Feathers & a Dash of Magic

Chapter 24: Virgil Finds Darrell's Antics Amusing, Roman Does Not

Roman sighed deeply when he woke up. He was warm but not uncomfortably so, the blanket wrapped around him and he could feel both Darrell's fur and Virgil's feathers- wait, Virgil?

The witch opened his eyes and he saw Virgil fast asleep in front of him. Between the two Darrell lay stretched out, both Roman and Virgil had a hand over him as they cuddled. The fairy had a wing laying across the two of them, as if shielding them from something. He turned to see the muffin box on his nightstand, wrappers discarded inside, one torn up because of Darrell, Roman remembered that. But he didn't remember falling asleep.

He sat up, making Darrell whine and Virgil stir, but only the fox woke. Roman looked out the window to see the sky orange and pink, shielded from branches and leaves. The witch's heart dropped as he jumped out of bed, rushing over to the window as he silently cursed. The sun was east, it was rising. Virgil had stayed over all night.

He heard Virgil let out a quiet groan, curling up as he seemed to want to stay asleep. Could he feel Roman's panic while he slept? Didn't matter cause he needed to wake up, Patton was going to be so upset.

Roman quickly made his way back to his bed where Darrell stayed, staring at him with tired confusion from under Virgil's wing. The witch put a hand on Virgil's shoulder and gently shook him.

"Virgil," he attempted to keep his voice quiet and gentle so he wouldn't scare him, but the impatience was clear in his tone. "Virgil, you need to wake up."

The fairy hummed and grabbed Darrell with one of his arms, pulling him closer as his wing shifted to cover his face. Roman would have laughed at the adorable sight if he wasn't worried.

"Come on, Patton's going to worry!" He shook him a bit harder, hearing a small yip from Darrell who was hidden under the dark purple feathers.

Virgil moved his wing and opened his eyes, still moving sluggishly. He quietly mumbled out a small, "What's wrong?" It was so quiet Roman would have missed it if he wasn't listening.

"It's sunrise, you stayed here all night."

"Oh..." was all he said. Darrell popped his head out from his wing with a small purr, catching the still sleepy fairy's attention.

"Won't Patton worry?"

Virgil shook his head, rubbing his eye as he sat up. "I told him that I won't know when I get home. That I might stay overnight if I have to."

Roman sat down on the bed with a sigh. "That's a relief. Sorry I had to wake you."

"Sorry I fell asleep on your bed, didn't mean to stay overnight without your permission." Virgil picked Darrell up and hugged him close to his chest, the fox purring still. The fairy hugged himself with his wings, just loose enough to keep Darrell's head peeking out from the feathers. He looked like he was about to fall asleep again, his messy hair covered his half lidded eyes.

"It's fine," Roman smiled sweetly. "You look like you slept well at least."

Virgil nodded mutely before speaking up after a second. "Did you sleep well?"

"Yeah..." Roman looked down at the bed. "Thank you, for coming over to comfort me and all."

"It's no problem, we're friends after all."

"Still, you didn't have to. I kinda stole the day from you and we barely did anything. I wasn't the best host either, since you were the one who made food for the both of us."

"Hey, I chose to do that. You were missing your brother, and besides, it was your birthday! I know you miss spending it with your brother, but that doesn't mean you can't celebrate it with someone else."

The witch hugged his knees to his chest. "It feels wrong though. Yesterday was supposed to be our day. We always said if one of us moved far away, that if we could only meet up once a year, it would be on June thirteenth. I don't want to celebrate my birthday without him."

Virgil put a hand under his chin before snapping his fingers. "I got it then! When I first met my human parents, I didn't want to celebrate my birthday either. But they didn't want me to feel left out since we celebrated their own, and Patton's birthdays. So they figured out what day it was that we met, and we celebrated that as my birthday."

"Yeah but I don't know what day it was when I first moved here. That was five years ago, give or take. All I know is that it was in the spring."

"What if we celebrated your birthday on the day we met? That was a few weeks ago, I'll be able to figure out the date I'm sure."

"You want to celebrate my birthday... on the day you ran into an iron bear trap?"

"I want to celebrate your birthday on the day we met. We have a year before that happens though."

Roman stood up. "Well, we did eat muffins yesterday. Guess that would be my birthday present and dessert."

"If you're cool with that." Virgil let go of Darrell as he scrambled to get out from the fairy's arms.

The fox ran up to the empty box on the nightstand, sniffing inside before grabbing a wrapper. Virgil laughed lightly as he dropped it onto the bed, licking at it.

"Hey, you're going to get crumbs on my bed you heathen!" Roman complained, reaching for the wrapper. Darrell grabbed it with his teeth again, running behind Virgil who was still giggling.

Roman jumped onto the king sized bed again, trying to reach behind Virgil to grab the wrapper but Darrell ducked in the opposite direction, letting out small, slightly muffled chirps. The witch glared at him as they were stuck in a sort of stalemate, both ready to pounce the moment the other moved.

With his ears ducked down, Darrell jumped off of the bed and dashed out the door. Immediately, Roman took off after him, shouting, "Get back here you miscreant! You never clean up your messes!"

Virgil laughed harder as he heard Darrell laugh back at the witch. The fairy got up from the bed and ran to the other room. He had to watch this.

Roman was on the ground, struggling to keep Darrell in his grip. He had a hold of the wrapper, doing his best to tear it from Darrell's jaws, but the paper just tore in pieces. Darrell was doing his best to keep his jaws from opening as he and the witch tussled on the floors.

"Ha!" Roman shouted, managing to open the fox's mouth and get the paper out. "Finally! You musty little brat!"

Darrell barked at him, backing out of Roman's hold. He jumped onto the couch and yelled at him before burying himself under a pillow.

"It's not food!" Roman shouted at him. "It's your fault you tore up the chew toy I made you! It didn't even last a day!" Virgil's laughter caught his attention. He looked up at him before picking up all the torn pieces, scrambling off of the ground. His cheeks were dusted pink in slight embarrassment. "So, what do you want for breakfast?"