THIS IS ONE ANGSTY CHAPTER I'M WARNING YOU!
Summary: After a death in Logan's family he has to take his teenage brother, Virgil, into his and his husband's home. But it's hard for all of them - including the teenage Virgil.
TW - Parental death trauma, foster care, mention of self-harm and suicide (talked about but not described in detail), and running away.
Words: 2603
At thirty, Remy had the perfect life. He was adopted by two moms and turned out to be pansexual himself, got a job as a magazine editor which allowed him to stay at home, and he married an amazing high school teacher called Logan. Logan had a much different life as his father died in middle school, leaving him with his mother and a toddler baby brother, but things perked up when he fell in love with the very charismatic Remy. His mother was accepting of the relationship too so the couple never had any issues.
Until last month - Logan's mom died earlier than expected. So Remy was waiting in the living room while working on Photoshop, waiting for the door to open. Logan didn't want him at the funeral since he hadn't come out to a few family members yet and wasn't planning to - that was alright in Remy's books. Whatever made his husband more comfortable. He needed all the support he could get right now.
The front door quietly opened and closed and Remy raised his arm so Logan could fit under it. And that he did, leaning in and sniffling. Remy knew not to ask anything, he just stroked his husband's arm and continued working. "It was a beautiful service..." Logan eventually uttered out in a whisper, then buried his face in his lover's neck.
"Have you found out where Virgil's going yet?" Virgil, Logan's little brother, was still under 18 so as soon as the news of his mother's death was announced the family all rushed to support. Remy and Logan had discussed that their relationship would never involve anyone under 18 living with them so their main priority was making sure Virgil went to a safe environment.
But it seemed as though their attempts at securing a less traumatic life for Virgil had failed. "He's going into the foster care system. I'm allowed to keep up with him on social media... But no-one wanted to step up."
All Remy felt like he could do was kiss Logan's hair and brush a hand through it to reassure him Virgil will be OK. He will be - he was a strong kid - and in a few years time he'd be an adult so a short foster stay wouldn't matter much in the long run.
*****
Remy was very wrong about that though. Logan was never really one to be addicted to electronics, but as soon as Virgil was placed into his first foster home it was impossible to remove the teacher from it. This included on date nights - Remy would have a hand on Logan's upper thigh as they watched a movie alone together and Logan wouldn't care. He'd be talking to his brother.
"I cannot believe they made Verge change schools Re! And to this posh Catholic school no less, they obviously haven't taken his opinion into consideration..." This was the latest error that Virgil's new foster family - sending their new foster child to a good school to secure his future. Sure, it was religious, but that might just be their catchment area.
"Give him time babe. He'll find his group." Remy just wanted his husband's attention, he eventually managed to nudge his phone away and he got the idea. Nights carried on like that though. All until one afternoon when it all came to the tip.
It was a Saturday afternoon, and Logan was finally allowed to spend the day with his little brother and take him to the cinema and to get ice cream. Remy was working yet again and had just hung up from a Zoom call when he heard a slam from the front door.
Logan was emotional, saying nothing but covering his eyes and taking deep breaths. And even though this whole thing with Logan's brother annoyed Remy sometimes he could see the hurt all over Logan's face... and it hurt him too. "Babe, come here." Remy mumbled and lifted his arm, and almost immediately Logan cuddled in and kissed Remy's cheek. "Do you feel comfortable telling me what happened?"
"He's doing it again." Remy immediately knew what that meant, especially when Logan began stroking the paler side of his arm while he looked down. It broke both men's hearts to hear that. "He showed me them. The foster family really aren't treating him well and the social worker isn't listening since reunification isn't possible. I hate that I have to just watch this."
Remy sighed and brushed his hand through his husband's hair yet again - but said nothing more. To him, nothing more could be said, they had already made a promise to each other they'd never have kids.
