{Possible trigger warnings: pain, swearing (censored, as per usual), irritation, some crying
If I miss something, I apologize and please let me know}
Somehow Virgil managed to get back into the apartment and to his room without any of his roommates seeing or hearing him. He booted up his desk computer to check his channel and email, then grabbed his laptop and opened Netflix.
Eight weeks. Eight weeks he was stuck in this stupid sling. He couldn't move his arm at all, the mechanism was designed to keep his forearm strapped to his chest.
Freaking shoulder immobilizer. The name even sounded like a torture device.
At least it was mostly fabric. One of the doctors had called it a brace and Virgil had immediately pictured some big metal contraption. While it was one of the more complicated designs the hospital used, it was essentially just a huge Velcro strap around his stomach, with a sling that went around his neck.
Didn't make it comfortable, but it was manageable.
Virgil sighed and propped up several pillows on the wall so he could sit comfortably. He would have to figure out what to do for his channel since he couldn't play games properly with only one hand, not the games he played anyway.
"Think about it later," he told himself, picking a John Mulaney comedy special.
He got all the way through 'Kid Gorgeous' and halfway through 'New In Town' before anyone noticed he was home.
Virgil pulled his headphones off as the door to his room cracked open.
"How are you feeling?" Patton asked quietly, peeking inside.
"I'm tired and the entire side of my body hurts."
Patton grimaced and stepped inside, walking over to the bed. "Is there anything I can get you?"
"Nah, I'm good." Virgil shrugged his good shoulder and winced a little. "On second thought... an ice pack or something would be nice."
Patton nodded quickly. "Is it okay if the others come in?"
"Logan? Sure. Roman.... f*ck no." Virgil ignored the reprimanding look his friend gave him.
"You're sure?"
"Yeah."
Patton nodded slowly and left. Virgil went back to his show.
He couldn't focus though, because he could see a shadow just outside his door. Whoever it was seemed to just be standing there, listening. Or waiting. Or something.
Patton came back with the ice pack and Virgil didn't see anyone outside, but the shadow returned when the door closed again. He tried to ignore it, but finally it was getting on his nerves so much that he shut his laptop.
"Whoever's out there either get lost or come in here and tell me what you want."
The door open and Virgil pulled a face.
"Never mind, just get lost."
Roman fiddled with his shirt hem. "Virgil, I need to say something-"
"Nope. Just get out." Virgil put his headphones back on.
"I need to talk to you."
Virgil shrugged. "I don't want to talk to you. Go away."
He opened his laptop again and pressed play. Roman seemed to have some sort of internal conflict for a minute, then he walked out and pulled the door closed behind him.
~~~Two Days Later~~~
"I brought you lunch." Patton peeked into the room, smiling. "How are you feeling?"
Virgil grunted and rolled his head back. "Same as always... thanks."
"Can I... can I show you something?" Patton asked hesitantly.
"Sure, what's up?"
Patton crawled onto the bed next to him and pulled Virgil's laptop into his own lap.
"You gotta promise to watch it all the way through, okay?"
Virgil frowned. "Why?"
"Please, Vee?"
He'd never been able to say no to those sad eyes.
"Okay, fine."
Patton nodded and turned the computer screen away while he looked something up. Virgil worked on eating his lunch and watched suspiciously.
The screen was angled back towards him as a familiar voice began to speak. Virgil made a move to grab the laptop and Patton pulled it away.
"You promised!"
Virgil growled and hunched down as much as his brace would let him. "Fine."
Patton restarted the video and Virgil glared at the screen silently.
Roman fiddled with his hands for a few moments before starting his intro, looking a lot more subdued than usual.
"Hello to you all, Ladies, Lords, and Non-binary Royalty. This is, unfortunately, going to be a very serious video today..."
Their roommate took a deep breath and looked down at his desktop.
"This is really hard for me to do, because I promised myself when I started YouTube that I'd never do anything requiring one of these... This is my first - and hopefully only - apology video."
Virgil raised his eyebrows and glanced at Patton.
"This is a long time coming," Roman continued, his voice sounding tight. "And I'm incredibly upset with myself for not realizing it sooner... I owe AmethystHailstorm an apology."
He sighed and splayed his hands out on the table in front of him.
"I've argued with Hailstorm for almost four years. I never in a million years imagined that I would move in with him. I thought I was in the right, I believed that what I said was excusable because of what he had said.
"I was so wrong, and it took being in the same room as him to realize that. If any of you listen to our apartment podcast, you might have realized what was going on at the end of the last one... we took the argument to the living room and I said some very regrettable things."
Roman blew out a sharp breath and shook his head a little, muttering to himself, "do not cry. Do not."
He looked up again. "To make a very long story short, Hailstorm now has a broken collarbone, and I feel as if it's my fault. I didn't want to make this a public affair, but he currently, and rightfully, won't speak to me. V*****-"
Virgil blinked. Roman must have used his actual name, but censored it with a beep and a black bar over his mouth.
"-when you see this, I want you to know it's sincere. And I know you'll see it because I'm asking Patton to show you once I'm done posting it. I've been an a** and if there is anything at all that I can do to make it up to you, please let me know. I'm so sorry, for what I've said and done."
Roman wiped a few tears quickly and offered a weak smile at the camera. "See you next time, beauties. Stay safe."
And then the video was over. Virgil didn't say anything when Patton looked at him.
"So..."
"I watched it." Virgil said flatly. "Could you leave? I have to think about some stuff."
Patton looked a little hurt, but got up. "Yeah, uh... promise you'll think about it?"
Virgil grunted and his friend took the now empty plate from his lunch.
Once Patton had gone he scrolled down into the comments of the video. A lot of people thought it was a joke. There was some hate for him, as usual, but Virgil kept looking. He wasn't sure what he was trying to find.
Then he saw a comment about how Roman's acting was getting better and a memory pushed itself to the front of his mind.
At the beginning of the Q and A, Roman had been asked what he found hardest about acting. He'd gone on a ten minute rant about how he just couldn't cry on command, and how directors for previous performances he'd done always had to devise clever ways to make it seem like he was tearing up.
There were no cuts in the video.
"Huh."
{I have a friend who had to wear a shoulder immobilizer when he broke his collarbone, and he said hearing it called a brace freaked him out so bad because they'd already explained how it was connected to him, so I incorporated that some... also the story of HOW he broke his collarbone makes me laugh, and I always feel bad for it oops-
He was playing Ghost in the Graveyard at a graduation party, and he and a friend were running down the hill away from the seeker. She tripped and fell, and he tripped over her and went flying like five or six feet and landed directly on his shoulder}