Hello again my lovelies, trigger warnings for this chapter are discussions about trauma, slightly rape/non-com but nothing that descriptive, and brief bit about self-harm. As always take care of yourself and thank you for reading!

"Logan!"

Logan shot straight up in bed, startled out of his peaceful slumber as Roman barged into his room. Logan looked at his clearly distraught boyfriend and all traces of the annoyance he felt for being woken up in such a way vanished.

"Roman? What is troubling you so early in the morning?" Logan asked.

"Have you seen Virgil?" Roman asked, slamming his hands down on the foot of Logan's bed.

"No, of course not. He spent the night in your room," Logan replied, his brow furrowing with concern.

"But he wasn't there when I woke up," Roman stated, his voice trembling.

Logan felt his own gut lurch, afraid of a repeat of what happened two weeks ago. He took a breath to calm himself. He knew it couldn't be the case however, he and Remy both made sure of that this time.

"He has to be in the house somewhere," Logan reasoned, slowly slipped out of bed.

"No, he could have left back to the dark sides. He's been feeling so guilty about Deceit and with all the issues he's having with Patton he might just do that to himself," Roman replied, his voice edging on hysterics.

"Roman, calm down. You're still too asleep to think properly. Virgil wouldn't return to the dark sides, he knows we'd follow him and he is far too concerned about protecting us to do that. You know Virgil sometimes has a hard time staying still if he wakes up before us, he probably just wandered off somewhere. Where have you looked for him?" Logan asked calmly.

"I… This is the first place I checked," Roman replied, blushing sheepishly now that he'd managed to calm down a little.

Logan moved closer to Roman grabbing one of his trembling hands.

"Alright, let's go check downstairs and if he is not there you can go check the imagination while I ask Thomas if he knows anything," Logan said.

Roman let out a breath and nodded, still biting at the inside of his lower lip slightly.

"Roman, he's okay, I promise. If he's not I promise I'll let you kill whoever you need to, I might even join you," Logan added.

Roman couldn't help but smile and chuckle at Logan's comment. Logan gave a small smile of his own as he led Roman out into the hallway and towards the stairs. They were about halfway down the stairs when they actually stopped to look at the couch and stopped in their tracks.

"My heart has been stolen," Roman whispered, his hands moving to cover his giddy smile.

On the couch they saw Patton and Virgil cuddled up, hugging each other in their sleep, Virgil resting on top of Patton's chest. Virgil's fluffy feline features were out on full display and they could hear the soft rumble of a purr filling the room.

"I think more correctly your Heart stole your Stormcloud last night," Logan replied without missing a beat.

Roman raised a surprised brow at the nickname based joke Logan had made.

"You are so lucky Patton is sleeping or else he wouldn't let you live that joke down for the rest of the day," Roman chuckled.

Logan cleared his throat quietly, looking away from Roman.

"Well, this certainly is an interesting sight however," Logan said, changing topics. "I wouldn't think Patton and Virgil would be able to talk so soon, nor did I expect to find Virgil having his ears and tail out. He hasn't had them out since we returned from the dark side's mindscape."

"He told me they were gone, he could only get them back if he purposely summoned them which he said he didn't see a point in doing anymore since it just 'proved he was a dark side' or something like that," Roman replied with a shrug.

"That does support my theory about the animalistic attributes being connected to the repressed areas of Thomas's mind. Virgil is no longer connected to it at all now so they no longer appear unless he essentially manually shapeshifts, the same way we all can," Logan hummed, sorting through the information Virgil had given him in the past about the topic.

"Meaning we finally got rid of them in this place for real?"

"Correct."

"Sooo… Should we wake up our sleeping beauties or what?" Roman asked as the conversation began to lull into silence again.

"Let's make crepes for when they awaken," Logan replied calmly, walking swiftly and silently through the living room and over to the kitchen.

Roman followed after him and they both went to work on making breakfast, trying unsuccessfully to stay quiet. Patton and Virgil were both startled awake by the sounds of dishes clanking together and whisks moving around in bowls. Virgil let out a frightened whine when he first woke up, not being able to yet process what he was hearing. Patton instinctively registered the distress and began rubbing his back in soothing circles. They both blinked open their eyes to look at each other and both grew tense with embarrassment. Virgil pulled himself off of Patton, his cat ears folding back shyly while his tail wrapped around his waist.

"Sorry I fell asleep on you," Virgil apologized.

"Don't worry, I'm pretty sure I fell asleep first," Patton replied as he sat up.

He winced in pain as his back straightened. He pressed his hands against his spine and bent himself backwards letting out a series of loud snapping sounds.

"Your back. I forced you into an uncomfortable position with all of my weight on you. I'm so sorry. You must be in pain. Can I do anything to help? A heating pad? Muscle relaxants? Maybe-"

Patton began laughing, cutting off Virgil's nervous rambles.

"Virgil, relax, my back sounds like this every morning when I sleep on the couch. It's not your fault and I'm fine. My back will feel better in a few seconds, I promise," Patton said, smiling warmly at Virgil to comfort him.

Virgil did relax a bit and a small smile crept onto his lips for a moment before it disappeared as he thought about what Patton had said.

"You've slept on the couch more than once?" Virgil asked, his voice soft with realization.

Patton visibly paled and he drew further away from Virgil, holding himself tightly.

"I… Maybe a few times," Patton muttered quietly.

