Wednesday, August 23rd, 2019: 3:23 PM

"... What the fuck?" Virgil questioned, Roman's boyfriends sat on the couch, Roman himself waiting by the stairs, all three watching Virgil carefully.

"Virgil," Logan said sternly, arms crossed over his chest, "We would like to talk to you,"

Virgil pretended to ponder the thought, finger tapping against his chin, "Nah," He moved to continue up to his room, only for Roman to slide in front of the stairs, "Move," He growled, glaring at Roman. Roman did not move.

"Kiddo..." Patton started, wringing his hands, "We want to talk to you about your grades," 'Fuck,' Virgil thought, 'so that's what this was about.'

"What about them?" Virgil asked, faking nonchalance, despite his heart pounding in his chest.

"Virgil, it is the third week of school and you are currently failing all of your classes," Logan stated, pushing his glasses up his nose.

"So?" Virgil scoffed, picking at a thread on his sleeve, "Why do you care?"

Roman frowned, "Virgil, we're your parents," he stated, "Of course, we care-" Virgil couldn't take it any longer.

"You're not my parents!" He exploded, hands curling into fists at his sides, "None of you! Not you, Roman, and certainly not the two of you," he exclaimed, pointing to Patton and Logan where they were still sat on the couch, "I'm sick of all you fucking adults deciding everything for me! You guys are no better than Harvey or Alastor. I hate fucking adults. I hate you!"

Shocked from Virgil yelling, Roman had let his arms drop from where they had been preventing Virgil from leaving the room. Quickly, Virgil pushed past Roman, ran up the stairs, and slammed the door behind him.

Everything was still for a moment before Roman dropped onto the stairs, head in his hands, "I-we..." Patton and Logan walked over, sitting beside Roman, "I'm not," he whispered brokenly, "I'm not, I'm not like, like..."

"We know sweetie," Patton soothed, blinking back his own tears, "We know,"

———

Monday, August 3rd, 2020: 12:11 PM

"Who's taking me to therapy?" Virgil yelled, grabbing a pair of keys off of the hooks near the door. Instead of an answer, he was met with all three of his parents racing down the stairs, tripping over each other. Raising an eyebrow, Virgil glanced between Patton, Logan, and Roman, "I take it that means you're all coming?"

"Yes," Logan affirmed, fixing his tie like he hadn't just jumped over his boyfriends to reach the bottom of the stairs first, "We have groceries to get, so we figured we'd make a date out of it,"

"Cool," Virgil replied, popping his gum, "Am I driving?"

"Yeah, if you want to kiddo," Patton replied, "We do need to get some more of your permit hours in so..." he shrugged.

Virgil hummed, double-checking his watch, "Yeah, I'll drive, as long as you guys don't make out in the backseat again,"

"It was one time!" Logan spluttered as Virgil raced to the car.

As everyone got settled in, Roman made sure to give some dramatic exclamation about how Virgil wasn't allowed to embarrass his parents like that. Virgil rolled his eyes, before backing out of the driveway.

Virgil loved his family.

———

Monday, August 3rd, 2020: 4:27 PM

"Well Virgil, unless there's anything else you would like to talk about, I think we're all done for today!"

Virgil thought for a few seconds, before shaking his head, "Nah, I'm good,"

Dr. Emile Picani smiled, grabbing his bag and a few of his trinkets before moving towards the door, "I'll walk you out," Walking into the waiting room while finishing their conversation about Steven Universe, Virgil was surprised to find someone sitting on one of the chairs.

Virgil was always Dr. Picani's last patient on Tuesdays, and he didn't know the person laying half upside down in the chair, or why they were there. Or why they were so pretty? Their hair was wavy and fell to their shoulders, although half of it was pulled up into a small bun on the top of their head, and their skin was a dark brown, a little lighter than Virgil's own. And oh god Virgil was so gay they were so hot.

"Took you long enough," The person (who was wearing sunglasses; Inside; At 4:30 PM.) said, and, for a heart-racing moment, Virgil thought they were talking to him. Virgil sighed in relief when Dr. Picani replied instead, "Your shift ended early I suppose?" Honestly, Virgil was a bit confused about who this person was but, it wasn't any of his business. So, instead of standing awkwardly at Dr. Picani's side, he pulled up his dad's contact and clicked.

"Hi, Virge!" Roman's voice came through the speaker, causing Virgil to wince and turn the volume down, "So we, uh, we got caught in some... in some traffic, so we'll be a little bit late, sorry,"

Before Virgil could respond, Logan's voice came through the phone, quieter, obviously in the background, "Is that Virgil? Let me talk to him. Roman, give me the phone. Roman. Oh, for the love of-" He heard some shuffling before Logan began to speak again, voice clearer this time. "Virgil? Roman lied. We did not get stuck in traffic, the got distracted in the candy aisle,"

Virgil snorted, removing his thumbnail from his mouth, "Of course," He spoke quietly, still hyper-aware of Dr. Picani and the random person who looked far too good in a leather jacket in the room with him.

