#Synesthesia!Virgil

[idontknowreallywhy]

Tried but failed to reach a conclusion on what I’m loosely calling the paint mystery but the majority of the chapters have deviated so wildly from any kind of plot that I may have to rethink whether it’s a story or just a collection of scenes.

Unrefined, unedited previous bits for reference:

Bit the first

Bit the second

Bit the third

The interlude after the third where I lost control of the characters and everyone went a bit nuts

Now, Bit the fourth which was supposed to be the end but that still eludes me… ALL the thanks to @astranite @womble1 and @sofasurf for the beta reading and suggestions and encouragement and to the Thunderfam generally for being a friendly safe community to practice a new thing within.

Light

A rush of harmonics drowned out Two’s steady hum as her sister raced up beneath her and barrel-rolled overhead before shooting off into the Californian twilight. Virgil watched as her vapour trail angled up, up, up and over backwards before taking a steep dive and spiralling back towards where he and Gordon watched in various shades of amusement and baffled awe.

“How is he still conscious?” Gordon murmured. “I’d be either sick… or dead. Ugh… nope, definitely dead.”

Virgil watched as his elder brother steered the rocket plane into the vertical zigzag he recognised as the signature move of the ‘Vomit Comet’ Scott had piloted for the trainee astronauts during his 6 month NASA secondment from the Air Force.

“He doesn’t have a… normal relationship with G force, Fish, you know that.”

As if to prove the point, One screamed past them, spinning, and doubled back to overtake at a distance which set Two’s proximity sensors blaring.

Again.

Virgil cringed and covered his ears.

John’s wry smile materialised in front of them. 

“Aunt Val is going to be inundated with emails from the alien spotters again isn’t she?”

Virgil snorted. Then sighed.

“Should we… you know, rein our dear flyboy in a little?”

There was a delighted snicker in the background as John coughed uncomfortably.

“He couldn’t doooo it” came the familiar singsong voice of Virgil’s digital niece. John, who now appeared to be heavily focused on brushing non-existent dust from his baldric, frowned slightly.

“I did open a comm with him, yes.”

“And?”

“He was… whooping, Virgil.”

It was Gordon’s turn to snort. He looked up from his tablet where he’d already accessed the usual conspiracy theory websites to check for new flying saucer sightings over Arizona.

“What, Scott? Pfft, seems unlikely”

John raised an eyebrow and patched in the audio from One’s cockpit.

Virgil’s breath caught in his throat as he was accosted by a sound he hadn’t heard since his brother was a teenager. Warm, hearty, unfettered laughter punctuated by… yes, that could only be described as a whoop… and then an elated giggle. 

Virgil was aware that to most people sound didn’t have colour but it was second nature to him. Scott’s usual speaking voice was a familiar steely blue, rich and dependable. It could deepen to almost navy if he was angered or concerned, or gain highlights of cerulean when he was amused or speaking affectionately. Now it was as if an arc of blazing summer sky was overlaid on the late evening clouds ahead of them, marred only by the static effect of the comm. Virgil was overwhelmed by a sudden longing to hear his brother laughing properly, truly, untainted by digital interference and simultaneously afraid the opportunity to do so would never arise.

Nobody moved, not waiting to break the spell. Then One did it for them, as her pilot pushed her into yet another feat of aerobatic madness and her own burning white squeals of delight muffled those of the man at the controls.

John muted the feed. Virgil releases the breath he was holding and swallowed, glancing at Gordon whose jaw had almost parted company with his face, his tablet hanging from a limp hand, his mission of winding up the ufologists forgotten. 

It was sobering to realise how infrequently a website tracking the rare and precious phenomena of happy-carefree-Scott would be updated. He met John’s eye and inclined his head. He couldn’t intervene either. Drop kicking a puppy would be less morally questionable.

“How’s his fuel?”

John’s gaze shifted upwards as a graceful sweep of his left hand obviously brought up some kind of display and a swift flick of the right closed something else down. Virgil was momentarily distracted by the image of his elegant brother conducting a symphony orchestra from space, his attention snapping back as he noticed the slight furrow in John’s brow.

“Low, I take it?”

“At this rate he’ll drop into F tank in about 10 minutes. Which will get him home if he flies in a straight line…”

“If.”

“Yeah.”

“What’s F tank when it’s at home?” Gordon had abandoned his tablet and was observing his elder brothers’ with overt curiosity.

John rolled his eyes. Virgil bit his lip and radiated guilt. Scott had never been told about that particular upgrade to his ship and it always made him uneasy to keep such a secret but the secrecy was necessary for it to work as intended.

“Gordon you have to swear to keep this to yourself… but you remember all those times when the paragon of caution that is our big brother has reassured us his fuel supply was “Fine” when One was actually running on fumes?” 

More like the distant memory of fumes in some cases. His little brother of course knew all too well because he’d flown enough missions himself to take fuel to whatever godforsaken location Scott had stranded himself in.

“Well… Brains and I installed a little extra tank about which the fuel gauge is ignorant and so is One’s primary pilot.”

Gordon appeared to ponder this for a minute.

“Won’t that just make him believe he really can fly on fumes?”

“Precisely what I said” John threw a hand in the air. “I had suggested a flow rate limiter instead, so she can’t do more than Mach 6 once the gauge gets below a certain level”

“But that’s slower than the Big Green Mom Bag!”

“Oi!” the Mom Bag’s pilot objected “But, yes. Can you imagine what his reaction would have been if…” Another screech of scram jets announced One’s return from who knew where and she decelerated with a shudder to match Thunderbird Two’s more sedate pace, flying above and just a nose ahead with her pilot looking down at them and flipping a cheeky salute. Virgil nudged the comms open again:

“Having fun, you big show-off?”

Scott’s hologram appeared, all shark-like grin and wildly dilated pupils. Virgil found himself leaning back into his chair, slightly intimidated by the intensity of his sibling’s manic expression.

“Well?! What are you going to PLAY?!”

Three younger brothers performed a perfectly synchronised double-take.

“P-play?”

“The concert, short stuff! What are you going to play in the concert? You should play that one that that goes ba-da-da-da da da ba-da-da-da da da da dum…” and then One was spiralling off again in a roar of jet engines, her pilot’s hologram blurring into incomprehensibility from the vibrations and leaving his younger brother blinking in confusion.

He shut off the comm before it gave them all a headache. At some point prior to the spontaneous post-tornado-rescue singalong in the school hall, their old teacher Ms Knighton had accosted Virgil and persuaded him to be the guest soloist at a benefit concert she was already planning to fundraise for disaster relief in their hometown. ‘Persuaded’ wasn’t quite the right word. He wasn’t aware that he’d actually been given any kind of an option. The woman was a tidal wave of organisation and he’d been well and truly swept along.

He wasn’t sure how he felt about it anyway. He’d not played in front of anybody but family since their Mom had passed and he hadn’t planned to either, for all that the idea gave him a tiny flutter of anticipation. He’d been meaning to send an apology citing work commitments later that week.

THIS was what had got Scott so excited?

