Chapter warnings: violence, bullying mentions
I've been meaning to say this since I started posting again but can you believe that I predicted Logan would throw a paper ball at Roman in Learning New Things About Ourselves in chapter 7 lmao-
Also bit of self promotion but uhhh if you're interested in NSFW content there's a oneshot in my third oneshots book titled Possessed based on this book that you may enjoy! Anyways, onto the chapter now. Hope you enjoy!
The rest of the time that Logan and Virgil were alone together wasn't nearly as awkward as Virgil anticipated. Virgil had actually gotten plenty of sleep the night before due to Logan's insistence, and since he had woken up had spent his time chatting with Logan just like any other day in the library. It was nice to send time with him, and the day passed by quickly. In almost no time at all Roman was texting them to tell them to meet up at his house, and the pair were on their way.
It was a lot quieter on the ride there. Virgil's mother drove him, so they couldn't have talked much anyways but they would have been quiet regardless. Both of them were feeling nervous for what awaited them at Roman's home.
Patton arrived at the same time as they did, stepping out of his moms car just as they were pulling in. He smiled at Virgil and Logan as they got out, and Virgil could tell he was feeling nervous too. Virgil smiled back as best he could, the both of them saying goodbye to their parents before they went up to Roman's door. Patton rang the doorbell, and only a few moments later a very excited, grinning Roman answered. Virgil frowned to himself, annoyed that he didn't understand the severity of their situation.
"Hey guys!" He greeted, stepping aside to let them in the front door. Virgil felt even more frustration at being treated as if he were Roman's old friend. As if they'd ever get along if it weren't for this situation they found themselves in. Roman didn't seem to notice his annoyance, turning away from them to lead them further into his home and to where his parents were. "Hey mom, dad, these are my new friends from school, Patton and Logan!"
Virgil blinked in surprise, pausing for a moment. Did Roman really just get them confused, or was he intentionally saying that he only considered Logan to be a friend? Virgil tried to remind himself that it didn't matter-it wasn't like he would be coming over here after they had talked to Sebastian. He still couldn't help but feel offended, correcting him. "Uh... actually it's Virgil."
"Oh, right!" He caught Roman's face fall for a brief moment, as if he actually felt bad. He must be a really good actor, Virgil told himself. "I'm sorry, Virgil." He said to him before turning back to his parents. "Logan's another one of our friends at school. I got them mixed up for a moment."
Virgil realized that what he was feeling at Roman calling Logan "our friend" was jealousy, but he did his best to ignore that fact. He played off the fact that he was annoyed with a smile to Roman's parents, not wanting them to realize he wasn't truly Roman's friend. "It's nice to meet the two of you," he added carefully.
"It's nice to meet you as well!" His parents smiled back genuinely. "Roman hasn't ever had any friends over, so it's nice to see him finally finding people to hang out with. You both seem very sweet."
Virgil sent a surprised glance over to Roman at that, catching his face flushing as he kept his gaze locked on his mom, shushing her quietly as she laughed and apologized. Virgil was sure Roman, as loud as he always was, would have had no trouble finding friends. Virgil thought for a brief moment that maybe he had misjudged Roman. Maybe he had barged in on their friend group because he didn't have anyone else. Virgil dismissed the thought quickly. Roman was just stubborn and annoying, he told himself, but still found that he was a little less annoyed by his presence in their friend group now.
"You boys make yourselves feel at home, okay? You've still got some time before dinner is ready to hang out together. I'll call you down later." Roman's mom told them, pressing a kiss to her sons forehead and making his face burn brighter as he pulled away from her, urging Patton, Virgil, and Logan to follow him up the stairs to his bedroom quickly.
"You guys can sit anywhere," Roman said as he sat down on his bed. Patton plopped down onto a large red beanbag while Virgil chose the wheeled-desk chair that sat at Roman's desk.
"Lot of Disney stuff," Virgil commented as he sat down, looking around all of the posters on his walls as well as different figurines lining shelves. "I've got the same Nightmare Before Christmas posters."
