A Fainter Fourth

After spending the night in Logan's room and going through their morning routines, Logan and Virgil proceeded to walk out of the room and were immediately greeted by an enthusiastic Roman and Patton cheering and running with sparklers. Virgil held his hands in front of them and snapped his fingers to make the sparklers disappear, much to Roman's dismay.

"Happy 4th to you, too, but unless you guys want the house to catch on fire, how about we wait 'til we go to the Imagination tonight to put those and the fireworks to good use?" Virgil suggested.

Logan tapped Virgil's shoulder and signed 'Good call.'

'Thanks, love. Better safe than sorry,' Virgil signed back.

After signing, they followed the Hufflepuff and Gryffindor to the table to have breakfast. You see, Virgil and Logan had enhanced senses for personal reasons and, as a result, the fireworks would sound louder for both of them. They didn't want to ruin the fun for Patton or Roman nor did they want to make a big deal out of it, so they decided to break in earplug molds and use sign language to communicate with each other throughout the day so that it wouldn't be as noticeable during the night. Fortunately, they could hear a little bit, so they could still talk to Roman and Patton while avoiding suspicion.

After breakfast, Roman was expressing enthusiasm by rambling about what more could be done to make America a better place to live in; some ideas were actually reasonable, some were more chimerical. Patton egged on Roman's enthusiasm, while the other two alternated between saying good things to Roman and signing their actual opinions to one another, which made each other giggle. Patton noticed the interaction between them and considered it as a cute method of young love, but was rather curious about why they're mostly using sign language in particular.

Throughout the day, the sign language became more and more noticeable to the right-brained pair. They weren't sure if Virgil or Logan had a sore throat or if they just did it for the sake of consistency in their common desire for quiet. They weren't planning on being disruptive when it came to Virgil and Logan's "thing"; they were just curious and didn't want questions unanswered.

Eventually, the night came and, while Thomas was working on having fun with his friends and comforting dogs, the Sides spent time in the Imagination, making use of poppers, sparklers, fireworks, and even the online BBQ classes Patton took. While watching some of the fireworks, Logan held Virgil close, since they both knew the storm cloud loved feeling safe in the embrace of someone he loved and trusted.

Roman turned away from the fireworks briefly and noticed there was something unfamiliar in Virgil's ear. He quietly approached Virgil and thought it might be helpful for the emo if he got this unfamiliar item out of his ear. Once he carefully removed the item to get a better look at it, a blast erupted from the sky and Virgil screamed, while burying himself in Logan's chest with an expression of fear sketched on his face. Logan noticed the change in Virgil's demeanor and looked at Roman with the item in his hand. The nerd snatched the item out of the bewildered prince's hand and put it back in Virgil's ear.

"Oh, was that an earplug?" Roman asked after comprehending what happened.

Logan just glared at him as a response due to the carelessness of his curiosity. Patton approached the group and was whispering with Roman before the two turned to the cuddling couple.

"Were you wearing earplugs all day?" Patton asked.

"Yes, we were. Virgil's role heightens his senses and I'm an aspie. Now, neither of us want a spotlight on us for this reason. Can we just focus on the night?" Logan declared.

Patton took notice of the sincerity and annoyance on Logan's face and nodded. As he went off to test the sparklers with Roman, Logan sat down while holding Virgil and they felt content while watching the fireworks from different angles and listening to them at a volume that they were both comfortable with.