roman saying something ambiguously flirty to virgil as they're just becoming friends because he has no impulse control and just says whatever gay thing he thinks of
virgil jokingly flirting back so they just keep flirting with each other as they get closer up to the point where people forget they aren't dating
virgil realizing he's Caught Feelings but he can't stop flirting now because roman might be hurt he's ignoring the friend ritual they've developed
and getting so in his head about it that he's Supremely Awkward all the time
until roman kisses him one day and virgil is like "?????"
turns out roman already thought they were dating and virgil was getting all worked up over nothing
anyway they're boyfriends thank you for coming to my tedtalk
Janus fished another cut strawberry from the bowl, cheekily returning Patton’s fondly exasperated smile.
“You know,” said Patton, “if you keep eating those, I won’t have any left for the pie.”
Janus ignored him, continuing, “Now, I’m not saying you’re wrong. But if you look at it my way, it doesn’t add up.”
Patton laughed as he spread dough over the counter. “So I’m not wrong except from your point of view.”
“Exactly.” Janus stole another strawberry. Patton threw an oven mitt at him, which he caught easily, winking in that smug Janus way that made Patton’s knees weak.
“Maybe they just like each other.” Patton regained the thread of the conversation after a moment of grappling—it was effortless, how Janus spun and jumbled Patton’s thoughts with the little things he did. How rude. “Ever thought about that?”
Janus frowned.
“I like you,” Patton explained, “and not because I need a deeper reason for it. I like you even though you give me plenty reasons not to, actually”—he pulled the bowl of fruit out of Janus’ reach, booping his nose in passing and ignoring the swarm of butterflies in his belly at his indignant little noise—”like stealing all my pie fillings. If you take more of those, I’m gonna make you buy more.”
“Anything for you.” There it was again, that soft, sweet smile. Was he doing it on purpose? No way it was an accident; nothing Janus did happened accidentally. It was too like him to toy with Patton’s heart like that, looking so cute it made him ache while pretending he was entirely innocent.
“Perhaps you’re right,” continued Janus as if nothing had happened, “about Roman at least.” He grimaced. “You know him better than I do. But Logan? Too rational.”
“No one’s too rational for love,” said Patton firmly. “It gets us all eventually; you’ll see.”
“I’ve already seen.” An absent-minded smile, a gentle gaze at Patton’s hands while he worked. Something bright bubbled up in Patton’s chest, making him jittery and unfocused, a nervous smile taking over his face before he knew it. Janus stood, was behind Patton in two elegant strides, his arm around Patton’s shoulders to grab another strawberry from the bowl and pop it in his mouth. “I’ll be off, then.”
“Where are you going?” Patton blurted, praying it wasn’t obvious just how much he wanted Janus to stay.
“More strawberries, remember?” Janus showed off the handful he had taken while Patton was distracted. He took his hat off the coat rack. “Anything else I should grab?”
Patton shook his head. Janus turned to go, and before he realized, Patton grabbed his wrist. “Wait!”
Janus raised an eyebrow.
Standing on his tiptoes, Patton pressed a flutter of a kiss to his cheek. “Hurry back?”
For a moment, Janus was stunned—then he melted into a smile. “Of course—I’ll be back before you know it.”
If he was fully honest, they freaked him out a little. Just sat and stared from far away and when he cautiously got closer, they ran off. They hissed and clawed at him for no reason and were so freakishly quiet that Roman never saw them coming and besides, they made his nose itch.
But him not being a cat person didn't mean he couldn't date one. Virgil almost seemed part cat too, really—he wasn't exactly talkative, shied away from affection and left remarks with a bite that Roman found obnoxious until he fell head over heels for them. Winning Virgil over had taken patience and more chill than Roman liked to exercise, but it was worth it—every second Roman spent in Virgil's arms paid back the months of pining tenfold.
And Roman had convinced Virgil; how much harder could his cat be?
—
Virgil took Roman's jacket, flipping the hallway light switch. Curiously, Roman glanced around, his eyes catching on a pile of letters and postcards that Virgil quickly stood in front of, on a beaten-up plastic cat carrier that sat in the corner like a war relic, on—finally—the massive gray and black wad of fur on the couch that was glaring at him through glowing yellow eyes.
Roman took a step back.
He wasn't scared—he was very appropriately cautious about the murderous backpack-sized dust hare that his boyfriend was now lifting off its perch. The cat sat calmly in Virgil's arms, its tail slowly swinging, unblinking, unmoving, as Virgil pressed a gentle kiss to its head. Roman looked it in the eyes and wondered if cats could smell fear.
"Salem," Virgil said in the softest voice Roman had ever heard leaving his mouth, "say hello to Roman."
Still staring daggers at Roman, Salem slowly blinked. Roman gave the cat, then Virgil, a tense smile. Virgil raised an eyebrow at him.
