ANotSoMysticalNight

A Nerd who is a part of too many fandoms (so decided to make a Tumblr...) (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧

[xandriagreat]

“Where do you see yourself in 5 years?” “Still just… sitting on this couch...”

Author’s note: This is for @anotsomysticalnight (also beta read by me 😎 -Myst). To make sure that no one is confused with the past characters and the ones in the video, the video will refer to them by their names while their past versions are called their functions. Example: Past!Patton is Morality, and Past!Roman is Princey/Creativity.

Notice/warnings: Coma mentioned, Crying, Wine, censored cursing (because there’s cursing in the video), caps, Remus being Remus, Remus is a rat man, Janus is a sass queen, Virgil is a mood, and Thomas is a hot mess

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Thomas was up late, as was quickly becoming his usual, working on 'Taking on Anxiety with Lily Singh', the newest addition to the Sander Sides series he hoped would do well.

After Thomas saved his progress, he sent a quick message to Joan about finishing his part of the editing, and exited out of the software so he could, finally, rest for the day. He was about to close his file explorer, he noticed a new video saved in the drafts.

"What’s this? 'Have I Grown? - Five Years Later | A Sander Sides Special'… What?" Thomas exclaimed in confusion. His habit of talking aloud to himself persisted.

He... doesn't remember recording anything about a five year anniversary of the Sanders Sides series... because it only started a mere few months ago...

After a moment in which he sat, baffled beyond belief, he summoned Logic, Morality, and Princey to his side.

"Hey guys." He greeted the three, who were all looking concerned at the summoning. 

"What's wrong? Where’s the danger?” Princey demanded, brandishing his samurai sword in determination. Thomas was going to ask why Princey has a samurai sword when he saw it but maybe now wasn’t the time. 

Instead he swivelled the laptop towards them, giving them a chance to look at his folders. "Oh! Maybe it's an opportunity for an audition!" Princey exclaimed, already posing as though he was being photographed for a magazine.

"Or maybe it's an invitation-" Logic and Morality began, the chaotic excitement building before it was, of course, interrupted by Anxiety, who shot up behind them all with a loud voice echoing off the walls of Thomas’s living room.

"What if we're HACKED?!”

All four screamed at the intense cry. "Oh… Anxiety… It's you." Thomas said, frowning at the dark clad side that just disrupted his, relatively, peaceful day.

"What? I got a feeling of… anxiousness here. Decided to pop in, see what’s up, y’know?"

“No, I don’t know!” Princey squawked at him. “Why don’t you go grow mushrooms in some corner somewhere, huh, you no-fungus?”

“Nah. I'm good right now.”

Thomas sighed in defeat, resigned. “He can stay…”

“I’m sorry, what?!” Anxiety and Princey chorused. Logic looked at Thomas thoughtfully while Morality clapped excitedly at this development.

“He's going to stay for this and no one’s going to complain about it, alright?” Thomas shot a warning look that broke no argument.

“What exactly is ‘this’ anyway?” Anxiety asked, trying to look above everyone's heads to get a look. Thomas shrugged, nudging the laptop closer to his sides in answer.

"Is this a new video that you're planning to upload?" Logic asked, looking at Thomas and pointing at the laptop.

Thomas shook his head.

"I just saw it in my drafts."

Princey shot Anxiety an ‘I don't believe this’ look while this was happening.

“Well, let's see what it’s all about then.” Princey announced, plopping down next to Thomas on the couch. Logic nodded in agreement with this course of action, and sat down on the other side of Creativity. “Oh boy this sounds like fun!” Morality squealed at the bonding opportunity, skipping over and sitting down next to Thomas on the youtuber’s right.

Anxiety debated on whether to sit down and join the group, or flee to the safety of his ‘room’. After a solid minute of this, Morality chimed in, “Come on, Anxiety.” The Dad patted the seat beside him, smiling at the emo while everyone else looked at the parental side in various states of confusion, disgust and apprehension. Anxiety, slowly and cautiously, walked over to them and sat down next to Morality, the only one who seemed to want him there.

“Are we ready?” Thomas asked, looking at his sides. All four of the sides nodded, some more enthusiastic than others.

Thomas smiled and pressed play on the video.

It started out with a pitch black screen, a set of white text stood out amidst the darkness. It read: ´Stay Tuned til the End For a Trailer Of a New Series…´

The scene cut to Thomas, waking up from his phone alarm in a manner identical to his first video. This detail was not lost on the bewildered audience. “AH! Youtube time!” Thomas on the screen said, grabbing his phone off the side table. “I've been asleep for… Five years?!”

Thomas looked at the sides in confusion at the sudden change. Aside from the initial announcement, it had seemed to be his first video. 

Anxiety sat, tense as a guitar string, as Logic pulled out his phone with a critical eye. “It's still 2016.”

“Wait…” the video Thomas said, turning to the camera with distress.

“What if, in that very first Sanders Sides episode I went to sleep, and never woke up? Have all my memories with the sides these past five years… been a dream?” 

Thomas rocked back, unnerved at this potential revelation. All, except Logic, began to fret. “What if I'm in a coma right now!” Thomas cried, panicked. “And I'm still stuck!”

“Probably!” Anxiety yelled, barely keeping a handle on his tempest tongue. “Maybe that's why you said that in the video!” 

Princey and Mortality screamed, ringing Logic’s ears.

Then, after a harrowing, tense moment of silence, Video Thomas smiles cheekily.

“Naah! But that would be wild, right?”

The group collectively relaxed at that, glad that Thomas was not in a coma. Anxiety taking an extra second to work through his breathing exercises before they all turned their focus back to the screen. Mortality checked on Anxiety, ensuring he’s fully okay, before chuckling at this on-screen Thomas’s antics.

It would seem that five years hadn’t changed Thomas that much.

The intro was... different. Each side flashed briefly on the screen. There was Princey, handsome as ever, with the word ‘Creativity’ beneath to explain his role. A title which changed too fast for any of them to process before being replaced with Logic, then Morality, then... Anxiety, who appeared, smiling, and dressed in... purple?

Thomas pauses it as the Sides talk amongst themselves. Princey looked at the designs in amazement. "These look incredible!" he exclaimed. “Why, my shoulders look so boring in comparison!” Morality eyed the Disney prince for a brief second.

“Your shoulders look great! How dare you say otherwise!” The father figure asserted passionately, defending his princely son even against his own observation. 

Logic, for his part, considered his current attire. “I have to say I do like the different colours that Morality and I are wearing in this video. The darker blue is very… sophisticated on me.”

Anxiety’s face lost its already pale pallor, turning gaunt. “How’d they know purple’s my colour?” he whispered.

“What was that?”

“Nothing!”

Princey raised an eyebrow at Anxiety, mistrustful as ever. “Hmmm, you’re still oh so ‘mysterious’, aren’t you?”  

Anxiety scowled at the creative trait, hating that his words still hurt. “And you’re still a dramatic drama-in-distress, but you don’t see me complaining, do you?”

Princey reared back in offence, but before a fight could break out, Morality and Logic planted their hands on each side’s shoulder, holding them firmly in their seats.

“I suggest that we continue before there is risk of an… incident, Thomas.” Logic said. Morality nodded in agreement.

Thomas, for his part, was more than happy to move on as his Logic suggested, reaching for the keyboard in silence.

Thomas tapped ‘play’ once more, and the four circles on screen, each of his sides on display, began to combine, morphing together to present Thomas, clad in his Steven Universe shirt and smiling into the camera.

Thomas noticed the blue background actually featured different symbols, all gliding across the screen, and wondered why they were there. Finally, as Thomas’s circle disappeared, the title slid into place: “Sanders Sides”

Thomas is very impressed by this introduction to the video. Why hadn’t he, Talyn, and Joan considered an intro like this before? Well, he supposed they would in the future. Within the next five years, at most.

"What is up everybody?!" the video edition of Thomas exclaimed excitedly, with an ever-familiar grin on his face.

Thomas noticed Morality, sat to his right, waving energetically at the screen as though the recording could see him. The host chuckled at his Morality's antics and continued to watch.

“We have recently rounded the corner of making these Sanders Sides videos, for five years!”

Logic, Princey, and Thomas sat to attention. "Oh!" The three had an epiphany of what's going on, while Morality and Anxiety looked confused between the others, completely out of the loop. Logic decided to take pity on the two, and explained,

"This video is clearly from the future, though how a piece of digital media travelled through spacetime eludes me at present." Morality and Anxiety blinked as comprehension dawned.

“Ooooh!”

Once Thomas was sure all of his sides were on the same page, he hit play.

Video Thomas explains, genuine and earnest, that he's grateful about all the experiences he's had over the course of 5 years. His understanding of his Anxiety, and realising his capacity for Deceit.

