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candied-peach · 2 years

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ao3: “so tired of being scared” rating: T warnings: moxiety, background LAMP, past child abuse, crying, implied self harm, virgil is nonbinary and has ptsd genre: hurt/comfort description: Virgil is having a hard time when Patton comes home. (day 24: “One need not be a chamber to be haunted. One need not be a house. The brain has corridors surpassing material place.” — Emily Dickinson @tsshipmonth2020 )

Virgil scrunches himself deeper into the detritus of his closet. His breathing hitches, jittery but still quiet. The house is silent, painfully so. Fear claws up his throat, painting his esophagus with adrenaline. His ears echo with the ghosts of long gone yelling, of harsh remarks and the sensation of fingers biting into his arms.

It's okay, he tells himself, balled into a corner, his arms wrapped around his knees and hidden by the stuff in his closet. The stuff in his closet should help- it is pretty shirts, dresses, and skirts, for the most part, nothing like the stiff and starched 'boy clothes' of his childhood- but he can't seem to see them properly.

It's okay, it was a long time ago, he thinks, but his breathing is too harsh and too loud and he can feel tears threatening to burst free. If they do, he can't guarantee he'll stay quiet.

The front door opens and Virgil freezes, his heart thudding into his ribs. The footsteps are soft, not loud, but all he can hear is the booming footsteps of his youth, coming for him. He's gonna be in so much trouble, some tiny part of his mind yammers at him, and the first choked, broken sob breaks free, no matter how hard he bites his fingers.

The humming he can't quite hear cuts off abruptly, and the footsteps come closer.

"Virgil?" It's Patton. "Virgil, are you all right?"

He wants to answer, desperately needs to answer, but he can't make himself speak. His vocal cords won't work. Another sob escapes and he bites his fingers harder, as if they can prevent the cruel fingers of the past from seizing him round the ankles and dragging him into hell.

The closet door opens, and Virgil whimpers, scrunching himself back against the wall like it can swallow him whole.

"Oh, Virge," Patton whispers. Virgil stares at him with wide, fearful eyes, his mind whispering softly, sweetly terrible things into his ears. Patton disappears for a moment, then comes back with a teddy bear. It's lavender, with a multicolored bow tied around its neck, and it smells of lavender, too. Patton presses them into Virgil's arms, where the soothing scent slowly unscrunches Virgil.

"Patton?" Virgil asks hoarsely, his fingers compulsively petting the bear's contours. He never had a bear like this growing up. This bear is soft and well loved and clean. This bear smells of lavender and love. All of his boyfriends helped him choose its design. This bear represents safety, and it brings new tears to Virgil's eyes.

"Yes, love, I'm here," Patton says softly, encouraging Virgil to come out of the closet. He scoots his way out, various aches and pains asserting themselves with a vengeance, and falls into Patton's lap.

"Bad day?" Patton asks. Virgil nods, burying his face in Patton's chest.

"Do you want to talk about it or do you want a distraction?" Patton asks.

"Distraction," Virgil says at once. Patton asked wordlessly if he'd like to get up, and Virgil nodded, wrapping his legs around Patton's waist as Patton lifted him up easily, carrying him into the living room, the teddy bear squashed between them.

"Roman and Logan will be home soon with dinner," Patton says. "Until then, would you like to watch cartoons?"

"Sure," Virgil says, as Patton settles them both on the couch. Virgil remains in Patton's lap, resting his head on Patton's shoulder as he aimlessly plays with the ears of his teddy bear. The lavender scent is still soothing.

"I love you," Virgil says suddenly. "I- I'm glad that-" He takes a deep breath. "I'm glad that I found out life's not just...that."

"Me, too, love," Patton whispers. "Me, too."

#🍬.txt #sanders sides #eotp2022 #tsshipmonth2022 #moxiety #romantic moxiety #background lamp #virgil sanders #patton sanders #virgil #patton #sanders sides fic #📚#ok to rb #peach writes

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moxiety-week · 1 year

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Three more days until moxiety week!!! I really can't wait to see everything you guys do!!

