Songbird (LAMP/Polysanders)

Chapter Four

Virgil blinked as he slowly began to wake up. Staying still on the bed, Virgil allowed himself to take in his surroundings. However, once he noticed other voices in the room, whispering to one another, he jolted, memories of last night coming back to him. "Fuck," Virgil thought, mind swarmed with panic, "fuck fuck fuck." His sudden movement had made the others aware that he was awake and they had quickly made their way over to the bed. It was silent for a few moments as Virgil stared back at Patton, Roman, and Logan, before Virgil got up off the bed, attempting to walk around the three. Before he could, however, Logan grabbed his arm. "Don't touch me!" Virgil hissed, pulling his arm from Logan's grasp. Once again, the three started at Virgil as he panted, attempting to lessen the panic.
Patton was the first to speak, gulping and smiling (Virgil knew it was fake), "Kiddo... we, we don't want to hurt you, okay? We just want to talk, if that's okay." As he spoke, Patton moved forward, trying to coax Virgil into relaxing.
It clearly had the opposite effect upon Virgil as he growled "No, that's not okay," backing into the wall, "Leave me the fuck alone."
    Roman, who had been standing silently behind his partners, jaw clenched, spoke up, "No, I will stand for this-this abuse no longer!" Virgil shrunk into his cloak at Roman's volume, "I'll kill Remus for this!" He exclaimed, hands flailing wildly. Virgil fisted his hands on the seam of his cloak in response.
    "Roman." Logan said calmly, placing a hand on the prince's shoulder, "You are scaring him." He stated, looking straight at Virgil.
    Roman stopped immediately, hands stalling in the air. "Oh," he murmured, "Oh, I didn't— I'm sorry," he apologized. Virgil didn't respond.
    "Kiddo please just, can you just tell us one thing?" Patton asked, wringing his hands nervously. Virgil didn't respond verbally, instead raising his eyebrow, prompting Patton to continue, "Is all of this... consensual? Because if so then we'll... leave you to it! We just... want to help if we can." Patton's fake smile had returned as he continued to wring his hands.
    "What?" Virgil rasped looking between the three men in front of him. Patton blinked, taken aback. He opened his mouth only for nothing to come out. He looked to Logan for help.
    "Consent is when a person, which, in this case, would be you, voluntarily agrees to the proposal or desires of another. Consent can not be given when one is unconscious, intoxicated, etcetera or when strategies such as black mail are involved. Consent can be revoked at any time."
    Virgil blinked, processing the information Logan has provided him with, "Look man," Virgil said, running a hand through his hair, "I don't really know what you're talking about, but you guys should leave." He still needed to get changed in his room on the other side of the castle before breakfast took place in 45 minutes.
    "Fine." Roman said, moving towards the door, "But we'll be back." Not waiting for a response before leaving the room. Logan frowned, nodding to Virgil before chasing after the Prince.
    Patton reached out before thinking better of it, clearing his throat instead, "He... we just want to help, kiddo. Just... if you ever need to talk I'm... we're here." His smile, although sad, was much more real than Virgil had seen all night. as he walked out.
                                                ----

