"Ah, pins and emos has returned to the living!" Roman said as Virgil appeared in his seat in the kitchen. The other three were in their places at the table as usual. Roman and Patton had breakfast and Logan had a fruit cup with his coffee today. Virgil shoved Roman lightly before propping up on his arms.
"Pops, what you recommend today?" Virgil said, looking pointedly at Patton, who was mid-bite of what looked like a wad of bacon.
"Virgil, please speak English. You really delight in this sadistic strain on my blood pressure, don't you?" He asked, somewhat flummoxed.
"The Little Mermaid?" Roman gasped. "From Logan?"
Virgil placed his hand on Roman's shoulder and shook his head mournfully. "No, he's Grimsby now,"
Remus popped up quickly and slammed a meme down on the table. "Seven Vagánias. Maybe more," He quoted and stole some of Patton's bacon, who looked like his poor little heart couldn't decide if he was deeply offended about the bacon of the genital reference.
"Okay, Thanks Grimsby," Virgil quoted back, snickering at the meme. "Logan, I think that one is your fault. But, Pat, I'm sorry he stole your bacon," He said, feeling a little downtrodden. He felt bad he helped set off Remus. But at least it was just a meme instead of something worse. "But it does look delicious. May I?" Virgil asked with a high inflection. Patton didn't move and just stared.
"I think Remus broke padre," Roman stated bluntly with an eyebrow raised.
Logan sighed. "I'll take him to my room for a bit to settle down," Logan said and placed a hand on Patton and they sank out of the room.
"Okay, but do you think that means I can take some bacon?" Virgil asked, eying Patton's abandoned breakfast plate. There was bacon, eggs, and French toast and it all looked amazing.
"Just make your own, Hawthorne Heights," Roman said, pushing him slightly and going back to his breakfast of waffles and a cup of melon balls. Virgil's face heated, and he looked down and tried to hide under his hood. "What, did Remus break you, too, JT?" Roman said and stared at him. Virgil shrunk in a little more.
"I, uh, can't conjure food. It… doesn't come out right," Virgil sputtered out.
"Oh, I have to see this. Make some bacon!" Roman demanded and smacked his back. Virgil placed his hand on the table and lifted it, and a plate of shifting spider webs with hundreds of tiny red eyes appeared. Virgil swiped at it to clear it as quickly as possible. "Yikes, Virge. That's nightmare fuel," Roman said with wide eyes.
"No, it's nightmare material when it attacks," Virgil said with a shutter. "Um, It's really embarrassing, honestly, and I'd rather not talk about it," He muttered out. "But I don't suppose the brave and masterful prince could make me a plate of breakfast?" Virgil asked, holding his hands together and leaning towards Roman. Roman flushed and pushed him away, and Virgil laughed. "Pretty please, perfectly powerful prince?" Virgil said with a fluttering of his eyes. Roman reddened and shoved Virgil off his chair. Virgil toppled with laughter to the floor.
"Fine, I will for the alliteration," Roman said, flustered. He conjured a big plate of eggs, bacon, and chocolate chip pancakes. Virgil climbed back up on the chair and chuckled, grabbed Roman's hand.
"Ah, the prince has saved the damsel of distress, I shan't forget this bacon-filled boon!" He swooned and kissed his hand. Roman may as well have been a tomato.
"Oh my god, Ro, did I find your weakness?" Virgil asked, already going to town on the bacon. Roman crossed his arms and looked away in a huff.
"Who doesn't love romance!?" Roman cried and threw up his arms. Virgil chuckled.
"That's barely Romance, Princey! Though making me chocolate chip pancakes? That's romance," Virgil declared, pressing his head into Roman's shoulder for a moment before sitting back up and slicing into one. Virgil could almost hear the steam come from Roman's ears. It was so fun to push Roman's Buttons.
Logan returned and grabbed his mug, but paused when he saw how beet red Roman was. "Roman, not you too! It was a nonsensical meme!" Logan nearly shouted with agitation. He must have had a rough time with Pat.
Roman shook himself out of it and slightly flailed as he screamed, "I will be in my Room! You can finish my breakfast!" and Roman quickly sunk out with his arms crossed.
"Score!" Virgil said and pulled Roman's plate closer to his own. Logan shot a look at Virgil he couldn't read as he stole Roman's toast to make a breakfast sandwich.
"Virgil, you appear to have elevated energy levels again," Logan mused. Virgil shrugged and took a bite of his sandwich. "Have you had some manner of epiphany or personal growth since movie night?" Logan asked with a curious look in his eye. Virgil's eyes clouded, and he paused.
"Um. Something like that." Virgil shrugged and took an unreasonably large bite of his sandwich to stave Logan off for the time it took him to chew.
