Stronger than Blood - Sanders Sides

Chapter Four

"I can see now why everyone was reluctant to tell me what was going on." Roman groaned, picking himself up from the ground. Everyone welcomed him back, making Roman feel good. He knew he shouldn't have pushed as much as he did to get them to tell him about his brother. But he was glad he knew. More than anything, he wanted to know why. Why was Remus doing this all of a sudden?

"Yeah, I'll try not to pester you too much tonight, kiddo," Patton said, calming down a little bit. "I can't promise that I'll never have another knee jerk reaction, but I can try to make peace with whatever thoughts dance through your head... whether they be sugar plums or--"

"Smelly bums!" Remus suddenly yelled, appearing next to Roman. It took the prince by surprise. He couldn't help but notice how shaky Remus was. It was like he was nervous to be next to Roman.

"Or--or that..." Patton mumbled, sinking out.

"This was fun! A Thomas Sandwich hold the Roman lettuce. You should really make that the usual, because the Roman'll make you sick." Remus joked.

"And yet, as soon as I was removed from the picture, Thomas had a Dukey problem." Roman scoffed.

"Thomas already made a Dukey joke, byyyye!" Remus smiled, sinking out while giving a small wave. Roman sighed, an odd sense leaving him as Remus left.

"So... you have a brother?" Thomas asked, gaining Roman's attention again.

"Yeeeah, it's a little like looking into a funhouse mirror, but instead of a giant head, or like, long legs and a tiny torso... it shows you everything you don't want to be." Roman tripped a little on his words. Despite this analogy, it made him slightly sad. No matter how twisted his brother was, he was a part of him. He could never avoid his reflection in the mirror. And if the reflection was showing him Remus, he's just ignoring who he really is. The reflection. Why was he forgetting that?

"That doesn't sound like a very fun house."

"Yeeeah, but whatever, you know? He's gone now, and he's never coming back! Byeee!" Roman finished, sinking out with an odd smile.

A small headache was thumping at his skull. It all started to make sense in his mind however. Remus was upset about him last night. As revenge, giving Thomas intrusive thoughts to rile up Virgil and Patton. As an effect, Thomas accidentally deleted the script, too tired to notice that he even did anything wrong.

All Remus wanted was to get back at his brother. A sick, twisted revenge plan. It made the prince's blood boil. As Roman popped up in his room, everything was a stray due to his state. The prince rolled his eyes, not in the mood to deal with any of it.

Instead, Roman trudged into his bathroom. His mirror was cracked as well as having his shower spewing water. Ignoring all of it, he opened his medicine cabinet, grabbing some pain pills for his headache. Taking a small paper cup, he washed down the pills, feeling them trail down his throat.

He looked back into his mirror. He was fuming at his brother. How could he do this? Ruin Thomas' recording, distress his friends, making Roman a wreck. All for revenge. The prince angrily threw his cup in the trash can. Everything was happening all at once, making his head spin wildly once again.

Roman stumbled out of his bathroom. Tripping over thin air, he fell onto the ground. As he lifted up his head, his eyes locked on the black leather combat boots in front of him. He followed them up, seeing his brother's black leggings, black duke suit with his sash. And finally his face. Roman had never wanted to punch it more.

"What the hell do you want?"

"I wanted to make sure you're okay." He muttered. It took Roman by surprise. Instead of responding, the prince struggled to get to his feet. Remus tried to help him, but his brother shook him away.

"Why do you care? Okay, first, you come in here last night and throw a fit. Then, you go to Thomas and what? Did you think screwing with him, by default us, would make you feel better?" Roman asked. Remus loosely kicked at the ground with his feet. He could tell how upset Roman was at him.

"I didn't mean it like that." Remus defended. "You make it sound so bad."

"Because it was bad! What if Logan couldn't help Thomas! What if Virgil and Patton made Thomas think he was crazy! All because of you!" Roman shouted, shoving an aggressive finger in his brother's chest. The prince suddenly froze as small tears fell down Remus' face.

His heart snapped. He didn't mean any of this. It was evident that Remus was sorry. How could he take this so far? "You're right you know," Roman muttered.

"What?" Remus said, obviously stunned.

"About the other night. You smashed that old picture of us." Roman sighed, rubbing his arm. "I'd be no better than Deceit if I said, I didn't miss being with you. You were right. We were so much better together." Roman took his brother's hands, looking into his deep chocolate eyes. Remus turned away, heating rising to his face.

"It means a lot to hear you say that, Ro." His brother admitted. The prince smiled, making his duke counterpart giggle. "Do the others know yet?"

"No. At least, I hope not. That's why your little stunt scared me. They shouldn't know we're still talking. They'd think we're trying to fuse again or something." Roman joked.

"Yeah..." Remus trailed off, looking at his brother. The two just looked at each other, feeling their hands that were locked together. Suddenly, Remus bounced up on his toes, smashing both of their lips together.

Roman began to glow like a stoplight. It felt so wrong...but more right. Was this the gap in Roman's heart? The missing gap of his brother. Of the two being one?

Remus pulled apart, looking hurt that Roman did not kiss back. "I-I'll-" Remus muttered, backing up a little bit. "I'm sorry." With that, Remus melted into the floor, leaving Roman alone with red lips and a pounding heart.