Finding The Write Words

Chapter 21

When Virgil was dropped off at home at the end of the night, he closed the door behind him and he leaned back against the door. He tilted his head upwards, closing his eyes and grinning for the first time for as long as he could remember. He sank to the floor, hugging himself, and lingered in the warmth that being near them had given him.

He looked down at his arm as writing appeared; Roman's writing.

"Thanks for the help today, stormcloud!" A little heart doodle followed the words, and Patton's and Logan's ink appeared as well, each doodling in a small heart.

Virgil felt his face warming up, and he grinned at the ink, at the nickname, at the hearts, until they blurred through his tears. He lifted himself up off the floor, stumbling slightly as he did so, and he dug around for his pen. As soon as he found it, he looked again at his arm, and he felt a sense of joy flooding back into him. He scritched in a heart on his arm a little ways away from theirs.

He knew that he was apart from them. Separate entirely. Even if he was willing to admit that he was falling for them, it wouldn't matter.

Even though he had felt the warmth and love and acceptance from them today, and even though it made him immensely happy to be welcomed with open arms... it wasn't the same.

It wasn't the same as what they had with each other, and as much as he hated to admit it to himself, that was what he wanted.

He wanted to join in on their cuddles and inside jokes and love, but he knew that wasn't likely.

They already had their set roles in their relationship. He was happy for them, really, and he was happy to be on the outside as long as he could be near them. But that was what he was going to be.

Outside.

He had realized that, sitting in the U-Haul with them, watching them interact with each other.

Human beings only have two hands - on average. Enough to hold two hands. There was no room for a third, and Virgil didn't want to have to make them make sacrifices for him.

He knew they would if he asked him to. They wouldn't even hesitate.

But he didn't want them to feel like they had to.

A month passed without notable event. Virgil spent more time talking to and visiting the others, Roman got a part in the musical - the lead, a prince - and Logan and Patton got into a routine at Roman's house.

"Lo Lo, are you almost ready? We have to leave in the next five minutes or I'll be late for work," Patton called as he buttoned up his polo and grabbed his cardigan from the hook in the closet.

Logan was in the bathroom, brushing their teeth and attempting to tame their bedhead before they had to leave for class. The only response Patton got was Roman's singing, which had taken up much of the silence in the apartment in the last week since he had gotten the part in the musical. It had gotten to the point where Logan and Patton knew the words by heart and would prompt Roman when he stumbled over a line.

Shrugging on his cardigan, Patton headed towards the bathroom. Seeing that the door was open, he approached the doorway and knocked on the open door, not wanting to startle them. He heard Logan hum in response, and he pushed the door open.

Logan spat toothpaste in the sink and rinsed their toothbrush before looking at Patton in the mirror and giving a small smile. Patton stepped up behind them and wrapped his arms around their waist, resting his head against the side of their arm.

"Linda is being rather persistent today," Logan mumbled as they toyed with their alfalfa sprout of a flyaway that Patton had so lovingly named Linda. On the best of days, she took a handful of mousse or some sturdy hold gel to hold her down, and today was not one of the best of days.

"I think you look beautiful, even though Linda is being, well, Linda," Patton mused, pressing a kiss to their shoulder.

"I'm curious..." they paused, chewing on their lower lip. "I know Roman is going to have to wear makeup on stage for his role. What if I wanted to try it out beforehand? Would... would you be okay with that?"

"You want to wear makeup, Lo Lo?" They nodded. "Then you go right ahead! I'm sure you'll look beautiful with it."

"You're okay with it, even though it'll show up on you, too?"

Patton nodded, smiling softly as he met Logan's gaze in the mirror. "And I'm sure Roman will be okay with it, too. You can ask him and Virgil later if you want, after you get home from class. We have to get going, though."

Logan nodded, giving up on taming Linda, and turned to Patton. They pressed a kiss to his head and nodded pointedly towards the door. "Let's head out."

The two of them called a goodbye to Roman, who poked his head out of his studio and blew them both a kiss before disappearing again. He had the day off classes and was working on finishing his art class assignment before it was time to go pick up Virgil.

He stood in his studio, humming the words to the big musical number, staring at the canvas in front of him. This week's unit was on abstract art, and Roman hadn't been able to get the hang of it. It all just looked like a bunch of paint squiggles to him.

With a sigh, he packed up his paints and brought the brushes and palette to the kitchen to rinse them off. And when he was done, he grabbed a pen and wrote quickly on his arm, "You ready, stormcloud?"

He got a check mark as a response, and Roman chuckled softly.

He found himself at Virgil's apartment a short while later, and he stepped out of the car, opening the passenger side door for him. Virgil climbed into the car and as soon as Roman got back in and buckled up, Virgil cleared his throat.

"Hey Roman?"

"Yes, Virgil?"

"Is..." His voice cracked and he cleared his throat again. Roman glanced at him out of the corner of his eye to make sure he wasn't upset. Satisfied that he wasn't - only nervous - he turned his eyes back to the road. "Is this a date?"

Well that certainly wasn't what Roman had thought he was going to say.

He opened his mouth to respond, his cheeks flushing red, but no words came out for a moment. "Do you want it to be?"

And Virgil's answer came out in a breath, as if he was afraid of his own answer. "Yes."