look at me know ma!

One of my favorite headcanons of all time is that Patton is like Hella Strong and can pickup literally anyone. so i drew it.

Outfit designs for Roman & Patton came from @exkkxe-arts-cloud (patton’s one in the thomas drawing as well)

transparent versions

....

Patton had been working on coloring pages at the kitchen counter. Not busy, just… present, when he heard the stairs creak behind him. Soft, hesitant footsteps that only matched one person. 

“Hey, kiddo!” His eyes didn’t quite leave the coloring page. It hadn’t been… the bestest of days. Thomas was stressed. Coloring helped. 

The waxy crayon was still drifting over the paper when the silence in the room finally clicked. No greeting back, no more footsteps or creaking, just… silence. 

That’s when Patton looked up. Thumb picking nervously at the lifted edge of the waxy paper surrounding the crayon, Patton looked over at the steps. 

There Virgil was, stalled halfway down. Not standing, but sitting. The darker Side’s knees were drawn up close to his chest. His wrists rested against his knees, holding up his phone. 

“Virge?”

Nothing.

He wasn’t sitting at the landing at the bottom of the stairs. No, he was halfway down the stairs, tucked as close as possible against the wall. 

Patton was familiar with this spot by now. Very familiar. Usually, Virge sat on the steps like that when his mind wasn’t making it safe to be alone, but he couldn’t bear being around people, either. Close enough to see and hear everyone else, but with the handrail separating the obligation of needing to be part of the group. 

That was usually what sitting on the stairs meant. But not every time. 

Patton himself had been sitting at the counter a while. His knees popped and groaned in protest as he rose from the stool, but Patton paid that no mind. He drifted over toward the steps, making sure each foot fall was loud enough to be heard— loud enough to keep from startling. 

Virgil didn’t look up from his phone when Patton stopped at the last step. But he tensed, clearly tracking what Patton was doing anyway. 

“Hey.” The usually bubbly Side kept his voice soft. “Get stuck?”

Virgil grunted. Well, no— not a grunt. More like the warning noise a cat makes when it’s deciding whether to hiss: a noise like a long, throaty groan that screams I don’t like this.

Patton’s brow raised, just a little, but he didn’t move away. 

Silence for a moment, then the other Side seemed to catch himself. Something flickered in his eyes, a brief sense of ‘oh, right, I’m allowed to actually answer.’ 

Virgil still struggled with that, sometimes. Somewhere along the way, he'd gotten into the habit of giving non-answers: little sounds that meant I heard you, and you can't say I'm ignoring you, but I won't risk giving an answer you might not like.

Virgil’s thumb stilled over the phone screen, and the device lowered just a tad. “.....Yeah.”

“Alright.” 

Patton must have forgotten to put the crayon down. He was still worrying at it: picking at the edge of the paper covering, at risk of tearing it apart. Patton met Virgil's eyes over the top of the phone.

“Do you want to talk about it?”

The phone went right back up. Not dramatically, but firmly. “‘S not a big deal.. Promise.”

“Maybe,” Patton conceded. “But you can still talk about it.”

Virgil huffed. Genuinely rolled his eyes. But a second passed, then two, then three. And then… 

“‘M just… hungry. Came down to get some’n to eat.”

Patton nodded. Virge hadn't come down for breakfast this morning. Had said he wasn't hungry, but Patton had worried anyway. 

“You came down,” Patton said gently. “And then you stopped?”

Virgil’s jaw worked for a second. He still wasn’t looking at Patton-– hadn’t really looked at him a single time. 

“...I’ll have to pick.” Virgil’s voice was impossibly quiet. Not quite quiet enough to hide the resentment and embarrassment in his tone, though. “And… I already know I won’t eat anything in there. I’d have to pick, and there’d be dishes, and—” 

Virgil was still staring down at the phone, thumb moving too fast for him to even be processing whatever he was scrolling on. Tumblr, maybe. TikTok, if it was muted. 

Patton had seen him do both when Virge didn't know any other way to keep from being overwhelmed. 

Patton almost turned and marched into the kitchen right then and there. 

“Would it help if I picked for you? Something simple, no mess— granola bar? Crackers, chips?”

He would come back with everything in the kitchen– everything in the world– if Virgil asked. He just had to remember to let Virgil ask, sometimes.

