《Things Left Unspoken (SandersSidesAU)》Chapter Twenty-Four
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About five minutes after Virgil fell asleep, Patton came into the room again. He looked around confused that he didn't see Roman or Virgil on the couch. He turned and saw Roman looking at him with a finger to his lips. Patton then entered the room and closed the door.
"Wow, he let you sit on his bed and he fell asleep with you on the bed. He hasn't even let Logan near the bed." Patton said quietly, while rolling Virgil's desk chair over to the bed. Roman shrugged.
"He was freaking out and I figured the couch would not be the best place to just sit with him. Especially since he wouldn't let me even one inch away from him once he latched on." He responded at the same volume.
"Really? That's not like him at all." Patton said.
"I figured that much when everyone gasped during auditions." Roman said while still playing with Virgil's hair. "I fully expect to get the third degree from him when he wakes up."
"Did he black out?" Patton asked.
"No, he fell asleep after I sang to him."
Patton chuckled. "He does like that, did he tell you anything about why he panicked?" Patton coxed his head to the side.
"No, he just got worse when I moved him off my waist until I physically moved him. I just hope he doesn't feel too embarrassed when he wakes up, he did ask for me which is weird. I am not exactly his best friend, there are others who he has known for longer that could be of help." Roman said. Patton moved the blanket so it covered Virgil more.
"It makes sense to me." Patton said.
"What do you mean?" Roman asked.
"Simple, Virgil doesn't allow a lot of people into his life and from the looks of it neither do you. You opened up to him, he repayed that." Patton seemed uncomfortable.
"Is that the only reason?" Roman pushed. Patton chuckled and shrugged. Virgil started to shift a little bit. "How long does he usually sleep after a panic attack?" Roman asked.
"Depends on how long he was panicking for, it can be ten minutes to two hours. I hope he wakes up soon though, he needs to sleep tonight." Patton said.
Roman shrugged. "I would stay up with him if he needed." He looked down at the sleeping boy who was attached to his waist and not letting go. Patton looked between the two of them and nodded. "I'll come down for dinner and grab him something and eat in here with him if he's not awake." Roman said.
"I hope it won't come to that." Patton said.
"Patton, the bell will ring in an hour. He needs to sleep this off, I'll take care of him I promise. I am an older brother, I'll call you if he wakes up or anything." Roman said and smiled at Virgil. Patton nodded and asked if he wanted his bag, Roman said yes. Patton brought it into the room and put it near the bathroom door.
Roman waited until he was sure that Virgil would be okay for a little bit to get up and change into other clothes and opened some work. He did most of it while he waited for the dinner bell. When he heard it, he took Virgil's notepad and wrote him a note just in case he woke up while he was getting dinner for himself and Virgil.
Roman skipped down the stairs and weaved through people. He got into line and waited, next to him Janus appeared. Roman glanced over at him. "Hello."
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"Hello yourself. I heard Virgil asked for you during a panic attack. What was that about?" Janus asked. People started to murmur. Roman ignored them and had learned to stop caring how much people talked at this school, teenagers fed off of drama.
"Don't know, he could barely keep himself upright when I got there and then he fell asleep. As far as I know he still is." Roman answered.
"Far as you know?" Janus asked.
"I left him asleep, I am getting dinner for both of us and then going back up. I told Patton I would take care of him, and I will say the same thing to you, I'll let you know if either of us needs anything." Roman said. Roman chose not focus on the fact that he had no way to reach Janus. He could use Virgil's phone if he knew where it was...but he wasn't going to do it unless he absolutely had to.
Roman knew people had noticed he walked in alone. Since he tried out for theater, Roman had become Virgil's best friend in the eyes of gossipers. So when he didn't show up, people started talking. Janus would deal with the backlash if needed. He moved to the front and asked for Virgil's dinner and his own. He was given both and then was met with a teacher at the door asking him where he was going.
Thankfully, Thomas..or Headmaster Sanders came over and told the teacher Roman was allowed to leave after hearing what Roman had to say. Roman balanced both meals well and used an elevator rather than walk up the stairs. He was glad that he left the door open slightly when he left.
Roman pushed the door open and saw a scared Virgil looking back at him. Despite the fact he was crying when Roman was keeping him company, he still looked cute. Roman didn't care about the fact his eyeshadow was all over his dress shirt or down his face. Virgil was Virgil and that was all he cared about. But this wasn't the time for that.
Roman smiled at him. "Good, you are awake. I think you need to eat something, so I got you dinner." Roman hip checked the door shut and placed both meals on the coffee table.
