#no but fr i was like ???? this man is a bigger cup than me hello

[pirunika]

ngl this got me like

anyway..for now I'm looking n am pretty interestedd in the setting (๑• .̫ •๑) ✧

[hickorydickkorydoc]

You Don’t Know My Name (Tim Drake x Reader)

Requested: nah HAHAHA just writing for my own pleasure :))

Word Count: 1400

Warnings: None

A/N: so I guess I’m doing a song fic?? I know I’m new here n I’m pretty sure I only said I vibe w DC n Broadway lololol- but one thing many people in my life know about me is that I LOVE Alicia Keys. This is one of my favorite songs from her and the whole “Diary of Alicia Keys” album and I just really love the MV so I wanted to turn it into this. Don’t forget to hit up my asks for requests! 

KEY: Y/N: Your Name Y/H/C: Your Hair Color indent: Lyrics from the song

————————————————————————————————

Baby, baby, baby,  from the day I saw you, I really, really wanted to catch your eye.

You run into your job with minutes to spare before you were considered late, flattening your uniform from the crinkles that were earned from running into the coffee house.

“You’re lucky, (Y/N), with seconds to spare.” 

You hear the comment your boss throws at you, feeling kind of annoyed.

“At least I made it.” You say with a hint of irritation in your voice as you clocked in for your shift.  

You threw on your apron and got ready for work. You took the 9-5 shift here as a way to make extra cash over the break before you headed back to college. This job could have been worse, but you were getting paid a decent amount to support yourself and to do what you wanted. 

 The morning was sluggish, but today the coffee house got a lunch rush. As businessmen and women entered in their expensive suits and leather shoes, you had a bit of hope that you’d get bigger tips than usual. You ran around taking orders and bringing the customers their second coffee of the day, it was normal.

Then, he walked in. 

 A young man with raven colored hair with gleaming blue eyes walked in. You spotted him from the corner of your eye as you brought a cup of coffee to table 12. You’d seen him before, but not up close. You thought he was charming, and he seemed to be your age as well. 

 You don’t know what changed in you. You wanted to say hello, you wanted to ask him how he’s doing, you wanted to ask who he was, you wanted him to notice you.

Something special ‘bout you, I must really like you. Cause not a lot of guys are worth my time.

From that day forward, he came on Wednesdays during his lunch break. He’d always order the coffee which was not a surprise to his coworkers  as he “was fuelled by coffee” as you’d hear it. You learned his name was Tim Drake through the whispers of the other customers as they watched him enter. You always put real milk instead of water even though your boss would call you out on it. This guy was worth more than the cheap instant coffee with just water, you thought he was kind of sweet. 

It was a new feeling, you never really gave much time to guys cause they weren’t worth it, but this guy was. 

“She’s quite pretty.” 

He thought to himself as he watched you converse with the customers with a smile as you laughed at the corny joke the older woman you were attending to cracked. He wanted to chat with you, but the lunch break was short and Wayne Enterprises needed the CEO present for the meetings of the day. 

 “Damn. One day.” He muttered to himself as he had to leave. Before he goes, he spots a glass bowl that was labeled “BUSINESS CARDS” on it. 

 “Eh, why not?” 

 He dropped his in there for the fun of it. Wayne Enterprises didn’t need anymore fame that it already got, so he dropped his own. 

 Oh baby, baby, baby, it’s getting kinda crazy. Cause you are taking over my mind.

 As you watch him walk out the diner, you feel a little sad watching him go. You loved to serve him the special, the short interaction of saying “Here’s your order, sir.” was blissful and receiving the smile and the faint “Thank you.” was enough to make your heart go pounding and making you smile like an idiot for the rest of the lunch rush.

 Every time he left, the rest would follow as their lunch breaks also finished. This let the coffee house go back into its relaxed state with customers coming and going. You watched them eat their burgers and fries whilst you thought about-

 “Tim Drake?” You heard your coworker say. 

