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“An- Virgil, would you please pay some attention?”
Virgil glanced up from his phone quickly, doing a double take at the stern, annoyed look Logan was giving him. He considered going into a staring contest with the intelligent trait, but decided against it, rolling his eyes as he put his phone in his pocket. “Sure. What were we talking about?”
“Oh my goodness gracious,” Roman exclaimed dramatically, throwing his hands up in expiration to match. “I can’t believe you sometimes.”
“Calm down, Roman,” Patton told the royal, before turning to smile at Virgil as usual. “We were discussing whether or not Thomas should go out tonight, considering-” “Considering that he has writing to do if he wants to get the next video out on time without stressing himself out to an unhealthy amount,” Logan cut off. “That’s not your department, nerd,” Roman countered, looking at the darker facet next to him expectantly. “It’s completely up to sunshine if he stresses about it or not.”
Virgil sighed. “Look, going out’s great, but Logan has a point. Besides,” he continued before any of the others could protest, “there’s going to be a thunderstorm tonight, so maybe walking around town isn’t the best idea in the first place. That’s what I was looking at my phone for.”
Logan made a small, uncharacteristic fist pump in victory. “Thank you, Virgil.”
“A- a thunderstorm?” Roman wondered aloud, suddenly sounding a lot less confident than usual. “For- for how long?”
Virgil turned to him, raising his eyebrows slightly. “Most of the night, why?”
He thought he saw the trait flinch at his words, but the image was gone quickly as Princey recomposed himself, clearing his throat. “Well, then it’s decided. Writing inside it is. I’ll be leaving now, farewell, all of you.” And with that he was gone.
“Well, I don’t know what that was all about,” Patton told the other two remaining sides in his usual, upbeat tone, “but I’m gonna go too, I’m on cooking duty.” He sunk out, a smile on his face as always. He was always on cooking duty, being the only one out of the four that could actually cook, but for some reason he always liked to point it out.
“Shouldn’t you be the one that’s afraid of thunderstorms?” Logan asked the darker side, an eyebrow raised.
Virgil shrugged. “I used to be, but with Thomas getting older I let go of it, I guess. It’s kind of irrational.”
“A valid point,” Logan answered. “Well, I must be going as well. Goodbye, Anx- Virgil.” With that, the intelligent trait sunk out as well, and Virgil left to reside in his room alone.
No matter how much he tried, Virgil couldn’t stop worrying about Roman. The upcoming thunderstorm was inching closer, about -Virgil checked his phone quickly- half an hour from now, the thunder and lighting would be prominent. And, unable to get the other facet out of his head, he sighed to himself as he sunk out to visit Roman’s room.
“Princey?” he asked the other as soon as he popped up, causing the other to jump as he turned around. With Thomas having gone to sit in his room to work, the room held a large bed and a desk that Roman had been sitting at, a large print saying ‘A dream is a wish your heart makes’ in swirly gold letters hanging proudly above his head.
“Oh my Lancelot, you have to stop popping up like that,” Roman exclaimed. “What are you doing here?”
Virgil shrugged, not wanting to show the other trait his genuine concern. “Just noticed that you got a bit… nervous when we were talking about the weather earlier. You okay?”
“Are you seriously suggesting that I’m afraid? How dare you, heathen! I am the brave one, for goodness’ sake, I’m royalty-” he was cut off by the deadpan look on Virgil’s face, and he sighed. “I suppose the thought of thunder is a bit unsettling, but it’s all healthy, isn’t it? I mean-”
A loud crash sounded outside, and all blood pulled from Roman’s face as a shocked look appeared on it.
Virgil swallowed his pride as Princey’s breathing quickened and intensified. “Hey, hey, Roman, look at me.” Another crash of thunder sounded, and the other flinched. Virgil grabbed the royal’s hand and led him to the bed, guiding him to sit down. “They’re just noises, Roman, they’re not gonna hurt you.”
The third rumble had Roman squeezing his hand tightly. “I- I’m just really scared, okay?”
Virgil raised his eyebrows in surprise at the other’s honesty. Princey wasn’t the type to admit to negativity, especially not fear. So, figuring they were being open now anyway, he moved to put his arm around Roman’s shoulder. “It’s okay,” he said softly. “We all get scared sometimes, especially me. There’s nothing wrong with that.”
When another clap of thunder and a bright flash of light filling the room had Roman shuddering again, Virgil just reached for the remote quickly, opening Netflix to the TV as he pulled Princey to sit back against the headrest of the bed. He scrolled through for a while, feeling the other still flinch next to him at every sound of thunder, and settled on Tangled, knowing it was one of Roman’s favourites and he never failed to get pulled into the story. He turned the volume up as high as it would go and leaned back, eyeing Roman every now and then.
It took a few minutes and a few reaches for Virgil’s hand, but eventually Roman was, indeed, lost in the movie in front of him, and Virgil had to admit watched the other’s reaction to the story more than the screen itself.
It wasn’t until the story ended and the credits appeared, that the dark trait noticed that Roman’s head had come to rest on his shoulder. He smiled to himself, but didn’t point it out, secretly not wanting to lose the warmth of the body next to his.
“Thanks,” Roman murmured quietly when even the credits had ended.
“For what,” Virgil asked him, “I didn’t produce the movie, you know.” The other shoved him playfully. “For distracting me, I mean.” Roman turned his head to look at the other. “It wasn’t just the movie, either.”
Virgil frowned. “What do you mean?” Roman shrugged. “I don’t know, I guess it was nice having you here next to me in the first place…” The royal’s face was slightly red, and Virgil could tell he was starting to look the same. “Well, glad I could help, I guess…”
He moved to get up, but Roman grabbed his arm before he could. “You can- you could stay. If you wanted.” The creative side was blushing to no end at this point, but didn’t let go of Virgil. “There’s still thunder outside.”
Virgil hesitated for a moment. Their relationship was supposed to be- well, they weren’t supposed to have one. Yet, the feeling of Roman so close to him was apparently stopping him from thinking clearly, because he nodded, sliding down the headboard to rest his head on a pillow instead. Roman mirrored him, a shy smile on his face.
“Good night, Roman. Don’t let the thunder freak you out too much, okay? And if it does, wake me up.”
Roman nodded, almost unnoticeably shifting closer to the other trait. “I will. Good night, Virgil.”
It wasn’t long until the both of them drifted off.
And Roman was never scared of thunderstorms again, but that never stopped him from calling Virgil to his room for comfort.