Thomas locked his gaze on the side that appeared on the corner of the screen, he looked like a strange fusion of Thomas and a reptile, maybe a snake or lizard, and Thomas had barely a second to take in the stranger’s scales and hat before the image was gone. Video Thomas pressed on, mentioning something strange about a courtroom scene with footage in the corner playing of his sides, in suits, sitting in a wooden courthouse. Before Thomas had time to digest that, he continued to watch. 

"-went to the mall! Don't underplay that, it was a big thing for me."

"What happens at the mall? Why’d I have to mention something mundane like going to a mall? I go there all the time!" Thomas asked in indignation, hastily pausing the video to look at his Sides, as though one of them would have an explanation. They shrugged amongst each other, equally as confused as their host and unable to provide an answer.

Logic fixed his glasses with dignity, straightening his tie as he gathered his thoughts, "Maybe you got exceedingly busy with work and other responsibilities, or your friends became unable to meet with you for whatever reason. Or you had gotten so sick that you had not been in a fit enough state to visit the store for a long while? But that is unlikely as you seem perfectly healthy in this video."

Thomas nodded, accepting that his sides didn’t know either, and after a moment unpaused the video. 

"And, lord, we ate a lot of jam!" Video Thomas remarked as various clips of the sides, primarily Logic and Princey, stuffing their faces with jam appeared. “Not quite sure how that played such a huge part in this series, but it did!”

Logic grimaced at the sight of his future self being so… uncouth with consuming the jam, but added the spread to his mental ‘to-try’ list, right below Bullet Journaling. His future self couldn’t be entirely without consideration after all.

“And these talks have meant a lot to me, like, every facet of me.” 

Thomas smiled at his Video counterpart’s words. His sides did mean a lot to him, after all. 

“You know, in television five years is about that time that they would make one of those really self-indulgent interviews with the cast where they'd laugh and talk about their favourite moments on and off screen.” Video Thomas chuckled heartily.

Thomas nodded with his sides, knowing some amazing shows they have watched have pulled that type of stunt. 

They all jumped, however, when Video Thomas turned. The angle of the scene changes with a sharp cut, altering Thomas’s outfit along with it.

“And that's exactly what we're gonna do.”

The group felt excited at what future Thomas was doing, leaning in eagerly to see what their future selves were like.

Video Thomas then turned around again, facing to the right, presumably talking to someone who sat off screen. 

“Wow, we have sure had some wild times huh? And I know there are those out there that wanna know what your thoughts are on five years of Sanders' Sides!”

It then cut to Logic sat in front of some plain white blinds, clad in a professional looking indigo tie. The small image of a brain with glasses printed on his black polo shirt is stark white in contrast.

“It is hard to believe it’s been five years of these discussions, mainly due to the fact that we’ve only had a little over nine and a half hours on screen together; if you don’t count our interactions that are not considered canonical to the core series, but, even then. My Point is I don’t think we deserve this celebration. Cheers.”

“Well, he rambles just as much as our Logic does. Clearly not much changes there huh?” Princey quipped as Thomas paused the video to stare at the bespectacled side on screen. He looked at him and back at Logic. Then Thomas noticed some text on the bottom left corner of the screen.

‘Logan Sanders - Thomas’ Logic’

‘AKA Microsoft Nerd’

Thomas once again trailed his gaze over to Logic. “Logic? Why does this say ‘Logan Sanders’?“

Logic went speechless, jaw working soundlessly for a moment before finally finding his voice. “I-it’s my name.”

“Your what?!”

“My name. We all have names, Thomas.”

Thomas flickered his eyes between the others. Princey and Morality nodded, pensive.

“Our names are a private thing Thomas. We only give them when we feel you are ready…”

“Which I am SO not ready for.” Anxiety groaned. “Is this video gonna expose all our names? Oh my- no…” He was going into panic attack mode again. Morality comforts Anxiety and helps him calm down.

Thomas nodded, concerned. “Understandable. Should we stop watching then?”

“No!” All four yelled together, startling their host with their volume.

“Okay, okay, I get it!” Thomas pressed play, also eager to see more. 

It showed Morality with a different background. It was still the same white blinds, but they were adorned with a happy birthday banner hanging across the blades. 

Morality has his same style, much like Logan did, only his cardigan had been traded for a grey hoodie with white paw prints visible on the sleeves. A white heart symbol, wearing glasses much like Logan’s symbol did, was etched into his blue shirt.

*TOOOOOOOT*

“PAPPY BIRTHDAY! Sanders’ Sides would be in kindergarten now! Oh my gosh, it would be going off to its first day of school, making its first friends, eating the chalk-! Oh, my gosh, I- guh- I'm making myself cry again!” The Fatherly side took a sip of Logan’s wine, only to spit it out nary a second later. “Oh gosh, who left this juice out?”

Thomas paused the video again to compare to Morality that he has now and to the video’s. Again, he noticed the text on the bottom left corner.

‘Patton Sanders - Thomas’ Morality & Heart’

‘AKA Pop Star’

“Morality? That's your name?”

Morality nodded and gave a chuckle filled with nervous energy. “Surprise?”

Thomas looked at him and smiled. “I like it. It fits you.”

Morality smiled big as Thomas pressed play to see what was next. 

The next scene showed Princey, sitting before the same ‘Happy Birthday’ banner as Patton had been. 

His prince outfit looked fancier, with golden accents and two shield symbols set proudly on his arms. He looked like a true prince charming.

“Hello, I'm Roman. Chronically single, I'm a Gemini, and I like long duels on the Beach-”

“Roman!”

“-I'm sorry, what is this again?”

Then the screen did the static of lost connection, startling the five viewers.

Princey, Roman, looked like he was having makeup applied to his cheeks.

“Alright, just be sure to get the best side of this best side, right? Haha, that one’s for the promos! Five years and we’re still going strong with the wordplay right fellas?” He started to laugh.

“Roman!”

The screen did the static of lost connection, again.

Now they saw a sobbing Princey on screen, dabbing at his eyes with a tissue.

*Sniff* “I'm sorry, I'm so sorry I'm just, so woefully unprepared for this. Our anniversary! Thomas' viewers amazingly graced with five years... of me!!” he sniffed again, dabbing his nose with the tissue, before waving his hand dismissively. “...And the others, sure.”

Thomas paused the video again to compare the two Princes. He read the text on screen with less hesitation than before.

´Roman Sanders - Thomas´ Creativity, Ego & Passion´

´Aka Sir Sing-A-Lot´

“So Princey's name is Roman?” Thomas looked at Princey. The royal side nodded regally with a smirk.

Thomas smiled. “Huh, Roman. ‘Romance’. It suits you.”

The Prince gasped, happily and dramatically, as Thomas continued the video.

Anxiety was next. He was wearing a full on black hoodie, the familiar dark shade of the clothing was disrupted by the bright purple patches and white stitches all over the fabric. His eyeshadow, they all noticed, was much darker and thicker in the video compared to the present.

Video Anxiety held himself with a confidence that seemed almost alien to him, smiling at off-screen Thomas as he spoke casually.

“Hey yeah congrats guys, five years of putting up with me! It has felt... much longer than that! Mostly ‘coz I've had to deal with him too but, y'know I guess all that stormy weather got us to this miserable point, huh?”

Video Thomas eyed his Anxiety in concern, only for the scene to cut back to Anxiety, whose smile melted to a frown.

“Can I go?” The emo on the screen asked, desperate to escape the awkward atmosphere he’d just created.

Thomas paused the video to compare Anxiety to the video version, after cataloguing the differences he read bottom left text.

‘Virgil Sanders - Thomas’ Anxiety’

‘AKA My Chemically Imbalanced Romance’

Thomas looked at Anxiety. “That's your name? Virgil?”

Anxiety was hesitant, breathing deeply, but instead of panicking further he nodded. “It… it is…” the emo admitted, looking down. He knew, after seeing the others, that his name would come up whether he liked it or not, and he could only hope Thomas liked it.

Thomas started to smile at him, taking the emo by surprise. “It's... different, from the others, but I like that it’s different.”

Anxiety looked up at him, wide eyed at Thomas’ response. “Really? You do?”

Thomas nodded kindly, ignoring the stares he was getting from the other sides who sat watching the exchange. “Shall we continue?” 

Anxiety nodded, wanting to move on from being in the spotlight. 

The video resumed once more.

The next side shown was the strange fusion of Thomas and a reptile he’d only gotten a glimpse of earlier. He dressed with class, a fashion that wouldn’t be too out of place for the late 1800s or early 1900s era. His outfit was black with yellow buttons, a small black caplt draped on his shoulders, and a bowler hat sat on his head with charm.

When this new side spoke, his tone was dripping with sarcasm and irony.