"I need him with me." Logan said quickly, grabbing Remy's hand but not looking at him. "He's the only family I have now - apart from you of course - just... please..." The teacher looked up at his husband quickly, his eyes glowing and his voice weak. He was sniffling and looked down after a second of silence as if ashamed.
But why should Logan be ashamed? He wants his family - and Remy would be the devil to reject him that. It seemed as though reunification needed to be done, for both Logan's sake and Virgil's.
*****
Naturally, Remy wasn't the best at going into a natural parent role. Logan was at work a lot since he was a teacher, which meant Remy was the one to keep Virgil under control. And he was uncontrollable. Even though he was back at his old high school he was refusing to go, and when he did go Remy would often be called in due to skipped classes or canteen fights.
And it was too much for Remy to handle. "Look, we're trying our best for you Virgil. My brother Emile is giving you therapy for free to talk about these things - yet you give him the silent treatment each time! I get this is hard for you but it's hard on us too."
Virgil was sat in the car, being driven home from school early due to skipping all his morning classes. He was used to being shouted at by Remy at this point - he was just nodding quietly and sat in a ball. Remy was super nice before all this happened, he was cool and funny and even let Virgil get away with some things his brother found a little too rebellious. Now he was just shouting and screaming at him every hour of the day due to something he did wrong just because his thoughts were all too much.
Logan was a lot nicer to Virgil. But he was tired, he left for work early and got back late since he usually marked papers in school. This meant Virgil only saw his brother at dinner time. But at least Logan was happy to hug and chat about mom... Shit, Virgil was crying again.
Remy sighed when he realised Virgil was looking away from him and rubbing his eyes. "God... I'm sorry Virgil. Lo and I trying our best for you." Virgil nodded, but he knew that wasn't totally true. He was just an inconvenience for his brother and brother-in-law - he was an inconvenience for everyone with these emotions. Logan probably didn't even spend much time with his husband now since Virgil was too much to handle.
Virgil nodded again and opened the car door once the car was parked in the driveway. He knew what he had to do - to help his brother and brother-in-law not end up hating him and each other.
*****
The day after that argument Logan was the first to wake up as it was a Friday. Virgil had been excluded for the day but since Logan had extra time before heading off to work he felt like walking into the spare room his brother slept in.
The room was always dark as Virgil didn't like the curtains drawn. The white room was decorated in Displate posters and a couple of pride flags held up by command strips. There was a lump in the bed which Logan playfully poked like a big brother did... Only to find it a lot softer than his brother's body. He lifted the covers and found the lump was just a row of pillows.
"REMY!" Logan eventually managed to scream through his shock, tears immediately coming through as his breathing quickened. Virgil had never run away from home before - where could he have gone? There were no notes anywhere, his phone and headphones were gone, even his school backpack! What if he did something bad?
"Breathe, babe, breathe." Remy was beside his husband immediately, grabbing his shoulders and bringing him into a hug. He could immediately tell what Logan was crying about. "I'll call the police and then your school, then we'll think about where to find him - OK?"
"Where could he be? He's done something Rem... Please don't tell me he's done something..." Logan didn't even know what he was saying anymore, he was just a mess of tears and panic and emotions he couldn't control. Remy started marching around the room, holding his tears too but checking every corner while he was on the phone to the people he needed to call.
Logan sat on his brother's bed and looked at his feet, grabbing a nearby tissue and blowing his nose. He needed to think logically, maybe he caught Virgil was missing early enough that he hadn't done anything yet... Maybe he hadn't done anything at all and just needed some time away. Wait - Logan had a phone tracker!
The teacher ran into his bedroom and got his phone. Luckily Virgil had almost lost his phone a couple of weeks before, so Logan installed an app so he could track where his brother's phone was just in case it happened again. Logan sat on the bed and opened his app.
"Orlando..." Logan whispered roughly as Remy finished his call to the police. Virgil and Logan's mother was buried in Orlando next to her husband, so it made sense Virgil travelled a couple of hours down to there. But what he was doing there was the scary part. "You carry on calling - we're taking a day trip." And with that Logan ran out the too empty bedroom, out of the house and into his car. Remy followed without question and continued to call Logan's work to give him the day off.
