Fight or Fright

As Roman found out what section of the haunted house he was going to be working in that night, he felt enthusiastic about the idea of portraying, as he put it, "zombie royalty."

Roman had wanted to build up his resume in order to show that he's more productive in artistic areas; he jumped at the opportunity when he saw that there was an opening for a seasonal job acting at a haunted house. He wanted to share his good news with his friends and boyfriend, but he wanted to surprise his friends and he figured his boyfriend would be scared of him outside of a place he wouldn't go to, anyway, due to his anxiety.

Roman was getting his make-up done and himself wrapped up and he couldn't help but think of the season. Roman enjoyed the costumes and partying that Halloween had to offer. It was also Virgil's favorite holiday, so he loved seeing Virgil get genuinely enthusiastic about something as opposed to feigning excitement just to fit in with a crowd. They both also enjoyed the decorations that can compare to Halloweentown. Roman wasn't sure why Virgil was a fan of Halloween and not haunted houses (at least until he actually paid attention to the warning signs at the entrance), but he wanted his boyfriend to have fun without being shoved into a realm where he wasn't comfortable.

He went to his section of the haunted house and remembered the rules: scare the guests forward on the path instead of having them jump back, stay three feet away from others, put in as much effort as you can without overexhausting yourself and making it evident to some customers, don't leave without letting the staff members in charge of the section know, etc. As much as Roman wanted to go all out and make his performance memorable, he knew it was best to keep his act appropriate for the team.

Roman did his best to act like a creature of the undead. He even growled and moaned "sawf tandem 'alayna" ["You will regret us" in Arabic] before jumping out to give a fright in order to make his costume more realistic (yes, he studied Arabic as he was getting ready). He felt proud of himself for staying in character for so long and didn't even react too much when he heard some familiar voices further back on the path. He heard Virgil express doubts, Patton comforted Virgil to the best of his abilities, and Logan remind both of them that everything around them wasn't real. Roman figured it would be a good idea to not scare the group as much as he would any other group. As the group got closer, Roman groaned "sawf tandem 'alayna!" as he was punched in the eye as a result of Virgil's Fight-or-Flight response. Roman's eye was hurting, but he didn't focus on the pain until after closing for the night.

Roman carefully removed his costume and make-up and noticed that his eye that was punched was swollen. He couldn't really blame Virgil for his reaction. As he was headed home, he wasn't exactly sure on if he should tell the group what happened or keep the eye a secret for several days. He managed to get some ice and place it on his eye for a good while before going to bed.

The next morning, Roman woke up groggily and saw on his phone that it was 7:30 and that he had a text from Patton that said 'Hey, are you up? You're still okay with us meeting up at your place before we go, right?' and Roman quickly got himself ready without looking in the mirror. The four of them had made plans to go to breakfast and Roman forgot about it in the hype of his job. He heard the doorbell ring by the time he finished with his morning routine. He saw Patton and Logan, but didn't see Virgil.

"Greetings, Roman. Virgil's on his way, but he's taking the b—woah, what happened to you?" Logan started to explain until he saw Roman's eye.

Patton rushed to the fridge and grabbed some ice from the freezer. He found a bag of ice and handed it to Roman, who graciously took it.

"Don't be mad at Virgil," Roman muttered.

"Why would we be mad at Virgil?" Patton asked.

Roman brought his face close to the pair and said "sawf tandem 'alayna" in the same voice he said it in the prior night. Both of them responded with widened eyes.

"Wait, you're working there?" Patton asked.

"Well, it's an acting job for Halloween. I'm not always going to be the same creature, but I was the mummy last night. Why did you guys bring Virgil with you, anyway?" Roman retorted.

"I thought it would be therapeutic if Virgil experienced the haunted house with a different perspective. Now that I think about it, Virgil should see your injury," Logan claimed.

Patton looked at Logan like he wanted to shove a pastry in his mouth to shut him up.

"Why? He would just feel guilty."

"Simple, Roman, if he sees that he punched a person rather than a monster, it could help him see that the haunted house is nothing to be scared of."

Roman wanted to argue, but, since Logan made sense, all he could really say was "I hate you." Roman placed the bag of ice in the freezer and made his way to the bathroom. At that time, the doorbell rang and Patton opened it to see Virgil.

"Virgil! How did you sleep?" Patton asked.

"Considering what happened, surprisingly well," Virgil answered genuinely.

Logan stood up quickly and proceeded to speed-walk towards the emo.

"Great! You're here. There's something we wish for you to see before too long," Logan quickly exclaimed as he grabbed Virgil by the wrist and led him to the bathroom.

"Roman! There's someone here to see you!" Logan shouted while knocking.

"Go bite into a durian, Logan!" Roman shouted.

Before Virgil could walk away, Logan, knowing Roman was trying to cover his eye, said "I'm respecting your privacy by knocking, but asserting my authority as your intellectual superior by coming in anyway," as they both entered the bathroom. Roman tried to cover his eye with his hand as the two entered the bathroom.

"Did you put some make-up on your eye?" Logan asked.

Roman nodded wordlessly.

"It's going to smear all over your hand," Logan continued.

Roman sighed before removing his hand to reveal his swollen eye of black, blue, and purple with some make-up brushed on the bottom. Virgil gasped with concern and walked over to inspect the damage.

"I'm going to kick the crap out of whoever did this to you!" Virgil threatened.

"I'd hate to break it to you, but you already beat yourself up," Roman told him.

Virgil was puzzled until Roman said "sawf tandem 'alayna" the same way he said it to Logan and Patton. Virgil looked at his own hands and backed away with worry.

"You've gotta admit, it was clever of him to use Arabic as a mummy," Logan randomly brought up.

Virgil spat out apologies and Roman cautiously hugged him.

"You don't have to apologize. I don't hold it against you for reacting and neither does the haunted house. We all play different characters different nights, but that was just my night as a mummy," Roman told him.

Eventually, Virgil managed to come back to the haunted house. He still had some sensitive sensory experiences, but he wasn't as scared since he knew there weren't actual monsters inhabiting the space.