He squirmed guiltily as he’d begun to theorise that his renowned flirt of a brother had encountered an old flame during the course of the evening and that was what had caused the adrenaline spike. But, it seemed Scott wasn’t celebrating for himself at all. This vanishingly rare level of joy from his big brother, was on HIS behalf?

He suddenly pictured Scott sat in the front row of every little school performance, even the ones Mom couldn’t get to. He’d always put the constantly jiggling denim-clad legs down to frustration at having to sit still and listen rather than climb and run but then… maybe that wasn’t it at all?

There was the gift of the electronic piano… and that time his brother flew back from college to talk round his father who’d objected to Virgil’s nervous suggestion that maybe he could do joint honours music alongside his engineering degree. Granted, when he realised IR on the horizon, Virgil had changed his mind and decided to keep music just as a hobby but thanks to his brother, it had been HIS decision to make. 

Now he thought about it, he couldn’t think of a single occasion when he’d sat and played the lounge piano where Scott wasn’t either at dad’s desk, on the sofa, or leaning against the body of the instrument chatting or just watching with a fond smile.

Scott had been his cheerleader at every step.

“Earth to Viiiirg!” Gordon leaned over and poked him in the side of the head. “So what are you going to play then?” Virgil smiled awkwardly and rubbed away the sudden excess of water in his eyes.

“Guess I’d better figure out what “ba-da-da-da da da” is.”

[owentheworm]

MY SANDERS SIDES HEADCANNONS:

☆ Lots of polyamoury

☆ Logan is dating both Virgil and Remus, but Remus and Virgil are not dating eachother

☆ Janus, Patton, and Roman are all dating eachother

☆ Remus and Janus don't consider themselves as "dating" but they do engage in romantic behavior and flirting towards eachother with the consent of the members of their own seperate relationships.

☆ Virgil gets overstimulated by loud noises very easily, so he wears earplugs to block out yelling during Sanders Sides videos

☆ When Virgil does end up overstimulated, he locks himself in his room and listens to white noise (running water, rustling leaves, etc.) in order to calm himself down and not be sent into an panic attack

☆ When Virgil has panic attacks, it is really hard to make him calm down. They usually last at least an hour. He usually ends up scratching the backs of his hands raw, pulling at his hair, and hitting his chest with a fist. He has a hard time hearing and listening due to his panic, so he doesn't respond well or at all when people try to talk to him. He refuses to be touched during panic attacks because it makes him panic more. He also hides during anxiety attacks, shoving himself into small spaces like under a desk or into a closet.

☆ Usually, Logan is able to calm Virgil down the fastest out of everyone. He gets Virgil a blanket and some water, and plays white noise for him while gently talking until Virgil begins to listen. Then, he calms Virgil's breathing and helps get his thoughts straight again.

☆ Logan can't function without silence. He notices the smallest of noises and they distract him from his work. The only noise he can tolerate is quiet white noise, due to it bringing Virgil comfort.

☆ Roman and Remus both have synesthesia.

☆ Roman see sounds as colors. He loves to listen to different forms of music in order to see beautiful color schemes. He knows what color every sides voice is by heart.

☆ Remus can taste sounds. He loves listening to weird noises and telling everyone how they taste. He likes to tell the other sides that their voices taste weird, when in reality they all are pleasant and leave a nice taste in his mouth after a conversation.

☆ Pattons glasses aren't prescription, they're blue light

☆ Patton carries around a small backpack with water, small snacks, and fidgets for the other sides.

☆ Patton has alarms set on his phone to remind everyone to eat. Everyone gets reminded to eat breakfast in the morning, most of the time made by Patton. Roman, Janus, and Logan all get reminded to eat lunch. Remus and Virgil are handed snacks randomly throughout the afternoon because they dont like eating real meals during the day. Everyone gets reminded to eat dinner, made by Patton and whoever is open to helping out.

☆ Remus likes pulling pranks on the sides

☆ He once somehow, no one knows how he actually did it, hid in Logans room silently all day until he finally left, and then proceeded to glue all of Logans belongings to his ceiling. All the sides are still in shock about it.

☆ Janus loves card games. He plays them all the time. He makes Logan play with him most of the time because they both have great poker faces. Janus always win tho because of his skill at lying, whereas Logan does not enjoy bending the truth for silly games.

☆ Janus wears his gloves because his hands have scales on them. His scales are sensitive and are easily injured more than his skin. Wearing gloves also makes holding his hands more comfortable, due to his scales being pokey.

☆ Remus. Uses. Neo. Pronouns. He loves them. They make him so happy. He particularly likes teeth/teeths, e/er, and ew/ews. He likes how funky they sound but doesn't force people to use them on him cause he literally doesn't care.

☆ Janus tells the truth when the other sides ask him to most of the time. Unless he's in a bad mood. Then he lies still.

☆ Janus hisses like a snake when he's annoyed.

☆ Virgil hisses like a cat when he's annoyed.

☆ Remus hisses like a opossum when he's annoyed.

☆ Pet namessss

☆ Logan calls Remus "Stink Bug" and Virgil "Cloud"

☆ Remus calls Logan "Lover boy" and Janus "Hot stuff"

☆ Virgil calls Logan "Lovey"

☆ Janus calls Patton "Sunshine", Roman "His Prince", and Remus "Baby"

☆ Patton calls Roman "Handsome" and Janus "Cutie"

☆ Roman calls Patton "His Lovely Man" and Janus "His Shining Knight"

☆ Patton like wearing lipgloss so that he can see faintly where he kisses his boyfriends.

☆ Roman writes all over himself. And the other sides. If he has an idea, he writes it on his hand. If he's sitting and has a spark of inspiration, he draws on his legs. If his body is full of doodles and gibberish, he moves on to writting on the nearest person. On multiple occasions he has yelled across the mind space things like "JANUS, MY SHINNING KNIGHT, READ ME WHAT YOUR LEFT THIGHT SAYS!" or "LOGAN, QUIT READING AND TELL ME WHAT YOUR RIGHT HAND HAS DRAWN ON THE BACK OF IT!"

☆ Janus sticks his tongue out of the corner of his mouth when he concentrates. Specifically, out of the snake side of his mouth. Patton finds it adorable.

☆ Patton is amazing at tending to wounds. He has a ton of experience from patching up Remus and Roman after their many many fights and Virgil after his anxiety attacks. Logan has even said that he stands to match against Pattons expertise at tending to wounds.

☆ Virgil is always cold because of his anxiety, that's why he wears a jacket all the time. He even wears it on the hottest days of the year.

☆ Remus is a living heating lamp, he is always hot. He where's tank tops in the winter cause he's warm naturally. Patton is always worried that he has a fever.

☆ Logan hates physical affection, it makes him feel kinda gross. It leaves a sort of tingling sensation where ever he was touched. He instead really really likes descriptions of how different forms of touch feel. He let's Virgil describe hugs to him and Remus describe being pinched and punched.

☆ Patton and Roman L O V E physical affection. They are always hugging or snuggling or holding hands. They love physical affection with everyone, but mostly give it to eachother.

