To the Unseen Eye: Chapter 2
Word Count: 1,150
Warning: Mentions of abuse and neglect (As in, the words are said and are no further specified), crying
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Summary: Patton, Logan, and Roman agree to letting Virgil move in with them. It’s clear now that Virgil hasn’t had a great life...
Note: I wrote this to spite @hickory-dickory-doc-k for chapter 9 of A Get-Together and Getting Together. So to you, how dare you make me feel emotions, this angst fest is for you!
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Patton sat on the couch across from Emile and the boy apparently named Virgil, Logan next to Patton, and Roman on Patton’s other side. Roman was surprisingly sitting normally, Logan a little rigid and nervous. Patton was glad to know he wasn’t the only one.
It had taken a moment for Virgil to feel comfortable enough walking in. Emile was patient though and soon enough, he was ready to discuss the issue with the three others present.
“Alright, thank you for inviting me in, it really helps,” Emile smiled slightly. “So I’d like to introduce you to Virgil, everyone. He’s an incoming freshman too, there were some.. complications with his dorm situations and I decided I needed to help him with finding a new place to stay. I thought the three of you would be perfect for helping Virgil feel safe and welcomed.” Emile started explaining the situation before his attention was taken elsewhere, looking to Virgil’s general direction, and reading the little sticky note the boy had written. His face lit up with realization and he nodded.
“Ah, my bad, where is your bathroom?” he asked.
“Down the hall, first door on the right,” Patton said and the silver bell softly jingled as Virgil walked to the bathroom, locking the door.
Emile frowned and turned back to them. “I didn’t want to say it in front of Virgil but he’s had a history of abuse and neglect. He spent the last year or so in the foster care system after he was taken away from his parents and he just..” he paused. “He wasn’t treated well by anyone who took care of him so one day, he became invisible.. I would host him in my dorm but we don’t have enough rooms to give him his own. I trust you three, I hoped you’d be alright with helping him. He’s alone, he doesn’t have anywhere to go. I just want to make sure he’s ok.”
Patton glanced to his roommates and they both nodded. He smiled brightly, subconsciously hearing the bathroom door click and swing open. “We’d love to have Virgil stay here, as long as he wants to.”
Emile breathed a sigh of relief and smiled back. “Wonderful, that would be so kind of you,” he said before getting up. He turned to Virgil. “Virgil, are you ok with this?”
The bell softly jingled as the invisible boy nodded.
Patton nodded back and Logan looked to Virgil. “If you’d like, Virgil, we already have another room set up for a bedroom, you can move in right now,” Logan offered.
“What do you think, Virgil?”
The bell softly jingled as he nodded again, surprisingly without hesitation. Patton couldn’t help a bright smile at that.
Virgil didn’t even have anything besides essentials to bring in so he was officially a part of the household within the span of an hour.
Patton softly knocked on the door to Virgil’s bedroom when he was about to head to bed. He expected a voice telling him to come in, only to hear the bell and the door click open. Patton slowly pushed it open.
“Hey Virgil, just wanted to check in on you. How you hanging in there?”
Silence followed and Patton’s eyes lit up as he saw Virgil’s invisible hand pick up a stack of sticky notes.
“Right right, I’ll stick to yes or no questions, my apologies!” he corrected, taking a deep breathe. “Are you doing alright?”
Virgil nodded, the bell’s sound accompanying its movement.
“Good, I’m glad to hear that,” Patton smiled. “Is there anything we can get you? Either for right now or tomorrow?”
A pause and the pencil lowered down to the sticky note but then stopped.
“I know it might be a lot to expect of you if it’s personal. I know you’ve just met me, but I promise I want you to have the things you need. So if it’s anything you think is embarrassing to admit, I promise I won’t judge you for it. Unless the issue is that you really can’t think of anything, and that’s ok too,” Patton explained, doing his best to smile.
It was definitely not normal for him to talk to someone who couldn’t communicate back. He had learned sign language when his mother lost her hearing and could effectively communicate with a person who could sign. He was not accustomed to communicating with someone invisible and voiceless though. He’d heard plenty of horror stories about invisible children. For a while, people had actually considered them ghosts, something that kept being fueled into. But they were real people, real people who could be helped, real people HE could help.
A soft poke to his arm snapped him out of his thoughts and he saw Virgil holding up a sticky note.
‘Can I have a nightlight please?’
Patton’s eyes widened and he rushed to his room. He heard the bell frantically sound after him.
“Ah, I know it’s somewhere!” Patton said to himself as he dug through a couple cardboard boxes under his bed. “C’mon, I know I brought it with me, heck,” he muttered.
“Aha!” he finally exclaimed, holding up a crescent moon shaped nightlight, a bright smile overtaking his face. Virgil softly sat in front of him and Patton looked to him, blindly feeling for the boy’s hands. He softly placed the nightlight in his hands.
“I used a nightlight until I graduated from high school and moved in with Logan and Roman. I still get a little scared of the dark. But I think you need it more than me. I’d be happy to give it to you if it’ll help, Virgil.”
Virgil didn’t make any attempt to move and Patton felt a few drops of water drip down on to their joined hands.
“Oh Virgil, kiddo, it’s ok, you’re safe here,” Patton spoke softly, feeling gently for Virgil’s face and wiping away the tears that started streaming down the invisible boy’s cheeks. “Is it ok for me to kiss your forehead, kiddo?”
His hands moved with Virgil’s head as he felt the boy nod. He smiled and leaned up, planting a soft, loving kiss to Virgil’s bangs. “There there, you’re alright now, we’re all here for you.”
Virgil eventually calmed down and in the meantime, Patton wiped away any tears that streamed down his new roommate’s face.
“Are you hungry? Would you like any food?” Patton asked.
‘Isn’t it a little late?’ Virgil had written on another sticky note.
“Absolutely not, it’s never too late to make sure you’re fed.”
Patton could tell from the way Virgil’s face moved under his hands that he was smiling. Patton smiled back as Virgil softly took his hand, walking towards the kitchen.
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Hey guys! Hoped you liked the second chapter! You guys excited for more? I sure hope so, I love hearing that you guys enjoy what I write and create in general!
So I have an important question to ask you guys before we progress with the story. I was intending to keep this from Patton’s viewpoint but I think it is important to show how Virgil will bond with each of them as they attempt to figure out how to help him. So would you guys like to keep the focus on Patton’s viewpoint or would you like me to show interactions from the viewpoints of Roman and Logan as well? Please let me know in the comments or tags or wherever and I’ll make a decision off of your guys’ feedback!
Hope you enjoyed this chapter again and I can’t wait to see you next time!
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Taglist: @stop-it-anxiety, @sleepy-starling, @hickory-dickory-doc-k, @virgils-paranoia, @anotheregofanficblog, @ambersky0319, @marshmallow-the-panda
