Separated

Reunited?

There is cussing in this chapter. Some of it's censored, but most of it is not. That'll be the case from this moment on. Just letting you know :)

Five months. Five godforsaken months and no word from him. Might as well give up, huh? Roman thought to himself, getting ready for another day of school. Does he even care that he was the first person in years I got any piece of information on Remus or was he messing with me the whole time? What if he got hurt more and his brother is preventing him from texting any of us?

"Bye Roman, have a good day!" Emile called from the kitchen, trying to stop Remy from drinking his fourth cup of coffee.

"See you later Dad, Pops!" Roman slipped out of the house and started making his way to school. He was joined shortly by Patton and Logan, who had adjusted their path to school to match his.

"Hey Roman! How are you?" Patton asked, feigning his normally cheerful tone. You could hear the hint of sympathy underneath it though.

Roman took a second before answering, "Oh, I'm fine Patton."

"Roman, we both know that's a falsehood. We are your friends, well, Patton is your friend and he is my boyfriend, which makes me your friend by default. Anyway, the point is, we are here for you." Logan interjected, doing his best to cheer up Roman, who he still refused to really call his friend(although we all know that he would rather die than let anything happen to him.)

"Thanks Logan, I guess, but I'm really okay." It was a lie, and all of them knew it, but Lo and Pat knew better than to push further. They changed topics and continued on their way.

*                    *                    *

In Virgil and Dee's house, the atmosphere was so thick you could cut it with a knife. The holidays had come and gone without a hint of festivity. Their lights were dark at Halloween, there was no Thanksgiving, Christmas was nothing more than songs on the radio.

Both boys felt awful. Usually they set out a bowl of candy on the front step and went Trick-or-Treating together. Usually they snuck food out of the fridge and made their own little thanksgiving feast. Usually they scraped all of their money together to buy the other Christmas gifts. This year was not usual.

Virgil had begun spending more of his time with Joan, Talyn, and Thomas. Dee had stayed with Remus, and their bullying had only gotten worse. The day before winter break, Virgil was presented with a brand new hoodie that had patches sewn on my Talyn. They had even stitched their name on the back. He had worn it every day since, although he didn't completely get rid of the old one, which had been a gift from Dee and Remus a couple years prior. It was hidden in the back of his closet, probably never to be worn again.

Dee had noticed the change, and it hurt more than he'd thought it would. While you'd never get him to say it, he honestly felt worse because of it. Remus had steadily gotten more and more aggressive and cold, and by February, he had a stubble mustache and a crazed look in his eyes at all times.

That day after school Remus had detention, which was a common occurrence. Normally Dee would torment Virgil or one of his friends, but today he just took a walk and ended up at the high school. He stayed there for a while, not realizing there was anything going on after school.

Roman had made the musical and they had practice that day. Patton was there too, but he had gone to wait for Logan, who was at a student council meeting. Roman walked out of the school and spotted Dee sitting under a tree. At first he just brushed it off, but then he realized who it was and started running towards him.

Dee turned his head to see a tall high schooler with wavy red hair sprinting at him, and nearly had a heart attack. He tried to back away, but only bumped into the tree trunk. Roman reached him and stopped for a moment, catching his breath.