Sky Full of Stars

typical-torii:

Pairing: Virgil/Roman (aka my faves)

Summary: Virgil has loved the stars every since the first time his dad brought him to stargaze when he was young. Now, the stars are nowhere to be found until his roommate decides to bring the stars to him.

Warnings: There is a few mentions of death. Nothing too major, but just wanted to put it out there.

Words: ~3.4k

Based off this song!

Taglist: @royallyanxious @whatwashernameagain @poisonedapples @ultimate-queen-of-fandoms @im-bad-at-life

Read now on AO3

Virgil loved the stars.

When he was younger, his father would always take Virgil out to meadow behind his childhood home, laying down his favorite blanket so they could watch the night sky. Virgil would listen quietly, nestled under his dad’s arm as he watched his father trace shapes between the twinkling lights, explaining the constellations and the imaginative stories behind them. He would always remember the sweet smell of the poppies around them, surrounded by the warm summer air as he looked up at the stars in wonder. His father would explain the mysteries of the universe, his low voice accompanied by the chirping of crickets. He never could stay up very late, his father usually having to carry the sleepy child in, but Virgil commemorated every stories to mind, learning them by heart. The stories of monsters and heroes and tragedies etched into his young mind forever.

When his father passed away, Virgil would take their blanket out to the field, retracing the lines his father had shown him for years. The first night he laid there, whispering to himself the stories his dad had told him so many times before, he spotted a new star in the night sky. It was a bright blue light, and Virgil could nearly swear that was the way his dad let him know he was still around, still watching him from up above. From that point, Virgil made sure to find it first.

****

Most kids look forward to college, and Virgil wasn’t one of them. He wasn’t very good at school, barely passing by in English and Math. The only reason he chose to go to one of the biggest schools of the state was for it’s excellent science program, and Virgil had sworn to be an astronomer, just like his dad. Space was his only true passion, and he could spend hours pouring over astrological maps, studying the different planets that filled the galaxy and the galaxies around it. Something about the world so far away from his own mystified him.

The summer after freshman year, Virgil decided to find an apartment close to campus because, frankly, Virgil had hated the dorms. Too many people in too small of a building, Virgil quickly found out. The only person Virgil had actually liked was his dorm mate, Logan, who was studying to become a particle physicist. The brainy boy kept to himself, but Virgil hadn’t minded one bit. Whenever Virgil was in need of a study partner, though, Logan had proven himself quite the friend, helping Virgil out in his Advanced Algebra while Virgil (poorly) explained Creative Writing to the boy. They got along well, both quiet and reserved but incredibly tender towards each other.

When Logan had offered Virgil to come move in with him and few friends from one of his classes, Virgil jumped at the chance.

What Virgil hadn’t expected, however, was how much he came to adore Logan’s friends as much as he did Logan.

Patton, a long-time friend of Logan’s, was a ball of unfiltered sunshine, through and through. The minute Virgil had walked through the door of the ground level apartment, suitcase in one hand and a box of valuables in the other, Patton swiftly took the box out of Virgil’s hand and lead him down the hall to his soon-to-be room, talking excitedly about how much fun it would be to have someone new. He made conversation easily as he helped Virgil drag his mattress through the apartment and into his room, and even stayed around to help him unpack. His jokes were downright awful, but Virgil couldn’t help but laugh anyway.

Virgil didn’t meet Roman until almost the beginning of his sophomore year, and Virgil was glad for that. Spending an entire summer with Patton around helped him adjust to being around constant energy and affection after spending a full year before around the calming presence of Logan. Having such high energy around already, Virgil was so much more easily equipped to handle the human tornado that was Roman. He lived much like a yellow highlighter: bright, bold, and almost a bit tacky.

Virgil joined Patton to help Roman with his room, and although Virgil’s first impression of Roman was a bit lackluster, he quickly realized that though Roman was full of bravado and recklessness, he had a soft side too as he proudly taped polaroids of his hometown to his walls, explained the story behind each picture and who the people smiling back were. It was touching, really, and a deep longing ached in Virgil’s chest as he looked up at a photo of Roman and his dad the day of high school graduation.

****

One of the major downsides of going to a decently sized campus was that the light pollution was absolutely atrocious.

Despite how often Virgil would lay up on the roof of the apartments, he just couldn’t see the stars at all. He could point a few of the brighter stars (Sirius, Canopus, Alpha Centauri), but it wasn’t like the view back home where he could see hundreds of them, miles outside of their small town where only the wildlife and his family lived. There, he could see all of the glittering lights; here, he was lucky if he saw half a dozen.

After nearly half of hour of gazing and growing colder by the second, Virgil climbed to his feet, making his way to the fire escape and watching as he breath came out in little white puffs. November was impossibly cold this year, and he knew he would need to start being a heavier coat with him if he was going to continue his unsuccessful stargazing. The metal railing of the fire escape nearly froze his hands off as he climbed down the fire escape, descending the stair and then the ladder in a hurry before climbing off and pushing the ladder back up to its rightful position.

