Outlandish Excuses

Warning: brief homophobia and attempted murder.

Virgil was so used to guys bailing out on him after several dates. He guessed that they were trying to be nice when making up excuses for cancelling on the dates, and ceasing to contact him again afterwards. He had low hopes for dating until Roman Ellington swept him off of one foot. He would be lying if he said he didn't enjoy the first few dates with Roman. They were enough to make Virgil forget the pattern from his group of exes. He voiced his concerns reluctantly to Roman as they were strolling through a greenhouse close to closing time, and Roman promised he wouldn't make outlandish claims to Virgil like his other exes had done.

One evening, they arranged to have a date at a slightly sophisticated restaurant for Virgil's birthday. Virgil didn't want Roman to make a big deal about it when he found out, since he still had low hopes on the relationship going anywhere, but the princely man insisted that Virgil should have the right to enjoy his special day. Roman made a call, reserving a table that wasn't too far from the bathroom, or too close to other people. He also warned Virgil that he would be slightly late since the restaurant was closer to Virgil's place than his own place, so Virgil wasn't bothered for a little while. He wanted to wait for Roman before ordering, so he got himself some water while messing with his phone. At the 30 minute mark, Virgil had five cups of water and a bathroom break all the while feeling slightly glad he had won a banter match with Roman in order to win the right to go Dutch as opposed to having Roman pay for the whole meal. No matter how hard he tried not to feel like the possibility of being bailed on again affected him, there was just something about Roman that made him wish that the relationship would've gone somewhere. After a few more minutes, he heard the door slam open, and saw Roman in a red dress shirt and white dress pants. The man talked to the employee before walking in Virgil's direction.

"Sorry I'm late, Hot Topic. Hopefully, it won't happen again if I play my cards right," he apologized and sat down.

Roman placed a small box on the table and took some deep breaths.

"What happened to you?" Virgil asked with concern.

Roman looked at Virgil and just said "Did you already order?" as a way of evading it.

"No, but at least I'm going to be the one paying for my own water I had while waiting," Virgil answered; he wanted to know why Roman was late, but he was just glad that he showed up.

Roman and Virgil spent their time eating and talking to each other, and the smiles Virgil would show made Roman's heart skip a beat. Before they could discuss the possibility of dessert, Roman slid the small box towards Virgil. Virgil looked at his date and carefully open the box. He saw that there was a bracelet in it that looked like it had dark blue raindrops hanging off of it. He looked at Roman with surprise.

"You like rain and storms, so I figured this would be the least cliche," Roman explained and Virgil was just stunned that someone would actually do something like that for him.

"Also, since not a lot of people will witness, will you be my boyfriend?" Roman gently continued.

Even though Virgil had to deal with his anxiety throughout his life, he immediately hugged Roman as his fears were more focused on the idea of him leaving.

"Of course I will, Princey," he whispered.

They had some desserts as a bit of a private celebration and, eventually, paid for their own meals. Roman walked outside while holding Virgil's hand, and they were enjoying the fresh night air. They walked a little further down the road, and were enjoying each other's company when, suddenly, a dark orange van rapidly parked near them and two cop cars followed. Roman froze as he recognized the van, and lightly pushed Virgil behind his back. After the opening and slamming of a door was heard, an older man who was clearly not in his right mind gave a hateful glare at Roman.

"You! I told my kids I'd give a lesson in disposing of disgraces, and you are not going to stand there breathing like homo trash!" he shouted as if he had throat problems.

Roman kept Virgil hidden, and saw one of the officers rushing out of the car before tasing the man. Another officer exited the other car and went to the van to comfort the kids. Virgil peeked out from behind Roman and looked at the scene in front of him.

"Umm... do I want to know what's going on?" Virgil asked.

One of the officers approached the couple, and pointed to the man being dragged into one of the cop cars by a third officer.

"I'm sorry, sir, but we had a call about that man trying to shove your partner's car off the road earlier this evening. We asked some questions to both parties, and though he was startled by the man trying to 'teach human waste disposal to his children', your partner kept insisting that he had to leave as he didn't want to late for something," the officer explained.

Virgil looked at Roman for a reaction.

"Richard was an old drama teacher of mine from high school. I was a prized student, but he hated me ever since I started to come out," Roman explained while slightly looking away.

"You should've pressed charges on that guy! He could've killed you! Why didn't you say anything?" Virgil hurled.

After helping Virgil through his breathing exercises, all Roman would say was, "Would you have honestly believed me if I told you?" Virgil looked at Roman like he was about to cry and hugged him tightly with the knowledge that he could've died on the way to Virgil, and Virgil would've had low expectations of his arrival or effort.

Even after Roman agreed to press charges and the officers separated the kids from their homophobic and homicidal father, Virgil was still clinging to Roman as if Thanos could snap his fingers at any moment. He looked at Roman before they finished walking to Virgil's place, and he had no doubts that Roman was and would be something special. He may not have initially wanted to celebrate his birthday, but the knowledge he had a man in his life that wanted Virgil to feel content and comfortable was the best gift he could ever ask for.