Roman stepped closer, his eyes fixed on the cat, slowly stretching out his hand, letting it sniff his finger first. Salem ignored Roman's peace offering, still sat still as a fuzzy gargoyle. Hesitantly, Roman brushed over his head—Salem pulled away and Roman jerked back as if he had been struck by lightning.
Virgil snorted, then burst out laughing—Salem yowled at him and he let the cat fall to the ground (it landed on its feet, gave Roman a venomous glare and sped off into the kitchen). "Sorry—" He shook his head, miserably failing to suppress laughter as Roman glared at him. "I just, I thought you didn't want to come over because you hated me or something—you could have told me you're scared of Salem!"
"You're rude," Roman complained. His cheeks were burning—he made a point of ignoring Virgil's amused glance.
"Mm." Virgil offered him a hand. Their fingers interlaced, and he gave Roman's hand a small squeeze. "I'll help you win him over; Salem can be kinda grumpy but he'll come around." He kissed Roman's temple. "Don't worry."
"Rich coming from you," Roman teased, stealing a kiss back from Virgil's lips. He sighed. "Fine, I'll give the little demon a chance. Only because I love you so much."
"Thanks." Virgil gave Roman a shy smile, as if he couldn't help himself. "Love you too."
—
"Virgil?" Roman called from the living room, his voice shaky and pitched. Virgil set his bowl aside, rushing out of the kitchen to find his boyfriend frozen with nerves, his hands hovering over Salem as he climbed onto Roman's lap.
Virgil grinned. "You good?" Roman made a frantic, wide-eyed gesture, and Virgil laughed. "He likes you!"
Salem curled into a cat donut on Roman's legs, softly kneading his thigh. Hesitantly, Roman brushed a finger over his head, then pulled his hand away. He glanced back at Virgil.
"Scratch behind his ears." Roman did, and Salem purred, leaning into his hand. Virgil chuckled as Roman continued carefully, as if the cat would shatter under his fingertips if he was too harsh. He gave Virgil an anxious look.
Virgil kissed his forehead. "You're doing great."
Roman grinned. "Aren't I always?" Salem dug a claw into his leg and he yelped.
Virgil snorted, petting Salem's head. "Of course you are."
With another kiss, Virgil left to continue making popcorn—but he had no doubt Roman and Salem would be fine. After all, he knew they would come around.
"This is boring," Roman announced loudly, slamming the book before him closed.
Janus looked up from his own copy, a smile gracing his lips. "I thought you'd enjoy Othello, Drama Club."
Roman hummed dismissively. "We finally have time together, and we spend it doing homework." He huffed. "Don't you think we have better things to do?"
"Like what?"
"Like this." Roman kissed Janus' cheek. "And this—" Another kiss, slightly lower. "—and this—" One on his cheekbone, one almost on his jaw. "—and—"
Janus caught Roman's lips with his own, smiling into the kiss as Roman softened, wrapping an arm around his shoulders as if Janus would slip away from him if he didn't hold on. Janus pulled Roman into his lap, his hand lightly brushing over the small of his back—Roman's surprise made him gentle, letting Janus take the lead until their lips parted so they could breathe.
"What if I read to you?"
"Hm?" Puzzled, Roman frowned at him—his chest was still rising and falling heavily; he melted into Janus' touch. Almost certainly reading was the last thing on his mind.
"Would that make it less boring?"
Roman thought it over. "Maybe."
"Let's try it." Janus shifted Roman in his arms and Roman went along with the motion, resting his head on Janus' shoulder and pressing a kiss to his jaw. Laughing softly, Janus nudged Roman away. "You have to focus, though."
Roman sighed. "How could I focus when this view is so pretty?"
"Flirt," said Janus, booping Roman's nose. He flipped open the page he had been interrupted on. "It gives me wonder great as my content to see you here before me—"
"I already read that bit, slowpoke," Roman laughed.
"Well, we can't all be savants, now can we? Now let me read."
"Mm." Roman nestled into the crook of Janus' neck, his hair lightly tickling his cheek as his eyes idly scanned the page Janus was reading from.
Shifting the arm he held around his boyfriend, Janus let his fingers run up and down Roman's forearm along with the even beat of each verse. "O my soul's joy, if after every tempest come such calmness..."
Even though the material hadn't changed, Roman found that from Janus' lips, even the dullest verse was captivating as ever.
Patton closed his eyes, smiling into the sun—he would have a ton of new freckles tomorrow; they were a part of beach days; but Janus loved them and so Patton could too.
Speaking of Janus—Patton turned to face his boyfriend, or what he could see of him in the shade the parasol cast, huddled under it like a vampire afraid of burning to a crisp. Patton laughed. "Come on, honeybun—let's go swimming!"
"Over my dead body."
Patton tugged at Janus' hands until he fell backwards into the sand, Janus still not moving an inch. He pouted. An eyebrow raised, Janus watched, fondly amused. "Already given up?"
