Separated

Reminiscing

"Hey Ro, how are you doing with school?" Remy asked his son after he got home on Friday. He had been going for a week now, and was slowly getting adjusted to it all. They hadn't had any major projects or homework assignments yet, but the switch from being homeschooled at the orphanage to going to a normal school was still a little jarring. He was just glad that Patton and Logan were there to help him out when he got confused.

"Good. I'm still getting used to it though. Did you know that this school puts on a musical every year? I've never been in one, but I think I've seen one before, just not since-" Roman cut himself off, biting his lip. "Um, yeah, anyway I might audition, mainly because Patton keeps telling me I should. I'm gonna go to my room now." He quickly left the room to run upstairs and flip on his bed.

I haven't seen a musical since Mom and Dad were alive. I still remember it, and it was just before the fire. It's one of the last memories I had with them... No! He shook his head, I've got new parents now. But still, Remus used to always ask about them. What they were like, what they did with us, all of that. He didn't have many memories of them because he was so young when it happened.

The familiar sting of tears came to his eyes, but he swallowed harshly and kept them from spilling out. Then he remembered the book. It was one of the only things that had been saved from the fire, its cover slightly singed, but otherwise still intact. It was chock full of animal facts, normal and weird. It was why Remus used to be so obsessed with all those random interesting facts. It was one of the few things he remembered about his parents- that they loved animals and had always dreamed of being zoologists.

They were never able to, but that didn't stop them from obsessing over random tidbits and always dreaming of the day they could own a pet. Roman vaulted off his bed and dug through his closet to find it. When he found it he plopped onto the floor and started thumbing through the well-worn pages. Remus should have this book. He thought, this time letting his tears freely fall to the floor.

He missed his brother so much. It was like there was an empty hole in his heart where Remus had been. Emile and Remy had been doing everything they could to try to find him with no luck. Searching through every social media site to see if there was a "Remus Duke" anywhere, calling the number that the orphanage had for the couple who'd adopted him too many times to count, asking around everywhere they could to see if anyone knew a kid with his name. It was like Remus didn't exist anymore.

"Hey kiddo, how are you?" Emile asked, quietly walking into Roman's room and crouching down next to him. He saw the book and immediately realized what was going on in Roman's head. "Hey, it's okay. We'll find him one day. How about for right now we watch a movie? Your dad is already getting popcorn ready."

"Thanks Pops," Roman sniffed, "I'll be down in a few minutes."

Emile smiled and nodded before leaving the room, gently closing the door after him. Roman wiped his tears on his sleeve and put the book away before going downstairs.

The movie they were watching was Moana. When Emile had learned that Roman had never seen a Disney movie, he had started by going through the princess movies, watching three a week, occasionally throwing in an extra Disney classic. Roman had gotten hooked on it immediately, and though he was a bit embarrassed to admit that he loved watching princess movies as a fourteen-year-old boy, he loved the prince characters and would act as if he was one when alone in his room. The past week had been busy with school starting and the family figuring out schedules, but tonight they were finally getting to the last official Disney princess movie that wasn't a remake.

As the movie went on, Roman sat transfixed by the animation playing out before him. Another thing he'd enjoyed about the princess movies is how they'd slowly progressed so the princesses became more and more self-reliant and didn't need a male role to help them solve their issues.  Aladdin was still his favorite though because he felt like Aladdin's story was similar(in a way) to his. Went from a dirty street rat(orphan) to a prince(having a family). Plus, he really liked the songs.