Warnings: embarrassment, second hand embarrassment if you're like me

Summary: single parent Virgil takes his two boys to the park to get ice cream and they play at the playground while Virgil spots a handsome stranger. Roman then decides to take matters into his own hands

Small kids have no filter, I love it, they'll say anything

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Virgil watched the playground, hearing the wind in the trees, the noise from the cars in the city, and the shrieks and laughter from playing children. His eyes were keeping careful track on his two sons, Patton and Roman.

They were five years old, and twins, and it was always frightening to let them run around. They were so very energized, and he was scared they'd get hurt when playing on the playground.

Now and then he found himself looking away from the children though, eyes instead focusing on a man that looked to be his age. He was sitting on a bench in the shadow of a tree, a bit away from the playground, seemingly engrossed in a book.

Virgil had seen him around before. He seemed to sit and read in the park occasionally, and maybe Virgil found him gorgeous.

He was tall, taller than Virgil, he always wore a black button up (at least he had every time Virgil had seen him) and had black rimmed glasses. His hair was neatly combed and he wore a tie, making him look stern and a bit professional and maybe he was a bit different from the guys Virgil usually found attractive, but Virgil couldn't help noticing him every time they were at the park simultaneously.

Then Patton ran up to him and he shifted his focus again as he was handed two ice cream sticks, supposedly Patton's own and Roman's since Virgil had bought them an ice cream each (hopefully theirs and not some strangers that Patton had picked up from the ground). Virgil threw then into the trash can next to the bench, smiling at his son, reaching a hand out and ruffling his hair, making Patton giggle before pushing his hand away.

"What were you looking at?" Patton asked, wiping his mouth on his sleeve. Virgil repressed a sigh, he'd brought paper towels for a reason, and he hated doing the laundry. Virgil had to do a lot of laundry with two five year olds.

"It's nothing, Pat. Now why don't you continue to play with Roman, eh?" Virgil tried, putting a hand on Patton's back and attempting to nudge him back towards the playground. 

"Are you staring at that boy?" He heard Roman gasp from behind him and he tensed. Oh no. He turned around to shush Roman, but the five year old was already running towards the man Virgil had been looking towards. Oh no.

"Roman, come back here." Virgil whisper-yelled, picking Patton up in his arms and carrying him while going after Roman, not daring leaving either of them out of his sight. Who knew what could happen? No matter how annoying they might be sometimes when throwing tantrums or embarrassing him, Virgil would never be all right again if anything happened to either of them.

"Hi, my dad was staring at you, I think he thinks you're cute." He heard Roman say, and perhaps it actually were true that Virgil found the stranger very handsome, but he slightly despised his son's idea that he should try and set Virgil up with people at any opportunity he got. Mostly because Virgil was way too awkward to deal with situations like this.

"Oh, really?" The stranger said, and raised his gaze, eyes landing on Virgil who was standing fairly close now. Virgil wouldn't have been surprised if his hair would've caught fire from how hot his face were.

The stranger raised a brow as if asking if what Roman was saying was true, and Virgil only averted his eyes, if possible flustering a darker shade of red. All words seemed to have abandoned him.

"Well, how about you tell your father I find him cute, too." He said. Virgil wondered if his soul had left his body yet, and if it were going to ascend into heaven or drop down into hell. Then he thought that maybe these awkward situations his kids put him in were hell so he was already there.

Then again the stranger had just called him cute, and Virgil was conflicted now.

"Dad, he thinks you're cute too!" Roman said after having whirled around, mouth open in a huge smile. Virgil let out a noise to confirm that he was listening to what Roman was saying, hopefully not sounding too shocked or panicked.

"Are you going to go on a date?" Patton whispered excitedly, even though barely knowing what a date was since he was five years old.

"I-" Virgil drew a slow breath, trying to think of what to say, or what could make both of his beloved darling sons to shut up.

"Are you going to get married?" Roman said loudly, and while it made the stranger let out a low (cute) laugh Virgil felt as if that was not reward enough for him to actually make it out of this embarrassing situation alive.

"No, Roman, people don't just get married, the first thing they do. That's not…" Virgil tried explaining, mostly wanting to hide his burning face in his hands, or just pick Roman up too and simply walk away until they got home.

"Can I wear a dress and fairy wings to the wedding?" Patton said, clapping his hands and beaming at him.

"You can wear whatever you want, but we are not getting married." Virgil desperately wished that the ground would open up and swallow him, then he wouldn't have to talk his way out of this situation. The stranger looked quite amused, but Virgil was unsure if he could see what was so amusing at this moment.

"My name is Logan. It might be a bit early for marriage, but how about my phone number? Perhaps a date?" He said. Virgil wondered how the stranger, Logan, could keep such a cool demeanor.

Surely this was embarrassing for him too? If Virgil was the one practically cornered by two five year olds and their dad then he would have turned around and fled.

"Yeah. Uh, yeah, that- that would be lovely." Virgil stammered, ignoring the giggles from Patton and Roman. He dug in his pockets, finding his phone and unlocking it with his fingerprint, handing it to Logan once he'd found the contacts app. Logan took it, his fingers brushing Virgil's slightly. It would have been enough to make Virgil blush if he didn't think he had already reached the limit to how flustered one person could become.

"There," Logan said and handed him his phone back a moment later, smiling, "I must get back home now but …text me."

He turned around to leave, book under his arm, and Virgil stared after him for several moments while trying to catch up with everything that had happened during the last couple of minutes. 

Then he shook his head and looked down at Roman who was still standing there beaming at him as if he'd just won a game of Mario Kart. Virgil sighed, crouching down and putting his free arm around Roman, lifting him up too. He began walking home to their apartment building, carrying them both even if they were becoming a bit too heavy for this.

"I love you two, but if either of you ever do that again I'm selling our Disney dvd's and cancelling our Netflix subscription." Virgil said, still mortified from the conversation he'd had with the stranger, even if technically it had had a good outcome.

Both Roman and Patton gasped in horror at his words, coming with loud objections a moment later. Virgil shushed them.

"Calm down, I won't. As long as you two promise not to try and set me up with any more people. Now let's get home and if you two clean your room nicely, as you should have done yesterday, then I'll make pancakes for dinner. How about that, deal?" He said.

Roman cheered and threw his hands up in the air, Patton put his arms around Virgil's beck and promised their room would look cleaner than ever before. Virgil doubted it, his boys hand an incredible talent when it came to spreading toys around and then getting distracted and playing with them when they were supposed to put them back where they should be.

But, most likely, Virgil would be making them pancakes anyway.

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Virgil, 7:39pm
Hey, sorry about earlier, that must have been really embarrassing for you too. Anyway, figured I might as well message you to apologize now that I've got your number. -Virgil (the awkward guy at the park with the two loud kids)

Logan (082 672 82 95), 7:45pm
Considering that I now have a handsome man's phone number I'd have to say any embarrassment was worth it. I hope that date that was mentioned is not out of the question?

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Written: 3rd July 2019
Published: 11th August 2019
Words: 1564

Ohhhh btw I never mentioned but I have a royality oneshot published in another book if anyone would be interested in that

Playing a lot of Super Mario Galaxy lately and it's fun