#human patton

Virgil floated aimlessly as the fifth group that month was touring his house to buy. He didn’t really care anymore, most didn’t buy it, and even if they did, he could just scare them out.

Might as well start early, he supposed, starting to mess with things in the room the humans were about to tour, which happened to be the kitchen. He picked up some of the knives from a drawer, wondering how easy it would be to spontaneously start practicing knife throwing. It wasn’t like he could get hurt..

He put the knives down, concluding that he might hurt someone living. He may not want them in his house, but he wouldn’t hurt them. He started looking through the cabinets for something, only finding pots and pans. He sighed

“I guess these’d work” he mused to himself quietly, starting to bang them together and throw them around. He heard the real estate agent sigh loudly from the next room

“Pay no mind to those noises, it’s nothing really” They stated, pretty convincingly

The real estate agents had figured out that the place was haunted pretty early on, so Virgil had lots of fun messing with them whilst they were looking through the house, or showing people around. They weren’t too bad, really

When Virgil was alive, he had built a fake wall into the house, to make it easier to not get murdered in his sleep, so his bedroom was pretty well hidden. The real estate agents found it and left it alone, not wanting to upset the ghost. Virgil was happy for that, it wouldn’t feel like home if his room was gone. He needed his things. Different was always bad.

And, the agents never showed it to potential buyers, which Virgil was sure could get them fired if their higher-ups ever found out, so he was grateful for that. It was still fun to mess with them, but never the same extent that he did to people who tried to get him out, or perform an exorcism or something

The exorcisms had never worked of course, but they were still unpleasant and annoying.

He zoned back in to listen to the humans question the noise again

“It’s just the ghost, don’t worry. He tends to try chase people away, but it’s mostly just throwing things at walls like a toddler” The last part was louder than the rest of it, obviously aimed to lightly insult him, before continuing “All the people who have lived here only move because they’re freaked out, he never hurts anyone, so you’d be safe, don't worry”

He rolled his eyes, sent them the middle finger, and threw one more pan at the wall before floating off to his room. He could still hear the humans-

He paused his thinking for a second, instead mulling over the fact that his brain kept referring to them as ‘the humans’. Was he not human anymore? His subconscious didn’t seem to think so. He could barely remember what solidity felt like.. He never really felt human to begin with, honestly, so it wasn’t that much of a change

Virgil shook his head, returning to his thought. He could still hear them in the other room, conversing, mostly about him. The real estate agent (Jamie, he remembered) had gone into the kitchen to clean up the mess he had made.

Virgil listened to the humans conversation idly, chuckling at one of their insistences that ghosts weren’t real

There were three humans in total touring the house, each of them being very different from each other. The one who was denying seemed extremely serious, for no particular reason, almost reminding Virgil of his old teacher. The next was rather loud and kept making Disney references, to the point that Virgil had started mentally calling him Princey, and claiming that there couldn’t be a ghost because ‘Ghosts are evil, except for Moana’s grandmother’

Virgil rolled his eyes at that one, still listening to them through the wall

The third seemed rather cheerful, almost too cheerful for Virgil’s tastes. He kept saying how “if there is a ghost, it’s like the house comes with a friend! Besides, I’m just dying to meet them”

He could almost imagine the sunny grin on his face when he said that, and he heard one of the other two humans groan at the pun. Virgil laughed

“Patton, was there really any need to make a pun for the supposed ghost? We’re the only ones who would be living here if we bought the house, you wouldn’t be meeting anyone except maybe a few neighbours”

Virgil rolled his eyes for what felt like the millionth time, still laughing

“Come on, Lo, I know you don’t like puns, but hearing a few ghost puns won’t.. kill.. you” Another groan was heard behind two people’s laughter

“Besides, how do you explain what happened earlier if there’s no ghost?” ‘Patton’ asked

The serious one sighed “Perhaps something simply fell out of a cabinet and Jamie made something up to make the house seem more interesting? Regardless, I do think it would be a good investment to buy this house, it is large enough for all of us to live comfortably, and still is in budget” Virgil froze at that, they were gonna buy the house?

He needed to start planning how to chase them away right that very second. He liked living alone, and these humans seemed interesting now, but Virgil knew they’d hate him after a while. They all did eventually, even when he was living

He wasn’t the type to talk a lot, or look people in the eyes, but he was good at listening, contrary to what people believed, and he stored everything he was told in the back of his mind for future reference, but everyone always left

He couldn’t get attached to these humans, they were gonna hate him and leave, so he should save them the effort and make them leave immediately.

He stayed in his room a while until they left, only coming out when he was sure the only person still there was Jamie

Jamie was sat in the kitchen on her phone, and laughing quietly at some video. Virgil decided he should probably apologise for causing a mess and throwing stuff around.

He couldn’t exactly talk to them, so maybe just giving them something would work. He had a small rock collection in his room, and he had seen Jamie looking at them sometimes, and he figured that she would appreciate one of them.

He picked up one of them, shaped vaguely like a dinosaur of some kind, before floating out of his room to give it to the human. He held it out to them, and they smiled

“Is this for me?” He held it out more persistently and she took it, grinning.

“Thank you, it’s very cool. Is this because of earlier?” They held it to their chest whilst asking. Virgil didn’t know how to respond, so he just stayed floating there for a while, until Jamie eventually left

---

Logan looked back at the house as he and his friends drove away, thinking. He definitely did not believe the talk of a supposed ‘ghost’, noises be damned, but the house was interesting, and a reasonable price.

He watched the road ahead steadily, as the others conversed about how fun the house would be once they bought it, and how they would decorate it. Logan pitched in on a few points, mainly how he would decorate his space, and mentioning how nonsensical it was to argue about who gets what room in a house that they might not even buy.

He rolled his eyes fondly, before opening his book from the backseat of their car. Soon, they arrived at their current apartment, which was much too cramped to fit them all comfortably, hence why they were house hunting.

They had been saving up for quite a while, so it was quite a relief to find a nice house that was actually in budget for once. It was a few weeks later when they actually managed to buy it, and a few weeks after that when they managed to finish moving in.

He started moving his things into his room, listening to Roman and Patton’s Disney discussions. Once he had gotten every piece of furniture in place, he started organizing his books on his shelf, and getting his better stuff in place. Once he had everything perfectly placed, he went into the kitchen area to help Roman and Patton with the food, which was a lot easier when there was more room to move around then a tiny room in a tiny apartment.

After they’d all eaten, a few hours later, they all went back to their respective rooms, until a loud shriek sounded from Roman. Logan and Patton both went to investigate, only to find all of the louder man’s Disney merchandise strewn about the room as if it had been thrown (which, of course, it had not been, Roman would never do such a thing and ghosts didn’t exist).

“That damn ghost! He couldn’t just leave my precious Disney stuff alone, could he?” Roman crossed his arms, glaring at one of his many figurines on the floor

Logan sighed “Roman, is it not at all possible that they merely fell off of the shelf? I have already explained the statistical improbability of a ghost residing here”

Roman glared at him “Oh, yes, because all of my Disney stuff, and only my Disney stuff, would just randomly fall and end up on the complete opposite side of the room, how is that more logical than a ghost?” He looked away angrily, starting to pick up the fallen figures (because, yes, they merely fell, there was not a ghost, Logan thought to himself)

Logan and Patton both started helping and it took, at most, two minutes to put everything in the correct places, but Roman still seemed unhappy

“Something’s missing..” He looked over the figures slowly. Suddenly, he gasped

“My Jack Skellington figure! He must’ve taken it! I was right, ghosts are evil!” he pouted

Logan rolled his eyes, the figurine had likely just rolled under a bed or dressing table. The imaginary ghost wouldn’t have taken it, anyway. He walked back to his own room, only to find that whilst he and Patton were helping Roman, someone had thrown all of his stuff all over the room

He took a deep breath, his things had merely fallen. He looked around and- there! The window was open. A perfectly logical answer to his conundrum. Ghosts didn’t exist, so he needed to reason away from them and towards logic

His room’s door slammed shut and locked. It was fine, just the wind, that he… couldn’t feel at all…

He attempted to pull the latch on the door, but instead of being the easy feat it was an hour ago, it now felt as though someone was holding it shut, which, of course, was preposterous, no one but him was in his room, and the latch could not be touched or even seen from the outside

He eventually managed to open it, and leave, only to reconsider his stance on ghosts. Perhaps… maybe.. ghosts could exist. Theoretically.

---

Virgil found it hilarious how easy it was to annoy these humans. The loud one, Roman, had so much Disney stuff, and it was too easy to make a mess in there. Besides, the dude had a pretty cool Nightmare Before Christmas figurine that Virgil decided would look amazing underneath his posters.

Despite everything, the more serious one still denied that Virgil existed, so he decided that a little prank whilst he was helping Roman sort his stuff out was a little necessity

He had seen him painstakingly place each and every thing to perfection, and decided that that’s where he’d start. He threw everything quietly, before waiting for the nerd to reappear.

When Logan arrived, he looked around quickly, before his eyes settled on the window and he nodded to himself. Virgil groaned, he had spent a while on that, so to have it written off as the wind was pretty annoying

He slammed the door loudly and closed the latch

“Good luck blaming that on the wind, nerd” he glared at Logan, as the latter turned around warily, looking a little bit shaken

He walked closer and tried the latch, which Virgil was holding shut, laughing to himself. He shivered slightly as the human’s hand went through his when he was messing with the mechanism

Eventually, Virgil let go, watching as Logan walked through and started breathing mildly more intensely than when he was inside. Virgil closed the door behind him and closed the latch once again, before floating down to his own room and fixing his Nightmare Before Christmas display and his new addition.

