Chapter Text
Virgil’s dream job, ever since he was small, was to be an investigative journalist. He started writing daily reports about recess in elementary, then in middle school and high school he joined the journalism club and the school paper, then he majored in journalism for college.
He was lucky to find his perfect workplace after college, a hybrid workplace where he only needed to be in office three times a week and could spend all day writing articles. Sure, the job he scored was for the romance column, but there must be ways to work yourself up to the cool stories. He could spend a couple of years writing about bad first dates.
Apart from it had now been five years since Virgil started at the romance column – and he had enough of it. There was a role in the investigative journalism department that opened, Virgil had applied for the position and responses would come today. He had been thinking about this email for the last week, imagining the ‘congratulations on the position’ email and then being sent on an adventure into politics or current events rather than being stuck in front of a computer.
He gave a dejected sigh when he read the first line of the email. ‘We’re sorry to inform you…’ – those five words meant Virgil was yet again going to be stuck in the uninspiring position he was in.
Luckily Virgil worked with two friends that always made his day better. “Good morning! I made cupcakes last night, did you get the email?” Patton arrived in the bright blue suit, carrying a batch of freshly baked cupcakes. Virgil took one and groaned, turning to his draft on a date he went on where the date took him to an Indian restaurant before going on a rant that curries were ‘feminine’. Patton gave his friend a hug before sitting and doing his own work. “Trust me, I bet the higher-ups just didn’t bother reading your resume. You’ve got the skills for all the cool journalism stuff.”
“Maybe if you get a successful partner they’ll have to promote you.” Next to Virgil was his second work best friend, Janus. “Or just stop dating women, that’ll get the readers down.”
Virgil was bisexual, dating both men and women equally. He was closeted when he first got this journalism job, he didn’t want everyone knowing his personal life, and even now he changed the pronouns of half the dates he went on. Keeping the pronouns as original would be risky, but it might just work.
“More important news though – there’s another one of us on the team.” The way Janus said ‘us’, accompanied by a flick of the wrist, meant only one thing – another member of the LGBTQ+ community had joined the journalism company. It was very cis-het in the office at the moment, with Virgil’s bisexuality, Patton’s homosexuality, and Janus’ aro-aceness being the only sexual diversity. “I saw him around for his first interview last week and he’s our new investigative interviewer, he wore a pride pin on his suit at the interview so pretty sure he's one of us.”
“Oh, that’s delightful! We should invite him to Friday drinks, what’s his name?” Patton knew his job for the day was to recruit a new friend, like he did with Virgil five years ago and Janus three years ago. Apparently he was called Logan, he came into the office on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday and he hadn’t told Janus anything else. Very secretive indeed.
The workplace continued as normal though. Virgil was on his final draft of a horrible date he went on, where he and the date went to an Indian restaurant only for the date to despise spicy food and make unsavoury remarks about the wait staff. It was a story… Just not the story he wanted to write. Chatter continued around the workplace – Jenna had a new kitten (very cute), Archie’s daughter got 100% on her spelling test, Ash got a new partner last weekend…
“Lee and Mary Lee are both promoted?” Virgil almost choked out his tea hearing the latest gossip. Lee and Mary Lee were well-known in the office, Lee writing about books to read and Mary Lee writing about lifestyle advice. They met at work and had recently gotten married, and that seemingly came with a new job description.
“You know Roman loves love, getting couples to work together is like a fantasy for him.” Roman was the boss of the magazine company, made all the decisions, and he was a romantic in every sense. Virgil didn’t think that would interfere with his professionalism though. “Seems like the best way to get the job you want is to date your way up, Lee’s been talking about writing about lifestyle books for a while.”
*******
Virgil had a long discussion about his plan with Patton and Janus, thinking about the morals of what he wanted to do. Sure – while he wouldn’t lie to this ‘Logan’ about this plan to fake-date him until the boss makes him an investigative journalist he would be lying to his boss, and that could have serious repercussions if he found out. But if it worked Virgil could have his dream job and stage a dramatic break up once he shows his worth in the field.
Safe to say Janus was all for it, Patton was not. But Patton didn’t come to the office on Wednesdays.
Logan was refilling his coffee alone in the staff kitchen after being out in the morning writing about a local court case. That was the first time Virgil saw him, Janus pointed him out. He had curly brown hair in a wolf-cut, thick framed glasses on his face, sharp features and it looked like he worked out his biceps. When Virgil first looked at him he realised he very much wouldn’t hate ‘fake dating’ such a good-looking man.
