XXX Chapter 8: The Slide

Well, I hope anyone celebrating holidays around now is doing okay.

Honestly, I'm not doing so well mentally (holidays and otherwise) and I'm just really tired of so many things. I meant to post this morning, and that clearly hasn't happened. Idk.

XXX

Roman could hear the yelling more than well enough from his own room, and he made the executive decision to not get caught up in it. He felt a little bad for not going to back up Virgil, but he just… couldn't.

But then, a door slammed, and Roman could hear loud footsteps approaching his door, quickly followed by a near-frantic knock.

Ignoring the lead weight that had been holding him down, Roman got up and pulled the door open. He found Virgil on the other side, dark black eyeshadow trailing down his face with his tears. Before Roman could even react, Virgil slammed into him, grabbing the front of his shirt tightly, and let out a loud sob.

"Whoa there, it's okay Hot Topic," Roman spoke, voice soft, as he closed the door and led Virgil into the room.

He brought Virgil over to his bed and encouraged him to sit as the side continued to sob into his shirt.

"Virgil-"

"Is this my fault?" Virgil asked, cutting him off.

Roman blinked.

"What?"

"Is-Is it my fault Deceit did this?"

"What, no!" Roman denied, wrapping his arms around the other man. "Virgil…"

"If I-If I was nicer, maybe h-he wouldn't have…," he sobbed, trailing off at the end.

"Virgil, it's not your fault…," Roman denied. "We were all mean to Deceit, and he was mean to us. But apparently he's also mentally ill, and that's not your fault."

"But R-Remus said-"

"Remus says a lot of things, and he doesn't mean most of it," Roman pointed out. "And he's… he's hurting right now. Deceit hurt himself, but he doesn't want to blame him, so he has to find someone else to blame. And considering your past, it's easy for him to blame you."

Virgil let out a sob again.

"I-I don't- I didn't want this to happen!" he cried. "I didn't! I-I-I…!"

He pulled Virgil closer, hoping that the steady pressure of his arms would help to calm the anxious side down.

"I know… I know," he comforted. "None of us did. This shouldn't have happened, but that doesn't mean it was your fault."

Roman held Virgil as he continued to cry. He understood where Virgil was coming from- after all, Roman had some of his own guilt to contend with- but he didn't want Virgil to think this was really his fault. Perhaps none of them were completely blameless, but the situation wasn't that simple, and he doubted that Deceit was in such a state because of one single reason.

He also knew that Virgil and Deceit used to be close, and even if their relationship had long since fallen apart and turned bitter, he knew that there was still some part of Virgil that at least missed what they once had, if not a part that still cared about him. Roman thought he could understand that, too. He and Deceit had never been as close as the two of them were, but there was a period of time where Roman thought the two of them were friends. Deceit normally only talked to him when the others weren't around, and at the time, he'd thought it was because Deceit didn't get along with them and therefore didn't want to risk being seen. He hadn't realized that Deceit was trying to butter him up so he'd take his side when the time came. No, instead, he'd lapped up the false compliments like a man dying of thirst, absorbing every smile and laugh like rays of sunshine, thinking that Deceit cared about him and admired him and wanted to actually be his friend.

He turned out to be wrong, but that didn't make his feelings any less real, and it certainly complicated things once he realized that Deceit had been manipulating him. He understood how it hurt to still care for someone you no longer got along with, and he understood that in a context that wasn't too different from Virgil's experience, he thought.

Things were difficult, and most likely, they'd continue to be, but…

Roman just really hoped Deceit would wake up soon.

XXX

It had been about two weeks since they found Deceit, and he still wasn't showing any signs of waking up. At least his injuries were starting to heal more, but it was still at only a normal pace.

