the night of june 2nd // sanders sides ✔

43 : visiting remy

*TW: from here to the end of the book, but when there are topics i can say without spoiling something, i will say what they are, but FROM HERE ON OUT, BE CAREFUL.*

^^^

It was 7 AM when Patton went to visit Remy in the hospital, one week after he was shot.

"I'm gonna die," Remy laughed dryly. "I'm so gonna fucking die today."

"No, you're not," Patton told him, shutting his eyes painfully. He couldn't see Remy like this.

"They told me there was something else laced in the bullet. Something deadly. If Declan had found me, like, ten minutes later, I'd already be dead." He paused. "Patt, I'm gonna miss you so much."

"Me too." He held Remy's hand and gulped. "Isn't being here helping you?"

"They're doing everything they can... They have no idea what the bullet was coated with, and if they found out, I've spent most of my time here unconscious, so I wouldn't know anyway."

Patton hated how broken he sounded.

How pale he looked.

"I need Declan," he croaked out.

And when Declan arrived, Remy didn't die that day. Luckily, he stayed for yet another day. Declan ignored every call or text unless it was business, and stayed with Remy as long as he could.

He was wildly looking for answers. He needed Remy to know who did it.

He needed Remy.

The next day, Declan wasn't so lucky.

"He wants to see you immediately."

That was why Declan was speeding to the hospital and running up the stairs two steps at a time because he could run faster than the elevator could take him. His muscles were rock hard as his arms shook and his jaw tensed.

Remy was limp in the hospital bed, the nurse standing over him. She put a hand on Declan's shoulder before giving him a sad smile and walking out of the room to leave the detectives alone.

"How're you feeling?" Declan asked uneasily.

Remy just shook his head. "Worse. So much worse."

And his heart dropped. He didn't know what to say.

"I can't believe this is gonna be how I die."

Declan couldn't even pull a "you aren't going to die" again because he wasn't so sure anymore. He was never the most optimistic, even though he did try.

Remy turned a hand over to gesture for Declan to hold it, and Declan complied.

"His voice..." the younger of the two croaked out. "There was something so familiar about it, but I've never heard it before, y'know? Maybe it was just being drugged that did some shit to my brain, b-but, I dunno. I don't quite know anything anymore. And I swear, I felt Emile. Like, it felt like he was there trying to get me out before I ended up like him," he babbled.

The older of the two brushed his thumb across Remy's knuckles. "We'll find him."

"The only thing we do know is that Patton couldn't even walk correctly without crutches, and that guy back there was running. There is no way in hell Patton could've done it." Remy sounded relieved. "Thank God. Weed can be numbing, but not numbing enough that the effects of getting shot just go away like that."

"Don't stress out thinking about this," Declan instructed. "Just keep recovering. We'll have a definitive answer soon."

What Remy said made sense. But Logan seemed to be the least suspicious in general, and Remus, although strange, didn't have much evidence against him. Declan just hoped it wasn't Virgil. If it was Virgil, he wouldn't know what to do with himself.

He felt the urge to kiss Virgil whenever he saw him, and not like in the way they had done it before. He wanted something short, sweet, slow.

Virgil felt the same way.

So he had a medium sized paintbrush between his teeth and a small detail brush in hand. He remembered that he wanted to one day paint a picture of Declan, so that he did.

Painting his eyes was the best and worst part. They were beautiful, mesmerizing in every way. But they made Virgil fall harder. That should've felt like a good thing since Patton hadn't loved him back, but it still hit.

Tears stung his eyes and he let the brushes sit in water to get some tissues.

He could never love Declan, and he didn't know how he would react if he told him why.

(A/N: short chapter. you'll see why soon.)