#That answer hits a little too close to home for Roman | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

waddei · 6 months

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pacing back and forth in the damp grass roman bit his nails waiting for tomas to pick up the phone.

“cmon…cmon…”

his boots splashes on the muddy puddles, staining his soles.

“fuck..”

a small click from the phone made him jump.

“tom thank god-”

“what do you want” his friend whisper shouts. voice as always a strange mix between quiet but assertive.

“i need your help” he says with far too little shame for someone calling in the middle of the night.

the wind hit his back harsher than before now, dark clouds swerved above him and he could only pray that the night ended with a storm. He can imagine himself, staring through the window at the flooding street with a grin, watching the rushing mud and sand wash the town clean.

tom doesn't answer,but thats normal by now.

“its important” he begs, a ‘please’ goes unsaid for his own egos sake.

“lets meet at our spot shall we?” he sounds as frantic as his heartbeat feels, tom mooks him from the comfort of his home with an intentionally loud sip of his mug.

he doesnt let the distance stop him from feeling those hollow green eyes stare down at him

“what did you do” tom asks, impatient. for what though, roman doesn't know, that sense of hurry around him never faded.

he swallows as he looks down at his feet. resting next to them in the grass was the man's head, his nose had long stopped bleeding and lifeless eyes stared up at him in long ignored plea of mercy, they were starting to gloss over. roman bit back a sound of disgust.

“i cant tell you right now.just come here”

tom gave a long heavy sigh “my brother’s sleeping” he said, like it mattered at all.

“do i look like i care?" he snarled “bring your bike too if you're coming”

the body below him caught his eye again. it was fairly tall,only a few inches short of himself,which was impressive in its own right.

“two trash bags too if you happen to have any”

“two?”

“yes… two”

tom huffed and the call was cut with no goodbye, again ,not unusual but it never failed to annoy him.

with a groan he squats down in the grass, careful not to stain his jeans neither green nor red.

he feels unseeing eyes burn his back.the body had not moved, obviously, its mouth hanged open after having its last words die on his tongue.

He doubts he would have had anything of value to say anyways.

The bastard,miserable not unlike himself, chose to go down swearing until the very end when, after the reality of his situation dawned on him, he began pleading and bargaining like he was talking to the devil. which, if you where to ask anyone else, he was.

his last words where as nonsensical as they were a threat.

Roman doubts it'll amount to anything, after all the plan was to not get caught.

as for the rest of ‘the plan’ as he likes to call it: it didn't have any more steps for now. at least until tom got here, he'll figure it out from there.

He looks up at the moon,bright and unusually big. She sat in the sky directly above him like an otherworldly spotlight parting through the clouds with little struggle,he revels in it even if just for a moment. his childish fascination with her never quite faded.

the wind continued to ruin his moment, swaying tree branches dangerously close to his face, his jacket wasn't enough to keep out the cold, shamefully he wrapped his arms around himself.

a leaf smacks him in the face. He rips the small branch out.

‘tom should be on his way already’-he thinks to distract himself- ‘if he's even coming’.

he's sure he will, where else would he go?

man of habit he is,he’ll find his way here eventually even if roman hadn't called him, he's sure of that. hed make his rounds like he always does and, eventually, they'd meet again even if he didnt move an inch until then.

he doesn't want to move really,not at all. feeling like he's putting his life on the line if he leaves the corpse alone.

walking through the dense vegetation wasn't easy, he envies the ease tom seemed to have with it.

He makes it to a clearing in the bushes, a familiar checkpoint when traversing the landscape that tom had originally shown him.

he skips right through it this time, heading for a particular tall tree that stood out against the horizon.

at its base was everything he ever needed.

Tom, with his bike and two large trash bags pooling out of his cammo vests pockets.

his head snaps to look at him once he crosses the threshold to ‘their place’.

a nice, semi enclosed area by the base of a tree older than everyone they've ever meet where a fallen log made a makeshift bench. tom was sitting on it with his bike next to him.

wordlessly and shielding his shaking hands he motions for him to follow and Tom does so with a disinterested look.

roman begins leading him to the scene.

tom jumps over the bushes roman had gotten his pants caught on before. “what did you do?” he asks, verbatim as he had done so on the phone. roman ignores him and hops over a hole in the dirt, tom follows and he helps him haul his bike over it.

they reach the clearing, small drops of water already drizzling made each blade of grass sparkle.

tom stares at them as he always does,roman assumes a certain fascination with it might exist but the boy's eyes remain as painfully neutral as they always do.

he does not bother hurrying him up as he too takes a moment to stare, only he looks up at the moon instead, trying to steady his trembling hands.

they move on once tom grows bored of watching the ants or whatever. Roman leads him to the other semi cleared area where he knew the body was.

parting the bushes for tom like the gentleman he is, he lets him take a good look at the scene before saying anything. He takes note of how wide his eyes grow as he scans the ground in front of him. a horrified look begins to paint itself on his face.

it doesn't last much, the small flash of emotion was quickly drowned out by his usual apathetic look.

“what did you do?” he asks for the third time, carefully looking at him up and down with a hint of disgust showing through the ice.

“i think its obvious” roman jumps over closer to the body and further away from tom.

“i fucked up..” he sais with his hands on his hips in a vain attempt a showmanship. “went a bit too far this time”

tom crouches down near his foot and near the man's head, his eyes go wide again when he makes eye contact with it. he watches incredulously as roman, nonchalantly, nudges an arm with his foot.

“i think i might need some help” its a bold thing to admit for someone like him, tom doesn't fail to notice it.

greyish green eyes narrow on him like a hawk and with a single precise motion he throws the trash bags at his feet.

“im not touching it” he declares with a tone that leaves no room for argument.

that's fine, a sensible boundary even. all he needed was the bike and the bags. He opens up the folded bags and lays them in the ground next to the body while avoiding his friends stare.

“welp” he announces to no one, for he knows tom isn't paying attention. “lets get to work”

with more effort than expected he sits the man,dead as he was, against a short stump.

a phone falls out of his pockets in the meanwhile, tom immediately smashes it below his foot. roman jumped “whats your problem?”

“they can track that” he stomps on it again for good measure.

“i could have sold it-”

“tell me what happened”

tomas isn't someone he’d call intimidating. the boy was as thin as one can get and a full head shorter than him, but he was hard to read. impossible even. it scared roman in a very specific way he struggled to explain.

he sighs, with the stars as witnesses he pulls the man's legs closer to his chest.

“well we were just supposed to fight. fucker slipped me a note with a date and place and i just came-uhmp!” He struggled with folding the arms over the chest.

“and?” tom pressed.

“well i had a bad day! and He was pissing me off more than usual..” he takes one last look at the mans’s face, ridden with bruises and with an undeniably broken nose, his eyes couldn't glare at him anymore. “so once i had him down i just kept stomping on his head”

it felt strange to admit it so easily. tom winced and looked away back to the clearing.roman took this as a cue to finally fit the first bag over the corpse's head. it covered it all the way to his hips as he expected.

the legs turn out to be much harder to lift than anticipated but he makes due without help. Once the two bags meet he ties them both together at various points until the body is fully secured inside, clumsily wrapped like a home cooked meal.

he giggles at the thought,Tomas glares at him again.

"we have to get this out of sight somehow" he mumbles "do you still have that shovel in your garage?"

Tom doesn't answer, but he does not freeze either. He stares intently at him, watching him struggle to balance the body on the bike;he sets it with its legs between the front bar where he,while driving, could hold it still.

struggling to drive the bike through the bushes he almost misses Tom silently walking away.

"hey!" he almost loses hold of the handles. "where are you going?"

the boy jumps the bushes into the clearing. his hair sways violently with the wind but Tomas never seemed to mind the way it covered his eyes at random.

"you want the shovel right?" he spits,not bothering to look back at him.

A smile creeps up his face and he bares his teeth like a child;far too giddy even for his own comfort he watches his friend walk away.

in the meanwhile a thought emerges, unwanted and uncalled for, a little voice inside himself that trembled and stuttered at every word like he's sure he used to 'what if he tells on you' it whispers into his ear 'what if he tells his brother'

he groans, pushing the bike up another bush. tomas wouldn't, he barely fucking talks in the first place. that won't happen.

the bag slumps forward,too distracted to catch it he lets the corpse hit its head against the front wheel.

he snorts imagining how it's nose must have flattened against it. his shoulders immediately sag after, there's a dirty feeling that comes with laughing at a corpse,no less one you've killed.

He reaches a big rock, too big to jump over,too heavy to lift and too annoying to push the bike around.

scanning the skyline he sees nothing but short,spiky bushes and scattered trees in front of him. the already dim lights of the town were completely lost from sight. the wind lifted up the sandy ground into his eyes but aside from that? it was a perfect spot.

He sets the bag on the ground, letting the bike and himself rest.

now he waits.

He can do nothing without something to dig with. He can get as many rocks out the way as he wants but that in the end doesn't take too long.

he looks up, the moon hadn't moved much from when he last saw her,now without branches to bother him the ghostly light pools over him.The stars shine brighter here in the open field, they occasionally peek from behind the rapidly moving clouds. He lets himself relax,leaning over the hard rock. even with the cold freezing his face a sigh escapes him, carelessly he kicks the bag away and rests his legs over another rock. thunders threatens to make the sky fall on him,he cant bring himself to care.

the beating inside his chest slows down for the first time since the man's head hit the floor. leaves and sand fly at his face so his eyes shut on their own.

'hes taking too long' the meek voice whispers. Tom's house was not too far, but without his bike it's quite the trip. He's not taking detours, his brother was asleep.

‘shut the fuck up’ he mentally yells at it.

his head drifts and he slowly sinks down as he lets himself lay down more and more against the rock.

ignoring the way the cold bites at his skin he rests.

with his eyes closed he can't tell if hes asleep or not until he feels movement on the bushes.

before he can open his eyes to check he's smacked in the stomach with a blunt object.

roman jumps to his feet, hands balled up and ready to fight but before him stood tomas. with a shovel.

"thank God" his hands fall to his sides again.

Tom's hands extend, silently offering him the shovel.

he takes it with a quick remark."you scared me"

tomas ignores him again and sits down on a different rock a few steps away, staring at the floor he snaps a branch off one of the nearby bushes.

"well!" he dusts his pants off, mostly to amuse himself "I better get to work now!

the shovel was small, not meant for anything more than some mild garnering or playing in the sand. it stood to about his knee when he stuck it in the ground;still he had to make this work.

bit by bit he began shoveling the sandy dirt out of the way,he would have been sweating hadn't he already been freezing.

"y'know when you mentioned-" the shovel struck a rock, he struggled to lift it up again "having a shovel I wasn't expecting it to be so-" the rocks pops out the ground successfully "small"

he complains to the wind, because tom wasn't listening and even if he was he was not going to respond.

"should have told me it was more of a toy than anything-"

"there's blood in your hands now" tom cuts him off, fancying himself a cryptic bastard all of a sudden.

roman scoffs "no there isn't,I get any on me"

the conversation, if you could even call it that, dies there. buried with the other guy most likely.

dry grass swayed, some of it stuck to his hair, some brushed at his arms and legs.

most of it he ripped off.

Tom's wordless stare burned on his back, but at least he wasn't alone. his own heartbeat set a rhythm for the shovel going in and out the dirt. the mount behind him grew bigger as the stars moved closer to the Horizon.

"it's 4:36 already" the boy spoke up eventually.

roman took the last bit of dirt off the hole. "I'm almost done" carelessly he began pushing the bag into the it with his foot.

tomas waits for the wind to quit loudly howling on their ears to speak again . "my brother wakes up at 5:30"

he clicks his tongue, being a little meaner than he intended "I don't care-"

"he'll notice if I'm gone,give me the shovel back"

roman ignores him, instead hitting the bag with it, making it go down further into the dirt.

"give me 5 more minutes with it" he argues, not bothering to wait for a response.

quickly he covers the hole back up and, as soon as he dusts his hands and before he declares his work done, tom rips the shovel out of his hands. roman doesn't protest when their eyes lock for a second too long.

he stares at the ground where he knows the body is. only shooting a goodbye to Tom once he hears him pick his bike up.

he doesn't doubt the boy waved at him.

he always did.

He picked his bike up and drove through the terrain like it was nothing, roman knows he has been here before, but he doubts he'll come back.

confidently roman adds ‘corpses’ to his (mental and very short) list of things he knows tomas does not like.it sat comfortably next to some classics like: ‘talking’,‘strawberries’ and ‘staying still’

he giggles at it, although more concerning probably was that he couldn't name a single thing tom liked aside from walking and probably the color green, nor a single other person he knew aside from himself and his brother.

a brother that to this day remained unnamed.

He has fun imagining what he'd be like sometimes, there's plenty of time to kill during the day after all.

‘he probably wouldn't like to meet you’ a weaker version of himself comments, he ignores it.

a single drop soaking through his jacket was enough to drag him back to reality.

the clouds had grown darker, they obscured the moon completely now.

he fills his chest with the salty humid air one last time before turning his back on the burial and heading back the same way Tom had.

he avoids the kill site and prays to no god in particular that the rain was enough to wash it all clean. it was starting to pick up now so the world might be on his side after all.

He reaches the port before he does any roads, the rotten wooden docks left much to be desired but he was used to them now, as a child he had enjoyed watching the crabs that lived under it bury themselves in the sand. the river led directly to the sea. Fisher boats rested on the sand,some new and shiny, most rusted and abandoned for tourists to take pictures next to.

bright yellow street lamps made the raindrops much more evident.

taking the chance he looked at his reflection in a closed storefront, he looked as he always had,just a bit more wet. his mask was getting a bit uncomfortable but it stayed on.

the paved road was the longest way back but he takes it anyway,more mud on his shoes wouldn't be ideal. He blindly walks until he reaches one of the two main roads in the town with a stoplight in it. he turns right, avoiding walking by it for too long, the backstreets being even more empty if this was possible.

thunder roared above him and a smile tugged at his lips. almost immediately the light rain turned into a violent outpour,but that didn't matter, he could see his house from here already.

doing his best to not wake anyone up Roman limbs to his window like he always does though this time the heavy rain helps disguise the noise.

before he sets foot inside,still sitting on the windowsill, he take this shoes off and carries them to the bathroom.

the jacket lands in the floor and his pants on top of the toilet as he tears his soaked clothes off without much care and almost trips trying to plug the hairdryer on.

he sets it balanced against a shampoo bottle and pointing at his jacket, hoping to dry it while he, using a random brush his mom used to clean the ceramic, aggressive cleaned the mud off his shoes in the shower.

in the meantime the rain got worse-or better if you where to ask him. his mom's carefully pruned garden began to flood and soon so did the street. the dirt ones-he assumes-aren't doing much better.

he gets giddy at what that means for him tonight.

He dries his clothes, washes his hair and cleans his shoes. by the time he's done it's nearing 7am already.

he goes to sleep, the rain still falling above the house served well for white noise.

the trees outside slammed their branches into his window but his eyes remained shut.

the brewing storm outside promised flow but he didn't care.

his brother was snoring again, he could hear it even with the wind whistling louder and louder. javier was a heavy sleeper, tomas envied him for that.

deep breath after deep breath he failed to fall asleep for the third night in a row,though at least today he had more of an excuse. the branches scratching at his window are more than distracting.

he stares at the back of his eyelids for some time, he can feel the gears on his alarm clock ticking,the hands moving

every second.

every minute.

every hour.

it marked 2:30 am.

too tired to sleep, Tomas springs out of his bed in frustration.

his feet blindly find his slippers and he's off to the hallway in less than 3 steps.

he takes a practiced route to the kitchen, practically blind he feels the texture of the floor change From the more textured tiles of the hallway to the smooth, cream colored ones on the kitchen. he pries his eyes open but the darkness doesn't get any better until he hits the light switch next to the door.

the wind makes the windows shake and creak, it drowns over the sound of the cabinet opening perfectly.

the movement is near automatic when he fills a small pot with water and sets it on the stove. tomas opens the gas tank and lights the burner on.

from a small box his mother had left them behind he takes a teabag while the water boils.

the kitchen small window leaked the same way it had been leaking since they where kids, tomas stepped over the small puddle to grab his cup from the cabinet and brew himself something warm.

as he blows on it, the phone at the corner of the room lights up.

at this hour and with this climate there was only one person that could call.

so,at this hour and with this climate tom let's it ring for a minute or two while stirring his drink.

roman is persistent, and eventually he lets himm get his way.

"tom thank god-" wind came through the other end stronger than his voice.

"what do you want"

he hears roman swallow "I need your help"

aware of how those words burned his tongue yhe lets them sit in the air.

Uncaring, he waits for roman to get tired of waiting.

"it's important" he clarifies uselessly "let's meet at out spot shall we?" he rushed over his words, trembling slightly.

the cold must be getting to him-tomas thinks. he wraps his hand around the warm mug and takes a sip, loudly savoring it.

he can feel roman grow impatient.

"what did you do" he asks him, wary of the volume in his voice to not wake his brother up even with the incoming storm raging outside.

roman swallows, he hears the gears on his head turning even though the heavy winds. his tongue clicks a few times while he's lost in thought.

“i cant tell you right now.just come here”

tomascarefully eyes the hallway, still dark and with only javi's snores coming through.he gave a long sigh.

“my brother's sleeping” he said,more so as a comment than an excuse.

“do i look like i care?" roman growled at him, needlessly angry like always “bring your bike too if you're coming”

he went quiet again, tomas wished he could see his face at least. He hated talking through the phone.

he hears him take another deep breath, “two trash bags too if you happen to have any”

the wind filled the silence on both sides,his brother was still sleeping.

“two?” tomas eyes the drawer where javier keeps them.

“yes… two”

he hangs up,taking another sip in the meanwhile.

the dots are not hard to connect, it was going to happen eventually.

his fingers curled tightly around the cup.

with a deep breath tomas dumps the remaining tea down the drain and rushes to the hallway.

at the end of it was his brothers door, halfway open and with its handle poorly painted.

"javi" he calls out, quiet enough to not wake him up but loud enough that if he where to be awake he'd hear it.

the only answer he gets is a loud snore.

avoiding looking at himself in the hallway mirror like always he makes his way to his room.

the curtains where drawn, the orange fabric tinted gray by the dark sky behind it.

He closes the blinds like he should have before going to sleep.

his bedsheets were still in the mess he had left them in and they will stay like that for now.

tomas changes out of his old pajama shorts in favor of a pair of dark jeans, over his shirt he throws on a dark long sleeved one and then a puffy vest after hearing the wind seemingly pick up even more.

he doesn't take his phone with him, roman was an idiot for taking his.

He stands before the wooden door now, heavy and old it'll surely wake javier up if he opens it. the keys dangling were already too noisy for him to feel safe holding them. The 3 locks taunted him. not to mention the extra bar door outside with its extra two locks, he took his eyes away from it when the window creaked once again.

it led to the patio, right in front of the grill they never use.

he took off the teaspoon that had been acting as a lock for years now after the wooden hook had snapped on an storm not too dissimilar from this one.

the wind immediately threw the glass open and he fought to keep them from slapping against the wall.

tomas grinded his teeth, climbing on top of the couch and pilling on the cushions behind him to block the window he eventually took the small leap into the outside.

immediately he doubled over shivering. warm air form his mouth formed vapor clouds in front of him.

he rushed down the stairs to the street, taking a sharp turn to the garage he where fiddles for a minute with the lock. the gates draw sand with them when they open and next to javiers beat up sienna was his bike, slightly rusted from pedaling in the sand.

the fig tree swayed it's branches dangerously low to the ground and to his face, it slapped the back of his head as a goodbye when he jumps the front gate.

he braces himself under the yellow streetlight, getting on his bike the wind hits even harder.

knowing the dirt street like the back of his hands he swiftly dodges potholes and rocks. passing by the same houses he always did, Tomas takes the last street along to the beach all the way to the very back of the town.

his heart races when he spots the bushes he's about to go into.

the empty, wild terrain, was uninhabited.tainted only sometimes and near the road with attempts at building makeshift houses or old tent set ups abandoned. he never bothered fucking with any of them.

above the unfinished foundation and trash stood an unfinished two story house, all bare bricks except for it's roof which had surprisingly been finished but now was partially caving in.

he ignored it for now. he knew what it's inside looked like down to every graffiti painted, but it served as a nice checkpoint to know where he was going.

turning a sharp left from the front of the house where the bushes began to become trees one large one stood out, literally, above the rest.

his second checkpoint.

‘their spot'

he gets there with ease, and now he waits. thankfully not for long.

the cold humid air was soured when roman, panting and trembling, jumped over the bushes to meet him.

he doesn't say as much as a hello. only becoming him to follow.

so Tomas, against his better judgment and like he always does, follows.

looking from side to side every time a leaf swayed Roman led the way, clearly not comfortable having his back turned on him he looks back to meet green tired eyes multiple times. they narrow on him, and tomas is sure he can feel it.

“what did you do” he asks, just like he had before.

roman stutters in his step, almost tripping on the grass, but he doesn't respond. he silently offers help to haul his bike over a hole,tomas takes it.

they reach a clearing in the trees soon enough. the air became thick and uncomfortable almost immediately. it's an energy tomas can't describe, but he's sure he knows what it is deep inside.

he stops, bowing his head down to think.

roman gladly waits for him, spelling out that he, in a way, didn't want to continue either;he stares at the moon with silent guilt weighing his eyes.

they moved on eventually, when tomas wraps his head around the atmosphere and roman quits brooding the later parts the bushes for the former.

tom jumps without looking ahead.

previously blocked by Romans back he saw a man, unconscious, laying in the grass.

his eyes glazed over.

his mouth hanged open.

his face with no spot left unbruised.

he saw a man,dead, laying on the grass

“what did you do?” tomas asks for the third time. eyeing Roman up and down with barely disguised disgust showing I'm his eyes.

“i think its obvious” roman jumps over closer to the body and further away from himself. “i fucked up” he says with faux boredom coating his tongue “went a bit too far this time”

tomas crouches down near the man's head, inspecting with a heavy hearth it's expression twisted in a final scream of anguish.

he watches incredulously as roman, with needles fake casualty nudges an arm with his foot. “i think i might need some help”

tomas, understaiding, tosses the bags his way. “I'm not touching it”

roman huffs.

“welp” he announces, ignoring the way tomas burns his eyes into him “lets get to work”

tomas watches him struggle with the body, trying to make it sit.

the man's phone falls out his Pockets and he panics. He immediately smashes it below his foot.

roman jumped “whats your problem?”

“they can track that” he stomps on it again for good measure.

“i could have sold it-” roman whines.

“tell me what happened” he more or less barks at him, wincing at the volume of his own voice.

roman gives a shaky sigh, pleading to the sky for strength to help him pull the man's legs closer to his chest while he talks.

“well,we were just supposed to fight” his gaze drifted over the body, faltering for only one second before continuing.

“fucker slipped me a note with a date and place and i just came-uhmp!” he interrupted himself, struggling with the bodies limbs.

“and?” tom pressed.

“well i had a bad day! and He was pissing me off more than usual..” he splutters, throwing the dead man a Nasty look like he could see it. “so once i had him down i just kept stomping on his head”

his gut twists in disgust. roman, completely occupied with the task at hand, didn't notice.

he turns his eyes back to the clearing where the soft grass swayed in the strong wind.

tomas hears roman fitting the bags over the man. a soft giggle, tone-deaf if you where to ask him, leaves his lips when he finishes. he doesn't know what came first, if the head or the legs but when he turns his head to glare at roman the man is fully covered.

"we have to get this out of sight somehow”

roman talks to himself.

tomas bites his tongue.‘we is a strong word’

unaware roman keeps going "do you still have that shovel in your garage?”

not waiting for an answer roman grabs his bike like it belonged to him and,with little consideration for its owner standing behind him, balances the bags on it.

he hopes he can feels his eyes burning his back.

he watches, still struggling to believe it all, how his friend handled the corpse like it was no more than an inconvenience, cursing quietly to himself trying to thread the bike over a bush.

he'd love to be surprised to see the utter lack of care on the man's eyes.

he's grown accustomed to it,it always lingered whenever he talked about anything that wasn't himself,though tomas struggled to call him narcissistic; there's a slight difference between believing you're above everything and believing everything is below you.

a certain nihilism always accompanies the latter. he knew this to be true, roman wasn't particularly shy about it. pessimistic anger coated his every word when they pertained to the world outside their own bubble.

he watches the only person outside his own brother that he's directed as much as a word towards in the last 6 months struggle with the corpse of the man he’d just killed.

silently as always, he makes a choice and jumps into the clearing.

"hey!" his friend calls out "where are you going?"

"you want the shovel right?" He avoids romans eyes. not letting him see the guilt welling on his own.

As soon as he's out of sight he sprints through the trees, blindly jumping and dodging until he hits the road again. out of breath he pushes himself, filling his mind with every minute detail of the dirt road below his feet to black out any other thoughts.

his chest burns already when he reaches his own street. With Every step he took he could imagine his brother, arms crossed in the kitchen table, maybe drinking a coffee, maybe staring coldly at the door. waiting for him.

his voice, always weighed down with worry, would ask him where he went; and tomas, the weak man he is, would not be able to lie.

not to him.

he reaches the crossroad his house sat on, old and weathering with a certain charm that was lost in everyone but him.

the lights were all off still.

he jumps the first ,low, gate.going up the concrete stairs only to peek inside .he saw the kitchen empty. his legs give up in relief but his heart still pounds on his throat.

he went down the stairs again, letting his eyes linger on every leaf the tree besides it had to offer. in summer,it would blossom in beautiful pink but the wind didn't let him entertain that idea too much.

it didn't take him long to find the shovel. he gripped it in his hands like his life depended on it, but he didnt take off with it, not instantly as he’s sure roman would hope.

he could turn back. climb back up the stairs and go back to bed.

he could call the police too, but the thought of not seeing roman again didn't feel right.

only once did he consider himself behind bars too, it occurred to him in that moment that he cared very little where he got to spend the rest of his life, only his brother's imaginary disappointed-no- disgusted glare really moved him.

forcing himself to make a choice he again picks the worse one and takes off running again, now with the shovel clenched tightly to his chest

he gets to the crime scene and runs north from there, following the tracks of his own bike in what little dirt was left uncovered by vegetation.

roman;the man of the hour, sleep like a baby on a rock.he envied him really.

slowly he approached, stalking just above the grass like a predator about to pounce, he sees the man stir as he raises the shovel.

in an anger fuelled attempt at playfulness tomas hits roman in the stomach with non insignificant strength.

roman yells and jumps to his feet, fists clumsily balled up in mockery of what could be a fighting stance. his eyes focus soon enough tough and he lets his hands fall.

“thank god, you scared me” he lets the shovel be handed to him with no comment.tomas sits down on a different rock a few steps away, staring at the floor he snaps a branch off one of the nearby bushes.

"well!" roman dusts his pants off for show "I better get to work now!

blindly he hears him struggle and lift the dirt from off the ground, occasionally feeling specks of it fly into his face.

