Virgil laid there in bed for a few minutes, staring at the message, his hands shaking slightly.

"Let the game begin."

He didn't know why he had listened to Patton. Why he didn't just go with his instinct? He would have never done anything like that had he been on his own, there were way too many outcomes to consider, way too many possibilities; yet, here he was. He let out a small laugh, letting the hand holding the phone fall behind his head on the pillow.

He had known Patton for only a few weeks and he already had so much influence on him.

Virgil sighed, trying to ignore his growing anxiety over the whole situation, shooting one last look to his phone before turning it off and putting it on his bedside table; he tried his best to just go to sleep despite the anxious lump in his throat, knowing full well Patton would have been mad if he turned up sleep deprived the next day at school. Not to mention he had work the next day and a match that would keep him up late into the night. He needed his rest.

So, with one last sigh, he nuzzled further into the heavy covers and closed his eyes.

The next day the sound of a notification woke Virgil up sooner than he was supposed to, making him groan in annoyance. He rolled onto his back, blinking in the dark a couple of times to try and get his eyes to focus back on the world around him. Sometimes he hated being such a light sleeper, to the point where even just a notification could wake him up, no matter the time.

He sighed, giving up on getting his sleep back before rolling towards his bedside table and grabbing his phone, squinting at the light coming from it as he opened the message and read it.

good morning emo.-

Virgil rolled his eyes as he read the message from the mysterious person before turning his phone off and ignoring it. He got up and stretched slightly with a groan; it was way too early for school, being only 6 am, but he figured since he was already up he might as well go for a quick run.

It wasn't something that he did often, but it did help him reflect on things that he usually was too anxious to and clear up his mind; so putting on a pair of black sweatpants and his usual black and purple hoodie, he slipped his sneakers on and grabbed his headphones before silently exiting the house.

After almost fifteen minutes of uninterrupted running, he stopped for a second, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath of the cold hair, bashing for a few seconds in the silence of the still early morning. Only when he looked around he noticed he had unintentionally ran to Patton's house and he smiled slightly thinking of his friend, only for it to quickly be replaced by a frown: he could see a light shining through one of the windows, meaning that someone was for sure awake.

He took out his phone, quickly checking the time, knowing for sure it still would have been early. 6.30 am. He shrugged, knowing it would have probably just been one of Patton's parents getting ready to leave for work. After a few seconds he decided to turn around and sprint back home, knowing he still had to shower and head to school.

It was only a few hours later, while he was sitting in the library at lunch with Patton, that his phone buzzed again with yet another notification. He sighed, rolling his eyes and taking out his phone to look at the message as he listened to Patton ramble on about the new Steven Univere's episode.

what, already giving me the silent treatment?-
cute.-

Virgil scoffed, once again rolling his eyes, making Patton stop what he was saying to look at him curiously.

"What? Who is it?" He asked, leaning forward on the table to try and look at the device in his hand. "Is it the mystery pal?"

The darkly dressed guy just nodded, pocketing his phone and taking another bite of his sandwich, not missing the confused look on his friend's face.

"Are you... are you not going to answer?" He asked unsure, his head tilted to the right like a puppy, as he sat back down.

Virgil stopped chewing, looking up at his friend for a few seconds, seemingly deep in thought.

"Nah." He concluded after a bit, shrugging.

In any other situation, Patton would have probably giggled at the other's antics, but he wanted his friend to get to know more people and maybe start to be a bit more social! So instead he just frowned and stared at him with a pout, his arms folded tightly against his chest and his foot tapping rhythmically on the ground.

"Virgil," He said almost in a warning tone, "It's not nice to ignore people! They're just trying to get to know you better, give them a chance!"

When he saw the emo wasn't budging, though, he decided to start using a trick he knew for a fact would work on anyone. So, closing his eyes, he took a deep breath and leaned his head on his arms that were flat on the table, before looking up with big puppy eyes.

"Plus, you promised me you would..." He mumbled.

That made Virgil almost choke on his food, "Oh, come on Pat that's not fair!" He said coughing, looking everywhere but at his best friend. Unfortunately though, the other didn't budge, making the emo grumble out a defeated "fine" as he took his phone out.

-Good morning, Stalker.

He typed quickly, before showing Patton the screen.

"There. Happy?" He asked begrudgingly. Before the other could even open his mouth to answer though, a buzz coming from the device made both of them stop in surprise. Virgil turned the phone back towards him, raising an eyebrow at the answer he received.

uhm, rude much?-

-What? You wanted me to answer your greeting.
-That's exactly what i did.