Not requested.

Ship: Fraternal PattonxLoganxRoman and Anxceit, flirtacious Roceit

Category: Humor/Fluff

Warnings: Mentions of death

Summary: True to his word, Virgil allows Roman to stay with him while he fakes his death. Roman finally meets Virgil's (flirty) brother.

¶∆¶∆¶∆¶

"And you're sure it's somewhere around here?" Patton asked tentatively.

Beside him, Roman paused in his stroking of his horse's mane and turned to look at his older brother. "Yeah. Virgil said it would be somewhere by the mouth of the valley, which we should be approaching."

"That's not very specific," Logan reprimanded gently. "Are we sure we can trust this random assassin to not kill you once we're gone?"

"He seemed genuine."

"That isn't good enough- oh-" Logan sighed. "I suppose I'll have to make my first impression of him when we meet."

The trio descended into the opening of the valley, but as soon as they did so, their horses began to whine and toss their heads, taking several steps back. Roman frowned as he tried to calm his steed, stroking his neck with white gloved fingers.

"Didn't think you'd actually come."

The three brothers looked upwards towards the mysterious voice.

Perched in the tree above them, dressed in all black and loosely clutching a bow, was Virgil.

Logan raised his crossbow defensively, aiming it at the assassin. Virgil tilted his head, then made a low whistling sound. Instantly, Logan's horse whinnied and reared up, causing Logan to tumble head-over-heels onto the ground with a thump.

Roman snickered, then covered his mouth sheepishly. "Hi Virgil!" he called, dismounting. "These are my brothers."

"Obviously," Virgil huffed, easing himself into a sitting position on the branch. He propped his bow up against the tree. "I could hear you from a mile away. Literally. You should work on your stealth. There are some things in this forest that aren't as nice as me."

"That was not necessary," Logan grumbled, dusting himself off.

"You were going to shoot me!" Virgil glared at him. "Did you know I've been tailing you for a few hours, shooting down anything that came your way? And you have the audacity to try and shoot me upon your arrival on my doorstep?"

Logan opened his mouth to argue, but Roman cast him a warning look.

"Take care of Roman, won't you?" Patton said. "He tends to get himself into unnecessary trouble."

Virgil winked and saluted the second-oldest prince. "I'll do my best." He turned his gaze to Roman. "Hop up on your horse there and we'll get going. If you two need anything, you know where to find me."

Once the older princes were gone, Virgil shimmied down the tree and landed lightly beside Roman, his feet nearly soundless. "Let's go."

The pair walked into the valley, Virgil leading the way. Roman didn't have any idea of where they were going, but Virgil seemed to have a very good sense of direction. They went around a bend, ducked under a tree, and entered a large clearing, surrounded by a ring of pine trees. In the center was a little cottage, with glowing orange windows and multi-colored flowers lining the windows. It looked like the home of a few old women, not trained assassins.

"My brother is here," Virgil warned as they approached. "He doesn't take kindly to strangers. Stay out of his way for the first couple of days." Then Virgil led him around the back, where Roman discovered the stables, with three horses grazing around the pen. One was a brilliant, gleaming white, so much that it nearly glowed in the sun. Another was the color of autumn leaves, brown and red and yellow dappled in the sunlight. The last was a deep, shiny black, with a single white patch over one eye.

"The white one is a spare," Virgil said, gesturing. "The red one is Dee's, and the black one is mine. Their names are Abalone, Lucifer, and Shade, respectively." At Roman's raised eyebrow, he continued mirthfully, "Yes, I know, poor name choices. Abalones aren't typically white, Lucifer is the literal, actual devil, and Shade is stereotypical of me. Anyway, you can leave your horse in there when you don't need it."

"She," Roman corrected. "Her name is Valerie."

"And?" Once Roman had dismounted, Virgil whistled, and Valerie followed him into the pen, where he locked the gate once more. "I'm sure you're hungry. You only complained six times on your way here."

They rounded the corner, Virgil stepped up to the door, knocked three times, paused, and knocked once more.

"-better have those berries you said you were getting," someone said as the door swung open. He was dressed in a black overcoat with yellow trim, bright yellow gloves adorning his hands, and a black bowler hat with a yellow buckle tipped stylishly over his eyes. He lifted the rim, revealing tousled brown hair and stunning heterochromatic eyes, one brown and the other a yellowish-green. The most shocking part of his appearance was the presence of scorch marks on the left side of his face, tracing down to the corner of his lip and arcing dangerously close to one eye.

Those glittering eyes latched onto Roman's face, scanning his body up and down before cocking an eyebrow appreciatively. "Virge-y, you didn't tell me you were bringing me a new toy," he purred, leaning in the doorframe and tilting his head like a cat.

Roman gulped.

"Oh, stuff it, Dee." Virgil pushed past his brother and stepped into the house. "You're scaring the poor boy."

Roman moved to follow Virgil, but Dee straightened and held out a gloved hand. "And your name is?"

"Roman." The prince bit his lip nervously. "Roman Sanders."

If anything, Dee's eyebrows rose even higher. He grinned. "The youngest prince of two, and the hottest, I dare say." He stood on his toes, towering over Roman further, leaning so close that Roman could smell the lemon on his coat-

"Dee!" Virgil grabbed the back of his brother's hood and yanked him backwards, sending him tumbling to the floor with a cry of indignation. "Hands off my prince."

"My prince?" Dee sneered.

"My prince?" Roman echoed.

"Yes. Princey's on my contract. Hands. Off." Virgil then grasped Roman's sleeve and pulled him into the house, slamming the door behind him.

¶∆¶∆¶∆¶

Make sure to request oneshots and leave a vote! 💞 -kc