Prinxiety oneshots

Once upon a dream

I know, I know. I'm meant to be working on cemetery drive. But this just wouldn't leave me alone, so here it is. Also, TW for homophobia and death.
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Roman smiled up at the house above him. It was a old, a bit outdated, but that was okay. His parents had decided to move here after his mother had gotten a new job in the area. A lot of kids might have been resistant to the idea of moving, but Roman wasn't one of them. He hadn't had any real friends in his old neighborhood. All the kids he knew were from the football team he had played on in order to seem more masculine. He ended up regretting it in the end, and the other boys were not great to be around. His new school had a drama class he was looking forward to taking. As Roman began to lug the last heavy box into the house, he noticed a very old looking porch swing that was gently swaying. It was a bit odd, given there was no wind. "That's strange." He muttered, but shrugged it off and carried his box upstairs. A few hours later and his parents had gone to pick up dinner, so roman decided to sit on the porch swing. As he exited the house however, he found it was already occupied.

The figure looked to be a boy around Roman's age of 15. He had dark brown, almost black hair with curls falling into his eyes. He was dressed in a black hoodie with sewn on purple patches, over a shirt for what Roman assumed was a band, and a pair of black, ripped jeans. "H-hello?" Roman called out, confused as to why this boy was at their house and using their swing if the moving van had been so hard to miss. But the boy did not answer, he just continued to swing back at fourth. It was at this point Roman noticed something he hadn't before, the boy was speaking. Roman took a step closer, and as he did, the words grew louder. "Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary.." the boy was quoting the Raven. Somewhere in his mind, Roman was wondering why that was, but his brain had begun to grow foggy as he took a step closer to the swing. The way the boy spoke was almost melodic, like a siren trying to lure in a sailor. It was certainly was working on Roman, as he continued to watch the display in front of him. Around him, the sky began to darken at an alarming rate. Clouds gathered over head and rain began to fall. A little slow at first, but it quickly became faster, as the wind swirled around the house. As the rain picked up, so did the boy's voice. The louder and louder he got, the harder the rain fell and the higher the swing went. Roman could sense the storm around him, but couldn't bring himself to tear away from what he was seeing, and hearing, on the swing. A part of him seemed to remember seeing this boy before, maybe in a dream, but he couldn't quite place it. He took another step. There was something definitely very familiar about him. Something in Roman was almost fond of him. A few more steps and the swing would have been close enough to touch, but the boy on the swing was slowing now as he reached the end of the poem, and just as suddenly and the rain began, it had stopped. Roman finally managed to look away to marvel at the sky, but as he looked back, to say something to this odd stranger, he was gone. There was no trace he had even been there in the first place, and in fact now that he looked, there was no trace that the rain had been there either.

Roman hadn't gotten much sleep that night. One reason for this was that he kept thinking about that boy on the swing. The other reason was the shouting. He had been lying awake, trying to figure out what he had seen, when he heard it. It sounded like a man yelling, but Roman couldn't exactly make out what. That didn't matter to him though as he sat up and glanced over to his sword he kept on the wall. "W-Who's there?" He called out, trying to keep his voice steady. No answer. He laid back down. But a few minutes later, he heard it again, this time louder and more angry, and it was followed by what sounded like another person crying. Roman thought that he might just be hearing the neighbors, and rolled over and tried to sleep, but was unsuccessful.

The next day at school Roman tried his best to be his usual charming and outgoing self. He managed to make a new friend, one of the guys working tech for his drama class. His name was remy, and he and Roman had decided to sit together at lunch after really hitting it off. "So Roman, when'd you move here?" "Oh just yesterday actually." Roman said, sitting down at their table. "Oof- you must be so tired." Remy gave him a sympathetic sort of look. "Yeah, I didn't get much sleep last night." "Oh really, meet someone already?" Roman laughed and shook his head. "No, I think I just overheard a pretty loud domestic dispute. Some man was yelling at someone and the other was crying really loud." Remy pulled a face. "Yikes. And where do you live again?" "8615 Lee Lane." Remy stopped. "I'm sorry babe, what was that?" "I live on 8615 Lee Lane, you know, the one with the old rickety porch swing." There was silence as the two stared at each other. "Hon," remy began quietly, taking off his sunglasses, "I don't think you heard a domestic dispute." Roman looked at him, confused. "What're you talking about, what else would I have heard?" Remy looked him up and down. "What did you say your name was again?" Roman gave him a confused look. "It's Roman." Remy sighed. "Look, this is probably gonna make me sound batshit crazy, but I promise you I'm not trying to prank you." Roman gave him a some what suspicious look, but nodded. "A few years ago, a boy around our age was killed by his father in that house." Roman stared at him, wide eyed. Remy continued, "His name was Virgil, and he was gay. His father was really homophobic, but to be honest a lot of the older people around here are." Roman nodded sourly. "He was a pretty weird kid anyway. He was like, an emo kid I guess. But he also used to get these dreams." "What were the dreams about?" "Well, nobody has exact details, but he would talk about meeting someone in his dreams, a boy. He said he reminded him of the prince from sleeping beauty." "I love Disney." Roman murmured. "Virgil was very anxious. He an anxiety disorder, but his father didn't really care. He was always yelling at him to be more like a real man, and to stop talking about those weird dreams. But Virgil wouldn't listen. It was sort of obvious he had caught major feelings for the dream boy, and was convinced he would meet him in real life someday." Roman frowned. "That sounds heartbreaking." Remy nodded. "And it gets worse. This dream boy was one of the only things that seemed to keep him happy and calm, but his father was not having it. He demanded that Virgil either say he wasn't real and start acting more manly, or he would ship him off to an asylum. Virgil refused and the fight got pretty ugly. At one point, I guess everything got too much for him, and he yelled, 'but I am going to find him! He's out there somewhere and I love him!'" Roman didn't know what to say to that. "That's..oh wow." Remy let out a heavy sigh. "Yeah. His father didn't like that, turns out. After finding out his son was gay, he threw him from the open window where he fell to his death." The two of them sat in silence for a moment. "So that's why that house is haunted. Everyone in town knows about it." "Hey remy?" "Yes?" "Virgil, what did he look like?" Remy gave him a small smile. "You've seen him haven't you? Dark curly hair? Pale, wearing a jacket with purple patches?" Roman's face paled as he nodded. "And the boy, the dream boy I mean, did he have a name?" Remy stared at him for a moment.

"His name was Roman."