Chapter Text
Roman all but skipped through the front door that evening, humming a tune Virgil recognised as his favourite song from Hamilton, Hurricane.
“Hey Virgil, Patton,” the prince greeted the pair.
Virgil looked up and waved at him as he started to move his colouring book and pencil case out of the moral side’s way to set the table for dinner.
“Hey Roman, how was your afternoon?” Patton asked.
“Fantastic!” Roman exclaimed. Seeing Virgil flinch at the sudden noise, he lowered his volume considerably before continuing, “I have all sorts of new ideas for Thomas’ videos. How were yours?”
Virgil snapped twice and signed with as much sarcasm as he possibly could, just terrific, I had another attack.
Roman nodded, “So it’s a dark Disney kind of night tonight?”
Virgil nodded. If Dad’s okay with that, he added.
Patton inwardly squealed at Virgil’s name for him when he was signing. It started out as a joke when Virgil was first learning signing, mainly as a shorter way to refer to the moral side, but the nickname stuck and Patton loved it.
“Of course, Kiddo. Whatever you want to watch,” he replied, “Do you want to go drag Logan away from his laptop for me?”
Virgil nodded once and headed up to the logical side’s room. He knocked on the open door twice and Logan turned to see who it was.
Dinner’s ready, he signed, Dad wanted me to get you.
“Thank you, Virgil,” Logan acknowledged, signing his response as he spoke – a habit he’d picked up early on to help teach Virgil signs and he continued doing so with the excuse there were always new signs for them to learn.
Logan had been the one to suggest Virgil and the other sides learn signing for Virgil’s non-verbal times after he noticed how frustrated the anxious side got having to write everything out, especially during an episode when he was often shaking too much to write legibly.
They had started out learning American Sign Language, but it turned into more of their own version when Virgil started adding in body language to convey simple ideas and started making up signs when he couldn’t remember the ones he needed. While it annoyed Logan at first, the important thing in his eyes was that Virgil was able to communicate with the others and be understood.
While he would deny it vehemently if ever asked, he signed while he spoke so Virgil didn’t feel even more like the odd one out.
Dinner passed uneventfully and Roman and Logan agreed to do the dishes since Patton had cooked.
“How about you and I pick out a movie, Virge?” Patton suggested gently.
Virgil smiled slightly and nodded his agreement.
He decided on Lilo and Stitch 2 and set it up while Roman and Logan had a small water fight in the kitchen.
When the two damp sides joined him and Patton on the couch, he stood up in front of them so they could all see him sign easily.
I know I say it a lot, he started, signs short and hesitant, but I want to say thanks for you all putting up with me and my no talking stages.
“Virge-”Patton began, but Virgil held up a hand to stop him.
I know I’m not always easy to relate to, but the effort you all put into trying means a lot, he continued.
“We all have flaws, Virgil, but we have to work as a team. It’s no trouble really,” Logan replied, signing as he spoke again.
“You make us stronger Virgil,” Roman added, “Learning a few hand motions so you can convey your thoughts to us is nothing.”
“What they said, Kiddo,” Patton agreed, “You’re our family.”
Virgil smiled and signed family before spelling out I L Y.
“I love you too,” Patton squealed, grinning and jumping up to give the anxious side a hug.
Roman joined the pair, followed shyly by Logan.
“Well, now that we have the feelings portion of the night out of the way, can we watch the movie?” Logan asked, drawing back from the group hug after a minute.
The other three laughed and sat back down on the couch, Virgil sandwiched between Roman and Patton, Logan keeping a reasonable distance between himself and the moral side, still pretending to be allergic to feelings.
Roman smirked when Logan moved over closer to Patton halfway through the movie, but said nothing.