*****
It was 8am, Virgil was meant to be in school, but he was two hours away from his high school. Instead he found himself in a cemetery after he had booked himself into a hotel. He had a few thousand dollars in inheritance so he'd use that on the hotel and get a job down in Orlando and from there - he'd figure out what to do from there. All he knew was he wanted to be close to his parents, and his parents decided to start their family here so Virgil was going to start his life here too - alone.
His mother's grave was decorated beautifully. White lilies were her favourite flowers and they lay everywhere around her. Virgil didn't remember his father much but he was in the ground he was sitting on too, and he had a couple of roses beside his tombstone.
This was peaceful though. There was no shouting, and even the anger and depression had died down just knowing he was with his parents again. And he'd stay by them too. No more Gainesville, just being an adult in Florida two years early.
"Virgil!" Virgil recognised that shout, it was his brother. Logan had come to get him? He thought he hid himself well, he thought they wouldn't really care since they didn't want him in the first place, but they were here. "Virgil! Thank God you're OK..." Logan's arms immediately wrapped around his brother, it was obvious he had been crying and he was shaking. He was also choking Virgil so he couldn't escape. "We need to get you home bro, please don't do that again, you really scared us."
"I'm not going back with you." Virgil eventually managed to escape his brother's grasp when he was carried to a stand. He stepped away and tried to keep his voice steady so he could show how good he was at being an adult. "I've got a hotel and I've applied for a waiter job at the Mexican restaurant mom used to love. I'll be fine staying here bro."
Logan just looked confused, blinking twice and hesitating what he wanted to say. "Virgil you can't just do that. We're legally responsible for you until you're 18."
"And you hate it."
"I don't! I want to take care of you, we're just smoothing out the cracks." Virgil just shrugged, getting his school backpack from the ground and putting it on his back. He needed to decide where he was going to get his meals from like every adult did when they first moved away from family. He wasn't going to be an annoying kid anymore.
Virgil could see that Remy was waiting by the car, watching the pair but not really doing anything. He probably just wanted to work, not drive to Orlando and back chasing a kid he didn't want. "Remy doesn't want to take care of me, does he? And you don't want me to ruin your marriage."
Logan looked back at his husband, sighed and hesitated again. "Is there anything we can do to at least get you to live with us again?" The man eventually sighed, looking confused and distressed - more distressed than Virgil had ever seen him before. He looked away from Virgil's eyes, towards the two tombstones the teen was stood between, and tears came to his eyes yet again. "You're my family now Virgil. If you hate me in two years, that's fine, I just really want to spend some more time with you."
It seemed with these new tears Remy started walking over, and between the cries Logan explained the situation. Remy looked confused but slowly nodded. "I guess... I guess you're not our kid Virgil. You'll never be. But you're Logan's brother. And I viewed this whole situation as gaining a kid I needed to raise, but maybe you need some independence - correct?"
"Yeah, I really want to just be an adult now." Virgil was still all for the idea of moving to Orlando permanently at sixteen, but his voice wasn't as sure. He knew he wanted to stay with his big brother.
"I've never been against moving to Orlando." Remy chuckled, grabbing Logan's hand and handing him a tissue from his pocket. "And I did half of high school online so I know a good place to get your diploma. I guess, if Logan's alright with it we can buy an apartment in Orlando and live as roommates rather than fathers and son."
Logan was silent, just staring at Virgil. It was up to Virgil to make the choice - Logan would do whatever Virgil wanted to do. Like a big brother should do. "Yeah, that actually sounds like a good idea. To be close to mom and dad."
Again, Virgil was attacked with a hug from his big brother and he wouldn't let go. Virgil didn't let go this time though. He hugged back - he was so proud to have an understanding brother and brother-in-law that will let him get over this grief in his own way.