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“-and that’s when I said, listen here, buddy-”
“Roman, shut up,” Virgil orders his best friend, who makes an offended noise and places their hand over their heart as if they’ve been wounded.
“I’ll have you know, it is very rude to-”
“Yeah, yeah, whatever.” Virgil waves his hand to dismiss Roman, before gesturing to a boy laughing with his friend. “Who is that? Is he new?”
“Aw, does little emo have a crush?” Roman backs away before their shorter friend can elbow them in the stomach as they anticipated. “Okay, okay, I’m sorry! That’s Liam, or Levi, or Lucas, or… something like that. He’s in my first period math, super smart but kind of a show-off, if you ask me.”
“I don’t think you have any jurisdiction to call anyone a show-off, Princey,” Virgil shrugged, walking towards the boys and leaving Roman to pout.
Virgil approaches the pair, and before his anxiety talks him out of it, he asks the blonde boy, “Hey Patton, do you have the assignment rubric for art? I think I lost mine.”
“Oh yeah of course!” Patton chirps, slinging his backpack in front of him. “Just let me find it!”
Virgil smiles at him, and turns to face Liam or Levi or Lucas. “Sorry for interrupting you guys, it was just uh, important. I’m Virgil.” He rubs the back of his neck, all of his confidence drained from being so close to this new kid.
Liam or Levi or Lucas smiles, and Virgil’s breath catches in his throat. “Don’t worry about it, it was a mundane conversation that was vastly improved when you arrived. I’m Logan.”
Virgil feels his cheeks heat up as he reaches his hand out for Logan to shake. “Nice to meet you, Logan. You new here?”
“I just started here last week actually,” Logan grabs his hand and it takes everything in Virgil to not faint because wow, is he gay and this guy is strong. “Thanks for noticing. Although, I would've appreciated it more if you had noticed when I sat beside you in History class on my first day, and have been sitting there since.”
Virgil sputters, internally scolding himself for not noticing the hot guy that has apparently sat beside him for a whole week . “Oh, uh, sorry, I- that class is just really boring, you know? And I usually fall asleep or listen to music so I don’t really, um, pay attention to the world around me. So… sorry.”
Logan begins to respond, but Patton beats him to it, pulling out the rubric for Virgil. “Okay, here it is! It’s a little crumpled by it should still be legible!”
“Thanks, Pat,” Virgil takes the sheet of paper and turns back to Logan. “I should get to class. See you in history?”
“Yeah, see you then,” and Virgil thinks he’s imagining the excited glint in Logan’s eyes. He gives a two-finger salute and walks away, completely ignoring Roman’s questions when he rejoins them.
+++
As the bell rang for lunch, Logan files out of class and beginning walking to his locker. Patton jogs to catch up, bumping his shoulder into Logan’s.
“So,” Patton starts, grinning as Logan nods at him to continue. “You and Virgil, huh? Does someone have a little crush?”
“Please, Patton,” Logan scolds, trying to ignore his flushing cheeks. “I just met Virgil today, there is no feasible way-”
“Logan.”
“Alright, I suppose I could be attracted to him,” Logan concedes, hiding his face in his locker to avoid Patton’s teasing gaze. When he emerges from his locker, money in hand to buy lunch, Patton’s mischievous smile greets him, and rightfully so, Logan becomes concerned. The blonde boy links his arm through Logan’s and begins marching them through the hall.
“Well, it’s a great thing that we’re going to have lunch with him and Roman then, isn’t it?” Patton smiles as Logan sputters, ignoring the taller teen’s protests and pulling him along towards the cafeteria. Logan spends their time in line trying to convince his friend to rethink his sabotage plan.
“Patton, this is a bad idea. I just acknowledged my possible feelings for him-”
“Hi Virgil, mind if Logan and I sit with you?”
“Uh, yeah, go ahead,” Virgil gestures for them to sit down. “Roman is just buying their lunch, they’ll be here soon.”
Logan nods stiffly and begins eating his pizza, silently cursing himself for becoming friends with Patton and letting him lead him into this situation. There are a few moments of awkward silence before Virgil speaks up.
“Hey, Logan?”
Logan looks up, wiping his mouth and nodding for Virgil to continue.
