Magical Boi AU Book 1: Fighting Corruption

The Drama Club

    Every Tuesday and Thursday, the group met in the Drama Classroom to work on their play. The Drama Club didn't have many members, at least not many that regularly showed up. Which was to be expected, this was a small school after all. Currently, the only people in the Classroom were Virgil Storm, who sat on the counter eating a bag of Doritos, and Roman and Remus Prince, who were arguing over a bag of sugar skulls that Remus had found in the prop room.

     It wasn't long, however, before Logan Croft, the Drama Club's tech guy, entered the classroom. "Oh thank goodness, Logan, I need your assistance." Roman huffed. "With what?" Logan asked, tucking his laptop under his arm. "Could you please explain to my dimwitted brother why using glitter skulls to decorate our set is inappropriate?" Roman requested. "Of course." Logan agreed. "First of all, the correct term is sugar skulls. Second of all, given that our play takes place in Victorian London, and these decorations are meant to be for a sacred Mexican holiday, it would be cultural appropriation if we used these to decorate our set just because they 'look cool.'" Logan explained. "Great, thanks Lo. You can go do tech stuff now." Roman dismissed.

"However," Logan began, causing Roman to groan. He knew this was going to be the part where Logan proposed a compromise. "If Remus wished to use skeletal decorations for the set, there is a scene in the play where the characters explore ruins. According to the lore book Janus wrote for the play, people have died in those ruins, so you could likely craft some skeletons to decorate that set with." Logan suggested. "Hell yeah!" Remus cheered. "I'll be back! Gotta get some styrofoam!" Remus added before running out. "Don't run in the-" Logan began. "Halls." He sighed in defeat.

"Great. Now I'm going to wake up one day to Remus standing over me with a skeleton he crafted." Roman sighed. "It could be worse. He could use real skeletons." Logan pointed out. "Yeah, I guess." Roman sighed. "Have you seen Janus? They said they were going to give me the second act of the script today." Roman asked. "I'm afraid I haven't. They weren't in class this morning." Logan sighed. "They probably got into a fight with their Mom again." Roman muttered.

"You could practice the first act while waiting." Logan suggested. "I already know it by heart." Roman groaned. "Perhaps you could attempt to find other members and help them practice." Logan advised. "Yeah, I guess. Better me than Janus." Roman agreed. Before he left to do so, however, Janus entered the classroom, script in hand.

"Here's you script. Don't talk to me." Janus muttered, forcefully handing the script to Roman before walking to a desk. Roman stumbled a bit as the script was pushed into his chest and he grabbed hold of it. "Damn, what's got you by the-" Roman began. "I said, don't talk to me." Janus hissed, setting up the sewing machine. "Alright then." Roman responded before retreating to the auditorium. "Who gave you chips?" Janus asked Virgil, who had just been sitting on the counter observing this whole time. "Remus bribed me to not help Roman in the skull argument." Virgil answered.

"You're dehydrated enough." Janus complained, taking the chips from him and getting a bottle of water out of their pocket. "Here, drink this." They ordered, handing him the water. "But I want chips." Virgil groaned. "Yeah, well, I want my adopted freshman to be healthy." Janus huffed. "Is this how you treated Roman last year?" Virgil asked before drinking his water. "I didn't need to. Roman actually took care of himself." Janus huffed as he got out the costumes he was working on making.

"Do you want any help with the costumes?" Logan asked once their conversation seemed to be over. "No, I'm better at working alone." Janus muttered as he tried to get the sewing machine to work. "Why isn't it doing anything?" Janus growled, covering their face to muffle a yell of frustration. "You didn't plug it in." Logan commented, walking over to do so.

Janus watched Logan plug in the machine, feeling embarrassed, disappointed in himself, and exasperated. "This has not been my day. It would seem." Janus murmured before starting the machine. "Would you like to talk about whatever's bothering you?" Logan asked. "It was just another fight with my Mom. She was trying to keep me home so that I wouldn't go to the ceremony tonight." Janus sighed. "If you need a ride I'm sure my father wouldn't mind if you came with us." Logan offered. "I would appreciate that." Janus agreed, attempting a smile to show his appreciation.