[sometimes-love-is-enough]

Okay the first scene I think of when I think of your work, is the scene where Thomas and Virgil go to that party he regrets saying yes to, but that's because it's the first scene of yours I remember reading, and I really loved it

When I reblogged from you, I remembered you had some synesthesia fics I wanted to read (and as a person with synesthesia, I greatly enjoyed :)

that's the first thing I ever wrote for this fandom, so that's pretty fitting. fun fact: that chapter of pick a side is (i'm pretty sure) the only thing for this fandom i've written in past tense. i realized shortly after posting that chapter that i enjoyed the immediacy and flow of present tense much more, and i just... never went back*.

and aw hell yeah. i'm glad you enjoyed those ones!

[k1tty-wh1te]

achoo🐰 this is my intro post

hi, my name is Virgil! I'm 18!!

⚠️ TRANSANDROPHOBIA IS REAL ⚠️

my dms are always open (because I'm lazy), feel free to dm me & about whatever! (I am fine discussing nsfw stuff, but please ask beforehand 👍)

(additional info under the cut)

I Identify as a boy, I use he/they pronouns, and I am queer :3

im just a dude that likes to talk about hello kitty and always sunny. I like drawing , and my favorite videogames are stardew valley, minecraft, and animal jam !!!

Userboxez

/ᐠ｡ꞈ｡ᐟ\ |•| /ᐠ｡ꞈ｡ᐟ\ |•| /ᐠ｡ꞈ｡ᐟ\ |•| /ᐠ｡ꞈ｡ᐟ\ |•| /ᐠ｡ꞈ｡ᐟ\

(ps I am accepting drawing requests if they are hello kitty, minecraft, or stardew valley related)

(pps my asks are open idk what for so just wtv)

[olivia-ivy]

what were Remus and Virgil doing during the last episode?

AO3 | Ko-Fi

Virgil was sitting in the center of his room. Not his bed (or the couch, rather, as Thomas was standing in his living room), that was too bouncy, moved too easily, wasn’t stable enough. Not good for his plan of curling into a ball and not moving until the world ends, and maybe not even then.

He was exhausted from the wedding. All those people, all that social interaction ... okay, sure, there wasn’t a lot of social interaction (almost none from the bride and groom, in fact) considering Thomas just sat on his phone the whole time, but still! There were a lot of people there and Virgil didn’t like it. Of course there would have been less people at the callback ...

And that thought only made Virgil sink further into his anxiety-ball form, hugging his knees closer and tucking his head in further. He couldn’t remember if he started rocking in place before or after he started crying, but that’s where he was when he heard a soft pop and smelled Axe body spray — and lots of it.

“SO,” Remus said settling next to Virgil’s huddled form, his extravagant outfit rustling loudly, “it turns out all the video games they’re gonna reference are rated E for Everyone. Lame.” 

Virgil squeezed his eyes shut, more tears leaking out. He bit his lip to keep his whimpers in and willed himself to stop shaking, which didn’t do a whole lot. Remus was quiet, which is never a good sign (but neither is him not being quiet so who really knows).

“... Is it a Bad Day?” Remus asked, a touch softer than his regular volume, and Virgil’s heart seized. Back before Thomas was aware of any of them, the Others would help Virgil on his Bad Days. It usually had varying degrees of success, but it was better than nothing. He hadn’t told any of the Light Sides about it. He didn’t want it to get back to Thomas that he used to be on the other side of things — of course that ship officially sailed. And sunk. Worse than the Titanic. “Is it a no talky day?” Remus continued.

Virgil didn’t move for a long time. They had a whole system worked out before Virgil left, before Janus kicked him out, before the Others figured out something was wrong with Virgil Before. For days when he didn’t want to talk, didn’t want anyone around him. He still remembers all of those signals. He knows that if he just holds up a closed fist, Remus leave him alone.

He slowly releases one hand’s grip on his legs (ow his fingers are stiff. How long has he been in that position?) and raised one finger. Their old signal for yes. 

Remus hummed. “Well that works for me. I have an idea for a nightmare I’m working on, so I’m gonna use you as a soundboard. So it starts with Thomas falling into an abyss, usual stuff right? But then he lands in the middle of that horror movie he saw when he was twelve that scarred him for life, you remember that? Of course you do, you’re the one in charge of the Deep-Seated Issue part of the brain.”

And on and on Remus continued, talking about first his nightmare idea then whatever random thought drifted into his brain. Even though the content of his rambling was often violent, disturbing, or both, just having another voice in the room to listen to, to drown out the static in Virgil’s brain and the loud voices coming from upstairs (it sounded like Roman, Patton, and Thomas were fighting) was helping.

At one point, there was a soft pop and the room smelled faintly like a nail salon. Virgil turned his head, still huddled in his Virgil-ball, and saw various nail polishes spread out before Remus. He had acrylic nails on (did he have those when he came in?) and had a bottle of nail polish remover at his lips. “Y’know, the liquid is blue, but it tastes green.” Remus said matter-of-factly.

“Dirt tastes red.” Remus had said once when they were younger when things were easier.

Virgil frowned. “But you said Janus’s pancakes taste red. Do his pancakes taste like dirt?”

“No, that’s a different red,” Remus said like that made all the sense in the world.

“Okay, but what does red taste like?” Virgil asked, still thoroughly confused by the conversation taking place.

“Like pancakes and dirt!” Remus cackled.

Present-day Remus shrugged, took another swig, and screwed the cap back on the bottle of nail polish remover. He picked up a bottle of black nail polish and beat it against the palm of his hand. “Gimme your hand,” Remus said, but made no move to grab it. Virgil mentally checked himself on how he was feeling about touch. Twenty minutes ago, it would have been a hard no. Now, however, he limply offered his left hand to the other Side and reburied his head in the Virgil-ball. 

He felt the cold varnish spread over his fingernails. He was vaguely concerned over what Remus was going to put on his nails, but he knew Remus was too proud of his creations to make a mess (unintentionally, that is. Intentional messes were still a possibility). Plus his nails were always chewed down to the quick, so there wasn’t exactly a large canvas for him to work with.

Remus was just finishing his other hand (“Don’t immediately put it back in the Virgil-ball,” Remus lightly threatened when he finished the first hand and placed it on the carpet next to him. “No smudging my masterpiece.”) when they heard it. Deceit’s tune, coming from upstairs, sounding like it had some kind of retro game filter over it. Virgil tensed (but didn’t move his hands) and Remus snapped his fingers and turned on the TV. The music came through the speakers, louder and more clear. Remus was quiet for a moment (again, not a great sign) then muttered, “Did I drink too much nail polish remover, or is Youth Pastor Ryan a giant frog?”

Virgil peaked over his knees at the TV screen and ... no, Remus didn’t drink too much nail polish remover (well, no, he had, any amount of nail polish remover is too much to drink, but Patton was a giant frog). The others were all pixelated and looked to be standing in a broken version of Thomas’s living room. Patton and Roman were on one side, and Thomas and Janus were on the other, Janus standing protectively in front of Thomas. Virgil’s breath caught in his throat.

