Bleeding Magic

“Course I came! I jus’ had t’drive. Y’always tell me not t’use my phone even if it’s speech t’text while I drive.” He teased them playfully as he held the container full of brownies. He carefully stepped it, glancing at the other’s sweatpants. “Well shit, they do fit ya amazin’ly.. That’s a shock.” He teased as his eyes flicked right back up. He was happy to be here at the other’s house right now. He hadn’t seen the other in quite a while and honestly, he missed him a lot. 

“Will do! I made uhh.. Some black forest brownies an’ some regular ones by th’way! I think y’were th’one that said y’liked th’black forest last time.” He grinned.

“I think you’re the only person to ever actually listen to my advice, Ber. I just expect y’all to be dumb about it at this point,” they replied, shoving a handful of popcorn in their mouth. It was nice, reassuring even, that one of their friends took the advice they gave seriously. The number of times Virgil had seen preventable accidents lead to very real consequences was staggering and their greatest fear was that one day they’d see a close friend smeared across the side of the road. 

“I told ya, everything suits me,” they laughed, looking down at the sweatpants they’d thrown on earlier. Even though they were too short and only fell to their ankles, the grey fabric was comfortable and loose - not anything they’d be caught dead in out and about, but perfect for lazy days with one of their favorite humans. “Even short sweatpants in the color ‘boring grey.’” 

“Hey, you came!  For a second there I thought I’d lost you to Piccard and superior character development,” they smiled, stepping out of the doorway to let Berwyn in. Downtime wasn’t something Virgil did, not often at least. With their endless supply of energy and general aversion to sitting still, they preferred to spend their days off out and about either at clubs or with a group of friends. But..there were exceptions and Berwyn was one of them. The fae didn’t see nearly enough of him and so when they had the chance, they capitalized and made the most of his attention. 

Berwyn: Well, while TOS was a cheese fest, I quite like the character development and such in Next Gen.

Berwyn: Fuck yeah!

Virgil: Screw character development. Who needs it when you have those sweet, sweet special effects.

Berwyn: Lmfao maybe you are.

Berwyn: Yep! With Sir Patrick Stewart! Imo, it was better than the original.

Berwyn: Even if you give me the one made of formfitting neon yellow fabric.

Virgil: Is it? I dunno, I doubt anything can beat the absolute cheese-fest that is Star Trek - TOS.

Berwyn: That's very true, isn't it? Fuck, you're a charmer, aren't you?

Berwyn: I watched the newer star trek! With piccard! The old one had Shatner, remember?

Berwyn: I would, as payback for stealing my sweat pants :P

Virgil: You tell me. :P

Virgil: The one with Sir Patrick Stewart? You may proceed...

Berwyn: I knooow, but damn, you're gonna give me diabetes from being so sweet!

Berwyn: We're watching Bob Ross. Then again, I can't say anything since I just watched Star Trek earlier....

Berwyn: Rude! I'm gonna need a shirt or something then lmfao!

Berwyn: Right?! That'd be amazing!

Virgil: Well, if you do, I bet I could cure it with the power of magic. I've never tried it, but there's no time like the present.

Virgil: OH! You watched it without me? I thought we were gonna watch the original series together. Ber, you're supposed to be my best friend, how could you?

Berwyn: The cuteness lol

Berwyn: You're nerdier than I am!

Berwyn: Okay yeah they're mine then...

Berwyn: It really does, doesn't it? XD

Virgil: I can help it, it's just who I am, Ber!

Virgil: How? I need cold, hard evidence.

Virgil: Cool. Just letting you know you're never getting them back. They're mine now.

Berwyn: That's the cutest fucking thing. Youu gotta stop XD Jkjk don't stop

Berwyn: Are too!

Berwyn: Maybe! Are they more form fitting?

Berwyn: Ooooo, uhhh, Meadow Lake sounds amazing actually!

Virgil: Stop what?

Virgil: Am not! You're the nerd, nerd.

Virgil: I mean, I guess? These pants weren't made for me, I've got thin legs.

Berwyn: I hope you like brownies!

Berwyn: Such a damn nerd lmfao

Berwyn: What's the other 1%? :P

Berwyn: That's very true! I bet they look amazing you you lmfao! Can't wait to see them!

Virgil: I do! They're in my top ten favorite things that begin with the letter b.

Virgil: Am not. :P

Virgil: The other 1% accounts for the small chance they're anyone else's. Who knows? Maybe a fling left them here and I forgot about them until now.

Virgil: ;)

Berwyn: I'm bringing by some sweets as well! I kind of made too many so...

Berwyn: Will do! Loose t-shirt too I'm guessing? lol

Berwyn: You're wearing my sweatpants? ...That's really cute in all honesty. And kind of attractive? Is that weird to say?

Virgil: Nice, just what we needed!

Virgil: Whatever you want, live your best life. :-)

Virgil: Yeah! They're too short so I'm like 99% sure they're yours.

Virgil: I mean, I make everything look good. Your sweatpants have never looked so hot XD

Berwyn: I'm definitely down! I'll be over in like ten minutes!!

Virgil: Sweet! See you then.

Virgil: And wear sweatpants, we're relaxing big time. I even put on sweatpants so you know shit's getting real.

