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Even if now Virgil Black was a star, someone famous, who will be remembered in history. When he was younger, Virgil was a punk/goth with a really big crush on one of the theater kids.
The kid Virgil was crushing on was Desmond. He was a big fan of musicals. And would always audition for the plays the school would present. Always getting an important role.
Every day after school, Virgil would drag Patton, his best friend, to the theatre, just in time to catch Desmond and his two friends, Roman and Remy, coming out of their rehearsal.
“If you like him so much, tell him” Patton smiled at Virgil, holding onto his arm, being pulled by the taller kid while he wore skates.
“I can’t just, go and tell him” Virgil shook his head “I’ll just get really anxious and mess up.”
“So then...not telling?”
“No”
Both punks reached the theater right on time. Patton let go of Virgil’s arm and sat down on the stone stairs that led up to the theater.
Desmond walked behind Roman and Remy, re-reading his script, trying to memorize his lines.
“Oh, look” Remy pointed at Virgil at the bottom of the stairs “Your biggest fan is here”
“Please tell me Hot Topic isn’t here” Roman covered his eyes dramatically
“Hello to you to, Princey” Virgil greeted Roman
Desmond laughed at Roman’s offended noises.
“Hello, Virgil” Desmond smiled looking at Virgil
“Hey”
It wasn’t a secret that Virgil liked Desmond. Patton, Roman, Remy, and even Desmond himself knew. And secretly, Desmond liked Virgil as well. Ever since he met the punk, there was an instant connection between them. This chemistry that they had, it was one of the most amazing things to happen to him.
“Any plans for today?” Virgil asked, “Patton and I are going to go skating, wanted to ask if you, and Princey, and even Mr. Sleep if you would like to come.”
Desmond smiled, going out with Virgil? Even if their friends were there. It was a great idea.
“Sorry, Gurl,” Remy said, “We have to practice, and we’re going to be busy.”
“Oh” Virgil’s smile disappeared “Alright, then. Just, wanted to ask”
Soon after that, Virgil and Patton left.
“This kid is going to be the death of you, Dee” Roman used his hands to cover his face “That punk may be good looking, but he’s just gonna drag you down.”
“He’s probably not going anywhere in life” Remy commented
Desmond sighed, every time he talked or even got close to Virgil, his friend would always pull him away, he knew they didn’t approve of him.
From Virgil’s baggy clothes to his makeup and posture. Virgil was just not good enough for Desmond. And the faster he got that ingrained into his brain, the faster he could continue with his life.
A couple of weeks later, Virgil returned to the theater. The show had premiered that night. He and Patton decided to stay behind while everyone else left; they wanted to be able to congratulate Roman, Desmond, and Remy on their great work.
They walked to the exit, and waited…and waited…and waited.
“Do you think we should go?” Patton asked after about half an hour of waiting.
“Yeah” Virgil stood up and left with Patton behind him while wiping off the tears that were threatening to spill from his eyes.
As soon as Virgil and Patton walked outside, Roman told Desmond, that way, they could leave.
Desmond had decided to not talk to Virgil anymore, to take him off his life entirely, and Roman was happy to help. Desmond wanted to go far in life, and he didn’t need a punk holding him back.
After that day, Desmond never saw Virgil again.
Until 5 years later.
•••
Virgil wasn’t dumb. He knew Roman and Remy didn’t like him, and that Desmond thought he wasn’t good enough.
He did hope that wouldn’t get on the way of a possible relationship between them.
It did, that’s how Virgil learned: Desmond may have had a pretty face, but his head was up in space. After that day, when he waited about half an hour for Desmond, and that his crush didn’t appear, Virgil decided he wasn’t going to let that stop him. His life had been revolving around a person who didn’t care. He promised himself to never let that happen again, he deserved so much better.
Virgil didn’t like surprises, there were only a few he would welcome. Like when Patton put a video of him singing to his social media. Virgil’s anxiety had him sitting on the couch all day hugging his knees and refusing to look at his phone; until Patton called him, and told him that people loved it. Patton sent him a bunch of screenshots of the comments people wrote. Virgil was amazed, to say the least, every comment was so nice, so kind. It was the beginning of his life as a star.
(And it would be nice to add that when he was feeling anxious about him being a famous now, he would go back to those first comments, and read them again and again until he felt confident once more.)
It was one of the few surprises Virgil loved and treasured. The other surprise (that also came from Patton) was Logan.
Patton knew Logan from college. They’d become friends through tutoring. Logan was giving classes to get extra money, and Patton had decided to take a couple. (He didn’t really need them, but he did like going. Logan and he could talk about anything for hours, and have smart conversations, though Logan was against it at first, it meant less money and dealing with Patton, who was way too much of an extrovert.)