“Roman doesn’t know your name, so do you think-”
“You can call me many different names that begin with the letter L?” Logan raises his eyebrow.
“Please?”
“It would be my honour to mess with your friend.”
“A man after my own heart,” Virgil punctuates his sentence by placing his hand on his chest and wiping an imaginary tear from his eye. Logan ducks his head down to hide his blush from the two men he’s sitting with.
It’s then that Roman makes a reappearance, tray in hand, talking to a taller boy with a smirk on his face. The boy walks away and Virgil has to snap his fingers in his friends face to gain their attention.
“Hello? Earth to Roman?” He calls, chuckling at Roman’s love struck face. They shake their head to clear their mind and sit down to join the three other teens.
“Roman, this is Liam,” Virgil introduces, shooting a wink to Logan, who might as well just die right here.
“Pleasure to formally meet you, Liam,” Roman says, taking Logan’s hand to shake. “Say, have you met Dee?”
“Dee?” Logan asks. “Is that the person you were just talking to?”
“I was just talking to him, yes. Isn’t my boyfriend so cute?”
“He’s not your boyfriend, Ro,” Virgil corrects, stabbing his salad with a fork to emphasize his point.
“Not yet, but if he keeps flirting with me like that? I’ll force him to date me.”
“I’m sure there’s a nicer way for you to ask him out,” Patton playfully scolds. He elbows Logan under the table, to which Logan sends him a glare he can only hope is as subtle as he thinks.
“Nah, I think they’re gonna have to use force,” Virgil shrugs. “What do you think, Levi?”
“Levi?” Comes Roman’s confused whisper.
Logan suppresses a laugh and answers, “I don’t think Dee would flirt with you if he had no interest in you, Roman.”
Roman sends Virgil a look that Logan can’t define, and responds, “Thank you! Someone who has some common sense at this table!”
Patton pretends to be offended, while Virgil chooses to throw a cherry tomato at Roman’s face.
“I’m perfectly sensible, thank you very much,” Virgil picks up another tomato and laughs when Roman protects their face.
“If you’re so sensible, why haven’t you asked out-”
“Because Remus has a crush on Patton!” Virgil quickly interrupts.
Logan feels his heart sink. It’s foolish to think that Virgil could have been interested in him. Virgil is hot, funny, snarky, and in no way attracted to the nerd who sits beside him in history class. His breathing grows heavy and there’s a lump in his throat. Tears sting his eyes as he tries to control himself. How could he have been so stupid? And why on Earth is he so upset?
“-knew Remus has a crush on him, it’s very obvious Virgil. Almost as obvious as your crush on-”
“If you’ll all excuse me,” Logan whispers, his voice not able to go any louder in fear of crying in the very open cafeteria. He clambers out of his seat and speedwalks to the bathroom, doing his best to not draw attention to himself. He hears a Logan, wait! From Virgil, followed by a Logan? From Roman, and he can’t bring himself to laugh.
The bathroom is empty, luckily for him, but he throws himself into a stall anyway. He locks the door and takes off his glasses, furiously rubbing at his eyes to shoo away the tears. He thanks himself for having the common sense to have taken his things with him, and chugs half of his water bottle. He does not want a dehydration headache for the rest of the day.
Logan lets himself cry for a minute or two, before he hears the bathroom door open. Upon instinct, he holds his breath and pulls his legs up onto the toilet seat to hide any evidence that he’s there. He’s relieved to see an unfamiliar pair of paint splattered combat boots - that is, until the owner of said boots calls out into the almost empty bathroom, “uh, Logan?”
Logan silently curses - he figures one of the others sent this person in to talk to him, and from the impatient tapping of their boot, he doesn’t think they’ll be leaving anytime soon. He slides his feet off of the toilet seat and stands up, placing his glasses back on his face and takes a deep breath. He opens the stall door, and staring back at him is - Roman? No, a clone of Roman. A much edgier, slightly scarier, more facial hair having, clone.
“They were right, you are cute,” Clone said, looking Logan up and down. They sat against the wall and patted the spot next to them, signalling Logan to sit. Once he did, Clone spoke up. “My name is Remus, I’m Roman’s twin brother.”
