Warnings: I promise this is fluff, but it also has Villiany, mention of crime, killing, murder
Pairing: Prinxiety
Word count: 1,079 words
Summary: Phantom au Virgil fell in love with Roman at some point… so when was it? This writing shows plenty of times that they possibly fell in love with him.
A/N: this is my and @shapa-likes-art’s shared au, the Phantom au! Roman is a villain and Virgil is a journalist who falls for him. Virgil also uses they/them pronouns in this au! - I quite literally thought of this and couldn’t stop myself from writing this and wrote and edited it all in like… an hour or so. I was just so inspired haha. Anyways, enjoy!!
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When did Virgil fall for Roman? Well… there’s not one particular moment that anyone can pinpoint. It was like a bunch of different moments that made up their love for him in the end. So what was the first time they were in love with him?
Maybe it started in college. Their eyes fixed on their laptop screen as a new villain appeared in Cardenia, only 40 minutes away from their college dorm. The Phantom. He was strong. So unbelievably strong. And he had tech that would put any genius technician to shame. He was smart and snarky and intimidating. He made a shiver run down Virgil’s spine at the way he spoke and the crazed but calculated movements he was making.
Or maybe it started when they got fired from their first journalism job and they went full time on their blog and researched nothing but the Phantom day and night. Maybe it was analyzing his every move and slowly realizing that this man was the smartest and most calculated person they had ever had the pleasure of laying their eyes on.
But back then he was just a fantasy. More of a celebrity crush. They loved him in the same way they loved the idea of the world ending. He intrigued them, more than anything. He danced across their mind and they wondered what it would be like to meet him, but it was a fantasy. He was a mystery. He was dangerous, but Virgil knew he would be gorgeous and impressive, much like they thought of the end of the world.
So maybe it was when they were interviewed by billionaire CEO Roman Prince for their job at Kingdom Ent. Maybe it was the way he asked them about their theories and listened to them rant about theories that were already proven false, but they hadn’t written about yet. Maybe it was the fact that, no matter how hard they tried, he was the one person who had ever been able to avoid their analytical eye. He was the one and only person to ever confuse Virgil. He was the one person that Virgil couldn’t read the moment they laid eyes on him. It took more than that to read Roman Prince. And that made Virgil more intrigued in him than they had ever been in anyone else.
But he was just a charmer back then. Sure, they flirted with him, but they definitely wouldn’t say they were in love with him. They were simply scoping him out. They were trying to read him. Sure, he was attractive as any man that Virgil had ever met, but he was just that at first.
Maybe the moment Virgil fell was when they realized how fucking smart Roman was. Maybe it was when Roman showed off his genius casually and Virgil realized that they were more similar than they had thought before. When they realized that Roman wasn’t just some golden child rich boy who got anything he wanted and was stuck up.
Maybe it was when Virgil first heard Roman Prince use the voice of the Phantom in casual conversation. Maybe it was moments later when Virgil realized the tone in his voice from the way it sent shivers down their spine and the way that their heart skipped a beat. Maybe it was when they had gone home and connected all of the evidence and knew that Roman was the Phantom. Maybe it was when he showed up at their apartment to threaten them and they knew he could kill them in that moment, but they didn’t care.
But, no… it wasn’t that either….
So when was it?
Was it when they first made out?
Or perhaps their first date.
Or their second, third, or fourth.
Maybe it was when Roman and Virgil moved in together and they got to spend every waking moment with each other from work to home…
Maybe it was when the simple touch of Roman made Virgil’s stomach flutter with butterflies and made their heart race.
Maybe it was when they noticed just how gentle and caring Roman was and they realized just how happy that made them feel.
Maybe… maybe…
It was all of that. All of the moments that they had seen or known of Roman and the Phantom… they all added up to the love that Virgil developed for Roman. It was all of the firsts, seconds, and so on. It was the soft touches. It was the teasing. It was the jokes. It was the kisses. It was the caring. It was…
It was Roman. All of Roman. All of the time.
They loved everything about him. No matter what time of day or what season or what emotions they were going through. They loved everything about him.
So when did they fall so madly in love with him?
They couldn’t tell exactly, but they now knew when they first realized that they were in love with him.
