Work Text:
It had been 18 years.
Virgil was 27, he was living just fifteen minutes away from his parents, with his fiance, in a small house they had renovated themselves, he was happily teaching english in the local highschool, the same one he and Roman had gone to as kids, life was good, Remus was still hours away, he was in his last year of school to become a surgeon, and he visited every chance he had.
Virgil's life was good, he was happy, he saw his parents almost everyday, he had an amazing relationship with his lovely fiance, Virgil still had his bad days but they were few and far between.
Virgil finally felt content with his life, he realized that one morning just a few days ago, curled in Roman's arms in their bed, the morning sun shining over the two of them, in the small morning hours before their alarms went off and they had to separate, he realized that he had never been more happy or content.
Sadly that didn't last long once he realized it.
It had been a normal morning, at 6am he and Roman separated, Virgil preferring to shower in the morning, would shower while Roman went to the kitchen and began to cook them breakfast and start the coffee pot.
Virgil would get out and get dressed, brushing his teeth and putting on his small amount of makeup that he had gotten used to wearing over the years, nothing as over the top as it used to be, and then he would head to the kitchen, sneaking up behind Roman and pressing a kiss to his neck.
He would fix himself a cup of coffee, then migrate to the couch and put on the morning news while he waited for Roman to finish cooking.
However this morning when Virgil sat down and turned on the news he almost dropped his mug at the picture on the screen.
He took a shaky breath, body shaking as he tried to listen to what the reporter was saying, but only catching a few words over the blood rushing in his ears.
"Murder." "His wife Faith." "Early release." "Good behavior." "Strict parole."
Virgil didn't know what to do, but then he felt a hand on his shoulder and melted into the touch.
"Virgil?" Virgil sniffled and looked up at Roman who was standing over him, Virgil reached up and wiped his eyes.
"Y-yeah?" He asked, voice weak.
"What's wrong honey?" Roman asked, moving to sit next to him, opening his arms.
Virgil slid into them easily, relaxing against him and closing his eyes, he breathed in Roman's scent for a moment, cedarwood and cinnamon, and gave himself a moment of calm before he spoke.
"My dads out of prison." He said, voice shaking. He took another breath and pulled away from Roman. Roman didn't know the full story with his parents, Virgil still didn't feel comfortable talking about it even when he was in a good place, and it never came up in conversation, so Virgil didn't talk about it.
But now it was here in the open, and Virgil was beginning to work himself into a panic over just thinking about that man trying to find him.
"Oh goodness, oh baby." Roman said, gently taking Virgil's hands. "It's gonna be okay sweetheart, it's gonna be okay." Virgil nodded, taking a deep breath.
"Yeah… Yeah…" Virgil let out a sigh. "I doubt he'd come looking for me, it's been years and he… They didn't really care for me to begin with." Roman gently kissed Virgil's cheek.
"That's the spirit, I think." Roman let out a small chuckle. "Come on, let's have breakfast, then you've got a whole day of teaching hooligans and the queer kids that latch onto you." Virgil let out a laugh at that, nodding and standing with Roman and heading to their dining room.
It would be fine, he would be fine.
***
Virgil didn't stop double and triple checking the front door for another week, but after a week with no sign of his father looking for him or trying to find him, Virgil relaxed.
He even forgot about it.
Until a month later.
***
Virgil was sitting at his desk, he was flipping through papers while his students wrote a short story, it was only ten minutes into class when there was a knock at his door, he moved to sitting correctly in his seat as the secretary of the office opened his door.
"Hey Virgil, sorry to bother you but someones here for you, said it was urgent." Virgil's immediate thought was that it was probably Roman, having done something dangerous on set of their local theatres current production, and had hurt himself.
"Yeah of course." Virgil said, standing. "Alright class, I'm stepping out for a few minutes." Virgil looked around the room for a moment before speaking again. "Sock is in charge while I'm gone, I expect you all to continue working on your stories, in silence, and I'll be back in just a bit." The kids all gave a nod and Virgil gave a small nod back before leaving the room with the secretary.
"So how are you and Roman?" She asked, and Virgil let out a chuckle.
"A little stressed, we're currently working out wedding plans, the plan is for the wedding to be in october, we only have about three months left and Roman is going full bridezilla about everything being perfect." Virgil smiled fondly as Ally opened the door to the office for him. "It's kind of cute." He said, smile bright on his face as he walked into the office.
