Prince next door (Prinxiety au)

Chapter 9

"Oh wow." Roman comments when Virgil stands in front of his door after going to the hairdresser to change his hair back to his natural dark brown color. Virgil looks insecure up at him.
"It's like a portal back in time seeing you like that." Roman reacts as he looks intrigued at the familiar hair color. He's gotten used to seeing Virgil with purple hair and it's almost odd to see him without it.
"Oh great, so I look twelve again?" Virgil replies with a sigh. Roman glares at him.
"You know that's not what I mean." He scolds. He really doesn't like it when Virgil does that. Talking down on himself. Seeing himself as lesser and assuming everyone around him does too. The younger man hums when Roman lets him in again.
"At least mom is going to be happy. She hated the purple." He shrugs as they walk up to Roman's room.£
"What why?" Roman frowns confused. Closing the door behind them. Virgil turns around as he sits down on Roman's bed to take off his shoes.
"I don't know. She just doesn't like crazy hair colors I guess." He replies. Roman hums. Not relating to miss Sanders at all on the subject.
"Talking about your mom. When are you going home for the holidays?" Roman wonders when he takes his laptop for the movie they're going to watch. Virgil looks unsure for a moment.
"Honestly? I'm not sure I'm going home." He admits. It's been ages since he last enjoyed Christmas. It's no longer the love filled holiday he experienced as a kid. Now it's just forced interaction with dad's new family and bending in impossible situations to make Christmas work for both his mom and his dad. Not to mention the way they always try to hear him out about the other. Trying to convince themselves they're doing a better job at raising him. If it were up to Virgil he'd say they're equally horrible on those days. Roman looks at him, completely baffled. Mouth even agape in confusion.
"Don't look at me like that." Virgil glares. Roman closes his mouth again.
"But it's your parents! Won't they want to see you?" He wonders. Virgil shrugs.
"Probably, but I don't want to see them on Christmas. It brings out their worst." He replies. Roman frowns as he sits down next to his best friend.
"What do you mean?" He asks softly. Inviting. Virgil looks up at him. Debating to just brush him off. He finally let's out a deep sigh.
"You know how they're divorced, right?" He asks him softly. It happened when they were no longer friends. Virgil never realized it as a kid, but his parents didn't have a happy marriage. They build the new house, the one next to Roman's family, hoping it would fix things. But of course it didn't. It just postponed the inevitable. They fought and fought. Yelling became a normal way of communication in their household. More times than he can count, Virgil would just go outside to sit on the porch with his music. Fighting to not let a single tear escape as he pretended to not hear the plate shatter to bits inside. Kids no longer played outside on the street. Everyone grew up. He remembers one of those nights in specific.

Virgil looks up at the night sky. Trying to find distraction in the shapes of the constellations. He doesn't know many. Only the big bear really. But he tries to discover other patterns as well. Ones that can potentially be a constellation. The night started out pretty calm. They even made it through dinner civil. But then his dad made a comment about how dirty the kitchen looked and his mom reacted annoyed. There wasn't an actual reason to start a fight, but they just began raising their voices. Only hearing what they wanted to hear. Not actually listening to each other. The love had left them and now there were just two human beings who couldn't stand one another. Virgil sighs as he follows a tree leaf that's rolling over the deserted street. Wondering what it would be like if he could just be blown away by the wind as well. He stiffens when he hears how someone opens the front door at Roman's house. He watches how Roman walks outside with a wrapped up blanket. Virgil squints his eyes suspicious when he stops at his driveway.
"You okay?" The boy next door questions as he comes up to him.
"I'm peachy." Virgil replies sarcastically. Embarrassed Roman can hear his parents scream at each other from where he's standing. Roman looks unsure before taking another step closer. Virgil lets out sigh before going back inside without another word. Rather facing his fighting parents than the ghost of a boy who used to care about him, but inevitably discarded him like everyone else did. Once he closes the door behind him he subtly looks outside from the dark hallway he's standing in. Roman looks lost before finally letting out a deep sigh himself and going back to his own house. With a heavy heart Virgil sneaks passed his parents and up to his room where he stares at his ceiling until his body is finally so tired it over powers his numb mind and he falls asleep.