Summary: A few big brothers aren't the best but Logan and Remus definitely aren't. Logan and Remus will do anything for their siblings.
TW - Mention of toxic romantic relationships/domestic abuse. This will unfortunately be mentioned whenever the character of Remus' sister comes up but it's never shown - just talked about from an outsider perspective :)
On a good news though I've almost finished pre-writing the entire book!
When Virgil returned from his day in the city he expected to see Logan working with Patton by his side watching TV. He didn't expect to hear a booming voice as soon as he arrived home, recognising Roman's voice immediately and hearing two little giggles by the two brothers' feet. "Hey Emo!" Roman shouted as soon as he heard the door open. "How was your day away?"
"Tiring." Virgil said simply as he placed his bag down on a nearby chair, smiling as soon as he saw Patton and his new cousin Thomas play together happily. It felt sweet watching a friendship bloom between the two of them. The whole day had been quite different from previous events Virgil attended before. Even small talk – usually small talk surrounded what family each person had at home and it felt nice for Virgil to finally say he had a son and husband rather than making up a lie about being in touch with his family or pretending he was recently married. Having no kids seemed acceptable when Virgil had only just found his soulmate and gotten married in his late twenties. Now he was reaching his late thirties it was expected he had a family at home that was bigger than just his husband.
Patton's eyes glowed as soon as he realised who walked into the living room and he was attacked with toddler hugs. "Vir-gill! Play with us!"
*****
After some time, with his husband and brother-in-law joking with each other after dinner, Virgil was taking the small toddler in their care to bed. Patton was utterly exhausted after playing all afternoon with his new cousin (Thomas had already been taken home by his mother when he started feeling a little sleepy). It was adorable watching Patton play with someone his age and talk about all his toys and games he likes to play with someone who could understand his point of view. They seemed to get on well.
"You need to let go of me before F'oggie falls kiddo." Virgil whispered, watching Patton's fists slowly separate from Virgil's shirt and clutch onto his frog teddy. It was getting more difficult for Virgil to safely hold the toddler the more teddies he collected but he shouldn't question it. The cat teddy was probably a hand me down Roman gave him as a welcome present. "Do you like your new cat teddy?" Virgil chirped, stroking Patton's golden hair as his eyes watched his teddies half-lidded.
"I miss Mommy..."
Why did he say that? There was no training session he attended to become a foster carer that gave a tutorial to how to respond to this statement. It was too late to call Emile especially as he was in the situation himself right now – this wasn't like the 3am panics Virgil usually had about everything. "Why?" Virgil eventually managed to chuck the question out. Patton turned to him and kept the cat teddy to his lips.
"She gave me Ka-Ka for my birthday!" He said proudly, waving one of the cat teddy's paws. Patton might be the cutest toddler out there when he was in a happy sleepy mood.
Virgil should ask his husband about how Patton got a hold of 'Ka-Ka' when as it definitely wasn't in any of the belongings he was abandoned with. He didn't want to stress the toddler with questions like that so just stroked Patton's head and turned on the nightlight. It was likely Ka-Ka was given by Emile if the police found something – Virgil wasn't informed very much on the police investigation. "Night kiddo."
"Why was 'ogan ang'y today?" Patton chirped again, his eyes beginning to close even though he was desperately trying to keep them open. Virgil paused in place and watched the toddler for a while but luckily he seemed to give clarification. "He was ang'y when I got Ka-Ka..."
"I'll ask him." Virgil said quickly while sleep finally overcome Patton's endless questions. Before Patton fell asleep completely though the therapist knew there was one thing to say. "But he wasn't angry at you. No-one is angry at you for anything you've done."
Patton sleepily nodded before beginning to snore. Patton's mother must miss him too – he was the cutest and most affectionate little boy that you couldn't help but love. The more time Virgil spent with the little boy the more he considered adoption, if not adopting Patton he'd love to adopt another kid in need of a home or a family.
But Logan didn't want that. Whenever anyone complimented Patton on anything Logan would make sure the person knew that the toddler was just a 'foster kid'. It must hurt Patton – and it hurt Virgil too. Now he had an idea of what being a father was like he really wanted it with the person he adored to the world and back.
Logan looked so happy being away from Patton. He was sat opposite his brother, sipping a glass of red wine and finishing an entire jar of Crofters jam with Roman – not surprising honestly. "Hey babe..." Virgil whispered, wrapping an arm around his husband's waist and giving him a kiss on the cheek. "Do you really need to eat all that?" He giggled and wiped the edge of his husband's lips before giving him a kiss.