"Would you care to elaborate?" Logan asked after Virgil eventually swallowed, his gaze boring into Virgil. Logan could really play the long game. Virgil couldn't decide if he was impressed or intimidated. Probably intimidated, though, knowing himself.
"I wouldn't know how," Virgil dismissed him and took another bite. Logan didn't look satisfied. He really wouldn't know how to explain it because he had no idea what Deceit was repressing. "Trust?" He said vaguely. He trusted Deceit to handle it, and that was about as close as an answer he had.
"That would explain why you are no longer touch-adverse. But too much trust is detrimental to your position, Virgil," Logan said with a tone that sounded close to scolding. Great, now he's both too high-strung and too low-key for Logan. Virgil bristled.
"The world is still a terrible and horrifying place, Lo, have you seen the news?" Virgil said as he was rolling his eyes and then took another bite.
Logan grimaced. "You observe me examining the newspaper every morning, Virgil, of course, I have seen the news," He stated a hint of annoyance growing in his voice.
"Lo, you realize you are having anxiety about me having less anxiety. Does Thomas really need two anxieties?" Virgil said derisively, throwing back something he heard Logan say about the story sessions for creativity, and picked a piece of half-eaten bacon off of Roman's plate and ate it. Logan raised an eyebrow.
"Hey, we don't have germs, Lo! This isn't something I'd let Thomas do!" Virgil exclaimed feeling very flustered. Logan just narrowed his eyes and shook his head. Fuck. Okay. Logan was on to him. He needed to steer clear.
They both sat quietly after that as Virgil finished breakfast and Logan finished his coffee. If it were just the two of them, that would have normally been how they would have had breakfast. Most of the chatter came from Patton or Roman in the morning. It would have been a relatively companionable silence, but there was an edge of suspicion for each other that wasn't easy to miss.
Virgil didn't feel like he could be alone, and most of the sides were basically unavailable, with Pat and Ro out of commission and Logan on to him. Though Remus had been whining that he was lonely lately according to Deceit. Virgil hadn't seen him in a while. Remus's choice to forgive Virgil for abandoning him would be completely up in the air every second, but he was very distractible as long as you didn't remind him he was mad. He also could work through his aggression quickly. He knew a simple way to do that.
"Hey, Lo, got any chess tips for me?" Virgil said as he got up to rinse his and Roman's now-empty plates to the sink for Roman to get rid of later.
"Always be mentally three moves ahead of the one you are currently playing," Logan said with a minor raise of the eyebrow. "I did not know you played," He added. Virgil wasn't sure three moves ahead applied to the way Remus played.
"Not that well," Virgil said self-depreciatingly. He did always lose to Deceit. He couldn't be sure about his win ratio with Remus since he wasn't positive blacking out counted as a disqualification for Remus. "Any other tips?" Virgil asked hopefully.
"Think about the endgame instead of just responding to your opponent's moves. Also know the value of your pieces," Logan said and finished his coffee.
"Cool, thanks, Logan!" Virgil said. That advice was very applicable to Remus's special brand of Chess. Virgil saluted Logan and sunk out, catching a slightly puzzled expression on Logan.
"Remus," Virgil said, raising up into Remus's room with a dagger in his hand. He threw it next to Remus's head, who giggled and clapped when it stuck into the wall. "You've been formally challenged to chess,"
"I accept, you frisky minx!" Remus bellowed excitedly and ran across the room to grab Virgil's arm. The world shook briefly and then fell from the sky into a mind space that was an empty room with a big chessboard in the middle and various odd sundries around the edges of the walls. They both landed unceremoniously in a pile and Remus cackled. They separated and rose to their feet.
"Deciding who takes the black pieces starts now!" Remus said and summoned his morning star. Oh shit, he was going fast. Virgil summoned his double-ended glaive and quickly positioned himself. He could do this- he could do this- As Remus's morning star came down, he hooked his glaive behind the spiked ball and launched it to the side, flinging Remus with it. Virgil kicked him in the side as he went down.
"I got first hit," Virgil said, his breath ragged from adrenaline. And that's not the scariest part of chess. Remus cheered from the floor. "Are we doing a judge today?" Virgil asked, pulling himself upright and trying to catch his breath, feeling his heart pounding in his throat. He couldn't believe he pulled that off. Remus grunted on the floor and shifted himself back up.
"No, way, V, You're trapped with me all alone until you win!" He cackled and ran over to the board. He tried leaving, and yep, trapped. Fuck.
"Fine, you have to keep your pants on exactly where they are until you win," Virgil said with a heavy sigh. He didn't think he could handle another situation with the queen. Well, the win declarations were set. What had he gotten himself into again? This is what he wanted, right? He's not alone, and he's going to have fun with Remus. And hopefully, get out before they affect each other too much and Virgil's stuck with Remus's horrific thoughts and vice versa. "Hey, D will freak if he can't find me. Let me tell him where I am real quick?" Virgil asked, summoning, and holding up his skull note.
