Sicktember day 18: Hysteria. For Gumnut. Because when I asked who I should torment this time she sent me a grin. Warnings for mentions of spiders.
It started slowly. A creeping sensation in his face, like he'd just walked through a spider's web. It made him shudder. He hated spiders at the best of times. Swiping at his cheeks, he almost ran to the mirror to check that there wasn't a spider…
There wasn't. But it hadn't stopped Virgil scratching at his cheeks until they were red.
Of course, that meant that he had to run the gauntlet of his brothers, but he knew Scott at least would be at the desk, beavering away on the reports as usual and was fairly sure that Gordon would be down in Four while Alan would be still in bed.
Sure enough, Virgil managed to make it all to his studio unhindered and he lost himself in his art and totally forgot about the incident of spiders crawling across his skin.
Until a few weeks later.
This time the sensation hit him all at once, and before he realised it Virgil had torn his helmet and gloves off and was again scrubbing at his face. So intent was he that he didn't hear Gordon asking if he was alright.
The sensation lasted longer than last time, but was far more intense, and the idea of spiders set his brain into overdrive and he rushed back to Two and tore his uniform off as soon as he was free to strip without worrying.
Thank goodness the rescue had been over and he and Gordon had just been clearing up their equipment. By the time Gordon made it back to Two Virgil was ready to leave. Gordon didn't say anything about the fact that his brother was already in civies before they had left the site.
Gordon might not have said anything, Scott was not so reserved. Fortunately for Virgil his brother was more concerned about him leaving the scene rather than changing his clothes, and while he knew the mumbled apology wouldn't be enough to allay his brother in the long run, Scott seemed to accept it for now.
Virgil had another, very long, very hot shower the minute he could.
Over the next month or so the 'attacks' got worse and more frequent. Until one evening he couldn't get the sensation to stop.
Scott, who had been keeping an eye on him ever since that rescue, had watched Virgil's behaviour become more and more erratic. He often appeared with red cheeks, had lost some weight and withdrawn into himself. Most unusually, Virgil hadn't confided in him.
Virgil hadn't come down for dinner. Scott had had enough and made his way up to his brother's room. The sound of a crash and a sob had him barging through the door without knocking.
His brother lay curled up on himself, face hidden by his arms. There was glass over the floor where Virgil had hurled something at the mirror in his bathroom. Scott carefully made his way over, nudging larger pieces of glass out of the way with his foot, until he was kneeling in front of him.
'Virg? What's wrong?' There was no answer forthcoming for a moment, then Virgil lifted his face and looked at him. Scott stifled the gasp that would have escaped. His brother had been scratching at his cheeks. Scratching so hard that he'd drawn blood. There were tears, too, and desperation spiralled out of his haunted eyes.
'Help me, Scott! I can't – I can't stop it!' As if acting on impulse Virgil began to scratch at his face again, and Scott moved quickly to grab his wrists. But his brother was both strong and desperate, twisting out of Scott's grasp and gouging at his cheeks.
There followed a very short fight, as Scott tried his hardest to stop Virgil scratching and Virgil tried his hardest to keep on. Eventually Scott won, Virgil just too exhausted, and he slumped forward into his brother's arms.
Scott held him tightly, confusion and worry mounting. He carded his hand through Virgil's hair, ever so slightly rocking him, until he felt the tension leave and he took Virgil's weight completely.
A sound made him look round, and he watched as Gordon quietly cleared the glass out of the way. Between them they got the man into bed, and Gordon went to fetch their Grandmother while Scott sat holding Virgil's hand.
Sally appeared with a first aid kit and set about gently cleaning her grandson's face. Thankfully the wounds weren't deep and wouldn't need further treatment, and she sat next to Scott and watched Virgil sleeping.
'What's wrong with him, Grandma?'
'I don't know, Scott. We'll have to ask him when he wakes up.'
The two continued on their vigil, just watching the man sleep.
When Virgil woke up the first thing he noticed was that his face felt tight. The second thing was that his brother was holding his hand. He breathed a sigh of relief. The spiders weren't there this morning, and he tried to sit up without waking Scott. Of course, that was impossible, and he felt the hand tighten before he opened his eyes.