"You like Nightmare Before Christmas?" Roman asked, eyes lighting up. He shook his head quickly. "No, no, if we start talking about Disney I'll go on forever... Maybe another time. Shouldn't we be discussing a plan for confronting Sebastian?"
"Yes, we should." Logan spoke up, sitting up a little straighter in Virgil's and his seat. "We don't even know how we're going to manage to talk to him alone yet. I think your parents will be confused and possibly upset with us for bringing up something like this. There's also an issue with how exactly we are going to bring this up."
"I don't know about getting him alone, but... when we do talk to him, shouldn't we like, prove to him that you're here or something? That way we can convince him to actually talk about it. Otherwise I don't think he'd be very willing to share anything." Roman suggested.
"Yes, that is a good idea... but how exactly do we do that?" Logan questioned.
"The book thing!" Patton piped in randomly, gaining confused looks from the others in the room.
"Y'know, the book thing!" He waggled his fingers in the air, looking as if this should be making perfect sense. When it didn't click for everyone he finally explained further. "When we were in the library before, Logan showed us this thing he could do with the books. He picked them up and moved them without touching them! That would prove that he was here."
"Good idea, Patton." Roman smiled and Patton beamed. The four of them continued going over plans up until Roman's mom's voice was heard from the floor below letting them all know that dinner was ready. The four of them clambered down the stairs one by one, Virgil in the back. When he reached the bottom of the stairs he got a glance into the kitchen, freezing on the last step as he finally saw Sebastian. He lost his balance as he was staring, eyes widening as he suddenly began falling forwards. Virgil just barely managed to catch himself by grabbing onto the banister, pulling himself back upright.
"Careful there!" He heard an unusually familiar voice call with a laugh, looking up to meet eyes with Sebastian. Virgil wondered briefly why he had thought that his voice was familiar as he had certainly never met this man before, deciding after a moment it must have something to do with Logan. He tried not to seem so shaken up as he rushed to catch up with his friends who had already made it to the kitchen table, taking a seat beside of Patton and keeping his eyes on the table.
"Are you okay?" Patton asked after nudging his shoulder a few times to get his attention. Virgil nodded a little too quickly and unconvincingly, but Patton just frowned and didn't say anything else. There wasn't much he really could say in their current situation.
Virgil did try his best to act normal throughout dinner. He answered any questions directed to him, put on the most convincing smile he could to seem as though he were in a good mood, and ate all of the food on his plate that Roman's parents had prepared together. Virgil tried so hard, but he just couldn't keep his eyes away from Sebastian.
He was at least a little inconspicuous about it, trying not to catch his eye, making eye contact when others spoke to him. There was just a nagging feeling that he had to look out for Sebastian, had to watch him. If he didn't he felt sure something bad was going to happen. He was anxious, confused, and angry all at once. The more he thought about him, about how he bullied Logan before, the less anxious and confused he was and the more angry he became. Nearing the end of dinner he felt sure that he had to have been the one to do it. He had to have killed Logan.
At least, this was what Virgil thought when he was looking at him. When he managed to break his gaze away he could understand that these feelings were just... irrational. He had no proof that he was the one to do it yet. He had to be certain before he went around accusing anyone of anything.
Virgil could tell that these feelings weren't really his own. It was odd, having someone else's feelings seeming to mix in with his own, confusing him. Logan must have been feeling very strongly about this, because he hadn't been able to feel any of his emotions before. He did his best to avoid looking at Sebastian once he realized this-it would do no good for Logan to get angry now, to blame him now. They had to stick to their plan, even if there wasn't really much of one to begin with.
Virgil managed to keep things under control for the rest of their dinner. When it was over he and Patton offered to help clean up, but Roman's parents insisted that they could take care of it themselves. They were sent off to go spend time together, and found themselves out in the living room.
Sebastian was sitting on the couch only a few feet away.
Virgil could feel the anger rising again. He could tell it was getting worse, that he was close to losing it. He tried to take a few deep breaths, to calm himself and Logan down. He tore his gaze away from Sebastian and over to Patton and Roman, who both seemed to be thinking of confronting him now as well.
