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"Hey, um, Virge…can we talk?" Minerva stood in the doorway of his room, shuffling her feet uncharacteristically nervously.
"Oh? Yeah, what's up?" Leaning forward, Virgil sat up properly, setting his phone down on his black comforter. Min wasn't looking at him and he felt a rock drop in his stomach. "You're not in trouble, are you?"
Minnie shakes her head, taking her Tangle out of her pocket. She glances down the hallway and Virgil realises she's worried one of the middles will overhear whatever she wants to say. Time to big brother, he can nap later. He lifts his comforter off and swings his legs over the edge of the bed.
"Starbucks? It's been a while and they just brought out the fall stuff." Minnie breathes a sigh of relief and grins at him.
"You know me so well, Parabore." Virgil huffs in lieu of a laugh as he pulls on his converse. "A bitch needs their pumpkin spice."
"Don't let Pat catch you speaking like that." He ruffled her hair, laughing lightly as she waves him off, and grabs his car keys from where he dumped them on his bedside table after his shift. The two of them bundled into Virgil's beat up Deathtrap- affectionately named so by Remus and agreed on by Janus- and made their way to the nearest Starbucks.
The shitty little stereo struggled its way through Virgil's burned CD of punk Disney covers, Minnie kicking her feet as she hummed along. Virgil couldn’t help but glance over to her, normally dead set on the road.
He’s worried about her. He worries about a lot to be fair, his siblings included, but his stomach does an uncomfortable flip when he thinks about how nervous she was earlier. Minerva doesn’t do anxious. Not when Remus managed to knock out his tooth in front of her, not when Patton burnt his hand real bad trying to make pancakes after the Incident, not when Virgil himself passed out mid family dinner from exhaustion. All things that freaked out Virge Minnie took on in stride. The dinner thing was kinda embarrassing rather than scary but still.
“Want me to order, Fretzilla?” Min was looking at him expectantly. Oh shit, he’d zoned out. He’s been doing that a lot lately. At least zoned out Virge had managed to pull into a parking space, the motherfucker was useful for something he guessed.
Great, he was fucking bullying his dissociation as if normal self deprecation wasn’t enough.
“Uhhh, yeah, sorry, here.” Virgil passes her his card. “Just get me a mint tea, had a Monster at work.”
“They got that fancy jade and lemon one on, you want that? Seeing as, you know, spectrum ends day out?” Virgil shrugs.
“If you think I’ll like it, sure.” Minnie nods and disappears into the Starbucks. Taking out his phone to scroll Tumblr with one hand, Virgil sticks his other hand in his jacket pocket to click away at his cube. The buttons had this really satisfying pop to them and the switch was real easy to just flick with his thumb. Logan got it for him one Christmas. Well, technically dad got it but it was Logan’s idea.
Mom never liked the clicks. She always focused on the little sounds, the fan whirring or someone chewing or Logan and the twins’ verbal stims. Getting his cube out in the car usually ended up with a hand in his reminding him to put it away. The noise distracted her when she was trying to drive.
Suddenly, that thick lump of grief sat heavy in his throat again, clawing deep into his chest. Virgil bit back tears, taking his hand back out of his pocket to pick at his sleeve. The loose thread rolling between his fingers wasn’t as good, not in the slightest, but crying in the middle of a Starbucks parking lot while waiting for an overpriced green tea was not a good look.
There was a gentle knock on the car window, muffled due to the thickness of the glass but it still caused him to jump a little in his seat. Minnie grins at him through the window before waving the cup at him. Rolling his eyes with a soft smile, Virgil pops his door open.
“Your tea, my royal angstiness.” Minerva mock bows at him, keeping the Starbucks cup impressively steady. He grabs it by the top, ignoring the steam heat for the sake of looking like L looking cool. Minnie raises an eyebrow at him, holding her pumpkin creme with both hands now they were free. “You’re so awkward it’s painful.”
“Shut up and get in the car.” Minnie's giggles follow her as she switches over to the passenger side. Slamming his door shut, Virgil leans over to scowl at his baby sister- and he does scowl, he isn't pouting at all- while she swings herself back into her seat. "You're so mean to me, Min."
"Well, maybe you're just easy to be mean to, have you considered that?" Minnie sticks his tongue out at him.
"I'm never buying you Starbucks again."