“Mmmm, yes happy five years, five drama free years. It really is astounding how these little 'meetings of the mind' lead to clear, and concise conclusions that leave everyone so happy, and angst free-”

Thomas read the text on the bottom left hand corner to find out who this strange side is.

‘Janus Sanders - Thomas’ Deceit’

‘AKA Bannaconda’

“Janus?” Thomas mumbled as the video kept playing.

“Okay Janus!” Video Thomas interrupted. “I know that this is your thing, but this is a positive look back on how far we have come. So your recent appearances on screen have been… fun additions.” Video Thomas smiled awkwardly at his own words before asking, “Uuum… do you feel you’re-… jelling... with... the cast?” He spoke with halted familiarity. As though talking to Janus was a common occurrence for him, yet still unpracticed and new.

The scene cuts back to Janus. "Oh, yes! Let's see. There's my new bestie, Patton, who's so good at keeping you in check. I'm sure that you would be totally lost without a man child who ties a cat hoodie around his neck."

Then it cut to Patton pointing at Video Thomas who was offscreen. "Ah!" Patton chuckled, lowering his hand down. "Jan’ said that, huh? Oh, that jokester! He knows how easily cold my shoulders get. Call them my  colders!"

Thomas looked at the Sides. All three were looking at Morality, who had his head tilted to the side. "I've never thought about calling him something like that." Morality frowned, struggling to reconcile that, in the future, Deceit was going to be someone he grew close to. Close enough for nicknames.

The video cut back to Janus. "And Logan… ah! You can totally see how he's your sense of reason. Especially when he makes mistakes."

Cut to Logan, who held a small full wine glass aloft as he responded. "Okay, it's just... very interesting that Janus would be so quick to bring up that point, when the odds of a mistake happening again are… infinitesimale. Eh?"

Logic hummed. "Infinitesimale." He spoke slowly, rolling his tongue around the word. "What mistake could I possibly be referring to ‘very big’?"

Morality opens his mouth to correct him, but the video continued before he had the chance.

Janus continued, "Roman… you know…" he sighed wistfully. "Despite our differences, I personally see ourselves in this lovely friendship, akin to me being the Voltaire to his Rousseau."

Roman jerked forward with an intense look at Video Thomas. "He said that about me?! I...I don't have enough information to decide how I  feel about that…"

Princey looked confused. "Is that a compliment?" he asked, looking at the others. All four could only shrugged, equally as lost.

Janus smiles wistfully as he gives his thoughts on the fourth and final side. "And Virgil… well, there's not much to say there.” The serpentine side raised the same wineglass Logan had earlier, bringing it close to sip before halting the motion, looking thoughtful.

“Except I do so love the consistency of his make-up." The snake chuckled, dark and ominous, as he sipped the wine.

None of the group were surprised at this point when Virgil appeared on screen, looking red in the face and seething.

"That! Futher! Mucker!"

Thomas pauses the video and looks at the Sides. Anxiety looked confused and a bit upset. "Still not friends?" Anxiety whispered feebly. "What?" Logic asked, not able to make out what Anxiety had uttered. This drew the others' attention. 

"Anxiety? What's wrong?" Thomas asked. Anxiety shot his host a look and frantically shook his head. When he answers, his voice is tense and defensive, "Nothing…"

"...Want to talk about it-?" Princey began, unsure if he should ask. 

Anxiety shook his head in refusal before the creative side’s question could finish. "I'm not ready to tell any of you yet."

Morality looked at him, then the screen, and back to him. "Is it about Him?" He asked, putting a hand on his shoulder. Anxiety pulled his hoodie up, trying to hide from the attention. 

"Who?" Thomas frowned at the vagueness of his sides, wanting to know more.

"An ex-friend..." Anxiety mumbled. "That's all I'm gonna say."

Thomas nodded, knowing better than to push. "Okay." He said, and unpaused the video to prevent the others from pressing the subject.

The next thing that was on screen was shocking and unexpected. The screen was taken up by a black clad rear bouncing and wiggling inappropriately. A small green sword emblem was designed on it.

"Hey! Check it out, I'm Roman!" the side cackled. “Get my best side, am I right?”

"Oh. I can't believe this is how I'm finding out where your emblem is" Video Thomas sighed, pleading for strength. "Um, Remus? Can we sit correctly, buddy?"

The new side twizzled around to sit properly on the chair. He looked remarkably similar to Roman, only he was wearing a fancy black outfit as opposed to Roman’s pure white, and green sash across his torso instead of a red one. He also has a moustache and grey stripe in his hair. He certainly looked unique.

"Who says that there's a correct way to sit? Have you ever thought about that, man?" This new side, apparently named Remus said. Video Thomas was thinking of an answer and started "Remus-" but was interrupted by Remus saying, "Expand your f***ing mind, bro!"

Thomas paused the video, just to clear his mind and look at the bottom text.

‘Remus Sanders - Thomas’ Forbidden Creativity’

‘AKA The Duke’

"Remus? Forbidden Creativity?" Thomas reads. He looked at the sides "Who is Remus or Forbidden Creativity?" 

"No one." Princey injected before Logic had a chance to answer, quick and tense. "He’s no one."

“He sure looks like someone…” Thomas said, looking at the screen. He didn't notice that Princey glared at Anxiety, like ‘You better not tell him’ look. Anxiety gave him an ‘I’m not going to’ look in response. 

Logic sighed as he looked at Princey and Anxiety. “Remus is your ‘Forbidden Creativity’. He is, for lack of a better term, Princey´s twin.” Logic said, fixing his glasses. “Teach!” Princey and Anxiety yelled at Logic but the smart side didn't pay them any mind.

“Princey has a twin?” Thomas asked, wide eyed. 

Logic nodded, pleased that Thomas was listening. “As a child, your creativity split in two as you began to understand what constitutes ‘good’ and ‘bad’, as taught by your parents, resulting in two different creativities.”

Thomas hummed, taking in this new information silently for a moment as he examined the moustached side on the screen.

“Is there a reason why that happened?” asked Thomas, getting interested. Logic shrugged. “It just happened, that's all we know.”

Thomas nodded, knowing that's as good as he was going to get. He pressed play on the video, curious about this ‘other Creativity’. This Duke.

Video Thomas sighed again. “Everyone has given their thoughts on the past five years of the series. Do you have any thoughts you'd like to add, he asked knowing he’d regret it?”

Remus nodded. “Oh, you mean the three episodes that I was in? Oh they were fine.” Remus replied. “Nothing like what’s coming up...”

“Uh, what?” Thomas and Video Thomas echoed at the same time.

“Oh honey!” Remus chuckled. A yellow gloved hand appeared onscreen with a squirt bottle, labelled ‘Anti Spoiler Spray’. It seemed to be Janus about to intervene. “You've got a big storm coming-!” Remus started to continue but was interrupted by the squirt bottle spraying a clear liquid onto him. "AH! SOAP!" Remus yelled in pain, wiping the substance off of his face. “Sheesh! You couldn’t just tell me to stop?! Kill a guy for being excited, why don't you?!” Remus’s grimace morphed into an unhinged grin. “Really, why don’t you?” He brandished a knife.

Thomas accidentally hit pause when he jumped and yelled, “Knife!” 

Anxiety didn’t look as surprising or panicked as the others. “That’s a normal thing.” he said, his arms crossed. Everyone looked at him like he said something strange or said a dead language. “What? I’ve lived with him for years.”

“Are you okay?” Thomas asked, concerned.  Anxiety nodded and leaned back. “I’m good. We can continue if you guys want.”

Thomas nodded and hit play.

The next scene was Roman, who was reading a book titled 'What Voltaire Did to Rousseau'. "Mhm. Okay. Alright, so he was insulting me." Roman said, lowering his book. “That’s just, that, why- hmhmhmhm,” He chuckled without humour, "I hate that guy."

Patton came up on the screen, he seemed to be trying to think of something. "A favourite memory from the show? That-that is just so hard! There have been so! many! wonderful moments with everyone!” Patton gushed, grinning. “Sure, even Janus and I have been getting closer. The other day, he gave me half his sandwich!”

Janus appeared and said, “I mistook him for a garbage can...” He gave a guilty grimace.

Thomas paused the video to look at Morality with a raised eyebrow.

“If he’s saying that I ate a food that was just left out, that's something that I do.” Morality stated factually. “Even if it’s thrown at me.”

With nothing more to say to that, the video continued.

Logan appeared holding a larger wine glass. "Quite a lot has changed these past years. Not only with you learning about Janus's and Remus's existence but also in how we conduct our day to day. Some examples being us, generally, talking to each other more respectfully, and leaving behind past toxic behaviours." 

Video Thomas nodded in agreement.

When the shot returned to Logan, he continued, "'Course there's still work to be done on that front. The talking may be there but the listening is another story." He ends his statement with a sip of his drink.

