Wings of Trust

Based off of: http://randomslasher.tumblr.com/post/166345450826/randomslasher-shelter-i-doodled-a-lame-lil#notes by randomslasher on Tumblr

The other Sides had convinced him to get out of the house for once and Roman insisted that it had to be this little strip mall in the middle of nowhere. Morality and Logic had also insisted that they walked, because it was a beautiful day to get some exercise. Well, now it was stormy and cold, and he wanted to go home.

The sound of three pairs of feet splashing through puddles roused him from his musings.

"Hey, Virg! We found you!" Patton yelled, with the other Sides on his heels. Anxiety didn't want to admit it, but he was glad the others were back. He was worried about them being on their own, as was his job. They didn't know when to be frightened.

"How was walking in the rain by yourself?" Roman teased.

"It pleased my emo soul," Virgil deadpanned. In truth, although he was cold and wet and absolutely miserable, the rain was soothing. He loved listening to the rhythmic sound of rain. Rain on roofs, rain on sidewalks, rain on Princey... Not the point. He just happened to like rain. But Patton, on the other hand...

A clap of thunder broke the air and Patton jumped. "Um... Hey guys... Do you think that maybe we could stop and take a- a break?" Patton shrieked, looking directly at Virgil. He was the only one that knew Patton was afraid of thunder, and that Patton was weirdly embarrassed of it.

"Yeah, for once I agree with Bubbles. Let's stop and wait out the storm. God knows one of us is going to get struck by lightening... or get hypothermia, or have an anaphylactic reaction and die, or trip and fall into a black hole, or..."

"We get it, Hot Topic. We'll get out of the rain for a sec." Roman snapped.

"Logically, none of those events are statistically likely to happen in the near future, Virgil, because we do not have a history of anaphylactic reactions, and it's not that cold out, and only one person every three years dies of a lightning strike in the U.S. And you physically can't trip and fall into a black hole." Logan muttered.

The problem with getting out of the rain, however, was that there was nothing but field on either side of the road. No shelter. So the Sides (except Virgil) sat down on the edge of the pavement, huddling together to try to keep out of the rain. Virgil watched them with a smug expression before unwrapping silky black wings from his torso and holding them over the others.

"Why isn't the rain falling on us?" Inquired Logan. His outstretched palm didn't catch any rain. Virgil looked down. The others couldn't see his wings and probably didn't even know that he had them, seeing as they never thought to ask. Then again, Virgil had never told them, and as far as he knew, no other people had invisible wings.

He was afraid that they would laugh at him. Or even worse, tell Thomas and quarantine him until the "issue" was resolved. After all, wings that they could neither see nor feel? They would just peg it as another side effect of one of Virgil's many mental health issues. Not even Roman would believe him, as imaginative as he was. There was a line that Virgil knew not to cross, the line between what they would believe and what they wouldn't. His wings were, very clearly, crossing the line.

"The rain isn't falling on us and there's nothing obstructing the sky. The rain's falling everywhere else! This doesn't make logical sense! It's unprecedented in the scientific community!" Logan fumed. He sounded slightly paranoid.

Virgil looked down. "Logan... What if there was something obstructing the sky?"

"Like something in the sky that's camouflaged? But that would be so far up that it wouldn't make a difference in the rainfall."

"No... Like what if there was something down low?"

"Virgil, there's nothing there. Did you take your meds today?"

"Guys, I have something to tell you." Virgil avoided eye contact with the other sides. "And yes, Computer, I took my meds."

"Oooh, what is it?!" Patton asked excitedly. Apparently the thunder and rain was not a damper on his annoyingly bright personality.

"I..." The words stuck in his throat. "I have... wings."

"Virgil, we appreciate that you're trying to find a solution to this scientific anomaly, but you growing invisible wings is not a plausible reality."

"No, I really do. I have wings."

"And quidditch is real..." Roman mumbled. They didn't believe him, just like he'd thought. He'd just have to show them. His wings started to flap, at first ruffling the other's hair and clothes, gradually lifting Virgil off the ground. He smirked as the other Sides grew smaller, their bewildered faces turning into little dots.

He swooped back down, catching the wind and nose diving straight down, straightening back up just in time to gracefully land on his feet. Patton was jumping up and down clapping, Logan was glaring at the sky, and Roman just looked... confused. Strange for Princey to be quiet for once.

"Virgil you really can fly! I knew you could do it! Can I have a ride?" Patton yelled as he walked back over to them.

"No, you cannot have a ride. And you doubted me, all of you did. I know it."

"Why didn't you tell us?" Whispered Logan. His face looked almost hurt.

Virgil stared at the ground and sighed. "Because... I was afraid you were going to send me away to a lab or something.. I don't know. You guys are always looking for a reason to get rid of me, hell, Thomas takes medication to block me out! And wouldn't this be a perfect excuse to get rid of me?"

"We're not going to tell anyone."

Virgil sniffed and wiped his eyes. "You're not?"

"No! You can be a little bit trying at times, but we love you. Without you, Thomas has absolutely no sense of fear at all! When you were gone once, Thomas walked straight out into the middle of a busy street because you weren't there to tell him not to! And then after he almost got hit by a car, he laughed! We need you, Virgil. We love you."

Virgil smiled. "Well, I guess maybe I knew that all along..."

"Aww, come here, you little gloom cloud, you!" Patton squealed. Virgil rolled his eyes but accepted Patton's hug. The Sides sat down on the pavement again, this time with Virgil's wings covering all of them in a protective bubble, even Virgil himself.

"You know, you're going to have to be the one to rescue kittens out of trees now."

"And change the lightbulbs."

"And take me ON RIDES!" Patton squealed. Virgil smirked. The other Sides may be a bunch of dorky nerds, and sometimes jerks, but they cared about him like no one else ever would. Like it or not, they were a family.