December 20th - 9:00am

"Huele a bananas... ¿eres tú?, ¿tú hueles a bananas?" Virgil scrunched up his face, the sounds of Roman's sleep talking waking him up. He wouldn't do this often, but enough times for Virgil to know he wouldn't stop mumbling and murmuring until he woke up - he would ask what he said but Roman never remembers.

Sighing, he rolled away from his boyfriend and rubbed his eyes, tensing when he heard a sudden yell from downstairs. Curiously, he slipped out of bed and opened the door, peeking out into the hallway, apparently a few other people had the same idea as Oliver was looking out of his room along with Camila and Aria.

"What's wrong, mother?" Virgil heard Amelia's voice and a sudden grin developed on his face. Aria noticed and smirked, walking back into her room and closing the door, assuming whatever happened was a prank and leaving it at that.

"The shower! It's freezing! What happened to the warm water!?" Virgil let out a quiet chuckle, deciding to get dressed instead of listening to his grandmother rant and rant. Closing the door, he pulled on his pair of skinny jeans, black top and purple jacket.

"Mmm...mami..." Virgil glanced at Roman who wore a smile, cuddling into his cushion tightly. He must be thinking of home. Virge hoped he was doing okay, this was one of the first Christmas' he wasn't with his family, he probably misses them a lot but while they were eating yesterday they did end up calling - Virgil ended up putting on his headphones, he couldn't understand the conversation anyway.

After brushing his hair as much as he could be bothered, he left his room and snuck down the staircase, hearing his gran and mother in the bathroom he took it as a great opportunity to rush to the kitchen and grab a bowl of cereal.

"Waking up to her yells was music to my ears" Gabriel spoke up behind Virgil, mischief underlying each word. Pouring milk into his bowl, Virgil snorted. "Lucky - all I got was indecipherable Spanish" he responded, turning around to grin at his younger siblings who leaned on the counter casually, still wearing their pyjamas.

"She'll be here soon, so don't stick around" Harper informed and Virgil nodded. "Keep up the good work" he winked, grabbing a fruit for Roman before he was off and inside of his bedroom again, his smile stuck to his face, especially when Charlotte began to get angrier at every passing second - he really hoped she still had soap in her hair.

"Virgil" Roman whined when the man pulled away the duvet from his body, placing the cold apple onto his head. "Get up you lazy bitch" Virgil responded with a light chuckle, almost finished with his cereal. He had planned the whole day out last night - he would find and talk with the remaining family members, hopefully getting close to them once again and fixing whatever lingering guilt they might still have, slaying the awkward tension that still swarms around them.

"¿Vago?, ¡dile eso a todo lo que no lavaste!" Roman grumbled into the pillow and Virgil rolled his eyes, "I don't know what you just said, but I don't appreciate it" Virgil gulped down his milk quick, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand and placing his bowl on his bedside table - he'd take it down to the kitchen eventually. Just not right now.

With one final attempt to get him up, Virgil grabbed a pillow and hit his head but that just seemed to irritate him even more, sending Virgil a glare that was mostly hidden by the pillow underneath his head. "Fine" he shrugged, "I'll just send the kids up" Roman groaned, "no, no! I'm up, I'm up! Disney..." he whispered in exasperation and Virgil giggled evilly, leaving the room with confidence that Roman would finally change and get ready for the day.

Walking down the hallway, he knocked swiftly on his eldest brother's room, opening the door when he heard a faint 'come in'. He smiled at Elizabeth who smiled right on back, wearing one of her usual airy dresses. Understanding he wanted to speak to his brother alone, she walked out the room but paused before him, bending down to press a soft but meaningful kiss to his forehead. Virgil leaned into the touch slightly, smiling wider at the lady who was too kind for words.

She didn't speak a word, just cupped his cheek for a moment and left.

"You're lucky, she's amazing" Virgil commented to his brother, lazily slumping in the seat beside his desk. "I know" William responded, eyes locked on his computer screen that had many tabs and different softwares open. "She was the only one who knew you wouldn't be coming back, at least not for awhile"

Virgil could see that, while Elizabeth didn't get herself involved in the family drama ten years ago, she did speak to Virgil whenever he was alone - she was one of the only adults who actually made him feel better about himself.