#moxiety #moxietyweek2022 #moxiety week #patton sanders #virgil sanders #thomas sanders #platonic moxiety #romantic moxiety

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bastard-aziraphale · 2 years

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made this back in late 2019/early 2020 to process some stuff i was going through at the time, but especially with the new video thomas posted i am finding myself returning to sanders sides -- i’ll always have a soft spot for it <3

this is a virgil-centric animatic with romantic moxiety, platonic LAMP, and “unsympathetic” janus (obvs things are always complicated, but essentially janus is portrayed here as someone who virgil has trauma around. imo this doesn’t make janus irredeemable or unsympathetic, but just using the fandom lingo to convey that this is an animatic where janus is portrayed negatively)

TW for flashing lights, emotional trauma, flashbacks, and struggles with intimacy

song: “only thing” by sufjan stevens

#sanders sides #moxiety #virgil sanders #virgil x patton #anxiety sanders #unsympathetic janus #art #digital art #animatic #pmv #digital artist #illustration #platonic LAMP #platonic prinxiety #platonic analogical #romantic moxiety #vent art #art tag

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logan-the-artist · 7 months

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VIRGIL AND PATTON WITH MATCHING BFF NECKLACES 🗣️🗣️🗣️

#my art #drawing #art #sketch #sanders sides #sanders sides fanart #ts virgil #virgil sanders #ts patton #patton sanders sides #patton sanders #virgil sanders sides #platonic moxiety #moxiety #please don’t tag as romantic #log’s art

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canonically47 · 9 months

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virgil: you can’t get everyone to like you, you’re not patton.

janus: not everyone likes patton.

virgil: who doesn’t?

janus: i was just saying...

virgil: no, tell me who doesn’t. i need names.

#sanders sides #thomas sanders #virgil sanders #janus sanders #patton sanders #incorrect quotes #incorrect sanders sides quotes #platonic moxiety #if anyone makes it romantic you will call me remus the way i am committing these crimes /hj

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quackkaz · 10 months

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Patton : I made a marshmallow Virge, see? His arms are crossed because he's mad at all the other marshmallow sides for getting on his nerves! Do you like it?

Virgil, tearing up : It's fine.

#incorrect quote #sanders sides #sanders sides incorrect quotes #virgil sanders #patton sanders #platonic moxiety #tbh it can also be romantic #moxiety #the father-son duo ever (for the platonic version)

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the-depressed-comedic-relief · 10 months

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Did a little drawing while I run from my responsibilities!

(I know I can’t draw backgrounds get off me-)

#sanders sides #sanders sides fanart #patton sanders #virgil sanders #moxiety #could be platonic or romantic #the sillies #chaos' art

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darth-does-stuff · 2 years

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and when i gazed into their eyes (i found myself falling for the first time)

Or: Three times Logan didn’t realize the others liked him, and the one time he did.

[1] - [2] - [3] - [Next] - [AO3]

The Inbetween

Roman’s head hung off the back of the bed as he laid down near the edge. He let out a dramatic groan, his hand flopping onto his forehead.

“Why is he so oblivious?” Roman complained, his eyes falling shut. “I love him, but I literally confessed my love for him and he said ‘same, we’re friends’. What do I do in that situation!” he threw his hands up in the air.

Patton, sitting next to him, patted his head consolingly. “It’s okay, kiddo, we’re all struggling a little bit here.”

“A little bit?” Virgil snorted. “I asked him if he wanted to be with us and he thought I meant living together. I don’t—how do I respond to that?”

He then promptly collapsed on Roman’s side.

“Pat, did you ask him as well?” Roman asked, opening his eyes and staring at the moral side.

Patton chuckled, a resigned look on his face. “Yeah,” he sighed. “I asked him if he wanted to be a part of,” he waved his hand around at them, “y'know, us. But he thought I meant friendship. He’s… a bit oblivious.”

“Now that’s an understatement,” Virgil said dryly.

Roman whined, “I just want to be with you three, why does this have to be so difficult?”