"Have to report to Daddy, Virgil? About how you've been a bad, bad boy? Will you get a spanking?" Remus barked with laughter and the chess set shook and all the pieces faced at Virgil and jumped up and down, clicking on the chessboard with their weird silent laughter.
"Hey, Chess pieces don't get to judge my kinks, I know where some have you have been!" Virgil shot back with embarrassment. Some pieces stopped jumping as he wrote Deceit with a hot face. He sent it off with a grimace.
"Fine. E2 to E4," Virgil said, and the piece shook from side to side. Virgil poked it with his glaive and it moved to the correct spot right after, and all of his pieces shook slightly for a moment.
"E7 accepts a parcel from the queen!" Remus said and the pieces jiggled. "E7 then goes to E5!"
"Fucking hit the deck!" Virgil cried all his pieces laid themselves down. Virgil braced himself for the explosion. The room shuttered, and there was a small blast of heat with weird pinched screams from the pieces. They both lost 2 pawns. Remus's tentacles reached out and flung them into a basket against the wall labeled 'they been dead'. The remaining pieces mourned.
"Vengeance for our lost men, boys! Rally!" Virgil cried, holding up his glaive. He leaped over the board and went for Remus. Remus expected him and dodged with a laugh. "Aw, shoot," Virgil snapped his fingers and got off the ground and went back to his place.
"A7 to A5 and make it saucy!" Remus said and did a shimmy. The pieces turned towards the 'dancing' A5 pawn and Virgil's A2 moved towards it to A4.
"Goddamnit stop thinking with your chess dicks!" Virgil shot at his troops angrily. "Men have died!" Virgil's A4 pawn turned black. Son of a bitch. "G1 to F3 and bring a medkit," Virgil muttered and pointed with one hand to the spot and holding his head in the other.
Virgil couldn't be sure for how long this went on for. The lighting in the room was screwy. It went through a day and night cycle at what seemed to be random intervals. The clocks on the wall just said who was winning at the time or what piece was most likely to die a fiery death. It was currently his own knight, which was concerning. He was having a literal blast, but it was also stressful. Remus was very good at giving Virgil's anxiety new material and that was part of the problem. But he tried to focus on the fact that they were both having fun and Remus didn't seem mad at him right now.
But time was passing, and he wasn't positive how much. It must have been at least an hour already. He was getting exhausted and maybe they should have just watched a movie or read comics or something. He needed to think about his end game, as Logan said. He's tried to protect his valuable pieces pretty successfully while Remus threw whatever was the strongest move for the moment was at him. He sent off a Bishop armed with weed cookies in hopes to turn some pieces for a better tactical advantage. Not that stoner pieces always did what you asked, but they were a good blockade for your more powerful pieces.
He was ahead for now, but as he tried to consider how to take the win, his head started feeling staticy. The scent of the room started to be tinged with the scent of ozone. He had trouble focusing and lost a rook to gunfire. That's when the muted, distant voices kicked in. The darkness in the corners creeped in and the room dimmed and the air went humid. Oh, shit.
He wasn't in his mind space. This isn't supposed to happen if he doesn't control his mind space. You can't change a mind space you didn't create. He could hear different voices, and some of them sounded like they might even be his own. Shit, fuck. Virgil tried to leave again and couldn't. They were trapped in here until he won. Shit. How could he win if couldn't think straight? He held his hands over his ears, trying to block out the voices.
"Vi-vi, your stoner bishop and my rook and knight just ran off to make more cookies. It's your turn already!" Remus said, sounding annoyed. Virgil could feel the building tension inside. Virgil did the first thing that came to mind and grabbed his king off the board.
"I'm the king now!" Virgil said, his voice deep and booming. Remus clapped in excitement and Virgil leaped over the board again and went for Remus. He had to get out of here. He fought desperately without a plan. Webs encased his hands around the double-ended glaive.
"Oh, no holds barred? What a delight!" Remus sang when he saw the webs and smiled widely. Green, slimy tentacles shot out of his back. Virgil spun his glaive and knocked them away, slicing some. Remus bellowed with laughter and used the stumps to propel himself off the ground and launched into Virgil, his eyes glowing green.
The garbled, overlaying speaking got louder and the shadows around the room started crawling. Spiders started crawling out of his sleeves uncontrollably and started trying to jump off on to Remus, but he managed to knock most of them away. The world tinted purple as he released his glaive from one hand and shot out a massive spider at Remus, landing square on his face.
