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Virgil has a crush on one of his best friends. It’s a pain in the ass.
Sometimes Virgil wishes Roman and him were still on bad terms, or, at least, not having got over their friendly name-calling to deal with the awkwardness of intimacy. He’d prefer uncomfortable silence to the sensation of his heart squeezed like an orange under the warm pressure of Roman’s head on his shoulder. That was normal now. Uncomfortable silences had died to make way for a painful familiarity. His feelings begged for more than that. He wanted Roman’s lopsided grin to fall on his lips like rain, to hold his hand, to tell him the truth, tell him that…
Roman waits for him at the end of the street. He hasn’t seen him yet. He’s paying attention to his phone, something makes him smile. Virgil smiles too and picks up his phone from his pocket.
“I’m watching you, Princey” he texts just as he walks towards him.
Roman glances up looking for him. Virgil stops dead on his tracks and bursts out laughing.
“Virgil!” says Roman half amused half surprised.
“You looked so genuinely confused”.
“I was. People usually say hi instead of sending a creepy text, but I expected no less from you, Lord of Emo”.
“Shame on me, I thought Pokemon go would have taught you to pay attention to your surroundings”.
“Hey, we agreed on not talking about my Pokemon Go phase”.
“It doesn’t qualify as I phase if you haven’t gotten over it, Princey”.
Roman fakes indignation in his usual over-the-top way.
“This is outrageous, to even insinuate---”
“Yeah, yeah, I already know that Pokemon Go has nothing to do with it” Virgil looks away for a second, his lips curve in a half smile. He then stares at him. “Maybe you need glasses”.
“I certainly don’t!” Roman’s face twists in horror.
“Just imagine it, Roman García, the prince, with glasses!”
“Not gonna happen”.
“You’d look… like… a huge…”
“Don’t you dare say it!”
“Nerd!”
The two hold the stare in a not-so-serious display of antagonism. Roman’s the first to laugh, Virgil follows closely.
“So what’s the plan?”
“I’m guessing we go for a coffee and, after that, we pop at the supermarket to buy the stuff for tonight”.
“Sounds good to me”.
Roman comes back to the table after ordering for both of them. At this point in their relationship he doesn’t even need to ask him what he wants to have. He smiles at the waitress. He looks radiant, so much it’s borderline frustrating, how does he even do it? Then, he stares straight at him and Virgil could swear that the way his stomach jumps is going to give him the hiccups. He wishes he could throw himself at him right now and there.
“I’m so excited for tonight!”
So is Virgil. And he isn’t at the same time. The prospect of spending the night not-quite-cuddling-but-definitely-cuddling Roman while binge-watching Disney films sounds like both a blessing and a curse.
“Yeah, me too” Virgil smiles looking at the table.
Suddenly, his expression changes.
“What happened?” asks Roman.
“My ass is vibrating” the other answers, just as confused.
Roman begins to laugh.
“What?”
“Logan?” says Virgil upon looking at his phone screen.
“Well, that’s weird, that nerd always texts”.
“Yeah, something must have happened”.
“Hi? Is everything okay?”
“Hello kiddo!!” someone screams from the other line.
Roman must have heard the voice, because he instantly smirks.
“Patton?”
“That’s right!”
“Why are you calling me from Logan’s number?”
“Oh, my phone ran out of battery, so Logan lent me his-- falsehood!” Virgil grimaces at the loudness of Logan’s voice.
“Hello, Virgil, Patton took my phone without asking, and if you’re nearby Roman at the moment, I’d advise you to--” the sound of the entire call suddenly changes “why did you press handsfree?” says Logan, from, what appears to be, further away.
“So we can both talk to the kid, you silly!”
“Patton, we’re the same age as him”.
“Guys, I’m kind of in the middle of something” says Virgil, to then look at Roman, who’s laughing his ass off.
“Yes! That’s exactly what we wanted to talk about! How are you two lovebirds doing?”
Virgil promptly covers the phone’s speaker on a panic rush.
“Roman, excuse me for a second”.
He resumes the call as he heads for the exit.
“You told him?!”
“Well, I did for practical reasons”.
“And what would those be?”
“Oh, because--”
“Logan!” Patton’s voice reappears.
“Alright, sorry Virgil, I can’t tell you”.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Sorry kiddo, but we promised to keep it a secret”.