“Life’s gonna be that way,” Patton shrugged, leaning down to peck Roman on the lips. Looking up at Virgil, Roman silently pleaded for a kiss from him as well.

“Fine, fine,” Virgil huffed out, amused, before kissing Roman too.

“Wish I could kiss Logan too,” Roman grumbled, pouting.

“Don’t we all, Princey,” Virgil sighed, resting his forehead against Roman’s neck, holding Patton’s hand over Roman’s stomach.

“We’ll ask him properly to join our relationship soon, don’t worry. We’ll just do it all together this time,” Patton said soothingly.

“I really hope so,” Virgil muttered.

The three laid down, cuddled together, warm next to each other and comforted by the fact that they’d try once more eventually.

⎼⎼⎼⎼⎼⎼⎼⎼⎼⎼⎼⎼⎼⎼⎼⎼⎼⎼⎼⎼

Logan laid down on his bed, staring up at his ceiling in the cold, dark, and oppressing room. The only source of light was the glow in the dark stars stuck on his ceiling that offered faint illumination. Logan remembered putting the stars up with Patton, directing him to place them in the actual constellation positions.

Under his covers, he still didn’t feel warm. His hands felt rather like blocks of ice, heavy and freezing.

He felt like he’d be hopelessly pining forever. Loving everything about the three of them, their smiles, their personalities, their kindness, but having to deal with the fact that he’d never get to experience their love firsthand.

Rolling over onto his side, Logan curled up into a ball. His eyes squeezed shut, tears threatening to escape. He bit down on the side of his finger to silence the truly pitiful sound that wanted to bubble out.

Logic wasn’t supposed to feel anything so the fact that he was was inherently illogical and wrong. He wasn’t—he shouldn’t be here hiding in his room and collapsed on his bed to hide from the others. He should be doing something productive and not wallowing in his misery. None of this was worth his time at all because they didn’t like him and he should just deal with that. He shouldn’t be here feeling sorry for himself. But he was.

Pressing his face into the pillow, Logan breathed in a strained breath, eyes squeezed shut. Useless, this whole thing was useless. He really should just get up.

But he kept laying there, cold and alone and utterly miserable with no one beside him. And he’d just have to deal with it.

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let-roman-bite-someone · 1 month

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#it's definitely analogical for me #romantic? platonic? idk and idc i eat that shit up #they understand each other like no one else does #sanders sides #thomas sanders #logan sanders #virgil sanders #remus sanders #roman sanders #patton sanders #janus sanders #tss #sasi #thomas sanders sides #poll

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i-am-bitterly-jittery · 2 months

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Follow Your Aro

The aromantic follow up to Perfectly Normal

Word count: 871

Rating: gen

Pairings: platonic Dukeceit, platonic or pre-qpr Intrumoxiety, background Roloceit and Moxiety

