Chapter Text
THE KNOCKING ROUSED Virgil O'Connell from the deep focus required to precisely hand-embroider the subtle pattern of snake scales on the collar and lapels of the custom-tailored suit jacket he was working on diligently. He had lost track of time hours ago after turning off the camera - this project was a commissioned piece that was part of a bigger order, so it was only going to be featured as a short on his channel after delivery and thus didn't need him keeping the camera on for more than a few dramatic shots of cutting, pinning, and stitching before The Reveal - and so the only light currently in his workroom was the bright directional lamp Virgil had turned on to properly see the embroidery he was doing. A glance at the clock showed that it was nearly half past eleven, and with this much darkness that meant night, which made Virgil frown. Who in their right mind would be knocking on anyone's door this late, much less his?!
The knocking wasn't stopping, though, loud enough to be heard in his workroom, so Virgil carefully tucked his needle under a stitch to keep it secure and set aside the mostly finished jacket before getting up. Oh… ow. Yeah, he probably should have taken a break a while ago. Moving slower than he normally would have for the level of insistence in the knocking due to trying to stretch his legs and spine, Virgil headed towards the door to peer through the viewer at whoever was in the hall knocking on his apartment door at this hour. Seconds later and he was flipping the locks and practically wrenching the door off its hinges in an effort to get his door open as quickly as possible. "Patton…?"
At least, he assumed the teenager in front of him was Patton based on the light blue short-sleeved polo shirt he was wearing. (Not even a coat in January, geez….) He hadn't actually seen either of his baby brothers in person since he had walked out of their parents' house the day he turned eighteen with a duffel bag full of his stuff and no intention of ever returning. The twins, Patton and Logan, had been eleven at the time and he had timed his leaving for when they were both at school so their parents couldn't use them as emotional blackmail for him to stay under their control. They'd managed to keep covert contact via social media, but even that was sporadic. The twins had said they understood why he was leaving and that they didn't blame him, but they had been eleven at the time and it had been four years.
But there he was, familiar dark auburn hair looking windswept and tangled and his wide blue eyes looking up at Virgil from behind chunky framed glasses that couldn't hide redness from crying or the dark circles under them from lack of sleep. His arms were crossed over his chest— no, they were holding a blanket-wrapped bundle to his chest, and his lower lip was chapped and reddened from being bitten repeatedly. Stress reaction, Virgil knew, which put another tick in the column of this being Patton since Logan tended to tug his fingers when he was stressed.
"H-hey, V-virgil," his baby brother said, trying to smile tremulously up at him. "I… I d-didn't know w-where else to g-go…"
"Inside," Virgil heard himself say, though he could barely recognize his own voice. He shook himself and reached out to help guide his brother into the apartment as he continued, "Get inside, right now, shit, Pat, you're freezing, how long have you been out there—"
"L-language," Patton broke in, no doubt some kind of reflex he'd developed since Virgil left. It nearly made Virgil snort from laughter except for how his brother immediately cringed like he was expecting to be scolded or snapped at, clutching the bundle closer to his chest. Virgil breathed in slowly. Held it. Let it out even more slowly.
"Let's focus on getting you inside and properly warmed up right now, okay kiddo?" he suggested in as even a tone as he could manage as he guided his brother into the apartment and nudged the door shut again with his foot. "Save your worry about my swearing for when the ears hearing it are actually old enough to process it."
"S-sorry…."
"Don't apologize, Pat, it's… well. It's not just fine right now, obviously, but I promise it's gonna be."
The bare skin of Patton's arm where it wasn't covered by either his polo or the blanket in his arms that Virgil wasn't quite ready to think about yet was definitely chilled (January! No coat!) but not to hypothermia levels. He hadn't walked here, thank the gods, but the fact that he was here when their parents' house was clear on the other side of the city… and with only a green string bag backpack with the logo for St Marcus Hospital besides the clothes on his back and the… the….
"Here, sit down," he murmured, guiding Patton to the couch and then moving to turn on the upright space heater his most frequent client had brought over back in November. "When was the last time you ate anything?"
"Mr Thomas snuck me a granola bar earlier," Patton mumbled, looking down.
"'Mr Thomas'?"
"The charge nurse in the neonatal unit at the hospital."
…baby.
