#ts:sanderssides

[deadanddeactivated]

Baby Brothers, Brothers Baby

Fandom: Sanders Sides Pairing: Brotherly Virgil & Patton, Patton & Thomas Characters: Virgil, Patton, Thomas, Roman (Mentioned) Notes: Also called: Kail wants more Older Brother Virgil dang it.  And if you want more of this, please let me know.  Or I probably wont write it.  I need validation. Summary: When someone starts knocking at his door at 11pm, Virgil isn't sure what he's expecting but it's definitely not his baby brother. Or what his baby brother is holding.

AO3

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Virgil was in the process of pinning a rather complicated piece of suit jacket when a knock jolted him out of his focus.  Frowning, he looked to the alarm clock he kept by his sewing table to save him from his tendency to get lost in his work.

Who the hell was knocking at his door at 11pm?

Surely princey was getting his precious beauty sleep by now.  Even if he wasn’t, he wouldn’t rock up unannounced.  Not this late.  Unless…?

But no, Virgil hadn’t missed any messages from princey.  Who then?

The knocking came again and Virgil sighed, removing the pins from their place resting between his teeth.  Only one way to find out, right?  Here’s hoping he didn’t get murdered or whatever.

“I’m coming.”  He assured the frantic knocker.  As he drew closer to the door he could hear someone… crying?  And someone else trying to shush them.  What the hell?

Cracking his apartment door open just a little, Virgil immediately unlatched the chain and opened it fully.

“Patton?”  He asked, frowning.  The boy in front of him looked nothing like the eight year old Virgil had last seen.  He was a teenager now, all too long limbs and diminishing baby fat.  With a mop of unruly brown hair on his head and a pair of black glasses framing his sky blue eyes.  He was dressed in a too-big grey hoodie and ruffed up jeans.  Even so, his little brother was as familiar to Virgil as the back of his hand.

The bundle of fusing, tiny human in Patton’s arms was not familiar.

“I didn’t, I didn’t know where else to go.”  Patton managed.  Despite his attempts to shush the baby, he was practically sobbing himself.  Had been for a while, by how red his eyes looked.  

Jesus, what had Virgil missed?

“It’s okay Pat.”  He assured.  “Come on in.”  He opened the door wider, moving to the side.  Patton shuffled in, still trying to calm the crying bundle in arms Virgil realized where shaking.  Once the elder had closed and relocked the door, he held out his arms to his little brother.

“Pass them here.”  He said softly.  Carefully, Patton handed the baby over and Virgil started bouncing them on his shoulder.  “So,” he started, probably best to address the tiny elephant in the room right away, “whose this?”

“His name’s Thomas.”  Patton mumbled, suddenly looking like he was being scolded.  He played with the straps of his backpack.  A backpack much too small to be much use when running away.  “He’s um, he’s, well…”  But Patton couldn’t finish.

“Yours?”  Virgil guessed, noting the way Patton braced himself before nodding.  Like he was expecting shouting, or violence.

Virgil knew exactly who taught him that.

“They didn’t take it well?”  Virgil guessed again.  This time the nod was a little less hesitant.  Trying to hold in a sigh, knowing Pat would take it the wrong way, Virgil decided not to press further.  Thomas started to settle some, likely calmed by his steady shoulders and even breathing.  Couldn’t lose that stressing over parents he’d long since cut out.

“The mother?”  Virgil asked.

“She didn’t want him.”  Patton answered.  “But I did!  I do!”  He added, with more confidence than anything else he’d said all night.  “We just, we just don’t have anywhere to stay.”  Ah, and there went that confidence again.  As well as the eye-contact.

“Pat, you’re staying here.”  Virgil said firmly.  “No way am I letting you raise a kid alone, you’re practically a kid.  You’re staying with me until you’re at least eighteen, maybe longer.  We’ll talk about it when you’re eighteen.”  Virgil tried not to wince at his own tone.  Did he sound too demanding?  Of course he wasn’t going to stop Patton if he wanted to leave, he wasn’t a prison warden.  But Virgil didn’t want Patton thinking he had to leave, or that he had to work towards leaving one day.

