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Two arms in black and purple sleeves suddenly hugged Patton from behind. He smiled delightedly until he heard Virgil mumble, "I'm gonna faint."
Patton turned around as quickly as he could without dislodging Virgil and held onto him, just in time for Virgil not to fall when he went limp. "Logan!" he called, a little frantically.
Logan rose up. "What happened?" Noticing Virgil, he repeated, "What happened?"
"I don't know! He just fainted! What do I do?"
"Bring him to the couch," said Logan. "Do you need help?"
"No, I've got him." Patton secured his hold on Virgil and brought him to the living room, then laid him down on the couch. He looked paler than usual, and he was sweating and shivering at the same time. Under his hoodie, he was still in pajamas, even though it was midmorning. Patton felt his forehead and it was warm. "He's sick, poor thing."
"We should wake him up," Logan said. "Virgil? Virgil, wake up. Can you hear me?"
Virgil stirred, then opened his eyes and started to sit up.
"Not too fast," Logan warned. He helped Virgil sit up slowly.
"You scared me, kiddo," Patton said.
"Sorry," said Virgil.
"No, no, you didn't do anything wrong. I was just worried about you. You fainted," said Patton.
"Yeah, I know," Virgil said.
"You appear to be sick," Logan said.
"Yeah, I know," Virgil repeated. "I came downstairs to find you, Patton, but then I got really dizzy, and so I grabbed you, and then I fainted."
"Would you like to go back to your room?" Logan asked. "You'd probably be more comfortable there, but you'd have to be mostly alone, since no one else can safely stay in there for very long. Here you'll likely be less comfortable, but you can have company and people will be nearby if you need help."
"I'll stay here," Virgil said. He snapped his fingers and a blanket appeared. He then blinked several times, trying to make the dizziness go away.
"Virgil! You can't just summon things willy-nilly when you're sick!" exclaimed Patton. He summoned some pillows and a few more blankets for Virgil.
"I didn't want to bother you," said Virgil.
"We don't mind," said Patton.
"I would far prefer to have you 'bother' me rather than to have you faint again," Logan agreed. "Now, what symptoms are you experiencing?"
Virgil described his symptoms. Patton took his temperature. Logan gave him some medicine on the off chance it would do anything. (What with all the imaginary impossible stuff, science didn't always work the way it should in the mindscape.) Patton brought him some water and crackers. Logan asked if he was comfortable enough. Patton offered him a hug. Logan asked if there was anything else he needed. Finally, they seemed mostly done fussing for the moment, and Virgil said, "Can I lie down? I'm tired."
"Of course. You should rest," said Logan. "It will help you recover."
"We'll leave you alone and let you sleep," said Patton.
"Kay," said Virgil. He lay down, closed his eyes, and let himself drift.
When he woke up a while later, Roman was sitting next to him on the couch, watching TV. He shifted to grab a pillow that had fallen to the floor and the motion caught Roman's attention.
"Oh, you're awake. You don't usually nap outside your room for that long, I'm pretty sure you've been asleep for almost an hour."
"I'm sick," said Virgil.
"How foul. Do Logan and Patton know?"
"Yeah."
"Kay. Wanna watch this with me?"
"Sure."
They watched the show together for several minutes before Virgil suddenly muttered, "Fuck."
"Good thing Patton's not around to hear you," said Roman. Virgil ignored him and sat up and summoned a bowl, which he leaned over. Roman winced as Virgil started retching. He threw up three times. When he was done, he rinsed his mouth and made the contents of the bowl vanish, then set it down on the floor. Roman scooted closer to the other Side and put an arm around him. Virgil leaned into him gratefully. He would have been worried about spreading germs, except germs didn't really exist in the mindscape, and the Sides got sick pretty much at random. So he just accepted the comfort and pulled one of the blankets further over himself.
Again, they sat there for a while watching TV, until Patton came into the living room. "Hi, Roman. Virge, how are you feeling?" Roman paused the show.
"Not great," said Virgil. "Uh, still shaky and kind of nauseous. Pretty much the same as before overall."
"I'm sorry about that," said Patton. "Can I check your temperature again?"
"Yeah."
Patton summoned a thermometer and Virgil opened his mouth. After waiting a bit, Patton checked the number and clicked his tongue at it. "Well, do you think you could eat some soup?"
"Maybe? I'm not sure."
"Could you try?"
"...Okay."
Patton conjured a warm bowl of soup and set it on the coffee table, along with a spoon. Virgil got off the couch and sat down on the floor. "Are you guys just going to watch me eat?" he asked.
"Oh. Uh, no," said Patton. He left the room, and Roman unpaused the TV. Virgil started eating. He only ate about half of the soup before clambering back onto the couch. He lay there for a few minutes, then pushed the blankets out of the way with his feet and took off his hoodie. After a few more minutes, he sat up, grabbed the bowl from the floor, and threw up into it. Then he curled up and pressed his face into a pillow, and soon he was sleeping again.
Virgil awoke to a tugging sensation. He immediately sank out and appeared on the stairs. "Hey, Thomas," he said. He hoped he hadn't kept his whole waiting.
"Are you okay?" Thomas asked. "You look disheveled."
"I'm sick," Virgil explained, just as Roman rose up.
"Are you sure this is a good idea, Virgil?" he said.
"It's fine," said Virgil. "What did you need, Thomas?"
"It's not that important, you should go lie back down," Thomas said.
"Are you sure?" said Virgil.
"Yeah, we can take care of it later," said Thomas.
"Okay." Normally Virgil would have resisted more, but he really didn't feel good, and he wasn't sure he was quite fully awake anyway, so lying back down sounded very nice at the moment.
"Do you need a moment before you sink out again?" Roman asked. Sinking in and out always took a little energy, and Roman had correctly assumed that with the state Virgil was in, it was more tiring for him than usual.
"No, I'm good." Virgil sank out, appearing back on the couch. He immediately grabbed a blanket and pulled it over his head, wondering vaguely if he should have taken a moment before sinking out again after all.
"Whoa, are you okay?" asked Roman.
"Yeah..."
"You're really, definitely okay?" Roman reiterated.
"Just dazed, tired, cold." Virgil's words came more slowly and clumsily than he would have liked. "Gonna sleep."
Roman pulled another blanket over his sick friend. "You do that."
"Thanks," Virgil mumbled.
Roman was gone when Virgil woke up. He sat up and looked around. He could tell it had been at least a few hours. When his eyes fell on the half-empty bowl of soup, his stomach growled. He realized he was a lot less nauseous than before.
"And then he died!"
"Go away, Remus," said Virgil.