Virgil paced around his room and checked his pockets to make sure he wasn't forgetting anything. He reached over and picked up a plain black backpack off of the floor and slung it over his shoulder. With one last check, he turned and opened his bedroom door before freezing.

"Virgil!" Patton stopped and smiled, though it seemed a bit forced. "Oh, are you headed out somewhere?"

Virgil nodded and closed his bedroom door behind him. "I have work. You okay, Pat? Need to talk?"

"Oh, no! Don't want to hold you up! Can't be late for work!" Patton still seemed a bit tense as he backed away. "It wasn't important, don't worry!"

Virgil took a step forward and reached out, grabbing Patton's arm lightly as he tried to retreat further. "Pat, what's bothering you?" Patton never dropped his smile as he shook his head. "You're my best friend, I have all the time in the world for you, okay?" Patton's smile finally started to fall as Virgil spoke softly. "I can get to work on time just fine, tell me what's wrong?"

"It really isn't a big deal." Patton shrugged. Virgil let go of his arm and motioned toward the couch. With a nod, they headed over and Patton fell into the cushions as he let out a sigh. "I wanted to go meet up with Logan's aunt that runs that bakery. She invited me today and I was super excited but I just kind of got nervous. What if she doesn't like me or what if I upset her? What if it doesn't go well?"

"Patton." Virgil held up a hand and cut the other off. "I'm an expert at playing the 'what if' game, but I have complete faith that you'll be fine. Everyone loves you, you're such a nice person and if she doesn't then you'll just have to show her." Patton bit his lip but nodded, shoulders still tense. "Want me to go with you?"

Patton shot his head up and waved his hands around. "No, no! You have work!"

Virgil raised a brow and smiled over at his best friend. "Look, I don't have to miss work. I may not be as good as you are at being in multiple places at once but that doesn't mean I can't do it at all." Virgil stood up from the couch and gripped onto one of the straps to his backpack. "Wait a few minutes for me to text you then tell me exactly where you're standing in the apartment, okay?" Virgil gave a small salute before heading to the front door. "Just trust me on this."

The door clicked closed and Patton remained confused as he sat on the couch. He dug out his phone from his pocket and began to fidget with it as he stared at the front door. Around maybe ten minutes later, he jumped as his phone went off, pulling him from his thoughts.

Tapping away to unlock it, a text from Virgil with a single black heart emoji staring back at him. Patton stood up and began pacing before he stopped in the middle of the living room.

"I... am... standing... in the... living room..." Patton spoke as he typed. He sent the text before looking up from his phone. "He said to describe, is that enough?" Patton typed away once more to describe what he was seeing, sending a single sentence at a time. A hand shot out and covered his phone as Patton let out a squeak of surprise. He glanced up and saw Virgil standing there, hair a bigger mess than minutes before and looking more worn out. "V-virge!"

"That was more than enough, Pat." Virgil let go of the phone and headed for his room, his backpack stuffed more than when he had left. "Let me drop this off and we can go."

Patton smiled and sent Virgil a quick apology along with a heart before putting his phone away. "How was work? That's where you just came from, right? You just traveled back to this time, am I right?"

Virgil put the backpack down onto his bed and walked out. "Yeah, work was fine. It's been tough since the move."

"Aww, well we're all settled in here so hopefully it'll get better soon!" Virgil smiled and shook his head. "Are you sure you're up to going? You look tired."

"You're not backing out of this. Besides, you owe me one thing from this bakery." Virgil headed to the front door like Patton had just watched him do and smiled.

"How did I get such a great best friend?"

Virgil snorted out a short laugh before turning and holding the door open. "Just lucky, I guess."

Virgil followed and listened as Patton rambled on nervously about a million different topics, jumping from one to another with no warning. They boarded the city bus easily as Patton double and triple checked the right path that he had taken with Logan before.

It wasn't until after they gotten off the bus that Virgil stopped walking and was standing on the sidewalk that Patton froze.

"Is something wrong, Virge?"

Virgil smirked and jabbed a thumb to the building next to him that Patton had walked by. "Isn't this the place?"

Patton looked back to the large glass windows that showed the inside of the bakery that was bustling with life. "Oh. Yeah, it is! Sorry!"

Virgil smirked over at Patton before heading toward the door and holding it open for the two of them. A wind rushed passed as the door opened and they were hit with a sweet smell of sugar and pastries. Patton walked through as Virgil glanced around and took in everything for the first time. Patton stuck by Virgil as they slowly made their way up to the counter where an older man with balding gray hair stood, talking with a customer. Virgil nudged Patton forward and kept a hand on his back as they made their way to the counter. Patton straightened out his shirt and fussed with his hair before Virgil grabbed a hold of his wrist. "Pat, you're fine. Just relax, I'm right here."

