Disclaimer: I do not own Static Shock. I am not making profit from this story so no one sue me, please. Any characters whom are not from Static Shock are rightfully owned by me.
Summary: Virgil and Richie haven't been friends for nearly 20 years. They have gone their separate ways and lived their successful live through work. However, how have their personal lives suffered since their failed friendship?
After all of the presents had been put under the Christmas tree, Richie and Virgil climbed into Virgil's bed, both of them as far to their respective sides as could be managed. For the umpteenth time, Virgil apologized to Richie for having to sleep in his bed, not realizing that Chloé would have such a tantrum about Santa not coming if someone slept on the couch. As a result, for the umpteenth time, Richie informed Virgil that it was fine; it was only one night.
Virgil yawned loudly, creating a domino effect to which Richie responded with an equally boisterous yawn. Virgil sighed contentedly as he turned to his side to look at Richie. He smiled to himself as he watched Richie teeter on the edge of consciousness. He was also smiling because, even though they weren't dating, and were hardly on good terms of friendship, it was nice to have Richie back. There was a certain excitement that boiled inside him at the realization that twenty years of misery had come to, for the most part, an end and he had Richie back.
"I'm glad you decided to stay the night, Richie. I'm sure Chloé is, too. She really seems to like you a lot. The way she freaked out because there are no presents for you was the sweetest thing; I almost wish I had it on camera or something. Hell, I wish I had a lot of her life on camera. Or at least, I wish Angelica did. There's so much of her life I haven't been there to see…" Virgil trailed off and sighed when he heard Richie yawn. He laughed nervously and said, "You probably don't want to hear me ramble about my daughter, though…"
Richie smiled and glanced at Virgil. "I don't mind, Virgil. Chloé is a sweet child. You're proud of your daughter; I totally understand that," said Richie as he yawned loudly. "But, maybe, we can talk about Chloé tomorrow? I'm pretty tired…"
Virgil grinned as a result of Richie's comment about his daughter. "Alright; we'll talk tomorrow," he said and went to lie on his back again.
"Mm, thank you," Richie mumbled. He drew in a deep breath as he pushed himself into a sitting position. He leaned his head against the headboard, blinking a couple times to eliminate some of the grogginess he felt. Just as he was about to lean over to fish his medication from his duffle bag, a realization hit him, and he cussed out loud. "Fuck."
Virgil raised his eyebrows and quickly pushed himself into a cross-legged sitting position on the king-sized bed. "What's wrong?" he asked with a frown.
Hitting his head against the headboard rhythmically, Richie said, "I forgot my sleeping pills." There was a momentary pause in which Richie continued to hit his head. Letting out a groan, he stopped and turned his head to face Virgil. He frowned as he said, "I can't sleep without them."
Virgil blinked, scrambling for something to say. "Um… you looked like you were about to fall asleep just now, though?"
Richie sighed. He pushed his tongue against the inside of his cheek as he thought. Finally, he cleared his throat and said, "I can look tired, and feel tired, but my brain doesn't shut off long enough to let me sleep. That's why I have the sleeping pills; they force me into sleep."
"Nothing else helps?"
Richie shut his eyes and raised his eyebrows. Shaking his head slowly, he let out a huff through his nose and said, "No. Believe me. I've tried. Mike and I did everything we could think of to help me sleep; we tried warm milk, a hot bath, reading a book, boring television, massages, incenses, counting sheep… none of it worked. Hell, even sex doesn't help me sleep.
"Nothing except that medication helps me sleep," Richie groaned. He sighed loudly and added, "It's fine; I didn't feel like sleeping tonight, anyway."
"Mm," Virgil mumbled.
Virgil bit his lip gently as he scooted to the middle of the bed. Just as Richie was about to question his motives, Virgil pulled Richie into his arms. Gently, Virgil pulled the both of them down on the bed so they were lying next to one another. It wasn't until Richie found himself with his head lying on Virgil's chest that he thought to question what Virgil was doing.
