Vices and Maces

Chapter 80: This Wasn't Meant to Be a Slow Burn

CW: guilt, mention of surgery

"You should really be resting," Remus said.

"My arm was hurt, not my leg," Roman responded. He wasn't too used to wearing a simple t-shirt and jeans, but that's what Remus brought. It would probably be hard to wear a suit with his arm like this. "Besides, it's not like I'm working, I'm just downstairs."

"Good thing you're ambidextrous..."

Roman pressed the sides of the fork into his fingers before twisting it around the spaghetti noodles. "How's Virgil doing?"

Remus grimaced. Janus brought up a bowl of food for him earlier, and has yet to come back down. Virgil must need some sort of comfort. "Well, when we got home, he fell asleep."

"Yeah... I'm guessing he didn't sleep well last night."

"Especially since he stayed at the hospital."

"He did?"

"Yeah... stayed with his sister. I'm not sure what you remember..."

Roman set his fork down. "Not much... What happened?"

"She was shot. Jan said that um... that her legs are paralysed. It's not complete paralyzation though, she still has some feeling, or that's what Janus told me." He added the last part as Roman gave him a horrified look.

"Oh god... Virgil..."

"He's... Well, he needs some time."

Roman nodded. "I know." He freaked out when Remus's wings were damaged, but at least those were able to be replaced. If he had been hurt worse... The fall could have hurt him far worse. They were lucky. Seems Virgil and Anna were not.

There was a bit of irony in that. Roman and Remus hardly had anything growing up, and Virgil and Anna had parents that could afford anything. Now they don't have anything since they either refuse to or aren't able to talk to their parents, and Roman and Remus had plenty of money.

Remus bumped his arm. "Hey, there's no use getting down in the dumps about it. We're gonna help them out, like always."

"Yeah, that's true. I'm just worried about him."

"Whatever happened to 'I would never work with someone from Wolfsbane.' Now you're crushing on one."

"What?" Roman hissed.

"Oh yeah, when you were waking up from surgery you said you 'loved him and his handsome face.'"

Roman's own face turned red. "I don't!"

"You don't?" Remus leaned against his fist.

"I don't..." He thought about it for a moment, his face burning more. "No, no I don't."

"I think you're in denial."

"We shouldn't be talking about this, it's an inappropriate time, he's hurt right now. I'm hurt!" Roman gestured to his arm.

"It's a perfect time to talk about this, it's not something bad!"

Roman looked back down at his bowl. "It's not something good. He told me that he's not planning on dating anyone until all of this is over. I want to respect that. So even if I did have a crush on him, which I don't, it doesn't matter."

Remus pulled out his rose necklace and rubbed his thumb on the steam. "Why don't you try talking to him later today? Jan's a good friend and all, but you were hurt. He blames himself."

"He shouldn't."

"He does. You talking to him might help him blame himself a little less."

Roman nodded. "You know I hate saying you're right."