wh0lockk-blog - Tumblr blog

wh0lockk-blog · 8 years ago

Text

Red

This was a prompt from the lovely Samira on Twitter! “Virgil is colorblind and Roman tries to describe colors to him.”

((This isn’t exactly edited or anything, it’s just some writing practice to get me back into the swing of things. Hope you like it anyway!))

Virgil walked into the common room and instantly regretted it when he heard Roman and Logan in a heated argument. He immediately turned on his heel to leave but Roman had already spotted him, “Verge! Wait, come here!”

A groan bubbled up in his chest but he pushed it back down. He was trying to be better, more… friendly. Or something. “What are you morons fighting about now?”

Okay, so maybe the term sociable was more accurate.

Roman rolled his eyes but waved his arm dramatically to point at Logan, “this nerd thinks that you can’t describe colors!”

“It is a factual statement. Any attempt to describe a color requires an amount of knowledge of said color to be at all accurate.” Logan adjusted his glasses with a huff before crossing his arms.

The groan escaped and Virgil pushed his hands further into the pockets of his hoodie. “Well lucky for me, I’m colorblind and can’t help you even if I wanted to.”

He turned to leave, but Roman’s flabbergasted face made him stay for a moment longer. “You… you what?”

Virgil rolled his eyes and shrugged. “What, are you deaf now? I’m colorblind. I can’t see colors. Get over it.”

Logan hummed in thought for a moment. “Virgil, please come here for a moment.”

He took a step back, suspicious. “Why?”

“You would be perfect to test our separate hypotheses.”

“Nope, no way. I’m out of here. You two have fun with your stupid argument.” Virgil stormed out of the room. He was different from them, sure, but that didn’t make him a test subject.

–

That night Virgil was scrolling through Tumblr in bed when he heard a tentative knock on his bedroom door. “What?��

Roman’s voice drifted into the room, “can I come in?”

“That depends, what did you bring me?”

The door opened wide enough for Roman to stick his head through, sporting a cocky smile. “The glorious gift of my presence?”

“Gross,” Virgil muttered. “Come in, it’s not like I’m doing anything else.”

Roman closed the door behind him and sat down on the foot of the bed. In the dim lighting he seemed warmer than usual, a kindness showed in his face where there was usually just smugness. “So, colorblind, huh?”

“Really, that’s what this is about? I already told you earlier that I’m not participating in your idiotic argument.” Virgil went back to his phone, practically bristling and regretting letting him in.

“No, it’s not that. I just, I wanted to try to describe colors for you. Not for Logan or anything, just… for you.” A corner of his lips curled upwards in a reassuring smile.

“Fine.” Virgil didn’t want to do this, but he knew Roman would just push until he got his way anyway. He would just half listen, nod at the correct points, and keep scrolling through tumblr. Then Roman would leave and he would have peace and quiet again.

Roman shifted excitedly and crossed his legs, leaning in closer toward Virgil. “So I know that I won’t be able to make you see color or anything, that’s just not going to work. But I’ll tell you what colors feel like, okay? Or, what they feel like to me anyway.”

Virgil rolled his eyes, “whatever.”

“Okay, let’s start with red, the first color in the rainbow, and my favorite of course,” he gestured to his sash before continuing. “Red is the color of fire and blood. It’s intense. It grabs your attention and makes you look until you can’t look anymore. It makes you feel alert and sometimes even a little scared, but in a good way. It’s vibrant. It’s like love, too much to handle sometimes but you can’t walk away from it. You need it.”

Virgil rolled his eyes. He knew that the only reason that colors felt that way was because society had made them represent things. He already knew what they represented, but that would never help him know what the color really felt like. Not to him. He would never know what red felt like.

“Orange. It’s well, the color of oranges, obviously. Also the color of prison uniforms, AKA incredibly unfashionable. I am not a fan of orange. Choose either red or yellow, don’t go in between!” Roman ran a hand through his hair, “but that’s not the point. Orange feels warm, but also awkward. Like you don’t want to look at it too long, but there’s a sort of pleasantness hidden underneath it. Like walking in the early morning in fall. It’s that biting chill, but it’s nice, in it’s own way. You know, if you liked orange.”

Roman was staring off into nowhere with a dreamy look on his face. His creativity was taking over.

“Roman this is stupid, okay? It doesn’t work.” Virgil sighed, putting his phone down next to him. He couldn’t concentrate on what he was doing with his brain trying to wrap his head around things he couldn’t possibly understand. He so desperately wanted to, but it just wasn’t there. Those pathways in his brain were never meant to connect. “You can’t make me understand colors with fancy words.”

