In the morning, everything was normal, they went to work. Vigil came back first as per usual, he plopped onto the couch and was about to turn on the tv when heard what sounded like his brother. Except, he was limping and his breath seemed to hiss softly. He knocked on the door, Vigil opened it half way, to see Travis, but half of his face was covered in snake scales. His scaly side had a bruised eye and a scar going from the side of his mouth to just under his ear.
"Travis?!"
Vigil whispered in surprise,
"th-they kicked me out. They shocked me and kicked me out I… I went to look for you. I didn't- didn't know what to do."
Travis started to break down, Vigil hugged him and brought him inside. Vigil led him to the couch then started to boil water for tea. In the meanwhile, He sat next to Travis and put his arm around him.
"I-I started getting stronger and one day my face hurt really bad and I went to sleep. The next day, I wake up in the morning, and there it is. Next thing I know, I'm out the door with a bunch of scars on my face from dad and a wad of cash from mom."
"How long ago?"
"A week…"
"did you notice anything else weird?"
"I would wake up in a little tent made of leaves even though I was sleeping under a tree or in a field."
"It's okay, I'm gonna help you through this."
"What is happening?"
"You're like me and the others, what mom and dad would call a demon."
"What others?"
"I have… roommates, they're like us, but their… animal features… haven't grown in."
"Are the wings your only ones?"
Vigil let his ears pop out of his hair and let his tail slither out from its hiding spot.
"Woah, how long?"
"A few, years. I was nervous of how you'd react."
"They're so fluffy…"
Travis started to stroke Vigil's ears, Vigil purred at the contact.
"Aww"
"shush… you…"
he whispered out between purrs. Rownan came in,
"I'm going to assume this is a coworker or Travis."
"You talk about me?"
"Sometimes."
"He doesn't talk about his life that much."
"Which roommate are you?"
"We are official, you need to stop calling me your roommate. I'm Rownan, his boyfriend."
Rownan stated this with finesse as he kissed Vigil's ear and started to stroke him. Vigil leaned into it while purring, looking almost blissful. Travis observed the scene, he had a sort of sad expression on his face as if he wanted this type of love as well. Vemas peeked out of the doorway,
"is it safe to come in bro? Woah, what happened to you? Are you alright?"
"I'm fine. Thanks for asking, I'm guessing you two are brothers?"
"Yep."
Rownan and Vemas answered simultaneously, then looked at each other.
"Vemas is younger by about a year."
"Huh, same with Travis."
They gave each other a look,
"can I talk to you in private?"
"Sure."
The couple left the two alone and went to Vigil's room, Vigil's two journals were on the bed. He went to put them away, but Rownan snatched them up and started flipping through one of them.
"Ooo, what's this? This is amazing! You're really good at drawing ya know."
"That's private!"
Vigil tried to snatch it back, but Rownan held it up and Vigil couldn't reach it.
"You're almost as short as a midget, how do you lift things so easily?"
"Like this."
Vigil lifted Rownan and threw him up into the air, then caught him.
"See? Easy!"
"Anything you do would be easy for you. You're practically perfect."
Vigil was surprised at the comment and nearly dropped Rownan. He put him down and took back his journals. Once he put them away, he sat on his bed facing away from Rownan.
"Are you mad at me?"
Vigil said nothing,
"I'm sorry, it won't happen again."
Rownan wrapped his arms around Vigil's waist, and put his chin on Vigil's shoulder. Vigil turned his face away from Rownan's, trying to hide the blush on his face.
"Please, sweetie… talk to me?"
"Promise it won't happen again?"
"Promise."
"Fine, I forgive you. Just make sure it doesn't happen again."
"Alright."
Rownan kissed Vigil's neck, Vigil gave a small purr. Rownan kept going, soon enough they were laying down, kissing, Vigil's sweater was on the floor and his shirt was half-way off. The door opened, Travis was staring at the scene with his eyes wide open.
