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Chapter Text

 Virgil's POV

Another move another chance for Dee to make friends while I sit inside on my unmade bed; I start drawing a flower in my notebook when I hear knocking on the door. 

"Jay the welcome wagon is here" I shout.

I hear him shuffle to the front door.

"Hey V come down here" He yells

I drag myself to the door not really wanting to be here, let alone talk to some random people who I'll never talk to again. I see two people one who looks about my brothers age and kinda looks like a rat in a way, he has bog green eyes and gross messy nutmeg hair. He has what looks like a green and black prince costume on.

The rat man speaks first "hiya I'm Remus Crown your new best friend"

"Okay and who's he" Jay questioned pointing to the other kid who looks about my age he has honey eyes and almond hair he has a costume very similar to his brother's but his is white and red with golden parts. He also has a burger king crown on.

"Oh he's R-" Remus starts

"I am prince Roman" the kid with a burger king crown interrupts.

Wow I hate him.

"V go entertain Roman" Dee shoos us out of the room "Remus come on in".

I am forced to take 'prince' Roman to my bedroom.

"Why is your room so dark? Ew??!?? Why are there spider webs?? That's so gross and creepy! You… you are a creepy cookie…. What's your name?" The 'prince' bombards me with questions.

"My name is…." I start but soon remember that people made fun of my name before. I'm not sure what the word meant but I know it's nothing good. "You can call me V… princey".

"So what do you like to do for fun?" Roman asks hesitantly.

"I like to draw and be left alone" I hiss "Why are you still here anyway? Why don't you hang out with your friends?"

"Trust me stormcloud if I could be not hanging out with you I would do that, but I'm forced to stay with Remus so until he leaves I'm stuck here with you" he explains.

"The feeling is mutual" I mutter.

After what felt like an eternity sitting and glaring at each other the rat man screams "ROMAN MOM WANTS US HOME".

"THANK GOD" Sir Sing-a-long yells back before sprinting out of my room.

I walk to the living room where Jay is.

"Hnng I hate that Prince " I growl.

"His brother seems nice" Jay defends.

"Please don't tell me you two are friends" I plead.

"Okay I won't tell you" Jay laughs.

Roman's POV

I don't understand why we have to greet the neighbors. Remus and I walk up to the door and knock. After some yelling the door opens and we are greeted by a boy who looks like Remus' age he has lemon yellow eyes that practically glow and mahogany hair. He is wearing a yellow shirt, black jeans, a black cloak, and a black bowler hat; side note who wears bowler hats?

"Hey V come down here" the yellow eyed man yells.

After a bit of a wait I see are boy who seems to be about my age. He has piercing violet eyes and dark copper hair. He is wearing a black over sized hoodie with purple patches, and black skinny jeans.

"hiya I'm Remus Crown your new best friend" Remus announces.

"Okay and who's he" the yellow eyed man asks

"Oh he's R-" Remus starts.

"I am prince Roman" I interrupt.

"V go entertain Roman" the yellow eyed man shoos us out of the room "Remus come on in".

'V' takes me into his room. Oh my goodness his room is so dark. The walls are a dark purple and he has a black carpet. His walls are covered in spider webs. The curtains and blankets both have spider patterns.

"Why is your room so dark? Ew??!?? Why are there spider webs?? That's so gross and creepy! You… you are a creepy cookie" I realize that I really don't know who these people are "What's your name?"

"My name is…." He starts but pauses thinking about this. What is there to think about is just a name ye gads. "You can call me V… princey".

"So what do you like to do for fun?" I ask hoping to find any one thing in common.

"I like to draw and be left alone" he hisses "Why are you still here anyway? Why don't you hang out with your friends?"

"Trust me stormcloud if I could be not hanging out with you I would do that, but I'm forced to stay with Remus so until he leaves I'm stuck here with you" I explain.

"The feeling is mutual" he mutters.

We sit on V's floor for the first time in forever what feels like forever before the Duke exclaims "ROMAN MOM WANTS US HOME".