“Just hold on, let me try a different color okay?” Roman snapped back into reality. He seemed desperate. “Green! It’s fresh. It’s like the smell of clean laundry. It’s comfortable, relaxing, but also a bit exhilarating. It makes you feel alive and connected to something greater than yourself–”

“Roman, please. Stop it. It doesn’t work.” Virgil rubbed his fingers over his temples in frustration. “Why do you care so much anyway? They’re just colors.”

Roman’s face fell, disappointment and sadness showing on his features. “I just… colors are important. They help make things beautiful. They make you feel things. I just want you to see them like I see them. I want… I want something to make you happy.”

Virgil frowned. “Colors aren’t going to make me happy. Just go, please. Okay? I want to go to bed.”

Roman nodded slowly and left without a word. Virgil didn’t mean to make him upset, but it was just too much. He had tried so many times to understand color. He had looked up descriptions online time and time again. He wished so badly that color could make his life a little brighter, but it was impossible. If he were being honest with himself, it hurt. Every time he heard the descriptions it made him angry. He wanted to feel colors too, like everyone else. But of course a walking nightmare like himself couldn’t have that luxury. He didn’t deserve it.

–

It was a few weeks later when Roman called Virgil into the common room. He was immediately suspicious. All three of them were there. Logan looked pleased with himself, Patton looked oddly emotional, and Roman looked nervous. “…what’s going on?”

“Virgil I’ve been thinking a lot about our conversation a while back. You know, the one about colors?” Roman began, before Virgil turned to leave. He rushed forward and grabbed onto the sleeve of his hoodie. “Wait, please? Just hear me out. I got you something.”

“This is stupid Roman, stop this. I don’t want to hear about your stupid colors anymore.” The hurt was clear in his voice. Of course his own voice would betray him.

Patton spoke up then, “kiddo, I think you’ll really want to stick around for this one.”

Virgil didn’t say a word, waiting for further explanation.

“Logan helped me find these,” Roman said, pulling a pair of glasses from behind his back.

“Are those…?” Virgil reached out and quickly took the glasses, studying them in his hands. There was no way that he was actually holding what he thought he was holding.

“They’re glasses that help colorblind people see color.” The grin on Roman’s face was impossibly huge as he stepped away from Virgil and gestured toward the table next to him. There were balloons set out in a row.

“These are ridiculously expensive, there’s no way…” He shook his head and took a deep breath. He was nervous. What if they didn’t work? What if he had gotten his hopes up and everyone saw him be crushed? He couldn’t do this, he couldn’t let everyone see.

“It’s okay,” Roman pressed. “Just take a chance, please?”

Virgil sighed a heavy sigh and put on the glasses. And then he immediately took them off. “Holy shit.”

Roman jumped, scrambling for words. “What’s wrong? Do they not work?”

Virgil put the glasses on once more and looked at the colored balloons on the table. He had never seen colors so vibrantly before. Of course he could see some colors before, but it was more variations of brown than this dazzling array before him. He put a hand to his mouth, covering the massive grin that was at risk of showing. “Holy shit!”

Logan stepped in then, “These glasses work by filtering wavelengths of light, activating the green and red cones–”

“Logan, you brilliant, brilliant nerd. Just… shut up now.” Virgil waved a hand at him, effectively shushing the logical trait.

“Do you see them? Do you see the colors?” Patton finally burst with excitement that he had been working so hard to contain. He was practically vibrating in his blue, oh so blue shirt.

Virgil nodded, finally letting his grin show. He was too amazed to keep up his dark persona. It was all too overwhelming, but in the best way. He felt like he was finally let in on everyone else’s secret.

His eyes landed on Roman, who was quietly running his hands along his sash. It was a nervous habit that he had picked up somewhere, but Virgil was distracted by the vibrant red that ran along his torso. He suddenly felt tears prick at his eyes and he froze. There was no way that he could cry over colors, not in front of them. Maybe later, alone in his room, but not here.

Roman’s eyes met his and he slowly, carefully asked, “So… do you like them?”

Suddenly, before he could stop himself, Virgil had pulled off the glasses, lunged forward, and wrapped his arms around Roman. He buried his face in his shoulder and hoped that he would ignore the wetness from the tears that had escaped.

“So… is that a yes?”

He could only manage a nod.

Red was indeed a very intense color, and he was pretty sure it could be his favorite too.

9 notes · View notes