As he walked through downtown Lighthouse Cove, Copper looked at his phone again and frowned. What’s wrong with him? he thought somberly. For the last week or so now, Romeo had been acting distant with him, standoffish and even cold. A few times Copper had gone to the shop to visit him, and Romeo had been stiff and unwelcoming, like Copper’s presence was a nuisance, so he hadn’t gone by in several days now. He hadn’t come to Copper’s work at all, he never texted Copper first, and when he did reply to Copper’s texts (which wasn’t always), they were short, clipped responses. Today the same thing happened, with Romeo sending him a series of one word replies to Copper’s attempts to start a conversation. Something was definitely wrong, and Copper was pretty sure he knew what: Romeo had finally opened his eyes and realized that Copper was a waste of time. While he was upset that Romeo had realized this, he was even more upset that he had deluded himself into thinking that he could ever be good enough for Romeo. The man was way, way out of his league, and Copper had always known it, but now it seemed that Romeo knew it too. You’re so fucking stupid, Copernicus, Copper thought bitterly as he put his phone back into his pocket and kept walking. So stupid. Well Copper wasn’t going to make the same mistake again. Everyone always figured it out eventually, realized that Copper was a waste, everyone except psychopaths that is. Or maybe Dean had too; maybe that was why he had stabbed him.
Close to tears now as he walked, Copper just wanted to go home, but as he was walking, he glanced over his shoulder like always and instantly froze in his tracks. Is that…? he wondered, heart pounding in a second, breaths shallow and uneven. Walking toward him through the crowd was Dean - he had found Copper, and now he was coming for him. FUCK! Copper thought, terror flooding him, and then he began sprinting down the sidewalk, pushing people out of the way as he ran. Barely watching where he was going, Copper had one goal in mind: he had to escape from Dean. Feeling like he was close to passing out from the fear, Copper felt tears on his cheeks but didn’t stop. He glanced back over his shoulder again to see Dean still following him, and as he did that, he slammed into someone, both of them falling to the ground. “Oh shit, I’m sorry - oh,” he stammered when he realized who it was. “Romeo,” Copper stated, and for just one small second, he forgot about Dean. But then it all came rushing back, and Copper stood and helped Romeo up as well, telling him in a shaking voice, “I’m sorry, I have to go.” He looked over his shoulder again, and Copper froze yet again: the man was closer now, and it wasn’t him. It wasn’t Dean. Now Copper felt immensely foolish, especially since he’d made and idiot of himself in front of Romeo. And he was still scared, unable to shake that so quickly, and Copper ran his fingers through his hair and wiped his eyes just for more tears to replace them. “I’m so sorry,” Copper told Romeo. “I’ll go.” He hated that he was crying in front of the man right now.
It was a fair assessment that Romeo had been growing more and more distant with Copper. It wasn’t at all a reflection of his feelings towards the adorable clumsy guy, but more of the fact that this was what Romeo did best: run from any semblance of commitment. The barber was also put off by his interaction with Dion and figured that it probably wasn’t the best idea to jump into something with a detective’s younger brother. Especially when that detective seemed to be as protective and overbearing as Dion. Still, Romeo would be lying if he said that he didn’t have a soft spot for the barista. It was hard not to. So instead of pulling his typical trick of completely ghosting the other party, he sent short responses. The truth was that he still wanted to hang out with Copper despite everything else, but he was just put off by his interaction with Dion and all of the strings that seemingly came with hanging out with the other more. So his past few days had been filled with a lot of work and a lot of drinking to get his mind off of the situation and hopefully gain a bit of clarity as to why he was feeling this way and ultimately what he was going to do about it.
Romeo was walking home from work back to Lighthouse Cove, his thoughts occupying most of of his mental energy as he made his way back to his house. So it came as a big surprise when he was bumped into and knocked to the ground by someone. “Holy fuck man” he looked at the other person and quickly realized it was Copper. His heart raced a bit and he felt like a jerk for cursing at the other. He sure hadn’t been watching where he was going. “Hey” Romeo smirked as he looked at Copper, unsure of what he could say or even what he wanted to. He felt like an idiot just saying one word, but that was all that would come out. As they both stood up together it was evident that Copper was upset about something, on the verge of tears even, as they stood there looking at one another. “What’s wrong?” Romeo asked instinctually as he spotted tears in Copper’s eyes. He was incredibly confused and just hoping that he hadn’t done something to make the other upset. Romeo smoothed out his clothes and reached out to smooth back the other’s hair, not being able to resist touching him in some capacity, “Please don’t go” he said simply, in a low tone. He wanted to be around Copper so long as the other was alright with him. “Sorry for what?” Romeo asked as he inched closer to the other.