“Janus please, don’t do this,” Virgil pleaded. “I’m only trying to protect Thomas —”

“So am I,” Janus said, his voice frustratingly cold and collected. He was standing at the threshold between the two sides of the mindscape, holding the door open and “encouraging” Virgil to go through it.

“I can’t go over there, I’m not one of Them!”

“But you’re not exactly one of Us either, are you?” Janus said, his mismatched eyes narrowing in accusation.

Virgil laughed once, incredulous. “All this because my name is different from you guys?” He thought it was just an innocent observation Janus made. When his insomnia sentenced him to another sleepless night and he threw on his gray hoodie before heading downstairs for a two AM cup of coffee, when he got down to the kitchen and saw Janus sitting at the table looking pensive about something, when he started talking to Janus as just a thing to do, when the conversation shifted from friendly chatting to an interrogation, he had no idea it would end like this. With the man he once thought of as family kicking him out in the middle of the night.

“It’s more than that and you know it!” Janus yelled, his control slipping just slightly. He caught himself and lowered his voice (though he didn’t have to. Remus snored louder than anything and the other one’s room was the furthest from the threshold) and repeated, slowly, “It’s more than that, and you know it, Virgil.” Something like sadness flickered across his face, briefly. “Don’t make this any harder than it has to be,” he murmured.

Rage boiled in Virgil’s gut, and he exploded. “It doesn’t have to be this way! You’re the one doing this! What happened to ‘family’, huh? What happened to ‘it’s us against the world, now’?” Virgil’s voice caught in his throat and his vision blurred. “Or were those all lies, Deceit?”

Janus’s eyes hardened. He opened the door wider. 

Virgil scoffed. “Whatever,” he muttered. “Whatever.” He stomped across the threshold, jostling Janus on the way even though there was plenty of room to avoid him. He blinked harshly. That side of the mindscape was always brighter, even in the middle of the night. That’s why Virgil’s eyes watered and leaked down his cheeks, no other reason, just that.

He glared over his shoulder one last time at Janus. Was that regret in his eyes? Remorse? Whatever it may or may not have been, no words were spoken between the two as Janus closed the door, and locked it once again.

“Look, look!” Remus said, bumping against Virgil, bringing his attention back to the present. On the TV, everyone was un-pixelated and back in Thomas’s in tact living room. Deceit took off one of his gloves, and held his bare hand up flat, like a witness swearing in to testify in court.

“My name is Janus,” he said. Virgil and Remus looked at each other wide eyed. It was Janus’s idea to keep their names hidden from the others in the first place (hence why Remus blurted his out right away. Someone tells him not to do something and that’s the first thing he does).

Their shock was interrupted by the sound of Roman snorting. Virgil winced, reminded of when he revealed his own name and Roman (badly) stifling laughter at his expense. “Janice?” the prince said incredulously, laughing behind his hand. “What are you, a middle school librarian?” Remus snorted at that joke but otherwise kept quiet. Roman laughed some more then reasserted, “It’s a stupid name.”

Janus huffed in exasperation. “Oh, Roman, thank God, you don’t have a mustache,” he simpered, “otherwise, between you and Remus, I wouldn’t know who the evil twin is!”

A bottle of nail polish remover flew threw the air and crashed into the TV, breaking the screen and stopping the scene unfolding in front of them. Any other time, Virgil would have freaked out at such a display of violence, but he was too busy staring at Remus, now standing and breathing heavily. 

Virgil knew why. Way back Before, the four of them had sat down and made a list of things never to call each other, not even in a fight. Virgil’s list was the longest. Remus’s was the shortest. It only had one thing on it, one thing that Remus never wanted to be called under any circumstances. “Re—” Virgil started, his voice croaking from how little it was used all day.

The others and Thomas didn’t know what that phrase meant to Remus, but Virgil knew. And Janus knew. Janus knew, and even though he wasn’t saying it to Remus, he still said it. 

“Whatever,” Remus muttered. He waved away his nail art supplies and put the TV back in its place, this time turned off. He whirled around and stormed out of Virgil’s room. “Whatever,” he said again before slamming the door behind him.

Virgil slowly leaned to the side and laid down on the floor (careful not to smudge his nails which, though creepy, came out very good). He laid there as Remus slammed his door. He laid there as Roman sank into his room and turned on loud music to drown out his sobs (it didn’t work). He laid there as Patton and Logan and Janus went back to their respective rooms, Thomas’s dilemma apparently solved without ever needing to call on Virgil.

Fuck. 

[thegalaxysyst3m]

@shootysturs @punsparcethesnake thought you two might like to see this! He’s painting Be Calm by Fun.

[moonlight-mellohi]

Alright so im.. legitimately proud of this one? There are so many extra details and personal facts that I love it

Its me!! And my cat Harry dhdksbhd. The books shown are Wings of Fire, Warrior Cats, and the one im reading is A Mango Shaped Space :D (book cover credits go to the original creators, i just referenced them)

[isabel3710]

World Of Color: Part 1

Sander Sides Fanfiction      Part 2

Summary: Patton has been keeping a secret from his family. He's done good keeping it that way until one day he messes up.

Word Count: 1,643

Patton was not like any normal side. Of course, each side was a little bit different from their host, Thomas, in some shape or form. But no side wasn’t so different that it was super strange or weird. But with Patton it was. You see, Patton had something called Synesthesia which is a condition in which one of a person’s senses (for example, hearing) is perceived as if by one or more additional senses. Every person with Synesthesia is different in what ways they see, hear, feel, and taste the world. In Patton’s case, sight and hearing. For he had colored hearing. Now you might be wondering what colored hearing was in the Synesthesia world. Well, it's very simple to explain; a person with colored hearing can see colors when they hear sounds and words spoken to them. Their letters will often have color as well.

This is what Patton had and he loved it! He didn’t see it as some kind of disease like others sometimes did, he saw it as a gift. But he knew that it wasn’t normal for him to be like this, because even though everyone in his family was different from Thomas none of them had something so bizarre as this. Which was why Patton never told any of them his secret, he didn’t want them to think he was broken or worse; try and fix him. Because he wasn’t broken and he didn’t need to be fixed. Still, it was hard to keep his secret and at times he wished that he could tell them. But it didn’t matter anymore, because now he had been caught.

-----

~~Earlier~~

Patton winced as Logan let out a loud “falsehood!” And angry green zig-zags made its way across his vision. He and his fellow sides were Thomas with a problem that he had been having and Roman and Logan had gotten locked in a heated debate. The two were just short of yelling at each other at this point. And Thomas desperately trying to get them to calm down. Virgil, on the other hand, was sitting at his place on the stairs quietly watching (which Patton was grateful for, he didn’t think he could handle any more yelling) and Patton himself was trying to help Thomas calm his two kiddos down.