 What? now Belinda has mind reading powers and is out here trying to embarrass you?

 “Sorry?” You say feeling a bit flustered with slight fear that maybe Belinda really did have mind reading powers and read through your thoughts.

 “Tim Drake of Wayne Enterprises dropped his card into the bowl. Huh, interesting.” 

 Belinda said as she dropped it back into the bowl. As she walks away, curiosity got the best of you as you grabbed the bowl and took the card.

 “Oh my God.” You thought to yourself. You knew what you were going to do with that card. You saw the number, you had a working cellphone, it was all the components of a crazy plan you were going to pull off.

 “I’m gonna have to just go ahead and call this boy.”  

 *********

 Another day at Wayne Enterprises meant endless meetings, dealing with angry ex lovers of Bruce Wayne at the concierge, and looking at a bunch of new business ventures. Tim was fuelled by coffee and ran on negative hours of sleep.

 As the day paced through slowly, it was finally over. Tim headed back to Wayne Manor to do more work. As he entered and changed into lounging clothes, he expected another evening of writing on excel sheets and attending to his duties as a vigilante.

 His thoughts as to what the next big investment would be paused as he heard his phone ring. An unknown number was displayed across the screen, he answered it.

 “Hello?”

 “Hello? Can I please speak to - to Tim?”

 “This is him speaking, may I help you?”

 “Oh hey, how ya doin’? Uh, I feel kinda silly doing this but uh, this is the waitress from the coffee house across Wayne Enterprises. You know, the one with the (Y/H/C) hair?”

 He smiles to himself as he recognized you by just that hint. 

 “Oh yes, hello! Miss...?”

 “(Y/N). So sorry to bother you but, I found your number in the business cards bowl.”

 “Of course, my bad I slipped for a bit, I just realized I never really caught your name on your tag.” He chuckles through the phone.

 You chuckle along as you would assume someone so young with a top position at a company would be sharper.

 “Yeah, well I see you on Wednesdays all the time. You come in every Wednesday on your lunch break I think. You always order the special, with the coffee. And my manager be tripping and stuff saying that we gotta use water. But I always use some milk and cream for you ‘cause I think you’re kinda sweet.” You mention that to him with the confidence that was erupting within. 

He blushed slightly at your remark and the gesture that you reserved just for him when he ate there. 

 “Why thank you, (Y/N). I really appreciate that.”

 Conversing with you even on the phone was enough to make this boy fall even harder for the girl he didn’t even know the name of at first. You take a glimpse at the time realizing it was getting dark and you probably shouldn’t bother such a busy guy.

 “Look man, I mean I don’t wanna waste your time, but...”

 “Oh no worries, I’m free the rest of the day.” He lies just so he can get a few more minutes of hearing your serene voice. 

 “I know girls don’t usually do this but I was wondering if maybe we could get together outside the restaurant one day? Cause I do look a lot different outside my work clothes.”

 His smile became even bigger with this newfound joy that erupted once you asked him. He chuckled at the last portion of you asking him out. He knew you’d look gorgeous in anything, even in Pajamas.

 “I’d love to, (Y/N). What about Thursday?”

 You smiled like an idiot once he said yes to meeting you. Your blood was rushing and you were filled with excitement.

 “Yes, Thursday’s perfect.” You smiled as you answered.

 “Great! see you on Thursday, (Y/N). Looking forward to it. Gotta get back to doing some work.” Tim answers back to you.

 “Oh yes! See you then!” You hung up the phone and screeched like a giddy child. Unbeknownst to you he was practically doing the same thing. This was gonna be great. 

[residentanchor]

A Lesson In Practicality 16

<<Chapter 15 Chapter 16 Summary: Virgil is tired and Roman offers to help. Word count: 4268

Patton sat down on the couch next to Virgil with a cup of hot chocolate in his hand. He held the mug close, enjoying the warmth the ceramic gave and the smell of the cocoa. He looked over at Virgil who simply stared off completely distracted. "You okay, Virge? You look tired."

