Assistance Required

Late

TW abuse, cursing

Virgil woke up to people around him talking quietly and a jacket over his shoulders. He slowly lifted his head. Patton was still sitting next to him but there were two others across the table he didn't recognize. One of them was talking to someone at the table next to theirs. Virgil looked at the table to see Thomas with three others, one of them he recognized from his Spanish class. The person talking to Thomas noticed Virgil and stopped.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Did I wake you?" they said.

Virgil shook his head.

"It's about time I woke up anyway," he mumbled.

He stretched and the jacket around his shoulders fell behind him.

"Here," Patton said sliding a few greasy napkins his way, "I didn't want to wake you, so I grabbed you some pizza and a brownie from the dining hall."

"Oh," Virgil said unwrapping the napkins, "thanks."

"Um, these are my friends. I was telling you about them yesterday," Patton said. "This is Logan," he gestured to the one sitting in front of him, "that's Joan," he pointed to the one sitting in across from Virgil, "You already met Thomas. In front of Thomas is Roman. Next to Roman is Remus and the last one is Janus! And those are all of my sons! Sons, this is Virgil!"

"Patton, please," Logan said.

"What time is it?" Virgil asked.

Logan looked down at his watch.

"It's almost ten."

Virgil jumped up scrambling to collect his things.

"What's wrong?" Thomas asked.

"I-I-I should have been home by now! My dad is going to kill me!"

"I'm sure he'll understand," Patton said.

"You haven't met him," he muttered.

"Are you sure you should be driving? If you're this tired it could lead to an accident," Logan said.

"I drove here."

"My point still stands."

"Logan's right. This is the second time you've fallen asleep today, that I know of! I don't want you to fall asleep while driving home."

"I'll be fine!"

They exchanged looks before turning back to Virgil, who was already backing away.

"You can stay the night with me. Roman won't mind," Patton said.

Roman shrugged.

"I don't mind company," he said.

Virgil bit his lip. He wished he could take up their offer, but he couldn't avoid his dad forever. How would he even explain it to his dad?

"I appreciate the offer, but-"

"You'll be fine?" Logan asked.

Virgil sighed. How was he supposed to explain his situation to a bunch of strangers? What was he going to say? His dad was going to kick his ass the moment he got home and the longer he waited the worse it was going to get? He shifted his weight on his feet as he thought it over.

"My dad... doesn't... h-he..." Virgil bit his tongue as he tried to collect himself, "Look, I just need to get home. I don't have a change of clothes or even my books for tomorrow and-"

"Just," Patton cut him off, "Be careful, please, Kiddo. We'll see you tomorrow?"

Virgil nodded before walking away. He only knew their names and they were worried about him. He looked at the food in his hand. He wanted to eat it, but his stomach was so tight. He tried taking a couple of bites before throwing it away. He hated wasting food, but what else was he supposed to do with it?

He was glad he had taken a nape earlier as he drove home.

He unlocked the front door and a fist collided with his face. He stumbled back and fell onto the floor. He felt a hand grab his shirt and pull him up.

"DO YOU KNOW WHAT TIME IT IS?!" His father spat in his face.

"I'm sorry, I-"

His father kicked him.

"I DON'T WANT TO HEAR YOUR PATHETIC EXCUSES, YOU LITTLE SHIT! IF YOU'RE GOING TO LIVE IN MY HOUSE YOU HAVE TO FOLLOW MY RULES! UNDERSTAND?!"

Virgil nodded.

"Y-y-yes, S-Sir!"

"Now go to your room. I don't want to see your face right now," his father said flinging Virgil towards his room.

Virgil scrambled to stand up and ran to his room. He cleaned off his makeup with some wipes and changed into pajamas before settling for bed. He was still too tired to do any work. He curled in on himself as he thought over what happened earlier. He wished he could have stayed. He wished he could have taken them up on their offer. He chuckled bitterly to himself. Was he really willing to sleep with complete strangers over coming home? He heard bottles banging around and his father grumbling through the thin walls. Maybe sleeping with total strangers wasn't so bad.