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They should have been used to it, they knew so, yet the thought of millions of eyes pointed directly on them couldn't help but pin a dreadful squeeze on Virgil's chest.
Fame came along with a myriad of adverse factors that made him wish to go back the way it all was before.
He had seen it coming, though. He had millions of years earlier, the moment he had seen how everyone's eyes were set on Roman, just like that day, during their first audition for their old high school's theater club. Everyone's mouths hanging open, or slightly agape, dazed as though they had been in a sort of trance during their entire performance. They should have been more careful with their power, he thought. Too dangerous, that's something he always mused over, caring over every little detail to make his story all the more accurate to what had been predicted.
So, eventually, Roman couldn't have avoided their rise in the acting world to become one of the quickest and most admired in history. Some had copiously reported how they were so sure Apollo himself must have taken his body every time he started acting.
Virgil always smiled at those comments. If only they knew.
A hand on his shoulder shook him from his thoughts back to reality and he was met with Lukas' smile and expectant gaze.
« Are you ready? »
Virgil inspected his surroundings once more: it was a little secluded room that kept him from the outside world, the flashes of intruders' pictures being taken way too close to his face, and the start of another act, perhaps the conclusion of their little play. The place where it would've finally sealed the prophecy of what Moira had wanted.
He took in a deep breath, then gave a small nod to his friend.
The doors in front of them opened, slow and dramatic, held by nothing more than two polite butlers, who made sure not to look either of them in the eyes in reverence. He was grateful for them, they meant two pairs less of eyes to worry over, less people to catch a certain glint of supernatural in his eye and get helplessly mesmerised.
His head spun as he met the brightness of the aisle he was walking down, carefully keeping himself together thanks to the grounding touch of his friend bringing him a step ahead of another.
He was able to catch Bonnie's excited waving from the front seats, Hiro's smile shining brighter than the white walls of the area. The piano's melody that tried to soothe his ears came from another direction, where he had found Dave sitting in front of it, fingers carefully dancing around each key.
Virgil needed to smile, he should've smiled or the world would've noticed. They would've busted them out and he would've doomed them. But he couldn't see anything clearly yet, not until he reached the last few meters of the carpet covered path, where a gentle hand was extended towards him and a pair of green fond irises comforted him from the piercing light.
Roman smiled, and it was as though the room's lights had dimmed in favor of their beam.
Thank their pantheon for their existence.
As he took their hand, Virgil took in the ambiance, finally recognizing his surroundings with a clearer mind: decorations of their favorite colors all over the place, way too many invitees participating in the event, sitting with elegance in their respective chairs, staring excitedly at the scene in front of them.
All eyes on them, as they always were.
Roman's eyes, though, were set on his own, which was all that mattered that day. It was their day, after all. That's how it was supposed to be: their focus only on each other and no other futile matter to worry about.
Yet as the stranger in front of them spoke, he almost felt the need for it all to be over and done with.
He had never done well with crowded spaces, nor with being at the centre of attention, and with Roman being quite famous as of them, it did not make him accustomed to the agitation. What if he did something wrong? What if he happened to smile less brightly and make everyone think the spell was over? What if they stopped believing?
As though they could sense their discomfort, Roman was quick to shoot him a loving glance, half lidded eyes and the same fond smile from before that told him how much they wished they could hold him in their arms already.
« Do your bring offerings for the Gods? » Virgil intercepted the Priest and Priestess' gazes again.
How ironic.
The two soon-to-be spouses nodded in unison. « We do. » they brought forward the various gift prepared: wildflowers, incense, mint, mead, lilies and dandelions, each per every God the Hellenic ritual demanded. Their gifts were touched by a sacrificial knife and then put into a basket by the officiants, who moved and spoke with such automatic unanimity that made Virgil wonder whether they were one person split in two bodies.
« May these offerings be found acceptable in your sight, O Theoi! »
He and Roman were expected to repeat the same right after, he remembered. Or, better, Roman squeezed his hand as a signal to say the same as them. They did.
The Priest stalled the ceremony to recite and sing with a chorus a Hymn to Aphrodite, staying on the theme of weddings. Virgil remembered he had studied that Homeric Hymn back in last year of high school. It felt so far away, he almost ached for that learning experience, maybe with the current knowledge that he was going to get married to the love of his life on the tunes of such poetry. He mouthed some of the words without even realizing, catching Roman's eyes. They smirked at him. He didn't need to enter their mind to find out what they were calling him in their head.
Nerd.
The Priestess took a step forward, pleased by the poetic moment. She then addressed the two. « Today, we witness a marriage between this couple. Marriage is more than a simple recitation of vows. It has a significance to the community in which it takes place, and also a significance in the spirits of those who participate and witness it. » she scanned the invitees with a soft look on her face. « In ancient Greece, a marriage could be as simple as smearing mud on each other's foreheads, or as elaborate as a full temple ceremony with doves and hecatombs and feasting. » Virgil remembered his professors narrating stories about those, showing them various texts and art. There was a project with the cultural anthropology students they did from time to time where they had worked together on a similar topic.
The Priest brought himself forward as well, addressing the crowd instead. « Is there anyone who knows of any genuine reason why these two people should not be joined? If so, let that one speak, or forever hold peace. »
There was a full minute of silence, so long and draining that he could almost hear Dave's desperate “please just wed them already” whisper from the other side of the room.
« As it has been determined everyone's blessing has been promised on our couple, I must only ask this next: Roman Foibos, will you take Virgil Dire to be your husband, to love him, cherish him, comfort him and take care of him? »
Virgil had never seen more determination in someone's eyes before. It was as though Roman was about to take his words very seriously, whilst the masses had been so used to them that they sounded more like empty promises prefacing what everyone usually was eager to see during a ceremony. But then again, he knew Roman was nothing like any of them.
