Oh god, I hate college so much you guys. You dont even know. Between college and losing my job, I dont have time for ANYTHING. drawing, writing, NOTHING. ;____;

But I did find some time to write this on a snow day! Hope you guys enjoy it!

Only 2 more chapters to go in this thing, and then I can concentrate on Blackout. In the meantime, HERE, HAVE SOME ANGST :)

Disclaimers: its prolly a good thing that I DON'T own static shock, becuase I would torture these two like this ALL THE TIME.

The threads gave a slight tremble towards the middle. A new knot.

The sound of the door connecting with its frame could crumble cities, Virgil was sure. In his past the young superhero had faced cunning villains bent on his destruction, deranged masterminds in the art of terror determined to take down his city, and just downright scary people.

But never in his whole life could Virgil remember feeling so terrified, so powerless, that he actually couldn't breathe.

And a particularly complicated and dreadful one at that, unique in its bond compared to the other knots that dotted the threads exteriors.

Like any other person he had seen tragedy in his life. Terrible things had happened to him that no person should ever have had to face in alone.

But he had not been alone.

When his mother died, and the first tragedy struck his life, he had felt he would never get better. He was young, and was so sure that he would never smile or laugh again.

But then, out of the scant goodness left in the world, he met Richie. He met him on a crowded playground on a day when his mourning could no longer be an excuse to miss school. He had sat next to Richie during recess, not realizing that he was looking at the boy that would soon become his best friend, and never dared to look back.

Since then, whenever life had dealt him a bad hand, he had always remembered that he was not alone in this world, that he had already found someone worth living for, someone worth fighting back the cruelty of the world for.

And that person had stormed out the door into the cold just 2 minutes earlier. In the time that it had taken Richie's absence to fully hit him, Virgil had collapsed to the floor, unable to move an inch and unable to connect with the world around him. Something on the other side of his conscience was begging him to get up, pleading to him that there was something more pressing that needed his attention. But that voice whispered, whereas another voice drowned it out with its deafening cry. Virgil could hear Richie's plans to leave him sounding off in his head. With each word he could feel a terrible hole beginning to form in his chest.

"I'm going. In the spring."

The hole finally broke free of its bonds and began to split his chest in two.

"We have to stop this."

It felt like his ribs were caving in. He was sure that breathing had never been this difficult before.

"I'm sick of being second best"

With every breath he could feel his chest burn back in response, the hole completely taking over. He felt something wet stinging the corners of his eyes.

"I cant wait for you."

He could feel the pressure on his chest attack his heart.. He could hear it in his ears, fighting with no reprieve. He could feel himself loosing momentum, surrendering to the terrible pain in his center. Surely he was having a heart attack, or some other stress related fit. Surely he was dying, and hours later someone would find him here, unresponsive and curled into a ball on the floor. This had to be it, the end. It...had to be.

And he secretly wanted it to be.

But through the darkness of surrender he could hear another voice. Though equally pained in its delivery, it was still clear and miraculous, ringing in his mind like a bell.

"I love you Virgil."

This particular knot was unlike the others. It was a considerable size larger than most of the other clusters of thread, and in the very middle, a red glow permeated the determined darkness.

It echoed and repeated, a constant song lending him its strength.

For a moment, the hole in his chest subsided as his heart skipped a beat. Despite the urgency of the situation, Virgil felt something warm slowly blossom within him. It was familiar, and he was sure that he felt it often, though this time he allowed it to swell inside of him instead of fighting it back. The warmth focused in his chest and stopped the pain forming there. It soothed his panicked heart and gave him enough strength to get off of his knees and stand.

Not really remembering how they got there he removed his hands from his face and let this feeling spread. It was difficult to keep it alive with Richie's angry and hurt voice echoing around the walls of his head.

But one voice was louder than the others.

"V, I love you."

Before he had realized that he was moving, he had taken the few strides to the door and closed his hand around the knob. He would go after him...he would stop him and...and...

