#and he’ll see the most Lazily thrown together outfit he’s ever seen.

[oh-gh0st]

i wanna draw ghost in more lazy fits

like big hoodies and mix matched sweatpants… pajamas that they consider “work clothes” (they were too lazy to change) outfits that they Did not give a fuck about if it looked good

[mimssides]

Life on Crow Avenue: Part 20

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___

“You’ve cooked for a whole battalion, ro-bro,” Remus remarked, watching his brother put the lasagne into the still cold oven.

Roman turned around and shot him an annoyed look before he checked if everything was in place. The aubergine-tomato antipasti were in place, they had garlic bread in case someone wanted to eat something between the starter and main course. He had thought about making a primo piatto and a secondo piatto, but decided that they probably would have enough with the lasagne and like that everyone would still like to eat dessert; a fig and raspberry tart.

He hoped they would like it.

“They’re gonna love it. Now, go change. They’re gonna be here in like half an hour,” Remus told Roman as he nudged him in the side.

With a huff Roman disappeared and Remus looked around in the living room. Mrs. Snuffles was sitting on the cat tree Virgil had given them and looked at him with her beautiful blue eyes. Smiling he walked up to her and nuzzled his face against her fluffy face, her eagerly headbutting into the movement. Softly he lifted her from the tree, adjusted her in his arms and held her like one would hold a baby, gently swaying her in his arms.

Cats always had always been one of Remus’s favourite animals. Just how they carried themselves, how much elegance and dorkiness fit in one single, fluffy entity amazed him each time anew. And somehow it fit perfectly into their new life. A life, where their living room is spacey and bright. Where their couch didn’t smell funny and he actually liked the combination of the furniture they had.

“Earth to Remus?”

Remus flinched and turned around. Roman stood in the end of the hallway, grinning at his brother’s weird cat dance.

Remus blinked. Roman was wearing a thin wine-red cardigan, beneath a white t-shirt and the black slim fit jeans Remus had bought him. Together with the slightly condescending and yet somehow charming smug smirk on Roman’s face, he looked good. Really good.

“What have you done with my brother?” Remus joked and walked towards Roman. “He’s never been seen in nice clothes on a Sunday forever!”

Roman rolled his eyes and picked the hem of his cardigan’s sleeve. He knew it was a compliment. He appreciated it. But somehow it just felt weird to make himself look fancy. To try and look at himself in the mirror and like or at least accept what stared back at him.

“Don’t make such a sour face! You look splendid! Jan’s never going to be able to eat any of the food because he’ll keep gawking at your pretty face!” Remus insisted, seeing far too well that Roman was doubting himself.

Nervously Roman pressed his lips together and told Remus with a sigh: “That would be a waste of food.”

“Come on! I know what kind of hairdo that is! Look-At-Me-And-Hold-Your-Breath! This is dress to impress, and if you don’t admit you’re a dirty liar!”

With a mischievous glint in his eyes Roman retorted: “I didn’t say that’s not my intention. It’s just gonna be a shame for the food that’s going to be wasted, won’t it?”

With mock offence Remus stared at him with his mouth wide open before the twins broke into a laughing fit. Mrs. Snuffles didn’t appreciate the shaking very much and Remus had to let her down still giggling furiously, when the doorbell rang.

Remus gave Roman a nod and then walked up to the door, pressed the speaker and heard Logan’s voice: “Salutations. It is Logan Fojtík. Excuse the disturbance.”

“We invited you, bicho. You’re not disturbing,” Remus chuckled and pressed the button to let Logan in.

A few short moments after Logan had walked up the stairs and Remus greeted him with a wide grin and a hug. The bookstore owner reciprocated the hug after a short second of hesitancy and then gave Roman a cordial nod as a greeting. Roman just smirked at the awkward look on Logan’s face and told him to follow him into the living room. Roman also made the mental note that Logan was wearing the turtleneck sweater and the slightly nicer jeans he usually wore on Friday evenings, which seemed to be an outfit he reserved for special occasions.

With ease Roman then enthralled Logan in some casual conversation about the food he had prepared. Logan looked mildly interested, even though he looked over to Remus playing with Mrs. Snuffles several times. That too, Roman would definitely remember for future events.