It didn’t bother him very much that the figure was technically stolen, it wasn’t the first time he had illegally acquired a new item. Most of the time when that happened it was when he was more down on his luck, needing to.. borrow.. food and drinks from a store, but Karma seemed to think that was bad enough to punish him

He had gotten a large inheritance from his great uncle, and had managed to buy a big-ish house, get a fake wall built in, before the burglar arrived.

He was binging some Netflix show on his couch, in the middle of the night, and the robber probably assumed he’d be asleep. He probably should’ve been, maybe then he wouldn’t still be floating around. The thief might’ve not found him, might’ve assumed he wasn’t home and left with just some stuff, not his body. He had watched the body be carried out, presumably to the river half a mile south

His murder was never solved as far as he knew, so that could explain why he was still here, floating around and just annoying everyone. He sighed, looking around his room, specifically at the signs of no one living there

He looked at the cobwebs that had shown up just about everywhere, the spiders that lived in them, the thick layers of dust that was settled over most of his belongings, apart from his new figurine.

He could hear the voices of the humans conversing directly above him, and he rolled his eyes, starting to reread one of his few books. He knew what was going to happen in it, so it was comforting. He had annotated it when he was alive so he would find it more amusing on future reads. Now, it surely helped him not go insane at least, but it had gotten pretty boring pretty quickly

He started listening to the noise above him, what the humans were discussing. He decided that they were probably discussing the door he had locked from the inside, if the declarations of being correct from Roman was any indication. Patton had started trying to mediate the situation, trying to stop the bubbling argument between them. Virgil felt tempted to go up there and stop it himself, they were getting annoying, how did Patton put up with that? Hell, how did any of them live with each other if this was how often they argued?

He acted on the temptation with minimal hesitation, throwing a small object at the wall between the humans

Patton reached out to catch it, fumbling with it a bit, before dropping it, albeit gentler than Virgil did

“Hey, uh, Ghost, could you not throw that, please? It’s made of glass, and pretty fragile, so, uh.. Anyway, I’m Patton, what’s your name?” Patton asked, usual sunny grin on his face. Virgil kinda felt bad that he couldn’t answer in a way that Patton could hear.

He answered anyway, just so he could say he tried

“Virgil.. My name’s Virgil”

Quite predictably, they didn’t hear him. He frowned, he had kinda wanted that to work.. He shook his head rapidly. No, he didn’t want that to work, he wanted the humans to leave, he didn’t want to be their friend. Not when he knew they’d have to leave him at some point. Ghosts were eternal, humans were not

Patton’s grin dimmed slightly at the perceived silence

“Are you still there? If you are, would you be able to hold something, so we’ll know?” Virgil nodded, mostly to himself, picking up another small object

Before Patton could reply, Roman jumped in, pointing at his general direction

“Aha, fiend! Tell me where you’ve taken my figure!” Virgil rolled his eyes and threw the thing in his hand at him. Roman gasped in offence, as Virgil started floating away

He went down to his room, going back to his book boredly. The nerd had some pretty cool looking books, maybe he could take one of them. Virgil sighed to himself, deciding that everything would just be miserable for eternity if this was what got him excited. He didn’t know how it wouldn’t be.

He could still hear them talking but he stopped listening. Let them talk, he thought, let them talk about him, he couldn’t stop it either way. They weren’t arguing this time, so he just concentrated on reading again. He got bored pretty quickly and started concentrating on his ghost abilities a little bit more.

If he really concentrated he could keep a visible form, but not well. He could be seen, but he was still mostly invisible, you’d still be able to see the wall behind him before you’d notice him, really. He looked at himself in the mirror sadly, specifically the blood covering his chest. He wondered what he would be doing if he hadn’t died. Probably binging Netflix again, honestly. He could hear the humans again, this time a little closer than before.

Virgil, once again, paid it no mind, instead going into what he called ‘ghost sleep mode’

It wasn’t really sleeping, it was more disappearing from the plane of existence he was currently on for a few hours, and replaying memories from life, the happiest ones specifically. There wasn’t really a lot to play for him, he hadn’t had a very happy life

He was shown bits and pieces from childhood, that time a nice old woman paid for all his groceries when his card declined, the time he bought his house. When he started decorating his room, the first time his hair was cut short, the time the neighbour’s kids invited him to play with them, memories of his old friends before they left him, fractions of bittersweet memories.

It was a while before he reformed in the living world, and as usual he was accompanied by a small flash of light. He rubbed at his eyes, and looked at the clock. He’d been in the in-between for five hours just about, making it 11:30 pm.

The humans should be asleep by then, right? Well, maybe not Logan, since Virgil had locked him out of his room, but the others probably were. Maybe. He wasn’t really one to judge other people’s sleeping habits, since his own messed up one was what had gotten him killed in the first place

He floated up to where their bedrooms were, checking on them, making sure they were safe. He didn’t like them, but for now, they were sorta like guests, so he had to keep them safe. Logan was asleep next to his door, and Virgil finally gave in, unlocking the door for him. Logan needed to sleep in his bed, if he didn’t then Virgil would be worrying that what happened to him would become a shared experience

The door swung open, but Logan still didn’t stir from his sleep. Virgil looked at him a while before sighing and grabbing the back of his shirt and dragging him towards his bed. If that’s what it took to make them be a little bit more safe, then sure, he’d do it

Logan finally woke up, starting to struggle against his grip. Virgil let go, dropping him unceremoniously on the floor

Logan looked around a bit, before talking quietly “Were you- were you trying to make me go to bed?”

Virgil would be blushing in embarrassment if he had any moving blood, but instead, he threw something at the human and flew back to his bedroom as quickly as possible. He buried his face in his hands

He didn’t care about the humans, he wanted them to leave, he didn’t care about them. He didn’t care for them, he couldn’t care for them. He- he just couldn’t. They’d leave, they’d move out, they’d hate him, if they died, they wouldn’t be ghosts with him, they would just die, they’d go to the afterlife and he wouldn’t be able to follow. No matter what, they’d leave him eventually.

---

Patton didn’t really know what to think of the ghost, really. He seemed to keep to himself a lot, only throwing stuff around, just like Jamie had said.

He seemed to have calmed down after a while. Patton noticed that he left them alone for a while until they started arguing, which was when he showed up. When Patton had tried talking to him, he had seemed content to chill until Roman provoked him..

He went to sleep with these thoughts in mind.

It wasn’t long ‘til he woke up. He went down to the kitchen groggily, intent on fixing up some breakfast for everyone. A few minutes after his first batch of pancakes, Logan walked in, looking a bit bewildered

“The ghost was trying to drag me into my bed last night” was the first thing he said

Patton looked up “Uh, could you explain that more, Logan? What do you mean”

Logan looked at him with wide eyes, seemingly trying to also make sense of what happened “well, the ghost had locked my door, as you know, so I had fallen asleep on the corridor next to my room, but I woke up to something invisible dragging me into my room, towards my bed. I asked the ghost if that’s what he was doing, but he just threw something at me. I- I think he might’ve been embarrassed..” Logan sat at the table as he was given a plate of pancakes and some jam

Patton thought for a moment “Well, let’s be glad that he’s such a thoughtful ghost and not an ‘I’m gonna make the walls bleed and stuff’ type ghost”

Roman soon came bounding down the stairs with all the energy of a toddler on a sugar high

“Good morning, Patton, Nerd” He nodded to them happily, grabbing a plate of pancakes and sitting diagonal to Logan at the table, “I am happy to report that the ghost was not tormenting me or committing thievery against me last night!” he exclaimed loudly

Patton smiled “That’s great, kiddo! Logan says that the ghost was trying to drag him into his bed last night when he was sleeping in the corridor, so I think he might not be as bad as you seem to think,” He smiled, making more pancakes

Roman scoffed “For nefarious, evil purposes probably” He mumbled, crossing his arms and looking away

“Name one ‘nefarious and evil’ thing that he could’ve been doing that for” Logan countered

“Uh, he could’ve been trying to get you in another room so he could make a ginormous mess” Roman stated matter-of-factly, a smug look adorning his face

Patton spoke up “Well, that doesn’t seem to be the case, does it? He’s not done anything when he’s been left alone, so I personally don’t think he’s all that bad” he shrugged, sitting down with his pancakes

Roman scoffed “He stole from me!”

Logan shook his head “You don’t have any proof of that, besides, even if he did, he only took one small figurine, that hardly qualifies as robbery”

“One small figurine that I bought! And he just took it!” Roman crossed his arms, glaring at his nearly empty plate

“Well, we are living in his house, so its kinda fair” Patton pointed out, trying to stop the argument that was brewing.

Roman simply stormed off, muttering angrily to himself, and Logan shook his head, making a comment about ‘childish behaviour’. Patton didn’t really hear what was being said, he was too busy feeling guilty. He didn’t want to make Roman upset..

He walked upstairs to his room, almost in a trance, before collapsing into the bed, crying. He just had to get involved in the argument, didn’t he? He couldn’t leave it alone, could he? He felt a small chill go through him, but he paid it no mind, instead just hugging a stuffed cat to his chest as tight as humanly possible

He wiped his eyes, or tried to at least. He should’ve been happy, they had a new house, his own room, he should’ve been happy, not upset. He could feel someone looking at him, but he hadn’t heard the door open. He turned around warily, only to see a floating stuffed bat that he had never seen before

The ghost, he realised suddenly. He looked at the plushie for a few moments before asking “Is that for me?”

