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Chapter 12 - Control

a/n: yes hi it's me. finally.

idk how many of you have been waiting or how long you've been waiting for but! here we are :D

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Roman didn't like not knowing things. 

That was what got to him. Change. Differences. New things.

Because with newness came uncertainty.

So here he was, the bright screen burning into his retinas at three in the morning, tired but unable to sleep. His eyes were flickering across the screen, long past the point of comprehension.

He had to know.

Nightwalker hadn't shown up for two months now. In their place, around seven people had been caught breaking into places in the dead of night, only to insist that they had no clue what they were doing.

Roman blinked, pressed his cold palms against his eyes, and sighed softly, making sure Virgil couldn't hear him even if he had been a foot away instead of in a different room and asleep.

He glanced back up at his computer. The Wikipedia article about mind control on his screen taunted him, the sole light source in the room.

He sighed, shutting it and standing up, forcing himself to take a few steps towards the bed before he took a few seconds to make it look like he hadn't passed out halfway there. Which, sadly, involved not passing out halfway there.

He was asleep before he hit the pillow.

Hours passed that he never felt, until finally, sunlight streamed through his window. He blinked, rubbing his eyes and sitting up. Exhausted. He felt his body fight against any movement.

He forced himself to stand up, walking over to the kitchen before slumping against the table, barely making it into a seat. The wood felt cool against his forehead.

A voice floated behind him. "You're up late," Virgil chuckled, crossing behind Roman to sit on the counter beside the table. 

Roman groaned quietly in response, his mind barely conjuring up an answer of 'yep', and yet was too tired to form the word itself.

His roommate's tone took on a hint of concern. "How did you sleep last night?" he asked quietly.

"Fine," Roman answered hastily. Still mumbling, but it was more than a vague grunt.

Virgil clicked his tongue. "Day off it is," he announced, swinging off the counter and busying himself in the kitchen.

Roman lifted his head. "Wh... mmm...mean," he slurred, glancing over at Virgil's blurred figure.

The dark, fuzzy shape of Roman's roommate and friend grew bigger, until finally a pair of bright eyes met Roman's own half-opened ones. "Oh, honey," Virgil muttered, turning and inspecting Roman's face gently with his hand underneath Roman's chin. "There's no way I'm letting you leave until you get rid of those dark circles."

Roman sighed and slumped back onto the table. "But I've got work," he muttered. The first cohesive sentence of the day.

Or so he thought. "Nor will I let you go until you can talking without sounding like you're completely fucking hammered," Virgil added.

And so that was how Roman had to have his roommate call his boss.

"Thank you so much," Virgil said sweetly into Roman's phone. "Have a good day." He brought it away from his ear, the soft beep of the call ending echoing throughout the quiet room for a few seconds.

"Well?" Roman said.

"I am now your unofficial caretaker for the next twenty-four hours," Virgil said, dropping into the chair opposite from Roman. "So what did you do?"

"Huh?" Roman blinked slowly at him.

"Why are you..." Virgil moved his hand in a circular motion, directed at Roman. "...like this?"

"It's fine," he mumbled.

"Were you drunk?" he asked.

"No," Roman said, frowning.

"Are  you-"

"No," he repeated, shaking his head, then immediately regretting that decision. "Haven't touched alcohol for a few weeks."

"That sounded like you forgot to put in apostrophes," Virgil smirked. "You're certain?"

"Positive."

"Nothing else in the realm of 'getting-you-arrested-if-you-drove'?"

"Nope."

"So what happened?"

Roman looked up at Virgil. For all of his sarcasm and poking-fun-of, he could see a small hint of worry behind that mess of hair. If he didn't tell Virgil the truth, his roommate would get more concerned. Maybe even think he was lying about the previous questions asked to him.

He sighed. "I stayed up."

"How late?" Roman shrugged. He didn't know. "Give me a guess."

"Uh...four o'clock? Maybe five?"

He shut his eyes. "Please tell me that's in the afternoon."

"If I said yes, would you believe me?" Roman chuckled.

"Good lord." Virgil shook his head, a slightly relieved smile crossing his face. "SO why were you awake? Couldn't sleep?"

"Yeah," he lied. Well, sort of. He wasn't able to sleep by midnight, so he'd gotten up and started going down that Wikipedia rabbit-hole. 

Virgil frowned. Damn, this boy could see right through him. "Roman," he muttered, voice low. A warning.

He felt his face heat up a bit and he sighed. "I... found something," he confessed, staring at the table. "Something that I think could fix everything."