He never felt like this, he didn't know what to do. He walked to his room in a daze, closed the door and flopped onto the bed. He was happy that Rownan asked him out, and so cleverly, but he felt something else. He thought this is what his mom meant when she said,
"you'll never feel true love in your life, so be glad you feel any love at all"
This must've been true love, he was happy and he proved his owners wrong, which made him even happier. He got the Toothless plushie that Rownan had gotten for his birthday and hugged it, he treasured the plushie. Vigil tried, but he couldn't go to sleep, he wanted to go to Dunkin' Donuts, he was dressed for it anyway. He stopped time, so the others didn't know. As usual, he stepped out of the wobbling cocoon where he was standing and started walking, but he got curious. What was the cocoon for? He didn't want to lose anything, just in case. But if he lost his hand he could always regrow it. He stuck his hand through, nothing. He thought it was safe and stuck his foot through, nothing. He stuck his face through, he was in front of Dunkin' Donuts. He walked through and unfroze time, his hood was up and he had on long jeans. But he still had his mask around his neck, he put it on his face and ordered. He paid and walked out, thought about his room in the apartment, then froze time. He walked through his wobbly cocoon and returned to his apartment, donuts and all. He unfroze time and ate the chocolate, and jelly donuts. He went to brush his teeth, but he heard strange sounds from the bathroom. The shower was on, he heard Patoran whisper,
"Lo! Your gonna get us caught!"
He walked back to his room, screaming in his head.
"My ship has officially sailed." (#me)
He whispered to himself, as he closed the door. He changed clothes, grabbed his plushie, and flopped onto his bed. He fell asleep minutes later. When he woke up he got ready for work, had some cereal, and was out the door. When he got back, the shower wasn't on, there were sounds coming from Patoran's room. He could hear the giggles, the sheets ruffle, their clothes rubbing against each other. He didn't remember being able to hear this well, he didn't like it at the moment. He stopped by his room and got some clean clothes. He got in the bathroom, and turned on the shower. As he undressed, he could hear whispers, they were talking so quietly. He wished they talked that quiet all the time, his ears wouldn't hurt as bad. He got in the shower and washed out his ears, his tail, the rest of him. Then he released his wings, he could feel oil and dirt running off them as the water hit them. He scrubbed a bit at stubborn spots that wouldn't come off with the water. He maneuvered a bit to get the entire wing, even the tips. He thought how much easier it would be if he told Rownan, Lolan and Patoran took showers together, why couldn't him and Rownan do the same? Then he remembered what he was, a monster, something that was used as pets for the wealthy and kept drugged in cages at the zoo. He sang quietly, as he finished in the shower, he kept humming as he dried off, then retracted his wings. As he was getting dressed, there was a knock on the door, it was Rownan .
"Occupied."
"Patoran and Lolan told me they heard you singing, they said it was good."
"In that case, tell them I overheard their quality time in Patoran's room."
There was a pause, then Rownan said, "they are redder than tomatoes right now, what were they doing?"
"I'm gonna go with, making out, to put lightly."
"Got any pics?"
"No, I just overheard them, in bed, together, whispering, pausing, Patoran giggling."
"You have some phenomenal hearing."
"All the better to spy with, dear Ro."
Rownan snickered, "You should see their faces right now, they are so embarrassed."
Vigil chuckled and muttered to himself, "shouldn't have said anything about me singing."
He finished getting dressed and got out of the bathroom.
"That was none of your business to talk about!" Exclaimed Lolan, a nice pink was spread across his face.
"Neither was my singing, If you had kept quiet, I'd have kept quiet as well."
He walked off leaving an embarrassed couple to be teased by Rownan before Ro went in the shower. Vigil went in his room, sat on his bed, and picked up the robotics book. He wrote notes down in his journal for later, when he finished the chapter, he put the book aside and reviewed his notes. He turned to the back few pages and began to sketch randomly. After a few minutes, he looked at his work. It was turning out well, he kept going. About half an hour later, he was finished. It was him and Rownan, Vigil's wings enveloping them like a blanket. His ears and tail were showing, Rownan whispering into his ear as he played with Vigil's tail. They were stargazing on a cliff top, you could see the Northern Lights, the Milky Way, and a shooting star. Vigil looked at his art work and checked the time, 7:59, as soon as it turned 8:00, there was a knock on the door. Rownan looked slightly neater, but overall the same, just like Vigil. He took his hand and led him out the door.
