Together (Book 1)

Chapter 10

Virgil's POV

It had been a week since Roman had kissed me—a week since I'd shut down any hope of having a romantic relationship with him.  Despite those thoughts, I knocked on Roman's door.

He opened it, a look of confusion on his face as our eyes met.  "Hey."

I tried to smile.  "Hey.  I know we always talked about painting together, so I was wondering if you would want to do that now..."  I wrang my hands behind my back, trying to hide how nervous I was.

He looked behind him, back into his room.  Finally, he said, "You know what, sure.  Why not?"

———

Two hours flew by, the two of us simply talking, joking, and painting.  It felt nice.

A hand on my shoulder made me stiffen, and I could barely breathe as the face in my peripheral scanned over my work with a smile.

"You really are amazing at that..." he whispered.

Heat crept up my neck, and I quickly turned away, not wanting him to see.

Roman's POV

I saw the faint blush on Virgil's cheeks before he turned away, and my smile widened.  "You're cute when you blush."  The compliment slipped from my mouth before I could stop it, and I instantly regretted it.  Ever since that night, I had been forced to shove down my feelings, something that I was not used to doing.  I guess I failed at it, I thought.

Virge turned to me, our faces a little too close.  "You self-obsessed moron, we have the same face."  He rolled his eyes at me, and I just smiled.

"That's not what I meant.  There's more to beauty than just a pretty face, you know."

"You sound like a Disney movie," he scoffed.

My smile dropped, realizing just how close our faces really were.  I tried not to pay it too much mind, and, slowly, I backed up, sitting on his bed.  A thought popped into my head, and a devious smile replaced my old one.

Virgil turned to look at me.   "What are you thinking...?" he asked, bringing his knees up to his chest.  "I hate when you get that look; it never means well for me..."

"Let me do your makeup."

"What?"  He furrowed his brow as his cheeks reddened again.

"Please!  I can get rid of it as soon as it's done!"

He exhaled and looked down, wringing his hands just like he always did.  "Fine."  He looked back up at me, and the corner of his mouth tipped up slightly.  "Please don't ruin my face."

———

I sat back on the bed, smiling at my masterpiece.  I had applied dark purple to his eyes, gradually transitioning into black the further it got from his inner tear duct.  I'd also outlined his eyes with liquid eyeliner, smiling at the contrast it gave to the chocolate brown of his irises.  My eyes traveled down to his lips, smiling wider as I saw the matte, dark purple lipstick I'd applied there.

Virgil bit his lip.  "Are you done?"

I smiled and nodded vigorously.  Conjuring up a mirror for him to look into, I watched as his eyes widened at the sight of himself in fill makeup.

"I don't...  I don't hate it," he admitted, setting down the mirror.  He brushed his bangs back and smiled at me.

I grinned happily.  "I'm glad you like it, Virge."  Slowly, I stood up, saying, "Well, this was fun."

"You're leaving?"  He sat up a little higher, furrowing his brow.

A pang of guilt struck my chest, and I frantically searched for something to resolve it.  "Do you... want to watch a movie?"  I raised my eyebrows in hope, wanting to get rid of the guilt that bubbled inside of me.

"Um, sure..."

"Mulan?" I offered.

"There's never a wrong time to dress in drag," he joked, summoning a copy of the movie.

Virgil's POV

Roman had fallen asleep a while ago, and I'd turned off the movie, trying to fall asleep as well.

I was unsuccessful.

It'd been at least half an hour, and I was still staring at the ceiling, the room completely dark around me.

"Hey, Roman? You're not awake by any chance, are you...?" I whispered quietly.

Silence.

"I'm sorry... about what happened—about what I said.  I just keep playing everything over in my head—everything I said wrong."  I took a shuddered breath, closing my eyes.  "I think..."  I bit my lip, the sentence stuck in my throat.  "I—I may...  Maybe I am... gay," I whispered.  The final word caught in my throat—a word that I'd repeated over and over again in my head, never saying it out loud.

Roman stirred next to me, and I froze, the fear of him having heard me paralyzing.

Roman's POV

I'd been drifting in and out of sleep for a while before Virgil's voice startled me into semi-consciousness.

"Hey, Roman? You're not awake by any chance, are you...?" he asked.

I wanted to answer, but already, I felt myself slipping back into my dreamless void.

"I'm sorry... about what happened—about what I said."

That woke me up.

"I just keep playing everything over in my head—everything I said wrong."   I wanted to speak up—to tell him that he'd done nothing wrong and that it was all my fault—but he took a shaky breath and continued, "I think..."  A long pause filled the room with silence.  "I—I may...  Maybe I am... gay."  He choked over the last word, as though not entirely sure of its truth.

Even so, my heart fluttered at the idea.

Virgil was at least questioning his sexuality, and that meant I still had a chance.

And a chance was all I needed.