#random character who serves no purpose except to give virgil friends

[onthepyre]

nyc streets

CHAPTER 4

TW: crying, anxious virgil, also my dislike for organized religion kinda jumped out

Summary: Roman and Virgil have dinner

Pairing: eventual prinxiety

A/N: so sorry for the radio silence!  school got hard and i had tech week for a show

read it on ao3

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The nearest soup kitchen was nearly a mile away.  Roman could hardly keep up with Virgil as he sped along, dodging through alleys and between tourists traps.  By the time they stood beneath the looming arches, Roman’s feet hurt and his lungs burned.  Virgil threw open the door, waving Roman inside.  

“Normally we’d go in the back,” Virgil began, “but since you’ve never been here I figured I’d show you the chapel.”  He swung his arms out in a lazy gesture to the room around him.

Roman was dumbstruck.  The religious symbols meant nothing to him, but the stained glass windows were intricate and the statues were detailed and it felt wrong because it seemed so expensive yet Virgil had told him the food was bad.  They could spend seemingly millions on decoration, but couldn’t spare enough to serve decent meals?  Roman thought Christianity was supposed to be about loving others, not who had the best painting of a dead guy.

“It’s… so much.”  Roman ran a hand down the side of a velvet-covered pew.

“Yeah.”  Virgil fidgeted with the sleeve of his jacket as he spoke.  “It’s a lot.  You don’t get used to it, either.”

Roman looked around, at the statues of a dying Jesus and the massive crosses and the gigantic windows.  “Can we go to the kitchen now?”  Virgil nodded and stepped off.

He led Roman through winding staircases and thin hallways until, at long last, they stopped before the kitchen.  A crowd of people milled around the waiting area, all talking as loudly as possible.  And all smelling like death.

Roman figured he probably didn’t smell much better, but this many people with limited access to showers in such close proximity wasn’t a pleasant scent.  Instead of complaining, he turned to Virgil and asked, “When do we get to eat?”

Virgil scanned the room for a clock.  “Fifteen minutes,” he said.

“Is there, like, etiquette that I should know?” 

“Don’t jump the line.  Don’t take more than your fair share.”  Virgil shrugged.  “Don’t be a shithead.”  

Roman grinned.  “Can’t promise anything.”  He turned away, taking in the crowd.

There was more variation than he thought.  There were plenty of people that looked like he expected, with layers upon layers of unwashed clothing, but just as many seemed like any upper-middle-class suburban family.  There was a tall man in a crisp suit, a woman in heels, someone his age in a college sweatshirt.  A little girl clung to her mother’s pleated skirt.  A pair of highschoolers held hands on the edge of a crowded couch.  And Roman couldn’t help but wonder where he fit into the strange puzzle.

As if he could hear Roman’s thoughts, Virgil began to speak again.  “They feed anyone.  Doesn’t matter if you walked miles for your only meal today or you drove five blocks because you didn’t feel like making dinner.  They’ve got enough to sustain a small army.”  Roman smiled.  They lapsed into half-hearted conversation for a few minutes before Virgil went quiet.  It seemed to Roman that he shrunk inches within moments.  He crossed his arms, leaned against the wall behind him.

“V?”  Roman asked.  “Are you okay?”  He placed a hand on the other boy’s shoulder, which he shrugged off.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine. Just…”  Virgil sucked in a deep breath,  “A lot of people.”  He scratched at the back of his neck.

“Do you want to go outside?”

“Nah, dinner’s in a few minutes.  I’ll be fine.”

“Are you sure?”  Roman raised his eyebrows, unconvinced.  “We can be late.”

“Yeah.”  Virgil nodded far too enthusiastically, concerning Roman more.  “As long as we can get a table by ourselves.”

Before Roman could protest, a man emerged from the doors opposite where they’d entered.  The room fell silent, and Virgil breathed a sigh of relief.

“Come on in,”  the man shouted.  “Spaghetti and meatballs tonight.”  Roman grinned, but Virgil groaned beside him.

“Their spaghetti is the worst,” he whispered.  “It’s food, but it’s the worst meal they have here.”  They fell into the chattering line as Virgil complained.  “The sauce is essentially ketchup and the noodles look like worms.  The meatballs are always cold.”

“I think I can choke it down.”  Roman’s stomach had been growling for hours.  

When they finally reached the front of the line, Virgil’s face lit up.  “Gina!”  He gave a half-grin to the girl who scooped his worm-spaghetti out of the tray.

“Virge!  How goes it?”  She smiled back as she dumped a ladle of sauce onto the plate.

“I’ve adopted,” he said, glancing at Roman.

“Nice to meet you, my dude.  I’m Gina.”

“Roman.”  He stuck out his hand, but she waved gloved fingers at him instead.