"Where are we going?"
"Somewhere Romantic."
"Think about the place."
"Alright?"
Vigil stopped time, then pulled Rownan out of his cocoon.
"Where are we?"
"The same place we were. Time stopped and your thoughts made a portal."
"What?"
Rownan looked behind him, he stuck his head through the red cocoon.
"They did! Is this you?"
"Maybe. Come on!"
Vigil went through first, eager to see Rownan's romantic spot. It was about the same spot he drew just a few minutes ago, but it was dusk instead of night.
"Do you like it."
"It's amazing, how did you find this place?"
"I got lost on a camping trip, stumbled upon this cliff as I wandered."
"Your a drama geek?"
"How'd you know?"
Vigil looked in Rownan'eyes and let himself get lost in them. He explained how he knew,
"I always thought so, it's like how you guys knew I was Brit without me telling you. The way you talk and carry yourself sort gives off this clue to how you grew up."
"Do tell!"
Lolan's parents are hard on him, they want him to have good grades, be straight, speak well. Basically be perfect, he speaks with articulation, big vocabulary, never shortens his words. He was adamant about having feelings for Patoran at first, but his parents aren't watching him so he went for it. I think he's American but I'm not sure. Patoran's parents are dream parents, their supportive, upbeat, nice, Greek. Plus their okay with LGBTQ. You, walk and talk like a drama geek, but you're worn out. You want a break but you want an opportunity to get to the big leagues. You don't want to miss a big chance so that you can afford to take a break later on. Your parents are hard on you too, they never let you have a break when you were a kid, that's one of the reasons your so tired now. Your from Italy, I heard you talking to your parents, rapid fire Italian."
"You can hear that?"
"All the better to deduce with dear Ro."
"Dear is it?"
"Yeah,Yeah."
"I underestimated you, I didn't know I was asking out a Big Bad Sherlock Holmes." Rownan said sweetly as he hugged him from behind.
"Oh shush you." Vigil blushed, holding Rownan's hands.
They sat on the ground, watching the sunset as it turned to night. You could see the stars, the Milky Way, and Northern Lights.
"Vigil?"
"Hm?"
"How do feel about me calling you 'Angelo Gotico'?"
"What does it mean?"
"Gothic Angel."
Vigil's heart skipped, for a few seconds he was speechless, no one had ever called him anything close to that.
"I-I like it. Thanks"
They started walking towards the edge again, Vigil's hood was still up, but a low branch pulled it off, revealing his unkempt hair that completely covered his ears.
"Can I do your hair?"
"Maybe another time, right now let's just talk."
"Too late."
Rownan started combing his fingers through his hair, then he found the ears. Rownan lifted the hair on either side of his head, no human ears. He exposed his cat ears and styled his hair to show them.
"You're not mad?"
"No, why would I be? You were scared about how I'd react. I'm excited to be honest, I've kinda wanted to meet a manimal that wasn't in a cage. Why are they so zoned out?"
"Because they're drugged, heavily."
"Oh."
"Yeah, I guess I can show you the other things."
He let his tail pop out and took off his sweater, tying it around his waist. His wings came out, in all their glory.
"Wow… this is, amazing! Has anyone ever done this?"
Rownan stroked the feathers, Vigil smiled and answered,
"no, but it feels… nice"
He felt a fuzzy, warm feeling. He purred, softly until Rownan started scratching as well, he purred louder.
"You got a bit more than the looks from cats huh."
"S-shut up…."
He purred again, this time it was his ears being pet. He leaned on Rownan, sinking down to the ground with him, wings enveloped around them like a blanket. After a while, Rownan started to play with his tail which triggered a strange-ish sound,
"mmm, Ro, stop it"
"why?"
Rownan kept playing with his tail, soon the sound gave way to a quiet moan.
Rownan froze, "oh."
"Yeah, please don't do that again."
"Alright, if that makes you happy."
He started whispering in his ear softly, his voice was quiet, soothing even.
