Suggested by SollisaLuna . Apparently there's like a lot of pressure for me to make this a good one shot and I'm currently writing this late at night when I'm sleep deprived so uh... Hope you like it??? Also sorry it took me so long to upload...

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Virgil despised parties, but everyone else in his college dorm was going, and he didn't want to be the only one not going.

So, he decided he would go.

"Is there any way I can just not talk to people while I'm there?" Virgil asked.

"But that defeats the whole purpose!" Roman said.

"What if someone approaches you and starts talking?" Thomas said.

"I... uh... I'll pretend to be deaf." Virgil said, mostly joking.

"Hey, that could actually work!" Patton said. "We could say he's deaf, and then no one would talk to him! And if he needed to talk to us, he could use sign language!"

"Do you know sign language?" Thomas asked.

Virgil nodded. "Roughly. Enough to communicate."

"I taught him." Logan said proudly.

"I know sign language, and Logan obviously does, so we could interpret it if Virgil signed something." Thomas said.

"I know sign language, just in case I ever lost my voice. Or, you know, had my voice taken by an evil sea witch. Whichever." Roman said.

"Perfect!" Patton said.

"Do you know sign language?" Logan asked.

Patton nodded. "I know my name!"

He made the symbols for P-A-T-T-O-N.

"Anything else?" Logan asked.

"Uh... No." Patton shook his head.

"That's okay, I'll sign to someone who knows sign language if I ever need to say something." Virgil said.

"How about I stay with you the duration of the party just in case you need to sign something?" Roman offered.

"That's... sweet of you, Roman." Virgil said.

Roman shrugged. "Don't sweat it, Brad Pittiful. It's no big deal."

"So I guess I'm going to a college party." Virgil said.

"It'll be fun." Roman said.

Virgil didn't say anything. He didn't have to, because Patton changed the subject by talking about a cute dog he saw earlier today.

~~~

The party was loud and crowded.

People were talking to each other, and Virgil's social anxiety and natural introverted personality was making him a bit uncomfortable. He got a drink and loosely followed Roman around, though staying behind whenever Roman talked to someone.

He felt a bit uneasy watching Roman flirt with a girl, though he didn't know why. He didn't focus on it, though, and instead ventured off to find someone else he knew. He found Thomas and Patton talking to someone he didn't recognize, and he decided he would rather stay out of that. He had no idea where Logan was. If he knew the nerd well enough, he was probably lecturing some poor soul on some smarty stuff.

Virgil didn't get far when he was approached by someone. A girl, about his age.

"Hey! I'm Cassie." She said. "Who must you be?"

Virgil signed his name in sign language.

"Uh... I don't know sign language." She said.

Virgil didn't want to stay. He wanted to rejoin Roman. He started to leave, but Cassie stopped him by grabbing onto his arm.

"Wait, don't go." She said. "We don't need to communicate to get along, right?"

Virgil wondered if she was drunk.

He looked around frantically for Roman, but didn't see him. He reluctantly and regretfully turned back to Cassie.

"Do you talk at all?" Cassie asked.

Virgil shook his head.

Please go away, he begged.

"Virgil, there you are." A voice from behind Virgil said.

Roman appeared, grabbing Virgil's arm.

Virgil grinned at his friend, relieved to have an excuse to get out of that situation.

He signed to Roman, explaining that he wanted out, and Roman understood.

"Sorry, my friend's deaf, so unless you know sign language..." Roman said.

Cassie shook her head.

"Well, anyways, I gotta take my friend away now. Our friend Thomas wants to talk to us." Roman said.

He grabbed Virgil's hand and led him away. Virgil gave him a grateful smile, and Roman beamed back.

"Thank you," Virgil whispered once they were far enough away.

"Anytime." Roman said.