hold me close

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(tw! robbery, blood, intense medical situations 👀👀👀)
Hey, Virgil, look at me, please. It's okay. E-everything's gonna be okay. Oh, please, Virgil." Roman held Virgil in his arms. Roman wasn't sure what had happened, but he got an alarming message from Virgil in their group chat with Logan and Patton.
It was only a single message.
'I need help. N'
Roman got a really bad feeling about it. Like Virgil meant to type more but couldn't. Like something stopped him.
Roman sped to Virgil's apartment and found that his door was unlocked. That's extremely unlike Virgil.
Roman crept into Virgil's small room and found Virgil on the floor in a small pool of blood. His room looked like it had been ransacked, the curtains had been torn down and his window was smashed.
But Roman could hardly focus on that.
"Virgil. Hey, hey, I'm right here."
Virgil looked as if he was fading in and out of consciousness, but his eyes shot open when he heard the door slam open.
"Virgil! Virgil, it's Patton! And Logan!" Patton's voice rang out through the small apartment.
"We're in here!" Roman yelled back, as he watched Virgil slipped back into unconsciousness.
Virgil was bleeding from the top of his head, had a cut along his forehead, around one or two inches long, and a black eye. He had blood all along his face and on his neck.
Roman turned his head around as Patton ran in the room, Logan behind him.
"Oh my god-" Patton said as he clasped his hands over his mouth. He ran over to Roman and kneeled by Virgil's side.
Logan stood frozen in the doorway, color draining from his face. He could feel his heart rate quicken, along with his breath. Some feeling he couldn't quite place.
"Patton, call 911," Roman said shakily.
"O-okay." Patton grabbed his phone. He quickly dialed and put it on speakerphone.
"911, what's your emergency?" A calm male voice said.
"M-my friend. He's bleeding. Like a lot and we just got here and it looks like his apartment was robbed too-"
"Okay. Is your friend breathing?"
Patton looked over at Roman frantically.
"Yeah," Roman said.
"Y-Yes. Yes, he's breathing." Patton said into the phone.
"Okay." The operator said. "Okay, where are you?"
Patton looked over at Roman again. Roman closed his eyes, trying to remember. "Um...It's the gardenscape apartments downtown. Apartment 404." Roman said loud enough for the operator to hear.
"Okay. Officers will be there in ten. "
"T-thank you," Patton said, hanging up. "Okay." He said, stroking Virgil's hair. "Okay, Virgil. All we need is ten minutes. Okay? We can do this. Y-You can do this." Patton was almost hysterical. "Hey, Logan?" Patton turned and looked over towards the doorway.
Logan was sitting in the doorway, criss-cross, eyes closed. Roman turned and looked at him too. Roman let go of Virgil and gently handed him off to Patton and walked over to Logan.
Logan silent tears streaming down his face.
"Logan? Hey, buddy, I'm right here." Roman placed a hand on Logan's shoulder, but Logan's eyes snapped open and he slapped his hand away.
Roman's eyes went wide and he moved slightly backward.
"Roman. I-I'm sorry. I just-" Logan wiped his eyes quickly. "I don't know what's happening to me. It's just-I don't know. What is this? What's wrong with me?"
The was a silence. Filled only by the quiet comforts from Patton to Virgil.
"Nothing, Logan. You're human. You're scared and that's okay. So am I." Roman said carefully.
More silent tears streamed down Logan's face.
Roman gently placed a hand and Logan's cheek and wiped away his tears.
There was silence, but it was soon broken by mumbling coming from Virgil.
"Hhng...R-Roman...I-I' mm..." He groaned.
Roman scrambled over to him and kneeled in front of Virgil, holding his head up.
"Yeah? Yes?"
"I-I-I can't..." Virgil said slowly.
"Can't what? Can you tell me what happened?" Roman asked frantically.
"F-fuck if I know..." Virgil said, laughing faintly to himself.
Roman rolled his eyes. "Virgil now's not the time! Please, can you remember anything!-"
"Roman!" Patton interrupted. "You have to be calmer! Try this. Hey Virgil," Patton stroked Virgil's hair. "Hey. I'm glad you're okay. Everything's gonna be alright! Do you remember anything before we got here?"
Virgil closed his eyes for a moment then opened them back up. "Already th-...Two guys...B-Bats..." He closed his eyes again and slipped back into unconsciousness.
"See what you did Patton! You put him back to sleep!" Roman yelled.
"Well, I'm sorry! I was just trying to help!" Patton yelled back, starting to cry again.
"But You didn't! I mean, what the hell are we supposed to make of 'Already, two guys, bats?' Virgil could be in serious trouble!"
