Chapter Text
Despite what he originally thought, coming out to his friends as a vampire turned out okay!
For one, they actually believed him. Sure, some needed a bit more evidence but once he provided it, they too believed it.
For another, they actually accepted him! In their own ways, of course.
Nearly every morning he woke up to a vampire pun sent by Patton.
Logan asked everything he could to ensure he understood and could help him.
Janus helped provide him with excuses for Vampire-related issues.
Roman acted even more chivalrous than before, providing Virgil with jackets to shield him from the sun, thoroughly checking food for garlic, giving him explicit permission to enter buildings etc.
And Remus…
Remus was already affectionate before he told them all but now he took every opportunity to hug, kiss and hold his 'hot and sexy vampire boyfriend'.
One example of this affection was on Virgil's day off. They were hanging out in Remus' dorm room, Roman was out on a date with Logan so they had the space to themselves. They were curled up on Remus' bed, Virgil tucked into Remus' chest and Remus gently scratching Virgil's head.
Remus interrupted the peaceful moment with a, "By the way, my parents want to meet you over dinner tomorrow night."
"What?!?" Virgil sat up, shocked.
"Do you not want to meet them or something?"
"I mean… I don't have a problem with meeting them but… couldn't you have told me a bit earlier so I had time to prepare?"
"Is this not enough warning?"
"I would've preferred a couple days at least,"
"I'll try and remember for next time,"
"Thanks,"
…
"So…. what do you think? Are you coming?"
"Oh, sure,"
Remus frowned, "You don't sound sure."
"I am,"
"Don't bullshit me, you're uncomfortable, I can smell it on you,"
That got a small chuckle out of Virgil.
"I'm just worried about hiding the whole vampire thing from your parents all night,"
"Well, if things start to go to shit I'll help cover for you. Plus, Roman is bringing Logan too so they'll be there to help,"
Virgil relaxed slightly, leaning back into Remus' chest, "Thanks."
"No problem, Scare-Bear,"
***
Virgil was trembling as he stood outside the King family home. He'd never met Remus' parents before so he had no idea what to expect from them. Once he'd gained enough control of his hands, he reached up- still shaking- and rang the door bell.
A few seconds later, the door opened to reveal a tall woman with a large, bright smile. Her eyes were the exact shade of green as the twins, she looked so much like them it was slightly scary.
"Hello! You must be Virgil, Remus' boyfriend?" Remus' mother, Maria, asked.
"Uh, y-yeah, that's me," Get it together Virgil! It's just a dinner!
"Excellent! Dinner's almost ready," she stepped to the side and opened the door wider, gesturing for him to come in.
For a moment they just stared at each other in silence. She smiled at him, indicating with her eyes for him to enter but he physically couldn't. This was the worst part of being a vampire. Not the immortality or the need to drink blood; it was the socially awkward situations he got himself into.
Like a knight in shining armour, Remus bounded up to the door, "Hey Virgie!" He quickly noticed Virgil's predicament and said to him mom, "Sorry, Virgil's parents were really strict and formal and he finds it hard to kick those habits so he needs to be explicitly invited. You can come in!"
Virgil breathed a sigh of relief and stepped through, sending a quick apology to Remus' mom as Remus led him to the dining room.
"That was close," Virgil felt like his heart was about to burst out of his chest.
"You alright, Virgil?" In his attempts to calm his nervous system, Virgil hadn't noticed Roman and Logan approaching.
"Oh, uh, yeah, I'll be fine. Just realised that hiding the whole… you know what is going to be harder than I thought,"
"Fear not, Edward Sullen, we shall do our best to cover for you!" Roman declared.
"Thanks guys," he smiled.
"Boys! Dinners almost ready, why don't you take a seat?"
The twins led their boyfriends to the dinning table. Roman and Logan at on one side of the rectangular table while Remus and Virgil sat on the other, the brothers faced each other with to two awkward guests also sat opposite each other. They were soon joined by Remus and Roman's parents who were carrying in various steaming dishes.