"y'know when you mentioned-" the shovel struck a rock, roman struggled to lift it up again "having a shovel I wasn't expecting it to be so-" he pops it out the ground "small"

he complains like always, not really waiting for a response. even now tomas appreciated it to some degree.

not enough to fully ignore everything sadly.

"should have told me it was more of a toy than anything-"

"there's blood in your hands now" tomas cuts his rambling off with a warning. a remainder he hopes will make it through that thick skull.

roman scoffs "no there isn't,I get any on me" he deflects, simple but effective it sent a very clear message.

‘i dont care’

silence,like always, is king between the both of them until tomas checks his watch.

"it's 4:36 already" he spoke up.

roman took the last bit of dirt off the hole. "I'm almost done" carelessly he began pushing the bag into the hole with his foot.

distantly the wind kept howling. tomas waited for it before he spoke again.

"my brother wakes up at 5:30"

javier still had work early in the morning on saturdays.

roman clicked his tongue "I don't care-"

"he'll notice if I'm gone,give me the shovel back"

tomas demanded,but roman didn't listen, instead hitting the bag with it, making it go down further into the dirt.

"give me 5 more minutes with it" he argues. Tomas doesn't even bother to look back to him, nodding a yes hes sure roman didnt turn around for.

quickly he covers the hole back up and, as soon as he dusts his hands and before he declares his work done, tom rips the shovel out of his hands. roman doesn't protest when their eyes lock.

he runs again for the fourth time that night, reluctantly waving on his way out, mostly out of habit.

hes only a couple of steps away from his house when the sky gives in.

making his way into the kitchen he can hear his brother still snoring loudly in his room.

He throws his clothes into the washer with the rest of the pile and starts the cycle, careful not to make too much noise, before going back to bed.

#wadds art #argieoc art #argieoc lore #tomas rossi oc #roman amado oc #THEYRE FRIENDS I SWEAR #this is just them at their worst

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lio-the-chaotic-nonbeanie-weenie · 5 months

Text

Royal Promise

Summary: Or five times the twins made royal promises to each other and the one time they finally learned of its origin.

Pairings: None, BROTHERLY CREATIVITWINS

Warnings: Nightmares, slight mention of thunderstorms, angst, unintentionally u!patton and u!logan

(A/N: Fun fact the word count for this fic is 10, 792 words! My biggest word count yet!)

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For as long as they could remember, the royal promise was a special and almost sacred pact that the twins made. It was their thing that no one else had or did. They made it clear that it was special, something meant for royals or very big important promises that can’t be broken. It was a sealed deal and breaking a royal promise comes with heavy risks. The one who made the royal promise would deal physical pain to the one given the promise. So, the twins would take the royal promise very seriously. They never used it for anything small. Strangely enough, no one, not even Logan or the twins themselves knew of its origin. It’s just been their thing that they’ve had since the aftermath of the split.

Despite Remus being loud and rambunctious, he never really liked loud noises that weren’t his own. He didn’t like yelling either if wasn’t the fun kind. He hated it when the other sides started arguing and yelling. He didn’t like it when Virgil screeched or when Patton cried out in anger. He didn’t like it when Logan angrily told him off. He didn’t look like it, but Remus also hated the loud noises that thunderstorms made. Sure, he could play in the storm all he wanted but once he heard that loud bang of thunder, he’d run back in to either hide somewhere or go cling to his brother.

This is why Remus has a hate-love relationship with storms. They’re fun to play in but they’re loud and noisy and they make him think too many bad thoughts. What if lightning hits their home and catches it on fire? What if it hits Roman and he catches on fire? What if it hits Janus or Virgil? What if the thunder banged so loud his ears exploded and he can’t hear anymore? Janus had already told him those things can’t happen, but Remus’ mind isn’t exactly good at staying quiet for even five seconds.

That’s why Remus finds himself restless one night as a storm rolls in. According to Logan, this storm was going to be a big one. That meant lots of thunder and lightning. While everyone else seemed to be getting cozy for the evening, Remus was coloring on the floor while his twin brother seemed preoccupied with something else that he can’t see. Meanwhile, Janus is sat on the couch and reading his book. The heavy rain is already starting to pour outside the window.

Remus looks up from his coloring book and gazes at the window, the storm whirling and swirling with rain outside. He hopes it’s just rain and nothing more. He then glances at Roman and hums curiously. His brother had come running in with a bunch of stuff and said he was going to make something. When Remus asked to help or watch, Roman said no and that this was very important that he had to do it alone. Remus was a little hurt, but he knows Roman cares about his creations, so he let him be. He’ll probably show him later. He then huffs and sighs.

“Are you done yet, RoRo?” Remus whines, flopping onto his back.

Roman chuckles.

“Not yet, Ree.” he answers, turning to flash a quick smile at his twin.

“But you’ve been working on that—”

Lightning then flashes brightly and-

BANG!

The thunder followed, loud and almost monstrous.

Remus jolts and squeaks before running off to his and Roman’s bedroom, squirming under the bed.

Meanwhile Janus sighs and closes his book.

“Oh, Remus…”

He then climbs off the couch.

“Don’t wander off, Roman.”

“I won’t.” Roman replies without looking up.

Janus nods, curious as to what Roman is up to. He wouldn’t tell him either. For now, he makes his way to the twins’ bedroom. He opens the door and looks around the messy room they share.

There’s stuffed toys and pillows strewn on the floor by the bed. Crayons and papers filled with drawings are scattered on the desk by the window. A paper crown sits on the red chair and a big book sits on the green chair.

“Remus?” Janus calls. “Where are you, little squid?”

Rumbling thunder replies instead and Janus inches towards the bed, pausing when he hears it creak and something thump under it.

“Remus, are you under there?”

A soft whimper.

“No…”

There he is…oh dear, he sounds scared.

Janus goes over to the other side of the bed and smiles when he sees Remus’ butt sticking out from under the bed along with his wiggling feet. He sighs and crouches down.

“Boo.”

“Eep!” *thunk* “Ow!”

Janus laughs a little.

“You really are so good at hide and seek.” he teases.

Remus squirms, still trying to hide under the bed. His chubby tummy stops him going in any further though.

“I am hidden! The thunder can’t get me here if I hide!” he huffs before squeaking as the thunder rumbles again.

“Remus…you know thunder can’t hurt you indoors. You don’t have to hide.” Janus replies, tugging on his leg.

“No!” Remus squeals, yanking his leg away from Janus. “I’m hiding here until the thunder goes away!”

Janus sighs. He loves the twins, but damn are they stubborn.

“Remus…”

Then Roman comes running in.

“Janus, did you find Remus yet?” he asks, hands hidden behind his back.

Janus nods and tips his head.

“He seems determined to hide under the bed until the storm passes.” he answers, moving aside.

Roman giggles and goes around the bed, plopping on the floor.

“I thought you loved storms, Ree.” he teases, poking his twin’s leg.

“Not when they’re stupid loud.” Remus huffs.

Roman smiles sadly. He knows his twin hates loud sounds that aren’t his. There are even days when he gets overstimulated from outside noise. He then pulls out what he’d been working on behind his back.

“I have something for you. You’ll have to come out from there if you want to see it.” he says a moment later.

“For me?”

“For you.”

It takes a moment, but Remus manages to squirm out from under the bed, shaking the dust out of his messy hair. He then sits up and blinks. In front of him on Roman’s lap is a cuddle-sized, green octopus with black button eyes and a matching mustache. There are patches of red here and there on its head.

Roman grins.

“I know you don’t like storms and you don’t have a little friend with you like Mrs. Fluffybottom. So, I made one for you! Do you like him?” he hands the octopus to Remus.

Remus takes it with wide, red sparkling eyes.

“He’s…He’s so ugly!” he giggles, hugging the plushie close. “I love him!”

“Perfect! He’ll keep you safe and sound from the storm.” Roman grins.

Remus blinks at that and gazes at his new octopus friend.

“Really?”

Roman hums and nods.

“Yeah! He’s got the strength of a mighty kraken and he’s not afraid of anything!” he grins. “I promise, he’ll always protect you!”

“I dunno, RoRo…sounds like a big promise.”

Roman thinks then gasps as if he remembered something and makes a crown shape with his hands, placing it over his head.

“I royal promise then! That way, he’ll never lose strength!” he grins wider, proudly even.

“Royal promise?” Remus tilts his head.

Roman nods.

“Yeah! It’s a strong promise because I made it with my prince powers!”

As Janus hears that, he jolts for a moment. Those words…royal promise…they sound so familiar and distant at the same time. A tiny part of him curses the twins for reminding him of the past so much. He wonders how Roman even remembered that. Maybe…no. It couldn’t be. That person is long gone. Still, Janus aches. He can still see him in the twins though. He says nothing and smiles fondly at them instead.

Meanwhile, Remus finally grins as he forgets the storm.

“Okay, I believe you, RoRo.”

“Yay! What are you gonna name him, by the way?”

Remus thinks then grins wider.

“Squishyboo!”

When it came to being Creativity, the one thing the twins hated was how creative their minds got at night. Sure, they could dream of anything each night but sometimes their minds like to take the shadows from their thoughts and morph them into nightmares. Nightmares that seemed far too sick and twisted for even Remus’ already dark self. Nightmares that felt like a curse, repeating, and replaying all too vividly. Not even Roman’s creative light could save them both.

Remus’ nightmares often melded with his intrusive thoughts. The shadows would steal the darkest thoughts they could find and create an even darker dream. Dreams of desolate worlds. Dreams of war-torn kingdoms and abandoned castles. Dreams of silent rooms with colorless walls. Dreams of a lost friend and a broken family. Dreams of fallen princes and lost kings. Dreams of pain and screaming. It always led to Remus waking up with a terrified scream.

Roman’s nightmares liked to play tricks on him. Every dream would start nice and warm…but then it would slowly turn darker and darker until it became a nightmare. A warm, grassy field would slowly turn cold as the green melted away into brown. A bright castle with flickering, welcoming candles would slowly put its lights out one by one until darkness took over the whole palace. A Duke dancing about on stage would slowly grow pale until he collapsed, and the stage fell. A powerful king would slowly grow weaker and weaker until he falls apart, screaming in agony as he tears himself in half. It always left Roman waking up with a horrified sob.

Tonight isn’t any different. The twins had been put to bed by Janus as usual and were sleeping, sprawled out against each other. Due to the intensity of some of their nightmares and never wanting to be separate, they insisted on sharing a room. Janus let them, knowing how much they needed each other. Remus could hold Roman down when he’d started flailing and Roman could calm Remus down if a nightmare left him a bit lost. As Roman sleeps, his creative mind starts playing with his shadows.

Roman finds himself standing in a living room he doesn’t recognize. The living room he knows has dark grey walls with pictures of him and his brother and Janus on them. The floor he knows is a darker grey and has a soft, mustard yellow round rug in front of the tv. This living room is…bright and warm. The wallpaper is a light shade of beige, and the floor is an off-white with no rug.

He looks around and nearly jumps, seeing two figures staring back at him. He looks to his side and Remus is there, holding his hand. He seems upset. Roman doesn’t know and looks back at the figures. They seem to be talking warmly. Roman tries to step forward but finds he can’t move his legs. Oh. He swallows and looks around. He sees Janus standing by on Remus’ other side, head bowed.

“Janus?” Roman calls.

Janus looks up and Roman sees a sad, almost regretful look in his eyes.

“I’m so sorry…”

“What do you mean?”

Before Janus can say anything more, the two figures turn and step towards Roman. In the light of the living room, Patton stands with an unsettling grin, his eyes far too wide with excitement. Logan stands beside him with a blank look, dull eyes gazing at nothing. It makes Roman’s skin crawl.

“Okay, kiddos! Say your last goodbyes! We’ve decided to take Roman and keep him here!” Patton exclaims, tilting his head a little too much.

Roman jolts as the lights flicker.

“B-But what about Remus?” he asks.

Patton laughs and it’s almost ear piercing.

“Oh, don’t be silly, kiddo! Remus has been naughty. He can’t stay here. You don’t need him.”

“H-He’s my brother…what do you mean he can’t stay, and I don’t need him?” Roman whimpers.

Logan leans down and stares at Roman.

“Your brother is not fit to be with us. He is not needed here. Until we can…dispose of him, he will remain with Janus. We will dispose of him once you have been moved here, Roman.”

Roman’s eyes widened.

“A-Are…Are you splitting us…again?” he whispers.

Patton giggles and it seems even louder, his grin twitching.

“Just to be safe, kiddo!”

The room grows darker and Roman tries to move again but he still can’t. He turns towards Remus, reaching out for him.

“Remus!”

Remus tries to reach back only for Janus to grab him.

“Forgive me.” Janus whispers

And Remus goes limp in his arms.

Roman gasps in horror, pain spreading through him.

“No! Give my brother back! Give him back!”

Patton laughs again. He laughs and laughs and laughs. The sound rings and echoes.

“Now, now. Be a good prince, Roman.”

Roman desperately tries again and again to move, arms flailing out as he tries to reach out for Remus.

Janus just turns away with Remus in his arms before fading.

Patton’s laughs grow even louder and it’s making Roman’s ears start to ache. Logan stares at him again, a hand on Roman’s shoulder.

“He’s gone now, Roman.”

“No…No! Bring him back! I need him! I need—”

Roman gasps.

“-REMUS!”

Roman tries to move again but finds that even now he still can’t and flails around, a heavy weight on top of him.

“Let me go! I need to find him! I need Remus!” he whimpers.

“Easy, Ro! It’s me! It’s Remus!”

Roman blinks and his flailing slow to a stop as he squints in the dark. He sees a green blob and after another blink, he recognizes it as-

“Ree?”

Remus gets off of Roman and smiles softly.

“I’m right here, RoRo. I’m not going anywhere.” he replies.

Roman sits up and stares at Remus in the darkness of their shared room, the only source of light coming from their glow-in-the-dark star stickers on the ceiling. Blood red eyes stare back at him and Roman can’t help but launch himself into his twin’s arms.

“I don’t want you to go!” Roman wails.

Remus hugs back, patting his twin as he does.

“I’m not leaving, RoRo. I’m right here.”

Roman sniffs and hiccups at that, pulling away to gaze at his twin. He’s still there. He’s still awake. He’s not limp like in his dream or—

“RoRo?”

Roman hiccups again.

“T-They tried to split us. Again. Morality and Logic. I don’t want you to leave. I don’t want to lose you, Ree.” he whispers. “I don’t care if they think you’re bad. You’re my brother and I need you.”

Remus feels his heart ache. Is that what those light sides really think of him? Are they so cruel that they can’t let him be with Roman? He huffs and pouts, cupping Roman’s face and squishing it.

“Who cares what they think? They can’t keep us apart no matter what. Janus won’t let that happen either.”

“B-But my dream—”

“Is just a dream, dummy. No one will take me, and no one will keep us apart.”

Roman blinks and sniffs.

“P-Promise?”

Remus grins, letting go of Roman to form a crown above his head with his hands.

“I even royal promise, Ro.”

Remus then pulls his brother into another hug, glaring ahead. He’ll make sure no one ever splits them again. Especially not those two. He’ll shed blood if he has to.

Meanwhile, Roman’s sniffles slowly quiet down.

“Thank you, Ree.”

And Roman slips into a peaceful slumber this time, clinging onto Remus’ sleep shirt.

They were split anyway. It wasn’t their choice, however. Morality decided that Roman needed to be with them in order for things to be more…balanced. That day, the Mindpalace split as well with the Light sides above and the Dark Sides being shoved down a little closer to the subconscious. Janus didn’t like the idea but there wasn’t anything else he could do. He tried to fight for the twins, but Morality insisted on this and of course, who did Thomas listen to more? Morality always did have more influence over everything.

Roman barely remembers the day of the Second Split. With time passing on, it’s becoming more and more of a blurry memory. He doesn’t know why and not even Logic will tell him. Still, Roman knows he feels incomplete. He doesn’t like being apart from Remus, but Morality is right, isn’t he? He’s a light side now and he must be good. And yet…Roman missed Remus.

Roman missed his twin. He missed giggling and playing with him. He missed having adventures with him and fighting off nightmares. It took so much time to get used to sleeping alone. He’d spend nights crying silently after every nightmare. He missed having someone to hold him down when he’d flail. Sure, Patton was…kind and he made warm milk, but he wasn’t Remus. Remus would always assure him that his dreams are just dreams. He’d tell him silly stories until he laughed his tears away. He’d hold him till he fell asleep.

So, Roman finds himself lying awake again as he wracks his brain. It’s been a year since the Second Split, and he can’t remember much of it. He’s still trying to make sense of it but refuses to believe that Remus and Janus were bad. Sighing, Roman sits up and glances at the door.

He wonders…

Before he can stop himself, Roman shrugs his blanket off and stands up from his bed.

“Need Remus…” he mumbles to himself.

Roman glances at his bedroom door before going over to the other side of his room. He has yet to decide where to put the door to his Imagination, so he summoned a portal instead. As long as he had no door, Patton couldn’t follow him in. This felt all wrong but Roman finds himself not caring all too much.

Roman then steps through and closes the portal behind him. The Imagination greets him with a cool, evening breeze. It makes Roman feel a little more at ease. He wishes he could sleep here but with his nightmares still intense, he didn’t want to risk them affecting his beloved world. Roman sighs and begins walking through the grassy field. Usually, he starts at the forest, but he didn’t feel like it tonight.

It feels calm and peaceful, walking through the sea of dark green. Fireflies even join in on his trek, lighting his way. Roman finds himself humming softly, tilting his head up to admire the twinkling stars he placed in the sky. Off in the distant sky, two bright stars glow side by side. One green and one red. Between them is one big golden star. Roman doesn’t recall making those but he adores them anyway.

Soon, Roman finds himself wandering further and further. Past the sleeping village and the castle. Over the rocky mountains behind the kingdom and across the river below them.

At the end, Roman finds himself walking towards the ravine that separated his side and Remus’. He remembers hearing the Mindpalace rumble on the day he and Remus were separated. When he returned to the Imagination, even this world had split in two. The twins had formed a bridge with a gazebo in the center where they could meet every day. The bridge was white on Roman’s side and black on Remus’. No one knew about this but Janus who kept quiet for their sake.

Roman walks towards the bridge and makes his way over, sighing as his hand finds the barrier that kept them apart. Neither twin could go over to each other, and it seemed Morality made sure of it. Roman sighs then…he hears something rustle on the other side. Had he been caught or—

“RoRo!”

From behind a bush and holding a baseball bat, Remus runs out and meets his twin at the barrier. He couldn’t sleep either and snuck out.

Roman gasps and grins, his hands meeting Remus’ as they pressed against the barrier.

“Ree! I missed you so much!”

“I missed you too, dummy.” Remus grins back before sitting in front of Roman. “So, how is it over there in the Light Side?”

Roman sighs and sits too.

“It doesn’t feel like home. There are too many rules and too much work. Morality and Logic are no fun either.” he huffs.

Remus tilts his head. Morality and Logic? Something didn’t seem right about this and his brother, but he decides not to question that for now.

“That’s sucky.” he says instead. “What kind of work are you doing? Do you still get to create stuff?”

Roman nods but then…he sighs again. Ever since he moved to the Light Sides against his will, he’d been losing more and more of his creative freedom. He’d been given rules to follow, filters to watch out for, and an unending mountain of drafts that he had to revise because the original just wasn’t good enough anymore.

“RoRo?”

Roman pulls away from his thoughts and shakes his head.

“Logic gave me a bunch of dumb rules to follow.” he huffs. “He says I have to get it approved by him and it has to be appropriate. So, I followed all the rules and he’s still being a butthead about it. I just can’t please him.”

Remus frowns and so badly wants to hold his brother. Or beat up Logan for making his brother sad. If he could, he’d do both now. For now, he places a hand on the barrier.

“Who cares what that boring towel thinks? He wishes he could create as good as you, Ro!” he exclaims. “Besides, I bet your stuff is still super cool and his eyeballs are just too broken to see it! He’s dumb!”

Roman snorts and giggles.

“Ree! He can’t be dumb, he’s logic!” he squeals.

Remus smiles. His brother looks so exhausted but at least he’s happy for now.

“Yeah, but he’s not creativity! He’s not the boss of what you create and how!” he giggles. “What about Morality?”

“He’s…okay. But not like Janus.” Roman replies once he’s calmed down. “He won’t let me have extra snacks and he keeps telling me everything I do isn’t princely like.”

Oh no.

Remus frowns and tilts his head.

“What do you mean?”

Roman pouts again and Remus hates what those jerks are doing to his brother.

“He has even more rules. It’s not princely like to be late to dinner or it’s not princely like to make inappropriate jokes. I didn’t even make a joke like that! It was just a fart joke!” he huffs.

“Then they’re both dumb and they don’t get us.” Remus also huffs. “If they want to be goody, goody babies then let them. You don’t have to let them boss you around.”

Roman sighs and leans against the barrier. If he leans hard enough, he could feel Remus’ hands.

“I guess…I don’t like it here, Ree. I don’t wanna be perfect. I just wanna be with you and Janus where everything made sense.” he mumbles.

Remus smiles sadly, wishing he could pet his brother’s hair. He knows Roman likes it when he does that. It’s very calming to both, surprisingly. He wishes his brother was back here too. Ever since his brother was taken, Janus has been sad and drinking a lot. Like a lot more than usual. Their space had grown quiet as well and nothing felt the same without his twin.

The dark creativity then gazed at his twin. Roman looked so tired. So exhausted. Even his eyes looked…less green than it used to be. It made Remus feel angry at the so-called light sides. Who were they to call themselves high and mighty while hurting someone they wanted to be as one of them? Remus feels his thoughts whispering to go up there and deal with them, but he knows Roman wouldn’t want that and he’s needed here more. So, he tells them unkindly to shut up and decides he’ll figure out a way to get his brother back. Even if it means kidnapping him.

“What?! Remus, you can’t kidnap me! Morality’s going to be mad, and he’ll never let me see you!” Roman exclaims, jolting his twin out of his thoughts.

Remus blinks.

“Huh?”

“You muttered that out loud.” Roman frowns. “Don’t kidnap me or do anything else, Ree. I don’t want them to separate us even more than we are now.”

Remus sighs.

“But…”

Roman places a hand on the barrier, giving Remus a pleading gaze.

“Please, Ree…I need you…”

Remus’ shoulders droop. His brother was right.

“Fine…” he sighs. “I just hate that we’re split like this. I miss you, Ro…”

Roman smiles softly.

“I miss you too, Ree. I promise I’ll find a way to bring us back.” he whispers.

Remus returns the soft smile.

“Royal promise?”

“I, Prince Roman, Royal promise.”

And Remus smiles more as Roman forms a crown above his head with his hand. As the twins talk the night away, the barrier weakens, and the ravine silently closes in a little.

One day the barrier finally broke, and the twins could go to each other. The ravine stayed by their choice to keep their sides of the Imagination safe, but the bridge remained, its foundation stronger than ever. The twins also decided to keep this a secret, sneaking into their domains in the evening to meet at the bridge. They’d play in the evening then separated just before the sun came up.

Of course, as time passed, there were ups and downs. Fights and arguments. That didn’t break their bond even if they’d screamed at each other about hatred and despise. They would feel guilty at the end of the day anyways and would come running to each other to apologize.

They went through many more things. From Virgil changing sides suddenly to Roman being hurt by Janus and Remus introducing himself to the Light Sides officially. Of course, he and Roman had to put on an act to keep their secret, well, a secret. Janus and Virgil knew though.

Roman never really interacted with Virgil during his time with Remus and Janus. He saw him once in the kitchen and freaked out, running off. He still feels bad and wonders if that’s why Virgil was so snarky when they finally met.

When Remus had finally made himself known and went with the act that he and Roman rehearsed, he felt a little bad about whacking Roman in the head. As soon as the episode was done, they met in the Imagination and Roman let Remus triple check to make sure his brain was still there.

When Janus had gone too far with Roman, Roman had angrily burst into the Imagination and went on a rampage. Remus followed and calmed him down, helping him out of his spiral before they went to see Janus. One deep conversation later and things were on the mend. Or as mended as it could be.

Due to Roman’s time in the Light Side, he’d been getting worse and worse. He’d be far too busy these days and even much more exhausted. His costume had been growing baggier and baggier. His smile had become strained, almost fake. Tired. Worst of all, Roman grew quiet and serious. Remus didn’t like it one bit. They had changed his brother.

So, one day, Remus set out to the Imagination to go see his brother again. He had a bad feeling about him at the moment. Especially since he could feel some sort of pain twisting in his gut. It’s a blessing and a curse but ever since The Split, the twins had been able to feel each other’s pain no matter how big or small. Janus called it a twin bond or something. Remus hates how it makes him feel this constant dull throbbing from his brother. Roman hates how he feels nothing from Remus, envying how he didn’t have rules to follow or roles to play.

Remus keeps trekking on through the grass field, using his twin’s shortcut. It’s the dead of night both here and in the Mindscape so he’s not too worried about being caught. The Intrusive side sighs and gazes ahead, seeing the tiny lights of Roman’s little village off to the side, his bright and tall castle stands just above them. Actually, the castle seemed a little dimmer these days and it made Remus frown.

Sure, Remus could have gone through his own side but ever since he made himself known to the others, he stopped giving a fuck about the rule of where he was allowed to go. He’s even made it clear that he could go where he damn well pleases. Especially since he’s had enough of them splitting him and Roman. This led to Remus finally barging into Roman’s room to check on him, only to find his door to the Imagination left open. So, Remus followed and here he was.

Remus then continues walking through the village, feeling a bit uneasy from the silence. Sure, it may be evening, and the people are asleep in their homes but not even the cicadas and the crickets were singing their songs. It made the whole place feel…dead. The Imagination has always been in tune with the twins’ emotions and lately Roman hasn’t been feeling his best. It seems the Imagination knew that. Even the little patches of grass and weeds drooped downwards into the dirt as if they hung in their heads in sorrow.

Remus shakes his head.

“Oh, Roman…”

The Duke continues on, heading up the path and past the homes of the nobles. Through one of the windows, Remus could see a family gathered together at the table for dinner. At least they were happy. It made Remus want to gag as he tears his gaze away, hurrying towards the golden gates. The guards there merely turned before looking away. It seems they were also worried for their prince.

“Yeah…I know how you guys feel.” Remus mutters as he walks through. “I…I’ll talk to him.”

The guards nod in return and Remus continues on. The Intrusive side then walks up the path and through the gate, making his way through the courtyard. There’s no sign of anyone. Not even a single noble or a maid around the fountains. It’s unusually quiet and it surprisingly disturbs Remus. Sighing, Remus continues on his way and enters the main doors. Somehow, it’s even quieter inside. There’s usually so much going on that Remus refuses to take the front entrance and prefers to bust through the window. Today, however, no one is around here either. At least, Remus thinks so.

