Prompt 1: trick or treat

Warnings: idk really

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"Come on, Princey, let's get this over with." Virgil shouted into the living room, seeing his little brother run into the room from the kitchen, plastic crown on his head, toy sword in his hand, wearing his small prince costume.

His little brother had been having a prince phase since he was like three, so half his life as he was six now. Disney movies, kids books with princes, prince toys, he was obsessed with all of it, so no one was surprised that Roman insisted on dressing up as a prince for halloween.

What had been a surprise, however, was that their mom had to work late, which meant that Virgil had to take his brother trick or treating.

He'd been looking forward to some time home alone to watch scary movies in his and Roman's room and eat lots of snacks without having to share with Roman. That kid was a master at knowing any time Virgil had anything to eat, no matter where they were.

It was as if he had bat hearing, but only for the sound of candy wrappers crinkling.

"Let's go, let's go, let's go!" Roman chanted, running past Virgil into the hallway, putting his shoes on. Virgil sighed and went to get the red little bucket in the kitchen that Roman had forgotten.

Virgil had bought two sheets of yellow crown stickers to make the bucket look more interesting. Their mom had made Roman's costume and bought the crown and the sword, but Virgil had been tasked with the rest, like getting him a basket or something for his candy.

Their mom had promised to take Roman trick or treating and Roman had been so excited about it as their mom was so busy working all the time since their dad had left.

They didn't exactly have a lot of money and Virgil definitely understood why she had to prioritize work and earning money over spending time with him and Roman, but that didn't mean it didn't suck. Especially for Roman. He was so young.

At least their dad had left before Roman was born so he never had to deal with his dad just suddenly disappearing.

"Here you go." Virgil said, handing the bucket to his brother, grabbing his shoes and putting them on, checking his pockets to make sure he had his phone and his keys as Roman rushed out through the doors and began running down the stairs.

Virgil made sure to lock the door, then followed his brother down the stairs with much less enthusiasm, thinking of all the things he would rather do than going outside with his hyper brother to bring him trick or treating so he would get loads of candy that would make him even more hyper.

Roman deserved not to miss out on stuff like that though, and of course Virgil would give his own plans up to go with his brother, especially when he was already upset that their mom couldn't go with him.

Once out on the street he hurried to keep up with Roman, taking his hand to make sure he didn't disappear out of his sight. The last thing he wanted was to lose him, that would be a nightmare.

Virgil led the way to a nearby street with houses where their mom always used to take him for trick or treating, knowing that a lot of old people who loved to give out candy and coo at children lived there, which meant Roman would be getting home with candy to last him weeks.

Soon they were walking from house to house, knocking on doors and ringing doorbells, Roman grinning brightly as he shouted trick or treat to all the old people who opened their doors and complimented Roman on his costume and his manners.

It wasn't a total waste of time, Virgil would admit, as Roman seemed to be having loads of fun and also because Virgil was being offered a great deal of candy too. Maybe they thought he was being such a nice older brother to dress up and go trick or treating with him.

While Virgil loved dressing up and making costumes, this was not him dressed up. He was just emo. Not that the old people who hadn't seen him since he was like twelve and still went trick or treating would know that.

Roman excitedly pulled him towards the next house, Virgil carrying his half full red bucket for him. He hoped Roman wouldn't be trying to eat even half of all that candy tonight, then he would puke and if there was one thing Virgil really didn't want to do it was take care of a sick six year old, he'd already had to do that lots before when his mom was busy at work.

Then Roman yanked hard on his arm, making Virgil almost stumble.

"Patton!" Roman shouted, running to the side, dragging Virgil with him. He looked at where Roman was running, eyes immediately landing on someone he knew from school, someone who also just happened to be his crush.

Oh shit, what were the chances of stumbling across his crush when out trick or treating with his little brother? Well, it seemed like his crush was doing the same, holding hands with a kid of Roman's age that was dressed in a blue princess dress and a tiara, a pair of fairy wings on his back so Virgil wasn't entirely sure if he was supposed to be a princess or a fairy.

"Hi, Roman!" The other kid shouted and Roman let go of Virgil in favour of hugging his friend, leaving Virgil to awkwardly look up at his crush.

"Hey, Logan." He said, the other giving him a nod and showing him a tiny smile. He was dressed as he always was, jeans, button up, tie, but the day in honor he had a rainbow unicorn horn headband on his head, which Virgil tried not to stare at.

He knew Logan from the GSA at school, and they were also both in the debate club, and it was there the two had started talking and somewhat gotten to know each other. They did also share a few classes and recently they had begun sitting together during them, which Virgil realized was a lot nicer than sitting alone in a corner.

