Sanders Sides Oneshots and Short Stories

The Deal (pt. 2)

Not requested.

Ship(s): Fraternal RomanxRemus, Platonic Anxceit

Category: Angst

Warning(s): Remus/Intrusive Thoughts

Summary: After the events of DWIT, Roman and Virgil have words to say with Remus and Deceit respectively.

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As soon as Roman sunk out, he rose up in his room, which conveniently had a door on one wall that led to his brother's room. He yanked open the door and strode inside.

Remus was notably missing from his usual spot on the bed, which was concerning enough, but Roman wasn't about to let this slide so easily. He sunk out and tried again in the Dark Sides' living room, where most of them tended to hang out.

There he was. Remus was walking through the hallway, sinking his hands into his hair and exhaling slowly.

"Remus," Roman said sharply.

His brother froze. He took a step back when he saw Roman, his eyes going wide. "Ro-"

"Don't. Don't even try it." Roman cornered Remus against the wall, forcing him to meet his eyes. "Explain, right now. What the hell was that? You haven't acted like that since we were kids."

"'Like that'?" Remus spat, scowling. "Like what, Roman? Batshit? That's what's expected of me, right? Intrusive thoughts? I'm just filling my role."

"No!"

"No?"

Roman groaned in frustration. "Remus, just... be honest with me. Please. Why did you do that? I'm not mad. I'm confused."

"I..." Remus cast his gaze to the ground, almost guiltily. "Roman, you can't-"

"Tell me, Remus."

"You wouldn't understand."

"Try me."

¶∆¶∆¶∆¶

"Deceit!" Virgil shouted. "Get out here, you bastard!"

Instead of the side he was looking for, Pride stepped out of his room, eyeing Virgil with clear distaste. "He's not here."

"Where is he?"

Pride narrowed his eyes. His lip curled into a sneer. "Why would I tell you? You don't deserve to know. Not after what you did."

"I thought we were past this."

"How can we be, Virgil? You abandoned us. You let him..." Pride shuddered. "You let Depression in. And now we're all suffering because of it. You screwed us over, Virgil. Deceit most of all."

"You were all horrible to me!" Virgil cried. "I was in emotional pain all the time because of you."

"You could never get over the whole 'blaming us for your reactions' thing, could you?"

Virgil clenched his jaw.

Your lack of sleep last night was a result of Virgil's reaction to Remus, not Remus himself. So, the Duke only has power over you because Virgil and Patton believe that he does.

"We're not focusing on that issue right now," Virgil said through gritted teeth, trying to restrain himself. Pride crossed his arms, relenting. "Just tell me where Deceit is. I want to talk to him."

Pride kicked his door open, moving to the side. "In here."

Steeling himself, Virgil walked into Pride's room.

Deceit was on the couch, hunched over and cradling the scaled side of his face. He tentatively touched a rag to his skin, hissing softly.

"Dee," Pride said. He closed the door. "Virgil's here."

"Oh, goodie." Deceit's eyes flicked up to Virgil. He was still covering one side of his face. "I most definitely want to be around you right now. That's the first thing on my bucket list."

"Haha, very funny. What happened to your face?"

"What do you think?"

Virgil bit his lip. When Deceit removed his hands, Virgil sucked in a breath, grimacing at the sight.

Several scales were torn off, and the skin beneath glistened with blood. The shimmery color of the scales had dulled to a murky green. Deceit's gloved hands were slick with blood and so was the rag he was holding.

"Holy shit," Virgil whispered. "Who did that?"

"I think you can guess." Deceit made a quiet, pained noise as he put the rag back, disguising the ugly wounds. "He wasn't happy with Remus' performance."

"You roped Remus into this? Why?"

"I needed help," Deceit whispered. He staggered to his feet and awkwardly stumbled towards the door. "We're all going to pay if I don't try harder."

"Deceit-"

"Stop. Just... stop."

Pride opened the door and Deceit walked out, heading for his own room. Virgil, torn, hesitated before hurrying after him. Right before they made it, Roman and Remus came around the corner.

A few things happened at once.

Remus stopped in his tracks. Roman's expression darkened upon seeing Deceit, then shifted into confusion when he saw Virgil. Deceit took a step back. Virgil automatically moved in front of Deceit.

"Virge?" Roman said. "What are you doing with this snake?"

"Getting answers. You?"

"Same."

"Oh no," Remus breathed. He pushed past Roman, reaching out for Deceit before quickly withdrawing his hand. "What did I do wrong?"

"He thought you didn't interact with Virgil enough," Deceit muttered. "He's taking any opportunity to punish me these days."

"What is going on here?" Roman demanded, hands on his hips. "I feel like not only are we not on the same page, we're in separate books."

"Maybe an explanation is in order, then," Deceit said. He turned the knob and pushed open the door to his room. "Shall we?"

In varying degrees of dread, the four sides stepped inside Deceit's room.

The lock clicked behind them.

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