“I am listened to, right?” Logic asked worriedly, looking at Thomas. 

The host nodded. “Sure you are.” Thomas smiled at him reassuringly. 

Their heads turned back to the screen.

Remus was pouting as he mimicked, probably the fanders, "Oh boo hoo! The others used to be mean to each other!" He was quick to drop the act. "Do you know how bored I was before you decided to confront me?!" Remus exclaimed, pointing at himself. “All I did was walk around and look for stuff in your head to f*** with!”

Video Thomas just sighed with resignation, clearly used to or expecting Remus to behave like this.

Remus smirked as he told Video Thomas that he found a place called ‘Mind Palace’ while waiting for his turn to be confronted. Remus exclaimed, “Big echoey place! I can’t believe that you decided to ditch it after one episode! So wasteful!”

There was a clip on the side of a room. It was a big room that didn't have padding, so Remus’ claims that it echoed made sense.

Video Thomas Looked offended like he was going to say something back at him, but failed to find words to counter Remus’s claim before the scene cut to Janus.

“There actually was one amazing perk to not being in the spotlight for a while." Janus smirked mischievously. "Any time they all left to deal with a stubbed emotional toe, Remus and I had the opportunity to indulge ourselves in something truly devious." He put his finger tips together in a villainous pose, grinning menacingly.

Thomas paused with a frown, concerned. "Like… bad?" he asked the others.  Logic, Princey, and Morality looked nervous as Anxiety sighed, repressing an unwanted smile, "Just watch."

The next scene showed two pairs of black shoes, one smart dress shoes with yellow socks, while the other wore black belted booties. Both were enthusiastically playing DDR.

Thomas and the Sides laughed loudly when they realised what they were seeing.

The two side’s game was halted when Patton’s disembodied voice cut in off screen, yelling “Heading back to my room for a sec guys, forgot my pants!” They ran off with harsh hisses of “Get out! Get out!”

“My DDR?!” Morality exclaimed. “And- my pants?”

The video cut to Patton. “That’s who was using my DDR?” He exclaimed, clearly shocked. "I thought it was a ghost!"

Morality was still in shock as well. “I thought so as well! And why didn’t I have pants on?” Morality asked, looking at the others. Everyone shrugged, lacking the context for that, and continued to watch.

Remus was on screen now and is looking towards the bottom corner, the area with text. “Oh hell yeah! You got my nickname down there?!” Remus yelled excitedly. 

Thomas looked at where Remus was looking at.

‘Remus Sanders’

‘AKA Dukey’

“-like Princey!” Remus laughed and did a hand flick. “Classic!”

Thomas was confused by what he missed from what Remus said, but he continued to watch, not wanting to rewind and disrupt.

Roman was looking in the corner that displayed his name. “W-What is that?!” he shouted, enraged.

Thomas peered at what the on-screen Creativity was looking at.

‘Roman Sanders’

‘AKA Pissy’

“Pfft, That, uh, that was Remus.” Video Thomas said, trying and failing to hold in a laugh.

Roman looked mad as he seethed, “That, mother loving moustachioed mudbug!” 

Roman regained his composure before addressing Video Thomas. “Excuse me a moment, I have to go healthily communicate my feelings with my brother!”

Roman brandished his sword and, in the process, broke the vase of flowers that was on the table with the back of the handle as he left.

Video Thomas gaped in shock. “O- Wha-”

Thomas was in shock along with the sides as he paused it. “I- What happened?” Thomas tried to process the events the video just showed. 

“I’m not sure but I’m going to find my brother!” Princey announced, getting off his seat in preparation to leave. Morality and Logic grabbed their fellow side’s arms and forced him to sit back down, shooting him reprimanding looks.

Thomas looked worried at them while Anxiety was trying to stay calm. “Let’s keep watching.” Anxiety interjected. ‘Before something happens.’ 

The host nodded and hit play, drawing the others' attention.

Virgil appeared on screen. He had just finished thinking deep and said, “I'd say communication for me is uh, better. Totally 100% able to communicate my feelings now like a champ! No problemo!”

Video Thomas didn’t look remotely convinced by what Virgil was trying to sell. “Uh-huh, uh-huh.”

Virgil’s expression changed to look like he was admitting something. "Th-uh, the abstract stuff helped a lot though, y'know? Like those puppets? Yea. Surprisingly didn't hate how those were used to handle an issue"

"Oh, yeah?" Video Thomas asked, pleasantly surprised.

"Yeah."

Video Thomas leaned in, eager yet hesitant. “I was wondering… do you ever… still… ”

Virgil turns into a soft puppet form, a small felt figure, probably a sock, with two mismatched button eyes and black marker ink under the buttons. “Sometimes.”

Everyone had their jaws dropped as Thomas hit pause.

"Aw!" Morality exclaimed, putting hands over his mouth.

"How did you-?" Princey tried to get the words out.

"I don't know." Anxiety whispered, processing his future self’s behaviour. 

"Can you all… do that?" Thomas asked, pointing at the puppet.

Logic shrugged. "Of course we can, we are figments of your imagination. Though we cannot take on those puppet forms yet. We cannot shift into something that doesn’t exist without due preparation."

Thomas hummed at the answer and pressed continue. 

“I couldn’t find him!” Roman exclaimed, exasperated, as he reclaimed his seat. "Might have gone back to hiding in the walls." Whatever brother-based rant he’d been about to go on came to a halt when he peered down at the shattered remains of the red vase. Large glass pieces cleaned up and resting in a dustpan.

“...Who broke this vase?” Roman exclaimed, looking around to find who broke the vase that he himself had unknowingly broken.

“Hey! Nice callback-!” started Video Thomas as he smiled at him, but that was interrupted by Roman’s loud cutoff.

“DON’T use the word “Callback” around me!”

Video Thomas nodded with an understanding expression.

Thomas was very confused as he paused the video. The Sides were all just as baffled. “What happened?” he asked, worriedly.

“I have no clue.” Princey said, lips puckered as he tried to think of an explanation. “Bad audition maybe and still trying to get over it?”

“That could be it.” Logic said, nodding. 

‘That would make sense.’ Thomas thought as he pressed play.

When Roman stopped being overly dramatic, he returned to himself and faced the camera.

“But since we’re on the topic of performing, ” Roman said. “One thing I would like to see more of. Songs!” Then Roman started to clap. “WE! NEED! MORE! MUSICAL NUMBERS!”

Roman did jazz hands as some clips of the music numbers showed up, which got Pincey excited. “Musical numbers!” He exclaimed happily.

"As a theatre kid-"

"Theater man. I'm an adult man."

"I feel musically constipated! I mean, you know how hard it is to talk about the last five years and not make a Jason Robert Brown reference?" Roman explained and then laughed. "That's for the fellow theatre kids out there!"

"The songs are fine." Virgil said as he appeared on screen. Then he smirked. "If you don't count the Twelve Days of Christmas rewrite."

Janus was looking at his glove covered nails before turning back to Video Thomas. "Oh, yes. The songs. The musical numbers that you all break into." Janus said. "Emphasis on you all, because I have been absent from every one. I couldn't be more happy about that." Despite his words, all five of them could tell how false they were.

Virgil smirked. "Ask Janus about our song ‘Lies’." He requested.

The next scene made Thomas and the Sides jump when they saw a red faced Janus on screen. 

“IT WAS A SONG ABOUT LIES!” Janus yelled, his human side red of anger. Everyone jumped again as he continued to shout, “AND I WASN’T THERE FOR IT!”

Thomas pauses the video and everyone stares at the mad reptile character.

“Well, he looks upset.” Thomas said, surprised.

The emo was in shock. “I thought that he would be fine with it…”

“I thought that he was evil!” Creativity exclaimed.  “He’s not…” Anxiety said. “He’s just not a good friend.”

Logic was about to ask Anxiety what he meant, but the dark side put up his hoodie and curled up into a ball. Clearly not wanting to talk about it.

“Hmm! Well, I think we should move on.” Logic said.

Thomas nodded and pressed play, hoping that things wouldn't get worse.

Roman was on the screen. “Wai- hold on shut up, what did Virgil say about my Twelve Days Of Christmas rewrite?” Roman asked angrily. "This is about the Bubblegum Shrimp thing, isn't it? Look, the muse doesn't always come to visit." He explains. "I can't be expected to pump out metaphors and similes like some... simile making... thing!" Roman pointed at his mouth “SEE?!” before he continued,  "The shrimp line was a last minute addition, and I have no clue where it came from!"

Remus looks like he just remembered something. “Oh yeah, I whispered that to him in his sleep.”

“Wait- WHAT!?” Princey shouts, pointing at the screen. “Is that how I got the Dark Side Of Disney?!”

Thomas looks over to him, “Oh! That sounds interesting.”