Remus wanders through the foyer and towards the throne, pausing when he finds the doors left ajar. Usually, they’re left wide open for Roman’s people to come see him when he’s at his throne. It makes the Duke hum in worry as he enters cautiously, wondering what his little brother had done to them…and to himself. Breathing out and ignoring the intrusive voices in his head, Remus enters the throne room and finds-

“Mama?”

“Remus. I’m glad you’re here, dear.”

Maleficent. The Dragon Witch and Roman’s so-called enemy. Every now and then she’d fly over the village, pretending to attack and Roman would save the day. Maleficent, or Mal for short, was always happy to play her role to see Roman happy. Roman worried about hurting her too much but was always assured that she could take his hits. Mal would continue to do fake battles and when she wasn’t, she lived in her tower up in the far mountains of Roman’s realms.

Mal also acted like a mother figure for the twins in return for them saving her life after the split. She was going to vanish along with The King who had named her after the character from Sleeping Beauty, but the twins chose to save her. In return, Mal became their guardian and caretaker. Their mother. She would be the one watching over them for her fallen king, making sure they were safe whenever they visited the realm.

Remus ambles over and greets her.

“You never show up in the throne room, mama. What are you doing here?” he asks.

“Something didn’t feel right so I came over to check on Roman. I must have scared the people away when I arrived.” Mal explains. “I tried to talk to your brother, but he won’t even answer to me.”

Remus sighs, a hand on his chest.

“I can feel his pain. It…It hurts so much…” he mutters.

Mal sighs.

“I know, little one. His realm…it’s just as sorrowful.” she shakes her head before gazing at one of the stained glass windows. “Roman told me he was going up to the tower. Hopefully he’s still there and he’ll talk to you.”

Remus nods, blinking away his tears before they could fall.

“I’ll take care of him, mama.” he promises.

Mal smiles softly.

“I know you will, my dear. And please, make sure you take care of yourself too. You look tired.”

Remus sighs but manages a small smile.

“I will.” he nods. “You should go before the people come back to capture you, mama.”

Mal kisses Remus’ forehead before the mother figure turns and makes her leave. Remus watches her go before turning towards the throne, making his way over to it. It’s golden shine had dulled out and the soft, velvet fabric looks as if it had been picked at. Remus stares at it for a moment, wondering what Roman really felt like even as he sat upon his throne. Roman always boasted about being the best prince and it seemed no one knew or even cared to see how much work that took. It’s strange to see it completely empty. When Roman visits his realm, he always stops by the throne room whenever he can. When the prince wasn’t in, the nobles and castle staff would be roaming about as the guards stood by.

Rubbing at his face, Remus leaves the throne room and climbs the stairs. He still doesn’t like the heavy silence following him down the corridor and up the next flight of stairs. Several more staircases later and Remus soon arrives at the door to the tower. Roman often hides away here to be alone or to talk to Remus. The tower had been given a spell to ensure that only Mal and the twins could enter whenever they liked. Remus feels lucky that he’s able to enter and lets himself in.

“Ro? Mama told me you were here. She said you were hiding up again.” Remus calls.

“Out here, Ree.” Roman calls back a moment later from the balcony.

Remus breathes out a sigh of relief and heads over to where his twin is. He goes through the curtains and finds Roman leaning over the parapet of the tower. Roman looks exhausted, the bags under his eyes almost as dark as Virgil’s eyeshadow. Remus comes over, copying his twin and staring at him for a moment before deciding to talk.

“Um…hi, Ro…what are you doing up here?” Remus starts.

Roman doesn’t move, gazing at the hills far in the distance.

“If you think I’m going to jump. I’m not. I’m just…thinking. I guess.”

“Oh.” Remus blinks. “I wasn’t going to say anything about that. At least not now. I just wanted to talk.”

Roman manages an empty chuckle.

“Heh, funny. You usually prefer to swing first, talk later. Did you accidentally swing at yourself, Dukey?”

Remus shakes his head and sighs.

“No. I just really miss my brother. As annoying as he is, I like having him around as the dumb, sparkly, prince he is.”

“I…I don’t know. I don’t feel sparkly. Probably just dumb.”

Remus blinks then stands up straight and turns Roman to face him.

“Okay, Ro-Bro, look. You’re clearly not okay right now. Talk to me. Tell me what’s got your brain being a bitch. That’s what I’m here for, okay?”

Roman stares at Remus, a tear falling down his cheek.

“Ree…”

“Talk to me, RoRo. It’s okay.”

Another tear rolls down Roman’s cheek and-

“It hurts, Ree…”

Remus brings Roman to the stone bench behind him and sits them both down.

“What hurts, Ro?”

“Everything. No matter what I do, I can’t please them. I can’t make Patton happy. I can’t satisfy Logan’s demands. What good am I? What kind of Creativity am I?”

Remus feels his heart throb in pain. Roman is hurting so, so much. It makes Remus wonder what those light-side idiots are doing to him. Sure, Remus has seen Roman hanging around them and being friendly with them but…in return they hurt Roman. Do they even realize what they’re doing to Roman? Probably not. It pisses Remus off, but he swallows his anger for another day. Instead, the Duke turns to Roman and wipes his tears.

“You know what? Fuck them. Fuck those light side bitches.”

Roman gasps.

“Ree!”

Remus grins.

“Who cares what they say about you or what they think? You are Prince Roman, and you don’t need their goddamn approval.” he ruffles Roman’s hair.

“B-But I- “

“But nothing! Well, except for my butt. Anyways, fuck them. If they don’t want to give a shit about you. You don’t have to give a shit about them.”

Roman manages a small smile.

“I guess…that’s true, Ree.” he then sighs, and that small smile disappears. “I’m just scared. What if they don’t want me anymore? What if they get rid of me or hate me?”

“Woah, there, Ro. Let’s get you off that spiral coaster, yeah? Even if that does happen, you’ve always got me. I’m not leaving you. No matter how big of a bitch you can get.”

Roman finally giggles a bit.

“Hey! You’re annoying too, dummy!”

“Yeah, but you’ll be stuck with me at least.” Remus grins.

Remus feels the weight on his chest start to lighten. Good.

“I think I’ll be okay with that. Promise you’ll be there to catch me?” Roman asks.

Remus hums then grins, forming a crown symbol above his head using his hands.

“I, Duke Remus, royal promise.”

“Remus…” Roman’s eyes widen then he lunges forward and hugs him. “Thank you…”

Remus smiles and hugs back.

“Of course, dumbass.”

The twins stay like that for a while before…

“So…would you mind if I just…talked to the others?”

“Ree, no!”

“Eh, worth a shot.”

Despite being all grown up now, Remus’ nightmares have not changed. It seems more like they’ve grown darker and more vivid. Sometimes it was hard to tell what wasn’t real and what was actually happening. It was easy to lose himself in the darkest visions of his sleeping mind. It was harder to find the way out with no Roman to save him. Sure, Janus was there, doing his best to keep him afloat but he could only keep the nightmares at bay for a little while. They’d come back every other night, darker than ever. It’s a miracle that Remus gets any sleep, really. Sometimes, the duke is often found sleeping in odd places, napping excessively in the afternoon when he isn’t causing chaos.

Today isn’t any different. Remus had wanted to do some art to quiet his mind of the annoying loud voices he keeps hearing. He had just finished his third piece as he started growing sleepy. He then soon fell asleep at his table before he could sign his artwork, paintbrush rolling out of his hand as he snoozed away.

When Remus blinks his eyes open, he finds himself standing in the Imagination. Yet, it’s not his own realm that he’s in. He looks around and finds that he’s in a village. A torn emblem of a red shield flutters beside an abandoned tavern. This is…Roman’s village? Remus shivers and looks towards the castle. A shadowy black haze surrounds it, looking more menacing than the blood red sky above it. Yet, that’s not the terrifying part. No, the true horror is that this is what became of Roman’s realm.

But…why?

Remus shudders and carries on, searching for his twin. Maybe he just wanted to try something different? Yeah, that’s gotta be it. He walks through the silent village and up the path to the town square where the nobles’ house are. No one’s here either. Remus glances at an open window. He only sees an empty table. Where had everyone gone? Roman loved his people too much so there’s no way he’d gotten rid of them.

Remus walks on and up the castle path and through rusted gates, passing wilted grass and dried fountains. The courtyard looked more like…a cemetery now. Funnily enough and ironically, Remus isn’t thrilled about this. Roman’s realm is supposed to be stupidly bright and annoyingly glittery like the prince himself. Remus just finds all of this to look completely wrong.

�� Soon Remus enters the castles, the grand doors opening with a heavy groan. The foyer is empty and dim with the only lighting coming from the glass windows and the little torches on the wall. Remus steps in, shivering again as he’s greeted by cold air. Usually, Roman’s castle is warm and welcoming. This is just haunting. Maybe it’s a bit cliché to Remus but he reminds himself that this Roman’s place and it shouldn’t be this dark and cold.

“R-Ro?” Remus calls out.

The only reply is the echo of his own voice.

Remus pushes on, still calling for Roman. His voice echoes back and he worries more. What if Roman was gone too? What if something happened to him? What if he-Remus stops that thought and carries on. Roman has to be okay. He’s dumb but he’s brave. Yeah, Roman’s a big, brave Prince. Remus tells himself he’s probably just hanging out somewhere or up in the tower again. Maybe he’s in the throne room, doing his royal duties. That has to be it.

So, the duke enters the throne room and looks towards the throne and-oh. There’s Roman sitting there and…not moving. Why isn’t he moving? Why isn’t he blinking? Remus slowly makes his way towards the throne, hoping his footsteps would alert his twin. Still…Roman doesn’t move. He remains frozen. His face does not change. His eyes do not twitch. Remus places a hand on his chest only to feel…nothing. No weight, no pain, no aches. There is nothing there.

“Roman? It’s me. It’s Ree.”

Roman says nothing.

Remus steps forward, moving closer and closer to the throne. Under the light from the stained glass windows, he could see that the throne had rusted and its velvet fabric was now torn. Odd. He remembers the throne being shinier and cleaner than this. Had it been so long since the last time he visited Roman? Had he forgotten to see him? Remus knows he hadn’t. He visits Roman as much as he can, constantly bothering him even as he tries to get his work done. When did this happen then? Remus swallows and finds himself right at Roman’s throne.

“Hey, RoRo? Can you hear me? I’m right here. It’s Ree!” Remus calls.

Still no answer…

Then the window on the left swings open with a gust of wind and the curtains fly off. Remus watches them flutter down to the floor in a heap and a little more light floods the room. It trails across the floor and lands perfectly on Roman’s face. Roman’s face had turned to stone. Horrified, Remus runs up to his brother and looks at his brother closer in the light. It wasn’t just his face. His whole body had turned to stone, face frozen with a broken expression. Remus had been too late.

“R-RoRo?”

Remus pats his face.

Nothing happens.

“RoRo, this isn’t a funny prank! Wake up, dumbass! Wake up!” Remus cries.

Still, nothing happens.

Remus shakes his head, smacking Roman over and over as he could chip away the stone to find him underneath.

“Wake up! Wake up! Wake up! Roman, please!”

Sure, Remus had imagined scenarios of hurting his brother, but he never wanted him gone.

“Come on, little brother! You can stop now! It’s not funny! Wake up!”

Remus slams his fists against the stone, not caring about the pain that follows after.

“Please, wake up!”

Tears fall from Remus’ face and land on Roman’s head as he screams-

“ROMAN!”

Remus shoots up from where he’s sitting, his stool falling over as he stumbles backwards. Wide, red eyes dart around in search of his twin. He’s not here though and Remus wanders out of his art room, muttering his brother’s name. He has to be here somewhere. He has to be okay. Remus looks around some more, checking around the living room. No prince there. Remus makes his way towards the door to the corridor that leads to the light sides.

“Remus? Is that you? I heard you screaming. Is everything alright?”

Janus comes down from the other corridor that goes to the bedrooms, worry on his face when Remus doesn’t respond.

“Remus?”

Remus opens the door.

“Need to find him. Find Roman.”

Janus sighs. This wasn’t the first time this happened. He’s usually able to snap him out of it but Remus seems really lost this time.

“Remus, I’m sure Roman is okay. We saw him this morning.”

Remus shakes his head.

“Need to find Roman.”

Janus sighs once more, going over to Remus as he wonders what nightmare he had this time.

“Alright, we’ll go find Roman.”

With that, Janus and Remus leave the Dark Side and make their way through the cold corridor that separates the two sides. Janus hates this place and how freezing it is, how it came to divide them. He wraps his cloak around himself and follows Remus through to the light side, feeling a bit relieved when they’re greeted by the warmth of the Light Side. Janus refuses to admit that he prefers it over the Dark Side’s coldness. The snake side then turns to Remus.

“Okay, Remus, shall we check your brother’s room?”

Remus walks on.

“Find Roman. Find him.” he repeats in a mutter.

Poor thing.

Remus ambles up the stairs, Janus making sure he doesn’t trip. The others are out so Janus isn’t too worried about running into them. They make their way past the room doors and find Roman’s, its star nameplate shining under the light. A big cursive ‘R’ is in the center of it. Of course. Without hesitation, Janus knocks for Remus and a moment later the door opens to reveal Roman with his hair a mess and a pencil tucked behind his ear.

“What is-Janus? What are you doing here?” Roman asks.

Janus steps aside and Remus blinks before he goes up to his twin, snapping out of his trance.

“R-Roman? Is this…are you real?” Remus whispers.

Roman, realizing his twin had another nightmare, nods and takes his twin’s hand. He places it on his chest so Remus can feel his heartbeat.

“I’m real, Ree. I’m okay. I’m right here.”

As soon as he feels the thumping of his brother’s heart, Remus tackles Roman into a tight hug.

“I thought…I thought you were gone!” Remus wails.

Roman squeezes his brother, squishing him in the hug as much as he can. It’s how his twin likes it.

“Shh, I’m here, Ree. Whatever you saw, it wasn’t real and I’m not going anywhere, okay?”

“B-But in my dream your kingdom was all dark and when I went to see you, you were turned to stone…You didn’t move or talk, and I thought...” Remus sniffs and cries again.

Roman pats his brother’s back, heart aching at the sight of his twin breaking down. He’s usually the more carefree one between them, not caring about anything. Seeing him now like this is just sad.

“Hey, your dream is just a dream, remember? What’s real is you and me and Janus and the whole Mindscape. I’m not going anywhere, and I mostly certainly am not turning to stone.” he soothes his twin.

Remus’ cries quiet down to sniffles.

“R-Royal promise? You won’t leave or do something that stupid? You’ll be here forever and ever?”

“Royal promise, brother.” Roman smiles softly, forming the crown above his head.

Remus hugs Roman again at that, rubbing his tears away.

“Thanks, Ro. You better not tell Virgil I was crying like a little bitch.” he sniffs one last time, letting go of his twin moments later.

Roman huffs a laugh.

“I won’t, Ree.”

As Remus lets himself be comforted by the assurance that Roman is right there, Janus smiles fondly off to the side and ignores the ache in his heart again.

For a long time now, Janus had watched the twins make Royal Promises to each other. These promises were very important to them both, so they were very careful as to when they made it. A Royal Promise carried a lot of weight and pain behind it after all. The pain came from the promise being broken. The twins never ever break a Royal Promise.

The only problem is that the twins don’t know why they started doing that. Roman just felt it was stronger than a regular promise, so he did it Remus, ever curious and always following his twin, copied Roman. It became their little ritual and it was very rare that they let any of the others try to do what they do. Besides, Roman made up a rule that you have to be royal to make one.

Sighing, Janus glances at the twins. They were currently play-wrestling in the field just down the hill from where the snake side was lounging under the King’s Tree. He smiles fondly as he hears them laugh and tumble around the tall grass. Despite the rough times, Janus is glad their bond has remained strong. No matter how many times the others had tried, they refused to let anyone separate them. Sometimes, he wonders if they’ll ever…Janus puts a stop to that thought. Even if the twins could, Janus wouldn’t force them to re-fuse. They seem happier this way.

“Having fun, boys?” Janus calls, chuckling as he sees them pop up together with grass in their hair and stains on their outfits.

“Yeah! We’re wrestling for who gets the leftover spaghetti in the fridge!” Remus answers back, jumping onto Roman’s back.

“You had it last week though!” Roman giggles.

“Yeah, but I want some and Virgey can make you more!”

The twins go back to wrestling for a second as Janus huffs a laugh.

“Okay, you two. Come sit down and take a break first. You’ve been wrestling all afternoon.” he calls, the leaves rustling above as if to call the twins over as well.

The twins giggle and race each other over, plopping under the cool shade of the branches. A nice breeze blows and starts to cool them down. It seems as if the Imagination always knew what they needed.

“I totally won the wrestling match.” Remus grins.

“Excuse me, I pinned you down more than you got me!” Roman puffs in pride.

“Nuh uh!”

Janus laughs again.

“How about you both win the wrestling match and I’ll convince Patton to let me make spaghetti for dinner tonight?” he offers, not wanting them to actually start a fight.

The twins gasp and nod eagerly.

“Yes!”

Janus smiles softly.

“Excellent.”

Silence falls in as the three relax under the afternoon shade. It’s nice and peaceful and Janus would do anything to stay here forever. No problems. No pain. Just him and the happy twins he promised he’d protect. His promise…Janus remembers when he made the very first Royal Promise…to his King. He wonders if the King knows how hard he’d been fighting to keep that promise. How he failed and went through hell and back to make up for it. For the King. For the twins. For-

“Janus?”

Janus blinks out of his thoughts and looks over to see Roman sitting up, frowning at him in concern and Remus copying his twin.

“Are you okay, Janus?” Roman asks.

“You were really spacing out, snakey.” Remus adds.

Janus sighs and nods.

“I’m alright. I’m just…” he glances up at the tree. “I’m just thinking about an old friend…and promises.”

Roman tilts his head in confusion.

“Promises? Like Royal promises?”

Janus chuckles softly.

“Yes. How did you know?”

“I saw you looking upset while I was hugging Remus and making my Royal promise to him.” Roman replies, smiling bashfully. “Did…Did we do something wrong?”

Janus’ heart aches and he shakes his head.

“No, not at all. It just reminds me of my old friend. The King.” he answers, smiling softly as the tree rustles again.

“The King?” Remus chimes in, sitting up as well.

Janus nods, smile now fond.

“Yes…” he answers, gazing at the twins. Sometimes he sees his old friend in them. “I made the first Royal Promise to him.”

The twins’ eyes widen. All those years of not knowing where the Royal Promise came from…and Janus made the first one to the King. Curiosity grows and the twins move closer to Janus, wanting to know more of the King they once were.

“What was the promise?” Roman asks.

“It was a promise I didn’t think I’d ever have to make. Today, however, I don’t regret making it.” Janus answers. “It was just before the split…”

This is it. King Romulus knew what was going to happen next. He didn’t think it would ever happen to him. He didn’t think Morality would actually go through with it. Yet, Thomas is changing and growing. His view on this world and what he feels is changing as well. Morality is afraid and Thomas seems to believe he knows best, so Romulus had no power here. What could he say to Thomas who seemed so afraid of who he was going to become?

Romulus quickly makes his way down the palace corridor. He had called for his closest and most trusted friend to spend one last day with him. He wanted Janus to have one last good memory before they had to say goodbye. Smiling to himself, Romulus makes his way to the throne room and steps in. He finds Janus waiting by his throne.

“Janus, I’m glad you made it.”

Janus looks up from where he’s staring at the throne.

“Romulus. You called me, old friend?” the young side asks, coming over to him. “Has it happened? Are you…?”

Romulus chuckles and shakes his head.

“Not yet. We still have some time before I have to see Morality tomorrow.”

“I wish we had more time. I wish this didn’t have to happen.” Janus huffs. “I don’t want you to go.”

Romulus smiles sadly.

“Neither of us can do anything to stop Morality. We’ve tried. Thomas won’t listen to us. All we can do is accept and adapt to change.”

Janus huffs again, rolling his eyes.

“You’re much nicer than I am.”

Romulus chuckles, patting Janus’ head. Janus was always shorter than his friend. Oddly, he’ll miss the head pats.

“If I could keep myself glued together, I would. I would tape and super glue and suture me to myself if I could.”

“I wish you could. So, what did you want to do with your short time left?” Janus asks, heart aching at that question.

Romulus smiles, offering his hand.

“I want to spend time with you, old friend. One last time.”

Janus sighs then smiles, taking Romulus’ hand.

“Alright, my King.”

King Romulus laughs and tugs Janus along at that. He brings Janus to his garden first. It was one of their favorite spots in the castle to run away to when life was stressful or when Morality’s pressure was too much, and Logic was being harsh. Romulus knows that they mean well but wish they were just a bit more understanding. He knew they had problems of their own and seemed to prefer to repress them rather than bring it to the meeting table.

The garden ended up being Janus and Romulus’ private getaway from it all. It was peaceful and there were always birds singing up in the trees. The air smelled like roses and fresh strawberries. Romulus loved strawberries. There was also a hint of nightshade. Romulus did love to experiment with strange things from time to time. In the center is an open dome that doubled as an observatory and the sun streamed down perfectly on the viewing deck.

Janus and Romulus end up spending all morning picnicking on the deck and chatting. They talked about Romulus’ recent experiments, trying not to think about how that would be his last. They have tea and cake and candy snacks, Romulus telling stories about his last adventure and Thomas’ recent dream. It felt like a regular morning, but Janus couldn’t help but feel heavy as the seconds ticked away. He knew what was coming soon and couldn’t stop thinking about it. Romulus knew it too but chose to ignore it. He focused on making his last day with Janus the best day he could give him.

After a morning of garden strolling, chatting, and tea, Romulus took Janus out of the castle. Janus watched as Romulus strolled through his little kingdom, waving hello to his servants and maids. To his guards. To the nobles and the village people. Janus desperately wanted to tell them what was going to happen to their king, but they wouldn’t understand. It makes Janus wonder if the people were going to one day wonder where their king had gone. Or would the kingdom and its people just…

“Janus, come on!”

Janus hurries along.

“Coming, Romulus!”

Janus follows Romulus through the village, watching him interact with the tavern owner. The owner nods and walks into his little tavern. Moments later, the man steps back out and hands Romulus a basket as he bows. Romulus thanks the tavern with a handful of gold before waving Janus over to follow. Janus follows along, wondering what’s in the basket. It smells wonderful and it takes Janus’ mind off of the heavy weight for a moment.

Soon, they exit the village and take a long, winding road through the tall grass field. Janus remembers watching Romulus hunting for bugs and rabbits and frogs when they were much younger. He follows Romulus and wishes the sun wouldn’t go any lower. Not yet. They climb a big hill, and a golden apple tree waits at the top. Janus had helped Romulus grow it a long time ago, calling it their special hiding place that they could go to when they couldn’t hide in the garden. Romulus said he’d bring everyone here one day but…Janus knew it would never happen. Janus didn’t want to bring anyone else here. Not when they would be taking his friend away.

“Janus, are you going to just stand there or are you going to come join me?”

Janus blinks out of his thoughts and sees Romulus sitting on the wooden throne that he made for himself years ago. In front of him is a matching table with the basket on top and a matching chair. Smiling shyly, Janus sits on the other chair and watches as Romulus leans forward to open the basket. The Creative side takes out two wrapped meals and a small jug of grape juice. He then sets the table, putting out the meals and pouring the juice. Once it’s ready, Romulus nods at Janus.

“Go on, Janus. I asked for your favorite.” The king says.

They unwrap their food and Janus is surprised yet touched to see that Romulus brought him some deviled eggs. Silence falls in as they both eat their meals, the sun setting ever so slowly. It makes Janus wish he could freeze time just a little longer. Sometimes he wished he could even turn back time or convince Thomas that everything was alright and that there was nothing wrong with who he was. Yet, Janus knows it’ll never happen. It’s too late now.

Soon, the sun is even lower, and the sky is a mix of reds and oranges and pinks. Romulus and Janus have finished their meals. The table was cleaned up and vanished along with the chair. The wooden throne remained but the two chose to sit on the grass as they watched the sunset. Neither said anything but knew that as soon as the sun was gone, their time together would be ending soon. It brings back that heavy weight from earlier inside Janus’ heart and he glances at the King.

“I wish time wouldn’t move so fast.” Janus sighs.

Romulus chuckles, watching the sun dip lower.

“You’d think as someone in charge of this entire realm, I’d be able to do that. Believe me, I wish I could, Janus.” he answers, waving his hand.

Nothing happens much to both of their disappointment, and they sit in silence again before-

“Janus…may I ask you for one last favor?” Romulus asks a moment later, sitting up on his knees.

Janus turns, mirroring Romulus.

“What is it, my King?”

Romulus removes his crown, placing it in Janus’ hands.

“When I am split, and I am replaced…will you take care of whoever takes my place?” he asks.

Janus’ eyes widen as he gazes at the crown in his shaking hands then at Romulus who’s calmly smiling at him.

“W-What? You want me to…are you sure? Why?” he stammers.

“Because I trust you. Thomas may no longer see you as Self Preservation as much as he used to, but I still do. I need you to promise me you will guide them and protect them.”

“I don’t know if I can…”

Romulus smiles softly.

“You can. Why don’t we make it a Royal Promise?” he suggests.

“R-Royal Promise? What is that?” Janus asks.

Romulus takes the crown and holds it above the yellow side’s head.

“A strong promise that is guaranteed to be never broken. If it is, the one who made it will be in pain until they fix it. I know it sounds like it’s meant for royals so today, you’re an honorary royal, Janus.” he explains.

Janus sniffs, a tear rolling down over his scales.

“Y-You really trust me?”

“Of course I do, my dear friend.” Romulus nods.

Janus looks at his King, knowing he would never see him here again and nods. Whoever becomes the new Creativity, Janus will make sure they won’t be lost to Morality again. So, Janus holds the crown over his head and smiles tearfully at Romulus as the sun vanishes below the horizon.

“I, Janus Sanders, Royal Promise, my King.”

“And when you both manifested, I did my best to keep that promise. Sure, I had my failures, but I intended to keep it for as long as I can, wanting to make sure I didn’t lose you both either.” Janus finishes.

The twins are quiet before Remus tackles Janus into a hug. Roman follows a moment later. They’re both glad Janus took them in. Sure, Morality was…kind and doing his best to look after them but Janus just understood them better. Now, they knew why.

“Thank you, Janus. For that.” Remus whispers.

Roman sniffles and nods.

“Yes, thank you. For keeping us safe. For telling us this.”

The twins then pull away, Remus rubbing his face to get rid of the tears.

“Would it be okay if we kept making Royal Promises? We’ll only use it for important things.” Roman asks.

Janus nods, wiping Roman’s tears away.

“Of course, Roman. It was always yours and Remus’ to make whenever you need it.”

Before Roman can thank Janus, the tree rustles and an apple falls from the branches into Janus’ hands.

Janus chuckles, smiling up at the tree as the twins gaze in surprise.