    "Virgil!" Damien exclaimed, raising his voice to get the boy's attention. Virgil blinked, raising his eyes to Damien's.
    "What?" Virgil hissed. Damien raised an eyebrow at Virgil's response, waiting to see if the boy would apologize for his tone. He didn't.
    Damien sighed, rolling his eyes, "Honestly," he said, adjusting his gloves, "You need to calm down."
    In response, Virgil threw his fork on his plate, the sound making Remus startle and Damien sigh again. The boy screamed as he stood up from his chair, the chair falling loudly behind him. Virgil stayed where he was, shaking hands curled into fists as the screams transformed into tears. Eventually, Virgil stood sobbing as Damien continued to eat. Remus, however, stood up and walked towards Virgil, who flinched once Remus got close.
    Remus took Virgil's face into his hands, ignoring the way Virgil's shoulders rose to his ears and his eyes avoided Remus's face.
    "Aw, is little Virgey sad?" Remus cooed, squeezing Virgil's face in his hands.
    "St-stop it." Virgil stuttered, trying to bat the hands away from his face.
    Remus hummed, squeezing Virgil's face harder, "No!" He exclaimed, laughing.
    "Remus." Damien's voice boomed, causing Remus to grumble and release Virgil's face. Damien straightened in his seat as he looked at Virgil, reaching one of his hands out, "Key." He said simply, extending his hand more.
    "No!" Virgil exclaimed, hugging his cloak, where the key to his parents' room rested, closer to his body, "Please, no! I didn't mean it! I-I'll be better, don't, please!"
    Virgil continued to babble pleas as Damien snapped at Remus, pointing him to Virgil. Remus immediately made his way to Virgil, where he reached inside the boy's cloak. Virgil's eye met Remus' as he grabbed the key, and Virgil noticed the tiniest bit of guilt in them, "Please," Virgil mouthed quietly, staring at Remus. Remus' eyes darted back to Damien's, and back to Virgil's. Slowly, Remus pulled the key out of the cloak, stepping towards Damien and dropping the key into his outstretched hand.
    Virgil clenched his eyes shut, a few more tears making their way down his face. "You may have this back when you can control yourself again." Damien said, standing to make his way out of the room. As soon as the King and the Duke had left, Virgil collapsed onto the floor, curling in on himself and sobbing.
    Virgil didn't know how long he had been on the floor before he heard a soft voice behind him, "Kiddo?" The voice asked. "Patton." Virgil thought. Exhausted, Virgil remained slumped over as he listened to Patton walk closer. Slowly, Patton kneeled down next to Virgil, hand hovering over his back. "What's wrong, kiddo?" He said, voice soft. Instantly, Virgil was reminded of Emile and began to sob again. "No, no, hey!" Patton said, panicking, "It's okay honey! Can I touch you?" Exhausted, and wishing for comfort, Virgil ignored his anxiety and nodded. Slowly, Patton gathered Virgil in his arms, and pulled the boy into his lap (it wasn't hard to do, considering his size and weight. Both of which, Patton could tell from holding him, were too small considering Virgil was 18).
    Virgil clutched Patton's shirt, sobbing into his shoulder, "I-I just, I just want Papa and-and Daddy!" Virgil sobbed harder, breath picking up.
    Patton frowned, but ignored his worries in favour of getting Virgil to breath, "It's okay honey. Can you breathe with me? In for four, hold for seven, out for eight." Virgil immediately attempted to suck in a breath, causing him to choke slightly on his own spit. Virgil's breath picked up again, Patton gently shushing Virgil and rocking him slightly in response, "it's okay, honey, just go slow." Virgil slowly regained control of his breathing, gradually slumping against Patton.
    "Do you want to go somewhere private to talk?" Patton asked, running his fingers through the short hair at the nape of Virgil's neck. Subconsciously pressing closer to Patton, Virgil sighed, knowing he wouldn't be able to escape this conversation.
    "Room," Virgil mumbled into Patton's shoulder. Patton nodded and slowly maneuvered them so he could stand, pulling Virgil up with him. Slowly, Virgil led Patton to his bedroom, legs giving out occasionally along the way. Patton caught him each time, smiling as he helped Virgil get back on track. When Virgil pushed open the door to his room, he grimaced as he saw another dress and a note from Damien laying on his bed. Pushing both to the floor, Virgil curled up on the bed, too tired to bother with the sheets.
    Patton sighed quietly, walking to the other side of the bed and sitting down. He had no doubt that Virgil was exhausted, but he couldn't risk letting the pot boil over by not talking to him. "What... what happened kiddo?" Patton asked looking at the boy who curled more in on himself at the sound of Patton's voice, "How can I help?"
    "You can't." Virgil grumbled angrily.
    "What?" Patton asked, confused by Virgil's response.
    "You can't!" Virgil growled again, turning to face Patton, "So just leave me alone," he finished quietly, turning back over. Patton frowned as he heard sniffles coming from Virgil.
        "Okay honey," Patton sighed, moving to the other side of the bed, in front of Virgil, before kneeling down, "I know crying that much wears a person out, so I'm gonna leave you to sleep." Virgil didn't look at Patton as he reached up to wipe away a stray tear from Virgil's face. "But this conversation isn't done." Patton said seriously, softening when he saw Virgil clench his eyes shut, "I'm not gonna leave you to suffer, kiddo. I'll be back later."
    Patton got up off the ground, making his way to the door. He stopped, however, when Virgil spoke, voice sounding tired and weak, "Promise?"
    Patton's heart broke at the boy's desperate tone. Immediately, he spun around and made his way back to Virgil, kneeling before him once more, "Pinky promise!" Patton exclaimed, extending his pinky finger towards the other boy. Virgil hesitated, before eventually lifting his finger and interlocking it with Patton's. Patton giggled and squeezed Virgil's pinky with his own, before slowly retracting his hand.
    Patton gave Virgil a small smile, "You're gonna be okay V, I promise."

Bada Bing Bada Boom. Another chapter. I am gonna take just a second to bring your attention to my other Sanders sides books if your interested (yeah, yeah, annoying I know) but if you want more of my work, especially in the Sander's Sides fandom, check out my account. Okay, that's all, I promise. Thank you so much for reading! Mwah!
-AJ

(Also, if Virgil seems a little OOC, keep in mind that he is sleep deprived, stuck in a toxic household, and never really learned to cope with his feelings, so.... yeah. Shit happens, man)