That led to Virgil meeting Logan. Virgil was having a not so good day and decided to tag along with Patton, they had stayed friends after high school, and Patton (still a pastel punk) had become the drummer in Virgil’s band. He followed his shorter friend to his (not really) tutoring session with Logan (Logan refused to get paid because according to Patton they were two friends hanging out, getting paid to do that was unfair. Also, Logan needed friends.) And Virgil just kinda stayed in the back while Patton talked about theories and ideas he had while Logan nodded and stayed quiet. Virgil noticed how Logan would sigh every few minutes and how he would move uncomfortably in his chair.
“Hey, Patt” Virgil called, the first instance he talked that day “Is there any good restaurant, or something around here? I’m starving”
“Oh!” Patton bounced on his toes twice, smiling “I know this really cool pizza place! I’ll go buy a box for us!” He picked up his bag “Logan, would you like one too?”
“Yes, here” Logan handed Patton a 20 dollar bill “I’ll pay for it”
“Oh, you don’t have to” Patton refused, but ended up taking the money after Logan insisted “I’ll be back soon!” With a final wave, Patton walked out of the classroom.
Virgil noticed Logan’s relieved sigh.
“He can be a bit too much sometimes” Virgil commented, still looking at the door.
“I know he doesn’t mean it” Logan took off his glasses “Thanks, for noticing”
“No problem” Virgil turned to look at Logan, and his heart skipped a beat.
While he hadn’t really paid attention to Logan, now that Virgil looked at him he realized how stunning Logan really was.
Contrary to Virgil’s untamed purple-dyed hair, Logan’s was brushed neatly, leaving his face entirely to view. He looked tired, and had his eyes halfway closed making him look so cute on Virgil’s eyes.
“Oh shit, he’s cute” Virgil muttered, feeling a blush forming in his cheeks.
“I also find you very aesthetically pleasing.”
“You...were not supposed to hear that” Virgil hid his face in his hands, blushing now from embarrassment
“My apologies”
“It’s ok” Virgil uncovered his face, still blushing
“Excuse my being so direct,” Logan put on his glasses “but, maybe you would like an outing with me?”
“A date, you mean?” Virgil asked, surprised, blushing even redder
“Yes, I mean a date”
“Oh” Virgil stared at Logan, looking for any sort of trace of lies, and finding none “Yeah, I’ll love to! I, I mean, yeah, sure”
After that, the rest is history, a date turned into two, and a year later, Virgil was officially moving in with Logan.
The band had landed a couple of gigs, their first album had been released with great success, and they were close to having their name on the map. Figuratively speaking, as Logan would say.
Everything was perfect. Virgil and Logan would fight the world for each other, and the band was as good as good can be.
•••
Desmond had always thought that getting away from Virgil was a good idea, or at least, he tried to convince himself it was.
The acting career had paid off, but he had never really made it big. Not like Roman, who had landed the role of Nick in “The Great Gatsby”; and then had been able to perform on Broadway countless times. And while Desmond was happy for him, there was a tint of jealousy towards Roman. Remy, on the other hand, would more often than not, get the role of the villain (which he didn’t really mind), right now he was playing JD in a community production of “Heathers: The Musical”.
After the whole thing with Virgil, Desmond had never fallen in love with anyone. There had been a passing thing in between him and Roman, but they ended it rather quickly, deciding that friends would be the only thing they’ll ever be. Remy had been dating a psychiatrist named Emile for almost 3 years now, and he was planning on proposing.
“Phantom of the Opera” was probably the most tiring show Desmond had ever played in, he had gotten cast as Raoul, one of the 3 lead roles. Even though the show was still in the very early rehearsals, it had already become routine for Desmond to get home, shower, and collapse in front of the TV watching the news, the boredom of the whole thing made him fall asleep faster.
And even though he knew he wasn’t supposed to, he decided that today’s rehearsal had gone well enough for him to deserve some cookies. So before he laid down on the couch, he went to get the sugary treats Emile and Remy had gifted him a couple of days ago; absentmindedly listening to the news in the background.
“With Christmas now quickly approaching, everyone wants to have that perfect gift. And what is more perfect than taking your sweetheart to a concert of their favorite band?” Talyn, the reporter, said, their bright orange hair shining in the light
“And what better concert to take them than ‘The Shadowlings’?” Joan, the other reporter, added “Right now, we have our crew in one of those! We’re hoping to get an interview with them” the Tv screen split in two, on one side, Joan, with a smile on their face, and on the other, Valerie, smiling holding a microphone. “Hey, Val, how’s it going?” they asked.
The part of the screen in which Valerie was grew in size until it encompassed the entirety of the Tv.
“It’s going amazing, Joan!” She smiled and pointed at the stage, where the concert was currently going on. “It’s so filled with people! Right now, we’re waiting for them to finish to be able to ask a few questions”
The camera focused more on the band, still in the stage rocking out.
Desmond glances up from checking his Instagram and almost choked on the cookie he was chewing on.