“Thank you, old friend. I assure you, I’m still keeping my Royal Promise.”

This time, as the sun sets, Janus sits with twins and smiles. As long as he was here, they wouldn’t be going anywhere. They would never be separate, and they would be safe under his guidance. Promise or not, Janus intends to make sure Creativity would stay strong. Even as two halves. It’s his royal promise to the King and the twins after all.

THE END

#sanders sides #sanders sides fic #janus sanders #roman sanders #remus sanders #roman sanders angst #remus sanders angst #patton sanders #logan sanders #virgil sanders #ts fics #tw nightmares #tw thunderstorms #unintentionally u!sides #tw slight u!sides #u!patton #u!logan #creativitwins angst

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amaryllis-sagitta · 4 months

Text

Take a hard look on Nemesis (she's around)

(I'm only in early stages of Hades 2 EA. Spoilers below)

So far, I found Nemesis in Hades 2 to be a painfully real representation of toxic justice and unforgiving criticism. And since I've been on a periphery of a few fandoms for quite some time, this portrayal hits a little too close to home.

What stands out about Nemesis early in the game is how consistently she dunks on Melinoë's hope and effort, in contrast to Odysseus being the streetwise, world weary advisor in the Crossroads, who's learned to always see a way out of difficult situations. Despite being on Hecate's team, Nemesis is restless, she argues with Hecate, and suggests to Melinoë several times that Hecate is just using her. Before we get to meet Eris, it is hinted that Nemesis and her have their own plot on the side, which raises a worrying suspicion that Nemesis might leave to pursue her own agenda at the first opportunity. The juxtaposition between our early dialogues with Odysseus and Nemesis revolves around hope and hopelessness first, and secondarily around curiosity and appreciation for life on Odysseus' side, and thanklessness and hardened self-reliance on Nemesis' side. Which is interesting since both advisors are highly self-reliant figures, except Odysseus is wiling to share his experience and cooperate by default.

In the case of Nemesis, the hopelessness seems to stem from her archetypal disposition and an attitude towards the Crossroads' team that's... deeply egotistical, really. She drags down Melinoë's confidence. She considers her own guard duty beneath her. When Odysseus becomes worried about the group dynamic, she accuses Melinoë of scheming against her. The first time you give her Nectar, she pulls the "I don't need handouts from you" card.

It kind of sucks to have Nemesis around, and it's perfectly consistent with her archetypal disposition. Once again, Hades 2 reminds us that neither the Chtonics nor the Olympians are great people in many cases.

Nemesis embodies the self-defeating attitude of a covert narcissist, or the "victim mentality" in pop psychology - someone who tries to put the spotlight on themself by emphasizing the ways in which they are wronged and persecuted, but avoid the accountability for further constructive input. It's not a coincidence that she could ally with Eris, because what follows this kind of an attitude is usually some kind of an artificial divide that drives conflict.

(Edit: I looked things up and it appears that Nemesis hates Eris's guts and Eris doesn't like to answer to anyone either, though Nemesis has a strong attachment to Nyx and is concerned about Nyx being held hostage, so there's that.)

You can pick up a distinct vibe that she isn't very fond of Melinoë being the apple of Hecate's eye as her ward and acolyte, burdened with the task of defeating Chronos. Almost as if she wished she were in that place instead. Which brings us to the point of the concept: envy.

(Edit 2: Turns out that when I typed the original post, I was 1-2 conversations before she admitted that she considered herself a more suitable candidate for the task.)

The Roman counterpart of Nemesis is none other than Invidia, personification of envy understood as looking down on someone with hostility, including the evil eye curse (The Evil Eye is even Nemesis' keepsake).

When thinking about envy, I always go back to Melanie Klein's understanding of the concept as a deep impulse to destroy things that are good just because they seem good, as opposed to the protective nature of jealousy towards objects of desire. Klein half-adequately identifies the dynamics of envy as a source of deep internal deprivation, which manifests as never being satisfied and never considering anything worth appreciation just because it isn't a certain archaic unconscious ideal that keeps affecting the psychic reality. In her essay Envy and Gratitude, Klein points at several chronically dissatisfied patients who seem to actively search for things to complain, ways to feel bad themselves and to discredit others around them. What she failed to point out explicitly in her work is the narcissistic and grandiose root of envy: all things need to be dragged down for every little aspect in which they are imperfect to the person who makes the judgment. Envy works in tandem with emotional greed, so that nothing the person actually receives is ever enough.

Defeating Chronos Hecate's way is wrong because it isn't the Nemesis' way. Melinoe represents the spotlight Nemesis was denied, so her experience must be soured at every opportunity.

I think this picture might hit a little too hard if we compare it with some things we witness in fandoms, and even in a broader scope, in social justice circles on the Web - the callout culture, the hunt for problematic or vaguely bad takes, the exclusionary attitudes, the pursuit of morally pure content. It sucks to have Nemesis around.

(And I'm yet to discover if there's a positive arc for Nemesis further along Hades 2, and if we get a quest/ prophecy to sort out stuff between Echo, Narcissus, Hera and herself, because that's the full relevant cast of the Narcissus myth.)

#hades 2 spoilers #nemesis hades #nemesis critical #hades 2 #hades 2 supergiant #hades 2 meta #character analysis #fandom critical #fandom culture #envy #toxicity

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rhodesrider · 2 years

Text

NNN

Bloodline x Black! Fem Reader

NSFW! 18+! MINORS DNI!

Warnings: Sex Video and Masterbation Video sending, slight manipulation, mentions of sexual ASMR, Dic Pic sending

Word Count: …I’m sorry-

Y/N looked around the corner of her home and sighed in relief as there was no one in sight. She smiled as she sat on the living room couch in peace. Turning the tv on low but still on guard just in case she had some one to surprise her. She soon got a silent FT call from her friend Dasha, she answered it with caution.

“Hey um Y/N, quick question.” Dasha asked while she looked like she was hiding. “Are you sure just having no sex with them is the right way to do this?” Y/N nodded as on the other end she heard knocks near her hiding space. “I’m sorry but it’s the only way, I’m doing it too to support you girl.” Y/N smiles but looks around still on guard. “And I thank you for that but god the guys and Rhea are getting aggressive…” Dasha squealed a bit as the knocks turned into bangs. “Maybe we should call it off-“ “No way! It’s been a week I think they will be fine.” Y/N looked up at a text from Jey.

Ok baby this is cute and all but come get daddy off I miss you 😘

She just rolled her eyes and put her phone on DND. “Well imma stand tall. Because I know who’s doing the banging it’s just Damien.” Y/N was shocked. “He gets this hungry after a week?” Dasha nodded blushing some but got her thoughts together to stay focused. “I’ll talk later babe.” Dasha waved bye and hung up. “God I hope she last. It’s only been a week.” She sighed and soon heard a door open upstairs. She decided to stay calm and collected and notice it was Roman. “Hey baby.” He smiled and went over to kiss her forehead. She sighed in relief. “I’m glad you still have some common ground baby.” She smiled as Roman went in the kitchen.

“Yea like this whole little month thing ain’t nothing babygirl.” He smiled and he looked in the fridge seeing a can of whip cream, he sighed trying to keep himself whole. He moved it to the side keeping his thoughts of using whip cream on Y/N a certain way out of his mind. “Ya cousins are losing it thou.” She sighed seeing all three of the brothers text her back and forth. Jey being the horniest sending a fresh nut video. She hit her lip watching it and quickly closed her phone trying to stay calm. “Hey baby is Dasha doing ok?” Roman asked sitting by her drinking an energy drink. “Oh yea she’s fine I have faith in her besides who ever wins gets to go to the mall with their assigned card.” She smirked. Roman sighed, “ok we should talked about this before you made that bet with the card.” Y/N shrugged.

“She has a lot to deal with thou. God I feel like a real obstacle would be Damien and Rhea.” She nodded agreeing. “But she’s strong like me.” Y/N smiled and Roman smirked. “Oh you are baby. So strong, so adorable..” She blushed at the comments and he rubbed her thigh. “…so fucking cute…” he whispered in her ear making her melt. He soon started to kiss on her neck smirking feeling that he has her right in his hands and soon she jumped up. “NO BAD ROMAN.” He groaned laying back dramatically. “Babygirl come on! It’s been almost a week!” He whined. “I expected better out of you daddy.” She pouted and she walked away going upstairs. She made it to her room but forgot her phone downstairs, suddenly her phone slid from under the door crease. She opened her phone seeing a recent video, Roman stroking his fat long dick groaning some, tempting her. She shuddered as she heard an evil chuckle.

“Jeez these guys don’t quit.” She laid on the bed in her room and soon seeing another silent text, Jimmy sending a video, a recording of him and y/n fucking. She was receiving back shots, her makeup running, him tearing her apart, his face of pure lust as he soon came in her, him groaning from the orgasm and soon him starting up again. She remembers that night being filled over and over and over. She blushed hard and her pussy throbbed she quickly got away from the video and scrolled on tiktok.

The guys were all texting in a group chat pissed.

Solo: Why tf is she doing this nnn shit?! It’s so stupid.

Jimmy: She’s trying to prove to Dasha that she’s not a sex fiend and vice versa, so they said who ever cracks first they get a shopping spree outta either Rhea and Romans card.

Roman: Again. Didn’t agree to that.

Jey: …

Jimmy: Jey u wanna say something I know you pissed-

Jey: I want her. Now.

Solo: Same man. I miss her.

Roman: Well she’s strong I’ll give her that. But we gotta do better. I wonder how Dasha is doing…

Dasha…was struggling. She whined in her bed trying hard not to touch herself. The one think that the group knows that will make her lose is her Voice Kink. She loves ASMR. So everyone, even Dominik sent her a file of 20 mins of them masterbating for her. Saying her name, climaxing, worshiping her. She was going crazy laying in bed and trying her hardest not to touch herself. Rhea smirked as the guys laughed knowing their evil dues. “So…this should work?” Dom asked Rhea. “Yes sweetie give it about 2 hours she’s gonna crack.”

Y/N stretched as she got from a nap taking the edge off some. She smiled going to her door and soon heard voices downstairs. She went ahead down seeing Jimmy and Jey on video games and Solo on his phone, then Roman starting to cook. She was relieved that they stopped trying for a bit. “Hey baby ready for dinner?” She nodded and sat at the island and soon she felt tension. The game paused, she heard solo get up, and Roman just smiled and gave her the dinner plate. She ate the food calmly as the boys just watched her like prey. After the door Roman took the plate and she got up. “Where you going baby?” Roman asked. “Imma go back upstairs…” she soon ran for it as the boys watched like them hunting prey. She made it to her room again and blushed slightly turned on, the tension in that room, the eyes on her, they wanted her bad.

This is gonna be a long month…

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txemptress · 1 year

Text

─────── CLOSING IN.

‣ the thorned mistress . 002

Everything was going in all places now. For when Roman had said he'd ‘sliced an elder's arm off’ he meant he'd killed him by slicing his whole body in half.

The body had held on until Roman left, but as soon as he stepped away from the ceremony, a gruesome sight is displayed. Traumatizing many who watched onwards.

It doesn't take long before his actions reflect on himself. The elders are angry, more angry than they had been when they saw his daughter. The mere fact that he had fought for the stupid child was absurd and different for them and they hated it.

They wanted nothing more than to dispose of the emperor as well as his family, but they couldn't.

Now here they stand in front of the throne, not doing so much as bowing in respect. They are angry and they show it. They refuse to respect a man who will not listen to their bidding. "You will kill her." An elder pushed the thought further. This only fueled Roman's anger so much more than before.

"I thought I made it perfectly clear." Roman answers testily, his blue eyes are cold and filled with a mix of emotions. Rage. Annoyance. Frustration. "I will not kill her and not anyone will." He is firm, unfazed. He will stand his ground. The daughter will not be executed. Not now, not ever. He refused.

So that was that. No more persistent complaining about the princess. None of it worked anyway. They fell on deaf ears or worse went through one ear and came out the next.

—

Roman enters the room where his wife was feeding the children. He watched as she spooned some of the milk into the first of the second batch of triplets. What was this one's name again...? Ah, right. Damien. He had been so focused on the matter with his daughter, he'd forgotten the existence of the other two.

His presence was quickly taken notice by the youngest who wailed the moment he entered. The quiet creak of the door had made her cry so? He takes her from her resting place and croons. "hush... It's okay, daddy's here. You're safe." He kissed her forehead, the feeling of the heart pulsing was strong there.

He does not pull her too close. One wrong move and the sensitive tissue could burst and kill Sorana.

"Has she been fed yet?" His voice is soft and quiet when he speaks to his wife who shakes her head.

"Would you like to feed her?" The request made him excited for some reason. Perhaps it was the fact that he would be able to feed the same child he'll be fighting for these many years to come.

He nods readily and takes the cup of milk. Lifting the spoon, he moves it to his daughter's mouth. The child drank it, well rather sucked on it, from the spoon as he continued feeding her.

Once the small porcelain cup was at least half filled, he puts it down knowing that it would be better that she only taste a little bit of the milk before anything else. Too much could mean a lot of things when the child's this young.

He holds her in his arms, his blue eyes drift towards his wife who was now feeding the middle child of the triplets, Kindred.

Yashira is quiet as she continues to feed the child slowly. The only things that could be heard were the metal spoon hitting the cup and the sucking of their son. It doesn't take long before they finish, the spoon finally clanking back into the cup that was now empty.

"I suppose it's time we bring them back to the nursery." Yashira whispers, carrying the eldest while Roman took the liberty to carry the other two.

Once the children were all snug back in the nursery they came from. Roman leads his wife back to their bedchambers.

Now they lay in bed, Yashira in his arms. Her face buried in his chest as she slept peacefully. He wished they could stay like this forever. Away from all the hatred, all the chaos of the outside world.

But they both knew that was an impossible story.

The next six months that remained their routine. Until their older children came home from the academy.

Alpha beamed when he realized he would now meet his youngest siblings so did Cable. Bravo was the only one who remained indifferent. It was always clear that Bravo had their father's attitude and personality. Thus it wasn't surprising when he remained silent and serious even after receiving news that his younger siblings were now born.

When they found out about the sister part on the other hand...

"WHAT?!" Alpha could hardly believe his ears. They had a baby sister? How was she still alive? This question drove through all three of their minds.

They head for the nursery where the six-month old babies all are there.

Bravo simply goes where his mother, Yashira, sat and kisses her cheek while the other two rush to say hi to the babies.

"How adorable!" Cable gasped happily as he watched them simply sit there, well the other two were sitting. The sister, on the other hand, was fast asleep on the nursery lounge.

Bravo tilts his head as he sits next to her, his fingers touch his sister's head. His gentle caresses slowly cause her to stir but makes no move any further than that. She is fast asleep and it is clear to see.

As Alpha comes to see her too, both oldest siblings have a mutual feeling. They had to protect this girl.

At all costs they must.

─────── NOTE?!

Another chapter is finally done! I'm sorry this took a long time (blame manhwa fics /j) but here it is now!

Word Count — unknown. (I'll find that out later when I move it to Google docs)

─────── INVITATIONS?!

@primordixl / @arvicxa , @achy-boo , @lxdymoon0357 , @roseadleyn , @writerig , @thenomadicdeity

#• . the thorned mistress · story #• . clan of the phoenix · Misheru

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nicolewoo · 1 year

Text

Cub: Part 18 Welcome Home

Pairing: Roman Reigns X Reader

Synopsis: Roman, Seth and Dean are a pack of werewolfs. Protecting their city from the scumbags of the world ends up with a surprise when a victim left for dead imprints on Roman Reigns.

Roman’s POV:

I was surprised I’d fallen asleep, but we woke a couple of hours later. The crowd from before had grown, and there were people everywhere in the condos. Kids played in the basement; which was one large room under all three condos. Adults were gathered everywhere making plans. I heard Jimmy and Jey making a grocery list to get us through the storm. Seth, Dean, Becks and Renee were all together in the kitchen cooking and handing out plates of food to everyone. Shay and Naomi were discussing the schedule at work. Everyone was making plans to get through the storm.

Cub woke soon after me, choosing to keep her eyes closed and nestle closer in my arms. She was hoping to go back to sleep, but with all the activity around us, she couldn’t. “I’m sorry.” I whispered down to her. Cub was torn. She was both excited to meet everyone, but she also just wanted to lay here alone, together. I placed a tender kiss onto her forehead. “When the storm gets here, everyone will go home.” I thought. Cub steeled her resolve, bucking herself up for the next few hours of entertaining.

“If it’s too much, we can always come lay down.” I told her out loud. Suddenly I realized, she loved the sound of my voice. “Oh really?” I teased her.

“MMMhmmm” She answered.

I laid it on thick, using my lowest, sexiest voice. “You like when I talk like this?” As my words rolled over her, I felt her core clench. “Ohhhh damn baby girl. This really works on you.”

“You better stop or you’ll set off my heat again” she said through our link. We both realized that she hadn’t had a heat cycle since yesterday. “Do you think it’s over?” she asked.

I wasn’t sure. We’d have to talk to a female wolf. “Whoever your comfortable with”. Shay was the first person who came to mind and then Naomi. We were ready to get up and join the chaos of the tribe.

As soon as we entered the living room, Timmy and Trevor ran up to us, wrapping their arms around our legs excitedly. “Give them some room!” Jimmy yelled out.

Cub smiled sweetly, “It’s ok.” Kneeling down to greet the boys she asked how they were, but Jimmy insisted the boys go downstairs and play with the other kids. Cub was a little disappointed, but she hid it. Surveying the loud, crowded kitchen, we decided to sit in the Living Room. When Cub sat on the couch, I covered her with a blanket. Jimmy came in a moment later with an arm full of wood.

“Jus gotta build this fire up, and I’ll get outta your hair.” He said as he laid the wood down on the hearth.

Cub loved his courtesy. “You’re not in our hair” she protested.

“Naomi said y’all ain’t had enough time alone.” Jimmy said.

It was sweet. “We’ll have plenty of time when this storm hits.” Said as I peeked out the window to check the weather before sitting beside Cub.

“S’pose you will.” Jimmy smiled. He poked at the fire, adding logs where needed. In minutes, the fire went from a warm glow to a roaring fire. Cub thrilled at the warmth.

“OOOOO Thank you Jimmy” she said.

“No prob…..” His answer was cut off when Trevor let out a blood curdling scream. Dropping his head, Jimmy sighed.

The next scream was Trevor again “Timmy took my toy!”

We chuckled at the situation as Jimmy mumbled something about whooping asses as he went to tend to his kids.

We had just a minute before tribe members started pouring into the room…. Each with their greetings and questions for us. Everyone wanted to get to know Cub, and the room was packed full of adults before we knew it.

I talked over the din. “Ok!” They didn’t stop talking. “Hey! Can we get your attention for a minute?” Finally the room quieted. “Everyone has the same questions, and rather than repeating ourselves over and over, can we just gather everyone together? We’ll answer your questions all at once.”

The already crowded room now overflowed into the dining room; everyone trying to get a spot where they could see us. “I guess, we’ll just go around in a circle.” I said.

We started on the far right side of the room. Nodding at Jey, I prompted him to start. “Well, yeah. So, How are you?” Everyone chuckled, because that was everyone’s first question.

“I’m good. I went through some rough weeks, but now the pain is gone. I’m just easily tired out.” Cub said.

A teen girl named Gigi was next, “What’s it like being the strongest imprinted couple ever?”

We both smiled, but I answered. “It’s amazing! More than”

Cub finished the sentence “we could ever have hoped for.” The gathering laughed. “It’s really strange, thinking the same thoughts, feeling each other’s sensations. Like, when we kiss… I can feel it from my side and I can feel what he feels. It’s a little….” She couldn’t think of the right word.

“weird.” I finished, and we all laughed.

Timmy was next. I pointed at him, “Do you have a question?”

Timmy popped up like a Jack in the box “What’s your favorite pizza?” he said very seriously, prompting another round of laughter.

Cub leaned forward pretending to be thinking. “Sausage and Mushroom. What’s yours?”

Timmy smiled wide “Pepperoni!!!!” he yelled out. I motioned for him to sit, and Trevor stood up.

“What’s your favorite…..” He hadn’t thought up a question, and he paused trying to figure out what to say….. “Color” He said proud that he’d found a question.

Cub continued to pretend she had to think hard about it. “You know, I love a lot of colors! Red, Blue, Yellow, Green….. I can’t decide.” Trevor seemed content to have any answer, and he sat back down.

I checked the clock. 8 pm. The storm was supposed to start around 11pm. I prayed answering these questions wouldn’t take that long. Cub was sure to be fatigued by then. Fortunately for Cub, hail started falling about 9. Those with long drives or last-minute shopping started to leave. We greeted our guests goodbye between answering questions, and slowly, the condos started emptying. By 10:30 pm it was just our pack left.

Renee and Becks went to change into comfortable clothes while Seth and Dean cleaned the kitchen.

Plopping down unceremoniously on the couch across from us, Renee somehow managed to keep all her wine in the glass she held. She’d put on pajamas covered with a bulky yellow sweater and pink rabbit slippers. “Whew. That was a lot… lot of noise…. Lot of food… lot of questions.” She turned to Cub, “I’m wiped out. Aren’t you fatigued?”

“Not really” Y/N said “I’m sure the nap helped.”

Seth Becks came in. Both had changed into their pjs too. “I feel overdressed” I thought through our link, and Cub laughed.

“See what I mean?” Seth said to Becks. “They laugh all the time.”

“Do we?” I asked aloud, and before I was finished asking, Dean, who was coming in the room, and Seth were both nodding yes.

Dean plopped next to Renee and tucked himself under her blanket. “I swear I’ve never seen Ro so happy before.”

“Because I’ve never been so happy before” I thought. I immediately regretted feeling so sappy, but Cub loved it. She adjusted so she was laying with her head in my lap, and winked slyly at me.

@mindofasagitarius @lclb13 @serenityfiretrash @lustyromantic @reigns-5sos @bigpsychicbagelauthor @omg-im-such-a-masochist @marlananicole @wickedsunfire @starwithaheart @spookys-girl @pitlissa22 @snowpanda18 @thesamoanqueen

#roman reigns #roman reigns fanfiction #wwe

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moxleys-darlin · 2 years

Text

I'll Show You Disrespect

Pairings: Jon Moxley/Wheeler Yuta, Jon Moxley/Bryan Danielson, implied Shield/BCC/Renee

Summary: Yuta's finally had enough, Mox will fix the situation somehow.

Disclaimer: I don't claim anything but the idea; characters (unfortunately) and gifs aren't mine.

CW: anxiety spiral, biting (could be seen as abuse, I see it as violent BCC boys being violent), Mox cusses like a trucker (same 🙄)

(Gifs aren't mine)

Swiss Supes ☕️: 911, BCC LR

"I have to go, man. I need you to find Renee and send her to the Club's locker room asap."

"Jonny, what the-?"

"No time, Eddie! Now!" Mox doesn't wait for Eddie's response, spinning around and stalking off toward the locker room.

He storms through the doors, wincing when they hit the wall. The scene he witnesses when he walks in makes him want to taste someone's blood. Claudio walks slowly towards him, hands out like he's trying to calm a wild animal, but Mox drops the belt and pushes past him. Regal looks up at him from his kneeling position in front of Yuta.

"Oh, Sunshine look, Mox is here." Regal sadly reports as he stands with Claudio's help, petting through his young lover's hair gently, leaving the room when the two-minute warning for the match is announced through the door.

He falls to his knees in front of Yuta, putting his hands on his face and pressing their foreheads together. "Tell me Pup, give me a name and I'll bring you their head."

"You can't Moxie, not this time."

"I can do whatever the fuck I want Yoots, and I certainly would do anything for you."

"I'm done, Jon." He freezes, ice filling his filling his veins slowly. "I'm done trying, I can't stick my neck out only to be hurt every time, so I'm done." Mox lifts his head and swings it toward Claudio.

"What the fuck happened? What did he do?" Claudio doesn't answer, just replays the promo for him. "Oh, hell no, I'm gonna kill him!"

“Enough Mox, please, I want to go to the house, I want to sleep in my bed.” Yuta grabs his face, making him look at him. “Please I want my bed.”

My bed. The phrase runs through his head on repeat, getting louder, screaming at him until it rips a whimper out of his throat. Claudio comes up behind him, strong hands on his shoulders, keeping him centered, and Yuta, seeming to realize what he said, taps his fingertips against Mox’s face like Regal taught him to reclaim his attention.

“No Moxie, we are not done, I’m not giving any of you up, I’m too selfish for that. I just refuse to fight for someone who’s already given up the war. I-I can’t keep getting hurt by him, so until everything settles down or he comes to me, I don’t want to be with him, professionally and friendly sure, but not romantically.”

Mox’s breathing comes a little easier after his Pup’s declaration and he breathes deeply before looking up at Claudio. “Take him home babe,” he sees Renee push the door open, finally arriving. “Both of you take him home if you’re done. I’ll stay here and wait for Regal and Bryan.”

Claudio tries to argue, but Mox waves him off. His Swiss lover sighs deeply, grabbing his and Yuta’s bags and walking away with him. He hears him tell Renee he’ll explain in the car, before Mox feels thin arms wrap around his waist and a kiss is placed on his back.

“I love you Mox, I always will, nothing will change that, I promise.” He turns around, not letting the arms release him, kissing his Pup deeply, nibbling on his lower lip toward the end.

“I love you too, Yuta, now go with them and call Seth or Roman when you get into bed, please let Renee or Claudio stay with you.” He places a kiss on Yuta’s lips again, watching his three lovers walk out.

He pulls up a metal chair close to television, watching Bryan’s match with Sammy Guevara, the kid and his wife making his lip curl into a snarl. His phone dings, a quick glance letting him know that the trio was home safely, and Yuta was in bed with Claudio. Another ding sounds and it’s from Seth, letting him know that he’s on the phone with Yuta because Roman is too aggressive at the moment. He sends a quick thumbs up as a response, getting distracted at the sight of Bryan’s bloody face. His mind drifts as the match goes on, splitting his attention between Bryan and Yuta, his mood continuously darkening. He is taken from his thoughts by the sound of the door opening and he feels a stinging pain, looking down to see eight perfect bloody crescents on his palms.

“Demon, you’re still here? I thought you would have head on home with the others.” Regal questions warily.

“Wanted to check on Bryan, I know Sammy boy can be an ass sometimes, and I saw the blood.” He watches Bryan head for the showers. “He get checked out?”

“Yes Jon, he did, what is really going on? You never let Sunshine go home without you. Please Jon, I know things are tense, but he’s hurt.”

“William, I know he’s your golden boy, but this has gone on long enough.”

“Jon-.”

“Yuta said he’s done! He’s done letting Bryan hurt him, so until things settle down, or Bryan comes to him, he’s done with Bryan romantically. He swears that he’s still going to be with us, but how long until he’s so miserable he leaves all together?” Mox sighs and scrubs his face roughly. “I’m not going to hurt him William, but I am gonna give him a goddamn wake up call, so stay or don’t, your choice.”