It was only a few weeks ago that he had realized that he was falling for the neatly dressed, tie wearing, Doctor Who nerd. They had only just become somewhat friends maybe three months ago and Virgil was already ruining it with complicated feelings?

Way to go, he didn't even have Logan's phone number so they had no contact outside of school. Except for now, he supposed. He hadn't known Logan lived nearby.

"Tasked with babysitting?" Logan wondered and Virgil nodded.

"I am not a baby! I'm six." Roman said with a pout, always very proud of how old he was. They both ignored him.

"Same with you? Or do you just really love trick or treating?" Virgil joked, knowing very well that Logan did not care terribly much for halloween, which had been incredibly disappointing to realize as Virgil actually really loved halloween. He was just less fond of the 'be around young kids' and 'socialize with strangers' part of halloween that trick or treating involved.

"Yes. Our parents are... busy." Logan said with the mildly uncomfortable expression of someone who didn't want to get into a conversation about their home life, something Virgil fully understood.

They hadn't talked a lot about their families but he knew Logan's parents didn't have a great relationship.

Virgil looked back at Roman and Patton, making sure his brother hadn't disappeared during the moment he had looked away, but they were both chatting excitedly.

Virgil knew Roman and Patton were in the same class, Roman always talked about him any time he asked how his day at school had been and what he had done. He assumed Patton was Roman's best friend, maybe he should ask Roman if he wanted to bring Patton over some day.

They could watch a movie, or maybe Virgil could take them to the nearby playground, or maybe they could just run around and wreak havoc inside.

"Perhaps we can go together? They certainly don't look like they wish to be separated." Logan said, gesturing to their brothers who were holding hands and already running towards the next house.

"Roman! Wait up!" Virgil shouted after him, then turned towards Logan again.

"Yeah, we'll go together." He said, trying not to show how much that suggestion really had delighted him. Trick or treating with his brother seemed infinitely more fun if he had a friend with him.

"So, what's with the unicorn horn headband?" Virgil wondered as they hurried after their brothers, glancing at Logan again and seeing his face flush red.

"Ah, right, um, Patton insisted and, well, it's difficult telling him no. I did not count on meeting anyone I know." He said, sounding so embarrassed that Virgil felt bad for asking. Logan had a thing about wanting to be seen as serious. Which was why Virgil had been surprised about the headband in the first place.

"Don't worry, it's not like I'm gonna tell anyone. And it's cute, though." Virgil said, then immediately having an internal freak out because had he just actually called Logan cute?

It was definitely true, he looked stupidly cute with a unicorn horn but still! He couldn't just go around saying things like that if he wanted to not die from embarrassment. And now Logan was just quiet and Virgil wondered if the ground could please open up and swallow him whole.

"Thank you." He then said, looking straight ahead, still adorably flustered.

Virgil did his best to focus on his little brother and not on Logan, handing Roman his bucket of candy once they caught up to them, making an attempt at lecturing Roman on running off on his own. It most likely fell on deaf ears.

At least they didn't immediately run off, instead Patton and Roman paused to look through the candy that they had collected so far, which was a lot. Even if that meant there would be a very hyper six year old running around at home for a while it also meant there was enough candy that Roman would surely share a lot of it with Virgil, and that made it worth it.

He couldn't wait to get back home. He could always use his headphones when watching a scary movie, distract Roman with a Disney movie or something so he wouldn't be trying to look and then get nightmares.

He wondered if Logan liked horror movies. Maybe he and Logan could watch a movie sometime? Maybe he could ask if he liked horror. Or maybe he could just ask for Logan's number so he could then ask Logan stuff whenever he wanted to.

"Hey, um, maybe, you know, I could get your phone number? So we can, like, reach each other easily and text and stuff?" Virgil said, heart beating hard in his chest even at such a harmless question. Having anxiety was fun.

Logan blinked, then slowly smiled as he dug his phone up from his pocket, unlocking it and opening the contacts app. Virgil fumbled for his phone and they exchanged numbers, which Virgil tried telling himself was not a big deal.

"Ooh, you're getting his number?" Patton said, pulling at Logan's arm to see his phone better.

"Is he your boyfriend?" Roman wondered, because the little bastard child never shut up. Virgil had never despised having a brother more. Why did he have to ask that!?

"You have to ask someone to be your boyfriend before you're boyfriends." Patton explained before Virgil had the time to figure out how to respond, and Roman thought that over for a few moments.

"Hmm, okay! Patton, do you wanna be my boyfriend?" Roman then said and Patton smiled brightly.

"Sure!" He said. "But I don't really know what boyfriends do."

"Oh, um, hold hands I think. And they kiss." Roman said, looking like he had to think hard to figure out what it really was people were up to when in relationships.

