Linked

Chapter 2 - Welcome (Pt II)

[a/n: im going to bring in patton and logan later. i have a very small plan for this so a lot of this is going to be off the top of my head :) anyway none of the characters are going to be jerks (cough cough remy in fall with me cough cough) so you're welcome. and remy is an angel because good lord i did u so dirty last time buddy]

Roman walked home after a nice, long day of hanging out with his friends. His bag, which had been mostly empty except for a few work things, was now much heavier. 

It now had two books of a series Patton thought he'd like, a pair of iridescent dice, some lightbulbs (one of the ones in the kitchen had burned out and he kept forgetting to replace it), a stress ball he thought Virgil would like, and a hideously green lanyard. In addition to that, there was a really tiny but still functioning Roman saw and immediately fell in love with, two dark shirts (he'd always been told by Virgil that the edgy one thought he needed to 'expand his colour scheme past warm colours', whatever the hell that meant), and an eye shadow palate he'd had his eye on for a while. Very bright and sparkly.

He walked home with all of this in his bag and a smile on his face, finally reaching the apartment. He got out his keys from the bag, fumbling slightly as he worked them into the door, turning them and letting the click echo softly. He pushed open the door, walking up the stairs and unlocking the door to his own apartment. "Hello!" he sang, trying to get a good vibrato on the 'o'.

"Shut up!" someone sang back, much quieter and a step down, but still gorgeously nonetheless. 

"No," Roman answered, making his voice as deep as he could. 

"Jesus," someone muttered from the other room, barely perceptible through the walls. Finally, Virgil emerged from his room. "Remus isn't as-" He stopped himself, both knowing where that sentence was going and both knowing it wouldn't be taken as a joke. "So, did you have fun with your friends?" Virgil asked as he slid into a seat, smirking.

Roman nodded,taking the chair opposite from him and showing Virgil all the things he got. "It's all bullshit," Virgil nodded knowingly, and they both laughed.

"No, actually." Roman pulled out the lightbulbs and nodded towards the burn out light.

"Fuckin' hell, Ro, you're a lifesaver." Virgil motioned for the package , and Roman obliged. Virgil stood up as he carefully opened them, not wanting to rip the box. A few minutes later, the kitchen was bright again, and Virgil sat back down. Roman then brought out the stress ball, tossing it in a high arc to him so he could catch it. The emo caught it easily, making a soft 'ooo' sound as he squished it through the clear, crinkly packaging. "You didn't have to-"

"Hush, now, dearest, it's your birthday soon," Roman argued as he went into his room, putting his bag away before reemerging.

"My birthday is in December," Virgil pointed out, frowning.

He shrugged. "Five isn't a big number."

"Days, sure. Months, no." He shook his head. "It's the middle of summer, dude."

"Well, happy early birthday, then." Roman walked back to ruffle his hair before going to the kitchen and looking through the cabinets. "How did your band thing go?" 

"Fine, I guess. Remus wrote more lyrics." The both winced at the same time before Virgil continued. "But Logan switched them around a bit, and now it's pretty good." He rested his chin on his hands. "Et toi?"  he asked.

Roman laughed, sitting back down with a cup of tea. "Good. It was a slow day," he said, taking a sip. "Izzy had me look over one of her essays, Janus asked me out, and Liam-"

Virgil's eyes widened. "Who did what now?"

"Westent," Roman chuckled. "Saturday, with Janus. Eight-thirty."

"Shit." Virgil frowned, cursing quietly.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing, nothing." He shook his head, sitting up and rubbing the back of his neck, looking away. "We just have a show at ten that day." He grew quieter. "I was...sorta planning on asking you if you wanted to come."

"Well, I don't think this is gonna last more than," he counted on his fingers, "an hour and a half-"

He shook his head again. "No, no, you have fun with...Janus," he said with a small smile. "There'll be other times."

Roman paused for a second, hesitant. "Are you sure?"

"Of course." Virgil went back to typing on his laptop.

He pushed aside his mug, folding his arms on the table and leaning forward. "What are you working on?"

"You know how Remus wrote a bit?" Roman nodded. "I'm editing them so they're less...gory, y'know?"

"All too well," Roman chuckled. "What have you got so far?"

An hour later, Roman and Virgil were both getting bored with looking over the revised lyrics, and he shut his computer. "I'll send 'em over tonight," he said, standing up and walking to his room. "Maybe let Remy have a go."

Remy was Virgil's younger stepbrother. And while it was true that he wasn't quite eighteen for another two months, he'd been staying in the apartment with Roman and Virgil for around four months now, about half of the time the two men had lived there. He was a good kid, and Roman quite liked having him around. Even if it meant putting up with his small Starbucks addiction.

Almost like magic, the kid came through the door. "What the fuck is up," he yelled, lifting his sunglasses to the top of his head with a grin.

"Language," Virgil shouted from the other room.

"You're in a good mood," Roman laughed. "How was school?"

"Shit," Remy frowned. "Complete shit."

Virgil stuck his head out of the hall. "Watch your goddamn language, or I'll tell Mom."

He stuck his tongue out. "Bull."

"Better," he muttered, disappearing again.

"Anything in particular?" Roman asked, back on the topic of school.

It took Remy a second to notice the subject change. "Nah, just Emmy skipping class. Again," he pouted.

"Was it legal skipping?"

"Yeah, he had a doctor's appointment or something. Still lonely."

Roman clicked his tongue. "Sorry, dude," he said, ruffling his hair. "At least it's the weekend."

"True that, Pat," Remy said with a laugh as he grabbed a bag of chips and disappeared into his room.

"You haven't even met...!" Roman trailed off with a fond, exasperated sigh, not bothering to say Patton's name. Remy was like his younger brother at that point. And he was doing an excellent job at the whole 'annoying younger sibling' thing. 

Did he know who Patton was? Not to Roman's knowledge. 

Was he still going to say it because it was a name he knew was friends with Roman? Absolutely.

Roman looked at the closed door to Remy's room, sipping his tea with a small smile.

The wonderful eccentricities of having a seventeen-year-old roommate.

[a/n: roman is 24 and rosleep is not going to be a possible ship (and neither is roman x emile or remus or thomas or patton. the only possible ones are the ones tagged). virgil is 21, janus is 23, logan is 25.]