Sloppy Bandages | Self-Done First Aid | Makeshift Splint
You can fist fight demons but apparently icy fire escapes will be your demise. Unbelievable.
At least you remembered to keep it straight on the way home. Miss Medicine would’ve had words with you if you fucked up your arm even more by jostling it too much.
It occurs to you halfway through wrapping your arm that you probably should’ve taken your outer layers off first so people won’t see it. This is now a problem for Tomorrow Billy.
I had so much inspiration to write this. Like, thank you for this idea. Also, this is to hold you guys over until the next The Four chapter, which should hopefully be out soon. Anyway, I hope you enjoy!
No one knew who started the prank war.
Well, actually that's a lie. Everyone knew it was Roman who started it, with a simple yet effective prank on the smallest member of their family. Stealing his hoodie and putting it up on top of the kitchen cabinets. It had taken Virgil about an hour to climb up so high and a plan of revenge was already forming in his mind.
The borrowers revenge plan ended up being a rather crude drawing on the sleeping human's face. The lecture he got from Patton had been well worth Roman's reaction.
The pranks proceeded to go back and forth. They were small, funny, and mostly harmless. The two even found themselves having quite a bit of fun with it. Both eagerly awaiting the next person’s move and already planning their own in advance. And while Logan and Patton were not a part of the war, they did rather enjoy the smiles it left on the others faces. Especially Patton, he was just happy that everyone was getting along.
That was, until, Roman went a step too far.
To be clear, it had been an accident. Of course he hadn't meant to break Virgil's arm, but he hadn't exactly been careful with the amount of pressure he had applied to him. It had been one step in his grand prank plan, though in hindsight it hadn’t been a very good one. Looking back it had been a lot different than any other prank he had pulled, but that had also been the point. He had wanted to give Virgil a small scare, get a bit of adrenaline pumping in his system. He had never wanted to hurt him.
The snap still rang in his ears, as did Virgil's screams. He had immediately released Virgil from his grip, letting him sit in his open palm and looked over him worryingly. Virgil had been clutching his arm tight, his face scrunched up as tears fell. He tried looking over his arm, moving a finger closer to the borrower, but Virgil flinched away in response. Roman had simply retracted his finger, figuring he had deserved the reaction.
Both Patton and Logan had run in after they heard Virgil's cries. Patton had taken one look at Virgil and went into full on dad mode. Taking Virgil from Roman's hands and running out of the room to, Roman could only assume, the bathroom to fix him up. Logan had stayed behind, to get the story from Roman. Roman had told him, albeit a bit hesitant. Logan had given him a hard look after his explanation, one that had caused Roman to flinch. The logical man had left the room without another word.
It was now the next morning, with Roman not having seen Virgil since he had given him his broken arm. Honestly, though he would never admit it, he had been a bit scared of going out of his room after Logan left him. Scared of what Logan and mostly Patton would say. But more scared of actually seeing the damage he had done to Virgil. What if he hadn't just broken his arm? What if was actually worse than Roman had originally thought? These things kept him in his room, until that morning.
He got himself ready and prepared to meet the rest of the guys. That happened sooner than he had planned, for when he opened his door, Patton was there to greet him. Fist in midair as if he was about to knock. Roman could only guess he had just beaten him to it.
"Ah, Patton...Good morning." Roman spoke, feeling a little awkward. He felt a lecture coming on, one he would admit he rightly deserved.
“Morning, Ro.” Patton gave him a soft smile, it only barely reaching his eyes. At the expression, Roman felt a bit of relief. Patton wouldn’t be smiling if Virgil was that worse for wear. He straightened up and looked Patton in the eyes.
“I am truly sorry for last night. I didn’t mean to hurt him.” Roman said, eyes begging for forgiveness. Patton’s eyes softened.
“I know kiddo, I know.” Patton reached out a hand, rubbing Roman’s arm soothingly. “Though, I’m not the one you should be apologizing to.” Of course Roman knew that, but he had felt the need to apologize to everyone. He had caused quite a bit of fright after all.
“Of course. Speaking of, how is he?” Though he knew Virgil had to be doing okay for Patton to be this okay, a part of him was still scared of the answer. Patton bit his lip, before sighing. His hand fell away from Roman’s arm.
“He’s doing okay, for the most part. Thankfully, his arm didn’t break. It was just a fracture. A rather large one, though not as bad as if it had been broken.” Roman’s worried expression turned into one of relief and he even smiled.
“Well, that is good to hear!” It really was. Roman didn’t know what he would have done if he had seriously hurt Virgil. “I’m going to go see him and apologize.” Roman decided and quickly left Patton to go down the stairs. Patton turned after him worriedly.
“Roman, wait!” He shouted after him, but Roman was already gone. Not having heard him. Patton winced and quickly followed, knowing this wasn’t going to end well.