"I can't believe your owners were so stupid to think you deserved to be treated badly. You are molto bello, both inside and out... Do you want to come here more often?... Look, there's a shooting star."
He kept whispering sweet nothings to him, then he noticed something.
"I think I found a soft spot..."
Rownan massaged near the tip of his ear, Vigil sighed wistfully and purred until he fell asleep.
A few hours later Rownan shook Vigil lightly and whispered,
"Angelo Gotico, wake up. We have to go home."
Vigil woke up and wrapped his wings tightly around them and whined,
"noooo, can't we stay a bit longer?"
"Why don't you wanna go back?"
"Pat and Lo are probably still mad at me, I have to go to work, and I like cuddling with you."
They both noticed his tail had wrapped around Rownan's arm.
"Did you do that on purpose?"
"No it just happens while I sleep. It happened last time we cuddled, but you didn't notice."
"Oh really? Why do you think that happened?"
"I guess I was just being clingy."
Vigil looked away, blushing. He was always rather clingy to his brother, and there were a few times where they cuddled. But the latchy tail is fairly new and so far, only works for Rownan. Rownan lifted Vigil's chin up and toward him, bringing his own face closer as well.
Rownan whispered,
"Are you sure? You look confused."
Vigil smiled and whispered back,
"not anymore."
They kissed, they stayed kissing for a few minutes, with occasional breaks.
"Alright, we're going home. Whether you like it or not."
"Not!"
"Well, up we go!"
"Woah! Put me down!"
"You're so light, I could carry you all day."
"Well if you want a portal home, then put me down!"
"Fine."
Rownan put him down, Vigil stopped time and got Ro out of his cocoon. The cocoon led home so they went through it. Once the were through, Vigil hid everything and unfroze time, revealing a very worried Patoran pacing the floor, and Lolan trying to calm him down. When they realized they were home they shouted,
"WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN! You've been gone for 5 hours!"
"I'm sorry Pat, we lost track of time and I fell asleep."
"Also, we've been roomies with Sherlock Holmes! Tell them what you told me!"
"I-it's like how you guys knew I was Brit without me telling you. The way you talk and carry yourself sort gives off this clue to how you grew up."
Vigil repeated, shuffling his feet.
"Lolan's parents are hard on him, they want him to have good grades, be straight, speak well. Basically be perfect, he speaks with articulation, big vocabulary, never shortens his words. He was adamant about having feelings for Patoran at first, but his parents aren't watching him so he went for it. I think he's American but I don't know for sure. Patoran's parents are dream parents, their supportive, upbeat, nice, Greek. So their okay with LGBTQ. Rownan walks and talks like a drama geek, but he's worn out. He wants a break but he wants an opportunity to get to the big leagues. He doesn't want to miss a big chance so that he can afford to take a break later on. His parents are hard on him too, they never let him have a break when he was a kid, that's one of the reasons he's so tired now. He's from Italy, I heard him talking to his parents, rapid fire Italian."
"How did you get all of that?"
"How you walk and talk."
"What do Rownan's strides sound like to you?"
"Rownan's strides are strong, labored, proud, and heavy."
"Interesting..."
"What do my strides sound like?"
"Bouncy, light, when you're tired you shuffle."
"And me?"
"Cautious, slow, when you read you go faster."
"Why do you look so, ashamed?"
"I-it's nothing, I'm going to bed."
Vigil went to his room and closed the door, memories came flooding back. He held a sob, and just sat there crying to himself. After a while, he sucked it up and got ready for bed. When he went to sleep, it started out pleasant. Him, Rownan, Lolan, and Patoran were on the couch watching something. All of his aspects were free and he was snuggled up with Rownan. There was a knock, Vigil hid himself and Lolan answered it.
"Hello?"
"Hello, we are looking for our missing pet, his name is Demonic Dunnigan."
"There's no one under that name here."
"Nonsense, he's right there."
The door opened to reveal his mom, pointing at him.
"He's not your pet, please go away."
"I've known my pet for the past 16 years, I know it's him."
"Please miss, can you leave? This is movie night."
"Oh really? Well then…"
She took off his hood and started pulling him by his ears. He cut off her hand, using his claws.
"You demon!"
"This demon is done playing your games."