Virgil shut the door to the staff kitchen and slyly kicked the broken microwave to stop anyone from opening the door. Logan looked over curiously but seemed to say nothing at first. He just took a long sip and met Virgil’s face with his chocolate brown eyes… And Virgil suddenly remembered why he never met dates organically.
“Uh… Hey.”
“Is locking people in the kitchen a normal thing in the office?” Logan took another sip, his stare plastered on Virgil. He had the serious, no emotion stare that was whipped into him through investigative journalism classes in college.
Yeah, Virgil made this weird. People usually used the other coffee machine near all the computers anyway. Push through this though Virgil – you’re a professional at making awkward situations go past and then writing about them afterwards. “I – I’m Virgil.” Virgil held out a hand like this was a job interview – which it kind of was… Just a very weird job. Logan put his coffee down and shook the hand with furrowed eyebrows. “I have a favour to ask you.”
Logan didn’t pick up his coffee again. He smirked a little, leaning his hands on the counter, and Virgil could swear he looked him up and down in a challenging glance. “I’m interested in what someone can do for you on their first day, go on.”
“You’re – LGBTQ+ right?” Logan seemed quite surprised but clarified he was homosexual. First hurdle over, Virgil thought. Now the hard part. “Cool, um – I’m bisexual. And I’ve always wanted to be an investigative journalist, but I’ve been stuck on the romance section for years. I have the qualifications and I always get overlooked but our boss, Roman, is kind of known to help couples work together so… Would you want to fake-date me so that I can work with you as an investigative journalist?”
There was no verbal response. Logan became emotionless again, standing straight and turning his back to Virgil to flush his coffee down the sink and clean his mug. “I’m not interested.” He said lowly, the sound of the sink only just lower than his voice.
When things went unexpected Virgil had a habit of blabbering as if putting a band-aid over a gushing wound. “Hey, it’s like totally OK. I know this is really weird, you’re probably taken anyway – I forgot to ask you that. This is really bad, I’m sorry, I’ll stay out of your way for the rest of your time here but if there’s anything I can do too that would be cool but don’t feel like you need to go out of your way.”
Logan dried his mug, put it on the shelf, kicked the microwave and was about to grab the doorknob before he suddenly stopped – waiting for Virgil to take a breath. “What’s in it for me?” He said suddenly, rendering Virgil to silence but still not looking at him.
“I can double your article count.” Virgil said that statement as more of a question, but he was pretty sure he could do that. If he got the information Virgil could write investigative articles and he could still manage his less-intensive romance column too. “You’ll be paid more the more you write and take the credit for the work I do for you. You could use a pay rise, right?”
Logan’s face turned to the side. “You write in the romance section? That’s pretty… emotional writing, correct?” Virgil nodded. “Roman told me my sample was too robotic to get placed in this week’s paper. If you can teach me how to write with emotion, I’ll start announcing we’re dating next week. Understood?”
“Yeah, um. Thanks.” The door swung open gently and it was silent in the kitchen again. Co-workers were seen walking past and some were on their way to get lunch from the kitchen. Logan noticed the business and turned, a sweet smile came to his face and he walked over to Virgil. He leant down slightly and put his face close to Virgil’s, squeezing his hand and letting a sweet chirp escape his lips with a nickname Virgil had never experienced before.
“See you later Verge.”
*******
The next few weeks Janus and Patton were very invested in Virgil’s introduction to Logan. “Verge? Really? Well, it’s obvious why the guy’s not a creative writer.” Janus snapped playfully, his head in an article. Virgil was working on his own article – or rather working as an editor for Logan’s work on the latest criminal case to be passed through the courts. But it was like he was doing his own investigative journalism!
As if he were a ghost Logan appeared right behind Virgil, two coffees in hand, one of which he placed next to Virgil’s keyboard. He had started to attend the office every day he didn’t have to be out in the environment, so every day there was an interaction like this. “Coffee, black as your soul.” Logan whispered, crouching down to be in level with where Virgil was sitting, his eyes on the computer screen. His free hand lay on Virgil’s shoulder as he examined the screen – and Virgil was trying his best to hide the fact that he hadn’t got this intimate touch in a while. “Good work. Roman wants to see you when you’re available.”
Logan walked away without giving more information, so of course Virgil went to the boss’ office straight away. He didn’t think Roman was that weak to relationships, he and Logan had only been ‘dating’ for two weeks, but he wasn’t going to complain if he was going to be an investigative journalist after this meeting.
When Virgil opened the door to the CEO’s office he was met with his boss Roman on his large red desk chair, a smile on his face. “Logan said you wanted to see me.” Virgil started, sitting opposite his boss ready for the best new work contract of his life. Roman was shuffling something in his desk building up the suspense.