"I think," Virgil said carefully, resting his hand gingerly on Patton's shoulder, "that this calls for some soup and hot cocoa. And we should make a list of things that I need to run out and get immediately—" Like diapers and formula, probably. "—and what can wait until tomorrow."
"You don't have to—" Patton startled, his head jerking up to look at Virgil, who leveled his best Stern Older Brother Stare on the kid. Patton clearly had not gained immunity to that look in the last four years, because he cut himself off and ducked his head down again. "…Yes, Virgil."
"Atta boy," Virgil said, just as he always had whenever Patton or Logan had wisely capitulated to his teenaged authority. Impulsively, he reached out and ruffled Patton's auburn curls just as he used to. The way Patton bit his lower lip and practically leaned into his touch instead of trying to duck away was as disquieting as it was touching, and Virgil had the sudden urge to grab the kid up in a tight hug and just never let him go again. Two things stopped him: the baby still sleeping against Patton's chest where his brother held it, and the tension still running through his brother's body that Virgil didn't even have to be touching him to pick up on. He cleared his throat and tugged the throw blanket off the back of the couch to wrap around Patton's shoulders before turning towards the kitchen. "Soup first. You can eat it while I make the hot cocoa. I've got—" He opened the cabinets and eyed the cans sitting there. "—chicken noodle, cream of broccoli, cream of mushroom, and tomato soup."
"Whatever's easiest," Patton said after a long enough hesitation that Virgil had a sneaking suspicion meant he'd almost thought about trying to argue against being fed before changing his mind. Self-preservation or just knowing Virgil wasn't going to let him get away with that, he wasn't sure. If it were Logan, Virgil would have put the answer down to pragmatism - food was being offered, therefore he should eat - but with Patton it could be agreement because he hadn't eaten in a while and knew he needed food, which wasn't great, or just for the sake of not arguing, which wasn't particularly reassuring either.
"Chicken noodle it is," Virgil decided, since that at least had the most variety in it and, if nothing else, the broth would be easy on his stomach. He got down one of the cans and a bowl, dumping the soup into the bowl and covering it with a paper towel before popping it into the microwave. While that was heating, he grabbed another paper towel for Patton to use as a napkin and found a spoon that was still clean. He caught the microwave just before the timer was up and stopped it to keep it from shrieking its completed task, bringing the soup over to the coffee table and setting it down before taking a deep breath and holding out his arms. "Alright, pass me my nibbling."
"Nibbling?" Patton repeated blankly, looking up from the soup to Virgil in confusion.
"Nonbinary gender neutral term for a sibling's kid," Virgil explained gently, raising an eyebrow. "Granted, that's mostly an assumption on my part right now, but I'm pretty sure you wouldn't have the kid with you if it wasn't yours, especially if you came straight here from the neonatal unit at the hospital."
"No, he's… he's mine," Patton mumbled, shrinking in on himself again in that way that made Virgil hate their parents just a little. Well, more than usual, if he was honest. When Virgil didn't say anything, Patton swallowed and then squared his shoulders and looked up. "He's my son. Kai— his other parent didn't want to keep him, was going to put him up for adoption if I didn't want him, but… but I did want him. Do. Just because he wasn't planned doesn't make him a mistake to just abandon and forget about, he's my son, and I want to keep him!"
There was a ringing conviction in Patton's voice, echoes of an argument that must have taken place before tonight, though Virgil could only guess at exactly how long ago or with whom. Still, he met his baby brother's newly fierce expression calmly and nodded. "Of course you do. You've always been a caring and nurturing kid." Where he got that from was anybody's guess since it sure wasn't from their parents, but it was what it was. "It's hardly a surprise that would extend to your own kid, however unplanned his conception was. I notice you didn't call him a surprise, which tells me this isn't some last minute sudden decision, either."
He didn't phrase it like a question, but Patton still answered him like it was even as he blushed and looked away. "No, I… Kai told me as soon as they had the positive test. We didn't… the condom must've had a break…"
"Not something either of you would've been in a state to notice during the afterglow," Virgil hummed, mentally doing some rapid math and coming up with Patton having had a very happy fifteenth birthday. "Especially if it was your first time."
"My first time," Patton mumbled, beet red. He swallowed again and shook himself a little. "Anyway, we talked about it. I told them that I'd support them in whatever they wanted to do, and… and they asked if I would keep the baby when it was born. Said I just looked so excited by the idea of being a dad… that it was obvious how much them having the baby for me would mean."
