𝑀𝑜𝓍𝒾𝑒𝓉𝓎 𝒪𝓃𝑒 𝒮𝒽𝑜𝓉𝓈 (𝒮𝒶𝓃𝒹𝑒𝓇𝓈 𝒮𝒾𝒹𝑒𝓈)

Hide behind that smile

It's scary to think what a smile can hide.

Smile. Fake a laugh. Hide the pain of utter worthlessness. Hide the fear of rejection. Hide the feelings of extreme dislike for ones self. Fake it until it feels real. Fake it until it hurts your very soul, and aches your jaw. Fake it and you start to believe that everything is fine. Fake it... until you can't anymore.

Patton knew what that felt like. Patton knew what it was like to fake a smile every single day of your life. Patton knew.

Hide it. Bury the feelings of sadness, no one needs to know. He would often tell himself. No one deserved their day to be ruined by his meaningless feelings of overwhelming sadness and misery. No one cared anyway... No one ever noticed.

Smile. Fake a laugh and everyone will think everything is fine. Everything is... fine...

He cried.

He tried.

He felt like he was constantly dying on the inside.

Everything was not fine.

Not at all.

Virgil knew that much.

Virgil knew that Patton was suffering silently. That Patton would rather bury his feelings than let anyone help him through them. He knew this because that's what he did too. Virgil would often watch Patton carefully whenever he was around. He would watch the older trait as he wandered around the kitchen, making cookies with a sad face masked by a smile.

Virgil noticed Patton's fake smile slip when he thought no one was watching. It broke his heart that Patton felt the need to hide his pain, masking it with a layer of false happiness. That he felt the need to bury his bad emotions to make everyone else feel better about themselves. That he felt the need to lie to himself. That he never let on how bad he was coping with it all.

The anxious trait would sometimes hear muffled sobs coming from the moral trait's bed room at night. He knew that Patton had been keeping those tears in during the day. He knew that Patton couldn't hold the feelings in forever. Virgil knew that Patton was broken on the inside. Just like him.

It wasn't until Virgil couldn't take it anymore. He couldn't stand by and watch as Patton played the goofball, that everyone pushed aside as 'Stupid, Happy Pappy Patton'. He couldn't let Patton do it on his own. He just couldn't.

Virgil stood himself out side Patton's door, which was covered in a thick layer of puppy and kitten stickers. Hand hovering, shaking slightly, Virgil knocked on the door, anxiety through the roof. He wasn't even sure if Patton would answer. What if he didn't? What if Patton told him to just leave him alone? It was late after all. Late enough for Patton to have his night-time crying session... perhaps.

He was right.

Soft sniffling and shuffling could be heard from the other side of the puppy and kitten covered door. Virgil waited with bated breath, hands a little sweaty from the anticipation of what he might see when the door opened.

Messy hair, red rimmed eyes hidden by dark frame glasses... and an overly forced smile spread across pink lips.

"H-Hey, Kiddo!" If Patton's appearance hadn't given him away, his voice certainly would have. Uneven, shaky and hoarse from choking on his sobs... doing his best to keep them quiet. Virgil knew all too well. Virgil did that too. Silent cries were always the harshest. Always the most painful. Cries that were made for no one else's ears to hear.

"Hey, Pat..."

"Everything okay, Virge?" Virgil didn't answer him. Patton began fiddling with the cardigan that was unevenly draped around his neck, eyes unable to meet the anxious trait.

"Are you okay, Pat?" Virgil asked, catching Patton off guard.

The moral trait's shoulders lifted and chest puffed out slightly. "Patton-ly perfect in every way, Kiddo!" He chuckled, Virgil could tell it was forced. It was too cheery. Too fake.

"Liar."

"Wh-what?"

"You're a dirty, rotten liar!" Patton's fake smile slipped from his lips, instead forming into a frown of confusion.

"Kiddo, what are you talking about?" He gulped down his shaking breath.

"You hide too much behind that smile. Always. Lying. You're a liar!" That's when Patton's world melted around him. His walls of protection and fake smiles crumbling to nothing but dust.

"Y-you n-noticed that, huh?" The moral side sniffled back a sob, eyes beginning to fill back up with tears.

"I've always noticed, Pat." Virgil admitted quietly. "I just... I was too anxious to say anything..." Tears started forming in Virgil's own eyes, dripping down his cheeks like tiny rivers.

Patton's voice cracked due to a whimper that pushed past his trembling lips. "I'm suh-sorry..." He sobbed out once he felt tiny arms wrap themselves around his waist.

Virgil shook his head, bangs falling into his bleary eyes. "Never apologize for being strong, Pat." He hugged him tighter, resting his head on the taller males shoulder.

"Buh-but I'm n-"

"Yes, you are." Virgil cut him off before Patton could finish. "You are the strongest person I know." He stretched up and planted a small, tender kiss on the others forehead.

"V-Virgil, I..."

"I love you, Patton."

For the first time in a very long time, Patton smiled. A real, genuine, meaningful, loving smile. It went all the way to his eyes until the crows-feet were visible. "I love you too."