A Painting of Bruises and Scars (Sanders Sides)

Chapter 1: Downhill

Things...could be better right now, Roman thought.

Thomas had been working on more new projects recently, meaning Roman was having to work harder than usual, which he was fine with. He was also talking to Nico more often too, meaning Roman had to work even harder, which he was still fine with.

And then, a close friend of Thomas' died..

Everything just seemed to spin out of control after that...

Roman, of course, wasn't the only one stressed out for the past few weeks, but he seemed to take this hit the most. The combination of so much stress and grief made him feel so upset and worthless. Then, he went upstairs after dinner...and saw it.

A small cut on his chest that seemed to look already healed, scribbling out on his skin 'worthless'. He cringed when he saw the word, stepping away from the mirror. Not this again, he thought to himself. He had dealt with this once before, long ago, but he didn't know what he was going to do when the bruises appeared.

He tried to take a deep breath to keep himself calm, reaching over to the makeup box on his desk to look for something to cover it up. Some foundation could cover it up, right?

He applied the makeup to the scar, frowning as it still felt sore, giving a small sigh of relief when it was covered, throwing his old t-shirt on as a pajama shirt. He could hide it, he just- he just needed to ignore it..

He decided to go with the advice his mind told him, going to bed early so he could avoid the others.

His brother, of course deciding to ignore all privacy whatsoever, sank into his room a few hours later, wondering why his twin wasn't downstairs bickering with Virgil again.

"Robro~ If you don't go downstairs, I'm gonna-"

He never got to finish his threat, blinking when he saw Roman laying in his bed, twisting and turning as he let out a small sob, tangling himself in his blankets.

"Shit Roman-", his brother cursed, hurrying over and kneeling carefully on the bed next to his brother. "Shit shit shit- Ro? Can you hear me?"

Roman curled up, letting out another weak sob, gasping for air as the blankets tangled around him, making him feel even more trapped than in his nightmare. Remus panicked, pulling him to sit up and shaking him by the shoulders, even if his brother was starting to flail his arms to get whoever he thought was attacking him off.

"Roman, please wake up-"

He was cut off by a sudden sob, looking to see his eyes open now, tears overflowing as he started to steady his breathing, realizing he wasn't being attacked.

".Wh-..Wh-o-"

"Oh, Roman!"

Remus pulled him in for a tight hug, something both of the twins would have cringed at if it wasn't such a serious moment, Roman untensing as he realized it was his brother.

"You scared me, Robro! What the hell were you dreaming about? Nightmares are supposed to be my thing!", Remus tried to halfheartedly joke, rubbing a hand up and down the prince's back.

Roman hesitated, unsure of how to answer before he mumbled, ".It-..It was nothing, d-don't worry."

"Roman, I don't believe you..you were trying to fight back against me, like you thought I was trying to hurt you.."

Remus frowned at the memories of what had happened in the past, the last time Roman got the bruises and cuts. Remus never got the same condition because..well, he was Remus, he was insane, and he didn't really care about judging himself. And even if he did, he would never really mind the injuries, always into gory things.

".I promise, I'm ok.", Roman said, pulling away for a moment to give his brother a smile.

Remus gave a small sigh, smiling as he said, "You better not be lying to me, Romano.", teasing Roman with the name.

"I promise, Remus, I'm alright."

...

The next morning, he woke up to a sore bruise on his shoulder.

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Hey guys, it's the author, Sam. I haven't wrote anything on Wattpad in a long, long, LONG time, but I really enjoyed this idea so I decided to make a fanfic on it. Also, yes, there is a little self-projecting on here from my part, so if you don't like it you can just not read it or suffer <3

Words: 653