"It is obvious," Virgil assured him softly. "And in case I haven't made it clear, you came to me for help so I'm gonna do everything I can to help you keep and take care of your son. And right now that means making sure his dad gets some actual food into him so he doesn't waste away from hunger, so hand over my nephew so you can eat that soup before it gets cold."
Patton bit his lower lip and looked down at the bundle in his arms. Virgil's heart ached for the anxiety in his baby brother's expression, and he made himself wait patiently as Patton finally made the decision to trust Virgil with his son. His movements were still slow and hesitant, clearly reluctant to be separated from the little tyke. "Make sure to support the head."
"Pretty sure I haven't forgotten how to hold a baby, kiddo," Virgil teased very gently as he gathered the baby in question into his arms and got his first real look at the kid's face.
There was absolutely no denying the baby was Patton's, he thought as he gazed down at the tiny face of the sleeping infant. He was smaller than Patton or Logan had been, or maybe Virgil was misremembering from having been a lot smaller himself the last time he'd held his brothers as babies. The little patch of hair on his head was bright red, however, just like his and his brothers' hair had been when they were born, and his artist-trained eye could pick up the similarities in cheekbones, jawline, and the little button nose as well. The eye shape and forehead seemed to be from the kid's mother - Kai, he thought Patton had said, and used they/them pronouns for so "bearer" would be a better term - and there was a pouty set to those little lips that made Virgil think this kid would absolutely have an attitude when awake.
"It wasn't obvious to Mom and Dad," Patton said quietly into the silence that had fallen. Virgil looked up to see that his brother had picked up the soup and was stirring it with the spoon with a level of concentration that a can of mediocre chicken noodle soup probably didn't warrant. His tone was weirdly calm as he went on, "I tried telling them about Kai's pregnancy and they immediately assumed it was because my 'girlfriend' was going to get an abortion and I needed their money to pay for it. Then they assumed I was being blackmailed for child support and were going to call their lawyer to start a lawsuit."
From what Virgil remembered of their parents, that absolutely tracked. Andrew and Dolores O'Connell were the type of upper middle class people preoccupied with appearances and "getting ahead", and tended to assume everyone else was just as status-obsessed as they were. From that, Virgil could also guess at some of how things must have gone to see Patton showing up on his doorstep without a coat in January, and that talking about their complete asshat parents wasn't going to help his brother's mental state at all. "How long ago was this precious little bean born, then?"
"Five days ago," Patton said, and finally there was a spark of his baby brother's genuinely happy smile peeking through. "The sixth, at three forty-seven PM. He was five pounds, twelve ounces, and fourteen inches long with a pretty healthy set of lungs."
That also tracked from what Virgil remembered of the way Patton and Logan could scream… usually whenever their father or his asshole brother tried to hold them. It had been part of what had made Virgil step up to shoulder as much of the work taking care of the babies as he could as a seven-year-old. It had made their mother jealous that Virgil could calm and soothe the twins more easily than she could, but Virgil had been willing to suffer her pettiness if it meant his brothers were happy. He gave himself a mental shake and said, "I'll be sure to put that on the calendar. What kept you two at the hospital?"
"A combination of things," Patton sighed, his smile dropping again. "Kai went into labor during school and I couldn't go with them to the hospital because…"
"You're fifteen and their parents can't sign you out," Virgil filled in. "I'm guessing you had a plan to get to the hospital anyway without our genetic donors blocking you."
"Roman Flores, my and Logan's best friend? He texted his older brother Remus, who picked all three of us up from school and dropped me off at the hospital," Patton explained with a flicker of a smile. The smile disappeared quickly into a pensive frown. "I hope Logan's okay… He was going to go home to… well, we had a plan in place, but I don't know what's happened. Mom and Dad showed up at the hospital late that evening and… they were so…"
"Very much themselves?" Virgil guessed dryly. His gut clenched when, instead of laughing, Patton cringed.
"Worse," he whispered. He held up his left arm and Virgil sucked in a breath at the green and yellow bruising around his wrist. "Dad grabbed me and took my phone and tried to drag me out of the hospital before I wrenched myself free and put the nurses station desk between us, and Mr Thomas threatened to call security to have them escorted out along with social services, and I actually thought Dad was gonna try and lunge over the desk at him… and then Mom grabbed his arm and said… said I either came home alone 'without that mistake, like a responsible young man' or I couldn't come home at all."