Logan sighed, and Virgil could imagine him pinching the bridge of his nose, "We are on our way now,"

Virgil smirked, tapping his fingers against his thigh, "Alright well, how much longer will you guys be?"

"It should only be another five to ten minutes if we do not take any more unsolicited detours!" Logan accentuated the last part, clearly talking to Roman and Patton.

"Sounds good, text me when you get here please?"

After Logan's reply of, "Affirmative," Virgil hung up, looking back at Dr. Picani and the leather jacket dude.

"Traffic?" Dr. Picani asked, smiling sympathetically.

Virgil snorted, shaking his head, "Nah, Roman and Patton got distracted buying candy,"

Dr. Picani chuckled.

"Yeah so," Virgil mumbled, "They're gonna be like, another ten minutes so if you want to go ahead and go, I can wait outside,"

Dr. Picani shook his head, still smiling, "No, it's totally fine Virgil! In fact, I believe I forgot something in my office, so it will be a few minutes anyway!" Virgil nodded awkwardly, trying his best to smile (and not feel terrible for making Picani stay behind)

As Dr. Picani went back to his office, Virgil sat down, a single chair separating him and the person in sunglasses. Not enough of a space that they could take it as an insult, but also not too close to the point where it was weird.

Virgil grabbed his phone, hoping to find something to distract him from the impending social anxiety when suddenly, someone tapped him on the shoulder; Virgil jumped, turning rapidly to look at the person wearing sunglasses.

"Woah," the person spoke, a distinct southern accent making itself known, "Sorry doll, didn't mean to startle you,"

Virgil waved the apology off, ignoring the hammering in his chest, "'s fine. Not your fault, 'm just jumpy,"

The person didn't look entirely convinced, but continued anyway, "I was just wondering what school you go to? You look really familiar, and I mean, how could anyone ever forget a face as pretty as yours?"

Virgil felt very warm: too warm, "Um," he stammered, "I uh, actually do school online? But I take some art classes at the local high school?" Virgil answered quietly.

"Oh hey!" The stranger exclaimed, "Me too! I think we've got some classes together and shit," Virgil just nodded slowly, confused; first, the stranger started flirting with him, and now they were, what, making small talk? What was their goal? Fuck, Virgil was bad at socializing with people.

Dr. Picani's voice broke him from his thoughts, "Remy," he said, addressing the person next to him. Virgil thought the name fit. "What did you do to Virgil?"

"I didn't do nothin'!" Remy exclaimed, raising their arms as if they were surrendering, "We were just talking and then he spontaneously combusted!"

Virgil couldn't help it; he snorted, hand flying up to cover his mouth.

Remy smirked, looking at Dr. Picani before exclaiming, "Well, look at that! You live!"

Virgil cleared his throat, trying to hide his smile, "So, anyway, what do you usually do for dinner at school?" Remy turned to him, lifting their sunglasses onto their head, "Cause we should totally hang if you don't do anything,"

"I think that would be like... cool or whatever... Dude." Virgil's voice did not crack, thank you very much. Not at all.

Remy smiled at him, before grabbing their phone and placing it in Virgil's lap.

At Virgil's confusion, they raised an eyebrow, "Your phone number?" Remy hinted, smiling when Virgil ducked his head, embarrassed.

"Um... here," Virgil said, handing back the phone, "I'm uh, Virgil, by the way."

"Thanks, Virgil. I'm Remy, he, they. I'll text you, and when can I figure out a time to hang and shit, m'kay?" Virgil just gave a thumbs up, internally regretting the awkward response. Before Virgil could say anything else, Patton entered the room, looking at Virgil, "Oh!" he exclaimed, noticing Remy sitting beside Virgil, "Hi! There's not usually anyone else here at this time! I'm Patton! What's your name?"

Remy chuckled at Patton's enthusiasm, "Remy," they said, smiling.

"Nice!" Patton exclaimed, "So... are you Virgil's friend?"

Nope, Virgil thought, standing up and pulling on Patton's arm, "Nuh-uh, c'mon Pat, time to go." Virgil said, embarrassed.

As they got to the door, Remy called, "See you on Monday, hon!" Virgil didn't say anything, just nodding before racing out the door.

"So..." Patton started, once they were in the car, "Remy, huh?"

"Don't you dare!" Virgil mumbled, avoiding his parents' eyes. They all laughed, teasing him for the remainder of the (long, long, long) drive home.