sorry, wrong number | prinxiety

10

TW: Detailed depiction of self harm
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POV: Roman
3:45 PM
4 days since last encounter

Since their last encounter, Roman hadn't heard from Virgil much. He knew it was because he had made things awkward. He knew he was to blame, and it was killing him.

He had a fondness for Virgil that he never had with anyone else, not even with Patton.

Over the last two weeks, he felt that he grew really close to Virgil, and would even consider him to be one of his best friends. He didn't know why, but from the moment he first met Virgil, he felt like he had found a missing puzzle piece. Roman felt complete when he was with him. He thought that maybe it was because he's just a hopeless romantic, or maybe he just grew attached to people too fast, but one thing he knew for certain was that he couldn't let Virgil go. He couldn't imagine losing that puzzle piece to his heart again.

Virgil's silence had begun to worry Roman, to a point where he decided to push aside the intense awkwardness that had grown between them and finally text him.

3:45 PM
Roman: hey

Roman waited by his phone for a while before he finally gave up and put it down. He knew he wouldn't get a response right away, but he was eager to at least make sure that his friend was okay.

He headed downstairs to the kitchen to make himself something to eat. He felt that he needed some kind of distraction to take his mind off of worrying for a while.

"Hey, kiddo!" Patton chimed from the dining table. He was playing 'one-man jenga' with a miniature jenga set he had gotten last Christmas.

"Oh. Hey, Pat." Roman said as he opened the fridge. Patton seemed to notice the change in Roman's usual uppity tone, because he got up from his jenga set (which he never does) and walked over to Roman.

"Something eating you?" he asked, concerned.

"It's just Virgil." Roman sighed. "I think I might've made things awkward between us, and now he won't text me. I'm worried about him."

"I'm sure he just needs some time to himself, to process whatever happened between you two." Patton reassured. "Maybe try calling him. Or send him a voice memo. If you explain everything and express your worry, I'm sure he'll understand." He suggested, giving Roman a smile.

Roman perked up at this. A voice memo. He hadn't thought of that.

It would probably get Virgil's attention better than a text. He thought.

Roman gave Patton a quick hug, thanking him for his advice before grabbing some cookies and heading back to his room.

POV: Virgil
3:30 PM

Virgil was distressed, to say the least.
He couldn't get those thoughts of Roman out of his head. Rejection was something Virgil didn't take lightly; anytime he got rejected, he'd think even more about the person than he did before. This time was particularly bad because he wasn't just infatuated with Roman: he was obsessed with him.

Virgil tried to suppress those feelings, as they made him feel like a creep. Every night he tried to sleep, and every morning he woke up, he thought only of his unrequited love.

He played those moments over and over again in his head. They taunted him, convinced him he wasn't worthy of being loved. He knew it was unfair to blame Roman for feeling this way, but he couldn't help it. He was helpless.

To an outsider, the whole situation would seem dumb. Insignificant. But to Virgil, it felt like his world was turned upside down. To Virgil, this dumb, insignificant moment led to what he was doing at this very moment.

Virgil sighed shakily, steadying his hand atop his wrist, a thin blade gliding against it. He could feel the warm blood on his wrists glide off his skin onto the cold bathroom floor. He could smell the awful metallicy scent emitted from his fresh wounds. He regretted it, he wanted to stop; but to him it felt like the only way to relieve the stress he had been under lately.

On top of the situation with Roman, he had a lot of stressors in his life: he was behind on bills, his cousin Remus had tried contacting him recently after months of trying to go no-contact, and he generally had been feeling more depressed and anxious lately. Even before he met Roman, all of this had been eating away at him for some time. It never got to a point where he started cutting again, but being rejected was only the tip of the iceberg that broke him. It was only a small detail in the long list of things that drove him over the edge; but that list was long, and it only needed one tiny detail to snap that thread he had been hanging onto for months now.

He felt a strange sense of relief from cutting himself up, as if the stress was physically oozing out with his blood. It gave his brain a different kind of pain to focus on, one that somehow felt more tolerable. He shook his head, dissapointed in himself as he tossed the bloody blade back into the tiny black box he had taken it from. He closed it up and put it under the sink before putting his arm under the faucet and gently wiping off the blood.

He wrapped himself up with gauze and put a striped arm sleeve on top to keep it all secure.

He rubbed his face, burying it in his hands. He couldn't keep living like this, he knew that. He knew he needed help, and that this kind of response to stress wasn't normal; but he knew that once he sought out help, he'd have to stop.
He wasn't ready for that.

Ding

Virgil jumped slightly at the notification sound. He hadn't contacted anybody but work for a few days; he felt he had nothing to say. When things got bad, the last thing on his mind was how he'd entertain conversations, or put on an act for others just to avoid worry or suspicion. He'd rather cut it all off altogether.

With a small inkling of hope, though, he decided to check it. He wanted it to be Roman, even though he knew he didn't love him the same.

3:50PM
Roman: Hey

4:25PM
Roman: *voice memo*

Virgil felt a small jump of excitement in his chest. He realized that he was so deep into his own head that he hadn't even realized Roman had already texted him.

Virgil clicked on the voice memo, and was greeted by a familiar princely voice.

"Hey, Virge. I, uh. I'm really sorry about. You know. Uh... I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable, or scare you away, I know it was weird and creepy for me to joke around like that. Uh... I just. I want to make sure you're okay. Because I care about you Virgil, I really do. I don't want anything bad to happen to you. If you don't wanna talk to me, I understand, but please let me know that you're okay, and that you're safe. Maybe we can meet up sometime next week, if you're okay with it. Uh.... I miss you. Talking to you, I mean. I uh... yeah. Okay, bye."

Virgil couldn't help but let a small smile creep onto his face.

He misses me?
He cares about me?

Virgil felt a tear fall down the side of his cheek, and cursed himself for being so damn emotional. He took a deep breath, and decided to send a voice memo back to him.

"Hey Princey. I'm sorry I worried you. I've just been having a hard time lately, I have a bad habit of pushing people away when that happens. I-I'm sorry. I'm safe, I'm okay, don't worry. I'm down to meet up next week, just let me know when you're free.

And I uh. I-I miss you too, Roman. Bye."

4:42 PM
Sent