The plushie was set on his bed next to him, as a paper and pen started writing with what seemed like no one holding them. He read the note that was handed to him and started smiling

‘its for you, her name is Trylla, take good care of her and please don’t be sad

-V’

The rest of the name was scribbled out, but Patton didn’t mind. If he didn’t want to share his name he didn’t have to

“Thank you, Vee, she’s very cute, I love her!” he hugged Trylla to his chest protectively. Another thought popped into his head

“Oh! Uh, Roman is pretty convinced that you took something from him, so, um, if you did, would you be able to give it back? He’s really upset about it” There was no response, but he decided to hope that the ghost was listening

He started re-watching one of his comfort shows on Netflix, still hugging the bat to his chest. A few episodes later, Roman came bursting in, figurine in hand

“Patton, look! The ghost returned my figure! This proves that he took it” he had a smug look on his face, and Patton sighed

“Yes, but it also proves that he was nice enough to return it when I asked him, and look, he gave me something. I think you’re wrong about him, honestly. He doesn’t seem very evil to me” He held up the purple bat to him as proof, before hugging it again

Roman rolled his eyes “Fine, I guess I can admit he’s not too bad, but you gotta admit, it’s pretty interesting. Where is his storage space? All the rooms were cleaned out, so where did he get that bat thing? Where did he take my figure? I think we should try find it” Roman seemed to be getting excited at the idea

Patton was less excited “Wouldn’t that be an invasion of privacy?”

“It would be an adventure, that’s what it would be! Besides, we own the house, not him, we can go wherever we want”

Patton frowned slightly, he didn’t quite know why invading someone’s privacy would be an adventure, but there was lots that he didn’t know, so he kept quiet

---

Virgil was panicking. Why’d he have to do that? If he hadn’t of given that stuffed animal to Patton, he wouldn’t have given Roman his figure back, meaning that they wouldn’t get the idea to try find his room

What was he supposed to do, though? He saw one of the humans crying, he gave them a stuffed animal, simple, right? Wrong. Apparently, he couldn’t do anything nice for the people he was letting stay in his house, without them deciding to try find the one place in the house that still felt like it was his.

Of course.

In his panic, he couldn’t even work up the energy to make himself tangible enough to throw something at Roman, instead floating down to his room and sitting on his bed. How bad would it actually be if they found him? He was foolish to believe his space would last long, but he was still reluctant to imagine that they could take it from him.

If he was able to touch breathing things, he could probably push them out, fight them, but he couldn’t. He could touch their clothes, but even that took more effort than other things. He grabbed a comfort item and held it to his chest as tightly as possible.

It wasn’t the same as when he was living, instead of him feeling its warmth, it was hard for him to even work up the strength to feel it at all. He cried into it, like he had countless times in life. It still wasn’t the same, his tears evaporated when they touched things that were solid.

It was one of the reasons he gave Patton his stuffed toy, Patton could use it more, it wouldn’t be different for him. That turned on him though, the humans were trying to find his safe space, and they would probably take it from him.

He gave up. They were gonna find it eventually, there was nothing he could do, instead he started ‘sleeping’, waiting for the inevitable to happen.

It showed the usual stream of happiness for a few hours, but this time, along with living memories, it showed him giving Trylla to Patton and watching the other’s face light up. He teared up at that. He really didn’t hate these humans, which made it all the worse for him. What was he going to do when they left him?

After a few minutes of crying in the in-between as the memories ended, he was shoved back into his room. The humans were gathered there already it seemed. They immediately looked in his direction at the flash of light, and he uncurled from the foetal position that he always spawned in.

He knew that he would be visible for a few moments, before fading, but he just stared at them, feeling oddly hurt at them invading his space. God, why did he have to go and get attached to people so easily?

They stared back at him, seeming almost in shock. Virgil could feel himself fading, and he glared at them in his final visible moments, before going to sit on his bed, facing away from them. He didn’t want to look at them in that moment, he knew that this would happen, but still, it felt like a betrayal coming from them.

He could hear the sound of hushed whispering, but he couldn’t make out the words. He thought about how easy it would be to go and listen in without them noticing, but he decided against it. He wasn’t rude enough to invade someone else’s privacy.

He looked back at them sadly, before curling in on himself slightly. They were all friends, they cared about each other, and they just took Roman’s suggestion straight away. It just showed that they didn’t care about him. He cared enough about them to try keep them safe and happy, but they were just wandering into his safe space with what seemed like no remorse

He grabbed a stuffed spider and made himself as touchable as possible, to try replicate the feeling of warmth cuddling it gave him when he was alive. It wasn’t the best, but it was all he could do.

One of the humans cleared his throat, and Virgil looked back at them

“Um, Virgil?” He stiffened at that, putting the spider on the bed next to him

How-

“If you’re wondering how we found your name, its in the front of most of your books” Virgil scoffed, picking up a book looking at the inside of the cover (which, as expected, had his full name written out: Virgil Pierce. He ignored the scribble of a previous name of his) before throwing it at the human that had spoken, Logan.

So they weren’t just going into his room without permission, they were looking through his stuff as well. Good to know.

Logan looked down at the book, before looking in Virgil’s general direction

“What was that for?”

He didn’t bother responding, they couldn’t hear him, so he should just save his non-existent breath for something else. Besides, they should be able to figure out why he was upset, it was pretty obvious.

More whispering was heard, but this time he could make out some words. An uneasy feeling spread through his chest. They obviously didn’t want him to hear them, but would it really be so wrong to listen in? He sighed, deciding to take the moral high road, if only to help his chances to get into heaven if he ever passed through the in-between, to the other side.

Roman cleared his throat a few minutes later, looking around the room, presumably for Virgil

“Um, we’re-” Logan nudged him, staring pointedly, which made Virgil laugh a little. They were treating this like siblings having to apologise to their parents after a fight

“Fine, *I’m* sorry for invading your privacy without permission, and for dragging these two into it as well,” He turned to look at the other two, seeming like he was annoyed “There, I apologised, happy?”

Virgil fully laughed out loud at that, before covering his mouth. He didn’t quite know why, they couldn’t hear him either way, but its what he always did when he was alive.

He watched Patton press on for more of the apology

“Fine, I’m sorry for calling you evil and creepy, but in my defence, you did steal from me” Roman pointed a finger at where Virgil was floating, getting just a bit off

Virgil rolled his eyes once more, grabbing some scrap paper and a pen from his desk

‘youre in my house, i can do what i want. now get out of my room’

He passed the paper to them, and retreated back to his bed, still watching them. The whispering started up again, this time only a few seconds, before they nodded

Patton smiled at him “That’s fine, we can go. You have a really cool name by the way!”

The humans left, closing the door behind them, and Virgil felt a swell of pride grow in his chest at the compliment. That was one of the first times people had complimented his name and not called it weird.

He pushed it down, he would rather not have anything growing in his chest other than a new set of unpunctured lungs, thank you very much, especially not affection for the people who were invading his privacy and living in his house.

He gave a sigh, running a hand over his face. It was gonna be very hard on him when they eventually left. He stayed in his room for a few more hours, until it was past late night and into the early early hours of the morning, one am to be precise.

He went to check on the humans, knowing that it was very likely that they’d be asleep, but he needed to know for sure.

He was about to float to their bedrooms, but instead heard the sound of talking and the Netflix opening sound coming from the living room. He froze. They needed to go to bed, he needed them to go to bed. He didn’t want them to die..

He flew into the room as quickly as possible, before seeing a pillow fort built out of the couch, and feeling breath that he didn’t have catch in his throat. Everything was just like the night it had happened.

He sunk to the ground, wrapped in his memories. Hearing the kitchen window smash, being too afraid to even move. Making eye contact with the robber and feeling the cold metal of a gun being pressed to his chest. It all had happened so fast, he had woken up to the sight of his body being dragged outside and he had screamed.

His show was still playing as the crime scene was being rid of evidence, it was still on the ‘are you still watching?’ screen when his house was being looked through by detectives. It had been switched off by the time the investigation was half way through.

He didn’t remember much about those few days, he figured that he must’ve been in shock. He remembered them finding his room, looking through his stuff, taking a few pictures and then leaving everything alone. All physical evidence from outside of his room that his room even existed was probably still sat in a box somewhere, never touched.

He remembered the day he was announced officially missing, posters with a name that wasn’t his plastered around the town, and people desperately searching for him. He clutched at his head, like he was in pain.

He didn’t want to relive this again, he had gotten over it, he was dead, he wasn’t gonna come back to life, so why was he always longing to? What would life even give him? More pain, more heartbreak, more people calling him a name that he wasn’t?

He had been declared legally dead, after his body was found, though the murderer roamed free. Virgil could only imagine what was written on his grave

‘Here lies [REDACTED], she was a loyal daughter, sister and friend. She will be missed’

He shook his head. It wouldn’t do to think of his gravestone as if it could be changed. He was Virgil now, he wasn’t a girl, no matter what was said of him. He was Virgil, he was himself.

He could feel sobs wracking his body, and he was back to thinking about when it happened. The murderer pressing the gun to his heart, which was beating frantically, because of course it was! He could see the blurry silhouette of someone getting closer and he panicked, too deep in his own mind to remember that he wasn’t there anymore, that he wasn’t still being threatened at gunpoint.

He pressed himself into the wall, as far as he could, before stuttering out a plea

“D-don’t- don’t get any closer- please- I’ll do anything, just please don’t kill me- I can’t- I can’t die yet” He was getting thoughts of déjà vu, but he wasn’t sure why. Had this happened before? He was about to get shot, wasn’t he? He didn’t dare open his eyes, he couldn’t stare death in the face. Not again, a small voice in the back of his head reminded him.

He could feel himself shaking, and he curled up more, desperately trying to protect himself. The unknown person got closer, he could feel it. He whimpered, squeezing his eyes tighter

---

Roman was trying to have a shitty Netflix movie marathon with his friends, but he couldn’t focus on that anymore. After he had found the ghost- Virgil’s- room, all he could think of was the glare he had given them all. He could swear that the ghostly figure almost looked sad.

