Chapter Text
1
2
3
4
Suck in, don’t let the air burn your lungs, keep your head, don’t panic.
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Hold, hold it in. Hold in the air, hold back the purple, hold in the urge.
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
“I’m ready,” Virgil whispers staring at himself in the mirror, a rush of air leaving him along with his words.
Behind him, he hears a hum of acknowledgment, Remy’s face joining his as they stare into the reflecting glass in front of them. Behind their sunglasses, they drag their gaze over him before their eyes turn to the real thing.
“You sure you want to keep that raccoon look?”
“Yes, I’m sure.” Virgil deadpans, pushing Remy lightly as he looks back at the mirror, straightening out his patchwork hoodie. He wore casual black ripped jeans and a nice, clean white shirt. He had his normal black eyeshadow, the only difference was that he had Remy clean it up and add a touch of purple to it. He also had them style his hair so it wasn’t completely in his face as usual, but covering his left eye, freshly dyed purple.
“Still can’t believe you not only lied about having soulmates, but you’re getting all dressed up for them.” The panther soulmate mumbles, moving away from Virgil and sitting back in their own bed. Virgil turns and shrugs, blushing slightly.
“I… I like them.” He admits, fixing his hair slightly to avoid looking at the roommate.
“But not enough to let them know?”
“I…” They both pause, Virgil not knowing what to say. Remy nods their head.
“Virgil, I know your soulmates are great, they… are patient. They clearly love you… But do you really have any reason to keep them waiting other than your own fear?”
Damn, he forgot that Remy could be deep in their own weird way. They made a good point too. Virgil has known his soulmates long enough to know that he liked them… more than liked them even. He couldn’t imagine not being with them every day at this point. He flushed deeply whenever Janus flirted endlessly with him and Remus picked him up and spun him around. He loved to listen to Roman practice his singing and Logan’s eyes sparkled as he explained whatever facts were on his mind. Patton’s cookies made him melt and all giddy. He feels the safest between them all on the couch, watching whatever movie, close together, but with boundaries.
He wants to break those boundaries, he wants more than just the high fives and hesitant hugs and filtered conversations. He wants more nicknames, more hugs, and cuddles, more kisses. He wanted it all, all of it… but he was afraid...
He shouldn’t be though, he trusts them with his life.
“I… I’ll tell them…”
“You better, babe.”
Virgil smiles when a red convertible pulls up, Roman and Remus in the front seats with Logan sitting in the back. The twins were talking about their recent hunt, Logan the only one keeping them down, scolding them about people being around and hearing them.
He sighs lightly, walking over to his group of friends and found family. He climbs into the back, pushing Remus’ shoulder “Whatever you guys are talking about, listen to Logan, he’s most likely right.”
“Hey! I’m right about this one! I’m just saying that a good way to get some hunt is to-”
“Remus, you don’t need to explain that gross crap again.” Roman huffed, starting the car and pulling off. He looks to Virgil through the review window. “I love the makeup, Remy do it for you?”
"Why don't you compliment my makeup?" Remus pouted
“Of course, I couldn’t do wings this well by myself.'' He joked, dramatically fluttering his eyelashes as the others took in the pointed wings drawn on with eyeliner. They laughed before the conversation moved and he started staring at the setting sun in the distance. The golden glow lit up the trees on the horizon and the pavement they were driving across. The trees got thicker and Virgil felt his curiosity grow. They refused to tell him where they were going, it being a surprise and all, but it was gnawing at him endlessly. He did his best to recognize landmarks, buildings, street names; but it only made him realize that man-made structures were showing up less and less, being replaced by more trees and mountains that grew taller and taller over the golden shine.
Were they going out into the wilderness? Virgil didn’t pack anything for that! He didn’t have any bug repellent, or a weapon just in case some made man or bear came after them. What if they go up into the mountains and one of them falls off a cliff? He wasn’t sure he could do much with his lack of control over his abilities!
He kept his thoughts inside, forcing himself to breathe and tune into the conversation his soulmates were having with each other.
“Listen, all I’m saying is that fingers have fingertips, but toes don’t have toetips, yet you can tiptoe, but not tipfinger!”
“Excellent Ted talk, Remus, You certainly have not caused a headache in less than a few seconds.”
“Oh no, Logan is starting to sound like Janus.” Virgil mumbles, causing that whole car to shake with laughter while Logan just smirks and shrugs
“I can not say that I am insulted.” He brushes Virgil’s hand with his own, causing the hoodie-wearing emo to flush and look at the nerd, seeing as the light played off his hair and formed a sort of halo, reflecting off his dark red-rimmed glasses and matching metallic red tie. Virgil, now overcome with curiosity, looked over the twins, seeing the same sort of halo reflecting off of roman’s light brown locks and red bomber jacket.