For a few minutes Virgil watched his brother stress over work (because it was quite entertaining) but after awhile he supposed he should get to what he wanted to do. "Move over, big bro" Virgil commanded, snatching the mouse from his hand and closing all his work (obviously saving it before hand), William slightly protested but not entirely, honestly he needed a break and a few hours spent with his brother will help that.

Opening Google, Virgil found a random stock imagine of a man and opened it up in photoshop. "I'm about to show you how to make his forehead grow into a penis" although the most immature thing William has ever heard Virgil utter, he found the prospect to be enticing so he had no quarrels when Virgil went into 'incognito mode' and found a random picture of a penis.

"I can't see why you're attracted to those" William grimaced and Virgil snorted. "Roman's more than just a dick some of the time" the two men chuckled, but William didn't want to make any more comments, he didn't know what was too far as he was still - much like his father - out of the loop with the whole LGBT community. He's done a little research and gained knowledge from Elizabeth who told him 'don't hurt the people who aren't hurting others'. He's lived by it ever since and found life to be much more rewarding when it isn't filled with so much hate.

"How are you and...Roman?" William tried, shifting in his seat.

"Uh-good, fine" Virgil responded, hands clicking a few keys on the keyboard. "Although I'm pretty sure he wants to name our children after Greek Gods..." he drifted, focusing on the imagine for a moment. "Which will either turn out great or lead to our children being bullied - then again that does give me an excuse to punch a kid in the face" he pushed his lips to the side in thought, having actually never thought about that before.

"Trust me, hitting a kid won't do either of you wonders" William responded with a snort.

"Only if you get caught" Virgil countered, changing the subject. "Here, blend that to match his skin, see? Now he looks like a dick head" William finally looked at the image, unable to stop laughter bubbling out of his mouth and filling the space around them. After a moment Virgil lost it a bit, too, the two men staring at the image of a dick on a strangers forehead and losing it like the mature men that they are.

"Oh my god, what would Elizabeth think?" William murmured to himself, wiping away the tears in his eyes, the more he looked at his monitor the more he laughed, Virgil in the same situation, grabbing his phone and snapping a picture of the image, sending it to the group chat with all of his friends.

"Alright, now I'm happy" Virgil saved the work before closing down photoshop, leaving it open on the computer screen which was a picture of William, Elizabeth and Mia all smiling up at the camera.

"That'll be on my computer forever" William sighed and Virgil snorted, lifting his shoulders in a shrug as if to say 'so what? It deserves to be'.

The room fell to silence as Virgil leaned back in his seat, glancing at William who chewed his lip for a moment, looking over at his younger brother who rose an eyebrow. "I'm...sorry, I really am"

Virgil nodded, he accepted it now. "Eh, it's alright, brothers are dickheads" he brushed off but William seemed adamant.

"But I was worse-"

"Stop being so self-deprecating and hug me" Virgil cut him off, standing up from his seat and opening his arms. William froze up a little, this would be the first time he and Virgil have hugged in over ten years. Swallowing thickly, he stood up, awkwardly pushing away his chair before stretching his arms out shakily, Virgil taking the lead and pulling him into a hug, his head going to his shoulder where he rested it comfortably, relaxing in William's hold once the man wasn't so tense.

"You're the best brother I could ask for"

Virgil snorted, "don't let Gabriel hear you"

William smiled, "I'd think he'd hit me if I didn't say it"

Virgil let out a breathy laugh, "true" he agreed, "very true"

Afterwards, Virgil let William get back to his work, when he left the room and closed the door he was ready to go downstairs and talk to someone when Abigail called his name and walked up to him. "Will you help me with something?" She asked and Virgil gladly agreed, he hadn't been able to think of what to talk to Abigail about so hopefully they'd be able to somewhat bond over whatever she was asking him for.

They walked towards the door leading to the attic, she opened the door and allowed Virgil to enter first, so he did, moving past the boxes that were lined up by the entrance, ready for later that day when they'd start setting up the Christmas decorations. He was invited to join but he knew his grandmother would be there - besides he had a few shows he needed to catch up on and Roman could fill him in on what happened afterwards.

When he realised Abigail was still in the doorway, he turned to her, confused. "Aren't you coming?" He asked to which he received a head shake.

"In that dust? No" she pulled a face at the mere idea, "go find the box labelled album" she then urged, Virgil rolled his eyes but did as he was told, having to push aside an old, broken chair before he could reach for the box littered with dust and spiderwebs. Brushing it off, he picked up the box and stumbled over to Abigail who led him to her bedroom.

