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Virgil somehow managed to tense even more as Logan closed the driver’s side door, likely expecting immediate yelling now that they were alone. None came, of course, but the tension didn’t leave his frame. There were a few moments of silence before Logan reached forward to put the keys in the ignition. He saw Virgil twitch out of the corner of his eye.
“Please don’t be afraid of me,” Logan requested softly as he sat back. Virgil just curled up into a tighter ball, arms hugging himself around the middle and shadows flickering a bit at his feet. Dammit. Logan wasn’t any good at this, but what was he supposed to say? It’s okay? You’re not in trouble? He could not truthfully say that. Yet, he was also uncomfortably aware that Virgil’s experiences and expectations for ‘in trouble’ were doubtlessly far removed from anything Logan or Patton would ever allow to happen to him, let alone do to him themselves.
But how on Earth was Logan supposed to explain that in this moment? Logan was no good in this type of situation, at least not alone.
“Do…” he said. “Would you like to listen to the radio on the way home?”
Virgil said nothing. Logan reached forward and clicked on the radio. It was less than a ten-minute drive, but it felt like hours before they were pulling into the driveway. Patton’s car was already there, thank god.
Virgil exited the car before Logan did, and Logan followed him to the door. He seemed uninterested in petting Missy for once, to the dog’s clear confusion. She bumped up insistently against his leg with a whine and when that didn’t work gave Logan an accusatory look.
Patton was already on his feet when they entered the living room. “Hey kiddo, are you alright?”
“I’m fine,” Virgil answered.
“Your eye…” Patton said.
Virgil covered his already bruising eye with one of his hands. “Doesn’t matter.”
“It does matter, Virgil,” Patton said. “I’ll go get you some ice.” He darted around Logan toward the kitchen.
“Why don’t you sit on the couch,” Logan suggested. He did so without argument.
Patton returned quickly and went to his knees in front of the couch. “Here,” he said, offering Virgil the ice pack. He took it and placed it over his injured eye. Patton laid a cautious hand on Virgil’s knee. “Are you hurt anywhere else?”
“No,” Virgil replied, his voice so quiet it was barely even there.
“Did you get to eat lunch?”
Virgil shook his head and Patton shot a glance at Logan. Logan walked to the kitchen to quickly make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. He could hear Patton continue to mumble soft words in the living room, but he rarely got a response and when he did, it was no more than one word.
Logan brought the sandwich to the living room and placed it in Virgil’s lap. “Eat it, please,” he said. His shoulders curled in and he watched Logan warily, but he still picked up the sandwich and took a bite. Patton rubbed small circles with the hand on Virgil’s knees until he finished the sandwich, and Logan took the plate back to the kitchen. When Logan returned, Patton got to his feet and glanced at him. Okay. Logan’s turn then.
He and Patton took the chairs set up across from the couch. “Okay, Virgil,” Logan began. “The principal informed us of the altercation you were in today. Would you like to tell us what happened from your point of view?”
“I got in a fight,” he whispered, not looking at them.
“Alright, and could you please explain your reasoning and what led up to the fight?”
“He was being an asshole, so I took him down.”
Logan paused to see if anything more would come. “Fighting is not appropriate conflict resolution, Virgil.”
Virgil didn’t say a word, just stared at the floor.
“Virgil?” Logan prompted.
Virgil tensed and then visibly forced himself to relax. “Yeah,” he replied softly. “I know.”
Logan watched him for a moment. He was the picture of docility with his shoulders hunched in and his eyes downcast. His hands shook a bit where they were curled on his thighs. Logan didn’t like this. Yet, he was the only one who could do this. Patton was putting on a calm façade, but Logan knew he was fit for shattering where he sat, unfit to discipline a child when he himself had never been on the other side of such an interaction that was in any way healthy. Logan put a steadying pressure on Patton’s lower back with his powers and took a breath himself.
“The three of us have talked at length about the possibility of you being grounded, but I’d like to clarify exactly what it means once again. You are going to be grounded for the rest of the evening which means your access to your phone and computer will be restricted. Tomorrow we will discuss how you can earn back those privileges either through one of the predetermined options or we can negotiate other options if you have suggestions based on the current situation. I would like to make it abundantly clear that we will at no point restrict your access to basic necessities, in particular food as we know that is a sensitive issue. You still have free range of the house and have no reason to fear speaking to us as usual. This will be the extent of the consequences for this incident. Do you understand?”
Virgil nodded, looking particularly miserable and still not meeting his eyes.
“Is there anything else you’d like to say?”
He shook his head.
“Alright,” Logan said. “You can go to your room now or stay here if you’d like.”
Virgil silently pulled his phone out of his pocket and set it on the coffee table between them before retreating up to his room.
Logan did not even consider attempting to stop Patton’s stress baking today. He did request he prepare something relatively healthy for dinner before he inevitably moved on to baked goods, but that had been over two hours ago. He’d finished one batch of cupcakes already and had moved onto brownies when there was a knock on the front door.
He opened the door to see a woman and a teenager around Virgil’s age, perhaps a year or two younger.
“Hi,” the woman said, “is this the Sanders’ residence?”