But soon there came the next ring and Remus let Janus and Virgil in just has he had Logan. Virgil had brought some cat treats and a few more toys for Mrs. Snuffles and was soon sitting with Remus on the floor playing with the cat instead of socializing with the with the other people in the room.

“Seeing this makes me wish, I was a pet,” Roman comments amused as both Janus and Logan gave him a look. “Unlimited attention, affection and reassurance thrown at you with no questions asked and you won’t even be punished if you scratch an asshole’s face.”

“While that outlook does have its appeal,” Logan commented his eyes locked on Mrs. Snuffles trying to catch a string with feathers attached to its end, “I would not enjoy doing my business in a litter box or outside under a tree.”

Janus chuckled and sat down at the already set table. For a moment his eyes drifted over the plates, the cutlery, cutlery mats and napkins, which were set up carefully and beautifully, before he looked over to Logan and teased lazily: “What a humorous remark coming from you, Mrs. Fojtík. I didn’t think you’d have an ounce of fun in your body.”

Logan did not grace that remark with an answer but shot him a glare. Janus did not care for it and instead turned to Roman and told him: “The table looks marvellous, Roman. I don’t think I’ve ever been invited for dinner at someone’s place who had such a sweetly decorated table.”

Janus watched Roman’s eyes glow with pride and listened happily as Roman started to tell how he liked decorating and how it was a way to treat themselves with something nice.

“After all, sitting at a nice set up table makes one feel a bit like royalty, doesn’t it?” Roman rambled happily.

Janus answered with a smile and a nod and would have been content to listen even longer, when the doorbell rang again and Roman stood up to get the door.

Not too surprisingly, Patton had arrived and Roman let the tattoo artist into their flat. He had a cheery look on his face and promptly thanked Roman for the invitation.

“Oh, don’t mention it, padre! After the way you all helped us last Friday, I wanted to give something back. It’s the least I can do,” Roman said and shot a look over to Remus who looked up from Mrs. Snuffles in front of him and gave a little nod.

“Yeah, something happy for a change,” Remus said and looked down Mrs. Snuffles.

Remus’s eyes shone peacefully. Lips tugged in a lopsided smile. Patton felt his heart pound in his chest. Remus looked beautiful and in this very moment every fibre in his body was painfully aware of that. He actually shivered when Remus raised his look from Mrs. Snuffles to him and the little smile grew a little wider as he met Patton’s eyes. It was the best thing he had felt in a long time and he was sure that his smile reflected the sentiment well, as Remus chuckled and got up from the floor.

“Now, princesa, do you want to get us all into a food coma?” Remus asked and put his hands on his hips with an eyeroll.

Energetically, Roman jumped to action and ushered their guests to get to the table.

“Oh, I hope you’re hungry!” Roman announced in a singsong tone and the five others settled down around the table.

Curiously Janus looked into the kitchen from his chair, as Patton complimented Remus’s clothes; a green t-shirt with pink spots, a light blue jeans vest and orange skinny fit pants. Remus gave to comment back, adding that he liked the look of the pastel pink tank top, with black ripped-jeans and the bun Patton had put his hair in.

“Your hair is nice too!” Patton gave back and looked at the black messy hair on top of Remus’s head.

Remus tousled through his bangs and shrugged.

“Thanks. I don’t really know what to do with it. It’s a bit ‘meh’ so I tend to just let it do its thing.”

“Are you aware how to best take care of the hair type you have?” Logan suddenly chimed into the conversation.

And so, Roman served his aubergine-tomato antipasti, as the conversation about hair styling and grooming got started. Logan did most of the talking, Patton sometimes adding something and Remus curiously asking questions. The conversation only got interrupted when Logan finally started eating, after Roman chiding him for letting the food get cold. In that sudden pause, Janus took the chance to compliment Roman’s cooking, as the others did just a moment after.

They ate, talked and the mood was light and pleasant. Remus had, as promised earlier, gotten out his sketchbooks and went through it with Patton while Roman got the main dish ready. Virgil was once again playing with Mrs. Snuffles and Logan occupied himself by following Roman into the kitchen, asking about how he had prepared the antipasti from before and offering his help, which was politely declined. And Janus had sneaked away from the table and inconspicuously walked through the flat, looking in all rooms without entering any of them so his snooping around would not be detected.