But Virgil was shaking his head. “....Wouldn’t eat it. I just— That’s all I’ve been eating anymore. Just… can’t. S’rry.”

Patton debates whether he needs to get Virge to eat something. That seems like the obvious thing to do: offer suggestions and ideas, anything that can get Virge to eat. But… he has the sense that Virge has already been pressuring himself to eat. It's not his intent, but offers will just be read as pressure, or reminders of pressure. More pressure isn't going to help.

“That’s okay,” Patton says instead. Because it is. The world doesn't end because Virgil doesn't know what to eat. And frustration isn't the price that Virge has to pay for not knowing what to eat— he can be confused and stuck without it meaning anything about him.

“...Yeah.” But Virgil was shaking his head, scowling. “Yeah, right.”

Patton hummed for a moment. Then: “Okay, scoot over.” 

Virgil blinked. “What–?”

Patton swiftly moves up the stairs and sits beside Virgil. 

“I can stay until you know what to pick.”

There’s enough time for Virge to tell him to stop. Virge doesn’t. 

So Patton just sits, his feet shifting on the stairs below like dancers moving to a rhythm. Playful, even if Patton doesn’t quite feel playful today. 

“Pat…”

“M-hmm?”

“This is stupid. You’re– we’re blocking the entire walkway now.”

“Yep.” Patton said easily.

“‘Yep?’” Virgil repeated, huffing. “Pat, we’re in the way.”

“Well, yeah. But if anyone needs to go downstairs, they can just sink out and pop up right in the living room. No biggie.”

Virgil snapped: “That’s not the point.”

Patton's lips fluttered soundlessly for a second too long. The tone had caught him off guard, but… it wasn't a new tone. Patton had heard it a million times before: the way Virgil's voice tightened when he was talking about something that no one else seemed to see. 

Patton hesitated. Virgil… wasn't talking about the stairs. “What do you mean?”

“Don’t– Don’t act like this is normal.” Virgil's tone was sharp as ever, but Patton didn't miss the way that his knees drew steadily closer to his chest, curling up smaller and smaller. “People don't spend hours going hungry then give up and block the stairs because they can't do something as basic as eating.”

Patton pauses, takes a small breath, reminds himself that the wobbly harshness in Virgil's voice isn't personal. And says carefully: “Virge, I'm not mad.”

Virgil hesitates, then shakes his head. “You should be.” 

“Would it help, if I was?” (Patton is genuinely asking… but already knows the answer, too). 

Virgil stills. He doesn't say anything; there isn't an answer that feels honest. 

The two sit together. They don't have to say anything. They sit, aware of each other, the environment continuing to exist all around them. Jostling from Roman's room above, green apple scented cleaner still clinging in the air, the hum of the fridge downstairs.

Eventually, Virgil talks: “You're gonna break that crayon into pieces if you keep fidgeting with it. Restless fidgeting is kinda more my thing.”

Patton doesn't say anything right away. His chest aches the tiniest bit as he thinks about Thomas, whatever thing it is that put this tension in the mindscape.

That's when Patton notices the name of the crayon. Grape. And hands it over with a sad smile. Wordlessly. Virge takes it, confused. 

“It's grape,” Patton says. “No dishes.”

Virgil blinks down at it. It takes a moment. Then: “Oh, my god. That's awful. That's actually awful.”

Hiii sasi fandom i wanted yo talk about something a noticed quite a bit while reading fanfiction and wanted to talk about

SO

When reading a cold blooded fic about janus i realized that he goes to : Patton, remus, and (sometimes) Virgil to cuddle (or sit next to them) to feed off their heat

Which could not be farther from rhe truth since frogs, octopuses(i know that remus is a kraken but yk), and spiders ARE cold-blooded

"But iven maybe they made Virgil a cat, or just made the three of them normal sides without traits!"

first: Virgil most always is implied to be spider in those fics because of the "spiderling" nickname

Secondly: Remus most always comforts Janus with his tentacles ( an example is like hugging, cuddling, extra, extra)

Thirdly : yeah that makes sense ig

Anyways that is all i wanted to talk about tbh uhhhh....

story idea beginning to form in my head: since they’re outnumbered, the logical conclusion is to keep the mind palace Very, Very Warm to accommodate for the majority of its inhabitants.

issue: now logan and roman are overheating all the time. not ideal.