“You’re the one that has a crush on Patton?” Logan asked, incredulously. “But you’re…”
“Scary?” Remus fills in, and Logan nods, albeit a little hesitantly. “I get that a lot, don’t worry. Roman will tell you that I’m terrifying, but that’s just because I've pushed them down the stairs one too many times.”
Logan laughs and says, “Well, I think Roman is obligated to be scared of you.”
“You’re right,” Remus sighs. They sit in a comfortable silence as Logan calms his breathing.
“You know,” Remus starts, “I’m not gonna make you talk about whatever made you so upset that you had to run to the bathroom and cry, just know that me, and the others, we’re all here for you, okay? Life sucks sometimes, and all that we can do is be there for each other.”
“Thank you, Remus. I really appreciate it,” Logan stands as the bell rings for third period. “You coming?”
“I’m always fashionably late to class,” Remus leans back against the wall and closes his eyes. “I think if I showed up on time, my teachers would send me to the nurse.”
Logan nods and begins to leave the bathroom, but not before saying, “oh and Remus? Patton’s face lit up when Virgil said you have a crush on him.”
Logan closed the door on Remus’ sputtering, laughing to himself and feeling slightly better.
+++
Virgil repeatedly hits Roman with his sketchbook while they walk him to art class. “I still can’t believe that you would try to tell Logan that I like him!”
“Well I still can’t believe that you tried to trick me with his name!” Roman retorts, catching the book in their hand and throwing it back at Virgil.
“You’re the one that didn’t know his name in the first place.”
“ You’re the one that didn’t know he was in your class, smartass.”
Virgil rolls his eyes and waves goodbye to Roman, walking into class and sitting in between Patton and Dee.
“So Dee,” Virgil starts, gaining the boys attention. “When are you planning to officially ask out Roman?”
“I’d probably say the same time you’re planning on officially asking out Logan,” Patton cuts in, innocently shrugging his shoulders.
“I’ve known him for all of one day, Pat.”
“And yet you’re completely infatuated with him.”
“Excuse me, but-“
“Guys?” Dee tries, gaining their attention. “Could you not fight in the middle of class? I don’t think detention would be very ideal for any of us.”
The two boys mumble out their apologies, before Patton turns to Dee. “So when are you asking Roman out?”
Dee flushes and tugs his yellow beanie down over his forehead, “I was thinking of asking them to go with me to the Winter Formal. As a date.”
Patton squeals and Virgil nods approvingly.
“Well, as long as you don’t hurt them, I don’t care what you do.” He leans in close, voice barely above a whisper as he asks, “You know what I did to the last person that broke their heart?”
“Nothing, because you’re a good person and you wouldn’t want to hurt anyone?” Dee suggests.
“You wish, Anderson.”
Dee goes to respond, but their teacher begins class, and Virgil sighs a breath of relief. His relief, however, is lived for around three minutes, before their teacher tells them to use the period to finish their current assignment.
“So,” Patton whispers, and Virgil wishes he could disappear so he doesn’t have to have this conversation. “You planning of asking Logan to the Winter Formal?”
“No,” He whispers back, ignoring Patton’s sad expression.
“Why not?”
“Because,” his sentence is interrupted by their teacher shushing them, and reminding them to get back to work. He continues, whispering now, “ Because I just met him, and I have no clue if he even likes me back.”
“He does, Virgil. What’s the worst that could happen?”
“He says no, we ruin our friendship-“
“The friendship you’ve had for a day?”
“Shut up,” Virgil grumbles, shoving Patton. “It would make everything awkward.”
“More awkward than it is now?” Patton raises his hands in surrender. “If you’d rather be two pining idiots-“
“Hey!”
“-that’s fine by me. But when you decide to act on your feelings? Let me know, and I’ll be there to help.”
+++
Fourth period comes, and Logan finds himself dreading it - he’ll have to face Virgil, and he does not want to explain why he ran off during lunch. He elects to just keep his headphones in and hopefully Virgil will ignore him like he has for the past week.
“Hey, Logan?”
Virgil does not ignore him.
“Uh, yeah, what’s up?” Logan takes out his headphones and cringes at his use of slang. Virgil half smiles and sits down beside him.
“You doing okay?” He asks, and Logan can see the concern in his eyes, and damn it, why does he have to be cute and nice?