The customer in front of them moved and Virgil walked up to the counter, keeping his hand on Patton's back for comfort.

"Well, hello there!" The man grinned at the two. "A pair of new faces! What can I get you, lads?"

"I, well, was wondering if, um," Patton looked over at Virgil who simply nodded at him to continue. "Is Auntie Em here?"

The man frowned and sighed before turning toward the back door. "Emilia!" He walked over and opened it up, shouting into the back room. "Emilia, my heart! Why are two young men here to talk to you?" An older woman with short curly hair appeared, wiping her hands on her apron. "You trying to make me jealous again, dear? Is this because I wouldn't let you buy that new mixer?"

"Oh hush now, Murph. I don't know what you're talking about, you're the sweetest thing in this bakery." She leaned forward and gave a quick peck to the man before turning and walking over to the counter. "Now, are you two young boys looking for me?"

"Yes, ma'am," Virgil spoke up. "Patton here wanted to come and meet you."

"Patton?" The woman gasped and smiled as she leaned over the counter. "Oh, goodness! You're Patton, hmm?"

Before either could answer, Auntie Em was making her way around the counter and wrapping both of them in her arms. "Oh what an absolute pleasure! My little Logan has told me all about you!" he pulled back and smiled at them. "So, who would you be, dear?"

Virgil shook off the sudden surprise contact and smiled up at the woman. "I'm Virgil. I'm their roommate."

"He's my best friend!" Patton chimed in and hooked their arms together. "I told him I'd buy him something if he came with!"

"Oh dear, you aren't buying a single thing! Pick something out, on me. Let me finish up in the back and we can sit and talk." She turned back to the counter and smiled at the man. "Murphey, these are Logan's friends! Let them pick anything out while I straighten up in the back, okay love?"

"Of course, dear." The older man, Murphey, smiled at the two boys. "I've been saying 'yes, dear' for thirty years, you know why?"

"Because you love her?" Patton suggested while Virgil rolled his eyes.

"I was told to smile and agree with everything Em said, but that woman has a fire in her that needs taming. Good thing I was a fireman back in my day." The man chuckled as he made his way back to the counter. "You heard the woman, pick anything out."

Patton leaned down to look inside the glass cases. "If it's anything like that tart, it'll be delicious!"

"Logan's weakness, we were always able to get that boy to work with Em's special raspberry tart." Murphey chuckled to himself. "My nephew's quite the hard worker once he started taking things seriously."

"Ohh, that chocolate cake looks so good!" Patton pointed to the case. "It's calling to me, I can hear it!" Patton looked up at Virgil who kept his distance as he looked. "What about you? See anything you like?"

Virgil glanced away and shifted the weight on his feet. "I mean, I don't want to impose, I'm willing to pay."

"Nonsense, boy!" Murphey leaned over the counter and looked over at Virgil. "We offer because we want to and we can! A single slice of cake isn't going to break the bank and ruin us. Take the offer, I insist."

Virgil smirked a bit and shrugged. "The cheesecake looks good."

"Just tell me which one and I'll get you both set."

Patton and Virgil were sent to a table to the side away from a lot of the customers with their desserts while they waited for Logan's aunt to come out and pay a visit. When the back doors opened, they hadn't expected her to walk out with a big binder in her hands as she made her way over to their table.

"I hope you boys didn't wait too long for me!" She placed the binder down and took a seat herself. "I just had to go grab this real quick! Loganberry would never let me show you if he were here!"

Virgil and Patton leaned in closer as she opened it up revealing a plethora of old photos. She flipped through and jumped to about halfway and stopped, showing photos of strangers as she picked the page she wanted. "Are you sure it's okay to be showing us this? I don't want Logan to be mad." Patton leaned back, poking at the crumbs on his plate with a fork.

Auntie Em chuckled and finally stopped on a page. "He'd just be embarrassed, I think he'd appreciate me doing this while he wasn't here." She flipped the book around for them to see. "Look! His first day working here at the bakery! He looked so upset once he realized it wasn't a... a piece of cake!"

Virgil laughed and covered his mouth, surprised at the sudden joke while Patton giggled and glanced down at the book. "Which one is..." Furrowing his brow, Patton pointed to a photo. "Wait, that's Logan?!"

"Holy shi--spit!" Virgil caught himself before letting it slip, looking at Em quickly before looking back at the photo.

"But, Logan's all... Prim and proper!" Patton glanced at each photo, showing an angry teenage Logan covered in flour in most, glaring down at whatever he was working on. "Not... this!"

"He had an emo punk phase!" Virgil leaned back and started to laugh. "He even wore eyeliner!"