“Virgil” he whispered
Virgil was there, up in that stage, rocking out. The crowd going wild in front of him. He hadn’t changed, maybe he’d gotten taller, but it was still him. His Virgil. A star.
Almost dropping the cookie, Desmond fumbled with his phone, trying to call Roman. It rings twice and then Roman picked up.
“Did you hear?” Desmond asked, eyes glued to the Tv “Virgil’s in town, giving a concert.”
“Way ahead of you, Dee” Roman said, a smirk obvious in his voice. “Remy and I have four tickets already.”
“You do?!”
“Merry Bitchmas” Roman laughed. “They also have backstage passes, you’ll be able to see your Chemically Imbalanced Romance up close.”
With that statement, it was decided, a week from then, Roman’s show would’ve already closed, so he would be able to pick up Desmond from rehearsal, and Emile was going to see Remy in Heathers (for like, the fifth time), to then meet up with the others, eat something, and head to the concert.
“Nervous, Dee?” Roman asked when they were getting out of the car
“Nah.” He lied
They walked into the stadium, and soon enough the concert started. Virgil walked out into the stage, and after talking for a bit, the rest of the band joined him and they started to sing.
Staring at Virgil, Desmond noticed he had never seen him this happy. He had a smile plastered onto his face, and there were moments when he would run around and jump on the stage. He looked beautiful.
After the concert ended, Emile found a guard and showed him their backstage passes, the guard nodded and took them to where the band was.
The drummer, Patton (if Desmond remembered correctly), was the first one to see them coming, and he ran at Emile and tackled him into a hug, both of them laughing.
“Hey, Pat, don’t kill the guy.” Brian, the pianist, said, sitting down on top of a table.
“Give him a break” another guy Desmond didn’t recognize said, sitting on a couch with Virgil cuddling his side. “It is to my understanding they haven’t seen each other in months.” He tapped Virgil on the shoulder, who was close to falling asleep. “There are people with backstage passes, dear.”
“Don’t care,” Virgil muttered, cuddling to his side more than he already was
“Dude!” Brian screeched “You don’t want them to go out from here without meeting you, and telling the press!”
“Oh, we wouldn’t do that,” Emile said, still hugging Patton. “Ok, kiddo, you have to let go of me, now.”
“No!” Patton yelled into Emile’s shirt. “I haven’t seen you in so long! Remy can handle a few minutes of me hugging my brother!”
“You got it, gurl” Remy smirked
“Oh, that’s how you got the backstage passes.” Roman realized “That’s your brother”
“Yeah” Emile answered, “If he weren’t, it would’ve been impossible to get them.”
Desmond was paralyzed looking at Virgil, cuddling to the guy with glasses, who seemed to not really care, as he was reading a book while holding Virgil’s hand.
“Hello, Hot Topic” Roman addressed Virgil
“Princey” Virgil shot back “Nice to see you, Desmond”
“Virgil” Desmond reacted “Hello, I, um, need to talk to you about something,... alone”
“Yeah, no” Virgil cut him off, making the guy with glasses look at him. “We’re leaving in a couple of minutes.”
“It’ll be quick” Desmond insisted
“Nah”
“Darling, don’t be rude” they guy with glasses, whose name Desmond still didn’t know, said
“Oh, it doesn’t matter if he’s rude or not” Patton, who was now clinging to Emile’s arm, said. “We’ve known these kiddos since high school.”
“He’s right, L” Virgil added “Desmond, meet Logan, we’ve been dating for… 4 years, 11 months, 10 days, and…” he pulled his phone out to check the time “11 hours with 26 minutes.”
“How do you remember all that?” Brian asked, looking amazed
Virgil shrugged. “It’s a gift”
Shortly after that, the band’s manager, a cool guy named Thomas, came to get them saying that their ride was there. With Patton making Emile promise they would have dinner together soon, they left.
Finally, at the hotel, Virgil threw himself at the bed.
“So, that was the famous Desmond I’ve heard you talk about” Logan commented, calmly sitting on the bed, and laying next to Virgil.
“Yeah”
“What do you think he wanted to tell you?” Logan asked
“I’m guessing something along the lines of ‘I still love you and I know you love me’.” Virgil turned to look at Logan “You know, something like that.”
Logan nodded. “I see, well, he shouldn’t have thought about appearances when you were younger.”
“Yeah, you didn’t” Virgil smiled “And I thank you for that.”
“Of course, love.”
•••
When Desmond returned to his house, he sunk to the couch. He didn’t cry, but he did reflect on himself. And in the past. On how if he had not thought superficially, he would be the one dating Virgil; and it would be him giving Virgil cute nicknames and kissing his cheek.
He missed out because of his stupidity, and now Virgil was with Logan. Desmond had seen it, they loved each other, and nothing would be able to bring them apart.