It was simple. It was simply when they were sitting in their office before they even started dating. They sat there as the work day started to near a close, and as they worked, they started to feel their heart race and a smile creep it’s way onto their face simply from the thought of Roman coming into their office and convincing them to stop working and go home and get some sleep. When they heard footsteps down the hall and then got upset when they realized it wasn’t Roman’s footsteps coming to greet them. When they realized they wanted him around them all of the time. When they were willing to not be working so much to be able to see Roman at whatever time they could…
But, of course, they didn’t let themself know they were in love with him until much later. They just pushed the thought of loving him away and waited for him to show up in their office. They didn’t let themself realize and actually love him until much later. Until they were dating and they let themself realize that he wasn’t going to leave. That he loved them back. That they were safe and comfortable with him.
We may not know when exactly Virgil fell in love with Roman, but we do know that they did fall eventually. We know that Roman and Virgil are madly in love and they will never let each other go. No matter the cost of their relationship. Because they love each other to a fault.
Roman and Virgil swaying softly to Death of a Bachelor at three am. Virgil has his head hidden in the crook of Roman´s neck and he is smiling softly. Roman is hugging Virgil with his eyes closed and completely relaxed, quietly humming the lyrics.
Summary: the first time Virgil is in Roman’s room, he finds all sorts of knickknacks and gets the stories behind each and every one.
A/N: this might just be one of the cutest one shots I’ve ever written and I love it so much- if you want to, you should listen to the song Where Do I Begin by Egg while reading this because that’s the song I was listening to and it’s got a bit of inspiration from the song!
Also! This goes with @shapa-likes-art ‘s most recent piece of Roman and Virgil laying in bed together which I’ll tag here
“What’s this?” Virgil asked, picking up a small toy prince who looked to be a little beaten up by time, a small bottle cap with a purple and green logo on it playing the missing shield. “A bottlecap?” He asked quietly
Virgil and Roman were in Roman’s room. It was a Friday afternoon right after school and the two just wanted to hang out together. Roman had suggested they go back to his house, Roman having the much larger house and having all of the snacks and movies that they could possibly want to use. Plus, his parents weren’t home to bombard them with questions like what would happen at Virgil’s house.
Roman’s room, as Virgil noticed, was very messily cluttered. The shelves had so many little things scattered around like nothing had a place but everything was in its place at the same time. Roman’s room, besides the knickknacks, was very extravagant. He had a big bed with posters hanging above the headboard of everything and anything Roman seemed to be interesting in. On one wall, Roman had a plethora of playbills lining the wall of shows he’s seen and shows he’s been in during his life. It was a bit much to look at, but it obviously held fond memories for Roman. Signed copies of playbills were framed and places nicely at the top of the wall. All of the playbills were framed with fairy lights. In fact, the whole room seemed to be framed with fairy lights.
Roman sat on the bed, his shoes long discarded to the front entryway of the house (as well as Virgil’s), leaning back on his elbows as he relaxed on the bed, his feet slightly hanging off the bed. His eyes followed Virgil with every move he made and he couldn’t help the smile and fond look that happened to be permanently attached to his face.
“Oh, right. That.” Roman hummed softly with a smile. “That… is a prince that followed me all the way to Rhode Island and back. His name is Sildar. He used to have a shield with a lions head on it, but somewhere along the way he lost it.” Virgil looked to Roman adoringly, loving nothing more than hearing his boyfriend talk. “We found that bottle cap on the beach while we were there and Remus picked it up and said that Sildar needed it to survive, so I made a strap out of a ziptie, as you can see,” Virgil flipped Sildar around and saw the nearly yellow colored ziptie holding the faux shield to the back, “and it’s been his shield ever since.”
Virgil nodded and went to look back to Roman. “How old were you when all of this happened?”
“Ah, maybe around 10. This was during the time I went to private school and it was one of the weeks we were off for religious reasons- and that’s a lot of weeks- so I don’t quite remember when exactly.” Roman said with a chuckle, slightly swinging his feet as he watched Virgil walk around the room, looking at all of Roman’s little knickknacks.
“Mm.” Virgil hummed softly, looking around for anything else that caught his attention. He then got to a small bag of rocks and shells that looked absolutely gorgeous, but the bag was lined with a thin film of sand on the inside, so it was a bit hard to see them fully. “Where are these from?” Virgil asked, picking up the bag to turn around and try and see all of the different rocks and shells and random little things.
“California.” Roman said and sat up a bit more to see Virgil better. “It was from the first time we went to California and I was determined to get the best rocks and shells from the trip I could find and bring them back. D’you know the, like, little piece of moonstone that’s I carry around?”