“Uuuuhg, you know what? Okay, whatever. I guess it’s okay if Patton knows, just as long as you don’t tell anyone else, specially Remus! He’d never let it go if he knew I have a crush on his brother”.
“Don’t cha worry ‘bout a thing! Our lips are sealed!”
“Figuratively!”
“Well, we’ll leave you to your date!”
Patton hangs up right after that.
“Date, yeah, I’d wish” Virgil mutters to himself.
He puts the phone back in his pocket and waits outside for a little. He’s worried as to whether or not Roman heard what Patton said, even though he most likely didn’t. Virgil sighs and looks up. The sky has got increasingly cloudier, it wasn’t supposed to rain today, so he didn’t take an umbrella. Roman won’t carry one either, he never does. That would bother him, if it didn’t always give him the excuse to share his.
In the end, he decides to go back in.
“Sorry, that went on for longer than I intended”.
“Ah, don’t worry, I figured. Logan and Patton can argue like an old married couple” says Roman giving him a toothy grin.
Virgil thanks god he was sitting, because his ankles would have gone weak otherwise.
“The arguing is mostly on Logan’s side”.
“Yeah, I believe he only does it to cover up the fact that he finds Patton’s silliness very endearing”.
“Kind of, it’s more about hiding that he’s a lovesick moron with the biggest crush ever”.
“Did he say that to you?” Roman inquires.
“No, but anyone can tell”.
Roman laughs.
“Is that your best friend diagnosis?”
“No, my diagnosis is that they’re dating and keeping it a secret until Logan’s at ease with his feelings. What’s your best friend diagnosis?”
“That Patton has spent three days knitting him an astrophysics’ sweater--”
“Wait, does Patton know anything about astrophysics?”
“Only as much as Google’s first results”.
“Wow, well that’s going to go great… hold on, so that’s why he called me to ask about Logan’s favourite constellation!”
“Yes. I told him to text you. Anyway, it adds up”.
“If we see Logan wearing the sweater, in spite of it being inaccurate, that totally means they’re dating”.
“If that happens, I’m recording it”.
“Send me the video”.
“You’re never going to let him forget it , aren’t you?”
“Duh”.
Roman laughs.
“That reminds me, I hanged out with them the other day”.
“And how did that go?” Virgil replies, a hint of sarcasm in his voice.
“Better than expected. I might be starting to like Logan”.
“Who are you, and what have you done with Princey?”
“Look, maybe Patton’s influence is changing him for the better--”
“Or you just misjudged him”.
“Don’t you give me that smile, Virge!”
Virgil raises an eyebrow.
“Oh, sorry, I was forgetting you’re not prone at all to--”.
“Come on, it was different with you!”
“Was it?”
“Yeah, of course”.
“How come?”
“I don’t know Virge, you push my buttons better than anybody else. You make me feel challenged, and, even if it’s frustrating, it helps me grow a lot. Besides, I was jealous of your poetry”.
Virgil doesn’t know how to respond to that. Lies, he wants to kiss him badly, but it would be hard to explain.
“Uh, hmmm, thanks Princey”.
“Don’t tell anyone about this”.
“I won’t… Princey, your poetry is really good”.
“Thanks”.
Roman stares at him as if he could read his mind, an intensity that’s natural in him, but something’s amiss. Virgil needs to make an effort to remember to breathe. Roman swallows. An invisible pressure grows between them, Princey is playing a pizzicato with his veins and thank god the table’s in the way.
“Aaa… and” Virgil blinks twice, shunning the other’s gaze “what made you change your mind about Logan?”
“He helped me out figuring some issues, told me to talk to you”.
Virgil panics but hides it well enough.
“Oh, about what?”
Roman bites on his lower lip with what seems like nervousness, blink and you miss it, and looks at the table as if it were the most interesting thing on the planet.
“It’s not important, I’ll tell you later”.
“Okay…”
“You’re internally freaking out, aren’t you?”
“Yup”.
“Look, it’s not something bad, I promise”.
“And I promise I’m not okay”.
“Oh, dear lord, a My Chemical Romance reference?”
“What can I say? Sometimes humour is a good coping mechanism”.
About fifteen minutes after that conversation, Virgil has the good idea of checking the time and they decide to leave, because, otherwise, they’d run out of time to watch all the films they intended.