“Ah, Logan is so caring for you it is the cutest thing!” Instead of a work contract Roman brought out a small pin, decorated in the colours blue, purple and pink. “I’m sorry you didn’t feel comfortable discussing your sexuality in the workplace, and Logan was so distraught about outing you – he just couldn’t stop announcing your little rendez-vous!”
“It’s fine, uh – is this it?” Virgil had collected many bisexual pins throughout the years, but he accepted this small one and pinned it on his hoodie. A work meeting to discuss Virgil’s coming out wasn’t expected though.
But that’s where Roman smirked and leant back on his chair. “Well, Logan also mentioned that you’ve wanted to delve out of the romance section for a while. And you’re not going on any first dates since you’re monogamous with Logan…” Virgil was trying to hide his excitement, but his heel was tapping, and he leant forward for the most exciting news of his life. “Oscar, head of the food section, has begun his paternity leave. Would you mind taking over his position the next six months?”
Well, at least it wasn’t cringey first dates. Virgil nodded, and Roman had the widest smile known to man. “Brilliant! I’ll keep you on the same payroll but give you a raise. Feel free to spoil Logan with the extra cash.” The rest of the meeting was Roman discussing logistics and due dates, and his first assignment was to visit and review a new restaurant that had opened up-town. A small café with an Italian menu and beautiful outside seating – all he had to do was visit the restaurant at the assigned time and eat a good meal. A lot better assignment than going on a bad first date.
*******
The restaurant was busy when Virgil first arrived. He parked a while away, walking to the restaurant wearing his big noise cancelling headphones and carrying his notebook. First complaint – no parking.
It was a long line outside the restaurant, many couples and a few families doing birthday celebrations. Virgil kept his mind on his work, describing the scenery. The entire building was made from birch wood, in the design of an old cottage, ferns and flowers decorating the front walkway like a fairy’s red carpet. This was going to be the best lunch break of his life.
“Virgil?” A hand lay on his shoulder as Virgil took a photo of the white rose bush lining the sign of the restaurant. He flinched, turning around and seeing a face he thought would either be in the office or in a place a lot cooler than an open restaurant.
“Logan? What are you doing here?” The line was getting shorter, Logan stood beside Virgil and looked confused to the front door. Maybe this restaurant was his hang-out place outside of work? He probably didn’t expect his fake-date to seemingly stalk him. “Oh, um, good news! Roman’s placed me in the food section for the next few months, which is better than romance. My first job is actually reviewing this place, have you been here befo-“
A scowl interrupted what Virgil was saying. Logan’s hand snaked around Virgil’s waist, his hand clutching his shirt. He nodded towards the window looking into the restaurant where a very familiar older man wearing red with his chaotic brother of the HR manager. “Seems like this was orchestrated. The investigative section has been quiet this week, so I was put onto the food section too.” Logan whispered in Virgil’s ear; a soft whisper that made shivers travel down Virgil’s spine.
Logan didn’t look pleased though. The line eventually got to them, where Logan ordered a table for two, not moving his hand from Virgil’s waist. And of course, even though this restaurant was huge, Virgil and Logan were put in eyeline of Roman and Remus. Both bosses happily waved, and the ‘couple’ waved back.
The annoyed look stayed plastered on Logan’s face. “This is wilder than their usual antics, it’s like, this is like a really cheesy k-drama.” Virgil tried to laugh and make a joke but was met with Logan’s frown as he kept his eyes on the menu. This assignment was identical to Virgil’s shitty first dates now. “What meals look interesting on there?” Virgil put his hand forward, showing his open palm, maybe expecting Logan to take it so that they could continue acting like a couple until Roman and Remus finished their meal.
Logan’s eyes flicked to Virgil’s open palm. He bit his chapped lip, two of his fingers pinched the menu page until his finger and thumb were white. He then looked up to Virgil’s face, where Virgil’s head was tilted and he showed a concerned look. Logan was thinking about something deep.
“You weren’t out at work.” He mumbled, his voice barely above the noise of the restaurant.
“Yeah, uh, I wasn’t confident enough in it when I started at this place after college. I’ve been meaning to bring it up with Roman but it was just easier to keep the status-quo and focus on getting promotions.” Virgil smiled but Logan’s eyebrow furrowed, and he looked down at the menu again. “I’m sorry if I put you in an awkward situation with it.”
“You’ve dated both sexes?”
