Roman waited as the car stopped at the end of the road, and their mother climbed out of the driver’s seat to walk over to them. He took a couple cautious steps back, a bit nervous about his mother’s reaction, before she threw her arms around him and hugged him tightly. After a moment, she let go of him and did the same to Remus, who looked just as caught off guard as Roman.
“Good lord, I was so worried about you two.” She said, grabbing their hands in hers. Roman pulled his away, but Remus left his.
“Are you okay?” Roman said, giving her an odd look.
“Yes. I just…” She looked at the two again. “I realized what you said tonight, and you’re right. I haven’t been a mother to you boys.”
“Mom…” Remus said, squeezing her hand. Roman still held doubts.
“So what do you think after our argument?”
His mother looked at him. “About you being gay? Oh honey, you could have told me. I can always find a sweet boy instead.”
“About the company.”
“I-” His mother seemed to think, before taking a breath. “I understand that this isn’t your thing, but I really wish you would reconsider.”
“Mom.”
“We can slow down. I can actually teach you about what I do, and let you understand what you’d be getting into. Then if you still don’t want to, I can work something out.”
Roman sighed, before giving in. “Okay, but no setting me up on blind dates. And I still get to be a kid.”
“Deal.” His mother nodded. “Now let’s head home. I really want to talk to you two about a few things.”
“Okay?” Roman said, looking at Remus as their mom ushered them back to the car and the twins got in. Their mother got into the driver’s seat, and pulled the car away to begin the drive back home.
“Now I know you two were in detention yesterday, and ended up in the woods. What happened?”
Remus looked at Roman briefly, before answering. “We were cleaning up the walking trail, when a small sinkhole or something opened behind us. We couldn’t get around it, so we followed the path for a ways.”
“Yeah, but the rain washed it away, so pretty soon we were lost completely. Honestly, I’m not sure how long we wondered before giving up and hanging out with the others.”
“The others?”
“Yeah, we had detention with a few other people.”
“How many?” His mother asked, and Roman gave his brother a look.
“Two.” He lied. His mom was being way too bizarre right now, and he wasn’t in the business of risking anything.
“Oh, okay.” She sounded… relieved? “I got to work today to find out that one of my satellite facilities had been attacked yesterday by a group of people, and I was just so glad you two weren’t there.”
Roman looked back at his brother with complete shock. “Your facility?”
“Yes. Apparently they blew a hole from my basement levels all the way to the ground floor. Thankfully, there were only minor injuries. I don’t know how, but I’m glad nonetheless. I had to talk with the police about it today, and apparently there were reports of a monster there too. Absolutely nonsense, in my opinion.”
Remus was now staring at his wrist in complete shock, twisting his bracelet in his hand with a closed fist. Roman tried to recover. “Yeah, we heard a bit about it at school.”
“You did?”
“Yeah, th-”
“Mom, what do you normally work on with your company?” Remus blurted, his hand now firmly grabbing his bracelet.
“Well, Remus, we normally focus on genetics and neurology. However, we also handle other endeavours and have a large experimental science division too. Why?”
“It just has always been cool.”
“Really?” She smiled, and looked at them in the rearview. “Oh Remus, I had no idea you enjoyed science.”
Remus gave her a smile. “Yeah, can you talk more about it?”
“Well, we focus a lot on studying the different skill sets that animals have, and learning how their biology can be intertwined with ours to help with growth and cures. Did you know…” Their mom kept talking, but Roman was no longer listening. He was instead texting Virgil. Why he wasn’t telling the groupchat, he wasn’t sure.
Roman: Hey.
It was a moment before Virgil responded.
Virgil: Hey, what’s up? Don’t tell me you miss me already.
Roman felt his face grow warm.
Roman: You remember the building we were brought to after we grabbed the bands?
Virgil: Yeah, unfortunatly.”
Roman: It’s part of our mom’s company.
Virgil: Holy shit. Why haven’t you told the group chat yet?
Roman: Remus and I are still in the car with her. I wasn’t sure if Remus wanted everyone to know yet.
Virgil: So you told me anyways?
Roman: It’s my secret too.
There was another moment of radio silence before Virgil texted back.
Virgil: Look, I’m sure that just because your mom owns the building, that doesn’t automatically mean she is involved or directly responsible for the reason we were in there. Not to mention, she isn’t the Dragon Witch you saw in your dreams.
Roman: But the witch mentioned a representative. Could it be her?
Virgil: I don’t know roman, but maybe you should give her the benefit for now.
“Roman?”
“Huh?” Roman said, turning off his phone and looking up.
“I was asking if either of you two were busy tomorrow for dinner again, or if we could have it together. Maybe even play a game?” His mom gave a smile to Roman that only broke his heart a little. Her eyes were a bit shiny, and her smile was slightly broken. Only then did it click that he had really hurt their mom with what he’d said. Maybe he was pushing it too far. She was clearly trying now.
“I know we have a club after school, but we should be done around 5:30.”
“Good! We can have a dinner then.” She smiled, as they turned into the driveway. She pulled into the garage, and waited to walk in with the boys, before walking in with them and giving them both another hug goodnight and sending them to bed.
Roman changed into his clothes, and had washed his face of the cakey and gross makeup. He checked on the bruise around his cheek again, noticing that it was already a lighter shade than it had been. Maybe Virgil had healed it a bit by accident. Roman simply shrugged it off and went to his room, before plopping down on his bed and turning off his lights. He turned on his phone to set his alarms, and realized he’d never texted Virgil back.
Roman: Hey. I think im gonna try. Thank you, Virgil.
He held his breath, overthinking in his mind, before texting again.
Roman: Goodnight, hoe you sleep well.
Roman: Hope*
He set his phone down a bit harder than he should have. Curse autocorrect. He rolled around a bit, before he heard a knock at his door.
“Come in.”
Remus poked his head in with his pillow and a stuffed green snake he’d had since he was a kid. He stood there for a moment without a word, before Roman patted the side of his bed and Remus climbed on. They turned away, and pressed their backs together like they used to do as kids. The twins didn’t say much, and instead were both asleep within a few minutes. Roman’s sleep being thankfully dreamless.
YOU ARE READING
Sanders Sides (power rangers au)
AventuraRoman and Remus Dukes are trying to cope with their dad's recent death. Logan Berry isn't sure how to tell anyone but those closest that he is trans. Virgil Storm is the new kid in school, and his mom's the principal. Patton Hart is just trying to w...
