Chapter Text
Virgil poked his head into the door of the living room. His whole family were gathered there, his parents cuddled up against each other and watching the Jungle Book, and his older brothers sat on the floor. One brother was working on an essay for his college degree, the other was making sock puppets for the kids at the daycare he worked at. "Hey Dad?" Both of Virgil's dads turned their head. "Can a friend stay the night tonight? He needs a safe space."
The more enthusiastic father, Patton, leapt up as if he was told there was a fire in the house and ran towards the kitchen. "Of course! When's he coming? Does he want cupcakes?" The other father, Janus, rolled his eyes and followed his husband into the next room. Patton was babbling as if Virgil had never had a friend visit before - he had... definitely.
"Don't you want to know his name first?" Virgil shouted back, sitting on he now empty sofa beside his brothers. Patton nodded but carried on talking about cupcake flavours, so the teen answered anyway. "His name's Logan, and he's a friend from my World History class."
"Is he your boyfriend?"
That mischievous smirk from Roman made Virgil growl under his breath and cover his eyes. His other brother, Remus, laughed along with his twin and questioned more. "Oh! Do you have a crush? Our baby brother is growing up Ro - look! I swear he was a toddler shitting his pants last week!"
Usually Janus knew how to stop the taunting and protect his younger son, but he seemed too busy trying to control his husband's compulsion to make cupcakes. "He's just a friend, stop. I really want his to have a safe space here."
"Because you like him?"
"Shut it." From the distance Virgil was at he could kick his older brother's shoulder, and he did in order to stop the questions. Roman faked hurt at the kick and acted dramatic like always - but eventually he stopped the taunting to focus on his Shakespeare essay again. "He's going to be here at 6pm - and he's Kosher - is that OK Dad?"
Janus nodded for his husband. "Got it, I'll cook some vegan pesto pasta." The father mumbled, grabbing the milk and eggs in one swoop and holding them above his head so his husband couldn't reach. Both adults had pink cheeks just staring at each other. That was something Virgil could never understand. His parents had known each other for thirty years but they always seemed to have moments where the world paused and no-one else mattered. Virgil would probably never have that love.
*****
"Thank you so much for the warm welcome." Logan mumbled as he walked into Virgil's bedroom, vegan chocolate cupcake in his hand. He'd already been hugged by one of Virgil's fathers and had an interesting conversation about absurdism with the other. The atmosphere was already a lot better than the environment he was meant to live in - where he had to hide who he was. "Do you mind if I take off my binder? I'm reaching the eighth hour of wearing it."
Virgil nodded, gathering a couple purple blankets and pillows so the pair could sit on the floor and play on the Nintendo Switch before dinner. "Of course, yeah. I'll let you change here once I've set this up."
Logan was immensely thankful to have a friend like Virgil. Virgil accepted him for being Logan, no questions asked, he was just Logan. "There! I'll let you get changed into pjs." Virgil finished with the pillow fort and grabbed a skeleton onesie from his wardrobe. "Text me when you're ready."
Now Logan was alone in his friend's bedroom. It was cozy, a dark purple with black emo posters everywhere. Virgil was given his own laptop and a Switch, and both were safely stored on a large desk Logan would adore to do homework on. Logan unpacked his backpack to find the oversized NASA t-shirt he normally wore to bed, it was big enough to hide his chest so it was the only thing he felt comfy in. The teen sat on the bed to get changed, admiring the bunting on the ceiling that held dozens of family photos. Virgil was smiling in all the photos - and he deserved to smile. He had an amazing family that Logan wished he could properly belong in. He was scared of going home again.
When Logan texted Virgil he was ready the door opened, showing Virgil with a sweet smiling face and holding a dozen of DVDs. "Now... I was thinking we could watch something on my laptop. I have Disney+ and Netflix but if we want to go old-school I pretty much have the entire Disney collection on Blu-ray."
"That all sounds good." Logan laughed, covering himself in a stray blanket so he didn't have to look down at his body. "It's getting a little cold in here isn't it?"
"Yeah, that's what you get between Halloween and Christmas." Virgil looked distracted getting his laptop and making sure the pillow fort stayed up. Then his eyes widened as he realised the time of year. "Oh! Can we watch Nightmare Before Christmas? Please?"
Logan raised an eyebrow and slowly nodded. "I don't think I've ever seen that movie before..."
Virgil stared at his friend like he'd said something blasphemous, letting a squeak escape at the mention of someone not seeing his favourite masterpiece. "OK, we're definitely watching it then."
It was soon it was getting late, and Virgil and Logan had yet to finish their Tim Burton marathon. Virgil was glued to the movie... Until he felt a warmth.
The warmth was on his knee - and he immediately looked to the knee in question. Logan's knee was touching his, but Logan seemed invested in the movie and probably didn't realise.It felt so warm though. And looking at the touch was causing a stone to develop in his throat. His cheeks were heating up too. What was happening?
"Oh... Sorry I didn't realise my knee was there." Logan said softly and with a chuckle, and Virgil's heart felt like it had just ran a marathon. His hands were clammy too. He felt too warm even though the only warm thing touching him was now gone. "Is everything alright Virgil?" Logan chirped - and Virgil felt like he was burning in a fire.
"Yeah, yeah, um..." Virgil raised his head to look at Logan. All his brain cells turned off, seeing Logan smiling with lop-sided glasses and looking so comforting. "I'm totally fine."
Logan's smile became a smirk as silence took over the teens again. "Are you sure?" Logan must be good at mind reading since he effortlessly looked at Virgil's lips and up again. They were very close to kissing in this position.
"Hot chocolate!" The door was slammed open from Virgil's excited father, making Virgil flinch and finally he didn't feel so warm. "Ah, that's why you couldn't hear me." Patton giggled, noticing the tune of Nightmare Before Christmas straight away. "I knocked five times! You have protection if you're preparing for sneaky stuff don't you?"
Virgil grumbled again, but with less energy this time as his mind was more focused on these sudden warming thoughts. "He's not my boyfriend Dad..." That was said with less energy too, since it wasn't thought of with the same disgust. If this was what Patton felt everyday with Janus he wouldn't mind having it too.
His brothers were right with the whole crush thing, and Virgil absolutely hated when his brothers were right.
"Sure thing kiddo." Patton winked at his son and closed the door again, leaving the two teens with hot chocolate. He then paused for a second to gather his excitement - then ran downstairs to leap on his husband and chatter about how Virgil had finally found a boyfriend.