Sanders Sides One-Shots

Kiddos (Dad!Patton AU)

summary: patton is having a hard time being a single parent to his sons, they barely give him any credit and don't make it easy for him.

word count: 1191

they're all in middle school, roman's the oldest, then virgil, then logan :)

tw// crying, insults :))

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Patton quietly hummed to himself as he made dinner for his family. It's been about three months since his wife had left him for her coworker and his kids weren't taking it well. They were getting more aggressive with each other and to Patton. He tried his hardest to be there for them but they always pushed him away.

As he sprinkled pepper into the food, he heard his kids' arguing getting louder and louder. He sighed and made his way to the living room to see Roman and Virgil shoving each other as Logan argued with both of them.

"Do you really have to fight over the remote?! It's hardly a valuable object and you both have homework anyways!"

"Just because you don't know how to be a kid, Logan, doesn't mean that I don't! And being a kid is about watching Disney! Not your gloomy emo shows!"

"They are hardly even 'emo shows'! You watch the same things so what do you care?!"

Patton grabbed the remote from Roman and Virgil's hands, "Boys, stop fighting. Logan's right, you all have homework to do." He said sternly. "What would you know about homework? You're too stupid to even do 1st grade work." Virgil mumbled quietly as he trudged to his backpack. If that didn't already sting, the other two boys snickered at the comment. "Uh, if you need any help, kiddos, I'll always be right here." Patton said, trying his best to sound optimistic and keep his voice from wavering. "Why would I need help from someone that knows half of what I do?" Logan whispered, again making his brothers laugh. They all made their ways upstairs as they left Patton to crumble alone. "Guess I'm not the only halfwit here." Roman said as they left.

Patton's eyes welled with tears as he heard their doors slam shut. He turned to see a picture on the wall of their whole family. When they were still happy, just a couple of years ago, they all went on a trip to Disney World. He was surprised when even Logan was excited to see all of the characters. He noticed another picture beside it from when they had a day at the park. The boys had only been babies at the time so their faces were messy with food but their smiles were wide, as well as Patton's and Celia's. He missed when she was happy, she'd slowly been getting more sad with every year and last year was her breaking point. He noticed through all the pictures that Celia's smile got smaller and his kids got older, so they were less involved. It looked as if they were forced to take the picture rather than they wanted to take a picture.

"I remember when you were still little." He spoke softly to a picture of the three boys as toddlers. "You all looked up to me like I was your hero. Like I could do no wrong and everything I did was above and beyond." More tears poured from his eyes as he smiled sadly. "Even if you don't want me to be there for you right now. No matter how much you push me away, or hurt me, I'll always be Dad. I'll always be there for you, I promise."

Virgil looked at his phone and sighed, texting his brothers.

Virgil: i'm sorry i'm always annoying and fighting with you guys, i just miss mom

Roman: you're not annoying, we all miss mom, it's okay

Logan: we simply have to get used to the fact that she's not coming back, she said so herself

Roman looked up from his phone as he heard a sniffle. He opened his door slowly and saw both Virgil and Logan doing the same. They heard a quiet sob come from the living room and looked at each other before quietly creeping down the stairs. Their eyes widened at the sight of their dad sobbing as he looked at pictures of them. He stopped at a particular picture that was taken years ago.

"I remember when you were still little. You all looked up to me like I was your hero. Like I could do no wrong and everything I did was above and beyond. Even if you don't want me to be there for you right now. No matter how much you push me away, or hurt me, I'll always be Dad. I'll always be there for you, I promise." They looked at each other, guilt weighing heavily on all of them.

Patton wiped his face and walked back to the kitchen. He plated his food along with his sons' and laid them on the table. He sat down and sadly stared at his plate. He knew the chances of them eating together as a family were slim to none as they hadn't done that for months. But every night he still set the table for four in case one of his sons decided they didn't want to eat dinner alone.

"I-I didn't know he felt that way." Logan whispered. Virgil chewed his lip as he stared at his feet. Roman looked at his brothers and sighed. They didn't know what to do. They couldn't just go back to the way they were before because things weren't that way anymore.

Patton put his head in his hands and let a few more tears run. "I don't know what to do, Celia. You're gone and never coming back but I can't do this alone. I'm so stupid, if I just did something right, you would still be here. I'm sorry I couldn't keep you happy, I'm sorry I wasn't good enough for you and I'm sorry I'm can't be strong enough for our kids. They're right, I'm not cut out for this. They could raise themselves and still turn out better than me." He whispered to himself.

He felt arms wrap around his torso and almost thought Celia had come back. But as he raised his head from his hands, he noticed it was his oldest son, Roman, hugging him as he cried as well. Virgil and Logan joined them in the hug and cried as well.

"Shh, it's okay." He whispered. "I-I'm sorry, Dad. I didn't mean anything I said." Virgil sobbed out. "I know, it's okay." He shook his head and pulled away as Logan and Roman did, "No, it's not. I know you hear everything we say about you and I know it hurts you but I still do it anyways. I'm sorry."

"It's okay, kiddo, really. I know you guys are really upset about your mom, I am too. But she's the one that's missing out the most." Logan furrowed his eyebrows, "Ho-How?" Patton smiled and combed a hand through Logan's hair. "Because all she has is memories while she's living over in Colorado. I get to see you guys every day, I get to see you grow up, get passionate about things, be happy, I get to witness all of it."

"Hey, Dad?" Roman spoke up, Patton hummed in response. "I-I'm kinda hungry. Would you mind if we ate with you?"

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i thought this would be cute bc the sing fits so well :)) so hope you enjoyed!

8/4/19