"Just trust me, Richie," Virgil insisted. He paused as he thought about what he said. "Or, at least, try to. I know trusting me isn't exactly in the cards right now," he said and wrapped his arm around Richie's back. The other one went to gently stroke Richie's hair as he continued with his thought, "but I can't knowingly let you go without sleep."
"You can try," Richie mumbled against Virgil's chest, "but I doubt you'll get good results. Like I said, I absolutely can't sleep wi—"
Richie was promptly cut off by the sound of Virgil humming a gentle tune he almost recognized. Drawing in a deep breath, Richie forced himself to relax against Virgil's chest. The humming was certainly relaxing, and made him feel a lot calmer, but it was nowhere near enough to put him to sleep. The normal thoughts of a super -genius continue to blast through his mind as he enjoyed Virgil's humming.
Then the humming stopped. There was a brief moment of silence in which Virgil continued to stroke Richie's hair. Just as Richie was about to inform Virgil he wasn't asleep, the silence was replaced with the gentle sound of Virgil singing.
The first thing Richie noted was how soft and sensual his tone was, and how carefully he could carry a tune. With each word that Virgil sang, Richie felt his heart grow lighter and his eyes lids become heavier. The second Richie realized was how beautifully each word rang in his ears; a soft hum like a morning dove.
Richie drew in a deep breath and let it out gently as he realized, briefly, how comfortable he was. His whole body felt paralyzed from the firm yet gentle hold Virgil had on him. Blinking a couple times, Richie finally glanced up at Virgil. As Virgil continued to sing, he felt Richie shift and looked down at him with warm smile. Virgil pulled Richie closer which earned him a small, pleased moan from Richie.
Richie was scared. He was mortified because it was at that moment he realized just how much he trusted Virgil. The one thing Richie was positive was going to take Virgil months or years to acquire, he had managed to gain in one night, and it scared Richie that he could so openly and easily trust another person, especially someone who had proven the capability of hurting someone that had hurt him, and hurt him horribly. However, in an instance, it was like nothing Virgil had done in the past mattered, and the only thing that did was right here, right now.
The realization of his trust for Virgil freaked out Richie and he began whimpering softly, squirming against Virgil's chest. Richie wanted to scoot back to his side of the bed and pretend he didn't trust Virgil; he wasn't ready to trust someone, especially someone he trusted already.
The small freak out awarded Richie a soft hushing sound from Virgil who moved the hand stroking his hair to Richie's shoulders where he made soft, gentle circles. He continued to sing the soft song he'd been cycling through for close to ten minutes.
As soon as Richie calmed, he was briefly aware of his heavy eyelids falling shut. Within moments, Richie had fallen into a deep, peaceful slumber.
A/N: Think all this happened way too fast? Yeah, me either.
To put it simply, Richie is still hesitant to trust Virgil, and Virgil is doing everything he can to show Richie he's changed; to show him he can be trusted. Richie wants to trust him, and he ultimately does, so he lets Virgil continue to prove it, not wanting to succumb to those feelings quiet yet, because it takes a lot to trust a person; it takes a lot to build back up trust for someone you used to trust with your life. (Quite literally his life - the whole superhero thing.) So, even though Richie DOES trust Virgil, he still doesn't. That's going to be the angst of this story for awhile.
BEFORE I FORGET: I WANT TO THANK Aintzane411 FOR ALL OF THE AMAZING HELP SHE HAS GIVEN ME THROUGHOUT THIS STORY. Seriously, she has helped me through so much writer's block and there's not enough words in the English language to adequately portray my gratitude. Thank you so, so much for all of your help. I seriously appreciate it more than you know.
Hope you all like this chapter! Sorry it's kind of short; it's more of a transition chapter, but it still serves purpose to the plot. (I would never post a chapter that doesn't contribute to the plot.) There will be a lot more to come in the next chapter!
We're getting to the end, guys!
Please review!