A Lesson in Practicality

A hero's work is never done

Patton sat down on the couch next to Virgil with a cup of hot chocolate in his hand. He held the mug close, enjoying the warmth the ceramic gave and the smell of the cocoa. He looked over at Virgil who simply stared off completely distracted. "You okay, Virge? You look tired."

"Mmm." Virgil made no motion to move, and other than the noise, gave no sign he had heard. He blinked and looked over at Patton with a frown. "Should we tell Thomas about what happened?"

"I dunno." Patton looked down in his mug, wishing they had bought marshmallows as well. "He has the right to know but I don't want to scare him."

"We can tell him bits and let him ask. That way he only knows what he wants to know."

"I feel like that's lying to him if we don't tell him everything."

Virgil sighed and pulled his legs up on the couch, facing towards Patton. "You know him best out of all of us. Would he want to know if we kept this a secret?"

Patton shrugged and took a sip of his drink to think the question over. "Mm. Probably. He would want to know if we were in danger, I guess. We don't know what the thing is though."

"Well, I think you should tell him. Rather be safe than sorry, right?"

"Maybe... but not over the phone. I should be in person for something like that." They sat in silence a bit longer, the tension slowly dissipating. "So, how are things with you and Logan?" Virgil glanced over with a confused look. "We came home and you were helping him with something, weren't you?"

Virgil suddenly smiled bigger than Patton had ever seen him. "Yeah, I think he figured some things out."

"Oh, what did you talk about?"

Virgil looked over at Patton, thinking about the exercise he gave Logan to do.

Virgil looked at Patton, smile still front and center on his face. "I think he'll figure it out eventually."

"Yes, well, just remember to take care of yourself too!" Patton gave Virgil a nice pat on the back. "If you need help with anything, just let me know! I don't care if I'm at work or it's the middle of the night, you come to me okay?"

"Sure. Thanks, Pat."

"Hello there. Have you gentlemen locked yourself out of your car?"

The two jumped and looked over at the stranger walking up to them, quickly moving away from the car door. "What?"

He pointed to the car. "You seem to have locked yourself out of your vehicle. Do you require assistance?" He didn't ask for an answer and walked over to the door, kneeling down in front of it and inspecting the lock. "I have a knack for these types of things, worry not!"

He pulled something from his pocket the other two couldn't quite see in the dark but gave him space to work. "Super kind of you to do this, dude."

"What's with the get-up?" The other asked.

"Oh, this? I work at a theater! Just got off of a late night read through."

"What are you supposed to be? Some kind of prince?"

At the words, all three froze. The one kneeling in front of the door slowly turned and looked up, smiling slightly at the other two. "Something like that."

"Hey, isn't there, like a... some dude going around dressed up at night?"

The car suddenly woke up in a blaring rage of lights and noise as the alarm went off. The two jumped back as the Prince stood up tall. "Well, gentlemen, what now?" He wasn't sure they could even hear him over the noise.