Roman made it downstairs and immediately noticed Logan sitting in his usual spot at the table. He had a book open and was sipping a cup of coffee. Roman’s eyes trailed downwards until he noticed Virgil, eating some scrambled eggs, his right arm wrapped and in a sling. Logan looked up from his book, his eyes widening when he noticed Roman’s presence.
“Roman, what-” Roman didn’t let him finish as he came closer to the table and spoke to Virgil.
“Virgil! How are you?” He asked. Virgil froze and his whole body was tense. Roman found it rather strange. Was the borrower still in some pain? Was that why he was acting like that?
“Virgil…?” He reached out a hand, intent on scooping him up and looking him over. He froze, however, when Virgil shot up and ran to Logan. Abandoning his eggs in the process. Roman let his hand fall and he watched Virgil with furrowed eyebrows as he stuck close to Logan.
“Virgil, what’s the matter?” He attempted to come closer, but was stopped when he felt a tug on his arm. He turned, seeing Patton had a rather strong grip on his arm.
“Patton? What on earth are you doing? Let go!” He attempted to break free of the grip, but man, Patton was stronger than he looked. He was pulled back several feet, near the stairs and away from Virgil and Logan.
“I’m sorry kiddo, but, well you see-”
“Virgil doesn’t want to see you right now.” Roman snapped his head in Logan’s direction, who had cut Patton off when he hadn’t been able to get the words out. Anger flared up in Roman, and he glared in the logical man’s direction.
“What is that supposed to mean? Virgil what is he talking about?” He looked at Virgil, forgetting for a moment that his glare was still present. The borrower flinched and moved even closer to Logan, hiding himself in Logan’s shirt. Logan sighed and gently scooped Virgil into his hand, being very mindful of his fractured arm. He held him close to his chest and looked at Roman with hidden anger.
“Virgil is scared of you.” Logan answered bluntly. Immediately, Roman’s anger lifted, only to be replaced with crippling guilt. Oh...so that’s what all that had been. Because of Roman’s stupid mistake, Virgil could no longer stand to even be in the same room with him. Not without freaking out, it seemed. Roman deflated and Patton let go, looking at Roman sadly.
“Come on kiddo...let’s head back up to your room.” Patton started to gently guide Roman to the stairs. Roman let himself be guided without difficulty, knowing he deserved this. He looked back once more, noticing how Virgil was watching him go. Roman bit his lip.
“I’m sorry Virgil...truly. I-I did not mean for it to go that far. I never-I never meant to hurt you.” Roman apologized quietly, in almost a whisper. If he spoke any louder he feared the tears would start to fall.
He went back up to his room before anything more could be said.
***
It had been a week. A week of Roman barely leaving his room. A week of not seeing Virgil. He missed the borrower, he truly did. But it was probably too much to hope that they were still friends at this point. Roman had been careless after all, he deserved Virgil’s fear.
Patton had taken to bringing Roman his meals, all except for dinner, which Roman decided to get himself once everyone else was asleep. Logan had come to see him once, a few days ago, to talk. While Logan was still mad at Roman, he wasn’t hostile either. They actually had a rather nice conversation and Logan seemed a little less mad when he left, which was good. Roman didn’t want to lose all of his friends.
He was currently laying down in bed, staring up at the ceiling and daydreaming. Though, daydreaming had quickly turned into thinking and now he was left wondering what was going to happen now? He couldn’t very well stay in his room forever, but he wasn’t going to make Virgil the one to hide away. Virgil didn’t deserve that. He deserved the freedom to go anywhere he pleased and to not be scared. Not like he was before.
Maybe he should move? Maybe it would be better for everyone. He liked this place and he liked living with his friends, but it would make it so he couldn’t make anymore mistakes. He wouldn’t mess anything else up and Virgil could live in peace. The others could live in peace, with the knowledge that Roman couldn’t hurt Virgil again. Yeah...maybe that was the better option.
Roman was so caught up in his own thoughts, in his own self-hate, that he didn’t notice the tiny figure climbing up the side of his nightstand. In fact, he didn’t notice the figure until a small voice broke the silence in the room.
“Roman?” Roman yelped in fright, so caught off guard he rolled and flipped off the opposite side of the bed. Virgil’s eyes widened and his next word was laced with worry.
“Roman!” Roman groaned and slowly picked himself off of the ground. He froze when he locked eyes with Virgil.
“Virgil? What-Why are you-?” Roman paused, blinked and looked down. “I thought you were scared of me.” Silence took hold of the room again and for a moment, Roman thought Virgil had left. Until he spoke up again.
“I was.” Roman glanced up, locking eyes with the borrower again. Virgil continued. “But, you didn’t deserve it. You made a mistake and yeah, it was scary, but-but I don’t want to lose what we had.” Roman felt his heart swell at the words, but he pushed the feeling away.