« I will. » I will do all of those, forever and always, until Apollo stops carrying the Sun and Artemis ceases to care for the Moon. Until Demeter stops bothering about her harvests and people stop loving in the name of Eros.
The Priestess talked after them. « Virgil Dire, will you take Roman Foibos to be your spouse, to love them, cherish them, comfort them and take care of them? »
Why would he ever do the opposite? How could he?
« I will. »
Before he knew it, the Priest had already started chanting the Hymn to Hera, soon joined by the Priestess.
« Hera and Hestia, you who witness vows, listen as I ask. Will all of you who are gathered here today consent and support the union of these two, friends being as a family to them and their children? »
Roman and Virgil could distinguish their friends' solemn yet excited voices from the crowd, where a rumble of “we do” came from.
The two officiants then walked closer, joining the couple's hands. They were instructed both to repeat pledges of love to one another, before letting them exchange tokens: both had decided on the classical symbol of the rings, putting a different gemstone to represent the other in their own ring.
« Then let them be joined! And let them make, one to the other, those vows which are between them and the Gods, and let us ask, in our hearts, that the Gods stand beside them in all things. »
They were seated in front of each other and a thin veil was draped over them, to symbolize a sort of privacy; soft music started playing again, signaling for them that that was the moment to exchange their very own words to each other, with none else to hear them.
Roman wore an amused expression as soon as they were sure to be unseen by everyone else. « How are you feeling? »
« We're supposed to be exchanging personal and heartfelt words right now, princey, remember? »
He snorted softly. « What if I already told you everything you needed to hear? »
« Then we stay here and stare into each other's eyes, waiting for this to be over. »
« Oh, what, do you want this to be over 'cause you don't love me? » Roman faked an offended expression. « I can't believe you waited for our wedding to say that. »
« Deal with it. » Virgil could hear the Gods rolling their eyes at them for stalling.
« You're a horrible person. »
« Dang, you waited for our wedding to say that? »
« I know for a fact that you actually love me. »
Virgil shook his head, smiling. « And I'm going to keep doing that, if you'll let me. »
Roman's face softened. « I would like that. »
« It's already been written out for us, but I do believe regardless of what the Fates had decided, I would've chosen the same path all along. No matter how kind the road or sky would've been. As long as you're the one at the end of the trial waiting for me. »
They were left speechless, mouth agape and eyes wider as the veil was carefully lifted from their heads.
Right. They had been given only a couple of minutes.
Their eyes fluttered as a Hymn to Hestia was being recited, the Priestess lifted something in the air only to spill its contains onto the Hearth, yet Roman couldn't be bothered to take his gaze off of Virgil, until they were standing and facing the crowd. They realized they hadn't registered any word of the Hymn.
They both were given a cup of wine to share, until the last small remnant of liquid was left at the bottom of it. Roman took Virgil's hand afterwards, leading him towards the Hearth where he poured the rest of the drink, setting the cup back on the altar alongside them.
Together, they recited. « Hestia, yours traditionally is the first and the last. »
The Priestess opened her arms. « A new Hearth is built, the fire of two houses is joined, the rain falls on the earth, and the river of humanity flows on. »
Along the faint sound of a melody, Roman stepped closer to their partner, who locked his arms around their neck. They met his lips, softly, sealing the promises and vows of the last hour that they both had been musing over for years.
I believe that with each other, we are stronger than we know.
The music grew louder. Both officiants spoke as they broke free. « We give to you this couple, Virgil and Roman, Partners in Marriage, a family under one roof. So be it! »
The invitees all talked as one. « So be it! » they agreed, and applauded at last, standing up to celebrate the newly wed couple with the biggest cheer they had ever witnessed.
It wasn't up until later that day, at an ungodly hour of the morning, that they had finally returned to their apartment, eyes meeting with a faint glow coming from the balcony. Roman had sighed, but couldn't contain that bit of fondness in their features. They opened the windowed door that led to that, followed by Virgil, only to find the only being in existence they were expecting to find.
« So much for subtlety, Apollo. »
Apollo grinned, standing on the balcony's rails as though he were Spiderman. « If they saw me, no one would ever believe them. » he winked, making his way inside the room. « I can't believe you two followed the prophecy to its very core. It was absolutely impressive, I must say, I congratulate you two on making the exact choices you were expected to! »
« I think that would've been easier if you just let it happen as intended instead of popping up one day and telling us “oh hey, by the way, you're expected to do this by the end of the year!”. » Virgil stood with his arms crossed before his chest, earning a sheepish chuckle from the God.
« That wouldn't have been fun, wouldn't it? »
« To be fair, » Roman stepped in, raising a hand. « I was very happy with my task of bringing Hellenism back to its former splendor and fame a couple of centuries ago and I was also succeeding! But you had to bring me to this timeline instead. »
« Yeah, well. What can I say? Eros had bugged me to put you two together and swore you would've made a perfect team.» he looked at the two rings that glinted in the moonlight.« Didn't know he meant love team, but- »
« Just say you like to bring together minor gods and mess with us. »
Apollo snickered again. « Or, yeah, I could have said that. But you know how it is, I could see it, I could see what he meant. I'm glad we made you two work together eventually. Besides, you guys had already met each other without our intervention. It was really meant to be! » he stroked their hair, causing one to chuckle and the other to sigh. He then walked closer to the balcony, again, preparing to fly back to the Pantheon. « The prophecy is fulfilled. » he professed. « There'll be no further need of action from you two. Have a good eternity! » with that, he took off.
« A good eternity. » Roman closed the windowed door, hearing Virgil's quiet laugh. They turned back to him, taking in all the pretty tiredness of their husband. « Yeah, I think I will. »