Virgil hadn't noticed at first. He'd been oblivious. It was about a month later when he noticed only Patton and Logan were sitting in the common room that he caught on.

"Hey, where's Princey?" he asked curiously. Logan and Patton exchanged glances.

"We were hoping you knew," Logan said. "He's been quite withdrawn from us lately."

Virgil's throat closed up, but he played it off just fine. He shrugged, and left the room, seemingly to return to his own. However he didn't; he headed straight for Roman's room. Upon reaching the door, he took a deep breath and knocked. Roman called with a cracking and hoarse voice. "Come in..."

The anxious Side opened the door cautiously and slipped inside. Roman was laying on his bed and looked up as he closed the door behind him. "Oh, what do you require of me?"

Virgil almost winced at the way he sounded. "You've just been really distant lately, we've missed you," he explained. "We're worried, so I came to check on you..."

His voice trailed off as his gaze found his arms. They were both bandaged in white, with old and new red stains on them. Virgil rushed forward, sitting on the bed as he gently took on of his arms in his hand. Roman didn't resist or react as he slowly unwrapped the bandages enough to see what was underneath.

"R-Roman..." he said quietly. "Why would you do this to yourself?"

The prince looked down at the cuts on his arms with a blank expression. "I haven't been able to stop the emotional and mental pain, so I've been overriding it with physical pain," he explained, his voice monotone.

"No, no, Roman..." Virgil breathed. He squeezed his eyes shut as tears fell. He lifted his arm closer to his face as the tears dripped from his face. "This... this is because of what I said... isn't it..."

Roman didn't respond as Virgil looked back up at his face. He shook his head as he looked at him with pleading eyes. "Please... don't do this to yourself..." he said. Roman opened his mouth to argue, but Virgil cut him off. "It may work right now, but I promise you it won't."

There was a deathly silence between them for a moment. Roman's jaw had fallen open slightly as his dull eyes widened a little. "How... how do you know?" the prince dared to ask, watching his expression intensely.

The darkest of the Sides sucked in a deep breath as he drew back the sleeve of his hoodie, revealing countless faded scars of all intensities. Some were almost invisible at this point, while others remained light pink and young. Roman stared at them in horror; he'd been oblivious. "Roman, it won't satisfy your need for control," he explained quietly as he stared at his own wrist. "I used to do the same thing, and it worked for about a month... but it didn't last. I became numb to that pain too, making it a useless attempt to feel something..."

The prince shook his head in horror, eyes tearing up. "Virgil..." he murmured. He looked up at his name, blinking as a few more tears fell down his cheeks. He was pulled into him, eyes widening as Roman hugged him tightly.

He smiled sadly, reaching up to hug him back. He hesitantly pet his hair, running his hands through it gently. Virgil pulled away enough for his mouth to be right next to Roman's ear. "I'm in love with you," he whispered, closing his eyes. The prince audibly gasped, a small smile finding its way onto his tear stained face. "I have been for a while, and I can promise that what I said... they were all words I didn't mean. I promise..."

Roman pulled away to look him in the eye, awe on his face. Virgil gave him a weak smile before leaning in to press a kiss to his lips quickly. Both of their faces were bright red. "Can you do that again... only for longer?" he asked quietly with a small smile. Virgil nodded, leaning forward to capture his lips again. They stayed connected for a long time, moving their lips slowly and softly against each other's. Each of them had a smile on their face when they pulled away.

"I love you Roman..." the emo nightmare said quietly. "Those are words I will always mean."