Chapter Text
Roman's boyfriends had had a rivalry since before either of them had actually met Roman.
The two had met in middle school, and had competed against each other passionately in the oddest and strangest ways ever since. They often got into hissing matches (or as Janus' brother Patton called them, hissy fits) with each other when either of them got ruffled up enough. But despite the fact that their relationship was almost entirely competitive, Janus and Virgil never meant any ill will towards each other.
Once, in his chunky black platforms, Virgil accidentally stomped directly on Janus' foot. Janus had sucked in a breath through his teeth, immediately recoiling his foot. Virgil just watched for a moment as Janus sat, cradling his foot and wincing, before opening his lunch pack and fishing around rather feverishly. He chucked an ice pack next to where Janus sat on a stair, and quickly turned to pace off to his next class. He didn't want to see Janus' reaction; that was too scary, but he still felt bad for stepping on his friend's foot.
A year later, Janus happened upon Virgil having an anxiety attack.
He had his arms wrapped around his ribcage, squeezing out each of his huffing breaths, as he sat cowering against the wall of the main school building. Janus knew enough about anxiety attacks - his brother Patton got them too - so he quickly changed his course to approach Virgil cautiously. Virgil was huffing sobs at this point, and Janus knew he needed to act fast.
He sat beside Virgil and brought an arm around him. When Virgil didn't react, Janus scooped him up entirely and sat him in his lap, wrapping his arms around him protectively and beginning to whisper sweet nothings to him in a very low and calming voice.
"You're safe, Virgil, you're safe. I've got you."
After about twenty minutes, three attempts at a grounding exercise, and a struggle to copy Janus' breathing, Virgil was okay again.
He'd meant to ask Janus how he'd known what to do, but Janus just scooped Virgil back out of his lap, handed him a large bottle of water and an apple from a concealed pocket within his jacket, and turned to leave without a word. Virgil would take the secret to his grave that he'd genuinely smiled while drinking the water and eating the apple, steeling himself for his next class.
Freshman year, Virgil and Janus met their soon-to-be boyfriend Roman for the first time. He'd come from a different middle school, and he was immediately drawn to Janus and Virgil as much as they were drawn to him.
Virgil and Janus had never before spent time together outside of school or recess or waiting for their parents to pick them up, (which on one rainy day resulted in two completely and utterly soaked teenagers daring each other to make "snow" angels in increasingly large puddles) but as they both grew closer to Roman, Roman began inviting them both out and to his house to "hang out".
It took just a few months for Roman to confess his feelings for the two of them in an extremely dramatic fashion, involving him supplying lots of flowers and many tears. He confessed to both Virgil and Janus together, and to Roman's great confusion, Virgil and Janus both claimed stubbornly to have zero romantic feelings for the other. Regardless, they all agreed to a polyamorous relationship, so that Roman and Virgil could be together, Janus and Roman could be together, and Virgil and Janus could maintain their odd friendship.
Things bloomed from there, and Janus and Virgil began spending even more unusually significant amounts of time with each other, since Roman usually took them both out on dates simultaneously. On rare occasions, they'd go out individually, but the three of them spending time together created an energy that was always undeniably fun. By the time they reached their Junior year, it began to go without saying that any date Janus or Virgil planned to take Roman on would also include Roman's other boyfriend.
This was all going rather lovely, in both Janus and Virgil's opinion. Except for one tiny problem.
Completely and utterly unbeknownst to each other, they'd both developed a massive crush on the other over the years. And one would think that this would be a simple resolution, since they and their boyfriend were polyamorous and Roman had, in fact, expected them to each be in love with the other when they'd first started dating him (and Roman had mentioned amply that if they were to "finally admit" their feelings, that he'd be more than ecstatic for his boyfriends to get together with each other). However, they would both bet their mother's entire right arm that the other didn't reciprocate these feelings. And both were, in full honesty, quite fearful that any sort of admission of their feelings would shatter the dynamic the three had. Hurting Roman or each other was the last thing either of them wanted to do.
And so, they both hopelessly pined. Blissful, almost-perfect months filled with romantic antics passed.
But one day, by an imperfectly perfect quick change of plans, everything flipped like a pancake.
Virgil knew this whole thing was a mistake.
Roman had practically begged him to break out his skirt, fishnet, and heels. He'd only just bought them, and Roman was entirely too enticed by the idea of his boyfriend wearing them. He was very nervous - he'd never worn heels before, and never a skirt out in public - but he just couldn't bring himself to say no to his love.
