10:14pm

You got cOOOOOTTIIIEEESSSSS

Wait I just looked at the definition for 'cooties' and apparently in Britain it's more common to say 'Lurgi' lmao you got luRGI-

Au
—

"This is my good luck charm!" Patton told his friend, Virgil, who was currently quickly finishing off a question in preparation for the math exam he was about to sit in literally five minutes. To say he was panicking was an understatement of the year. He was usually terrible at math, especially numeracy, and he was sure to get an F. Well, he was sort of eased when another friend of his, Logan, said with his knowledge he would get a C, possibly even a B, and Logan was usually never wrong, still, his anxiety was going haywire.

While Virgil focused solely on math, he allowed Patton to clip on his necklace (the good luck charm) tucking it under his t-shirt so no teacher would see it as the school had a strict policy with jewellery. "Thanks, Pat" Virgil smiled, giving the paper to Logan who would mark it for him. "It's no problem, Kiddo! Where's Roman?" He then cocked his head, looking around for their fourth and final friend. He was always late for school so it wasn't a surprise he was late today, only he and Roman were sitting the exam out of their friendship group, Logan and Patton were tomorrow.

"There he is. Late as usual" Logan piped up, handing the work back to Virgil afterwards, complimenting him on the fact he got the question correct. "Thanks, Lo"

Down the hallway, they all watched Roman running towards them, his bag which only hung on one shoulder swinging wildly behind him. "I'm here!" He called out loudly, making everyone else in the room glance over at him, but then turn back to their conversation, realising it was Roman being Roman.

"Any louder, Roman?" Logan asked sarcastically, watching with distaste as he leaned down to peck Virgil's lips. PDA. He hated it. However he was happy the two were content with each other - he had noticed how much it hurt them both before they were together and they were merely fawning for the other.

"Come on, kiddos! You'll be late!" Patton urged, ushering them away with a grin and a call of a 'good luck!'.

With a pencil case full of what they would need, the two walked hand in hand into the exam hall, searching for the desk with their name on it. Thankfully, due to their last names being after the others in the alphabet, they would always sit close to each other in these sort of circumstances, today specifically Virgil took his seat before Roman, glancing at him over his shoulder. Roman shot him a reassuring smile which eased him a little, turning back forward before he would get told off.

And, know what? The exam wasn't that bad. A few questions did stump him, but overall he felt like he was doing well. However, he still felt a weird compression in his chest, slowly making it harder and harder for him to breathe. Often he would place a hand to his chest and take long, deep breaths, his usual tactic during panic attacks, but he wasn't having one, he could feel it. He wasn't. He wished he had brought his water bottle in with him, right now his throat was dry and he could use a drink, his saliva wasn't enough.

Some of the invigilators walking by would give him a questioning look but he'd just shake his head and continue the exam until he was finished, setting it aside to once again breathe in and out, long and calm. But it wasn't working. And slowly, he began to heave. Roman noticed the sound instantly, looking up at his boyfriend to see one of his hands clutching the table tight, so tight his knuckles were pale white.

He couldn't see his face, but Roman could guess what was happening.

The people around them began to glance over, some giving him weird looks, others annoyed, a few curious. He ignored them all in favour of keeping his breathing as even as he could. Time struck, the exam was over, as the papers were being collected Virgil suddenly hunched over, coughing and spluttering, his stomach suddenly cramping in pain, so much so he let out a sharp scream, alerting everyone in the room to whip their heads in his direction.

Roman leaped off his chair and pulled Virgil up from his, but the boy pushed him back, stumbling into the table next to them, causing that person to stand too, including the people around them. The invigilators rushed over to see what was happening, trying to ask Virgil questions and lead him out the room but he was ignoring them all.

When he began to shake, violently so, everyone took a step back, watching in fear as he began to twitch, heave and cough roughly. Roman wanted to help but before he could step forward Virgil hunched over, black goo shooting out through his mouth and onto the floor, people let out yelps of their own, taking even more steps back so they wouldn't accidentally be covered in whatever that was.

"Shit, shit" Roman whispered, staring at the black goo, watching as it bubbled and slowly oozed across the floor. It dripped down Virgil's chin, his once dark brown hair stark black, eyes slowly losing the whites, red taking over.

Roman knew he had to step in before this would get any worse. He leaped over the black goo, grabbed Virgil's hands and rolled up his sleeves, trying to see what was causing this. He then tugged off his jacket, throwing it to the side, pressing a hand to his chest, ripping it back almost instantly when something burned his hand.

He stared at his palm. A red mark glared at him. A red mark in the shape of a cross.

He pulled at the necklace around Virgil's neck, finding it to be Patton's favourite, his necklace with a cross. He wasn't exactly religious, but his mother gave it to him a few years ago before she passed away and he kept it ever since. Roman felt his heart melt with the realisation he trusted Virgil enough to give it to him, but he ignored that for now.

Turning the necklace around, he unclipped it and pulled it away from Virgil who froze, eyes wide, mouth parted. Then, slowly, ever so slowly, he stopped shaking, his hands relaxed, no longer twitching, his eyes returned to normal and he could breathe. Roman smiled and ran a hand through his hair, watching it turn back brown very subtly, so subtly no one else noticed.

"You okay?" Roman murmured and Virgil nodded. "I..I didn't even notice" he whispered about the necklace. Roman nodded in understanding, rose his arm and clicked his hands. Instantaneously, everyone was back in their seats, there was no more black goo, everything was back to what it was before, but this time Roman had the necklace in his hand, keeping the cross dangling under it, not wanting to touch it.

As they left the room hand in hand, Virgil chuckled and looked up at his boyfriend. "That was close" he commented, which made Roman laugh and squeeze his hand.

"It was, Dearest. It was"

—
10:41pm