11:06pm

I go out of my room at 10:50pm to ask my mother dearest if she could buy me a Salad Finger's hoodie - low and behold everyone is asleep! Even the bloody dog.

Au
—

"Virgil!" Roman wailed once entering their shared bedroom. His brother flinched, looking up at the taller boy as he threw his bag against the wall and flopped onto the bed, face buried into the pillow as he let out incoherent sobs. Rolling his eyes, he returned back to his doodles as procrastination for studying. Usually Roman did this at least once a week about one thing or another, Virgil learned to ignore it until he gets over whatever "crisis" he was having now.

A few minutes passed, Roman had silenced and rolled onto his side, facing the wall with his back towards Virgil. The boy couldn't help but glance over every now and again, wondering what the hell was bothering him so much he stayed silent. He was never silent! If he wasn't complaining, he was talking about anything and everything he could, and if he had no one to talk to, he was singing! The only times he is truly silent was when he was asleep, but Virgil would be surprised if he had fallen asleep now, so suddenly.

That was his brand.

He leaned back in his desk chair, licking his lips as he thought back to the events of today. He and Roman don't hang out that often due to them having different friends, Virgil didn't particularly like his choice of friends, definitely people that could be a bad influence, but since he's gotten into theatre he's actually befriended people Virgil had approved, in fact some of his new friends were also Virgil's friends, seeing as he liked to help out behind-the-scenes when he wasn't busy.

Even if they didn't hang out, he was a popular - probably the most popular - boy in their damn school, so if something were to happen everyone would know before the end of the day. The biggest thing to happen today was two new students had enrolled, and were in a lot of his classes. From the register he knew their names to be Logan and Patton, it was obvious from the start they were brothers, but still they were vastly different.

Patton seemed to be on high energy twenty four seven, bouncing around everywhere, excited over anything, way too boisterous for him, while Logan was definitely not as loud, kept to himself, and would probably much rather do work than become friends with everyone he could - which was another thing Patton tried to do.

Virgil wondered if he came into contact with his brother - he doesn't seem like he could cause any harm, so what has gotten into the usually flamboyant boy?

Their bedroom door opened moments later and their mother popped her head through the doorway, smiling at her sons briskly. "Don't forget, we're having dinner with the Copperburg's tonight" she went to leave when she noticed Roman not acting like himself at all. Drawing her eyebrows together, she crossed the room, sitting down behind her son while brushing some of his hair from his face. He was staring at the wall blankly, emotionless.

"Roman?" She murmured quietly, Virgil got up too and peered over his body at his face, knitting his eyebrows together in concern and confusion. "Dude, you are the picture of something from a horror movie" he remarked, earning a light swat from their mother who leaned down and pressed a kiss to Roman's cheek. The boy finally rolled onto his back, staring at his mother for what seemed like the longest time, a smile brightening on his face after the silence finally became too thick to breathe in.

It was fake. They could both see that. But then they realised the reason why he was smiling. In the doorway was their father, arms crossed across his chest that was covered by a crisp and tailored black suit. His expression was stern, blank, almost...scary. At least, that was what Virgil thought, he'd never admit that, though. His whole aura screamed authority, mostly why no one dared to mess with him. Virgil and Roman both wonder why their mother; their sweet, kind, caring mother ever married a man who detested emotions nearly as much as he detested people that were different.

"Are you ill?" His voice was hard, both boys don't think they've ever heard him with a gentler tone, coming to realise this...was his default state. Never once relaxing from the stoic leader he was.

"No, he's alright" their mother responded, gently stroking his cheek. He leaned into her touch with a smile that reached his eyes, but it didn't last, for their father spoke again.

"Then stop fawning over the boy" he ordered, changing the subject as soon as his wife removed her hand and crossed them in her lap. "Be ready in half an hour" with that, he was down the hallway and marching down the stairs. Probably to his office where he would wait for everyone to dress up for the meal later that evening.

Once he was gone, Roman relaxed from his stiff posture, the smile he created falling into a line. Whenever he - or any of them - acted "off" their dad wouldn't stop being a pester until he found out why and forced whoever had the problem to sort it out. Last time this happened Roman was suspended for two weeks due to his dad peer pressuring him to punch a kid who gave him a black eye.

"Hey, baby, look at me" their mother murmured sweetly, cupping Roman's face with both of her hands. He looked up at her concerned yet coy grin. "When you're ready, tell me what's wrong, we can sort it out together, just us, okay?" He nodded, reaching up to place his hand over hers. He loved his mother so much. "Thank you" he replied, sitting up to hug the woman who laughed lightly and hugged back. Both boys agreed she deserved so much better, they wished she could see that.

