Remus leaned against the lockers while Virgil pushed his books back in for the end of the day with a heavy sigh. He sort of shoved them in crumpling any papers in their path with Remus smirked and popped his gum. Crumpling shitty work papers violently was such a mood and the sound was pretty satisfying. Remus just dropped his in the trash on the way out of class.

"Virgil," A short kid with dark hair came up behind him, but Remus didn't really see his face since it was buried in a textbook.

"Hm?" Virgil turned around and sighed again. "What's up, Logan?" Oh yeah, Virge's nerd friend.

"Did you need to borrow my notes to review for our exams tomorrow?" Logan asked. "You were struggling with the material in class, today," Virgil sighed again. If he kept up this pace he was gonna pass out. That would be pretty funny. Incapacitation by being morose. If anybody could sigh themselves to death, it'd be Virgil.

"No, Logan," Virgil said curtly and slammed shut his locker. "Thanks or whatever. I've got it. I don't need help,"

"I can e-mail you a copy, Virgil, it wouldn't be any trouble," Logan offered again. Wow, pushy. Why didn't he get that Virgil didn't want to think about it?

"He said no, nerdy wolverine," Remus smirked.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Are you doing anything fun this weekend?" Virgil changed the subject.

"Yes, if I come back with A's on my midterms father is going to let me stay overnight at Patton's. We are going to watch movies and order a pizza. I can ask Patton's mother if you could join us,"

"Sounds… like a party," Virgil deadpanned and Remus snickered. "I'm good, buddy," Virgil said, shaking his head a little pityingly. Remus and Virgil did that basically every other night. What a poor, sad little nerd. Remus shook his head and mentally poured one out for Logan's assured eventual massive mental breakdown. Virgil hissed and Remus looked up.

"What are you doing here?" Remus groaned.

"Logan, I don't know why you're with these two hooligans, but Patton wanted to ask you to save his seat on the bus. He's held up talking to a teacher," Roman snarled.

"Roman, you surely are aware that I share a bus with Virgil, correct? You and Remus do not live in our neighborhood, but the rest of us take the same bus," Logan reminded him.

"The nerd's right. I live in a dumpster behind the Wendy's. I think Ro's a Mickey D's dumpster," Remus smirked.

"You know perfectly well that I do not live in a dumpster, Remus, though I can't speak for you," Roman spat. "You came home last night, so it's fair to assume I don't have to tolerate your stupid face this evening?" Roman asked sourly. Virgil hissed at him and looked like he was about to take a swipe.

"You know, I think I'd rather not tolerate your stupid face now, Roman. I'm happy to change it for you," He growled, holding up his painted black nails to threaten him.

"You're just mad you're not as hot as this," Roman huffed and motioned to himself smugly. Ugh. And Roman claimed Remus was annoying.

"I've got a torch lighter and kerosene, fuck face, I can make that package even hotter," Virgil growled.

"Jesus. Logan, perhaps we should relocate to somewhere… less murdery," Roman said, taking Logan's shoulders and pulling him away.

"Roman, I am going to the same place as him. Virgil doesn't actually mean he will set you aflame," Logan objected as Roman literally pushed Logan away. Honestly, Virgil and Roman in the same room could have ended worse.

"What a drama queen," Remus rolled his eyes and looked down at Virgil who was still very ruffled looking from his interaction with Roman. "Hey, he's gone," Remus placed a hand on Virgil's shoulder.

"I hate that asshole," Virgil huffed and turned to the lockers. He smacked his head on it three times, a very satisfying noise ringing out with each hit. Remus pulled back on Virgil's shoulders and stopped him from hitting his head any more.

"There are more fun ways to get brain damage, V. Blunt force locker is boring. Just ignore him like they ignore me," Remus offered and pulled Virgil into his side. Virgil huffed and pushed out of his arm. He wasn't a fan of PDA as much as he appreciated it at home. Remus never cared about it, though. People have bigger things to make fun of him for.

"That's the whole problem, other than being a smug asshole who always thinks he's right," Virgil growled and fumed. Remus pulled him forward and they started walking together towards the bus stops.

"Hey. Hey. V," Remus poked Virgil in the side in the hall as they sauntered lazily towards the big double doors that lead outside.

"What?" Virgil hissed, sounding annoyed and tired. All the more reason to remind him!

"We have tests tomorrow," Remus stated expectantly.

