Broken Masks (Sanders Sides)

Vol. 3

T.W.: panic attack

Everything was going well on Roman and Virgil's first day. That is, until after lunch.

But luckily for the two superhero boys, an unexpected ally appears.

~~Present day~~

"Hey gay boy!" A boy yelled at Virgil from the other end of the lunch table, "Who's the new boy? Is he your gay boyfriend?"

The other kids laughed. Virgil ignored them, save for flipping them off, and focused on the shit school food.

"Actually-" Roman stood and faced them, "I'm his brother, so stop talking about him like that."

The kids laughed.

"Hey emo freak!" The boy yelled again, "Are you just gonna let your gay brother stand up for you, or are you gonna finally grow a spine and talk!"

"I said shut up!" Roman shouted, pounding his fist on the table.

"Oh no, I'm so scared!" The first boy laughed, "what are you gonna do, fight me?"

Roman grit his teeth. Virgil noticed the smoke rising from the table where  Roman's hand was in contact with the wood. The emo reached out and grabbed the others wrist, trying not to wince when his hand made contact with Roman's burning skin.

The smoke stopped and Roman looked back at Virgil.

'Stop.' Virgil signed.

Roman sighed, sitting back down, "fine."

Virgil nodded. He went to pick up his fork, but dropped it with a hiss of pain.

Roman looked at him with curious worry, "You okay Virge?"

Virgil nodded quickly, holding his hand under the table. Roman frowned.

"Show me your hands." Roman said.

Virgil shook his head, not meeting Roman's eyes.

"Virgil-" Roman was cut short by the bell.

Virgil quickly stood. He threw his bag on his shoulder and quickly walked to his next class, leaving to time for Roman to question him any further.

Virgil sat down in his next class, flipping his hood up. Roman sat next to him.

"We'll talk about your hands after class." Roman whispered.

Virgil's shoulders slumped a bit, but he nodded.

The late bell rang and the teacher stood up.

"I will be taking roll now and I expect you to say that you are here." She said, looking over her glasses.

Virgil froze. This was going to be a fun class.

"Here." Some kid drawled.

"Roman Sanders?" She called.

Roman raised his hand, smirking, "Right here."

She rolled her eyes, "Virgil Sanders?"

Virgil tensed up. His breathing got quicker and the room seemed to shrink and dissapear at the same time.

Roman glanced over at Virgil. The emo was about to go into a full blown panic attack!

"Virgil?" The teacher called again.

"He's here!" Roman blurted.

The teacher glared at him, "if he's here, why doesn't he say so?"

"He's selectively mute." Roman said.

"Yes I got the email." The teacher adjusted her glasses, "but selectively implies that he can talk so that is what I expect him to do."

"That's not how it works!" Roman yelled.

"One more outburst from you, Mr. Sanders, and I will send you to the office!" The teacher yelled back.

Roman made a low growl in the back of his throat, but managed to stay quiet.

"Now, because Virgil didn't say he was here, I have to mark him absent." The teacher sighed.

"You can't do that! You know he's here!" Roman stood up.

"Mr. Sanders! Office now!" She pointed to the door.

Roman smirked, "which one?"

Her face went red, "Both! Now go!"

Virgil shakily stood from his seat. Roman grabbed both their bags and wrapped an arm around Virgil's shoulders, guiding him out the door. Virgil got halfway through the hall before he collapsed to the ground, bringing Roman down with him.

"Virgil, Virge, it's okay, I'm here." Roman said, hugging the panicking boy.

"What are you two doing out here?" A sudden voice said, causing both boys to flinch.

"I-I'm sorry sir, we were sent to the office but my brother had a panic attack and we had to stop-" Roman was cut off by the owner of the voice.

"Its okay." The man said, "why were you sent out?"

"My brothers selectively mute and the teacher tried to make him talk," Roman explained, "I stood up for him and, yeah..."

The man hummed, "Are you the Sanders boys?"

Roman nodded.

"I'm Dr. Picani, the school counsoler," the man smiled, "why don't you two come to my office and I'll call your parents to come pick you up. I'll tell the principal what happened"

Roman nodded again, picking up Virgil while Picani grabbed their bags.

"You can set him on the sofa over there." Picani said once they entered his office.

Virgil was still having a panic attack, dispite the few minutes of time that passed to get to Picani's office. Picani frowned. He raised his hand to Virgil's forhead, his hand glowing pink.

"Sleep." He said.

Then Virgil relaxed and his breathing evened out. Romans eyes went wide.

"You have powers!?" He stage-whispered.

Picani chuckled, "Yes I do Roman, and I know you and Virge do too."

Roman nodded, "so what now?"

"Would you like some tea while I call Patton?" Picani asked.

Roman nodded, "sure."

Once Picani had called Patton, Roman was curled up on the plush armchair, sipping peppermint tea. A few minutes later, there was a knock at the door and Patton came in.

"Hey kiddo, are you okay?" Patton asked quietly.

Roman nodded.

"Hey, where's the greeting for your older brother?" Picani joked.

Patton giggled, going over to hug the counsoler, "Hey Emile."

"Alright," Patton said, pulling away, "I should probably get the boys home."

Picani nodded, "that wound be a good idea, Virge might be out for the rest of the day though, I had to make him sleep."

Patton frowned, "another panic attack?"

Picani nodded again, "Roman did excellent keeping him calm and getting him to a safer spot though."

Roman blushed at the bit of praise.

Patton walked over to Virgil, brushing the hair out of his face before picking him up and carrying him out.

"Thanks for the tea." Roman said, "and everything else."

"No problem." Picani winked, "let's just hope the next time we meet it's on better terms."

Roman smiled, "yeah. Bye Picani."

"Bye Roman." Picani said.

Roman followed his dad and brother out to the car. Today had been a day, hopefully tomorrow will be better.