Virgil woke up late. It was nothing new for him, going to sleep when the others were waking up and not waking up himself until Thomas needed him.

But there was no stressor apparent. Rather, he felt calm. This was...oh. A pacifier (his favorite - purple with a little black bat sticker on the front) dropped out of his mouth, hanging just above the ground on a lanyard. Virgil sat up in his bed and, as expected, he was clad in his skeleton onesie. He had regressed the night before. His mind still felt foggy, but he could distinctly hear talking and banging of pots and pans in the kitchen.

Virgil stood and toddled over to the sounds, more unsteady on his feet than usual.

"Pa- Patton!" He was trying not to regress fully. If he had done so the night before, it meant Logan and/or Patton had taken care of him then. He figured they didn't deserve to again.

The two men chatting by the kitchen counter looked up. "Heya Virgie! How are you this morning?"

"Hello, Stormy."

Virgil giggled. Stormy was Lo's special nickname for him, always guaranteed to make him feel extra little. But he didn't need to feel small now! He was a big kid! "Nuh uh. Not Stormy! Big kid!"

Patton ruffled his hair. "You don't seem very big to me. How old are you, bud?"

Virgil took a moment to think, chewing on his lip. "Uhhm... four!"

"Woah! I guess I was wrong, you are a big kid, huh?" Patton glanced at the large plastic bowl sitting on the counter. "Well, since you're so big...how would you like to help Dada and I make cookies?"

"Mhm! Cookie!" Patton grinned and proceeded to grab more ingredients out of the fridge and cupboards. Logan lifted the little one up onto the counter. He was tall enough to reach, yes, but kicking his legs above the ground was absolutely the epitome of smallness.

"Careful there, Stormy," Logan said quietly, when Virgil bounced a little in his place. "You don't want to get yourself hurt, now do you?"

"Awe, is Dada worried?" Patton teased. "Hey Virgie, you wanna pour in the ingredients?" Virgill nodded excitedly. Patton measured out a cup of some ingredient, then gingerly handed it to the little one. Virgil poured it in, little clouds of flour popping up on impact with the bowl.

It was the decorating that really made a mess. Brightly colored dots of icing were splattered across cheeks and noses, counters and cabinets, and in all the nooks and crannies where icing definitely shouldn't have been.

"Papa! Dada!" Virgil exclaimed. He had taken 3 cookies off to the side, along with all the icing. Patton and Logan took it as an opportunity to chat amongst themselves. "Lookie! I made Papa and Dada and ViVi!" There were two cookies with squares drawn in black. One of them had a blue rectangle underneath it, and the other had the bottom half colored in with light blue. The third cookie was colored in with full purple and a red "V" on it.

"Those are so good Vi!" Patton exclaimed, his face glowing with pride. He set the cookies on the rack with all the others.

"How about we each have one cookie?" Logan suggested. Virgil and Patton donned almost identical pouts. "Well, we must save some for Dee, Ro, and Re, and for the movie night later on."

"Okay!" Virgil said, "Dada gets the Dada cookie, Papa gets the Papa cookie, 'nd I get the Vi cookie!" He passed each of them out to his caregivers, careful not to break them or get anymore icing where it didn't need to be.

Only, Virgil leaned in really close to Logan before handing him the cookie. "Yes, Stormy?" Logan asked with a small chuckle.

Virgil leaned in closer, till their noses touched, then pulled away, placing the cookie in his hand and looking at Patton while bouncing up and down.

"Logi, I think you've got something there, dear," Patton said, pointing to Logan's nose.

"Wha- oh." Logan grinned, a mischievous one, and he grabbed a spoon out of the icing container. He pulled it back, aim, and...fire! A large dollop of bright green icing made its way right onto Patton's cheek. Each erupted into a fit of giggles.

"Eat cookies now?" Virgil asked. Both caregivers laughed, agreeing nonetheless, and took a bite.

The cookies had a satisfying crunch to them at first, but as he sunk his teeth in, the chewiness of the cookies was lovely like a sweet lemonade on a hot summer's day. And the icing - god. The three of them agreed afterwards that the cookies were possibly the best ever made.

Virgil would argue the secret ingredient was love.

ahhhh