Roman waved his hands to cool himself. “I need to cool off!” Roman said, calming down a bit. “Switching topics! If this is our little ‘cast special’, shouldn’t we talk about the newest addition to our cast?”

"Newest addition?" Video Thomas asked.

“Thomas...” Roman whispered but then he got louder as he continued, "I'm talking about Nicooooooo~!!!!"

"Nico?" Thomas and the Sides jinxed, looking at each other. They looked back at the screen in hopes of an explanation.

"Oh gosh! Roman!" Video Thomas blushes hard, covering his face with his hands. 

There were a few animated clips of a man with glasses alongside Video Thomas. A handsome man to be exact. 

Thomas stares for a second, but he reminds himself that he’s already with someone.

Roman smiles at Video Thomas. "Ey, come on Thomas!" He exclaimed. "Hey, I know I'm getting along a little better with Scareamore, but he needs to let me speed things up a bit, alright? We should be on, like, a millionth base with Nico already!"

Virgil looked so done and confused. "Yea pff, a millionth base, ok what is that?" He asked, exasperated. "Space marriage officiated by Gandolf and ****ing Dumbledore?”

“That’s exactly what it is.” Roman said, amazed and unexpected. “Wow! He got like, right on the money.”

“That’s true.” Princey said, surprised. He looked at Anxiety. “How did you know?” 

Anxiety shrugged. “I have no clue,” he answered. “Really, I don’t.”

They looked back at the screen.

Patton looked like he remembered someone as he giggled. “Oh yeah, Nico!” Patton exclaimed then he trailed off. "He, he seems… nice… looking forward to getting to know him!"

"Why do I sound so unsure?" Morality asked. "And who IS this Nico?"

Thomas nodded, trying to remember if he knows a Nico. 

He got nothing. 

"Yeah. I don't know who this Nico is." Thomas said after a moment. "Also! I'm already with someone."

All the sides nodded.

Logan appears to be considering the new topic.

"I am intrigued to know what his interests may consist of.” Logan explained. "Maybe math, sports, Metal Viking- sorry! Viking Metal.”

“Isn’t that what Talyin enjoys?” Logic asked.

Thomas nodded. “They do enjoy that,” he said. “Maybe they showed us a song that they enjoy and we end up liking it.”

Logic hummed and nodded.

Virgil adjusted in his seat, looking uncomfortable. "Okay. You know, can I be honest about something?" Virgil said, uncomfortable. "I know that we've all moved past it, but that time we were still pretending to be straight, and you all were flirting with a fake Valerie? Still haunts me..."

Thomas paused the video and looked at Anxiety.

“What, does Valerie make you uncomfortable?”  Thomas asked, worriedly.

The emo shook his head. “No… it's just us not being…” Anxiety didn’t finish that sentence because everyone knew the answer. 

Thomas noticed that Anxiety didn't like this topic. 

“That’s understandable.” he said, pressing to continue.

They saw a clip of everyone talking, possibly flirting, to Valerie appears in the corner.

Video Thomas chuckled. 

"Well, I think that I was going for more like a sexually ambiguous, uh, it wasn't that bad." Video Thomas said. He started to laugh but then stopped short at the lack of reaction from off screen. "...Right?"

Patton appears, grimacing in distaste.

Logan, who is holding a GIGANTIC wine glass, sighs. "Not our most feminist moment." He said before taking a sip.

"I thought about it every day." Virgil said, very tense.

"Okay well, we'll make better memories and we'll forget about it eventually, hopefully.” Video Thomas said.

Virgil shakes his head, clearly not believing Video Thomas.

Thomas hums and pauses the video to hear the others' response. 

Logic and Morality are too uncomfortable to speak.

"Were they talking about the few Vines that we did with Valerie? Or will that be in the future?" Princey asked. "Because we’ve done a few Vines with girls before and didn’t Thomas date one-"

“PRINCEY! I’M GOING TO STOP YOU RIGHT THERE!” Anxiety shouted, his voice booming off the walls and causing everyone to jump. “IF YOU KEEP GOING, I’LL GET YOUR BROTHER’S MACE AND-!” 

A soft saxophone playing a creepy tune interrupts him. All the sides’ eyes widen at the tune growing louder, louder, louder.

“I MEAN MORNING STAR!” Anxiety shouted over the tune. Then he cleared his throat, his voice going back to normal, “I mean your brother’s morning star, Princey.”

Then the saxophone playing the creepy tune faded away, which calmed the room as it left. 

Princey smiled nervously and said, “I’ll not talk about it then.” He looked at Thomas. “May we continue, please?”

Thomas nodded and pressed play, ‘What just happened?’ he thought, concernedly.

Patton smiled and pointed offscreen at Video Thomas.

“If we are talking new memories, then maybe when you get a puppy? Like a real puppy? That will be my favourite moment!” Patton exclaimed happily.

A clip of Patton holding a puppy in his hoodie and Roman holding two of the adorable things pops up in the corner, both sides clearly happy to hold them.

The seated Patton looked like he’s on the verge of tears. “Ooh… I miss having a pet.”

It then cuts to Janus who is looking decidedly annoyed.

“Why does everyone care so much about what happened to Sacagawea the Hamster?!” Janus exclaimed angrily. Then he looked at the camera and said, “Folks, she’s gone. She mysteriously disappeared and no one has a clue where she went.”

Then he points at the top of his head with his left pointer finger and his other finger over his mouth. “Shh.”

Video Thomas looked at Janus and at his hat. “Are you implying that she’s under your hat?” he asked.

“No, I’m implying that you all use your brains.” Janus explained, still pointing at the top of his head. “She’s gone!” Then Janus tries not to smile.

Thomas started to notice something. “Wait, where is Sacagawea the Hamster?” Thomas asked, his eyes widened as he pressed pause. Anxiety smiled. “Should I go after Deceit and see if she’s under his hat?” he asked with a chuckle.

“Maybe later.” Thomas said as he unpaused the video.

Video Thomas leaned back a bit as he said, “I know that we had a lot of successes in the past five years,” then he leaned forward, “but do you have any regrets?” Video Thomas almost slipped when he leaned too forward.

Virgil was looking up as he was thinking.

“Do I have any regrets? Hmm?” Virgil asked himself. Then he got a scroll out and let the bottom part out to show a LONG list. “Do you want me to go alphabetically or-”

Roman looked surprised. 

“What? Me? Regret?” he asked, putting a hand on himself. Then he started to laugh but then stopped as he picked up a photo. 

It was a wedding cake.

“I have one regret…” Roman said, putting a hand on the photo.

Video Thomas looked at the photo, confused. 

“Wait, that doesn’t look like Lee and Mary Lee’s wedding.” Video Thomas said.  “Did you print out a stock image?”

Everyone jumped when an angry Roman shouted, “You didn’t take any photos!” Then Roman points at the photo as he continues, “I needed something to look upon whilst I lament!”

“Is that the reason for the ‘Don’t use the call back’ thing?” Princey asked, confused. “A wedding?”

Everyone shrugged. 

“Could be.” Logic replied. “We don’t know until it happens.”

Logan appeared onscreen.

“I do regret throwing that paper at puppet Roman.” Logan said after a moment. 

A clip of Logan throwing a piece of paper at a puppet Roman and the puppet covered his eye that the paper hit.

“It was immature of me.” Logan continued, looking not so proud of himself.

The scene cuts back to Roman. 

“Oh! I wish that I had thrown paper at Logan first!” Roman said excitedly. “That would have been sweet!”

Patton had a questionable look on his face.

“Regrets? Oh, I have a few,” Patton said, admitting, “like not sharing my feelings with the others, especially when I was sad.”

A clip of the sides in the living room but it was lighter and the clip of Patton, looking sad, at his spot, that showed bed curtains instead of white blinds.

“We could have had so many boys' nights.” Patton said, almost sad. Then he gasped, “With ice cream!”

Mortality nodded. “Yeah… That is true…” he said quietly. Anxiety looked at him and gave an awkward hug. Mortality smiled softly at him and hugged him back. “I’m okay, kiddo.” he reassured him.

They continued to watch after the hug.

Virgil was reading off of the list, “I also regret starting Logan off on that whole falsehood bit.”

A clip of Logan shouting, “FALSEHOOD!!!”

That made everyone jump.

Remus was drinking the ‘Anti Spoiler Spray’. When he was done, he was having an allergic reaction.

“Regrets?” he asked horsley, scratching at his neck fast.

“Yeah, I don’t know why I asked you that question,” Video Thomas said, “my bad.”

Then the screen cut back to Virgil, who was still reading off of the list.

Virgil started, “Also the-” then he started to gag but continued, “boiled carrots.”

A clip of Nico holding a fast food bag that has the name King Karrots and giving it to Video Thomas. 

Maybe that’s how they will meet or it’s a date?