He could feel Virgil's eyes watching him intensely. Roman straightened up and looked at him. "What?" Roman asked. Virgil picked up his notepad and tore off Roman's message. He held the notepad out to Roman he finished after writing. Roman walked over to take it from him.
You are still here? Even after that? Roman was confused.
"The attack?" Virgil nodded. "Of course I am. You needed comfort and asked for me, what else was I going to do? Leave right after you calmed down? That would be what an asshole would do." Roman handed the notepad back and waited.
Well, I kinda stained your shirt. Roman read it and knew that Virgil was making excuses for what he was really asking.
"It's just a shirt, if it's truly stained I can always get a new one." Roman shrugged. "Now, we can talk over dinner. Let's eat." He held his hand out to Virgil. Virgil looked between his hand and Roman's face, and then took it. Roman pulled him up off the bed and let him jump down on his own.
Virgil took the blanket with him and settled on one side of the couch, as far as he could get from Roman and picked at his food. Roman sat on the other side and ate as well. Roman noticed Virgil wasn't really eating. "Did I get the wrong thing?" Roman asked.
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Virgil shook his head. "Then eat something, you will feel better once you do." Virgil rolled his eyes, he seemed annoyed. After another five minutes of Virgil not really eating Roman looked over at him. He saw Virgil was staring back at him, and seemed like he was trying to figure something out. "Everything okay?" Roman asked.
Virgil got up and grabbed his notepad. He walked back over while writing. You are just sitting there, like this is normal. But it's not, well not for us anyway. He wrote.
"Well, you are correct that you aren't usually as touchy but I don't see why that is so bad. And if you are referring to the attack, I don't know what happened and I am not going to make you tell me unless you want to but you didn't know that was going to happen. It's okay to be upset, and to ask for help but you don't need to be embarrassed about it. You've seen me cry plenty." Roman said.
Virgil rolled his eyes and sat back down. That's acting, this is real life. Why are you so calm about this? Virgil asked.
"My brother used to get really bad panic attacks when he didn't have an outlet to put his energy into, but I knew how to help him with you I just guessed." Virgil looked over at Roman. Roman shrugged. "My brother and I are products of busy parents, they would work late and get a lot of babysitters when we were little. In many ways, I had to grow up quickly because that's what he needed. By the time we got to middle school, he was having daily panic attacks and he needed to be calmed down by an older person. Yes, he is my twin but I fell into the older brother role and we just never grew out of it." Roman shrugged. "I guess that made me good at comfort without thinking about it."
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Virgil just started at Roman after he said that. Virgil couldn't understand why Roman was still there, Virgil had stained his shirt and freaked out. Why wasn't Roman upset? Virgil was just sitting there and he didn't want to eat. Roman went out of his way to get him dinner after Virgil had fallen asleep.
"Come on, eat a little bit. At least half okay? We can talk about whatever you want to later." Roman said. Virgil blinked and nodded slowly.
Roman went back to eating and kept his space, Virgil assumed that it wasn't to scare him or anything. At any other moment Virgil would've been pissed, but right now he did need some space. After Virgil refused to eat anymore, Roman picked up the food that he didn't eat and asked if Virgil had any wrapping. Virgil shrugged, Roman nodded.
"Then let's go get some then." Roman said. Virgil looked at him confused and shook his head. "Yes, or we could just drop it off at the kitchen."
Virgil shook his head again. No. I am not going anywhere. He wrote. Roman walked over and read it. He nodded.
"Why not?" Roman asked.
I have been crying, and haven't looked in the mirror but I can probably tell I don't look good. Virgil wrote. Roman nodded, then he picked up Virgil bridal style. Virgil grabbed on to Roman and kicked his legs to try and get out. Roman was used to that, having a ton of younger cousins you have to watch makes it easier to put up with it.
Roman walked over to the bathroom and locked Patton's side. "You look fine, you just have some makeup on your face. Do you have makeup wipes?" Roman asked after putting Virgil on the sink. Virgil nodded and pointed to the drawers under the sink.
He watched Roman get the wipes and open them, Virgil wasn't sure why he was letting Roman do this but to say he wasn't enjoying it would be a lie. Roman then wiped Virgil's cheeks and under his eyes. Virgil watched him as he did.
"See? There, no more mess. And your freckles are showing again." Roman said, Virgil glared at him. Roman laughed. "Listen nightmare, you can look scary at me but those freckles make it very hard to be intimidated by you. But that's just me, I like your freckles."