"Ew, on the lips?" Patton wondered and Roman scrunched his nose.

"That's yucky. Princes in movies kiss their princesses hands! I can do that." Roman beamed proudly and Virgil stared wordlessly at them as they walked ahead towards the next house, still hand in hand and discussing what being boyfriends meant. Virgil was trying to follow what was happening but not entirely managing to.

They were six, were they too young to have boyfriends? Then again, maybe not, kids weren't exactly in serious relationships, so what did it matter? But how was it that easy? How the hell did his six year old brother get a boyfriend before him?

The ultimate proof that life was not fair.

"I- I really don't know what to say." Virgil said, looking over at Logan who seemed just as taken aback at the conversation that had just happened in front of them.

"Me neither." Logan mumbled, shaking his head.

"I wish getting a boyfriend was really that easy." Virgil grumbled. He'd never dated anyone before, and he was eighteen. He'd never even held hands with a boy. How was Roman so far ahead of him?

"Well, it could be." Logan said after a moment of silence, glancing at Virgil but looking away as soon as Virgil's eyes met his.

"No way, I'd be far too anxious to just ask like that. Like, what if the person you like is your friend? I wouldn't want to ruin anything." Virgil said, wondering if he was being just a little too truthful and really, really hoping that Logan understood that that was of course a completely hypothetical scenario.

"Well, if that was the case then you could always ask them on a date instead? It doesn't reveal as much of your feelings, a date might mean you want to find out if you could like that person and not that you already have feelings for them."

"And it would be easier to decide to just not go on another date if it didn't go as hoped, rather than if you were boyfriends and had to break a relationship up. So, I'd say it could be nearly as easy as, well, that." He said, gesturing at Roman and Patton who were knocking on the door to a yellow house, excitedly yelling trick or treat as the door opened, Patton even doing a little twirl.

"...So you're saying I should just go for it?" Virgil wondered, definitely feeling doubtful and not at all sharing Logan's positive outlook on the matter.

"Yes. Personally, even if the friend who asked wasn't someone I would want to go out with I would not let that ruin our friendship, so I would see no downside to asking." Logan said with a small shrug, keeping his eyes on their brothers who were running back towards them with their new candy, and Virgil groaned.

He was too anxious for this shit, but then again Logan had literally just said that he wouldn't be upset if someone he didn't like asked him, so what did he have to lose?

"Can we run to the next house?" Patton asked politely, because apparently at least one of the two had listened when Virgil had stressed over them disappearing out of sight.

"Yes you can, but after that you have to wait for us to catch up, understood?" Logan said and Patton nodded eagerly, taking Roman"s hand and pulling him along.

Logan and Virgil walked in silence for a moment while Virgil internally battled with himself, continuously glancing at Logan.

"So," Virgil said, dragging the word out, wondering if he was really sane, "would you want to go on a date with me, maybe?"

It really couldn't be healthy how anxious he felt just by asking a question, but Logan took practically no time to answer him.

"I'd be delighted to." He said, looking down at the ground which didn't hide his smile, and Virgil blinked once, twice, at first not sure he had heard him right.

"Wait, really?" He asked before he had the time to stop himself.

"Yes, really. Why do you think I was insisting that you should go for it?" He said and Virgil found his smile rather smug and he scoffed at his friend, rolling his eyes a little.

"You're the worst. How's Saturday?"

"Saturday works." Logan said with a small nod and then they walked in silence for a bit, catching up to Roman and Patton, Virgil incredibly distracted by the fact that, holy shit he had a date with Logan on Saturday!

He saw Roman yawn and checked his phone, realizing it was almost eight.

They needed to get home, it was almost Roman's bedtime, and he definitely had candy to last him a while.

"Um, we have to go back home now, but I'll text you and we can decide when to... have our date." Virgil said, still somehow worried that he had misunderstood and that he didn't actually have a date with his crush, but Logan only nodded, smiling.

"Yes, Patton and I have to get home soon too." He said, and they called their brothers back, letting the two of them say goodbye (Roman kissing Patton's hand, just like a prince would in a movie).

"Bye bye, Patton." Roman said and they hugged.

"Bye! See you tomorrow at school." Patton chirped, then took Logan's hand as Virgil reached out for Roman.

"I'll see you in class tomorrow, too." Logan said to Virgil and he smiled before taking Roman's hand and parting ways with Logan and Patton, walking Roman home while listening to him babble about whatever was on his mind, having a hard time paying attention to his words.

Virgil couldn't wait for Saturday.

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Written: 5th, 6th & 7th October 2021
Published: 7th October 2021
Words: 2996

This is a fic idea ive had for like years but never gotten around to writing lmao