"THANK GOD" I yell back before sprinting out of his room. As we start the walk home I can't help but to voice my opinion.

"I hate that emo nightmare more than I could ever put into words" I snarl.

"I don't know how brother is pretty cute" Remus winks.

"Please don't tell me" I start.

"We're coming back tomorrow!" Remus screams.

"Ughhhh can I bring Patton?" I beg.

"What and let you be happy? No haha" he laughs maniacally.

"Fine then I'll just annoy you and your boyfriend~~~" I tease.

"Fine you can bring your little friend… and probably the calculator too." Remus caves. 

Chapter Text

Roman’s POV

Luckily for me Patton lives on my block! Right as I’m about to knock on Patton’s door it swings open and I am greeted by Patton’s freckled face. 

“Hi Roman! What are you doing here??!” Patton asks almost jumping with excitement.

“Remus has a crusshhhh” I say looking up at Remus “and I’m going to be forced to hang out with this emo kid, and I wanted to know if you wanted to come?” I rant.

“Ro its that's not nice and heck yeah I’ll come” Pat exclaims.

“LANGUAGE” we hear his mother yell.

“Sorry, mom! Hey, can we bring Logan?” Patton asks.

Logan also lives on this street. On our walk, Patton asks “Hey what are their names?”

“Remuusss whatss your booyyyfrrieennddsss naammee?” I tease.

“He won’t tell me he just told me to call him Jay” he sighs.

“Same” I respond.

“Oh? You don’t know your own arch-nemesis' name?” He questions.

“No do you?!”

“Yeah, but I’ll let you figure it out” Remus states as we arrive at Logan’s house.

Patton bangs on the door before Logan opens it already annoyed.

He lets out a sigh as if trying to breathe out his irritation “yes Patton? Ah hello, Roman… Duke. Not to be rude but why are you here” He asks sounding very rude.

“There is a new kid on the block and me, Roman, and Remus were gonna go meet him. Do ya wanna come?” Patton practically yells.

“Patton its ‘Roman, Remus, and I’ not whatever you said plus "do you want" would be the right way to say that and yes I shall come with to meet our new... block buddy” Logan responds "mother?"

"Yes, sugarpie?" his mom asks in her southern accent.

"May I go and meet our new neighbor" Logan questions.

"Of course sweetie" she replies.

"Shall we get going then?" Logan sighs.

"Onwards" Remus and I yell.

We finally arrive at V's house. Remus goes to knock on the door as Jay opens it. Jay looks at Remus and starts to smile, which makes zero sense to me since Remus is human garbage, then he looks down at me, Patton, and Logan.

"Remus, who are these people?" Jay asks with a nervous laugh.

"Those are Rom-" Remus starts.

"This is Patton and Logan" I finish.

Jay sighs "Okay V is probably hiding in his room" he makes a vague arm motion towards V's room; as he does V walks out of his room.

"Oh great there are more of them" V groans "Jay can we  Please make them leave".

"Depends do you remember our talk yesterday virr-" Jay starts to say what I think must be V's name.

"Okay okay, fine Jan-" V Almost revels Remus' boyfriend's name.

"Okay truce now shut up and go to your room" Jay sneers.

V glances toward us and beckons us with his finger. As we enter his room Patton screams.

"Patton... those are not real spiders... they cannot harm you" Logan explains.

"You don't know that Lo those creepy crawly death dealers could be pretending to be fake!" Patton proclaims.

"Patton I can assure you that these ahem 'Creepy Crawly Death Dealers' are very fake" Logan proves by placing his hand on the spider patterned curtains.

"Maybe they're ghosts!" Patton insists.