As he rounded the corner of the brick apartments, he could see Roman heading up the sidewalk, arms loaded with groceries while Patton chatted away happily, swinging his arms without a care in the world.

Roman spotted Virgil first and smiled brightly as the boy in black approached his roommates, “Virgil! What are you doing out this late? God, you’re shivering!”

“I’m fine,” Virgil smiled slightly as he relieved a few of the plastic bags from Roman, rewarded with a thankful smile from the taller man, “I was just up on the roof again.”

“Virgil,” Patton scolded as he looked over his shoulder, midway through unlocking the front door, “I’ve told you about that! It’s so dangerous to go up there alone! What if you had fallen off?”

“Patton. The door. Please,” Roman nearly pleaded as he shifted. Apparently, Roman had only given up the lightest of the bags to Virgil.

“Oh,” Patton quickly unlocked the door, holding it open for the men as the nearly ran into the warmth of the apartment, “We’re not done talking about this, though!”

“Yeah, yeah,” Virgil said as he followed Roman into their kitchen, depositing the bag into the counter and rubbing warmth back into his fingers. Roman barely managed to get the bags onto the counter before stretching his fingers, wincing at the small pops they made. Patton came around the entryway soon after, pulling a few cans from one of the bags.

“Do you want help,” Virgil offered, watching as Roman lamely excused himself to ‘go over his lines’. Patton just smiled at Virgil quickly before shaking his head as he reached into another bag and pulled out a package of chicken breasts.

“Nah,” Patton said nonchalantly, “Go warm up. Dinner will be ready soon.”

“Thanks Pat,” Virgil smiled warmly at his friend before grabbing a soda from the fridge and heading down the hall to his room. He passed by Roman’s open door and peeked in to see a notebook propped in up the man’s lap as he stretched over his bed, fairy lights giving the room a soft glow.

“So you actually do study your lines,” Virgil teased, sticking his tongue out as Roman looked up from the notebook. A lighthearted grin spread across the boy’s face.

“Believe it or not, not all my lines are improv,” Roman laughed as he messed with the pen in his hands, his head quirked to the side.

Virgil snickered as he leaned against the doorjamb, “You’re right. I don’t believe it.”

“Oh shut up,” There was no malice in the boy’s voice as he put the pen between the pages and closed the book, tossing it to the side, “So why were you on the roof anyway?”

Virgil looked at the ground, feeling just a touch of self-consciousness. It was always a little embarrassing to admit that he looked at the stars almost nightly. A lot of people thought it was, well, odd.

After a second, the boy gave a slight smile at Roman as he felt his ears heat up, “Well, I was stargazing.”

“That’s really cool,” Roman’s smile was genuine as he scooted to the edge of his bed, leaning his elbows on his knees as he looked up at Virgil.

Virgil felt warmth in his chest as he asked, “Really?”

“Yeah! I like stars! I’ve never seen them real well before, though,” Roman was enthusiastically gesturing with his hands as he spoke, a habit Virgil always found endearing, “I used to live downtown for basically all of my life, so this is the first time I’ve seen as many as I have!”

Virgil was astounded by that information. He couldn’t imagine thinking that the stars Roman saw now were the best stars he’d ever seen.

“Oh you can barely see the stars here,” Virgil lamented, resting his head off the doorframe as he remember the countless summer nights from his childhood, “When I was younger, my dad used to take me out to the poppy field behind our house so we could stay up and look at the stars. They were beautiful, Roman. So many little lights in such a dark night sky. I’ve never seen anything like it before.” Virgil’s mood sobered. He missed the stars. “You can’t see the stars like that here. Too much light around and all that. It kinda sucks.”

Roman was quiet for a second, before quietly asking, “Tell me about them.”

He quickly scooted down the bed, patting the spot next to him as an invitation. Virgil smiled as he sat next to the boy, telling him about those wonderful nights until the early hours of the morning.

****

Winter break was always a bitter time at Virgil’s house. It had been four years since Virgil’s dad passed away, just a week before Christmas, and it always seemed to seep the warmth out of the holiday season. Virgil and his mom had always made the best of it for Virgil’s younger siblings, keeping up family tradition for the sake of the children. But late nights always felt just a little too lonely, and the only way Virgil knew to remedy the cold ache was to bundle up in his favorite blanket from his childhood and sit in the poppy field behind his old home. Of course, the house itself had new tenants, so Virgil had to sneak onto the property and pray that the people home didn’t notice the dark figure sat in the tall poppy stems, brown and brittle from the winter.

Virgil couldn’t have more anxious to leave his mom during the end of the break. She had loved his dad for their entire lives, and even though she assured Virgil with a loving hug that she was okay, that his dad would have wanted her to be better for him, she always looked so tired. Virgil always swore he would be back by the next break, but he worried endlessly as he climbed into his old truck and drove down the gravel path towards the main road.