Just as Janus peeked into Roman’s room, strikingly tidy with red and gold accented décor knickknacks, a hand was put on his shoulder and he flinched  as he was caught red-handed.

“You could have asked for a tour, Jay.”

Janus turned to see Roman smirking at him. Speechless he opened his mouth only to close it again and press his lips together. Roman grinned until Remus called from the living room: “Are ya’ making out? Should we not wait with the food for you?”

With an eyeroll Roman turned around but kept his eyes locked on Janus. A smile tugged at the edges of Roman’s lips and he said quietly: “I’ll be happy to show you around after you’ve told me how much you like the lasagne I’ve made.”

Finally, Janus found his composure again, grinned back and replied: “Then I’ll be kind enough to indulge you, Señor Segura Reyes.”

Roman chuckled and they went back into the living room. Smoothly Roman walked around the table to Janus’s seat, pulled it back for him and sat down telling his guest to help themselves with the lasagne.

Already anticipating Virgil’s questioning look Roman told him: “It’s vegetarian. I could have made a different dish for you but I didn’t feel like it and just made the meatless variant for all of us.”

“Cool. Thanks,” Virgil mumbled a little shyly before he took some of the lasagne.

“What did you take instead of the meat?” Logan asked eyeing the food in front of him judgingly.

“Spinach and Cheese. And if you find that inedible, I can get you something else,” Roman answered and rose his eyebrows playfully daring.

Logan pressed his lips together and looked back down to the food. It smelled good and it didn’t look like the vegetables his mother used to make him eat when he was younger. He could at least try. And so, he tried.

“Das ist alles andere als ungeniessbar,” Logan almost inaudibly said under his breath and took another bite.

Roman, who was sitting next to him, shot him an incredulous look which turned into an excited one and he enthusiastically said: “Danke sehr! Ich wusste nicht, dass du Deutsch sprichts?”

Baffled Logan looked up to Roman and the rest of the table did the same, not knowing what Roman had just said and why he suddenly spoke in a different language.

“Ich, uh, übe noch. Sprache war schon immer ein Leidenschaft von mir,” Logan said slowly, not quite certain if he had gotten the gender of ‘passion’ right.

“No way!” Roman exclaimed joyously, “Me too! Languages are so cool! Which ones besides German do you know?”

Logan blinked. Blinked again. Roman’s enthusiasm for languages matched his own passion, which was rare, and he seemed very eager to talk about it. Not dismissing him. He was not dismissing him, Logan realized, took a little breath and started telling Roman how he had begun learning Czech and Polish when he was in his early teens and over the years had added Spanish and German to the mix.

“That’s so cool! You have to teach me some Polish and Czech! I’d love to get into some new languages. It always interesting to see how they are different or the same to some languages I already know. And like, both are Slavic languages, right? I’m curious if they work similarly to Russian!”

“You speak Russian?” Logan asked intrigued.

“Not super well, but I’d get by. The wife of our florist mentor is Russian and I got to learn if from her. And he’s Brazilian, which is why I know some Portuguese. German, Italian and French I learned in school and from old Disney VHS movies Mamá got on a flea market. It’s so interesting to see how all of them sound and work and-”

“Yes, my thoughts exactly!” Logan agreed and the two kept on marvelling over the beauty of languages until the main dish was eaten.

The others kept quiet and just watched both men being unabashedly passionate about languages and how they work. Watched Roman stumble over his words because he got excited about tenses in Spanish and Logan raising his voice in euphoria about cases in Slavic languages. It was quite a scene they got to look at and none of them could complain, even though Remus would later claim that the nerding out over languages was the bane of his existence.

When all had finished their lasagne, Roman picked up the plates and put them into the dishwasher. The rest settled down on the couch, beanbag and the armchairs before dessert would get served. Remus and Virgil were yet again playing with Mrs. Snuffles and Janus, Patton and Logan just watched them have fun, since they were all a bit tired after the big meal. Roman soon joined them and sat down on the couch next to Janus, bickering a little with his brother about how he was neglecting their guests.

“What no! Look their all happy doing nothing after overeating on your stupidly delicious food!” Remus retorted.

Roman puffed his cheeks and nagged: “Still! You could at least try and indulge them in a convers-”

“Sorry, Rem, could you maybe check something on Mrs. Snuffles for me?”