"Ew bro you're so gross!" Roman screamed, throwing a spoon at his older brother that hit his temple. Logan only rolled his eyes and finished his mouthful. "I swear you two need to get a room."
Logan raised an eyebrow. "We have a room – we have many in fact."
"You know what I mean."
Virgil collected the plates from dinner while the two brothers chatted some more and shared jokes and taunts, going to the kitchen to wash them. It was nice to hear the two men laughing in the background – Logan didn't laugh so loud that often unless they were alone. The man looked so relaxed and happy even though he before looked stressed taking care of Patton when Virgil returned from work.
Was it worth rubbing that smile off his husband's face by asking about what Patton said? No, it wasn't. Probably Patton was just a nervous toddler and Logan was just tired or something. Now that Patton was in bed it was Virgil's time to focus on his husband and give him as many kisses and cuddles as Roman will allow. But then Roman will have to head home and he can spend the entire night feeling like the luckiest man in the world under Logan's touches.
*****
Another day of work, another triple dozen emails to search through. At least the office was quieter than his house had become now he had a toddler. There was the low sound of casual chatter between desks and the printer or scanner moaning every few minutes but it was the kind of environment Logan loved to be in. But like all good things the businessman couldn't make peace for long.
"Hey Lo, I need your help." Janus said lowly in the whisper like everyone else. They seemed more concerned than usual but that might have been because of the extra stress seeming it was near a very important meeting. Logan nodded softly and smiled. "Remus seems a bit – off. I can't find out why but you seem to have a special bond with him, can you ask him what's up?"
The offices did seem a little too quiet, Logan just assumed the new graduate had taken the day off work. He nodded anyway and stood, following his friend, and Janus kept on chatting about how Remus had been quiet and on his phone all day – ignoring his duties. It was nice to see them actually care about the young man that Logan felt a mentorship over since he was hired.
Janus pointed to the corner of the room where a desk was covered in punk posters from head to toe (no idea how Remus managed to ever do work on it, but he did). On a swivel chair nearby Remus was looking down at his iPhone and was typing something with no expression on his face. "Hey Remus, are you alright?" Logan spoke gently and knelt to his co-worker who only looked at him and then back at his phone. "You know what work you have to do today?"
"Uh... Emails." He responded absentmindedly, looking at his computers where several unopened emails lay – although he seemed to have no intention of going to sort it. His voice was softer this time than all the times before and he looked lost in the eyes. "Sorry Logan, I'm a little distracted today."
Logan nodded slowly, standing up straight again before his knees hurt. "That's alright, do you need help answering some? You really should get something done before we have to get HR involved."
Remus placed his phone down and shook his head, dragging himself to his desk and opening the first email of the power. Logan stayed close in case his friend needed help again as he still had that lost look in his eyes. After a few minutes Remus' phone vibrated and he immediately picked it up again. As soon as he saw Logan was behind him he flinched and apologised. "Sorry L, it's..." He looked at his phone sadly. "It's my little sister. She's trying to escape a bad relationship."
There was never a mention of a sister from Remus' mouth before. Knowing Remus' age this sister possibly was still a high schooler and still at home, or maybe college aged – but that didn't affect how traumatic this whole situation was for her and her close family. Logan could only give a small nod before Remus continued his work, typing an email quickly to the head of marketing. He understood what it was like being a protective big brother so unlike a lot of people he'd accept this anxious behaviour distracting the young man from work. The businessman was about to step away but Remus seemed to want to talk about his personal life some more and that was healthy.
"I haven't seen her in a good couple of years." Remus said softly, looking at his phone again, Logan couldn't help but smile at the care the young man had for his family. "I miss her."
"I'm sure she misses you too – but I don't want you to get in trouble for slacking." Remus chuckled at that, turning his phone around so he wasn't tempted by the screen. It was only then Logan felt like he could walk away from Remus and let him work – but he was stopped yet again.
"Logan?" Remus chirped, sounding a little happier, but he still kept his eyes on his phone. "Uh... My sister needs a suitcase mailed to her house but her partner will get suspicious if it's from her family..." Remus looked down ashamed and sighed. "If I give you the case can you post it to her?"
Logan nodded and smiled softly, stuffing his hands in his blazer pockets. "Of course." He said quietly. Remus smiled wide at that and seemed more like his usual self – a little quieter but happy. Logan stepped away from him to do his own work but he couldn't stop thinking about Remus' family the entire day. Logan had a lot to deal with when he graduated college, but it was mostly unresolved mental issues that he had been pushing down since high school. But Remus had serious issues doing on in this developmentally important stage too, so Logan tried to be as understandable and sympathetic as possible.