None of the artwork is mine but above is how I imagine eighth grader Patton to look.

TW - One swear word at the beginning and mention of mental health issues from a third person perspective (so no actual negative thoughts - just mention of a character actually having them)

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"Wake up sleepyhead." A kiss came on Logan's forehead as a beeping alarm sounded next to his ear. Logan's eyes opened to his husband dressed in his barista uniform, brushing his purple hair away from his face with a smirk on his face. Virgil must have had an early shift at the coffee shop. Logan stretched and got showered and dressed, once he got in his suit Virgil was making Logan's lunch for him.

"You don't have to do that every morning." Logan yawned, doing his tie as he went downstairs. "I'm not a kid." Virgil smirked and kissed his cheek, sipping his coffee slightly to wake up.

"I wouldn't mind making only you lunches every day until we die." Virgil whispered, making sure his bag was packed. After his barista job Virgil had a meeting with his editorial company for a few hours that would likely last until the early evening. "Don't work too hard darling."

"Can't promise that." Logan laughed as he turned on his laptop. He always liked to check his emails in the morning before going to the school so that he knew of any early morning meetings to attend. Once he saw his most recent email he let out a long sigh – today was going to be a long day. Virgil looked over attentively after the sigh and also looked at the email. "I'm covering eighth grade maths period one... Fucking middle schoolers." Virgil laughed and wished Logan luck before going to work. Logan let out a large sigh again before grabbing a short breakfast and getting to work as well.

*****

"Today is Tuesday, December the first." Logan said, writing the date on the board and underlining it. "Make sure the date is written so I know how much work you did." Logan had already written and said the date twice, but hardly any of the kids had their books open at that point let alone paying attention.

"It's almost Christmas!" A random child screamed, causing laughter to erupt across the classroom. Logan took a deep breath. This hour must have seemed a little like a field trip for them, as the middle school was next to the high school so rarely a few middle school classes were taught in high school classrooms by high school teachers if their original teacher wasn't present. There was a reason Logan wasn't a middle school teacher.

"Yes it is, and Christmas will come quicker if you do these negatives and positives worksheets." Logan handed out all the worksheets, deciding getting these children to write the date was a lost cause. Once the work was handed out a few more started their work, but Logan's main priority had to be behaviour control. Unfortunately though, Logan was regarded as a good teacher so wasn't given some easy independent work to hand out – it was quite complex for their age group working on negative multiplication and division. He knew some kids needed help amongst this mess.

"Mr Crofters Sir!" A hand appeared in the crowd from a small kid in the second row. Logan immediately paused while his brain registered the kid. Logan had never taught this specific maths class before, and the middle school was quite large so seeing the same child more than once before they entered high school was a rarity – but this child looked similar. Curly blond hair, large glasses, endless enthusiasm, he seemed recognisable. "How do you do question four?"

Logan nodded and worked through question four on the board. The boy enthusiastically thanked him once he understood and continued his work. Meanwhile Logan checked the register to find this mysterious kid's name: Patton Ray-Feliz. He recognised the surname from somewhere but he had so many students he couldn't remember who – and it could have even been a student who graduated from the school or moved. "Patton – who's your sibling?" Logan said to he thought only himself. Patton raised his head and chirped up.

"My brothers are Roman and Remus, they're sophomores and you teach them Sir." Patton chirped before continuing his work. Logan raised an eyebrow. Roman and Remus had never mentioned having another brother. Usually things like that were common knowledge, the students would either talk about the sibling calling them a 'bother' or a 'cutie' depending on their relationship with them, sometimes telling Logan about the sibling directly if they were in the high school or near the high school age so that there was no escape from the embarrassment of being compared to said sibling. If they didn't mention it there was bound to be a chance to hear about the sibling due to missing work if the sibling was younger or help with work if the sibling was older. Logan felt sorry for both Patton and their parents, dealing with the two troublemaker twins – although endearing they were a handful – and that made Logan think they were the only offspring in their family.