However, it was getting harder and harder to focus on the task at hand with all the colors and shapes making its way across his field of vision, normally he could ignore it but as his two friends' voices kept getting louder and louder it was growing harder and harder. Within what felt like a couple of minutes Roman and Logan were full-on yelling at each other, their voices overlapping. Patton didn’t even know what they were arguing about at this point. But it didn’t matter, with their voices at such a loud volume and blended together The Moral Side’s vision was filled with an overwhelming amount of colors and shapes.

Thomas froze in shock at the sudden volume change and Virgil winced from the noise but for the most part, stayed calm. Patton, on the other hand, slapped both hands around his ears tightly, squeezing his eyes shut. Hoping that it would all just stop, he was gaining a headache from both the noise and all the colors he was seeing. He was so focused on blocking out the noise that he didn’t notice Virgil kicking in and yelling at them to “shut up” before turning to him with concern. All he noticed was the colors suddenly stopping, but that did nothing for his headache.

“Pat... Are you okay?” Virgil asked.

In the back of his mind, Patton knew how this must look. He was having the most extreme reaction out of all of them to Roman and Logan’s arguing, which they did often, but they didn’t understand. Yes, arguments were a common thing but never this loud! It was too much for him and he needed everyone to stop talking, and let him focus. And he was growing impatient.

“Virgil, shut up.” He said, his voice coming out harsher than he intended to. Opening his eyes he saw that Virgil leaning away from him in shock along with everyone else, and he felt bad and he knew that he’d have to make sure to apologize later but right now he needed to focus.

“Patton..” It was Logan that spoke up this time, his voice strangely gentle.

“Stop talking!” Patton cried as more colors flashed “just stop it’s too much!”

“What is?” His host asked just as gently.

“The colors!” He practically yelled and there was silence, then he realized what he had just said.

Looking up he saw Virgil, Roman, and Thomas looking at him with confusion and concern while Logan, on the other hand, looked almost shocked. Which was strange since Logan never expressed much emotion. The Fatherly Side’s eyes went wide and he quickly sunk out before any of them could speak, going to his room.

-----

Virgil stared at the spot where Patton once stood, confused. Patton was never, ever harsh but just now told him to “shut up” and then yelled something about colors before leaving without explaining anything to them. Looking around he saw that his creative counterpart and host had similar expressions of confusion and worry. Logic, on the other hand, looked merely surprised. It didn’t take long for Virgil to figure out that Logan knew what was wrong with Patton.

“Okay specs,” he said, “what's wrong with Patton?”

Logan adjusted his glasses “I have no idea what you are talking about.”

“Oh please!” Roman said, having come to the same conclusion Virgil had “your the only one here who looks like they have any sort of idea what just happened.”

“What do you mean?” Thomas asked them, still looking confused.

“You see,” The Observant Side said “right before Patton left he yelled something about colors. The rest of us were and still are, confused. Logan here just looked surprised. Meaning that he must have some kind of idea what’s going on.”

Thomas turned to Logan “is this true?” He asked.

“Well,” Logan answered, “I have a theory but without Patton here to confirm it I can not be sure.”

“How about you tell us your what your theory is?” Romas said with a light touch of annoyance “at least then we’ll have some kind of idea of what is up with him.”

“Well,” The academic side started “given Patton's reaction to Roman and myself's… debate... And what he said before he left I am to the conclusion that our friend has Synesthesia.”

“Syneth what now?” Roman asked looking even more confused.

“Synesthesia,” Logic repeated slowly, “it is a condition in which one sense is simultaneously perceived as if by one or more additional senses such as sight.”

“Okay..” Thomas said, “how ‘bout you explain it in a way that we can understand?”

Logan sighed “alright, imagine it this way. Let’s say that you have wires connected to your brain, each one represents one of the four senses; sight, hearing, smell, and touch. For the average person, the wires are separated from each other but for a synesthete, two or more of these wires are crossed over each other.”

“Okay….” Virgil said cautiously “so what does it mean if these wires are ‘crossed over’ as you say.”

“I’m glad you asked Virgil,” Logan said, “because a synesthete’s wires are crossed their senses work differently.”

“How so?” Thomas asked.

“Well it means that two or more of their senses work at the same time,” the logical persona said before expanding further “let's take the most common type of Synesthesia, colored hearing. People with colored hearing report that whenever they hear a sound or a word they see color. It’s been reported that each sound and word has a different color, most have also claimed that their colors have texture and shape as well. It has also been stated that most with colored hearing’s alphabet and numbers have color as well.”

“Okay… so you believe that Patton has this colored hearing thingy?” The YouTuber asked.

“Yes, or at least some form of it.”

“What makes you believe that?” The whimsical aspect asked.

“Well first was his reaction to our argument. What did he do?” Logan asked.

“He covered his ears and closed his eyes,” Virgil answered.

“Exactly” Logic said proudly, “most would just cover their ears to block out the noise if needed. Patton, however, closed his eyes as well as if trying to block something out, to stop himself from seeing something.” He explained “it has been reported that synesthetes with colored hearing get overwhelmed by loud, overlapping noises. And when Virgil tried to talk to Patton he got upset, asking for quiet, as if trying to reevaluate himself.”

“And he mentioned something about the colors being too much!” Roman exclaimed.

“Yes,” Logan agreed “that is what truly leads to my conclusion.” Everyone grew quiet, thinking about what their friend had said.

“Wow…” Thomas spoke up “who knew!”

“I feel so bad now!” Roman said, upset “if I had known that my arguing with Logan caused so much trouble for our little puffball then I would’ve tried to be being more careful!”

“It’s not like we knew or anything,” Virgil told him “Patton must have a reason for not telling us.”

“That’s right Virgil!” Thomas said “and besides, it’s like Logan said. It’s just a theory, we’ll have to talk to Patton to find out for sure.”

“Should we summon him?” Roman asked.

“I believe that we should give Patton sometime to himself before we do.” Logan said, “he might still be overwhelmed and will need some time to calm down.” The others nodded at this, and the darkly dressed trait wondered what might be going through his father figures' head.

[snowe-zolynn-rogers]

For the text posts, could I request Virgil with synesthesia or aphantasia?

You can (and I can do both)!

But they won’t be made for quite a bit until Patton, Roman, and Logan are caught up to Remus, Virgil, and Deceit.

[sanderssidesfanfiction]

Colors

A/N: Hey guys, I know it’s been forever, and I’m sorry about that. I was working on my Big Bang project for months and that took up most of my spoons for Sanders Sides-related things. I still have a ficlet or two to finish from when I asked for prompts, nevermind the fanfic raffle i did months ago and it’s just...hard to write for this fandom, sometimes? But I managed to get something that I really liked done, so...enjoy!

Virgil was confused about a lot of things around the Mind Palace once he was feeling more accepted into the fold. He’d be listening to music and Logan would sit next to him and open a book, just spending time with him without saying anything. Patton would occasionally knock on his door and ask if he wanted to join the others for dinner, or games, or a movie. And Roman would make grand gestures seem like nothing. He made an entirely new chair for the dinner table for Virgil, but he didn’t conjure it, no. He made it by hand.

