Sanders Sides One Shots

Poor Thing pt. 3 (Prinxiety)

Roman would be lying if he said he'd expected Virgil's outburst. He stared at him, jaw dropped. None of them, including the emo nightmare himself, had expected him to get so randomly confident.

"Now if you excuse me, I'm going to go with Roman now. Because he loves me," Virgil continued. "He's known for being very honest."

"He's not lying," Roman piped up for no reason in particular. "Might want to let us go before you do something you regret," he added for the fun of intimidation. The snake hissed, and Virgil hissed back before marching over to Roman and taking his hand.

"Let's go, love," he said, accenting the last word so that Deceit could hear.

"Gladly," Roman replied, smiling slightly.

-

"That was incredible, Virge," Roman said, letting go of his hand when they found themselves yet again in the green field. "Absolutely magnificent."

"You really think so, Princey?" he asked quietly.

"Of course I do," the prince answered truthfully. "After all, you said it yourself, I'm known for being quite honest." They smiled in awkward silence.

"What do you want from me?" Virgil asked carefully.

"Really, Virge, you make it sound as though I've got to want something from you." The emo raised an eyebrow skeptically. "So if I've got to, I'll give you the full and honest truth. I want to see you smile. And I want to see you laugh. Genuinely. I know it's easy to fake them. I just want you to be happy, Virgil, whether it's with or without me. And sure, I'd rather I was there. I would. But if you're afraid, or not ready, or you don't want a relationship like that at all, I fully support you. Because love doesn't mean that I'll hold on to you like I hold on to my sword, for example. It means I want what's best for you. And if it makes me happy or not, I will help you get what you deserve. And you deserve to be loved and cherished as the beautiful person you are. You deserve so much better than that snakeface ever made you think you did. I wasn't lying when I said you were better than him." Roman paused to take a breath. "Would it be alright if I touched you? Or..." Virgil nodded in response. Roman gently took his hands. "I swear to you you're better than he is. You want to protect Thomas to the best of your ability. You want to help and hey, you might not be perfect at it. But none of us are. He just wanted to make things bad, or worse if they already were bad. Don't ever let anyone make you think differently."

Virgil stared at the prince in front of him, the prince holding his hands, the prince that he loved but could never trust. Tears pricked at his eyes. "I love you, Roman. I do. Thank you so much," he said, obviously trying to hold in sobs. Clouds gathered in the clear sky, and a slight rain began to drizzle. Virgil loved the rain, and the feeling of water droplets on his face made him smile subconsciously. "But I'm scared. I don't know who I can and can't trust. I don't know any of you all that well, to be honest. I never looked all that hard. I don't want to be hurt again. I thought that for once, just for me..." his breath hitched as he forced himself to remain calm. "Maybe he could tell the truth. I thought it might've been possible, any of it. Y-you wouldn't get it, I'm sure. It's just that he... I told you already, he helped me through some panic attacks in the past, and when I was upset he held me and said it would be okay. He made things better. For the most part, I was a little uncomfortable. I always was, though, so I never questioned it until you and I started to get along better and I didn't feel it at all. But I thought there was a possibility that he was capable of being kind. I guess you really can't trust anyone."

"Virgil..." Roman's heart broke. "You can't trust everyone," he corrected gently. "That doesn't mean there aren't any good people out there. Can I hug you? You look like you need a hug, but I don't know about boundaries," he said quickly.

"Princey, you don't have to ask. I don't really mind if you do anything," Virgil sighed. "But a hug would be nice."

Roman hesitated, frowning, before he pulled Virgil in for a hug. "I should ask. Consent is important. I don't want to make you uncomfortable in any way. You always seemed a bit nervous when we touched each other even by accident before."

"Oh," the emo replied lamely. "I... thank you for thinking about that." He sighed, brushing his slightly wet bangs out of his eyes. The rain had quickened slightly, no longer a faint drizzle but instead a light shower. It was more noticeable as well; it smelled fresh and was calming to listen to; not to mention the cool droplets of water always gave him a good sensation as they plicked onto his skin.

"Virgil, I... I don't think you've noticed, but... Deceit broke you just a little bit. You... you seemed to think like I wanted something for myself when I told you I loved you," Roman started, listing off the examples he knew about, though he was sure there were more. "You couldn't tell the difference between him leaving you in the middle of a panic attack that, mind you, he himself caused, and me being stupid and petty and ignorant and... well, consent is important and you didn't look like you knew that. Like you expect me to do as I please with you and toss you away when I'm done. Not everyone is that way, and I hope you know that."

Virgil couldn't hold in his tears any longer and cried onto Roman's shoulder. The prince wondered if he'd crossed a line with him until Virgil hugged him tighter.

Roman relaxed a little bit. "Please know that love doesn't look like anything Deceit ever gave you. Except the good stuff I guess, being there when you're hurting, or calming you down during an attack or... anything like that. There's no on-off switch, though. Sure, people can get upset, but if they truly love one another, they'll apologize, not leave the other alone," he whispered into the other's ear. Virgil relaxed slightly.

This time, the emo surprised him. "Can I... Can I kiss you?" he asked softly, staring at the ground.

"Yeah," Roman replied, voice just as low. Their lips met, but it wasn't anything like Virgil had ever gotten in his relationship with Deceit. It was gentle and soft, slow yet passionate. They pulled away because oxygen was necessary to survive. "If you want a relationship like this... if you want a boyfriend... if that boyfriend were me, I wouldn't hurt you. Not on purpose," Roman promised.

"I believe you," Virgil said, voice barely a whisper. "C-could we kiss again? It was actually pretty nice," he said, smiling bashfully.

Roman obliged, their lips locking for the second time. They could tell from that second kiss that it felt so right.

Virgil never felt the uneasiness again, because whenever he got nervous, Roman was always there to hold his hand, and the rightness of it all made his worries melt away.