(COMPLETE) Plus One - A Sanders Sides Analogical Fanfiction

Birthday?

Summary: News comes out that it's soon going to be Patton's third birthday and Virgil and Logan are confused whether they should help him celebrate. And the only person Logan can think of consulting is his favourite work-child.

The small office Virgil sat in was completely white, but the soft chairs were rainbow colours and Virgil sat on the violet one. On the white walls were faded pictures of Disney characters like Tigger, Cinderella, Baymax, and Steven from Steven Universe. No doubt Emile helped design the waiting room and was indecisive about the theme so just put every character he could think of on the walls. By now Virgil was used to waiting in this room for Patton to finish his therapy sessions but it seemed every single time he found a new character hidden behind a seat or toy chest.

It was also usually quite quiet while Virgil waited so most of the time he listened to music. Sometimes he'd see a rogue police officer enter Emile's office or another young child enter or leave the other therapy office and then he'd have to make awkward eye contact with a pressurised parent. Luckily he was alone this time but as he was listening to 'Welcome to the Black Parade'. He saw a bustle of officers surrounding the main reception, talking to each other, and then quite a few hastily made their way to Emile's office. It was probably an unrelated case but it still made Virgil feel on edge knowing his foster son, and therefore he and his husband, were under investigation and had heard nothing yet.

In a few minutes Patton ran out and went straight to Virgil. "I drew a family!" Patton chuckled, showing a scribble of a small blue Patton with two bigger stick-figures either side – one dressed in a suit and the other in a hoodie. "It's us!"

"Wow... That's great kiddo." Usually Patton would run towards the exit at this point but instead he sat on Virgil's lap and smiled up at him. "Everything OK Pat?"

And just like that the door opened and closed again and Emile walked through. The therapist smiled at his father friend and went straight to him, his smirk was half-raised which indicated there was some news to tell. "Patton! Can you go help the police officers clean up my room while I talk to Virgil?" Patton nodded and ran back into the therapist office and Emile sat next to his friend. "I have some news."

Virgil raised an eyebrow. Emile hadn't stopped smiling so it was safe to assume this wasn't bad news. Maybe Patton revealed something about his mother, maybe his mother was finally found, or it was just a weekly check-up with how things were going at home. "The police officers have been looking through all different records to find any information about Patton's previous family and we found something! A birth certificate – it has everything! Including..." Emile pat his legs, pretending to perform a drumroll to make Virgil smile softly himself. "His birthday! And it's next week!"

Virgil had to pause for a second as his mind constructed all the information. "Wait... next week? How old will he be?"

"He'll be three! Oh I'm so excited for him – can I help plan the party?"

The hoodie wearer was still in slight shock trying to process things. Should he be planning a toddler's birthday? He didn't know a thing about toddlers – and the only children friends Patton had were Roman's kids or the neighbours' families. He knew he should have placed Patton in daycare – there was lots of insecurity around Virgil's parenting style even if it wasn't permanent.

"I can manage it myself Em, thanks." Virgil chuckled, watching Patton run out happily with a couple of police officers by his side straight to Virgil again. Now he seemed to be excited to go home and show Logan his family picture and tell him all about his therapy (or playtime as he referred to it as) appointment.

*****

Unfortunately Virgil didn't really get to talk to his husband about the impending birthday until the evening – he wanted to keep the event a surprise for Patton as he didn't seem to have the 'constant reminding every nearby adult' trait that other toddlers had. But that meant that by the time talking about the birthday party reached Virgil's mind again he was settled in bed with Logan's arm around his side and Logan had finally put his book on the nightstand so he could get some sleep.