Instinctively Sparrow reached up and brushed Virgil’s curls back from his face and leaned her head against theirs, her cheek against the crown their head. It was more that she sensed they needed it than anything else, the comfort and the closeness of someone they had become close to in town. It was rare to see Virgil acting anything but cheerful and energetic; rare to see anything getting them down.

But the fact of the matter was that Virgil was, emotionally speaking, human. For as different as supernatural beings could be from their human friends and townmates? They still held the same types of emotions. They could still be happy or sad; they could still fall in love or get their hearts broken. They could experience it all. And because she knew that she knew that it wasn’t truly surprising that Virgil could feel something other than cheerful and happy. They were capable of feeling every single emotion in the range no matter how surprising it was.

“Family can get to use the worst because we love them the most,” the witch reasoned, reaching out and squeezing down gently on their wrist, her head still resting against his. “It means that when they’re happy, it makes us happy. But it also means that when they say certain things or we bicker with them- even playfully- it can hurt. But I’m sure your brother wouldn’t have said anything to try to hurt you, Virgil. I’m sure he loves you just as much as you love him.” She paused, squeezed his wrist gently again. “What did he say that has you so down, Verge?”

“But he did, Sparrow. the only reason he brings it up is because he wants me to feel it. He brings it up because he knows I’ll never forgive myself and...he’ll never forgive me either. I didn’t mean to hurt him, I really didn’t, but it happened and now I can’t do anything to fix it,” they rambled, their words running into each other as their emotions crashed down on them. Pressing their face into their friend’s shoulder, Virgil squeezed their eyes shut trying not to start crying. Thus far, they’d avoided it, and they really didn’t want to ruin Sparrow’s shirt. 

“He’s having nightmares again, nightmares,” They mumbled into her shoulder, clenching their hands into fists and digging their lilac-colored nails into the meat of their palms. “I’m the worst older sibling he ever could’ve asked for and I hate it. I hate it. I hate it! I shouldn’t be allowed to have magic. I wish I didn’t have magic.” 

Silas squeezed Virgil’s hand in his, a light, hopefully grounding, pressure, and kept it there. “It’s alright. Something is wrong, and you are sad, and that is okay.” He murmured. 

“It’s alright. Some days I’m bored out of my mind. I go on walks every morning- I do my best to keep in shape. I’ve been cooking a lot more. My house is clean for the first time since we moved there ten years ago. I pay more attention to the details and the little things. I read more. I romance my husband more often- believe it or not, at forty-eight, I’m having the best sex of my life.” Silas let out a small laugh, “And I’m trying to learn how to use my magic, for the first time in my life. Which is like, stupid hard, but I haven’t killed myself yet… There’s plenty to do, I just… do it a little slower than I used to. Try to enjoy every little bit of it more.” 

“Is it?” No one had ever told them it was okay to be sad before, not that they could remember at least. Such a small remark shouldn’t have caught their attention, it should’ve been insignificant in the grand scheme of things, but it stuck. Virgil had always thought of sadness as something to be fought off and destroyed before it even happened, but they supposed there was something to be said about letting go for a bit. After all, there’s no sadness without happiness. 

“Huh, sounds nice.” And they meant it, Silas’ description of his life sounded legitimately wonderful and a helluva lot less boring than they would’ve anticipated. “You’re a witch, right? What kind of stuff are you trying to learn how to do? How do witches learn magic? I’d think it would be different than how fae’s do, but I wouldn’t know. For me, it was a lot of intuition and then trial and error. A lot of trial and error.” 

Hal grinned when he got a blush out of Virgil, biting at his bottom lip for a moment as he looked over the other’s features. “You’re so cute.” He said with a small roll of his eyes. 

He chuckled, nodding, “God, feels like it.” He said, “You can help me decide what’s happening next. I’ve got the bathroom figured out, and I’m refinishing the floors, now that it’s warm enough to leave all the windows open. I’m hoping to get it all done this year, ‘cept for the outside.”

“And you’re a handsome devil, but now we’re just stating the obvious,” they replied, the redness that had colored their cheeks spreading to the tips of their ears regardless of how nonchalant they wanted to play. Virgil messed with the lily behind their ear, fixing it so it sat more comfortably amongst their curls, planning to paint it as soon they left. They did that - immortalized happiness in watercolor for those times when the world needed a bit. 

“I’d love to. You think I could convince you to paint an accent wall? Something so bright it’s dumb, like...highlighter blue. No one can have a bad day staring at a blindingly blue wall, now can they?”

Silas sighed, shaking his head lightly, “You, mx, are waaayyy to negativity focused today.” He said softly, offering his hand forth for the other person. “I’m a house-husband… I was a teacher. Middle school English- here in town, since about ten years ago- but I retired, this last year. I uh… I had a pretty bad run in with some silver through the knee. When I got back on my feet, I realized was just… tired. Talked to Mal, he convinced me to just… not go back to work.” 

“I know,” they replied, glancing down at the hand offered to them before taking it without much thought. “Sorry, I really hate being like this. Makes me feel like a dementor - sucking the life out of every conversation.” 

Halfhearted joking aside, they were legitimately curious as to what it was being a house-husband. Virgil had never understood the appeal, being the energy bunny of a person they were, but they could see why, in theory, someone would choose it. “Do you like it? How do you keep yourself from getting so bored?”