Once Flames Now Flowers

Chapter One

Virgil sat on the front porch with a cup of tea in his hands. He stared at the night sky that had always caused a sense of comfort the swell within him. Star gazing had become a nightly routine due to this.

The night was quiet, the only sounds came from the cars that would occasionally drive past. But, the silence was interrupted by a car that pulled into the house across the street. Out of said car stepped three giggling males.

"This is it! Our new house!" one of the males squealed.

"Patton, shh, you're going to wake the entire neighborhood," another male stated as the group walked towards the house.

"Come on, I'm tired and want to go to sleep," a different voice whined loudly.

"Ok ok, I'm going," the male identified as Patton giggled and walked to the front door so he could unlock it.

Virgil watched the trio intently, frowning at his sudden loss of peace. He saw how they interacted. They were friends and Virgil felt a sense of longing while watching them.

He had never truly had any friends before. No one ever tried to approach him, he was too dark and broody for that. Carlos had been the first and only friend Virgil ever had and that's how they ended up together.

With that thought Virgil abruptly stood and walked into his house. Carlos was already in bed, having had a long day at work. Virgil, being the insomniac he was decided to clean his house.

~~~

At the house across the street the trio had entered their new home. Patton was now putting a few items away while the other two were upstairs fixing up their bed. Patton only unload the kitchen stuff so that he could have stuff for baking the next day.

In the upstairs bedroom the two other males were putting together the bed frame and making the bed. The nerd looking guy was explaining what needed to be done and the theatre kid was helping follow out the actions. They were working well together.

"Roman, will you run back out to the car? The pillows are out there," the nerd looking boy asked.

"Ugh, fine," groaned Roman.

"Logan! Can you come here please!" Patton called from the kitchen downstairs.

"On my way. Roman, just set the pillows on the bed and yes you can go to sleep," Logan said to Roman as they walked down the stairs.

Roman headed out the front door and Logan entered the kitchen. Patton was standing there with a a few items around him. Logan assumed that those were the things that Patton couldn't reach to out up.

"I can't reach," the 5'6" male stated.

Due to the high ceilings there was a lot more room for cabinet space so they had gotten a lot more things and Patton knew some of it had to go up high. Roman was the tallest but he also drove them across the country so Patton was fine with having Logan put up the stuff.

"Tell me where to put it," Logan sighed with a smile.

By midnight they were all in bed cuddled close to each other. Roman was sound asleep, as was Patton, but Logan couldn't seem to cease his thinking. He was curious about the town they had moved to.

~~~

Back at the picket fenced house Virgil was reading Pride and Prejudice. He had never read the book before and for some reason he was drawn to the classics. The book, so far, seemed great.

"What are you doing awake?" A groggy voice called from the hallway.

Out stepped Carlos in all of his glory. His blonde hair was curly and his skin looked as though it was kissed by the sun. He had green eyes that when locked with yours seemed almost hypnotizing. He was perfect.

"Couldn't sleep, sorry. Did I wake you?" Virgil asked closing his book and crossing the room to his boyfriend.

"No, I had to pee and you weren't there so I looked for you. Will you come lay down?" Carlos asked opening his arms for a hug.

These were the moments Virgil lived for. When Carlos was clingy and lovey. He could live through the screaming and shouting and hitting if it meant that he could have these moments.

"Of course. Let me go rinse out my cup and I will be right there," Virgil smiled and let himself be pulled in for a kiss before being released.

Carlos was the kindest when he was sleepy. Virgil knew that the blonde was stressed so he assumed that's why he always yelled and got mad. But, when Carlos was tired he truly loved Virgil and that was all the shorter male could ask for.

Virgil headed to the bedroom after putting his cup away and found that Carlos was waiting for him. He quickly laid down and let the bigger man pull him closer and hold him tight. They were happy and Virgil needed that.

~~~

Logan had decided that he would never be able to fall back asleep. So, he got up and decided to go for a late night run. He left a small note scrawled out on the table in case one of the others woke up. Patton had woekn up whole Logan was out once, and called the cops thinking Logan was missing thus creating the note making system.

As he ran through the neighborhood he looked at the houses carefully. Some of the houses had toys littering the yard. Others had dead grass and boring yards. Some had yards. Some didn't. But one stood out in particular.

The house across the street from his own. This house was made of bricks and looked perfect. The grass was an emerald green and a white picket fence surrounded the yard. Flower gardens lined the pathway up the house and all of the flowers were perfectly kept. It was beautiful, eerily so.

As Logan went to bed, knowing he would sleep this time, the house haunted his mind. The curious man wanted nothing more than to meet the owners of that house. He knew they would when Patton gave them muffins tomorrow.

So, Logan let sleep take over. He let himself snuggle into his loving boyfriend's and pretend he had no problems. When he was with them, he didn't, it was just him and his boyfriend's nothing else.