Sanders Sides One Shots

Breathing

You can either see this as no ships, or choose to ship any of them with Virgil (it really doesn't matter, platonic or romantic).

...

Virgil started a weird habit. He didn't know when he had started doing it, but it felt like he had it forever.

He would watch the others when they were breathing.

Especially when they weren't talking, Virgil would watch them to make sure they were still breathing. He had caught himself on many occasions watching the other's breathing and had to remind himself not to do it. Virgil figured it was the Anxiety part of him making him do this.

Sometimes, he didn't even realize he was doing it.

Roman had called dibs on the living room to watch a Disney movie just as Virgil had plopped on the couch. Despite being annoyed at it, Virgil stayed. He had already sat down.

Virgil didn't know when it happened, but Roman had fallen asleep. He was lying to the side with his head on a pillow, face half-covered in the quilt he had pulled over himself when he started the movie.

He trailed his gaze off of Roman's face, resting his eyes on Roman's chest, awaiting the rise and fall signaling that he was still breathing, and there it was.

Studying it for a few seconds longer, he timed the gap in between his breaths, determining if Roman was actually asleep or not, and he was. Virgil smiles, happy he was alive. Even if he pretended to hate the louder Side, he would never want anything bad to happen to him.

Realizing he was still staring at his chest, Virgil frowned in embarrassment, although no one was around, and turned back to his phone. He continued to sit on the couch next to where Roman lay and listen to the movie in the background as he scrolled through Tumblr.

Every so often, he would look at Roman to make sure his chest was still rising and falling. Until he woke up, Virgil would enjoy the company of the fanciful Side in a more peaceful way.

...

Sometimes, Virgil was glad he had this habit.

It was a relaxing Sunday in which Thomas decided to just stay home and chill by himself. So the Sides, more or less, had free time to themselves.

Virgil was heading to the kitchen for a snack when he noticed that the windows were open. Sitting on the other side was Patton.

Walking closer to see what he was doing, Virgil saw that he was slowly rocking back and forth in a rocking chair like a stereotypical dad. But that didn't fool Virgil; Patton was watching a compilation of cute animals on his phone.

When Virgil opened up the door, Patton looked up to see who it was, and he smiled. "Hey, Pat. Can I join you?"

Nodding to the adjacent chair, Virgil gave him a small smile when he said "of course, kiddo!"

Settling in the chair, Virgil sat for a few minutes on his phone, listening to Patton's video. Enjoying the sun warming his face, Virgil eventually put his phone away and instead just sat basking in the warmth.

Turning his head to look at Patton, he sees that Patton was still calmly watching his video. Carefully slipping his eyes down so Patton wouldn't notice, Virgil studied his breathing. He is surprised to see Patton's chest rising and falling in a ragged manner. His breathing would even hiccup every few breaths as if he was struggling to breathe.

Patton's face would never have given it away.

"Patton," Virgil got his attention, and Patton instantly looked up at him with a smile. "Are you sick?"

Without even faltering, Patton denied the blunt accusation. He claimed he was "as fit as a fiddle" and then proceeded to play the air guitar, obviously not knowing how a fiddle was held.

"You're breathing really unevenly," Virgil raised an eyebrow, gesturing with his head down at Patton's chest.

Blinking, Patton remarks on how observant Virgil was. Taking another uneven breath, he nods, conceding.

Virgil nods in return, standing up and offering a hand to Patton. Taking it, Patton stands up as well. "Where are we going?"

"Bed," Virgil leads Patton inside. "I'll take care of you. It's the least I can do for all you do for us."

...

Sometimes he wasn't glad he does it.

It was a rare occasion where he was outside of his room over his own free will. Whenever the two bubbly Sides were both asleep, Virgil would often find Logan reading in the common room.

Noticing him come in, Logan looked up at him and gave a nod in acknowledgement but was otherwise silent. Due to often feeling overwhelmed with noise, Virgil was grateful.

Sitting on the opposite end of the couch from Logan, Virgil curled into the couch cushions. He scrolled mindlessly through his apps for a few minutes and then without thinking about it, turned to face Logan, who seemed to be absorbed in his book. Virgil watched the other's steady breathing for only a few seconds to satisfy himself before returning to his phone.

A few minutes later, Virgil again slid his eyes over to Logan to make sure he was still breathing. Only, he wasn't.

Eyes widening, he flicked his gaze up to Logan's face to see that it was slack as he leaned against the couch, book in his limp arms. Logan's eyes were closed.

Silently freaking out, Virgil moved a little closer to him, making sure he hadn't just fallen asleep and was breathing softly. Studying Logan's chest for another few seconds, he knew Logan was definitely not breathing.

He surged forward and grabbed Logan's shoulders with the intent to shake him. Logan's eyes flicked open and he stopped holding his breath.

Virgil was surprised, falling backwards in shock and landing on the floor in front of the couch. He was breathing in fear, holding his own chest as Logan was taking in the air he had been depriving himself of.

"Lo- what the heck!?" Virgil whisper-shouted, still feelings his frantic heartbeat in his ears.

Logan chuckled without any humor. "I knew it."

...

This is something I do, and I just thought it would be something Virgil would do, too.

Also sorta based off of this ^^^^ thing I had found that has stuck with me.

Alternate Roman section: I had initially planned for Roman's section in this to be with him and Virgil cuddling, but then I changed it because I liked the idea of all three sections being platonic as opposed to one romantic section and two platonic sections.

It was something like... Virgil rested his head on Roman's chest, hearing his heart beating slowly and feeling the steady rise and fall of his breathing as he slept. Snuggling in closer to his warmth, Virgil allowed himself to be lulled to sleep.

Yeah. Sorry if you like this idea better than the one I wrote in full.