A very brief reference to previous sexual abuse but other than that I don't think there are any other trigger warnings. As always take care of yourselves and thank you for reading.
Virgil wiped the sweat from his brow as he let out a long, exhausted breath.
"You're doing great today, V. Do you want to continue or take a quick water break?" Roman asked, tapping his wooden sword against his shoulder.
"I could use some water," Virgil replied with a tired smile.
Roman wrapped his arm over Virgil's shoulder, guiding him over to the shadow of their secluded training ring. Virgil hoisted himself up the aged wooden raining while Roman just leaned his back against it, folding himself over it to crack his stiff back. Roman then leaned down, grabbing both of their water bottles and handing Virgil his. Virgil murmured a quick thank you before beginning to sip at the cool water, enjoying how it felt as it went down his dry throat. He and Roman had been out training for hours and until now Virgil hadn't let them take a break.
"Your skills are really improving, you know," Roman hummed after he had taken a few sips of water himself. "I wouldn't be surprised if you were getting some muscles under those baggy clothing of yours."
"Hmf, wouldn't you like to know," Virgil hummed teasingly before continuing to speak. "Who knows, maybe one of these days I'll be stronger than you."
"Don't go getting ahead of yourself now, I am undefeated," Roman boasted.
"You said that about uno last night too," Virgil smirked.
"I had a bad starting hand," Roman argued.
"Three times?"
"You got lucky."
"I also won the pillow fight," Virgil hummed, as he took another innocent sip from his water.
"Only because Patton helped you cheat!"
"Are you accusing Thomas's morality of cheating?"
"Two against one is not fair."
"I simply recruited him, you could have recruited Logan. You were just too prideful," Virgil said, reaching over to mess up the prince's hair.
Roman spun around and grabbed Virgil's waist to pick him up. The smaller side let out a fearful squeak as he wrapped himself around Roman so he wouldn't fall. His cat ears and tail formed, the fur standing on end. His legs held him firmly against Roman's waist while his hands clasped on his shoulders to keep himself from rumbling backwards if Roman lost his hold on his sides.
"Not so cheeky up there, I see," Roman grinned, looking up at Virgil.
Virgil's face burnt red as he hissed in annoyance.
"You jerk! Put me down!" Virgil complained.
"Aww, but you look so cute like this," Roman complained teasingly.
Virgil's hands trembled as they gripped onto Roman's shirt.
"You're going to drop me, I want down," Virgil said in as stern of a voice as he could muster.
Roman walked forward and set Virgil back down on the fence. From there Virgil hopped down onto the ground and looked up at Roman with a pout.
"You're adorable," Roman hummed.
"You're just saying that to annoy me," Virgil hissed.
"Well, that too. I simply find enjoyment in reminding you of what I think about you," Roman replied playfully.
"I'm going home," Virgil said, rolling his eyes and walking away.
"Aww Kitten. Mi Gatito? Mon Chaton?" Roman called out, following after Virgil.
"Not listening," Virgil said, crossing his arms as he walked.
"I'm sorry for picking you up and scaring you. Please don't ignore me," Roman whined.
Virgil turned so he was walking backwards, looking at Roman.
"Apology accepted, although I'm still going home. I want to take a shower," Virgil replied with a soft hum.
"Fair enough," Roman held his hand out to Virgil. "Do you trust me?"
Virgil rolled his eyes at the Aladdin reference and walked back towards Roman.
"Freaking Disney nerd," Virgil smirked, taking Roman's hand.
Roman popped them both out of the imagination and into his bedroom.
"Do you want to take a shower here or are you heading off somewhere else?" Roman asked.
"I was thinking I'd head over to Lo's room, it's where all of my clothes are," Virgil replied with a shrug as he glanced around Roman's luxurious room.
He noticed a notebook sitting open on Roman's desk and found himself studying the open page curiously. The page was filled with small, almost unreadable, curly writing and sketches of some sort of structure.
"Are you doing some world building for a new story?" Virgil assumed.
"Hm? Oh that thing. No, well sort of. That is actually something I recently created in the imagination for Patton. I was planning on asking him to go out on a date with me tomorrow so I could surprise him with it," Roman replied.
"You actually created a freaking building to surprise him?" Virgil laughed looking back at the page.
"Of course! I love surprising my loves. I write down all of my ideas for dates I want to go on and things I want to create for each of you. That book is just Patton's," Roman paused for a moment to pull two more journals off shelf and held them up. "This one is Logan's and this one is yours."
Virgil's eyes fixed on the journal about himself curiously. He couldn't imagine what was scribbled out on the pages and had to resist grabbing it from Roman to read it. Instead he turned his gaze back down towards Patton's journal.
"You put a lot of work into this. He's really going to like it," Virgil hummed.
"Of course, do you expect anything less?" Roman replied proudly. "Just make sure not to spoil the surprise, okay Hot Topic?"
"Wouldn't dream of it Princy," Virgil said, rolling his eyes and messing up Roman's hair before walking out the door of Roman's room.
"See you at dinner, mi querido gatito," Roman called out.
Virgil gave a two finger wave over his shoulder as he walked away, quickly slipping into Logan's room to avoid being out in the open hall alone. When Virgil entered the room he was surprised to find it empty. Virgil hummed nervously as he looked around, his tail curling around his leg again. He had no idea where Logan was or when he'd be back and he wanted to take a shower. He thought of returning to Roman but stopped himself, he'd already told Roman he would be showering in Logan's room and he would probably want to get a quick shower in as well. Next he debated heading over to see if Patton would mind letting him use the shower in his room but quickly reminded himself that Patton was likely either already cooking or was about to start cooking and didn't have the time to waste on babysitting Virgil. Virgil let out a frustrated groan before taking a deep breath. He had been told he was safe several times, he could take a quick shower on his own before going to find company he'd be fine. Virgil gritted his teeth as he pulled out a pair of comfortable sweatpants and a tank top from his designated drawers before scuttering into the bathroom. He quickly checked every corner for anything that was out of place. When he found nothing he slipped out of his clothes and into the shower.
