Compliance of an Airhead

During another discussion within the group, things turned into an emotional rollercoaster, and some of the outcomes included Patton adding his input, only to be dismissed as someone who was more of an airhead, and Virgil standing up for Patton, only to be outnumbered and forced to move on. Things were eventually resolved, but Virgil usually waited until everyone else was a significant enough distance away to confront Patton.

"You okay, Pop Star?" Virgil asked, while rubbing his best friend's back.

"Huh? Oh, yea, why wouldn't I be? It's like that chart: those with the biggest hearts have the smallest brains, right?" he responded in a tone that was simultaneously jolly and bitter.

As Virgil was slowly giving Patton a hug from the side, Patton tried to claim that it wouldn't be necessary, yet the anxious side could see right through him.

"I can't believe I would say this about someone I consider a hero, but he couldn't identify an airhead if they kissed him on the teeth," he muttered while straining himself in an attempt to hold back tears.

Soon, Patton lifted his head and looked in Virgil's direction.

"What's on your mind?" he asked as he slowly let go of Patton.

"I'm going to do something stupid tomorrow. Promise me you'll make sure Logan notices without informing him of my emotions?" The paternal side warned and nearly begged.

"I won't be perfect, but I'll do my best," Virgil claimed with uncertainty for Patton's intentions.

The next morning, everyone else was in the kitchen getting breakfast, and they were all shocked to see Patton with mismatched socks, his shirt backwards, his glasses upside down, and with a dorky smile on his face.

"Patton? Did you meet up with Jack Daniels before bed or something? You don't look that well," Roman asked with concern.

"Who's he? He sounds dreamy."

Patton pulled the collar of his shirt outward to get a better look at the tag in the "back" and said "Doesn't he sound dreamy?" to the tag. Patton went to the kitchen counter and pulled out a jar of jam and two slices of bread. He poured the jam on an empty seat and proceeded to eat the bread.

"Umm, Patton, are you okay?" Virgil asked.

"Why? Does raw toast cause salmon vanilla? And another thing, the fruit glue is supposed to keep me from falling off. Aren't you... proud of me?"

As Patton was eating the bread, Virgil thought back on what Patton made him promise.

Once Patton left with the chair stuck to his butt and the jam dripping, he turned to Logan and said, "Patton's usually smarter than this. This is a first for me."

Logan thought for a moment before brushing off the remark.

"Patton's no stranger to pranks. Fatigue must also be messing with his head. I'm sure he'll come to his senses soon," Logan excused.

Patton didn't change his outfit, and he didn't break character. He spent the day failing simple tasks, mispronouncing words, interrupting movies they watched to ask questions that he already knew the answers to, so on and so forth. Roman could tell what was going on and felt horrible, but Logan kept his observations and feelings to himself. Whenever Virgil would remind him the behavior wasn't normal for Patton, it felt like the emo was taunting him; every reminder that Patton didn't usually do the actions he was doing was like Logan being poked with a knife and told, "You were wrong to call Patton an airhead." He even found himself missing the cleverness in the puns Patton provided, something he never accepted that he enjoyed until he no longer experienced them.

The evening came and Patton was eating soup with the spoon upside down. He seemed confused on why the soup wasn't staying on the spoon for him to eat.

Before Virgil could open his mouth to talk to Logan, the teacher pulled his hair and shouted, "FINE! I WAS WRONG! I GET IT!" before marching over to Patton, and pulling him up so they were both standing.

"Liger? What's wrong?" Patton asked.

"It's not Liger, it's Logan! I get it, you provide more than enough contributions to us and Thomas! We say rough remarks related to you, because we thought you saw them as jokes, and we didn't know we were taking you for granted and hurting you! Well, except for Virgil. I was wrong about you being an airhead, and you have your own unique ways of showing your intelligence that I didn't know I grew fond of until you never showed them anymore! You're smart, you're important, and you're not just comic relief!"

Patton stared at the worn-out egghead and hugged him for a long while.

He told him, "That's all I wanted you to say," before pulling away.

He snapped his fingers to fix his clothes and undo his mishaps. Virgil ate across from Patton, who had his spoon right-side up.

Roman looked at the dynamic duo chatting before glancing at Logan.

"Did it feel good to admit you're wrong?" Roman asked.

Logan washed his mouth with soap as he headed for his room.