Chapter Text
Patton could have cried as he came out of the airport and saw the family minivan waiting for him and Thomas. Mom had silver hair and was a round, squat figure. Dad had gone bald, and his thick glasses were new frames. When they spotted him, they waved enthusiastically, and Patton almost did cry.
"Look, Thomas, your grandparents are here," Patton said, placing a hand on Thomas' back and facing him in the direction of their family. Thomas stared with big, wide eyes then looked back up at him. Patton laughed. "I know, let's go meet them."
Their suitcases were small and light. Patton had packed their things quickly and without too much thought, and told Sarah to expect to see divorce papers from him soon. He had had enough of her and her overly controlling attitude, and if she thought she was going to get her nails into Thomas, she was dead wrong. His little boy was an angel.
"Mom! Dad!" Patton cried as he reached them, and hot tears finally did come down his cheeks as he threw himself into his mother's arms.
"Oh, Patty, baby," Mom sighed happily, hugging him tightly. Then she pulled away, smacking him playfully on the back of the head. "Nine years and not a single visit! How dare you, young man!"
"I'm sorry, Mom," Patton sniffled. "I really missed you."
"Oh, honey," Mom cooed. She hugged him again, tiptoeing so she could hook her chin over his shoulder. "I missed you too."
"Mama!" Patton pulled away and hugged Thomas to his side. He grinned. "This is Thomas."
"Hello, Thomas!" Mom greeted him happily. "I'm Grandma!"
"Hello," Thomas said politely. Shyly.
"Alright, bags are in the car. Hop on in, Kiddo, we'll get you home," Dad said. Patton looked at his father, feeling suddenly winded. Home . He was going home .
"I love you guys," Patton sobbed, hugging his father tightly.
"We love you too," Dad assured, wrapping Patton up in one of his oh-so-familiar bear hugs. Patton laughed.
"Where are the boys?" Patton asked, pulling away and looking for Virgil and Roman.
"Roman's only just got home from college! Freshman year really took the wind out of his sails, he's at home with Virgil," Mom explained.
"Hiya, Thomas. I'm your Grandpa," Dad said, getting down to Thomas's level. "Will you let me help you into the booster seat? It's a little old, so I hafta adjust it for you."
"Okay," Thomas agreed, getting a little more bold as he grew more comfortable with the knowledge that these elderly folk were important to his father.
"Do the boys know I'm coming?"Patton asked, as Mom began to fold up the banner.
"Well, we thought there might be a chance that you changed your mind. We didn't want to get their hopes up. I'll let them know on the drive home," Mom admitted. She dabbed at her eyes with her fingers. "Oh, honey, I'm so glad to see you. You haven't called in almost as long as I've been a grandma!"
"I'm sorry," Patton said miserably. "Sarah kept getting mad when I did- I see now that she wasn't a good person. I'm sorry I ever thought she'd changed."
"Oh, honey, you just wanna see the best in people. There's nothing wrong with that," Mom assured.
"Okay!" Dad called from the car, having finished adjusting the booster seat for Thomas. "We're all set to go!"
Patton almost cried all over again when the car pulled up in front of the house and he could see his childhood home standing over him. He turned away to help Thomas out of his booster seat, and when he turned around with his little kiddo on his hip, he saw a very, very small thirteen year old staring at him from the porch.
"Virgil!" Dad called. "Come grab Patton's bags, will you?"
The thirteen year old -Virgil? He was so big now- hurried to the back of the car. Mom joined Patton in front of the driveway. "Did you miss it?"
"Of course I did," Patton said with a wet laugh. "It looks like nothing changed."
"That's because nothing has. You're always welcome to come back home, honey. Always ," Mom promised. The front door swung open and a young man dashed out, yelling at the top of his lungs. Patton instantly recognized him and set Thomas on the ground.
"Roman!" Patton cried out, throwing open his arms.
"Patton-cake!" Roman shrieked in delight, practically pouncing on his older brother. He buried his face in Patton's shoulder, immediately weeping.
"Oh, Roman, I missed you!" Patton said, spinning his brother in a circle.
"Missed me !? I was safe and sound at home, you were the one with that horrible bitch wife of yours-"
"Roman! My son is here, watch your language!" Patton protested, hurriedly going to cover Thomas' ears.
"Wha- Virgil doesn't mind if I curse, do you, Virgil?" Roman asked, turning to look at his little brother, who was already back at the porch with Patton's and Thomas' two small suitcases.
"Put a dollar in the swear jar," Virgil said, almost as if on instinct, without even pausing in his stride.
Mom chuckled. "Oh, you boys. I'm going to get started making us all some good lunch, okay? You boys just get settled in."
"And I've gotta head down to the flower shop! People are counting on us to sell beautiful floral arrangements, after all," Dad proclaimed. "Virgil knows the shop number if either of you have forgotten, and Thomas, Virgil is setting you up in Roman's room, in Remus' old bed! He's going to clean it right up for you."
Patton grimaced. "Is that safe? Are we sure he didn't leave… anything behind?"
