Trigger Warning: brief mentions of blood.

Virgil P.O.V.
It's funny just how much fun you can when you dance with a toddler. For nearly an hour and a half I held Roman up by the hands as we danced. I was lost in his innocence and purity. Just hours before we had been jumping off a mountain to escape whatever was in the lair with us, then suddenly we're dancing. I had been terrified, convinced I was going to die, then suddenly I'm lost in the innocence of a toddler.

Eventually, the dancing ended. Both Roman and I were hungry and tired, and it was about dinner time. I managed to get Roman to sit down at the dining table while I heated up leftover spaghetti Patton had made two days prior. Getting him to eat the spaghetti was much harder. He tried on multiple occasions to use his hands as forks. He got spaghetti all over the lower half of his face and part of his shirt.

After dinner he got fussy. I tried to get him to change his shirt, eventually leading to me viciously pulling it off myself and forcing an identical one on him that somehow shrank to his size once it was on. I had to hold him down as I rubbed a wet hand towel on his face to get the spaghetti off. Logan was definitely right, I thought, his mind has definitely been altered. The real Roman is too arrogant to have let himself get spaghetti everywhere. Then again, the real Roman is also too arrogant to let me wash his face.

When he was all cleaned up, I realized that I was filthy from cleaning him. Plus, I was covered in sweat, dust, and dirt from being in the lair that morning. So, I carried Roman off to Logan's room, hoping that he and Patton could watch him while I showered. I knocked on Logan's dark blue door, stepping back as I waited for a response. A couple seconds passed and the door did not open.

"Logan!" Roman yelled, seemingly understanding the situation. I heard a door open, but it was not the one I was standing in front of. I turned and saw Patton and Logan to my right, leaning out of Patton's room.

"Oh, it's just you two." Patton said. "What do you need, kiddos?" I pointed to Roman, but also took a good look and the two. They looked shaken up, almost a little scared. I figured maybe their shaken appearance had something to do with why they weren't in Logan's room like Patton and said they would be. The thought made me back away from the door and move closer to them.

"Do you need us to take care of him?" Logan asked. I nodded.

"Did he get to be too much to handle?" Patton asked with a frown. I shook my head, trying to act out showering as best as I could while still holding Roman.

"Shower?" Logan questioned, holding out the word with confusion and uncertainty lining his voice. I nodded again, hastily passing Roman off to Patton, who immediately took him into his room. Logan awkwardly waved goodbye to me and followed Patton, closing the door behind him but not locking it. I sighed, then I went to my room to shower.

~time skip~

Later that night I went to go get Roman, but Patton simply waved me off, saying he would take care of him for the night and that I needed sleep. So I went back to my room and began scrolling through Tumblr and MySpace. After an hour or so I didn't feel any more ready to go to sleep, so I played some of my favorite My Chemical Romance songs. I laid back on my bed with my eyes closed, letting song after song play. Eventually, after playing through two whole albums, I was ready to sleep. I turned off the music and very slowly fell asleep.

~another time skip~

My eyes fluttered open as a soft sound woke me. There was silence for a moment as I rubbed my eyes and sat up, then yet another sound. I recognized it to be a knock at the door, and I muttered, "Come in."

The door creak opened, and in stepped Roman. I was confused as to how he opened the door or how he was walking so well on his own, until I really got a good look at him. He looked like he did when he was twelve, and I nearly laughed at the sight. Still, seeing a twelve year old Roman brought back some bad memories of our past.

"Virgil," he said quietly, sounding exactly the way I remembered him to when he was twelve. "I— well, um.." With the light from my four nightlights I could see that his face went red with embarrassment. I was still holding back a small laugh, which Roman clearly noticed.

