~°~Chapter Thirty-five~°~

"Okay, so we explained everything to Leon and he said that he'd help on one condition." Shana goes on.

"What condition is that?" Dale asks, sounding suspicious.

"That he wants to take Hayden out on a date!" She announces with glee and my mouth drops open.

What??

"How the fuck was that an easy condition?!" Virgil explodes.

"You know he's just teasing you." Shana says in pacification.

"I don't think so." He growls. "I know when Leon is serious about something and right now he's determined."

Shana makes a confused sound. "But that doesn't make sense."

"Exactly!!" Virgil half yells. "But it has to be the same reason Dale over here too suddenly took an interest in him."

"What?" Dale's confused voice speaks up.

'What?'  I frown.

"Don't act like you don't know what I'm fucking talking about, you're fucking straight…"

"And you aren't?" Dale interrupts cynically.

A tense silence. "My sexuality doesn't concern you." Virgil says darkly.

"Wait! Hold up! What are you saying, Virgil?"

"That Dale and Leon are only interested in Hayden because they both know I am."

I slowly sit on a step because my world is going wonky and I think I swallowed my tongue. 'whattt!!!'

Dale's cynical chuckle tears through the room. "You think that's what this is all about?"

"I don't think, I fucking know so you better stop messing with him or…" There's the sound of neck joints cracking.

"Virgil?" Shana interrupts gently.

"You support him?!" Dale demands in disbelief.

There's rustling sounds like Shana is shrugging. "I don't know, he sounds really reasonable. Everyone knows that you're straight and your initial interest should have faded away when you found out he wasn't a girl so your actions don't make sense."

Dale laughs bitterly. "So I can't like him, is what the both of you are saying."

There's a dull sound and I creep even closer, my curiosity at its peak now, they'd probably not notice if I take a peek, too absorbed in their conversation.

"No, what I'm saying is that you leave Hayden alone." Virgil threatens in a low voice.

I'm at the lowest step now and I'm wondering if I should go down there before this escalates.

Another bitter laugh. "Sorry, not an option." He apologizes, not sounding sorry in the least bit.

Another dull sound like someone's back against the wall, beyond curious now, I lean forward and peek.

A soundless gasp leaves my mouth at the sight before me.

Virgil has Dale up against the wall by his neck and Shana looks really worried standing by their side with her arms wrapped around herself.

"What exactly the fuck do you want?!!" Virgil growls in his face. "If it's to tick me off, congratulations because I'm beyond pissed."

Dale just pins him a dark look. "I don't give a flying fuck about you."

Virgil raises him higher with one hand and the veins in his neck are standing out with the effort of keeping in control. "Stop lying to yourself Dal, you can't like Hayden." Virgil says in a soft but deadly voice.

"Then why did I kiss him?!!" He exclaims and I die - like my heart just stops beating kind of death, it restarts soon enough though, but at double time.

"W-What… W-What did y-you just say?" Virgil asks in a fragile whisper and my heart twists.

Virgil never stutters, no matter what happens, he never stuttered.

Dale just looks exhausted but the hard determination in his eyes never softens. "You heard me."

"You son of a bitch!" Virgil explodes, sending a fist flying right onto Dale's jaw.

"Virgil!" Shana screams but Dale already shoves him, hard and he goes ricocheting against the shelf in the far wall, a couple of shelves splinter and it crashes to the ground

That doesn't keep him down, instead, it only serves to infuriate him. Shana tries to stand in his way but she just gets thrown against a couch.

The resulting crash breaks me free from my frozen state though and I rush down, by now Virgil is close to Dale who's standing heaving in the center of the living room, glaring at him with a single-minded interest typical of predators.

He moves forward and lands a punch square on Virgil's face…

"Stop!" I scream on a sob. 

The entire room pauses and turns to look at me. "Just stop." I say in a quieter voice, my eyes in the ground, I don't think I can look the both of them in the eyes now.

They separate grudgingly and I give a big sigh of relief.

I look at Shana who gives me a reassuring smile, it's a bit wobbly but it's enough.

"Now that you two morons have managed to trash the living room just by existing, get cleaning before…" She trails off as Virgil slowly but intensely makes his way towards me.

I look up at him and flinch at the dark look in his eyes, unconsciously I take a couple steps back.

"What now?" Shana exclaims in frustration.

He eventually gets to me and moves my hair to the side, I know what he's going to find but I can't move. I'm just staring at him with wide eyes like a deer caught in the headlights of a car.

He stares at the dark spot on my neck, hands on my arms, and looks up at me, down at the hickey, then at me again.

My heart is beating so fast that anytime now my fragile rib cage wouldn't be enough to hold it in anymore.

"Virgil?" I call in a soft voice, it's getting harder to recognize him, the longer he's like this, the less I think I know him.

He starts to lean forward and I frown, confused.

Dale and Shana have been talking all these while.

"Is he about to do what I think?" Shana half yells.

"Fucking hell!" Dale exclaims and I frown harder.

What were they shouting about?

Virgil moves closer, his hands on my arms moving to wrap around me. One goes behind me and the other goes higher to the back of my neck to incline my head to the side.

I get a flash of déjà vu before it happens.

Faster than I can react to, Virgil lowers his head and sinks his teeth right over where Dale had originally bitten. It's not a hard bite, it doesn't even break my skin but getting bit twice in the exact same spot for someone like me whose neck is a minefield is disastrous.

I think I'm screaming, scratch that I'm definitely screaming, sounds are just not coming out. It doesn't hurt but it feels so acutely good that it borders on pain.

The last thing I register is his teeth, after that light works go off behind my eyelids. The feeling is so intense that I happily welcome unconsciousness.

Dale and Shana are yelling but it sounds like it's from a distance and strangely I don't hear their words, instead, I hear Virgil who whispers under his breath.

"Mine."

Is the last thing I hear before I blackout 

~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~

I wake up with a foggy mind, I blink open my eyes and my ceiling appears in front to me so I'm in my room, most likely lying face-up on my bed.

I look to the side to confirm, I'm on my bed alright, my blankets are over me and I'm cuddling a pillow.

I look outside, the sun is setting and I frown, how did I get on my bed?

The last thing I remember is deciding to come to my room after we got back from the park, scenes of my date with Dale flashes through my mind and I get a full-body blush when I remember the kiss scene.

Was I that exhausted that I just came in and flopped on my bed?

I sit up and notice that I'm no longer in my pale gold sweater and skinny jeans but instead I'm in one of my mom's oversized sweaters and soft shorts, plus I smell clean, which means I managed to shower before passing out.

It's a little strange that I can't remember clearly what happened after I got back but I pay it no mind, sometimes after a deep sleep, I end up unable to remember my name for a while so my memories will definitely come back.

I swerve my head around and wince as a sharp sensation pierces through me, I hold on to the sheets as a shaky moan leaves me.

What the actual fuck?

Gingerly I raise a hand to the throbbing spot and nearly double over from how it feels.

This is definitely not normal, Dale just lightly bit me and I already have a painful bruise. 

I might need to get a check-up I'll go tell my mom, I haven't had a proper medical check-up in a while.

I stand up gently so that the strands of my hair don't brush over the bruise on my neck and send me doubling over in pleasure.

I walk over to the mirror and reach for a scrunchie to hold my gold-brown hair up and my grey eyes widen at the size of the bruise, it's a scary dark color and bigger than I mentally pictured.

It didn't help that the back of my neck is also slightly bruised - how did that happen again? Quickly I change out of the sweater I'm in and switch it up for another of my mom's sweaters that's a turtleneck.