Expensive Band Shirts and Priceless Memories (Prinxiety)

"Well, f*ck."

Virgil knew better. Or at least he should've. It always went down like this.
He'd spend weeks looking through this store's website and obsessing over all the expensive band t-shirts, and when he does go to that one mall they exist at (which is at least an hour from his house) he'll pull out his wallet - where he's been saving money for a long while before that - and try to choose one. But he just can't. From Slipknot to Fall Out Boy and from Nirvana to his all-time favorite My Chemical Romance there are just too many good options. And every single band has a million different shirt designs. It's basically torture.

It's not that he didn't like the store, he loved it. And the mall it's at. That mall is one of the only places he feels like he belongs in. It feels like a beautiful flower in a huge and empty desert. Everyone knows that mall is where the "weird kids" thrive.

Everywhere you looked you saw a gay flag, or comic book, or alternative clothes or a doctor who poster or anime product. They had an entire store about fairies and it looks like a literal glowing forest. It was his favorite place in the world. And that store was the store of his dreams, his stomach leaped just at the possibility of going there. Whenever he was there he felt like a puzzle piece that finally found its place.

That dimly lit store was packed with band merch from cool patches to soft shirts to shiny rubber bracelets. The walls were full of red and black shades and the speakers never played a single bad song.

All the cashiers he met were nice and he adored their style every single time and the store itself just felt like happiness. He could spend years in that place. And it already feels like he is. Because even though it makes him happy it also terrifies him.

What if he regrets his choice and just wasted a whole month's savings with that shirt? What if it's too big? What if it's too small? But he already has an mcr shirt. But he doesn't have a Twenty One Pilots shirt from this album. But he has a hoodie with a similar design! Maybe-

"What do you think?"

He turned around to see Roman holding up a Queen t-shirt.

"Oh wow," When he saw him his own dilemma dissipated.

Roman was smiling widely as his gaze switched between Virgil and the shirt. It had the Queen logo at the top and a picture of all the members in the middle. It had the words Bohemian Rhapsody on the bottom which made sense because the way they were standing looked pretty much like Virgil remembered it looking from the music video.

"It's gonna look amazing on you. Even though I kind of assumed you'd get a Panic! at the Disco one." he said.

"Oh, I already have all the panic ones you know me, can't risk someone thinking I'm a hetero," He feigned a shudder and turned away to look at the rack in front of Virgil's.

"Yeah," Virgil said, coming back to his reality. He wished he could just walk into the store without worrying like Roman did but he couldn't. Worrying is kind of his trademark at this point. He doesn't have the budget not to.

He turned around back to the shirts. Okay f*ck it let's narrow it down. He was holding five options. One Twenty-One Pilots shirt with the cover for Blurryface -the album he didn't have a shirt for - and four different My Chemical Romance shirts. He really needs to listen to new music he thought as he put one of the mcr ones back. There. Three more to go. Geeus, this is hard.

"Having trouble choosing one?" He felt a warm hand touch his shoulder from behind. "Yeah."
The hand swiftly grabbed a shirt for Roman to inspect and pulled it back. "You already own a hoodie with that album cover."
"Yeah but it's my favorite album and the hoodie kinda itches," Virgil answered without looking back.
"Plus I can't wear it in the summer and If I get insecure because of short sleeves and stuff and it'll really help to wear a three cheers shirt even though it's pretty bloody so I might worry about people staring at it but if it's strangers I might not care and it might be a conversation starter if-"