Chapter Text
“—Thanks for letting me stay, Pat,” Logan said, entering his older brother’s house, dragging a suitcase behind him. “The owners of my apartment building say it’ll take a week or so to get rid of the bed bugs, so I’m not staying for too long.”
Patton shrugged, leading him out of the porch and into the hallway. “Hey, no problem. Although, you—”
“—I can’t believe we even got bed bugs,” Logan continued, automatically making his way to the guest bedroom. “My hypothesis is that they were brought in by those kids from downstairs trying to sell everyone in the building cookies. They had these filthy backpacks on.”
“Logan,” Patton said, this time a little sharper.
Logan pushed open the guest bedroom’s door, briefly glancing back at Patton. “Yes?” He turned back to look in the guest room, but froze as he saw an already opened suitcase on the floor and Virgil Maro bent down, in the middle of unpacking.
Blood rushed to Logan’s ears at the sight of his ex, and he was acutely aware of his heart beating in his chest.
“What I was trying to say,” Patton said with a sigh, “is that you can’t have the guest room. The two of you called almost one after the other, but Virgil was the first to call, so he got the guest room. I have plenty of room in the living room for you, though,” he added.
Virgil awkwardly cleared his throat and straightened up. “Er, hi Logan.”
Logan started backing out of the guest bedroom. “Hello,” he said, before hightailing it out of there and into the hallway towards the living room. “Why didn’t you tell me?” Logan hissed when he could hear Patton a step or two behind him.
“I’ve been trying to,” Patton said, exasperatedly. “When you phoned, and I agreed you could stay, I was about to tell you, but you didn’t let me get a word in. Then, I tried texting you but you didn’t see any of them.”
Logan pulled out his phone from his coat pocket, the screen lighting up with ten text messages from Patton. “Shit,” he grumbled, shoving his phone back in his coat. “I should have listened to you; I’m sorry.”
“Hey, I’m just trying to be a good friend and a good brother.”
“Wait.” Logan stopped in the middle of the living room where three plush couches surrounded a glass coffee table. “What happened to Virgil?” Millions of possibilities ran through his head—he could feel a headache coming on.
Patton pursed his lips and glanced around nervously. “Look, just be a little understanding here, okay? Roman broke up with him.”
Logan’s brain short-circuited. “What? But they’ve been together forever!” Logan wasn’t one to exaggerate, but Virgil’s relationship with Roman had certainly felt like it lasted an eternity. Logan did not monitor Virgil’s social media or social life but, from being around Patton—Virgil’s best friend—he’d gathered they started dating a month or so after Logan and Virgil broke up. That was almost two and a half years ago.
“I don’t know what happened, and I’m sure Virgil also doesn’t like this current situation either,” Patton gestured to Logan. “But he can’t afford another option at the moment, so he’s going to stay with me until he’s found another place to live.”
Logan did not know Virgil and Roman had been so serious to have moved in with each other. This was a new piece of information.
“I don’t blame you if you want to find some other place to go,” Patton said after a moment.
Logan blew out a breath of air, his bubbling emotions simmering. “Unfortunately, being a full-time student has not allowed me much of an option either. I have no money and have made no friends. I’ll take the couch, and I’ll make this work. This situation will be just like your birthday party two months ago.” Logan sighed. “It’ll be just like one long birthday party…”
~~~
“So,” Logan said over supper, the only sounds coming from the scraping of cutlery. Virgil was busy discreetly picking out the mushrooms out of the lasagna. Patton had already apologized that he didn’t have anything else he could make for supper but promised the next meals would be mushroom-free. “Patton. How’s the business?”
Patton smiled. “Oh, you know. Just as good as it’s always been. I’m thinking of opening another spot up on the West Coast. I think they’ll like baked goods as much as they do over here.”
Logan tried thinking of a way to keep the conversation going, but couldn't come up with anything. He let the conversation die and went back to eating his food.
Virgil let out a little cough and looked directly over at Logan. “How’s your degree going?” he asked. “Astronomy, right?”
Logan knew that Virgil knew what he was doing at university, as he had long discussed his dream of pursuing it when they had been together, but understood that it was just a way to keep the conversation up. “Yes. It’s been fine. Now that it’s summer, I’m trying to get ahead on my readings. What are your plans this summer?” It wasn’t the best question to throw back, and Logan knew this conversation was fully dry and stilted, but there was nothing he could do about it.
Virgil took a moment to chew. Logan could hear the faint squeaking of Virgil’s chair as he shook his left leg up and down beneath the table. An anxious tic that Logan hadn’t heard since Before. “Working mostly.”
“And where do you work?”
“The local museum.” Virgil winced, as if he knew what was coming.
This time Logan couldn’t keep his composure. “You’re working back there?” He couldn’t keep the indignation out of his tone. Patton shot him a look, and Logan leaned back in his chair slightly. “What I mean is, I thought you disliked working there.”
Virgil shrugged. “The curator likes me. I get paid.” And it was clear that that was the end of the conversation. The three ate the rest of their supper in silence.