"Remind me to get you some arnica for that bruising after you've finished your soup… and maybe had a shower," Virgil said, forcing himself to keep his thoughts firmly in Planning Mode to avoid doing anything rash. He should probably also figure out how to send a fruit basket to that charge nurse - Thomas, he was pretty sure Patton had said his name was - in thanks for protecting his brother. He adjusted his hold on the baby, amazed and silently grateful that the kid could sleep through this whole painful conversation. "Do we need to plan for how to rescue your twin?"
"We have a plan," Patton offered, looking worried again. "Or we did… Lo managed to get a call to the desk in the neonatal unit on Roman's phone on Thursday to tell me that they confiscated his phone and grounded him, so I would have to call Roman to let him know when the hospital said I could take my son home. They had to keep him for observation for a few days because the umbilical cord was around his neck and they worried he might have issues even with how quickly he started breathing and screaming once they got him untangled."
And today was Saturday.
"We'll keep a close eye on him for the next few days, just in case," Virgil promised. "When did they give the all clear to discharge him?"
"This morning. Mr Thomas brought me here after he got off-shift," Patton said, looking up guiltily. "I'm so—"
"Acht, no apologizing," Virgil interrupted sternly. "I might've liked a bit more warning, but I get how difficult that would be to accomplish under the circumstances, and I'd much rather you come to me than be stuck having to go back to them or being out somewhere on your own. You can use my phone to call Roman tomorrow… morning? Afternoon?"
"Afternoon," Patton said. "His family goes to church with ours, but with Logan being grounded I don't know if they'll get to talk at all."
"Okay," Virgil said. It took more effort than he wanted to admit, but he managed to relax his shoulders and settle the baby into the crook of his arm. "Eat your soup, huh? I'm going out on a limb and guessing that bag you have was also from the charge nurse who brought you here?"
"Mmhm," Patton hummed around the bite of soup he had taken at Virgil's prompting. He shrugged out of the string straps underneath the blanket and passed it over to Virgil who took it and set it on his knees. After giving his brother a questioning look and getting a nod of permission from Patton, he worked the top open with his free hand and gingerly tipped the contents onto the couch between them.
A really big fruit basket, Virgil amended his earlier thought. There were several diapers, presumably the size needed, and several single serving packets of just-add-water baby formula along with two bottles with caps to cover the nipples. There was also a clearly used generic toothbrush and a travel sized tube of toothpaste, a black plastic comb, and a small hairbrush with very soft bristles. A further careful shake sent a manila folder sliding out onto the couch on top of everything, and Patton just managed to grab it before it slipped off and onto the floor.
"Paperwork," he explained as he handed it over to Virgil. "Birth certificate form, discharge papers, and a notarized letter from Kai and their parents relinquishing all parental rights to my son. There's… there's also a copy of the papers I filed with social services through the hospital declaring our parents unfit to have any contact with my son and my intentions to file for early emancipation."
Well. Virgil guessed he would get to find out how his most frequent client reacted to Virgil wanting to hire him this time. Granted, he didn't know exactly what kind of lawyer Janus Fídia was, but even if he couldn't help himself he would probably be willing to point Virgil in the right direction. The chances of Patton actually being granted early emancipation with a newborn weren't great, not with the way their parents had always pushed the importance of showing a respectable and responsible façade to the neighbors and their father's work colleagues, but Virgil wanted to get in touch with Logan before he broached the topic of maybe taking custody of his brothers and nephew himself, at least until Patton and Logan's eighteenth birthday.
Not that he'd ever kick them out or make them think they had to leave after that; he wasn't their parents.
"It's a good start," was what Virgil said out loud. "Some more diapers and formula won't go amiss, but it looks like we've got enough here that shopping can wait until tomorrow morning. We should also see about getting some onesies and baby socks, things like that. I have a client coming over in the afternoon for a fitting—"
"We'll stay quiet and out of the way, I promise!" Patton broke in quickly, which… Virgil probably should have expected, but it still caught him off-guard. Oh, he really wanted to chase the rabbit on just how badly their parents had been treating the twins, but now wasn't the time, not when he wanted Logan (safe) there to corroborate or contradict whatever Patton would tell him.
