"That. . . was beautiful," Patton said, his eyes welling up with tears.

"Why am I crying?" Roman asked, teardrops streaming down his face.

"I must admit, that was a good movie," Logan said, smiling sadly at the credits.

"That was so touching. It was like Frozen, but a thousand times better," Virgil said, his hood hiding his face. Patton assumed that he was crying too and smiled, knowing Virgil couldn't see it.

"Honestly, I've got to agree," Roman smiled, his voice cracking with emotion. "Pixar's outdone themselves."

"Can I just point out that I called part of the ending?" Patton piped up, wiping his eyes. "Halfway through, I called it!"

"Yes, Patton, you did," Logan acknowledged, pushing his glasses up and grabbing the remote. He turned off the TV and stood up with a sigh. "It must be well past ten by now."

"We should be going, then," Virgil said, standing up and pulling his hood off. Roman made a sad noise, rolling onto his back and staring up at Virgil.

"You guys will have to come over again some other time, then!" He decided, pushing himself to his feet and nearly falling over from exhaustion. Virgil giggled, hiding his laughter behind his hand. Patton yawned, stretching, and got up too.

"It's too dark to walk. We'll have to teleport," Patton said, grabbing Virgil's arm gently and pulling him from the room. "You didn't leave anything upstairs, did you?"

"I'll go check," Virgil said, running up the stairs. Roman followed him and Logan joined Patton by the bottom of the stairs.

"Thank you for having us over," Patton smiled, looking up at Logan.

"It was no trouble. It was very nice, having company over. I hope you two will come again sometime."

"Maybe next time we'll have you guys over to our house," Patton suggested. "Thanks for making brownies, too. You didn't have to do that."

"Well you didn't have to do our dishes," Logan countered, smiling.

"-you'd actually be interested?" Roman's voice echoed down the stairs. "Well, then, it's a date. Text me and we'll figure out the details." He and Virgil appeared at the top of the stairs, both of them smiling brightly and blushing slightly. Patton and Logan exchanged a knowing look.

"Thanks for coming over," Roman said, giving Patton a hug and Virgil a quick peck on the cheek. Virgil's face went bright red, making Patton giggle quietly.

"Thanks for having us over!" Patton said for the second time, giving Logan a small hug.

"Yeah, thanks for everything," Virgil added. "See ya sometime." Patton grasped his hand, smiling, and clicked his heels together. The world spun before their eyes, and they were standing in their front foyer.

"That was fun," Patton said, pulling his wand from his pocket and spelling the lights on.

"Yeah, it was," Virgil agreed.

"So, you and Roman. . ?"

"Nothing's happened yet!" Virgil exclaimed defensively. "But, uh, we're meeting up again sometime to do. . . something else."

"Something else, eh?"

"Something else. We don't have the details planned yet. I'm going to go get ready to sleep," Virgil said, avoiding the question. Patton knew fully well he wouldn't actually go to sleep until well after one or two in the morning, but he smiled, said goodnight, and headed for his room.

Falling backwards on his bed, Patton loosened his hold on his empathic abilities. He'd grown up always knowing what everyone was feeling, which was overwhelming, to say the least. Over time he'd found out that he could amplify and influence emotions as well, a skill he preferred not to use unless necessary. When he was young, he'd walk into a room and his senses would go absolutely haywire. He couldn't go anywhere without feeling and sometimes even seeing emotions.

Seeing emotions had always been a weird experience for Patton. It only happened when he was feeling too many people's emotions at once or when he didn't have enough of a grip on his own feelings. His vision would become tinted with different colours and his head would start to ache. If someone was sad, he'd see a light blue and would feel a weak headache. If they were frustrated, he'd see orange and the pain would worsen. If someone were angry, his vision would turn red and his head would feel like it was splitting in two.

Over time, Patton decided he didn't want to feel people's emotions anymore. It caused him too much pain, so he taught himself to repress his abilities. It was difficult and exhausting and if he did it for too long he might pass out, but it was worth it. He could go out in public without getting headaches constantly. He could see without his vision being tinted in different colours. He didn't feel like he was looking into people's heads all the time. It was worth it, he'd tell himself.

