Cinders: An Intrulogical Story

Chapter 2

It was a bright and sunny day, early in the afternoon and Picani was cleaning dishes as he excitedly waited for Edward to come home.
Logan was also excited but the difference was that Picani knew something Logan didn't, while Logan had gotten letters from his father about a special surprise waiting for him Picani already knew what was coming.
Edward found a new husband.
It was exciting, reading the letters he sent them and picking up on all the little details about his new partner.
He had hoped a day like this would come, heavens knows Edward deserved a bit of happiness after all the pain they went through.
As Picani became lost in thought while scrubbing the dishes his mind started to wonder about what the new groom would be like, he got so distracted he hardly even noticed the sound of horses and a carriage pulling up outside.

He ran out as fast as he could and got into a proper stance, he wanted to make a good impression although he still felt like he was forgetting something.
It took Edward getting out of the carriage and asking him "where's Logan?"  for it to finally hit.
It dawned on him that as eager as he was to get the house all fancy he never once told Logan that he should get cleaned up from his routine fire side snooze fest.
Suddenly little Logan bursted through the doors still covered in dirt and ash from sleeping next to the fire, he ran up to his dad and gave him a big hug as he got dirt all over his coat.

Edward didn't care of course and just picked him up and swung him around before giving him a playful boop on the nose.
"My my my! I thought I was coming home to a presentable young gentleman but I suppose you will have to do!" Said Edward as he playfully tickled him.
"I missed you!" Said Logan, playing with his fathers tie.
"I missed you too!" Edward announced, he then noticed Picani let out a small "ahem" to signal that his new husband was standing beside him, waiting to be introduced to everyone.
"Sorry." he mumbled as he sat Logan down.
His father gestured to the man "Logan, this is your new step father, Baron Roman Contessa Tremaine.".

Logan looked up at his new step father befuddled, his step father was a man of keen breeding and refined taste, he too had known grief and misery but you would never know from the way he carried himself.
Adorned in all red and white with gold accents Roman was radiant and fashionable, according to Edward he was a former actor in another town and he sure as heck looked like it.
His presence was both intimidating and overwhelming for Logan, back when his other papa was still alive he would wear rather plain clothing and hardly ever seemed to notice other people were even looking at his clothes, let alone try to impress them.
A big fluffy orange tabby cat laid in his arms, the thing looked mean and like it was gonna bite Logan any second.
Logan awkwardly stuck his hand out to greet him, trying and failing to ignore the ferocious looking cat, you could practically feel the sudden urge to hide behind his papa's legs.

Roman smirked, feeling fond of all the attention on him and looked down at Logan with his piercing brown eyes.
"Hello Logan, it's positively wonderful to meet you.
You're all your father talks about.
I'm Roman and this little cutie is Orange."
Logan blushed a bit, the embarrassment washing over him like a tidal wave, the idea of his dad fawning over him go random strangers was just plain humiliating.
Roman turned to his two sons, one wearing light blue and the other wearing a dark purple.
He gestured for them to bow to Logan and greet him by name, they did so with the one in purple struggling a bit with his footing.
"These are my sons, Patton and Virgil.".
The presence of young kids eased Logan a bit, Virgil looked a bit intense, he had heavy eye bags and his posture was terrible, Logan got the impression that he was just as uncomfortable as he was.
Patton on the other hand looked perfect, his posture was straight as a lance, his skin looked as delicate and soft as a doe's, his glasses were over sized and perfectly round which complimented his button nose wonderfully.
He was adorable and to be honest was starting to make Logan feel more and more insecure about his appearance the longer he looked at him.
Thankfully Logan's dad interrupted, "Hey Cinders, can you do me a favor and show your new dad and brothers around the house? I need to talk to Picani for a moment." He said, placing a hand gently on Logan's shoulder and getting down to his eye level.
Logan nodded and started to head inside, Patton and Virgil followed.
Roman started walking behind him but stopped in his tracks, he turned around and stared at his husband.
"Cinders?" He questioned, Edward laughed a little "it's a funny nick name cause he gets dirty so often.".
"Oh..." Roman whispered to himself, slowly walking behind his kids.