"We decided to go simple tonight as we didn't know what food you two like so we have spaghetti, sauce to go on top and sides of garlic bread,"
Virgil froze at the mention of garlic. The others seemed to notice too, sending him worried looks, silently asking if he'd be alright. The twins' parents picked up on this energy shift, looking at Virgil worriedly.
"Is everything alright?" Their father, Romulus, asked.
"Virgil's, um… allergic to garlic!"
Thankful for his boyfriend's quick thinking, Virgil nodded, trying not to inhale that strong smell of the bread.
"Oh dear! We should've asked. We're terribly sorry, Virgil. How severe is the allergy?"
"I-I'll be fine as long as I don't eat it,"
"If you're sure. We can take it away if it'll be better for you?"
"No, honestly I'll be okay,"
Slightly awkwardly, everyone began dishing up their dinners. Wanting to blend in and not make the parents worry about him more, Virgil took a small portion of the spaghetti. He mostly played around with the food, taking occasional small bites as any more would make him nauseous (which he already felt from the intense garlic smell. Thankfully, he and Remus had discussed before tonight that, when people weren't looking, Remus would sneak Virgil's food onto his own plate to sell the idea that Virgil was a regular human who could eat food without getting sick.
Eventually, the dinner ended, everyone in a less awkward place than the beginning of the evening. Maria and Romulus began clearing up, making Roman help with Logan volunteering to lend a hand despite the parents' protests.
When the others had left them alone, Remus quietly asked, "You okay? You're paler than usual."
"I'm a little light headed and slightly nauseous, nothing to worry about,"
Remus frowned and pouted slightly at that. With Virgil's anxiety and Remus' intrusive thoughts, the phrase 'don't worry' and similar sentiments had been banned pretty early in their relationship so Virgil corrected himself.
"I will be fine, I just need somewhere away from the smells,"
Remus took his hand and dragged him up the stairs, eventually leading him to his childhood bedroom. Virgil couldn't help but smile widely upon entering the room. It was so… Remus.
The walls were covered in sketches of horror scenes (some he recognised from movies) and eldritch creatures. It was wonderful seeing his art progress form messy sketches to fully formed and rendered art works. Random trinkets lay around the room that complimented Remus perfectly. He could almost imagine a young Remus playing about in this room fighting Roman with the plastic morning star in the corner to defend his giant octopus plush on his bed.
"What're you smiling at?"
Virgil turned around to look at Remus, "You."
Remus fake vomited into the trash can at the sappy comment but sat on the bed beside Virgil, pulling the smaller man into his arms.
"Is it better in here?"
"Much better, not a scrap of garlic in sight,"
"Sorry about that, I should've warned them or something,"
"Don't blame yourself, things turned out alright, didn't they?"
"Yeah…"
Virgil buried himself further into Remus' arms. He felt so safe there.
Slowly, he began to press kisses into Remus' throat, working his way up to his face. Unable to handle the teasing, Remus grabbed Virgil's face and pushed their lips together. Virgil smiled, eventually opening his mouth and deepening the kiss.
After a bit of kissing, Virgil felt his lips become tingly. He just assumed it was having his lips on someone else's for so long so he pushed through it.
Then his mouth started to become tingly as well. Soon, the nausea returned full force and Virgil had to rip himself away from Remus to avoid vomiting in his mouth. Thankfully the trash can was right by the bed and most of it went in there.
As he hunched over the side of the bed, the ringing in his ears faded to reveal a panicked voice a calling his name.
"Virgil!? Virgil!?"
He raised his head to look at Remus before he had to duck his head and vomit again. He felt a hand rub his back shakily as the voice reached his ears once again.
"What happened? Are you okay? Did I hurt you? Should I get someone?"
He knew Remus' thoughts were racing at this point, if he didn't help him out he'd start spiralling and lose himself.
When he'd stopped vomiting enough to get words out, he asked, "Did you eat any of the garlic bread?"
"Yeah?"
