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Virgil knew it was going to happen the moment he felt his heart quicken. The familiar pit in his stomach making his entire body shake with dread. He wanted to escape so badly- but he was paralyzed against the couch.
They had all been watching a movie in the living room. It wasn’t anything horror, it was fucking Wall-E!
Why was he going to have an anxiety/panic attack over a Disney movie he had seen ten million times?!
He tried to focus on Patton and Roman’s chatter about the robot love story going on, and Logan’s helpful input on how most of this was insanely fictional.
Their voices eventually tuned out in his mind as he curled up into a ball at the end of the couch. Pulling his hood over his head and drawing his knees close to his chest.
He was sobbing and struggling to breathe before he could even process what was happening.
Maybe they wouldn’t notice if he made himself smaller. Maybe they would ignore him and just move on with life.
It’s not like this didn’t happen every other day!
For no reason whatsoever!!!
Virgil let his racing thoughts win, let the panic consume his mind until he was struggling to breathe properly. He didn’t realize the room had gone quiet until there was a gentle tap on his leg.
He let out a soft whimper, his chest constrained and making it hard to speak.
He couldn’t think, he was going to die.
“Virgil..can you hear me? I need you to breathe with me okay?” Virgil shook his head, a sob wracking his body as he struggled to get air to his lungs.
“Hey..baby I know it’s hard but we’re right here okay?” A different voice.
“You’re not alone.” A third voice.
Virgil let out another whimper, opening his eyes for the first time since he went to his corner of the couch. All he could see was his jeans- he must’ve tucked his head between his legs at some point.
“Virgil I want you to name five things that you can see right now, can you do that for us?” The first voice asked, and Virgil nodded slowly.
He blinked the tears out of his eyes, trying to make the world less blurry.
“My jeans…” he started, his voice shaking and quiet. “The couch…t-the carpet…uhm…my hoodie….y-your socks.” They were plain and white with those gray accents at the toes.
They were Logan’s.
“Good job, four things you can feel.” Logan continued, and Virgil became aware of the gentle hand rubbing his leg.
He couldn’t tell whose it was though, definitely too gentle to be Logan’s.
“A hand…” he managed out. “I…uhm…my hoodie…again…m-my jeans…the couch…” he took a shaky breath, trying to stop the tears. They just kept endlessly flowing.
“You’re doing really good honey…” the second voice from before chimed in.
Patton.
“Yes you are, now three things you can hear?” Logan continued, and Virgil could feel the weight of Logan sitting down on his left.
“You….P-Patton…and uh…the fan…” he shut his eyes tight again, wanting to hide away.
They were all probably so annoyed this kept happening…
“Hey hey hey…stay with us Stormy. You’re doing so good, you’re doing so amazing.”
Roman.
Virgil let out a shaky sigh, a strangled laugh leaving him. This was morbidly ridiculous to him.
“Now two things you can smell.” Logan hummed, and Virgil went still as he placed a hand on his arm.
It was nice and grounding, helping him relax slightly.
“Something sweet and floury…” Roman’s perfume. “And…the popcorn we made…”
“Very good, now one thing you can taste.”
The hand on his arm was rubbing patterns against his sleeve, grounding Virgil.
“Blood…from biting my tongue too hard..” Virgil muttered, realizing the tears had finally stopped. He could breathe again too- his chest wasn’t crushing him.
“Good job Virge! You did amazing!” Patton hummed, not yelling but definitely happy.
Virgil couldn’t help but smile faintly to himself, taking a deep breath before looking up.
He probably looked like a mess- makeup streaking down his cheeks and his face red and blotchy.
But he was met with the concerned faces of all three of his boyfriends.
Logan was next to him on the couch, Patton was kneeling in front of him rubbing his leg, and Roman was sitting next to Patton.
“Hey…” Virgil said, hating how his voice cracked. “I’m so sor-“ he got cut off by Logan pulling him into a sweet kiss.
Virgil couldn’t do anything but kiss back, looking up into Logan’s brilliant blue eyes.
“None of that dear…do not apologize you have done nothing wrong.”
Virgil nodded, turning away to look at the other two. “I love you…all of you..I- you’re too good to me…”
Roman shook his head. “Shhhh you deserve this. It’s not your fault, we know it’s not your fault okay?”
Patton nodded in agreement. “We know you can’t help it…we love you Virgil. So so so so so much!”
Virgil let out a deep sigh, letting himself relax against Logan.
He didn’t remember when he fell asleep- but it had to have been sometime after they all cuddled together on the couch.
When he felt the safest of all.