"Roman, you're being an asshole."

The princely boy glared at his best friend. "Well excuse me for actually having confidence," he snapped, making Virgil roll his eyes. "Your anxiety makes you such a bore. You should try to get out of your box more."

"I'll do that if you learn some modesty," the darkly dressed boy responded, meeting his eyes. They glared at each other for a moment before breaking into grins and laughing a little. "Sorry for calling you an asshole."

"Sorry for making fun of your anxiety," Roman replied as they shared nods of understanding.

This was how their friendship worked. They were close, extremely close, but they fought all the time. However, it was a good thing for both of them when they broke it down. Virgil kept Roman's ego in check, making sure he didn't do anything stupid, while Roman convinced him to step a little out of his comfort zone, debunking any of his completely irrational fears. It was a strange relationship, but they'd been friends for so long that they never stopped to question it.

"Hey, speaking of stepping out of your comfort zone, I was invited to go to out with Joey and his friends tonight, you wanna come with?" Roman questioned.

Virgil tensed up, looking at him in shock. "I don't think that's a good idea," he said, shifting uncomfortably. "They're not good kids, Roman, I've seen some of the things they do. I don't think-"

"God, you're such a worrier! It'll be fine!" the princely boy replied. "Joey's really chill! We're just gonna hang out at his place after going to like, Chili's or something! Calm down! You don't have to go."

He bit his lip as he stayed quiet for a moment. "N-No, I'll go..." he managed, thinking this was going to end horribly.

Roman smiled as they headed out, meeting Joey and his friends. They all sat down in a booth, all of them laughing obnoxiously other than Virgil. He tried to be as small as possible, avoiding eye contact with the strange kids across from him.

"So, who's the freshie? He your boy toy, Prince?" Joey questioned, pointing at him.

Virgil's face flushed with embarrassment as he looked away. "Actually, he's a junior too, and no, we're just friends," Roman replied with a laugh. He tried not to feel hurt by the indirect friend-zoning, given that the princely boy had no idea of his crush.

"Shame, you're definitely hot enough to have anyone," a girl laying all over Joey commented as they all agreed.

They're just feeding his ego, the darkly dressed boy thought worriedly. These guys aren't good for him...

The night continued more or less, without any problems, but Virgil found himself being at the end of all of their jokes, and ridiculed the entire time. Roman didn't even stop them, and he could tell that his ego was acting up. When they headed back to Joey's place, and found that there were no parents home, Virgil's stomach churned uncomfortably. No parents almost always meant trouble. His heart lurched when Joey revealed they had alcohol. He pulled Roman away to talk in private.

"Ro, come on, you know this is a bad idea," he said, shaking slightly with nerves. "We're underage!"

He waved him off. "Chill out, nothing's going to happen," he replied.

"Roman! Snap out of it!" Virgil pleaded. "You have to know deep down that these people are not good for you. They're feeding into your ego, and you already have a problem with that, and you know it! They've been harassing me all night, and you've done nothing! Now you're okay with underage drinking?! What's next?! Shooting up on heroine?! Roman, come on, let's just go home!"

The princely boy who was supposed to be his best friend just shook his head, laughing in a low voice. "You're such a buzzkill, you want to leave? Then go! I'm not going anywhere, especially not with you," he snarled, making Virgil take a step back as his stomach dropped. "I don't even know why I invited you. You're not even happy for me when I've made new friends! What kind of friend are you?!"

He went to answer, but Roman continued. "No, you're not my friend! I don't even know why I thought we were when all you ever do is hold me back!" he snapped as tears pricked the darkly dressed boy's eyes. "Go the hell home, Virgil, and stay away from me!"

"R-Roman..." he whimpered as he backed away toward the door, fighting back tears.

"Go home, Virgil!" he said, turning on his heel and walking away from him without looking back as he ran out the door.

He was sobbing as he ran back home, curling up in a ball in his room. The next day, Roman didn't text him to apologize. Monday, he didn't even look his way. He spent the whole week with his new "friends", leaving Virgil to sit alone. Just from watching him, he could tell Roman wasn't himself. He seemed meaner, he'd seen them drinking behind the school, he was careless. Virgil overheard them one day, hearing them dare him to graffiti the school that night. Roman agreed, making his gut clench. That could get him expelled, and he couldn't let him go that.

Swallowing his fear, he found himself sneaking onto the school campus the night. He made his way around the back of the building. Roman was shaking a can of spray paint, but hadn't done anything yet.