"Mmm." Virgil made no motion to move, and other than the noise, gave no sign he had heard. He blinked and looked over at Patton with a frown. "Should we tell Thomas about what happened?"

"I dunno." Patton looked down in his mug, wishing they had bought marshmallows as well. "He has the right to know but I don't want to scare him."

"We can tell him bits and let him ask. That way he only knows what he wants to know."

"I feel like that's lying to him if we don't tell him everything."

Virgil sighed and pulled his legs up on the couch, facing towards Patton. "You know him best out of all of us. Would he want to know if we kept this a secret?"

Patton shrugged and took a sip of his drink to think the question over. "Mm. Probably. He would want to know if we were in danger, I guess. We don't know what the thing is though."

"Well, I think you should tell him. Rather be safe than sorry, right?"

"Maybe... but not over the phone. I should be in person for something like that." They sat in silence a bit longer, the tension slowly dissipating. "So, how are things with you and Logan?" Virgil glanced over with a confused look. "We came home and you were helping him with something, weren't you?"

Virgil suddenly smiled bigger than Patton had ever seen him. "Yeah, I think he figured some things out."

"Oh, what did you talk about?"

Virgil looked over at Patton, thinking about the exercise he gave Logan to do.

Virgil looked at Patton, smile still front and center on his face. "I think he'll figure it out eventually."

"Yes, well, just remember to take care of yourself too!" Patton gave Virgil a nice pat on the back. "If you need help with anything, just let me know! I don't care if I'm at work or it's the middle of the night, you come to me okay?"

"Sure. Thanks, Pat."

"Hello there. Have you gentlemen locked yourself out of your car?"

The two jumped and looked over at the stranger walking up to them, quickly moving away from the car door. "What?"

He pointed to the car. "You seem to have locked yourself out of your vehicle. Do you require assistance?" He didn't ask for an answer and walked over to the door, kneeling down in front of it and inspecting the lock. "I have a knack for these types of things, worry not!"

He pulled something from his pocket the other two couldn't quite see in the dark but gave him space to work. "Super kind of you to do this, dude."

"What's with the get-up?" The other asked.

"Oh, this? I work at a theater! Just got off of a late night read through."

"What are you supposed to be? Some kind of prince?"

At the words, all three froze. The one kneeling in front of the door slowly turned and looked up, smiling slightly at the other two. "Something like that."

"Hey, isn't there, like a... some dude going around dressed up at night?"

The car suddenly woke up in a blaring rage of lights and noise as the alarm went off. The two jumped back as the Prince stood up tall. "Well, gentlemen, what now?" He wasn't sure they could even hear him over the noise.

They looked at one another and one bolted while the other jumped at the masked hero. He grabbed the man's arm and spun him around, incapacitating him easily before knocking him out cold. He brought his hands together and quickly formed his static whip and launched it at the retreating man before even getting off the ground.

It happened all so fast, he managed to capture the man's leg and trip him, sending a bolt down and causing his whip to vanish as well.

He gathered the two and propped them up on the car, alarm still blaring. He turned and walked away, the sound of sirens ringing out in the distance.

Roman will admit, he was getting a bit cocky. However, it wasn't unwarranted in the least. He had been watching self-defense videos and practicing them out on his excursions. After a few weeks, he had a pretty good handle on things. Turns out doing things with the real threat of danger was a great way to practice, not that he really told the others. His re-telling of his adventures at night conveniently glossed over details like that.

As Roman made his way back to a hideaway where he could change and go home, overly cautious that no one followed him home in costume just to be safe, he stopped in the middle of the sidewalk.

"Again?" He muttered to himself, glancing around carefully. Every night right before he made it back home, the uncomfortable feeling of being watched would suddenly take over. He looked around in every direction, but the second he was sure he saw something, it vanished, as did the feeling.