Warnings: self discovery

In honor of Aro Week (next week, Feb 18-24) I’ve written a companion to my projecting ace on Remus 💚💚🤍🩶🖤 ♠️

~~~START~~~

“JANUS!” Remus yelled as he threw open the door to his and Janus’s shared dorm room.

“Hello Remus,” Janus said without looking up from the assignment on his desk. “I’m sure the other people in our building are really appreciating your volume, thank you.”

“Any time, Snakey!” Remus grinned, throwing himself onto his roommate’s bed despite being three feet away. “Hey, I have a question.”

“I would love to help you at this exact moment, Rem, I definitely don’t have to finish this assignment before my date with Roman and Logan tonight.”

“Perfect! What are romantic feelings?”

Janus set his pencil down and turned to face Remus with an arched eyebrow. “They’re the feelings you have for a romantic partner? Are you okay?”

“Noooo,” Remus whined, sitting up and pouting. “I know what they are! I mean, like, how do you know you’re feeling them?”

“Oh…” Janus blushed. “It’s like, when you’re alone, and all you can think about is them. Or when you’re having a bad day, but when you see them, you think ‘oh, there they are’. They’re just… it’s so nice to be around them.”

“But that just sounds like friendship!” Remus huffed, flopping back onto Janus’s bed and glaring at the ceiling. “How do you know it’s different than friendship?”

“I don’t want to kiss my friends,” Janus deadpanned. “No offense.”

“Ew, none taken,” Remus stuck his tongue out at the thought of kissing Janus. “But I don’t want to kiss anyone.”

“I don’t know what to tell you, Rem.”

“Eh, I’ll probably figure it out when it becomes important,” Remus shrugged.

“Sure,” Janus agreed distractedly, focusing once more on his assignment.

~•~•~

It hits Remus like a wrecking ball two years later.

He placed his game controller down on his desk, shut his console off, and walked away. He didn’t save the game, but it was okay, he wasn’t ever going to play it again.

Downstairs, he found Patton sitting on the couch in front of a DVD menu screen, so he threw himself onto the couch and buried his face in Patton’s lap.

“Everything okay, kiddo?” Patton asked, only mildly shocked from the intrusion after having been friends with Remus for nine years.

Remus just let out a long, loud groan.

“That’s okay,” Patton said, rubbing his hand along Remus’s back comfortingly.

“You’re in my spot,” Virgil complained, coming back from the kitchen with what smelled like a bowl of popcorn. Remus didn’t move.

“That’s okay, honey,” Patton said. “There’s plenty of room over here.”

The couch dipped as Virgil sat down on Patton's other side. Virgil poked at Remus’s head with his fingers, but Remus didn’t react other than to groan again.

After a moment, the movie began playing, and no one spoke further. Patton’s hand continued rubbing along Remus’s back, and eventually, Virgil’s hand found its way into Remus’s hair.

Remus fell asleep like that.

He woke up some time later. Virgil’s hand was no longer in his hair, but Patton’s hand was still on his back — though it had now stilled — and the movie was still playing.

Remus sat up groggily.

“How ya feeling, kiddo?” Patton asked quietly. Virgil was sleeping with his head on Patton’s shoulder.

“Fine,” Remus croaked. “Better.”

“That’s good,” Patton smiled. “Do you want to talk about it?”

“I was playing a video game, and it was making me feel icky, and I realized I’m aromantic.”

“You just realized you’re aromantic?” Virgil asked incredulously without opening his eyes.

“Shh,” Patton shushed, petting Virgil’s head. “I’m sorry your game made you feel icky, Re, what happened?”

“It made me pick a character to date, and then it made me have an awkward conversation with a different character who liked me.”

“Gross.” Virgil agreed, hating any awkward NPC interaction video games forced on him.

“Do you want to pick the next movie?” Patton offered, gesturing at the end credits scrolling across the screen.

Remus perked up and jumped to his feet to pick out a movie from the house DVD before realizing something. “I’m crashing your Valentine's plans, aren’t I?”

“No,” Virgil answered immediately.

“We like having you here, kiddo,�� Patton smiled, patting the space Remus had just vacated on the couch.

“Really?” Remus asked skeptically. Patton was way too nice to ever kick anyone out, even if he was trying to have a nice date with his boyfriend.

“Really! We would have watched movies in our room if we weren’t okay with you joining us!”

That was a fair point, no matter how many lectures on the effects of watching TV at bedtime Logan gave, Patton and Virgil continued to have a TV in their room so they could watch movies alone when Virge was feeling too peopled-out.

“Pick a movie and sit down.” Somehow, Virgil’s grumpiness was even more convincing than Patton’s cheeriness.

Remus popped Coraline into the DVD player and happily joined Virgil and Patton back on the couch.

“But seriously,” Virgil said after several minutes where Remus had thought he’d gone back to sleep. “How did you just figure out you’re aromantic? Should I have told you?”

“I’m not that obvious!” Remus sniffed indignantly.

“Sure.” The eye roll was practically audible. “Whatever you say, Re.”