Breath catching in his throat, Virgil straightened up at the rays surrounding the handsome actor, unable to look away with the mash of lighting and his vampiric charm. It’s not his fault that his vampire powers make him look like a walking dream. A true prince, with his long hair floating in the wind and a look of concentration in his green eyes. Matched his twin in a similar way, but it was a darker, more twisted light thanks to his own vampire powers. Scary handsome is the way that Virgil liked to describe it. It’s looking at Remus that makes him kinda (and he means kinda ) understand why so many people fall for the bad boy or dangerous character in movies and shows. Remus was that living embodiment, an exact opposite of his brother, but also feeling like they fit together well like they were two sides of one coin. One gold dollar.
The writer shutters, finally letting that breath out of the captivity of his throat. He knows that if his younger self heard the thoughts he was having, they would be making fun of him, calling him weak, saying that he was going to get his ass hurt for falling so hard for these people, these monsters. There’s still a tiny piece of him that agrees with that sentiment, who is cursing Fate for trying to ruin his life like this, who wants him to leave them because life will be less painful without him. A piece of him that is shaken and consumed by fear, expecting the worst of outcomes and the harshest of pains to come.
Then… there’s the rest of him, who clings to hope like a lifeline, drinking in the light that he was never given, absorbing the loving touches and smiles and attention that he didn’t know he craved until he met them. Being able to smile and laugh and breathe in life without worry. He’s excited to see what Fate has in store for him and his…
His…
“Your eyes better still be closed!”
“Roman, the more you say that the more my anxiety wants to sock you in the nuts.”
“Do it! It’ll be fun!” Remus cackles, much to Virgil’s displeasure as he’s led forward by a gentle, large hand and one strong, grounding hand on each shoulder. He stumbles forward, hearing the sounds of sticks crackling under his feet and leaves crunching in that most beautiful way. He almost trips, but the strong hand of Roman holds him steady.
“For someone who can climb the walls with a grace of a ballerina, you suck at walking.”
“Shut up! Are we there yet? We’ve been walking forever.” Virgil whines as he elbows the man to his left, hearing Roman grunt and shift a bit.
“We are almost there, Patton and Janus should be all set as well,” Logan said calmly to his right. Virgil sighs and continues forward, relying on his other five senses and hesitating a moment when the leaves and sticks seem to disappear and are replaced by some smooth plane of grass and a pleasant smell of flowers. He tilts his head a bit, staying quiet as they slow to a complete stop.
“Ready?”
“Open up!”
Virgil slowly open his eyes before closing them and blinking a bit as he got adjusted to the new light. When he opened them again, he felt his jaw drop and eyes widen.
The area was beautiful, with flowers that were nearly twenty feet tall and trees with leaves of all colors, even blue and purple. The sky was dark with the moon the fullest Virgil has ever seen it and stars that shined bright with swirls of purple and pinks and oranges. Little glowing balls of light floated around, lighting up the area even more as they drifted and seem to completely avoid the group. The grass was short and seemed perfectly cut, a beautiful natural green.
What really caught Virgil’s attention was the group of animals sitting at the base of an enormous tree. A snake, lion, raccoon, mouse, coyote, and hawk all cuddled around each other and the two men sitting with them. They all looked up at him, Janus and Patton smiling at them.
Janus stood, the golden snake slithering around his neck as the shape shifter slithered over to the newcomers. The snake was identical to the one in the dreamscape but more real and palpable, like when Virgil would get them as solid spiritual creatures before he met everyone. The shimmer of the golden scales and the suave look in the creature’s eyes, the way it curled so eloquently around Janus’ neck. It was for sure the same creature that tried to pull him towards his future best friends, but of course, there was one major difference.
Virgil wasn’t dreaming, or he thinks he isn’t! After meeting his soulmates, he never dreams, at least not in the normal way. Sure he’d space out and daydream, but this was clearly not that. It was too real, as real as the night breeze and the pale moon and the man who has gently cupped his face with a smirk on his lips, showing off his snake fangs. It was all real
“Welcome to the garden, little mouse.” The fae said gently, petting over his reddening cheek and brushing his thumb under his ear in a way he must know to make Virgil shiver and giddy.
“The… how did.. What is this place?” The writer asks, looking up with wide eyes as the floating lights around them started to dance and sway, circling and making shapes in the air, shifting from the pure white light to a moody, calm blue. Virgil was captivated by the show, unable to stop his eyes from trailing after the mystical orbs.
“This is a fairy garden, I’m sure you’ve heard of them.” The man chuckles as Virgil’s eyes widen. “Pat and I worked hard to make this place safe for our souls to run around in without worry. The spiritual energy is enough for them to be safe without any creatures getting in, but the magic is strong enough that they may have solid forms.”
