Sunsets in Paradise (Sanders Side's Simulation AU)

A joyride, starbucks, and a sunset.

(This song gives me the vibes for this chapter lol-)

Roman paced back and forth, wondering when his friends would be here. He paused, checking his phone, to find no new notifications. Sighing, he fell against the couch, letting it spring back up as he settled on its softness. His phone lay there, still in his hand, and so he pulled it to his face to scroll through Instagram.

Everyone was posting pictures of the dance, all with captions like 'So lucky to go with this guy xox' and Roman aches to have someone he could do that with, someone to go with to the dance. But, unfortunately, his crush was taken by some douche who hooked up with every girl that complimented him, and the rest of his friends, were, well, friends.

'We're here xx' came from Patton only moments after his heart began aching to find his crushes photo of him and his bf at the dance- Virgil and Deceit. Both were in suits, and if Virgil didn't look uncomfortable around Deceit normally,  he looked uncomfortable now.

Still, Roman got up and walked out, not bothering to say goodbye to two parents who were working in their studies and wouldn't care anyway. He turned to see his friends, immediately being enveloped in a hug from Patton.

He almost couldn't breathe, more from the sheer shock of the force of the hug, but he smiled anyway and hugged back. Logan was watching them, adjusting his glasses, in his usual attire.

Well, at least they wouldn't be disappointed when Roman would tell them he'd rather be anywhere but the dance.

Logan waved at him as he broke away from Patton's hug, and he waved back, smiling. Him and Logan were cool, not close, but he was okay.

"Remy's at the bottom," Patton smiled, lacing his finger's in Roman's, like he usually did when he walked next to someone. "He didn't want to walk up, and Thomas made plans to ride with Joan and Talyn, so he'll meet us there."

Great. At the dance. Which I have to go to. And see Virgil. With Demon McGee. Roman inwardly groaned, wishing that he could stay home and die. Okay, that might have been an over reaction, but he just wanted to be anywhere else.

Logan watched them, his eyes mostly trained on their hands, and Roman had to hold himself back from making a remark about Logan's possessiveness. But instead he looked straight ahead as they walked, focusing on their hands swaying in time together.

Some part of Logan stung at that, even if Patton and assured him it was only platonic. It stung deeply, really deeply, tingling with some strange emotion Logan couldn't quite put his finger on. He'd talk to Patton about it later.

"So that's why I didn't go to the dance last year," Patton explained, using his free hand to gesture, as they finished their descent down Roman's driveway to meet Remy at the bottom.

"Heya Gals, Guys, and Non-binary pals," Remy greeted them, just as he always did, with a smile and a salute. "Shall we get this part on the road?"

None of them were dolled up or dressed up, and Roman was subtly thankful for that because it meant he didn't have to stay that long at the dance- and it was clear the others thought the same thing. He sighed in relief.

Roman then shrugged, opening a car door for Logan, Patton and him to get in. Remy understood a little more than he would've wanted- after all, Roman didn't often shrug at the opportunity to go someplace he was usually excited for. That, and Roman had told him all his worries and problems last night on the phone until 2 or 3 am.

"Hon," Remy said, putting a hand on his shoulder. "You're up front."

'Up front' was Remy's way of saying 'not only are you sitting in the front seat of my car, but we're gonna make you feel better because you look like this is the worst day of your life' and it was usually reserved for when Virgil came back from terrible outings with Snake Face Douche.