Virgil's POV

I'm sitting in my room sulking. Yesterday Jay and I had a discussion, and we came upon an agreement I don't argue with him about Remus and Lord Burger King and he won't tell anyone my name and vice versa. Honestly, he gets more out of the deal than I do but whatever. I hear a pounding on the door which I can only assume is my impending doom. As I walk out of my room Jay sighs "Okay V is probably hiding in his room" he makes a vague arm motion towards my room. I'm met by The Burger King, Ratman, and two more boys about my age. One boy had ginger hair and bright blue eyes, and he was wearing a blue t-shirt and a gray hoodie around his waist. The other boy had jet black hair and dark blue eyes, and he was wearing a black button-up shirt and dark blue bowtie and dress pants.

"Oh great there are more of them" I groan "Jay can we Please make them leave". I know that we have a deal but there is no way that he would risk having people know his name.

"Depends do you remember our talk yesterday virr-"Jay starts. 

"Okay okay, fine Jan-" I start.

"Okay truce now shut up and go to your room" Jay sneers.

I throw a glance at them and beckon them into my room. As we enter my room the ginger screams.

"Patton... those are not real spiders... they cannot harm you" the mini businessman explains.

"You don't know that Lo those creepy crawly death dealers could be pretending to be fake!" Patton proclaims.

"Patton I can assure you that these ahem 'Creepy Crawly Death Dealers' are very fake" Lo proves by placing his hand on the spider patterned curtains.

"Maybe they're ghosts!" Patton insists.

"Patton ghosts are not real" Lo sighs.

"You don't know what for sure" me and Patton say at the same time.

"Jinx!" Patton exclaims.

I ignore him and turn to Roman "okay princy who are they."

"The calculator is Logan and this is my best friend Patton" Roman slings his arm around Patton "and he is that weird emo kid I was talking about."

"Roman that not very nice' Patton chastises "and it's nice to meet you!" he shoves his hand in my face.

"I'm V" I try to push his hand away but he is way too persistent and I reluctantly give in and shake his hand.

"So let's get down to business" Roman starts.

"TO DEFEAT THE HUNS" Patton screams.

"Pat we need to focus" Roman rolls his eyes and laughs. His eyes are really cool if he wasn't so mean it'd be nice to have a friend with unnaturally colored eyes.

"So V what your real name it has something Vir we heard Jay start to say it so why don't you just tell us already" Roman snarls.

"I um uh I leave me alone" Stutter out starting to panic. What if they know that one word? What if they make fun of me? What if they hate me? What if-

"Roman be nice you can't force someone to tell you something," Patton says pulling me back to reality.

"Yes, Roman that's true if you force someone to do something they will likely become hostile, and any chance they were going to tell you would diminish" Logan states.

Chapter Text

Patton's POV

~the next day~

"Hey, mom?" I call out.
"Yes, dear?" my mom replied.
"Can I go over to our new neighbor's house again today?" I ask.
"I don't know can you?" she smirks.
I laugh "may I go over there?"
"Yes, you may" she giggles.

~time skip~

"So... um why are you here?" V asks cautiously.
"Because I wanna be your friend silly" I laugh.
"But why though? You already have Roman and Logan. You don't need me" he whispers the last part probably thinking I couldn't hear him.
"Well yeah I don't NEED to be your friend, but I want to. You seem really cool!" I express.
"You don't even know me I don't understand why you or anyone for that matter would wanna be my friend" he blurts out "oh uh um I'm sorry um uh" tears being to well in V's eyes.
"Hey calm down it's okay" I put my hand on his shoulder he flinches a little bit before allowing me to touch him "everything is okay".
After he's calmed down he looks up at me "uhm t-thank you if you still want to maybe we could be friends?" he looks at me trying to hide what I think is fear.
"Of course I do bud-" I start.
"Since we're friends my... my name is Virgil please don't tell anyone" he mumbles.

Chapter Text

Roman's POV

"Remus, why are you so obsessed with this guy?" I groan.

"Roman, I finally managed to find someone who likes me more than you like yourself. I'm not about to give up this kind of opportunity," Remus explains.

We start the unfortunately short walk to V's house; when Jay opened the door I pushed past him knowing the drill by now, and barge into V's room. "Ok V we have an issue here" I shout.

