Pieces of Us: Living in Parallel

Chapter 5 - Roman: First Roommate

Summary: Roman has his first roommate move in, and although he's a little quiet and sharp, he seems to at least appreciate the Disney movies.

"The place is all clean..." Roman talked to himself as he did the last vacuuming of his apartment. He had been alone in the apartment for almost a week, Remus had moved all his stuff to his new place – although there were bound to be some interesting toys left in shelves somewhere.

The intercom rang before Roman had the chance to check the shelves again. He picked up the phone and heard the low, quiet voice he had heard in a voice call the week before. One of his new roommates! "Hey... It's Virgil Dunninger. This is Roman Nightingale's apartment, right?"

"Mhm, wait there. I'll help you with your bags." Roman ran out of the door as excited as he was when the high school theatre performance was announced each year. He had enough of the quiet living. All he hoped about his roommates were that they were chatty – he couldn't cope with silence for one more second.

Roman opened the door to finally see Virgil. He was faced with a short man with olive skin and long, curly black hair, staring at the ground as if that was the most interesting thing. The only acknowledgement of Roman was a look up, a nod, before looking down again. "I know I look at the ground like a weirdo, you'll just have to get used to it."

"That's OK for me, let me help you with your suitcase." The only baggage Virgil brought to his new apartment was a dark purple suitcase that barely reached his waist. But again, just as Roman thought to himself, Virgil had something to say about it. And he said it in a quiet, sharp and impatient tone.

"I know the case is small, I pack light. Burton's going to be collected tomorrow – I didn't want to scare him with the rest of my luggage." Virgil had his hands in his pockets, was walking quickly beside Roman, and winced if ever there were more than three people near them. Was he hurt? The best way to make a new friends was to cu- "I'm not hurt or anything, I just... don't like people that much. I'll probably be in my room a lot so, get used to that." Shucks, Roman was hoping for an extrovert. "You were hoping for an extrovert, weren't you? Well, sorry about that too."

"You're reading my mind." Roman laughed, trying to bring some humour as Virgil was speaking more quickly and panicked during Roman's silence. But instead of a casual laugh back Virgil's eyes widened and he finally looked up at Roman just as the pair reached the apartment front door. "Uh... Welcome in."

Virgil cautiously took steps into his new home, placing his backpack on the kitchen counter and seemingly calming himself in the silence. The place was only small, the main room consisted of a sofa with an old TV Roman took from his parents, then a two-chair dining table and a three-counter kitchen with an oven and a dishwasher. It would be hard to imagine four people sharing the space but that was the cost of the rental crisis.

Roman sat on the sofa and turned on the TV, where he was already browsing Disney+. "So, feel free to share anything here, although Patton vegan so I was thinking he could have his own shelf in the fridge? I can show you where the shops are later. But do you want to chill first?"

"Is the Disney+ subscription shared?" Roman nodded but again Virgil didn't move. He assumed Virgil would want to watch something if Roman suggested it, so he went through the list of classic Disney films to see if anything caught his new roommate's eye. Roman himself had already watched all these films. "Wow, you really like Disney."

"And you don't? Don't besmirch the name of Disney!"

"Well, I like the Disney movies with more sinister undertones. That's more of my thing." Finally Virgil began to relax, slowly inching towards the sofa and watching the screen. Roman was a little confused by what Virgil meant but he quickly answered. "Like, Cinderella for example. What's the moral of the story?"

"Believe in your dreams and they'll eventually come true!" Cinderella was a beautiful movie, with amazing hand-drawn animation and a scenic colour palette. Who couldn't like the peaceful positively of that film?

Virgil had a small smirk and ruffled his hair. "Wait around your entire life subjecting yourself to the cruelty of your ungrateful, ignorant family members until a magic fairy comes along to save you."

This time Roman was staring wide-eyed at Virgil but he was smiling. He could definitely get along with this guy. Sure, Roman appreciated the fantasy positivity of the Disney movies but he had also grown up around Remus – and both Virgil and Remus had the same dark sense of humour.

But Virgil seemingly wasn't done roasting the 1950s cartoon with really outdated gender roles. "Plus, apparently men can't remember the face of someone they've been dancing with for hours, they have to rely on the shoe. Ergo, men are idiots."

"He was a very busy prince! He had a lot on his mind."

"Like his foot fetish?" The two men were sat together and laughing. This was what Roman was excited about, living with normal people and not having the conversation about magic coming up at random points. He could be treated like a normal person and just be handy when it came to random cuts and bruises.

But the conversation ended, and Virgil didn't suggest a movie. Maybe he needed help finding his room? He'd already seen it on video, so he knew it was the second door next to the TV. "Yeah, second door um – you don't mind me having the second biggest room, right? It's just Burton's cage is quite big, and I don't want him to escape."

"Perfectly fine with me. It was my brother's room so just tell me if he left something." And with that Virgil nodded, escaping into his new bedroom to assumably unpack. Although that probably wouldn't take long – he didn't have much to unpack. It only seemed like a couple of clothes and electronics in his suitcase. After he'd finished unpacking maybe the pair could watch something – he was so excited to have a new roommate!

So, in conclusion, Virgil was a little weird - but he seemed nice when he was settled in conversation. Roman could deal with that.