Thankfully Patton seemed to get the message, face breaking out into a real grin.

“Thank you Virgil.”  He said, moving in for a tight hug.  Virgil shifted Thomas so he could hug Patton with one arm.  

“Nothing to thank me for Pat, obviously.”  Virgil huffed.  “We’ll have to go get some baby stuff tomorrow.  Hopefully the store is still open and we can get some formula and diapers.”  Those were the essentials, right?  Where there other essentials for babies?  God, Virgil was going to need to do some serious research tonight.  He’d finished the suit jacket later.

“I’ve already some stuff.”  Patton assured, letting go of Virgil to rush to his kitchen bench.  He set his backpack on the bench and started to pull things out.  Diapers, different brands but all the same size, as well as a packet of wipes.  Formula, a baby bottle, a partly empty bottle of water, a spoon.  A slightly crumpled birth certificate.  Even a small assortment of baby clothes joined the little pile.  

Objectively, Virgil knew all these items were very important and that it was very good Patton had them.  The twenty-four hour store down the road didn’t exactly have a large range of things beyond late night snacks and energy drinks.  

Objectively, Virgil also knew these items had taken up a lot of space in a small, not very full looking backpack.  

“Where are your things?”  He asked.  The smile fell from Patton’s face once more, the teenager giving a shrug.

“It’s okay, I can get new things later.”  He mumbled.  “And I don’t mind wearing my clothes for a week or two, they don’t smell much.”  Virgil frowned deeper.

“Patton, how long have you been wearing those clothes?”  He pressed, getting another shrug in response.

“A few days maybe.”  Patton mumbled.  Virgil didn’t live far from his parent’s home, the city was only a few hours travel at most.  A very intentional effort on his part to be closer to his brother.

“Where have you been staying?”  Virgil asked.  Patton looked like he wasn’t going to answer but Virgil wasn’t stepping down.  Eventually the teenager gave in, shoulders slumping.

“The hospital.”  He admitted.  “Mum and Dad said I couldn’t come home if I was coming home with Thomas, and I wasn’t just going to give up Virg.  But they had to check him over and I was worried if I went home someone would take him away.”  Patton confessed in one long breath.

“Jesus Patton.”  Virgil couldn’t hold back his emotions this time, concern and worry seeping into his tone.  “Why didn’t you call me?”

“They took away my phone when they found out.”  Patton said.  “But it was okay!  The nurses were really nice, and they didn’t mind me staying there!  Harriet even taught me how to make up the formula and feed him.  Her sister just had a baby, and she had spare clothing so she gave me some!  And Markus showed me how to change a diaper and he always had extra lunch!  And see, this way you won’t have to worry about any of that stuff too, I can do it!”  

Jesus Patton.  This time Virgil managed to keep the words in, only just.  Thomas had fallen asleep against his shoulder, Virgil wasn’t about to wake him up by freaking out.  Even if there was a whole boatload of questions to be had.  Still, Virgil took a deep breath and pushed them aside.  He couldn’t change the past, only right now.

“Have you eaten today?”  He asked, deciding to focus on that.  Patton stumbled on his words and that was all the answer Virgil needed.  “Okay, we’re having dinner then.”  He decided, trying to remember if he had food in the apartment.  Ordering in sounded like a mess of people he didn’t want to deal with today.

“I can cook!”  Patton suggested.  

“No.”  Virgil shot that down immediately, sighing when Patton’s entire face fell.  That came off harsher than he meant it too.  “Pat, you’re a terrible cook.”  He pointed out, tone teasing this time.  “Besides, you’re exhausted.”

“Yeah, but you’re already doing so much.”  Patton argued.