He took a deep breath, turned the handle, and was immediately greeted by the fresh air from a nearby breeze.

After giving the junkyard a quick glace the strength within him faltered a bit. He found that he truly was alone, that Richie had actually left him only moments before. But the warmth, however dampened by the hopelessness of his situation, stayed with him, and as Virgil looked at the threatening clouds above, he finally realized what this feeling meant.

The red glow from the darker strand seemed to become stronger. The possessor of the blackened hand vaguely wondered if the ever tightening knot had brought upon this revelation. Cracked lips curved into a smile as it realized that this was true, and that this realization was unbearably late.

Despite the shear irony and grim aura of the situation, Virgil could not help but blink at the force of the feeling within him. He closed his eyes and let it swallow him whole, feeling the goosebumps that appeared in response. Around him the wind picked up and greeted his face. He could feel the cool air rushing about him, pushing away his dreads, making the nearby trees bend and sway, rustling the leaves until they sounded like the endless waves on the sea. He could feel the electricity focusing in his fingertips and running along his arms in perfect synchronization with his shallow breaths.

Yes. He was sure of what he was feeling. Even though it was terrifying and risky, he was sure of its presence now. And ignoring it was no longer an option.

His eyes opened as his head tilted skyward. The clouds ahead bore down upon him, either promising rain or threatening a storm.

The other boy would no doubt have to be convinced. Virgil's actions previously had no doubt scarred him into the defensive side of the fence. Virgil's frown deepened as he remembered what he had done to get Richie to change his mind. He felt stupid and ashamed that he had resorted to such foul play in order to get what he wanted.

Furthermore, he was angry with himself for not seeing it sooner. Did it really take loosing his better half for him to realize how he felt? He looked to the left as something in his mind offered a sound "yes". He could not defend himself. Of course he had known how he felt, he had figured it out a little bit after they had started college together, but he had never thought that it would ever come back to him. He thought that what they did every Wednesday, what they had been doing for the past few months, would be enough. Other girls? They were just a hormone induced distraction, something to take his mind off the growing feelings that simmered under the surface. For what college freshman, with as many failed pre-teen romances under their belt as Virgil had, would actually believe that they were in love, the real thing, at the tender age of 19?

No, he had thought that these feelings would pass. They would run their course and he and Richie would be able to salvage their friendship and forget all about their insane college escapades.

But the event of Richie ever liking him back had never really occurred to Virgil. He felt a little stupid, for now with the reassurance that he was right, all of clues pointing to Richie's true feelings were laid out for him to see in an almost mocking fashion.

But how he had missed it was not the question at the moment.

The question was...was...what was that beeping noise?

The annoying sound brought him out of his thoughts. He realized that it had been going on for a while and he had simply ignored it. The nagging voice in the very back of his mind finally gained a face as backpack tugged on the bottom of his jeans. The little machine must have thought that Virgil was going to leave to fight crime in his street clothes.

The crime information flashed across the screen that Richie had installed on backpack a few months ago. The machine beeped once more in urgency.

Virgil returned his hand to his hair. He wanted to go get Richie now. He wanted to apologize, and explain his harsh actions before. He wanted to plead for him to stay and to finally, finally tell Richie how he felt.

But he knew it would have to wait.

He felt slightly guilty at this thought. However, he knew it was right. He was a super hero, and though the situation he faced with Richie was Virgil's top priority right now, it was not Static's. Static was a superhero, and above all things, his job was to protect Dakota.

After all, what could happen to Richie within the time it would take Virgil to nip one bang baby badie in the bud? It would be a quick job. In, out, and then off to Richie's pad to apologize. It might even give the other boy time to cool down so that he wouldn't verbally attack Virgil on site.

The knot gave yet another shutter and...began to uncoil slightly. The smile upon the fates face vanished and was replaced by the darkness.

Mind set, Virgil patted backpack on the case two times and ran off into the back room to change.