~~~END~~~

I spent several years trying to figure out if I was aromantic or not, but I couldn’t figure out what romantic feelings were (which honestly should have been a hint) so it took a video game forcing me to date an NPC to go “I still don’t really get what romantic feelings are, but they’re def gross”

Anyway I now avoid any video game that involves potential romance

General taglist:

@royalty-of-all-things-snuggly @pixelated-pineapple @arsonic-knight @misunderstood-shadowling

#ts sanders sides #sanders sides #remus sanders #janus sanders #patton sanders #virgil sanders #aromantic remus sanders #asexual remus sanders #aroace remus sanders #thursday writes #my writing #sanders sides fanfiction

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warcats-cat · 2 months

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For the shop asks: your favorite Sanders Sides ship if you have one (I'm sorry I don't know the fandom very well), Peter Parker/Gwen Stacy (ideally the TSM version but any version's fine), the main ship in whatever movie you've watched most recently, and... just for fun, Warren and Kestrel in Taking Flight ;)

(sorry these aren't more specific, I don't know your fandoms well enough to figure out what ships you like and I don't want to offend you by trying to guess)

Hmmmmmm some of these will be easier than others 👀

- Warren and Kestrel are A Tier perfect cannot do wrong there 💜💜💜👏👏👏

- my favorite TS ship is LAMP (Logic/Logan + Anxiety/Virgil + Morality/Patton + Prince(aka Creativity)/Roman) followed very closely by just Moxiety (Morality/Patton + Anxiety/Virgil).

Unpopular opinion I just don't like Janus/Deceit and Remus/"Intrusive Thoughts"/Dark Creativity; they rub me the wrong way. I ship the two of them together but I prefer to keep them separate from the "Core Four". Hence my fics focus a lot more on the core four, although I have plans to add the Dark Sides to the Long Road Home series in the next update for that series. [Long explanation is long I hope it gives you a little context 😅]

- Peter Parker/Gwen Stacy is cute! I know very little about them! I don't know what TSM means! I've heard of an MJ at some point which I assume is an alternate universe girlfriend? TLDR from the little I have absorbed over the years they seem like a cute couple 💜

- Believe it or not the movie I watched most recently was Pride and Prejudice and Miss Bennett/Mr Darcy will probably always be my first ship and what I base at least half of my romantic fantasies on so they also get to go in A Tier.

Thank you for the ask 😍 no offences here; if you or anyone asks me about a ship I don't know about I will always give my honest opinion, so I hope that is ok in turn 😅

#warcats answers #xman friend #ship asks #unpopular opinion #all of my TS moots are about to come for me #oh well 😅#it's so much harder to find LAMP by itself after Janus appeared #and equally so for Moxiety because of the most recent episodes #but that is a rant for never 💜

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nandysparadox · 9 months

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strawberry ice cream and rescue missions

Pairing: romantic royality; mentioned brotherly moxiety and platonic logicality

Word count: 2311

cw: emotional hurt/comfort; light angst; insecurity; overworking; mentioned unsupportive parents

Summary:

Roman is worried he'll never make it onto stage after all. Patton is worried about his next test.

Two times Patton and Roman comforted each other

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fic for day 2 of @royalityweek!! ill have to admit i may have strayed from the prompt a little bit, but im happy with how this turned out ❤️🩵😊 this is part of the same verse as my previous royality week fics, but can be read separately (ill make a masterpost soon!)

huge thanks to @ivaryn0 for beta-reading!

prompt: family/friendship

Hmm. Should he get more chocolate? Patton wondered, squinting at the lines of chocolate bars that filled the shelves in the sweets aisle. He couldn’t remember if there was still some in the fridge…

Well, he ate chocolate fast, might as well. He picked up a few kit-kats and dropped them in the basket when a ring sounded from his phone. He checked the screen, switching to the messaging app immediately when he saw it was Roman.

just got off work

do you wanna come over?

He blinked. Roman could be spontaneous with plans sometimes, but generally, Patton was the one to host the spur-of-the-moment movie nights between the two of them.

In any case, it's not like he was planning to do anything other than scroll on his phone after he got home. Hanging out with Roman would definitely be a plus.

sure sweetie!😊💖 im at the grocery store rn, do you want me to pick up something for u??