His father shot his friends, his mom took out a knife.
"come on Demonic! You know want to wreak some havoc before you go to hell!"
Vigil looked at his dead friends, he took the knife and stabbed his chest. He took it out, and did it again and again and again, until he collapsed. Everything went dark, he heard his owners voices, echoing through his head.
"Waste of air, Demon child! Freak of nature! No one will ever care more than us."
He woke up in tears, sobbing. He curled up and wrapped his wings around himself, still sobbing.
He heard Rownan come in, "what's wrong Angelo Gotico?"
"We were all dead."
"Sh, shh. It's okay now I'm here. Nothing happened, it was just a dream." "M-my owners, they, they"
Vigil broke into sobs, they were muffled by Rownan's broad chest.
"Shh, shhhhhhh, it's okay. Calm down, nothing happened."
He spoke in his soothing whisper as he stroked Vigil's wings. Vigil started to calm down, he squeezed Rownan to stay as close to him as possible. Rownan started to hum into Vigil's ear. Vigil remembered something, from before his sharp teeth came in and his ears shifted. He didn't have a tail yet, so he wasn't a manimal yet. His catty mom was still with him, his raven father was looking lovingly from behind her. She was humming a similar tune and kissed her husband before wishing them goodnight. Vigil calmed down, then fell asleep in Rownan's arms. When he woke up, his wings covered them like blankets, his tail was wrapped around Rownan's leg, and his ears were pressed against Rownan's chest. He was partially curled up next to Rownan, with their arms wrapped around each other.
Rownan woke up, "morning Angelo. How'd you sleep?"
"I slept well, thanks for that."
"Hey kiddos wake up…"
As Patoran walked in and saw Vigil's animal aspects, Vigil desperately grasped at any non-magical explanation.
"It was a dare!" Rownan blurted out before Patoran got the real answer. "The snuggle or the… outfit."
"Outfit. Snuggle was to help me sleep."
"Aww, Alright I'll leave you two be."
"No, it's fine, we have to get to work. Right?"
"Yeah… I'ma go to my room."
"You need help with that costume?"
"Na, I got it."
Patoran left the room, and Vigil concealed himself. He got ready for work, and went to the kitchen.
"So what do you guys want for breakfast?"
"We already ate."
"I'm eating cereal."
"Great! I'm having a sandwich."
"Were you crying last night?"
Asked Lolan, he was reading as usual.
"Yeah, I was worried."
"It was a nightmare, I got scared."
He said to the others, but mostly to himself.
"What happened that was so scary?"
Lolan said as he looked up from his book.
"My mom and dad were trying to haul me back home, I resisted so they… killed you guys and were about to kill me too. But I killed myself first. Everything went dark, and I woke up."
The room was silent, Patoran came over and gave Vigil a hug.
Vigil's breathing and hands were shaky, "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said anything."
"No, you did the right thing, this is the type of thing you should tell us about."
"Patoran is right, sharing these things lessens the burden."
"Thanks guys, I needed this."
"While on the topic of you, why did you seem so ashamed when demonstrating your deductive reasoning?"
"I just overhear things and put the pieces together."
"Yes but how did you get it so accurately?"
"Practice. My o-parents always had guests over at least once a day, so I tried to find info on the outside world through them. Since the closest I'd ever been to being outside was the green house. It took a few years but I got the hang of it. Then of course, there's the conversations they had."
"So that's why you coped so well when came out for the first time."
"Yeah pretty much."
"But that does not explain why you were ashamed of it."
"My parents learned about it and my hearing, probably because of something I said, and they started being a lot louder. At first it was when they were doing, disturbing, things. Then it escalated to earaches."
"Is that why you asked how loud it was when I caught you looking at our house on your phone?"
"Yeah."
"I'm guessing it has something to do with your ears looking the way they do."
"You've seen his ears?"
"Yeah I was doing his hair, since it was an absolute mess."
"Geez, you don't have to rub it in."
"I would like to see what Rownan is talking about when he says, 'looking the way they do'."
Vigil averted his eyes and took off his hood, letting his ears pop up."
Patoran looked at the ears, and gave a big grin,
"oh. My. God. They're so cute! Can I pet them?"
"Uh.. sure?"
