The Melting Pot Complex

Chapter One ~ Virgil

{Possible trigger warnings: discussion of keeping a secret, (accidental) invasion of privacy, mention of anxiety disorder

If I miss something, I apologize and please let me know}

"Hey, are you busy?"

Virgil looked up as his sibling-in-law walked into his room. He shrugged, setting his phone aside. "Not really, what's up?"

Talyn sat down, holding up a little notebook. "You left this in the living room... I didn't mean to pry, but it was open so I saw a little bit before I closed it."

Oh boy. Virgil shifted into a crosslegged position, chewing on his thumb-nail. "So you... you know?"

Talyn nodded, frowning. "Does Joan?"

"If you didn't tell them, then no." Virgil looked down at the notebook as Talyn set it on the bed. He'd been keeping his notes on listings that he found there, and he must have left it on the couch when he retreated to his room after Joan came home from work.

"I'm thankful for you two giving me a place to live, Tal, I really am, but I know I'm a problem and I really don't want to put that on you for any longer. I told myself if I ever got more than three noise complaints in a week I would figure out something else."

Talyn shrugged, playing with one of their rings. "We don't mind, Virgil, you know that."

"I do, but I feel bad! If you two got kicked out of your place because of me, I would be really upset... and out on the street with you."

They nodded, standing. "I respect your decision, then. I'll let you tell Joan, they deserve to hear it from their brother over me."

"Thanks, I will."

Talyn left the room and Virgil sighed heavily, flopping backwards onto his bed.

He'd been living with his sibling and sibling-in-law for four months. Joan and Talyn were extremely accommodating, but Virgil's lifestyle was not ideal for them.

He usually recorded late, it gave him better ambiance for the style of games he played. Because of this though, Joan had received several noise complaints from neighbors. No matter how hard Virgil tried to stay quiet when he was playing, the rage or fear (usually fear) eventually slipped out.

His phone buzzed next to his head, making him jump. Glancing at the screen and seeing Patton's smiling face on the screen, Virgil sighed and answered it. 

"Hi."

"That listing is perfect!" Patton exclaimed excitedly. Virgil could hear clinking and guessed that the other man was making dinner as he talked. "I messaged the guy to ask some questions and he seemed really nice! He gave me all the information I asked for, told me a date we could come look if we wanted to, everything!"

"Great, uh-" He cleared his throat, fiddling with the strings of his hoodie. "Did you say anything about me?"

Patton hummed for a moment, thinking. "I mentioned you, but nothing specific. I just said the two of us were looking for somewhere to live together and that you're responsible and quiet."

Virgil snorted. "Yeah, that really describes me."

"Well it does!"

"It conveniently glosses over the anxiety disorder, strange recording schedule, and general hatred of leaving my room." 

Patton blew a raspberry on the other end of the line, loud enough for Virgil to pull away from his own phone to glare at it.

"Virgil, those things don't define you. And you are quiet, the recording schedule and you staying in your room a lot proves it!"

Virgil shrugged, knowing he couldn't see. "If you say so. What day did he say we could come over?"

He practically heard Patton's smile brighten.

"You're coming with me to see it?"

"Well I'll have to live there, Patton, I would like to see it."

"Right right right!" He clattered around for a moment, and Virgil waited, staring at the calendar stuck to his bedroom wall. It was depressingly bare.

"Next week Thursday, does that work for you?"

"Yep. I'll make a note or ten about it to remind myself."

Patton laughed. "I'll try to remind you too. Just think about it, Virge, we might be in our own place soon!"

"With two other people." Virgil said flatly.

"Well right. But not living with family anymore! I love my sister but she gets so stifling sometimes. And it's not her fault, she's just trying to be the best big sister she can, but gosh I don't need to constantly be babysat, I'll be 28 in a few months!"

Patton kept talking and Virgil zoned out just a little bit, looking around his room.

He'd need to start thinking about packing if this worked out. That was the bit he wasn't looking forward to, because most of the things he used were Joan's and he'd feel really bad if he had to ask his sibling to keep things that had been offered for the duration of his stay.

"Virgil? Virgil."

"What?" Virgil shook himself and got off the bed, wandering over to his desk and booting up his setup.

"You got really quiet." Patton chuckled. "I just wanted to get your attention so I knew you weren't spiraling."

Virgil let out a long sigh. "Thanks, Pat. I'm fine... just got distracted by something."

"Okay." Patton chirped. "Oh, you probably want to get to work, I'll leave you to it. Feel free to text me if you need anything okay?"

"I know, Pat. I will. Have a good night."

"'Night Virgil!"

Virgil set his phone down, exhaling heavily again. Patton was one of his best friends, pretty much his only friend, but sometimes he could be... a bit much. And that was just over the phone. Patton in person was a whole other beast.

Virgil shook his head. He knew his friend was just trying to help. He looked at his computer for a few moments as two log-in options popped up, then clicked on the one that led to his personal desktop. 

He was not in the right mindset to be recording game-play tonight. Maybe just some casual play, something that didn't require teammates or dealing with jumpscares.

Before choosing a game, Virgil opened twitter on his phone. He checked his notifications, seeing nothing interesting, and closed it, tossing it onto his bed as he booted up some goofy gaming simulator.

{I want to apologize, I've found it very hard to write anxiety disorders convincingly. If I am not doing it justice, feel free to message me, I can't seem to find anything about writing it well

I also don't know how twitter works cause I don't have one

And finally I'd like to apologize because I'm really bad with figuring out triggers. Like it says at the beginning, feel free to message me about something I may have missed}