Roman lay lazily on his bed, scrolling through Tik Tok. It was almost 12 in the afternoon. He didn't want to seem like he was waiting for Virgil to come out of his room, but he was. Patton knew it. Logan seemed oblivious to it. He sat up, closing Tik Tok. He wasn't about to waste almost an entire day being entirely unproductive. He scooted off his bed, hurrying over to his closet. He had turned a part of his closet into a nook of creativity. He stepped over his mound of clothes and closed the closet door. He smiled, sitting down on the red duvet cover on his floor. A small, dark bookshelf sat next to him, his many notebooks on the bottom shelf, and his drawing and writing utensils sitting in bags, and a pencil holder on the top. Pillows sat around the perimeter of the cubbyhole. Pink fairy lights were strung around the area, avoiding what was hanging behind him. He sighed, staring at the thing behind him. It was a flag.
Specifically, a bisexual flag. His bisexual flag. He frowned at it. He never felt comfortable hanging it out in the open. Even as the prideful person he was, he couldn't find a way to say it. It was mostly his mind telling him...him that it wouldn't go down right. He wasn't sure if he'd even come out to anyone. Not his twin brother, who was, in basically every definition of the word, everywhere on the spectrum. Not his best friend, who was a trans lesbian. Not his ex. He shivered. Especially not his ex. He hadn't told anyone. Even to the people he knew that would accept and support him. But, on the bright side, why else would his flag be in the closet?
Roman chuckled at his own, cliche joke, grabbing the notebook that was out of the multiple stacks of them. He took the nearest mechanical pencil and placed it in the notebook. Maybe he'd be able to get out of his awful artist block. He turned to the right corner of the nook, moving the pillow there. On the floor sat a pair of old, dark blue, over-ear headphones. He smiled wistfully at the headphones, grabbing them and putting them on. He always wore the pair when he needed to think. He grabbed the cord, untangling it then plugging it into his phone. He didn't know what he wanted to listen to. He wasn't feeling musicals, though he was sure he could find something in that genre. He had listened to Meghan Trainer and Bruno Mars enough for the week.
Roman scrolled down in his Spotify, selecting his Creativity playlist and hitting shuffle. Somewhere in Ann Arbor started to play. A small smile came over his face. Anson's music always let him drift off into his imagination. He grabbed the pencil and notebook, leaning back against the wall. He mostly let his hand do the thinking, singing along with the music as the songs changed. He hit about 10 songs before he stopped drawing, staring at the sketched product. He shook his head, a smile on his face as he closed his notebook, ignoring the warmth on his face. He took one of his headphones off, freezing at the sound of someone knocking on his door.
"Hey, Princey..."
Virgil's voice trailed off. Roman took off the other headphone, pausing the music. He realized who it was, hurriedly shoving both the notebook and headphones behind the right pillow.
"Yes, Jason Toddler?" Roman yelled out, staring at what he could see of the other closet door.
There was a minute before Virgil responded.
"Where the hell are yoo?"
Roman smirked, standing, and squeezed through his collection of clothes, opening his closet door and leaning on the nearest wall. Virgil looked at him, slight confusion on his face. Roman gave his best-winning smile. Virgil wore a loose lavender hoodie with a stitched on pocket and sweatpants. His eyes were almost a grey-purple. Roman silently tried to move his attention away from Virgil's eyes, in fear of his face becoming even redder than it already was.
"Why were yoo in the closet, eh?"
Roman's smile lost a small bit of its glimmer, chuckling. Don't out yourself, don't out yourself, don't out yourself.
"I have a little nook in my closet where I do creative things," Roman turned to the closet, shutting the door. "Anyways, how do you feel, Sombra?"
Virgil tugged down his hoodie sleeves, shrugging off the nickname.
"Tired. Hungry. I woke up aboot an hoor ago and haven't gotten breakfast yet. Also, Logan insisted on talking to me for over 30 minutes. Yoo?"
Roman shook his head.
"I'm magnificent and a bit tired, but that's not what I meant. And that does seem like something they'd do."
Virgil gave a confused look before it evolved into realization.
"Oh! Yoo mean because of the panic attack," Virgil yawned casually, rolling his shoulders. "I knew it was going to come eventually, so I'm tired but fine...still hungry."
Roman chuckled, the words 'I knew it was going to come eventually' repeating through his head. He started towards one of his bedside tables, Virgil staying by the closet door. Roman frowned to himself, grabbing a hand mirror and turning it in his hand. He wasn't completely sure what he was doing with the mirror. He'd already put on a full face of makeup as a distraction so he knew that he looked good. It was probably his ADD again. He quietly sighed.
"Panic disorder or...?"
Virgil looked up from his tycoon game, shoulders tensing as he frowned, looking back at his game. There was a minute before he looked back at Roman, who was examining the hand mirror.
"Yeah. It's a bitch, and that's an understatement," Virgil put his phone in his pocket, watching Roman fiddle with the mirror with a concentrated look. Roman looked up from the mirror, staring at Virgil. Virgil stared back, a slightly nervous look on his face. Roman hummed.
"You just told me."
Virgil sighed quietly, shaking his head.
"Dude, yoo would have figured out sooner or later. Especially with Patton and all. I'm just surprised that it took yoo guys as long as it did."