"Yeah?" Virgil drawled contemptuously. Virgil must have had another bad day other than just having to put up with Roman. He had more bad days than good, lately. But they could turn that around tonight. Or at least forget about it. Virgil ran his hand through his purple hair in frustration.

"You know what that means," Remus poked him in the side again with a wild grin.

"Oh," Virgil said, after processing for a moment. "Fuck yeah, I do. We get absolutely faced, that's what that means. You're taking my bus home, right?" Virgil asked excitedly. Remus was glad to see him re-invigorated after talking with Roman drained him.

"You know it," Remus shoved Virgil into the lockers as the passed and he laughed and shoved Remus back. Remus stumbled into another kid, and Virgil called out sorry and grabbed Remus's arm to yank him away as the kid grumbled and sped up ahead of them. Whatever, Remus barely touched him.

"You have a change of clothes this time?" Virgil asked a little dourly again.

"Yeah, though I don't think it matters anymore," Remus groaned. He was pretty certain his parents would figure it out either way.

"I mean the shit my parents buy is awful smelling," Virgil commented, trying to sound off-hand but failing spectacularly.

"Who cares? I'm the fuck-up son. I'll be sweating it out anyway," Remus said disdainfully and shoved the heavy metal door to the bus stops open.

"We'll go swimming. My neighbor's still on vacation, we can just jump the fence. You'll smell like chlorine instead," Virgil offered passively. Remus could kiss this crafty fucker.

"That is the best god damn idea I've heard all day," Remus's grin returned and he barked at a kid as they passed to Virgil's bus line. Virgil quietly cackled when the kid jumped. He pressed himself against the wire fence and shrank into his faded black hoodie, shoving his hands deep into his pockets. Remus joined him against the fence, leaning back and looking up at the sheet metal overhang above their heads.

"Hey, you think we can find the roof access sometime? I'd love to get up there," Remus mused.

"I think there's an access in the hallway between the band hall and the theatre," Virgil said, considering it. "I'm pretty certain I saw it when I went to go skip in the theatre changing room,"

"You're shitting me," Remus said, his eyes lighting up.

"I think it's locked, dude, you're gonna have to learn how to pick locks," Virgil rolled his eyes.

"Oh, I can learn how to pick a fuckin' lock. I just need to get a set of picks," Remus smiled mischievously.

"Do you still have your parent's credit card info? I think I saw a set on e-bay," Virgil offered, sounding excited.

"Why the fuck are you always on e-bay?" Remus's eyes dropped to the ground, kicking at some stray rocks with his boots. He kicked one into Virgil's black hightops.

"It's just fun to look for stuff," Virgil said with a shrug, kicking the rock back at him. "You're always on fuckin' Reddit," Virgil added scornfully.

"I know you're on those stupid cryptid and supernatural Reddit boards, you can't judge me," Remus kicked the rock back.

"Well, you'd be on there still too if you didn't keep suggesting monster fucking and got banned," Virgil groaned.

"Mothman is fucking hot, okay? They're the ones who can't face the truth," Remus barked back in frustration. Virgil scoffed back at him but smirked quickly after a moment. He looked back down to the ground and frowned again much too quickly. Remus would just have to hope getting away from school and playing video games would cheer him up. The wave 2 busses finally pulled up and Virgil and Remus filed in.

Remus and Virgil plopped into the seat right behind the driver where they wouldn't get caught doing whatever stupid shit they were up to, basically their regular spot. Virgil said he normally hissed at people so they wouldn't sit with him when Remus wasn't there, and Remus believed him. Virgil's hissing was surprisingly effective even if his bark had no bite. Remus had seen him hiss at people getting too close in the halls all the time. And it did just work on Roman. Maybe Remus should try hissing at him sometime.

Virgil picked at his cuticles and wedged his feet between himself and the padded seat wall behind the driver. Remus watched in fascination as he pulled up a loose cuticle and it started bleeding. Virgil noticed him staring and shoved him, but Remus caught himself on the seat before he went into the aisle.

"That's fucking creepy, dude," Virgil snarled.

"Oh, bite me," Remus said dismissively and leaned back.

"I might!" Virgil shot and shoved him again.

"And you couldn't live with yourself if I ended up liking it," Remus cackled.