Blue eyes radiated concern, but what had Virgil even more worried was that Grandma was sitting next to Scott, arms folded across her chest. She did not look any happier than Scott did.
'Wha?' Scott smirked. Non-caffeinated Virgil was always only half awake. But he held his tongue – this one was for Grandma to deal with.
'Are you going to tell me what's going on in your head, young man?' Virgil looked away. He really didn't want to talk about it, it sounded so ridiculous. But you didn't ignore Grandma.
'Er, my cheeks, they're really itchy sometimes.'
'Itchy? What kind of itchy?'
And before he realised it, Virgil was explaining about the sensations of spiders crawling under his skin. As he talked he subconsciously began to scratch at his cheeks with his free hand, and Scott gently reached over and held it.
That desperate look returned. Virgil yanked his hands free and raked his nails down his cheeks.
'Make it stop! Please, I – I can't cope with this!'
But the more Scott tried to talk, tried to stop him, the more hysterical Virgil became, until they couldn't understand what he was saying and it was taking every ounce of power Scott had to hold Virgil's hands away.
Neither had heard Sally shout for Gordon, and Scott almost fell on top of his brother as she gave Virgil a sedative and he relaxed suddenly. They all took a moment to just catch a breath, shocked at the sudden turn of events.
'Ok. Let's get your brother to the infirmary.' That galvanised them into action, and before long Virgil was asleep on one of the beds, their Grandmother running the Medscanner over him.
Sally looked the results over and sighed. Both in relief that nothing too serious was going on, and in sadness that Virgil hadn't said anything earlier. He might be the medic of the team, but he could be just as stubborn as the rest of them.
She came and sat next to Scott. He hadn't left, not that that was a surprise, and she laid a hand on his arm, startling him out of his watch. He turned to look at her and Sally smiled at him.
'He's going to be fine, Scott.'
'What's wrong with him, Grandma?'
'I think, judging from what he said, Virgil is suffering from neuralgia. It's where the nerves, in this case in his face, are misfiring. That's the spider sensation he was complaining about.'
'He hates spiders, I can't even begin to imagine how torturous that was.'
'Well, the good news is that I found the cause, and it's treatable, so hopefully we can get it sorted.'
'And the bad news?'
'It involves another of Virgil's hates. He needs to have a tooth out.'
'Oh boy.'
Virgil and dentists were not a good mix at all. Sally showed Scott the scan, and there was a wisdom tooth that looked like it was pushing on or through a nerve. She left Scott with Virgil while she called the mainland and made an appointment for her grandson to be seen.
When Virgil woke up he was grumpy and groggy. Sedatives and Virgil did not mix, but it had only been a light one, enough to knock him out for only an hour or so. He eventually opened his eyes to see Scott seated beside him, already holding out a mug of coffee which the artist almost inhaled before there was any conscious thought at all, causing his big brother to break out in a huge grin.
By the time the coffee had been drunk some of the neurons in his brain had begun to fire, and Virgil was momentarily confused as to where he was. By the second cup his memory had begun to return, and Scott saw the exact moment clarity hit by the sheepish look that came over his face. The grin broadened.
'Shut up.'
Virgil honestly didn't think that his brother's smile could get bigger. But it did. He grumbled into his coffee. And then froze as his Grandmother came and stood beside him. She had that look. The look was most often directed at Scott, but she was definitely giving it to him today.
'Young man, I thought you knew better than to hide when you're not well.' Both boys winced at her tone. Sally softened. 'You'll be pleased to know that there was no lasting damage, your face will heal in a couple of days and then we're get the root of the problem sorted too.'
Scott couldn't help snorting at that, but quickly stopped when she turned an unimpressed face to him. As Sally continued to explain to Virgil what had happened, the cause of the sensations in his face, he grew increasingly alarmed. When she said 'dentist' he all but crushed Scott's hand. The man actually yelped in surprise.
Still, at least he had an answer to what had happened. He wasn't going insane, there weren't spiders crawling around his face, and as much as he hated the dentist, he never wanted to go through something like that again.
As punishment for laughing Scott was tasked with taking him to the dentist in three days' time. Not that Scott would have stayed behind anyway. No one would handle a drugged-up Virgil as well as he would, and Virgil could guarantee no blackmail videos would be made.