"Oh I'm very well aware" he grumbles.

"Wait... you know that Remus knows your name?" I question.

"I'm sorry what did you say," he asks.

"That Remus knows your name? What were you talking about?" I ask.

"I was just saying you, in general, are an issue but let's talk about the Remus thing for now," he says forcefully.

"Jay told Remus your name, but he won't tell me so I figured a name for a name," I tell him.

"I'm not telling you my-" he starts

"I don't want your name just yet. I want Jay's name," I interrupt.

"That I am more than willing to give. His name is Janus." V states.

"Janice??" I thought Jay was a guy?? I mean its chill but like-

"No. Janus the Roman god of something. That's why he doesn't like it because it sounds like Janice." V explains

"ROMAN I'M LEAVING" Remus screeches. "I hope to never see you again" I whisper.

"Ditto" he agrees with me for the first and probably last time.

*Time skip*

September 1st, 1989 dear diary, woo first day of eighth grade. I can't believe I'm almost done with middle school. This year I will do it. For the past couple years I've been trying to convince Patton, Logan, and V to join the play. They've gotten lucky so far but I'm here to end all that. As I enter the school I see my first victim.

"Hey, Pat!" I yell.

"Yeah Ro?!" he yells back.

"Can you maybe do me a favor?" I ask pretending to be nervous.

"Oh, course I'll do anything for you buddy!" he's falling right into my trap.

"Anything?"

"Anything".

"Join the play"

"What? But I'm busy with the yearbook committee and-" I cut him off before he lists off everything in the whole school.

"Pat you said anything" I give him my best puppy dog eyes.

He sighs "okay I'll join."

One down two to go. I spot Logan in the library. I ambush him before he knows what hell he is going to go through.

"heyyyyy Loooogaaannnnn"

"What do you want Roman?"

"What am I not allowed to talk to my friend without needing something"

"No, you are not" He states looking me dead in the eyes.

"Ok let me get to the point then. You are going to join the play." I say forcefully.

"No. Roman. I will not be doing that. No offense, but I find you and your stage plays absolutely ridiculous."

"Okay saying no offense doesn't make it not offensive. Plus Patton will be doing! You'll get to hang out with him more! He's probably gonna be sad if you aren't there" I am working my ass off for this.

"Oh well... I wouldn't... um... fine I will audition for the play" I have never seen Logan at a loss for words... weird.

Anyway, only one more to go. V is probably the hardest to find maybe he's already in class.

"Yeah, that's what you fucking get Virgin. Jesus Christ guys look at that fucking fag." I heard some homophobe in the distance.

I start running towards the yelling and see the worst thing I could imagine. V is sitting on the ground; black eye and a bloody nose with three of the biggest guys in our grade surrounding him.

"Hey! Get away from him!" I yell as I run towards them and swoop V into my arms bridal style.

I don't stop running until we get to the nurse's office.

"V are you okay?"

"Yeah it's okay I'm fine"

"Virgil what the fuck happened" Janus bursts into the room.

"Jay it's okay," V says obviously trying to be the adult here.

"Virgil Storm Anxc you are not ok. what did they do to you?!?"

"I'll... I'll tell you when we get home ok?"

"Okay cool because we're going now."

Chapter Text

Virgil's POV

Apparently, I'm not allowed to use my locker when I go to open it up I'm turned around and held up by my shirt.

"What are you doing fruit?" Kurt Kelly and Ram Sweeney the biggest assholes in the school. Frankly, I'm surprised they know gay slurs from like the 80's. Oh shit, I forgot I'm being bullied.

"Answer him fairy," Ram said.

"If you're gonna insult me at least use better slurs," I said against every fiber of my being. Which was a huge mistake as Kurt punched me in the eye.

"If only one of your  boyfriends  were here to save you Virgin." Ram taunts. We are starting to get a crowd.

"My what?"