The more he thought about it, the more he realized that he didn’t mind being in the spotlight around the others, because they weren’t going to tear him down or jeer at him or do anything of that sort. These were just things they did for their friends. And it was weird to think of them as friends, but it was definitely something that made him smile to think about.

But that did leave him with a question: what was it that he did for them? Friends did things for each other, and he had no idea what he brought to the table, other than an appetite or new music tastes.

It was one day when his hand brushed up against Patton’s that Patton nearly jumped out of his skin and gasped that Virgil found out what he could do. “Patton?!” Virgil immediately yelped. “Are you okay?!”

Patton took a breath. “Yeah, kiddo, I’m okay. I just...that was weird. You know, when I touched you suddenly all of my thoughts got color.”

Virgil frowned. “What do you mean, ‘they got color’? Don’t they always have that?”

Patton shook his head. “Not really. Your thoughts have color to them?”

“...Yeah...?” Virgil said, but inflection made it sound like a question.

“Fascinating,” Logan said from where he was sitting and watching them. Virgil didn’t take the use of the word personally anymore, knowing that Logan genuinely meant he found it interesting, not that he was trying to imply anyone being examined under a microscope. “It appears that Patton saw how your thought process works when he touched you. May I try?”

“...Sure,” Virgil said, deciding that he may as well rise to whatever bait Logan was setting.

Logan took Virgil’s hand and his eyes widened slightly at the touch. He didn’t jerk his hand away, though. “Interesting,” Logan said, before startling at his own speech. “Virgil, I do believe that you have synesthesia.”

“Synes-what?” Virgil asked. “That’s...that’s the tasting colors and feeling music thing, right?”

“It appears in more ways than that, but yes,” Logan said. “You must have a milder form, associating colors to concepts in your mind’s eye. I can see what you see when I speak and it’s...disconcerting, but interesting.”

Virgil slowly took his hand back. “Sorry, I didn’t realize. It must be really overwhelming for you guys, I’ll stop touching you if that’s what you need--”

“What? No, Virgil,” Patton said. “That’s really cool! I wanna see what you see!”

Virgil shifted uncomfortably. “I just thought...I thought you all could do it? Is it really that weird?”

“Not weird, interesting,” Logan clarified. “There’s a difference.”

Roman strolled into the room and paused when he saw the three talking. “Are you having a meeting I wasn’t invited to?” he asked, sounding put out.

“Roman!” Patton exclaimed excitedly. “Did you know that Virgil has synesthesia?”

“No?” Roman said. “How does he have it when we don’t?”

“He has access to separate parts of Thomas’ brain than us,” Logan said. “Perhaps this is something he picked up from Thomas’ subconscious? Associations from there can be very strong and apparently meaningless. Virgil representing Anxiety, a base instinct, might have better access to those associations, and may have gathered that into his development.”

“No fair!” Roman said. “I want to be able to know what that’s like!”

“I could just tell you, you know?” Virgil asked.

Patton gasped. “Ooh, could you?” he squealed. “I want to know what it feels like!”

Virgil ran his tongue over his teeth as he thought, before starting to speak. “Patton, you’re the color of bubblegum pink. You feel like the softest fur on a kitten or a puppy, and like helium balloons set loose in the sky. You have some baby blue in you, too, but you’re mostly that soft, pastel pink.”

Logan arched his eyebrows in interest. “That’s fascinating,” he said. “If I may ask, what am I?”

Virgil grinned. “You’re rain lightly pattering on windows and a cool royal blue. You feel smooth like glass, or stones that have been glossed over in a river. I can get hints of yellow, sometimes, or maybe purple, but royal blue is definitely your strongest color.” He turned to Roman before he could even ask. “Princey, you’re bright orange, like you might find on one of those plastic pumpkins around Halloween. You feel like gold coins spilling over each other, and smooth velvet. Smooth, not the scratchy feeling it gets when it stands up on end.”

“What’s Thomas?” Patton asked.

“Thomas is...” Virgil paused. “Thomas is bright yellow, and the warmth of sun on your skin in the spring. He’s cool popsicles in the summer, and...” he shrugged as he trailed off. “He’s just...relief, I guess.”

“We feel like stuff to you?” Roman asked.

“Sort of?” Virgil asked. “I don’t like, feel it on my skin, but my brain sort of gets an image of my hand running along things like that. So it’s not like I feel it feel it, but I still get a sense for how you might feel. If you weren’t, you know, flesh and bone.”

Roman nodded. Then an idea stuck him, and Virgil felt a small bit of anticipation in the pit of his stomach. “Can you feel and see things with music, too?” he asked.

“Yeah, sometimes,” Virgil said. “Why?”

“Because it would be amazing to be able to paint what you see when you listen to your favorite songs!” Roman said. “And that could give me inspiration for later projects!”

“I’d love to be able to know how emotions feel for you, kiddo,” Patton said. “It might help me understand other people better.”

“I, for one, would love just talking to you about this further,” Logan said. “See it as bonding if you must, but I am fascinated by it.”

Virgil felt a small smile on his face. He offered a unique perspective on their friendship that no one else could give. And knowing that the others all wanted to spend time with him, to find out in their own ways what Virgil could do with them, because this wasn’t a gift, it was an exchange, made his heart warm and him see yellow and pink. His colors for love.

[whos-she-never-heard-of-her]

The Sanders Sides as tastes, for the imaginative and synesthete fanders

Virgil: the smell of a freshly blown out candle, the bass turned up too high on a speaker, grape cough syrup, rain water, chewing ice

Deceit: orange cremesicles, a very carbonated sprite, staples (not the store), biting into an apple, 3 am

Roman: cinnamon tic tacs, pine needles, vintage curtains, library books, pop punk music, vanilla lipgloss

Logan: medium grey-toned purple, overbearing sunny days, the tingling sensation you get in your forehead right before a headache, plastic, dental floss

Patton: old bubblegum, fourth of july parades, blue raz dum dums, doo wop music, high school sweethearts, thrifted sweaters, conversation heart candy, the distant smell of pancakes [that were cooked earlier that morning]

Remy: Starbucks frappes, flat mountain dew, creaky stairs, what a sidewalk tastes like, preconceived notions, and the smell of a cafe at dinner time

Thomas: old friends, the feeling you get when you look at a rainbow, Steven Universe marathons, the way your stomach drops right as you go down a hill on a rollercoaster, strawberry gummies, the anticipation you get before seeing a new movie in the theater.

@roman-ticist @logicallylogos

[delimeful]

So how common is emotion sensing in ampen?

since emotional energy is part of their sustenance, it's a vital part of their biology, meaning that they have a sensory organ that helps them perceive it and process that energy as their own.

how they perceive it can vary, ampen patton has something like synesthesia & associates visual elements (colors/patterns) with certain emotions, while ampen virgil experiences others emotions in a more tactile sense, associating it with phantom touches/sensations.

patton's form of aether reading is more common, and virgil's experience is still a little different than most tactile-readers because he is hypersensitive to aether (kind of like if a human's nerves were way more sensitive to touch). if he experienced aether visually, it would probably give him sensory overload migraines!