"Check!" Virgil growled and dodged a tentacle trying to grab his leg and pull him close. "Checkmate!" He snarled bitterly as the spider bit Remus. "Get us out of here!" His voice echoed on the walls, and he grasped for Remus. Remus shook slightly for a moment, but the room faded and they landed back in Remus's room.
"Holy shit, spooktacular," Remus said, holding himself and shaking. Remus's room wobbled slightly. Virgil's brain finally released the static and voices to his normal unending worries.
"Oh, god, I'm so sorry Remus! I had to get out of there! Didn't you hear them?" Virgil said in a panic, his words rushed together.
"I sure hear things now, fuckface!" Remus shot and sat on the floor, holding himself.
"Sorry!" Virgil shouted and held his hand over the bite mark, taking back the effects of the spider bite.
"Virgil, I know I play dirty, but that was low," Remus moaned as he relaxed and laid back on the floor. Virgil laid back with him.
"Sorry," Virgil groaned. "I freaked out, I shouldn't have done that,"
"Apology accepted, ass-butt," Remus said, somewhat bitterly. "I might have to slime you later for vengeance," Remus grumbled.
"You left your extra-concentrated manic intrusive bullshit on me all night last time. You had to deal with my fears for like a minute, tops," Virgil growled. Remus threw up his arms in defeat and rolled his eyes. He was probably too tired to fight at this point.
"Still the best game of chess I played in a while," Remus said, his voice lifting with humor. Virgil chuckled.
"Yeah, same," Virgil said a little shakily. "I think I'm going to go lay down," Virgil said, shifting to stand up. "I may have kicked your ass, but you kicked mine back just as hard,"
"I will require a rematch later, spider sac," Remus said, getting up with him.
"Sure, but let's next time keep our slime and spiders to ourselves, yeah?" Virgil sighed. "Webs and tentacles are okay," He added, realizing he may need that for the upper hand in the future.
"Deal," Remus said with a satisfied tone, and Virgil sunk out.
Virgil came out in the common area, starving. He collapsed on his regular kitchen table chair and sighed, looking around. He had hoped somebody was there to make him some food. But it was as empty as his non-corporal stomach.
Virgil sighed and pulled out his phone. 'I'm starving. Is anybody going to come out soon?' he sent off and laid his head on the table. His phone buzzed.
'No, they all are occupied. I'll come.' Deceit texted back. Wow, Deceit to the rescue again. Deceit rose up from a corner and joined Virgil at the table next to him where Roman normally sits. "What sounds absolutely detestable?" He said and held out his hand over the table.
"Absolutely anything but octopus," Virgil said, having a brief flashback to a slimy tentacle nearly getting him in the face during the fight. Deceit rolled his eyes.
"Oh, but the octopus is delightful," Deceit crooned and made Virgil a pasta carbonara and some breadsticks. Virgil took a bite and moaned.
"Holy crap, this is so good! Thank you, D." He said and took another appreciative bite. "Do you have time to maybe stick around and join me?" Virgil asked shyly. He was so used to eating around the other sides it felt weird to eat alone. Deceit's eyes unfocused for a moment, seeming to look at something far away.
"I couldn't possibly," He said and summoned a salad and helped himself to a breadstick.
"Thanks again," Virgil said quietly. "You've really been there for me. I'm sorry I was an idiot before."
"Virgil, I don't need your apology," Deceit said while demurely dipping his breadstick in a cup of salad dressing.
"Just let me know," Virgil said, not being able to mask the sadness in his voice. Deceit placed a hand on his shoulder.
"No, I expect you to be a mind reader," Deceit said smoothly, rolled his eyes, and went back to his salad. They ate in silence for a moment.
"It happened again," Virgil blurted out. Deceit's eyes shot up to him. "In the mind palace. But it wasn't my room. I infected Remus's room somehow," Virgil admitted with deep disappointment in himself. Deceit held onto the table.
"How was it different, Virgil?" He said firmly. Oh, god, did he not tell Deceit yesterday? He couldn't believe he wasn't in trouble for that.
"Uh, it was voices. It sounded like the other sides? I can't make them out, though. They're all garbled and odd," Virgil explained quietly. "And they make me feel sick," He trailed off in volume slightly.
"I see," Deceit said shortly and got a faraway look again. "You should not go into the inner mind palace. Contact me if you end up in there right away so I can give you an out," He said sounding short.
"O-okay," Virgil sputtered. Deceit was looking at something far away again. "Is someone coming?" Virgil asked. Deceit disappeared on the spot. Guess somebody was. Virgil sighed and went back to enjoying his carbonara. It felt weird eating alone, just like he thought it would.
Moments later, Roman rose up, holding what looked like a screenplay and a cup of coffee. He didn't notice Virgil sitting there with two half-eaten full meals. A large smile broke out on his face and he held open his hand to summon.