Yeah I ended up really needing that mental health break. I won't go into details but I was not in a good state of mind. But hey I'm back, not much better but I'm alive. Anyways, I decided to write a short fluffy chapter (no trigger warnings) for this update, I hope you all enjoy. Thank you to all of the supportive individuals who were so kind to me during my break. As always take care of yourselves and thank you for reading.
"Patton, darling, can I ask you a very important question?" Logan requested as he appeared in the entrance of the kitchen, his brow furrowed as he continued to glance back at the living room.
Patton looked up from the stakes he was grilling, flashing Logan a cheerful smile.
"Of course Lo-Lo, what's wrong?"
"Nothing is wrong per say. I would just like to know the reason why..." Logan winced as the loud baging sound coming from the living room. "...there is a sword fight in our living room."
Patton chuckled, having already expected that was what Logan would ask. He turned back to the stakes flipping them over as he gave a nonchalant shrug.
"Roman says that Virgil has gotten too used to training in a normal ring so he wants to test out fights in random locations so Virgil has obstacles. Personally I think it is because Roman's looking for an excuse not to give Virgil real swords yet. But I figure as long as no one gets hurt," Patton jumped a little at a loud crash of something breaking. "And nothing Roman can't replace gets broken, there isn't really any harm in it. They're having fun and that's all that matters."
"That's a rather low bar expectation," Logan muttered, casually strolling closer to Patton. "Do you need any help with dinner?"
"If you'd like to get the things for the potatoes out of the refrigerator and set them on the table it'd be a big help," Patton replied, grabbing some plates down from the cabinet.
Logan did as Patton requested, setting out the cheddar cheese shreds, sour cream, chives, bacon bits, and butter. He looked back over to find Patton plating the steak and baked potatoes and bringing them over to the table.
"Virge, Ro, time for dinner!" Patton called.
The two of them quickly abandoned their wooden swords, Roman vanishing them from existence, and quickly entered the kitchen to take their seats.
"Just in time, padre. I was starting to get very hungry," Roman smiled.
"You're just glad Patton called for dinner before I got the chance to beat you," Virgil smirk.
"In your dreams Hot Topic."
"Do I even have to say the line?" Virgil teased, his head resting in his hand as he leaned onto the table. "Just admit it Princy. I've gotten better than you expected and now you are running out of things to teach me."
"This stake looks great Patton, thank you for dinner," Roman said, quickly changing topics.
No one could miss the red color in Roman's ear tips. Virgil laughed and leaned over to the side, lightly kissing Roman's temple and he watched the man visibly relax. He settled back into his own seat and began cutting his own steak and potato. The meal went by like most of their other dinners, light playful banter, a few dad jokes, and all and all a peaceful atmosphere.
"Who wants to do something fun after dinner?" Patton piped up when they were finishing up the last of the food on their plates.
"I would not complain about spending the evening together again, however if we watch Disney movies again I will, figuratively, lose my mind," Logan said, pausing a moment and holding up a hand when Roman opened his mouth to say something. "That statement applies to Pixar movies as well."
Roman slumped deeper into his seat with an overly dramatic pout on his face.
"It's not like we always watch Disney and Pixar," Roman muttered.
"I'd venture to say roughly ninety four percent of what we watch together is either one of those two options or a musical," Logan replied.
"How about video games? It's been a while," Patton suggested, cutting off that discussion.
Virgil perked up. He had actually never played any video games with them. They didn't normally choose that as one of their pastimes and Virgil had been too awkward about disrupting their time together to join them. He'd played alone a few times but beating "com"s wasn't nearly as fulfilling as beating another person.
"That would be satisfactory," Logan replied.
"Any particular game you had in mind?" Roman asked.
"I say we let Virgil decide. What do you want to play, Kiddo?"
Virgil blinked in surprise when the question was thrown over to him. He bit his lip as he quickly tried to come up with an answer, too anxious to keep them waiting for an answer.
