It always came out of nowhere.

Some days it was normal. Nothing wrong.

And some days it was too unbearable, up to the point where the trait wanted to rip his head off.

When Virgil woke up, he knew in an instant it was going to be a bad day. The shower was on he could hear the water splashing against the tub and curtain, there was loud clattering coming from the kitchen, plates and cups colliding. The fan above his head whirred, he could hear the wind swishing.

Virgil whined and covered his ears with his arm already feeling a headache beginning to form.

It was all too much. So loud.

The noises didn't stop from there. After Roman finished with his shower, the sharp sound of the curtain opening made Virgil wince and curl in on himself, Roman then began to dry his hair with the blow dryer as soon as he was dressed, the noise only worsening Virgil's headache. And just to make it worse, the noises in the kitchen got louder.

The sink was turned on, the oven door being closed shut with a harsh thump.

By then his ears were ringing and he felt dizzy. It was too loud. Too loud. He wanted to scream his lungs out. He could hear Patton's laugh and Roman's singing. It was too loud. Too damn loud.

When he couldn't take it anymore he immediately jerked up and crawled under the bed where he allowed his tears to fall as he tightly pressed his arms against his ears to dull the noise.

When Roman returned to Virgil's room he was worried to see that the bed was empty. Virgil was nowhere to seen and that frightened the prince. “Virgil?” He called out for his boyfriend, his voice thick with concern. After a couple of minutes he was given a small whimper in return coming from under the bed.

Roman frowned and crouched down lifting the sheets of the bed revealing Virgil curled in a tight ball sobbing and clutching at his ears. At that Roman immediately knew it was one of those days. “Virgil...” His heart clenched at the sight of his loved one in pain. "Hey darling?" He called for him once more, Virgil's sobs quieted down and he reluctantly lifted his head meeting with Roman's worried gaze.

“R-roman?” Virgil gasped out, his breathing shaky, his voice small.

“Hey love, think you can get out of there for me?” Roman whispered to him knowing well enough not to raise his voice. Virgil hesitantly nodded and slowly let go of his ears before he crawled out from under the bed and jumped into Roman's open arms. The prince sighed and embraced his shaking boyfriend, the sound of a door closing caused Virgil to whimper and he once again brought his hands to his ears again.

“I-it's t..too loud. It hurts.” He sobbed into his boyfriend's chest taking fistfuls of his shirt. Roman rubbed his back and lifted him from the ground, he placed Virgil back on his bed and searched through the closest. There he pulled out a box and retrieved a pair of noise cancelling headphones. Patton had given them to Virgil after finding out about his condition. He was, and at the moment is, extremely sensitive to sound and the only thing that could somewhat calm him were the headphones.

Roman returned to Virgil and gently took hold of his wrists. Virgil jumped at the sudden touch and looked at him with pleading eyes. “It's alright, I got the headphones. It's going to be okay.” Roman explained to him in a soft calming voice. It took a lot of coaxing to get him to let go, he was so tense, so stressed. But eventually Virgil whimpered and once again let go of his ears. Roman gave him a small smile and pulled the headphones over his ears being careful not to hurt him as he did so. Virgil visibly relaxed as soon as the noise around him ceased.

Roman sat on the bed, pulled him onto his lap, and held him close. After a panic attack Virgil was always exhausted, it took a lot out of him. Even if he had woken just moments ago everything was just too much for him to take on alone and all at once. He leaned tiredly against Roman's chest and breathed, his eyelids drooping.

Roman kissed the top of his head and pulled a blanket over him. “T-thanks.” Virgil stammered sleepily. “No problem love.” Roman smiled and ran his fingers through his scalp. Eventually Virgil drifted off to sleep, and when Roman was certain that he was in deep sleep he carefully pulled off the headphones and lied down with him lying against his chest, his ear pressed on his heart. Each beat was slow and calming and quiet as Virgil slept soundly in his boyfriend's arms.

Everything was silent then. The only noises that were made were the soft, slow and steady breathing of the traits.

And the sound of heartbeats softly thumping in sync.