Patton appeared on the screen again. Excpt with the cardigan on his shoulders instead of the cat hoodie.

“Gosh, one huge regret I have is,” Patton started, but then his voice changed to the voice of Janus, “a lack of attention… to detail.”

Video Thomas was almost caught off guard.

“Oh, Janus!” Video Thomas said with a smile. “Don’t be so tough on yourself.”

Janus, who was still disguised as Patton, changed the cardigan to the cat hoodie on his shoulders.

“No, it’s alright.” Janus said reassuringly, a smile on his face. “I’ve grown.”

Video Thomas’ smile faded away as he said, “Oh… great…”

Anxiety pointing at the screen, smiling.

“I called it!” Anxiety shouted. “I knew that it was Deceit!” 

Everyone looked at him. “What?” Anxiety asked. “I’ve known him for years too.”

Thomas nodded. “Okay.” he said.

Everyone was quiet as they looked back at the screen as the video continued.

Then it was Virgil's turn, who was still on the list. 

"And lastly, yeah, yeah. Achieving consciousness." Virgil said, putting the scroll away. "That was a big one."

Everyone looked at Anxiety as he said, “It's a long story. Let’s just watch the video.”

Roman sighed.

“It’s amazing how much has changed in five years. I’d like to think that I’ve grown…” the prince on screen said, almost sounding sad. “It’s been nice getting to know each other better, at least. Like Patton… and Logan… and Virgil.” Roman sounded happier when he said Virgil’s name.

Patton looked like a proud dad.

“Virgil has come a long way.” the fatherly side said proudly, smiling. “I hope he knows how much we love him.”

Logan looked somewhat proud of Virgil.

“We couldn’t function without him,” the teacher on the screen said, "as we saw."

The next scene showed Logan yelling “Think fast!” and throwing a laptop at Video Thomas, who had a gray hoodie up and was unbothered by the hit. Patton and Roman were shocked by Video Thomas not being bothered with being hit. “That really hurt.” Video Thomas said, smiling.

“Can that happen?” Anxiety asked, surprised. “I guess it can.” Logic replied, sounding shocked. 

'I guess Anxiety is good.' Thomas said, humming. 'And without Anxiety, I would be just chill that I wouldn't know what would hurt me or not. Like in the video.'

Virgil looked a bit uncomfortable. 

“Oh. Gross.” the emo on the screen said. “I don’t know what I'm supposed to say to that," Then Virgil looked away as he continued, "I guess it's nice to know that they think they feel that way."

Thomas was taken back and looked at Anxiety. 

The emo looked confused.

Thomas looked back at the screen when he heard Patton awning something.

“We’re like a big family!” Patton exclaimed happily and then he pointed at himself. "And I'm the dad! And Logan's the mom!"

Then Logan appeared on the screen with a wine bottle with glass on top of it. "Why am I the mom?" Logan asked confusedly. "What gender roles are we pushing here?"

Thomas noticed that there were words on the bottle. It reads "Finally a wine glass that fits my needs."

Then he hears Logic asking Morality, "Do you really see me as the mom?"

Morality explained, "You act like a mom who sometimes likes juice." 

Virgil looked not convinced.

"I know they're probably thinking I'm like the son, but I'm not." Virgil said, pointing at Video Thomas. Then he points to the side. "I'll be the gay emo cousin."

Then Roman appeared, pointing at himself.

"I'll be the son!" Roman exclaimed. "The hotshot, whose dream is to be… a star…" Roman sounded sad at the end.

Thomas looked at the sides.

Princy had a sad face and Anxiety looked mortified. 

“I’m not going to ask,” Thomas said, “because the looks on both of your faces say it all.”

Remus was shrugging as he said, "I feel like I'd be a fresh outta jail uncle."

Janus had a wine glass. 

"And I'm the sassy aunt, who talks **** about everyone." He said before sipping his glass.

Thomas hummed as he pressed pause to hear what the side's commitments were going to be.

Anxiety hummed. "Deceit and Duke sound like them." 

Everyone nodded.

Thomas pressed continue.

Video Thomas laughed for a moment. "I know this is a pretty intense question to ask," he started. Then he leaned forward with a serious look on his face. "What do you think will be next for us?"

Thomas and his Sides were on the edge of their seats as they watched the screen.

Logan had his arms crossed his chest. "You tell me."

Roman looked like it was a joke.

"We seal the deal with Nico and we live happily ever after." He said, laughing softly. "It's simple."

Patton had a lot on his mind.

"I think things are just going to keep getting better, right? " Patton said, looking at Video Thomas. "If we keep communicating."

Virgil shrugged and smiled a smug smile.

"Probably something that I'm going to hate." Virgil said openly.

"Oh, who's to say, heartbreak, betrayal." Janus said, listing the things that can happen. "You won't be bored, I can tell you that."

‘I don't know if I should be excited or worried.’ Thomas thought nervously.

Remus had a comforting and softer look.

"And I shall be learning to better receive acceptance and praise.” Remus said, sounding innocent.

That touched Thomas and his video self.

“Wow, Remus.” Video Thomas said, putting both hands over his heart. He was smiling at him like proud.  “That sounds healthy and productive.” 

“Thank you.” Remus said, nodding to him. But then the feeling of uncomfort and his voice changed back to his normal tone and said, “Excpt Acceptance and Praise are the names of my-”

An air horn blares loudly, causing Thomas and the others to scream. Thomas pressed pause and looked around to see what made the sound. 

Anxiety was holding the air horn. “You don’t want to know, Sanders.” he said threatenly. 

The host nodded slowly and pressed play.

For a moment, Remus was holding two things that were censored.

"Okay!" Video Thomas exclaimed, probably to stop Remus saying anymore. 

Then he looked at the camera. "And that's my cue to wrap this up." he said, smiling before looking offscreen. "Thank you for talking with me, guys. I seriously don't know where I'd be without you."

Thomas felt happy from his future self saying those words.

"There's not much else to say except," Video Thomas continued, smiling and opened his arms out to the Sides, "Happy 5th anniversary!"

"Happy 5th anniversary!" The Sides on the screen exclaimed while Remus said something else. 

All that Thomas heard that Remus said was "-ick surgeries!"

The others looked confused and looked at Remus as The dark creativity on screen  asked, "What did everyone else say?"

"I guess I should not know, right?" Thomas chuckled confusedly.

The four sides nodded. “It’s best not to.” Anxiety said somewhat happily.

The camera was in front of Video Thomas, smiling big. 

"So yeah, a special might look a little something like that!" Video Thomas explains. "A walk down memory lane, saturated with too many self-referential jokes and anecdotes that would surely ostracise any non-fan watching." 

Thomas chuckled softly. He knew that not everyone would like the series but he wanted to share this series. He hoped that his Sides knew that too. 

Video Thomas sighed, "But we really have gone through so many changes. I mean, heck, compare Logan's behaviour at the start of the series to now-" then he stopped himself. "Sorry, nope. Done with the self-referential anecdotes."

"Yeah. I'm wondering what happened to everyone." Logic said. He sounded concerned.

Everyone nodded. 

"Well, we do change and learn." Thomas said softly.

Video Thomas continued, "I guess what it's got me thinking is how will they change in the years to come? How will they grow? How will I grow? How will any of us grow?" Video Thomas paused for a moment. "Of course there's no knowing how we're growing. All we can do is keep an open mind and open heart. And keep on checking in with ourselves.”

Thomas and the sides leaned in because of the expense of the pause.

Video Thomas smiled softly as he continued, "Because we still might not know if we know ourselves as well as we could."

That left an imprint in Thomas and the Sides. 'That’s good to know.' Thomas thought happily.

"Aw!" Morality cooed softly. 

"He does have a point." Anxiety and Logic said union, pointing at the screen.

"We'll be ready for it!" Princey said, raising his sword. Logic moved his arm, so it didn't get cut. 

Video Thomas smiled at the camera as he said, "Take it easy guys, gals, and non-binary pals!"

"Peace out!" Thomas said with Video Thomas. The Sides chuckled softly as he did that.

Thomas couldn't help himself, he just enjoys saying it.

The screen on the computer was black for a moment before it showed a sky full of stars appeared on screen along with a few words.

"Would you like to escape to a wonderful world?" An announcer, who almost sounded like Roman, said, reading the words on screen.

Soft magical music played as an animation played and a boot appeared on screen. Then it shows a man in a red vest, who's probably being played by Thomas, walking through the woods. 

"With heros, villains, and more to unfurl?"

It showed a different character with purple hair, who was NOT being played by Thomas, was singing a tune before looking at the character while the character looked back at him.

"Ridiculous battles and super cool magic. Perhaps dare I say something angsty and tragic?"

The two characters looked at each other and raised their swords.

"Prepare yourself for" the narrator said and paused supper effects.

