Chapter Text
There wasn’t much about kindergarten Virgil could remember, especially his first day even though that was the day he met his best friends. He remembers being very scared, his three older brothers had told him the teachers pluck your hair if you’re naughty and they have an entire hour of classes dedicated to beating up the weak kids – so little Virgil wasn’t exactly sociable. Before lessons started the new kindergarteners were allowed to play with whatever they wanted and without much hesitation Virgil went to the art and crafts section. He had always loved drawing.
Virgil can’t remember what he was drawing, he just grabbed a nearby pencil and was trying to draw a circle with a fisted grasp around the lead rod. He was so focused on what he was drawing he didn’t realise a fellow kindergartener was sat beside him. “You like purple?” The chirpy voice asked as a purple felt tip pen rolled into Virgil’s view. He looked up to spot a happy looking boy with curly hair and light blue eyes holding a giant packet of colourful pens – too many pens for Virgil to count. “I’m Patton!” The boy said proudly, bringing out his hand and grabbing Virgil’s to shake it.
“I’m Virgil…” Virgil said quietly, almost a whisper. But Patton seemed to hear the name anyway and sat closer to his new friend, grabbing some paper and sprawling lines all over the paper and table with all the many colours, explaining how his favourite colour was blue, then it was grey, then it was white, then it was black…
A knock noise erupted from Virgil’s forehead as his head hit the wood of the table. He definitely thought the hour of fighting for no reason was about to begin as tears clouded his vision. Patton immediately stood and shouted – following a kid in a red Fireman Sam t-shirt. “Meanie! It’s mean to fall on people!”
The teacher comforted Virgil as Patton chased the kid that fell on him. Eventually he managed to topple the boy with a glare a parent would give a misbehaving child. “You’re mean. You say sorry now.” Patton said simply to the kid, and then dragged him back towards Virgil. The kid just looked confused even as he finally approached where he fell.
“My name’s Roman?” The kid chirped as if unsure of his own name, looking at Patton then Virgil. Patton pouted and crossed his arms, but Virgil only giggled, feeling less hurt now as the teacher left him.
“I’ll just call you Mr Underarm Stink!” Virgil stuck his tongue out and turned back to his drawing. Patton also sat and scribbled and after some hesitation Roman did too, grabbing some of the class’ pencils instead of Patton’s and drawing a large castle (with some of the colours landing on the table of course).
So for a while Virgil, Patton and Roman were drawing together in almost silence (only Patton was talking). The three were only disturbed when Patton’s dark blue colouring pen was stolen, and someone sat opposite Virgil. The new kid wore a plain dark blue t-shirt and had large black glasses shading his eyes. The three small children immediately stopped what they were doing and looked at the new member of their group.
“What’s your name?” Patton cheered happily, making Roman double-take as if he couldn’t process the possibility of someone calling him a ‘meanie’ less than 5 minutes ago being nice to someone else.
The kid looked up from what he was drawing (he was even using a ruler – Virgil didn’t know what that was yet apart from a weapon used by his older brothers when they wanted to torment him) and tilted his head. “Logan…” He mumbled, the back of the pen poking his mouth as he kicked his legs back and forth. Patton smiled wide and that moment was when Virgil realised he had met his group of friends.
*****
Virgil knocked at his friend’s door, already hearing jokey shouting the other side. He looked around the front garden as he waited, a cherry blossom tree got its petals stuck in his hair and a few birds were chirping to each other – maybe laughing at the misfortune of where he stood. This was his friend’s Roman’s house, his parents and brother were out for the day and night so he organised a house party/sleepover. The only problem Roman had with the house party was that he had only 3 friends.
To be fair, at least all four friends stuck around. They all met in kindergarten and hadn’t grown apart, even though they were now all about to graduate high school. Virgil’s parents loved their little friendships – probably expecting the four of them to be chasing girls at this age and making plenty of mistakes they’d cringe at in 20 years. Little did they know all of them were more attracted to guys, including their precious little son, but there was definitely plenty of mistakes in their friendship group.
The door was opened quickly by none other than Patton – the cheeriest friend who immediately brought Virgil into a hug. He wore a stripey yellow, pink, and blue jumper – everything he wore was soft. “Virgil! I made cupcakes!” He screamed and held Virgil’s hand as they ran into the house. Virgil’s two other friends were already in the kitchen, Roman sitting on the counter with a bowl of strawberry ice cream and Logan leant against the wall with a mug of either black coffee or extremely rich hot chocolate. Patton gasped dramatically seeing Roman eating and ran towards him. “I’m baking Roman! Put the ice cream away.”
“It’s just a snack.” Roman mumbled back, sticking his now pinker tongue out at his friend as he scowled and got the cupcakes out the oven. Logan also chuckled slightly as he sipped his drink, although kept to himself as he usually did. Roman then stuck his tongue out at him and stuffed his face with more ice cream. “It’s not like we’re going to all go on a sugar starve.”
“Still, I don’t want you to get a belly ache.” Patton smiled back, his usual father of the group role in place. After a few more spoons Roman placed the ice cream back in the freezer. “What’s the plan tonight?”
