A Little Secret (Moxiety)

9

~A bit later that day~ (only about 30 minutes lol)

No One

Patton holds Virgil's hand while they search for the food court, which is always as hard to find as the rest of the shops. They had trouble even deciding if they should go now or later since Virgil wanted to stop at a pretzel stand. So did Patton, but he would never admit that.

Patton holds the cup out for Virgil, letting him take a sip. To anybody else, they would simply look like either close friends or a couple. 

The plan, which Virgil didn't know yet, was to get lunch at the food court, maybe look around at some different stores and then go to Build-A-Bear so Virgil could make a friend for Vivi instead of just choosing one off a shelf. 

They were three stores away from the food court when Virgil got distracted by somebody who looked familiar to him. Anyone else would have ignored it, reasoning that they just looked like the person they thought it was, but Virgil's curiosity got the better of him.

Instead of saying anything to Patton, Virgil slipped away, following the person. It takes a moment for him to find and catch up, but when he does he doesn't know what to say, so he says "excuse me" and lightly touches their shoulder to get their attention.

The person turns around and so does the person that they came with. "S-sowry, 'ou jus' looked like 'omebody I know." Virgil apologizes, thinking about what a bad idea this was. 

"V?" Virgil just nods and the person hugs him, suddenly extremely excited. When he lets go he grabs the sleeve of the person with him. "Look! Look! It V!" Virgil, despite being excited about finding his friend here, wants to hide in his hoodie because of the amount of attention he's getting.

The person with Virgil's friend smiles,  happy for both of them since he knows how long the two have been friends for granted they haven't met. But when he realizes that Virgil is in littlespace and nobody walked over with him, he becomes concerned. 

"V, did you come here with anyone?" He asks. Virgil nods, turning and about to introduce Patton, but also realizing that there's nobody there. 

Immediately Virgil can feel a weight on his chest and it feels as if it's getting harder for him to breath. The other two notice that something's wrong, bringing him to sit down at a table by Pretzel Maker. 

"Who did you come here with, little one? I'll go find them." The friend sits down next to Virgil as his company offers help. "'at'on." They turn to the friend, hoping that he can tell them what Virgil said since he doesn't recognize the sound of the name. "Patton". 

The friend, who was little when Virgil found him, snaps out of littlespace, knowing that he has to be very responsible when the other leaves. 

"Do you have your phone? Can we call them?" Virgil shakes his head, his breathing getting shaky. "'at'on has." 

"Patton has your phone?" Virgil nods. "Can you tell me what he looks like, little one?" 

Virgil takes a moment, trying to figure out how to explain through the anxiety attack. He points at his shirt and says "Blue.", the friends repeating to the other that Patton has a blue shirt. Virgil motions around his neck, saying "Grey." and then pointing at his hoodie. "A grey hoodie around his neck?" Virgil nods, letting him know that he got it right and then makes glasses using his hands. "Black". "Black glasses". Virgil takes a moment to think then points at his hair and says "Like me". "And hair like yours?" Virgil nods again. 

"Okay, I'll find him, don't worry. Tyler, make sure that he's okay." Tyler nods, rubbing Virgil's back. "Please hurry though, Jay." This time, Jay nods, fastly walking away and disappearing into the crowd.

Meanwhile, Patton had also noticed that Virgil was no longer walking with him and was desperately looking around. It's an understatement to say he was confused and shocked when a random person walked up to him and asked "Are you Patton?", but he nodded anyways. "How do you know my name?" 

The person just shakes his head. "Can't explain right now. Come on, please. V is having an anxiety attack". This gets Patton's attention, telling the random person to lead him to Virgil. 

When they get over to the Pretzel Maker tables, Tyler is still rubbing Virgil's back while Virgil appeared to have calmed his breathing, but was now shaking. 

Patton immediately rushes over, getting Virgil's attention so that he can calm the little down. "Virge, kiddo, look at me. It's me, kiddo." Virgil looks up, happy and shocked to see Patton crouched in front of him. "'at'on". Patton nods,  telling Virgil to focus on breathing and helping him through the breathing exercise he knows helps. In for four, hold for seven, out for eight, repeat. They go through it until Virgil is no longer shaking, even though his breath is still shaky. 

"I sowry, 'at'on." Virgil apologizes, looking down at his hands. "What do you mean, kiddo?" Patton asks since his first thought was that they had gotten split up in the crowd. "I walk off. Di'n't means to." 

"Kiddo, it's okay. I'm not happy you wandered off, but I'm not angry at you." Patton assures, resting his hands on Virgil's shoulders and looking him in the eyes. "You'wre not?" Patton shakes his head. "Can you tell me why you wandered, kiddo?" 

Virgil looks over at Tyler and Patton follows his gaze. "V and Tyler have been friends for years, but they haven't met before. I think that he saw Tyler and got excited." Jay explains. 

Patton looks over at Virgil again. "Is that true, Virge?" Virgil nods. Patton thinks for a moment, moving his hands off of Virgil's shoulders. "Well, if they would like to, maybe Tyler and his friend can come with us?" Patton offers, making Virgil light up and Tyler smile. 

"Can we?" Tyler asks Jay, making him chuckle. "Of course, if they don't mind." Patton smiles, "It's no trouble. Have you guys eaten yet? We were about to get some lunch".  Jay shakes his head, telling Patton that they hadn't eaten yet. 

Patton stands in the stuffing line with Virgil while Tyler and Jay stood two people behind them since it took Tyler longer to find the stuffed animal that was just perfect. Patton and Virgil's conversation keeps changing.

"Is Patton V's caregiver?" Jay asks Tyler, curious since he never heard much about the topic. Tyler shakes his head.  "V doesn' 'ave one." 

This surprises Jay since he knows how long the two have been internet friends. "Has he- has he ever had one?" Tyler shakes his head again. "He's went that long without-" This time Tyler nods, hugging his chosen, unstuffed stuffed animal closer and both of them walk a few steps forward as the line moves. 

It took them about twenty minutes to get both the stuffed animals stuffed, paid for and named, but Patton and Jay were both willing to take as long as possible to let the two littles enjoy themselves.

Both of the littles run back to the others after spending a few minutes brushing their stuffed animals. "'at'on, 'at'on. Can he come ovew? Pwease?" Virgil asks, lightly swinging the cardboard house that has his stuffed animals in it. It takes everything he has to not 'awe' at how cute his roommate is being.

"I don't know, kiddo. We don't know if they already have plans for today." Patton looks over at Jay and Tyler starts asking Jay. "We didn't plan any farther than this. It's okay with me. It's your house though, so if it's okay with you then I'm sure Tyler would love to hang out with V more." Jay admits. 

Virgil and Tyler turn to Patton, silently hoping that he says 'yes' and that the puppy dog eyes they're doing work. "It's okay with me, I'll have to text our other roommates quick though so they know what's going on." Patton agrees, chuckling a bit. "Yay! T'ank 'ou!" Both Virgil and Tyler say, smiling brightly. 

I'm sorry that this chapter took so long to be published, things have gotten busy and every time I try to sit down and write I either have to get up or I have writer block- Author