Patoran started petting Vigil's head and scratching behind his ears. Vigil's ears twitched as he purred softly, he had this relaxed, happy face that was sort of cute on him.
Rownan and Patoran exclaimed, "aaawwwwww" in unison,
Vigil replied between purrs, "okay… I thin… think that's… enough."
Patoran stopped as he whined out, "Just a few more minutes?"
"You have to get to work, and I need something to eat."
"If you have those ears, then you have a tail as well. Correct?���
"Correct. Now leave me to make my food."
"But I wanna see your tail!"
"After work."
"Alright, see you guys later."
Patoran left and Vigil started making his sandwich, Rownan watched the egg while Vigil started the bacon, got out the cheese and put the bread in the toaster.
"Thanks."
Vigil said as he took the egg off the stove, flipped the bacon and put the cheese on the egg. The toast popped up and he put the egg, cheese up, then the bacon, and topped it off with ketchup and the other piece of bread.
"Well that was fast."
"Practice makes perfect. Now go to work."
"Alright, Alright."
"Lolan?"
"I have the later shift today, with the middle schoolers."
"I'm guessing you're gonna come back uptight, venting about how stupid the kids were."
"I probably will. See you later."
Vigil finished his sandwich and was getting ready to go when he got a text from his boss, saying that there was a new kid today and he would have to show them the ropes. When he got to work, there was a man that looked a lot like Rownan, but, goth-ish. He also wore green where Rownan would wear red.
"Hello, I'm Vemas."
"I'm Vigil."
Vemas shocked him while shaking his hand,
"sorry I tend to do that."
"Just guessing here, but do you have a brother named Rownan?"
"Yes! How did you know?"
"I'm his roommate. Anyways, you're stocking shelves right?"
"Yep, I told them to give me whatever they had."
"Welp, now I'll have half the shifts, but that means half the pay too."
"Aw, Are you scared you can't afford rent? Well sucks to be you I guess."
"You have no idea."
Vigil led him to the back and opened a door to the storage.
"This is where all the stuff is, all the items are alphabetized and each letter is color coded. I had a friend give me advice on how to organize it, please don't mess it up I worked really hard on it."
"I'll try but things have a way of going wrong when I'm around."
���You are a very relatable person. Sometimes you might have to take a shift on the cash register. Do you know how to use it?"
"Yep."
"Great, then we're done here."
His ears were starting to cramp, he put up his hood and let them pop up.
"You ok dude?"
"Yeah I'm fine. Let's just start the day."
He worked as he usually did, then went home and cooked dinner. When he was done, no one was home yet, so he ate alone and went to his room. He felt warm, he started getting really hot. He took off his sweater, but soon he felt even hotter. He closed the door and turned on the AC in his room. He felt better, but he knew what this meant. It was this once a year thing he went through, it's a lot like touch starvation. It only lasts two weeks, but he usually just lets himself starve. Only Travis cared enough to help, but if they were caught Vigil would be beaten and Travis would be scolded. He locked the door and took off his shirt, while releasing his wings. He curled up on his bed and went to sleep, not caring enough to brush his teeth. When he woke up, someone was knocking on his door.
"Vigil? You in there?"
"Give me a sec Pat…"
Vigil groggily got up and threw on a shirt, then opened the door.
"Oh good, I was worried."
"Sorry 'bout that, I was trying to cool off."
"From what? Is that why your room is so cold?"
"In general and yes. Do you want me to make breakfast?"
"Yeah.."
"waffles?"
"Please?"
Vigil sighed and made waffles, with Patoran's rapt attention.
"So how'd you sleep?" Patoran asked.
"bad, you?" (#me)
"Okay, why aren't you wearing your sweater?"
"I just was too tired to put it on."
"So, what do you do when no one's home?"
"Sleep, watch tv, read"
He said, in his mind he added, 'write songs, do karaoke, draw, dance, make tracks on my laptop to go with the songs I write.'
"That's it. Where is Lolan and Rownan?"
"They're grocery shopping."
"What time is it?"
"3pm."
"Day?"
"Monday. Are you feeling okay?"
'No' he thought to himself.
"yeah I'm fine", he said aloud.
He gave Patoran a plate of waffles and walked towards his room.
