Hey {Moxiety & Logince}

9

T.W.: mention of self harm

Patton walked back down the stairs, "hey guys! I'm back!"

"I told you I'm not ticklish!" Logan insisted as Roman poked at his sides.

"What's going on here?" Patton asked.

"Roman's trying to see if anyone is ticklish." Virgil explained, "so far he's the only one."

"Are you ticklish Patton?" Roman asked.

Patton moved to the couch, "if I say yes will you tickle me?"

Logan rolled his eyes, "he'll tickle you either way."

Roman chuckled, a mischievous glint in his eyes as he slowly approached Patton.

"Don't tickle me!" Patton yelped, backing away from Roman, "I'm extremely ticklish!"

"Tickle fight!" Roman yelled, attacking Patton's sides.

Patton shrieked with laughter, falling back on the couch. He kicked his legs, trying to get away.

"Pin his legs!" Roman laughed.

Virgil chuckled and held Patton s legs down. That's when he saw the red lines that marked Patton's skin.

"Roman stop." Virgil said.

"What? Why?" Roman asked, halting his tickle attack.

Virgil looked up, "Patton, what happened to your legs?"

"N-nothing!" Patton quickly pulled the shorts down to cover the cuts, but by then everyone had seen.

"Are you okay Patton?" Roman asked.

Patton nodded quickly, tears filling his eyes, "I-I'm f-fine!"

"Then why are there cuts all over your legs?" Logan asked, moving closer to the couch.

Patton choked on a sob, "I'm sorry..."

"Did you do that to yourself?" Virgil whispered, pulling the other into a hug.

Patton nodded into Virgil's chest, tears soaking into the boys shirt. Virgil rubbed his back, holding him tightly. Once Patton's tears had reduced to sniffles, the others started asking questions.

"When did this start?" Logan asked first, keeping his voice calm and gentle.

"A-about four years ago." Patton whispered.

"Oh Patt," Virgil sighed quietly, "why didn't you tell us?"

"I-I didn't want you to freak out and-and look at me differently." Patton sniffed.

"Patton, we would never look at you differently." Roman said.

"Roman is correct," Logan started, "the only thing that will change is that we will check up on you more. Though, we should have been doing that in the first place."

"It's okay." Patton said, "Don't feel guilty about this... c-can we stop talking about it and watch the movie now?"

"Of course." Roman smiled, hitting play on the remote.

Patton began to nod off as the opening song came on. By the time the song finished, he was fast asleep in Virgil's arms.