Chapter Text
“Okay, just- if you hear anything, anything, call me. Text me, reach out for me, for godsake.” Virgil rubbed a hand down his face, hanging up the phone. Virgil sighed. It had been over 24 hours since he had seen his pet, and now it seemed Patton hadn’t seen the borrower either. Where could he possibly be? What if he was trapped somewhere, injured, all alone and awaiting a cruel fate-
Virgil froze, his ears picking up the faint sound of pattering against the hard tiled floors in the other room. While most humans would dismiss such a quiet noise, it was exactly what Virgil was hoping to hear.
Virgil crept over towards the doorway, peering in to see Logan trying to sneak across the room towards the front door, the only true exit in the apartment.
“There you are!” At Virgil’s exclamation, Logan abandoned any sense of hiding, bolting towards the door. “Oh, no you don’t.” Virgil ran after him, his socked feet sliding on the tiles.
Logan pulled his pack off his back with practiced ease, throwing it like one would a bowling ball and sending it careening through the gap present between the door and the floor. Then the borrower ran towards the gap himself, trying to slide underneath like a baseball player desperate to reach home base.
Just in time Virgil managed to grab the back of Logan’s shirt, yanking the tiny back so fast that he let out a yelp. Virgil changed his grasp, grabbing the borrower fiercely by the middle as he lifted Logan to his face, panting from the adrenaline of the last few moments.
“Where the hell were you?” Virgil demanded, eyes ablaze with rage. “Do you have any idea how worried I was?”
As Logan struggled fruitlessly against his fingers, Virgil tightened his grip, anger making him forget to be gentle.
“Why are you running away?” Virgil insisted. “What, I’m not good enough for you? What’s in that bag? Where were you going? What is wrong with you?”
Virgil looked to Logan for some sort of a response, but he found none. In fact, all he found was that the borrower’s face was contorted in...pain.
““Oh. Oh . You’re hurt.” Virgil paled, his anger dissipating as he realized how his quick movements could easily have snapped any of Logan’s fragile bones. Indeed, if Virgil looked closely he could see tiny tears running down Logan’s cheeks. Cursing himself, Virgil opened his palm as though burned, observing every inch of Logan with a concerned eye.
“ Here, let me help you-” But the moment Virgil brought a hand closer, Logan flinched away from his touch.
“I…” Logan’s voice was raspy, the words looking like they pained him as he sat trembling in Virgil’s palm. “I do not require your help. ” The borrower spat. “You have done quite enough.”
“I know, I know, I, crap, I wasn’t thinking.” Virgil winced. “I just… whatever, we can talk about this later. Right now we need to fix all of this. Oh god, I don’t even know where to start...where does it hurt?”