The Only One

Chapter 7

Chapter 7: TW mention of toxic relationship, mention of suicide, suicidal ideation, reference to previously considering suicide, mention of sexual harrassment, mention of trauma

For someone that climbed onto Virgil's balcony completely uninvited, Roman was making himself right at home. He was lucky he was this attractive or else Virgil thought he'd probably have thrown him over the railings by now.

"Why is it you don't trust me to be alone? What do you think I'll do, kill myself or something?" Virgil had meant it as a stupid joke, but Roman's eyes welled up and he swallowed and bit his lip. He would have said something to reassure him, but he'd already lied about cutting and it would be unfair to suggest that he'd never at least considered killing himself. He didn't have quite enough willpower to bring him to an attempt, but the thought had sat around and festered in his mind for a few years. He decided the best he could do was redirect the conversation.

"Jeez, man. You literally never talked to me before today. What's the sudden obsession?"

"Before today, Marina wasn't your... girlfriend. Before today she never took you home."

"OK, so we've established that I wasn't 100% comfortable the whole time, and that she could have been... gentler, but there's no reason for you to be like this. You seem to be taking this a lot harder than I am, and I'm not sure if you realize but it happened to me, not you." This wasn't true, of course. Virgil would have been taking it very, very hard, but he was in a state of considerable shock. It didn't seem like that big of a deal to him yet, mainly because the entire day had blurred in his mind. Possibly his own brain was trying to protect him from the trauma while it could.

"Are you forgetting again that she did happen to me? And she went so much farther with you, and even after she would kiss me I'd feel dirty, and I didn't want to be in my own skin, I felt so disgusting for even existing, and I just-- I would hate it for you to feel even half of that but I know you're feeling so much more, and--"

"Dude, I really think you need a hug much more than I do right now. I don't usually do this, but... c'mere."

He reached out and held Roman until the latter stopped crying and shaking. Later, Virgil didn't know what made him do it. He hated being touched, he hated hugs and physical affection of any kind. But something about how vulnerable Roman had made himself, his soul laid bare, made Virgil feel he merited it. He wasn't sure if there was a single person in the world other than this kid he'd properly met only hours before whom he would willingly let touch him, but he did know that he was perfectly comfortable in that moment.

~~next morning~~

Virgil woke up comfortable, well-rested and energized for the first time in what he realized was probably years. He was achey, from sleeping in a weird postition, and he wasn't happy, of course. He couldn't be. Marina had happened only yesterday. But somehow, he had actually slept the whole night. He didn't even have a single nightmare. How?

Oh. Right at that moment, he fully woke up and saw that he and Roman had fallen asleep on Virgil's bean bag. They were five inches apart at most, facing each other, and... Virgil was almost embarrassed to notice it, but Roman had somehow managed to sleep with his arms around Virgil.

Paling at the thought of his dad walking in right then, he looked at the clock hanging above his bed. 7:30 am. Oh, shit. He had to leave for school in half an hour, but there was the problem of this stupidly attractive life form in his room. He really needed to do something about that. Time to say he was sick and couldn't possibly go to school. There was a tiny chance his dad would believe it, but he was counting on the fact that he never skipped school. Carefully extricating himself from Roman, and noticing bitterly how nice it felt for a pretty male to hold your waist and also that he was truly quite pgay, he tried to look sad and pathetic and sick before going downstairs.

"Hey, Dad? I woke up today not feeling so great... I don't feel like I'll be much use at school."

"Well, then, you should probably stay home."

Really? It was that easy? He'd have to remember this one. Celebrating internally, he groaned and said, "Argh, I hate being unproductive," and stormed very frustratedly and not at all with any relief up the stairs. That's how his dad always responded to having to miss work, and since he'd been told all his life how like his dad he was he figured he should uphold the reputation.

He walked in to find Roman now sitting up on the edge of the bean bag, looking around the room.

"Shoot, did I fall asleep here? I'm so sorry, I was gonna sneak back home before morning and go to school..."

"Don't sweat it, you'd have fallen asleep first period. Trust me. I told my dad I'm sick, and he never hears anything, so you won't be found out."

"Um... okay."

Virgil hadn't really thought over the fact that this whole genius plan of his to stay out of trouble meant he was stuck in his room, with Roman of all people, for no less than 8 hours. Oh, God. This would be a fun day indeed.

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Hey guys almost to 100 reads? How? Anyway, I hate being this person but seriously I mean it! I want feedback! This is my first ever published story, and I know there are a million ways I could improve so please please please give me your honest constructive criticism!!