The Melting Pot Complex

Chapter Thirty-Eight ~ Patton

{Possible trigger warnings: mention of anxiety, minor swearing

If I miss something, I apologize and please let me know}

"So how was your lunch yesterday?"

Patton looked up at his roommates. Logan rolled his eyes, his cheeks turning pink. Virgil snickered.

"I know what you were trying to do, Virgil, but we just talked about work."

Virgil blew a raspberry. "Booo-riiiing."

"What happened?" Patton asked curiously. Logan shrugged and took a seat at the kitchen island.

"Roman and I went to lunch yesterday, an attempt by Virgil to both distract me from my impending court date and to ruin my life."

"I was not trying to ruin your life." Virgil scoffed. "I was trying to help you out."

"By getting me alone with the man who reduces me to an incoherent mess?" Logan retorted. "I don't think I spoke a single sentence clearly the whole time we were out."

Virgil snickered. "And Roman didn't even notice."

"No! For someone who talks about romance as often as he does, he's wildly oblivious to clear signs of attraction." Logan complained.

"Maybe he was busy trying to suppress his own attractions." Patton suggested quietly.

Both roommates turned to look at him and Patton blinked, pretending he hadn't spoken. "What?"

"You think Roman has a crush on me?" Logan asked. He sounded so... hopeful. And he certainly looked it. Patton almost cooed at how cute it was. 

"He's been making puppy dog eyes at you all week so I'd believe it." Virgil snorted.

Patton played with his bracelet, smiling to himself. Roman had been so worried that his feelings were unrequited, but Logan felt the same way!

"Patton, what do you know?" Logan asked.

"I'm not supposed to tell..." He said slowly. "But...."

"Oh come on, Patton, you clearly want to." Virgil rolled his eyes.

Patton chewed his lip for a few moments, then slowly let his smile widen.

"Oh okay, fiiiine. Roman told me last week that he has a crush on Logan, but he doesn't want to act on it because he doesn't know what will happen."

"Told you." Virgil nudged Logan.

"This is perfect though!" Patton bounced up and down excitedly. "You both like each other, you can ask him out!"

"No."

He tilted his head curiously. "What? Why not?"

Logan sighed and dragged a hand over his face. "Because... because I don't know how. What if I mess it up and he says no because I made him nervous? Or I can't even get it out and we leave the conversation without reaching the point?"

"Well you're making it a lot more complicated than it needs to be." Patton giggled. "Just tell him you like him."

"I mean, easier said than done." Virgil shrugged.

"It really isn't." Patton shook his head.

"Okay, prove it then." The gamer stood up straight and pointed at Patton, smirking. "Call that boy you've been talking to and ask him on a date, a real date and not the friendly hangouts you've been doing."

Patton felt his face flush heavily. "I- I can't."

Virgil threw his arms out. "See? Not that easy."

"No no, I mean, I will, I want to!" Patton said quickly, shaking his head. "I just... I can't right now. He's in rehearsal, he won't answer his phone. And I'm not going to ask him out over a voicemail."

Virgil paused, then shrugged. "Alright, that's fair."

"Clearly I am missing something here." Logan leaned on the counter. "Patton, you've been seeing someone?"

"Sort of." Patton shrugged, smiling. "We've been hanging out a lot, but it's still just a friend thing right now."

"Patton's got the hots for that drummer whose band we went to listen to." Virgil snickered.

Patton threw a balled up napkin at him. "It's not like that. Not yet, anyway."

"Suuure."

The front door opened and Roman announced his entrance with a line from some musical, throwing his arms wide.

"Shut up Princey, we're gonna get noise complaints." Virgil called.

"Please, you're a gamer!"

"I'm not loud."

Roman dropped his bag on the couch. "Gamers are always loud."

"Actually, Virgil is of the group of gamers referred to as Paranoia Players." Logan commented. Patton noticed he kept his focus on what he was writing, rather than looking at Roman.

"What's a Paranoia Player?" Roman raised his eyebrows as he entered the kitchen. 

"I play mostly indie horror games and voice my anxiety as a constant stream of rambling." Virgil shrugged. "By the time something scary happens I've usually already talked about it in one way or another as my nerves run wild. Still terrifying, but less so when you sort of know it's coming."

Logan stood up and pocketed his paper. "I'm going back to my work. I've got another potential argument to work through for the court."

He walked out of the room and the other three were quiet for a minute, then Roman groaned and flopped his torso and arms out on the island.

"He's definitely avoiding me." He whined.

Patton quickly went over to him, gently petting his hair back from his face. "Oh he's not avoiding you, sweetie... he's just distracted. Wait until after the court date, I'm sure it will all work out."

Roman pouted.

"Wow, you fell hard." Virgil snorted. "Have you tried flirting with him?"

"What? No! Why the hell would I do that?" Roman shot up to stare at him. "Logan wouldn't even realize I was flirting with him."

"You can always try." Virgil rolled his eyes.

"You could!" Patton nodded quickly. "You wouldn't even have to actually flirt with him the first time!"

The other two turned to look at him.

"I mean- you could tell him you've got a crush on someone and ask if you could try a line on him first." Patton shrugged, giggling a little. "If he finds it funny, or thinks it will work, you could try another one on him for real later."

Roman perked up almost immediately. "Patton, that's a brilliant idea!"

"Really?" Patton beamed, puffing his chest up with pride.

"Yes! Thank you thank you thank you!" His roommate pulled him into a hug.

"Bye loser." Virgil called as Roman ran down the hallway to his room.

"Be nice." Patton reprimanded.

"I just wanted to see how distracted he was... you know, they didn't even notice yesterday when I told them I did a face reveal this week."

Patton giggled, clapping his hands together. "They're so in love and they don't even realize each others' feelings. It's like a movie!"

"Gross." Virgil wrinkled his nose up.

{Hey look, Virgil has found a new occupation: keeping Patton from becoming COMPLETELY involved in Roman and Logan}