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Beep.
Beep.
Beep.
...
Bebebebebebebebebebebebebe-
The sound of it woke up everyone in the house. Patton first, because he'd been sleeping on the living room couch, and then Logan, who'd fallen asleep in Patton's arms last night. Then it woke Roman, who recognized the sound of it and rubbed his tired eyes in frustration. Ugh, an interruption to his sleep cycle? Who did this smoke alarm think it was?
Last but not least, it was Virgil's turn to wake up to the less-than-pleasant sound of constant high-pitched beeping. It took him a minute to realize that the sound was coming from a faulty smoke detector - his first thought was there's a bomb, and after realizing that was stupid, there's a fire. The constant beeps stopped, and now it was beeping randomly every fifteen seconds or so, and that was worse. God- he almost cursed out loud- when was that stupid thing going to quit?! He sat up in bed, rubbed his dark eyes, ran a hand through his messed-up hair. He didn't have time to fix his appearance, as much as he hated facing the others like this. He had to get out, figure out what the problem was, and--
Beep.
--and he had to stop being so startled every time another beep went off, he thought, forcing himself to let go of the blanket he'd just embarrassingly clutched onto for dear life.
Still desperately trying to fix his hair, Virgil left his room to tiredly walk over to the living room, where Logan, Patton, and Roman already were. They all looked at him as he walked in; Virgil just felt uncomfortably seen. His hair was still a mess, and he knew he must've had the worst dark circles under his eyes right now. Why did he bother coming out here, again...? Unable to answer his own question, Virgil nervously sat down on the edge of the couch, waiting for someone to speak.
Logan opened his mouth, but before he could say anything, another random beep loudly went off. Virgil panicked yet again, his fingers clutching at the couch he was sitting on. It was all he could do to not jump from the sudden fear, or worse, let out any kind of noise. God, that'd be embarrassing... he was such a coward. A wuss, more like, who couldn't stand the sound of a single, random beep. Why'd that goddamn thing have to be so loud?! It was just a stupid smoke detector, there was no reason for him to act like this, and... that just made everything worse. Virgil's heart kept on beating hard in his chest, and he trembled quietly, and there was nothing he could do.
Logan was saying something to them; it must have been important, or relevant, but Virgil couldn't make it out at all. His head was so foggy, he felt like he couldn't breathe. He was so stupid, so easily scared, so- Another beep startled him, and suddenly he could feel his heart beating even faster, no, it was all he could feel- tears were welling up in his eyes, and that only made him feel stupider- and suddenly he was breathing so heavily, so loudly, he couldn't stand this - another beep - he couldn't do it, couldn't keep feeling like this anymore, he--
Roman took his arm, he touched him right on his wrist- he actually touched him, he-
Virgil could just barely make out what Roman was telling the others. It sounded so distant, so far away, and Virgil was still sitting there, trembling, crying like a fool-
"I'm going to take him to my room." Roman paused for a second, still sounding distant. "It's... quieter there. That okay, Virgil?"
Virgil couldn't register that Roman was talking to him - hell, he still couldn't believe Roman was touching him - so he just let himself be led over to Roman's room. Roman closed the door behind them, and suddenly Virgil felt Roman's hands on his sides, guiding him to lay down on Roman's bed. He took a breath as he laid as flat against the bed as he possibly could. His instincts told him to sink into the soft, warm bed, that it was going to be okay... but he couldn't trust his instincts. He couldn't listen to them.
"You're okay, Virgil." The sound was less faint, less distant this time. His mind was clearing; he could tell it was Roman, and that he was addressing him. He felt... cold. His face was wet - oh, god, had he been crying? In front of everyone?
Virgil tried, really hard, to make words come out of his mouth. Anything, he told himself. Just tell Roman you're sorry, tell him you'll go back to sleep in your own room, tell him... Virgil strained himself trying, but for some reason it felt impossible. He gave up, and just looked up at Roman helplessly, still breathing heavy. Roman reached out a hand towards him, wiped the tears from his face. It felt so nice. Roman's warm touch, drying the tears from his cheeks, making his whole body feel warm and fuzzy and... Virgil let out a little, shaking sigh of relief, it just felt so much better.
Roman looked relieved, too, now that it was evident Virgil was feeling better. He finished wiping the tears from his face, giving Virgil a warm smile to comfort him. It was silent for a moment, Virgil still trembling quietly, before they both heard another beep from the living room. Virgil inhaled sharply, and gripped the blankets tight, letting Roman know exactly what the cause of his panic was.
"Oh, um," - Roman's voice didn't seem far away anymore - "here." He slipped his headphones over Virgil's ears, and suddenly all Virgil could do was look at him, starstruck. He knew wearing headphones comforted Virgil, he remembered, and he gave Virgil his own just to make him feel better. Roman took out his phone and turned on soothing music. It worked absolute wonders on Virgil.
"Thank you," Virgil whispered, the words coming to him a little easier this time. Now, it was Roman's turn to look starstruck.
Roman gave him another bright, kind smile; Virgil barely understood how Roman could still be this nice to him, even after he'd completely panicked and cried in front of him. Before now, he would never have taken Roman for the more understanding type. Not that they hated each other like they used to, but... this was just a completely different side of Roman.
"Just wanted you to feel better," Roman told him.
"I'm sorry I freaked out."
Roman frowned, looking at him softly. "You had a panic attack, Virge, that's not your fault." Virge. Oh, how he suddenly loved that nickname, loved the sound of it. "You don't look comfortable. Let me tuck you in."
"I love you."
Both of them were breathless then, in the silence following Virgil's blurted confession. Virgil's heart almost broke in the few seconds thereafter. He shouldn't have said that, shouldn't have expected Roman to understand what he meant and take it the right way, he just-
"I love you too, Virge, now go to sleep. You need it," Roman joked.
Well, maybe it sounded like joking.
To Virgil, it all seemed very real.