Both twins shut up immediately and Virgil looked up from the cat to see Remus’s extremely concerned look.

“She’s fine! It’s fine! Just-” Virgil quickly added hoping he could stop Remus from freaking out - “just check something for me. Just touch her belly for me and tell me if what you feel.”

Remus blinked, gave a short nod and inched closer to the white cat lady. Softly he petted her until she laid down and carefully touched the side of her belly.

“It’s pretty normal, I think? Like I feel her breathing and some tiny movements, I guess? Isn’t that just digestion, though?” Remus asked warily.

Virgil rubbed the back of his neck, smiled and told Remus: “It could, but I think you might need to wait with neutering her. It’s possible that she’s pregnant but I’d have the vet check her to make sure.”

Remus squealed in an octave dogs and bats could hear and successfully made all guests jump in their seats. This was the best thing to ever happen to Remus and an ecstatic voice in the back of his head told him to kiss either Patton or Logan or even both just to get all the pent-up energy out. Instead, he tackle hugged Virgil, who was not prepared for Remus’s hug and fell backwards so both ended up laying on the floor.

And while that happened and drew all the attention on Remus and Virgil, Roman had a silent anxiety attack. Trembling he stood up, quietly mumbling No estoy preparado para ser padre. and taking out his phone to open the app where he had to arrange little squares according to hue. He forced himself to concentrate on the colours, on moving his fingers accordingly and not focus on the fact that their cat would-

Colours. Sorting. Making a clean perfect hue.

I am a wonderful, amazing, gorgeous, magnificent hue-master!

Alright. Okay.

Roman turned back to look at his brother, who was still almost smothering Virgil and decidedly walked up to them. Firmly he grabbed Remus by the arm and pulled him back a little.

“Stop pestering him! Get up and go whip cream to get your energy out. I need more calories after this shock,” Roman chided Remus.

Snickering Remus got up, shoving Roman a little in the shoulder and turning towards the kitchen.

“Oh, you’ll love them too! Don’t worry,” Remus told him as he disappeared.

Roman fumed for a few seconds, massaged the bridge of his nose before he offered Virgil his hand to get up.

“How many kittens does a cat have in a litter, generally?” Roman asked in the most defeated tone they had ever heard him use.

Virgil cleared his throat and answered: “Around four. And don’t pick her up until you know for sure if she’s pregnant or not. You could accidentally hurt the babies.”

Roman nodded and declared that they would have desert now, since he now needed some stress food. Before long the six men sat at the table again, all with a big slice of a fig and raspberry tart. Roman had put a big spoon of whipped cream on his slice and told the others to help themselves with the cream as much as they wanted. Patton took the offer and toasted Roman with a sympathetic smile as Remus bounced on his chair and asked Virgil a million questions about kitten’s and how to care for them.

It was more than clear that Remus was very hyped for the potential of a kitten litter and was already unwilling to give away a single one of them. No matter what Roman would say, Remus wouldn’t change his mind and Roman had to accept it.

“Hey, if they ever get too rowdy and you need a break, I can maybe catsit? Is that a thing?” Patton offered.

That got a snicker out of Roman and he thanked Patton for the gracious offer but Remus would have to catsit, since he was the one who wanted to keep them. Remus said he would do that happily and the evening continued calmly. After finishing desert Roman showed Janus the flat and around ten the four guests eventually bid goodbye and left the twins to themselves.

The tension on Roman’s shoulders had eased away a bit. But it was still there. He still felt it linger and he was glad when Remus asked if he should clean the kitchen, so Roman could get ready for bed.

But next to Remus nobody seemed to have noticed. Which was good and what Roman had wanted. He told himself.

He didn’t want others to know. They didn’t need to know. After all, he had it under control.

At least, that was what he told himself.

___

@varthandi

@sammy-is-obsessed / @exhaustedfander

@alexisrealgay

@softie-sushi

@wolfs-feder

@just-a-neoclassical-painting

@winter-jay-official

@a-ghostlight-for-roman

Tagged for this fic:

@frawkeye

@arodynamic-enby

@espepspes

@bullet-tothefeels

@fukindork

@shadeofadye

@magic-but-its-green

@a-non-binary-pan

@simone-the-weird-person