same college.
Nearly twenty-two years of a perfect, calm friendship.
And Logan had to screw it up with developing feelings for the sweet, freckled Patton.
“Logan, what do you think a dog thinks about?” Patton spoke up, holding the other’s feet with his own.
“They most likely think about food and sleeping, maybe about the affection it receives from its owner,” Logan replied, “Why do you ask?”
“I was talking to Roman earlier,” Logan felt his heartache when he saw a small smile on Patton’s lips, “and we were talking about dogs, and Virgil said Dogs only thought about eating, but I said that they must think about their owners.”
“Oh, so you were wondering if you were wrong or right.” Logan hummed.
“No, I was hoping dogs thought about more than themselves.”
Logan nodded, “They do. They’re especially protective of their humans. It’s also been scientifically proven that they are able to tell if someone is a bad person.”
It was silent for a minute before Patton brought something else up. “What about a cat?”
Logan blinked, “Why do you want to know about this Patton?” He sat up straighter, pulling Patton’s feet up and caging him in with his legs. He dropped the feet down around his hips, looking at the freckled man across from him.
“I was thinking that if some people are cat people, and some people are dog people, then they act like it. Dog people are more extroverted, and cat people are more introverted, right? And a lot of people say cats and dogs are enemies.”
“Well, I wouldn’t say that all people are like that, and that is a-”
“But I really like cats, even though I’m allergic. And you’ve said that you prefer dogs because they’re more active than cats.” Patton was staring down something at Logan’s button up, eyebrows furrowed. “And it got me thinking about us.”
It was now time for Logan to furrow his brow, and he took that into thought. “What made you think about it?”
“I’m a lot more active; even now. You prefer sitting around and reading, but that really bugs me. I need to move around. You struggle with talking to people, but I love talking to people. People would never think you’re my best friend. They always assume that Roman would be- but here we are now, nearly twenty-two years later.” Patton had a look of sadness on his face at first, but he quickly replaced it with a smile.
Logan shifted so that he sat up properly. Despite not reading others very well, Logan could tell when Patton was hurting. And this was a time for juice boxes and animal crackers- the frosted one. He patted Patton’s leg, getting up to get the said items. “I’ll be right back.”
Patton looked up with bright blue eyes, nodding as Logan went to go get the treats.
“Come out with us.”
Logan blinked as he looked up from his books. In front of him, Patton stood in a new polo shirt- he could tell because it still has the sticker on the front of his chest. Subconsciously, he leaned over to his friend and pulled it off.
“Why do you want me to come out? Didn’t we just go out last night?” He asked, rolling the sticker up so the adhesive side was up, and handed it to Patton. Said young adult pouted, taking the item to toy with it.
“I meant to come out with me, Roman, and Virgil. We’re going out to eat and then to Walmart.”
And that’s how Logan found himself sitting in an Applebee’s booth with three other men at nearly midnight, trying to finish his meal as Virgil was telling a story about how he had tried to get onto a school’s stage while the Ballet Nutcracker was going on when he was a toddler. Roman was hunched over, laughing as Virgil recalled the events of how toddler him as decided he didn’t like that shirt he was wearing and that he decided to just strip down on the stage.
Patton was leaning onto Logan’s arm as he laughed, trying not to be as loud so he didn’t disturb the fellow dinners, but was ultimately giving full body laughs as Virgil told them about his mother’s horror as she realized that the stupid toddler stripping on stage was her toddler.
“It’s safe to say that she never took me to another public play until I was ten.” Virgil ended his story, a smile twitching on his lips. While the story was amusing, Logan had been focused on the sound of Patton’s laughter.
Nothing felt like home as the laughter that came from the perfect mouth of his besides the words he’s heard so many times- I love you.
Soon, they paid for dinner- Roman insisting he pays for Virgil’s meal (and losing the battle) while Logan just took the screen they used to pay and added Patton’s meal to his bill. Of course, Patton threw a fit and demanded to let him pay for his own groceries at least.
(Of course, Logan wasn’t going to allow that. He knew how little Patton had left over from his job)
Next, the small group made their way to Walmart. It wasn’t that long of a walk, just a block away from the restaurant. It was also creeping up on 12:30 am, making the store emptier than usual. Of course, the first thing that they did was grab two carts. Almost like a routine, Logan watched as Virgil climbed into the basket of the cart, Roman cackling as they walked into the store.