Virgil huffed out a bit of laughter. “Of course I do.” Roman showed off the moonstone all of the time as his “lucky charm”. They’ve been friends for three years and they’d been dating for a couple months, so Virgil noticed a lot of things about Roman that Roman thought he kept pretty hidden. “Is it from this trip?”
Roman nodded excitedly, wiggling his toes in his socks as he swung his legs happily. He was just so comfortable around Virgil and so relaxed. More than with anyone else, that was for sure. “I found it outside of this little seafood shack we went to. I swear, it was some of the best seafood I’ve ever had, too! And it was cheap! It was this little hole in the wall shop that I’m pretty sure was fishing the food when we were eating other food.” Roman laughed with his big boisterous laugh that made Virgil chuckle lightly as well. “And then! While we were eating there was a time where we heard a snap and then the cook, like, yelped in pain and it turns out that a crab pinched his finger while he was trying to bind its pincers.”
“That’s insane, Princey.” Virgil said, going to put down the bag of rocks, knowing just from the look he held that Roman had more to say about that trip.
“Do you see that little Mickey Mouse teddy bear keychain I have?” Roman asked with a grin, pointing to the third shelf of knickknacks.
“Mhmmm.” Virgil hummed, going over to look at the keychain Roman was pointing out.
“That’s from my first trip to Disneyland. That was on that trip. I must’ve been like 12.” Roman hummed and Virgil went over to the bed, going to lay down opposite Roman, his head beside Roman’s, but his feet up on the wall by the headboard, careful not to put his feet on the posters hanging there. He turned his head to look to at Roman, who also laid down fully, one arm behind his head, and who was grinning, making Virgil melt at just the look Roman was giving to him. “Disneyland is smaller than disney world, but it’s still absolutely amazing. I absolutely adored the rides and everything about the Disney atmosphere.” Roman quite adorably rambled.
He continued to ramble about his trip to California and seemingly everything he could possibly remember of the state. Virgil found it absolutely adorable and the best thing he had ever heard. He was so in love with Roman. Not that he’d tell him that, of course. He and Roman had only been dating for about 2 months, so he didn’t want to rush anything. Especially not something so important. They’ve kissed, but only that. And not usually for long. They have a sort of reputation now that they are the lovey-dovey-est couple in the whole school. But the couple didn’t mind it at all. Not one bit. They just were far too in love to care about any of that.
Soon enough, the couple was just laying and talking about anything and everything that crossed their minds. School, movies, friends, each other… they were comfortable talking about everything. And everything they talked about passed time faster than they wanted it to. The time when they were together seemed to move faster than the Flash himself.
But they wouldn’t trade the passing time with each other for anything in the whole world. Especially not when Roman can watch Virgil talking about something he loves; whether that be a song or a movie or a class or even one of his friends. Especially not when Roman can look into those emerald green eyes that sparkle in the setting sun that was pouring through the window that Roman was now so incredibly happy he kept open. Roman just sat and admired everything about Virgil. His perfect porcelain skin and his pretty purple hair or his gorgeous green eyes… there was something so special about Virgil that made him fall for him even more than he already was. He could feel the love in Virgil’s eyes and he adored the kind look he always had when Roman walked up to him.
And, Virgil? Virgil adored everything about Roman and more. Roman was like a perfect boyfriend. He was a simp, that was for sure. Anything and everything Virgil could ever want, Roman wanted to give him. Roman wanted to take care of Virgil better than anyone else in Virgil’s life had ever even tried. And Virgil was sure that he would accomplish that. Roman always accomplished whatever he seemed to put his mind to, and Virgil was happy that thing he was putting his mind to was him.
It was crazy to Virgil to think that a year ago neither of them would’ve guessed this would be where they had gotten in their lives. Back when they didn’t have crushes on each other and we’re just good friends. They probably wouldn’t have believed you if you told them they would be so in love and together like they were. If you had told them they’d be in Roman’s room and cuddling while they watched Steven Universe and exchanging loving kisses every once in a while and if you told them that they weren’t even paying any attention to the show since all they could think about was the other and what it felt like to hold them and be close together like this… well, they probably would’ve called you crazy.
But now, they were so sure that they wanted to spend not just one forever together, but as many as they could get. They were just so in love and they couldn’t get enough of each other. Even after Virgil leaves Roman’s place and is back at his own house and back in his room that night, they’re both still thinking of each other and missing the feeling of the other’s arms holding them close and whispered words of adoration in their ears.