“I trust that you know the limits, he has truly been hurt tonight, so please let us go home in one piece tonight, My Demon.”

“We will darlin’, we will, I think Ortiz wanted to ask you some questions about submissions.” Mox stated, giving Regal an out.

They hear the shower shut off, both looking toward the bathroom doors. “Yes, I think I will go find the lad now, call me when you’re ready to leave.”

Mox walks inside the bathroom toward the shower stalls, eyeing Bryan as he dries off and steps into a pair of sweatpants. His footsteps are silent as he closes in on his Dragon, mentally mapping and categorizing the bruises littering his back. He appreciates the beautiful sight of Bryan before seizing him by one of his shoulders and pushing him into the closest wall. His other hand shields his lover’s face, so it doesn’t make contact with the hard surface.

“Mox, what the fuck? Let me go!” Bryan tries to twist out of Mox’s hold unsuccessfully, and Mox brushes his lips against the Dragon’s ear.

“So, you feel disrespected, do you? By Jericho, by your boy Daniel, and by our boy Yuta, am I right?” He kisses Bryan’s ear, feeling the shiver run through his body.

“Mox please, I was just upset, I got carried away,” he shivers as Mox switches to his other ear, running his nose across the back of it, before nuzzling his way down to the back of his neck. “Mox, come on-.”

“How about I show you some disrespect, baby?” He sets his teeth on Bryan’s neck, biting deeply when he hears his lover’s whine of confusion.

“Ah! Mox what the fu-?”

Mox keeps his teeth sunk in, making sure to create a bruise, before releasing the skin. Bryan is breathing hard, letting his head lay against the wall. Mox wraps his arms around Bryan, gently pulling the both of them backwards until he can fall onto one of the benches, Bryan in his lap. He leans in near his ear again, blowing on it softly to feel him writhe in his captivity, his Dragon whining softly when Mox runs a finger over the bite mark.

“Oh, I’m sorry baby, did I hurt you? Do you feel disrespected? I would absolutely hate it if you felt that way.” He scoffs angrily, moving his hands to Bryan’s hips, making him stand up so he can walk back into the sitting area.

It doesn’t take long for the fog to clear from Bryan’s mind, filling with anger instead of hazy confusion, and he storms after Mox, slamming the doors against the walls. His anger grows we he sees Mox lounging peacefully on the couch.

“What the fuck was that Mox?!” He brushes his fingertips against the bite mark, wincing in pain. “You think I don’t have enough bruises from tonight? You had to add one more? For what, huh? Me saying I feel disrespected by Yuta?” He paces back and forth, feeling Mox tracking his movement like a hungry predator.

Mox shrugs nonchalantly, “What can I say, baby? I thought I should let you feel a little bit of the pain that the Pup is feeling right now.”

“Is that why you stayed? To show me how much pain Yuta is in? Well thanks, so glad you could take the time to fucking bite me so that I know that I hurt his feelings, much appreciated.” Bryan realizes he’s said the wrong thing when a snarl is ripped from Mox’s throat.

“No, sweetheart, I’m here to deliver a message before we three go home to the others, figured you’d want us to be alone when I tell you.” Mox leans forward, elbows resting on his knees, and his hands clasped under his chin. “The bite was just for me, let’s say it’s almost like a timer.” Bryan wants to wipe the smirk off his face.

“Delivering a message? A fucking timer? Speak fucking plainly, Jon, I’m tired of this game!” Bryan gulps slightly, backing up as Mox rises from the couch, stalking toward him.

“Yeah Bry, a message from Yuta actually. He says he’s done letting you hurt him. That until you’re ready to come to him and talk things out like a goddamn adult, or things settle down, he’s done. He’ll be your friend and your stable mate, but he can’t be your lover right now, not until you grow a pair and apologize, or calm the fuck down.”

“N-no, Mox wh-?”

Mox crowds Bryan into the wall, grazing his fingertips around the bite. “And yeah, a timer Bryan. Until this bad boy heals, you’re to keep your distance from Yuta. I can’t trust you around him because you can’t stop hurting him. He’ll train with me, Claudio, or Regal and I’m sure we can figure out a sleeping arrangement.”

“Please Jon-.” Mox brushes a finger over Bryan’s lips.

“Hush, Dragon. When this bite heals, you’ll fix your mistakes, but until then, Yuta is off limits to you. I know it sounds cruel, but I refuse to lose any of you fuckers. You made me love you all; you and Regal moved me in, and I made my home with you. I won’t lose anybody, so if this is what needs to happen, so be it, I’ll be the bad guy.” Mox butts his forehead against the side of Bryan’s temple gently.

They are interrupted by the locker room door opening, surprised to see Renee walk in with Regal. He backs away from Bryan, giving him room to breathe and calm down, walking towards their duffle bags.

“I’m glad you’re here baby girl, think I can bum a ride from you?” He situates the bags to one hand, holding Renee’s cheek, and kissing her sweetly.

“You seem nice enough, so I guess so.” She shrugs, fighting a smile, giving Regal time to go check in with Bryan.

“You bit him Jon. Don’t try and say you didn’t, this absolutely was not here earlier.” Bryan places a hand on Regal’s back.

“Don’t William, I-I don’t like that he did it, but I know why he did. It’s no different than when you slap us, yeah? This is my timer, I accept that. Can you and I please just sit down for a moment? I need some down time with you before we go home.”

Mox drops the bags by Renee’s feet, striding toward Bryan again. “I love you Bryan, so much, I’m sorry for the bite, I really didn’t plan that.” He nuzzles his nose on Bryan’s cheek.

“I love you too, Mox. I know you didn’t, we all will fix any tension between us and when this heals, I’ll fix things with Yuta.” Mox feels tears hit his nose and he leans back to look into Bryan’s eyes.He pulls his lover into a tight hug, burying his face into his neck to let him cry for a moment, stroking his neck and humming into his ear until Bryan pulls away. He watches as Regal grabs Bryan by his hips, pulling him back into his chest gently, whispering in his ear. Mox gets his older lover’s attention, kissing him over Bryan’s shoulder.

“I love you, old man, we’ll see you at the house, try not to stay much longer, okay?” He pecks his lips again before backing away.

“I love you too, my Demon, go and take care of our Sunshine and I will come in and check on you all when I get home.” Mox looks into his eyes to see if he can find any anger, but all he sees is love and understanding shining back at him.

Renee grabs his hand, and he takes the bags from her before they turn to leave. As they reach the doors Mox turns back to glance at his lovers, seeing Bryan in Regal’s lap, face in his neck. Regal looks up to see him staring and sends him a small, sweet smile before turning his attention back to Bryan. Renee leads him to the car, and he decides to let her drive, too unfocused at the moment. He is worried that Regal is mad at him, so he pulls his phone out.

Me: We’re okay, you and me?

He anxiously bites his thumbnail, waiting for an answer, starting to drift off in his thoughts, but the notification brings him back before he can start his spiral downward.

Old Man 👑💛: Ease your thoughts my Demon, we are okay. I love you Jon, my darling Wild Thing. Get home and take care of the others and I will take care of you when I get home my sweet boy 😘

He texts Yuta and Claudio quickly, letting them know they are on the way, and puts his phone away. Renee puts her hand in his lap, giving him the option to hold it if he wants to, which he gladly accepts. Laying his head back against the headrest, he allows his mind drift, letting his wife’s presence calm his mind until they arrive home. They will be okay, he knows it, they just have to get through the hazards in their way.

Thank you so much for reading! This one is for @bambihausen, who I promised I'd write this.

Dynamite made me a little upset okay?! Bryan's a jerk but I still love him. My poor Yoots though 😭

Much love as always!!

#the shield/bcc/renee poly #blackpool combat polycule #blackpool combat club #bcc polycule #the shield #wheeler yuta #bryan danielson #jon moxley #claudio castagnoli #william regal #renee paquette #seth rollins #roman reigns #angst #feral moxley #violent BCC boys being violent

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kimchokejin · 2 years

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music tag games 🎶

is it cheating to put them all in one post when everyone’s doing it?

thank you to everyone who tagged me i had a full day’s worth of music recs to listen to and bts songs to revisit happy hondadays to ME!

game #1: using your spotify top 100 playlist, shuffle 10 songs and tag 10 people.

thank you @cordiallyfuturedwight @wistfulocean and @seoksao for the tag! 💕

i will give the number they were on my list as well

99. Jackie Onassis by Sammy Rae & The Friends

51. Wild Roses by Jack Van Cleaf

73. Stick Season by Noah Kahan

92. New Shapes (feat. Christine and the Queens and Carolin Polachek) by Charli XCX

80. First Thing to Go by Hayley Williams

70. Mic Drop (Steve Aoki Remix) - Full Length Edition by BTS

88. religion (u can lay your hands on me) by Shura

63. No Blueberries by DPR IAN, DPR LIVE, CL

89. Lights by BTS

8. Vibez by ZAYN

game #2 (sponsored by kim taehyung): 💛 choose an artist you like and use the name of their songs to answer this as close to the truth as possible!

tagged by @cordiallyfuturedwight @jiminsproof @blueside-hobi @wistfulocean @seoksao thank you you guys are so creative these were so fun to read!

name of the artist: Halsey (it was working too well i had to go for it)

what is your gender: I am not a woman, I’m a god (“i’m god” - kim taehyung)

describe yourself: Ashley (you don’t need to be entertained. i’m entertaining myself)

how do you feel: Alone (but in a good way, an “i needed this” way 😌)

if you could go anywhere, where would it be: Roman Holiday

describe your best friend: Darling 🥰

your favourite time of day: 3am

if your life was a tv show, what would it be called: Still Learning

what is life to you: Hurricane, Heaven in Hiding

relationship status: Bad at Love 😬

what do you fear: Strangers (”i’m a little shy” - kim taehyung), Devil in Me (”i’m a bad boy” - kim taehyung)

game #3: share your top 5 current songs

tagged by @clutterbugs thank you emma!!! i feel like i get to use the free space in scrabble

1. Kiss in My Heart by Junk Fujiyama

i discovered this song a while back on a city pop playlist i think? and it’s been stuck in my head recently (even before indigo!) so i’ve been playing it. it’s just a fun happy song, it sounds like the artist is smiling as he’s singing it

2. ILLELLA by MAMAMOO

another super fun song and i didn’t think it was possible but i am gayer because of it. i have so many feelings about this i will have to hold myself back but i am v i b r a t i n g something’s about to break

3. girl like me by Blessing

this song is acoustic but i think also r&b influenced? i like how the lyrics are somewhat specific but the insecurity is she’s talking about is still super relatable to a lot of people and the singer’s voice is kind of unique

4. complex (demo) by Katie Gregson-MacLeod

this song is just kinda heartbreaking tbh at the end of the day it’s your typical woman trying to “save” a man who's too far gone to spare her a second thought story but the vocals really carry the emotion across in a way i don’t hear all the time so i think it’s worth a listen if you...want to feel sad

5. Ketchum, ID by Julien Baker, Phoebe Bridgers, Lucy Dacus

i have been in a folksy mood lately and i think a few julien baker/phoebe bridgers/lucy daucus songs came up in my listening and that reminded me about this album. this is my favorite song from it. i think the line “i am never anywhere anywhere i go, when i’m home i’m never there long enough to know” is just really hitting for me rn? i also can’t get over how this is the last song on the album they ended the whole album with

BONUS GAME! i wasn’t tagged in this but i wanted to share this while i’m here in case anyone was interested in doing this for themselves. if you have spotify this bot will judge you for your music taste. it’s like the anti-spotify wrapped. this is what they had to say about mine:

i will tag @joon-rkive, @cheekyquokka, @mutedstring, @jinsquishes, @senor-hoberto and anyone who tagged me in one game but hasn’t been tagged in one of the others (does that make sense?). no pressure just if any of the games interest you 💕 feel free to ignore me!!!

#tag: i'm it!#cordiallyfuturedwight #wistfulocean #jiminsproof #blueside-hobi #seoksao #clutterbugs #joon-rkive #cheekyquokka #mutedstring #jinsquishes #senor-hoberto #i was relatively normal about this be proud of me please

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thebookreader12345 · 3 years

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Shouting Match

Pairing: Sean Roman x Halstead! reader

Summary: Y/N and Sean were in what seemed like the perfect relationship, but when a close friend gets hurt, the two realize there were many faults between them and an argument ensues

Requested: Yes, by anonymous

Warnings: slight swearing, mentions of alcohol and gunshot wounds

Word Count: 1,777 Words

"Jay, for the last time, I'm not gonna break up with Sean just because you don't like him," I tell my older brother.

"Why not, Y/N? I'd say that's a pretty good reason," Jay retorted as he followed me out to my car.

We had just spent the past 2 hours hanging out at Molly's so that we could catch up because it had been a while since we'd spent time together. But of course, as soon as the topic of relationships came up, a debate started that I had not wanted to get into.

"Look, Jay. I get that he's got beef with Intelligence, and they're practically your second family, but Sean's a really great guy. And once you get over whatever the hell has you fixated on him being an asshole, you'll see that. Now, I've got an early shift at Med tomorrow, and if I'm late, Will is gonna have my head. I'll talk to you tomorrow," I say before climbing into my car.

The ride to the apartment was pretty short, 5 minutes tops, and I was just happy to be home. I climbed out of my car and entered the complex, taking the stairs to get to the second floor of the building. From there, it was only a matter of seconds before I got to my door and unlocked it.

"Hey," Sean greeted from the couch as I came through the door. It wasn't weird for Sean to be in my apartment when I got home. Occasionally he'd come over so we could spend a bit of time together before our next shifts.

"Hey," I return and set my things down before joining him on the couch. I took a seat on his lap and wrapped my arms around his neck, placing a much needed kiss on his lips.

"How was work?" Sean asked and encircled my waist with his arms.

"You know, giving meds, checking in on patients, the usual," I reply, describing the everyday routine of my job as an ED Nurse at Chicago Med. "And then I got to spend some time with Jay at Molly's. It's always nice hanging out with him since I don't see him as often as Will. But what about you? How was patrol?"

"Fine. The only thing that happened was an attempted robbery, and we caught the guy," Sean responded. "Speaking of work, my partner's taking a day off tomorrow, so I'm gonna be partnered with Kim for the day."

I had no problem with Kim. Quite the opposite, actually. She was my best friend. However, she was also Sean's ex, so sometimes it made things weird between us. She assured me when Sean and I started dating that she was okay with it, and I believed that, but whenever the three of us were together, there was a bit of awkwardness in the room. We always got past it though, and Sean and Kim continued to be friends.

"All right. Keep each other safe, please," I plead and peck his lips before climbing off of his lap. "I've got an early shift tomorrow, so I'm gonna head to bed."

"Goodnight," Sean called after me. I ditched the clothes I was wearing, throwing them in the hamper with one toss. After I put on some pajamas, I climbed into bed and closed my eyes. Minutes later, I was fast asleep.

............................................

"Y/N, that's your second cup of coffee this morning," Maggie pointed out as she joined me at the nurses' station.

"Yeah. And...?" I trailed off, not seeing the problem.

"Late night?" Maggie questioned.

I shook my head. "No, actually. I made Jay promise not to keep me at Molly's past 10, and he stayed true to that. Today I'm just enjoying my caffeine." Just then, Maggie's pager beeped, and when she glanced down at it, she frowned.

"Incoming! Choi, you're up!" Maggie yelled into the ED. Ethan was the doctor I worked with the most, and I had no problem with it. We had grown to be close friends, and we worked quite well together. So, whenever it was his turn to accept an incoming trauma, I always followed to help him out. I thought today would be the same, but that all changed when the gurney was wheeled through the ambulance bay doors.

"Kim Burgess, late 20s, gunshot wound to the neck. Weak pulse. We intubated in the field," Courtney, the paramedic, informed us. My whole world seemed to stop as I watched my best friend get wheeled past me. And seeing her unconscious made things 100% worse.

"Y/N, you coming?" Ethan quizzed as he led the gurney into the nearest trauma room.

"I uh... Mags, c-can you...?" I stammer out, not even needing to finish my sentence for Maggie to understand what I was asking.

"I've got this," Maggie assured me and followed Ethan into the trauma room. Seconds after Kim was wheeled in, Sean entered the ED, his eyes scanning the room until they landed on me.

"Y/N!" Sean shouted and joined me by the nurses' station. "How's Kim doing?"

"I don't know," I confess and glance towards the trauma room she was situated in. "I make it a rule to not work on anyone I'm close with. What the hell happened? You guys were just supposed to be on a routine patrol."

"Intelligence called us up," Sean answered. "We were working a drug case and we ended up having to chase the guy down an alleyway."

"That's not what I'm talking about. You promised you'd keep Kim safe. You promised, Sean. So where were you when she was being shot at?" I implore harshly.

"I was taking cover like I was supposed to! We didn't have an eye so I ducked down behind a dumpster. What, you think this was my fault?" Sean asked.

"You're her partner, Sean. It's your job to protect her. Yet here she is with a bullet buried in her neck," I return.

"You're acting like I told her to make a move," Sean countered. "She put her own life in danger. I had nothing to do with that."

I scoffed. "You had everything to do with it."

"I don't think we should be having this argument here," Sean whispered.

"Well I think we should," I retort.

"Y/N," Sean started.

"Don't 'Y/N' me," I seethe. By now, the whole ED was staring at us, but I didn't care right now. "My best friend is dying because of you!"

"If it was me in there instead of Kim, would you be yelling at her?" Sean posed. "Cause I think you'd be trying to reassure her that none of it was her fault. So, what? Kim takes priority over me, your boyfriend?"

"At the moment, yeah," I reply and cross my arms over my chest.

"Just at the moment? I think she always has," Sean accused. "And if that doesn't speak to how our relationship is, then I don't know what does."

"What are you trying to say?" I ask.

"I'm not trying to say anything. I'm telling you that I'm through with this. I'm through with you," Sean emphasized. "We're done." As Sean stalked off back towards the lobby, everything he said really hit me.

We were done.

"Y/N? You okay?" Adam questioned once he noticed that I had practically froze in the middle of the ED.

"Excuse me," I murmur and push past him politely. My body was begging me for some fresh air to help calm myself down, so I made my way out of the ED, but that involved going through the lobby where Sean and the rest of the 21st district was waiting. I hoped that I wouldn't catch anyone's attention, but I should've known better.

"Y/N," Jay said and stood up when he saw me. However, instead of stopping to talk to him, I made a beeline straight for the exit. The automatic doors opened when I stepped near them, allowing a nice breeze to hit my face. My feet carried me to the front of the hospital where I took a seat against the side of the building and placed my head in my hands. That's when the tears began to flow, but I didn't stop them. Minutes later, I was joined by Jay, who took a seat next to me. For a few seconds, we sat in silence, but then Jay spoke up. "Natalie told me what happened."

"I don't want to talk about it," I mutter without removing my head from my arms.

"Well, as family, we're required to," Jay declared. "I told you Roman was an ass."

I laughed softly and picked my head up, resting it against the wall behind me. "I now see why you thought that. So everyone in the ED heard?"

Jay nodded. "Yeah. But don't worry. I'm sure they're all thinking the same thing as I am. Want me to have a talk with Roman?"

I shook my head. "No, but thank you for offering. I uh, I need to get back inside. We're low on nurses today. I'll talk to you later, Jay."

Jay's POV

A few hours later, Kim was awake and doing well, and I was just glad that she would be making a full recovery. As Adam and I were exiting her room, we just so happened to bump into Sean Roman, the girl who just, not even hours prior, broke my little sister's heart.

"Hey, guys," Sean greeted. "Is she awake?""

I crossed my arms over my chest. "Are you for real?"

Sean frowned. "What?"

"You broke up with my sister, that's what. Get the hell out of here!" I demand.

"But-"

Adam cut Sean off. "Kim doesn't want to talk to you. Not after what happened between you and Y/N. And I'd advise you follow Jay's orders."

Sean hesitated, but sighed. "Fine." He then walked off, leaving Adam and I standing alone in front of Kim's hospital room.

"All right man, I'm gonna head out. I promised Y/N that Will and I would come over after her shift, which is ending in like 20 minutes, so I've gotta pick up some pizza and beers."

"Okay. I'm gonna stay and keep Kim company. Have a good night," Adam spoke.

"Yeah man. You too," I return. And with that, I left the hospital to go spend some much needed quality time with my sister. Y/N would probably be hurting for a few days, but Will and I agreed that we'd be there for her every step of the way because that's what big brothers were for.

______________________________

Tag List:

@prettypyschoinpink @securityfriendly-jay @scarletsoldierrr @virtualreader @carnationworld @caitsymichelle13 @dreamingmanip @campingmonkey @winterberryfox @nevertoofarfromivar @anotherfan07 @giagma @mrspeacem1nusone @i-like-sparkly-things

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delimeful · 3 years

Text

the shapes in the silence (13)

warning: illness, mild emetophobia, arguing, panic attack, dissociation, altered mental state, guilt

They had very little time to process, after Puff-- Anxiety-- their rescuer collapsed limply to the ground.

Roman and Patton each burst into their own hysterics, but Logan was utterly silent. He was frozen, mind racing and connecting a thousand little dots, like realizing a constellation had been right in front of you, you’d just somehow missed the brightest star.

The form of Anxiety was sprawled out undeniably in front of them, struck down by the attack that had been levied against Puff, because he was Puff. He’d wondered why Anxiety wasn’t prone to their shrinking dilemma, but he’d been dealing with it the longest. Anxiety’s withdrawal and Puff’s strange behavior were causation and correlation.

Anxiety lay before them, but whatever he had done to change his form, to protect them against attack, it had changed him. Small purple scales curled over his cheekbones, two curved, deer-like ears lay limp on the sides of his head, and even a tail where there had been none before.

If there had ever been any way to refute his connection to Puff, his appearance now countered it single-handedly.

In the end, it was the doubts that snapped them all out of it.

Sinuous, shifting forms that changed with every blink, they crawled up from their blind spots, appearing in the corners of their vision.

Roman snapped his sword hand back up reflexively, frowning, but Logan could easily read the confusion scrawled across his posture. He’d complained at length about the creatures, their persistent aggression and the way that they always heralded Anxiety’s appearance in this realm, like the world’s creepiest minions.

But Anxiety lay prone at their feet, in no state to control anything, and furthermore, the glittering eyes of the doubts seemed almost… locked on him, glinting with malice.

More questions, and the only one who could answer them was unconscious and quickly gaining a sickly tint to his skin. The doubts were creatures of despair, and if they reached Patton or Anxiety-- the more emotion-driven pair out of the four of them-- the results could be disastrous. They needed out, now.

Logan firmed his shoulders, moving to cut through the panicked back-and-forth his companions were doing.

“Roman,” he called, taking reference from every instructor that Thomas had ever respected to insert authority into his tone, “pick Anxiety up.”

The creative side jerked, his eyes drawn down to Anxiety for a second before flickering away. “And give up my stalwart defense? We’ll be overcome before we reach anything resembling an exit!”

“You need to pick up Anxiety,” Logan repeated, and took a deep breath, shedding all the dirt and gore that he had accumulated while trekking through the Imagination. “I’m bringing the exit to us.”

Applying his function to a space that wasn’t real tended to... destabilize it. It was a last resort, the sort of thing that they’d figured out early on should be avoided. Roman demonstrably put his heart and soul into his work, after all, and fracturing it hurt Creativity as much as the realm itself. Even something as small as Logan breaking his own immersion made Roman twitch, let alone what he was about to pull.

Roman’s eyes went wide with understanding, and then grim determination. He sheathed his sword back into nothing and knelt down at the fallen Side’s side, only hesitating for the barest moment before sliding his arms under his shoulders and knees and lifting him into the air.

The motion seemed to jar Anxiety, and he let out a pained whine that wouldn’t have sounded out of place coming from Puff. Lifted up like this, they could see the singed gouge that tore through the back of his hoodie, the smoking, rotting injury lined up on his spine in the exact same place it had hit Puff.

“It looks bad,” Patton whispered, his eyes wet and his hands half-pressed over his mouth. The doubts were closer now, circling like wolves. They couldn’t be allowed to worsen Anxiety’s condition.

“We will handle it,” Logan said, not allowing even the slightest tremor in his voice as he held his hands out. He met Roman’s eyes, one last warning, before closing his own and focusing all his attention on dismantling the environment around him.

It was all illusory, from the faint scent of ozone lingering in the air to the cold stone around them. None of it was real, not the magic or the monsters, not when one thought about them logically. The Imagination was a limitless space, shaped and crafted by Creativity, and so any distance between them and the placement of an ‘exit’ was simply imaginary.

There was no logical reason to traverse an imaginary path, and so with one yank, Logan pulled and then folded the space between them and the exit, like crumpling a piece of paper to make two ends meet.

The landscape crinkled around them, bricks shattering and environments crashing together with discordant scraping. Roman would be feeling the effects of the hole in his work for a while, but there was a doorway ahead of them and the doubts were scattered and caught in the folds and tears Logic had created.

“Move,” Logan said through gritted teeth, and Roman staggered through the exit, Patton hot on his tail. He stepped through as well, the door slamming shut on its own behind him. His presence wouldn’t be tolerated in the realm for a good long while after this.

He beckoned Roman over, shoving away the guilt he felt at the other Side’s pained grimace. If his power had just held long enough for the Imagination’s effects to be wiped from Anxiety as well--

The wound pulsed once, as though to announce its stubborn survival. It was glowing a painful violet, the injury resembling nothing more than a slowly expanding Lichtenburg figure.

Logan’s knuckles went white as he looked down at it. He hadn’t even managed to make the injury into something real, something more manageable to treat.

He reached out, grasping again for that sense of unreality, of rejection, and Roman pulled away, backing up.

“No more,” he said firmly, his voice a sharp contrast to the shaking of his arms. Logan felt that familiar guilt threaten to flood for a moment, before-- “Specs, you’re about to pass out. You used too much.”

He blinked, glancing down at his hand. It was shaking, too. He’d overtaxed himself, been too involved in the previous daydream to shut it down without any backlash.

Logic shouldn’t have been too involved in anything. He clenched his fist, abruptly furious with himself.

“Whatever that witch’s calamitous curse caused, it’s spreading slowly for now,” Roman announced, still seeming almost skittish with Anxiety in his arms. “We have yet time to uncover the truth.”

Patton pressed the back of his hand against Anxiety’s forehead, hissing sympathetically. “He’s burning up. I don’t know about curing curses, but-- we can at least help with this.”

They all had memories of Thomas’s parents coaxing him through fevers and flus, but Patton was the best at actually following that example. He directed Roman to the couch, flitted back and forth between the kitchen and the living room with all the classic illness aids.

“This is a spell-based sickness. There’s no reason to believe that this illness will function similarly to Thomas’s past experiences,” Logan started, and then was promptly cut off by Anxiety jerking halfway up off the couch, twisting, and vomiting into the small trash can Patton had just brought out. “... I stand corrected.”