Another thing was that he had been expecting was something less human looking. Maybe a deathly pale figure in robes and hundreds of chains, but instead what he saw was a person only twenty or so years, old, with blood soaking through his patchwork hoodie.

Roman kept thinking back to that for hours, through each crappy movie he watched, until it got to one o’clock. He forced himself to watch the beginning of another movie from his pillow fort, curled up in a mess of blankets, his friends next to him, Patton hugging the stuffed bat that Virgil had gifted him.

A few minutes later, the lights started flickering, and the tv was glitching. At first he was annoyed, but then he noticed the faint glow against the wall. He looked closer and noticed the ghost curled up next to the wall, only appearing when the lights were out, and looking extremely distressed and his eyes focused on something in the distance. He was clutching at his head desperately, as if he were trying to force something out

Roman hesitantly got closer, and the lights stopped flickering, going completely dark. He could see the ghost faintly, outlined with a purple glow

The ghost’s eyes went wide before they squeezed shut, and he started shaking

“D-don’t- don’t get any closer- please- I’ll do anything, just please don’t kill me- I can’t- I can’t die yet” Roman froze. Logan placed a hand on his shoulder, which startled him. When had Logan even gotten up?

“I don’t think he’s in the right frame of mind right now, Roman. That sounds like what could’ve been his last words.. I don’t think he’s seeing you as you, I think he may be seeing.. someone else” Logan was also staring at the apparition with what seemed like sympathy

Patton looked down at the bat in his hands before at the ghost. He walked closer to the ghost, momentarily stopping at the pained whimper that escaped him. He set the stuffed toy down before walking back to the group

“He needed it more than me, it’s his anyway” He shrugged, sitting on the floor, getting ready to comfort the ghost if need be. Roman joined him, he may not have particularly liked the ghost, but being able to see the ghost had changed his perception somewhat

It was no longer that all ghosts were evil, because now that he had a face to attribute to him, a name, it reminded him that.. ghost stories are just tragedies told from another perspective. He couldn’t imagine begging for his life against someone who had presumably broken into his house.

Roman started realising that something must’ve triggered this, and he looked around the room. The only thing that seemed out of place was the pillow fort. He shuddered

Your house could be broken into at any moment, even when you’re just sat in a pillow fort watching a movie. Maybe that’s what had happened to Virgil... He stared at the ghost, upset at the thought

He couldn’t even think how traumatic that would be, something meant to make you feel comfortable and safe to be the place where you were killed? He couldn’t bare to watch the apparition in pain any longer, and he got closer, determined to help somehow

One of the floorboards creaked under his weight and Virgil started shaking more, his form flickering, and the lights starting to do the same again. Roman stopped, before starting to approach again, this time avoiding any creaky-looking floorboards, and going considerably slower. He gently pushed the stuffed bat closer, and sat opposite the ghost

“Virgil, you’re not there, okay? I know it probably feels really real, and I understand that, but can you open your eyes please? I want you to name five things you can see, can you do that for me?”

Virgil shook his head, still with his eyes shut as tightly as ever, and Roman wracked his brain to remember other techniques to calm down someone with PTSD and other such disorders. He nodded to himself once he remembered. Man, that Mental Health Awareness course really turned out useful

“Okay, can you breathe in for four seconds for me? That’s it, you’re doing really well, now hold for a while, that’s great, you’re doing perfectly, now breathe out for eight seconds. You’re doing really well, now can you repeat that for me?” Virgil still wouldn’t open his eyes, but he wasn’t flickering as much anymore. He was getting gradually less visible, but he was definitely calming down

“That’s it, you’re doing great, keep going!” He gently encouraged, vaguely aware of his friends watching him. He ignored them in favour of coaxing Virgil into a healthier state of mind

Soon, when the ghost was just barely visible, and nothing was flickering anymore, Virgil opened his eyes

Roman smiled as warmly as he could manage, and the Ghost’s lips moved in a soundless word of gratitude, before fading. Trylla the stuffed bat was given to Patton. Roman got some paper and a pen out

“Virgil, if you’re still there, can you tell me what caused that episode, so we can avoid it, or give you a warning so that you can avoid it?” The pen was picked up from the table and Roman read the note

‘its a few things, long story’ Roman nodded

“We have time, if you’d like to explain?” He offered. The pen hovered above the page for a few moments before scribbling something down

‘no, you guys need to go to bed. I don’t like thinking that you’re down here when anyone could break in’ Roman read aloud, he nodded

That seemed pretty valid, he decided.

He knew he was acting pretty differently than he was a few hours earlier, but he was not going to be rude to someone going through a trauma induced episode. He didn’t want to stress him out any more than he already was

Patton spoke up for the first time in a while “Hey! Do you think we should buy some whiteboards so we can talk without having to get paper and a pen out every time?”

The pen scribbled something down and Roman once again read it aloud

“‘Sure, you should buy the big ones and stand them up in each room’ Great idea, my superb, stupendous spirit!”

He could practically feel the eye roll that nickname was greeted with, though he couldn’t see it

‘dont call me that’

Roman laughed at the quick response

“Would you prefer if I called you ‘Emo nightmare’ for the rest of my life?” He suggested, crossing his arms in a joking manner

‘You probably won’t live here the rest of your life, so in the very little time you’re gonna live here, you can call me whatever you want, just not that’

---

Virgil had fun with the humans. Even Roman didn’t seem to dislike him anymore. He tried to ignore the fact that it was probably just because he had just relived a traumatic experience, and they had to help him through it, and so far that was working.

After he had convinced them to go to bed, he started cleaning up the living room, folding blankets, putting pillows and cushions where they were meant to go, making sure everything was in place, before floating through each room a few times, checking for intruders, checking for things out of place, making sure the house was safe

He floated up to the bedrooms, checking on Logan first, then Patton, then Roman. He sat down in the corridor between their rooms, staying there until they woke up. They needed to be safe. They didn’t seem to be leaving any time soon, so he needed to protect them whilst they stayed

He waited, sometimes looking out of the window, looking into their bedrooms, making sure nothing was wrong.

Soon enough, Logan’s alarm rung, and the human was starting to get ready. Virgil followed him as far as he could, watching through a window as he drove away, presumably to his job. Virgil had overheard at some point that he was a teaching assistant

He vaguely wondered which school he worked at, before floating back upstairs to stay with the others. It was a few more hours before they woke up, but Virgil stayed alert the entire time. Intruders could show up at any point, he had let his guard down for one night, not going to his hidden room, and- well you already know what happened

Roman awakened first, walking down to the kitchen whilst rubbing his eyes. Virgil watched him intently as he started cooking. He was always extra cautious around fire, even in life. Such an intense power of destruction at the disposal of a person felt wrong to him

He flinched as the stove turned on, watching Roman prepare his breakfast. God, he missed eating. After he was sure that a fire wasn’t gonna consume the entire house, he went back upstairs to check on the still sleeping human.

He felt a small tug in his chest when he noticed Patton holding Trylla. He smiled, sitting down on the floor and messing with something. He waited for just about half an hour before Patton woke up

He grinned, starting to follow the human around. He knew that he wasn’t helping himself by doing this, it would just make everything harder on himself, but for once, he could feel like a part of something. He could pretend to be one of them

Roman greeted Patton good morning, before starting up a conversation

“Oh, just so you know, Remus said he’d be coming up to see me today with his partner, so he’s probably gonna burst in here at the most inconvenient time ever” Virgil listened, before humming in thought

Nice to know there’d be more people in his house. He sat on the table cross-legged and hummed a song to himself

“Oh, we should probably tell Virgil then”

He listened to Patton’s response and laughed

He wrote on some paper that was on the table with him

‘Im right here :)’

Patton walked over to read it “Oh, hi Virgil!” He exclaimed once he had. Virgil smiled at that, writing out a greeting. Roman walked over as well, looking to be thinking

“Wait- were you spying on us? Why are you just here?”

Virgil laughed again whilst writing his response

‘not spying, im just hanging out in my house and making sure you dont burn it down’ Roman made an offended noise upon reading it

“Excuse you, I am amazing at cooking and I am not dumb enough to burn down the house!” Virgil smiled at that as Patton made a small noise of disagreement

“Patton, you’re supposed to be on my side!” he complained, making a pouting face

Virgil sat there a while, content to just watch them and answer any questions they asked

After maybe ten minutes, Roman’s phone buzzed, and he nodded to himself

“Remus says he’ll be here soon, so we should probably get ready. Oh, and, Virgil, I’ve told him about you so if you decide to do any ghost stuff, he won’t be freaked out, just so you know”

Virgil smirked to himself before writing his response ‘well now im not gonna do anything, im gonna make you look crazy’

Roman gasped dramatically, placing a hand on his chest and staggering backwards

“How dare you betray me so? Once, I may have trusted you with my life but now you have taken your sharpest blade to my back and I don’t think I can forgive you for that” He placed the back of his hand to his forehead like a damsel in distress. Virgil laughed at that, writing down something telling the human to stop being so dramatic

‘dont be dramatic, what if i want to have a nap?’

Roman paused his woeful sorrowing to think for a moment “Do ghosts even need sleep? Can ghosts even sleep, actually?”

‘meh, we cant really sleep but i like to call it sleeping. its more like i disappear for a while and it shows me my happiest memories for a few hours’ He wrote, feeling like it was an inadequate explanation

Both humans nodded at that, before there was a knock on the door. Roman started grumbling about not even having enough time to do his hair before Remus showed up.