The drive back to campus was only a few hours, and before Virgil had even realized it, he was driving down Main Street, nearly home in what felt like half an hour. He pulled into the apartment complex, parking carefully before jumping out of his truck and grabbing his bags from the bed. He trekked towards the door, stopping short as he saw Roman standing outside the apartment, nearly jumping from foot to foot as he rubbed his arms. He was wearing a t-shirt and sweats and nothing else.

“Roman,” Virgil asked incredulously, feeling chilled watching the boy jump from foot to foot despite the wool cap on his head, “What the hell are you doing out here? You’re gonna freeze to death!”

Roman lit up as he spotted Virgil, waving a nearly bare arm at Virgil as he called, “Virgil! Hey!”

“You idiot! Go inside,” Virgil chastised as he approached the freezing man, glaring at him through his bangs.

“I couldn’t! I was too nervous. I kept pacing and it was annoying Logan,” Despite his nose and cheeks being bright red, the boy was smiling brightly, bouncing on the balls of his feet, “I’ve got something I want to show you!”

“And you couldn’t have waited inside like a normal human being,” Virgil asked, stupefied, as Roman opened the front door and pushing into the apartment. He didn’t give Virgil an answered as he disappeared, leaving Virgil to trail behind him in utter confusion.

“Patton baked cookies, by the way. He saved you a few. They’re in the container on the counter,” Roman sidetracked as they passed the kitchen, down the hallway, past Roman’s room and…into Virgil’s room.

Virgil looked around his lit up room suspiciously as Roman threw his arms out wide, a proud smile on his face. It didn’t look like anything had been moved. His band posters were still on the walls, his desk was still as cluttered as ever, his sheets were still made from before he left.

As Virgil slowly set his suitcase and backpack next to his closet, he gave a deadpan look towards Roman, “Well, this is exciting. It’s my room. Exactly the way I left it.”

A mischievous smile crossed Roman’s face as he put his hands on his hips, posture still stupidly proud.

“Lie on the ground.”

“Why,” Virgil asked slowly, but nevertheless climbing to the floor. As he settled on his back, Roman crossed to Virgil’s door, closing it before placing a hand over the light switch.

“Roman, I swear to god, if this is your way of hitting on me, I’m going to kill you.”

Roman chuckled as he shook his head, red blooming on his cheeks as he said, “No, it isn’t. Just close your eyes.”

Virgil lightly rested his hands over his eyes, an unsettling feeling coming over him at the vulnerable position he was in. He trusted Roman, sure. But he also trusted his gut feeling, which had been fighting him since he laid down on the ground.

Suddenly, the overhead light cut off and Virgil tensed in reaction. His mind was already racing at the possibilities that could happen, but before his mind could travel any further down the rabbit hole, Roman said softly, “Now open them.”

Virgil uncovered his eyes to see the night sky above him. He was speechless as he saw white, purple, blue and green specks, each speck softly glowing, covering the dark ceiling. It was just like his childhood.

“Do you like it,” Roman asked quietly. Virgil looked over at the man studying the ceiling, a wide smile creasing his eyes as he scanned the makeshift night sky above them, “I tried to make it like how you describe it to me a few weeks ago. I even asked Logan for help, to make it look like the real summer night sky.” The man tore his gaze from his handiwork, giving Virgil a look of warmth that nearly brought Virgil to tears. “I didn’t know what to get you for Christmas, so uh. Merry Christmas, I guess.”

Virgil looked back up at the smattering of ‘stars’ stretching to every corner of the ceiling and even trailing down the walls, picking out constellations and planets like reflex. His eyes landed on one bright blue speck, just above Canis Major, and he felt his jaw drop.

Roman followed his line of sight to the blue star and smiled sheepishly down at his feet, “You mentioned it once. About how you saw it for the first time after your dad…” Roman cleared his throat nervously. “I thought it would be cool to include it.”

Virgil’s eyes stung with the tears he was desperately trying to contain. Virgil was touched beyond words at the dedication it must have taken to get the ceiling to look like this, and suddenly a lump grew in Virgil’s throats as he choked out, “This is beautiful, Roman. Thank you…so much.”

Roman crossed the room slowly, sinking to the floor next to Virgil and looking up at the glow-in-the-dark paint that created galaxies above the boys. He politely ignored the few tears that streamed across Virgil’s temples and into his hair.

After a few minutes of silence, Roman said softly, “So, which constellation is your favorite?”

Virgil was more than happy to indulge Roman in the stories that his father had told him, regaling in Roman’s reactions of the stories of tragedy, of mischief, of love and losses, heroes and villains.

Virgil knew as he told the stories in hushed whispers on the soft carpet of the floor that he was the luckiest person in the world.

Because he gave Roman a few good stories, and somehow, Roman gave him the whole night sky.