"Kinda hard to introduce you both to him if you do that," he said instead, smiling softly at Patton's startled look. "We'll go into my workroom for the fitting itself, but I think it would be a good idea to pick his brain for what all we need to know and do to keep you and probably Logan as well out of our parents' control and make sure you don't get separated from—" He paused, frowning down at the papers in the folder, the top most page being the birth certificate form. "No name yet?"
"Not… officially," Patton mumbled. "At first, it was just… Kai refused to pick a name because they didn't want to risk getting attached after they did the hard work carrying and birthing him, and I wanted to wait until I could hold him for the first time, really meet him before giving him a name… and then with the complications and Mom and Dad and… I didn't want to jinx it by giving him an official name until…."
"Until you felt safe enough to do it without someone swooping in to snatch him away," Virgil guessed. No wonder Patton had been so reluctant to let go! "Well, it's safe to name him now. I've got him right here, safe and sound for you, and I won't let anyone harm either of you or separate you. So what're you thinking?"
"It's gonna sound kind of stupid— ow!" Patton flinched back from the sharp flick of Virgil's fingers against the shell of his ear.
"None of that negative self-talk, mister," Virgil scolded him gently. "Come on, tell me. I won't judge or laugh."
"I…" Patton trailed off and stopped, looking down at the still half full bowl of soup. He swallowed. "I prayed to… to the Archangel Remiel, when Kai went into labor during school. It was almost two weeks earlier than the projected due date. And with everything… I overheard one of the other nurses telling Mr Thomas that it was a miracle that both Kai and the baby got through the delivery. So I thought… well, maybe Archangel Remiel was watching over them for me, and… and maybe naming my son Remiel would be a good way to say thanks…."
"That sounds—" Very Catholic of you, Virgil wanted to say, but bit the words back firmly. The religion they had been raised in may have hurt Virgil terribly, but it obviously still brought Patton comfort and he'd be dragged to a Hell he didn't even believe in before he would make his baby brother feel bad about anything that brought him comfort. "Like a good, strong name for an obviously strong kiddo," he said instead. "Mind if I call him Remy or Rem for short? As much as he's sleeping…."
"He didn't really settle down to sleep until I got up to your floor," Patton admitted with a wince. "Howled and fussed the whole drive and didn't even start to calm down until I had him out of the car seat Mr Thomas borrowed for him and had carried him inside."
"Car seat, that's another thing to get tomorrow," Virgil muttered, eyeing the peacefully sleeping newborn with a bit more wariness. The kid was very clearly not going to like it, but laws must be obeyed wherever sensible. "So, Remiel for the first name, O'Connell for the surname… any middle names at all?"
"Would it be weird to give him 'Thomas' as a middle name?" Patton asked hesitantly.
"I don't see why it would," Virgil answered honestly. "From what you've said, that charge nurse really went above and beyond to help you. People have been honoring others by naming their kids after them for much shallower reasons than that for aeons, and Remiel Thomas O'Connell has a pretty cool flow to it."
"Yeah, I… I think it suits him," Patton murmured, smiling down at the soup bowl and sneaking glances at his son. He took another bite of the soup and made a face.
"Cold?" Virgil guessed.
"And kinda too salty," Patton admitted before cringing. "I mean—"
"Well, thankfully the cold is easily fixed," Virgil interrupted with a chuckle as he shifted the folder back off his lap and stood carefully, holding out a hand for the bowl. "Here, give me that and take Remy back for a sec… there's not a lot I can do about the salt besides add more water and maybe some pepper and oregano…"
"You don't have to—" Patton started again.
"I know I don't," Virgil broke in gently. "I'm gonna do it anyway, just like I'm gonna lend you some of my clothes and send you off to take a shower once you've finished eating. You came to me for help," he reminded his brother, meeting his eyes earnestly. "Let me help."
"Okay," Patton agreed, staring back up at him with wide eyes that looked just a bit too blue and shiny behind his glasses. He hesitated, then relinquished the bowl and reached out for his son. "Thank you, Virge… really, thank you so much…"
"You're always welcome, Pat," Virgil promised, and handed the baby over to his father before turning to get the soup fixed up and reheated.