"Sebastian," Roman spoke up, stepping closer to him. "You went to the same high school as us, right?"
"Yeah, I did. Why do you ask?" He wondered, looking at the teenagers curiously. Virgil caught his eye now and knew he couldn't keep Logan's anger down for much longer.
"We wanted to ask you about a student who went there around the same time as you." Roman explained, glancing at Virgil and Logan. "His name was Logan. Logan Sanders? We were just wondering if you knew him."
Sebastian stiffened at the mention of Logan's name, frown tugging at his lips. He shook his head shortly, clearly uncomfortable. "Not really. I mean, everyone knows about... well, that he died. I didn't really talk to him or anything."
"Liar," Logan hissed, eyes narrowing as he watched Sebastian. Virgil was beginning to panic, trying frantically to move, to make Logan take a step back and calm down. They had to handle this carefully.
"I'm sorry," Sebastian said, jaw clenched and eyebrows furrowed. "How exactly would you know?"
Logan ignored his question, taking a step closer to him as Sebastian stood, stance defensive. "I know that you bullied him every day. You made sure that he had no friends. You'd beat the shit out of him any chance you got. You knew him."
"You'd better watch yourself, kid." Sebastian snarled, jabbing a finger at Logan as he took another step closer. "How could you even know any of this?"
"How do I know this?" Logan laughed bitterly, pointing a finger right back at him. Sebastian went flying backwards into the couch again, head hitting the wall behind him hard, his body being held down by an invisible weight.
"What the hell?" Sebastian's eyes went wide, looking around for what could have pushed him back, for what was pinning him down.
"I know this because I lived it!" Logan shouted, waving his arm in front of Sebastian, sending him up and out of the chair and across the room. "I am Logan! You killed me!"
"Logan!" Patton shrieked, hands going around Logan's arm to try and stop him from hurting Sebastian anymore. Roman spoke too, telling him to stay quiet so that his parents wouldn't come see what was going on, but Logan wasn't listening to any of them.
Sebastian had completely lost all of his anger at being questioned after Logan had thrown him. When Sebastian looked into Logan's eyes now, knowing that it truly had to be him, all he felt was guilt. His eyes filled with tears, shrinking down into the floor and shaking.
"I'm-I'm sorry, I'm so sorry," he whimpered, staring up at Logan. "I'm so sorry, I know I treated you badly, I know I was awful in high school but I-I swear, I swear I didn't kill you."
"Liar," Logan hissed again, throwing his hand out so Sebastian slammed backwards into the floor again, hearing him sob quietly.
"I didn't, I didn't do it-" he swore, shaking and crying harder. "I swear, please, please don't hurt me. I'm better now, I promise I'm better now."
"Logan," Virgil managed to break through, to speak. "He's telling the truth."
"No he's not!" Logan sneered.
"He's terrified of you!" Virgil tried to reason, to get more control of him. "Why would he lie? Logan, you can't do this! You can't hurt people! L-Logan, you... if you can't calm down, you have to go! Give me my body back! Listen to me, your friend. Please, don't hurt him anymore."
Logan didn't say anything for a moment. The only sound left in the room was Sebastian mumbling sorries, begging for forgiveness. Roman and Patton both watched on, hoping for Virgil to help, to get Logan back to normal. Virgil started to feel more in control of his own limbs, taking a few steps away from where Sebastian was laying. "It's okay, Logan."
"But..." Logan muttered to himself, suddenly taking back control. His anger was back, even stronger now. "He hurt me!"
"Logan, please!" Virgil cried, just barely able to get the words out before finding himself unable to even speak anymore. It was the slight trembling of his voice, the desperation that made Logan pause once again. He sounded... afraid.
Virgil hadn't been afraid of Logan since the first day they met. Knowing that he had frightened Virgil, had upset him in any way, that made him feel so much worse than the man in front of him ever could. He still felt angry, still wanted answers, but he knew now that Virgil was right. Sebastian didn't do it.
He had hurt his friend for nothing.
"I'm... I'm sorry." Logan spoke softly, and then Virgil's body was collapsing.