"H-how about that one racing one?" Virgil replied, drawing a blank on the name.
Out of the games he had played he was the best at racing games, they were probably the only ones where he didn't run as high of risk of making a fool of himself.
"Sounds great Kiddo!" Patton said with a bright smile. "How about I clean up the dishes while you three get the game setup?"
"I'll… I'll go clean up the living room," Roman said with a nervous chuckle before running away into the living room.
"What's he hiding?" Logan said, looking at Virgil for answers.
Virgil's face brightened in color as he looked away, nervously rubbing the back of his neck.
"Uh…" Virgil hesitated trying to pick his words. "Nothing he can't fix with a snap of his fingers?"
As if on queue they could hear Roman snapping his fingers and multiple pieces of furniture sliding back into place. Logan simply shook his head and sighed as he got up from the table. Virgil followed after him quickly and went into the now fixed living room where Roman was going through their games until he found the right one. Logan and Virgil sat down on the couch, Logan raising his arm to invite Virgil to come closer. Virgil accepted and slipped under Logan's arm, pressing comfortably into his side. Roman found the right disk and popped it into the console. He then grabbed the four controllers and plopped down on the couch on Logan's other side passing out the controllers, handing one over his shoulder when Patton walked in. The emotional side hopped over the back of the couch and plopped down next to Virgil.
The game started and they all picked their characters to race with. They played through every area the game had to offer and Virgil came to an important conclusion. Logan was too good at video games for his own good. Virgil probably should have seen it coming but it didn't really hit him that these sort of games involved a lot of the things Logan was good at. The game physics behind each turn, bend and jump, the perfect timing and speed needed to make everything run as smoothly as possible, it was all practiced and memorized by the logical side. There really wasn't much of a chance at beating him. Too bad the Virgil was stubborn. He'd been coming in second almost consistently, he just needed a final push to make Logan mess up so he could get ahead.
"One more race," Virgil insisted.
"Alright but then we must be heading off to bed," Logan sighed.
Virgil nodded in agreement and they chose a random track to race on. Virgil stuck behind Logan for most of the race, following a plan of his. He just needed to keep up with Logan and find a way to pull ahead of him when they reached the end. Until then he paid close attention to Logan's controller mirroring his every movement to run the race with the same ease Logan did. They were nearing the end of their final lap and Virgil was already pushing his character as fast as it could go. He glanced over at Logan then back at the screen. The final turn was almost upon them, the finish line just beyond it. Virgil made a split second decision to lean up and kiss Logan's cheek. Logan looked down at him in surprise, his controller vibrating as his character slammed into the wall of the turn while Virgil's rounded the bend, messing it up slightly but pulling ahead. Logan got his avatar back under control but not before Virgil already crossed the finish line.
"Yes!" Virgil cheered, a genuine smile crossing his face as he did a small dance where he sat.
Logan's lips pressed together in a firm line, wanting to call Virgil out for cheating, but when he looked at how happy winning made the anxious male he let it go. He leaned down and kissed the top of Virgil's head.
"Good job, Darling," Logan hummed.
Roman crossed the finish line not long after them, soon followed by Patton, who, despite having lost every round miserably, looked very pleased with himself.
"Alright, time to head up to our rooms. We need to get some sleep," Logan said, standing up from the couch slowly so Virgil wouldn't fall over.
Virgil frowned a little, after having gotten so worked up over winning he wasn't really tired.
"If you come to my room we can watch a disk of Avatar Last Airbender before we go to bed," Patton whispered to him, having seen the frown.
"Are you bribing me with one of the best animated shows to ever exist?" Virgil asked quietly with a raised brow.
"Maybe?" Patton replied sheepishly.
Virgil's smile returned as he let out a gentle, breathy laugh.
"Well it's working. If we make this a common thing I might never want to leave your room," Virgil teased.
Patton's expression brightened as he shared a smile with Virgil. The group all split ways after turning everything off downstairs and Patton excitedly led Virgil to his room.