Roman huffed and continued on. After a week of trying to track down the shadow, if it was real in the first place and not a part of his tired mind, it'll show itself eventually.

Virgil crept around the apartment quietly as he made his way to Patton's door. It was the middle of the night and Virgil was restless, but Patton's offer from earlier was still at the front of his mind.

He carefully opened the bedroom door, mentally berating himself. Why was he being quiet when the goal was to wake Patton up anyway? He tiptoed in and looked over at the bed. Patton was quietly snoring away under a plush blanket, his bed decorated with pillows he wasn't even using.

"Pat?" He whispered staring the sleeping man down. "Patton." He spoke a bit louder. Virgil sighed and walked up to the bed, tugging in his shirt uncomfortably. "Patton?"

"Mmm." Patton groaned but gave no sign of waking up.

"Patton, are you awake? It's Virgil."

"Hm?" Patton shifted a bit in his bed. "Sup?"

Virgil looked at the other, eyes still closed and still sprawled across his bed. He was certain Patton wasn't even awake. "I can't sleep."

"Mmm." Patton lifted an arm up and flexed his fingers a bit. "C'mere." He mumbled into his pillow.

"Uhh, Patton?"

"C'mere... 'll cuddle the bad dreams away." Virgil smiled down at Patton and looked across the bed. He sighed and reached for a spare pillow, slowly bringing it to Patton's outstretched arm. Patton grabbed it and slowly brought it in close, sighing into it and snuggling it close. "Go t'sleep." He mumbled, nuzzling the pillow.

Virgil smiled and let out a quiet laugh. "Thanks, Patton." He turned and quickly left the room, grateful that Patton had even offered in the first place, but too guilty to actually wake the man up. He quietly shut the door with a smile on his face, still too awake to sleep. Virgil leaned against the door and sighed heavily through his nose, taking in the living room covered in darkness. He glanced around debating whether to stay awake or just retreat back to his room before pushing off of the door and deciding to grab a drink in the kitchen.

He stared down the coffee pot, debating how bad of an idea it would be before a voice that sounded too much like Patton cried out in his head, pushing him to have tea instead. He settled for hot chocolate as a good middle ground, heating up the kettle and grabbing the instant powder from a cabinet.

He stared down the kettle, keeping track of the steam so he could stop it before it cried out loudly through the apartment. He had just turned the stove off when the front door clicked open and he froze, mug in his hands. He waited as the footsteps carefully made their way across the living room, and another door creaked shut before letting out a breath. He stood quietly for a bit, making sure Roman was probably climbing into his bed before picking up the kettle carefully and pouring it into his mug. He carefully stirred the spoon, trying to make as little noise as possible before sitting at the kitchen table, too anxious to go into the living room.

Virgil carefully blew on his drink to cool it down for a moment before placing his elbow on the table and resting his head in his palm. He closed his eyes for a moment, feeling tired but knowing he wouldn't fall asleep at all tonight.

"Virgil?"

He shot his head up as it fell forward out of the palm of his hand. He blinked and looked up, spotting Roman in the doorway wearing pajamas, smirking as he looked over at him. "Geez, don't scare me like that!" Roman covered his mouth to muffle his laughter as Virgil looked down at his mug, noticing the steam was gone and it was a bit cooler then he remembered. Had he had dozed off for a few minutes?

"What are you doing out here?"

"Couldn't sleep."

"Of course, I could tell," Roman said sarcastically. Virgil tiredly tried to glare over at Roman before taking a sip from his mug. "Shouldn't you try to sleep and not be drinking coffee then?"

"It's hot chocolate, and I told you, I can't sleep."

Roman walked over and sat down in the chair next to him. "Sure doesn't seem like it, you trying to stay awake for some reason?" Virgil glanced away and took another sip from his mug. "Do you need a valiant prince to watch over you, sleepless beauty?"

"Sure, do you know one?"

