Fighting Paranoia

Dark thoughts

Just a quick note at the beginning; if you don't know who any of these characters are, then watch the Sanders Sides series on YouTube. I'll try to briefly explain their personalities though. Light sides; Virgil represents anxiety, and is constantly trying to make the others scared, and is always worrying. He is also extremely sarcastic. Roman represents creativity, and loves everything Disney. He makes fun of everyone except Patton. Logan represents logic, and is the smartest out of all the sides. He loves Crofters jam. Patton represents morality and is always trying to cheer the others up even at his own expense, and makes dad jokes 24/7. Most sides refer to him as 'dad'. Dark sides; Deceit represents lies, and can and will disguise himself as the other sides. He NEVER stops lying. Remus represents the dark side of creativity, and is constantly putting dark and disturbing thoughts into Thomas's head. He loves eating deodorant and is Roman's twin brother.

That's probably the most basic description I can give you about the sides. Now onto the story.

Oh, and also, in this I decided they have a TV that allows you to play disks on it, as well as the other stuff, to make it easier to write.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

" - guys, gals and non-binary pals. Peace out!" Thomas smiled into the camera as they finished filming the latest episode. 

"Great. Now that this is over, I'll be in my room." Virgil started to leave, but Patton reached over and grabbed his arm. 

"Please stay for a bit, kiddo? Roman is going to put on a movie, and I'll make a snack." 

"Knowing Roman, it's probably a Disney movie, but I'll stick around for a bit. It might be interesting." Patton's eyes went wide with happiness, and he bustled off to the kitchen with a huge smile on his face.

Virgil vaulted over the arm of the sofa and landed next to Logan, who looked up from the latest book he was reading. He gave Virgil a surprised look, then went back to devouring the words in his story. Virgil pulled up his hoodie and made himself comfortable on the sofa as Roman ran over with about five different movies in his hands. 

"So, I was thinking Beauty and the Beast, or Tangled or The Sword in the Stone or - oh hey Virgil. Wait. Emo nightmare decided to stick around? I guess we should do Nightmare before Christmas then." He gave Virgil a small smile, which startled him, as the creative side wasn't really that friendly towards him. "Don't look so surprised hot topic. Now that we know you a bit better, I guess I should try to be nicer, also, Patton would have my head if I made you feel unwelcome." Roman glanced over to the kitchen, where Patton was watching them while trying hard to look like he wasn't watching them, which only made it more obvious that he was actually watching them. Roman looked back at Virgil, who was still a bit unbelieving. "So you like the idea of watching this movie, or can I put on one of my movies?"

"No, Nightmare before Christmas is good. Thank you Roman." Virgil mumbled into his hoodie, just loud enough for the other sides to hear him. The creative side looked shocked at display of politeness from the usually sarcastic Virgil, but recovered fast and bounded off to retrieve the movie. Patton returned from the kitchen just at that moment, with a plate of freshly baked cookies in one hand and a bowl of popcorn in the other. 

"What are we watching kiddos?" He sat down next to Logan, knowing that Virgil didn't like being touched that much. 

"Nightmare before Christmas." Logan informed him, finally putting down his book and paying attention to what was happening around him. "Oh, cookies. Thanks Pat." He reached over and took one, biting into the crisp shell. Patton smiled at him and Virgil hid a knowing smirk.

Roman carefully extracted the disk carefully from the case and put it into the machine before flinging himself onto the sofa between Patton and Virgil, taking no notice as the anxious side hissed quietly at him as their arms brushed together. The prince grabbed a handful of popcorn and stuffed it in his mouth all at once, earning a disgusted look from the other sides that he dismissed with a shrug, unable to talk through his full mouth.

Throughout the movie, it was blissfully silent, apart from the noises of chewing and Roman's frequent comments on the movie (as well as the actual movie it's self). When it was over, the sides finally went to their rooms to sleep, knowing that Thomas had a busy day next. After some sleepy good nights were exchanged, the sides climbed into their beds. The others fell asleep quite quickly, but Virgil was having some trouble. A little voice kept whispering in his ear, telling him 'They only pretend to be nice to you. Something bad will happen tomorrow. The other sides will reject you tomorrow because you didn't talk enough last night.' Try as he might, Virgil attempted to block the voice, knowing who it was, but it didn't work. He woke up in the morning with tears streaking his face and only a few hours of troubled sleep. 

After getting ready for the day, Virgil quietly headed into the kitchen where Patton, as usual, was making breakfast. Without saying a word to the others, Virgil grabbed a stack of pancakes and sat down at the table. Patton looked over from what he was doing to give Logan a questioning look, who replied with a shrug. The caring side put down the plate he was holding and walked over to Virgil, placing a hand on his shoulder. Virgil jumped at the contact, then realized who touched him and settled down. "Hey, kiddo, you okay? We know that Thomas slept badly last night, and you seem like you didn't sleep much either. Anything you want to tell us?" 

Virgil gulped, knowing it would be hard to lie to Patton, but he didn't want the other sides to be afraid of him, if what he thought was happening to him was correct. "I'm fine dad. I just had a lot on my mind last night. I'll be fine!" He declared the last part a little bit too cheerfully, with a wide smile, making Patton pull an uncertain face. 

"If you're sure kiddo, but take care of yourself and know that we're always around if you want to talk to us, okay?" Virgil nodded, picking uncomfortably at his pancakes as Patton moved back to the kitchen. Roman dramatically entered the kitchen moments after, distracting almost everyone with talk on his ideas for the next video they were going to make. Nobody noticed it when Virgil slunk back to his room, leaving a plate of half eaten pancakes on the table. 

This continued over the next few days, with Virgil hearing whispers at night and not being able to sleep. By this time, all of the other light sides and Thomas had noticed something up with him, and not just the disrupted sleep patterns. 

"Are you sure you don't want to talk to us about anything?" Patton worriedly asked him everyday as the other sides tried their best to make sure that Virgil felt included and needed.

"I keep telling you that I'm fine dad, and I mean it!" Virgil, who was sleep deprived and annoyed at being babied by the others was curled up on the sofa under a blanket. An open book lay on his lap, but he wasn't paying attention to it. Patton sat next to him, badly wanting to give him a hug, but not knowing how the anxious side would react to the sudden contact. Everyone except Virgil had started to notice a change in the colours of his clothing as well. The usual purple patches on his hoodie were fading into a sort of grey. Only Logan had a theory on what was happening, but didn't want to tell anyone as not to worry them.