Virgil glanced past Janus to the second fae, seeing Patton wave at him with a smile. He had resorted to turning into his true form, he had flowers growing in his hair and vines growing from his skin, curling and climbing up and settling them like they were one with him. His ears are pointed and his eyes had become completely sky blue, a soft glow to them. His skin turned a light pink, the same color as cherry blossoms. His teeth are dangerously sharp, white antlers coming from his head also had flowers. His arms and legs were like tree bark, a deep brown with roots sticking off of them. His freckles were shaped like mini flowers, blossoming in the field that was his face. This form always gave Virgil pause, never seeing something or someone so attuned with nature.
The dryad was gently petting over the mane of the red-eyed lion, his other hand holding the mouse in his cupped hand to keep them safe. It caused the warmest of feelings to fill Virgil, making his breath shutter just the slightest.
“So… these are actually our soul animals?” Virgil asked once he gathered his thoughts, which was kind of hard with Janus’ relentless pets and brushes of skin. When he receives an affirmative noise, he pulls back and walks over to the animals slowly, kneeling down and looking over the Hawk quietly. They got into a small staring match before Virgil was attacked by the green-eyed raccoon. A laugh startled out of him as he held the animal to his chest.
The others joined him soon, Roman sitting down and demanding his turn with the tiny mouse. Remus had taken it upon himself to pull Loan into his lap and cuddle the man while the Hawk and coyote cuddled them. Virgil kept a hold on the raccoon, watching as Janus held Patton close with the snake around his neck and lion hogging the other half of the dryad.
It was a good thing he has given the animals some names. He couldn't believe he missed out on all of this, watching the lights dance around them while Remus and Roman worked together to tell some grand story about the theater class they share together. Logan had pulled out a book and started reading, adding his own small comments whenever he felt like it. Janus was as sassy as ever, interjecting and calling Roman out when he told a small fib. Patton was giggling along, always entertained by the small gathering of people they have, scolding the boys when one of them would swear and worrying over them when Remus brought up the recent fight he was in. It was all perfect, everything Virgil ever wanted and more… but still... There was one last thing.
“I love all of you…”
Virgil held his breath, half hoping that no one heard him, but unfortunately- fortunately?- Patton had the ears of his soul animal and the raccoon in his arms was already jittering with excitement; basically forcing the shy male to let go of the creature before he got his arms scratched up from their struggling. Duke was quick to turn and start licking his face as if they were a dog of some kind, making Virgil squirm and try to push the feisty creature away from him.
“Duke! Stop, gross!” He laughs out, grinning widely and trying to keep the hyper mammal from licking inside of his mouth.
“Say it again…”
Virgil pauses and looks up, seeing Patton stare at him, glowing eyes seeming to start to sparkle with little pink hearts as if this was some cartoon. His face flushed deeper and he looked down then away with a shrug, seeming to draw the other soulmate’s attention.
“Say what? Gross? Remus is right here.” Roman chuckled, making an offended noise when Remus pushed him to the floor, the red-wearing vampire barely having time to raise his hands and keep the tiny mouse in his hands from being squashed. Patton didn’t even seem to notice or see them, eyes trained heavily on a squirming Virgil.
“Please? Say it again?” He asked again, this time more carefully, making sure Virgil knew he had a choice. The spider demon was very grateful, but he knew that if he didn’t say it now, he wouldn't have the confidence to later.
“I… Love all of you…” He mumbles loud enough, looking around at all of them as he said it. It was hard to miss the way they all seemed to light up like he said Halloween was coming early. He closed his eyes and shook his head quickly. “I’m not done yet.”
“I… love you all so much, I care about you all so much and you have made my life so much better than I could have ever expected.” He peaked an eye open, seeing how everyone was paying attention. Logan’s book was closed on his lap, the twins were the quietest Virgil had ever seen them, Janus was giving him a weird look, a rush of emotions it appears, and Patton was quietly encouraging him, soft blue filling his heart. Virgil takes another breath.
“I never wanted soulmates- I mean, not now of course, but when I was younger, I had a breakdown when I found out I had soulmates, panicked, even more, when there turned out to be more than one or two of you. I was scared and confused, so I hid… I stayed hidden for 8 years because of my own fear. I watched from the shadows as two became three, then three to four, four to five. It could have been six, but I was a coward.” Virgil looks away.
“My… parents… were soulmates.” Out of the corner of his eyes, Virgil notices Patton and Logan tensing up. Patton must have just felt the slew of emotions that came with that sentence, being such a powerful empath and all. Virgil had told Logan some information about his parents, not much, just how he didn’t want to be associated with his family and he wasn’t planning on ever returning. Well, he gets to learn more now. Virgil felt it was as good a time as any and the animals around them added some sort of emotional support that he didn’t know he needed.