Virgil looked at Patton's pained expression. He was obviously trying to hide something. He looked so upset and scared but was trying to hide it behind a calm mask. Even still the slight sickly color of his skin and the dark eyebags gave away his true feelings. Patton looked the way Virgil felt for years. It all made sense, his inability to meet Virgil's eyes, his nightmare, the reason he wasn't sleeping in his room last night.

"Patton, please be honest. When was the last time you slept in, much less entered your bedroom?" Virgil asked.

Patton's eyes widened at the question before his face quickly fell into a more droopy and dejected expression, his whole body slumping limply to match it.

"The last time you spent the night with me."

"Patton…"

"Don't worry about it, I'm not doing it for any important reason. I just don't feel like going in my room anymore," Patton said with a casual laugh as he tried to stand up.

Virgil reached and lightly grabbed his arm to stop him from walking away. Patton could feel that Virgil was shaking and see how watery his eyes were becoming.

"Patton, please don't walk away. Don't make the same mistake I did," Virgil pleaded brokenly.

Patton looked back in surprise and made no further move to escape the conversation just yet. Virgil let go and shifted his gaze down awkwardly.

"Patton, I don't expect you to talk about everything. I know how difficult that can be sometimes, but complete isolation and bottling it up inside without an outlet is so much worse. The- the fear a-and guilt, all of that stuff, it gets to you. It makes you do things. Stupid thing," Virgil stammered, rubbing the old scars crisscrossing his forearm. "I don't want that for you Patton. I don't know exactly what is going on in your head but I will always, and I mean always, so my best to understand you. We both have our own traumas to work through and the healing will take time, I get that, but please don't think you have to do this alone."

"Trauma. Virgil, you're the one who had to go through all of that not me. You're-"

"Patton… Can you sit with me for a bit, please?" Virgil asked, cutting Patton off, his gaze sad and soft as he looked up at Patton's eyes.

Patton took a few moments to comply. He shifted around in his seat seeming a little uncomfortably stiff. Virgil took his eyes off him, instead looking at the ceiling as his head leaned back onto the couch.

"Trapped, unable to move or control your body. Helpless, unable to escape your current situation. Terrified of what will happen next. Angry with yourself for not being able to stop it from happening. Furious at the ones forcing you into that situation. Guilty you didn't do more to stop it. Disgusted by what you're seeing, feeling, experiencing. Scarred by what you experience, being able to still see it long after it was over. Does any of that sound familiar?" Virgil sat back up straight, turning to face Patton seriously. "By no means am I trying to diminish the trauma you went through, nor should you. You went through something horrible that I am terrified to witness. One of my greatest fears is having to go through what you went through. But still, even though they are two different things, I still get it, at least to an extent. I'm so sorry you had to go through all of that, it's okay to talk about it. No trauma is less significant than any other. I don't want you to suffer alone like I did for so long. I might not be a therapist but I do know that we've got some really great boyfriends and talking to all three of them helps me so, I hope I can be of as much assistance."

Patton let a quiet, choked chuckle as he covered his face with his hands.

"It wasn't bad at first. I was so focused on how to get you back, if you were going to be okay, what needed to be done, everything else, It was stuck in my head but, I didn't focus on any of it or process any of the emotions. But then when we got back, you were hurt and you didn't want to be held. I just couldn't stop thinking about it and feeling guilty for being the reason it all happened. If I hadn't allowed myself to get jumped like that and used for bate, you could have gotten away. None of that would have happened to you. I'm so sorry Virgil, I'm sorry for letting that happen," Patton whimpered out, trembling and hiccuping out soft cries.

Virgil tentatively wrapped his arms around Patton, giving him time to move away if he needed to. He tucked Patton's face into his shoulder and rocked them in a slow and gentle sway.

"Hey, shhh, it's okay. It's alright now, there is nothing to be forgiven, none of that was your fault. There was nothing you could have done. I'm the one who could have fought back more, it by no means your fault. I know it's hard to believe that but trust me. We're both okay now, we're going to be okay and we are going to keep getting better. Believe me, I love you so much my sweet sugar cookie," Virgil hummed, the ending coming out a bit fumbled and awkward.

"Sweet sugar cookie?" Patton asked, pulling away from Virgil slightly, a small smile pulling at the corners of his lips.

Virgil blushed, his expression morphing into an embarrassed pout.

"I was trying to go for something Roman-like. I'm not good at the cute nickname stuff yet," Virgil muttered indignantly.

Patton crashed back down into Virgil's chest, pushing him backwards, threatening to make him fall. He embraced Virgil as he let out a genuine, happy laugh.

"I think it's perfect, Kitten," Patton replied.

Virgil's tail flicked happily at hearing the nickname.

"I'm your kitten," he whispered quietly, muffling his voice in Patton's shirt.

"My nicknames are better but nice try, my bewitching nightmare."

Virgil looked up to see Roman in the kitchen, smiling out at the two of them. Virgil blushed, remembering how he had woke up in the first place.

"Roman! I told you not to interrupt their conversation," Logan scolded from somewhere in the kitchen.

A second later Roman was forcefully dragged out of sight. Logan stepped into his place a moment later, clearing his throat and adjusting the collar of his nightshirt.

"My apologies, we had not intended to wake you up and we would have left to give you privacy during your conversation however I didn't want to burn the crepes. If you two have a moment, breakfast is ready. And if you'd like and are both willing to, the four of us should continue this conversation," Logan suggested.

"You up for that, Patton?" Virgil asked, pulling away from him, still rubbing his upper arm soothingly.

Patton looked down and to the side for a few moments before looking back up and nodding, a gentle smile crossing his face.

"Yeah, I think I am."