Logan scanned the two of them briefly. The boy with her was not the one he’d met earlier in the principal’s office who had fought with Virgil, but he looked much more like he’d been in a fight than either Virgil or that boy had looked. He had two black eyes and a mark with a butterfly bandage on his cheek.
“It is,” Logan answered.
“Sorry to intrude,” she said with a small smile, “Tyler just wanted to make sure Virgil didn’t get into trouble and I know how Brian Holland’s parents can be, so I wanted to make sure you believed him.”
Logan paused. “Why don’t you come in?”
“Uh, sure.”
“Patton, we have guests,” he warned, and then turned back to the two at the door. “Come into the kitchen. There are fresh cupcakes and soon to be brownies.”
They followed him into the kitchen and Patton gave him an inquisitive look. “This is Tyler and…” he paused. Patton shot him a fondly exasperated look.
“I’m Shelly Ferguson,” the woman interjected.
Patton abandoned the bowl of some sort of batter for the moment to round the kitchen island. “I’m Patton Sanders,” he said, reaching forward to shake her hand, “and the man who invited you into our home without asking your name first is Logan. It’s very nice to meet you.”
“It’s nice to meet you too.”
“They wanted to talk to us about the fight earlier today,” Logan told him.
“Oh…” he said. “Just let me… put this cookie batter in the refrigerator.” He covered the dish in plastic quickly and placed it in the refrigerator. He paused for just a moment too long with his back to them before spinning around with a smile. “Can I get you something to drink?”
“No, thank you, we’re fine,” Shelly answered.
“At least have a cupcake. I just frosted them and we’re going to have brownies in a few minutes anyway.”
Shelly agreed and Patton went to get her and Tyler cupcakes. He managed to cajole her into a cup of tea by the time they all sat down at the kitchen table.
“What exactly did you wish to speak to us about?” Logan asked the two strangers.
“Well, Tyler and myself were both a bit concerned, in light of our own past experiences with the Hollands, that the school’s version of events regarding the fight wouldn’t be particularly accurate.”
“I assume you were there,” Logan addressed Tyler. “Would you mind telling us what happened from your perspective?”
“Sure,” Tyler agreed. “Um, Brian and I have A lunch together. He tripped me during lunch, and I accidently spilled chocolate milk all over him. So, he cornered me during the passing period. Virgil must have B lunch, I think, and I guess he noticed him taking me into the bathroom because he followed us in. Er. I was on the ground, and Virgil stepped between us and told him to back off. So, Brian hit him in the face once and then went to hit him again, but Virgil grabbed his wrist and kind of twisted him around and pinned him to the floor. Then I ran and got a teacher, but they didn’t let me back in, and I didn’t see either of them after that.”
“From what Tyler and the teacher who found them told me, Virgil shouldn’t have gotten in trouble, but they have that zero-tolerance policy and the Hollands have the superintendent in their pocket.”
“I see,” Logan said. “That is very pertinent information. Thank you for coming and informing us of this.”
“Sure,” the woman replied, her eyebrows drawing together, “didn’t Virgil explain all of that?”
Logan exchanged a glance with Patton who looked close to being physically ill over the state of affairs. “Virgil is often not very…forthcoming with information,” Logan explained.
“Oh,” she replied.
“He won’t be in trouble for the fight with us,” Logan continued. “We do appreciate you coming to set the record straight.”
“Yes, we do,” Patton agreed, jumping in with a rather brittle smile. He stood from his seat. “Why don’t I pack you up some brownies to take home?”
“Oh, thank you, but that really isn’t necessary.”
“It’s okay,” Patton replied. “I’m going to be making a lot more later tonight.”
Tyler and his mother left rather quickly after that with an entire plate stacked with brownies. Logan put a hand on Patton’s shoulder. “Would you like to stay downstairs?” he asked.
Patton shrugged the hand off. “I’m fine.”
Logan did not believe him, but he didn’t say that as they walked up the stairs to Virgil’s room. Logan tapped on the door softly. “Virgil, can Patton and I come in?” he asked.
There was a bit of what sounded like paper rustling, before there was a quiet, “yeah.”
He’d changed out of his school clothing and was wearing the old black hoodie of Patton’s that they’d gifted him on his first night here before they’d had time to buy him his own cloths. It was large enough that he was able to curl his knees up into it, often making Logan mistake him for a pillow when he sometimes pulled the hood tight and laid face down on the couch. Today, he was sitting up straight on his bed, but it was still hard to tell where the hoodie ended and Virgil began. He eyed them cautiously while they entered the room.
Logan could see just a bit of notebook paper sticking out from under the covers of the bed and assumed he’d been writing or drawing something before they’d come in but had hidden it away when Logan had knocked. It was something that was not in any way breaking the rules, but he still feared he’d be punished for it anyway.
Patton sat on the end of his bed and the notebook fell to the floor. Virgil’s shoulders hit his ears. Logan just calmly picked it up and put it on his desk before leaning on the desk himself. He did his best to keep his face neutral. “Tyler and his mother came to the house after school.”
“Who’s Tyler?”
