#So I’ll just stick with doodles and brainstorming posts until then :)

[gracebethartacc]

How far along is your Wish rewrite

it’s just concepts and doodles as of now + im on a little break from it atm lol

[starstruck-xavier]

Fight Or Flight, Am I Right?

chapter two

ao3 || wattpad || fanfiction masterpost || main masterpost || chapter one

words: 1605 (total fic has 5122) ships: lamp (interpret it however you want) warnings: injuries

summary: When Virgil is feeling down, a dangerous, painful manticore-chimera fight turns out to be exactly what he needs.

a/n: i’m updating my fic posts so they all have the same format, so chapter two of one of my old fics is now its own post! and here it is-

“Good morning, Virge!” Patton chirruped as Virgil shuffled into the kitchen roughly 10 hours later. The fatherly trait donned his cat hoodie instead of the regular blue polo; Virgil pondered over whether today would be a much more relaxed day than normal. As for himself, he was still wearing his sweatpants and lilac t-shirt; its sleeves nearly swallowed his elbows and the bottom hem hung just above his knees, but it was comfortable, so the anxious trait didn’t mind its size. The pain was still burning mainly in his abdomen, arms and legs, but not quite as bad as last night, so he clambered onto the countertop by the fridge, wincing just a little. Normally, Patton would encourage him to sit somewhere else while he prepared food, but he let him have this today. Just this once.

The paternal trait came to retrieve something from the fridge, taking the opportunity to check on Virgil. “How are you feeling, kiddo? Can I check your bruises?” Virgil nodded, shrinking into himself self-consciously for a moment before straightening up to allow Patton to look. He didn’t particularly want to see the damage on his own body, instead turning to fixate on the reflection of the light on the fridge as Patton lifted up his t-shirt and felt around the hurting areas. Occasionally Virgil would lightly hiss at the touch, and the father figment would ramble his apologies, looking just slightly squeamish as he ensured that there were no serious injuries that had been missed when they were all tending to his unconscious self. Eventually, Patton let the shirt fall over Virgil’s body again, moving onto his hands and confirming that they were healing up nicely. Then, he looked for any bruising on his upper arms and shoulders (perhaps this was just him reassuring himself).

As he finished his drawn-out checkup, Logan and Roman entered the kitchen. Roman still wore his comfortable clothes, too. Even Logan was wearing something different this morning - a dark blue long-sleeve covered with doodles of planets and astronauts, complimenting his plain black pyjama pants. Today was definitely going to be relaxed. While Logan began to assist Patton in food preparation, Roman joined Virgil on the countertop.

“How’s the damage, Hot Topic?” Roman felt the medical patch on his shoulder with his left hand, frowning a little despite the usual energy he had tried to convey in his voice.

Virgil shrugged as best he could without feeling a spike of pain. “I haven’t really looked, but I feel bruised. I can only guess from my memory of what happened.” He glanced at the prince’s downcast expression. “How’s your shoulder?”

“Well, Logan said that the snake bite hit muscle but not bone, so it’s not as bad as it could be. It’s a good thing I’m ambidextrous though.” The sight of Roman looking so sombre broke Virgil’s heart just a little bit.

“Do you wanna play video games later? Your choice.” He nervously placed his bandaged hand on Roman’s uninjured shoulder, a comfort offering. The prince nodded, leaning into Virgil’s touch. They stayed on the counter, watching Logan and Patton at work until breakfast was ready for everybody.

Now sat in a chair after hopping off the countertop, Virgil picked at the meal, holding his fork as best he could.

“I think that we should all talk to Thomas today and update him on the situation.” Logan announced, watching everybody for a sign of protest, but received none, so he continued. “We’re not yet sure if he’s experiencing any second-hand effects.”

“He won’t have a creative block, will he, specs?” Roman glanced nervously around, switching his cutlery between his two hands.

“I doubt it, Roman. However, sometimes taking a break from brainstorming can yield even better ideas in the future. Despite the circumstances, this is a good opportunity to recharge, if you will, to prevent burnout.”

Roman looked a little more comforted. Light conversation ensued, travelling away from the looming situation back to how breakfast usually went. Bad jokes, laughs and groans filled the air. The two injured sides forgot about their miseries as they all discussed plans for the day and refuelled their bodies.

They all gradually dispersed after eating, Virgil being the last to finish as he tried not to cramp his bruised hands by holding the utensils. Roman waited for him nevertheless, his left hand returning to his right shoulder.