“Yes, I am perfectly alright, Virgil. Thank you.”
“Of course,” Virgil bumps their shoulders, before turning to look Logan in the eyes. “Listen, I’m not gonna make you tell me-“
“I already heard that all from Remus, but thank you. I really appreciate it,” Logan chuckles. He turns his attention to the teacher as he announces that he’s handing back tests. He looks over, seeing Virgil pale at the announcement.
Logan knows he didn’t do this test - all of his work from his previous school will be counted up and he’ll continue from the new unit - yet he can’t help but feel dread in the pit of his stomach as the teacher places Virgil’s test on his desk, face down.
Virgil peeks at the top corner of his test and swears under his breath. He’s hitting his forehead with the palm of his hand, and Logan swear he can hear him mutter, “stupid, stupid, stupid,” over and over again.
“Everything, uh, gucci, Virgil?”
Virgil lets outs humourless chuckle. “Uh, yeah, yeah I’m- I’m good, yeah.”
“May I see your test?”
Virgil hesitantly hands over the paper, burying his head in his hands. Logan flips it over and inhales a sharp breath through his teeth. At the top of the page, in large, red numbers, it says 52%, followed by see me after class .
“Virgil?” Logan asks. The hum he gets in response urges him to continue. “Do you need tutoring?”
“Oh, um,” Virgil rubs the back of his neck. “I - I don’t know about that.”
“It’s nothing to be ashamed of, you know that right?”
“Yeah, sure,” but the glossiness of his eyes told Logan a different story.
“How about this - I’ll come over and help you with our homework, and we can think of it as a study group. We’re both learning, yeah?” Logan suggests.
“Yeah,” Virgil nods, a small smile creeping its way back onto his face. “Thanks, Logan.”
“Anything for a friend.”
+++
“So the French Revolution-“
“Which one?”
“Virgil-“
“Sorry, sorry, I just - I don’t know why we’re learning all of this? It seems… unnecessary.”
“Why don’t we take a break?” Logan stands from the desk chair and heads to the door. “We will resume in ten minutes.”
Virgil nods and pulls out his phone as Logan leaves, presumably to go to the bathroom. He scrolls through his notifications - a few from Tumblr, Instagram, until a text from Roman pops up.
From: Princey!!
VIRGIL VIRGIL VIRGIL
To: Princey!!
yes roman?
From: Princey!!
DEE ASKED ME TO THE WINTER FORMAL
AS A DATE
WERE GOING ON A DATE
To: Princey!!
that’s awesome!! glad he finally smartened up
From: Princey!!
Me too!!!!!!! :)))!!!
Now you just have to smarten up and ask out Logan and we can go on a triple date!!
To: Princey!!
triple?
From: Princey!!
Remus asked Patton out yesterday!!!!
Virgil decided not to answer just ask Logan walked back in. The latter checked his watch. “Still have six minutes left of our break, it seems.”
“Yeah,” Virgil mumbles. At Logan’s concerned look, he elaborated. “Dee finally asked Roman out. They’re going to the Winter Formal together.”
“Thank heavens,” Logan sighs, slumping down into his chair. “If I hear Roman complaining about how Dee won’t ask them out one more time …”
“And, uh… Remus is going with Patton.”
“Really? I’m surprised he didn’t chicken out,” Logan says, shrugging. “So, that just leaves you and me, right?”
“Yeah, um, we’re the only two without…” Virgil’s eyes flick down to Logan’s lips, and he truly hopes that his friend is as oblivious as he says. He swallows hard, adding, “Without dates.”
“So the logical thing would be to go with each other.”
And Virgil is glad he didn’t choose to take a drink at that moment. His face goes red and he stammers out, “You… you want to go, uh, together? As-“
“As friends, yes. I’m sure it would make for a less… lonely night.” Logan looks unsure, “that is, of course, if you’re not planning on asking someone else.”
“I’m not!” Virgil answers too quickly. “I’m… I’m not.”
“Satisfactory. I suppose we should coordinate, then. What’s your favourite colour?”
+++
“As friends?”
“As friends,” Virgil sighs, adjusting his backpack straps as he walks with Roman. “But he still wants to match, so I’m here to find a blue tux and a purple tie, and honestly, is blue really my colour?”
