We Can be Heroes {Sanders Sides Superhero AU}

Chapter 32

Longer chapter but it's cute so :P

Day Forty-Three | Friday | April 21st

Virgil hadn't been backstage since his Junior year of high school, that was four years ago. It felt odd being behind one now. Sure, it wasn't the same theater, but to say it wasn't familiar would be a lie. He was half expecting his old friends to jump out from a costume rack and yell "Surprise!" That, of course, did not happen, but Virgil did jump when Norah knocked over a fake palm tree. Norah bent over to pick it up. She wasn't phased by Virgil's jumpiness, he had been like this in high school to and it had not come as a surprise to her.

Virgil looked around the messy room. Costumes had been placed on several different racks. It was obvious that someone had been trying to separate them by time period, the particular time they were looking for had dresses and outfits all hanging from a rack, while the others had been left where ever they sat. The floor had backdrops and half-finished sets covering it. It seemed Norah and her team had been hard at work. "Okay, let's start with this one, it's the inside of a castle. We're doing Anastasia" Norah told him as they stopped in front of a backdrop.

Virgil nodded quietly, taking off his jacket and putting it safely away in a corner where the paint wouldn't touch it. From where they were, Virgil could see Roman standing on stage with Quinn and a short girl with straight blond hair. The girl was shorter than both Quinn and Roman, and obviously younger than them. "That's Amy," Norah said, "She's the female lead. She's a freshman at the community college, she's actually really good. And she's nice to my crew so, that's two gold stars for her"

Virgil nodded again as he picked up a brush and began carefully painting. "Quinn says you and Roman are roommates." Norah said Virgil nodded, "Did you get tired of living at home or something?"

"W-what?" Virgil asked, looking up towards Norah.

"Well, back in high school I remember you would always hate going home. You said things were weird." Norah said, not noticing the change in Virgil's voice, "When you said you weren't going to college, everyone was surprised. Even Wren, you used to talk about wanting to do something that mattered. But then, when senior year started to come to an end you just shut down every time anything past high school came up"

"Oh" was all Virgil said before they went back to painting. The castle had not yet appeared. It would be a slow process, Virgil would not get to finish it, he knew that. As Virgil and Norah fell into a routine, his mind began to wander. He barely remembered himself from high school. Did he really shut down like that? Did he still do that? He remembered not wanting to go home, and often avoiding it as long as he could. He used to make excuses for Remus and Deceit about how he needed to study at the library or help their neighbors. It got to the point where he would go to parties he and his friends were invited to just so he could stay away from the house.

He would put his anxiety at risk just to avoid it. Had he really been that scared of going home? But those had just been normal days, was it worse on days where he knew they were mad. Or when- when something was- happening? When Deceit had a plan? How was that his life? How was it that even now, as an adult, Virgil was afraid of them. Of what they'd do. Fearful enough that he was getting help from people he used to spend his days fighting and distracting and running from? How could that be? How could that-

The start of music and singing made Virgil jump and look up, "I grew up on the sly.
In the gutters and the streets of Petersburg." Roman sang slowly, carefully moving around the stage. It was obvious that the choreography was still new to him, but Roman knew the song by heart already. "Just a kid on the fly. Getting good at getting by in Petersburg." Roman held the last note carefully. As Amy, Quin, and the director watched from the stage, Norah and Virgil were left to spy on the scene from the gaps in the curtain in front of them. Slowly the music began to speed up, and so did the dancing.