Wednesday
TW: Anxiety attack/overall panic, toxic 'relationship'
"You might want to pull up a chair, Virgil..."
Roman hurried over to them, carrying a chair. He sat it down beside Patton's hospital bed, gesturing for Virgil to sit. He hesitated, chewing his lip, but did so.
"We'll give you guys some privacy," Roman said, softly, referring to Lina and himself. He turned and started to walk away.
Virgil reached for his hand, lacing their fingers together and effectively stopping him in his tracks. "Stay, Ro...please...?"
Roman took a deep breath. He leaned over, reaching for another chair. He pulled it over beside Virgil's, never letting go of the teen's hand.
Patton sighed. "I wish I could do this later...I've been waiting for the right time to tell you all of this, Virgil, I swear. But this medicine is already causing me to spill out a bunch of things...so I might as well explain since I've already said too much..."
"Many years ago, when you were just a few months old, Vee, I was in the car with you...as well as my brother, August, and his wife, Nina. It was Nina's birthday, and she, even though August protested, invited me along to dinner with all of you. I was in the backseat, sitting next to you, and I noticed there was somebody going way too fast on the road, swerving this way and that..."
Virgil listened intently, squeezing Roman's hand so hard, it made the former's knuckles white from the tight grip.
Patton continued. "I tried to warn August, but he just dismissed what I said, which was a usual thing for us, him ignoring me. Our car slammed into the other car, head-on..." As Patton spoke of this, a few tears escaped his closed eyes, though he'd been trying his hardest hold them back. "August and Nina died on impact...as did the drunk driver who was driving the other car. I managed to get us out of the car before it...before it...it-it..."
"...Our car caught on fire..." Patton managed out, his voice as soft and quiet as a whisper. "They never recovered the bodies or anything..."
"N-N-No!" Virgil said. He had been silent through all of this, but now tears streamed down his face. "Y-Y-You're lying!!"
"Virgil...I don't think he is..." Roman said, trying to help him relax as he spoke. He slowly rubbed Virgil's arm, comforting him in a way Patton would have done if he wasn't confined to his hospital bed with limited movements.
"You're my dad...not this August guy..." Virgil mumbled, looking up at Patton, though his vision was blurred a bit.
"...Now I am, since I adopted you as soon as I could after their deaths...But biologically, I am your uncle, Virgil...Though just because you were born to August and Nina, and they were your parents first, doesn't mean I love you any less, Virgil..." Patton slowly opened his eyes, locking onto Virgil's with his own. "I only kept this from you because I wanted to protect you...I meant no harm, really, I swear..." Letting out a choked sob, Patton said, "Virgil! I love you so much! Please don't be angry with me!!"
Going silent, the teen's vision swam a bit, world blurring even more, though not from tears. He didn't know what he felt, or even what to do or say. Everything was too much.
Too much!!
Virgil didn't realize he was swaying and starting to fall over until he felt Roman gripping his arm, saying his name over and over, each time getting louder and more panicked.
It was like Virgil was underwater, head submerged and hearing muffled severely.
"Virgil!"
Roman's shout of his name echoed around the large room, and Lina winced at the loud noise, not wanting herself to be caught going against the rules by sneaking them all in here.
"Virge, everything's going to be alright!" Roman said, though his voice was rushed. It was obvious he was scared. He had never truly comforted someone through things like this, and he didn't know what to do, his fear starting to take over his senses and mind.
With every word he said, it seemed Roman's voice was fading even more from Virgil's mind, the anxious teen's racing, dark thoughts taking over, seeming to consume him. It was all just too much at once.
And Patton? He was frozen on the bed, stricken with horror. He wanted so badly to help his son, but he was bed-ridden, and watching Virgil suffering was pure torture.
Patton knew he messed up. He didn't mean anything wrong, really. Once the medicine kicked in, it caused all the things he kept from Virgil to just spill out of him. Once he started, he just couldn't stop.
"I-I'm sorry, Virge..."
*•*•*•*•*•*
With a heavy sigh, Logan slid his key into the lock of his front door. Once he heard the click, he turned the knob and stepped inside.
It was hard going to work knowing that Patton was still in the hospital, and that he wasn't even allowed to visit the other man. Every day, Logan's eyes even scanned his classroom, looking for Virgil though he knew the teen would be absent. He noticed that Roman Hamilton was absent too, and he assumed that Roman stayed with Virgil to help him through this.
Trudging to the fridge, Logan thought he heard the sound of a door open upstairs, but he passed this off as just hearing things, since Remy's car wasn't in the driveway. He just assumed this was most likely a result of his lack of sleep. He raided through the fridge, pulling out a gallon of milk from inside the door. Yawning slightly, he shut the door behind him and turned around to set the milk down on the counter. However, his body hit something standing there, the sudden force causing Logan to step back some, dropping the gallon of milk on the ground.
"Well hello, Lo-Lo..." De greeted in the familiar drawl Logan had heard many times before.
"What are you doing in my house?!" Logan demanded. He took another step backwards, and felt the fridge door hit his back.
"Just paying you a little visit."
"Did you break in?" Logan's eyes darted around, looking for any signs of a break in.
De noticed his wondering eyes, and he moved in front of Logan, blocking him from seeing anything but his former lover. "No. In fact, our darling son let me in..."
Logan's eyes widened. "You're lying. Remy wouldn't have done that...he doesn't even know much about you. I made sure to keep you from him, for his own safety."
"Ahh, but you failed, Lo-Lo. He found a picture of us...he used it to get my name, then my phone number. Remy's rather intelligent, something that he obviously gets from me and not you. He trusts me, and he's rather angry with you." De smirked, the thought of this delighting him, especially because he was being honest with Logan, not lying for once.
"No! You must have blackmailed him, lied to him. Remy is intelligent, you would have to try hard to sway him to your side..."
"What can I say, our son knows who's better."
Logan shook his head. "De, we're not in high school anymore. These schoolyard insults and 'who's better?' don't matter when we're adults. We're in our thirties now..."
De rolled his eyes. He put his hands on either side of Logan's head, looking down at the other man as he was about a head taller. "I still love you, Logan..." He bent down, trying to go in for a kiss.
In a moment of panic, Logan brought his leg up, managing to hit De in the kneecap, effectively causing the other man to yelp, dropping his hands from beside Logan's head.
Logan ran away from De, going towards the door. He flung the door open, and ran towards his car, keys in hand. He was almost there when in his rush he tripped on the walkway. He fell forwards, slamming down into the concrete. The teacher groaned in pain, hearing footsteps come closer to him.
Slowly, Logan looked up, blood dripping from his nose from where he hit the concrete. He saw De glaring down at him, looking menacing and, in Logan's case, terrifying.
He watched as De leaned forward, getting closer to Logan. And as De's hands gripped his arms in a way that hurt the teacher, Logan shut his eyes tightly, unable to fight him now.
*•*•*•*•*•*
Wow, this was a kinda heavy chapter...
Just a fair warning that the next chapter will probably be dark like this one.
I hope all of you are enjoying this story though.