And He Waited

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Warnings: Please check the description of the book for trigger warnings as we continue in this book. As far as I know there are none in this chapter, but there definitely will be in the future with what I have planned for this story and I don't want anyone to read and then suddenly find out they can't continue because of a trigger! Please stay safe. <3

There was a loud knock at the front door.

A few days ago this would have sparked a little hope in the three residing in the apartment. They would have rushed to the door, hoping that finally their friend might be back home, that he would be okay. He would come back and everything could go back to normal, as if he had never left at all.

It only took a few days for most of that hope to leave them. Logan was the first to bring up the fact that Virgil might not ever return.

"He might be... We don't know if he's okay. We have to consider that maybe he's..." Logan had said to the pair, tears brimming in his eyes. The three of them were all sat silently in their living room, not doing anything. It had been that way since Virgil went missing. They didn't know what to do.

"Don't say that." Roman snapped, glaring straight through Logan. Patton couldn't say anything, choking on sobs at the idea. His hands came up to cover his mouth, muffling the sound. "Don't even think that, I-that's not true. He's out there, somewhere. We can't give up hope."

Patton had nodded his head quickly, hiccuping and gasping for breath. Roman pulled him under his arm, mumbling reassurance. Logan just nodded his head, deciding not to mention it again.

Now, though, they were less certain. They didn't feel hopeful at the knocking. They were scared of it. They knew that it could be someone finally there to tell them the worst. To tell them that they had found him, but not in the way they wanted.

After a few moments of just staring at each other anxiously, Logan finally offered to answer the door. Neither Patton or Roman offered to instead, so he slowly rose from the couch and made his way towards the door. He hated the way his hands shook as he reached for the handle of the door, gripping it and hesitating. Drawing in a breath he pulled the door open, and began to say hello to whoever was waiting outside.

The word was barely out of his mouth when he froze, staring in shock at the scene just outside his apartment. It was deathly silently for seconds that felt like minutes. Then he heard a raspy voice saying his name, felt a weight crashing against him, and just barely managed to regain his senses before both him and the knocker fell to the floor.

"Patton, Roman!" He called, gaining the attention of his friends as he struggled to hold himself and the other up. They turned to him, and froze up briefly just as he had, but quickly got up to go and help him to get the limp body in his arms over to the couch.

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When Virgil finally started to regain consciousness it was hard not to just fall right back into his peaceful slumber. He hadn't slept in days, maybe weeks. He wasn't really sure how long it had been, he just knew that he was tired. Tired of being in danger, tired of running, tired of being away from his friends with no way of telling them he was still alive. He was just tired.

He wanted to see them all again though. He had only gotten to see Logan for a brief moment before collapsing on him. He had expected to never see them again, and now he was here and he just had to wake up so he could talk to them again. So he focused hard on the whispers he heard, on each of their voices. He could tell that Patton was crying. There were the occasional sniffles and his voice was wavering as he spoke, wondering where he had been. He heard Roman muttering something to calm Patton, telling him it was fine because he was there now. He couldn't tell where Logan was.