I Thought I Loved You Yesterday [Roceit High School AU]

Chapter 3 - Effort For Effort's Sake

Roman finished his notes with a satisfying, soft scratch as the pencil left the paper. He glanced up to check the clock, realizing there was only round ten minutes left in the period. He pulled out his phone and texted Patton.

[image id: A screenshot of a texting conversation from an Iphone. The name is set as 'Patton' with two cookie emojis on either side. The following conversation occurs:
Roman: Hey pat
Patton: what's up kiddo?
Roman: Teach let you out?
Patton: not yet.
Patton: he's letting us be on our phones though
Roman: same, same
Patton: how's your brother?
end id]

Roman raised an eyebrow. He quickly typed back three question marks and waited for his phone to buzz again. 

Roman groaned and Virgil looked up from next to him, his notes having been done for a while now and his sleep-deprivation showing. "You good, Ro?"

He handed Virgil his phone, sighing. "Remus is going to get us both kicked out one day."

"Mmm." Virgil snorted, too tired to actually laugh, and slumped back onto the table. "Fine by me."

"Oh, hush, Weeping Beauty," Roman muttered. "You love me."

"You have no proof," he grumbled, the sleeves of his hoodie muffling the complaint.

Roman laughed again and stood up as the bell rang, pulling the shorter boy up with him so they could go to the lunchroom and Virgil could sleep in a place where no one would care. He grumpily got up, pulling his backpack up with him and stumbling out of the classroom after Roman. "Damn it, Princey, I was this close  to falling asleep," he hissed.

"I'd carry you," Remy smirked, taking a sip of his coffee, his heels clacking against the floor with every step he took. "Deal or no deal, babe?"

Virgil glanced up and glared. "No deal."

"Suit yourself." He glanced over at Roman. "I saw your brother in the office."

"Yeah, Chocolate Chipper told me."

"What did he do this time?"

"Broke some sort of statue at the mall?" Roman shrugged. "I don't even know how, it's made of solid metal, right?"

"It's the mall, Ro. They're going to cut some corners."

"Fair enough." Roman lead the way into the cafeteria, taking his designated seat at their table opposite from Patton. He nodded. "Hey, Pat."

"Hi, Roman!" Patton frowned. "How well do you know the choreography for Golden Ticket?"

"As well as I am at pretending to be straight," he joked.

"So not at all?"

"No, not at all." He shook his head. "I'm kidding. Which part?"

"Right before the lifts."

Roman hummed, running through the choreography in his head. "Which part are you?"

"Two."

"Alright, it's a stomp on the offbeat-" He stood up, taking a step back and showing Patton the steps- "then slap your right leg, then your left." He nodded as Patton copied from across the table. "Then a clap under your leg, another stomp, snap as you step back," he finished, shooting finger guns at Patton as he sat back down.

"So...like this?" Patton copied his movements again.

"Yep."

Virgil elbowed him. "You're embarrassing me."

He scoffed. "You're welcome, Sunshine."

Remy ran a hand through his hair. "You two are such nerds, oh my god," he dragged out, lowering his sunglasses and looking over the top of them. "I will go sit with your brother," he jokingly threatened to Roman. 

"Oh, how you wound me," he laughed. 

Ever since he and Remus had been nine or ten, they had agreed to do their best to not let their friend groups mix. One specific incident involving a mutual friend had left both of them with bruises and Remus with a small bald spot. They'd decided to just avoid fights in general. So Roman typically drove them to and from school, and that was usually the only interaction they had. Even when Roman had rehearsal, Remus found ways to bide his time until Roman was free to drive home. This included anything from running around the store down the block to being in a club to sitting in the back of the theater. Very, very creepily.

Sanders did what he liked to call 'open' rehearsals. That meant that as long as you weren't disrupting anything, and you stayed in the house, you could watch. But no one ever came - except Remus, sometimes some of Remus' friends - so he didn't understand why he kept leaving them as 'open'. The only one that ever came was Remus. 

And sometimes Remy. Seeing as he was the one person who was friends with both of the brothers, he was the only one that was lazy enough to come. All his other friends were either already in the musical - either in the cast or as tech - or they were too busy to come to rehearsals. And even those friends still promised to come to the final shows.

The intercom dinged and a female voice crackled through the speaker. "Janus Mensonge, please come to the front office, Janus Mensonge, please come to the front office. Thank you." Roman perked up at the familiar name as the speaker dinged and went silent.

He watched as someone slowly stood up from the table in the corner, barely making out Janus' face from the distance between them as the boy snuck around the tables and out the door of the cafeteria.

"God, what a bitch," Virgil groaned, slumping onto the table.

Roman glanced down at him. "How so?"

"I knew him in 'ye olden days'," Virgil muttered. "We had a particularly feisty rivalry."

"How so?"

"The amount of nicknames he made out of my deadname could fill a fucking dictionary alone." Virgil lifted his head to glare at him. "He was always insulting."

Roman frowned. "How so?" he asked, suspicious. Janus had seemed nice enough last Friday, but if he didn't accept Virgil, then there was going to be hell.

Virgil waved his hand. "Not like that. I didn't figure I was trans until 7th grade. Last time I talked to him was 6th." Roman nodded as he continued. "You knew how I was."

"I didn't, actually."

"I've told you before. Nerdy gifted kid that read instead of listening. Too easy to insult." He grumbled as Patton patted his arm sympathetically. "Left a bad taste in my mouth."

"Right, right." Roman glanced at where Janus had left. "And now he's friends with my brother, right?" He glanced towards Remy, who nodded. Roman pushed his hair out of his eyes. "Okay then."

"I think he might've helped him wreck the statue on Saturday," Patton added. "That's probably why the office called him down."

"Once an asshole, always an asshole," Virgil hissed, making the other three laugh.

Roman glanced at Patton. "You should probably double-check with Sanders after school today before rehearsal for the steps, Pat. I don't want you to mess them up."