Roman scoffed but made no further protest to the question. "What ails you, my sidekick?"

"For the last time, not your sidekick. I'm fine."

"Virgil." He tried to ignore Roman before glancing over at him. "Please don't lie to me. I'm just going to nag you until you tell me." Virgil grumbled to himself and glared down at his mug. "What was that?"

"I'm worried, okay?" He hugged the mug closer and stared it down like it had personally offended him. "That stupid thing you saw, I keep waking up wondering if it's just right there, watching me sleep and I can't relax. It's stupid."

Roman let out a big sigh and reached over, pulling Virgil close into a one-armed hug. "That's not stupid at all, that's perfectly understandable. I thought you would freeze time and take naps, though?"

"It moved around in frozen time before right? I don't know if it can still do that or if it was because it came out of the portal or not, I'm too anxious to risk it."

"Wait, have you not properly slept since the other night then? Virgil!"

"I said I'm fine, Roman." Virgil tried shaking out of the comforting hold but Roman refused to give in. "Let go!"

"No, not until you sleep. Now finish your drink, you're going to get some rest tonight."

"I told you-"

"No, I'm watching over you, you'll be fine!"

Virgil tugged himself away from Roman and held his mug close. "I don't need you watching me sleep, princey. That won't help me at all."

"I will sit in your room and keep watch so you can take a nap, at least allow me to do that. You can even do it in frozen time so I don't lose sleep either!" Roman pointed at Virgil, catching him before he could give another excuse. "I just want to help, come on! You need to sleep sometime unless you have any better ideas?"

"You ever get tired of the hero act you keep putting on?"

Roman leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms. "Stop deflecting my question."

Virgil blew the hair from his eyes and glanced over at Roman, staring him down. "Are you sure?"

"Virge..."

"Fine, fine! I give in." He took the final swig from his mug and stood up, headed for the sink. "Be all creepy or whatever, as long as I get to sleep."

Roman got up from his chair and walked behind Virgil to his room. He stood to the side and closed his eyes, Roman preparing himself for when Virgil would pull him free. He caught himself rather quickly, getting used to the feeling after the half a dozen times he's experienced it so far. Virgil wordlessly spun around and dived straight for his bed, quickly crawling under a blanket and curling up into a ball without a sound. Roman quickly left the room and went to the bookshelf, knowing Logan wouldn't mind if he read something while he waited. By the time Roman returned to the room, he saw Virgil glance over at him and close his eyes, falling asleep almost instantly after not sleeping what Roman could only assume was the first time in almost three days.

He sat down on the floor and tried reading in the low light, but quickly found himself yawning bored only a chapter or two in. He closed the book and glanced around the room trying to distract himself. Virgil did spend a lot of time in here but most of it was either asleep or to be alone, so he never spent that much time in it. He found a notepad and peeked, flipping through it lazily before glancing back over at the sleeping roommate. Looking back down, Roman saw some early designs of his outfit upgrades, along with some final ideas Virgil added and a few he apparently kept out. He smirked at the idea of old-fashioned shoulder pads and flipped the page. It was a completely different design, one with a little more gold trim and the golden cord completely removed. He smiled and wondered if Virgil would ever admit to thinking and even sketching out a completely new outfit, wondering if he could convince him to try and make it. He had thought his was perfect, but all the little scribbles of notes showed how much thought went into a completely new design.

'Forget Alfred, Virgil is my Edna Mode.' He softly chuckled to himself, flipping through the book. It was mostly just random doodles of things, the front filled with the sketches of how he eventually made his hoodie upgrades. Roman closed the book and looked around, wondering just how much 'time' he had killed so far, not wanting to wake up Virgil any earlier than he had to.

In a continuing effort to metaphorically 'pass the time', Roman snooped around the room a bit more. He kept out of areas Virgil may try and hide things but poked and prodded at things left in the open. The only surprising discovery was a skein of yarn and a book about the basics of knitting. It looked like a few early attempts has been made, but Virgil obviously hadn't gotten too far into it quite yet.