Whilst Roman was greeting his brother and his brother’s partner, Virgil got an idea

‘do you wanna team up with me to make roman look crazy? all you have to do is deny that i exist or that you know me’

Patton read what he had written and nodded, a mischievous smile on his face. Virgil also grinned, going to hide the note to get rid of evidence

Once he had done that, Roman walked in, with what looked like a clone of him but with a moustache and a tall, pale person wearing a they/it pronoun badge. Virgil nodded at that, committing it to memory before going to float in a corner and watch the events unfold

Patton walked over to the other humans happily “Hi Remus! Hi Janus! What are you guys talking about?”

Roman looked at him “Oh, I was just telling them about Virgil!”

Patton looked at him with an innocent face “Who’s Virgil?”

Virgil, meanwhile, was laughing extremely hard in the corner, Roman’s face was just priceless. The human sputtered and stammered a few times

“Did you team up with him to make me look crazy?” he pouted, crossing his arms.

Virgil took the time whilst Roman was sulking to look at the guests. He didn’t much like new people, but in this instance, as long as they didn’t find his room, he’d be fine. There wasn’t much need for scaring them out, since they were only visiting, and since that would blow his cover

Remus looked almost completely identical to Roman except with different make-up and a moustache. He was wearing a dark green leather jacket adorned with spikes on the shoulders and back, with a brighter green shirt on underneath. Virgil started to suspect a possible favourite colour, with the outfit choice and green and purple makeup. Virgil started looking at the other person

Janus was tall, about 6’1 to Virgil’s 5’6. That immediately filled him with irrational rage. He start looking at its outfit. They had a few piercings, and tattoos. Virgil could admit they definitely had style, begrudgingly. Still didn’t make up for the tall thing. It was also wearing some fingerless gloves, and a black and yellow shirt on top of a white vest. The outfit certainly matched their two-tone black and yellow hair, which was a half/half style.

He sat on the countertop, almost wishing he could have some popcorn for the high-quality acting Patton was pumping out at pretending he didn’t exist. Janus was narrowing its eyes at the act though, like they almost didn’t believe him. Huh, it was smarter than it looked, he noted, before floating off to his room.

The act lasted for a few hours, until Remus and Janus left to go to their apartment. The minute they drove away, both Patton and Virgil burst out laughing

Roman pouted at them, well, really only at Patton, but Virgil was floating behind him.

“Patton, why’d you do that? You betrayed me! I would expect this from Virgil, yeah, but how’d he get you to team up with him?” He had his hand on his heart, as if extremely emotionally wounded, but it was very obviously joking. He paused for a moment “Logan is now my favourite roommate, you two have officially betrayed me, and therefore have plummeted to the bottom of the list!”

Virgil touched a hand to his heart. He was classed as a roommate? He thought for sure he’d just be ‘annoying ghost that lived there too’ (well, he didn’t really live there but that was just a technicality). He was touched by the notion, and he grew more and more attached to them. He winced. It was so gonna hurt when they left him

---

It was a few months later when anything exciting happened. And by exciting, Virgil just meant different. Life got pretty boring when you’re confined purely to 10 rooms in the world. 

He floated into the living room boredly, scrawling a greeting on the dry-erase board in that room. Roman (the only person currently in that room) looked up at him distractedly

“Oh, uh, hi Virgil. Uh, Remus and Janus are getting kicked out of their apartment ‘cause their landlord wants to sell the house, so would they be able to stay here for a while?”

Virgil groaned. He was gonna let them, of course he was, but the problem was that he’d have to give up his act that he didn’t exist. He had been perfecting it for months, he had even managed to convince Logan to get in on it. Months of hard work down the drain. He didn’t actually care that much, but he liked to pretend he did, picking up the dramatic tendencies from Roman

‘sure i guess. Why not’ he wrote out, waiting for Roman’s response

The human smiled “Thanks Vee”

