Colorful

Cliches

When they pulled up outside Roman's house, Roman gave a small, nervous smile before the two of them got out of the car. He knew that his parents weren't home - they left for work around noon - and he worried about what Remus would say about him and Virgil being there. Nonetheless, he led Virgil into the house. When they weren't immediately met with Remus, he hurriedly ushered Virgil into his room, closing the door behind him. He didn't want to have to deal with his brother right now, though he knew it wouldn't be long before he found out that Roman was here.

Virgil looked around the room, gawking as he spun in a slow circle to take it all in. Roman's room was ridiculously extravagant, with instruments in every corner and posters and playbills for plays taped up on the walls. It was incredible.

"I didn't know you played any instruments... or that you've been to Broadway," he commented, feeling very much like a rebellious teen.

The theater nerd laughed a little when he saw the surprised excitement on Virgil's face. "Yeah, Remus and I went a few times back in middle school. A lot of these playbills are from plays I've been in, though. Little mementos." He moved his guitar from in front of his dresser and opened a drawer, pulling out a tee-shirt. "And I haven't played most of these in a while, but I wanted to learn how to play, so I can at least mediocrely play..." he thought for a moment as he shrugged out of Virgil's hoodie, "ten different instruments."

"Ten?!" his eyes practically bugged out of his head. "I taught myself how to play ukulele for the aesthetic, and it was so hard! You're telling me you learned ten...?"

With a grin, he nodded. "Guitar, ukulele, drums, flute, violin, piano, trumpet, banjo, harp, and clarinet. I have a lot of free time. Most years the school only puts on one play, and my dance class is a seasonal thing, so seven months of the year, I have nothing else to do."

"Wow..." He did another slow turn and he caught sight of himself in Roman's dresser mirror this time, gasping in shock when he saw the huge bruise that was forming over his nose.

Hearing the gasp, Roman looked to him with a small, apologetic smile. "I have some makeup if you want to cover that up. It might be a bit darker than your skin tone, but I have powder to lighten it down."

The door swung open and Roman's brother, Remus poked his head in. "I thought I heard you. What are you doing home? And who's - holy fuck, dude. What happened to your face?"

"Remus, I've told you to knock before you come into my room," Roman said with an exasperated sigh, pinching the bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefinger. "Virgil, this is Remus, and Remus, this is my soulmate, Virgil."

"Soulmate?" the more chaotic twin questioned as he stepped more fully into the bedroom, his head cocked to the side. He looked at Virgil like he was a new type of bug yet to be explored. "Why's your soulmate got a nasty bruise?"

"Because he was hit in the face by fuckin' James." Roman had told Remus countless times about the bully, so he knew exactly who he was despite never having met him. "He was standing up for me."

"That had to hurt. Details?" Remus flopped down onto the floor, knees bent inwards rather than out - the action of which made Roman and Virgil both grimace.

"He had him pinned up against a locker," Virgil spoke up, taking a seat on Roman's bed and pulling him along with him. "I pulled him off and punched him. I tried to swing again and he got me in the stomach, Roman in the crotch, then me in the face. Our friends broke it up."

"It was much more heroic than he's telling. Turns out this perfect little emo nightmare is secretly strong as hell. Practically lifted James off his feet when he pulled him off of me." Roman dramatically pretended to swoon, pressing the back of his hand to his forehead as he leaned heavily against Virgil's side.

The poor emo's face burned red and he shifted where he sat, aware that Remus was watching them with an interestingly amused sort of curiosity. Roman hadn't been lying about the mustache, unfortunately.

Virgil glanced up at Roman as he sat up again, getting off of him. They had to get back to the school soon or Roman would be late for rehearsal, and Virgil still hadn't come up with a way for them to get back into the school without being questioned. He realized that he probably should have thought of that before suggesting they skip.

"Alright, Remus. Out," Roman shooed him with a flick of his hands. "I have to change my shirt and then we're leaving. We have to get back before rehearsal."

Remus very obviously debated arguing for a second, but seemed to decide against it as he got up from the floor and walked out of the room. Once the door shut behind him, Roman pulled his bloodied shirt up over his head and as he dug in his dresser for a fresh shirt, Virgil flushed red, watching Roman's bare back. A shirt was quickly pulled onto him, however, and he shrugged back on Virgil's hoodie before heading to the closet to grab a jacket for Virgil.

He came back out with two jackets: a red and gold hoodie with a castle logo on the chest, and a white denim jacket with a red crown on the back, below the collar.

"Which one?"

Virgil's ears were still hot from having watched Roman change his shirt when he turned to face him, but he hoped Roman didn't notice. "Hoodie," he said without hesitation, pointing to the jacket of choice. He was a simple man. He lived the comfort life.

Roman put the denim jacket away, and then approached Virgil, handing him the hoodie with a gentle brush of his lips against his cheek, being careful of the bruise across his face. Warmth spread across Virgil's cheeks once more at the kiss, and he slipped into the hoodie, glad to be warm again.

The hoodie smelled nice.

Like Roman.

And as he discreetly breathed in the scent of it, Virgil grew warm in a completely different way. He held his hand out, and after Roman helped him up, they headed back to school. The two of them managed to slip back into the school as the last bell rang, weaving in and out of the crowd of students filing out of the building to get to their buses and cars.

Roman led Virgil into the auditorium and they got there just as the other theater kids were coming in.

"I gotta go get ready for rehearsal, stormcloud." He grinned and disappeared backstage, leaving Virgil to sit in the audience after checking in with his tech director.

Stormcloud. That was cute.

He smiled, lovestruck, toying with the strings of the hoodie between his fingers as he watched Roman moving across the stage, dramatically delivering his lines with perfected ease. And as he watched Roman acting - occasionally breaking character with a lovey, dopey grin at seeing Virgil in his hoodie - Virgil daydreamed about how ice skating was going to go tomorrow.

With one particularly dramatically delivered line, Virgil had to bite back a laugh to himself. They were such an unlikely pair, the two of them. The drama queen and the quiet emo.

Who would have guessed?