Sanders Sides Christmas

Chapter 20

Virgil:

I clean up the charred remains of my breakfast attempt. It's too late now for breakfast anyway.

"Hey, kiddo," Patton says as he comes in.

"Hey," I mumble without looking at him.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to sleep in so late, did breakfast turn out okay?"

"It's fine. Everyone slept in so we skipped breakfast." I say coolly.

I can feel him staring at the dishes in the sink, "Oh, okay. Um..." he sounds apprehensive, "Is everything okay?"

"Yeah," I say trying to sound sincere, "Everything's great."

"Do you wanna talk?" He asks.

"No." I answer.

"Okay..." he starts to head toward the door.

I think for a moment then throw down the rag in my hand, "You know what? Yeah, Pat, can we talk?"

He looks back toward me, "Yeah, of course, kiddo. Come sit down." He pulls out a chair from the table. I take the seat across from him. "So what's the matter, Virgil?"

"Why didn't you tell me about you and Deceit?" I say, cutting right to the point.

"What!?" He looks surprised, "What do you mean? What about me and Dee?"

"I saw you two Patton! Don't play dumb, please! I'm not mad, I just want to know what's going on!"

"Saw us? Virgil, I promise I'm not playing, I really don't know what you're talking about?"

I blanch at how sincere he sounds, "You really don't know?"

He shakes his head, "No, kiddo. But, I am sorry I've upset you."

"No, don't be. I just saw you and Dee getting kinda close. And I saw you two in bed this morning and I thought that maybe you two were...in a relationship. And I guess I was upset that you didn't tell me."

     "Oh," he blushes, "You saw that..."

     "Yeah," I answer, "Why we're you two," I clear my throat, "in that position."

     "I was just really cold last night," he explains, his cheeks still tinted red, "and he offered to...um...assist me with that..."

     He's blushing an awful lot, "You don't..." I can feel the weight of this question, "you don't like him do you?"

     "No! Of course I like Dee! He's great!" Patton says quickly.

     I huff in exasperation, "No, Pat, that's not what I meant. Do you,um, like-like Deceit?"

     "Oh...um...well...I...I'm sorry..."

    "Sorry for what, Pat?" I ask.

     "I didn't mean to fall for him! I swear I didn't! But, we've just...we've been spending a lot of time together...and he's so much nicer than I've always thought...and I'm sorry that I upset you...but I couldn't help it!"

     "Woah, woah, Pat," I stop him, "It's okay, I understand. I just wish you'd told me."

     "You're not upset?" he asks hesitantly.

     "No, Pat," I say, surprising myself at the words and the fact that they're true, "I'm not upset, if you like him, you like him. It's not my place to police your relationships."

     "Thanks, kiddo. I really appreciate it. But, I don't think Dee likes me like that."

"Are you kidding me?" I ask, "You can see it all over his face! I can see it! Roman can see it! I'm sure Logan could see it if he wasn't so distracted by Remus!"

"Wait what do you mean? What about Logan and Remus?"

     I shake my head, "Nothing, let's talk about you and Dee."

     "What about me and Dee?"

     I smack my face with my hand, "He's in love with you, Patton."

     His face flushes, "He's not—that's not true. You don't know that."

     "How do you know it's not true? Ask him."

     "What?!" He exclaims in shock, "No! I can't do that! What if he's weirded out? And doesn't want to be around me anymore! I can't lose his friendship, Virgil. It matters too much to me."

"So what are you gonna do? Just not tell him?" I ask.

"If that's what it takes. It's not so bad. I can handle it."

I roll my eyes, "Pat, that's not gonna work out."

"Sure it will! Just wait and see! Now, let's maybe get started on lunch."

I sigh, I know I can't convince him, "Okay."

Deceit:

I stand outside the kitchen, shocked and...overjoyed. Patton likes me back! Oh thank god, I don't know how much longer I could keep up the whole not caring for him charade, and I'm rather good at charades.

Now, all I need to do is find a way to tell him. It has to be romantic. I can't simply blurt something like this out. I decide to get to work on planning.