"I-I know, Roman! I know-" Patton started, sobbing.
"STOP! Please! Neither of you are helping!" Logan walked over and kneeled in front of Virgil.
Patton and Roman went silent.
"Please." Logan licked his thumb and rubbed some blood of Virgil's face. "The ambulance should be here any moment. Please just keep your composure until. I understand. I know we're all scared as hell. But all we can do is wait and hope for the best." Logan seemed to have composed himself again and was back to his calm self, though his eyes said otherwise. His eyes were wide and still filled with a sense of panic.
Outside the window, a loud siren could be heard, making Virgil rustle. 
"See?" Logan said. "It'll only be a minute before they arrive."
Patton sniffled for a moment and then broke out sobbing.
Logan moved over to his side and rested a hand on Patton's shoulder, and Roman did the same.
Before they all knew it, a few medics busted into the room and lifted Virgil out on a stretcher.
__________________________
The doctors had found that Virgil had severe blunt force trauma to the head and a serious injury in his eye that would eventually lead to semi-blindness. All of the minor injuries wouldn't have lasting effects and would take at most, two months to heal. Though Virgil would likely survive, he had to be put in a medically induced coma for the time being.
__________________________
Roman sat in Virgil's hospital room. Virgil had been in a coma for around two weeks. Logan had been with Virgil as much as he could, mainly when Roman couldn't be there, Roman had been there almost every day for at least four of five hours, but Patton had only visited three or four days.
Not because he didn't care, but because he couldn't bear to see his friend like that. He always told Roman to tell Virgil that he was thinking about him, but only brought himself to go when they all went as a group.
"Hey, Virgil," Roman said, sitting in the chair next to Virgil's bed. "It's me. It's Roman. Again. Hah. The doctors always tell me to talk to you when I'm here, but it's starting to feel really sad." Roman sniffled and brushed away a few tears. "Like, I know there's a possibility that you can hear me, and that you're fine. But I feel like I'm talking to a dead man." Roman let out a long sigh. "I love you. I never said that enough, but I really do love you. I miss hugging you, and holding you, even if you were annoyed with me. God, I love you. I really hope your okay, Virgil. I hope someday I'll find the guys who did this to you. I'll make them pay. They didn't even steal shit from your house!" Roman got a sudden burst of energy. "Who the hell does that! You're on no one's hit list! Everything you did was to make other people feel better! And now we can't even help you..." Roman hung his head, and tears dropped on the ceramic tiles.
Roman pulled his head up when there was a knock at the door.
"Roman?..." Patton stood in the doorway.
Roman cleared his throat. "H-Hi!" He said, putting up His cheery front.
"Hey," Patton said, walking slowly to the chair on the other side of Virgil. Patton's eyes darted all over the room but never landing on Roman or Virgil.
"I'm glad you came," Roman said, looking over at Patton.
"Oh," Patton started. "It wasn't a big deal. I thought I should come and visit. I wasn't sure if you'd be here, but Logan told me you'd been here almost all the time."
"Yeah." Roman laughed quietly. "Day in and day out. Even slept here a few times. Just talking to myself. Or at least it feels like that."
Patton let out a sound like an aborted sob. "Don't say that. I'm sure he can hear you!"
Roman shook his head. "Yeah, Yeah. That's what everyone tells me. But when you're here for hours on end, just talking about nothing to someone who can't respond? It feels void. Void of meaning, void of purpose. I know I know there's a chance he'll be okay. But he'll never be the same. He's almost definitely going to lose all sight in his left eye." He sighed. "I should have been there faster."
Patton sniffled. "Roman, it's not your fault."
Roman slammed his fist on the chair's arm. "Like hell it is! He sent that text and-and I thought it was weird, but I didn't think much of it, b-but then Virgil called and quickly hung up, and then I left? Why the hell did I wait?" Roman's fingernails dug into his skin as he clenched his fists tighter. "Why the hell did I wait...?" He said slower.
"Roman..." Patton said sadly.
Both of the men looked to their right quickly when the was a sharp knock at the door.
"Hello? You two must be Roman and-" The doctor looked down at the clipboard he was holding. "Patton. Right?" 
Patton nodded, and the doctor shook his hand, then walked towards Roman and shook his hand.
"Hi. I'm doctor Sanders. I presume that you two are close with Virgil?" The Doctor-Dr.Sanders- said.
Roman's eyes danced around the room, trying to Will himself not to cry. "Yes. We were...close."
"Ditto," Patton said quietly.
"Mm. That's great. Now, I don't mean to trouble you two, but I need two to step out of the room for a while. A few other doctors and I need to do a quick check on him. Run some tests. Shouldn't be more than thirty minutes."