Virgil jumped off the sink counter and then walked back into his room, what the hell was Roman doing? Before he left for Thanksgiving, he was convinced he wasn't coming back but right now Virgil had a hard time believing that he wasn't. Why make connections with people here if you were not coming back to them? Roman followed him.
"We are going to go for a bit of a walk, we are going to drop off this at the kitchen," Roman picked up Virgil's dinner, "Then we are going to go back to my room, and I am going to grab a pair of clothes for tomorrow and a pillow."
Virgil was told he was excused from classes until he was ready to go back, he wasn't planning on staying out of class later than Wednesday but why was Roman going to get a change of clothes? Roman must have read the look on his face.
"It's just a sleepover, I told Patton I would take care of you. We can go the way through the tunnels if you want or we can just go vacant ways. We don't have to talk to anyone." Roman said, Virgil nodded. Virgil was still fighting with what he was going to tell Roman if he asked. He might just tell him the truth, but he could just say it's stress. But Roman would know it wasn't stress.
So Virgil watched as Roman packed up his homework and other things while he sat on his bed swinging his legs. When Roman was done, he turned to Virgil. "Are you walking or am I carrying you?" Roman teased. Virgil could feel his face get red. "I am kidding, come on."
Virgil hopped down and got his keys. Why couldn't Roman just leave him here but he had known Roman long enough to know that arguing was not how he would get his way. He would listen but then annoy Roman in little ways to get back for it.
The two walked through the school, Virgil led them to the backstairs that only staff used. Less people, less interaction. When they got to the kitchen, Roman skillfully charmed the staff who worked there. Virgil wasn't surprised, Roman could get anyone to love him.
Anyone but Janus that is, Janus was just as stubborn as Roman. Virgil knew that but they seemed to have calmed down from their feud. Virgil still didn't know what it was about but he didn't care at the moment.
Roman then said goodbye to the kitchen staff and grabbed Virgil's hand. Virgil was surprised and figured it was a way to get Roman's attention without having to be too intruding. As they walked Virgil got increasingly curious about why Roman needed clothes for tomorrow. So Virgil pulled his phone out and typed a message, he then pulled on Roman's arm to get his attention.
Why are you sleeping over?
"I figured you didn't want to be alone after that, but if you want I can just hang with you until you need to go to bed and then I'll leave." Roman said. They were still on his way to Roman's dorm.
No, you can stay. I just wasn't sure if someone asked you to do so. Virgil would've been surprised if Patton asked Roman to stay the night with him. Virgil wasn't even sure his cousin knew about the recent development that had come to light.
"Nope, I came to this choice all by myself and then Patton asked if I could just make sure you are okay. Surprising, I know. What can I say, I am more than a pretty face." Roman said dramatically and Virgil rolled his eyes. They got to Roman's dorm and he opened the door. Micheal was sitting on his bed reading.
"Oh, you are back from your-Hey Virgil." Micheal had looked up before he finished the sentence. Virgil waved and jumped on to Roman's bed again.
Roman chuckled. "Is that your spot now?" Roman asked. Virgil nodded and Roman rolled his eyes. "Micheal, no need to worry about me tomorrow. I am staying at Virgil's for the night, I'll see you at breakfast or math." Roman said while getting clothes and folding them.
"Alright, you need something specific?" Micheal asked.
"Nah, I should be good. It's just staying with Virge." Roman said. Micheal smiled and nodded. He got off the bed and grabbed something from the bathroom. He handed them to Roman and said something in his ear. Virgil watched but then shrugged and looked around the room.
There were new posters on the wall and some photos. Virgil picked up the octopus stuffed animal that Roman had on the bed while sitting on his knees facing the wall as Roman was packing up. Roman had turned around to see Virgil looking at the stuffed animal. Micheal had gone back to his book and Roman walked over to Virgil.
"Whatcha looking at?" Roman asked quietly while leaning on the edge of the bed. Virgil shook the octopus a little. "Yeah? My brother gave that to me for our birthday one year. I have kept it on my bed since then, I know it's not really me but it's from him. It's more symbolic than anything." Roman shrugged.
"Can you two get a room somewhere else?" Micheal asked. Virgil flushed and Roman glared at Micheal.
"Michael. Come on, we gotta get back anyway." Roman said. Virgil nodded. He was still upset but he did feel better. Roman was going to ask him questions when they got back, and he wasn't sure how he was going to say or do.
But he hoped that Roman wasn't going to leave him until he had to tomorrow morning.
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