Virgil had to look at the menu to avoid the awkwardness of these questions. “Yeah, I had two girlfriends in high school, then a boyfriend in college – we broke up junior year. Since then, I’ve just been in a lot of situationships.” Logan nodded just as a waitress came to order drinks. Both men ordered a mocktail, Logan speaking for Virgil as Virgil focused on his notebook again writing about the kindness of the wait staff. He was going to give a special shout-out to his waitress of course.
The menu snapped closed, and Logan put his entire attention to Virgil. He had a determined look on his face, the same look he had as he was cleaning the mug in the closed staff kitchen during their first meeting. “Look, I’ll play this meal out, but I don’t feel comfortable with this arrangement anymore. It seems if Roman wants to place us together he would demote me and promote you, and I can’t manage that.”
“Oh, yeah of course. Totally your choice.” It would be a lie to say Virgil was happy about this ‘break-up’. It was back to the start for him, after these six months as a food critic Virgil would be placed back in the romance section and have to go through rounds and rounds of first dates again to create content.
As the meals were ordered and came it seemed like an appropriate time to just chat like friends with someone in his dream job. “So… Since you asked me the same question, who have you dated?”
Logan was more relaxed, he was mid-wiping his face as the question was asked. He cleared his throat as he prolonged the silence. Virgil reached his hand slightly forward to take a sip of his mocktail. Logan’s eyes glued to Virgil’s hand before he answered.
“I don’t feel comfortable, um, answering that.” Logan whispered, nervousness coming to his voice for the first time, as he watched Virgil’s hand like it was a predator. He then looked up, his eyes meeting Virgil’s. And the nervous look still showed. “D-do you mind if I leave early? I’ll explain everything to Roman, you can write the article, I just should go.”
Logan rushed off and gave Virgil enough money to cover his meal. The next day Roman called Virgil into his office again, gave all his sympathy over the break-up but assured that the position in the food section would stay. Life continued as normal, and Virgil expected in six months he’ll be back on the dating scene and begging for a promotion.
*******
It had been six months and Virgil’s position as a food critic was ending soon. He had done good work, never missed a deadline, while he had heard through the grapevine Logan was struggling. He missed his office days, missed deadlines, his work wasn’t up to scratch. And according to everyone that was Virgil’s fault.
Virgil walked into the office and immediately checked his emails, expecting the welcome email that Oscar was going to get after his paternity leave. Then Virgil would have a separate email outlining what type of bad date he should write about. He’ll spend another five years without hope of a fun story.
Janus was checking his emails too, and a hand slapped his lips as his eyes widened. “Logan’s leaving?” He gasped, making Virgil speed through the weekly update email until he got to the ‘investigative’ section. “We’re disappointed to announce that Logan Sanders will be leaving us at the end of this week in order to pursue opportunities elsewhere.”
“Oh, poor guy!” Patton sighed, working on his own draft but he had been watching this entire ordeal from a distance. “I knew one of you would have your job impacted, glad it’s not you Shadowling, but still – he seemed like a really strong member of the team.” Virgil kept his attention on the emails, trying not to let his negative self-thought take over that he had ruined Logan’s life. Trying not to remember Logan’s upset expression as he watched Virgil’s hand hold the mocktail. He really needed to apologise, but unfortunately it was Friday. He’ll have to wait for tomorrow.
There was a second email in Virgil’ inbox – meeting with Roman was scheduled for half an hour. Virgil made his way early, not really feeling about writing just yet. Luckily when he knocked on the door Roman was free to have the meeting earlier.
Roman had a wide smile on his face, unusual for normal meetings about perfect drafts for the romance section or an amazing review for the food section. “How’s my food-critic-first-date-entrepreneur doing?” He leant back on his chair, pushing the chair opposite him towards Virgil. Virgil sat for good news, maybe expecting a pay rise. There was one thing, for the first time in his life, he wasn’t expecting. “How do you feel about being promoted to our new investigative journalist?”
“Was Logan fired?” This was Virgil’s dream since childhood but his heart was broken now. He was surprised his first thought was his fake-date now fake-ex.
“Nope, he turned in his notice last Wednesday, and recommended you for the job. He told me you had been writing his work while you were dating and showed me your work – you’ve got the skills our readers want. Logan convinced me you were overlooked for the position.”
Six-year-old Virgil would be screaming cheering, sixteen-year-old Virgil would have hope after high school, college Virgil would be silently clapping and whispering under his breath that it took long enough. Twenty-seven-year-old Virgil… He felt empty. Working alone as an investigative journalist wasn’t his dream anymore.
“Can I take the weekend to think about it?” Virgil eventually found his voice – all he could think about was Logan. Roman agreed and the meeting was over. The meeting Virgil had always wanted.
He left work early that day.
