Misinformation Can Be Deadly

Chapter 24: Virgil Gets Some Spiffy Presents

CW: small bit of blood

"Well, considering this was the first rehearsal and you don't know your lines yet, there's not too much advice to give you," Roman told Janus as they walked out of the school. "Go over your lines every night though, and you need to tell yourself that you really are this JD character when acting."

"Okay we need to watch Heathers when we get home," Virgil said.

"No! It needs to be a surprise for Roman!" Remus complained.

"Well he's going to be helping Janus, so he's going to figure out what it's about anyway."

"Roman, you're not allowed to come to rehearsal anymore! You're not allowed to watch the movie, or look anything up about it when we get home! I can help Janus just fine, we're going to be working together anyway."

"But theater seems to have improved while I was gone!" Roman whined. "I want to see more of the school's theater department."

"Everything improved while you were gone, and you can see it next show! There's usually two shows a year anyway."

"I don't understand how anyone is brave enough to go onstage," Virgil laughed with a small shake of his head. "Don't you get stage fright?"

"How can you get stage fright if you have no shame?"

"I still get nervous," Janus admitted. "But it gets easier to handle over the years."

"Theater is so much fun," Roman said, "so many creative liberties you can take! Even William didn't ruin it for me."

"Oh you're going to have a lot of fun when we get into our Shakespeare unit in English. Every year..." Virgil sighed. "I hate him as much as you do now."

"Wait, the schools teach about him! Why?"

"Because he was one of the world's greatest writers or whatever. We read one of his plays and write an analysis on it. Last year we did Macbeth. Who knows what we'll do this year."

"Ugh, that means I'm doing Macbeth this year," Janus complained. "Can I just have the notes that you wrote?"

"I threw them away last year, though I wish I burned them instead. I can't read old English."

"Dammit. Oh well, at least Remus can help me. Let's go home already." Janus took Remus's hand as they left the school building. They disappeared in a cloud of green smoke, which quickly vanished and revealed nothing there.

"So that's what it looks like," Virgil said. "Guess we should follow them."

Roman took Virgil's hand with a soft smile and teleported them back home. He brought them outside the orphanage so no one would get suspicious, though neither of them saw Remus and Janus.

Virgil rolled his eyes and walked through the door. Instantly he heard Frozen music playing, and some of the kids singing Let It Go.

"Oh my god, I thought we were over the Frozen phase?" Virgil mumbled. "You can go watch it if you want, it's Disney."

"What about you?"

"I'm going to be hiding in my room until that's over, because I've seen it a million times. We're home so I should be safe. Go on, I'll be fine. I don't want you to miss one of the most popular ones."

Roman pouted for a moment, but couldn't help but smile at the music coming from the living room. "Thank you, call me if you need me."

"Yeah, go have fun. I'll just get a head start on homework."

~~~

Roman was laying on the edge of Virgil's bed, the human curled up at his headboard. "I loved that one! It was different from the others!"

"Yup, it was animated. Well, I guess the others were too, but this one wasn't drawn," Virgil explained. "I don't know, animation is a difficult process. One that I'm not too interested in doing."

"I need to watch the whole thing some day, so I can know the whole story!"

"I'm guessing Han's betrayal didn't hit as hard as it would have if you had seen the whole thing." Virgil yawned a bit and stretched his arms out. He noticed one of the stitches coming undone and cursed, "Shit, that needs to get fixed."

Roman looked up and noticed the small hole forming. He sat up and reached his hand over, letting the magic carefully fix it. "There, however, if you would like I can enchant it so that it would be invincible."

"You can do that?"

"Of course, it's quite simple." Roman sat criss cross. "Only if you would like, however."

Virgil nodded quickly, taking off his jacket and handing it over to the demon. "Please? I really don't want it being destroyed again. Especially since it looks cooler now."

Roman carefully took the piece of clothing, doing his best to not do any damage to it. The inside was soft, but it was worn from Virgil wearing it all the time. The one remaining elbow was thin from being bent who knows how many times. It was well loved, just like the worn purple cat.

He focused on his magic, letting a thin layer of red mist cover the jacket. He closed his eyes in concentration as he focused on every stitch, every thread, making them indestructible yet still letting them keep their softness.

"There we go." Roman summoned a knife, making Virgil's eyes widen. The demon stretched the arm before stabbing it, making the human flinch, but the knife didn't go through. It didn't even leave a mark. "Now nothing will break it."

"Oh thank goodness, I thought you were going to tear it," Virgil sighed in relief, reaching over for his jacket again.

Roman handed it to him. "I would never let any harm come to this, nor you. I suppose the jacket can now act as a shield for you, though you'll still feel any blows. But fire and sharp objects won't hurt you, too much at least."

Virgil pulled the jacket over himself. "It still feels the same as before."

"I did that on purpose. It brings you comfort, emotionally, after all. I don't want to take away the comfort physically."

The human hugged the hoodie around himself with a small smile. "Thank you, Roman."

"It's no big deal, really."

"Hey fuckers!" Remus shouted, kicking the door open and making Virgil jump. "Janus told me to give you this." He tossed something wrapped in cloth on the bed. "Now I gotta go take care of a tired witch. Have fun killing! And make it entertaining!"

Virgil frowned in confusion before he picked up whatever was wrapped in cloth. He opened it and his eyes sparkled in surprise. It was the knife Janus had promised to make him. It was a jet black switch blade, with a smokey design on the hilt.

"Be honest, are you sure this can hurt you?" Virgil asked Roman.

Roman held his hand out, and hesitantly Virgil dropped the knife in his palm. "It feels like it, I can feel some magic energy coming off of it." He opened the blade and cut the tip of his finger, seeing black blood appear and making Virgil gasp. "Guess we'll see if that heals by morning."

He handed the blade back to Virgil, who felt guilt bubbling up. Did he really want to kill Roman? Just looking at the tiny cut is making him worry. Holding the knife felt wrong, especially since it was created with the intention of killing the first real friend he has had in a long time.