"I guess when we started making out the left over garlic in your mouth got transfer into mine,"
"Oh shit. I'm so sorry, this is all my fault. You're gonna die and it's my fault! I-"
"Remus, I'm not going to die. My body's just gonna make me vomit to get rid of it for a while then I'll be fine. Promise."
"But I thought garlic was deadly?"
"Garlic flowers are deadly. Regular garlic just causes this," he hunched over and vomited again.
"Okay… okay," Thankfully Remus started calming down. "Do you need me to get you anything?"
Virgil reached in his pocket and pulled out his phone, "Go to my contacts and call Andy. Tell him I'm sick and give him the address."
Remus took the unlocked phone and pulled up the contact named 'Andy🦇' and called it with shaking hands.
He heard a yawn on the other end of the phone.
"I'd just gotten to sleep, Virge. You're buying me my first coffee today, okay?"
"This is Virgil's boyfriend. He got really sick and needs you to pick him up,"
"Shit. How sick?"
"He's been vomiting his guts up. He's really sweaty and pale,"
"Oh God. Did he… he has an allergy to garlic, did he eat any?"
"Kinda, yeah,"
"Dammit. Where is he?"
Remus gave the address.
"Tell him I'll be there in a few minutes. Let me know if he gets worse,"
"I will,"
"Thanks,"
Andy ended the call and Remus let out a shaky breath. By now, Virgil had stopped vomiting but he still dry heaved over the trash can.
"Andy'll be here soon,"
Virgil gave a thumbs up and Remus kept rubbing his back.
Soon came a knock on the door.
"Is everything alright, Re? You've been in here a while," Roman asked from the other side of the door.
"Virgil's sick," he called out to the door, "His… Andy's coming to get him."
"What happened?"
"It's a reaction to the garlic,"
"He didn't eat any, did he?"
"It was uh… cross contamination,"
"Does he need anything?"
He looked to Virgil who shook his head.
"No, just tell us when Andy gets here."
It didn't take long for him to arrive and help Virgil into his car. Remus watched them drive away from the window, doing his best to blink back tears. Behind him, he heard the door open and light footsteps enter the room.
"You okay?" Roman stood behind him, hand on his shoulder.
"I'm fine,"
"You clearly aren't but I'm not going to pry. Come on, let's watch a movie- it doesn't even have to be Disney,"
Remus didn't move.
"Re?"
"He could've died. He could've died and it would've been my fault,"
"But he didn't. He's going to be okay,"
"How do you know that? I might've just killed him! I'm a horrible person!"
"Remus, stop!" He felt Roman pull his hand away. He hadn't even noticed he'd been scratching his arm.
Finally the dam broke and tears began to pour out. He sunk to the floor, repeating, "It's my fault, it's my fault," over and over. Roman joined him on the floor, holding and comforting him.
***
Andy unlocked the door with one hand, supporting Virgil with the other arm and guided him into the house. Sat worriedly in the living room were their other pack mates, Seth and Toby. Toby stood up instantly and made his way over to Virgil.
"What's wrong? Is he okay?"
"Had some garlic at his friend's house. He's stopped throwing up but he has a fever," Andy answered, guiding Virgil to the stairs.
Seth began to yell, "What the hell were you thinking, Virgil?! Why on earth would you-!?"
"Leave him alone, for fucks sake. At least wait till he's well before you start to lecture him. Besides I'm pretty sure it was an accident, why would he do something like this to himself?!" Andy snapped before trudging upstairs with Virgil, laying him down in his bed to recover.
***
Remus hadn't been able to get to sleep. He lay in his bed wide awake, Roman at his side as he refused to leave Remus upset and on his own. From his nightstand, he heard a small ping. He looked over to see his phone screen light up with a message from Virgil.
Scare-Bear: I know you're awake and beating yourself up about all this. I'm fine now, everything's alright. Go to sleep and don't worry about me. I'll see you soon 💚
Remus smiled and sent a heart back to him. Finally, he closed his eyes and allowed himself to drift off to sleep.