The typing bubble popped up, and it stayed there for about a minute. Patton tilted his head.

ice cream

…

please

Oh. Oh, something was wrong for sure.

A good ol’ ice cream tub was Roman’s go-to when he was feeling down, and that’d certainly explain why he asked to hang out out of nowhere. He couldn’t tell exactly what happened, nothing good for sure, but now he was on a mission.

Operation “cheer up boyfriend” initiated!

Luckily, the ice cream aisle was close to the checkout counter. Patton rummaged around the freezer for strawberry cheesecake, Roman’s favorite, and got three pints for good measure. Of course, making sure to get a bottle of chocolate syrup while in line. After that, it was just a matter of driving to Roman’s apartment.

He might’ve rushed up the stairs a bit too much and his knees definitely paid the price, but darn it he was worried!

He double-checked the apartment number and moved to open the door. Faint music came from behind it, Taylor Swift’s…All Too Well? Oh boy.

“I brought the ice cream, Ro!” Patton said as he entered. Immediately, his eyes flitted to Roman in the middle of the couch. Blankets swaddled him to the point that Patton could barely make out his face. But as he got closer, he saw the tear tracks that trailed down to his chin.

“Oh love,” Patton said, feeling his heart ache at the sight. “Hold on, let me grab you a spoon, ok?”

By the time he was back, Roman hadn’t moved an inch. Patton sat next to him, cracking open the ice cream and plopping the spoon into it.

Roman then proceeded to take the pint and eat it with a ferocity that was kind of impressive.

“…Thanks,” Roman muttered.

“Of course, Ro,” Patton smiled, putting a hand on Roman’s knee, in what he hoped to be a comforting way. “Do you wanna tell me what’s wrong?”

“I don’t know, it’s— it’s dumb,” Roman replied, wrapping his arms around his middle. “I’m being dramatic.”

“It’s not dumb, Ro, not if it’s upsetting you.”

Roman sighed. “The cast list for this season’s show came out.”

“Oh, sweetie…”

“Ensemble. Again!” Roman cried, doing mock jazz hands. “I know, I know, I should be grateful I’m in the show at all, and ensemble’s no easy feat of course, but I just thought…”

Roman hunched his shoulders up and let his hands fall into his lap.

“I thought this was going to be the time.”

“I’m so sorry you didn’t get the part you wanted, honey,” Patton said, leaning into Roman’s side. “I’m sure you did your best.”

“I’m starting to think my best just isn’t enough,” Roman let out a hollow laugh. “You know, every time, I tell myself it’s gonna happen, this is gonna be my big break… Maybe it’s just never gonna happen.”

Patton watched helplessly as Roman wound a hand into his hair, pulling. His face twisted in misery. Patton couldn’t bear to see it, the hope crumbling from Roman’s eyes.

“Maybe I’m just gonna be serving milkshakes and cheesecake in a 50s-themed diner for the rest of my life,” he said, bitter. “Great, my parents were right. I’ll never be anyone at all.”

“Don’t say that, Roman,” Patton said firmly. He surprised himself with the sternness in his voice, but he stood by it — he wouldn’t just let Roman be so cruel to himself. “They’re wrong. Of course you’re enough, honey, please don’t let others convince you you’re not, be it your parents or anyone else.”

Roman hummed and something in Patton’s chest twisted at the disbelief in his eyes.

“Ro, listen to me,” Patton pleaded, taking Roman’s hands and squeezing them. “You’re incredible. You’re passionate, and witty, and creative, and dazzling, and none of that hinges on you having the lead role in a show. It doesn’t matter if you’re a waiter, or a superstar, you don't need to measure up to anyone's idea of success.”

Patton smiled, letting go of Roman’s hands to cup his face and brush his thumb across the high of his cheekbone. “You're you. That's enough.” He paused, touching his forehead to Roman's. “You know I love you, right?”