[jesusonafrickinboat]

The Sides as My Synesthesia

Roman is the same red as his sash, but with some gold/black around the edges

Logan is dark blue, almost black 

Patton’s color kinda shifts? From a light yellow to a light blue/green 

Virgil is the same purple as his jacket (which is crazy, cause it’s exactly the same, and he’s been that purple all along) and some silver

[thegalaxysyst3m]

More High school AU info for Logan, Janus, and Virgil

Logan

Gets straight A'S.

Struggled through his younger years with school.

Everyone thinks he's a Gifted Kid but he just worked his ass off till he would have burnouts.

It's not as bad now cause he caught up with his year.

Doesn't really know how to talk to people.

Doesn't really answer questions

Deals well under pressure

Doesn't really do physical contact

So when you get it it's cherished.

He stims with a rubics cube and a tangle jr

Janus

Got burned when he was a kid with chemicals

It took a very long time to heal but now it's just a darker scar

His scar is on the right side of his face

It travels down his neck

He was homeschooled for a long time so he's joining highschool as a Junior

He was homeschooled because his parents were worried he'd get bullied for his scar.

He got popular -on par with Roman- real fast cause "did you see the new kid? He looks like a freak"

He lies and says it doesn't bother him to his parents and anybody who asks

His only friends are Virgil and Remus.

Janus' synesthesia makes math difficult because the answer will be a single color for the whole number rather than the original color for each number

Virgil

He does art based on his synesthesia

Janus disagrees with all his peices religiously

His synesthesia is visual and its auditory.

So he'll hear sounds or voices and literally see color.

Because of this the hallways can be hell if he forgets his headphones since they drown out all the noise.

If he forgets them, he cant see where he's going and all the different colors can give him a headache.

If people speak one at a time, it's not a big deal cause the colors usually have patters and they'll move at the sides of his vision.

If there are too many they go everywhere and he can't see or tell whose speaking.

The post that started this

[anxiousgaypanicking]

"At that moment he wasn't listening to music, he was living an experience."

Platonic or Romantic Analogical <3

(For the random sentence writing prompt)

At That Moment, He Wasn't Listening To Music; He Was Living An Experience.

Platonic/Romantic Analogical (Interpretive) Virgil has synesthesia and Logan's mute

Swirls of dark purples and blues infected his vision, mixing and shifting right before his eyes. His entire room was clouded in a misty haze, as if someone had set off one of those coloured smoke bombs and it had filled the space completely.

However, everything Virgil was seeing was invisible to Logan’s eyes, although he and Virgil laid side by side, hand in hand, one earphone in either their left or right ear respectively. Logan could only hear the music, the sounds, the rhythm; against his thigh, Logan tapped the beat to the song, wanting to keep up with it.

But Virgil could see everything. He could see the beauty in the music, the colours spinning round. At that moment, he wasn’t listening to music. He was living an experience.

He feels the hand against his own squeeze and he turns to look at Logan, who’s looking back at him. With his free hand, Logan signs ‘what colour is the song?’

His hand movements are slow, as if not wanting to sign too fast and risk having to repeat himself; to ruin the moment. But Virgil just turns to lay back on his back, staring at his ceiling.

“It’s purple,” Virgil sighs out, voice hushed. “Purple and blue. Lavender with hints of periwinkle that dance around. They’re spinning.”

Turning back to look at Logan, the logical man signs ‘is it pretty?’

“Yes,” Virgil breathes out, as the song fades to an end. “It’s so pretty.”

‘I wish I could see.’

Virgil lets out a breathy laugh. “You want to see just so you could know. You would want to live the experience solely to have the experience. It can get distracting sometimes, and we both know you’d be annoyed with that.”

He watches Logan’s face curl into a smile, and a hand comes to his mouth as if to stifle the silent laugh that comes out.

It was Virgil’s turn to stare, before he quietly goes “I wish I could hear you.”

Logan simply smiles at him, squeezing his hand again.

‘What would my voice look like?’ he asks, as he turns his body, clearly interested in his answer. ‘If you were to describe it the way you describe songs, how do you think it’d look?’

Virgil thinks for a moment, before he holds up his free hand, putting only his thumb down while keeping the rest of his digits pressed together and standing straight up. Moving at the elbow, he slowly turns his forearm, and therefore his hand side to side.

‘Blue,’ Virgil replies, and Logan smiles. “That is how you say blue, right?” he then asks, and is relieved to receive a happy nod.

“Blue and purple. Just like this song,” Virgil begins. “I don’t think it’d be as free form though. More… sharp. More angles in the colour; not as many swirls. Like… I imagine your voice to be… square. Does that make sense? Like, in terms of shapes, the song we just listened to was like a circle, or more specifically a spiral, but your voice would be a square. Sharp. Rigid. But full of intellect, which is where the colour comes in.”

“You’d be blue because you would sound intuitive, and you’d be purple because you’d combine the stability of blue and the passion of red. Composed, but still determined.”

‘You really think all of that?’

Virgil sighs as he squeezes Logan’s hand, a calm smile appearing on his face. “Yeah. That’s what I think your voice would look like.”

‘That’s a nice thought.’

And it was.

[isabel3710]

World Of Color: Part 2

Sander Sides Fanfiction    Part 1

Summary: Patton relaxes and talk to his family.

Word Count: 1,811

Patton sank into his room, panicking. They were going to figure it out! They were all going to know! Why couldn’t he just act normal? Patton breathed heavily as he leaned up against his closed bedroom door.

Patton didn’t know how long it was before he finally started to calm down nut when he was he sat down on his bed, thinking about the events that had occurred. He then started trying to reassure himself, and it slowly began to work.

After all, He told himself. Just because I reacted the way I did doesn’t mean that they know about my secret.

Patton was drawn out of his thoughts when he felt a sharp stab of pain coming from his pounding headache. He was still worried but there was nothing he could about it do now. What was done was done, and there was no use worrying about it. Right now he needed to focus on getting rid of this pain in his head.

Standing up Patton made his way over to his bathroom and took a painkiller. Standing in the center of the room, his eyes wandered over the bathtub. One thing he loved to do was to take hot baths and listen to music.

He smiled to himself, a long bath was just what he needed to help himself relax. Walking over to the tub he plugged the drain and turned on the hot water tap on full blast and poured in some bubble mix. Leaving the bathroom Patton trapped the steam in by shutting the door behind him and grabbed his phone.

Back in the bathroom he turned off the water and flipped through his music before settling on a classical music playlist. Logan had introduced him to the music genre and Patton found that not only did he enjoyed the peaceful instrumental music, but the colors were amazing.

He placed the playlist on shuffle and smiled when one of the songs started. The steam from the water made his colors all the more alive. It gave off the appearance of looking to be almost 3D and he loved it. Quickly disrobed the Cheerful Side climbed into the bubbly, hot water and felt his body relax as he watched the colors dance about with the music playing in the background.

Yes, there was a chance of his family figuring out his secret but he can worry about that later. Right now Patton was going to relax and enjoy his colors.