Roman huffed in boredom a bit later, having explored the room enough and run out of things to do. He didn't want to leave the room for too long but all he had was some book that quickly tried to put him to sleep. He glanced up at the bed, watching as Virgil hardly made a sound as he slept. There was a slight frown, but not one Roman was used to. He looked completely at peace for the first time that Roman could recall.

He glanced around the room and his eyes fell on the slight movement in the corner of the room. It took a second before Roman recognized the ripple that was the space where Virgil had broken free. He glanced over at the bed and then back at the portal before slowly standing up and making his way over. Roman stood in front of it and poked his hand through, seeing if it had led somewhere or if Virgil had just focused on stopping time. When his fingers disappeared and did not reappear, he quickly pulled back and looked back at Virgil one last time. Was this an invasion of privacy? Would taking a peek technically mean he was leaving Virgil alone in the room?

He started feeling anxious and stuck his hand back through, trying to figure out if he could tell anything by simply feeling it. His hand just felt static as if it had fallen asleep, slowly growing as he left it there. He pulled it back out and bit his tongue now entirely captivated by the idea of where it led. He took a step forward and prepared himself for Virgil let out a groan. Roman quickly spun around and took a step back, watching as the man shuffled in his bed but didn't wake up.

Roman's heart raced as his heartbeat was the only thing he could hear in the silent world. He let out a shaky breath and went back to sit down against the wall before freezing and looking over at the portal, the nagging curiosity still eating away at him. He glanced back at Virgil and took a careful step backward before spinning around. He quickly tiptoed over to the portal and took a deep breath, shoving his head quickly through.

He pulled his head back out, even more, curious and confused than before. He looked over at Virgil and ducked his head back in once more to be sure. With a frown and a bit of disappointment, Roman went back to his spot against the wall and sat silently, lost in thought.

"The diner?" He whispered to himself perplexed. It had led to the diner where he and Virgil had lunch just a while back, but the destination made no sense to Roman. Had Virgil been hungry? Why was that the place he thought of above everything else? He had gone there with Virgil after a little 'science experiment' as they had decided to call them. Roman will even admit he had a bit of a heart-to-heart with Virge at the table, but nothing stuck out to him of any significance.

They talked about Roman's failed date, how he would be Virgil's best wingman, how Virge would try to woo him and how would he woo Virgil back? Then they talked about him on the news and how work had gone and...

Roman hadn't realized he was staring at Virgil as he recalled the conversations they had that day. "How would one go about trying to whoo a dark emo of the night?" Roman whispered to himself, staring back at his roommate as he remembered himself asking that question that day. "Consider what he would want." What would Virgil want? Had he even dated before? All their past conversations played through Roman's mind, but it was mostly him talking about himself and Virgil silently listening, making snarky remarks back at him.

Roman blinked and looked away from Virgil, suddenly realizing he had a smirk on his face. He put a hand to his cheek and realized how warm he was, and how the racing of his heart hadn't completely gone away. He was thinking of how to woo Virgil to help him get a date, but the more he thought about it, the more that didn't make sense. He didn't even have a person in mind for him.

'Yes, you do.'

"Oh sh-"

'I do not have a crush on my emo roommate. I do not.'

Virgil blinked awake and rolled over, looking out to the rest of his room. His eyes adjusted to the dark and he saw Roman leaning against the wall, seemingly half asleep and fighting to stay awake. Virgil smiled at him as he sat up, glad he could actually trust the man enough that his body lets him sleep. "Hey." He let out tiredly, catching Roman jump in surprise as he tried to catch himself.

"You're up, good. Sleep okay?"

"Yeah." Virgil could hear the sleep in Roman's voice as he spoke. Without a thought, he closed his eyes as the world started once more, causing Roman to yelp as he fell over, barely catching himself. "Go get some sleep, Ro."

