Assistance Required

The Road Trip Part 3

TW cursing, transphobia

Sat March 13

After lunch, they went back on the road with a little less enthusiasm. Virgil felt kind of bad for bringing down the mood. They were lethargic from eating and tired from the hours of driving they had done and still had yet to go. Virgil ended up spending a lot of his time staring out of the window. He could hear the others talking behind him, but he didn't really want to get involved.

A part of him wanted to scroll through Tumblr on his phone or try sketching again, but he didn't really feel like doing anything else. He knew Patton said he should try not worry about it and the others spent all of lunch trying to take his mind off of it, but it kept coming back. Was he only supposed to be gone temporarily? His dad had said he needed to figure out what to do with him and he did offer to let him come back, but now it was clear Virgil didn't want to go back.

He had said he wanted nothing to do with his father and now he needed him. How was he supposed to live his life without his documents? He couldn't even get a new job without them. He hated that his future now depended on getting something from his father. He couldn't pay for college without these. Hell, he needed his social security number for his taxes too. He hated how easily his dad could hold these over his head. He felt vulnerable again. He felt like he was losing control over his life. He hated this feeling.

He felt someone gently grab his arm and looked up to see Roman giving him a gentle smile.

"Please don't scratch yourself," Roman said quietly.

Virgil looked down and realized his arm was red. He hadn't even realized what he was doing. He was too lost in thought. Virgil nodded slowly as he wrapped his arms around himself and went back to staring out the window. Roman rubbed his arm and back as he went back to the conversation with Janus and Remus. Virgil paused before gingerly grabbing Roman's hand. Roman gave it a gentle squeeze but didn't turn away from his conversation.

Virgil stared out of the window the rest of the drive without letting go of Roman's hand. By the time they finally arrived, Virgil was ready for bed. All of these thoughts and the travels left him exhausted. It didn't help that he woke up early and Roman provided him with enough small comfort to prevent him from going into a panic. Now all he wanted was to pass out on the first comfortable surface he could find.

They parked and grabbed what they could from the car before heading inside with the others. They placed their stuff in the living room while unpacking, deciding to just figure out the rooms and everything later. After everyone unpacked the cars, Patton went over what was in the kitchen while the others explored the house to see what rooms were available.

"So, how did your aunt end up with this place?" Thomas asked as they regrouped.

"Well, I think it belonged to the family. My grandfather left it to her in his will since she's the oldest. He died before she came out as trans so they didn't have a chance to take it from her. They're very upset that she has it now though but there's no legal action they can take to get it from her. She uses this place out of spite every summer. She told me in her call," Logan explained as he looked over the paintings on the wall. "I think I've been here a few times back when my grandfather was alive. They used to spend all summer up here after they retired."

"It's in pretty good condition considering it hasn't been used since the summer," Patton said as he closed one of the cabinets.

"I think Aunt Cassie came down and did some cleaning when she heard we were coming. She said she might stop by to say hello sometime this week. She offered to get us lunch while we're here."

"Speaking of food, we need to make a shopping list," Patton said as he sat down at the dining room table. "We should come up with a meal plan for the week and get some snacks."

"Ooh! And stuff for s'mores!" Remus said as he sat down.

"Are you planning on having a fire?" Joan asked.

"I think there's a small wood shack and a fire pit in the back yard somewhere," Logan said.

"Yes!" Remus said excitedly.

"Remus!" Roman said causing Remus to look at him. "No cartwheeling near the fire this time!"

"You aren't the boss of me!" Remus stuck out his tongue.

"No, I agree with Roman for once," Logan said. "No cartwheeling near open flames."

"You set your jacket on fire last time you did it! I don't want to have that conversation with our parents about why you're in the ER."

"It wasn't that bad!"

"No dangerous activities near the fire!" Patton said sternly.

Remus groaned.

"Now you've got Dad saying it!"

"You deserve it anyway," Janus said as he sat down next to Patton. "We should get stuff to make cookies this week."

"Ooh!" Patton said excitedly.

"Well, what are we supposed to do with what we don't use?" Thomas asked.

"We can leave some stuff here that wrong spoil, like brown sugar and spices," Patton said.

"And for stuff that does spoil? Like eggs or whatever?" Joan asked.

"Take them back with us. We can drop them off with our families," Patton said.

"I wanted to drop by my mom's anyway before we went back," Janus said looking over Patton's shoulder at the list he was making.

"Do you guys have any preferences for dinner this week?" Patton asked.

Virgil curled up on end of the couch with his phone as he half listened to the others plan out the food for the week. His eyes felt heavy as he sat there. He ignored the others as he drifted off. Nothing else mattered to him right now. He was safe here with his friends.