His voice seemed to drag Anxiety’s attention from his retching, his head bobbing up to look around.

He stared out at them with bleary eyes for a heartbeat, all of them quiet and frozen and waiting, and then he slumped back down into both the couch cushions and unconsciousness. A mutual breath of relief went around the room.

“So, are we… going to talk about it?” Patton asked, as though half-dreading the answer.

“Talk about what?” Roman snapped sarcastically, crossing his arms. “The fact that apparently our dear draconic companion has been none other than Anxiety, the scourge on our home, the blight on our fields, the bane of Thomas’s existence, this entire time?”

“We don’t own any fields,” Logan interjected.

“Well, if we did, the guy would probably blight them! He’s a-- a blighter!” Roman replied, increasingly higher in pitch. “This is probably some kind of trick, a foul villainous plot for some greater purpose we don’t understand yet. Anxiety can’t possibly be— have been—!”

“Talking shit?” A familiar drawl rang out, a dark figure appearing on the stairs between one blink and the next and making them all jump. “I thought I heard someone say-- Anxiety?”

There was a moment of stunned silence as everyone looked between the two identical figures in the room.

“Well,” the Anxiety that was clearly actually Deceit said, glancing over the three of them, “I don’t suppose I could convince you that he’s the fake one? … No? What a shame.”

He lifted his shoulders from Virgil’s perpetual slouch easily, shedding his disguise in favor of his usual attire. Several more puzzle pieces clicked into place.

“You were the one who appeared when we introduced Puff to Thomas,” Logan said, cutting off the startled exclamations from the others. “And just now-- you returned from appearing to Thomas, didn’t you? As Anxiety, not yourself.”

Deceit rolled his eyes, adjusting his cufflinks absently. “Yes, well, someone had to do his job while he was… preoccupied. Or were you all so remiss as to not notice the decline that comes with a complete absence of Anxiety?”

They all bristled in unison. “All we’ve been doing as of late is trying to figure out why Thomas has been struggling recently,” Logan replied stiffly. “We cannot jump to conclusions based on the seemingly random reticence of one Side.”

“Oh, but now you know it’s not random at all, don’t you?” Deceit purred, stepping down the stairs one by one. “After all, Occam’s Razor has never proved to be true before.”

“You’re the one who’s slithering around impersonating other Sides!” Roman cut in with a sharp accusation. “How do we know you’re not the reason dear Thomas has been acting off?”

Deceit’s lip curled, displaying a curved fang. “I haven’t been the only reason Thomas hasn’t fallen apart entirely! But if you’d really like to cast blame, I’m happy to inform all three of you that this is your fault.”

“Our fault?” Roman and Patton’s voices overlapped, one outraged and the other alarmed. Logan frowned, smoothing down his tie absently.

“Are you speaking under false pretenses again? Only moments ago, you were claiming that Anxiety’s… disappearance was the source of Thomas’s recent struggle.”

Deceit’s gloves crinkled with the force of his grip on the banister. “You three are the ones who drove Anxiety to believe that he was superfluous, to the point that he decided somehow trapping himself in the form of a— a pet was better than spending another moment as himself in your presence,” he spat, each word furious and bitter.

There was a tense pause, and Deceit visibly reeled in his anger with a deep breath. “I refuse to spend any longer debating sins with you. If you’ll hand over Anxiety—,”

“No!” Logan startled himself with the sharp response, but Roman and Patton alike had echoed it. They exchanged looks, all of them struggling for a moment to put it to words.

Finally, Patton turned to where Deceit was staring at them with narrowed eyes.

“I don’t know why Anxiety chose to— chose this, but I do know that he got hurt trying to protect us. And if it really is our fault-- ...Well, it wouldn’t be right either way, making you or him deal with this alone.”

“And that’s assuming you even have the tools to deal with it,” Logan added, earning himself an irritated glare from the Dark Side. “That was not a slight against you. To elaborate on my meaning, Roman’s experience with the realm and the perpetrator behind the injury could be invaluable in treating it. It would be remiss for us to not offer aid.”

There was a beat, and Roman looked up belatedly from Anxiety, his face pale and eyes distant. “Right,” he said, and then stronger, “Right. We’ll help Anxiety overcome this curse, and then speak with him ourselves on the matter of blame.”

Deceit looked between the three of them assessingly, gaze occasionally flickering down to where Anxiety lay. “I could handle this perfectly well,” he snapped, “but fine. However. If you worsen his condition and force me to continue this ridiculous charade… you will all certainly enjoy the consequences.”

He let the threat sit in the air ominously. Logan thought his forced disdain was a rather strange way to express protectiveness over Anxiety’s well-being, but to be frank, Deceit’s motives could be difficult for him to parse on a good day.

“Deceit,” Patton called before the other Side could sink out. “You’re welcome to come check on Anxiety whenever you’d like. I… I just wanted you to know.”

Deceit cast a glance back at Anxiety, unreadable, and sank out without another word.

—-

Half an hour after Deceit’s revelations, Anxiety woke up.

They hadn’t noticed at first. Patton had been in the kitchen, making enough soup to feed a small army, and Logan and Roman had been preoccupied with bickering, trying to piece together a timeline.

“—can’t be certain that any of the appearances prior to Puff’s introduction to Thomas were Deceit. Anxiety did not withdraw entirely until after that event,” Logan was saying, sharpening his tone to keep Roman from interrupting for the sixth time.

“But the things he said, it has to have been Deceit,” Roman retorted again. “Perhaps this has been going on for months, all part of a plot to replace Anxiety!”

“And do what? Thomas actively ignores Anxiety as often as possible,” Logan stated, the fact making something in his stomach twist oddly. “It would be pointless for Deceit to replace someone with little to no influence.”

“Who knows how the minds of Dark Sides work?” Roman scoffed, and then glanced over Logan’s shoulder and stood. Logan turned to watch him adjust the blankets that had shuffled part ways off of Anxiety.

Roman paused, and then leaned in slightly. “The curse mark—,” he started, and then was cut off by two and a half blankets being tossed directly at his face.

Anxiety scrambled off of the couch with surprising speed for someone who clearly could barely feel any of their limbs. His eyes were wide with unmistakable terror, pupils slit, and Logan lifted his hands non-aggressively.

“Anxiety, calm down,” he started, and Anxiety shot off towards the stairs with frantic and unsteady steps. From this angle, Logan could see the way the wound left from the curse was pulsing and expanding, and felt his own jolt of fear.

Patton rushed out of the kitchen just in time to see Anxiety overshoot and slam into the wall beside the stairs, bouncing off without a sound and struggling to regain his momentum like an animal mindlessly fleeing for its life.

“Patton, grab him before he hurts himself even further!” Logan called, and Patton hurriedly half-tackled the Side, pinning his arms and lifting him up.

Anxiety keened, voice warping into that double tone, and then kicked out against the wall, nearly toppling the both of them. By now, Roman had freed himself, and he jumped to Patton’s side to lend a steadying arm.

Logan hurried forward, careful to stay out of range of Anxiety’s still-kicking legs.

“Anxiety. Anxiety, can you hear me? You need to breathe deeply now, please follow this pattern,” he tried to count steadily, even as Anxiety stared right through him and made awful, gut-wrenching whimpers. His eyeshadow was streaked down the sides of his face like inky tear tracks. “3, 4, 5– Please, Anxiety, we’re not trying to hurt you.”

“It feels like it’s growing,” Patton whispered, Anxiety’s back still pressed to him. Roman pushed the neckline of the other Side’s hoodie aside, and swore at the dark, angular tendrils that were creeping up to his shoulder blades.

“We need him to calm down,” Logan said, but there wasn’t a single soothing method that would work if the person was too far gone to even sense him. “I don’t—,”

“Okay. Okay, I’m— I’m going to calm him down,” Patton said firmly, and then stepped back from the other two and maneuvered Anxiety so he was facing Patton. Logan recognized what Patton was attempting only a moment before Anxiety was pulled into a firm, encircling hug.

Patton’s ability to share positive emotions through physical contact— once jokingly dubbed a ‘drug hug’ by Roman— hadn’t been used frequently since they were all significantly younger. Nowadays, with Logic clearly not needing emotions and Creativity too prideful to ask for one, Patton mostly only used the ability accidentally— slipping up when he was hugging someone while too excited or happy.

Since switching over to this half of the Mindscape, Anxiety had never been exposed to this particular ability. The other Side twitched in Patton’s grasp for a moment, tail thrashing, holding out far longer than Logan expected before slowly melting into the embrace. When Patton finally pulled away, Anxiety was blinking dazedly but seemed considerably more aware of his surroundings.

“His back,” Logan started, and then stopped short.

The wound’s unnatural spread had stopped, the previous panicked pulsing of it reduced to a slow, muted metronome.

“His— Is it based on his heart rate?” Logan asked, bewildered and hating it. “It can’t be consciousness, he’s conscious now and the growth has stopped entirely, but it hadn’t receded at all earlier—,”

“Fear,” Roman said, his mouth set grimly. “A curse for Anxiety that feeds on fear. That’s exactly the kind of cruel irony that the Dragonwitch loves.”

Patton tightened his grip on Anxiety’s hand, his face wrinkled with worry. After a moment, Anxiety squeezed his hand back, still seeming a little distant from the actual conversation.

Logan knew from experience that getting one of those hugs at full power could feel like the emotional equivalent of being dropped into cold water unexpectedly-- it was a shock to the system, one that took a while to adjust to. He wouldn’t be surprised if Anxiety’s nonverbal state lingered for a while longer.

“Then… how do we fix it?” Patton asked. “Do we need him to… stop being afraid for real? Can we do that?”

Logan was quiet, thinking about how fearful Anxiety had looked for the brief moments he was fully aware around them. Roman looked away, and then shook his head.

“I need to return to the Imagination to check on something,” he announced, gaze distant. “I should… probably begin restructuring it, as well.”

Logan hid a wince. “I apologize for being so rough on the realm,” he said, remembering the way Roman had shaken with strain.

Roman waved it off. “You did what you had to, to get us all out. More useful than… well, consider yourself magnanimously forgiven.”

With a smile that seemed a pale facsimile of his normal one, he departed.

Logan turned to Patton, who looked a little wobbly at the knees. “We will be able to help him eventually, we just need more time to investigate,” he said as gently as he could, leading them both back to the couch. “Until then, we can take shifts to look after him.”

Patton curled his free hand around Logan’s, searching his gaze as though seeking some kind of solution. “We’ll figure this out together, right?”

“Right.”

#sanders sides #tsits #tiny dragon virgil #this one goes out to everyone who thought this fic was abandoned: i lived bitch <3 #the shapes in the silence #my writing #ts logan #ts roman #ts patton #ts janus #ts virgil #writing #i turned virgil into the dragon equivalent of a catboy #because its my fic and i choose the self indulgent nonsense

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emilyoracle · 2 years

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Hello hello and Happy WBW! I see you write about time travelers 👀 Tellus a little bit about how time traveling works AND about those "people who keep the timeline in check"? Who are they? How did they get put in charge of doing just that? -@athenswrites

The answers to these two questions are actually closely connected and asked in the perfect order! Haha

(Also holy shit this answer got away from me and is crazy long I'm very sorry everyone, I AM however trained as a historian so that's my excuse lmao)

So because this is sci-fi fantasy I don't actually delve too deeply into the scientific aspects of time traveling (sorry everyone! not my cup of tea!). But, essentially, there are people who are born "important" and whose existence or death (or both) directly affect history and the timeline in the way it is "supposed" to be. And then there are people who are born "unimportant" whose lives (or deaths) are completely inconsequential to time continuing as it's meant to. These unimportant people have the ability to time travel.

Unimportants (as they're called, to the absolute GRIEF of autocorrect) and their choices cannot affect history, if they were to live their life as normal. But they actually CAN affect history, quite drastically, by abusing their time travel.

In the past, LOADS of people could time travel but as the world has become more globally connected, less and less people are being born with the ability because the chances that SOMETHING in your life, whether it be an action or inaction or word or purchase or etc, has an affect globally, gets exponentially higher. As opposed to like, yknow, an ancient Roman peasant who doesn't leave their 3x3 mile community. And because past time travelers tended to be both 1. illiterate and 2. xenophobic, they often didn't use their time travel much or use it to much detriment. This changed around the start of the 18th century, when literacy and globalization was on the rise. Shit started hitting the fan, because it was a perfect storm with still plenty of people who could time travel, but they were usually also literate to some degree and much more adventurous and independent from their home communities, thus... havoc. The timeline was constantly being changed and bouncing from one direction to another. It created a rift in time, essentially a bubble that existed inside time itself, and every traveler got sucked into it. After some chaos, one person rose above it all and became a sort of leader, delegator, and a general consensus was formed that this person and a group of elected officials from each major region, would form a committee, a "Headquarters of Time," that would manage the actions and choices of travelers and prevent such insanity from happening again. Thus Headquarters was born.

I could go into further detail about how the "rift" in time works, how the Under Realm is actually a branch of HQ that split from them to go rogue in the 1800s, and the "founders" of HQ, etc, but um. This is already crazy long so I won't.

I'm sure you weren't expecting to open this bag of worms with your questions :D;; but thank you. Very little of this (or I guess, a very shallow version) is touched on in the story/narrative itself so it's fun to be able to talk about lol.

#WBW #WBW asks #writeblr #writerblr #sci fi fantasy #time travel #mlm fantasy #mlm sci fi fantasy #writing #NEON TIGER #NT

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itsallyscorner · 4 years

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BABES! What is she’s a little mix member and a cast member of Spider-Man 💀

YES! Hiya my love and thank you for the request💜 I’m honestly so obsessed with these Little Mix requests, I didn’t think people would like them, but turns out people love them! I’m totally obsessed with these AHHH! Happy reading darling😌

💌.

Exposed

The girls aren’t really involved in this one, but they are mentioned💜 Heavy on the dialogue, I tried :)! This one’s more focused on Tom & reader:)

(Gif from Pinterest)

For your first time being in a movie, you’ve hit the jackpot. Not many people can say that their very first project in the movie industry was with Marvel Studios. You’ve been lucky enough to be casted in Spider-Man: Far From Home, playing Amelia James, a classmate of Peter but was from another universe. Though that last part wasn’t established yet.

You were currently at Capital FM’s studios doing an interview with Roman Kemp, someone who you were very familiar with. Accompanying you were your cast mates, Tom Holland, Jacob Batalon, and Zendaya. You lot were currently on the press tour promoting the movie that was only days away from premiering in London. You were all laughing at Tom who has been retelling a story of him getting punched on set.

Though you’ve only met him a few months ago, you felt as if you’ve known the charming man since forever. A fond smile was set on your lips as you watched him talk animatedly into the mic. You felt a nudge beside you. Turning, you see Zendaya smirking at you. She’s caught on at how you looked at Tom, always teasing how when either of you looked at each other, your eyes would turn into beating hearts.

You playfully roll your eyes and nudge her back. Your attention is diverted from her when Roman calls on you, “I’ve been wanting to mention this from the beginning, but it’s odd to see you without the girls in the studio.”

You nod chuckling, “I know! I actually feel weird not having them with me here because I’m so used to doing everything with them.”

“How was that like? I know you girls are genuinely close in real life, so how was it being away from them for so long?” Roman asked you.

“Honestly, I felt a bit anxious not having them by my side all the time. I hate not being with them because they’re like my safety blanket.” You explained. On your other side, you saw Tom frown at you.

You quickly add, “Not that I’m having a horrible time with you guys, it’s just that I miss them a lot. Like I don’t have Jesy beside me to make jokes with or Perrie to mother me around, you know?”

“She’s lying, she can’t wait to leave us. We’re horrible.” Tom jokes looking at you with that cheeky grin of his. You sigh swatting his arm, “That’s completely false, I loved working with these guys.”

“Have the girls visited you on set?” You tilt your head in thought.

“Well—not really. We’re busy working on our sixth album so everyone’s been at the studio here in London. But we have called each other on FaceTime and texted almost everyday, so we were always in contact even when I was away.” You answered fiddling with the hem of your dress. Tom has known you long enough and been in many interviews with you to know that the gesture was something when you felt nervous. Discreetly, he inches his hand closer to yours under the table until his large palm rests atop your hand. You look at him and flash him a smile before turning back to Roman.

Roman continues with his questions, “I know the girls are very supportive, but what was their reaction when you told them you were gonna be in a movie?”

You feel Tom’s hand squeeze yours and you couldn’t help the smile that makes it’s way to your lips. “They were so supportive and excited. I was actually reluctant about accepting the role, but they literally pushed me to do it and I’m so glad they did. I’m truly blessed to have them in my life.”

“Yeah, thank God for Little Mix, or else we would have never met (y/n).” Jacob says into his mic. Zendaya let’s out a “YES!”, high fiving her friend in agreement. You laugh at the two’s antics.

“Aren’t you glad they pushed you to take the role? Now you have us in your life.” Tom proudly states smirking at you.

“No, it’s actually worse now because you’re in it.” You tease him. Tom gasps and placed his free hand to his heart.

“I actually made it harder for myself because I told him some stuff about the new album and now I’m just nervous he’s going to spill something. Then I’m gonna be in trouble.” You go on to explain. Z shakes her head at you, “I told you not to tell him anything.”

Tom perks up and leans forward to glare at her, “Excuse me? I’m capable of keeping a secret, for your information.” He sassily tells her. You and Z burst out laughing at the man in beside you.

“Ok, so are we just going to ignore the fact that you were about to post a video of me in the studio recording a new song?” You question him. Tom was about to speak but Jacob beat him to it.

“I swear if it weren’t for me or Daya, you would’ve been responsible for leaking a song.” Jacob pointed out. Tom huffed out slumping himself into his chair.

“I just can’t catch a break can I?” He asks rhetorically looking at the ceiling. Roman smiles at the four of you, “Obviously from the energy in this room, you guys all seem to get along.”

“Everyone except for Tom.” Z mumbles under her breath. Roman snickers before continuing, “How was it like working with each other? Especially for you (y/n) because you’re the newbie of the group.”

“I mean for me, it was nice to work with everyone again. These guys are my friends so it was like hanging out with them everyday with a side of working. (Y/n)’s part of the group now too, so even better, karaoke nights are gonna be lit.” Jacob answered first. You sent him a wink with finger guns, him doing the same thing to you.

“I’m just glad there’s more women in the group. Laura wasn’t in this one so we were one girl down, then (y/n) came and we just had an amazing time together. It was nice to get away from those two and all the stuff they’re up to.” Z gestured to Tom and Jacob. You loved both of them, but when they were bored they were always up to no good.

“This was my first movie, so I was really nervous to step foot onto set. I remember when we had our first table read and feeling so intimidated because everyone there were professionals and had experience. Meanwhile there’s me with zero experience at all trying to fit in with all these actors.” You answered with a slight chuckle. Tom hums beside you squeezing your hand once again.

“But everyone was so sweet and welcoming. From the crew to the cast, they’re a really great group to work with and I’d like to work with them again, if given the chance.” You finished off.

“You know, for your first movie, you did amazing.” Tom complimented you. Roman quickly swooped in, “Tom, I actually wanted to talk to you about something you said last time you were here.”

Tom looks at him confused, “What did I say?”

“How was it like to finally meet (y/n)? Last time you were on here you admitted t—.” Roman began to talk but Tom cut him off.

“ADMITTED TO LISTENING TO LITTLE MIX!” Tom yells over Roman. He has slightly gotten up from his seat and was making wild motions at Roman with his hand. Everyone shot Tom a look except for Roman who stared at him amused.

Roman shook his head, a cheeky grin on his face, “Not quite, mate.”

“Y-yes. I did admit to listening to them, Touch is my favorite song.” Tom said nervously, regretting that he mentioned Touch.

Roman snickered at Tom, “Well it definitely had something to do with Touch, you had a lot to say about—.” Tom cuts him off again.

“The visual effects.” You raise a brow at Tom.

“Tom, there were barely any effects in that music video.” You tell him. Tom glances at you with wide eyes before correcting himself, “The camera work was really good.”

“Are you good?” Z asks Tom squinting at him. Tom let go of your hand and rubbed his palms together, something he did to ease his nerves.

“I’m great, man.” Tom’s voice pitches as he adjusts himself in his seat. Roman stifles a laugh before turning to you.

“Tom’s admitted to fancying you.” He reveals. Your eyes widen as Jacob and Z have smirks plastered onto their faces.

“Oh? When was this?” You look between Roman and Tom. Tom was cringing at himself hiding behind his hands.

“This is cruel.” You hear him mutter.

“He was promoting Homecoming I think. Then we were playing Touch and Tom just went into a whole conversation about the band and you.” Roman answered, a shit eating from on his face.

Tom pops up from his hand, “You don’t have proof!”

Roman looks at him with a ‘seriously?’ kind of expression as he pulls up a video on the screen. Shaking his head at Tom, “Mate, it’s my radio show.”

Tom groans as he shoves his face behind his jacket.

“Oh this is good.” Z laughs leaning back to face the monitor on the wall.

“Shall we watch my evidence, everyone?” Roman presses play.

“Is Touch the only song you know from Little Mix?” Roman asked. Tom shook his head almost offended.

“No! I’m a big fan of them, I really enjoy their music. Shout Out To My Ex, Woman Like Me, Wasabi? Ugh!” Tom closes his eyes while doing a chef’s kiss, “I’m a man, but their music is so empowering, I love it.”

Roman teasingly smiled at Tom, “Do you fancy any of them?”

“Mate, you can’t ask me that. They’re all very beautiful.” A blush starts to form on Tom’s pale cheeks.

Roman continued to prob at Tom, “You really don’t fancy at least one of them the most?”

Tom shyly smiled looking around, “I mean, (y/n)’s always stood out for me, if I’m being honest. Not just cause of her looks, but I’ve watched her interviews and she seems like a really sweet and funny person. I find that very attracting about her.” He admits.

“Have you seen the Touch video yet? Everyone was raving about her in the video.”

“Oh I definitely have, maybe a few times. She looked stunning, as always.” He dreamily smiled into his palm.

“If she were to watch this, what would you like to say?” Roman asked him. Tom’s face dropped at the mention of you seeing his confession.

“I hope she doesn’t see this. She’s gonna think I’m weird or something. I just ruined my chances.”

The video cuts off and Tom is still hiding behind his jacket. Jacob’s mouth is agape as he looks at Tom, “Dude, you just got exposed.”

“Really Jacob? Have I been exposed?” Tom finally comes out from behind his jacket, face fully flushed in embarrassment. You pouted at him, feeling bad that he was embarrassed, but your heart felt all giddy inside at the fact that he fancies you.

Roman holds his hand out cautiously at Tom, “Now before you permanently hate me, your mate Harrison put me up to this. Something about payback for a prank?”

Tom’s jaw drops as he looks out the window of the booth. Outside Harrison and Harry are seen laughing there asses off with tears in their eyes. Tom curses under his breath. The room suddenly felt like an oven, his face was flushed, his palms were sweaty, and his heart rapidly beated against his chest. Mustering up his courage he looked at you.

“Hey, at least you know who my favorite Little Mix member is now?” He awkwardly shrugged. You smiled at him, cheeks flushed as well.

“I can’t believe you’re an actual fan though!” You say, trying to ease off the embarrassment off him.

“Uh—that’s what you got from the video?” Z asked from beside you. You glance at her real quick to give her a look. Of course you were thrilled that Tom reciprocated your feelings, but at the moment it looked as if he were gonna pop a blood vessel at how hard he was glaring at Harry and Harrison.

“Of course I’m a fan! Who wouldn’t be? You guys are phenomenal, I remember watching you guys at the BRITS when you performed Shout Out To My Ex, it was epic.” His attention immediately turns to you, his eyes softening once they meet yours.

You place a comforting hand on his arm, “Why didn’t you just tell me I was your favorite?”

“Because he has a crush on you.” Jacob states as if it were an obvious fact. Tom was about to protest when Z cuts him off, “Man, don’t even try. You already got exposed and you were never good at hiding your feelings in the first place.”

Roman’s eyes shift to look at each of you, “Did I just unintentionally successfully set two people up?”

You look at Roman and shrugged your shoulders at him nonchalantly, “I don’t know yet Roman, maybe if Tom agrees for dinner, then you could say you’ve successfully set two people up.”

“Oh that was smooth.”

Tom looks at you mouth agape since he couldn’t believe you just asked him out on a live radio show.

“What?” He asks in disbelief.

“I’m asking you out, Tom.” You chuckle, your thumb tracing patterns onto his arm. Tom looks around wide eyed and leans into you, “Is this for the movie?”

Everyone in the room groans except for you and Tom. Instead you roll your eyes at him and shake his shoulders. Moving to be in his view your eyes connect with his brown ones.

“Hi, Tom, honey? I’m asking you out for dinner, don’t make me regret doing this on live radio.” You tell him, slightly joking. His eyes glance down at your lips before they return to your eyes.

“Yes, yes, yes—please, I would love to have dinner with you.” He finally snaps out of his thoughts and a smile forms on his lips. You smile back at him and lean back into your seat, “Great, we could go out tonight.”

“Sounds good.” He nods leaning back into his chair. Tom tries to fight the smile on his lips but was unsuccessful. So he sits there, smiling like an idiot. Sure, he just got humiliated on air, but it was worth it since he left that studio with the girl of his dreams anticipating the night to come.

#marvel #mcu #avengers #Tom Holland #tom holland x reader #tom holland imagines #tom holland fluff #tom holland one shot #tom holland headcanon #tom holland drabble #Peter Parker #peter parker x reader #little mix #ally’s requests

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omg-im-such-a-masochist · 4 years

Text

🌔🔥Miami Nights🔥🌔

Prompt: Roman’s little bossy attitude towards Y/N will lead them to one of the most sensual nights they’ve had.

Word count: Long...

Pairings: Roman Reigns x Reader

Warnings: +18, smut, jealousy, a little bit of angst, “make up sex”, cursing, dirty talking (‘cuz we already know I’m a sucker for it!), praise kink and even a little bit of ass worship (because you can never go wrong with that! 😉)

Tag: @jibbles26 , @lustyromantic , @reigns-5sos , @mindofasagittaruis , @nicolewoo , @saccreigns , @ziasaph

Notes: So, the fact that I’m a lover of rough smut is no secret (I mean, have you seen the shit I write?!) but something that hits you different is a good old sensual smut! Just the intimacy and slow deep movements of it are just worth drooling.. I’ve been wanting to write a more sensual scene for a while so here you go! Y’all know the drill loves,sorry for misspellings,english isn’t my first language (bla bla bla),check out my other stories if you’d like to(it would make your girl here very happy 😊)You can check out my other stories on my Masterlist and my newest story as a fixed post. Okay,now let’s get to the fun part,shall we? Hope you’ll enjoy 😉

My heels click clack fast upon the stairs as I make my way down to the first floor, severely searching for my phone around the living room.