Logan excitedly showed them each and every room before reaching his own, he did find it odd that no matter what room they entered Roman always found something wrong with it.
The wall paper was too ugly, the furniture was too tacky, the tiles weren't clean enough, Logan tried to mostly ignore it but it did hurt him a little when he called some of his dads favorite knick knacks cheap and ugly.
The minute they all walked in to logan's room the boys were awe struck, it was very spacious just for one little boy.
Logan didn't know why they were so shocked, he'd never had siblings before so he never knew what it was like to share a bedroom with some one else.
Turns out the little boys were just surprised he got to live in the room all alone, Patton even mumbled "it's just not fair..." as Logan showed off his bed.

Suddenly, a little squeak could be heard underneath the bed and Patton and Virgil started freaking out.
Logan checked under neath to see a cute little fat rat just minding it's own business, Logan picked him up and gently petted him causing all of his step family to freak out.
"Ew! You're gonna get the plague!" Patton shouted, disgusted at the site of the poor creature.
"Actually that's just a misconception, it was fleas that started the plague, they were just on the rats." Explained Logan, enamored with the rodent.
"Still! put it down! It's freaking me out!" Logan obliged and set the rat down on the floor to scurry away.

Logan walked over to the massive book shelf beside his bed, he grabbed a book off of it and held it to his chest.
"I have lots of books, science and history are my favorite genres but I enjoy all kinds, you're welcome to borrow some if you like!" Said Logan.
Patton pushed up his glasses a little "Daddy says that people who read a lot have no creativity so they would rather spend most of their time filling their head with the thoughts of others.".

Logan didn't know how to respond to this, he just stood there feeling awkward, thankfully Roman broke the silence.
"My boys have more substantial qualities, Patton's gonna be quite the beauty when he's older.
He's already won several pageants and he's only eleven.
Virgil on the other hand..." Roman looked over to Virgil, struggling to find something redeeming.
"He has that wonderful sardonic sense of humor!" Roman continued, Virgil looked annoyed and then mumbled something incoherent that Logan was one hundred percent sure was a curse word.
After the tour ended Logan's new step  family left with out even saying thank you, they had a rather awkward dinner where Roman made a jab about Picani's cooking and before they even knew it, it was time for bed.
Logan got ready and laid down feeling very lost in thought, contemplating what his life would be like with his new step family.

As he was resting his father quietly knocked on his bedroom door, Logan told him to come in and he sat right beside him, grabbing his hand.
"So, what do you think of your brothers?" He inquired, Logan thought for a moment.
"They are really different... that's good I guess.".
"What about your step father?" "It's a big change... he's a lot different than- than..." Logan stammered, it hurt him to think about his dad being gone.
His dad shook his head "I know you miss him, I do too, every single day of my life but I really think Roman will be good for us.
We've been on our own for so long-" "except for Picani!" Logan interjected.
His father paused and then laughed "yeah, except for Picani.".
His eyes shifted from Logan's face to his hand as he gently petted it.
"I think you'll grow to like them overtime, I had a step father when I was your age and he was way better than my real one.".

Edward's eyes widened for a second as he exclaimed "oh! I almost forgot!", he grabbed a leather bound book from the inside of his coat and handed it to Logan.
Logan looked at the cover confused "Macbeth?" He asked.
"Do you like it? I got it from all the way over in England, it might be a bit too heavy for an eleven year old but I think a kid like you can handle it.".
The two talked for much longer than expected, he told him goodnight and tucked him in before heading off to his room with Roman.
Logan looked at the book again before taking off his glasses, placing them both on his night stand and grabbing a nearby stuffed rabbit.
He wrapped his arms around it and squeezed it tight as he turned over on his side, feeling his eyes get heavier and heavier with each second until they were completely closed as he drifted off unconscious.