“Tyler is the person who was dragged into a bathroom between A and B lunch by Brian Holland.”
Recognition flared and he curled tighter into himself looking smaller and smaller by the moment as though he hoped he could shrink into nothing.
“He and his mother wanted to make sure we knew the actual circumstances of today’s conflict.”
He did not seem calmed by this fact; in fact, he might have even looked more distressed.
“Sweetie,” Patton said, his hand coming up to cup his cheek. “Why didn’t you tell us?”
Virgil shied away from the touch, staring at the hand left hanging in the air in incomprehension.
Because he’d expected to get punished anyway, Logan thought. He didn’t expect to be treated fairly or for circumstances to be taken into account. He expected any explanation to be taken as argument and punished more harshly. His youth had been full of inconsistencies, of harsh penalties for inconsequential errors and punishments when he’d done nothing wrong.
He’d been taught over the years that kindness more often than not was a punishable offence. Yet, there was still something in him that compelled him to act when he saw someone who needed help. Despite his fears and despite the consequences he thought would result from his actions, he still helped when he was needed.
He…
He had been bleeding on the ground having just taken a bullet for an even younger child and had begged Logan not to hurt him more than he already was. He had struggled in Logan’s grip before relenting to blood loss. He’d woken in their home afraid and expectant of pain.
He still did expect pain sometimes. He turned fearful eyes to them when he made or thought he’d made small mistakes, and he flinched if they moved in the wrong way at the wrong time. A misplaced frown of displeasure from one of them could send him into a panicked spiral of apologizing for things he hadn’t done.
Of course, he hadn’t told them.
And they hadn’t noticed.
Their individual weaknesses had lined up far too well. Logan had come in calm with his plan. It had been a carefully thought out one with the goal to not retraumatize the teen and to set up clear and fair disciplinary standards. He’d been so involved in making sure the plan went right, that he hadn’t noticed that he might need to deviate from it. He usually relied on Patton to correct his course if needed, but Patton was unsure in the realm of disciplining a child. Patton’s parents had been abusive, though in a different way than Virgil had experienced. While he knew intimately what not to do with Virgil, he had no resource to decide what to do with him. Not to mention, he had his own hang-ups about being on the other side of such a situation. He’d made himself so nervous during the initial conversation Logan and he had that Logan had worried he’d make himself physically ill. He’d likely been so tangled up in his own stress over the situation that he never could have seen Virgil’s distress, let alone articulate it to Logan. They would have, of course, listened to anything Virgil told them, but he had not, could not have with his history, spoken.
Logan found himself suddenly wishing for his own parents. They were not always perfect, nor did they always understand him, but they were good, and he would have very much liked their advice in this moment.
“S-sorry?” Virgil stumbled through the word when the silence in the room lasted too long, clearly unsure what he was apologizing for. “I’m sorry. I didn’t think it mattered. I didn’t mean to lie.”
“No, Virgil,” Logan interrupted quickly. “I’m sorry.”
He blinked at him in surprise. “What?” he asked.
“I apologize,” Logan said. “We had a communication error. I should have realized there was more going on. I hope you can forgive me for that.”
“But… I did something wrong?”
“You didn’t,” Logan replied. “We were unaware of the details when we last spoke and you should not have been grounded.”
“You…” Patton said. “Virgil, you’ve got to tell us stuff like this. We don’t know everything. What you think and feel is important too.” He crumbled a bit towards the end, eyes filling up with tears.
“W-wait, why are you crying?” Virgil glanced at Logan, quickly remembered why that was a bad idea, and then looked back at Patton. He pushed himself to his knees and scooted closer to him. “It’s okay Patton, don’t cry.”
Patton laughed a bit wetly and pulled him into a hug.
When Patton released him and sat back, Logan leaned forward to put Virgil’s phone on the bed next to him. “Here’s your phone back. I’d like to make reparations for your time if possible.”
“Wait, so I’m not grounded anymore?” he asked.
“Punishments aren’t meant to hurt you Virgil or to persist without cause, they’re supposed to teach you things. There was never a lesson for you to learn here.” Logan stood and pressed his hand to the top of the boy’s head. He leaned into the touch just barely and Logan felt a smile flicker over his face. “You are free to do as you wish now, but it may be pertinent information that there are still half a dozen cupcakes and a quarter pan of brownies in the kitchen.” Virgil perked up considerably at the promise of sweets. “And I unfortunately have no recourse to prevent you from eating enough to make yourself sick tonight.”
Patton giggled a bit at that, and Virgil was off to the kitchen in the next moment, Missy’s yips following him as she realized her companion in mischief was no longer down in the dumps.
Logan pressed a soft kiss to Patton’s forehead once he was gone. “Are you okay?” he asked. Patton nodded and then reached into his pocket to take out his phone. “What are you doing?” Logan asked.
“Calling Rhea,” Patton answered.
“Is that necessary?”
“If Brian’s parents get to use their influence on the superintendent, then I’m going to use my influences,” he said, clearly leaving no room for argument. Logan heard someone pick up on the other end of the line. “Hello Darlene, it’s Patton Sanders. Is Mayor Silvia still in or should I call her at home?”