Tw: talk about eating disorders, anorexia

Virgil sat on the couch as Patton made dinner in his kitchen. While Virgil did admit that the food smelled good, he didn't want to eat it. Even now with someone to eat for, it was still difficult to recover. "Dinner is ready," Patton called out to Virgil with a smile. It was now what Virgil had been dreading. Virgil shakily got up and stood in the kitchen's doorway.

"Hey Patton?" Patton hummed to signal Virgil to continue, "I'm actually not hungry."

Patton turned around and tilted his head, "But you only had breakfast and then slept through lunch."

Virgil felt a stab of guilt for pretending to be asleep so that he could skip lunch. "I know, but I'm small, can't eat a lot."

"Virgil," Patton walked over and took Virgil's hands in his own, "Is this an anorexia thing?" Virgil looked down and nodded his head shamefully. The bubbly man wrapped him in a hug. "You need to eat."

Virgil put his hands around Patton, "I already ate today. Is that enough?"

"Most people eat three meals a day. I'm concerned about you, I don't want you to starve."

Virgil mumbled out, "But I want to starve." Patton held Virgil tighter, not knowing what to say. He had never dealt with eating disorders before and he was definitely unqualified. But that didn't mean he wouldn't try to help his friend.

"I may not know what to say right now but I want to help you recover. So please tell me how I can help. If you just want me to listen to you that's what I'll do."

The hug finally broke and the emo began to fidget with his hands, "No one had actually completely listened to me before. They say they will and then interrupt me."

Patton took Virgil's hand and led him to the couch, "I promise that I won't interrupt you." Virgil gave him a small grateful smile.

"I guess it started when I was young. My brother would insult me about my weight constantly even though I was naturally underweight. Then he told me about how models would starve themselves and so that's where I got the idea." Patton nodded and kept his full focus on the man in front of him. "Then when I got to high school I lost control over everything. You know how people began to bully me for being gay. Then my parents began to fight more and drink more. I think where I lost most control was when they divorced and I was forced to go with my mom to Canada and leave you." Patton frowned as he remembered the day of tears right before Virgil went away. "After that I just wanted something to hold onto and control. Food was the first available thing. It made me feel better in a twisted way. I finally could control something and the more I controlled it the more power I felt I had." Virgil continued to talk about his issues and at the end he felt better. "Sorry for putting this all on you, but thank you for listening."

Patton gave him a caring smile, "It's alright, I'm glad you could trust me with this."

Virgil let out a single chuckle, "Well it's good to trust your only friend." Now that he was done talking Virgil had to think quick on how to get out of dinner for tonight. "It's getting late, I should probably go to sleep."

Patton thought for a second. He knew this was a thing to get out of eating but he also now knew that he became anorexic because of lack of control. He didn't want to take away all control and have Virgil relapse. "Well alright, sleep well Virge." Virgil let it a small sigh of relief, in a twisted way he was free for now.