Chapter Text
Roman loved school.
He wouldn’t quite call himself a ‘nerd’ per say...not about most things at least. But he enjoyed school. He had a good group of friends and was generally well-liked, his teachers liked him, and school just came easily for him. He was used to what high school felt like.
Until the first day of his senior year.
Roman got out of his car and reached into his pocket to text his friends to tell them he’d arrived when he felt an arm drop around his shoulders. He grinned and looked, seeing his best friend Damien standing beside him, dressed in a white shirt and yellow cardigan despite the hot weather.
“God, Dee, looking at you is making me sweat.” Roman remarked playfully, shoving his friend off of him and locking his car. Damien merely smirked. “Logan’s at his locker. We should meet him there.” Roman said, looking at Damien who was no longer looking at him but rather looking behind him.
Roman raised his eyebrows. “What are-”
Roman turned around to look at what Damien was so enthralled by and he felt his jaw drop. Why?
Well, because coming out of a sleek black car were perhaps three of the most beautiful people both Roman and Damien had ever seen.
The first person was Patton O’Connor - no surprise there. Roman and Patton had been classmates for two years now. Patton was very well-liked around the school and was known for being kind to almost anyone. He was head of the yearbook committee and was known for knowing every students name. However, standing next to Patton were two unfamiliar faces.
The first, Roman didn’t pay much attention to - mostly because he had glasses covering his face. The only distinct feature Roman spotted was a beauty mark on his left cheekbone. He was holding the largest Starbucks cup Roman had ever seen and was wearing a grey pocket tee and black jeans.
The boy standing next to him however made Roman actually drool a little (though he would never admit it). He was perfect. Dark, wavy hair that looked mussed but still perfect moving in the warm summer wind, dark eyes that Roman could already see himself getting lost in, and a smirk that made Roman feel butterflies all over his chest.
He had to find out who he was.
“-oman? Roman?” Roman was shocked back to life by Damien who smacked him upside the head. He turned and met his best friend’s eyes, smiling sheepishly.
“Sorry, Dami, what were you saying?” Damien rolled his eyes.
“Glad you finally decided to join me in the land of the living.” Damien remarked sarcastically, “The bell is gonna go off soon. We should find Logan.” Roman nodded and turned back around, walking up the steps and into the school with Damien, though the boy from the parking lot was the only person occupying his thoughts.
It’s at second period AP US History class when Roman sees Parking Lot Cutie (PLC, as he’s dubbed him in his mind) again. He turned to Logan and nodded his head in PLC’s direction.
“Lo, do you know anything about the new kids?” Roman asked quietly, watching as Logan pulled out his APUSH binder and placed it gently on his desk.
“Roman, you know I don’t partake in petty gossip about my fellow schoolmates.” Logan said, not taking his eyes off of where he was writing the date in neat blue numbers on the top left hand corner of his page. “...But I did hear that the new kids are twins. Virgil and Remy Alexander. They transferred from some fancy school down in Orlando.” Logan turned to look at Roman who’s eyes were fixed on the new kid and he raised an eyebrow. “Why?”
Roman turned to look at Logan.
“N-No reason.” Roman said, fiddling with his pen. “Do you know...which one he is?” Roman asked, gesturing towards the new kid with his pen. Logan looked over and pushed up his glasses.
“That one is...Virgil. I think.”
Virgil. It somehow suit him perfectly. Roman watched as PL-Virgil popped a piece of gum in his class and began to blow slow bubbles. Uh oh.
“Mr. Alexander, if you could refrain from chewing on that...disgusting cavity inducing mess, it would be much appreciated.” Mr. Briggs remarked, his lip raised in a sneer.
Virgil merely smiled in response. Though it wasn’t a kind, apologetic smile. It was the kind of smile you gave when someone you didn’t like got hurt. He took the gum out of his mouth and sauntered over to the bin, dropping it before walking back to his desk and settling down once again.
Mr. Briggs, seemingly satisfied with this, began his lesson. Roman however took no notice, his eyes firmly fixed on Virgil.
As the lesson progressed, Roman eventually managed to tear his eyes away from Virgil, choosing to actually pay attention to what Mr. Briggs was saying.
“...and when Christopher Columbus so bravely found our great country-“
“Excuse me, sir, how can you find a country that already has people living in it?” A hush fell over the room as all eyes landed on the person who’d asked the question. It had been Virgil. “He murdered and enslaved tons of people. He was a racist who deserved to-“
“Mr. Alexander, that’s enough!” Mr. Briggs exclaimed, his eyebrows knitted so close together they almost formed one entity. “We do not use that language in a school environment. Do you want to stay behind after school on Wednesday or would you rather smoke behind a grocery store or whatever it is you hooligans like to do?”
