Sanders' Sides Meets the Others

Patton and Virgil (Pt.2)

More and more people have been arriving to the party. Dozens more, at this point.

Yancy and JJ's friend Chase had come back from playing games. He was a fairly average looking guy, who looked just like JJ, and seemed really chill. Patton enjoyed sharing his stickers with him. Virgil had taken a few as well.

The music was loud. Despite them being far from the stereos, they all nearly had to shout to hear each other. To top it off, if Virgil closed his eyes and tried to see through Thomas', he was met with Thomas getting ready for the panel. That was about to start.

Overall, Virgil was about to lose it. Patton seemed to be having such fun, however, and Virgil didn't want to ruin it by saying he needed to go home. He didn't want to ditch patton and make him worry either.

All he could do was sit and watch them talk, hands shoved in his pockets, playing with the few stickers he'd put in there. He stared at his legs.

Patton leaned a little into his view, a worried look on his face. Crap. Virgil hadn't been as subtle as he thought.

"Hey, kiddo, you doing okay?" Patton was quiet enough that only Virgil could hear him.

"I'm fine," Virgil almost flinched at how his voice was echoing, like two voices talking at once.

Patton didn't move, though his frown deeped. "Wanna go home, Virgil?"

Virgil shook his head stiffly. As much as he was getting overwhelmed, he did actually like talking to Yancy, Chace, and JJ. If he said aloud that he wasn't doing okay, they might all blame themselves. Or they might get upset with him.

Leaning out of his view, Patton thought. He knew why Virgil wasn't letting him help. Patton had spent a while getting to understand what was going on inside of Virgil's head, and was trying his best. Suddenly, he had an idea.

He leaned towards their friends. "Has anyone been to the 'Quiet Room' that was written about in the letter?"

Yancy nodded, his tough aesthetic being ruined by the fluffy-realistic sticker of a kitten on his forehead. "Yeah, I's seen em. A whole hallway of rooms, over by the, uh, portals. Some fella named Dan lost his friend Phil and wasn't doin too well, so I took him to one. They're real nice. Quiet, lotsa movies and such."

Patton hummed to himself and drummed his fingers against his leg, thoughtful.

JJ scribbled on his white board, and showed it to Patton.

'Is something wrong?'

"Well..." Patton looked at Virgil, who had looked at him, but turned away. "Yeah. I'm just getting a little overwhelmed with all the people, you know?"

Virgil looked at Patton with surprise. He was pretending to be done with the party, for Virgil's sake.

"Oh, totally dude. I don't mind if you guys need to duck out." Chase shrugged, and Yancy and JJ agreed with him.

Virgil was pretty sure they knew it was him that wasn't doing okay. He played along anyway. "Uh... how big is the room? I know... like Patton enjoys people. So... if it's big enough...we could all watch a movie or something?" Virgil rubbed the back of his neck nervously.

Yancy waved his hand. "Oh yeah, it's a pretty good sized room. We could all fit in there."

"I'm down. Me and JJ can grab some snacks and drinks." Chase stood up, ready to start walking. Patton nodded.

"Sounds good! We'll meet you in the room."

They walked off to grab snacks. Yancy also stood up. "I'll show you's the way."

Patton held out his hand to Virgil, smiling softly when he grabbed it. Yancy led them through the people, and back towards where the portal that had brought them in was.

Next to space was a hallway, with a sign hanging above it that said "Quiet Rooms". Yancy brought them inside. Signs on the doors showed whether they were available or not. A red sign if they were in use, and a green sign if they were free, according to Yancy.

Yancy opened the first door with a green sign and led them inside. It was actually really nice. The lights were on a dimmer, so you could choose how bright you wanted it to be. A small table with hot chocolate packets, tea bags, mugs, and a kettle were placed near the door.

A TV was built into a media center, with many cases of movies and shows filling the shelfs. A very large fluffy couch was against the wall opposite to the media center, covered in blankets and pillows. There was a large bean bag, and a few armchairs as well.

It was overall, really nice. Virgil sat himself on one edge of the couch, pulling a blanket around him while patton chose a movie. Yancy cleared the blankets off of one of the armchairs and sat on it. Patton found a movie and turned to them.

"How about The Nightmare before Christmas?"

Virgil narrowed his eyes a little, unsure. He loved the crap out of that movie, but he knew it scared Patton. The look in Patton's eyes however, told him he wasn't going to back down from this.

"Works for me," Virgil shrugged. Yancy gave a thumbs up, and Patton started the movie.

Just as Patton was sitting down next to Virgil- but not close enough to be touching him- JJ and Chase entered the room with plenty of snacks. They set the snacks and various sodas on the coffee table and got comfortable. JJ took the bean bag, and Chase sat on the free end of the couch.

The movie started, and Chase got up to dim the lights. Patton was already clutching a pillow in his arms, even before the scarecrow on the screen started to move.

Virgil sighed a little and tapped Patton's leg with his. When Patton looked at him, he moved his arm up as an invitation for Patton to snuggle him.

Patton accepted, moving carefully to lay against Virgil's side, and Virgil put his arm down.

"Thanks, Pat," He whispered.

"No problem, Kiddo," Patton whispered back.