"Am I interrupting something?"
"Maybe..."
the other two drew out awkwardly.
"I'll leave you to it." Travis walked away and closed the door. Vigil and Rownan looked at each other, and started laughing. They calmed down soon enough, Rownan was the first to speak,
"well that happened."
"Yeah, no shit Sherlock! Oh my- did you see his face?!"
"That was hilarious. I'm glad that I got to meet your brother, he seems really nice."
"He is. I kinda feel bad for him though, mom and dad never really do anything other than let him have what he wants. Now all that got taken away, because he looked weird. I honestly don't get their logic sometimes."
"Who's?"
"My owners', first 19 or so years of his life, you give him what he wants, you give him education, you teach him how to do things he'll need to do later. As soon as he's not a regular person, you beat him up and kick him out of your house. It makes no sense!"
"Even though me and Vemas are basically the same, I had to do everything perfectly and Vemas can do whatever he wants. It wasn't fair. I was bad at some things that I really liked to do. They made me quit because they couldn't bother teaching me how to do it better. But if Vemas found something he enjoyed and wasn't good at it, they would teach everything they know about it. Plus, we were basically into all of the same things! Zero! Sense!"
"Thank you! Parents man, sometimes they're just being asses because it's easier."
"Right?."
"How did we get to this point in our conversation?"
"I don't even know what we were talking about before. Don't ask me."
"By the way, I was wondering if you were ticklish?"
"Not that I know of. Why?"
"Because Patoran wants to have a tickle test later and you always skipped out on those."
"Yeah, I'd get scared and chicken out."
"Remember that time we had to get you off the refrigerator?"
"Oh man, I still don't know how I get up there."
"I don't know either, one of life's many mysteries."
"Oof to that."
They giggled for a few seconds and Rownan got up, and started to walk out of the room. When he opened the door, a bucket of water fell on his head and ruined yet another good hair day.
"Vemas! I'M GOING TO KILL YOU IF YOU DON'T GET YOUR SORRY ASS BACK OVER HERE, RIGHT NOW!"
"Damn, he's dead."
Vemas snickered in the bathroom, Rownan followed the sound and bashed Vemas over the head with the bucket. Vigil put his shirt on properly, got his phone and ran to the bathroom. Travis was watching open mouthed from the couch.
"Did I miss anything?"
"You missed everything."
"Shoot, I wanted to get a picture."
"Of what?"
Rownan walked out of the bathroom, his wet shirt clinging to him, revealing his six-pack. Vigil took a picture as he simply stated,
"that."
"Give me your phone."
"Never."
Vigil ran to his room and closed the door. He was about to lock it when Rownan burst through and grabbed him.
"Give. Me. The phone!"
"No! My photo! My phone! My rules!"
Vigil elbowed Rownan, pried his hands off him and judo-flipped him onto the floor.
"Surrender!"
"Never!"
Rownan tried to get up but Vigil kept him floored, finally he said,
"I surrender."
"Phew."
Vigil let go, flopping onto the bed and started flipping through tumblr on his phone.
"You just pinned me to the ground and you're not even mildly breathless?"
"Eh."
Rownan gave him an exasperated look then tried to bear hug him. Vigil screeched and hissed at him,
"no! No water! Bad! Very bad!"
"Ya know, sometimes I forget how catty you are."
Rownan left the room and dried himself off, changing his clothes. While he did that, Vigil found something particularly funny and laughed almost sweetly until he was about to cry.
"Aww. Is everything about you adorable?"
Rownan said, hearing his adorable little laugh.
"Oh shush!"
Vigil scolded with a small giggle.
"Hey bro, is it okay if Travis stays at my house?"
"You'll have to ask Travis and Vigil."
"I mean, we don't really have that much space. I guess it's fine if he agrees with it."
"He did. Bye!"
Vemas walked out with Travis in tow.
"Bye?"
Rownan and Vigil questioned together.