Virgil raised a challenging eyebrow and simply shrugged, flitting his eyes back down to his textbook.
“Now, if we could continue our lesson-“
“Every one of the founding fathers were racist, homophobic slave owners who stole Mount Rushmore from Native American people.”
“That is it, Mr. Alexander, detention! Next Wednesday, 3:15pm, you will be sat in this classroom! I’m sure your miscreant friends will miss your company.” Mr. Briggs practically spat, possibly even more enraged at the lack of reaction elicited by Virgil.
Everyone was staring at Virgil with wide eyes - including Roman. Everything he’d said had been completely true but...no one had dared to stand up to Mr. Briggs and his inflated sense of patriotism before. Roman...kind of liked it. Logan, however, was shaking his head.
“He’s bad news, Roman.” Logan whispered quietly. “You should hear the stuff I’ve heard about him. He’s quite...promiscuous. And after that display, he’s also rather disrespectful.” Roman’s lower lip jutted out just a bit and he furrowed his eyebrows.
“There’s nothing wrong with being a little promiscuous!” Roman defended quickly, sitting up in his chair. “And everything he said was right! Mr. Briggs is just a special type of asshole.”
Logan smirked at that, though he tried to keep his composure.
“I know that, Roman, but...I’m just saying getting involved with him could do you more harm than good.” Logan shrugged before attempting to refocus his attention on whatever page of the textbook Mr. Briggs was reading out of.
Roman tapped his pencil eraser on his desk as he pondered Logan’s words. Maybe it was best that he stay away...
But that didn’t mean he couldn’t look, right?
After that day in AP US History, Roman basically forgot about Virgil, choosing instead to focus on his school work, preparing his audition for the new school musical (they were doing Newsies!), and recruiting writers and editors for the school Newspaper. Needless to say Roman was very busy - and it was only the second week of school!
Roman arrived at school Monday morning with a large iced black coffeee in one hand, his messenger bag haphazardly thrown over his shoulder, and his eyes half shut from the lack of sleep he’d gotten the previous weekend.
He got to his locker and greeted Logan and Damien with a half-hearted grunt before burying his head inside of his locker. Damien and Logan shared a look and sighed. This was a pretty common occurrence. Roman’s way of working was akin to ‘all at once or not at all’.
“Morning, Ro.” Logan said cautiously, eyeing Roman sympathetically. “You feeling okay?”
Roman pulled his head out from his locker and looked at Logan, nodding through a yawn.
“Fine, fine...sleepy. I’ll be okay.” Roman murmured, taking a long, slow sip of his coffee. Damien raised an eyebrow.
“Okay, well...what did you think of the homework that Mr. P set for this weekend?” Damien asked, searching through his backpack for his notebook. “I don’t know if I answered the question about CBT right or not.”
“Oh, let me take a loo-”
“¡Carajo!”
Logan and Damien startled as they turned to look at Roman who looked fully awake and in a state of panic. They looked at each other before looking back at Roman.
“¿Que pasa? Is there a salamander in your locker again? Can I have it?” Damien asked, peering into Roman’s locker. Roman paid him no mind and scrambled through his bag for his AP Psych notebook, flipping it to the most recent page.
At the very top it read “Treatment and Therapy Homework” with the date neatly scrawled on the top right-hand side. But the page itself was...completely empty.
“Shit, I...I forgot to do the homework for Mr. Picani’s class!” Roman groaned, slapping his forehead and groaning. “I was so busy rehearsing my monologue and song and...talking to the new writers of the newspaper. And my dad wanted me to help out at the garage again and I guess I just...forgot to do it.” Damien and Logan shared a look.
Mr. Picani was easily one of their favourite teachers in the school but he wasn’t a pushover by any means. He refused to accept late turn-in’s unless on very special circumstances and rarely let kids fly by without having handed in their homework. Pretty much...Roman was screwed.
“Um...do you wanna copy my answers?” Damien asked, holding his notebook tight to his chest. He knew Roman would never do that but...he didn’t really know what else to say in this situation. Roman shook his head and groaned loudly, shoving his notebook back into his messenger bag.
“No, no, it’s fine, thank you Dami.” Roman sighed, leaning his back against his locker with his eyes closed and his mouth downturned in a deep frown. “I have to deal with the consequences. Plus, he would know if I copied your answers.”
Logan gave Roman a sympathetic pat on the shoulder anyway and they began their walk to their first class, Roman’s stomach filling with dread as the minutes ticked closer and closer to 3rd period.
