#thought spirals

Honestly he could swear that most of his friends felt the same, like it would be easier if they knew the right phrase to make him feel safe, whether they knew his soulmate or not. There had been so many times that he had backed out last minute from plans because something in him started looking into all the dangers, from wherever they were going being over crowded to that rattle probably from something unsecured in the trunk of his car actually being some major issue that would cause it to explode if he drove too far. It had to be wearing down on his friends by now, and Virgil was both shocked and pleased they hadn't given him up as a burden they didn't want to bear.

They'd never admit that though. In fact, once Virgil had mentioned how he was sure everyone got annoyed with his anxiety to Roman only to get scoffed at. “Dark Knight, seriously, I've got Remus for a brother. Do you really claim to be harder to keep calm than that hyperactive overenthusiastic whirlwind of chaos?”

While he hadn't been able to argue with that in the moment, Virgil really didn't think Remus was that bad. Of course occasionally he fixated on some macabre subjects but who was Virgil to judge? They both had minds that covered possible ways to die regularly, and  whether their coping mechanisms were similar or complete opposites, that didn't change the source thoughts being related.

The first time he'd seen Remus get caught in a thought spiral, Virgil had asked whether he knew any words from his phrase, after he'd calmed down at least. Apparently they both had 'throwing' in their phrase, but Remus only had 'pig' other than that, and neither of them could believe that there was any way to connect their words together to make a phrase at all.

It looked like Remus might just have found a way to though, since Virgil reached the park they were meeting up in to hear constant mutters about things happening 'when pigs fly' and how everything that flies has to land at some point.

“Yo. Think you said something about repainting, is that still on the plan or are you changing it?” Virgil called, trying to get his friend's attention.

“How many things would happen if pigs started flying? Also does that saying have to be unassisted, not in an aeroplane or helicopter?” Remus asked, gaze snapping onto him with a near desperation to talk about his thoughts.

Virgil shrugged. “Well I'm pretty sure I said I'd only stay calm when pigs fly so that's one thing to start with. What are we classing as flight anyway? Is this a Buzz Lightyear thing where falling with style gets passed off as flight?”

“No no no no no. Sustained movement through the air is a determined direction. No falling down and using rolling things to throw you up again, and can it really be flight if you're on the ground again within like a hundred yards of where you began? But then people have been catapulted further than that so I guess humans have known how to make each other fly, it's just self controlled flight we can't do yet.” Remus was shaking his head and waving his hands rapidly, almost making Virgil dizzy with the movement.

He remembered others helping Remus calm down by repeating the subjects back at him with questions and had tried that the first time. The answer just getting more frazzled only said he'd focused on the wrong bit of Remus's thoughts to help.

Mentally he checked over other questions he could ask as Remus returned back to pigs flying and the outcomes it could have. “So throwing a pig really fast could make it fly?” He offered, blinking when Remus turned, taking a few deep breaths at the words.

“Yeah, yeah, that's good. You're really good at safety words.” Remus commented after a moment of just breathing, hands lowering to his hips after a moment. “I bet Logan and Patton would throw a fit if we actually did try to make a pig fly though. Animal abuse probably includes launching pigs from catapults.”

The sudden change of energy from Remus concerned Virgil for a minute before the descriptions of how people calmed once their soulmate said the anchoring words popped into his head. He couldn't help himself from immediately asking, “Good at safety words or have I just said our anchoring words?”

“But you said, we both said, the words we knew couldn't fit together to make a phrase?” Remus wasn't arguing, just looking a little lost at the suggestion.

Virgil gave him a half smile. “Well you did say the words you knew were 'pig' and 'throwing', and mine were 'throwing', 'really fast' and 'fly'. I don't know about you but I can hear all those words getting included in 'So throwing a pig really fast could make it fly'.”

Another deep breath was taken by Remus before he latched onto Virgil's side, only unlike a koala in that his legs remained on the floor. “Definitely said our anchoring words. My snarky sarcastic and wonderful soulmate.”

Virgil snorted, shaking his head, but letting his arms wrap around them. “I vote we leave whatever mischief you had planned for another day and instead work on making a model pig to launch into flight.” He suggested, completely amused by how bizarre their words were. If someone else ever heard them calming each other down from now on they could get into a lot of really weird conversations. Might as well have a story beyond just the thought spiral and the words.