The photos showed Logan alright, but his hair was longer and shaved underneath. The shirt you could see peeking out was a ripped and torn band tee that you couldn't make out as it contrasted with the happy blue apron tied over it. He did have eyeliner on underneath his eyes smudged out, but not quite to the point Virgil preferred. He screamed 'scene emo punk' as he glared down at a bowl he had been working on.

Auntie Em flipped the pages, showing the irritated look on Logan's face slowly disappear and a smile replace it with each photo. Eventually, the shirt was replaced and he started wearing a tie in some of the photos. Each was either him working or with his aunt and uncle.

"That boy was a complete mess when he came to live with us but I'm so proud of him now, looking at how far he has come." Em smiled and closed the book as she looked up at the two. "He's much happier now that he's found you all. I was rather skeptical when he said he found someone just like him in that cafe but I suppose it worked for the best."

"Oh, right!" Patton turned and looked at Virgil. "He said he was at a cafe when he found one of us on accident."

"He never could completely kick his habit of imposing in on people." She tapped her head with her finger lightly, indicating what she truly meant. "He swore to me once the apartment was set he would never do it again."

Virgil leaned forward a bit as he whispered. "He found you in that cafe, right Patton?"

Patton looked on clueless before gasping in shock. "Oh gosh, you're right! I think I know that place, I went there all the time for lunch before I moved!"

Auntie Em chuckled as she watched the two boys prattle on in excitement. "Well, I would love to hear how my Lo-Lo has been doing since he moved out."

"Lo-Lo," Patton whispered to himself before giggling. "Oh gosh, that is so cute!"

"He's your Lo-Lo now, sugar. I just want to hear what you have been up to this past year!" Virgil and Patton shared a quick worried glance before the woman sighed. "Fine, I'll let you skip out on the good stuff this time, but please tell me this." She turned to Virgil and smiled. "You get together with that Roman boy yet? Logan stopped talking about you two and how you needed to just get together already after he and Patton here finally came to their senses!"

Virgil groaned as he pulled up the hood of his sweater, pulling it down over his face and sinking into his chair. "Logan you backstabber!" He muttered as he stopped sliding down. "I'll get you back for this..."

---

Patton was practically dancing in the streets as they made their way back to the apartment. Virgil could only smile as Patton twirled around and sang. "Oh, Virgil, that went so well! And to think I was worried!"

Virgil huffed out a quick laugh before responding. "I told you it would be fine! You were worrying over nothing."

"Nuh uh!" Patton stopped and smiled at Virgil. "...okay so maybe I was! It worked out okay! Oh gosh, I should call my mom and tell her!" He reached into his pocket and pulled out his cell phone. "Maybe Logan and I can go over there and he can meet my parents!" Patton froze and looked down at his phone, his smile finally falling. "Hey, Virge." Patton waited a moment before making sure Virgil was listening. "Do you think I'm rushing this a bit? We only just started dating."

"I can't answer that for you." Virgil continued past Patton down the street. "Not my relationship, you're gonna have to talk to Logan about how he feels." He looked over at Patton as the other raced to catch up with him. "Honestly, he's been pining after you for months so I think he'll be fine for right now as long as you two find a pace to go at."

"Yeah, but he wasn't bad as you and Roman were, ignoring each other's feelings completely." Patton shoved Virgil playfully with his shoulder. "I just didn't think Logan would be the one to like me! Honestly, if I was going to end up liking anyone in the apartment, he was my last guess!"

Virgil raised an eyebrow at that. "Oh? So what, you already had an idea of who your roommate love interest was going to be?"

"I thought it would be Roman honestly." Virgil stuttered confused as he gaped at Patton. "Yeah, I know! We just clicked when we moved in but the feelings were never there. Then he got a crush on you and that went out the window."

"You are still a mystery to me, Pat. I don't think I'll ever figure you out." Patton smiled and shrugged as they made their way into their apartment. "Well, if you'll excuse me, I think I'll travel back to when I left to even out the timestream more and go to bed. Work is gonna be killer in the morning." Virgil yawned and walked into his room. "I should have never taken that promotion."

Patton waved and stopped once his door clicked shut. "Wait, what promotion?" He walked over to the door and knocked. "Virgil?" He waited a moment before opening it, finding it completely empty. With a huff, Patton shut the door and headed for his room.

Once inside, he pulled out his phone once more before quickly dialing it and holding it up to his ear. It rang a few times before someone picked up.

"Hello?"

"Hey, mom." Patton bit his lip as he smiled nervously. "It's just me!"

"Oh, Patton sweetie!" He heard shuffling from the other side as his mother moved around. She could never sit still while on the phone. "How are you? You better have finished unpacking! Don't make me come over there!"

Patton laughed and relaxed a bit as she spoke. "No, we're all done! I made sure of that. I just wanted to call and talk to you a bit! It's been a while."