Roman went silent, and with each second that passed Patton got more worried he might’ve said the wrong thing. But then, all of a sudden, he wrapped Patton in a tight hug.

“I love you too,” replied Roman, a quiet chuckle on his lips. Patton hugged him back, crossing his arms over Roman’s back.

When they finally pulled apart, Roman wiped at his eyes, smiling. “You always know what to say, don’t you?”

“Maybe not always,” Patton shrugged. “But I’m sure good at turning around gloomy days! How about I pick up more ice cream and we put on some Disney movies?”

Roman laughed in response, and Patton was so glad to hear it.

Roman sighed as he leaned his forehead against the door, raising his fist to knock for about the third time. Of course, getting into Patton’s apartment hadn’t been the hard part — his roommate was just as worried about him as Roman himself.

The real problem would be getting him to actually leave his desk and put a pause on studying.

“I’m taking a break soon, Logan, don’t worry!” Soon came Patton’s cheerful voice through the door. By the unprompted nature of the comment, he must’ve repeated this line many times before and Roman would guess he’d actually done as he said about… zero of them. “Do you need anything?”

Other options exhausted, Roman supposed he’d just have to go for it.

“Only for you to emerge from your fortress of darkness, my dear,” he said, opening the door.

Fortress of darkness indeed. The laptop screen, about the only source of light in the room, cast a blue tint on the books and papers thrown around the desk. Mugs and cups piled around a forgotten corner of the nightstand. At least the window was open, so Patton must’ve gotten some sunlight in the afternoon.

“…Roman?” Patton squinted at him and tilted his head, swiveling his chair around to face him. “What are you doing here?”

“I’m on a mission, darling,” Roman declared, bowing. Hopefully, his dramatics would help win Patton over. “ Recruited by your dearest brother himself… and your roomie was kind enough to let me in.”

“Logan,” Patton grumbled, then shot Roman a look of disbelief, eyebrows raised. “Hold on, Virgil sent you?”

Roman strode over to him, tilting Patton’s chin up and gently brushing his raven hair out of his glasses. Dark circles shadowed his eyes, and he looked as if he might fall over with a single touch. Roman bit his lip, when had Patton last slept? That wasn’t like him — he barely stayed up late, even on weekends.

“Darling, you haven’t texted your brother in three days. And you know how he gets when he’s worried.” Roman fake shivered, pulling a little giggle out of the other. “When I asked how you were doing this morning, you just sent me a thumbs-up emoji. And Logan says you haven’t come out of here either.”

“I— just,” Patton looked down. “I really need to study, okay? I have a test in a week, and I still have to review the three last units, and memorize all these names—”

“And don’t you think you’ll do better if you give your brain a chance to rest?” Roman raised an eyebrow. “C’mon, you’re taking a nap.”

“What? I can’t, Roman I’m so behind—” Patton protested as Roman pulled him from the chair and herded him towards the bed.

“So you don’t want to cuddle your poor suffering boyfriend?” Roman gave him an exaggerated pout, knowing the other wouldn’t be able to resist it. “Jail for Patton, jail for Patton for one thousand years!”

“Don’t be mean,” Patton whined. He glanced at their entwined hands, sighed, and climbed onto the bed grumbling.

They cuddled for about a minute, and Roman would be lying to say he hadn’t thoroughly enjoyed the fact that his boyfriend wore his favorite sweater. You’d think it was a bit plain, just a simple gray affair, but only if you hadn’t touched it — by Jove, it was like angels themselves knit the thing. Though soon enough, Patton disentangled himself from Roman’s arms, much to his displeasure, and sent a conflicted glance to his desk. Roman groaned.

“Ro, I need to study, I’m sorry.”

“Patton, be serious with me,” Roman said, crossing his arms. “You really think you are fit to study right now? You look like you’ll drop if the wind blows too hard.”

“But—”

“C’mon, darling,” He cupped Patton’s cheek, looking directly into his red-rimmed eyes. “You know better than to overwork yourself. I thought we’d skipped the workaholic college student phase when you were an undergrad.”

