(human AU, white&purple AU. credit to djfibi on Instagram for the AU. go check them out!)

/Virgil's POV

I stared at myself in the mirror, slouching my shoulders as I sighed. The white in my hair was still as real and existing as ever. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not talking about grey hairs - I'm still far from that stage of life. I'm complaining about the pure white section of my hair.

You see, in our society, the amount of pure white in your hair is determined by the amount of trauma you've been through. Some dye it out of shame; others cut it, although it always grows back; and some, the brave ones, just accept it...

I can't say that I'm considered one of those brave ones.

Most of my hair is white: the entire back, and a fade across the sides and top. I closed my eyes, shaking my head and turning away. Walking towards my front door, I pull on my shoes, grab my keys and wallet, and leave. I've been extremely productive this past week, and I deserve a treat, damn it.

I shuffle into my regular video game shop, nodding a greeting to the cashier and beginning to browse. Wandering into the Nintendo Switch section and pulling out an interesting game, I hear a handful of enthusiastic footsteps running towards me. Instinctively, I turn to see whoever it is, and nearly fall off of my feet.

A man, who looks about the same age as me, is skipping towards the Switch games, his eyes glowing with a child-like amazement. He grabbed a Zelda game, admiring the cover. But, it wasn't the game that I was interested in.

His hair. It was pure white.

I had never seen anything like it. Especially from someone so... cheerful. Most people who have over half of their hair make their depression clear, but this guy...

'Oh, hello?' His voice interrupted my thoughts, which took me off guard.

'A-ah, uhm, sorry...' I mumbled, lowering my face to hide the uprising blush. This was so embarrassing.

The stranger grinned and shrugged,

'Eh, it's fine! Most people stare, I'm pretty used to it, heh. Oh, I'm Patton, by the way!'

'Uh, Virgil. Nice to meet you,' I replied, which made him smile again.

'Virgil... that's a nice name!' Patton exclaimed, perking up and giggling slightly. He was so happy-go-lucky... It made me feel awful for staring.

'Thank you. I like Patton, it rolls off the tongue easily,' I tried my best to give a sincere smile, which I hadn't done in a while.

Silence spread across us for a few moments, each of us picking up and examining the games which we found interesting. I smiled slightly to myself as I browsed through, occasionally sneaking glances over to Patton. Someone like him didn't deserve whatever had caused his snow white hair, I'm sure of it.

'Hey, do you have a pen that I can borrow?' Patton turned to me and asked, tilting his head slightly. I reached into the pocket of my hoodie and pulled out my spare pen - you never know when you might need one - before handing it to him.

'Ah, thank you,' he said, before pulling out a notebook and scribbling something down, his eyes narrowing slightly, 'Oh, it's out of ink.'

I frowned. Surely it wasn't. I don't use it that often, and, last I wrote something down, it was fine.

'Oh. It was working just fine the other day. Try shaking it, I'm sure that it works.'

Patton shook it and scribbled again in the margin; he shook his head.

'Hey, maybe you can try! Just, if you write your phone number here, to test the pen!'

...Oh. Oh.

I chuckled slightly underneath my breath, taking the pen and writing my number, signing it with my name and a small heart. Patton thanked me, returned my pen, and picked a game to buy.

I couldn't help but notice the small spring in his step on his way out of the door.