𝐚𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞, ph.

⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀𝐱𝐢𝐢𝐢. the most awkward triple date. and pete.

⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀𝐱𝐢𝐢𝐢. —— the most awkward triple date. and pete.

─ i ─

Pick slowly guided Rome further into the room and left him to rummage through one of the drawers. Rome was trying to calm down his beating heart; he didn't want Pick to know how much his words meant, he didn't want to scare the senior off by being too much. Maybe it was too late to think like that, seeing as Rome walked in the rain after midnight just to ask a stupid question.

He let his curious eyes wander around the room; it was less messy than he expected it to be considering Pick's personality. There were some papers scattered around the desk but that's really it from things that seemed out of place, no clothes on the floor, no empty bags from snacks. On one of the walls there was a hanging shelf full of cacti in colorful flowerpots and underneath it was a corkboard with various pictures on it, Rome was too far to see what was on any of them though. It all seemed more like Porsche's idea. Before Rome could walk closer, there was a towel thrown into his direction which he barely caught, flinching at the sudden movement.

"Go take a hot shower before you get sick again. Honestly, couldn't this wait until tomorrow? Or couldn't you take a taxi? Or call me?" Pick kept asking, but it felt more like he was listing all the things Rome would have done if he had a working brain. Possibly. "Why did you walk in that weather?"

Rome shuffled from foot to foot, squeezing the soft towel in his cold hands. "Because I'm stupid and gay, what else is there?" he huffed, making Pick burst into laughter. And god, what a beautiful sound that was. Proving the second part of Rome's sentence; he was very gay.

"That does sound like you, buttercup. Go, I'll get you some clothes," Pick walked closer to Rome and caught his shoulder, steering him in the direction of a small bathroom. Rome braced his feet on the carpet and looked up at the senior.

"Do you think I'm selfish, P'?" Rome asked quietly because this was something that had been bothering him for quite a while now and the situation with Din only made everything worse. He liked to think he's not, but it would never be intentional on his part, so Rome knew he's not the best judge.

Pick, though, looked genuinely surprised to hear it.

"You? Selfish?" his eyebrows furrowed, head tilting to one side while his hand still rested on Rome's shoulder, now not pushing him forward though. "Ever since I've met you, you've been doing what Emma asked you to do. It was her idea to ask me and Porsche to be your project partners, even though she told Porsche it was yours. You didn't ask her to sit with you on the bus, but I know you wanted to. You always adapt yourself to whatever she wants and I know you do, because I've been doing the same for Porsche ever since we were kids," the senior said slowly, moving his palm down Rome's arm to finally catch his smaller hand in his. It was gentle, just enough for Rome to pull back whenever he'd want to. He didn't.

"Why do you think we're the ones to do so?"

Pick shrugged, but he seemed a bit uncomfortable with that topic. "I guess there are very few people that actually know you and still want to be around, so you just wanna keep them or something," he said slowly, next clearing his throat. "I told you to go take a shower."

Rome blinked and then nodded quickly, he felt like it wouldn't be okay to push it now since Pick already probably said more than he wanted to. More than Rome had expected, that's for sure. Pick gave Rome his clothes and when Rome came out of the bathroom, the senior was back in bed, scrolling through his phone─he left a place for Rome next to him with the covers pushed down and the sight of it made Rome feel... soft because it seemed so natural and it shouldn't be. It shouldn't be because they weren't... anything, really.