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Virgil stood outside of a restaurant, bouquet of bougainvilleas in hand, waiting for Roman to arrive.
Little did he know, nobody would come.
“I have a really good idea.” Remus said, eyes wide open. You could almost see a lightbulb light up on top of his head.
“What now, Remus?” Janus asked, annoyed. He sipped on his coffee, setting it down on the table.
“I'm gonna need you to disguise yourself, trust me, it's gonna be fun.”
“Okay…”
Janus turned, looking over himself, checking his clothes, making sure it's believable.
“You look perfect,” Remus said, making okay signs with both of his hands. “I spent a lot of time with Roman, I would know.”
“Like we planned?” Janus asked for last minute confirmation.
“Like we planned.”
Janus turned the corner and walked over to where Virgil was. He was eating breakfast on the kitchen table, looking at his phone.
He cleared his throat. “Virge, I was thinking we could…” He said in his best Roman voice. “go out to that restaurant I’ve been mentioning lately?” He left an invitation on the table.
Virgil hummed, his mouth full of cereal. “Mmh?” He looked up at Roman, then down at the napkin he had written the information on.
‘Dinner tonight at Velvet Rouge 9:30p.m. Just bring yourself, everything's on me.’
(Janus had worked so hard on mimicking his handwriting.)
Virgil's heart fluttered. They hadn't gone on a date in so long, so he was extremely happy inside. He tried to keep it cool. “Oh yeah, of course. See you there, Princey.” He said with a genuinely happy smile he couldn't mask.
“See you there, Hot Topic.” He winked and walked away.
When he turned the corner where Virgil couldn't see him, he dropped the act. “Oh my god, that was exhausting. Why does he have to stand like that?”
“You did so good, Janus. Don't worry, he totally fell for it.” Remus said, giggling over his own ‘brilliant’ idea.
“Of course he would fall for that.” He chuckled. “Keep it down, he might hear us."
Virgil wore one of his few nice shirts Patton had made him buy ‘just in case’. He'd made sure his make up looked decent, the dark purple really brought together the whole outfit. He smiled like a fool while he waited for Roman.
In his hands was a bouquet of bougainvilleas he'd bought on his way here. The flower choice meant a lot to both of them, and he was sure Roman would notice.
It was 9:35p.m.. He'd arrived at 9:10, just in case. He patiently waited for Roman outside of the restaurant. Roman usually didn't arrive late, maybe ten minutes late if something stopped him, but no more than that.
His mind tortured him non-stop. He hates you. This was just a prank, he's going to stand you up. He tried hard to tune out that voice inside his head but it was unstoppable.
He rewinded their morning interaction over and over again. Did he miss something?
He'd heard some sounds after Roman turned the corner. Were they laughs? Remus had a really distinct laugh, and if you paid close attention, which he did, you would notice it was indeed Remus.
It was Remus. Of course. That's why roman seemed kind of off. It wasn't him. It was Janus. Roman wouldn't arrive to the restaurant because he never actually invited him, it was all a prank against him.
His body started shaking, his heart beat faster and faster. He gripped the bouquet harder, the only thing keeping him stable on his feet.
And even that wasn't enough. His eyes teared up and before he could realize he was on the ground. He felt– betrayed? Sad? He didn't know for sure, but he felt horrible. He was sobbing on the ground outside of a restaurant because his ex roommates liked to see him suffer.
He had never wanted to disappear more than at this moment.
“Why would they do this?” He mumbled to himself, in tears.
This time, his inner anxious voice was actually right. The worst occasion for it to be right.