6 Reassurance

Patton woke up in the middle of the night, to an agony in his jaw as yet another crack sounded. He held it in pain and tears as Deceit came in, looking like he'd been expecting this.

He handed Patton another cup, and then conjured a few more for other cracks, should they come during the rest of the night. Patton smiled gratefully at him as he accepted the cup and drained it, pain slipping away.

Deceit yawned, and said, "Patton, this probably will happen again tonight, but-" Deceit gestured to the few cups he'd conjured and placed on the bedside table. "You have these. Let me know if it's worse than normal, okay?"

Patton nodded. Deceit nodded back and slowly shuffled out of the room, yawning again. "Goodnight, Patton."

"Goodnight, Dee."

Virgil shot upright in bed, breathing hard.

He rubbed his face with his hands.

"Just a dream," he whispered to himself. "Just a dream."

He laid back down and tried to make sense of what had happened in his dream.

He remembered Patton, looking like he was in pain, surrounded by a yellow light.

He remembered Deceit taking Patton away as he cried, Virgil shouting and reaching for him, but Patton never seemed to hear.

A crack like a gunshot as Patton fell to the ground.

Patton changing his outfit, no longer the father figure Virgil remembered.

Patton yelling at him and the others, about how they cast him out, how they hated him.

And then Virgil had woken up.

He rubbed his face again, and realised his face was wet.

He had been crying.

"Get yourself together," he mumbled to himself. "Patton's fine, we'll find him soon."

He shook his head, an attempt to clear his brain of the images.

Water.

He'd go get himself some water, from the kitchen.

Virgil dragged himself out of bed and slowly walked downstairs, before registering someone already down there.

"Virgil. Couldn't sleep either?" Roman stood in the kitchen, holding a cup of water. Virgil shook his head.

"Bad dream. I see you've come down for water too." Virgil made his way to the kitchen, filling up his own glass.

"Wanna talk about it?" Virgil didn't miss the slight softening of Roman's voice.

"No, it's okay."

Roman nodded. He studied Virgil for a moment before he placed down his empty cup on the counter and walked straight towards Virgil, wrapping his arms around the smaller Side.

Virgil froze. Patton, sure, but Roman had never hugged him like this. He wasn't sure he and Princey had even made physical contact besides occasional high-fives and that episode of Sanders Sides, years ago, when Patton made them hold hands.

But he slowly put his glass down and extended his arms around Roman, hugging him back.

"You good Princey?" Virgil asked, half-joking.

Roman said nothing, and just shook his head.

"Okay then.." Virgil let his voice trail off, just holding Roman there before the Side slowly lowered his arms and stepped back.

"Thanks Virge, I- I needed that."

Virgil smirked at him. "Of course, Sir Sing-A-Lot."

"Back with the nicknames. You feeling okay? You haven't called me that in ages."

Virgil blinked, realising there were tears in his eyes. He nodded, turning away slightly to hide them. "I'm fine."

Roman turned Virgil towards him. "Virge... I can tell you're not. You want to tell me what's up?"

"It's just... Pat." Virgil saw Roman's face fall, ever so slightly. He continued. "He was the first one to accept me when I came from the Dark Sides. Then you two. And now he's gone." Virgil shook his head slightly. "Sometimes I'm not sure you've accepted me. Sometimes I feel like going back. Before I remember why I left."

Roman hugged him again for a moment, before pulling back and realising Virgil now had silent tears tracking down his face. "Virgil, of course I've accepted you. You're one of my closest friends, you know that. Right?"

Virgil said nothing for a moment. "Mm. Right." He wiped his eyes. "I'm heading back up to bed." He picked up his glass and slowly made his way up the stairs, giving Roman a two-finger wave. "See you in the morning, Princey."