“Virgil, calm down,” Roman pauses their walking, thankful that the mall isn’t very crowded. “You’re getting worked up. Blue will look lovely on you, I promise. Is he wearing the same thing?”
Virgil takes a deep breath and opens his eyes that he didn’t know he closed. “No, uh, he’s getting a purple suit and blue tie.”
Roman’s gasp would’ve scared Virgil, had he not seen the excitement in his friends' eyes. “You’re wearing each others colours? Virgil that is truly-“
“Say adorable and you’re dead.”
“-adorable.”
“And now I’m shopping without you,” Virgil begins walking away, until Roman catches up to him and reminds him which of the two of them has style, and which one wears a hoodie everyday.
They spend the afternoon going from suit shop to suit shop, only getting mildly distracted when Roman sees a dress they just had to try on.
Finally, they find the perfect suit - navy blue, and very subtly pinstriped. Along with that, Virgil buys a purple tie, matching almost perfectly to the patches on his hoodie.
He’s as ready as he’ll ever be.
+++
Logan sharply knocks three times, and stands back, waiting for the door to open.
“Oh, hello Logan!” Says Virgil’s mother. “Come in, come in, Virgil is almost ready.”
Logan nods, accepting the invitation. He stands in the doorway, tapping his foot. He pats his pocket, and soon after all his worries come to the front of his head. What if he hates it? What if it’s inappropriate for a school dance? What if-
“Logan?” Virgil is right in front of Logan, waving his hand in his face. “You alright?”
“Yes, I’m…” Logan takes the opportunity to finally look at Virgil - his blue suit fitted perfectly around his shoulder, his white shirt contrasting perfectly with his pale skin. Logan feels his mouth go dry, because damn is he gay . “...fine.”
Virgil smirks, “you sure about that?”
“Yes, I am perfectly alright.” Logan clears his throat, “you look… very handsome.”
“Oh, uh, thank you,” Virgil flushes. “You look great, too.”
“Thank you,” Logan smiles.
“Shall we go?”
“Oh, um, actually,” Logan pulls the small box from his pocket. “I got you something.”
Virgil takes the box, the look of surprise on his face morphing into excitement. He pulls out the handkerchief, black with constellations printed on it. “Logan, this is… beautiful. Thank you.”
“Of course. You spoke about how fascinated you were by the stars and I saw it and thought of you, so...” he pulls out a second handkerchief. “I got one for myself, as well. Now we are truly matching.”
Virgil fiddles with the handkerchief and eventually manages to fit it into his pocket. “Now, shall we go?”
“Let’s.”
+++
The venue is decorated with blues and silvers, snowflakes at every table and white Christmas lights strung on the ceiling.
The group found table 16 and sat down with their respective dates.
“So, Logan,” starts Roman. “How’re you enjoying your first official dance at Sanders High?”
“I suppose it’s satisfactory. Though I’m sure the food will not be to my liking,” Logan looks at Virgil and mutters, “my date is quite nice, however.”
The flush on Virgil’s face is enough to tell Logan that he’d heard. “It’s never good, by the way,” he answers.
The DJ turns on a slow song, and Virgil proposes, “Do you want to dance?”
“It would be my honour.”
The two make their way to the dance floor, holding hands and sufficiently blushing. Virgil holds onto Logan’s waist as Logan moves his hands to Virgil’s shoulders. They sway for a short while until Patton “accidentally” pushes them closer together.
Chest to chest, Logan feels his heart figuratively pounding out of his chest. He looks up at Virgil and his partner smiles, and Logan is overwhelmed. He leans up.
He leans up and kisses him.
Virgil, to his credit, is only surprised for about three and a half seconds before he kisses back. His hands move from Logan’s waist to his cheeks, and he pulls him in impossibly closer.
They break apart when the song ends, and pretend to ignore the cheering from their friends. Slowly, Virgil leans down again for a soft, shorter kiss.
“So,” Virgil says.
“So,” Logan replies.
“What do you say we go on a real date, hmm?”
“You mean going to a school dance as friends and then kissing halfway through doesn’t count as a real date?” Logan chuckles, “and here I thought I’d been doing it correctly.”
“You’re a dork.”
“ Your dork.”
“Yeah, I guess you are mine.”