"What pronouns are you using today?" Logan asked as he pulled out his phone. "He/They." Janus replied. "Alright." Logan replied, texting his father to ask if it was okay for Janus to accompany them. "You're going to be in a car with Logan." Virgil teased. Janus glared at Virgil, if looks could kill, Virgil would have dropped dead. "Yes, is that a problem?" Logan asked Virgil, confused by the tone he used. "Don't worry about it." Janus muttered, still glaring at Virgil. "Hmm... Maybe I should explain it to him. Not fair to leave him out of the joke." Virgil mused with a smirk. "You wouldn't dare." Janus hissed, causing Logan's confusion to grow. "Hmm, maybe if you give me my chips back I won't." Virgil decided.

Janus groaned, but did so, and Virgil chuckled as he continued eating them. "I am confused about why being in a car with me is amusing, but since you don't seem to want me to know the reasoning I'll respect your privacy." Logan stated. "It's an inside joke, Logan. I promise it's nothing you need to worry about." Janus assured him before resuming his work on the costumes. "Very well. I'm going to work on setting up the sound track Virgil created." Logan decided before entering the auditorium. "Have fun." Janus replied as Logan left.

"So, when are you going to tell him?" Virgil questioned. "Never." Janus stated firmly. "Fair enough." Virgil replied, knowing he'd be a hypocrite if he pushed the subject. "Sorry I'm late." Patton Foster apologized as he entered the Drama Club, a large box of broken props in hand. Someone had broken into his locker and stolen the props he had been working on, so he had to ask the Drama Teacher to help him get them back. Hopefully he could fix them without worrying the others.

     "It's fine. Today's a big day it makes sense we'd all be a bit off schedule." Janus dismissed. "It is?" Patton asked. "We're getting our powers today." Virgil reminded him. "That's today?" Patton asked, looking worried as he let out a sigh. "Oh dear... Hopefully Mom has a better memory than I do." Patton murmured as he placed the box of props on the shelf.

     "I'm back!" Remus announced as he entered the room. "Oh, hey Pat." Remus greeted, grinning at the Drama Club's favourite puffball. "Hi." Patton returned, avoiding looking at Remus as he sat down and started working on the props. Remus sat down at another desk, getting out the styrofoam and attempting to carve it.

***

     At the end of Drama Club, Janus handed out the second act of the script to the other actors. "Most of the second act is between Brian, Diana, and Wesley, so the rest of you shouldn't have too much to practice." Janus assured them. Brian was the play's main protagonist, played by Roman, Diana was the main antagonist played by Janus, and Wesley was the love interest. His actor wasn't here at the moment, not that he ever showed up.

     "Make sure you don't lose these scripts. It takes a lot of patience to get them printed. I'm looking at you Eric." Janus reminded the actors as they took their scripts and left. "Wow, you managed to interact with the other members without biting someone's head off." Roman teased. "I'd like to see you try to be director Roman." Janus muttered. "I mean, I will be next year. Tragically, however, you'll have graduated, so you won't get to see it." Roman sighed dramatically.

     "A moment of silence for Drama Club coming Semester, when I am no longer here to save it from crashing to the ground." Janus teased, causing Roman to make an offended sound. "I, wow. My own best friend thinks I'd fail so miserably?" Roman scoffed. "I do." Janus confirmed, smirking as he patted Roman on the head and left the auditorium. "This is slander. How dare you think so lowly of me?" Roman huffed, but he laughed as they entered the classroom.

     Patton and Logan had already gone to class, both of them being early birds. It was only Virgil and Remus left. "Virgil, shouldn't you be going to class?" Janus prompted. "Nah, I have a spare." Virgil lied. "Nice try, I memorized your schedule." Janus told him, dragging Virgil out of the classroom. "Couldn't hurt to try." Virgil sighed, giving the twins a two finger salute as he was forced out of the classroom. "What about you? Gonna play hoodie again?" Roman asked his brother as he collected his backpack. "Mhmm." Remus hummed, using a sharpie to draw details on a styrofoam skull.

     "Okay, suit yourself." Roman dismissed, heading for the door. "Patton might not like you playing hooky though." Roman mused before leaving the classroom. Remus sat in silence, glaring at the skull for a moment before groaning. "Why does he always have to use that against me?" Remus complained before getting up. He grabbed his bag, which was a duffel bag instead of the usual back pack, and muttered to himself as he left the Drama room.