Both characters were on top of a some sort of monster as they slay it with their swords. A burst of light flashed on screen when they slayed and the title appeared:

“Roleslaying with Roman”

The next shot showed a paper character of the red vest person on a board game. Then a 12-sided dice rolled on screen as the scene ended. 

Princey gave a fangirl scream, making everyone in the room cover their own ears. “I get my own series!” he yelled excitedly. 

“Yes… You do.” everyone said, staring at him in surprise. The Sides talked about what they saw. One of the things was, “I like the purple guy’s hair.”

Thomas couldn’t help but think about the purple hair character. ‘Why does that character remind me of Terrance?’

They all look back at the screen when Video Thomas, who was wearing a different shirt, popped up on screen.

“Hope that you all enjoyed that trailer, ‘cause I’m excited. ” Video Thomas said, smiling big. “I don’t know why I added that, but I was excited!” he laughed with some people offscreen.

The end card came up as Video  Thomas continued, “And I hope that you enjoyed this video!” Then he talked about the writer’s room about the script of this with the jokes and stuff. 

He asked if anyone was interested in joining the writer’s room to check it out at Patreon. He also mentions a calendar based on the Sander Sides.

A hand did pop up a few when Video Thomas said ‘hand’, which was funny.

Thomas and the sides were very confused about this Patreon thing.

“What is Patreon?” Thomas asked. The sides shrugged.

“Alright, that’s enough announcements.” Video Thomas said, happily. “I’ll let you go. Thank you again for every bit of support that you have provided these past five years. I love you all so much! I’ve said ‘goodbye’ enough. Bye” 

Video Thomas sank out of screen.

Then he popped back up again and said, “and that last ‘goodbye’ doesn’t count.” and then he went back down again.

“Well, that was interesting.” Thomas chuckled softly. 

The sides nodded. “Agreed.”

Thomas was about to close the laptop but stopped when he heard scary music being played from it. 

He opened it back up again.

Thomas looked at the screen with the Sides as the screen showed an unremarkable orange sitting on the chair. 

‘What-?’ Thomas thought confusedly but it was interrupted by Anxiety screaming. 

And the next thing Thomas knew was that Anxiety was running from Princey, who had his sword out.

"WHAT DOES THAT MEAN!" Princey shouted at Anxiety while the emo ran, screaming more.

Mortality ran after them. Thomas was very confused as Logic continued to sit next to him, rubbing his forehead. "...I need a drink." Thomas and Logic bemoaned.

○

In the morning, Joan and Talyn walked into the apartment to find Thomas on the couch, passed out. They went to make sure that he's okay and not dead. 

He's good and alive, but far from sober.

Joan and Talyn looked at each other. “You take him to his room and I look at the laptop to see if anything is messed up.” Talyn said quickly before Joan said anything. “Why me?” Joan asked, looking at them as they walked to the couch. 

“Have you seen how BIG he is compared to me?” Talyn asked with some sass, picking up the laptop. 

“Good point.” Joan replied, pointing at them. They picked Thomas up and started to get an arm around their shoulder. "I got you buddy."  They said as they walked him up the stairs.

“More than four sides...” Thomas mumbled as they walked up the stairs. “For what? Sanders sides?” Joan asked, looking at him. Thomas nodded with a smile. “YEAH!” he shouted. Joan winched at that, which made Thomas frowned.

“Sorry…”

“It’s okay, Thomas.” Joan reassured him as they got into Thomas’ room. Thomas listed some things for the show while Joan listened to him as they got him to bed.

Joan got Thomas to bed and went to get water and medicine for him. Joan puts the objects on the bedside table, Thomas smiles at them.

“You’re a good friend.” Thomas said before going to sleep.

Joan chuckled and smiled softly. ”You’re a good friend too.” they said, as they left the room.

Joan started to think about what Thomas said as they walked back to Talyn. ‘Maybe. We could do that.’ they thought, a smile growing on their face.

▪▪▪

Author's note: Happy Anniversary of Sanders Sides!

[anotsomysticalnight]

❤️❤️❤️

[phoebe-delia]

Just so y’all know: I can’t speak for every other fic author but I can say that I remember when people leave me kind comments. I recognize your urls and/or usernames on AO3. I remember you and sometimes in writing my fics I think to myself, “Oh, I hope this person sees this because they liked x in this other fic I did.”

Not only that—I go back and reread comments when I’m feeling low. I look at tags and reblogs and asks and wish I could hold them in my hand like a note from a friend on an old, torn piece of notebook paper.

Your comments have so much more impact than you know. So thanks to those who use the comment section to spread love and encouragement. We appreciate you.

[noc10-moved]

*parts a bead curtain as i enter the room, carrying a glass of lemonade* 

hey….

nothing you ever read, watch, or participate in will be ideologically pure and without its problems. your quest to consume the most unproblematic material will be, in the end, fruitless. your enjoyment of anything will be sapped away, leaving you a husk starved for media.

 it is okay to enjoy things that have problems to them, so long as you do it critically and with an open mind, and take care to consider others.

*leaves the way i came*

[more-witches]

This is possibly the healthiest post I’ve seen on this site

[gamerbearmira]

I can’t find your AU of Bruno adopting all of the kids. Can you tell me more about this AU?

I don’t have an AU like that 😭 at least, I don’t remember making one. HOWEVER.

There is a a story by @anotsomysticalnight , where Bruno becomes the patriarch and kind of just. Adopts all the kids in the process, so check them out <3

[anotsomysticalnight]

Someday my hyperfixation will return to Encanto and that fic can see a chapter 2 😭✌🏻

[hollandorks]

because I’ve seen a couple posts like this recently:

Do not be discouraged if you see someone with the same idea for a fic as you! Because that’s what we want–the same exact stories, over and over, through the unique lens of each writer! That’s the beauty of fanfiction: you can read the same story, slightly to the left, as many times as possible!

So please, post that fic that has the same premise as someone else. Write your version of it, and rest assured knowing that at the very least, one person will be delighted to find the same kind of story as one they just finished!

[shipping-isnt-morality]

Good morning! I’m salty.

I think we, as a general community, need to start taking this little moment more seriously.

This, right here? This is asking for consent. It’s a legal necessity, yes, but it is also you, the reader, actively consenting to see adult content; and in doing so, saying that you are of an age to see it, and that you’re emotionally capable of handling it.

You find the content you find behind this warning disgusting, horrifying, upsetting, triggering? You consented. You said you could handle it, and you were able to back out at any time. You take responsibility for yourself when you click through this, and so long as the creator used warnings and tags correctly, you bear full responsibility for its impact on you.

“Children are going to lie about their age” is probably true, but that’s the problem of them and the people who are responsible for them, not the people that they lie to.

If you’re not prepared to see adult content, created by and for adults, don’t fucking click through this. And if you do, for all that’s holy, don’t blame anyone else for it.

[zandracourt]

This needs to be reblogged today.

[justsparethoughts-deactivated20]

Consenting to see adult content doesn’t mean you should have to see a bunch of shit romanticizing incest and pedophilia you walnut

[thebaconsandwichofregret]

Except this is the last line of consent before the actual work. So if you’re at this button you have already done the following:

1) chosen to go onto AO3 in the first place

2) chosen the fandom you wish to read about

3) had the chance to filter for the things you do want to see like a specific pairing or a specific AU

4) had the chance to specifically filter out any tags you don’t want to see like, oh I don’t know, incest and non-con and dub-con and paedophilia

5) had the chance to set the rating level if you wish to remove any explicit content at all

6) have read the summary of the story, which aren’t always great but are the only indicator of what the story will be like writing wise so something about it was good enough for you to click on it.

7) have read the tags of the story which will tell you what is actually in the story. If you have used filters to remove stories with things you don’t want then there shouldn’t be anything in here that’s a shock to you but maybe there is. That’s why the tags are there for you to check for yourself.

8) Then you have to actually click on the story. You cannot see anything other than the summary or the tags without personally deciding that you are going to open and read this story.

9) Only here, at step number nine, do you get to the adult content warning pictured above. You have been through eight different steps, the last six of which have also been opportunities for you to see that this has adult content. And AO3 has *STILL* stopped you to ask one last time “are you sure you want to read this because it has things that only adults should see in it”.

If after this point you are reading incest and paedophilia then it’s probably because you specifically went looking for it.

You walnut.

[vi-maxwell-blog]

This is the most beautiful thing that I have seen about ao3

[madamfraser]

“You find the content you find behind this warning disgusting, horrifying, upsetting, triggering? You consented. You said you could handle it, and you were able to back out at any time. You take responsibility for yourself when you click through this, and so long as the creator used warnings and tags correctly, you bear full responsibility for its impact on you.”