"What do you think you're doing?" Virgil snapped, making him look up.

His eyes narrowed in the dark, pausing his motions to cross his arms and look at him. "What the hell do you want, Black?" he questioned, behaving as though they weren't best friends for twelve years of their lives. "I'm busy here."

"Busy with what? Getting yourself expelled?" the darkly dressed boy fired back. "You're so stupid."

Roman laughed deeply, shaking his head. "You're pathetic, thinking I care if you come here," he sneered, making a sharp stab of pain flash through him.

"I know you don't care, but I do," Virgil managed, moving forward to grab the bag of spray paint and pull it away from him. "I know you wouldn't care if I died tomorrow, but I'd be devastated if something horrible happened to you, so I'm stopping you from getting expelled."

"God you've always been a pain in the ass!" Roman snapped, reaching out to yank on the bag.

The darkly dressed boy refused to let go, leading to the two having a fight over it as they snapped at each other. Insults flew between them as they did so, making them oblivious to approaching footsteps until the teacher cleared his throat.

"Boys!" Mr. Sanders interjected, making both of them freeze as a flashlight illuminated them. The looked liked deer in headlights as they stared at the teacher with wide eyes. "Prince and Black... my office after school tomorrow. Detention for both of you."

"But we didn't even do anything!" Roman protested while Virgil just hung his head, avoiding eye contact. "This is all his fault!"

The anxious boy just dropped the bag and marched away. He had to face the humiliation of his ex-best friend blabbing about this encounter to his new "friends" tomorrow, AND had detention. He was on the verge of tears when he got home, curling up on his bed and falling asleep. He woke up feeling heavy the next morning, managing to get out of bed only with the fear of getting more detention as his motivator.

Virgil trudged through the day, soon finding himself sitting in Mr. Sanders office with the one person he didn't want to see. "God, I wouldn't even be here if it weren't for you," Roman muttered in his direction. He didn't respond; he felt too numb to do so.

When the teacher entered the office again, he noticed the tension between the two boys he'd thought were friends. "For detention today, I want you to go to the art room and clean it," he instructed, earning a groan from Roman as they stood up and left. Mr. Sanders sighed as they closed the door behind them, concerned as to what happened between the inseparable best friends. He jumped at the knock at the door a few moments later. "Come in."

"Hey Logan, you wanted to talk to me?" Virgil's father, Patton, said as he entered the room with a smile.

The teacher nodded with a sigh. "Yes, it's about Virgil," he said, straightening his glasses. "I'm concerned about him. He's not the type to get detention, and he seems even quieter than usual. I think something happened between him and Roman."

"Oh gosh..." Patton murmured quietly, sighing. "That would explain why he's been even more withdrawn... What should we do about it?"

Logan adjusted his tie. "I believe he and Roman need to work things out on their own, I simply wanted to alert you of what I've seen," he clarified. "I'm not worried Virgil will get in trouble again, seeing as it was Roman who was there to cause trouble. He seemed to be trying to stop him."

The father nodded in agreement and the conversation continued. Meanwhile, Roman and Virgil were washing paint covered brushes and palettes. "This sucks! This is all your fault," the princely boy snapped at the other.

"I know..." he replied quietly, keeping his head tilted in a way that hid his eyes.

His tone made Roman pause for a moment, looking up with some sort of realization. There was something in his voice he recognized. He wasn't looking his way, and he kept having to take sharp inhales through his nose, as if it was running. Was he... crying? "Virgil, are you alright?"

"L-Like you care," he said with an empty laugh, reaching up to wipe the corners of his eyes as subtly as possible. "You've made it very clear where you stand, so just d-don't talk to me. This will be less painful if you don't..."

The princely boy looked at him with concern and confusion. He put down the supplies he was washing and turned away, walking hurriedly toward the door. "Wait Virgil-"

"I'm just going to the b-bathroom, don't talk to me," the darkly dressed boy snapped as he left the room.

Like hell he's just going to the bathroom, I know that tone, Roman thought as dread twisted in his gut. He put down the paint brush he was washing and turned off the water before rushing after him. I swear to god if he's doing what I think he's doing...

He rushed into the boy's bathroom, finding it deserted aside from the large stall that was mostly closed, but not actually, as if it had just been swung that way as an after thought. The princely boy could hear sniffling and sharp intakes of breath coming from within that made his heart drop as he raced to the stall and pushed the door open.