Virgil smiled back. It was gonna be different but, different didn’t seem to be all that bad sometimes

~~~~~

1. The time Remus’ brother showed up unannounced

Logan was sitting on the arm of the couch, having a movie date with his boyfriends, when the door slammed open. He quickly gestured to Janus’ pocket, hoping he would understand. Luckily, he nodded and quickly scooped up the borrower and deposited him in the fairly large (to Logan at least) pocket.

“good evening, Roman. Is there a reason you showed up unannounced, or did you just want to ruin our date?” Janus spoke coldly

“oh- I- uh.. I didn’t know you two had a date tonight..” Roman rubbed his neck sheepishly

“us three” Logan corrected under his breath, shifting his position slightly. Unfortunately, Roman seemed to notice the movement from the pocket. 

“What’s in your pocket?” He asked hesitantly

Logan stilled and held his breath as Janus answered “why do you want to know?” 

Remus was staying silent, not trusting himself to not accidentally let something slip.

“I want to know beca-” he was cut off by Remus

“why are you here Roman?”

That quickly distracted the human “oh! I was just-” he explained why he was there, Logan still forcing himself to be still.

Once the dramatic man had left, the borrower let out an annoyed sigh “you really need to take away his key, so he can’t do this again. It is rather annoying to have to hide every two seconds that Roman shows up unexpectedly”

Remus giggled “and what would we tell him? ‘oh yeah our secret tiny boyfriend doesn’t like it when you burst in randomly so we’re gonna take your key’ I don’t think that would work very well, tiny nerd”

2. Janus’ brother shows up slightly less unannounced than Roman

Janus, Remus and Logan were watching random Youtube videos, with Logan sat on Remus’ shoulder. They heard the door open at the same time as Janus got a text message from his brother, Virgil

Was on a walk and saw your house. Am now in your house :)

Luckily, there was an entrance to the walls right next to where they were sat and Logan practically ran into it, the entrance closing just as Virgil entered the room.

“Virgil, do you have a reason to be here other than being an annoyance?” Janus raised an eyebrow at his younger sibling

“Nope!” Virgil replied with fake cheerfulness, before sitting cross-legged on the floor staring at the other humans. Remus just stared back, but with a slightly more eerie tone to his actions. 

Janus just sighed at his boyfriend and his brother. He had no doubt that Logan was watching with an annoyed face that he would deny ever making. Almost everything they tried to do together was interrupted by someone bursting in uninvited, and it was getting tiresome. He heard a faint noise from the walls and by the looks of it Virgil and Remus heard it too.

Logan had gotten into a fight with a (luckily non-venomous) spider, and had just killed it, when he tripped. The impact made him hiss with pain and, unfortunately, made a semi-loud sound on its own. “... what was that?” He heard Virgil ask

Janus and Remus looked at each other for a split second, before Janus shrugged and said that it was probably nothing

“Anyway, emo, if you’re scared and you didnt come here for a reason, you can leave” Remus said, slightly too bluntly.

Virgil, thankfully for Logan, did in fact leave. It was at exactly that moment that the borrower decided that Virgil was better (if only slightly) than Roman

3. The time with Patton

Logan was wandering around the house (its his house and he can do that now that the humans knew about him) when a knock at the door sounded. Suddenly really glad that he stayed near the walls on his walk, he rushed into the closest entrance. 

He knew that this would be Patton (he was the only person who ever bothered to knock) but he still couldn’t decide whether this particular human was as good as Virgil or not. He was better than Roman, not as loud (though still pretty loud), and not as keen on staying somewhere that he didn’t own. However, he wasn’t as quiet as Virgil, and had accidentally hurt his ears quite a few times, but at least he knocked instead of bursting in randomly with little to no warning.

He watched from a vent as Remus opened the door

“Heya Remus! Can i come in?” Patton greeted with obviously fake happiness and Logan could see a smile that seemed just a little too forced

“of course, do you want to sit down? I’ll go get Janus” Remus genuinely had no clue what to do, but Janus was slightly better at comforting people. Logan was better at it as well, because he’d bring up facts about why you’re good, but it wasn’t like Logan could comfort Patton..

Janus quickly rushed to the living room, where his best friend was obviously trying to hold back tears. 

Logan watched Patton rant about both everything and nothing at the same time, obviously just needing someone to talk to. As much as he hated to admit it, he was still annoyed at the interruption that had forced him into the walls. He couldn’t control what annoyed him, and that in itself was an annoyance. He wanted to sympathise with the human, but did he have to show up right as Logan was finally relaxing? He decided to just randomly do things on the phone his boyfriends had given him. It had been hard to drag to his house in the walls but it made it easier to not get bored and to contact the two humans

4. When everyone (finally) finds out

Logan had had enough. The three humans that didn’t live in the house had all shown up unexpectedly, together. Whilst Logan, Remus and Janus were trying to finally have uninterrupted time together. Of course that’s when they show up Logan thought bitterly. They had showed up for, as they put it, a ‘surprise sleepover’

He glanced at his phone leaning on the wall next to his bed and a thought popped into his head. The humans were bound to find out anyway, if they were to keep bursting in unexpectedly, so why not just tell them?

Logan unlocked his phone, opening Whatsapp and typing out a message

‘tel VIrgl patan and romun to stay were they are. im reveeling mysellf to them. im going throo the enterance on the bukshelf. see yoo soon’

He probably spelt most of it wrong, but he hadn’t exactly gotten taught spelling. All he was taught in regards to reading, was just barely enough to figure out what he was taking and if it was dangerous or not. And he was making a life-changing decision, so he thought that meant he could make as many spelling mistakes as he did, and play it off to nervousness.

Janus and Remus both looked at their phones and paled. What was Logan thinking?! It seemed that the other humans had noticed their uneasiness “what’s wrong? What’s on your phones that is making you react like this??” Virgil asked, worry lacing his tone

“Don’t worry, Vee. It’s nothing bad, it’s just.. unexpected. ...You’ll see, just stay there” Janus soothed his brother

“you two stay there as well” Remus added , getting up and walking towards the bookshelf, Janus soon joining him. They looked at where they knew the entrance was, waiting for it to open.

Roman piped up “uh, care to tell us what is going on?”

“we will, but not yet. We need to wait” 

“well, that was ominous..” Virgil commented, seeming slightly nervous

Then, the entrance opened and Logan walked out glaring softly at the shocked humans

“uh, Remus, what the fuck is that?!” Roman practically shouted, reminding Logan just why he was on the bottom of his list of favourites. 

“He is our boyfriend, and I expect you to treat him with respect” Janus said, his voice venomous. Remus held out a hand for Logan to climb onto, which the borrower did, still glaring at the other humans (mostly Roman). 

“Salutations. I am Logan, do not introduce yourselves, I already know who you are” He spoke before muttering an “unfortunately”

Remus, being the only person close enough to hear the mutter, let out a chuckle “Lo, if you revealed yourself just to complain about them to their faces, this will be hilarious”

The three humans were staring in shock, until Roman snapped out of it “Wait- why would he be complaining? I don’t know about those two, but I am positively amazing!” 

Logan scoffed “yeah, amazing. You’re too loud, burst in randomly, and it’s always for the stupidest reasons. You have hurt my ears far too many times to count, and almost every time me, Janus and Remus try to do something together, you show up, and I have to hide or go back to the walls. So, yeah, amazing” He spoke, voice dripping with sarcasm. 

He turned to the other two “you two aren’t as bad, but you still manage to show up at some of the worst possible times. Patton, you are quite loud, but not as loud as Roman, so that makes you slightly better. Also, you don’t burst in, and you knock so that’s something good. Virgil, you’re not as loud as these two, which is good, and you always send a text message when you show up, so I have at least a little bit of warning before going into the walls, so you’re both better than Roman” not that that’s saying much he added mentally.

-/\-/\-/\-/\-/\-/\-/\-/\-/\-/\-/\-/\-/\-/\-/\-/\-/\-/\-/\-/\-/\-/\-/\-/\-

I kinda wanna write a prequel about how Logan, Remus and Janus met..

Virgil snuck through the walls. A strong, very sweet smell had woken him up and he just had to know what it was.

He followed the smell to the hole that led to the kitchen counter. His tired mind almost had him walk right out into the open but before he took the first step a loud beeping startled his mind awake.

It seemed like it was coming from the big black box in the kitchen. An….oven? He thinks the human called it. He hadn’t known the human for long. The man caught him the other day, when his body had gotten tangled up in some string by the human’s desk.

——————*flashback*——————

He had just been trying to get some of the medal clips from a basket the human had labeled “crafts”. The young borrower wasn’t entirely sure why the human had it, all he knew was it held the supplies he needed for his home.

Virgil remembered balancing on the edge of the basket, reaching for the part he needed, when his foot slipped and he tumbled into a pile of some sort of thick string. The boy knew the human took things in and out of this basket frequently, and that the human could come in for the basket at any moment, spotting him in the process.

Virgil panicked, trying to climb out, but it seemed the more he tried to untangle the string, the more it wrapped around him.

He heard (and felt) booming footsteps draw closer to the human’s bedroom, and renewed his struggles.

The human stepped into the room, and Virgil froze. The human was flipping through some kind of book, humming a cheery tune to himself. It reminded Virgil of the songs his brother would hum to him when he was little…well, littler.

Patton propped open the book on his desk and knelt down next to the basket, freezing in surprise at what he saw.

Virgil’s whole body went rigid as his eyes met the human’s. He felt tears of fear making their way to the surface but did his best to force them down.

The human was the first to speak up.

“…hello there…” he said in a soft voice. “What are you?” He slowly reached into the basket.

As soon as Virgil saw that hand move he panicked, struggling to get as far away from the human as he could.

Patton froze again for a moment as he saw the little one’s distress. Then he noticed the yarn wrapping it’s way around the tiny boy’s body.

“K-kiddo wait! You’re gonna get it wrapped around your neck.” His parental instincts took over, his fingers gently pinning the boy in place as he unraveled the string around his head and arms.

Virgil wanted to scream. He kicked and pushed at the hand he had no chance of defeating. The tears building behind his eyes finally fell in his fear. He wanted to scream, but only soft sobs came out.

Patton finished getting the yarn off from around the little legs, and cupped the boy in his hands, lifting him up to see him better.

The boy had curled into the fetal position, crying his little eyes out and mumbling soft pleas Patton could just barely hear, but couldn’t make out. His eyes softened. The poor kid was so scared.

“Oh….oh kiddo… it’s ok sweetheart, I don’t want to hurt you, you’re ok…”

At the gentle voice, Virgil peeked through his hands, trying to steady his breathing.

“Pl-please…” he begged softly, “please let me go…”

“Oh…” Patton cooed. He wasn’t sure what this boy was, or where he came from, but all he wanted to do was help the poor thing.

But, Patton thought, he’s so terrified. And so young. He was all alone right now, but what if he had little parents looking for him? Did they live near? They had to, Patton couldn’t imagine how the little one would get into his house from outside. Did he live in the walls? Were there more of him?

Patton wanted to help the kiddo with all his heart, but if the boy had a place in the walls, who was Patton to take him away from his home?

So, with a heavy heart, Patton gently set the boy down onto the floor next to the basket.

The little boy sat up once Patton moved his hands away, eyeing him with confusion, and looking as if he was ready to bolt at a moment's notice.

“Don’t worry kiddo…I’m not gonna hurt you. I’m guessing you live near here, yeah? Just…get home safe…ok?”

Patton stood up, slowly backing away from the boy and towards his bedroom door.

With one last little wave, he closed the door and walked away.

As soon as the human was out of sight, Virgil shot up, bolting to his entrance into the walls.

“What just happened?” He wondered.

——-*end of flashback*——

Virgil snapped out of his thoughts when a loud, joking voice exclaimed.

“Yeah yeah, I’m coming, hold on!”