“Sorry.  Sanitation.”  Roman nodded.

“Come sit with us if you get the time,”  Virgil said, and moved along.  Roman followed, collecting as much food as he could along the line.  He scanned the room full of different sized tables.  Virgil spotted one with two chairs in the back of the room and darted towards it, Roman at his heels.

They sat and dug in.  Virgil picked at the spaghetti, eating small bites, while Roman shovelled forkful upon forkful into his mouth.  It tasted exactly like Virgil had described it, but he didn’t care.  He was starving.

“Ro.  Calm down,”  Virgil scolded.  “It’s not like it’s been months since you’ve had shitty pasta.”

“Feels like it,”  Roman said around a mouthful of meatballs.  Virgil rolled his eyes.

“It still isn’t mom’s homemade spaghetti or anything.”  Roman stopped chewing to look up at him.  Virgil dropped his fork, held out his hands.  “Wait, no, I didn’t mean to like, glorify your parents or anything.  I’m sorry.”

“It’s alright.”  He swallowed.  “My mom made really good spaghetti.  I forgot how great her cooking was.”  And he was crying again, in the middle of a soup kitchen.

“Oh, Ro, I’m so sorry.”  Virgil’s hand shot across the table and grabbed his arm.  The touch brought Roman back.  He scrubbed at his eyes and picked up his fork.

“You’re fine.”  He shot Virgil a watery grin.  “I’m okay.”

“Promise?”

“Promise.”

They ate and left quickly, waving goodbye to Gina as she served seconds.  They stepped outside and Roman was instantly freezing.  He zipped up his stolen hoodie, but still shivered against the cold.

“It’s a bit nippy,”  Roman said as he flipped up his hood.

“You’re just cold-blooded.”  But Virgil pressed closer to him anyway, slipping his arm around Roman’s waist.

“It’s only October.”  He threw one arm around Virgil’s shoulder and shoved the other in his pocket.  “How are we going to do this during winter?” 

“We bundle up and stay close.”

And so they did stay close, for the whole walk home and all through the night.

TAGS: @datfearlessfangirl

[ethospathoslogan]

I’m glad someone else understands the pain that comes from wanting to mix sanders sides and taz balance bc yeah it makes ZERO sense but............... I Wanna Mix Both of my Favorite Things even if it doesn’t work at all..... Logan as Lucretia OR BARRY depending on how you wanna characterize him omg

LOGAN AS LUCRETIA

I FEEL LIKE I HAVE SEEN THE LIGHT AND ALSO IM MAD EMO BC LUCRETIA IS ONE OF MY FAVORITE CHARACTERS

like at first i was like “would logan be lucas” but nah m8, logan would take one look at lucas and be like,  “hm... spineless”

okay im kidding, lucas has grown on me a lot. i just see No Connection between lucas and logan that isn’t “scientist”

so, u know what, u’ve messaged me this so i take it that we’re friends now so we’re gonna flesh out some shit bc!!! yeah!!!

roman: lydia. also magnus. bc “roman rushes in” is a good summary of not only the battles roman would rush into, but also the arguments w/ logan that he has

deceit: edward. u cannot change my mind

cue roman and deceit running wonderland and vogueing their hearts out. and also, like, making people sacrifice actual body parts and years of their life. but minor details.

i love logan as lucretia. i also love logan as barry. for these purposes tho, let’s say he’s barry. barry bluejeans. logan loafers. LOGAN LEGWARMERS.

is it obvious that im so fucking tired

but also “logan legwarmers” is the best content i will ever produce and that’s that on that

but ya i put logan as barry bc this:

now, im not doing this casting bc of personality, per se, but more bc dynamics and the angst potential that can come from this: virgil and patton as taako and lup, respectively

like something abt virgil being just as sardonic and sarcastic and broody except also in a two feet tall, pointy wizard’s hat, is so incredibly entertaining. also he’s dating death which is, like, super goth.

and then patton as lup not only serves angst, but also i always love picturing patton who is, yes, nurturing, but also a bit devious??? like typically when i do human AUs (or at least AUs where they aren’t just personality traits), i always like to give patton more of a fiery, playful streak

also i get some sweet logicality AND ALSO some sick best friend analogical AND ALSO ride-or-die sibling moxiety dynamics

except like. all their personalities are basically the same. roman is just as dramatic and couraegous. virgil is just as brooding and biting. logan is super sciency and calculating and a bit stoic. patton is what i put above. like bubbly and playful but also will fuck a bitch up

ahjjkjkdsjk i didn’t even mean to make deceit edward, i was just assigning the lich twins at random, but this means that, in canon, patton fucking destroys deceit

this is becoming a slightly-expanded bullshit AU that still makes no sense but i love it