Fuse is Better Than One

Asking Questions 🖤💙

Roman huffed and pushed the bubbling pan off the burner. He turned a switch to shut off the stove and crossed his arms. "Virgil, relax. I know it will be rough on him. But he deserves to know who, what, why he is!" He flicked around his hand in thought. "Look, I get it. You want to shield him. But he's an adult now."

"He's still a man child!"

"Even so, it's different. We're in a new kind of world. It's not like it was all those years ago," he reasoned, starting to calm down. "After almost half a million years, I'm sure it's safer."

"Roman," Virgil groaned, almost tired. "No. We have no way of knowing what will happen if we do. So we won't. We don't even remember it well enough. He would want answers. Besides, he's going through enough crap. He's a young adult, trying to figure out who he is and what to do with his life. Human emotions, short lifespan, falling in love, having a family. And I don't think he- or any one of us-" he put a finger in the air, "is mentally stable enough to take that."

"Thomas can take it!" Roman said excitedly.

Virgil shook his head. "You're not. You get too hurt by the little things-"

"Rude!"

"Logan is opinionated and won't like this," Virgil pointed out. "Besides, he's too focused on Thomas' life right-"

"Patton will want to tell him!"

"Patton gets so emotional! Thomas won't take it well and Patton will be devastated."

"He's going to find out at some point!" Roman said. "He knows about Janus and Remus now. Would you rather my brother or the snake tell him?!"

"Deceit wouldn't dare!" Virgil shouted.

"Remus will and you know it!"

"I won't let him!"

"Virgil, this is-"

"We're not telling Thomas!!" Virgil yelled, slamming his hand down on the counter- THAT WASN'T THE COUNTER! Virgil screamed and pulled his hand away from the stove, which was off now but still extremely hot.

Roman gasped and reached for Virgil's hand, "Are you-"

"I heard a scream, is everyone alright?!"

The prince and emo looked over to the doorway, seeing Guidance looking rather panicked. He rushed over, frowning deeply. "Is one of you hurt?"

"I- I burned my hand on the stove," Virgil said, his voice pulled tight in pain. His face was red already and his eyes began to shine.

Guidance muttered something unintelligible and took Virgil's wrist with one of his four hands, pulling him to the sink. "Why would you do that?" he asked as he turned on the cold water, pushing Virgil's hand under it.

"I- I tried putting my hand on the counter and forgot the stove was there," Virgil mumbled. "It was stupid but like-"

"How much does it hurt?" Guidance asked, looking Virgil in the eyes. His eyebrows were creased with concern. The anxious one noticed his hair had been neatly combed over his forehead, hiding that weird third eye.

Virgil sighed and looked away. "It burns a bit.. Okay, quite a bit."

Guidance hummed and held tighter to Virgil's hand. He reached for the cabinet with another arm and opened it. He put a different hand in and pulled out a green tube. "I thought you would have been more careful," Guidance commented. "So what got you so distracted?"

Virgil shared a glance with Roman before speaking. "We, um, we got into a bit of an argument. We can talk more about it later. Until then, let's just have dinner."

Guidance tilted his head slightly to the Side as he opened the tube and put some gel on the burn. "Okay. We'll talk more later." He pulled Virgil's hand up and turned off the water. "Open your hand up, Johnny Tremain," he said with a small smile.

"What?"

"Oh, never mind," Guidance said, spreading a layer of ointment over Virgil's palm and fingers. He kept Virigl's hand in place while he reached into the cabinet again and pulled out a roll of bandages.

"Since when did we have so many first-aid supplies in the kitchen?" Roman asked, grabbing a potholder and opening the oven to take out the meatballs. "I never saw-"

"Since I came into existence," Guidance explained. "I noticed we didn't have any first-aid, so Logan re-organized the cabinets to make room for some. Things like this happen."

Virgil laughed quietly as Guidance started to wrap his hand. "Of course. Thanks, I guess?"

"You're welcome," Guidance said in a warm tone. He finished wrapping Virgil's hand, pressing the sticky end of the bandage to the back of his hand. "Do you want me to kiss it better?"

Virgil almost snorted. "Seriously? We haven't done stuff like that since we were like eight-"

Guidance rolled his eyes and pressed a soft kiss to the palm of Virgil's hand. Virgil hesitantly pulled his hand away, trying to bite back a smile. "Okay, you can stop. Let's just eat."