“That’s the thing, Ro,” Patton huffed, sounding terribly small. He dug his nails into the comforter, leaning away from Roman's hand. “I'm not an undergrad anymore. I can't coast by. If I want to be a vet, I can't just-”

He clicked his mouth shut, pulling his knees up to his chest.

“Hey,” Roman reached out again, but he only curled up further. He paused. Pinpricks of tears formed in the corner of Patton’s eyes and he looked so, so tired. It just about killed Roman to see him so upset. “C’mon, what’s going on?”

“I failed the last test,” Patton muttered, hiding his face in the crook of his arms. “If I don’t do well on this one, there won’t be extra credit that’ll save my grade. I can’t fail this class I can’t—”

“Oh, darling,” Roman crooned, as he gently wrapped the other into a hug. “It’s okay.”

Patton sniffled into Roman's shoulder.

“You’ve never “coasted by”. Don’t punish yourself for struggling,” Roman said, tracing circles onto his back. “Some classes can be tough, that’s okay. No shame in needing to put more effort into learning a subject, you just need to remember you can work hard and still take care of yourself.”

“…What if I’m just not cut out for this?” Patton whispered.

“What? Darling, look at me,” Roman pulled away, then took Patton’s hands with his own. “You’re one of the smartest, most compassionate people I know. I have no doubt in my mind that you’ll be a great veterinarian.” He smiled. “Nay, the greatest!”

Patton huffed a laugh and leaned into Roman’s shoulder.

Roman pressed a small kiss into his hair. “You’ll get through this, I know it. There can’t be a victory without some challenge after all,” he said, “But you better not overwork yourself again, mister, or I swear I’ll bully you into some self-care.”

“I’m sure you will.”

Sneaking a hand around his back, Roman pulled Patton down abruptly and flopped him onto the bed, drawing a fit of giggles from him.

“Don’t test me,” he smirked.

Patton let out an airy laugh. “Alright, alright.”

They fell into silence as Roman picked up a pillow from the foot of the bed and lay down. Patton had taken to fidgeting with the sleeves of his blue jumper, quiet as he unraveled a bit of loose thread.

“Vet school is really something,” he finally said.

“Not like you expected?”

“I don't know,” Patton admitted. “I just feel… out of place? Everyone here seems so well-adjusted and driven, but I still feel like I’m bumbling.”

“Is there such a thing as well-adjusted university students?” Roman snorted. “This is a new thing for you, dear, only natural you’ll need some time to get used to it.”

“As long as it doesn’t take too long,” sighed Patton.

“You’re doing great, Pat, trust me,” Roman reached over to ruffle his hair, grinning when Patton pouted adorably and batted his hand away.

“You’re too cute, I’m sorry,” Roman said, stifling a chuckle. Patton crossed his arms. “You know I love you, right?”

Instantly, Patton’s face softened — a pretty blush tinted his cheeks and he smiled bashfully. “I love you too, honey.”

“Man, if I knew I could persuade by flirting I'd have done it much earlier.” Roman teased, raising his hands when he saw the look he got in response. “Okay, okay, I give. So, how about that nap?”

Patton opened his mouth to respond but cut himself with a wide yawn before he could.

“Yeah, I think that’s answer enough.”

Wrapping his arms around Patton's waist, Roman pulled the covers over them and, after whispering goodnight, planted a kiss on his hair. For someone who’d claimed he could go right back to studying with no problem, Patton fell asleep rather quickly — five minutes barely passed and he was already snoring softly. Roman shook his head in amusement. Poor thing sure was exhausted. He snaked his hand around to grab his phone and snapped a photo to send to Virgil.

Mission accomplished.

---

A/N: this takes place about 1-2 years after they met in milkshakes and checkered diners - Patton is in his 1st year of the Veterinary Medicine program, while Roman has been out of college for a year-ish and working on that particular community theater since his senior year of collegeyes he's freaking out about never making it one year into his career 😆 he's a bit of a drama queen but we love him

#sanders sides #roman sanders #patton sanders #royality #royalityweek2023

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