Bad Rumors

26

Roman stood there watching as Virgil walked off down the hall, his eyes trained the smaller man's frame. It wasn't that he was staring anywhere in particular, no, his mind wasn't thinking about that. He just couldn't take his eyes off his love. His heart sang the second they were together and watching him leave seemed like all he could do. All he could do... since they'd never get the chance at anything more. Roman shook his head as he let the door close before stopping short at the looks the twins were giving him.

"W-What?" Adam smiled softly as he glanced from the door to the prince with this knowing gaze. He was Empathy after all. He was just as intuned with the emotions around him as Patton was, meaning he could feel all the emotions that Roman was being tormented with. Alex sighed softly as he smiled sheepishly as sentivity he could feel how upset Roman was about it all. The prince was on the verge of tears, even if it wasn't a physical reaction yet. Inside... Roman was crying. "W-Why are you l-lo-look... Why are you staring a-at me?"

"Did something happen between you and Anx?" Adam spoke softly seeing the way Roman's eyes seemed to fade out at the question before the prince just shook his head and smiled.

"No, of course not. V-Virgil and I are perfectly f-fine. What ev-ver gave you that-t idea?" Adam gave the prince a pointed glare making the older actually falter a bit at the seriousness in the young boy. Yep... There was no doubt about it. Adam was definately a prince. The both of them, seeing as how Alex was watching Roman with this soft and caring look in his eyes. Roman let out a soft breath as he smiled a tide wider. "Nothing happened between Virgil and I. I swear it. Everything's ok between us. It's..." Roman's eyes dazed out with a soft spark that made Adams eyes go wide. "It's perfect."

"You..." Roman laughed at himself as he sat down on the bed all while Adam jumped about giddily. "You like him. You like like him. Oh my goodness! You like Anxiety!"

"W-w-what?" Adam giggled as Alex looked between the two with confusion. "A-Adam, what?"

"Roman like likes Virgil." Alex's eyes shot wide as the twins both looked over to see Roman a blushing mess on his bed. 

"I-Is it that... that... uh... Do I... Am I th-that o-o-obvious?" Alex shook his head but Adam was nodding frantically with this bright beaming smile. "O-Oh... great. uh... Well, shi... uh shoot." Roman grumbled lightly before falling back with a laugh. "I am so dead."

"D-Don't worry." Alex mumbled softly as he crawled onto the bed making Roman frown slightly in concern over the poor boys hand. "A-Anx d-d-doesn't seem to kn-now."

"Yeah, I'm not exactly sure if you know this or not but..." Adam laughed as he tackled the prince making Roman grunt a bit at the impact. "Anx is a bit oblivious with all that. It's a part of the whole 'Anxiety' thing." Roman nodded as Adam scrambled off to sit on the other side of the prince across from his brother.

"Of I-I've n-noticed." Roman sighed as he just laid there staring up at his ceeling. "A-And I don't mind it a-any. I-I'd rather it not get a-awkward."

"Ro?" Adam fidged slightly as Roman quirked a brow in question. "Can you maybe... Tell us?"

"Tell you? Tell you w-what?" Adam smiled as he looked back towards the door making Roman's eyes go wide. "Oh. You want to know more about my crush?" Adam nodded as Roman looked over to see Alex doing the same and he smiled. "Well ok then. Yeah... I guess I-I can t-tell you about it... but you c-can't t-tell Virgil."

Virgil quickly made his way to the kitchen only to freeze on the spot seeing Patton picking up all the glass with this serious look in his eyes. 

"Oh shit..." Patton's eyes darted up making Virgil flinch slightly before the younger jumped down to help like he had said that he would. "I'm sorry, Pat. I came to pick it up as soon as I could. You didn't have to..."

"Did you break it?" Virgil flinched again as he picked up the last big piece and Patton went to get the broom. "It's not safe to leave glass on the floor, Virgil. What if the boys had..."

"Patton, It wasn't me." Patton frowned as he paused in his sweeping to give Virgil a sad yet confused look. "Alex broke it on accident trying to help Adam. The twins came to get me after Alex had hurt himself trying to pick it up himself."

"HE WHAT?!"

"Don't worry." Virgil held his hands up to try and calm the father. "I already checked the cut out and he's ok. There both with Roman now and you know the Prince wont let anything worse happen. I just uh... I came to pick it up because they had come to me for help." Patton slowly dropped the last of the glass into the garbage.

"They came to you..." Patton's eyes softened as he put the broom back and frowned more. "Why didn't they come to me? I'm... I'm their dad or... at least I hope they'll eventually see me as such. I know it's not an easy thing to get to that kind of relationship but... I would hope they'd trust me enough..."

"Patton, they're scared." Virgil watched as Patton froze up blinking slightly at the suddenness of the youngers statement. "They're scared. You have to remember the three of us are from the dark side, where the rumors of you three are... well they aren't kind. Plus... they've seen how you've gone about parenting me. I've tried to help rest their worries but it's not easy. They're scared of how you'd react. Patton... they don't ever want to see you mad." Patton's eyes seemed to narrow slightly in thought as Virgil's voice actually got quietier. "When you get mad... you... you can get pretty scary."

"I don't mean to be, Kiddo. I'm only trying to teach you all..." Patton stopped seeing how Virgil was hugging himself obviously withdrawing into to himself rather than meeting Pattons gaze. "Are you... Are you scared of me?"

"It's not that I'm 'scared' of any of you. I just... You're very forcefull. You're tactics for teaching morals are strick and... and tad overboard. I know you care. I know you mean well but Patton... You've locked me in my room without dinner for swearing before. I'm thankful that you've started to be a bit... leanient about my color language but you STILL tend to take thing a bit to far. The boys are seeing that." Virgil took a hesitant step back as he shook his head. "They see how you are with me and they don't ever want that. So... They... They're too scared to upset you Pat. They care about us all but... they feel safest with me and Ro... mostly me because they know I won't snap. I won't lock them away or yell at them. I won't belittle them or make them feel stupid. They... just don't trust that you wouldn't yell at them over it when it was accident."

"I understand. Thank you for caring for them, Virgil." Virgil nodded although hesitantly as Patton sighed. "I uh... I have something I have to do... so if you can excuse me?"

"Yeah, no problem, Pat. I have to make lunch anyway."