“I haven’t done anything yet.”  Virgil claimed.  “I’ve grilled you for answers and ordered you to move in.  You don’t owe me anything.”  He added, tone firm and leaving no room for argument even though he knew that Patton wanted to.  

“Go have a shower Pat, you can borrow my clothes for the night.  I’ll make us up scrambled eggs, yeah?  That’ll be nice.”  And he should definitely have eggs.  “We’ll sort everything else out in the morning.”

“...Okay.”  Patton agreed.  

“Okay.”  Virgil nodded.  “Here, hold Thomas again while I grab you some clothes.”  Instantly, Patton tensed up.

“But what if I wake him up and make him cry again?”  He asked, panicked.

“You won’t if you stay calm.”  Virgil promised.  “Babies can sense that kind of thing.  Just keep breathing steady and Thomas’ll be fine.”  

“Okay.”  Patton sounded a lot less sure about this okay.  It was hard not to laugh as Patton held his breath while Virgil handed Thomas over but, when Thomas didn’t immediately start screaming his head off, the young father relaxed.

“There you go.”  Virgil said softly.  “Wait right here.”  Quickly but quietly, Virgil went to his room and found a shirt and pair of track pants that looked about right.  Then he grabbed a towel and placed the pile neatly on the edge of the sink in the bathroom.  When he came back to the kitchen Patton was still standing where he left him.  He definitely wasn’t tense anymore, smiling softly at the baby in his arms and whispering promises Virgil couldn’t hear.

“Bathroom’s all ready.”  Virgil said, almost a little sad he had to ruin the moment.

“You promise you’ll look after him?”  Patton asked, tone too soft and vulnerable for Virgil to feel insulted.

“I promise.”  He said, taking Thomas back into his arms.  Patton still hesitated a moment before heading into the shower.  Hopefully he’d still have a proper one.

Virgil bounced Thomas a moment but he’d need both his hands to cook.  Thankfully the couch was in sight of the kitchen, so Virgil stacked up the pillows to create a makeshift crib and placed Thomas in it.  He’d have to thank Roman and his obsession with ‘decor pillows’ later.

Of course he couldn’t let Thomas sleep there all night, Virgil thought as he started on dinner.  He’d have to go buy a crib tomorrow but for tonight hopefully he could use the pillow crib on the main bed.  Plus have him and Pat on either side.  It was a double bed so they should all fit, right?  They’d have to, it was sort of the only option they had right now.

Problem A solved, Virgil started to dwell on problem B - where was he meant to put the crib.  His apartment wasn’t particularly big, there was his bedroom, his sewing room, the bathroom, and then the combined living kitchen area.  Which meant he’d have to clear out his sewing room, which could take some time.  

Then of course there was problem C, how the hell was Virgil meant to raise his brother and his nephew?

Nope, not thinking of that yet.  Virgil wasn’t even finished with problem B.  No time to dread problem C.

He finished up the eggs and collected Thomas from the couch, not sure Patton would want to see the baby in a pillowfort.  Conveniently, Patton appeared from the bathroom a few minutes later.

“Dinner’s ready.”  Virgil said.  They were quiet as they ate, the exhaustion clearly catching up with Patton while Virgil got lost in his thoughts.  When they were done, and Virgil had stirred Patton away from the dishes, they moved to the bedroom.

“I can take the couch.”  Patton argued, words a little slurred.

“None of that.”  Virgil said.  “Thomas isn’t sleeping on the couch, and you should be sleeping with him.  Parental bonding or something.”  Virgil had grabbed that out of thin air but Patton was too tired to argue.  He settled on the bed, curled around protectively around Thomas.  He was asleep before Virgil had finished setting up the pillow walls.

Virgil stepped out of the room, finally letting the weight of this land on his shoulder.  God.  This was a terrifying mess and Virgil had no idea what to do about it.  

All he could do was be there for Patton he supposed.

And, maybe, call a friend.