Song Codes

As much as Virgil wanted to be taken seriously, he didn't want to risk going back to his old habits that made him outcast by the group. He wanted to show everyone else (as well as himself) that he has grown. One method he has used to make it known that he's changing for the better was working on a system with Roman. Sure, he has cooperated with Roman during Thomas's teen years, but that was at a time where Roman and Virgil weren't consciously aware of it.

A statement from Logan about Virgil trying not to be harsh and thus not distressing stuck with the emo for a long time and he wanted to find ways to keep that goal alive. As a result, he went to Roman for suggestions. The first idea that the Prince blurted out was using songs to get Virgil's messages across. Virgil ended up getting anxious at the thought of singing his emotions, so Roman decided the next best thing for the storm cloud would be for him to say the titles of the songs and Roman would understand that way. Even Virgil had to admit that the strategy was less embarrassing and pretty clever. It also helps that, although emo music is the type that Virgil finds himself crawling back to, it's not the only type of music he has listened to, so maybe he'll be able to teach the externally confident Prince a thing or two.

Ever since then, whenever Roman asks how Virgil is doing, the emo would just say a song title and, no matter if Roman needed to look up the song or not, Virgil wouldn't have to risk talking his ear off or struggling to verbalize his thoughts. There would be times where they would play Mario Kart and Virgil would chant "For the River, For the River, For the River," while racing and it only took a little while for Roman to understand.

At a time where Virgil felt bold enough to ramble about his crush to Roman, he tapped on the Prince's shoulder while walking past him and whispered, ""Someone Like You"; Jekyll and Hyde," and Roman would smirk before coming up with an excuse while leaving with Virgil. There was even a time where Virgil felt himself being dragged into an anxiety attack and he texted '"Death of Me"; Daughtry' to Roman. Several minutes afterwards, Roman was right by Virgil's side with some essentials in his arms. They didn't become as best of friends as Virgil and Patton, but the emo would admit that he appreciated that he was growing closer with Roman and they had a social system specific to them. Almost like an inside joke that made him feel special.

One day, Logan had set up schedules for Thomas that included too much business and errands with little time to relax with his friends or himself. Basically, the nerd took advantage of being the first to claim the errand list and bit off more than he could chew without wishing to admit it. As a result, as Virgil was working on "motivating" Thomas to keep his tasks in check, he buried himself deeper into his hoodie. Patton had tried to convince Logan to take a break, but the teacher was too determined. The father figure, then, tried to comfort his best friend, but he wasn't sure if Virgil wanted to be touched. Roman ran around trying to contribute, but stopped when he saw the creepy cookie. He crouched down and looked at him with concern.

"Are you alright, Virge?"

He felt dumb for asking the question, but then he remembered he just wanted Virgil to feel heard and that was the way to do it.

"After the Rain," Virgil muttered in a demonic voice.

Roman nodded and snapped his fingers. The next thing they knew, a water break meant to last between 30 minutes to an hour was a mandatory addition to Thomas's agenda that was scheduled for ASAP. Logan was surprised by the change, but couldn't argue with the schedule. Logan walked out of his room, since they had at most an hour to spare. He saw Virgil lying with his back on the laps of Patton and Roman and started to feel bad.

"I overworked him again, didn't I?" Logan asked.

"I'm afraid so, Logan. We all block out the world when we're consumed by what we enjoy," Patton retorted.

Logan went to sit down and summoned an Agatha Christie book in his hands. Though he was an intense bookworm, he couldn't help but briefly take his gaze off the pages just to check the well being of his fellow left-brained side.

Roman was muttering the lyrics to "After the Rain" and, though Patton and Logan thought of it as just Roman being himself, Virgil heard it as a sign of Roman's effort for him and felt grateful for being heard by someone who would used to prefer to be deaf than hear him out.