Logan looked back to Patton, who hummed to himself while following the other two with the cart.
“Where to first, kiddos?” Patton spoke up, smiling.
“Okay- let’s-” Virgil laughed as he tried to sit up in the cart, “Let’s go to the frozen foods, get some pizzas and hot pockets.” He cackled.
Roman made an exaggerated salute, walking down the way to the back of the story.
Patton laughed and grabbed Logan’s hand as he leads them to the frozen section. “I guess we could pick up a few things. Maybe frozen pizzas or some fish sticks,” he hummed, letting go of Logan’s hand to steer the cart.
Logan let out the breath he was holding, follow Patton down to the frozen foods section of the store. A few feet in front of two was the other duo. Instead of besting exhausted and making one am decisions, they were cackling and strolling along. They were acting as if it was a normal day, just walking through Walmart and getting groceries at one am.
Logan stopped for a second. What was he doing? It’s one in the morning, and he’s supposed to be sleeping; not walking around trying to buy groceries!
“Lo?” Patton’s voice called, “What type of pizza should we get?”
Logan looked back at Patton, the man holding two frozen pizzas. “I know you’re not a huge fan of it,” he hummed, “but I was thinking about getting meat lovers for you, and a normal pepperoni for me. But we should also get two more, so what should we get?”
Logan approached the door Patton was at, and reached in to grab another. “Well, I know you don’t really like vegetables, but we can get one for me, and we can try…” He hummed, pulling out one. “Garlic Chicken.” He read, turning back to the other.
Instead of seeing the typical pout aimed at the veggie pizza, Patton was looking up at Logan with a fond smile.
“Okay,” he whispered.
Logan was lost in those blue eyes- the color reminding him of the ocean. The world seemed to stop for a minute.
Until it didn’t.
“Princey, you’re going too fast!” A voice screeched, followed by the sound of a cart hitting a wall.
Patton’s eyes seemed to widen as he turned his head to where the sound of the two talking came from. “Kiddos, you shouldn’t be doing that in the store!” He ran over to the two- supposedly adults- were.
And like that, Logan’s blue-eyed beauty was walking away.
It had been spontaneous.
Like every scenario in his head about a thousand and one ways to confess his love had been thrown out of the metaphorical window.
Logan had come home after a long shift (for a part-time job) sorting papers to the smell of pizza cooking and laughter drifting through the house. Of course, curiosity had gotten the better of him. After he took off his shoes, put his keys up onto the hook, and his coat was set onto the coat rack, he walked to the kitchen.
Sitting at the kitchen island was Roman and Virgil, both of which had a bottle of beer over. Now, Neither Patton or Logan bought alcohol unless it was for a holiday, event, or a recipe they wanted to try, so either Virgil or Roman brought it over or Patton had bought a case or two before Logan got home.
“Logan!” Patton cried, “You’re home finally!” He laughed, setting his bottle down. He walked out from behind the counters and threw his arms around him, “I hope you don’t mind, but I popped the Garlic Chicken and Pepperoni pizza in and invited these two over for dinner!”
Of course, Logan didn’t mind; Patton could have more friends than just him. It wasn’t like they had signed a contract to only be friends with each other.
And that’s how Logan spent his birthday with his best friend and two people he didn’t really know besides the brief interacts with over a meal at Applebee’s at midnight. And that’s how Logan realized that he didn’t mind the presences of the others- no, he wasn’t one hundred percent comfortable with them, but he could relax a little at least.
Roman was talking about how he had found out he was adopted, Virgil was staring at the man like he held the moon up in the sky, and Patton-
Patton was eating his sixth piece of pizza, his eyes staring back into him as he brought his napkin up to wipe his mouth, laughing softly. When he finished his mouthful of food, Patton set his napkin down and mouthed those familiar words that he said every day for years;
I love you.
And for the first time, instead of saying I know like he always did, Logan responded.
I love you too.
As a grin spread across Patton’s face, familiar lyrics drifted through the air, as he stared into the Ocean Eyes
“I’ve been watching you,
For some time,
Can’t stop staring
At those Ocean Eyes…”