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Virgil kicked his tire angrily. Of course the vile creature had to flatten on him in the middle of nowhere. Now he was stuck on the side of the road in late September, cursing himself for not taking a spare the one time he should have.
The sun was shining down on him, bright and hot in the early afternoon. There were a few trees in the area, but they did nothing to shield him from the heat. Virgil didn’t really want to go back into his car as he had just had a panic attack in the driver’s seat, so he figured he would stay despite the hot weather.
Virgil groaned, pulling out his phone to call roadside assistance.
It was just his luck that his phone died the second his phone app had loaded.
It took Virgil all of his willpower to not throw the phone into the pavement out of anger.
He sighed, leaning his back against the car. What would he do now?
After about ten minutes of sitting there, he figured it would be best if he started to walk. The nearest town was a long way away, but he could hopefully get there by nightfall. He got up and grabbed his belongings.
As soon as he was fully ready to start walking, a car pulled in front of his. Virgil stiffened, worried that the person may be taking advantage of his situation and was going to hurt him.
A man got out of the car and turned to face Virgil. He had brown eyes, brown hair with a streak of white in it, and a mustache. He was wearing a forest green leather jacket over a ripped and dirty white t-shirt, ripped black jeans, and muddy combat boots.
The two made eye contact, and there was no denying it.
Remus Knightley.
Virgil’s worries about being harmed calmed immediately, but now he had a new set of anxieties to deal with. He knew everything about this man before he knew how to walk. They were best friends up until college, where Virgil got accepted into a prestigious art school and Remus went to prison for aggravated assault. Remus committed the crime, but the victim deserved it.
As it appeared, Remus had served his sentence.
And now Virgil had to see him again. In any other instance, he would be running into his arms, but there was a problem.
Virgil didn’t lose all contact with him for no reason. Yes, the prison and the art school made things difficult but they had been so close even that wouldn’t have stopped them.
Virgil had been in love with Remus since they were sixteen.
And now, he was apparently his best shot at getting out of his unfortunate situation.
“Flat tire?” Remus called out to Virgil, walking towards him.
Did Remus not recognize him?
Virgil could pretend he didn’t either. “Yeah, unfortunately.”
“Dead phone battery? No spare?”
Virgil sighed in annoyance. “My phone is at zero percent. No spare. I gave it to my friend Patton when he parked on a glass bottle outside my house a few days ago. Since I have never needed a spare in my life, I didn’t think to get one.”
“Even when driving out in the middle of nowhere?”
Virgil glared at him.
“I’m not judging!” He put up his hands in surrender. “Just curious.”
“It’s a three-hour drive, dude, I’ve gone for twenty-six and never needed one.”
Remus raised an eyebrow. “Twenty-six hour drive? I’d go crazy.”
Virgil shrugged, knowing very well that that statement was true. “Yeah, whatever. What are you here for?”
“I am offended. I come here to help and you don’t even entertain my conversation.”
“Maybe when I have food, water, charged phone, no flat tires, and am not riding through the aftermath of a panic attack, mmkay?” Virgil’s rude tone was able to conceal any anxiety. “So what is your name and are you gonna help me or not.”
“I’ll help you.” Remus pulled his phone out, opening it to see the lockscreen. “My phone’s at sixty-eight.”
Virgil raised an eyebrow. “Precise. Name?”
Remus looked away from his phone and to Virgil’s eyes. “Don’t tell me you don’t know.”
Oh. So he did recognize him. Why didn’t he address him by his name then?
“No.”
“Virgil.” There it was.
“That is my name, great guessing.”
Remus paused.
“You promised you wouldn’t forget me.”
His voice wasn’t Remus’ anymore. It was weak, broken, and vulnerable. He no longer exuded confidence and danger.
Remus sighed at Virgil’s silence, turning around. He refused to face his old friend and crush. He opened up his phone to call roadside assistance.
“I did, didn’t I?”
Remus turned back to Virgil, eyes lighting up with hope. Virgil gave him a small, fond smile, and shrugged.
“Yeah, I didn’t forget you. Did you really think I could?”
Remus ran to Virgil, closing his phone and stuffing it in his pocket. He wrapped his arms around Virgil, lifting him into the air and spinning him around.
“R-Re-Remus!” Virgil laughed. “Put me down and let me hug you properly.”
Remus slowly set Virgil down but kept his arms tight around the emo. Virgil hugged him back, nuzzling his head against Remus’ shoulder.
They pulled back after a long time.
“Don’t you dare pull that stunt again, you hear me?” Remus said firmly, pointing at Virgil with his index finger.
“What? How could I be sure of your identity? You have a twin brother after all.”
“Jerk. You knew it was me.”
"Yeah,” Virgil conceded. “I did.”
Remus raised an eyebrow. “Why’d you lie then?”
Virgil gulped. He didn’t want to tell him. “Does it matter?”
“Yes.” He frowned. “You weren’t scared I was gonna assault you too, were you? ‘Cause I would never hurt you. And either way, no more prison; it took me away from you.”
Virgil snorted, but put a hand to his forehead. There was no real harm in the truth, was there? “No. I was scared about that before I saw it was you, ironically.” Remus laughed at Virgil’s admission. “But...well, we never reconnected.”
“Because of prison.”
“Oh come on, Remus, our friendship could’ve survived anything if we tried hard enough. It was me.”
Remus started to pull away from Virgil, the emo immediately pulling him back.
“I was scared. I still am.” Virgil took a deep breath. “See, I may or may not have gotten the biggest crush on you when we were sixteen. You remember how gay I am. I went through the painful process of having an unrequited crush for a couple years, then you were convicted and I went to college and I couldn’t help but take it as a way to get over you. But as we both know...”
“Distance rarely helps,” they finished together.
“Yeah. So now I’m scared the same thing’s gonna happen.”
“You’re scared you’re gonna fall in love all over again.”
Virgil nodded. “I’m sorry if that hurts things between us.”
“Well, as someone who realized they were gay at thirteen because of how hot you looked in a purple button-up and black ripped jeans, fell in love with you not long after, and thought about you every day in prison, I’d say you’re confession poses no risk to our reunion.”
Virgil’s eyes widened. “You liked me too?!”
“Of course!”
“You bat! Why didn’t you tell me?”
Remus shrugged. “I could tell you didn’t like me like that at first; then I just got used to hiding it when I became unsure whether you returned the feelings or not. I didn’t want to risk what we had.”
Virgil sighed, running a hand through his hair. “What’s done is done, I suppose.”
Remus nodded. “Do you have anywhere to be?”
“I mean, I was driving out to meet with my parents but I’m not gonna make it on time and they were supposed to fly out to Boston right after our meetup. So not anymore.”
“How about this? I call roadside assistance, they tow your car back where you came from or whatever, you use my phone to tell your parents what happened and that you all should reschedule, we drive to the nearest city which is farther than the nearest town so we get there at an appropriate time for dinner and get to sing songs from my CD collection together and catch up, and we eat at a good place I know?”
Virgil smiled. “Sounds marvelous.”