“What are you looking for?” His deep voice echoed from behind me

“Jesus Christ, Roman! You startled me. I’m looking for my phone, have you seen it?”

“Do you mean this one?” He showed me my phone in his hand

“Oh, thank you baby. I-“ I stopped when instead of giving me the phone, he tossed onto his joggings side pocket.

“What are you doing? Give me my phone, please”

“Where are you going to?” He asks, ignoring my request

“My boss called saying he got a last time meeting with that big potential French buyer and asked me to help him with the translation”

He raised his eyebrows “And you’re dressed like this” He scoots closer, pulling at the hem of my black pencil skirt “Just to meet him?”

“I have to dress nicely. It’s a work meeting, so yeah, I need to dress in work clothes” I spat, not really liking where this was going

“Couldn’t you have ‘dressed nicely’ with pants?”

“What’s your point, Roman?” I ask slightly annoyed

“My point is: You’re dressed in a pencil skirt that will make any alive man stare directly at your ass, your cleavage is so deep that I can see your bra” He leans in “You’re wearing your Givenchy perfume, makeup, heels...all of that, just for a meeting with a buyer?” His voice had an incredulous tone to it

“Yes! I just told you it’s a work thing, how do you expect me show up there? With sweatpants and flip flops?!”

He’s still staring at me as he coldly said

“You’re not going out on that outfit”

“WHAT? Are you kidding me? Since when do you prohibit me from wearing something?”

“Since now!” He growled

I bitterly laughed “Sorry my dear, but I’m not one of our children! You don’t tell me what to do. You’re my husband, not my father!”

He closes the distance between us

“Do you really expect me to believe that you’re looking all hot like that for a last minute meeting? I’m not that dumb, baby girl. To me, that smells like there’s some other male trying to piss at my lawn and I don’t like that” His voice is dangerously low

“Are you suggesting that I’m romantically seeing my boss?” I ask in disbelief

“No, you wouldn’t do that. But him on the other hand, always had a soft spot for you. So yeah, I think he pulled together this whole ‘last minute meeting’ thing just so he can be alone with you. That’s why, you’re gonna go upstairs take off that makeup and that outfit and put on something less provocative”

“I’ve ALWAYS dressed like this to work! Even when I worked at the WWE and you’ve never had a problem with it before”

“I have a problem with it now” He growled

“Roman, are you listening to yourself? You better bring that attitude down! That whole ‘tribal chief’ gimmick thing is going up your head”

“You’re not leaving this house in that outfit!” He roars

“That’s nonsense! Give me my phone back, please”

“No” He calmly answered

“Give me my fucking phone, Roman” I spat

“You want your phone back? Go upstairs and change that outfit” He explained like if I was a kid

“Give me my phone!” I try to grab the phone out of his side pocket, but before I could, he grabbed my wrists forcefully. Locking them in his grip, behind my back.

“Oh, you’re in big trouble now” He devilishly laugh

I try to release my wrists from his grip but it was too tight

“Roman, let me go”

“Why should I? I mean, you were brave enough to try to take your phone away from me, so you can be brave enough to free yourself”

I try to pull on my wrists but the more I try to the harder he grips

“Roman, you’re gonna hurt me, let.me.go” I punctuated so maybe he’ll understand

“Stop fighting then!” He pushes me forward with the hand that is on my back securing my wrists, I tripped and he holds me in place by my ass, with his free hand

“This is mine” He slaps my ass forcefully, making me look up at him with pure hatred

“Don’t give me that look” He warned

“You’re gonna make me loose my job!” I start to fight against his firm grip, in despair to release myself

Roman then holds my body against his by my waist

“Behave” He chuckled

I was already pretty annoyed, to be honest, so I spat

“If you don’t let me go, I swear to God I’ll forget that you are my husband and I’m gonna kick your balls so hard, they’re gonna fly out of your mouth!”

He stares at me and let me go

“My phone, please” I reach out my hand so he can place the phone in it, which he obliged.

The front door opened and the kids ran inside like maniacs followed by Jey, who’s holding some bags from the local Candy Shop.

“This isn’t over yet” Roman whispered

“Man, I tell you, the amount of candy that shop has is out of this world!” He chuckled while chewing on something covered in chocolate. He looked at us and said

“Uh oh, I feel some tension...Did I had a bad timing?”

“No, Jey” I say “You couldn’t have a better timing not even if you tried to!” I look away from Roman to get my hand bag and the kids ran to us to show what uncle Jey had bought them.

...................................................................

I came home around 10 p.m. The reunion was a success and we had managed to close a deal with one of the French buyers we were hoping to get a contract with. He was in Vancouver for business and was able to attend the meeting through a video conference.

One part of me was excited to tell Roman about it because he knew how much that contract would help me in both career and money wise. But the other part of me was still mad at him for that little stunt he put up earlier.

I walk through the living room to place my hand bag and phone at the coffee table when the lamp by the armchair went on.

“Did you had fun?” Roman asked with a cold voice

“Sweet Lord, Roman! Do you want to kill me?”

“It must have been quite fun, I mean, for you to have came back home just now”

“You do know there’s a timezone of -3 hours from Vancouver to Florida right?”

“I didn’t asked that, I asked if you had fun”

I look at him in disbelief and say

“Look, I don’t know what’s up with the whole Samoan Don Corleone thing, but I’m really tired” I sighed

“Come here Y/N”

“What? You’re gonna ask me to kiss your ring too, Don Samoan?” I mock

He cackled at my little joke and stood up from the armchair, walking towards me.

“You and your clever little mouth, right baby? Always putting yourself in trouble with those pretty lips” His smile fade-away and he quickly pulled my head up by my hair

“I think you’re forgetting that you’re walking on thin ice right now and I wouldn’t test me if I were you”

“Where are the kids?” I ask faintly

“At Jey’s, for a sleep over” His smile is now purely evil

“Did you planned this, then?”

“C’mon baby, how are you gonna be able to scream my name while I fuck you senseless if the kids are at home?” He leans in to sniff the nape of my neck

“I love when you wear this perfume, it drives me crazy! It makes me want to fuck you all night long” He sucks on my neck “You look good enough to eat Y/N. That skirt baby...it’s gonna be the death of me! Give me a 360, baby girl” He said, intertwining our fingers and slowly turning me around while whistling at me.

“What is this all about?” I ask, suspicious about his true intentions

“What do you mean?”

“The whole complimenting me for the one thing you made a whole fuss about it earlier”

“What? Can’t I compliment my gorgeous wife?” He asked innocently

“I’m not saying that! I’m just saying that I find it suspicious the fact that earlier we almost got into an argument because of this outfit and now your throwing praises at it” I crook an eyebrow at him

He smiles “You know me so well it’s actually embarrassing!” He chuckled

“Ok baby girl, you got me! I felt guilty, ok? I regretted being so rude with you earlier, you didn’t deserve it”

“So why did you do it, Ro?”

“Because I got jealous! I mean, the time we have together is short and it’s mostly taken by the kids, we barely have any alone couple time and I miss you! I miss having my wife, having you: Y/N! Not the mom version or the professional version of you, but just my wife. All to myself” He scoots closer “So when I saw you dressed up all nice like this, smelling so good and looking so beautiful I remembered how it used to be back then...when you worked at WWE and I used to sneak out to your hotel bedroom at night so we could spend the night together because you didn’t wanted people to know about us. I remembered the amount of convincing that I had to do, for you to finally agree to make us an official thing. How we thought that our marriage wouldn’t survive with me being on the road and you at home with the kids. How many times I couldn’t sleep at night ‘cause I got scared thinking that I could lose you after that fight we’ve had when Ben was born” Roman hugs my waist and look me in the eyes “I felt the same fear earlier today, I know that’s on me and not on you but... I couldn’t help it, I got carried away by my jealousy and I apologize for that. You’re a beautiful woman! Gorgeous face, delicious body, a goddess in the bedroom, strong personality, such a kind soul and a heart made of gold. And I’m a selfish man! I don’t wanna lose you, I can’t afford to lose you...I want you all to myself, body and soul” He leans in to capture my lips in the most romantic, sensual, long kiss.

“Do you forgive me?” He whispered

“I don’t know...maybe I need some more convincing” I tease him and he laughed, knowing it was all good between us

“What can I do to convince you, baby?”

“Lose the shirt and the pants and sit on the armchair”

He happily obliged, sitting on the armchair with eyes filled with excitement

“Can you help me with this?” I point towards the skirt’s zipper innocently

He smirked and I got closer to the chair. Roman reaches the zipper, pulling it down torturously slow.

“Take it off, Ro”

He slowly pulls it down, savoring every inch of my ass being exposed to him, with each tug at the skirt he nibs and kisses the recently discovered skin. And I couldn’t be happier to be wearing a new lace set in a beautiful midnight blue shade.

The skirt became a pile of fabric around my ankles as Roman growls: squeezing, biting, licking and kissing my ass while I take off my white dress shirt.

“Fuck Y/N, baby...I’m in love with your ass”

I giggled at his choice of words

“It looks so fucking good in this blue color. Is this a new set?” He asks, still kissing and biting it.

“Yeah, I bought it last week. I thought it looked good so-“ I couldn’t even finish my sentence due to the forceful tug he gave my hips so I could sit down on his lap.

“It looks insanely good, baby” He whispered in my ear, kneading my breasts softly through the lace.

“And the bra too...they make your boobs look full as fuck! I love it”

I feel his erection resting against my ass and I can’t help but grind my hips to it.

“Hmmm baby, you’re so hot, so fucking hot. The hottest woman I’ve ever met” He pressed my hips further down to his bulge

“You never fail to turn me on baby girl, you’ve always had the power to make my cock rock hard for you”

“Just for me?” I ask with a voice raspy from pleasure, reaching my arm around his neck so I can pull his lips towards my ear

“Always just for you, baby. Ever since he tasted you, he got addicted and wants only you” Roman whispered

His voice always worked wonders on me. How deep his voice is, the things he says...it was always an infallible combination.

We explored each other’s body until we couldn’t wait it anymore.

I stand up to remove my lace panties and bra and he loses his boxer briefs, sitting back at the armchair with me on his lap. I lifted up a bit, so he can enter my core and oh, how I missed my man!

I start a front to back motion, holding onto Roman’s thighs for support while my thighs are closed shut in between his opened ones. I circled my hips in deep, slow circles from time to time so he can sink all the way in.

“Yeah, keep doing that baby girl. Fuck, it looks so sexy when you ride me like this” He moaned

And that’s my intention: a sensual, lustful, intimate sex.

Roman roamed one arm around my hips until his hand stopped at my mound

“Spread your legs a little bit, baby” He asks

I do it and two of his fingers start to rub my clit at the same pace of my riding.

“Oh, Ro...fuck me babe, that feels so good” I reach my arm back, so I can toss it around his neck, pulling him closer to me. The change of positions made his cheek rest against the side of my breast. I look down and see him staring at his hand on my clit.

“Baby” I wine, making him look up to me. And when he did I leaned down to capture his full lips in a deep kiss.

Once apart he cupped my cheek with his free hand

“I love you Y/N, so fucking much baby girl”

“I love you too Ro, the only man I’ll ever want” I smiled

“Promise me?” He asked

“Promise” I leaned down to kiss him again

I felt him twitch inside of me, a sign he was close to coming.

“Are you gonna cum inside this pussy, baby?” I smirked

“I can’t hold it back anymore, baby girl. You’re riding me so good and your pussy is milking my cock so nicely that I just can’t hold it” He laughs and kisses the side of my breast

“Cum for me baby, cum right on your pussy” I whispered in his ear

“Mine” He growled and turned up the pace of his fingers on my clit

“Yours” I moaned as I could feel my own release rising

Roman pressed our foreheads together as we reach our high in between moans. As we’re recovering our breath he says

“Damn baby, that was something!” Taking a deep breath in

“Did I just took your breath away, Reigns?” I chuckled

“Fuck yeah, that was the hottest sex we’ve had in the last 2 months”

“You’re unbelievable!” I laughed hard

“What? I’m serious! My girl is always giving me some breath taking sex” He said seriously, pulling me closer to his chest

“I’m glad you think that way because I already want a round 2” I sucked on his lower lip

“Oh baby, you’ll have the round 2, 3, 4, 5...’Cuz the kids won’t be back until tomorrow at 9 p.m.” He licks my neck

“Are you serious?” I whispered excitedly

He nods “I told you I missed my wife” He winks and take me on his arms bridal style

“Let’s go baby girl, round 2 awaits!” He laughed carrying us up to our bedroom

Where our night was just getting started

Please let me know your thoughts on this? Feedback is always appreciated 🥰😘

#roman reigns one shot #roman reigns x reader #roman reigns fanfiction #roman reigns smut #roman reigns imagine #roman reigns #wwe x reader #wwe smut #wwe imagine #wwe one shot #wwe fanfiction #masochist writes

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a-small-batch-of-dragons · 3 years

Text

Tell the Truth

Prompts: aaaa the way you write angst is just *chefs kiss* wonderful. I’ve been really enjoying the butterfly project series, it has made me cry multiple times. May I request some fluff to balance the angst? - anon

Excuse me while I sob over Redemption Never Came and politely grabby hand for more angst with a happy ending (Roman angst my beloved) (Also you are an amazing fanfic artist :D) - anon

This is so heartbreaking and whumpy but so soft in the end and I would devour a second part about everyone trying to help undo all the negative patterns they've all instilled in Roman and just showing him affection and everyone's hearts breaking a little more each time he's surprised they actually want to be around him. - LadyofhteWoods

And now a part of me wants to see all those scenarios again, only this time Roman gets loved- walk in the kitchen, get a hug. Sit on the couch? Cuddle pile. Go on a quest? Bring friends, if hurt, patch up and movies. Crying in bed because you had a bad time and your brain is screaming that you suck and a wave of depression has rippled through you and you feel horrible? Have some tea… cry it out…. We’re here. - A_tiny_star_prince

Read on Ao3 Part 1

Warnings: self-doubt, self-deprecating thoughts

Pairings: dlampr

Word Count: 7688

Roman lies. A lot. Maybe it's time they did something about it.

Roman’s lies don’t vanish overnight. How could they? When he’s so used to repeating them, over and over, in a horrific little mantra before he goes to sleep, how can he be expected to get rid of them in only one night?

That doesn’t make them less difficult to hear.

Janus is downstairs, helping Virgil fold up one of the blankets strewn about the living room, when he winces and hisses.

“J? You okay?”

Janus nods, jerking his head upward. Virgil follows his gaze and winces too.

“…Princey?”

“I think so.” That’s a lie. He knows it’s Roman.

“I got this,” Virgil says quietly, taking the blanket from Janus, “you go. He seems to let you help more than he lets us.”

He never really had the choice to let me.

Janus swallows heavily as he appears outside Roman’s door. The lies aren’t nearly as poisonous as they were a few days ago, but they’re strong enough to curl his tongue at the bitterness in his throat. He raises a hand to knock on the door.

The lies falter for a moment before another one floats through.

Don’t come in.

He smirks, gently pushing the door open to meet a darkened room.

“Impressive,” he says softly, making his way over to the figure in the bed and perching on the end, “that could’ve been one of mine.”

He’s rewarded with the quietest of huffs before a head shyly peeks out at him from the covers. Janus smiles and tilts his head.

“Hello, sweetie.”

“Hi.” Roman shuffles a little. “Sorry. Didn’t realize I was summoning you.”

“There’s no need to apologize.” Janus glances around the room. His computer is off and shut. The bathroom light and fan are off. He looks back. “Can I help, sweetie?”

A shuffling of the blankets that’s probably supposed to be a shrug.

“Let me come find you, then,” he murmurs, standing and moving to where the head was a moment ago, “how did you get this many blankets on top of you?”

He slowly starts to move them out of the way, peeling back layer after layer, only briefly wondering whether or not Roman can breathe properly under these. It’s a careful act, one he treats with the same reverence as cleaning his gloves or his scales, creating a little cocoon of blankets as he gets further and further into the covers.

The last one puffs just the slightest amount, up and down.

So you can breathe, good.

Janus doesn’t move this one all the way out of the way, just lifts it up enough to peer inside. Roman’s little face peers back at him, partially covered by another blanket clutched tight to his chest. He looks so…child-like.

The realization makes something warm turn in Janus’s chest.

“Knock knock,” he says softly, “anyone home?”

Roman blinks. “Mm.”

“May I come in, sweetie?”

“Mm.” Roman jerks his chin toward Janus’s clothes. “Lose the sharp bits.”

Janus snaps his fingers, transforming his usual clothes into a soft yellow shirt and sleep pants. “Better?”

“Mm.”

“How did you manage to get so many blankets balanced on your bed,” Janus asks as he slips beside Roman, “mine always fall off after three.”

“Practice.” Roman shifts to make room.

Janus frowns. “Come here, sweetie, let me cuddle you.”

“You don’t have to.”

The frown deepens. “Sweetie?”

Roman buries his face a little deeper into the blanket. “You don’t like cuddling. Virgil an’ Remus said so.”

Oh, Roman…

“Come, sweetie,” he insists, tugging Roman gently into a proper hug, “there.”

“But—but—“

“I may not be as big a fan of cuddling as you and Patton,” Janus says firmly, cupping Roman’s face, “and I’m certainly the type that enjoys being tackled by Remus—“

Roman snorts.

“—but you’re upset,” he finishes gently, “and I want to help.”

Burden.

Needy.

Don’t understand boundaries.

Don’t deserve help.

Janus hisses. Roman sighs.

“Sorry.”

“No need for that,” he assures, still cradling Roman’s face as he pulls him close, “I understand. It’s alright.”

“I know, and I—I don’t want you to leave, but—“ Roman swallows— “I just—I still don’t believe you’re here.”

Janus wraps a pair of arms around Roman’s waist and squeezes. “I’m real, I’m here.”

“I just—“

There’s another lie swirling in Roman’s brain, too nebulous to make it all the way to Janus, but present enough that it makes his mouth tingle. He leans down to kiss Roman’s forehead.

“…you said it was your job to protect the Ego.”

“That’s right, sweetie, it is.”

“I guess I…I just…”

Janus gives Roman another encouraging squeeze. Roman brings the blanket further up his face.

“…I guess I figured that if you—if you could h-hate me that much or h-hurt me that badly and not—not care, then you…maybe you…”

Janus’s heart clenches as the lie finally makes itself known.

Not worth protecting.

He pulls away, shushing the heartbroken whine that Roman makes, taking off his gloves and wrapping every arm around the poor thing. He presses another kiss to his forehead, letting the hiss out into his hair.

“That’s not true, sweetie,” he promises, “and you’ll never know how sorry I am for hurting you and letting it get this far.”

And the poor thing is so tired, so weary that he goes limp in Janus’s arms, save for the blanket clutched tightly to his face. Janus frowns, opening his mouth to say that might be a little uncomfortable, what with Roman’s arms tucked between them, when he starts putting the pieces together.

Roman is still wearing a fair amount of clothing, he’s got something pressed up against his face, under his chin, and he’s got so many blankets piled on top of him that even Janus feels warm.

“And here I thought I couldn’t feel more rotten,” he whispers, carding one hand through Roman’s hair, another scratching gently between his shoulder blades, “but you must be in agony.”

A questioning hum is let out against his throat.

“You’re still touch starved, sweetie,” he says in way of answering, squeezing a little tighter, “are you still cold?”

There’s a soft rush of breath as Janus cups the back of his neck and then a noise is just about torn from his throat as he uses it to pull Roman close.

“Oh, shh, shh, you poor thing,” he murmurs, pressing another kiss to his cheek, “I’m right here, sweetie, I won’t leave you.”

They lie there for a while longer, Roman’s arms slowly lowering the blanket until he shyly puts his arms around Janus in return.

“There you go, sweetie,” he encourages, “hold onto me, that’s it.”

“Why—why are you letting me hug you?”

“Because it seems like you’d like to hug me.” Janus squeezes him again. “You don’t need to have a reason, sweetie, if you need a cuddle, you can have one.”

I need a reason. I need an excuse. I need an argument. I have to convince you.

Another hiss. “You can always ask for hugs, sweetie, you don’t need to convince me to hug you.”

“…really?”

Oh, Roman… “Yes, sweetie, you can ask any of us.”

The wave of disbelief that hits him makes him grit his teeth.

“I promise, sweetie. I promise.” Another kiss to his forehead. “You’re not unwanted, you’re not a burden.”

The silence he gets implies that Roman may not want to prove that—or disprove it—for himself right now.

“…can we just stay here for a bit?”

“For as long as you need, sweetie,” Janus murmurs, settling them in for some rest, “for as long as you want.”

——————————

Patton is in the kitchen, the first one downstairs this morning. There’s already a pot of coffee brewing and he sets the kettle up on the counter. He reaches up to pull the mugs for everyone. The plain black one for Logan, the Nightmare Before Christmas one for Virgil, the sparkly one for Remus, and the blue puppy one for himself. He frowns.

Roman used to keep his mug down here too. This really big red one with a golden crown on the side. He hasn’t seen it in ages.

Footsteps on the stairs.

He turns and sees Roman walk into the kitchen, smiling brightly as if there’s nothing wrong in the world, not a seam or stitch of his prince costume out of place. He strides into the room like he owns it, as if he’s just come down the stairs in his resplendent palace to a crown of adoring onlookers.

“Ah! Patton!” Goodness, he speaks like it too. “Good morning!”

“Roman!” Patton rushes forward and wraps him in a hug.

This is where everything goes wrong.

Roman tenses. Not in a way that means he wants out, but out of sheer surprise. Patton waits for Roman’s arms to wrap around him but instead, there’s just a very, very soft touch to his shoulder.

“Patton,” he asks quietly, “are you alright?”

“Yeah, I’m great, kiddo, why?”

“W-well, you’re…you’re hugging me.”

“Sure am.”

“…why?”

Suddenly Patton feels very cold.

He pulls back, not enough to let Roman go completely, but enough to look up and see a truly heartbreaking look of confusion on his face. He can’t help the soft noise that comes out of his mouth as he raises one hand to his face.

“Are you asking why I’m hugging you?” Roman nods. “I want to hug you, kiddo. You’re hug-shaped.”

“I’m…what?”

“Hug-shaped,” Patton repeats, tugging him a little closer with the arm still around his waist, “you’re worth hugging, I like hugging you.”

“O-oh.”

And Patton has to watch as every scrap of confidence falls from Roman’s expression, his shoulders slump, and he looks like he loses some of his height, even. The shift is so drastic that it almost springs tears to his eyes at how much Prince Roman suddenly looks like a lost child, swimming in a costume too big and too heavy for him. Roman face contorts as he looks at a spot on the counter, furrowing his brow as if it’ll explain everything to him if he just glares hard enough.

There’s something fragile about the way Roman leans into Patton’s hand, something breakable about how warm he is right now. Patton shifts his weight to his other leg and there’s a flash of panic in Roman’s eyes, quickly stifled but there.

“Oh, kiddo, I’m not going anywhere,” he murmurs, pulling Roman back in for a proper hug, “I’m right here, it’s okay. You just let it out, okay?”

Roman’s breathe shudders a little into Patton’s shoulder. Then he starts pushing Patton away.

Patton listens, confused, until he watches Roman shake himself and put the mask of the prince right back on.

“Terribly sorry,” he says in the awful, awful cheerful voice as he rakes a hand through his hair, “don’t know what came over me.”

“Don’t,” Patton blurts before he can stop himself, “don’t do that, sweetheart.”

“Don’t do what, Padre?”

“Don’t pretend,” he says, reaching out for Roman again, “you don’t have to pretend you’re okay. Or that you don’t want something.”

“I don’t like being needy, Patton,” Roman says in a soft voice that’s just this side of wobbly, “and you don’t like me needy.”

And doesn’t that just feel hot and guilty in Patton’s throat?

“I like you, sweetheart,” he says instead, “and you’re not being needy if you want comfort or even just a touch. You’re allowed to want something, Roman, you are.”

Roman huffs in disbelief and turns.

“No, Roman—“ Patton hurries to get in front of him— “you are.”

Something flickers across Roman’s expression. Patton doesn’t even need Janus to tell him that Roman thinks he’s walking into a trap.

“I’m so sorry, sweetheart,” Patton says quietly, “I’ve hurt you so much, haven’t I? I’ve made you think that your job is wrong, that you—that you’re wrong and you’re not, kiddo. You’re not wrong. You’re not awful. I promise.”

Roman’s lip wobbles.

“Oh, come here, sweetheart,” Patton coos, wrapping him back in a hug, and finally, finally Roman’s arms come up to wrap around him too, before he’s being squeezed so tight it borders on painful.

Patton doesn’t care.

“It’s gonna be okay, sweetheart, I promise.” He rocks them back and forth a little as Roman buries his face in his shoulder. “We’ll figure it out, I know we will.”

They stay like that until the kettle goes off and Roman startles, jumping back a little bit. Patton soothes away the last of the jitters and smiles, watching Roman look like…Roman. Not the Prince, not the horribly lost child, just…just Roman.

“I think that’s my cue to make you the biggest mug of hot chocolate you’ve had since Christmas,” he says quietly, “now what mug would you like?”

Roman glances at the cabinet. “Anyone is fine.”

“Then why don’t you go grab one while I get the hot chocolate?”

Patton busies himself with the box, purposely letting Roman have his privacy as he picks out a mug, trying not to make his smile too blinding when he turns and sees Roman shyly hold out a big red mug with a sparkly crown.

“Good choice,” he says softly as he takes it from him, “I missed this mug.”

Judging by the way Roman’s mouth curls up in a little smile, he knows what Patton meant.

——————————

Virgil walks into the room and sees Roman sprawled out across the chair. He almost doesn’t see it.

He’s got to give it to Janus; even though he knows he can hear lies, he’s not sure he would’ve believed that they were actually coming from Roman. Because Roman looks the fucking picture of relaxed right now. It looks like he saw Patton and Logan on the couch and decided there wasn’t enough room for him to take up as much space as he wants. It looks like he’s occupying the entire fucking corner and not just the chair. It looks like he’s every bit the arrogant prince they used to think he was.

Then he sees how tight his jaw is and the slight tremble of his hands.

The room isn’t warm, there’s no reason for Princey to be shivering. There’s certainly no reason for him to be so tense as he sits in the chair, tapping a pen against his cheek in a fabulous impression of mindless thinking but is actually a carefully controlled way of preventing himself from moving any further.

He’s gotta hand it to him. Princey’s good.

Virgil walks up to Roman and shoves his hands into his pockets as Roman looks up.

“Dark and Stormy,” he says in a perfected casual lilt, “is there something I can do for you?”

And wow, okay, if this is what Janus hears all the time then Virgil has no idea how he fucking does it.

Janus hears lies, Virgil hears fears.

Please don’t make me leave.

If you want the chair I’l give it to you, I’ll move, I’ll sit on the floor, I’ll be quiet, but please don’t make me go. I want to stay, please, can I—can I stay? Is that okay?