Roman pushed himself up and glared over at Virgil. "Sure, now that you jolted me awake with that stunt! See if I help you again."

"You're insufferably kind sometimes, Roman. You'd help because you can't stop yourself." Virgil couldn't help but be truthful, too tired from waking up to hold back with a smirk.

Roman groaned and spun around, leaving the room and closing the door with a less than soft 'click' of the lock, but not enough to wake up the others. Virgil snickered to himself as he leaned back and rested his eyes, glad he got some sleep at least. He looked over at his dark room, wondering just how Roman kept himself busy, but nothing looked out of place. He was glad he could trust him not only to make him feel comfortable but to not snoop through his things. He spotted his sketchbook on the floor and smirked. Not snoop through most of his things, then.

Roman had slept well enough, having fallen asleep as soon as his pillow and his head met. Staying up even later hadn't helped his exhaustion, but he woke up feeling refreshed enough to take on the day.

It wasn't until later when he was roaming the streets in his costume that the events of the night before couldn't stop from taking over his thoughts. He had been distracted by them all day but now as he let his feet take him through the city, he kept thinking about the sketchbook and the portal and Virgil.

He groaned into his hands and rubbed his eyes, perhaps an early night and some rest was the best idea, he was in no condition to fight anyone today if he had to go all out. He turned the next corner and made his way back to the city after only an hour or so, not even stopping a crime.

He felt that familiar feeling after a few blocks of being watched, but he couldn't bother to deal with it. No matter what he did, the feeling would go away and he was too tired to try and chase it down tonight.

It hadn't gone away after a bit, sticking around longer than it usually does, so Roman made an attempt to try and figure out where it was coming from. He turned a corner and the feeling lessened slightly before it grew again after a few steps. 'They're following me perhaps?' He took a few winding turns and suddenly stopped, spinning around and letting out a stream of sparks to light up the area. He saw a shadow in the distance and ran, throwing out his whip faster than he had ever done before and caught onto someone.

"Show yourself!"

Roman stalked forward to the shadow that was somehow still standing, most people usually fell at the shocks the whip gave. He was only a few feet away before he gasped and dropped the whip completely, causing them to stumble and catch themselves. The slowly turned and looked up at Roman, the black hood of their plain black hoodie falling down and revealing exactly who Roman thought it was.

"Hey, Ro..."

"Virgil? What are you doing out here? Wait, have you been the one following me every night?"

Virgil glanced away, shoulders hunched over and face flush in embarrassment. "I got worried, okay? Don't think too deeply into this!"

"No wonder you're always tired if you're chasing after me and getting no sleep afterward!"

Virgil pointed at him and shouted. "I said not to think about it too much!"

Roman smiled and started to laugh, hunched over and holding his stomach. "O-oh, and here I was worried and it's just you worrying about me!"

"S-shut it!"

Roman stood up and wiped away a tear that collected awkwardly under his mask. He took a deep breath and looked over at Virgil, ignoring his heart and his head. 'Not a crush.'

"Thank you for worrying about me."

"Whatever." Virgil spun around and ran across the street after glancing both ways, running from Roman as fast as he could.

"We're headed the same way, wait up!"

"Take a different way home!"

"Aww, but I thought you were worried about me!"

Roman caught up to Virgil and fell into step with him, looking over as he tried to hide his face in his hood, holding it up over himself.

"Quiet or I'm freezing time and leaving you here."

"Aww, you do care!"

Despite his threats, they both walked back to their apartment in silence, barely saying a word but none of it awkward. Roman smiled as Virgil marched into his room quickly before he was even in the apartment, smiling as he did so.

'Not a crush.'

He removed his mask and jacket, placing them carefully on a hanger as he hung it up in his closet, admiring the work Virgil had put into it for him once more. He fell back into bed with a sigh and rolled over, wrapping himself in his bedsheets, smile on his face.

'Definitely not.' Chapter 17>>

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