The two get out of the supermarket, loaded with fabric grocery bags; Roman took the chance to do the shopping for the week. Also, it is a non-spoken fact that Virgil’s stay will lengthen a couple days, even if the initial plan is for him to spend the night. It always happens. Depending on the week, one of them ends up being almost a flatmate to the other.
“Hey, Virge”.
“Yeah?”
“Would you mind if we switched Nightmare before Christmas with Mulan and watch it first instead?”
“Why would I mind watching my favourite film first?” he teases him.
“Always ask for consent”.
“Can’t argue with that… shit”.
“What happened?” a confused Roman asks.
“It’s starting to rain”.
“Are you sure? I don’t feel anything”.
“I am. A drop just fell on my nose”.
Roman passes one of the bags to his left hand and extends the other.
“Still nothing… okay, yeah, it’s raining”.
“Told you so”.
“Look, we’re just a few blocks away and it’s barely... why does it get heavier just when I’m about to say--”
“Princey, hurry up”.
It doesn’t matter how fast they run, they can’t get away from the downpour. They aren’t wearing the right clothes either, Virgil is about to slide off thanks to his converse several times, fortunately, Roman’s able to catch him.
When they’re finally able to get to hall of the building, they’re both soaked. The squeaking sound of their footsteps follows them to the elevator. Once inside the reduced space, Roman drops the bags. They’re both gasping for air.
Roman presses his floor’s button.
“For once, we need an umbrella and I forgot it” says Virgil between breaths.
The two begin laughing. Soon that laughter is drowned by the intensity of their stare. Virgil is very aware their proximity, well, more than usual. Roman’s open mouth, his breath, still heavy, and his drenched hair pushed back: it’s all enough to end him. Virgil offers an awkward smile, but it’s not enough to break the huge sexual tension. Is he imagining it? Damn, they’re really close. Emotions are tumbling down on Virgil with the force of a bulldozer. Their legs are touching and Roman’s expression tears a hole inside him.
“Your eyes do things to me” he says under his breath.
Roman hears it. Of course he hears it, he’s right in front of him. Where did that even come from?
“Could my lips also do things to you?” Roman asks, sending Virgil’s blood-pressure to the ER.
Okay, now, where did THAT come from?
“Uhh, I guess--”.
Roman comes crashing down on him and hell, his daydreams may as well be high-school, because they did not prepare him for this. He’s amazed by how weirdly good having the banister of an elevator sticking on your lower back can feel under the right circumstances. Damn, it feels wonderful. He doesn’t even know how he’s still holding onto his bags.
It’s not soft. Loving? Yes. But that intensity is too much to ever being called soft. There’s some sweetness to it, though. Both of Roman’s hands cup his face desperately, his eyes are closed, at one point Virgil also brings himself to close them.
They pull away eventually, oxygen being an issue and all.
“That wasn’t how I planned this” says Roman.
“What? The rain, me almost falling on my ass or the… kiss?” he answers, mortified by getting tongue-tied before saying ‘kiss’.
“No…” Roman continues, equally embarrassed. “Telling you that I’m in love with you”.
“Say what again?”
Roman smirks.
“Virgil, I’m in love with you”.
He looks at him blown away.
“I actually intended to… well, I guess I can show you” right there and then Roman starts to sing. “My dearest friend,”
‘That’s it, I’m dying’ is what Virgil thinks upon hearing the first notes.
“if you don’t mind, I’d like to join you by your side. Where we can gaze into the stars…”
He, also, thinks that if he doesn’t sing to that, he doesn’t get the right to sing to anything else. Ever. So he sings as well.
“And sit together, now and forever. For it is plain, as anyone can see, we’re simply meant to be”.
“Oh my god! You actually sang!” Roman exclaims.
“Emo moral duty? Hmmm, Roman, I like you too. Hell, I’ve had the biggest crush on you for ages…”
“Wait, did Logan know?”
“Yeah, why are you--”
“That nerd! He ‘strongly advised me’ to tell you. He could have started by saying you liked me back! I was terrified!”
“YOU were terrified” he says unbelieving.
“What can I say, you’re a scarier nightmare than the dragon witch”.
“Careful, flattery will get you anywhere. Also, we should probably get out of the elevator”.
“Yeah. And, to your previous statement, as long as I get to hold you close on the couch I’m happy”.
“As long as you kiss me and feed me pizza, you can do whatever you want for all I care”.
Roman laughs.
“Whatever I want?”
“Tss, shut up, Princey”.