And so, here he stood, leaning on the railing over a valley as the sun began reaching to kiss the horizon. He'd worn his favorite ripped crop top and leather jacket, fishnets reaching across his exposed navel, down beneath his plaid purple skirt and all the way into the black high heels he wore. He'd done his makeup a little nicer than usual, winging his eyeliner and getting a bit of purple sparkles in with his eyeshadow. his hair curled and twined haphazardly over his forehead and eyes as he watched lights of houses in the valley flicker on.
This was meant to be a special date, just Janus, Roman and Virgil. Roman had planned it, and kept the events a complete secret to both his boyfriends, simply telling them when and where to meet him. Virgil checked his phone; it was two minutes to seven, the agreed upon time. Virgil tended to arrive early to most things, since he was usually anxious that he'd be late even when getting a 30 minute head start. He passed his phone between his hands, the screen flickering on when his thumb accidentally tapped it, and a picture of Roman kissing a smirking Janus on the cheek greeted him. He felt his cheeks heat up, and slid his phone back into his pocket.
A clicking noise sounded from a little ways away, and Virgil turned to seek its source.
Janus was walking up, the heels of his black and white dress shoes clicking on the pavement. He wore a black wool suit with golden accents, a red dress shirt with subtle frills and a gold bowtie. On his head rested his favorite bowler hat, concealing the majority of his golden curls - some of which escaped anyway, tucked neatly against his forehead and over his ears. He smirked and bowed as he approached Virgil, dipping his head and holding one golden gloved hand fisted tight against the small of his own back. Virgil scoffed and shoved his shoulder, and Janus stumbled a bit, snickering back.
Janus joined Virgil at the railing, looking out at the valley and the setting sun. They stood in a comfortable silence for a while, Virgil needing to consistently will himself not to rest his head on Janus' shoulder that was painfully close but felt so far.
After long enough, Janus cleared his throat. "Where might our dear prince be?" He ran his fingers down the underside of one of his lapels, not yet tearing his gaze from the pink clouds surrounding the sunset. Virgil opted to check his phone.
"Uh..." He couldn't form the words, so he simply presented his phone to Janus. A single text had come through.
Janus hummed, eyebrows raised. "Well it appears we're stuck with each other for the time being." He smirked slightly, and Virgil scoffed, bumping shoulders with him.
"What a waste," Virgil mused under his breath after a few more minutes of them staring out at the sunset together.
"Ah..." Janus glanced at Virgil briefly. "Such a shame. What a lovely view. It's practically hand drawn for a couple." He sighed, a little too dramatically, and Virgil furrowed his brow at him. "If only Roman were here. Unfortunately, you're not really my type, darling."
"Really." Virgil spat, rolling his eyes and crossing his arms over his chest protectively.
"Alas it's only you and I," Janus continued, leaning slightly closer to Virgil, "and frankly, we've got no chemistry whatsoever."
"Ah, okay snakey." Virgil bit back, not daring to look at the smirk he was sure was playing on Janus' face. "I think I can make that call, huh? Just because you look all pretty in that polyester suit doesn't-"
"It's wool," Janus interjected in annoyance. Although after a moment he gasped slightly, turning to Virgil fully. "Wait a moment! Did you just call me pretty, Charlie Frown?" He leaned a little too close, and Virgil scrunched his nose, leaning away slightly.
"Stealing Ro's nicknames for me doesn't make you creative," Virgil deflected, smirking right back at Janus.
"Mmm, perhaps not," Janus leaned away, seemingly examining his fingernails through his gloves.
"And for the record, I'm also feeling no chemistry."
"Is that so?" Janus' attention was back on Virgil, and their eyes locked in an intense and silent battle. Virgil wouldn't back down, just as he never had before, but this time he wasn't sure what he was trying to prove. He straightened his posture, making his chest puff out slightly. Even if Janus was taller than him, he wouldn't shy away from a confidence contest. No, not even if his crush was literally looming over him, not even if he could swear he just saw Janus' eyes flick to his lips for an imperceptible millisecond.
"Yeah. It is." He leaned his head forward, almost bumping his forehead on Janus'. Had he ever seen Janus' face so red?
"So you agree, then," Janus spoke, voice ever so slightly unsteady, but he didn't dare back down. Even if he was nose to nose with a boy he was in love with.
"Yeah, I guess I do." Virgil scrunched his nose again. This time, when Janus' eyes flicked to his lips, it wasn't deniable. He watched it happen, clear as day.
And so, he took a chance.