“...Have a good rest of the day! And don’t forget to leave your homework in the tray as you leave!” Mr. Picani grinned as the bell rang. He sat down at his desk and watched as his students dropped off either their notebooks or a single slip of paper into a neat tray labelled ‘Homework!’ that sat on the bottom left-hand corner of his desk.
He was about to reach into his bag to begin marking another classes homework assignments when he saw Roman Kingsley - one of his favourite students from previous classes - walk up to his desk sheepishly. Emile smiled.
“What can I do for you, Roman?” He asked, smiling pleasantly. Roman didn’t return the smile.
“Um...well, you see, Mr. Picani, it appears as though I...” Roman looked around the room before looking down at Mr. Picani’s desk. “Iforgottodothehomeworkthisweekend! I’m so, so sorry! I-I was so busy, it simply slipped my mind and it will never happen again!” Emile’s smile faltered and he sighed, taking his glasses off.
“Now, Roman, there’s no need to be afraid of me.” Emile began, cleaning his glasses off before slipping them back on and giving Roman a kind look. “...but rules are rules. I barely give out homework and I have you two and a half days to finish a few textbook questions. I’m afraid I’m going to have to give you detention. This Wednesday in Mr. Briggs room, okay? Do you know where that is?”
Roman nodded sadly and apologised once again before slinking out of Mr. Picani’s room.
Detention. The word sounded dirty. He’d always been a good kid who did his work and never got in trouble and always got...praised. Being reprimanded was a flavour Roman had found out he didn’t like at all.
At lunch, he filled Damien and Logan in on the situation before burying his face in his forearms, groaning quietly. Damien and Logan - both used to Roman’s dramaticism but not quite sure how to handle it still - looked at each other. Damien reached out and pet Roman’s elbow gently.
“It’s just one detention, Roman. As long as it doesn’t happen again...it won’t even go on your permanent record.” Logan said, pushing his glasses up and beginning to pick at his sandwich. “And it’s only for an hour, right? Just...do your homework or study or something and you’ll be out before you know it.” Damien nodded.
“It’ll be fine.” Damien said, though he wasn’t quite sure how much he believed that. Roman looked up at them both skeptically before sighing.
“I suppose you’re right...I’ve definitely learnt my lesson, that’s for sure.” Roman mumbled, sitting up properly. “What could happen anyway?”
Turns out, a lot could happen. ‘A lot’ meaning Roman could have detention at the exact same time as Virgil Alexander, aka hot new kid, aka hot DANGEROUS new kid.
Roman walked into Mr. Briggs’ classroom on Wednesday at 3:15pm on the dot, his heart stopping in his chest when he saw Virgil already sat in a desk, leaning back and staring at his phone. Roman’s mind started buzzing with the gossip that he’d heard about Virgil.
I heard he punched some kid during study hall.
I heard he left his old school cause he’d made out with every gay guy there and he wanted fresh meat.
I heard that he and his twin brother are on the run from the police!
You could fill an entire book series on things that Roman had heard about Virgil and Remi Alexander. Most likely they weren’t true, Roman knew that. But what if...
Roman took a seat on the opposite side of the classroom next to the window and took his own phone out, trying to distract himself by scrolling through Instagram before Mr. Briggs arrived.
Suddenly, the door slammed open and Mr. Briggs was standing there, a coffee mug in one hand and an alarm clock in the other. Odd.
“Welcome to detention.” Mr. Briggs said, though his voice was anything but welcoming. “We have two rules here. First, your phones will go in this tray and stay right here on this desk. If you move them, I will know and you will be back in here tomorrow afternoon, understood?”
Roman nodded quickly, his jaw clenched from fear. Mr. Briggs really was the worst.
“Good. Next, this clock is set to ring at exactly 4:15pm. Until this bell rings, neither of you are to move, speak, or do anything. If I catch you doing any of these things before the bell rings, what will happen, Mr. Alexander?”
Virgil rolled his eyes.
“We’ll be back here tomorrow afternoon.” Virgil droned, handing his iPhone to Mr. Briggs.
When Mr. Briggs walked over to Roman’s desk, Roman quickly did the same, pouting slightly as he watched his least favourite teacher drop their phones into a tray on his desk.
“Good to see you understand the simplest of rules.” Mr. Briggs sneered, “Now, I’ll be in the teachers lounge but if either of you move, I will know.” He walked out of the room, his cheap loafers clicking against the linoleum floor as he left. Roman allowed himself to take a slow, deep breath out once Mr. Briggs exited the room. He felt like he’d been tensing every single muscle he had.
But there was another problem, Roman now realised.
He was alone.
In a room.
With Virgil.
Oh, this oughta be fun.