Summary: Patton and Logan, almost complete strangers that go to the same high school, are placed together for a group project of taking care of a robot baby. Self-discovery ensues.
Words: 2023
Patton adored health class. He loved learning about people rather than boring numbers or old dead people, but unfortunately everyone else seemed to hate this compulsory class. People were chatting to each other instead of listening to the teacher talk about child development and pregnancy - a topic Patton was interested in as he wanted to go into childcare after he graduated; either working at a preschool, a kindergarten teacher or a midwife.
Logan hated health class. He loved learning about formulae and historical events rather than people and being nice, unfortunately this class was used mainly as entertainment so it wasn't quiet either. The teacher was talking about child development and pregnancy, definitely not LGBTQ+ friendly but that's what high school was like. As expected Logan wasn't interested in the topic in the slightest even though thus far he knew he was expected to place a woman through the torture of pregnancy and childbirth for his own 'legacy'. But Logan didn't want anything to do with children - his goals after high school would be to become a university researcher or financial accountant and not talk to anyone under the age of 18.
"Now to announce the group project!" The teacher exclaimed, gathering a sheet of paper and examining it. "You'll be in pairs - that I choose - and your task is to take care of a robot baby for the week!" Patton was overjoyed hearing this news, Logan was wishing he was anywhere else. The teacher then began reading out names as partners were placed boy-girl... And Patton wasn't getting called out.
After reading the list the teacher approached another student who hadn't been paired, the one who sat at the front. Patton didn't know much about him apart from he was the teacher's pet in all subjects and got the best grades. He did usually know the name of everyone in his grade, the boy was maybe called Lukas or Lewis or Leo...
The boy turned to Patton and stood to walk over, a smile not on his face. "We're paired. Too many boys compared to girls." He spoke to softly as he opened a textbook and made eye contact with the book rather than his partner. Looks like he wasn't going to introduce himself.
"I'm Patton! Are you excited to see what baby we're taking care of?" Patton's eyes were switching between the student opposite him and the cart of toy babies the teacher was beginning to hand out. The boy shrugged and wrote some more lesson notes in his book.
"It's a robot, not a baby. And this whole thing is stupid and worthless." The student spoke so matter-of-fact, but the cart of babies was getting closer and that's all Patton cared about. It was silent for about a minute before the boy finally revealed his name. "I'm Logan also, Logan Watch."
Finally the moment came when Patton could finally hold the little plastic and metal infant he was in charge of for an entire week. He took the small thing graciously and cradled them just like a normal baby should be held and looked down on them. The baby was dressed in a blue onesie and had a blue hat on... He was adorable even though they weren't human. "What shall we call him? I love him so much!"
Logan's face was a mixture between shock and confusion at Patton's reaction, raising an eyebrow and his eyes blown wide as he chew the end of his pen. "Steve? That's an adequate name." He managed to eventually mutter out - and this time Patton raised an eyebrow at his classmate.
"Are you joking?" He chirped, but Logan shook his head. Steve was the most boomer name Patton had heard of. "Stevie. He's called Stevie."
*****
The project seemed quite easy in Patton's point of view. As Logan wanted to pull his share the pair agreed to swap Stevie each day: Patton had Stevie Monday night, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday while Logan had him on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. As his mother was a nurse she helped Patton a lot if he was ever stuck on what to do but the teenager was good at improvising and loved playing fun games with his baby during the night.
As Logan and Patton needed to communicate their custody of Stevie they had each other's phone numbers but Patton never had to communicate with Logan not in person. Well, that was until Thursday night.
Patton was lying in bed, playing a match-three puppy themed game before he'd cover himself in his soft blankets and doze off. But before he could set his alarm he received a call from Logan. He could already hear crying in the background from the little robot being they shared. "Hi Logie! What's up?"
Logan sounded more tired than Patton had ever known him, mumbling as if he had no energy to speak more clearly. "I... I don't know what to do Patton..." He said, his voice a whisper too which made it difficult for Patton to understand him. "I fed him, changed his diaper, kept him warm and cooled him down... He's not sleeping..."
The cheery teen sat up and thought for a moment about what else there was to try. He knew Logan had created a routine for Stevie to follow during the previous lunch break - and Patton had tried keeping to it but instead just let his instincts kick in when he went home. Logan however kept to the routine to the t and at most times it worked... until now at least.
"Where is he now?"
"I put him on the floor as I was trying to find the off button." Logan said simply, the crying got even louder as Patton heard a robotic rattle. Just imagining the calm and collected Logan sitting on the floor with a dangling robot by his side made Patton chuckle, but he resisted the urge. The main job was to figure out why Stevie was crying. "Can you just tell me what to do?"