"Sit here" Abigail patted the spot on the bed next to where she sat and Virgil rose his eyebrows in surprise, usually Abigail was very against people entering her room (unless it was her, Mason or Oliver) especially sitting on her bed, so this felt like a very big privilege.

Placing the box before them, he sat down, watching Abigail shift through the albums until she found the one she wanted. "Amelia decided it was a good idea to make a photo album for each of her kids" she explained, flipping the certain album over to show the cover to Virgil. It was a soft purple, in the middle a picture hidden behind a glass frame, Virgil could tell it was himself as a baby, underneath read the words "Virgil Bright - 1991"

"She gives it to them on their thirtieth birthday, Olivia and William already have there's" Abigail further explained, flipping it open to the first page. "You're twenty eight - it's close enough" she decided and Virgil had no objections, looking over her shoulder to see the pictures, too.

The first page consisted of the same picture on the front, instead this time bigger. "I remember that photo shoot - it took two hours to get this picture, and it's not even that good" Virgil rolled his eyes fondly, but he doesn't expect anything less from his aunt Abigail.

"You would not stop crying" she explained, turning the page to show another picture, Virgil guessed on each page it was just one picture on the right side. "This was a week later - see the empty room behind you?" Virgil nodded, staring at himself sitting in his father's arms, eyes closed, dummy in his mouth.

"That is your room now - it went through a lot of changes. From bright colours to dark, because someone just had to be an emo" Virgil shot Abigail a playful glare, "it wasn't a phase, either"

Abigail rose her eyebrow, "was that supposed to defend you?"

"Oh, shut up" Virgil laughed, turning back to the album when she flicked to a random page further along in the book. "Oh, fuck, I remember that" Virgil pointed to the teddy in his arms, "what happened to it?"

"You threw it off the bridge in a fit of rage, cried for weeks about it until you became attached to a new toy" as she explained, a soft smile rested on her lips and Virgil stared at it for a moment, slowly looking back down at the book.

She carried on going through a few pictures, "I would sometimes look through this book" she admitted after awhile, "during Christmas - I'd sit in the attic for hours and just watch you grow up through the pictures" slowly, she closed the book, her hand drifting down the cover before she slid it back inside the box.

"I won't show you them all - I'm sure showing you a few would get me into enough trouble" closing the box, Abigail turned to Virgil who looked up at her through his bangs. "I won't tell her if you won't" Virgil offered and Abigail smirked, "you are not a great actor, Virgil. She'll instantly know when she gives it to you"

Virgil scoffed, "you owe me ten bucks if she doesn't realise"

Abigail smirked at the prospect, "you owe me the same if she does"

Virgil stuck out his hand and she shook it, "deal" he agreed and Abigail nodded. "Quite - but, seriously" she patted the lid of the box.

"I do not make it obvious to you, or anyone, but I do love you Virgil, and I hope you can forgive me for not stepping in"

Virgil sighed, shrugging lightly. "You never insulted me, you didn't turn homophobic because of your parents, and you didn't have the greatest childhood either" Abigail looked at him in surprise that he knew that. "It's obvious who's the favourite" Virgil supplied and Abigail merely nodded, glancing away to the box.

"You never approved of what they did, that was obvious, but you didn't get involved" Virgil pointed out, "which I'd suggest you change - what if Oliver gets attacked for who he is? You have to be there and kick those bully's asses" Abigail thought about it, Oliver was lucky to never really get bullied during school, but the idea of someone hurting her son did make her eyes narrow.

"You are right, Virgil" she agreed, "so, are we okay?"

Virgil smiled, "we are"

He waited awhile before talking to anyone else, letting lunch pass by before he went to find Camila. During lunch, however, he was able to listen to a lovely conversation consisting of Charlotte's obvious distaste to the food she was given. It was even better when everyone else didn't have that problem at all, and their food was actually quite delicious. He could imagine Gabriel's and Harper's devilish smirks all the way from upstairs.

Once Harper confirmed to him Charlotte was busy in her room, Virgil escaped his own and hurried down the staircase into the living room, smiling at Camila and Samuel who sat close together on the couch, talking quietly.

"Hey, Virgil" Samuel greeted and Virgil shot a smile in his direction. "Hey Sam" he responded, "Can I speak to Cam?" He asked and he agreed, the two sharing a short and sweet kiss before he was standing up and leaving the room, closing the door gently behind him.

