[PRINXIETY] Shine and Be Mine

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Virgil looked down at the script in his hands, frowning at all the lines he had to memorize and letting out an audible groan.

"Oh, hush, you only have half the lines that I do." Roman rolled his eyes.

"But twice the singing." Virgil grumbled back.

"So? Is that not good?"

"I hate public singing." Virgil closed his script, looking around the theatre, filled with all the people filling the roles of the characters and background characters of Phantom of the Opera. Virgil turned his head to see Roman with a look of pure astonishment, "What?"

Roman took in a deep, offended breath, "How- HOW, can you not LOVE public singing!?"

Virgil blinked a few times before shrugging, "I don't really like...any form of public...anything."

"But the attention! The fame! The- everything!" Roman gasped.

"Staying under the radar is my thing, always has been- I guess I had to face something like this at some point." Virgil sighed, though his sigh was cut short by a grunt from Roman.

"Why- why do you act like being in the drama department is some kind of sin?"

"I'm not religious so-"

"From the first day of school you've had this...look. A look of absolute...disgust, as if you're always stepping on eggs." Roman crossed his arms.

Virgil shrugged, "I guess I- wait, you've been paying attention to me since the first d-" Virgil's voice was drowned out by the bell, summoning silence over the students.

////\\\\

"Alright, students! Welcome to your after school Musical experience!" Mrs.Ramirez announced excitedly, "Every day for the next two months you'll be meeting here after school, unless told otherwise by me! Got it?"

A monotone "Got it" came from the crowd of students, with a few cheery voices.

"Now, I'm going to be going over roles once again, just so you all know who's playing what and who you'll be working with." Mrs.Ramirez continued, "Today I'll announce you in groups of two with your main scene partner- though some of you may be in groups of three depending on your scenes! And as for the rest of you background characters with no specific lines, if you are not called by me, please go see Mr.Sean, he'll be in charge of choreography and will get you started today!"

Roman still couldn't grasp the concept of Virgil not wanting to do this. He had been honored by the role of Phantom as a Junior! A junior! What was the likelyhood of that- well, Junior's certainly could get leads, but never main leads, sub-leads perhaps, but nothing that could compare to the league of which Roman was now a part of- and why hadn't he, Roman, have gotten the part? Their voices sounded almost identical! As if coming from the same person! What was so special about Virgil.

Roman glanced over at the darkly-dressed boy beside him with a slight frown. He surely didn't make for good theatre material, so what had the judges seen in Virgil that they hadn't seen in Roman? It was anyone's guess.

"Talyn, you'll be working with Tom, Tom as Raoul and Talyn as Mick, Mrs.Ramirez went on before finally announcing, "Virgil, you'll be working with Roman, Roman as Chris and Virgil as Erik, the Phantom."

There was a short round of applause, resulting in Virgil pulling his hood over his head with a grumble followed by the drama department being dismissed, stage-Arts going back stage to work on sets as stage crew went off with lighting, the student-actors leaving in different directions to practice across campus.

Roman stood up, looking over to Virgil and sighing, unamused, as he saw the boy scrolling through tumblr, "Ahem? Excuse me? Roman to Virgil?"

Virgil looked up at Roman blankly.

"We have to go practice our first scene together, hot topic." Roman sighed.

Virgil smirked at Roman, "Alright sir-sing-a-lot."

"I take no offense to anything related to the arts." Roman stated simply as Virgil got up, "Well?"

"Well what?"

"Where do you want to rehearse?"

"...We get to choose?" Virgil cocked his head.

"Of course we get to choose, they're not going to try and get fifty teams to practice in the same room and still be able to hear each other." Roman began walking towards the side exit of the theatre.

"Anywhere quiet and away from human activities is fine by me." Virgil shrugged.

"You are such a creep- y cookie." Roman, no matter how hard it annoyed him, wasn't going to make this any more unbearable than it had to, he'd have to stay on good terms with Virgil if it meant keeping his role. If you didn't have good chemistry with your main scene partner, that was it. One of you would get it. And seeing as to how the judges chose Virgil when the boy hadn't even auditioned, probably meant that Roman would be the one they would kick out, so he tried not to make his jeering nicknames too, too jeering.

////\\\\

Virgil didn't know why, but he actually liked the nicknames he was being given, they were pretty accurate and quite amusing. Plus, it gave him a chance to come-back at Roman without worrying about the other harming him.

The both of the boys knew that their roles relied on the other one's compliance to work with each other, and Virgil would hardly admit it, but he would rather keep his role than lose it. So, they'd have to see how it went.

Virgil finally took the time to actually take in his surroundings and where he was. When he looked up he noticed that he and Roman were crossing under a staircase, "Uh...are we allowed to be here...?" Virgil questioned as Roman opened a wire-woven fence-gate under the staircase, it lead down a dark staircase to a door.

"Yeah, all dramatic arts students are allowed here whenever they want." Roman scoffed as if it was common knowledge, allowing Virgil in first.

"Pardon me for not thinking we were allowed in what looks like a shady place to deal drugs." Virgil rolled his eyes, his voice dripping with sarcasm as he warily proceeded down the steps.

"You know, it might do you some good to maybe lighten up every now and then? Even just for a second?" Roman yanked the gate shut, latching it closed before stepping down the staircase quickly, ducking in front of Virgil to yank of the handle of the metal door. It took a few strong pulls before it finally creaked open.

"Well, this looks friendly." Virgil blinked at an ominous, dark, black-blanketed room, unable to see the other end of it from where he stood, if there was an other end.

Roman reached around the corner to touch the light-switch on the wall of the room, "Welcome, my friend, to Hell!"