It was silence for a moment until an idea popped into Patton's head. "Have you tried holding him?"
Logan was completely silent again. "That... works?" Once Patton mumbled in agreement he could hear some shuffling from Logan's side of the phone, assumably the phone was being placed on the floor, and the crying came closer. "I'm doing it..."
"Now rock him side-to-side a little bit." Patton chirped again and slowly the crying got quieter and Logan let out a relieved sigh. "You did it!" He cheered, and he could swear he could hear a chuckle from Logan's side of the phone.
*****
When Patton arrived at school early the next day to collect Stevie he spotted Logan leaning against the locker, his nerd friend Janus beside him, and holding the doll by the armpits. On his face was a look of distaste as he seemingly complained under his breath to his friend - he didn't even smirk when Patton approached. "Morning!" Patton cheered to try and make his friend smile, but he just unleashed some sort of growl.
"You take it." He said simply, holding the doll ahead of him. Patton took Stevie back without complaint but stayed close to Logan. Something was obviously bothering him. "I'll take the fail on this project - it's stupid anyway. Goodbye." And with that he walked away and didn't even let Patton speak. Even though Patton had only known Logan for a couple of days he knew he wasn't the type to just give up on a graded project. Luckily Janus was still collecting books from his locker.
"He's totally pissed off at you." Janus mumbled as if he could read Patton's mind.
"Why?"
"You're better than him."
The answer seemed simple but complicated at the same time - and Janus didn't seem to want to reveal anything else. He grabbed a philosophy and literature textbook before smirking. "It's his fatal flaw - I'd recommend not speaking to him - ever again."
The rest of the day seemed odd as Patton avoided Logan. Usually throughout the day Logan would check up on the 'project' and record any unusual behaviour but now he seemed to avoid Patton at all cost. Even when they sat next to each other in English Logan completely ignored him and focused on his work (he even didn't help Patton while he was struggling).
*****
By two days Patton had enough of this childish behaviour - he really thought Logan was more mature than that. So when Friday came, the last day of the project, Patton marched up to Logan with the most determined look he could pull. "Mr Logan Watch!"
"I'm busy." Logan snapped, slamming his locker and not looking at his group project partner.
"But I want to talk to you." Patton insisted, and Logan scowled again and walked towards his next class. Like an annoying dog Patton followed and held a crying Stevie to show his point that this was Logan's project too.
"I said I'm busy."
"And I said I want to talk to you!" When Patton stood in front of Logan the nerd stopped, and loosened his muscles which indicated he was finally listening. "Can you take Stevie until health class?"
Logan looked defeated, only raising an eyebrow and glaring at the plastic doll that caused him so much mental pain. He was in a parenting school project with a man... and it felt alright. It got him thinking about things he didn't want to think about - like who he'd want to raise a family with. And he'd want to raise it with a man. With Patton.
"Are you listening to me?" Patton chirped angrily and pouted slightly... Logan's heart was killing itself. He must have been too focused on his thoughts to listen to Patton, hopefully he kept his stern looking face and didn't blush. "I have Gym third period and last time I placed Stevie in the locker room he screamed the whole place down. And from your schedule you seem to have AP Algebra that period. So you can take him at least until lunch." Patton being so forceful was a new experience and Logan would be lying if he said he didn't find it more intriguing than any of the books he read this week. One thing was now for certain - Logan needed to talk about these feelings with someone who understood them. Patton was outwardly homosexual and so was Logan possibly now, he was perfect to talk about this issue with.
It took a moment for Logan to realise Patton was still talking but the cheery teen tilted his head and the forceful look disappeared. The school hallways were empty as everyone had gone to their homerooms ready for the day. "Everything alright Logie?" And that damn nickname finally broke Logan into a blush. "Oh, are you sick? I can take you to the nurse."
"I'm gay."
Well, that was one way to sort this out. Patton tilted his head again and smiled widely, swinging side to side. "I'm honoured you wanted to tell me." He chirped, smiling softly instead of the angry look he had before. "Do you want to talk about it maybe... Of course it's not a necessity."
"Can we date?"
Logan was definitely not in charge of his lips nor vocal cords now. The only thing Logan's brain wanted was to get a boyfriend in this conversation and then deal with the outcomes later. Luckily Patton didn't seem completely disgusted.
Patton twisted himself side to side cutely, the action made Logan smile and even giggle. "As long as you take Stevie." That was a condition Logan could obey, and he was happy to if he got a date at the end of the day. Health was last period so after that they could go somewhere together. And that's what they agreed on - a simple ice cream date at the diner so they could talk about Logan's new sexuality and discuss steps from there. Logan knew what step he wanted to take: he had found his soulmate.