------

It had been a couple of hours since Patton had left the others and his bath had long since gone cold. By now he decided wasn't going to worry about his secret being found out, there was a chance that his family had not figured it out yet.

The Child-Like Aspect was now sitting on his bed with his stuffies, coloring when he felt the light tugging of being summoned. Putting down his coloring book he sank into the real world and appeared in his usual place in front of the blinds. Looking around Patton saw everyone sitting on the couch. Well except for Virgil, he was sitting on the coffee table.

“Hey, kiddos!” Morality greeted in his usual, cheerful voice “what’s up?”

“Patton,” Logan said, “how about you sit down?”

“Sure,” he said with a smile and plopped down next to Roman. “Is everything okay?”

“Patton,” The Creative Side said gently “we wanted to ask you something.”

“But only if you’re okay with it,” Virgil added quickly.

“Of course! You can ask me anything!”

“Good, because we wanted to ask….” Logan’s voice trailed off before continuing “Patton, do you have Synesthesia?”

Patton froze, eyes wide “how.. How did you find out?”

“So it’s true?” Logic asked, ignoring his question.

“Yes…” The Normally-Cheerful Side admitted looking down, ashamed “I’m sorry.”

“What are you sorry for?” Roman asked.

“For… lying to you” it was hard to do so but he needed to say it.

“What are you talking about?” Thomas asked, “when did you lie to us?”

“I never told you my secret!” He said looking up, confused “I lied to you because I never told you!”

“Patton..” The Youngest Trait said slowly, “we don’t care that you didn’t tell us. Yeah, you kept something from us and sure we may not understand why but it's okay. Everyone is entitled to their secrets and it’s up to them to decide when they want to share it. We’re just glad that you're telling us now.”

“But I didn’t tell you! You found out on your own!”

“You're telling us now.” The Logical Attribute pointed out, “and now that you are we want to ask you some questions about your Synesthesia.”

Patton looked at his friends, his family, in shock “You…. you forgive me?”

“Of course we do!” Thomas said with a soft smile.

Patton turned to look at Virgil “I’m sorry for yelling of you.” He said, “do you forgive me too?”

“Yeah, I do. After all.” The Negative Counterpart said, “you guys have forgiven me for much worse.”

“Oh.. Thank you kiddo” Virgil gave him a nod and a small smile and the fatherly trait looked up at Logan with a grin spreading across his face “well, in that case, ask away!’

------

“How does your Synesthesia work?” The Scholarly Aspect asked, wasting no time whatsoever.

Patton frowned, confused. “What do you mean? Like how it works in general or how it works for me?”

“For you, I am already aware of how it works from a general standpoint.”

“Oh! Okay.” The Eldest Side paused, thinking of the best way to explain it “well my type of Synesthesia is called ‘colored hearing’ which means that I see colors when I hear sounds. It's the same when words spoken to me or I read them.”

“Fascinating.” Logan said, “Does your alphabet have colors as well?”

“Yes,” Patton noded.

“Can you give us an example?” Virgil asked.

“What kind of example?”

“Ooo! Like, do our names have colors?!” Roman asked excitedly and Patton gasped.

“Yes, they do!” He said “I almost forgot. I’ve always wanted to tell you guys them and now I can!” Patton was full of bubbly energy as he went and told each side what the color of their name. “Roman: your name is glossy red, like your sash! With a little bit of a gold shine to it.”

“Like glitter?” The Dramatic Side asked hopefully.

“Just like glitter!”

“Defiantly fits Princey.” Virgil commented “what mine?”

“Virgil: your’s takes on the shape of sharp, eggy, dark purple zig-zags outlined with black.” Anxiety nodded in approval and Patton moved on to the next side, “Logan: your name is a dark navy blue with thin black stripes. It also has the texture of paper, kind of like the page in a book.”

“Fascinating.” The Rational Facet whispered with awe.

“What color is my name?” Thomas asked.

Patton looked over at his Host and smiled “your name is my favorite.” He admitted, “I think everyone’s are beautiful but your name is the one I like best.”

“What color is it?” Roman asked.

“It's rainbow and super sparkly.” Patton said with a smile “but not glitter sparkly… it's more like… Anime sparkles.” He paused before nodding to himself “yeah like anime sparkles.” He confirmed.

“What color is your name?” Logan asked.

“Mine? Well, it’s light blue with little flecks of light grey, like my cat hoodie, and it’s fuzzy and soft like dog or cat fur.”

“Wow.” Thomas said softly “that’s amazing Pat.”

“Why would you hide something like this from us?” Virgil asked and Patton looked down. His body filling with shame.

“Because… I was worried that you’d think that something was wrong with me and try and ‘fix me’ because I’m not normal.” The Synesthete Side whispered.

“Falsehood.” Logan said “nothing is wrong with you Patton, while this may be unusual and rare you are not strange... Also, nobody is ‘normal’ for everyone is different.”

“That's right!” Roman said “everybody is weird and strange, it’s what makes them unique! Being weird and strange might as well be normal.”

Patton blushed “aww well thanks kiddos.”

--------

The rest of the afternoon was filled with the family talking about Patton’s Synesthesia and asking him questions about it but the Moral Side didn’t mind. They were all so nice and accepting of him. Patton had nearly burst into tears of happiness when Virgil gave him a pair of noise-canceling headphones. Saying that he could use them when he got too overwhelmed by noises.

They eventually had to stop for the day because Roman and Logan had to finish up some planning for a short video. And Thomas was going to film a video with his friends for his second channel. So the sides sunk out of the real world and back into the Mindplace.

Roman and Virgil quickly headed up to their rooms and Patton was about to follow when he was stopped by Logan.

“If you don’t mind,” he said, “I have something to give you.”

“Oh okay!” Patton said, surprised, and his logical friend quickly hurried up the stairs to his room and came back down with a book in hand.

Logan stopped in front of him and handed it over to him. Patton took the book and looked at the cover which was a light mango orange with a picture of a white silhouette of a cat, and the title written inside. The multi-colored letters of the title gave him a slight headache due to them being different than his own.

Patton looked up with a questioning look and his Logan quickly explained “it’s called ‘Mango Shaped Space’ by Wendy Mass. It is a story about a young girl with Synesthesia, specifically colored hearing such as yourself. While the story may be fictional the author made sure to express full understand all types of Synesthesia and what synesthetes experience.”

Morality's face split into a huge grin and he threw his arms around his friend who stiffened before awkwardly returning the hug. “Thank you, Logan, I love it!”

“Of course. It was not a problem, I hope you enjoy it.” Logic said, pulling away.

“No, no, not just that.” He shook his head “but yes, thanks for the book. What I meant to say was, thank you. Thank you to you and the others for being so nice to me about all this, it means a lot and I’ll be sure to thank them later.”

Logan gave a small, rare smile full of understanding. “Your welcome” was all he said before leaving.

Patton left to his room shortly after Logan to read his new book. All with a smile on his face, now that his family knew his secret (and that he knew that they still loved him for it) he felt closer to them then he ever had before.