"What!? Hey, no-" Virgil waves her protests off, starting the car. It took its sweet time to start up enough to move and the noise of the engine sparking to life cut her off pretty effectively.
"Don't worry, you're good. I'm only joking." She settles down with a huff. “Come on, Min, you know I was kidding.”
Virgil pulls out of the Starbucks car park, Minnie sipping her pumpkin creme as he drives to the Park. With a capital P.
Okay, context. There was like 3 parks really near them. One big one where all of the moms would be taking their fucking toddlers in this weather and one had a skate park where all the pot heads and smokers hung out. Teenage Virgil had spent too much time there, his sister deserved somewhere nicer. Especially if she needed to talk.
That left one park. It was small and quiet, more of a sightseeing spot by the river. Their dad had taken him where when he had first come out. Then his mom when she had to tell him he was getting another 2 siblings at once. Then he took Patton here when he had to break the news about…well, yeah.
He pulls into the few parking spots, taking his tea out of the cupholder and turning off the Deathtrap. He clicks his door open and steps out, causing Minnie to look up at him
“Come on, out we get.”
“Where are we going? Are you finally giving into the Cain instinct?” Virgil raises an eyebrow at her.
“Which twin am I out with again?” Minnie sticks her tongue out at him again as he leads her down the path. The bench he wants to take her to is a little hidden, tucked behind some trees on the edge of a brook. Not a lot of foot traffic, away from where people can hear them. Perfect for personal conversation.
He sits, patting the bench beside him. Sighing, Min slips next to him. They stay in comfortable silence for a bit, Virgil sipping his tea. Minnie was right, this is nice, the lemon and jade were a good add in.
"So." Virgil breaks the silence, causing Minnie to look over at him. "What was it you wanted to tell me?"
Minnie looks away, staring into the brook. Her hands tighten around the travel cup and Virgil can practically see her brain working overtime to think of a way to break it.
"I can be anything, right? You said that once when I asked if I had to kiss boys because you did. You said you didn't care if I liked girls or boys and that you'd be okay with whatever." Virgil nods, humming.
She had been about 7 when he came out and he remembered having to tell her that him kissing boys made him happy. He also remembers having to explain that Minnie and Remus still had time to make that decision. Honestly, it was more shocking to Virgil that they remembered that conversation at all.
To be fair, he was like 90% sure Remus was some kind of queer anyway.
"Do you like girls?" Virgil asks tentatively. That might not be it but he wants to make this easier for her. "It's okay if you do, Minnie."
"No! Oh no, that's not it. Girls, girls are great but…" She hesitates before sighing. "I don't…I don't feel like one."
Oh.
"Oh! Oh, okay!" He winced as his voice cracked. Way to sound supportive, Virge. He took a breath.
"Do you…know what you like better?" Ew, wording hard. “How can I help?”
She- they? untensed and Virgil felt a rush of relief. He hadn’t fucked up too bad then.
“I, um, me and Remus have been trying out some stuff.” They steady themselves with a breath, shake disappearing from their voice as they gained back some of their confidence. "I like he/him and I'm a boy. I'm fairly sure. I hope."
“Okay, that's not a problem, dude.” Virge turns to face him, shifting on the bench. “So Reek knows, is it just me right now as well? Do you wanna tell the others?”
His brother started wringing his hands and Virgil fished his cube out of his jacket. Min took it, smiling at him.
“Pat knows, I think. I don't know if he overheard me and Remus talking about it or it's the family gaydar but he keeps offering to take me to get my hair cut and shit.” Min flicks the joystick.
“Do you wanna cut your hair?”
“Maybe…” Looking away from Virgil, Min wraps his ginger braid around his hand to look at it. “I kinda like it long…”
“It's up to you, man. It's always gonna be up to you. You know we'll be here no matter what.” Virgil wasn't the most affectionate but he reached over to put his arm around his brother. Min had other ideas though and suddenly shot forward. Letting out a small oof at the contact, Virgil let Minnie hug him, wrapping his other arm around his baby brother.
“Thank you…” Min's voice was muffled in his jacket. He rubbed their back a little awkwardly and hummed in response. “ ‘s Roman.”
“Huh?”
“My name. It's Roman.” Virgil smiles softly.
“Thank you for telling me, Roman.”