Roman shrugged and sat on the counter again, his legs swinging. “Dunno, do gay shit.” He responded simply as he shook his hair and looked out the window. Although they all knew the only gay shit they’d do with each other is friendship gay shit. None of them were each other’s type and they were all at different places in their sexuality journey. Patton always knew he loved everyone and had accepting parents, he hadn’t come out at school but didn’t need to. Roman realised he was gay in late elementary school – even dated Patton for 3 months in 7th grade but decided they were better as friends. Virgil came out as bisexual in middle school to his close group of friends and no-one else as his family wasn’t accepting. Logan only admitted he wasn’t completely straight the year before after being known as the ‘token straight’ of the group throughout all of high school. Dating or being seriously romantic with each other just seemed odd – they viewed each other as brothers and had way too many cringy memories for their ideas of each other to change.
“There’s a documentary I wanted to watch with you guys, it’s quite interesting.” Logan finally said as he finished his drink and washed the mug under the tap. He had a little bit of staining from what he was drinking above his upper lip which he wiped away in between speaking. “It’s called The Final Flight and it’s about the failed space mission.”
Roman chuckled, this time rolling his eyes. “Cheery.” He tutted, smirking at Logan as he remained focused on washing up his cup and the baking equipment, but Logan had a small smile. Roman then giggled a mischievous little giggle he always did when he was planning something the people around him would regret him saying. “I’d say we play spin the bottle.”
“No.” Virgil and Logan snapped at the exact same time, Logan dropping a sponge into the sink purely at the idea. However Patton seemed to smile wide at this thought as he covered himself in icing. Virgil and Logan tried glaring at him to not encourage their musical theatre friend’s behaviour, but there was no luck.
“Ooh that sounds so fun! Let’s play it after the movies!” Patton cheered, eventually finishing the cupcake decorations and carrying the sweet treats to the house’s living room which was decorated in pillows and blankets for this particular get together. Roman followed with a laugh, boasting about how he was Patton’s favourite and they were all going to make a mess of themselves this evening.
The world silenced with Virgil’s two friends in the other room. Instead of joining them straight away Virgil sighed to himself, and soon realised Logan was stood beside him looking at the pair of extroverts through the hallway. “Did you read the Agatha Christie book I gave you?” Logan hummed, his hands behind his back and his glare determined. Virgil always had voice envy over his friend. Logan’s voice was monotone and gentle – not gentle like Virgil's who either sounded bored or anxious with no in between. Even before puberty, Virgil found Logan’s voice relaxing.
Eventually Virgil was brought out of his never-ending thoughts by Roman and Patton shouting for their two other friends. Logan didn’t mind the long response of course – both of them adored the silence they only really got with each other. “I’m on the last chapter now, I’ll give it to you on Monday Lo.”
“That’s alright.” Logan whispered as he walked forward, smiling softly at Virgil. Virgil followed and sat at the top of the sofa like usual for the first movie – no doubt they’d be watching movies for at least 5 hours.
*****
Before long the four friends were sat in a circle around one of Patton’s pastel water bottles. Patton was almost jumping as he sat cross-legged on the floor, Roman hugged his knee nonchalantly as the bottle spun and Logan tried to distract himself from the situation by one of the many books he brought everywhere. They had already had a turn asking each other truths or dares – Roman had to lick the carpet (it tasted like lavender), Patton had to eat a cupcake while doing a handstand (handstand was helped by Roman, he almost choked either way) and Logan had to answer who his least favourite teacher was (after a lot of pushing he answered the Gym teacher Mr Sanders). The bottle spun quickly but eventually slowed and landed… On Virgil.
“Shit, truth.” Virgil snapped, making quick eye contact between the bottle and his friends. Patton and Roman whispered to each other excitedly – which only made Virgil more anxious. Of course, the pair would plan something big. Virgil had been nervous ever since he was a child and the only thing that got him out of his comfort zone was his two more extroverted friends. Logan was there to make sure they wouldn’t push him too far and make him have a panic attack.
“How about… explain why I heard the vague tune of Katy Perry’s Teenage Dream through your headphones last week.” Roman chuckled as Virgil’s face became red. No way was he revealing his guilty pleasures like that.
“Dare.”
Roman and Patton smiled mischievously again, the smirk even made Logan glance up from his book for a second. The two giggled and finally spat out a sentence – although it wasn’t a welcome one. “You and Logan go on three dates.”
Logan gave a confused squeak. “Why am I involved in this?”
“Because you two are so cute together.” Patton giggled, clapping his hands with a glow in his light blue eyes. Sure, this group of four did have a platonic relationship but that didn’t stop the hopeless romantics imagining situations. This wasn’t the first time Logan and Virgil being a good couple was brought up. Ever since the pair held hands during an Irish dancing performance in fifth grade it had been a constant friendly taunting point. Actually challenging the two introverts to go on a date was new though, let alone three.
“Can I just say why I have Katy Perry’s playlist saved on my Spotify?” Virgil begged but both Patton and Roman refused. He had asked for a dare and used his forfeit – there was no going back now. Virgil had to go on three dates with Logan.
At least Logan didn’t seem exactly happy with it either. He reluctantly agreed and said he’d organise it as he wouldn’t want to make Virgil overly anxious because of their friends’ stupidity. He then placed a bookmark in his book and stood, offering to make dinner and to make Virgil’s favourite meal of spicy vegan meatballs. He even offered to make some non-alcoholic grape margaritas. Patton and Roman fangirled about how the pair were acting like a couple already, but Logan didn’t entertain them and continued as normal but disappeared as soon as possible. All Virgil cared about was his meatballs.