Patton the Friendly Ghost
For @sanderssidescelebrations prompt ‘Ghost!Side’
Summary: Virgil finds a new guest in their apartment. (Ghost!Patton)
Pairings: bit of platonic analogical and implied platonic analogince
Word Count: 960
Warnings: brief mention of being killed (as a joke), cursing
Fun fact, the beginning of this was inspired by something that actually happened to me last week
~~~~~
Virgil gritted his teeth and took a deep breath. He was trying to scroll through Tumblr while laying on the couch in the living room, but there was an insistent hum coming from down the hallway that made it impossible for him to focus.
He was certain the sound was coming from the TV in Roman’s room. It was the same sound Virgil could sometimes hear at night from his roommate’s room when he was sitting in bed. Stifling a growl, Virgil tossed his phone beside him and stood up.
He grumbled as he made his way down the hall to Roman’s room. The door was open ajar. Virgil knocked on the doorframe, despite knowing that the thespian had gone home to visit his parents for the weekend. Honestly, you’d think he’d have enough sense to turn off his TV when he left for multiple days, but guess not.
Except the TV wasn’t on. Virgil poked his head through the door, and the screen was black and silent. That’s weird. Well, at least Virgil knew the noise wasn’t coming from the TV. Maybe it was just the hum of the heater, or he’d imagined it.
Shrugging, he walked back to the couch, deciding to put on his headphones to drown out the sound.
A couple hours later, his other roommate, Logan, came home. Virgil pulled off his headphones when he heard him calling his name.
“What’s up?” Virgil called back.
“Do you know if there’s a particular reason that Roman left his television on while he’s not present?” Logan asked.
“Huh?” Virgil sat up and tossed the blanket off of himself. He made his way towards Logan, who was standing by Roman’s door.
“Roman’s television. It’s on.”
“No, it’s not,” Virgil insisted.
“Virgil, I’m quite sure it is,” Logan said, stepping aside to let Virgil look into the room.
Logan was right. The TV was on, playing an episode of Parks and Rec at a reasonable volume.
Virgil looked around the room with narrowed eyes. “Lo,” he turned back to his roommate, “did you turn on the TV?”
Logan gave him a curious look. “Why would I ask you why the television is on if I’d been the one to turn it on.”
Virgil shook his head, scanning his eyes around the room again. “Yeah, you’re right.” Logan walked in and reached for the remote. “It’s just… the TV wasn’t on earlier.”
Logan turned off the TV and they both made their way out of the room. “Are you certain?” Logan inquired, pulling the bedroom door closed behind them. Virgil nodded. “Perhaps you were mistaken. Or it could potentially be on a timer.”
“Right,” Virgil hummed, though his attention was focused elsewhere. He barely gave a nod when Logan excused himself to his room. With a shake of his head, he walked to the kitchen, choosing to leave the matter behind.
~~~
Virgil slowly blinked his eyes open. He didn’t remember falling asleep, but he must have because the living room was completely dark. He squinted at his phone screen, seeing that it was nearly one in the morning.
Before Virgil could rub the sleep from his eyes, he heard shuffling from in the kitchen. Logan was adamant about proper sleep schedules, so it couldn’t have been him, and Roman was the only other occupant of their apartment. So, ignoring everything that the many horror movies he’d ever watched had taught him, Virgil’s sleep-addled brain decided he should investigate the sound. He slowly crept to the kitchen doorway, mind too fogged to form anxious thoughts as he peered in.
Whatever he was expecting, it certainly was not what he found.
There was a person—or not a person, since Virgil could see through their faintly blue-tinted body and they appeared to be floating a couple inches off the ground, but they looked like a person otherwise—was standing at the kitchen sink.
They saw Virgil in the doorway (somehow, Virgil was too tired to figure out exactly how) and turned around wearing a sheepish grin. “Oh, uh… hey kiddo.”
Virgil just stared. This was definitely a dream. Or some weird sleep-induced hallucination. Definitely not real.
When Virgil continued to stand in the doorway, staring unblinkingly with his mouth open, the… whatever it was rubbed a hand at the back of its neck.
“Kiddo, are you alright?”
Virgil stayed silent for a few moments. Then, he said, “I really can’t handle this shit right now.” With that, he turned around and walked back into the living room.
The thing gasped and followed him. “Language, young man!” he admonished. He sped up to cross in front of Virgil, causing him to stop in his tracks. “Sorry, I should explain myself.”
Virgil’s slow blink was the only response.
“Okay,” the thing continued when it was clear Virgil wasn’t going to say anything. “Gosh Emile’s gonna kill me for getting caught. Or kill me again, I suppose,” he added with a giggle. “Well, my name’s Patton, and I’m a ghost!”
Again, Virgil just blinked slowly.
“I can explain myself again in the morning when your noggin is working a little better, but for now I’ll just tell you why I’m suddenly here. I used to be in the apartment below yours, but it got too crowded down there, so I thought I’d move up here. I hope that’s alright with you?”
Virgil barely nodded his head, still unsure whether this was a dream or not.
Patton giggled again. “I think you should head on to bed, huh?” He moved aside, and Virgil slowly started trekking to his bedroom. “G’night, kiddo!”
Virgil shut the door behind him and collapsed onto his bed. Sleep almost immediately overtook him. He only had one thought before drifting off:
What the fuck?