He turned on the water and hummed pleasantly as the warm water caressed his exhausted body. He kept his ears pricked for any unusual sounds around him but there was nothing. He cleaned the sweat and dirt from his body, his tail flicked happily behind him, splashing water against the shower walls. He couldn't help but feel proud of himself today. He had a good day with Roman who helped him feel more confident and strong and now he was doing something as vulnerable as showering when no one was in the general area.
When he was finished he hopped out and grabbed his towel to dry off his body. He wrapped himself in the soft rectangle of fabric and looked up to the mirror. Virgil could clearly see his normally repulsive reflection. His skin was still littered with pale scars, which had started to shrink over time. His boney figure had gotten a bit more healthy in proportions, though his ribs were still visible. For the first time in a very long time he looked at himself and could say he genuinely looked pretty decent.
Vigil let out a pleasant hum as he started getting changed, debating whether he should look at his clothing and see if he had any that would better show off how good he was feeling at dinner. He was startled out of this thought by a loud bang of something being dropped in Logan's room. Virgil jumped in fear and grabbed for the ring he had just placed back in position around his neck. He hesitantly opened the bathroom door a crack to peek out into the bedroom. Sitting at his desk, running his fingers through his messy hair, was Logan. He didn't look happy by any means, he seemed stressed, angry even. He was grumbling passive aggressively about how Thomas was ignoring his schedules and getting himself behind on his work.
Virgil let out a quiet whine, resisting the urge to run away and hide in the corner of the bathroom. For a second that wasn't Logan out there, it was a dark side who would see him and use him to relieve their stress. He clutched his ring more firmly, breathing to remind himself that he was okay and safe. But Logan was still out there. He should do something. He was his boyfriend after all. He owed him this, didn't he? He actually looked decent today so he probably wouldn't disgust Logan. He had to do this.
"L-Logan?" Virgil said, his voice betraying his nerves.
"Virgil? I didn't realize you were here," Logan said, his surprised expression quickly changing to something warm and comforting.
"I wanted to take a shower," Virgil replied, coming out of the bathroom a little further, rubbing his arm nervously. "Are you okay?"
"Hmm? Why wouldn't I be?" Logan asked.
"You seem really stressed," Virgil replied, barely resisting his urge to shrink away from the situation.
"Perhaps a little. It's nothing to worry about, Dear," Logan replied.
"I… if you need to blow off steam I don't mind. You can…" Virgil's nails dug into his arms as he tried to force himself to say the words. "I'll… I'll help. It's okay."
Logan looked at him for a long moment, observing him before getting up.
"I suppose that is a pleasant idea," Logan walked over to the other end of the room getting dangerously close to his bed. "Are you coming, Love?"
Virgil could feel his gut twisting as he walked back towards Logan who was taking off his shoes and sitting down on the bed. Virgil stood by Logan's side waiting for any orders.
"No need to stand around, just make yourself comfortable," Logan said, patting the bed beside him.
Virgil bit the inner part of his lip as he sat stiffly beside Logan. Virgil looked down at his hands as Logan leaned over to grab something from his nightstand. Logan began to speak and Virgil looked up in surprise. Logan was relaxed into his pillows reading poetry from a small book. After a few lines Logan stopped reading and looked over at Virgil.
"Did you want something different?" Logan hummed innocently.
Virgil's face flushed slightly at Logan's words.
"N-no of course not," Virgil squeaked out.
Logan raised up his arm, inviting Virgil to cuddle with him. Virgil accepted, resting in Logan's arm listening to him read out poetry. Logan's voice was soothing, painting images with flowery words. Virgil nuzzled close to Logan watching him blissfully as he read different poems from the book. Logan's finger danced lightly through the hair at the base of Virgil's head soothing him into a peacefully drowsy state.
"Getting sleepy?" Logan asked after a while, closing his poetry book to look at the cat-boy beside him.
Virgil made a small nod and he shifted so he was partially on top of Logan, his chin against his chest.
"Thank you," he murmured softly, his face burning slightly as he thought of what he thought was going to happen.
Logan's loving expression gained a slight twinkle of pain.
"It was something you had to do back then, wasn't it?"
Virgil let out a breath and his fingers loosely gripped at Logan's shirt.
"Y-yeah, but I… I just wanted to make you happy and help you. Sorry if I made you uncomfortable," Virgil replied, his ears flattening against his head again.
"I am the one who should be apologizing for making the other uncomfortable. You did an excellent job at helping me relax," Logan replied.
"But I didn't do anything. You were the one reading the poems," Virgil argued.
"I do have an appreciation for poetry but that is not what I was referring to. It is spending time with someone I love and care about dearly that made me forget about how I had been feeling," Logan replied.
Virgil let out an embarrassed groan as his tail twitched in the air behind him.
"You have gone on a romantic outing with the others, correct?" Logan inquired.
"A date? Yeah, I guess I have," Virgil replied, looking up at Logan's face, curiosity etched into his features.
"Would you like to accompany me on one soon?" Logan asked.
"Y-yeah I'd like that Lo," Virgil blushed. "Roman told me he was inviting Patton out to go on a date tomorrow. We'd have the house to ourselves. Only if you want to of course. I don't want to ruin any of your plans."
Logan ran his fingers through Virgil's hair as he smiled at the nervous side.
"That would be satisfactory," Logan hummed.
Virgil smiled into Logan's chest, snuggling closer until Patton came to get them for dinner.