*******
Virgil recognised the dark blue suit straight away. Logan was in the staff kitchen again, making another coffee. His hair was unbrushed and his shirt hadn’t been ironed. He looked like a mess, but it was his last day at the workplace, and then he’d been gone from his life forever.
The crash of the broken microwave falling in front of the closed kitchen door caused Logan to flinch as he turned. And he was met with someone he really didn’t want to see. “Hello Virgil.” He tried to say neutrally, but Virgil was giving him a determined look. A determined look mixed with anger and sadness. “Did you have the meeting with Roman?”
“Yeah, and why the fuck are you leaving? There’s enough money for two investigative journalist positions, you could have just told him about the drafts without putting your notice in at the same time.” Virgil was speaking quickly and frantically, his feet tapping and his hair tied back in a neat way; his black eyes flicked between the floor, his fingers, and Logan’s gaze. Every time Virgil spoke quickly he seemed to make Logan’s heart flutter along with it.
“It would make no sense, logically.” Logan cleared his throat, his fingers getting white against the counter as he tried to contain himself. Don’t show your emotions, he told himself, pretend you’re working on a hard-hitting case. “We’re ‘exes’. Why would I want to work with my ex?”
“We only ‘dated’ for a couple of weeks Lo.” Logan bit his lip at the new nickname leaving Virgil’s mouth. He could face criminals and corrupt politicians with ease but when Logan faced Virgil… His heart couldn’t stop making butterflies. “We could still be friends.” Virgil looked up at Logan. He noticed something, furrowed his eyebrows and came closer, letting him be just a hand’s distance away. “Why did the restaurant ‘date’ change your mind on our deal?”
Logan refused to say anything at first. His mind wanted to focus on Virgil’s face first. A challenging glance, a half-smile on his pretty plump lips, his face round and soft to look at and… why can’t Logan just think normally for a second? He covered his face with his hands, feeling its warmth and groaning. “Look, it felt – it felt real. And you have experienced dating, like lots of it, it’s probably not scary for you but it’s scary for me! I’ve never done this before!”
Virgil tilted his head and crossed his arms over his chest, nodding to himself and stepping back. Logan had completely lost his cool now, he was a fumbling mess, his thoughts crazy and very homosexual. “That was your first date?” Logan sighed and nodded.
“Yeah, and it was all fake. I know it’s not your fault, but I would have liked for my first date to be with someone who… reciprocated my feelings.” He said it. He said how he was feeling. Virgil’s eyes widened at the word ‘reciprocated’, the men met eyes again, and finally Logan managed to calm himself. “I haven’t had my first boyfriend, my first kiss, my first time… And I want it to be with someone who likes me for more than my job.”
It was silent, Virgil’s eyes were wide, and his cheeks were flushed. Logan’s cheeks were flushed too. Virgil stared at Logan as if he had never seen him before.
Logan was attractive, Virgil knew that when he first saw him. And he was caring, he always remembered Virgil’s favourite coffee and in return Virgil knew and had bought Logan’s favourite jam brand. Virgil could remember when he brought Crofters jam into the office on a Monday while the pair were dating, placing it on Logan’s shelf in the kitchen. All Virgil got in response was a thank you from Logan as they discussed Logan’s latest story, but the talk of the office was that Logan had sweetly stared at the jam jar for minutes when he arrived at work that day. Was that true?
It seemed obvious. Virgil had developed a crush on Logan throughout the whole fake-dating thing. He wouldn’t mind going through all those steps with Logan, for real this time. He was excited to in fact.
“Maybe we can go there again, with real feelings involved? I heard a good review was published a while ago.” This time Logan tilted his head, pinching his bicep, as if trying to pinch himself awake if this were a dream. When that didn’t work, he nodded excitedly. A wide, goofy smile came on his face like he was a child chatting to his crush at recess.
“Of course, yeah! I, God, I need to talk to Roman quickly. Oh my God.” The microwave was kicking to the other side of the kitchen and Logan sprinted out of the bathroom, leaving a line of co-workers watching him and then turning to a very happy looking Virgil. Gossip travelled and by the end of the day news was out that Virgil and Logan were a couple ‘again’.
Logan re-instated his investigative journalist position but assured that Virgil also deserved to be an investigative journalist along with him. Roman, being the romantic he was, came up with the bright plan of a journalistic duo – writing about the latest drama of the world together and falling further in love in the process.
Falling in love they did. Virgil took all of Logan’s firsts with upmost and enthusiastic consent, including the role of first (and only) husband after a few years. And they had their first child together. They were each other’s soulmate living a dream together and they never let each other go, becoming the most well-known investigative journalists in the city.