"Oh, just making sure you check in on your mom? You're such a good boy. How's that boyfriend of yours?"

"We're fine, mom. He took me on a date and made it official, just like you told him."

"Well, at least you're dating a smart boy who knows what's good for him. He ever treats you wrong you tell me, okay?"

Patton paced back and forth through his room. "That's fine, mom. I think I can handle one boy, it wouldn't be the first time."

"I know you can, but I'm your mother, I'm meant to worry." The line went quiet for a bit and Patton felt the anxious ball in his chest start to grow. "You know, I was thinking about you two, actually."

"No." Patton bit out, a bit more harsh than he was planning. He took a moment to take a deep breath and calm himself. "No, you're not doing this to me. I know exactly what you're going to say. You're going to mention my powers being a problem for the future."

"I just worry! He doesn't know and he will have to find out eventually! How do we know he won't tell? What if it doesn't work out and they take you away from me?"

"Mom!" Patton stomped his foot as he stopped his pacing. "He won't tell, he never will no matter what happens. You can't keep doing this to me! First, you ask me to pretend I don't have powers then you turn around and accuse me of lying if I keep them secret!"

"I do it because I love you! What if he-"

"He already knows! He's not going to tell!" The line went silent and Patton sighed deeply, turning and sitting on his bed. "He knows, he has for a while. He won't tell, I promise."

"You've been doing it again." He could hear the fire in his mother's voice as she accused him, making him flinch in response. "You've been making those copies again!"

Patton chose not to answer as he sat on his bed, afraid of what he might say if he opened his mouth again. The line remained quiet and he heard his mother sigh on the other end. "Mom, listen to me for once. It's who I am, okay? I can multiply myself. Just like that hero running around town that can shoot electricity! He's fine and he's out in the open! I can handle one or two people knowing, okay?"

When his mother didn't immediately answer, he knew it was another battle lost with her. Years of trying to convince her he was normal, his normal was just different than everyone else was a waste of time. She might never understand and accept that part of him and he was still willing to try.

"We will talk about this another day." He shook his head, knowing his mother would do everything in her power to avoid that conversation for as long as she lived. "Goodbye Patton. Love you."

"Goodbye." He ended the call as quickly as he could and tossed the phone onto his bed. He sat there a while before falling back, stretching his arms out to the side as he fell. He stared at his ceiling and thought about how his day went. It was so up and down with good and bad emotions, his heart racing for different reasons, and it left him exhausted. The day wasn't over yet and he was determined to end it on a high note.

With a sudden rush of determination, Patton pushed himself off of his bed and into the kitchen. He always cooked and cleaned to distract his thoughts from spiraling and that's exactly what he planned to do until he could talk to Logan. Maybe not that night, but soon, he promised himself. He was determined to make this relationship work.

---

Margaret loved her son with all her heart. She was open and accepting of him when she realized he liked more than just girls, even if she didn't quite understand what he was trying to tell her about pansexuality. She didn't need to know as long as she loved and accepted him.

What she didn't get was his need to use these abilities he had. If he just kept them hidden and forgot they existed, he could live in peace without worry. He didn't even seem worried he had them at all! If people knew what he could do, she was so worried about what could happen to him. She wasn't going to let her son become another missing person. He wasn't going to just be a number added to some random statistic. She was going to protect him, even if that's not how he saw it. Sure, if Logan had worked out and kept quiet then she had no issue of him knowing their shared secret but how could she know he would? He seemed like a nice enough boy but mama bear was out and she was going to protect her bear cub.

If there was one thing having a child like Patton taught her it was to keep an eye out for certain things. Once this Princey came out as a hero of the streets, everyone took a liking to him. Well, not everyone, but most people did. He went through a million different names before his official fan club dropped the name 'Prince Charging'-which let's be honest was never going to stick- to simply Princey. They said they got the name from a 'source close to the hero' and stuck with it, though revealed nothing further.

It didn't take much for Maggie to find out where and when these meetings were and even attended a few. It was a surprise to hear a group of people praise this random man with weird powers but she knew, they had to be the minority. People didn't simply accept these strange powers or she wouldn't need to protect her son.

That's how she found them, honestly. A group of people she could relate to. They showed up to the fanclub meeting and told them all what she always knew to be true.

Which is why she had to protect her son. Because not everyone would understand. That's why she listened to these people at these meetings. That's why she spends her Wednesday nights hanging on the edge of her seat along with a dozen others. That's why, as they spoke, her hands shook with fear for her only child.

"He is not a hero, he is a vigilante." The leader spoke as he paced back and forth in the front of the room. "He is a danger to all of us. He believes to be above the law simply because he has a power over all of us, but we aren't going to let that happen!"

That's why she was going to do everything in her power to protect Patton from people finding out the truth.

"This 'Princey' must be stopped at all costs."