“You look sad, Roman.” Virgil turned to face him, reaching out to tap his hands on Roman’s left arm to stop him from picking at the patch. “If it’s hurting, I can get, like, a heat patch for you. I have some in my room.”

“Yeah?” Roman smiled gratefully, still with a hint of sadness in his eyes. “That’d be nice. That time I was wounded in my side, I learned how draining having that pain can be. But, while my injuries this time around aren’t that bad, I still feel just as bad because I let you get hurt too.”

“It’s okay, Ro. When Thomas was feeling so down yesterday, it was likely getting to me because it had been a while since I had that adrenaline rush. Besides, I could’ve stayed out and summoned the others instead, but I went in because my instinct was to keep you safe. Like I said last night, I can deal with some muscle pain. I have to, sometimes.”

“You have to?” The two got up from their chairs and made their way through the house.

“Yeah. You may not expect me to enjoy adrenaline, but if I can’t exercise my fight-or-flight instincts for a while I start to feel tired or lethargic. Then I end up not being prepared when something external makes Thomas panic. I was reluctant to join you at first yesterday because I didn’t know if I had the energy for it, and usually, I’d just do something like getting Thomas to watch a scary movie to give me a little more power for a while, but that fight I had really helped to restore my energy. Really, once my muscles feel fine again I’m gonna feel so much better at my job. You helped me out, Princey.” The anxious trait noticed how Roman’s face brightened and couldn’t help grinning.

He led Roman to the purple door with his signature stormcloud printed onto it, then rummaged through his drawers for the heat patches. He grabbed a few for himself before peeling off the back cover of one, fumbling through his thinly bandaged hands. During this time, the prince sat on Virgil’s unmade bed and watched him prepare the patch. “I’ll stick it onto your t-shirt, it’s not recommended directly on the skin.” The anxious trait crouched in front of Roman and touched his shoulder with great care, applying it onto the fabric which covered the patch. “The heat will last for about eight hours, but if it gets too hot you can just peel it off, yeah?”

“Yeah.” Roman nodded, looking brighter than before. “Thank you, Virge.”

Virgil straightened up again with a nod, quickly pulled a black long-sleeve from a different drawer and put it on underneath his t-shirt, which was easy to do without taking it off due to the size of it, then began to apply his own patches in between the two layers. He stuck one to each side of his ribs before gathering the plastic packaging and depositing it into a wastebasket. The heat helped both of them, providing comfort to Roman’s shoulder and relief to Virgil’s sides.

The feeling of being summoned suddenly tugged at both of them. “That’ll be Logan and Patton.” Roman grinned. “I’ll see you there, stormcloud.”

—

Roman rose up in front of the television and Virgil appeared by the staircase, both at the same time.

“Hey, guys!” Thomas excitedly looked around. “I’m so glad you two are safe! Logan and Patton have just brought me up to speed.”

“Greetings, Thomas!” Roman instantly adapted his royal persona, only slightly hindered by his injury. “It is great to be back.”

“Hey, Thomas.” Virgil said, suddenly feeling a little nervous. “Are you… physically okay?”

“Yeah, I’m not feeling pain or anything, although I did feel very panicky, I assume when you were in that fight.”

A pang of guilt was felt in Virgil’s heart. “O— oh, I’m sorry, Thomas, I didn’t realise—“

“No, no, it’s okay, Virge. I called some friends and was able to take care of it. I could tell from the feeling that you were in trouble and you couldn’t control it. I’m just happy you’re okay. Or, at least, safe. Are you okay, Virgil?” Thomas glanced at the anxious side, noticing how he wrapped his arms around his abdomen.

He hummed uncertainly. “I’m in a lot of pain, but I’ve experienced it before.” Upon curious looks from everybody except Roman, he recounted what he was saying to the prince before. As he finished, Logan seemed to think for a moment.

“Perhaps, in the future, we should work with Roman in the imagination to make an area in which Virgil can exercise his fight-or-flight without running the risk of injury.”

“That’s a great idea, Logan!” Patton exclaimed, looking towards Roman to see what he thought. “Do you think you can do that, Roman?”

“Yes,” Roman pondered, already thinking of ideas. “I think that would be fantastic! Virgil and I can construct a safe zone within the imagination. How do you feel about that, stormcloud?”

Virgil nodded, feeling a little better. “Yeah, let’s do that once we’re both fully healed.”

“And after I’ve beaten you at every video game in existence.”

“Sure, Sir Sing-A-Lot.”