Park Bench (Prinxiety AU)

Chapter 19 - Virgil

December 2

I don't know how Patton figured it out. He was always more in touch with feelings than I was, but the idea that I had been obvious was pretty scary to me. I mean, it was hard to even admit to myself, let alone somebody else.

To admit that I, Virgil, had been feeling a certain kind of happiness that I hadn't experienced in a long time.

A happiness that I hadn't experienced since the very beginning of my last relationship.

Still, despite Patton's endless support and encouragement, I locked down my emotions. And if when I was watching movies at Roman's that night, he fell asleep with his head on my lap, and I felt the anxious knot in my stomach erupt into hundreds of tiny little butterflies? If I had to desperately fight the urge to run my hand through his hair? Well, that was no one's business but my own.

----------

December 8

"Virge," Patton called from the living room. "Help me out with this, would ya?"

I begrudgingly slid from my seat at the dining table, where I was eating pancakes that were just a little burnt (though as far as Patton knew, he made the best pancakes I'd ever eaten).

He smiled at me as I came in.

"What's up?" I ask, kneeling next to where he sat crisscrossed beside the Christmas tree.

His smile fell for a moment. "Well, I just- I can't seem to-" He motioned to the Christmas lights. They were laying dead in a tangled pile on the floor. "They won't turn on, and I can't untie them."

"We can't just buy new ones?" I asked.

"C'mon, kiddo. At least give it a shot?" He gave me a hopeful little smile, something akin to puppy dog eyes, all but batting his eyelashes. "Pleeeease? For me?"

I sighed. "Fine, fine."

"Woo! This is why you're my favourite roommate!" With a grin, he shoved the lights into my hands and busied himself with other decorations before i could remind him that I was, in fact, his only roommate.

I messed with the strand of lights for a while, but with the way it was knotted, there was no hope of me unravelling it. It didn't help that the snow starting to fall outside kept catching my attention, and that my mind kept wandering to a certain boy...

Right on time, Patton asked, "So... Is Roman coming over again today?"

"Yeah, why?" I asked, smiling slightly as I finally made my first bit of progress with untying the strand. Roman and I had been visiting each other's houses every day since agreeing not to meet at the park. It wasn't really an agreement or anything, we never talked about it. Every night would just end with a quick 'My place tomorrow?' and that was that. The only day that we didn't agree to meet, he showed up at our door anyway with a grin and invited himself without a second thought.

"Well just..." He paused to hang a cheesy-looking plastic snowflake on the wall. He wasn't looking at me, but I could tell just from his eternally cheerful voice that he was smiling. "Are you gonna talk to him?"

My shoulders tense. "Talk to him? I always talk to him. I don't know what you mean. Shut up," I said and glared at the back of his head. He glanced over at me for a moment, then stepped back to admire his work.

"Don't be silly, you know what I mean!" he laughed and shook his head, hands on his hips. "I'm asking if you're going to tell him about your huge cru-"

"Don't say crush," I snapped.

He turned to face me fully. "Your huge feelings, then."

"Pat..." I sighed and dropped the lights next to me. "I don't have feelings for him, it's not like that. I'm just... I'm in a good mood lately, I guess." He sat on the couch and nodded. "I mean, when was the last time that I made a new friend? It's a big deal to me, and it's new, and it's not a crush." It's more than that, part of me wanted to say, but I couldn't. Plus, I didn't even know if that was true. I'd never felt anything like this before, for anyone.

Roman was... I don't know, special. I mean, don't get me wrong. He was loud, and obnoxious, and over-dramatic every single minute of the day, but there was something about him that made me look past all of the things that would normally bother me about a person.

I was snapped out of my thoughts when the front door suddenly opened.

"Roman's here!" Patton cheered, but I was too busy being tackled by a giant ball of damp white fluff.

"Okay, hey," I gently pushed him off of me. "Hi, Peanut." God, his cute little puppy face. It's like he had a permanent smile.

Roman stumbled into the room, shaking off a huge white winter coat. His face was flushed pink from the cold, and his hair was messy like he'd just run his hand through it. I couldn't look for very long. "Oh, dear, I do apologise. He got soaked from the snow."

"That's a-okay, kiddo!" Patton said.

I rolled my eyes, wiping the wetness off my face as Peanut jumped up onto my lap again. "Speak for yourself," I huffed. I wasn't really mad though.

"Oh! I brought goodies!" Roman said, grabbing two plastic takeout bags that were set next to where he left his boots. "I hope you two are in the mood for Chinese!" While Patton ran to get plates, Roman dropped the bags onto the coffee table and sat on the floor in front of me. "Hi," he said, smiling in a way that I would almost call shy, if I didn't know him better than that by now.

"Hi," I replied.

"What's going on here?" He pointed at the heap of lights.

"Oh, this?" I picked them up, and he nodded. "That's your problem now." I dropped them onto his lap with a smirk.

I only caught a brief glimpse of his confusion, before I moved to the couch instead. "You fiend," he gasped, sounding entirely betrayed, before he tossed them aside to sit next to me instead.

When Patton got back from the kitchen, we put on some cheesy Christmas sitcom and ate together. The three of us took turns mocking the terribly written dialogue, which eventually led to Roman reciting every romantic line (while pretending I was the love interest, much to my horror). By the end, Patton and Roman were in shambles, crying into each other's shoulders about how 'Love is dead!' and 'Why would they end a Christmas movie like that?'

Patton and I cleaned up dinner, leaving Roman on his own in the living room.

"So..." he whispered as he handed me the dish he just washed.

"So...?" I asked, drying it and setting it in the cabinet.

"So, you and Roman are-"

"Sorry," Roman cut in, suddenly leaning in the doorway of the kitchen. "I don't at all want to impose, but it seems that the weather's become... unfavourable, to put it lightly," he said.

It was almost too dark out to see through the window, but I could just about make out the blizzard swirling just beyond the glass. Patton's eyes widened when he looked. "I can't let you drive in that!" he exclaimed. Despite the fact that he was using his stern fatherly voice, he was smiling when he looked over at me.

My stomach dropped when I realised what he was about to say.

He turned back to Roman. "Sorry kiddo, looks like you're sleeping here tonight!"