Once she left the room, Roman instantly changed into the suit that was he was able to choose. It was pure white with red accents - he found it beautiful. Virgil chose one for himself, too, purple and black, his two favourite colours. They were comfortable with changing in the same room as the other, as long as they turned their backs, of course.

Exactly half an hour later their dad left his office, by then Roman and Virgil were already standing by the front door, arguing over a petty topic. Their mother came hurrying around a corner, and not a moment later they were all in the car, listening to the radio while driving to the family friend's house. Throughout the drive, Roman was silent, which was unlike him, again...Virgil has never seem him act so differently. He wanted to ask, but not yet, not when their dad could overhear.

When the car parked it seemed they were one of the first there. Roman and Virgil hurried out the car before they had to hear the judgemental comments from their dad, creating a race to see who could get to the front door the fastest. Roman won, he did work out much more than Virgil, so the shorter twin blamed it on that while Roman only mimicked him childishly, ringing the doorbell.

A few moments later the door was opened by a beautiful, petite girl who grinned upon seeing the two. "Roman!" She yelled out happily, throwing her arms around the boy who laughed and hugged her back, swinging her around gently. Virgil leaned on the wall and rolled his eyes, the girl couldn't be more subtle with the fact she liked him in a romantic sense - Virgil couldn't tell if Roman liked her back, he sure acted like he did, but if he were to Virgil was sure he would've told him.

"Greetings, Melody" Roman replied, bending down to kiss the back of her hand. She giggled, a blush rising on her cheeks. Climbing up onto the porch behind them was their parents, dad looking proud Roman was such a gentleman, while their mother looked indifferent. She wore a smile and greeted the Copperburg's while the teens hurried through the house to the backyard where the meal was behind held.

"Oh!" Melody chirped, hand on the doorknob. "The neighbours have come around to help fix the barbecue! They've done a brilliant job" she exclaimed, sending Roman a grin before pushing open the door and skipping into the outside world.

"Hello to you too, Melody" Virgil muttered grumpily, glaring at Roman who ruffled his hair. "Oh, shush you, like you would enjoy the attention anyway" Virgil hated that he was true, still he pushed his brother to the side and left the house, thumping down the few steps while gazing across the garden that was filled with tables laid out with food.

And, like Melody said, there by the barbecue were the neighbours. Two men, one leaning on the side of it, while the other was bent down, fiddling with something inside. They were talking happily, both wearing more casual outfits than everyone else that was there - it was obvious they weren't planning to stay, or to come over, period.

Virgil stopped paying them attention to look at the other guests who had arrived. He barely knew them to be people he had seen at these barbecues hosted by others in the town, he didn't really care to know them for they were adults, and it wasn't like he was planning to keep in touch. He was curious about the two boys who stood near the set of basically abandoned swings, if Virgil was right they were the new students from school, Patton and Logan. Usually he, Roman and Melody were the only kids to come to these things, so having someone he could actually talk to without Melody being there, too, was great relief.

Only problem, he wasn't at all great talking to new people. Which was why he was glad when Roman sauntered over and introduced them both, luckily Melody was talking to one of her friends who phoned her in that precise moment.

"Greetings" he smiled at one of the two ladies that also hung around the boys. She whipped around and grinned, letting Roman kiss the back of her hand. "I'm Roman, and you look divine" he murmured in a sultry tone, making Virgil gag and the woman snort-laugh.

"Oh, cutie, thank you" as she spoke, the second woman appeared by her side, grinning like the first one. Virgil didn't know why, but he felt like they had a really close bond, with the way they acted around each other, even in this brief instance.

"Patton, Dear" the second woman's eyes lit up once she finally seemed to remember something. "Isn't this the boy that you said looked breathtaking-"

"Mom!" Patton exclaimed, rushing to her side to see what he meant. His eyes widened when he gazed at Roman who seemed to freeze up too, hands clenching by his sides as he instantly recalled who the boy was. Virgil watched as he gulped and stood up straight, face falling into a hard expression, similar to their father. It...worried Virgil.

"I believe it is" the first woman embarrassed Patton who blushed furiously, sending Roman an apologetic look. "I need to go" Roman suddenly excused himself, twirling around on his feet and quickly heading inside the house. Everyone watched him go curiously, wondering why he left so abruptly. Patton turned to Virgil who had his eyebrows drawn together, going over everything that just happened to try and explain his odd behaviour.