Today had been exhausting. Although repressing his empathic abilities was second nature by now, he'd started doing it much earlier than usual and felt like he would pass out any moment now. Even though he'd used his abilities briefly at work, he'd been keeping them locked up for far too long. The second he'd released his grip on his power, his head spun and everything became blurry. Flashes of different colours flew past his eyes even after he'd closed them. He'd known something like this would happen, which is why he'd collapsed on his bed first.

Taking a shaky breath, Patton opened his eyes and got to his feet. He walked slowly to the bathroom, a hand on the wall helping him keep his balance. He splashed some water on his face and drank some, too. The blurry vision faded, as did the pain. The world became still again, but his vision was still tinted pink. That hadn't happened in a while. Patton knew he wasn't feeling infatuated at the moment. Most of the time the world went pink was when Patton was working with teenagers. They'd sometimes bring up a crush or significant other while going through therapy, and the world would turn pink. But it had been too long for those teens' emotions to still be affecting Patton, and if the feeling didn't belong to him, then. . .

Virgil.

It had to be Virgil's.

Patton squealed into his hands despite the throbbing head, trying to muffle the sound as best as he could. For as long as he'd known Virgil, his friend had never liked anyone romantically. Sure, he'd had little crushes here and there, but they never lasted more than a week or so. Virgil didn't get attached easily, so knowing that he'd fallen so hard after only one date made Patton both excited and worried for his sake. On one hand, Patton wanted to support Virgil and help him out with Roman. On the other, he'd barely met Roman and was already feeling such intense emotions toward him. What if Roman wasn't as he seemed? Sure, he acted nice, but Patton didn't want to risk his friend's safety.

Walking back into his room, Patton watched as the pink slowly faded from his vision. It did that on its own sometimes, just fading out without him having to actively subdue it. It could be Virgil's emotions slowly dulling, but Patton kind of doubted it. The way he'd acted around Roman was unlike anything Patton had seen from him before.

Patton collapsed on his bed again, staring up at the ceiling. By now the headache and dizziness had completely faded, but the thought remained, as it always did: am I invading their privacy?

Virgil knew Patton was an empath. He'd known since childhood. But he didn't know the full extent of it. He knew it had to do with Patton's constant headaches and that it meant he could feel emotions, but Patton hadn't explained the extent of the painful side effects. Virgil had enough to worry about, he didn't need to bear this burden too. That wasn't what Patton was worried about at the moment, though. Would Virgil hate him for reading his emotions? For finding out about his feelings for Roman? Would he hate that Patton didn't bother to speak to him to find out?

"Pat?" Virgil's voice called through the door as he knocked softly. "Can I come in?"

"Yeah, sure," Patton called back quietly, sitting up. The door creaked open and Virgil stepped into the room.

"Hey," he smiled.

"Hey, kiddo," Patton replied, forcing the biggest smile he could muster.

"You doing alright?"

"Yeah. Just had a long day." Taking a deep breath, Patton tried to compose himself, forcing a happier facade up to hide how he was feeling. "What about you? How are you doing?"

"Surprisingly good, actually," Virgil admitted apprehensively.

"Oh?"

"Yeah. Today was a good day."

"I'm glad to hear it. Anything in particular that made it good?"

Virgil hesitated. Patton could feel his unease even without using his abilities. "Roman did, actually."

"Well, I can't say I'm surprised," Patton giggled. "You really like him, don't you?"

"Yeah, I think I do."

"That's good to hear! Just. . . be careful, alright? Roman seems like a great person, but we barely know him," Patton warned, concerned.

"I know. I'll stay safe," Virgil reassured him, resting a hand on his knee gently. "It'll be okay."

If only Patton could believe that. He'd been telling himself that it would be okay for over ten years.

"Alright," he said, forcing a smile. "Try to get some sleep tonight."

"You, too. Don't think I don't know about how you spent last night binging Avatar: The Last Airbender for the millionth time," Virgil teased, getting to his feet.

"That show is a masterpiece! I can't help it!"

Virgil laughed, smiling over his shoulder. "Get some sleep."

Patton smiled back. It felt phony but hopefully Virgil couldn't tell. "Only if you do."