Nothing Left to Lose {Prinxiety}

Chapter 8

Virgil's POV

Ugh, why does the sun have to rise? I rub the sleep from my eyes as I sit up. Wait, this isn't my room. Where-? Oh right, working with superheroes that were my mortal enemies until less than a day ago. Seeing that it's only five a.m. and my body refuses to let me go back to sleep, I decide to pass the time by drawing. It makes for a great stress reliever, and I never got the chance to finish my drawing of the cityscape. I have most of the buildings outlined, I just haven't colored any of it, or even really outlined them. All I really did was make messy outlines of where the buildings were.

Eventually, I hear someone knock on my door, "Kiddo? I made breakfast if you're hungry," Patton calls. He's already made breakfast at...oh wait it's 7:30.

"Not your child, but okay," I respond quietly, talking more to myself than him.

After a quick scan of my work, I set my pencil down, relieving my sore wrist. I cautiously leave the room, not exactly trusting that I won't be attacked on sight. Princey did seem pretty peeved last night, and I doubt a good's night sleep would help too much with that.

Once I actually open the door, I'm hit with the amazing scent of waffles. Janus and Remus both sucked at cooking, and I never really learned how, unless you count toast and instant noodles. At least if I die of food poisoning, it'll at least taste good. Patton is adding another fresh pancake onto the stack when I walk in, while Logan is reading at the table. Shortly after I sit down, Roman walks out into the kitchen/dining room. At least he has the decency to look tired, unlike the other two who must be on their third cup of coffee. He sits down next to me awkwardly, ready to attack me at the slightest hint that I'm gonna betray them. So much for thinking I had earned his trust by revealing my 'teammates' names.

"How'd you sleep?" Patton asks me as he sets down everyone's plates.

"Fine," I mumble through a bite of pancake.

"These are amazing, Pat," Roman comments, trying to revive the conversation.

Patton beams, "You say that every time I make breakfast," He points out, causing Roman to shrug.

"I still cannot believe you two told him our names without being sure of his true intentions," Logan comments, sighing in frustration.

"Hey, I trust him," Patton says, struggling to convince Logan, "If he does turn out to be a liar then you can blame my poor judgement. But no offense, I'm better at reading people than you."

"He's got you there, teach," Roman says, waving his fork at the nerdy hero. Logan's frown deepens as he continues eating without comment. Roman smiles innocently, knowing he's won the battle. Heh, cute. Where did that come from? Y'know what, I don't want to know. Hey look mind, food, wow.

I remain antisocial throughout the entire meal, still not comfortable around these people. Of course I'll have to talk at some point if I plan on feeling relatively safe ever again. For now, I just want to stay here, knowing that even if Janus and Remus found me that they wouldn't stand a chance against the three heroes. I had moved into the living room with them after we finished eating, still lost in my thoughts. It took me longer than I'd like to admit to realize they were all staring at me.

"So, Virgil, what exactly made you choose to seek us out in the first place instead of attempting to apprehend Deceit and Duke yourself?" Logan asks. Oh yay, questions.

Might as well get it over with, "Honestly? I probably couldn't beat them up without having a panic attack," I admit after a minute, "And if I were to 'apprehend' them myself, I'd feel guilty turning them in after everything."

"Guilty?" Logan scribbles something down on a notepad, has he been writing this down? "It seems your relationship with Deceit and the Duke may be more toxic than a normal team dynamic should be," He looks at Patton, who nods in confirmation.

"Deceit is known as a manipulative snake, has he been manipulating you?" Roman asks, looking genuinely concerned.

"Guilt-tripping is a common but effective method of manipulation, and judging by your admittance to feel guilty turning them in, it seems that they did in fact use the aforementioned strategy. That being said, has Deceit or the Duke ever made you feel negatively about something unimportant or something that was not your fault?" Logan asks.

Well, he did blame me for any deaths caused by the explosion, but those were technically my fault. "Look, I don't need some wannabe therapist, sure they were pretty sh!tty people, but they still cared more than people like you ever did," I say venomously.

"I'll take that as a yes," He mumbles, writing something down.

"Language," Patton mutters, looking guilty.

"If you knew they were sh-" Patton glares at him, "Crappy people, why stay with them? Surely you could have taken care of yourself at some point," Roman questions.

"Not really, they took care of everything, and I'm too socially anxious to look for a job unless I need one."

Logan stares at his notepad for a second, "Would you mind clarifying what 'after everything' means. If you feel like you owe Deceit and the Duke anything, that would also support the idea that your relationship with them was manipulative." This guy really doesn't know when he's overstepping, does he?

Well, he might have a point, Janus and Remus probably wouldn't have cared for me without my powers. But I can confidently say that they didn't completely manipulate me into feeling guilty for turning them in, that's kinda on me. Well, isn't the point of manipulation for the person being manipulated not to know?

"The only reason I feel guilty about helping you take them down is because..." The three of them seem to lean in with anticipation, "Because they saved my life." 

A/N: May be the sleep deprivation talking, but I think I'm getting better at chapter endings.