The two nodded, and quickly made their way out, settling in chairs in the nearby hallway.
"D'you think Virgil'll be okay?" Patton said quietly, looking down, fiddling with his fingers. "Like, actually?"
Roman took a deep breath and sighed for a while. "I don't know, Patton. He wasn't the strongest to begin with, mentally or physically. This will probably big be a big hit on him. I think it'll take a while for him to recover. I think he'll just need a really good support system. It won't be easy for anyone." Roman closed his eyes and was quiet for a long moment. "I don't know."
The two sat in silence for a long before the doctor from before came back.
"Hi, my apologies, it'll just be a little longer. There were a few-er-complications."
Patton's eyes went wide. "Complications? What complications? Is he okay? Is he-?"
Roman gently put a hand a Patton's leg, calming him down.
The doctor nodded thoughtfully. "I see your concern, but it's not much we can disclose yet." He turned back around toward Virgil's room.
Roman leaned his head back as tears streamed down his face.
"Call Logan." He said quietly.
Patton silently pulled out his phone and dialed Logan's number.
"Hi," Patton said with less enthusiasm than normal.
"Good afternoon, Patton. Is something up?" Logan's voice was just barely audible through the phone.
"Um, yes? It's just-uh-I-If it wasn't any trouble f-for you-" Patton stuttered, starting to tear up.
"Patton, is something wrong?"
"No-I-I don't know." Patton swallowed. "If you're not busy, could you come to the hospital?"
"Yes, of course." He replied almost immediately. "I'll be there in around 15 minutes. Keep me updated if anything happens."
"Okay," Patton said and hung up. "He said he'll be here in like fifteen minutes." He said, turning to Roman.
Roman nodded and wiped his cheeks. "Patt?"
"Hm?" Patton responded.
"What the hell are we gonna do without him? I just-I just can't imagine life without him. He's my world." All the energy in Roman's voice had gone. The hardly any emotion left, besides maybe desperation.
"Roman..." Patton sniffled. "I-I don't know. I know I've told you that-that everything's gonna be fine. That everything will work out in the end!" He said with a mock-cheery tone. "But I don't. I never know. I pretend I do and let everything work itself out, but I'm not so sure about this."
"Thanks, Patton," Roman said, looking up at Patton.
"For what? I've hardly even been around.."
"That doesn't matter. You're just always there. You're a shoulder to cry on even if you don't know what's gonna happen. Even if you're pretending, you're great at believing. And I think that's important right now."
Patton felt a sad smile creep across his face as he wrapped his arms around Roman.
Another wave of silence fell on the two, the only sounds coming from rooms nearby, and people walking down the hallways.
Before they knew it, a familiar face was seen.
"Hey," Logan said, as Patton sprung up and wrapped him in a tight hug.
"Hi," Patton said.
Logan took the last seat in their row, on the right of Roman.
"What's the news?" Logan said, his foot tapping on the ground.
"Well," Roman started, "We don't know."
Logan raised an eyebrow. "We don't know?"
"Yes. And that's exactly the problem."
Logan nodded. "Okay, okay," He said, his foot tapping even more aggressively. "What do we know?"
Patton spoke up. "Well, about forty minutes ago, doctors came in to do a normal check-in, but then like fifteen minutes ago, he that there were-" Patton made air quotes. "-complications."
Logan's foot froze. "Complications? What-"
Roman shook his head. "Don't know."
"Okay. It probably isn't much to worry about. Minor complications happen all the time." Logan said calmly, but the rapid tapping of this foot said otherwise. "This is nothing. From what I've heard, it shouldn't be much longer. This is nothing."
__________________________
Two hours without updates can hardly be considered nothing, especially in a time like this. The three of them frequently dozed off, waiting for a sign of anything. Until a different doctor stood in front of the three.
Roman, the only one who was awake at the time quickly tapped the other two awake.
"Hello?" Patton said quickly, adjusting his glasses.
Logan yawned, adjusting his posture, eyes wide.
"Hello." The doctor started. She had a soft-spoken voice, a sort of solemn tone. "Roman, Patton, and Logan, I assume?"
The three nodded.
"I'm sorry. I say this with a heavy heart, but your friend-Virgil-has passed."
There was silence. A long, heavy silence.
The doctor started again. "While doing a routine check, he experienced a lot of internal bleeding, and he had to put into emergency surgery, with no time to alarm you three, which we greatly apologize for. I'm so sorry for your loss." She nodded her head curtly and turned away from the three, leaving them to their own thoughts.
It was quiet again. Then Roman laughed. It was a quiet laugh, the space between each laugh-filled only by sobs. And then he cried. He cried for a long time.

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