He took one step forward, not moving his head at all but nearly pushing his body against Janus'. Janus responded in kind, taking a step forward as well, and they were chest to chest. Virgil reached up and gripped Janus' lapels. They were impressively soft, and Virgil realized Janus hadn't just been bragging; it was in fact a wool suit. Janus' hands came to Virgil's hips. Virgil pressed their foreheads together, and didn't dare look away from Janus' eyes. They both breathed on each other, caught up in the heat of the moment without even needing to move with each other.
They'd both been waiting for this for so long.
Slowly, Janus' arms wrapped around Virgil's waist, and Virgil tilted his jaw up slightly. Janus met him halfway, immediately initiating a passionate, openmouthed kiss. Virgil's arms wrapped around Janus' neck, and Janus held him as close against himself as he physically could.
Virgil's mind was exploding, and so was Janus'. Neither of them could believe that this was really real. But they were both too afraid to break the kiss to make sure that it was, so they just kept kissing.
Hands wandered as they did, and Virgil had his arms wrapped beneath Janus' and around his back, both of them pulling each other against themselves as snugly as they could. Neither could get enough of this feeling they'd been chasing for so many years, and the fact that it had all culminated into this moment felt intoxicating in a way neither could describe.
Eventually things slowed down, and they went from lovingly tongue battling to trading gentle slow pecks, both of them smiling stupidly as they rested their foreheads together once more.
Janus opened his mouth to speak, but was interrupted. "I genuinely thought you two weren't going to stop kissing for a minute there. Jeez."
Janus gasped and Virgil yelped, both of them jumping about a foot in the air and a foot away from each other. Roman, who was sitting on the bench next to them, broke out in laughter.
"Ro you can't sneak up on us like that, man!" Virgil wheezed out though labored breaths, as he tried to calm himself. Janus just stood straight as a pencil with his hands pressed into his face.
After long enough, Roman caught his breath, but he was still smiling so big at his boyfriends. They both looked between Roman and each other, trying desperately to probe the situation without moving a muscle.
Roman brought his hands to his face, fingers curled into happy fists. "Do you know how happy it makes me that you two finally realized?" Roman practically squealed, and if it were even possible, Virgil's face went even redder. Janus collected himself, and cleared his throat.
"Well hello, Roman." He opened his mouth to say more, but the words wouldn't come. He kept glancing to Virgil, who had taken to staring at the floor.
Roman looked between the two of them for a moment. "Oh you big buffoons. Talking always has been hard for the two of you, huh? Come here, my loves." He patted the bench on either side of him, and his boyfriends came at his call, settling in with their thighs against Roman's. "Now hmm, how should we start... I suppose you can fill me in on what I missed?" he looked between them. "Surely you didn't simply see each other in your lovely-" Roman made a point to look Virgil up and down slowly, "-outfits," And Janus as well, "And just decide to attach at the lips immediately? That sounds like something I'd do, more so than either of you." Janus chuckled, and kissed Roman's cheek.
"Well, snakey here decided to make a deal about how pretty the sunset was. And how it was so romantic and all that. And how it was a waste that-" Virgil's snarky explanation was cut off.
"Excuse me, I started it? No no no Virgie," Janus smirked as Virgil's eyes widened at the nickname, "You were the first to make a sly comment about the waste of a romantic view."
"You tell Ro then, if you think you know so much better." Virgil crossed his arms over his chest and stuck his tongue out at Janus, who hummed a laugh.
"Alright. Well," His smirk was lost then, and he took to adjusting his gloves. "I then made a comment about the lack of chemistry between us, and... And I think Virgie said something about me being pretty," His smirk was no longer lost, and Virgil rolled his eyes to try and distract himself from his heart racing in his chest. "And... I'm not sure. We got... lost in the moment." Janus smiled then. A genuine smile. It was such a rare sight (as Roman and Virgil often commented to each other) that Roman nudged Virgil's shoulder so he'd look up to see it too. They both gaped at Janus happily for a few moments, before Janus cleared his throat. "So I suppose then that in the end, I was correct that you find me pretty, Virgil?"
Virgil choked on air for a moment. "Sure, yeah, whatever," He spoke under his breath, "but you were also wrong about the chemistry thing. So suck it." Virgil gave him a challenging grin.
"Ayo!" Roman snickered at the innuendo, and Virgil and Janus both rolled their eyes at him.
"But darling," Janus ignored Roman for a moment, and Virgil swore his chest would explode if Janus kept using pet names for him, "You so strongly agreed that there was no chemistry to be found between us, and yet." He held his hands out, gesturing to their circumstances and smirking yet again.
"Oh shut up pretty boy," Virgil growled in annoyance, reaching across Roman's lap and pulling Janus by the cheeks into another kiss.