"Hey, you're the boy with the awesome jacket!" Patton was suddenly before him, and he flinched back, eyes wide. Finally understanding what the excited boy said, he blushed and fumbled for words, meekly shrugging his shoulders. Saving him from his social ineptness, another boy came over, it was Logan. "Patton, why don't you go help father?" Suddenly, Patton brightened and he was hoping across the garden to the two men who lingered by the barbecue.

"I apologise about him, he can be a bit overwhelming" Logan turned to Virgil, holding out a hand. "I am Logan, you must be Virgil. And I assume Roman is your brother?" Virgil nodded, shaking the boy's hand. "He's not..usually like this" Virgil explained once he found his voice, unable to stop thinking about how fucking attractive this boy was.

"I don't know what the fucks gotten into him" he added, staring at the house as if it would give him all the answers. While looking across the garden, he noticed his parents talking to Logan and Patton's parents who were all standing beside the barbecue. The one who was leaning on it earlier, not really doing much in means of "fixing" it had his arm wrapped around one of the woman's waist, head resting on her shoulder as he smiled at Virgil's Mom who happily conversed with them.

The other man and woman stood beside them, but they weren't touching, only holding a plastic cup of liquid they sipped from every now and again, listening to Virgil's father. Virgil caught on something was odd, but he didn't say it out loud, nor did he think he ever would, because he could be completely wrong, and probably offend them all.

Logan held his hands behind his back, watching curiously as Virgil gazed at his parents. "Which ones are yours?" The darkly dressed boy questioned, turning back to Logan who paused for a brief moment, recalling what they were told to do in situations like this.

"The two that are holding each other are my parents" he responded, gesturing over towards them. Virgil nodded slowly, but his gut told him he was lying. Why? This was very confusing. In total, this has been a very confusing afternoon, with Roman acting differently, and him not believing Logan when it was quite obvious he was telling the truth. Or was he?

Cursing himself, he shook his head and decided he would try and find his brother. Leaving Logan to return to the swing where he carried on reading, he entered the house and looked around each room until he found Roman upstairs in the guest bedroom, staring at the garden below with the same expressionless face. What was going through his head.

"Virgil, I need to tell you something" Roman sighed out, resting his forehead against the cold glass. Virgil smirked, leaning on the wall as he stared at his brother. Oh. He finally understood. The way he acted around Patton? How he wouldn't let their father know? Yeah, Virgil was proud, he wasn't as dumb as he thought.

"You're gay, aren't you?"

Roman cried out, throwing his arms around dramatically. "Yes!" He wailed, "I'm gay" he solemnly spoke, collapsing onto the single bed in the middle of the room.

"Obviously"

"So very gay..." he murmured, staring at the ceiling.

"Probably too gay" Virgil snorted.

"I have to live a gay life" Roman whispered.

"What is this? A midlife-crisis? You're sixteen, dude"

Roman say up with a grin. "More like a gay-life-crisis" he said without missing a beat, eyebrows wriggling in the process. Virgil wanted to punch him then and there. But, due to his distress, Virgil let it slide. In those moments of silence, Roman's cocky expression fell, for he remembered the situation he was stuck in, and the fact if his dad were to find out he...he'd be kicked out, presumably, not before getting a tough beating.

"You look like a lost puppy" Virgil commented, earning a meek laugh. Roman shrugged, picking at his nails absentmindedly. "I suppose I am. What do I do?"

Virgil took a seat beside the boy, shrugging. "Tell mom, she always knows what to do" Roman nodded in agreement, even if his nerves ate at him hungrily, tugging his heart with anxiety that clawed around inside of him, filling his brain with aching 'what ifs'. Minutes passed by in seconds, Roman found himself in the arms of his mother who rushed to her son who had unknowingly began to cry. He didn't entirely know why - maybe he was happy he finally understood himself? Maybe he was terrified of what his father would do? Maybe both?

Or maybe it was the mere idea of being taken away from his family that made him cry harder onto his mothers shoulder.

In the end, Virgil told her what Roman told him, as he was too much of a mess to do it himself. They expected her to push her son away in disgust, but when her arms tightened their grip, Roman relaxed in relief and held back even stronger than before.

"Everything will be okay" she whispered into his hair.

And, in the end, once they moved away from the man that dared to lay a finger on Roman in a harmful way, and Roman shared his first kiss with a boy under the glistening moonlight, everything was.

—

Well.

12:46am