"I think I 'aged' or something while I slept, it's no big deal.." he said defensively. "Look, if you're not gonna help me and take this seriously then I'll just leave." I sighed, rolling my eyes and patting the bed, signaling for Roman to come over and sit with me. Hesitantly, he walked over and hopped onto my bed next to me, situating himself to be sitting cross-legged facing towards the door. There was a long pause between the two of us as Roman seemed to be going over what he needed to say in his head.

"Look, I know it's almost three in the morning, but I just.. I had a really bad nightmare. I was sleeping with Patton and Logan in a fort but, you know, I felt like you'd be better at helping me out with this one." I summoned my notebook and pen again, writing out my question on a random page.

"What was it about?" Roman read. He frowned, but the rest of his face appeared calm, almost as if recalling a sweet memory from long ago.

"It was really weird ok?" he began. "It started out with just you an me, and we were in my kingdom. Everyone was there watching us and cheering. We were both adults, by the way. But you had a crown on your head, and so did I. Then everything went black. I was sitting in my room, and I heard you scream. So I ran to your room and..." He trailed off, obviously reaching the part of the story that would turn his dream into a nightmare.

"And you were on the floor. T-there was blood all over you. I was— I was holding you and you..." A tear fell onto my bed, confirming the next part of his dream. I gently wrapped my arms around him and pulled him into my lap, stroking his hair as he sobbed.

"Y-you were d-dead!" he screamed through tears. I just kept holding him and let him say what he needed to say. I couldn't understand anything he said, as the tears and gasping breaths entirely muffled all his words. I thought over what he said, shivering as I found some similarities between the dream and Rossane's reading. Still, I decided not to mention it.

"Virgil what's—" I heard somebody say. I glanced up and both Patton and Logan were standing in my doorway. I made the word 'nightmare' appear on my wall for the two to see, then got rid of it and went back to stroking Roman's hair. The other two Sides walked over and sat on the bed next to us, wrapping their arms around us.

Roman's P.O.V.
When my crying finally slowed and I caught my breath, I noticed two extra pairs of arms. I glanced up, and there was Logan and Patton.

"Thanks guys." I whispered. "But I really want to talk to Virgil in private." The two shared a glance with Virgil, all three nodding as Patton and Logan stood, waved goodbye, and left the room. I moved to be about a foot away from Virgil, in a position where I could easily look at him.

"I.. I don't really want to go back to Patton's room." I said, embarrassed that I was having to say it. "That dream it, well it really scared me. I just want to stay with you. Just for tonight." Virgil was silent, and I figured for a moment he was going to tell me he didn't want me to stay. But then the bed doubled in size, more pillows and blankets appearing on the new part of the mattress. He patted the bed next to him and laid back down, situating himself as if it was completely normal for someone else to sleep next to him.

I questioned it no further, however, and situated myself into the warm blankets and soft pillows. I never thought Virgil's bed would be as comfortable as it was, as I could feel a thick layer of memory foam under the sheets and even in the pillows.

"This is a lot different than I thought it'd be." I said after a short silence. Virgil turned over to face me, a questioning look on his face.

"I don't mean that offensively or anything, I just, I just didn't expect this." Virgil still seemed to be confused. "I didn't think this bed would be so incredibly, amazingly cozy. Also didn't think you'd wear a T-shirt and shorts to sleep." I smiled teasingly as Virgil rolled his eyes.

"Thanks, Virgil. Goodnight." Quickly, I drifted off to sleep, my nightmares behind me. Or, at the very least, the dream part of it.

A.N.
It's official guys, this three year long January will be over in a matter of hours. Well, it will be over for me, since many of you reading this probably live in a different time zone than me. Still, I'm very happy to have January over with, because I'm not even kidding, I felt like it had lasted for twelve years. There were five Mondays in January. I have a problem with that.

Anyway, on another positive note, there's a lunar eclipse today! I'm only going to see partial, and I might be in school at it's maximum, but it will still be really cool. I hope everyone reading this has a nice end of January and can hopefully see some of the eclipse.

Adiós, lectores. (Goodbye, readers.)