"Ugh, gross," Virgil grunted and shifted in the seat, pulling out his phone. "I'm turning on my music," He said, pressing play and listening to the headphones hidden under his hoodie and hair. Virgil wasn't comfortable in busses and usually just tried to space out. Remus huffed at being abandoned in favor of spacing out at the ugly brown vinyl in front of him but was used to this treatment. Remus stretched out his legs under the seat and pulled out his own headphones to listen to music, too. He'd be on Reddit if reading on the bus didn't make him carsick.

The bus eventually lurched forward and they were en route to Virgil's neighborhood. Remus listened to something with more guttural utterances than words while he watched the buildings fly past Virgil's fluffy bangs. He lived at some middle-class shindig built a long time ago. Enough for the the trees in the yards to be massive and the houses would settle and get big cracks, but not anything terrible. Remus's house was objectively bigger and nicer, but Remus's house had people at it. People like Roman and his parents. Which made it worse. Virgil's parents were basically never home, and when they were, they never paid any attention to him. It made it the perfect location for teenage debauchery.

Virgil bought junk food for eating and they got drunk at least once a week. Since nobody cared what they were up to, they did basically whatever they wanted at long as the cops didn't show up. There was an incident in middle school with a bastard sword and a snowman that the cops came for, but they were minors and didn't get in trouble. Nobody even took away Remus's sweet medieval bastard sword from the ren faire. The bulk of their time was probably video games or card games, but they still got into plenty of legally questionable (or objectable) situations. Things like stealing signs and graffiti and plenty of breaking curfew while they wander the streets at 2 am. Virgil didn't really come alive until the sunset.

Remus idly watched the vinyl seat backing shift and warp in front of him. Remus reached out to check, and it was still taught from Virgil's feet pressing against it, but it moved in his vision nonetheless. Ugh, he must have been stressed about the midterms. All the more reason to get drunk as fuck tonight. Virgil and Remus were middling students and they'd already done all they could do. They tried the studying thing, and Virgil just got too anxious and Remus was too antsy and couldn't pay attention. So they got drunk. And it had been a tradition ever since. And they were falling behind. Which meant the obvious goal was to get even drunker than last Wednesday when they woke up on the roof at 6 am holding water guns. And Remus's was full of piss. Virgil nearly killed him went Remus fired it at him and they discovered the contents.

They finally got to Virgil's stop and Remus started standing before the bus even came to a full stop, antsy to get off the bus. Virgil lethargically stood up after him and Remus clambered out of the bus quickly. Remus was so happy to be out of there and that much closer to video games and microwave dinners that he kicked a yield sign. He relished the bar's weird reverberation and kicked it again.

"Come on, fuckface, before you break your toes," Virgil groaned, finally back with him in reality. Remus skipped down the street to Virgil's house while he slowly strided with his hands shoved into his hoodie pockets and hood up, hiding from the sun.

Remus unlocked the door with the key copy he had gotten from Virgil and tumbled into the living room. He was craving that sweet sweet Mario Kart action. Remus nervously watched the screen bubbled while waiting for Virgil to get in. He really could be slow sometimes. Virgil came in two minutes later after Remus had already booted up the TV and game system. Virgil turned on the stereo and Remus muted the TV. He picked some random metal album. The singer growled something about murdering people for dragon gods right off the bat, and Remus approved heavily.

"Nice," Remus smiled and went to the kitchen to get some soda and chips. Virgil just smirked and climbed up on to the back of the couch.

"We should text cryptic messages to random phone numbers tonight. I want to see what we get," Virgil mused as he bent down to pick up the controller off the couch cushion.

"Can I turn cryptic into creepy?" Remus smirked, passing Virgil a can of soda as he flopped down onto the top of the couch and grabbed his controller.

"I sort of assumed you were going to," Virgil smirked back at him.

"Aw, you know me so well," Remus cooed and grinned sinisterly at him.

"Shut up and eat my dust," Virgil hissed facetiously and as they picked their cars, Virgil already focusing on the TV screen.

"Shut up and eat my dick," Remus chimed right back at him.

"I will get the condom stick and beat you off of me if you take your pants off again," Virgil growled.

"It was a joke," Remus drawled and rolled his eyes. He was drunk, damnit.

"I don't want to see your filthy dick, dude," Virgil grunted and launched a green shell at him. Remus wasn't able to protect himself and was hit and then knocked off the track by Peach rounding the corner right as re recovered.

"Son of a bitch!" Remus bellowed. "I'm getting you back for that!" Virgil just cackled in response. Remus needed to get freaking serious if he was going to get revenge. Remus buckled down and focused on kicking some serious ass.