"Your little queer friends.  The Calculator, the Prince, and the Saint . . . and  you  the Freak " Kurt sneers.

"W-what?" I stutter. 

"Go to hell you fucking fag," Ram says before punching me in the nose.

"Yeah, that's what you fucking get Virgin. Jesus Christ guys look at that fucking fag." Kurt riles up the crowd.

I hear someone running. "Hey! Get away from him!" says my savio- um Roman. 

"V are you okay?"

"Yeah it's okay I'm fine"

"Virgil what the fuck happened" Janus bursts into the room.

"Jay it's okay," I try to calm him to the best of my abilities.

"Virgil Storm Anxc you are not ok. what did they do to you?!?"

"I'll... I'll tell you when we get home ok?" 

"Okay cool because we're going now."

*timeskip to them at home*

"Okay, so would you like to tell me what the fuck just happened?"

"Um uh, I got punched?"

"Oh really? I hadn't noticed"

"Okay fine. They called me gay they punched me... y'know the usual... then... Roman came and rescu- I mean um got me out of there"

"Okay, who did it I'm gonna fucking kill them, also-" Janus is cut off by the doorbell. He checks the door.

"Hey Virge it's your knight in shining armor"

"V are you okay??!" Roman bursts in and drags me to my room.

"Yeah I'm fine Roman"

"V-" 

"It's okay Roman I know you heard Janus scream my name back at the nurse's office"

"Okay so Virgil I wanted to ask you a question" he looks weirdly serious. Fuck. He's gonna ask if it's true. If I'm . . . a faggot. 

"Virge are you listening?" he snaps me back into reality.

"Sorry I was just... thinking."

"So will you join the play?"

"Um sure Roman"

"Awesome see ya at school tomorrow Virgy" How is he so cute? Oh no please don't tell me I'm falling for him.  

Chapter Text

Virgil's POV

Okay, today's the day. The cast list is going up. I don't see why I couldn't just keep doing stage crew. This is going to be horrible in the off chance I manage to get anything.
"Virge! We did it!" Pat runs up to me.
"What did we do?" I sigh.
"We are the main characters in Roman's play," Logan grimaces.
"It's not Roman's play it's our play!" Patton grabs Logan's hands.
Logan averters his eyes and clears his throat, "I guess it is," if my eyes aren't deceiving me I think I detect a trace of a blush on Logan's cheeks.
"Ugh okay, who's who?" I sneer.
"I'm the scarecrow, Logan's the Tin Man, you're the Lion, and Roman's Dorthy" Patton reveals.
"That's whole ass type casting" I mutter.
"Language! And what do you mean?" Patton inquires.
"I'm the COWARDLY Lion, you're the scarecrow he needs a... he has a huge heart, Logan is the Tin Man who needs a heart, and Roman... is the main character," I Explain.
I suddenly feel an arm wrap around my shoulder. I can feel a fucking hoard of butterflies swarming in my stomach, and blood rise to my cheeks. "Guys can you believe we're the leads?!?" Roman exclaims.
"Roman, not to be rude, but why did they cast a male as Dorthy," Logan probes.
"Because my director said fu-" Roman glances at Patton, "He said to hel-... Because my director said gender roles are overrated," Roman finally maneuvers an explanation free of swearing. "Now come on losers we're going to play rehearsal."
We walk into the theatre it's just us and ten other people. We did all the things I've seen actors do when I was on stage crew. tongue twisters, stretching, etc. Now we're just gonna sit in a circle and go over lines quick. Believe it or not, going over the lines hasn't destroyed the unadulterated fear I have of making an absolute fool of myself.
After rehearsal Roman slides up to me "Hey Virgil how ya liking the play?"
"I'm not"
"What why nottttt"
"I'm a main character even though this is my first play, and I don't know how I'm gonna memorize all these lines," I vent.
"We could practice at my house sometime?" Is... is he asking me on a date?
"Um sure?"
"Great I'll tell Patton and Logan to come too," not a date.