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When Roman jumped on Logan’s suggestion two months ago, he didn’t really see much of a future in this arrangement. That’s definitely a flaw of his, he thinks. Agreeing to long term things based on his immediate impulses. It’s how he ended up on The Experts when he was only thirteen. That turned out good overall, and it’s how he met his best friend, but it was still a huge thing that he decided within ten minutes of hearing about it.
That actually came up in the last cast interview before the season finale, and Roman surprised himself with his answer. Especially after Logan and Naomi both gave very serious responses about their goals for the future.
“I definitely didn’t know what I was getting myself into six years ago. But hey, look where I ended up!”
This… is different though. Same kind of emotionally charged decision making, very different circumstances. Pretending to date a model just for the sake of avoiding Henry Drake Jr. and his insufferable attempts at courting. It seemed like a great idea at the time. Even after talking it over with Logan, Logan’s college friend Patton, and Virgil himself.
But during that whole period of talking it over and figuring out their plan, Roman didn’t even consider that there would be a Two Months Later Moment.
This moment.
Roman is sitting across the table from Virgil, and forgetting to listen to what his fake boyfriend is talking about as his brain turns over his thoughts. He and Virgil are halfway through a simple dinner of spaghetti (which Roman cooked by himself! from actual ingredients!) before they leave for the evening show at the community theatre. Outside the floor-to-ceiling windows of Roman’s penthouse, the sun is setting and casting a golden-orange glow across Virgil’s white wings, the tips of which are resting comfortably on the floor. Virgil has a distant half-smile on his face as he’s twisting his fork around the spaghetti noodles.
Roman is suddenly very aware of how his heart is growing tight and his head is soaring into the clouds and--
Oh.
He’s… falling in love. He’s falling in love with Virgil for real.
Virgil looks up at Roman and his smile turns into a confused frown. “Are you okay? You look, uh, kinda freaked out.”
“I’m fine!” Roman says quickly. God, his head is swimming right now. Is his expression giving it away? No, he’s an actor, he’s trained himself to control his facial expression. Oh, but his body language is probably too tense, and Virgil can definitely pick up on that, and he still can’t think straight--ha-ha, ‘straight’--no, this isn’t time for a gay joke, oh fuck--
Virgil cocks his head and narrows his eyes a little. Roman, panicking, shovels a forkful of spaghetti into his mouth.Virgil snorts and covers his face with his hand.
God, he’s cute. Roman knew that the moment he saw him, but now… here… in the intimacy of his dining room, with the lighting and the promise of a nice evening together... the whole setting is just perfect. A month ago, he would have taken a picture for Twitter, to feed the story they’ve been weaving, but now Roman just wants this moment for himself.
And Roman may have put more spaghetti on his fork than he was intending. He almost chokes as he tries to swallow it all, pounding on his chest before taking a deep breath of air. Virgil is doing a terrible job of pretending he’s not laughing at him, and Roman is just melting inside over how adorable he is.
“You’re ridiculous,” Virgil says.
Roman is supposed to tease him and they’ll laugh and move on to whatever Virgil was talking about before Roman zoned out. But he hesitates, taking just a moment longer to drink in the sight of Virgil sitting across from him.
This is the side of Virgil that people don’t see when he’s being a model. This Virgil, in a loose black band shirt with slits cut into the back for his wings, slouching in a chair and not posing for anyone or anything. His bangs are falling over his face and his dark circles are more pronounced in the fading daylight. His feathers are messy from being squashed under a jacket on the way here. He hovered around Roman in the kitchen earlier as he finished making dinner, and it was noticeable how excited he was. Virgil outside of the model world is someone both beautiful and special, and Roman feels so privileged to have him.
Even if it’s fake. But that fact doesn’t feel like a problem right now.
The dazzling smile comes easily to Roman’s face. “I’m an actor. We have to be over the top. Can’t all just sit around looking pretty.”
Virgil raises an eyebrow. “You’ve got parsley on your teeth.”
Roman snatches up his napkin. Virgil smirks, but quickly hides it with his glass of water.