Stop complaining with writers when you dislike a story FGS

[mistresspandora-archive]

This also works when stories are tagged, oh say, infidelity. If you don’t want to read about someone in your OTP being unfaithful (I.E., HAVING SEX WITH A DIFFERENT PERSON), don’t read that freaking story. The tags are there for YOU. So stop complaining when the story contains exactly what the author says it contains. Freaking hell.

[thegreenmeridian]

If I go to the supermarket, walk down the fish aisle, pick up a salmon fillet, pay for it, take it home, put it in the oven, wait for it, take it out, then take a bite…

I cannot complain to Tesco that I don’t like fish.

[brandneweyescd]

[girlblocker]

[urboymutual]

[hellygf]

[divorcegirl-deactivated20220819]

[gales-boyfriend]

[transdeans]

[madscientistenthusiast]

[testosteronetwunk]

[pisshandkerchief-deactivated202]

[random-chaos-thoughts]

Unrestrained summer fun

[ashbelero]

You just can’t get this kinda shit on any other platform.

[etirabys]

probably no one else finds this funny and I’m driving away my friends a fraction of a percent at a time every time I do it, but I think the height of comedy is when you react to an emoji with the same emoji in a chat medium that permits this

[sinnahsaint]

[edgebug]

[quasi-normalcy]

It’s Not a Plot Hole, It’s Foreshadowing

vs.

It’s Not a Plot Hole, It’s Just Something That They Opted Not to Spoon-feed You Because It Would Be Obvious If You Thought About It For 20 Seconds

vs.

It May Be a Plot Hole, But It Still Works In Terms of the Story’s Themes and Character Logic

vs.

Okay, It Is a Plot Hole, What Are You Going to Do, Cry about It?

[quasi-normalcy]

vs.

All Works of Fiction Represent Constructed Realities and by Demanding a Lack of Plot Holes, You Are Improperly Importing the Rules of Objective Reality into a Subjective Creation that Must Be Judged Primarily on Its Aesthetic Merits

vs.

Dude, Just Come-up With a Headcanon Like A Normal Human Being

[lostsometime]

vs.

Is It Really a Plot Hole, or Are the Characters Just Not Making the Choices You Want Them To?

[imtheiliad]

Shout out to fanfic writers that don’t get put on rec lists.

Shout out to fanfic writers who write short fanfics.

Shout out to fanfic writers who don’t write often.

Your fics are just as much a labor of love.

[anotsomysticalnight]

Shout out to fanfic writers who start fics and never finish them. 🤭

[maskedbeliever]

[transformativeworks]

[image description: the “Are ya winning, son?” format meme. The son is sitting happily at his computer and the caption over him reads “Yes Dad, people are kudosing my fanfics and leaving nice comments on AO3.” end of description]

[gamerbearmira]

*sticks head out hothousedoor* Scooby-Doo AU? Yes ple- *is hit on the back of the head with vegetation* OW, okay, I'll close the door! *steps out and closes door* As I was saying, yes please! But no animal sidekick? C'mon, Parce is right there! Lol *waves and re-enters hothouse*

OK BUT CONSIDER

Antonio in dog ears. (Courtesy of @anotsomysticalnight )

Also 7 members is too much 😭 the Mystery Machine is only so big

[anotsomysticalnight]

Who knows, maybe Antonio’s animal friends would be like Scrappy and only occasionally show up? 👀 but yea their van is way to small for that many 😅

[gamerbearmira]

SCOOBY DOO AU

HERE ME OUT.

Y’all know Scooby Doo Mystery Incorporated? You what if that was an encanto au?

The Encanto is actually a town (in place of Crystal Cove in this case.)

The grandkids are Mystery Inc. (No animal sidekick, just Antonio <3)

Julieta, Pepa, Bruno, Fèlix, and Agustín are the Og Mystery Inc.

SHOULD I EXPAND

[anotsomysticalnight]

Antonio wears a dog eared headband at all times 😗

[sunhatred-deactivated20220531]

Do you guys remember how kidnap fantasies were popular on wattpad because young girls and queer teens were both made to feel shame at the thought of their own sexualities, so the fantasy of being kidnapped totally against their will was a way for them to engage with a romantic or sexual fantasy without feeling morally in the wrong for doing so? Added bonus that the fantasy involved being whisked away from repressive environments like home or school, right?

Finding out that Bram Stoker was in a sexless marriage and that scholars believe that he very likely was closeted gay puts the entire book into perspective as to WHY it reads EXACTLY like a self insert wattpad Dracula kidnap fic:

“I TOTALLY love my wife and would never do anything that an upstanding Good Straight Working Man wouldn’t do but oh nooo, big strong man with broad back and strong enough arms to carry me back to bed like a princess trapped me and claimed me as his, completely against my will 👉👈 But he protects me against the bad evil sexual women (who I assure you, I am TOTALLY sexually attracted to, as any straight man with a choice would be) but trust me, I do NOT want ANY of this. What’s that? The Count is not capable of feeling love? Would be a shame if I had the special ability to change tha-”

[ardatli]

This is also the fantasy behind all those old bodice-ripper romances that people today like to mock or call problematic, by the way.

“Oh, my next forty years are going to consist of nothing but washing dishes and keeping house and bearing children for the disdainful man I married right out of high school because my parents said college was for men and I had no other obvious life path open to me? What if a pirate captain thought I was worth stealing away from it all? [what if I ran away but no-one could blame me for leaving]?”

[pixelartpeach]

"You can't consume problematic media!"

Maybe YOU can't. I, on the other hand, have critical thinking skills and a lot of spite

[pixelartpeach]

I am also incredibly sexy

[shut-up-merlin]

I don’t know who needs to hear this but be nice to fanfic authors. Reblog their stuff. Tell them you liked it. How you felt when reading. What school assignment you didn’t finish because of how captivating their story was. Don’t just scream to your friends about it. But tell them.

So many wonderfully talented people out there don’t get the praise they need. If their work brought you joy, make their day better by telling them it did.

[niuniente]

Long ago I wrote a fic. Posted it under a different name without telling anyone in the fandom group I was active in. Watched how the online fandom group loved the fic and had a conversation of it in a positive spirit with each other - what did they like it, theories of this and that, how nice it was to get a new fic into this small fandom etc. - but did they leave feedback to the fic? No. I think it was only one person who commented the fic from the group.

I know the fan group liked the fic because I saw the outside comments. But, if I hadn’t seen them - like readers don’t - then I’d think the fic was not worth of my time and no one read it, or read it but didn’t care about it as it clearly was not worth of any comment.

We’re not telepathics. We don’t know. Tell the creators. They want it and appreciate the feedback. If we didn’t want you to interact with the stuff we create, like comment it/share it/reblog it/etc. we wouldn’t post the stuff online for you to see.

[kyraneko]

It occurs to me upon reading this that we don't have conversations like this in the comments to the author's fic---so much of fandom is interacting with each other about media we love, but in the fanfic comments section the conversation is almost just commenters talking directly to the author, and maybe the author talking back.

Nobody launches a metacommentary thesis for other readers to debate about in the AO3 comments, or has long comment threads gushing to each other about their favorite character's interactions; it's like the tendency to give the author space while we go play with their creations, a relic of our past when we weren't supposed to exist, has extended to fic authors who are themselves playing in the same mud we are.

We act like it's bad manners to love a fic in front of an author, in the ways the fandom that writes fanfic loves a fic.

And that shouldn't be the case.

They're one of us too.

[kedreeva]

I have had one or two fics where readers engaged with one another in the comments and I can say with 100% surety that it was REALLY COOL to see!!! Even if they weren’t talking to ME, they were talking about the thing I made where I could see it and that made me feel GREAT. Absolutely loved it.

[waterlilyrose]

I write fanfiction and let me tell you: comments about the fic and what you like about it make the hours of work all worthwhile. Literally there is nothing else going for me right now. I get up, go to work, come home, go to bed. To get a (1) in my inbox instantly makes me happy and I'd be nothing without it.

[helpersofroleplay]

how to block certain anons

requested by @leciasxmuses

Hey guys, so recently in our inbox, we got a submission about anon hate and tracking IP addresses of anon asks. Sadly, I’ve been doing some research and with the new tumblr asks, I cannot find any way to track the IP address but you can block the IP address from sending any more anon messages to your inbox. So if you are getting anon hate or say someone is taking advantage of your triggers, this is how you block an anon’s IP address, it’s simple and actually a tumblr feature:

1. Go to the message in the inbox and press the three grey dots in the corner of the message.

2. Press the block button

3. Click the blue ‘Block’ and this will block and anonymous messages from that IP address from getting sent to your inbox. You can still get sent messages from the actual account but not anonymous.

Voila! You have now blocked that IP address from sending you anon messages. It’s not a perfect fix but it’s something. 

I hope this helps someone out there!

[anotsomysticalnight]

Wish I knew this forever ago 🙌🏻