#theme: hug

[sleepyvirgilprompts]

Virgil, edging towards Janus: I'm not tired and I don't want a hug.

Janus: ...

Virgil, slightly louder: I'm not tired and I don't want a hug.

Janus: You're asking me to call BS, aren't you.

Virgil: Tired. Hug.

Janus, relenting: Well, since you're not tired and you don't want a hug, I'm guessing sitting here with me won't help you fall asleep. ...And I'm guessing you haven't been awake for an unreasonable amount of time.

[sleepyvirgilprompts]

With the right strategy, a hug and a few soothing words can be all Virgil needs to snap out of a spiral of overwork and exhaustion and finally agree to rest. Logan has spent no little amount of time and effort developing the right strategy.

[sleepyvirgilprompts]

"Hey," said Thomas, and Virgil nearly jumped out of his skin.

"For fuck's sake," he muttered, glaring at Thomas. "You could've turned on a light or something."

"So could you," Thomas pointed out.

Virgil's glare intensified.

Thomas raised his hands disarmingly. "I didn't mean to startle you. I just-- you look like you could use a hug."

Virgil hunched his shoulders. Thomas waited for him to either respond or leave. Finally, looking at the ground, he said, "Yeah."

Thomas hugged Virgil, and to his surprise, Virgil sagged against him, like he was too tired to stand on his own. Thomas wondered what exactly Virgil was doing downstairs so late at night.

[sleepyvirgilprompts]

Virgil hates the way a hug can melt him when he's tired and upset. It's embarrassing. ...It's also really, really comforting and he will absolutely take hugs if he can get them-- or, better yet, cuddles. Cuddles are a surefire way to get him to fall asleep, which unfortunately can only be used when he's the wrong combination of tired and upset that means he doesn't care how embarrassing it is.

[sleepyvirgilprompts]

Virgil, from behind Roman: Princey. Don't move.

Roman: What?!

Virgil: *hugs Roman*

Roman: What is this?

Virgil: It's called a hug.

Roman: No! I mean-- you walked up behind me, told me not to move, and hugged me. What's going on?

Virgil: ...I don't fucking know. You're warm.

Roman: You're sleep-deprived, aren't you?

[sleepyvirgilprompts]

Virgil tends to be more physically affectionate than usual when tired or sleep-deprived. For him, more physically affectionate than usual means he might sit down particularly close to you and ignore you, and if you then try to hug him he won't stop you. If you do, he's likely to fall asleep leaning against you.

[sleepyvirgilprompts]

Virgil was Tired, with a capital T.

The capital T didn't just mean he was more tired than he would be with a lowercase T. It was a specific kind of tired. Being Tired meant that he wanted to sleep but it wasn't going to happen until he convinced his brain to shut up which it wouldn't do until it managed to understand the concept of "nothing is wrong you dumbass". ...And it was hard to make it do that by himself. He was going to need help.

Roman would offer him a distraction. Logan would reason with him and walk him through grounding exercises. Patton would give him a hug, or hold him for a while. Tonight that sounded really good.

Time to go find Patton, then.