“My parents were soulmates. From what my grandparents told me, they got together the moment they found out they were soulmates. I was born less than a year later. Two years into the marriage, my mother left. My father didn’t really care, or he liked to play it off like he didn’t. He just kept on talking about how he felt the marriage was some sort of obligation that came with Fate tampering with everything. I being born was just an obligation that came with soulmates. Eventually, he moved on, found a soulmateless woman to marry, and stopped wanting to take care of me, I was just old news to him. He did the bare minimum, but that was his job, but that was it. I was just another chore next to taking out the trash and checking voicemails. My stepmom tried, for a while, to treat me as her own, but once I lied about not having soulmates, she took care of me out of pity more than anything and I hated it. I found the furthest college I could and left when I first turned 16, I got emancipated and got out of there, living with my friend for a while after that. Worked my ass off too.”
He pauses to take a breath, feeling like he just ran a marathon with how fast his heart was beating.
“I didn’t want to end up like them. My mother is off somewhere, never to be heard from again. My father is a cold bastard. I didn’t want to be disappointed by the people who are supposed to be my whole universe and more… I didn’t want to disappoint any of them either. But now-” He looks up, tears swelling in his eyes as he looks at his beautiful group of lovers. “Now, I know that I’ve wasted so much time avoiding such amazing people. I want to make the absolute most out of what I have right here before me. I want to love each and every one of you and experience all you have to give to the fullest. I want to know so much more about magic and faes and what happened thousands of years ago-”
He laughs; “I want to be with you guys, as a boyfriend, sure… but I want to be a part of your family… Please, will you take me?”
There was a pregnant silence, Virgil letting out very slow breaths in hopes of calming his sparking nerves.
“Can… May i- I… Hugs-” Patton asked, visible twitching in his spot as his skin goes from a normal pale pink to hot pink swirling with yellow; his freckles becoming little hearts. Virgil grins and nods, opening his arms wide and allowing the chubby dryad to knock him over in a bear hug. They squeeze each other tightly, the older of the two mumbling “I love you”s like the word will go out of style if he doesn’t. Virgil just found it so adorable, nuzzling Patton’s neck as saying he loved him too, so much, forever.
Soon, they were joined in by strong arms, easily picking up the two of them.
“Virgil, that was the most beautiful confession of love I ever heard and that’s not fair because I’m supposed to be the romantic one!” Roman sobs openly, hugging them both while saying, making both shorter males choke out some laughter in response. They were quickly joined in by Remus, who is still surprisingly quiet, growling more than anything as he had his turn squishing them into his strong chest.
“Snake tits, profucker, you two better get your asses over here right now!”
Ah, there it is.
Janus laughs and soon all six of his arms is joining in the group hug, one pulling logan between them so he was stuck in the middle with Virgil and Patton, though there wasn’t much complaining coming from him as he joined the hug, flushing a deep pink, glasses askew like Patton’s.
They stayed like that for a while, each person whispering sweet nothings and love into each other’s ears, the animals curling around them and joining the cuddle puddle. They stayed like that all night, the fairy lights floating about and turning the garden a beautiful shade of lilac.
All of them together was perfect.
“Remus! Where the fuck is my comb!?”
“I’m using it for something really important!”
“I swear if I find it at the bottom of the jello, I’m kicking your ass-”
Virgil whines and opens his eyes slowly, peering blankly at the wall across from him, he yawns, only to purr when a hand gently brushes through his mused hair, scratching his scalp and helping him relax back into the ridiculously comfortable spot in his bed. He blinked an eye open again, glancing back to smile lazily at Janus before turning and nuzzling his face into the scaled man’s chest.
“Is it really time to go?”
“Technically not for you, you still have 3 more hours before your writing class.”
Virgil hums in satisfaction, curling up to become as small as he could and hugging the snake close. After a few moments, he felt the bed shift and opened his eyes, only to giggle when he saw a sleepy-looking Logan, his usually straight hair all fluffed up and eyes droopy, barely being kept open. The nerd yawned then glanced over at the clock on the bedside, squinting from his lack of glasses.
“Why are they up so easily, It’s 6 am.” He questions, voice deep and croaking from sleep. Virgil whines and shrugs, burying himself deeper into the comforter and chest.
“The stupid play.”
“Ah…” There was a moment of silence, both of them listening to the twins argue, snickering when Patton finally came out to scold them and offer to make breakfast sandwiches for the two. The bed shifted again and Logan’s weight was now on both him and Janus, making the spider grin. He loves when Logan is sleepy, he gets so clingy and cuddly. He rolls a bit and opens his arm, feeling the nerd cuddle into his arms before they all settle down again, a gentle, sloppy kiss being laid upon his cheek, causing him to smile even more as he drifted back to sleep.
Okay Fate, You Win.