It slipped off his face instantly.
"Hey son." The man said, standing from the chair he had been sat in, he still towered over Virgil, and just seeing him standing in front of him made Virgil want to curl up and cry.
"Hello Edward." Virgil snapped, crossing his arms to hide his shaking hands.
He found him, Virgil had basically forgotten about it but here he was, at Virgil's work, standing over him like he always did, and starring Virgil down.
"Come on now, that's no way to talk to your old man." Virgil stepped away from Edward as he tried to step closer to him.
"Too bad you lost that privilege 18 years ago." Virgil said, narrowing his eyes at his stupid birth father. "I have a new family now, with two lovely dads." Edward sneered at him, but seemed to school his face into a neutral expression before he spoke again.
"Come on Virgil, those aren't your real parents, I'm back! Aren't you going to give me even a small chance? I've changed, I promise." Virgil couldn't help the muffled laugh that escaped his lips.
"You? Change? Doubtful." He glanced at Ally, who was slowly making her way back to the desk, looking ready to call security should she need to. "You don't just change from what you did to me Edward. You hurt me, psychically and emotionally, and you hurt mom, she hurt me almost as much as you but only because you made her. Then you killed her!" Virgil threw his hands up. "And now you're stalking the son that you abused, that you put through hell, and claiming you changed ? I'm sorry but that just sounds like bullshit to me."
Virgil let his hands fall to his sides, gripping the hem of his shirt.
"Oh come on Virgil, that's all in the past, come on, just give me a chance?" Edward begged. Virgil shook his head.
"Sorry, but what you did was unforgivable. Now if you'll excuse me I have a class to finish teaching." Virgil turned to leave and suddenly someone had a vice grip on his wrist, and Virgil was sure it wasn't Ally.
He whirled around to see his birth father's face, filled with fury, as Virgil had grown used to seeing as a child.
But Virgil wasn't a child anymore.
"Let. Me. Go ." He snapped, pulling at his wrist, but Edward's grip was as tight as ever.
"Come on, give me a chance, Virge."
"You don't get to call me that." Virgil growled out, yanking at his wrist again.
"I gave you the damn name, I get to use it however I like." Edward growled, pulling Virgil closer to him. "You listen to me, I am your father, not some queers who decided to go against nature and not be able to have their own fucking kids." Virgil yanked at his wrist yet again, he could feel the bruise forming, he could feel the fear building, he felt like a child again and was close to crying, all fight leaving his body.
And then there was a security guard in the room. "Sir I'm gonna have to ask you to let go of Mister Sanders."
"His names not fucking Sanders its Holden." Edward snapped, Virgil felt a few tears slip down his cheeks, and then the security guard was stepping closer.
"Sir if you don't let go of him and vacate the premises I am going to have to call law enforcement." Edward froze at those words, giving Virgil a chance to yank his hand away quickly, taking a shaky breath as he rubbed his wrist.
"Fine." Spat Edward. "Your loss kid." Virgil watched him go in stunned silence, taking a shaky breath he did his best to calm down, wiping the tears from his cheeks.
"Virgil?" Ally asked, suddenly standing in front of him, when had she moved? "Virgil can you hear me?" Virgil nodded.
"Okay hun, that's okay, just breathe, in and out." Virgil hadnt realized he had spiraled into a panic attack until those words, where suddenly he was aware of how hard he was breathing, of his chest heaving, and he took a few deep breaths, letting them out of his mouth until he was calm.
"I'm so sorry Al." Virgil said softly, wiping his eyes.
"Oh no need to apologize Virgil, do you want me to call someone else to finish up your classes for the day?" Virgil shook his head.
"No it's alright. I could use the distraction." Virgil said softly, taking another deep breath. "I'm gonna head back. Thank you for calling security Ally." Ally nodded, giving Virgil a small smile.
"Of course. Have a good rest of your day Virge." Virgil nodded, heading back to his class.
The rest of the day went by in a blur, instead of the short stories being done that day Virgil encouraged the kids to flesh them out more at home, and decided to instead spend the rest of the class, and all of his other classes, playing hangman with the kids.
Virgil wasn't sure what he was gonna do now that his father knew where he worked, but Virgil hoped that the threat of law enforcement kept him away.