The human.

Virgil watched, hidden behind a cup next to his wall exit, as the human walked into the kitchen wearing…something…on his hand. He pressed a button on the oven, shutting off the beeping sound. He opened the metal door, and the sweet smell that Virgil had been drawn to became ten times as strong. It made his mouth water, and he leaned out a little bit more just to get a peek.

The human then grabbed a big metal tray holding some kind of food out of the oven and set it on top.

Just the sight of the mystery food made Virgil’s stomach growl. Virgil jumped at the sound, putting his hands over his stomach and praying the human hadn’t heard that.

A little sound and a quick moment caught Patton’s attention as he was taking the oven mitt off his hand. He looked over, and locked eyes with the tiny boy he had seen days before. He gasped softly as his eyes widened.

Virgil froze. Oh not again, he thought, c’mon legs, run! But the sight of something so huge staring at him kept him frozen in place.

“It’s you!” Patton exclaimed, surprised to see the boy again.

The loud, sudden noise made Virgil jump, and fall on his butt. He quickly crawled back until his back hit the wall. His exit was right there, inches away from him, but he couldn’t get his body to move towards it.

Patton winced at how bad his shout had started the poor thing.

“Oh…sorry kiddo.” He apologized. “It’s ok, I’m not gonna hurt you. I’m just happy to see you again.”

Virgil tried to calm down his breathing. This human’s voice sounded so sweet and kind, but he was still a human. Virgil’s brother had told him again and again how mean and cruel humans were to borrowers. Why would this one be any different?

Patton sighed when the kiddo didn’t respond. Maybe he couldn’t understand him? That couldn’t be it, the boy had spoken to him the other day, what few, soft words he said. He was probably just scared.

“It’s ok kiddo, I’m not gonna hurt you,” Patton repeated, “or try to keep you here, but I made some cookies. I thought I heard your stomach growling, are you hungry?”

At the mention of food, Virgil’s stomach growled again. He blushed, wrapping his arms around his stomach and nodding.

“Alright then.” Patton nodded. He reached over to the cooling cookies and grabbed one, breaking off a small piece and handing it to the kiddo.

Virgil hesitantly took the piece of…cookie?…and took a bite. His eyes widened. It was so good. It was soft and gooey and sweeter than anything else Virgil had ever eaten. He quickly took another bite, and another, and another, happily chewing through the delicious treat.

Patton smiled at the look of joy in the tiny boy's face, then had a thought.

“Kiddo…you’ve never had a cookie before, have you?” He asked.

Virgil looked up at the human, then looked down when his nerves wouldn’t let him keep eye contact. He shook his head.

Patton made a little sound of acknowledgment. With how skinny the little sweetheart looked, Patton couldn’t help but wonder how long it had been since he’d eaten at all. Maybe he was wrong, and the boy didn’t have anyone else to go to. The thought saddened him.

Patton sighed. “Well, have as much as you want kiddo,” he said, setting another little piece near the boy.

“By the way, my name is Patton. What’s yours?” He asked.

Virgil looked surprised. He swallowed the last bite of cookie and grabbed the other piece. Pausing for a bit before answering.

Logan's wings. Those beautiful, large, soft, brown wings. They were special a part of him. They were as much of him as Roman’s and Virgil’s horns and tails were a part of them. It was illegal to take an angel’s wings, as much as it was to cut off a human’s arm, yet it still happened and it was not persecuted further than the police saying that they’d ‘look for the culprits’ and that they ‘couldn’t promise anything’.

Roman grit his teeth at the thought. He wanted to be in there with Patton and Logan, not waiting out here like a dog worrying if its owner will come back or not. His heart was drumming against his ribs, vision blurry, ears ringing and then black obscured his view of the floor. Tired eyes moved up black jeans to a black and purple hoodie, finally meeting the other demon’s eyes.

“What happened?”, Virgil asked, crouching down in front of the other. Never had he seen the demon so despondent and unfocused. He’d run all the way to the hospital, fearing the worst and Roman’s condition was only making his anxiety rise.

Roman mumbled something incoherent and Virgil moved closer, hands gripping the white covered shoulders.

“I didn’t catch that, idiot”, Virgil said softly and Roman’s eyes dropped to the floor and tears began to well in his eyes, running down his cheeks in small rivers, salt water dropping onto his knees and the floor. His breathing became ragged and he began to sob, curling up a little on the plastic chair and making Virgil move back, worry clouding his features.

“What happened?”, Virgil asked, more demanding than before and Roman cried a little harder. Virgil’s fear began to well up, spreading through his bones and spearing his heart and mind. “Who…who’s in there?”

“L-Logan”, Roman managed out and Virgil slumped to the ground.

“W-what happened?”, Virgil asked, not looking at Roman.

“He…he got…don’t make me say it emo”, Roman murmured, voice wet and tearful but still holding a little heat and amusement.

“I’m going to find out eventually…I’d rather find out from you than a doctor”, Virgil said, feeling like if he kept Roman talking the other wouldn’t do anything rash.

“He…he was walking and then some people came up behind him and they…they…”, Roman broke off into silence as tears washed down his face, he gripped Virgil’s shoulder tightly and pulled the man closer into an awkward hug.

“They what?”, Virgil asked, feeling his voice crack, throat going dry and closing in on itself as the fearful feeling curled up, waiting like a spring to be set free.

“They took his wings”, Roman whispered and Virgil felt his world collapse for a second before Roman’s crying brought him back to reality. His fear broke out of its coil and ran rampant for a second, before it was replaced with other emotions, other waves that made his body shake. Fear, anger, sadness, worry, concern, disappointment, and fury. All washed over him, all took their toll on his being.

Then the doctor came and the demons practically flew into the room, doors slamming into the wall and making Patton jump, turning around with wide, bloodshot eyes. Logan didn’t move, but he didn’t have to. He knew whose eyes were roaming over his exposed back, over the twin scars that were left after his wings were gone. He kept his eyes on the window, the clouds that darkened ever so slightly like they were trying to tell him that they too felt his pain, his anguish, his disgust at the act that had befallen him.

The demon pair moved quickly and quietly, Roman taking Patton into his arms as his eyes ran over the scars. Angels healed faster than humans and demons, but the scars would never heal quite right.

Virgil felt a mix of emotions rush through him. Disgust mixing with pure unbridled rage at the prospect. Sure, humans had always been jealous of their ‘abilities’, once it had been proposed they all live separate from each other. Now everything was settled. Patton was human, through and through, and he was good to them. But now...now Virgil wasn't so sure.

If he hadn't held himself back because he was in a hospital or because Logan looked so utterly shell-shocked he would have screamed, yelled, threatened. He'd have kicked and cried and growled until he hurt someone. Because someone deserved to feel this pain. He wished he'd been there when Logan had been jumped, stripped of his beautiful feathery wings, left to bleed out and die. He wished he'd been there not to stop it but so he could punish those who did this. It was illegal but these people…these monsters would get away scot free. The look on Romans face gave the black horned man the impression the other demon was thinking the same thing. What they'd give to hurt, maim, even kill those responsible for this. 

But that wouldn’t be what Logan would want. That wouldn’t be what Patton would want. And in the end…it wouldn’t be what they wanted.

A roar ripped from the demon’s mouths causing people to scatter as their eyes glowed. Ugly snarls appearing on twisted lips, fangs causing the plump flesh to part as the enraged demons looked the doctor over.

“What do you mean you can’t find any DNA? What are you talking about?”, Roman screamed at the man, who cowered behind his clipboard at the red horned man. Roman’s forked tongue slipped out briefly, scales rising on his sharp cheekbones. Virgil looked on from behind, just as furious with the doctor if not more. “What do you mean you can’t give him prosthetics?”

“I-I mean it. The…there’s no way for us to f-find any linking DNA a-and the cuts…they…they weren’t properly executed. We don’t have the technology for prosthetic wings and even if we gave him prosthetic wings we couldn’t do anything. The nerve endings are…well, they’re damaged beyond all repair”, the doctor said, swallowing and closing his eyes in fear. Roman grabbed the man’s collar, eyes filled with the fury of a million people, and pushed the doctor against the wall. He bared his fangs at the cowering human, small wings drawn close to his body inside his coat as he let out a whimper. Virgil grasped roman’s shoulder gently, his own scales shimmering black under the fluorescent lights of the hospital. Red eyes met purple and Roman drew in a deep breath, tail flickering around behind him as he released the angel. The doctor dropped and scrambled up against the wall under the duo’s narrowed gazes. Virgil tsked, while Roman sighed and took a step back. The doctor stood and hurried away down the otherwise deserted hall, small wings flapping under his coat out of fear.

The doors slammed shut behind him and Roman’s breathing grew erratic. The red-eyed man snarled and pulled back his arm, drawing his hand into a tight fist before unleashing the pent-up anger on the wall in front of him. The sensation of pain flooding his system and jarring him from his anger inflicted state. Virgil dropped next to him as he clasped his hand close, growling as tears of frustration began to bead at the corners of his eyes.

“Why can’t I…why couldn’t I do anything?”, Roman asked, voice soft and broken as Virgil rested his head on the top of his hand, sighing into his hoodie sleeve.

“We weren’t there”, Virgil said simply causing Roman to let out a choked sob.

“I wish I had been…I wish…I wish it’d been me”, Roman growled and Virgil nodded, gently applying a little pressure to Roman’s white-clad shoulder.

“I wish I’d been me, too. But we weren’t there and there’s nothing we could have done”, Virgil muttered as Roman slumped, body giving into the exhaustion the anger had caused.

“It should’ve been me. Why wasn’t it me? What did Logan ever do to deserve this?”

“Nothing. It’s the same answer you’ll get if you ask if anything could’ve been done to stop it from happening. Nothing. It wasn’t your fault. It wasn’t Patton’s fault. It wasn’t Logan’s fault. It wasn’t my fault. None of us could have done something different to stop this from happening and you know it. So”, Virgil said, standing and walking until he was in front of Roman. He pushed his left hand into the pocket of his hoodie and pushed the other towards his fellow demon. “Are we going to comfort Logan, or wallow in our own misery?”

Roman let out a dark chuckle before taking his hand and pulling himself up. The glowing had died down when he had begun to cry, but a shimmer of red was still present as he looked at his long-time nemesis.

“When did you get so sensible?”

“I’ve been hanging out with the pocket protector”, Virgil replied and Roman let a small smirk slip onto his face.

The pair walked back to the room in silence, fluorescent lights flickering a little overhead as the made their way to a room that was sure to haunt their nightmares. They trudged along, shoes thudding softly on the white and blue tiled floor, eyes running over the patterns. Roman stopped and looked next to him, causing Virgil to stop as well. The black horned demon looked up and Roman tiled his head back in an indication to Logan’s room door, the door that Virgil had just passed. Virgil nodded and turned taking a few steps and stopping, hand reaching out to push the glass and wood object open. The pair drew in a collective breath and Virgil pushed the door open, almost immediately regretting it as Patton’s head snapped up, eyes wide in fear as he quickly shielded Logan’s back from them. He blinked a bit before realising who they were and drawing back, shaking slightly. Logan still looked out of it, eyes and face devoid of any and all emotion. He didn’t look back at them, choosing instead to stare out of the window as a bird flew past. His red, bloodshot eyes and tear stained cheeks had dried, the flush his face had held earlier faded to pale unassuming peach.

It hurt. It hurt them so much to see him like this. It hurt to see him look so broken, so disparaging and cold. It pained them that they couldn’t do anything to help him. They couldn’t do anything to help. They just had to sit there and watch. All they could do now was comfort him. Comfort and calm. They couldn’t fix him. They could never fix him and as much as it pained them to think about it they knew they couldn’t have done anything differently to help him.

