Being stuck in the hospital sucked. Being stuck in the hospital alone was worse. This was the first time Desmond was ever getting the chance to really experience how different it was because this was the first time Deceit wasn't alone, at least not most of the time. Despite only being in the hospital for 24 hours, Logan visited rather frequently, talking about work, or their project and filling in most of the silence so that Des didn't have to. It was pleasant, and it made the time when he was alone even worse. Thankfully squid had been filling that void.

Squid, who was apparently Remus, had been sending Desmond plenty of memes since he had been unblocked. The two fell back into their conversations as if nothing had ever happened. At first, Desmond was extremely grateful. They didn't address the fact that Desmond had ghosted Remus and Remus never asked why. It was great, until it wasn't.

The dread dropped in Desmond's stomach suddenly. He had abandoned his only friend and Remus didn't seem to mind. Not only was that something that stirred up all of Desmond's abandonment issues, but Des deserved it. He didn't deserve for Remus to start talking to him again, he had just up and left without any sort of explanation.

Being without his only friend had been isolating and had made him feel empty. He had realized what he did was stupid, but he hadn't apologized. Did Remus even care? Did Des? Did he actually care or was this all because he was feeling lonely? The panic building up in his throat and he tried to calm it, tried to push it down. It didn't matter. He didn't care.

But he did care. He cared a lot more than he wanted to admit to himself or to anyone else. He enjoyed Remus being his friend and he was happy to have Remus around, and he didn't want Remus to hate him. A growl escaped his lips as he let his fear and dread be replaced by anger. Anger was always an easier emotion to deal with anyway.

"Mr. Amura, it looks like you are free to go. Did you have someone who was coming to pick you up?" He shook his head no. Although Logan had been visiting they weren't that close, and Patton hadn't messaged him since the Friday he left.

"Alright, well take it easy, your doctor said to make sure you schedule appropriate follow-ups this time."

He nodded, ready to get out of here and to be done with all of this. Thankfully the process wasn't hard, sign a paper here, agree to come back, then he was free to go. He had on fresh clothes and all of his belongings that Logan had brought him. He was planning on getting on the bus when he saw a familiar person standing in the pickup waiting area. Desmond would know those soft blond curls and big round glasses anywhere. He didn't even need to be close enough to see the freckles.

It was Patton, and here he was, frozen there like a deer in the headlights.

"Desmond!" He called, quickly making his way to the frozen man. "Please, don't run, or get mad, just hear me out!" He heaved as he got closer, looking Desmond over. "I... We need to talk okay?"

Desmond slowly nodded, his mouth suddenly dry and his desire to flee on overdrive, but he remained rooted to the spot.

"I... maybe here isn't the best place to do this, um... do you want to go back to the apartment?" He asked.

'Sure,' though his hand motion was a bit noncommittal. Still, Patton took it as a good sign and started leading Des over to the car he was borrowing from his family.

"So I read the notes you had on me." Apparently, Patton was too antsy to not talk about this right now. "But, there's a lot I'm confused about. You wrote about my likes, but barely any of my dislikes. If you were trying to get rid of me wouldn't that have been more important? And why did your plan never include just asking me to leave? Wouldn't that have been better?" He continued to ramble and rattle on, obviously not expecting a verbal response from Des, but needing to get all of his thought out.

"Sure the book said you wanted to get rid of me but nothing in there actually made it seem like you disliked me." By the time Patton had finished rambling they had pulled into a parking spot for their dorm and Patton was turned to Desmond, giving him his full and undivided attention.

"Why did you want me to leave?"

There it was, the question he didn't answer because it was so much more complicated than any simple answer he could give. It took him a while before he finally responded. Patton was patient, not moving, not saying anything else 'I didn't, but you are going to anyway. The sooner you left the better.' Desmond's hands shook a little as he explained that because it was the best 'simple' explanation he could give. Everyone left, and if they left before you got attached, it didn't hurt as much.

Patton reached back into the back seat, grabbing the binder and handing it to Des. "Then keep trying, because I'm not leaving." He said, trying to speak softly but his voice carried, and it was just so Patton.

AN: It's still Wednesday in some places, so technically this isn't late... but yeah it was posted really late at night. Thank you for being so patient with me, everyone!