"Why did we even come here if you're just sitting around?" Patton complained. "You can do that at home." He made his best puppy eyes at Janus, unable to force back his smile when Janus blushed and averted his eyes. "We're at the beach to have fun, snickerdoodle, so let's do something!"
Dramatically, Janus sighed, rolling his eyes. "Fine," he sighed. "Only because I love you."
Patton brightened. "I love you too!" Finally, Janus allowed him to pull him up and past his little cone of shade. "If you don't want to swim, how about we build a sandcastle?"
Janus made a show out of rolling his eyes and sighing extensively, but he was smiling wide enough to make his dimples pop—he was enjoying himself too; he just wouldn't admit it yet. "If I must," he drawled. "A sandcastle sounds alright."
Patton cheered and tugged Janus closer to the water, where the sand was easier to build with—this beach day was going to be fun after all.
Janus nearly jumped out of his skin as Roman shrieked, rushing into the bedroom to find his husband cross-legged on the bed in front of his laptop, hands flapping so hard Janus was worried he might hurt himself. "Did they look at each other again?" he asked sarcastically (he couldn't help it) and got an incoherent squeal in response.
Roman paused his stimming for long enough that Janus could sit beside him without the danger of being hit in the face and squint at characters he vaguely remembered from Roman's infodumps and the few episodes he had seen moments of—they were facing each other, close enough to kiss—which, as Roman pressed play, they did (rather underwhelmingly in Janus' opinion).
Janus glanced back at his husband, who was watching them with stars in his eyes, looking so overwhelmingly happy that Janus couldn't find it in himself to care about the countless rewatches of those ten seconds he would bear witness to. "Congratulations," Janus said, and tried not to sound too unenthusiastic about it.
"My ship is sailing," Roman announced, his smile so wide his cheeks had to hurt, his hand still flapping at his side. His smile fell for a second, turning hesitant. "Sorry, I know you don't care, but—"
"No!" Janus blurted. "No, please tell me about them; I'd love to hear it."
The spark returned to Roman's eyes as he started his infodump, beaming with pure joy—Janus may not have cared about the show, but there was nothing better than seeing Roman this happy and if he had to sit through a whole TEDtalk to cause that smile, then so be it.
Logan looked up from his laptop, searching for the direction of Roman's voice.
"Beloved," Roman called again (ah, front door), "we have a bit of a situation."
Slowly, Logan stood up. "What is it?" he called back, following the sound of his voice.
"Virgil brought us a gift." Roman was standing in front of the closed screen door, staring down at the cat (without his glasses, Logan could barely identify more than a large black blob) and the small grey bundle in front of it. It wasn't a mouse (Roman wouldn't have stayed quite as calm then), and it certainly wasn't a bird (not enough feathers). Logan knelt down, squinting at the little heap of fur, and found a kitten.
"Oh."
The kitten couldn't have been more than a few days old, its eyes still closed and its ears folded against its head. Logan frowned. "Is it...?"
"It's breathing, I think," Roman assured him. "We can't just leave it there, right?"
"Well, Virgil seems to have assumed parenthood." Logan stood up again, meaning to adjust his glasses and meeting thin air instead. "I suppose we can adopt it?"
Beaming, Roman nodded—he opened the screen door and Virgil stood up, taking the kitten by the scruff of its neck (it squeaked softly as he did) and carrying it inside. "I'll call the vet," Roman said, trying his hardest not to sound all too pleased.
Logan hummed absent-mindedly—Virgil hopped onto the couch, gently placing the little one beside him before curling up around it. Roman let out a barely-contained squeak of joy, and Logan rolled his eyes fondly. "Go on."
"We're parents," Roman announced, wrapping his arms around Logan's shoulders and pressing a smack of a kiss to his cheek.
"We already own a cat," Logan reminded him.
"Yes, but this is different—look at how small it is!" Roman cooed. "Oh, what was I going to—right, call the vet!" Another kiss and he let go, pulling out his phone. "We'll need kitten food too—what do kittens eat?"
Logan laughed softly. "I'll research it." With those words, he returned to his laptop—no matter his amusement at his husband's elation, Logan couldn't deny he, too, was excited to welcome such an unexpected family member.
Uhh ship thing what about analogical (romantic or platonic) and the word " soft" maybe?
Amused, Logan brushed Virgil's bangs to the side, smiling at the utter bliss in his expression. "Virgil, have I lost you?"
Virgil didn't look up from where his face was buried in Logan's unicorn onesie, softly rubbing his cheek on the fabric. "You're soft," he explained shortly, his voice muffled. "Feels good."
As Virgil's arms tightened around his waist, Logan laughed lightly. "I suppose I'll have to wear this more often."
"Mm."
Gently shaking his head, Logan continued petting Virgil's hair, his focus captured by his book again. Silly clothing like this did have its perks.
