The Melting Pot Complex

Chapter Twenty-Two ~ Patton

{Possible trigger warnings: argument, mention of physical hurt (idk how to put it but Virgil and Roman have that sibling energy and they'll throw hands occasionally but not seriously), yelling 

If I miss something, I apologize and please let me know}

Patton bounced nervously on the balls of his feet, waiting.

"Was it a bad idea to send Roman to get Virgil?" He asked Logan. Again. In his defense it was only the third time... or maybe the fourth?

"Possibly." Logan didn't look up from his book. "One would hope the two are mature enough to find some common ground, but that argument last week seems to have set them back quite a bit."

Patton nodded, chewing his lip. He was about to go look for the other two when Virgil walked in, smirking to himself.

"I'm pretty sure my tongue is bleeding!" Roman announced loudly as he followed the gamer, looking upset.

"Cry me a river, Princey." Virgil plopped into one of the chairs. "What's up, Pat?"

"Virgil, what did you do?" Patton gave him a sent him a gently reprimanding look.

"He called me Vee and I expressed my dislike of him doing that."

"By hitting me!" Roman exclaimed.

"I didn't hit you. I tapped your chin with my hand so you bit your tongue. Huge difference." Virgil crossed his arms, slouching in his seat. "Can we talk about whatever we're about to discuss? I'm halfway through editing a video."

"You edit?"

Virgil glared at Roman. "Yes, I edit."

"Don't most gamers pay someone to do that?" Roman raised an eyebrow.

"Some do. I don't. I like my editing style and I don't think someone else would be able to capture that as clearly."

Roman opened his mouth to continue the conversation, but Patton butted in quickly.

"Please stop."

Virgil shot Roman an irritated look, then turned to Patton. "Okay, what's up?"

Patton couldn't help the excited grin that broke out on his face. 

"I want to start a podcast!"

Virgil raised his eyebrows. "Wait... with us?"

Patton nodded quickly. "Yeah, the four of us! It's a way to get all of us involved in something without having to edit you out of the video, and it can probably help us get along better as roommates too!"

Virgil glanced at Roman, who made a show of checking his nails. Patton knew his friend was going to be the most apprehensive about it, so he waited for a response.

The youngest of the group quickly realized that both Logan and Patton were looking at him.

"What? Why are you staring at me?"

"We would like to know your opinion." Logan said slowly. "You seem to be the most... cautious of the four of us. We would most likely be sharing personal stories at times."

"Would I... have to? Couldn't I just be a color commentator or something?"

Logan paused, then nodded. "I suppose that could work."

"What's a color commentator?"

"Someone who helps a play-by-play commentator by adding their own commentary when the play isn't in motion. In this case it would be more like Virgil is background commentary."

Roman paused, taking this in. "So... quiet for twenty minutes then makes a snarky comment? Isn't that what he does anyway?"

"Exactly." Virgil smirked.

"Actually..."

When they turned to look at Patton, he scrunched his face up. He had the beginnings of an idea coming together but it took a moment to formulate it.

"What if we made the podcast about living together?"

"How so?" Logan leaned forward.

"Well, we're kind of different." Patton smiled. "We could talk about what it's like to live with four YouTubers who do such different things! Things like coordinating recording schedules, and making sure everyone's boundaries are respected- stuff like that."

"I like that idea." Virgil put in. "We could talk through issues that come up too, like Roman's constant screaming of Disney songs."

"I heard you singing along the other day." Roman retorted immediately.

"Wasn't me."

It was, but Patton knew Virgil would never admit to that while Roman was anywhere near him.

"Or," Virgil continued, leaning forward. "We could discuss Roman's trashy attitude-"

"I think we should save big issues for discussion outside the podcast, should we decide to do it." Logan interjected quickly. Patton sighed in relief, then cringed when the matter was inevitably not let go.

"I would love to hear more about my 'trashy attitude' so by all means Virgil, go ahead." Roman leaned forward on the counter, staring their roommate down.

"Stop it!" Patton said quickly, recapturing their attention. Even Logan looked a bit surprised at the tone he took. "You two are adults, you should be able to talk things through! I wish you could just figure this out instead of acting so childish about it."

Virgil blinked, his eyes wide, and Patton took a very deep breath. He never yelled, he always tried his hardest not to.

"You guys keep saying you're trying to get along, to figure this out, but you need to act like it. You're always at each others' throats, the few moments you get along are always punctuations to long arguments, you're always trying to bother or one up each other, it's just- it's so irritating!"

"Deep breath, Patton." Logan said quietly, leaning over and placing his hand on Patton's shoulder. "You're getting worked up."

Patton squeezed his eyes shut for a few moments, trying to calm down.

"I'm sorry-"

"No, Patton, you're right." Virgil blew a long, slow breath between his teeth. "I think we need to re-discuss our agreement."

"Agreement?"

Roman nodded, sighing. "Yeah, we made a deal to try and resolve conflicts so that we could get through things like this...."

The two exchanged glances, then Virgil huffed and stood up. "Can we talk about this later? I want to finish the video I'm working on before I hurt myself trying to figure out how Roman and I can try to find common ground."

"If you'd like, I could assist when you decide to talk it through." Logan suggested. "Act as an impartial mediator."

Roman nodded and Virgil made a grunting noise.

"Oh, for the record Pat, I don't think the podcast is a horrible idea."

Patton smiled a little as Virgil left the room.

"At least we're all in agreement with that."

{ya girl dyed her hair red this weekend

Which doesn't tell y'all anything because these chapters are prewritten lol}