"You're not gonna eat kiddo?"
"Na, I'm not hungry, I missed work, so I'm going back to sleep."
He closed the door, he didn't lock it this time. He started to hear sounds from the street. He heard a woman, laughing at her friend who had fallen in a puddle. Her friend was yelling at her, his voice ringing in his ears. He put up his hood, but it wasn't enough to not hear the car crash down the street. He put on the ear muffs he adjusted along with the hood. It was just enough to hear like he normally did.
"Hey Vigil?"
Rownan and Lolan had come home.
"What?"
"You okay?"
"I'm fine, just tired."
"Can we come in?"
Vigil buried himself under the covers, "sure" he turned to face the door.
Rownan, Lolan, and Patoran all came in with concerned looks on their faces.
"What'd I do?" Vigil asked tiredly.
"nothing wrong, we're just worried."
Patoran replied while sitting at the foot of the bed. Rownan knelt next to Vigil's face and stuck a thermometer in his mouth.
"Are you feeling okay, il mio amore?"
Vigil used his tongue to push the thermometer to one side of his mouth.
"I'm fine."
He answered, the thermometer beeped and Rownan took it out, when he looked at the tiny screen his eyes widened, "you're not alright, you're almost at 200o Fahrenheit! I'm calling you in sick for tomorrow."
"No, I'm not sick it's just to make up for certain things."
"What things?"
"Blood loss, scaring, venting built-up electricity, cold nights. That's about it."
"Amore, are you sure that's it? This seems awfully high for just that." Rownan lovingly touched his shoulder, Vigil bit his lip to not do anything.
"It is also touch starvation, Correct?"
Vigil whispered, looking away, "Correct"
"oh, Vigil."
Patoran scratched his ears until he purred himself to sleep. When he woke up, the AC was off and there was a wet cloth on his forehead. He was clutching the Toothless plushie and Rownan was sitting next to him, petting him.
"Good Afternoon il mio amore, did you sleep well?"
"Yeah, Thanks."
Vigil replied sleeplily, he was still groggy but he knew that Patoran and Lolan were trying to make something.
"What are they trying to make?"
"How did you know?"
"My hearing is much better than it used to be. Now could you answer my question.." "they're trying to make something for you to eat. You feeling any better?"
"Not really. A little bit."
"Don't worry, I'll go get you some medicine…"
Rownan left, Vigil started to feel himself heating up again. He hated this, if he wasn't part Neko and part bird, he probably wouldn't go through this every year. Or maybe it was his powers backlashing at him. No, the others probably had just as many, but they didn't discover them yet. They didn't have the experiences that he did, they didn't come through necessity like his did. No, they are developing at a normal rate. Soon enough, every one of them would suffer through his strange condition. He hated that idea, that they would have to suffer like he is. But then at least he would know that they would accept him, and he could help them control it. Instead of them being self taught like himself. Rownan finally came back, Vigil drank the medicine and Rownan continued to pet him. Lolan and Patoran came in with the soup, Vigil could barely hold the bowl, but he drank it down.
"Thanks guys. I needed this."
"Don't worry about Vigil. It's what friends are for."
Rownan started to pet Vigil again, Vigil soon purred himself back to sleep. He dreamed about the first time he heated up like this, miss had faked pity and started petting his ears. She moved to his tail and got out the blade she had been hiding while Vigil was 'distracted'. With one swift motion, she cut it off. Vigil moved away before she could go for his ears. He woke up, Rownan looked worried.
"Hey, it's okay it was a dream. It was a dream."
Rownan hugged him, Vigil felt himself go back to normal. He couldn't help but smile, Rownan probably should've been asleep. Yet here he was, helping Vigil get better. Rownan left, Vigil didn't feel his temperature rise. Rownan came back with a thermometer and put it in Vigil's mouth, after a few seconds it beeped and he removed it. Rownan looked at it and seemed relieved,
"you're back to normal."
"That's great Ro, you should get some sleep."
"I slept with you, I'm not tired."
Rownan explained this right before yawning and starting to nod off.
"Not tired eh? Come on…"
Vigil pulled him into the bed and cuddled up to him. Rownan fell asleep almost instantly, Vigil soon followed suit.