Virgil tilts his head. “Move the book.”

Roman furrows his brow. “What?”

“The book.” Virgil nods to the notebook in Roman’s lap. “Move it. Move your arm.”

Confused, Roman does as he asks only to squeak in surprise when Virgil pronounces it perfect and plonks himself in Roman’s lap.

“Virgil!”

“Yeah?” Virgil pulls out his phone and leans his head against Roman’s shoulder. “What’s up?”

“You—you’re—“ Roman still doesn’t move— “you’re in my lap.”

“Sure am.” Virgil looks up at him and lowers his voice to a whisper. “No?”

Roman’s voice drops too. “What?”

Virgil indicates his weight. “No? This okay?”

“Y-yeah, it’s fine, I just—what?”

In lieu of a verbal answer, Virgil reaches behind him to take Roman’s free hand and pull it close, tucking it under his chin and clutching it there. Roman’s hand trembles. He finds himself absentmindedly running his thumb over the knuckles, the palm, the fingers. He keeps his eyes on Roman’s face.

Roman’s other arm lowers, gingerly resting on Virgil’s legs. Virgil smiles and squeezes his hand.

“I’m sorry, Princey,” he whispers, “I’ve been fucking awful to you.”

Roman’s face twitches. “…so have I.”

“What, been awful to me or awful to you?”

For a moment, he thinks Roman’s just going to say that he’s been awful to Virgil. Which, yes, he was in the past, but not like Virgil’s been. But instead, Roman opens his mouth and shakily whispers: ‘both.’

“I know, Princey.” Virgil squeezes his hand again. “You’re all good with me, and we can…if you want, I can help with the second part too.”

Roman’s eyes widen and godfuckingdamnit that hurts.

“I gotcha, Roman,” he says softly, lacing their fingers together, “and ‘m sorry I haven’t been there for you recently.”

Roman swallows, Virgil’s eyes drawn to the roll of his throat. “You…you want to help me?”

Roman, you’re gonna ruin my reputation of not having a heart by smashing it into fucking pieces.

“Yeah, Roman,” he reassures, “I wanna help you. You’re important.”

“I am?”

“Sure are, Princey.” He lightly knocks his head against Roman’s. “And if it ever feels like I don’t believe that, call me out on my bullshit. ‘Cause that’s bullshit.”

“What are you two muttering about over there?” Patton shakes his head fondly when Virgil decides to just turn his head upside down instead of turning around. “Virgil, that’s not good for your spine.”

“We’re metaphysical, Pop-star, who cares?”

“When you start complaining about neck pain,” Logan says wryly, “me.”

He glances up too and Virgil hides a smirk at how his face softens when he spots Roman’s expression.

“Is everything alright?”

“Yes, yes,” Roman says hurriedly, “everything’s fine.”

“It’s Hug Roman time,” Virgil says immediately after, “so I’m hugging Roman.”

“I think that’s less of a hug than you sitting on his lap,” Logan says, standing, “but we’ll never fit all of us on that chair.”

Virgil feels more than hears Roman’s inhale as Logan and Patton start moving the couch cushions to the floor. He sits back upright just in time to see Roman’s hopeful face and butts his head against his again.

“Come on, Princey, let’s go.”

“…are you going to stand up, or…?”

“Or you could carry me.”

“Virgil,” he hears Patton chide.

“No, no,” Roman says, “it’s fine, I can carry him if he wants to be carried. I will need my hand back, though.”

Okay, yes, Virgil does enjoy Roman carrying him a bit too much for altruistic purposes but it’s worth it when Roman goes to gently set him down and the other two pull him down instead.

“There,” Logan says softly as Roman’s head comes to rest against the base of the couch, “much better.”

Roman opens his mouth to say something when Logan’s hand tangles in his hair and it turns into a slightly strangled sound. Patton chuckles, wrapping his arms around Roman and sighing softly.

“Hey, who wants to play a game?”

Remus’s head pops up from behind the couch.

“We’re already playing a game,” Virgil says, “it’s called Cuddle Roman, now get your butt down here.”

Remus gasps. “My favorite!”

“Okay good,” Virgil mutters as he moves out of Roman’s lap to make room for Remus, “I totally thought he was talking about butts.”

“I have a feeling, my dear,” Janus sighs, striding from the shadows and totally not making Virgil jump, “that it’s both.”

Remus just cackles. Janus takes a seat, reaching out to take one of Roman’s hands in his. Roman frowns at him slightly, his head still spinning from the amount of people around him.

“What—is there something wrong?”

Janus shakes his head. “It’s Hug Roman hours. So I’m here.”

Vigil chuckles at the blush on Roman’s face. “So this is becoming a regular thing, right?”

“Oh, absolutely.”

“Indeed.”

“Yay!”

Remus just holds his brother tighter.

——————————

“…come in.”

“If you’d like to reschedule, Roman, it’s no trouble, I’m happy to…”

Logan trails off as he walks into the room, Roman’s back to him as he hunches over a table near the door to the Imagination. He shuts the door quietly behind him and tucks the notebook under his arm.

“Roman?” He takes a step forward. “Are you alright?”

“Never better, Specs,” Roman says cheerily, too cheerily, “just give me one moment and I’m all yours.”

Logan frowns. “If you’d like to reschedule, Roman,” he repeats, softer this time, “I can assure you, it’s fine.”

“No, no, that’d be rude.” Something crinkles in Roman’s hands. “Just—just one moment.”

There’s a heavy clunk and a barely contained hiss.

“Roman—“ he starts forward— “are you hurt?”

“Not hurt.” Another clunk. “Just…incredibly clumsy, it seems.”

“Can I help?”

If he weren’t paying attention, he would miss the way Roman’s shoulders tense with disbelief.

“N-no, that’s alright,” Roman says, the first time his voice has slipped, “I’m just…no, it’s alright.”

He jerks his head toward the desk, being very careful not to let Logan see his face.

“It’s over there, I’ll be with you in one moment.”

Logan looks, then walks over to the desk and carefully sets down his notebook. He glances up at Roman and can’t stop the soft noise at seeing Roman’s hands shake and fumble with a large bottle.

“Roman,” he calls softly, “Roman, please.”

Roman freezes.

“…please what?”

“Let me help you,” he says, walking over, “let me help you with this.”

Roman shudders and tries to laugh again. “You don’t need to busy yourself with inane and worthless tasks, Logan.”

Oh. Oh, dear.

“You’re not inane or worthless, Roman,” he says firmly, “nor are you a task.”

Roman’s shoulder is cold under his hand. He cups it nonetheless and leans closer, mindful to keep his gaze down and away.

“Please?”

Under his hand, Roman sighs. “…if that’s what you want.”

He’s not prepared for when Roman turns around, a bottle of micellar water in one hand and cotton ovals in the other. His makeup—done so wonderfully this morning—is smeared and wearing away, his nose bright red under the concealer. Logan lets out another soft noise, taking the proffered items and gently pushing Roman to sit on the table.

He takes one of the cotton ovals and gets it damp, cupping Roman’s chin in one hand.

“Let me know if anything starts to sting or hurt,” he instructs softly and starts to clean the smudges from his face. Roman sits perfectly still, his gaze down at Logan’s tie. His hands fold neatly in his lap and he looks every bit the cooperative ideal.

Except for the way he looks terrified every time Logan so much as shifts his hand.

“You are not worthless,” Logan says quietly as he works, swapping out the cotton ovals when needed, “you are not annoying me. You are someone I care about very deeply and someone I enjoy helping.”

Roman’s chin wobbles.

“I am always impressed by the ideas you create,” he continues after quietly bidding Roman to turn slightly, “and you never cease to amaze me with your creativity.”

Roman’s throat works against his hand as he swallows. “Remus—“

“Remus is Remus,” Logan interrupts gently, “turn—yes, there you go—and you are Roman. You are clever, you are kind, and you are wonderful, and I care about you very much.”

He takes a new cotton oval and takes Roman’s chin again, tapping gently until Roman makes eye contact.

“Close your eyes,” he bids, “and let me know if they start to sting at any point.”

Roman closes his eyes and Logan carefully, carefully starts to clean off the eyeshadow. The golden sparkles are stubborn, clinging to the skin, but he works patiently until the last of them come off. He realizes after that the oval is wetter than it was when he began.

“Oh, little star,” he breathes, glancing around and summoning a soft washcloth to clean Roman’s face the rest of the way, “it’s alright, you can cry if you need to. I won’t mind.”

“It’s stupid,” Roman mutters, raising a hand to swipe angrily at the tears, “it’s stupid.”

“If it’s making you upset, it’s not stupid.” Logan gently but firmly places Roman’s hands on his own shoulders and replaces them with the cloth. “Tell me?”

“I—it’s not even a quest.” Roman’s voice cracks horribly on the last word. “It’s just—I was making something and it broke and I—I worked really hard on it and now it’s ruined.”

Logan lets out a soft noise. “I’m sorry.”

His chest aches when the apology makes Roman shake himself. “It’s fine. Sorry, I didn’t want to just dump that on you.”

“I asked you to tell me what was wrong,” Logan chides, patting his cheek dry, “you’re not dumping anything on me.”

He sets the cloth aside and cups Roman’s face with his hands.

“And I am also sorry,” he whispers, “that I have made you believe that I do not worry about you the same way I worry about Thomas.”

Roman’s eyes fly open. “You—you what?”

“I care about you very deeply, Roman,” Logan says, “you’re very important to me. So yes, of course, I worry about you. You’re upset, and I’ve made you feel like you can’t come to me. I…I have not behaved well toward you. And I will remedy that.”

A new wave of tears meets Logan’s thumbs carefully swiping them away.

“Bonk?”

Roman leans forward and lets Logan rest their foreheads together. After a moment, his hands move to give Roman a proper hug, leaning up to press a kiss to his forehead.

“What were you making, if I may ask?”

“…just a house.” Roman sniffles. “It got destroyed in the last brainstorm.”

“Would you like help?”

“…don’t we have to work on the ideas?”

Logan smiles, resting their foreheads together once more. “This feels more important, doesn’t it?”

Roman’s small but warm smile is more than worth the extra hours they’ll have to spend working on the videos.

——————————

Somehow they forgot.

Somehow they forgot that Roman was scared of the dark.

It wasn’t common that thunderstorms plagued the Imagination, simply because—well, Thomas didn’t need literal brainstorms when he’s got Logan working with him. Sure, sometimes Remus decides he’s going to make his entrance extra cliché and arrive in a literal flash of lightning. Or Roman will create a field of flowers larger than the eye can see and soft bruised purple clouds will roll across the sky, quiet thunder and light rain that feels like a cushion.

But it’s never enough to cause a blackout.

For a moment, they’re all just confused. Thomas’s apartment is fine, Thomas is fine, so they don’t understand what’s happened. Then Remus points out that they, uh, maybe didn’t close the door to the Imagination as tightly as they should have.

He gets smacked upside the head for that.

So they’re here, in the middle of the dark, trying frantically to figure out how to not run into everything. Well, three of them are fine. Virgil can see in the dark. Janus can see in the dark. Remus can see in the dark.

“Is that because you’re the Dark Sides,” Patton mumbles as he puts his glasses back on for the fifth time in the past minute, “or do you each have some kind of ability?”

Remus smiles, even if Patton can’t see it. “It’s more fun!”

“That doesn’t—“ Logan pinches the bridge of his nose— “that doesn’t even answer the question, Remus.”

“I think you’ll find that’s his justification for most things,” Janus says wryly, taking Patton carefully by the arm and guiding him to sit on the couch, safely out of harm’s way.

Virgil elbows Remus to get him to put down the Morningstar, please, and sits down next to Patton. “How long is this going to take to go away?”

Remus shrugs. “Dunno. Probably won’t be that long. We all just gotta sit tight.”

Janus raises a hand to his mouth—not that Logan can truly appreciate his expression—and mock gasps. “Remus, suggesting that we don’t do anything?”

“Oh, fuck off, Snakey.”

“Language!”

Remus blows a fat raspberry. “Even I know it’s a bad idea to try and do something right now. I mean ask Roman—“

It takes a moment for them to realize that Roman isn’t sitting there.

“We should go get him,” Logan says after a moment, “just to make sure we’re all in the same place.”

And with that, Remus is off, stomping up the stairs and conveniently forgetting that two Sides can’t see past the little pinpricks of light at the bottom of the windows. Virgil rolls his eyes and makes to stand, only to frown.

“Virgil?” Logan touches his elbow when he notices him pause. “Are you alright?”

“Feels like I’m being summoned.” He rubs his chest absentmindedly. “But not really.”

“Well, let’s just keep an eye on—hey!”

Virgil doesn’t even hear the end of Logan’s sentence before he’s yanked into another room.

He blinks, disoriented, shaking his head to figure out where he is. Only when Remus bursts up the stairs and pouts that how dare Virgil sink out to beat him here does he realize why he’s here.

Judging by the way Remus’s face falls a second later, he does too.

Remus knocks lightly on the door. After a moment, he curses and goes to knock louder.

“Don’t,” Virgil mutters, grabbing Remus’s arm, “you’re gonna freak him out more.”

“Well, I can’t just blow the fucking door open,” he growls, shaking him off, “that’s gonna make it worse.”

He opens his mouth but another sharp tug from his chest makes him wince. “Okay, then don’t bust it down. Just—oh, god, we gotta get in there.”

“Don’t gotta tell me twice.”

Remus doesn’t rear back and kick the door open, which says something about how concerned he is. They can’t see much of anything except for—

—oh.

Oh, no.

Roman notices immediately when the blackout happens. How could he not? He’d been in the middle of trying to sort out his journal for the day when suddenly he was drowning.

Oh god.

Oh, god.

Within an instant, his chest seizes. He can’t see. He can’t see. There’s something—

No. No, it’s fine. He’s in his room. Everything is fine. Because he’s safe. He’s in his room, he knows where everything is, he knows what everything is in here, he’s fine.

There’s nothing here to be scared of. There’s nothing here to be scared of.

So why is Roman so scared?

He shouldn’t be. He shouldn’t be. He’s a prince, for Disney’s sake, he’s the protector of the Mindscape, he’s—he’s—

He’s Prince Roman. Not some newly minted squire crying because he’s away from home for the first time and it’s all dark and scary and he can’t see anything because he doesn’t know what’s going on and he can’t tell where anything is and he swears he can see things moving in the shadows and—and—and—

Roman shoves his fist in his mouth before he can whimper.

No. No. He’s fine.

He’s fine.

…besides, what would the others say?

He’s a prince. He’s Roman. He’s not some scared weak thing. He’s just—he’s just—it’s—it’s—

They can’t see him like this. He’s supposed to be strong. He’ll never be taken seriously if they don’t see that he can be strong. They don’t take him seriously already, do they? Let alone if they could see him in the dark, alone, hyperventilating, terrified.

But he is.

He’s—he—

Something moves.

Oh, god, something moved.

He freezes, goes absolutely still, tries frantically to still his heaving chest, be small, be unnoticeable, his pride doesn’t matter right now, it doesn’t, he’s not gonna be hurt if he can’t be seen—

“Ro-Bro?”

His next inhale is a whine.

No, no, not Remus—he can’t—not Remus, Remus is strong, Remus will laugh at him, Remus loves the dark, he can’t cry in front of Remus, not for this—

“Oh, Ro-Bro,” he hears through the haze, “Ro-Bro, I’m so fucking sorry, I forgot, hey—hey—“

He won’t cry. He won’t cry. He won’t cry.

“Hey,” Remus calls, tugging carefully at the hand clapped over his mouth, “hey, don’t do that, Roro, you’re gonna hurt yourself, stop it, it’s gonna fucking hurt if you do that, you know that—“

The sob that tears itself out of his throat as Remus pries his hand away hurts his ears.

“Hey, Roro,” Remus soothes, taking his hands and squeezing them firmly, “hey, you gotta just be here for me, you focus on me, okay?”

“Re—“

“Come here, Ro.”

Remus scoops him up into his lap. To hell with whatever is twisting around in the shadows, Remus is holding him in his lap, rocking him back and forth and Remus is of the dark.

A rush of shame through his stomach and the first real sob into Remus’s shoulder hurts.

“Nuh-uh, Ro,” comes the mutter over his head, “don’t hold it in.”

The shame only grows. Then Remus tightens his grip until it’s all he can feel.

“I’m right here, Ro, I’m right here. It’s okay. You can be scared.”

“N-not scared.”

A gentle hiss in his ear as something—someone presses against his back and more arms than he can count wrap around his chest.

“Shh, shh,” Remus murmurs as he starts, “it’s just Janny.”

“Boo,” Janus whispers as he presses a kiss on his shoulder. Why—why is he here—did he—did he lie too much? He’s not scared, he’s not scared—

“Shh, sweetie,” he whispers as Roman starts to flinch, “I’ve got you, you’re okay, sweetie, stop that. We’ve got you.”

“You’re scared, bud.” Is that—is that Virgil? “Hey, hey, buddy, we got you. I’m sorry, Roman, I forgot you were so scared of the dark.”

Can’t be scared, can’t be scared—

“Shh, shh, sweetie,” Janus murmurs, “stop that. You’re allowed to be scared, it’s okay. You don’t have to be ashamed of it.”

Virgil presses closer, nudging Janus’s head out of the way and replacing it with his own. He leans down to nuzzle into the crook of Roman’s neck, finding the place his collar digs into his neck and loosening it. Curse him. Curse him.

“Hey, bud,” Virgil murmurs, “you’re okay. You’re okay.”

“N-no—“

Janus hisses gently in his ear again.

“No—“ Roman’s breath hitches— “no, no, no—“

“Roman,” comes Logan’s warm voice from somewhere above him, and no—

“Give him to me,” he hears again after a moment, and when he feels Remus’s arms begin to loosen and Janus pulls away he mewls—

“Hush, little one,” Logan says softly, gathering the poor prince into his lap, “you’re safe, you’re right here, it’s just a blackout.”

“You’ll—“ Roman hiccups, his hands still pushing Logan away from him— “you’ll laugh—“

“Never,” comes the chorus, Logan’s arms firmly around his waist. Then another pair of hands covers his and pulls them away.

“Hey, kiddo,” Patton murmurs, gently but firmly placing his arms around Logan’s neck so Logan can cuddle him properly, “sorry it took us a little longer to get here, we had to take it slow up the stairs.”

“Pat—Pat—“

“It’s okay, sweetheart,” Patton coos, crouching down to run a hand through his hair as Logan tucks him into the crook of his neck and Virgil rests his head on his shoulder, “we’re all here, it’s okay.”

“Stupid—st—stupid,” Roman mumbles, “I’m stupid—“

Another hiss, followed by a kiss to the nape of his neck. “Stop lying, sweetie,” Janus whispers, “stop it. You’re not stupid.”

“I’m a prince afraid of the dark,” Roman spits out, disgusted, “of course I’m stupid.”

“Falsehood,” Logan murmurs with more tenderness than Roman can remember, “you’re not stupid. You’re not.”

“I’m crying because I’m afraid of the dark,” he spits again, “I’m af-fraid of the dark—I’m afraid of the dark, I’m—I’m afraid—“

He’s afraid of the dark.

Patton presses a kiss to his forehead. “I don’t like the dark either, sweetheart.”

“You’re—you’re not—you’re not crying—“

“No, I’m not.” Another kiss. “But you are, Roman, and that’s okay.”

“Come on, Princey.” Virgil butts his head gently against Roman’s. “You just gotta breathe first, okay? We’re not going anywhere.”

Remus calls from somewhere over his shoulder—what has he been doing? Where’s he been?— “come on, I got all the pillows.”

“Re?”

“Come on, Ro-Bro,” Remus murmurs, appearing at his other shoulder, “close your eyes.”

“It’s already d-dark, Re.”

“I know, but I don’t wanna get the blanket in your eyes.” Suddenly, there’s a swath of fabric hitting him in the face. “It’s just for a moment, Roro.”

“Ready?” Logan scoops him up. “Up we go.”

“H-how can you see?”

“He can’t,” Janus says, suddenly appearing behind him, “but I can. Come now, my prince, we’re just over here, come on…”

Roman lets out a soft noise of surprise when his back hits something soft.

“Snap yourself into something more comfortable, sweetie,” Janus murmurs, “we’re all just going to stay here for a while.”

Patton takes his hand and kisses the back of it as Logan helps tug down the t-shirt he’s poofed himself into.

“I’m sorry,” Roman mumbles, “I’m sorry I’m so scared.”

“None of that now, sweetheart,” Patton chides, cuddling into his side—oh, Patton’s in soft things too now— “you’re gonna be taken care of now. We’re right here.”

“I’m right here, Ro-Bro,” Remus says, promptly flopping down over Roman’s legs, “and no one else is going anywhere.”

Virgil huffs, curling around his head and ruffling his hair. “He’s right, Princey. Just relax for a little.”

“H-how long is the blackout going to last?”

“I don’t know, sweetie,” Janus says, snuggling into his other side, taking his hand between two of his, “but we’ll be here the whole time. Now please, sweetie, breathe.”

He tries. But it’s still dark and even though he knows the others are here, he can still feel the darkness pressing in on top of him. He can still see things moving in the shadows. He can feel it. He can see it. It hurts.

“Roman,” comes Logan’s voice, warm in the dark, “Roman, listen to me.”

“L-Logan?”

“Yes, dear,” he says, “it’s alright. Virgil is by your head, and he can see in the dark.”

Virgil gives his hair a little tug. “Right here, Princey. I’ve got you.”

“Patton is on your left. He won’t let anything hurt you.”

“I’ve got you, sweetheart.” Patton kisses his cheek. “I won’t leave you.”

“Janus is on your right. He can also see in the dark, and it’s his job to protect you.”

Janus leans down to kiss his temple and squeezes his hand. “My prince,” he murmurs tenderly, “my sweetie.”

“And Remus…”

“Nothing’s laying a fucking finger on you, Ro-Bro,” Remus growls from down by his feet, “they’re gonna have to get through me first.”

Logan chuckles. “See?”

“L-Logan?”

“I’m right here, little star,” he says softly, “what do you need?”

“W—where are you?” Roman’s hands tense in Patton’s and Janus’s. “Where—I—I can’t—“

“Hush now,” Logan says, so softly, so softly, as a hand cups his cheek to brush away his tears, “I’m right here, I know you can’t see me. I’m sorry. I know it’s dark. I know you’re afraid. It’s okay, my dear, shh.”

Roman tries to reach out for him only to be thwarted by the grip on his hands.

“Hush, Roman, it’s alright, what can I do?”

“S-stay, please, stay—I want you to stay—“

“I’m right here, can I—“

“Please—“

He almost sobs again with relief when Logan lies down, his head tucked over his shoulder, curling his arms about his waist.

“We’re right here, sweetie,” Janus murmurs, “we’ve got you.”

“I’ve got you, sweetheart.” Patton kisses the back of his hand.

“It’s okay to be scared, Princey.”

“We won’t let anything happen to you, Roro.”

It takes another half an hour for the storm to end and the lights to flicker back on. Roman stays tucked up in their arms, their soft words in his ear, gentle hands wiping away his tears, until he can blink up at all of them and murmur ‘thank you.’

“Of course, sweetie.”

“We’re here for you, Roman.”

“It’s no problem, Princey.”

“We’ve got you, kiddo.”

“All you gotta do is ask, Roro.”

——————————

Remus knocks on the door, the present in his hands. Roman opens the door and tilts his head.

“Re?”

“Can I come in, Ro-Bro?”

“Yeah, yeah, come on.” Roman shuts the door. “What’s up?”

“This is for you,” Remus says, holding out the box.

“Oh—Remus, I didn’t—I’m sorry—“

“You didn’t miss anything, Ro,” Remus says quickly, “and I’m not expecting anything in return. Just wanted to give you something.”

He shuffles.

“And I, uh, I also haven’t really apologized for the shit I’ve done to you, so…it’s that too.”

“O-oh.” Roman clutches the box. “Thank you, Remus. Can I open it now?”

“Sure.” He watches as Roman carefully opens the box and pulls out the stuffed octopus.

“Oh, Re, this is so cute!” He holds it up, looking at the little face. “I love it, thank you.”

He turns it over.

“Wait, what’s…”

“It’s a mood toy,” Remus says quietly, “if you flip it this way, it’s happy.”

The cream side of the octopus has a little smiley face.

“And if you turn it inside out—“ Roman flips the plush so that a red face frowns at him— “it’s sad.”

Roman’s eyes widen and he looks up at Remus.

“I know you find it hard to ask for things,” Remus says, edging a bit closer, “so I thought this could…help.”

“Re…”

“And I—oof!” Remus lets out a grunt as Roman tackles him onto the bed. He chuckles, his arms wrapping tightly around his brother. “I’m glad you like it Roro, just promise me you’ll use it?”

He gets his request a few days later.

It’s been quiet, Thomas is taking a break, and they’re all in various corners of the living room. Janus and Virgil are lazing about in the patch of sun by the window, Patton is in the kitchen, Logan is working on something on his laptop, and Remus is toying with the grip on his Morningstar.

Roman walks down the stairs and he’s clutching a little red octopus.

“Hey, Ro,” Remus says quietly, hopping up and scurrying over to meet him as he comes down the stairs, “you wanna go be alone?”

Roman shakes his head, pushing gingerly into the living room. Remus turns to see everyone paying attention to them, including Janus, who’s sat up fully and is reaching out to Roman.

“Come here, sweetie,” he calls, “is your brain being a bastard?”

Distantly, Remus hears Patton huff at the language but no one says a word as Janus gathers Roman into his chest, bending to murmur softly in his ear. Virgil scoots closer, acting as the guardian, letting Roman relax with the knowledge that nothing will surprise him right now. A gentle tap on Remus’s shoulder and he turns to see Logan, who bends closer.

“What do we do to help?”

“Help me make a mattress big enough for all of us?”

Under Logan’s guidance, Remus manages to make a normal mattress with lots of comfy blankets and pillows. Patton comes from the kitchen with a glass of water set on the table near the three on the floor. He pauses as he turns and quickly sets a cup of tea next to it.

Roman’s grip on the octopus doesn’t lighten up, even after he’s been in Janus’s arms for a while, even after Logan’s gone over and helped Virgil walk him through coming out of the spiral. Janus walks over to Remus and Patton and quietly tells them they should try and get them all to eat something. Nothing too straining for Roman’s system, but something.

Patton brings out a few bowls of snack food and sets them at the foot of the mattress. Then he goes and gently cards his hands through Roman’s hair.

“Come on, kiddos,” he says softly, “let’s move to the mattress.”

Logan scoops Roman into his arms, depositing him safely in the center of the mattress, little red octopus in tow. The rest of them cuddle around him, some Disney movie playing on the TV. Roman eats, then lays his head on Remus’s shoulder. Logan takes Roman’s free hand into his lap and cradles it there, stroking it with his thumb.

About halfway through the movie, Roman turns the octopus so that the cream side smiles at the screen too.

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