"If he did, I already got rid of it, Pat, don't worry. I sleep there too, you know," Roman reminded, an easy smile on his face. He turned to Thomas. "Hello, little Prince! I'm your Uncle Roman!"
"Um, hi. I'm Thomas," Thomas greeted.
"Prince Thomas! A valiant name! Now, let's go find your Uncle Virgil, huh? I bet he's putting your stuff away for you right now!" Roman proclaimed.
"What's val-yant?" Thomas asked.
"It means really, really brave!" Roman informed. Thomas blushed.
"I'm not that val-yant," Thomas said, trying to hide behind his shortly chopped bangs.
"Humble too! What a prince you are!" Roman cried out dramatically. "Do you want to go inside and watch a movie? My favorites are Disney."
"Can we watch Tangled?" Thomas asked, perking up. "I think Rapunzel's the val-yant-est."
"Oh, is that so? And why do you think that, Little Prince?" Roman asked.
"She followed her dreams, even though she was scared of her mom," Thomas said, bright and happy and a little too revealingly. Roman looked at Patton with raised eyebrows. Patton shook his head. They could talk about it later.
"Alright then, let's watch Tangled," Roman allowed, and Thomas excitedly followed his uncle into the house. Patton could just hear Roman saying, "But first, Uncle Virgil!" as the pair disappeared into the house. Patton smiled.
The house looked just the same as it always did. The porch swing had two round cushions. The walls were the same beautiful natural looking brown with white washed trimming. There were different flowers in the pots on the porch, but Patton had grown up watching Mom and Dad pick new and different flowers to decorate with all the time. If he let himself, he could just imagine he'd come home from a day at school, and would be soon greeted by his baby brothers. Patton sighed heavily. His brothers weren't kids anymore. Except for Virgil, they were all adults. Patton steeled himself and walked up the driveway, entering the house he'd left so, so long ago.
"So you're Patton," said the scrawny thirteen year old in Remus' old clothes.
"Yep, that's me! You're Virgil, huh? You're so big!" Patton marveled.
Virgil shrugged. "Mom says I'm probably gonna get really tall, since I'm taller than you guys were at my age."
"That's exciting!" Patton said.
"I mean, I guess. I'm not really interested in being super tall," Virgil admitted.
"Where's Thomas?" Patton asked, spotting the empty couch. He looked across to the kitchen, where Mom was working hard.
"He's upstairs in Roman's room. They're watching a movie on his laptop," Virgil explained.
"You didn't want to watch it with them?" Patton asked. Virgil shrugged.
"It's Friday. I have places to be," Virgil explained. Patton cocked his head.
"Like where?" He asked.
"I'm visiting Remus," Virgil explained.
"Oh," Patton stated. They stood in awkward silence for a bit, but after some time, Virgil walked away into the kitchen, pulling a basket off the table. Patton followed.
"Are you coming, Mom?" Virgil asked.
"You know that I would, honey, but Patton just got home. I'm gonna help him and Thomas settle in," Mom said. Virgil frowned.
"Last week you had to help Roman settle in, and the week before the store had a mishap. Just say it if you don't want to visit Remus," Virgil accused. Patton widened his eyes and Mom froze in her work. She smiled sadly at Virgil.
"Pumpkin, I'm sorry to have given you or Remus that impression. I'll join you next week for sure ," Mom promised. Virgil shrugged like it didn't matter to him, and began to head off with the basket.
Patton watched him go. "He's allowed to go by himself?"
"Of course! He's the most careful of you boys, after all. I don't think he's ever so much as skinned a knee," Mom said, clearly exaggerating. Patton nodded. The food on the stove hit him all at once. Smell, sight, sound- Patton's jaw dropped and his mouth watered.
"Wow, already? What is this?"
Mom laughed. "It's Virgil's recipe: spicy garlic stir fry."
"Oh? What meat do you put in?" Patton asked. Mom gestured to the pan on the next burner, just around her round figure and out of Patton's sight. He peeked around, and grinned. "Steak? This is really Virgil's recipe?"
"Yep! He says you should make the meat rare, but we aren't all little carnivores like him. I make it medium well," Mom explained. She turned to Patton. "Do you want the whole family to come and celebrate your return? Because we could just have a small dinner, or I can call up Logan and Janus. We can figure something out for Remus."
Patton was hit by a sudden wave of guilt at Janus's name. He nodded. "I'd love to see my brothers. It's been a long time."
"Then I'll call them," Mom said decisively. She stirred the vegetables a bit more. "Virgil misses them too. I think maybe he took on too many of their problems, and not enough of his own, because he's kind of aimless without them around."
"That doesn't sound healthy," Patton mumbled.
"I think he just needs a bit of direction. Maybe you can help him find something he likes to do," Mom suggested.
Patton hummed thoughtfully. He was already stuck thinking about seeing all his brothers together again in one room. Maybe he could finally apologize to Janus, even. They all deserved an apology, sure, but Janus did the most. He'd tried to tell him, after all.