Finding The Write Words

Chapter 16

Virgil stood in front of his open dresser, staring down at all the clothes spewing out of the cramped drawer. He didn't know why it was even so overfull. He owned like four shirts and maybe six pairs of black skinny jeans. On all accounts, it made no sense. He dug through the drawer for the sixth time, hoping to find something that didn't make him look like a corpse.

Why were all his clothes in varying, mismatching shades of black?

He knew he had something purple somewhere.

Where the hell was it?

He eventually found it - balled up and wedged in the back corner of the drawer - and pulled it on before looking down at himself. It was wrinkled to hell.

Fuck.

He couldn't go out looking like this, but he didn't have any other non-black shirts.

He supposed he could go with his purple jacket instead of his favorite black one, but it was another hot day and that one was thicker than the black one.

Why did he care?

It wasn't a date. He had been very clear about that. He had confirmed at least five times that it was just two people getting to know each other in a platonic setting.

Besides, Logan didn't seem to overly care what clothes people wore. Patton's favorite shirt was literally a V-neck with a screen-printed catlike monstrosity on it, and Logan, as far as Virgil had seen, didn't even seem to overly notice.

He eventually threw on one of his black shirts with his purple jacket, telling himself he would just have to drink more water to compensate for the extra warmth. Satisfied that he didn't look like a corpse in a trash heap, he sat himself on the couch, refusing to admit even to himself that he was just the slightest bit nervous.

"Can I talk to you guys about something before I go pick up Virgil?" Logan asked Patton and Roman, who were lounging on Roman's couch. They spent much of their time there lately - Logan had all but moved in, the apartment being much cozier than his tiny dorm.

They looked away from the television towards Logan, and Roman reached towards him, wrapping his arms around his upper thighs and looking up at him, his chin resting on his lower stomach.

"Of course, lovely."

"Yeah, what's up, Lo Lo?" Patton asked.

Logan stuttered for a moment, looking down at Roman, who smiled innocently up at him, seemingly oblivious to how flustered he was.

"Well, I..." He cleared his throat. "One of my classes this semester, though it has nothing to do with my major or minor, is Gender Studies. And... um... there's this one person in class, Joan, who I have befriended, and they... uh..." He shifted, twisting his hands together in his nervousness.

This shouldn't be as hard as it was.

They would love him no matter what. He knew that.

"They're nonbinary, and when I asked them to explain it to me, I realized that I... well... that I relate to their experience. I was just wondering if it would be alright for you to use they/them pronouns for me."

They knew the blush on their cheeks had spread to cover their ears as well - they could see it on Patton and Roman's faces - but they ignored it. They were more concerned with what Roman and Patton would say.

"Of course, Lo Lo!" Patton chimed, grinning.

Roman nodded. "Is there a different name you want to go by, or is Logan still good, my lovely little enby?"