Things had been… especially tense since Remus's fight with Virgil. Remus was clearly still angry about it, seeing as he was even more prone to sporadic acts of destruction than usual and he gave Virgil a death glare every time they were in the same room as each other. Virgil, on the other hand, didn't really seem to be angry. Instead, every glare sent his shoulders drooping, and if there wasn't such thick eyeshadow beneath his eyes, Logan was pretty sure that the puffiness there would be accompanied by redness. All the evidence pointed to Virgil being upset, and it's not like he didn't know why Virgil could possibly be upset, considering the circumstances, but he did wonder just what exactly had been said during their argument. He and Patton hadn't yet returned to the Mindscape at the time, staying behind to speak to Thomas further, but when they returned, they found Roman attempting to console a sobbing Virgil and a pissed-off Remus. Roman then explained that Virgil and Remus had a fight in which Remus accused Virgil of being the cause of Deceit's situation. Which was certainly not helpful, but lashing out at people wasn't exactly an unheard-of response to stressful situations. The bigger issue was that, at least to some degree, Virgil apparently believed the accusation.

Ever since then, it felt like the others were walking on eggshells around Remus. Logan himself didn't see much of a point, seeing as he wasn't actually scared of the Duke (not to mention the fact that Deceit, and therefore Remus, were still in his bedroom).

That being said, Logan couldn't say he was surprised when Remus brought up taking Deceit back to his own room.

"I don't know if that's such a great idea, Kiddo…," Patton spoke hesitantly.

"And why not?" Remus growled. "DeeDee still hasn't woken up, and there's no point in keeping him in Nerdy Wolverine's room."

"No point?!" Roman asked, incredulous. "Who do you think has been taking care of Deceit this entire time?! You can't just drag him off somewhere because you had a fight with Virgil!"

Remus's eyes flashed dangerously, and the anxious side pressed himself further into his chair.

"Excuse me?!" he shrieked. "This isn't about fucking Virgil! And how in the fuck am I 'dragging him off somewhere'?! I want to take him back to his own room, dipshit!"

"Oh yeah, 'Cuz wanting to move him after you two fought doesn't suggest it's because of that."

"We fought a week ago, you dick!" Remus argued.

Silently, Logan was somewhat impressed that Remus had kept track of when the fight occurred (though that did suggest that Remus thought the fight was more important than he was letting on).

"Hey, maybe we should all just calm down-"

Remus spun his head toward Patton, twisting his neck just a little too far.

"No! Why the fuck should I have to calm down?!" Remus demanded angrily. "You and my stupid brother are acting like taking Dee back home is doing something wrong! I'm not trying to move him as some sort of stupid, petty jab at Virgil!"

Remus clenched his fists tightly enough that his nails were probably digging into his palms.

"I want to take him home!" Remus continued. "He's still not waking up, and maybe, putting him back in his own room will help somehow! I don't fucking know, but it's better to try something instead of just staring at him all day!"

It was then that Logan noticed Remus's eyes growing the tiniest bit wet in the corners, though there wasn't enough liquid to actually bring the tears to roll down the man's cheeks.

"I don't know how you all just conveniently forgot the past however many years, but none of you ever gave a shit about Deceit until now!" Remus shouted. "And now that he's hurt, suddenly, you're all pretending to care about him, and fine! But I'm his friend! I'm the one who actually fucking knows him, and I know that he wouldn't want to be fucking here when he could be in his own room on his own bed!"

Then, Remus stopped and took in a series of loud, deep breaths. Logan took the opportunity to speak up.

"As of right now, I don't believe there is any reason we can't move Deceit back to his own room," Logan told them. "I don't particularly mind having Deceit in my room while he is unconscious, but considering how our rooms tend to affect each other, there is a chance that being in his own room will be of more help to him than being in mine."

Remus blinked at him, seeming surprised for a moment before almost appearing… appreciative?

"That being said, though, I think it would be best to do another check-up on Deceit to make sure moving him won't aggravate any of his injuries," Logan added. "And we may have to change some things in his room in case he wakes up and tries to hurt himself."

He was pretty sure he saw Virgil wince out of the corner of his eye, but he didn't address it.

"Does this plan sound reasonable to everyone?"

And when no one protested, Logan left so he could perform the aforementioned check-up, with Remus following behind him.

XXX