“I do deserve it, I-”
“No, you don’t.” Virgil spoke with a confidence Roman had never heard from him before. It caught Roman off guard and Virgil sighed.
“Patton is great. He was the first one I put trust into and he was the first human to treat me equally. He’s the best cuddler and he always knows how to help me when I have nightmares. I see him as the father figure I’ve never had and he’s already told me he sees me like a son. Even if he only is a few years older than me.” Roman was confused on where Virgil was going with all this, and maybe a little sad, but he didn’t dare interrupt and continued to listen anyway.
“Logan’s great too. At first, he could be a little terrifying. Even now, he can still be. But I know that’s just how he is and he doesn’t mean any ill will. Don’t tell him this, but if Pat’s the dad than he is definitely the mom.” Roman chuckled. “He helps me stay grounded during attacks and keeps me calm by reading to me or doing a puzzle with me. I know I can count on him.” Virgil paused, letting Roman take everything he said in.
“And then there’s you, Roman. You’re different than the others.” Roman swallowed a lump that had formed in his throat and bit his lip. He was nervous for what Virgil was going to say about him.
“You were the one I had the most trouble trusting, in the beginning. You were loud and over the top, not to mention grabby. And back then, I thought you saw me as more of a pet than a person.” Roman’s shoulders slumped and he looked down. “But,” Roman perked up. “After getting to know you and spending time with you and just after everything that we’ve gone through. Well, you probably treat me the most equally.” The look of confusion on Roman’s face caused Virgil to explain.
“Don’t get me wrong, the others treat me equally too. I don’t feel like I’m any less of a person around them. But, unlike them, you don’t treat me like I’m going to break. The others can be a bit...overprotective of me, a little too much sometimes. And I know you are too, but you also don’t let my size get in the way of, say, pranking me. We have fun together.” As Virgil spoke, Roman had gotten back on the bed and had moved closer to where Virgil was sitting on the edge of his nightstand.
“I know you didn’t mean to hurt me and...I want to move past it. Go back to how things were before. I don’t want this one mistake to end our friendship.” Virgil’s voice trailed off into a whisper and he fidgeted with the cast on his arm, but he looked up at Roman with a small smile on his face. Roman’s eyes shown with tears. He smiled back.
“You forgive me?” Roman asked, wanting to be absolutely sure. Virgil snorted and rolled his eyes.
“Of course I do moron, I wouldn’t be asking to move past this if I didn’t.” And there was the snark Roman was used to. Man, how he had missed it. Roman’s smile fell, but only a little.
“It will take a while for things to go back to how they were.” Virgil nodded.
“Oh, most definitely. Which is why I have to say no sudden pick me ups. You’re gonna have to ask me first.” Virgil smiled. “But remember, if I do end up flinching or something, please don’t take it wrong. Okay?” Roman nodded.
“Of course. And I will be extra careful, but also...not if-if that makes any sense.” Virgil chuckled.
“It weirdly does.” Roman full on grinned. He was honestly so happy that Virgil had forgiven him. That he didn’t have to move or stay away from Virgil forever. He liked his small emo friend and he didn’t know what he would do without him.
Roman fidgeted with his hand and he had to remind himself not to reach out and just grab Virgil. “Permission to hug?” Virgil blinked, face going a little red, but he smiled.
“Sure, dork.” Roman wasted no time in carefully scooping Virgil up and holding him close to his chest. And hey, Virgil didn’t even flinch! Roman didn’t realize he had missed holding Virgil this much and Virgil hadn’t realized he missed Roman holding him this much. They stayed like that for several seconds, until Virgil tapped Roman on the chest and the hand moved away. Now in front of Roman.
“Let’s go downstairs, the others are probably wondering where I am.” Roman blinked.
“Wait...did you not tell them you were coming up here?” Virgil shrugged and smirked, causing Roman to groan and quickly get up.
“Well then, we better hurry before they tear the whole house apart.” Virgil chuckled, mostly because he knew how true the statement was. They went downstairs, thankfully making it before the house became too much of a mess.
It would take a while to get things back to how they were, but both Roman and Virgil were willing to work towards it. After all, mistakes happen. And losing a friend over one would just be stupid.
I just wanted to burst into tears! Everything was so freakin' hard! I appreciate how incredible the human body is in its ability to heal, especially with the help of medical science. Yeah, yeah, yeah, but the burden sometimes leads to damp eyes.
Eight weeks post-injury
Yesterday, I took advantage of my newfound permission to drive by going to the grocery store alone. At Winco, they only have large shopping carts. With my one-pound lifting restriction, I had to control the shopping cart with one hand. That’s not as easy as you might think.
Winco is also a grocery store where you pack your own bags. (When you’re on a fixed income, every…
