Archive of Our Own ^beta

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Contrary to what everybody else knew, Virgil and Logan were not the first two to meet.

That label truly belonged to Logan and Roman.

At the age of three, Logan Carter’s parents decided that he needed to make friends. He had argued in his small amount of learned speech that he didn’t need to have any more friends than the ones he had at school. His parents countered that pointing out when his peers at daycare made mistakes and them not getting upset with him for it was not making friends. Logan couldn’t really argue with that.

So, his parents had a chat with the family across the road and organized a little play date with their son, Roman.

The two hit it off right away.

Well… if you mean it literally.

Roman hit Logan over the head with a fake plastic sword and Logan shoved him onto his butt.

So, overall, not the worst first impression the young Roman Prince had ever made but it was certain that Logan would never want to see that young boy again.

At three and a half, Logan’s parents decided to try again, talking to a young couple down the road. The two men happened to have recently adopted a boy of Logan’s age named Virgil Sanders.

Virgil was quiet and shy and perfect for Logan. Virgil was willing to listen when Logan spoke. He seemed to have answers when Logan couldn’t quite find them and was extremely happy to just sit with him in silence as they read or even indulge him when they spoke to the boy next door, Damian Gray.

Logan was nearly five when the duo met Patton Cook.

Logan had put off going kindergarten for as long as he could convince his parents (which, quite frankly, wasn’t too long). Luckily, Virgil was going to be starting there too so he had at least one friend as a definite starter. He wasn’t expecting that number to grow at all.

Looking back, Logan and Patton may never have met or at least never gotten along as well as they did if it wasn’t for Virgil.

On the second day at the (in Logan’s opinion) rather boring building, Virgil had tripped when attempting to step over a small gate in the soft play area. He wasn’t really hurt but he’d cried out in shock of the fall. Logan quickly came over from the blocks he was playing with. Not really understanding why his friend was crying, Logan just hugged him with a quiet huff.

Patton had been attracted over by all the commotion. He looked down at Virgil’s hands then back up to his tear stained face. His eyes had welled up in sympathy that none of them really understood yet. Cuddling him with Logan and babbling near nonsense until Virgil stopped crying, a foundation built on trust and love was built.

Patton invited Roman to join them the next day. Both Logan and Roman recognised each other but, with one small look towards how happy Patton and Virgil seemed together, and the two ha somehow made a silent agreement to never mention it.

And they didn’t.

Over their first six months as a group of four, the whole group grew close; learning, playing and growing together. Soon Logan and Roman’s forced friendship grew just as close as any of the possible pairings in the group.

And everyone was happy.

So, of course, at such a young age was where things had to go downhill.

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For the ragtag group of four, the next year was probably where they should’ve started to see things change. Of course, the group were still kids, barely reaching their sixth birthdays, but somebody should’ve noticed.

Patton and Roman had probably the best growth of the group.

Patton soon took the role of protector and helper. He was the one any of the others could go to if they were hurt and learned very early how to make everyone feel how he wished. So he became a pillar for them. One that would take in emotions and give nothing but positivity and support back.

Roman became a dreamer. He would often get scolded in classes for zoning out and not focusing unless it was a creative subject. He never really took any lesson too serious; dreaming of days in the future when he could hopefully live up to his last name of Prince. He always held too high aspirations.

Virgil’s mental health had obviously declined at a young age. It was something to do with genetics and chemical imbalances in his brain. He never told his fathers because he didn’t want to worry them. Some day in the future, that slight worry would turn into a full blown general anxiety disorder. Patton’s support didn’t help as much, Roman’s reckless nature worried him about getting in trouble and Logan…

Logan was not having a good time of it. As he aged, his senseless babble about stars and interest faded to long rambles full to the brim with needless information. He delved into schoolwork and took to reading around the others instead of joining in their games. They never worked too well anyway. His father had left one night and left the family of now just Logan and his mother in disarray. Soon his rambling soon turn to full blown rants and occasionally yelling if he got too worked up or even tears if he got far enough. He didn’t understand what they had done wrong. But he saw how that scared Virgil. So he resolved to just shut his mouth and keep the subsequent emotions from it deep inside.

Despite this, the group still worked well. As a team, they could get each other to focus and made a great balance for each other. The changes hurt and tried to break them but they stuck together even more through it.

They understood each other even if nobody else did.

When Patton hurt too much, he could talk for a bit. Get lost in one of Roman’s new creations, support Virgil and subsequently support himself, ramble on and on to Logan. He didn’t feel like he kept any secrets.

When Roman couldn’t focus, he could warp his daydreams into the lesson. Hold Patton’s hand under the desks for support, listen to Virgil talk about future plans, get Logan to repeat the importance of the lesson to him. He most certainly didn’t keep any secrets.

When Virgil got so scared that he started shaking, he could close his eyes and just breathe as he listened to his surroundings. Hold Patton for a long time and absorb his comfort, let Roman talk about all the amazing things that will most definitely end up happening, listen to Logan logic out all his possible worries. He had no secrets to keep.

Logan was like a metal box compared to them. His tongue was the key to his mind but he slowly started to lock that box, little by little until nothing could escape.

Logan never hurt too much. He would never take Patton’s hand in his own or hold him close as before.

Logan was always focused. He could never daydream of stories untrue or imagine any other path for him.

Logan was never scared. He could never offer support or tell of dreams.

But the others could. So he offered what solice he knew how to give. He could listen. He could teach. He could ground

Nobody thought a six year old boy would be able to keep as many secrets as he.