"He's sweet" Virgil commented, sitting beside Camila once she sat up. "He is, I love him" she cooed, smiling at the door before looking to Virgil. "How can I help you, sweetheart?"

"I just wanted to talk, we haven't really had a conversation since I got here" he explained and Camila lit up at the prospect. "We haven't! Sorry about that, I just wanted to give you space to make you comfortable, y'know?" She explained and Virgil nodded, he could understand that and he was grateful for it, he did need some time to settle in before talking to all of his family. 

"It's alright, don't worry" Virgil brushed off, gazing at his aunt for a moment before a sudden thought popped up into his head. "Y'know" he began, a grin drawing on his lips, "you remind me of my friend Patton" Camila's eyes glowed in curiosity

"Oh?" She prompted, and Virgil's smile softened when he thought about the man who treated him like he was his own kid.

"He's the kindest person I know" he admittedly quietly and Camila's eyebrows creased together, her hand lifting to cover her mouth that widened into a flustered smile. "Oh, Virgil!" She whispered, eyes reddening with tears.

"That's so sweet" she replied, a little choked up as she pulled her nephew into a tight hug, hiding her face in her shoulder. Virgil felt his heart warm, hugging her back just as tight. "But I'm not-those ten years ago-" she tried but Virgil leaned back, shaking his head, silently telling her to stop.

"At this point it's water under the bridge, alright? I know you were all influenced by the elders and honestly? Spending all those Christmas' with Roman's family made me want to be on good terms with all of you again, well, most" he corrected, Camila understood what he meant. "And I know you won't hurt me again, so...I'm willing to move past it, if you are" Virgil offered a half smile and Camila returned it with a full one.

"I am, I really am, I won't mention it again! We can pretend for ten years you had to protect the planet by fighting off aliens and teleporting to different dimensions with Roman by your side!" She declared and Virgil laughed, staring at her fondly.

"I like that - but we always came back in time for Christmas"

Camila nodded, "thank you for protecting our planet, Virgil" she poked his chest playfully.

"And thank you for being so supportive" he responded and Camila couldn't help but hug him again, pressing a few kisses to his head.

"I love you, Virgil!"

"I love you too, Cam"

December 20th - 9:30am

Groupchat: You made my noodles wet

Members: DisneyPrince, anxioustwat, Logan, Popstar

anxioustwat: *image attached*

Logan: Really, Virgil? This is the first thing my eyes are greeted with at four am?

Popstar: 😱😱😱
Popstar: Kiddo! That's the best photoshop work ever!
Popstar: I'm proud of you 😢

Logan: Please do not condone this.

DisneyPrince: that. Is. Glorious!
DisneyPrince: look how big it is!!
DisneyPrince: Of course, not as big as myself

Logan: I am leaving this chat and blocking each of you.

Popstar: dont worry kiddos I'll unblock you all!

Logan: Traitor.

DisneyPrince: I think the highlight of all of this is virgil made it with his brother 🥳🤩

Popstar: REALLY?! AWHHHH KIDDO LOOK AT YOU!!!!! MAKING ART WITH YOUR BROTHER YOU USED TO HATE!!!

Logan: Art?

DisneyPrince: truly this trip has been an experience! A wonderful one at that

Logan: Art?!

Popstar: really? Awwhhh! This makes me so happy 😢😢🥰🥰 proud of you Kiddo!!

Logan: ART?!?!

DisneyPrince: Hey, padre? I think specs needs to be turned off and on again!

Logan has left the chat

DisneyPrince: and I'm the dramatic one

Logan has been added to the chat

Logan: You are the dramatic one.

Logan has left the chat

DisneyPrince: 😐

Popstar: Hehe! Don't worry, I'll soften him up!

DisneyPrince: I thought you were supposed to do the opposite?

anxioustwat: i heard the sound of someone trying to make patton less innocent ro shut up before i kick your ass

DisneyPrince: 🤐🤐🤐

anxioustwat: anyway y r u 2 awake?

Logan has been added to the chat

Logan: That is an insult to the English language, and because I suppose Patton has already 'done the opposite'

DisneyPrince: ...

anxioustwat: ...

DisneyPrince: Virgil?

anxioustwat: yes?

DisneyPrince: Patton is still an innocent virgin to us, right?

anxioustwat: yes

DisneyPrince: wonderful! nOW GO TO SLEEP YOU FILTHY ANIMALS!