Bile rose in Roman's throat upon what he saw, finding the boy he'd called his best friend his whole life holding a razor to his arm. There were already several bleeding cuts as he made another, tears rolling down his cheeks.

"Virgil stop!" the princely boy found himself almost screaming as he ran forward and ripped the razor from his hand and tossed it away. He grabbed his arm, feeling panic building up upon seeing the countless fresh scars that had to have been over the past week. His stomach churned with disgust for himself, realizing that his behavior had caused him to relapse. Tears started to pour from his own eyes as his breathing became frantic. "O-Oh my god- I- Virgil- god I'm so sorry! I d-didn't mean this-"

He managed to snap himself out of it enough to find the first aid kit they had in the large bathroom stall, yanking the bandages out of it. Virgil just watched him with tears flowing down his cheeks as he pulled him over to the sink where he rinsed away the blood. Once the scarlet liquid had disappeared down the drain, Roman began to wrap the bandages tightly around his arm with shaking hands. The pressure made the cuts sting, but the darkly dressed boy didn't even flinch as he stared at the ground with a blank expression.

When the princely boy had finished, he looked up at his face, feeling every guilt, despair, hatred of himself, and anguish over what he'd caused him to do to himself. Tears continued to slip down his cheeks more slowly as he cried, holding onto Virgil's arm.

"What are you crying for?" he asked softly, voice sounding hollow.

Roman couldn't look at him as he lifted his hand to hold closer. "I made you do this... this is all my fault..." he whispered as he gripped his hand tightly. "I'm so, so sorry... even if my words mean nothing to you anymore, just know that I never want you to do this to yourself, p-please."

"If you care so much, what's your excuse for treating me like the scum of the earth for the past week?" Virgil questioned after a moment of silence.

The princely boy shook his head, still gripping his hand. "It's not good enough- no explanation would be good enough now that I know you've relapsed because of me," he murmured. "I- you don't feel the same way anymore, but I'm- I'm still in love with you, but I was so mad at myself for falling for you. I convinced myself to stay away from you, but I knew you'd never leave me alone without reason so I- I said all those horrible things and acted even more like an asshole than I usually do to get you to stay away from me."

There was a thick silence between them. Virgil's eyes were wide and tearful when Roman looked up to meet them finally. "W-Why?" he stammered, voice wavering.

"Because I didn't want to deal with my own heartbreak," he replied with guilt lacing every word. "I didn't want to have to see you everyday knowing you'd never feel the same way about me. I couldn't do it... I was selfish, you know how I am..."

Another silence landed on them only broken by occasional sniffles from one of them. Virgil's heart was throbbing with pain and yet strangely joy. He leaned forward slowly, making the princely boy look up and his eyes widen as he drew closer. Their lips met gently as the anxious boy's eyes slipped closed. Roman stared at him in shock as he drew back.

"Y-You... you still?" he asked in a whisper as he searched his shimmering brown eyes. There was a small nod and a small sad smile. A hysterical, desperate laugh came from Roman's lips as he wiped his cheeks. "After everything I put you through... you'd still love me, even when I've done absolutely nothing to deserve it?"

"Roman, I can't help but love you," Virgil replied quietly. "You knew in sixth grade. Nothing's changed but the pain I felt knowing you'd ended it, that you didn't love me anymore."

The princely boy shook his head quickly as he laced their fingers together and squeezed his hand. "No, no, I didn't- I never stopped loving you... that was the biggest mistake I'd ever made," he explained. "I ended things back then because I was ignorant and thought we'd be better as friends, but after two years of pain from just looking at you, it's just not true. We were so good together, and it scared me. I was scared by how strong my feelings were, that's all. It was all on me. I'm sorry, so sorry for putting you through that, and now this..."

He hung his head in shame, but Virgil felt a weight disappear from his chest that had been making it slightly more difficult to breathe for two years. A broken smile found its way onto his face as he hugged Roman tightly. "I forgive you, god, of course I forgive you, you idiot," he said with a teary laugh.

Roman hugged him back equally as tight, feeling a sense of relief wash over him just from feeling so close. They stayed like that, sitting on the dirty bathroom floor just breathing in each other's presence. There was a new feeling of hope and tranquility now that all the secrets were out, now that they knew how each other felt. The princely boy didn't ever want to let him go, fearing he'd somehow lose him if he ever let him out of his sight again.

"As much as I'd love to just sit here," Virgil eventually spoke. "We really should get back to detention before Mr. Sanders goes and finds us both missing."