Luckily later in the day Logan taught Roman and Remus' class. It was last period so even less people had the energy to misbehave. He completed the register, every child was present – not many students skipped Mr Crofters' class even if it was boring. Only one student was absent, Remus Ray-Feliz. Logan taught the class like normal, even though it was quieter and less chaotic, but once it reached the end of the period Logan persuaded Roman to stay behind.

"Roman, where's your brother?"

"Oh my brother got sick at school." Roman said matter-of-factly. Logan furrowed his eyebrows and examined the registers. Logan had access to both Patton's, as he was his student for the day, and Remus' attendance. Patton was in school all day, Remus left after lesson two. There was no nurse's absence note saying Remus was unwell. "Not Remus, my other brother. Remus offered to take care of him because I had rehearsal at lunch."

"I had your brother, Patton, today and he's been in school all day." Logan mumbled. The one thing he didn't appreciate from his students was lies. He believed that respect was two-way, and he respected all his students unless they lied in order to skip classes without a valid reason.

"I have three brothers Sir." Roman raised an eyebrow. "My smallest brother's in kindergarten. He's called Emile." Logan nodded slowly. So there were four Ray-Felizes: Roman, Remus, Patton and Emile. And Logan had not heard of the other two until today.

"Why don't you seem to mention them in school? Patton seems like a good student." Logan chuckled slightly to move on the conversation. Roman only shrugged.

"There's no real need to mention them. Patton's more similar to me than Remus and I honestly don't want teachers to think he'll act like Remus, and Emile's only five so by the time he's in high school you'll probably be retired." Roman gave a small smile as I made exaggerated offense noises.

"I'll let you know I'm only twenty-six. I'll probably see all you Ray-Felizes through high school before I even think of having my own kids." Roman laughed, finally packing away his books and walking towards the door. Logan knew he couldn't keep the children in his classroom for longer than a few minutes unless they had detention because of the school buses.

"See you later Sir." Roman smiled as he approached the doorframe. Logan nodded and turned towards his laptop to mark a few exam papers before heading home.

"Ah – Roman?" Logan's voice kicked into the natural teacher reaction to a student leaving school due to a family issue. Roman turned and leaned on the doorframe. "Maybe make sure a parent can take Emile home and care for him next time? I wouldn't want you or your brother's 'big brother instinct' to cause you to drop a grade." Roman silently nodded and left quickly without giving a response, probably a few minutes late for the school bus.

*****

As Logan drove home his memories replayed his first lesson teaching Roman and Remus. He taught them last year as freshmen as well as this year as sophomores, and they were just as memorable. He always loved freshmen students, middle school maths was usually hard for them so when Logan could increase their confidence and cause their eyes to gleam at a correct worksheet he always left that lesson with a smile.

The gleam in the students' eyes are different for each student though. For some students they only smile after a correct question before wanting to focus on the next one, but for others even a correct step can make them smile for the rest of the day. Roman was one of those students. He was always enthusiastically trying to answer questions for the participation points, but in freshmen year his answer was often slightly wrong. But once he answered a question right in front of the class and Logan praised him, he couldn't stop smiling. He would call himself 'Mr Crofters' favourite student' for the rest of the lesson – and instead of using it as a joke to get the whole class laughing and distracted he seemed to actually think it. He thrived on praise.

Remus however was always a mystery. Logan's goal with his freshmen was to find what the cause for their eye gleam was, but Remus never had that moment. He tried everything when Remus was a freshman: praise, physical rewards, even letting him mess around a little after he'd done enough of the work. Nothing caused even a smile, and his grades were dropping. Logan reported him to a counsellor and asked him how he was mentally almost every day, but Remus missed all his counsellor appointments and told Logan he was feeling fine and that his home life was alright. Logan tried to allow Remus space while maintaining that he was always a person that Remus could talk to, even mentioning his husband's mental health issues and how Logan helped him through college, but Remus stayed distant. He was determined that there must be something - anything – to get Remus to smile.