“Look, Specs, all I’m saying is something is definitely up with him. Cooking us breakfast but not eating with us? Disappearing as soon as we so much as glance in his direction? Has he even let you near him for the past few days without making some excuse as to why he has to go somewhere else?” Roman paced in the living room while Logan reviewed his notes on the couch.
“Roman, it’s been exactly two days, five hours, forty-seven minutes, and twenty seconds since Patton began showing this behavior. It’s not exactly a cause for concern for him to take some time for himself,” Logan replied, not bothering to look up at the Prince.
Roman looked indignant. “Oh okay, Dr. Jerkyll and Mr. Blind, then how do you explain those weird marks all over his body?”
Immediately, Logan perked up, a vague look of concern flashing across his face. “Marks? Elaborate.”
“I saw them on his hands yesterday. These little … jagged lines. And this morning, his onesie hood slipped off for a moment and I saw them on his neck, too,” Roman replied.
Logan tapped his chin and looked down. “It’s interesting you brought that up. Several days ago, I also noticed something on his neck, but at the time, he said it was chocolate. Could that have been a falsehood meant to cover up some sort of injury?”
“I don’t know, but it’s our only lead for now. Why wouldn’t he tell us if something was wrong?”
“Perhaps it would be best to seek that answer from Patton.”
“Yes! The best way to face any problem is to face it head on! Temporary truce?”
Logan nodded. “Temporary truce.”
The two immediately began planning the ways they might go about it, from simply asking Patton point-blank about what was going on to an elaborate Roadrunner scene that ended with him admitting his troubles in a gazebo in Prague. In the end, the two compromised on a plan that was guaranteed to work; Roman had come up with the falsehoods while Logan constructed the tools of their treachery. There was no way animal crackers and a giant Chinese finger trap would fail them now.
On day six of their truce, Roman and Logan finally put their scheme into motion. It was almost painful for them to hear Patton struggling to free himself. It took him the greater part of ten minutes before he finally settled down in defeat, softly whimpering.
---
At times like this, Patton wondered where he went wrong.
Here he was, groveling on the floor, his wrist trapped in some strange icing machine on the counter. Maybe this was divine retribution for the past few days or for not telling the others what was going on? He knew they were beginning to suspect something. At least, he felt like they were. He had been in full view of the Prince when his favorite onesie’s hood slid down a few mornings ago. He was fully aware of Logan’s eyes lingering on him for longer than normal. The hushed tones they used when they thought he was out of listening range hadn’t escaped his keen ears. Even Anxiety had popped up in his room yesterday wondering where he had been.
“Not that I was worried or anything, but … are you mad at me?” Anxiety asked, fiddling with his hoodie strings like he always did. “It’s just, you haven’t really come by these past few days and—”
YOU ARE READING
Shatter Me
FanfictionAll of the sides have secrets, but none have one as lethal as the one Patton is keeping. Can he keep it under wraps long enough to resolve it, or will the trauma of it all spell his undoing?