Roman buried his face into his pillow, makeup smearing slightly as the tears began to seep out from between mascara clad eyelashes and shimmer covered eyelids. He’d scream if he knew it wouldn’t upset Logan, but the noise would indeed upset Logan and he didn’t want to upset the man. It’d been a couple of months since he’d returned and every time Roman saw him he wanted to find those stupid humans and tear them apart. A lot of the time the three would find Logan just staring out of the window, eyes full of longing as sparrows and crows danced through the skies in intricate patterns. They’d give anything to see him happy again. To see him whole again. To see him as more than a broken mess caused by greed and a lust for power. It tore at their hearts to see him like this, but they couldn’t do anything and they had to accept that they would most likely never receive closure.

Roman growled and turned over, tears leaking from his eyes and trailing down puffy red cheeks as his anger rose, coming out of him in short bursts of breath. He was completely enthralled in his own pain, so much so that he never noticed his door opening and someone taking a seat on the side of his bed, the bed dipping to accommodate for the extra weight it was not used to supporting.

“Roman?”, a voice asked and Roman’s illusion of pain and hatred shattered as he looked over at the one that had caused him to spiral into such a state. The angel that their little group had accepted, flaws and all. Their angel. Their broken and scarred angel. Logan looked at him with a small bit of happiness, mostly due to the fact the other had stopped pulling at his hair and the frustration had melted off his body the instant he had spoken to the demon.

“Wh…what are you doing in here?”, Roman asked, voice cracking a little as hiccups began to pop from his mouth, breathing shaky and hands furious in their relentless scrubbing of his cheeks.

“I thought you could use some company. But if you’d prefer I can leave”, Logan said with a hint of a smile playing on his lips. If Roman hadn’t known Logan was an angel, he’d have definitely known by those words. Calm, soothing and soft. A skill many angels had inherited which made them excellent in caregiving. No matter what they said, if they said it like that it’d be calming. Logan could be rattling off how tomatoes shouldn’t be classified as vegetables and it’d be the most calming thing on the planet to hear.

“No. I…sorry, I just…I was thinking and…”, Roman paused and Logan let out a soft chuckle.

“You can actually do that?”, the angel said softly and Roman let a small smile cross his own lips. To make a joke at his expense was the most Logan thing he’d seen the angel do in days.

“Hey…that was mean. But yes…I was thinking about…about…”, Roman tried to form the words, but Logan’s expectant eyes looked so soft and innocent, like a deer in a forest.

“I know. You were thinking about them…my…my attackers. Virgil was thinking about the same thing earlier”, Logan said, eyes showing a little hurt before they moved to Roman’s bedspread. Logan’s fingers gathered a little of the blanket, twisting it in his hands and balling it up until his knuckles turned white from exertion.

“I…I want them hurt. I want them hurt so badly for this”, Roman choked out, running a hand across his eyes and smearing more of his beloved makeup across his face.

“I know. I want them found and locked up. If they did this to me…I can only imagine they’ve done it to others”, Logan said and Roman sat up, eyes slightly wide at Logan’s words. This man, this angel, was more concerned about the other people his attackers may possibly hurt then his own revenge.

“You…you don’t want them hurt?”, Roman questioned, voicing his concern and queries out loud.

“I do, but I am more concerned for the overall wellbeing of my fellow angels and demons. Who knows if they’ve tried to do this to others”, Logan said, eyes full of sadness and a little anger. Roman let his mouth fall open a little before he swallowed and shuffled forward, resting a hand on Logan’s shoulder and regretting it as the wingless angel shied away from his touch, eyes going wide and breathing stopping at the sudden contact.

“I’m sorry. Lo, I’m so sorry. Hey, calm down”, Roman said softly and Logan seemed to take on the apology and advice, shoulders dropping and relaxing as his breathing stuttered but calmed nonetheless.

“I apologise, Roman. I should be getting used to things, but it appears I still fear what I cannot control”, Logan said, taking his glasses off and hunching over as he rubbed his eyes. He sighed and Roman let a hand stray to the side of Logan’s body, allowing the man to see it before it moved closer to his leg. Logan sighed and took the hand in his, smiling a little as he rubbed a thumb over the dramatic man’s knuckles. The demon sighed heavily at the feeling and turned his hand slowly, gripping the angel’s in his own with the kind of gentleness one would expect from a loved one.

“You have no reason to be sorry. I was the one who touched without asking, you should feel no need to be apologetic. I am sorry I forgot my place once more, truly it is unbecoming of a prince”, Roman muttered and Logan let out a small huff of laughter, a bright smile appearing on his lips at the demon’s words.

“And what, perchance, are you the prince of?”

“Why the prince of demons”, Roman said, a smile lighting up his own face. Glittering white teeth brought together to form a dazzling grin that had Logan smiling back.

“I believe Virgil would find that statement incorrect for a variety of reasons, but I am glad to see you so joyful once more”, Logan said, head turning to look back at Roman, eyes calm and soft as the light of the situation sunk in. Roman chuckled a little before watching as the wingless angel stood and brushed off his pants, turning and smiling before moving to the door to exit the room. He stopped at the door and looked back, eyes dancing with a happiness Roman had once thought to be completely extinguished. “Take care of yourself Roman. And…don’t do anything rash, oh prince of demons.”

Roman smiled softly as the door closed behind his friend. He laid back on the bed and wiped some of the smeared makeup off his face with one hand, no doubt smearing more over his face as he did so. He closed his eyes and pictured the four of them, without Logan’s wings. It was weird but somehow calming. He accepted that Logan no longer held the power of flight, but the idea bugged him more than he liked to admit. He was settling back into his fantasy; the four of them just enjoying an average day when the world went dark around them and Logan’s scream cut through the air like shattering glass. Feathers rained down around him, bloody, brown and beautifully familiar before scars and cuts flashed through his mind and he awoke, panting in his bed. He ran his hands through his hair and sighed, biting his lip as he forced the tears away. What he wouldn’t give for those wings to be back.

The days passed, turning into weeks, then into months. It was around the one-year anniversary of the fateful event that made Logan human, or more human than an angel, that something happened.

The front door slammed shut with enough force to rattle the small paintings on the wall and Patton almost dropped his glass of water onto the carpet. Virgil skulked in, a little bloody and bruised, eyes glowing a fierce indigo purple and right horn chipped. His hands were stuffed in his pockets, but he pulled them out when he entered the living room. He faced the three, who sat comfortably on the couch watching him with wide eyes. Virgil walked closer to them, dropped to crouch in front of Logan and pulled Logan’s left hand towards him. He placed his own left hand in Logan’s, breath coming out in short puffs and eyes lingering on Logan’s hand as his blood smeared on the angel’s skin. He opened his hand, released what he had been carrying and pulled both of his hands back, waiting and watching from his hunched position as Logan looked at his hand. A beautiful brown feather lay in his hand, a little mussed and crumpled from the journey in Virgil’s pocket, but it brought tears to his eyes to see the object. It was small, no bigger than a centimetre, but it was oh so soft and delicate. It had a little dried blood on it but he knew it was his. It was like looking at his own finger. The patterns, non-existent to non-angels, stood out to him like molten gold in a dark room.

Logan stifled a sob with his hand as tears came to his eyes. Virgil sighed softly, finally regaining his breath and gave Logan a small smile. Patton and Roman looked at the exchange with interest and worry, the latter clouding their minds and faces as Logan began to cry silently, hot tears streaming down his cheeks.

“Saw some punks in an alley talking big game about getting a pair of wings. Beat them up enough to get more details and took this from them. Wasn’t sure if it was yours, but it looked close enough to be yours so…yeah”, Virgil said, giving Logan a small smile as the other uncovered his mouth, smiling wide as he pulled the tattered feather close to his chest, both hands held protectively over the small piece of him. He cried happily, smiling widely at Virgil as strings of ‘thank you’s sprung from his mouth. Virgil nodded a little before huffing out a breath as Logan landed on top of him, hands clasping each other as he hugged the demon. The demon let out a shaky sigh as his equally shaky hands wrapped around Logan’s quaking body, feather forgotten between them as the Logan poured out emotions, happiness and sadness mixing in a tortured soul.

“You chipped your horn”, Roman muttered and Virgil grunted a little, pushing his bruised body back into the couch. The TV flickered in front of them, images of demons, angels, and humans flashing across the screen in a multitude of colors. “You think it was worth it?”, Roman asked and Virgil frowned, eyes narrowing at the screen.

“It’ll grow back. Logan’s wings won’t”, Virgil said and Roman growled softly. It was an unspoken rule that they never mentioned Logan’s lack of wings around the house. Virgil pulled a hand out and thumbed the chipped tip of his horn softly.

“It might not”, Roman said in a snarky tone, causing Virgil to sigh and look at him for a second.

“Well, then it’ll be worth it, won’t it? You saw how happy he was. I found that piece of him he thought he would never see again. You’d have done the same thing if you were in my shoes, don’t try and deny it”, Virgil grumbled softly and Roman nodded a little.

“True. I too would have allowed them to take one of my horns had I the knowledge it would cause Logan happiness”, Roman muttered, putting a hand under his chin and watching the screen flicker absentmindedly.

“It’s only a chip and it’ll grow back. If I had to sacrifice my entire horn to get him to give us that smile again…I’d have done it”, Virgil said.

“Oh, undoubtedly”, Roman agreed, nodding along with the conclusion.

“He never smiles like that…it was worth it…wasn’t it”, Virgil said and Roman sighed before nodding and looking at the other demon.

“It was. But…don’t go looking for trouble again. I know you went looking for them. There’s no way you’d have found them without looking for them. Don’t go looking for trouble, at least not without me with you. I’d rather be there and know that we’d go down together, defending Logan’s honour, than know you got your tail cut off and died at the scene because you were stupid enough to go after an angel wing dealer”, Roman murmured into his hand. Virgil let out an amused huff before curling in on himself, narrowing his eyes at the TV. “How long have you been looking?”, Roman asked startling the black and purple clad man. Virgil had to settle his heart a little before he answered.

“I…about six months. I’ve been all around looking for dealers but…my horns are a bit too big to hide under my hoodie and my eyes light up whenever they mention de-winging another angel”, Virgil said tilting his head forward and allowing Roman to run a hand over the bumpy, shining black horns that poked out of his hair. Roman’s horns were much bigger, but Virgil had been trying his hardest to fit in with the de-wingers and it hadn’t worked out well, especially with the nasty biological trait he had inherited which was his glowing eyes. As far as demons went it was standard for his eyes to light up like a LED on steroids when he was angry. As helpful as it could be it could also be a pain, especially when he was trying to go undercover with people he hated.

“I’ll come with you next time. My acting skills should help out”, Roman said softly and Virgil nodded, pulling his head away and letting it rest on his knees. He moved a hand up to stroke his horns; black and shiny curving outwards and inwards with consecutive bumps unlike Roman’s horns. Roman held the classic red horns that most devils and demons were depicted with; sleek, matte red that curved forward, up and back while also curving outwards like Virgil’s. Horns were like bones in the way that they could be mended, but also like teeth in the way that they could regrow. Some demons were luck that they could regrown sections in seconds, some were unlucky in the way that they had to regrow both their horns from the ground up and in these cases, it could take months. Virgil was a rather lucky individual as he didn’t have to fully regrow his horns, unlike Roman, but like Roman it would take at least a week for them to regrow back to their full glory.

“Don’t even think about it. I dug my grave and I intend to lay in it”, Virgil muttered causing roman to let out a breathy chuckle.

“Oh please, as if you think I’d take no as an answer”, Roman said and Virgil let a small smile grace his lips. Sometimes he was glad this man was so stubborn.