When You're Broken On The Ground

Chapter 41

Trigger Warnings: panic attack

Word Count: 1118

Roman cries when he sees his suit, and he'll be the first to admit it. Not because Remus, Logan, and Patton photographic evidence of course.

He's never been one for gender roles, but he's always loved the ideal of being a prince: brave, courageous, staying strong to who they are. But he loves princesses too, the diversity that a dress can bring, how layered they are, the strength and resilience they have that is rarely touched on. Nevertheless, it took Remus five hours and a call from Emile to reassure Roman that he can and should get the outfit of his dreams. Hypocritical? Completely. To be fair, telling someone else that they deserve to wear what they want, screw gender roles, for their wedding is a world away from being the one whose wedding it is.

"RoRo, you look like one of those gay icons in the magazines," Remus says, snapping Roman out of his thoughts. He eyes himself in the mirror and has to agree with his twin.

White silk suit jacket, much like the one of his Sanders Sides character or a British monarch, with a scarlet silk sash going from his left shoulder to his right hip and a similar sash wrapping around his waist. Gold embroidery edges his sleeve cuffs, three thick bands across his chest, Prince Charming-like tassels on his shoulders, and a thin strip around his collar. Instead of pants, layers of tulle and silk create a skirt, long train in the back, the front with staggered layers so it starts white from under the sash but steadily turns to scarlet, ending at his ankles, to show off the ballet-like black flats he's wearing. Gold thread glitters at the edge of every layer, shining in the light of his room.

It's perfect.

"Right, I think I'm ready."

"Ehhhh, not quite," Remus says from behind him.

"Wait what? Why?" Roman asks, almost wrinkling his forehead before he remembers his makeup as he carefully turns to face Remus without stepping on his train.

"Because kiddo, you forgot this," Patton replies, placing a gold crown on his head, a rainbow of jewels inlaid into it. It's not heavy but it's not light either, so it can't be something they picked up from a dollar tree. And it completes his outfit as if it was always meant to be part of it.

"Guys," Roman sniffs, digging his nails into his palms to keep from crying, "if you don't stop being really nice and sweet I will ruin my makeup and that's a big no no."

"Aww c'here bro," Remus sniffs, hugging Roman tightly. "I love you so much, you're gonna shine like a prince and Virgil's going to gain twenty gay points just from looking at you."

"Remus," Roman sniffs harder, clutching at his twin. "I love you too," he chokes out past the giant blockage in his throat. He will not cry, he will not cry, he will not cry-

"Limo's here," Thomas calls, popping into the room. "You look incredible Roman!"

"Thank you Thomas," Roman says, releasing his brother to press back the tears in the corner of his eyes.

~~~

"I can't do this."

"Of course you can Vee," Janus insists, having spent the last ten minutes getting Virgil out of panic attack. "C'mon, you look great, the venue looks great, and you're marrying Roman. You've dated him for years, you two love each other, it's going to be just fine."

"But if-"

"Virgil I love you like the younger brother I never got-"

"Patton's the younger twin though??"

"Ignore him. I love you and I know it's hard, but you gotta believe that it's going to be okay."

Virgil takes a deep breath. "Okay."

"Great, now let's fix your makeup and then we'll be ready to go!" Janus sets him in front of the mirror and moves to grab his bag of stuff, careful to not step on Virgil's arm thingies.

They're not really called arm thingies, but Virgil has no clue what they're called but they look like Elsa's fabric wing-like things at the end of the movie, but a deep violet. They attach on the outside of his bicep, on the void black suit jacket that reminds him of Roman's Sanders Sides outfit. Though, instead of gold accents, it has silver edging the cuffs, collar, and meeting point of the Elsa fabric wing things. The pattern is similar to spiderwebs, but small enough that you'd have to be really close to notice. Similar to Roman's outfit again, he has a dark violet sash going from his left shoulder to his right hip, but it also wraps around his waist like a belt but nicer. He's wearing black pants, matching his suit, with silver spiderwebs edging the cuffs of them as well, ending just above his shiny dress shoes.

"Alright spiderling, let's reset that foundation, redo the bottom half of the eyeshadow, and the eyeliner, I think that's everything that needs fixing," Janus mutters. "Wait, didn't you put on mascara?"

"Waterproof," Virgil reminds him.

"Virgil you are brilliant," Janus praises before going in.

Dark purple shadow mixed with some light grey cover the top of his eyes, some blackish-grey for the bottom, plus some thin white eyeliner to pop against the darker colors, and Janus is done.

"Damn, I forgot how good you are at this," Virgil says, staring at himself.

"I taught you everything you know," Janus replies deadpan as he puts his stuff away. "But thank you. Now, I have one last thing then we can leave."

"But that's everything, J-"

Janus sets a glittering silver crown on his head, silencing him immediately. The crown isn't heavy, but it isn't light either, so definitely made out of metal of some kind and not plastic. "There," Janus whispers to a stunned Virgil, "you're ready."

~~~

The venue out-did themselves. The room is white, all the windows uncovered to let sunlight pour into the hall. A red velvet carpet is rolled out from the double doors to the slightly raised platform, on top of which is a rainbow of roses and other flower braided to create a beautiful arch, under which an officiate in a white and black suit stands. The chairs are sleek black mesh chairs, but no one's sitting in them yet.

Logan, Thomas, Talyn, and Emile catch up while Remy, Joan, and Remus talk and many of their other friends hug and catch up. Many of Roman's friends from various plays, musicals, and his first movie are there as well, including Connor and Evan, next to a couple of Virgil's friends from the publishing company and authors he's gotten to know.