Home Sweet Home [REWRITTEN] (TSS foster AU)

IV - Initiation

Virgil had been out with his new friends for about an hour now. They were all sitting around the bank of the creek when Patton had a brilliant idea.

"Guys, we should do icebreakers! Virgil and Dee are both new, so why not?" The others more or less agreed.

"Maybe we can play two truths and a lie?" Roman suggested. Everyone agreed again.

"I'll start." Patton smiled. "Hm... I'm allergic to dogs, uhh.. my favourite colour is blue and I'm Italian! Oh, and Roman can't answer, because he already knows!"

After a moment, Virgil spoke up. "The lie is that you're Italian?" Patton shook his head. Remus suddenly gasped.

"You're not allergic to dogs!"

"Bing bing bingo!" Patton smiled, tapping his nose.

"I'll go next," Roman smiled. "I speak 6 languages, I'm the older twin, and I hate carrots."

"No way you speak 6 languages," Dee signed. Logan nodded, signing while he talked. "Correct, he only knows 2, Spanish and English." Virgil looked at Dee in confusion.

"Is Dee deaf or something?" He asked quietly. He tried to ignore Dee staring at him. He must know what I'm asking... Logan nodded.

"Dee is almost fully deaf, so he often uses sign language. He can read lips if you talk slowly." After Logan spoke, Dee smiled at Virgil. A little creepy...

Virgil nodded, speaking slowly. "I know some basic ASL, they taught it at my last school."

"Hey, my turn!" Remus butted in.

"Hmmm... I have a pet rat named Pickles, I'm the better-looking twin, and I have an extra butt cheek." Roman cringed before rolling his eyes.

"You're only supposed to have 1 lie!"

Patton looked confused. "Is it the butt cheek thing?" Remus nodded.

"Yup! I have 4." A look of horror and fascination crossed Patton's face, causing Remus to burst into laughter.

"Dee, your turn," Logan announced. Dee thought for a moment.

"I'm deaf, I have albinism, and I have an extra toe." Logan translated as he signed. Virgil looked confused."But isn't albinism when all of you is pale?" Virgil asked. Dee nodded. "Correct, I have vitiligo." Virgil nodded, then looked confused again. "So you have 11 toes?" He asked. Dee nodded, smiling.

Next, they moved on to Logan. "Hmm.." he signed as he spoke. Although Dee could read lips, it was hard to keep up sometimes, so Logan liked to sign most of the time."I used to live in Alaska, I have two moms named Victoria, and I know how to speak both ASL and BSL." Everyone thought.

Patton spoke up. "Isn't one mom named Brenda?" Logan nodded.

"Correct." Dee smiled.

"Nice that you know BSL, I'm actually from Britain and my ASL isn't the best." The group talked for a while and got to know each other until the sun started to set.

"We should head back," Virgil remarked.

"But the fireflies!" Patton exclaimed. Virgil gave him a confused look.

"Don't you know what fireflies are, emo?" Roman questioned. Virgil shook his head. Patton gasped.

"You have to see!"

Logan cleared his throat. "I suggest we head back to Thomas's house. We can show Virgil fireflies another time, Patton, right now it's getting quite dark out." Patton sighed, looking defeated.

"I guess you're right."

The 6 got up, heading back towards Thomas's house together. Thomas greeted them with a smile.

"Hey, guys. Have fun?" They all nodded.

"I'm gonna call my mom to see if she can pick us up," Roman announced. Dee nodded, saying he was going to text his older sister.

"Well, I live not too far from here, so I'm gonna walk home." Patton smiled. "Oh, wait! We should trade numbers!" He smiled. He already had Logan and Roman's, as well as Remus's. The rest quickly exchanged numbers before calls and texts were made.

Within a few minutes, everyone was gone except for Thomas, Logan, and Virgil. "I'll be inside, Virge, come in when you're ready." Thomas smiled at the two. "Nice seeing you, Logan." With that, he headed inside, leaving the two alone.

"Are you walking home or getting a ride or..?" Virgil asked. Logan shrugged.

"I texted my mother, but she'll take a bit to get here."

"Oh." Virgil chewed his lip. "Hey, want me to wait with you?" He asked. Logan smiled. "I'd love that."

The two sat around on the porch for 15 minutes, waiting for Logan's mother to arrive. Logan was growing more anxious by the second. After nearly 20 minutes of waiting, he sighed. "I'm going to text my other mom," he muttered.

Virgil nodded. He looked around at the dark street. Small orange pools dotted the sidewalks where the dim street lights stood. He liked the quiet buzzing of Thomas's porch light. Somehow, the world felt most alive when everyone was asleep.

Logan pocketed his phone. "She'll be here in a few minutes." Virgil nodded. Suddenly, something caught his eye. He gasped, inching closer to Logan in slight fear. Logan looked up, noticing the firefly Virgil was looking at. He smiled. "That's a firefly. They won't harm you. Aren't they pretty?" Virgil looked at them for a few minutes before nodding.

"Still creepy, though," he mumbled. Logan laughed.

"I take it you're not a fan of bugs?" Virgil shook his head.

"I do like spiders, though."

The two sat in silence until Logan's mom showed up in her blue SUV. She honked to get Logan's attention, causing Virgil to jump.

"Whoops! Sorry, kiddo, didn't mean to scare ya."

Logan stood up. "Hey, mom." The woman waved.

"Who's he?" She asked curiously. Logan looked at Virgil.

"This is Virgil. Virgil, this is my mom, Victoria." She smiled at him. Virgil waved. Logan turned to his friend.

"It was nice meeting you, Virgil. See you later."

"You too," Virgil replied.

Logan got in the car, waving to Virgil as he and his mom drove away. Virgil glanced around at the fireflies once more before heading inside.

Thomas had, against his best wishes, fallen asleep on the couch. Virgil tiptoed upstairs, careful not to wake him. He quickly brushed his teeth and took off his makeup. As he changed into his pajamas, he replayed the scenes of the day over in his head.

Retrieving his new journal and pen, Virgil wrote today's final entry before slipping into bed. It wasn't long before he slipped into a deep, dreamless sleep.