Virgil smirked, stuffing his hands into his pockets. Roman glared.
"Pardon me for being surprised, Emo Nightmare. You denied a lot before."
Virgil shook his head, mentally facepalming.
"Yoo do realize that I didn't say anything about my mental state because I didn't know yoo. And besides, it's really none of yoor business if I don't want it to be."
Roman bit his cheek, muttering under his breath.
"It would be my business if you were trying to hurt yourself."
"What was that, Princey?"
Roman froze and turned with a small fake smile.
"You should probably go get some food. You haven't had anything."
Virgil squinted, shaking his head after he realized that he wasn't too interested in what Roman had said.
"I was planning on it, Princey. I was just-"
Patton's voice echoed from the living room.
"Roman! Come get lunch! You can't stay in your room all day!"
Virgil smirked.
"Aww, was Prince Charming waiting for me to come out of my room?"
Roman gave an offended look, scoffing.
"How dare you think that? Now, I'm going to go get whatever I want for lunch."
Roman hurried out of his room, nose in the air. Virgil rolled his eyes again, following close behind. Patton grinned as Virgil entered the living room.
"Hey, Kiddo!"
"Sup Pat."
Roman walked into the kitchen, checking the fridge out of habit. He closed it, looking around the kitchen. He stood there, watching Patton talk to Virgil. He shook his head, finally grabbing the bread and getting a plate from one of the cupboards. Virgil walked in, turning the kitchen light on. Roman looked up for a second, going back to his sandwich. Virgil opened another cupboard, grabbing a can of soup. He turned it in his hand before shrugging. Roman smirked, seeing it was cheesy broccoli.
"Virgil."
Virgil looked over the bar, Logan standing on the other side of it. Virgil froze
"I believe that is a can of my soup."
Virgil looked down at that can, looking back up with a confused look. Roman snorted, taking a bite of his sandwich.
"Don't move. They can't see you if you don't move."
Logan turned to Roman, glaring. Roman smirked.
"Don't insult my intelligence, Roman," they turned back to Virgil. "There are very few food items I've claimed in this household. Crofters, most tea, and that soup. Put it back or I'll ask Patton to make Butter Tarts and we'll eat them without you."
Virgil snorted, putting the can of soup on the counter.
"Ha. Jokes on yoo, I don't like Butter Tarts."
Logan paused, smirking after a minute.
"Then Nanaimo bars."
Virgil gasped.
"One, how dare yoo. Two, good luck keeping those from me. I can smell them from a mile away."
Virgil picked the soup up, putting it back in the cupboard with the other 5 cans of cheesy broccoli. He closed it and crouched down, grabbing a pack of crackers. He opened it, looking up at Roman, who was doing what he could of the Renegade dance with a sandwich in his hand. Virgil smirked, popping a cracker in his mouth.
"Whatchya doing, Princey?"
Roman stopped, looking at Virgil. He chuckled, scratching the back of his neck. He was thankful that he had makeup on.
Virgil turned away, snorting. He muttered something, popping another cracker in his mouth. Roman raised an eyebrow.
"¿Que?"
"Nothing."
Roman smirked, eating the rest of his sandwich. He placed the plate into the sink, wincing at the clink of the other dishes. He let out a breath. What time was it...
"Hey, Princey," Roman looked at Virgil. He was already a quarter into the pack of crackers. "I like yoor makeup."
Roman smiled.
"Thanks, Emo Nightmare. Hey, do you know what time it is?"
Virgil nodded, eating another cracker as he pulled out his phone.
"2:25. Why?"
Roman lit up. He ran to his room, slamming the door. It was Monday. He rushed to his closet, almost slamming into the wall. Mondays were one of the 2 days he had off. And Monday was his favorite. He quickly got undressed, pulling a red and yellow t-shirt over his head. It was finally here. He slipped into a pair of ripped cuff jeans, shoving his closet door back to his jackets. He grabbed a brown leather jacket, putting it on. Theater. He slammed his closet door closed, hurrying to the mirror. He looked good. The cuffed jeans were just gay enough for the other theater people to question it. He ran over to his desk, grabbing his shoulder bag. He checked inside, grinning. Everything he needed was there. Now he just had to race through town to get to the theater by 3. He'd only come one other time since the rest of the Mondays the diner had been swamped.
He quickly opened his bedroom door, running into the living room. Virgil, Logan, and Patton stared at him with a confused look. He just grinned.
"No time to explain. I'll be back around dinnertime"
He rushed to the door, retching it open and closing it behind him. He rushed down the stairs, almost tripping down them. He had about 20 to 30 minutes to get there. He jogged to the nearest crosswalk. Finally, he was getting a break from the torturous hours of being a waiter. He took a deep breath, bouncing on his heels until the crosswalk said to go. He crossed with a couple of other people, most of them sucked into their phones. He passed the group, getting to the opposite crosswalk before them.
He hadn't met most of the people, though he did know that one of the people that lived next door to the four went there. Other than that, he was completely clueless as to who went to the theater. Just more people to befriend. Just more people to judge you. Roman's excited expression faded a bit before bouncing back. It was only one more block away. He was sure that it wouldn't be awful. He continued to walk toward the theatre, the pace picking up. He could see the top of the theatre's entrance. Local theatre, here he comes.